Daily Musings

Andy, I'm picturing that kid as a little Elvira Gulch in the Wizard of Oz LOL poor Sarah :^( another upset for her. we had a heavy thunderstorm around 11 last night, but the temp didn't drop that much. it is better today though, more like normal August

Hey Gram! You on a Wizard of Oz kick today?

Just a coincidence, Dave :-) I calls 'em as I sees 'em.

It turned out that we were on the edge of that storm Wednesday. Some nearby towns and the south part of my city were hit very hard with winds. Thousands of homes were without power, some are still in the dark. Major roads were closed by downed utility poles and trees.
It's very cool this morning, what a relief.
Gram, your analogy was closer to the truth than we thought.
Andy P

We had an intense but brief electrical storm. I saw Elvira peddleing like mad. Its still hot and humid but it is so much more bearable.

our power was out for a few hours on Wed. had to be on the hottest day of the year ;^( but I think it was due to the power drain, not the storms this week. had a small tornado touch down in a nearby town a couple weeks ago, which is unusual in these parts. thanks goodness, just property damage.

my mother grew up in San Antonio. they didn't have a storm cellar, but their neighbors did. her dad used to keep watch on the porch at night during a storm and if he saw a twister coming he'd get everybody out of bed and hustle them to the neighbors. she was always cold in the 60 years she lived in the north, but swore she never go back. that and having to check your shoes in the morning for scorpions and tarantulas

gram

Can I jump on the band wagon? We actually had rain last night and it's only 85 today! Yipee! My DH spent a couple of hours chopping up the dirt around the blackberries to expand his bed. He amended the soil, staked the black berries and refenced the area. The next morning I saw a baby bunny enjoying a vigourous dust bath and groom. Afterwhich I think he ate the tip off the stalk that was sticking out of the fence ): Ephemeral is good.

Candis

Yes Candis, sometimes ephemeral IS good. LOL
I spent hours doing yard work today after a long walk with Sidekick Sarah (dog). It was in the 60 last night and it's in the 70s now. What a refreshing change.
I found my onions again, lol, as I was weeding. I think they are ready. My first from seed.
I've been keeping an eye on a few praying mantis in the gardens this season. I have an easy way to find them, fine mist spray of water, that makes them move so I can see them. I found an exoskeleton of one today (pic in camera). I didn't know they shed their skin.
Andy P

You will not believe this........
I snapped a pic of the Mantis skin after I snapped a few of 2 of them, for fun.
Before I noticed the skin I snapped this shot to see if I could get a good 'face' shot. Look what is next to him/her.
Andy P

Thanks all for the good wishes. They will certainly come in handy in the next few weeks. I have been gardening as much as I am able after surgery, having my son and his buddy do the heavy hauling and lifting of stuff. I can pull weeds again with the right hand and should be able to do it with the left side next week. I try not to think about worst case scenario chemo and the gardening helps to keep me centered and my mind occupied.
That's a great mantis pic, btw!
The Arnold Arboretum is a great choice. They have a fantastic bonsai collection that will be out in the gazebo now. The member magazine, Arnoldia, had an entire issue devoted to them last month. My fave is the dawn redwood. you can see 100 footers in the arboretum itself, and then the dwarfed bonsai in the collection. Neat contrast, I think.
Thanks to all of you,
Martha

Martha, the Arboretum sounds great. We have a nice botanical garden here, but nothing that sophisticated.

Got out early this a.m. to clobber some horsetail. My hummingbird (pretty sure it's always the same one) kept me company for quite a while checking out almost every flower on a hosta about 10 feet from me. Of course, I didn't have my camera. Such a pretty morning, so peaceful.

This evening, while still nice, the neighborhood has taken on quite a different 'tone'. My neighbor from across the lake (a 'waving hello' kind of neighbor) is having a picnic today, quite a crowd, rented hot tub, games on the lawn, the whole works. About 6:30, a marching band showed up. I kid you not, uniforms, majorette with American flag, tuba, bass drum, the whole 9 yards. They (about 15 members) set up in the yard and are giving a concert as I type. The back of their t-shirts says 'Ghost Riders'. and, incidentally, the music is not half bad. We wondered why he mowed his lawn twice yesterday (this guy seems nice, but he is a little odd...wears a pair of orange shorts almost every day, unless he has a whole wardrobe of orange shorts?, and is constantly mowing his lawn.)

that's my Sunday (didn't do much in between)

gram

Gram, you have the best stories.
Does everybody know about the contest in the Photo forum? It's for the Banner for the new BugFiles. http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/635151/#top Amazing pics.
Andy P

Gram, I see no one in those pictures, taking pictures. They would probably appreciate yours. Especially as you can see the emblem on their backs.

