Stone Bunny has been laughing. 
Stone Bunny has been laughing so much lately, her chest feels like a balloon filled full with fresh air. Every time she catches her breath, she looks at her buddies and they all start laughing again. 
Part of what is so funny is these gourds. 
They are hilarious. 
They are the growingest, 
blossomingest, 
strivingest darn plants she has ever seen. 
They grow and grow and grow.
They grow on top of each other
they hang onto each other
and strangle each other.
In just a month, Stone Bunny watched them grow from this
to this
and this.
But it is not only the gourds. The gourds are funny, but what has made this summer really hilarious is the Human Referee.
Bless his heart. He thinks he can tame these wild gourds.
The Referee works with the gourds every day. 
Stone Bunny loves it. She gets to see the Referee every evening as he goes all around Gourdtopia checking onthe gourds.
She watches him look really closely at the blossoms
She watches as he inspects their growth and moves the leading edges of their vines to where he thinks they should grow.
She loves when he lays the vine in place and threads the little tendril under string, so the tendril will catch hold and do its curl thing.
She thinks the curl thing is cool.
There is really something about those tendrils….
Bunny knows what the Ref is doing. She knows he is training the gourds to grow where he wants them to grow.
Trying to make an awesome gourd patch.
It is really fun when the gourds get rowdy. One evening, he caught a gourd just about to choke a canna.
Another evening it was a sunflower.
Several times he has had to tug them back out of the burning bush.
It is fun to watch and it is really quite hilarious to behold.
Bunny and her friends just love to hear the Referee talk with the gourds. They chuckle when he says things like, “C’mon there buddy.” or “Yo! You! Over here.” or “Holy Moly. Look at this!”
One evening a few weeks ago, the Referee was amazed at how much the gourds had grown that day.
Stone Bunny heard him say “Whoa! Easy there! This is out of control!” She watched as he pulled on a really ambitious vine and placed it its new position, declaring “Yeah. There. That’s more like it.”
Stone Bunny was watching him as he stood back and looked at the wild gourds, now properly trained. She watched as he clenched his hands into fists, puffed up his chest and proudly declared “I am the Lion Tamer.”
Stone Bunny and her friends lost it. They howled with laughter. They have been laughing ever since. Every time they stop laughing, they look at each other, think “Lion Tamer” and start laughing again.
In Jim's Garden 
What a guy, that Ref! Thanks for that story😄
You are most welcome Firefox! 🙂 That Ref, a bit of a goofball, I expect. 🙂
I’d be as happy as Stone Bunny and her buddies if I were in your garden 🙂 It’s beautiful in spring, summer, and fall… Love these photos, Jim!
Ahh, thanks Amy. Why not be happy? All the pretty flowers, the bugs, the birds and the gorgeous weather. It is good. 🙂
I just love those curly tendrils! 🙂
Oh yes, me too. I have found the gourd tendrils to be most fascinating this year. Reaching, catching, curling. No end of fun. 🙂
Refreshed again! Love it. Blessings to you, Jim…
Thanks Carol. I’m always so glad to hear that my posts are refreshing. Blessings to you. 🙂
Such a fun read! Would make a great children’s book!
Thank you very much. Stone Bunny is indeed a sweet little garden critter. Never means any harm, though rather inquisitive. Thanks for reading! 🙂
wow…gorgeous photos, interesting story! 🙂
Thanks. Pretty gourds and good fun, I hope. 🙂
Je vois que chez toi aussi l’été n’est pas encore terminé…
Très belles photos où les jeux d’ombres et de lumières sont superbes. Les contrastes, les détails des végétaux sont dignes d’un artiste. Bravo pour le regard avisé qui nous fait partager tant de beauté 😉
Merci Christiane. Toujours l’artiste. 🙂 Les jeux d’ombres et de lumières sont nos amis. C’est la meilleure partie de la photographie dans mon jardin. I expect you have noticed in this or other posts that I prefer the effect of backlighting My opportunity to photograph the gardens is typically in the evening, so many pictures are taken from the East, looking through the plant as lit by the evening sun in the West. It is fun. Je suis un artiste! 🙂
Every garden needs one .. Bring on that lion tamer! Great post and pics Jim 🙂
Thanks Julie. After reading your last post, I’m thinking you are the lion tamer at Frog Pond Farm. Prune those trees, Lion Tamer. 🙂
Lol 🙂
Does Little Shop of Horrors mean anything to you? 🙂
Oh how I love a comment which makes me laugh out loud. Yes, I am quite familiar with the show. Firefox and I once constructed the “plant” for a production at our local community theater. Maybe it was the shot of the gourd choking the sunflower, eh?
Beautiful photos! I hope you see some ripe gourds before frost.
Thanks. We do have a few already. Not as many as I would have thought we would have, but that’s O.K. A few of each variety would be good. I have so enjoyed the blossoms, the tendrils and the amazing spirit of growth, any actual gourds are bonus. 🙂
Referee is such a good synonym for gardener. And the curl things are cool, especially the way the twist reverses in the middle so the rampant vine can pull itself closer to its friends 😀
Yes, we do rather play the referee role. That sure is how it works in this wild, barely contained world of vegetation I think of as my garden. The tendrils are genuinely fascinating. Quite strong and amazingly capable of pulling itself towards whatever object it latches onto. It has been a real curl thing summer around here. Have a great day, Grower. 🙂
Just AMAZING! This is where I will be coming when those winter blues sneak up on me… 🙂 Love the photo of a little gourd ‘head with a pony tail’ – made me want to draw a tiny face on it. 🙂
Thanks so much. Yes, we will be looking back to the vibrant green garden in a few months. I do like the gourds when they still have their hair. I expect you could draw some fun and beautiful little faces on them. 🙂
Excellent ! 😀
Thank you! 🙂