Across from the front doors sits a console table, and for years its centerpiece was a bunch of artificial flowers stuffed into an old broken plastic pitcher. As I explained in 2019, I used to make sun tea in that pitcher until the sun made the handle fall off. It was still quite pleasing to the eye, so in went the silk flowers I’d picked up from Beverly’s.
Then Agent B (my second assistant), who likes doing ceramics, made me a lovely ceramic whale. The flowers moved into their new home, and I finally threw out the plastic pitcher.
For those keeping score of the assistants: Agent D started working for me in 2019 and stopped when the pandemic hit. Agent B started in late 2021 and took care of the bird feeders, birdbaths and house plants. He tried to take on nest box monitoring as extra work but didn’t have the time, so I hired Agent M for the 2024 season. She was “interesting,” and I didn’t rehire her for 2025; instead I found Agent J through a post at San Jose State University. When Agent B needed to stop handling the house plants and the feeders and birdbaths, Agent J stepped in and did OK work, but then slacked off and lots of plants died. So I let them go and hired Agent A. Agent B is still here, though; he now handles the veggie boxes, which I haven’t written about yet. More on those, and on nest box monitoring, in later posts…plus maybe a bit about Agent P.
