nature photography

Roadtirement is going to take a break

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Pearly Gates morning glory

Sometimes you need to take a break from blogging. That’s what Sher and I have decided we are going to do for a while.

Not to worry, we are both doing fine. Our recent doctor visit resulted in good reports for each of us. We did have to get blood tests today after fasting, yuck. Maj’s diet is still going well, and his daily bike rides for exercise are slowly increasing in duration and distance.

And for those of you who caught our last post on Roadtirement know that we asked you to guess the destination of our next adventure. Today we’re giving the “reveal” as they say on the reality shows. Drumroll………….   We are going to Seattle and the state of Washington.  We’ve visited there before, and our daughter, son-in-law and grandson live near Seattle so fun visits coming! It is beautiful country with lots of things to see and do.

We are not leaving forever, just taking some time off. Thanks so much for your support and we’ll be back sometime.

 

Wild strawberry or COVID virus??

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Took a picture of a couple of mushrooms yesterday.  Within the image was a little red wild strawberry. Once the photo was enlarged and the red berry zeroed in, the details of the berry came into focus.

That looks eerily close to COVID

Immediately the  shape of the berry looked very familiar. Yes, that shape has been displayed just about everywhere since, oh, sometime around March 2020. It does look way to much like the renderings you see of that damned COVID-19 virus.

Fungus still among us

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OK, promise this will be the last time for the fungus among us headline…

The clover leaves will help you judge the size of these mushrooms

Once again the wet conditions seem to have offered a good environment for the growth of a couple of mushrooms. These two popped up under our yard swing. The shade may have helped.

Little and elusive

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I was lucky to even see this little green bug. Talk about camouflage. He kept moving around hiding on the branch (like squirrels do on tree trunks) as I tried to get this image. 

He’s about a half inch tall

After doing a search on a bug identification site, I came to the conclusion that this guy is a planthopper. No, not a leafhopper, but a planthopper. According to the experts, planthoppers have fewer leg spines and a “more interesting head” than leafhoppers.  I didn’t make that up. Thank heavens, at least my bug has an interesting head. Whew…

How they are growing

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Welcome to our tomato growth pictorial

 

Flower/pollination

Flower petals still hanging on the bottom

More possible starts here in addition to the two already growing

A little further along (yes it rained last night)

These two look like they are going to make it

These were the first two that showed up

This year we bought two plants instead of growing from seeds. The last photo is from a different plant from the other images. The header at the top of the page is actually of a “volunteer” plant that just showed up in the backyard. It seems to be doing well and will soon earn the right to have its own tomato cage.

Spotted on my bike ride this afternoon

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Today while very humid, was really a decent day for a bike ride. Part of my diet regime is also a renewal of exercise. Bike rides in the neighborhood fit that bill nicely. No fancy multi-geared hand brake bike here. Nope, I have a simple coaster brake bike. Works for me and best of all I know how to ride it.

There is always something to see while pedaling around the area. Today’s ride definitely served up some neat observations. Here goes! I’ll share some photos of the flora, fauna and other stuff I saw.

A citizen added a touch of patriotism to this sign at a boat access ramp

Originally a WWII concrete practice bomb, they once lined the road with chains stretched between them

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The concrete practice bombs had two of the iron loops enabling them to be loaded in the bomb bays of the planes. They were used during WWII at Camp Atterbury at Edinburg Indiana, and repurposed for the road side chain marking. The wooden sign is next to a boat access ramp leading to Big Blue River.

A big ol’ groundhog was eating apples from nearby tree

City maintained, note the volunteer maple saplings in the center

 

 

 

 

 

 

Like I mentioned, bike riding is a big part of my new diet and exercise ‘program’. I have been riding at least twice a day with a goal of at least 3 miles each ride. I know compared to real serious riders, that’s not much, but for me it is an accomplishment, and I’m trying to increase my distances each day.  So today I have pedaled 5.25 miles, consumed one shake and one salad. Don’t know about tonight’s supper yet. Probably another shake. Blood pressure is still down.

The beard sail

One funny thing happened to me today during the ride. It was the first time I was pedaling at, for me, a rapid rate and wham! here came a strong headwind. It made my beard feel like a sail, and actually created quite the resistance.  Felt really strange.

A neat feature at a park

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This afternoon Sher and our son and I went on a ‘hunt’ for a Geocache at a nearby park. We had looked it up last night on a map, and there it was! So off we went.

Explanation of how the swale works

This Geocache was not one of those hidden boxes or log books. This one was a feature at the park. We went in search of a Water Quality Bio-Swale. Yes, a feature that is designed to collect pollutants from rain fall runoff.

That’s the swale in the background

It actually looked like an ordinary swale for rain runoff. This one had a more complex design than you normally expect. There was a thick layer of sandy soil in the low part of the swale which filtered any pollutants. A layer of gravel at the bottom surrounded a  perforated drain pipe in which the storm water runs off to a nearby river.

The story of Indiana’s state tree

The swale banks were planted with trees native to Indiana. One of the park volunteers was mapping the location and species of each tree while we were on site. He informed us that there will be individual ID signs on each tree and a brochure with detailed info coming soon.