Gram ~ Don't you like how our neighbors entertain us at times and don't even realize they are. My neighbor has goats, pet goats. They are not for milking or anything but pets. The wife wanted them, and her poor husband had to build a shed for them, dig the fence post holes, and then build the fence. Now she wants him to find someone to hay the back 40 so that they will have to spend less. She had him build ramps with saw-horse's and such so the goats could have "fun". He works 7 days a week, 5 at his regular job and on the weekend he has to mow, take care of the garden, the children, the animals and everything on her "Honey-do list". She actually yelled at him so loud that we could hear her in our house...she wants the house painted before summer is over. I think she should of mentioned that in June! My husband just looks at me and says"Don't try it..it won't work." LOL

Andy, came across the contest in a convoluted way. I've been watching the progress on 'Jamar' and someone mentioned some underwater pics, so I went to check them out and caught the thread on the contest. Wonderful pics! Bugs present some pretty interesting subject matter. Hope you win.

Can't take credit for the stories ;0)) who invites a marching band to a backyard picnic? even funnier, my son was here the day before when 'orange shorts' (we don't know our neighbor's name) was getting ready for the party. his teenage son was doing some weeding and blasting his stereo. My son says (crabby old man that he is getting to be at the ripe old age of 37) 'you should call the cops...how can you stand that?'...I said, 'this is not the kind of neighborhood where you call the cops every time someone irritates you'. so yesterday when the band started to play, I called him at work, just said 'you gotta hear this' and stuck the phone out the door LOL

Nancy, they were taking pictures, but you have a point...I'm sure nobody got any from the back.

Wow, pixie, I am feeling sorry for your neighbor! talk about hen-pecked! shouldn't say that too loud or she'll have him building a chicken coop LOL I think I'd like a baby elephant, but DH says no.

My dog and I went for a long walk in Ames Nowell State park today. The weather was perfect.
If you would like to join us, I posted a bunch of pics on the Photos forum. http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/637353/
Andy P

Andy, took a little walk with you. I would have worn out way sooner than Sarah, but I used to really enjoy that kind of walk. Thanks for the tag-along.

Here's a picture of one of my favorite trees at the Arnold Arboretum. It's one of their Dawn Redwoods. The trunk has all these gothic arch root formations and it's amazing for a couple of reasons. First, it's deciduous and drops all its needles every fall. Second, until some intrepid plant hunters from Harvard discovered a few of them growing out in the wilds of China back in the 30's, it was thought to be an extinct species and was only known from fossil records. All the examples of Dawn Redwoods in this country today came from plants grown from the specimens sent back from China. I have fave trees here because I have been visiting since 1983. My husband and I moved into a not-garden friendly setting {I only had a balcony to garden on} and the Arboretum was like our back yard. Kept me sane until we bought our house. It's great to see the natural sized specimens and the bonsai as well. The bulk of the Bonsai collection was a gift from a former ambassador to Japan. But the collection is kept up to date with modern specimens including the dawn redwood. They are a treasure. Every couple of years, the Arboretum brings some of them to the NE Spring Flower show. They had about 8-9 of them there this past year. It's like friends coming to visit!
Martha

Andy, I enjoyed your walk in the woods. Plus now I don't have to excersize!

Interesting & handsome tree Martha.

Trying to spend more time with the camera. I was never the photographer in the family. I was playing with my hummingbird yesterday. Sat quietly in a chair about 10' from the feeder (I took one of them down so he's stuck with this one window feeder). He came by 3 times. First time he was just nervous and took off. 2nd time he hovered over the feeder for a while yelling at me but didn't drink. 3rd time he just buzzed it a couple of times and took off. so I went back in the house to give him some peace.

I have a piano bench next to the window with the feeder, so I sat there. Sure enough he came right back, still hungry. I got a couple of shots. Now I know you guys are my friends, so I'm going to post this. Didn't realize til I looked at it that I need to keep the window squeaky clean if I'm gonna take pics from inside LOL

I keep saying 'he' when it is likely a female. I thought earlier in the season it might be a juvenile from last year, but would have probably gotten some ruby in his throat by now if it was a 'he'.........change that to 'she'

here's a second pic

I changed the copyright ...gonna try posting that last one again

Good job, gram! I envy you. We feed birds, but get mostly sparrows, a few finches and mourning doves. No hummers.

I've had tons of goldfinches on the nyjer feeder. But the house sparrows finally figured out how to work it and they make a mess and dump the seed on the ground. I can't see how. the mourning doves clean that up. I got tired of that and took it down this week. We used to see a lot of house finches, but I haven't seen them on the feeder.

We haven't had a lot of hummers, but this one's a steady visitor. I'm hoping to get more. I have 3 feeders up and fill them whether they get traffic or not. my next door neighbor has one as well. and there are lots of hummer-friendly plants in both yards. I hung a fuschia next to one of the feeders. they like that a lot. once they get used to being here, I may put up one of those artificial branches that the hummers can build a nest in.

I lived in Snyder for many years before moving out here (Nancy will get this, for the rest of you, it's much closer to 'city' than where I live now). we had lots of large trees and a whole different mix of birds. I miss the cardinals the most. they used to eat my grapes (hey, Andy, how are those grapes comin'?) and blue jays. I'm hoping as some of the spruces and other trees mature some we'll get some of them here. I'll try some peanuts and sunflower seeds this winter and see what happens.

Gram, I checked the grapes today. The first ones are turning pinkish. They are awfully small, though. I know that 'Reliance' grapes are small but these are the size of my pinkie finger nail.
Andy P

Gram, you mean you don't have blue jays and cardinals in Wheatfield?? I didn't know that. Yeah, I would miss them to. I love the sound that cardinals make.

We keep saying that the sparrows are little pigs! They eat a lot. We think they're getting fat. My husband says soon they won't be able to fly. He says that when we go out to the garden, they'll have to jump down and run away. Maybe we should start putting out seed every other day. Maybe we can find some tiny little treadmills. Maybe we should hang a mirror so they can see how fat they're getting.

Nancy, I'm sure there are blue jays and cardinals in Wheatfield, just not in my yard. The whole subdivision was farmland and there was not one large tree. Some of the homes have been here 5 or 6 years now, so a few trees are achieving some size, but these kinds of birds like cover, I guess. Maybe they nest up higher in the taller trees. I don't know. But I never had goldfinches or hummers before. guess it's a trade-off.

Don't get me started on sparrows. My neighbor put up 2 bluebird houses, but they are letting sparrows nest in them and they will never have bluebirds. It's sad. They're everywhere.

Andy, I can't remember for sure about Reliance. I'm thinking they were smaller the first year.

Poor maligned Sparrows. I don't put out bird food, but I grow it. I should say I allow unsightly bird food to grow.
Have you ever seen how many bugs those little birds eat?????
Most every type of bird visits here. Hummers don't stay long, unfortunately.
The bird bath gets a lot of activity.
Andy P

Andy, I pretty much let everything go to seed. I had 5 goldfinches having a party on a sad looking scabiosa one day.

I have 2 bird baths, both copper, one hanging and one pedestal. None of the birds seem drawn to them. I clean them every day. Fresh water. make sure it's not too deep for the small birds. Must be doing something wrong.

Gram, is the interior of the copper bath slippery? Some time ago I was told that smooth interiors discourage bathing.
My old cement one has a rough bottom, for good footing.
It's a pain to keep clean, birds are pigs.
Andy P

Andy, maybe that's it. but they make so many copper ones. I've thought about putting a flat rock in the middle. ditto on the 'birds are pigs'.

You've seen pigs fly?!
The blue jays aren't in Wheatfield they are in Toronto!
Now that I think of it the Cardinals are in St Louis.

Don't worry I'll leave now.

Dave

PS Nancy, love those sparrow diet ideas!

Good one, Dave. "The Blue Jays are in Toronto....." Come to think of it, I haven't seen any red socks around here either.

No, the Red Sox have just unravalled

Ah. I see.

Hello,
I'm new to DG, and thought I'd introduce myself--it's neat reading everyone's garden observations. Our garden is a 1/5 acre in an old neighborhood close to the city of Rochester in Upstate NY (6A)--not a lot of room, but we managed to get it certified by NWF as a backyard habitat. We dug our own pond some years ago and host unexpected wildlife, even a woodcock one fall. We've hatched many baby birds over the years, and recently I took this picture of a cardinal fledgling. It jumped from the nest its parents built next to our house in a hawthorn. He looks a little grumpy! Until recently, I didn't realize that many songbird chicks leave their nests before they can fly. Note the nearby snail and holes in leaves, we've been plagued by them this year despite all the snail-eaters around.

Well, hi, creeping_jenny. welcome. especially glad to see someone from my neck of the woods. That is a fantastic pic! NOW we know where the cardinals are.

as you can tell, there's a lot of good-natured teasing and banter here, and a lot of good gardening info and photos, and just nice folks.

gram


ps Dave, so glad you explained that. I wonder what kind of seed you put out for Buffalo Bills?

Don't feel bad - I don't get hummers either. I've tried everything! I do get alot of other feathered friends; blue jay, cardinal, gold finches, doves, orioles, nuthatches, woodpeckers [2 kinds]..

Welcome, C J. I learned about the fledglings leaving the nest before they could fly only last month. The snails have been terrible this season here, too.

I read an article in the paper this morning that I want to share. It's about a new exhibit at Bostons Museum of Science. At first I was unsure if I should post it because of the nature of the exhibit. It's about the human body, how it looks without the skin. It is NOT gross.
A German Dr. has invented a unique method of preserving cadavers in a totally lifelike fashion to display muscles and ograns, as an educational tool. Here is a link.
http://www.mos.org/bodyworlds/
Fascinating.
Andy P

i get hummers all summer. fuscias are the best for drawing them. i don't feed the birds during the summer, just winter. mostly i get woodpeckers, blue jays, red winged blackbirds and pigeons. (my neighbor used to keep homing pigeons, but he moved. they came back. they are actually very pretty, not your average grey city pigeon.)
the other day i saw a bald eagle flying over my house. it was awesome. wish i had my camera. didn't know they nested here.