It is a nice warm and sunny day. The bird bath was appealing to this grackle.
Nature
Helicopters, whirligigs, twisters and samaras
These are all names for those wonderfully spinning things that come off of some maple trees each spring or early summer. (The name samaras is the technical nomenclature for this.) Yes, they become the seeds of the trees. The aerodynamic design allows the seeds to spin as they fall, and they will travel over long distances from the tree.
“Whirligigs” on the tree getting ready to fly
Seed positioned ready to germinate
Hundreds of these spinners will come from each tree, and they will be responsible for many seedling trees as well as clogging gutters and downspouts. In addition, many like to consume the seeds. Try them, they are tasty!
Legends of the lowly dandelion
You have seen them. People love them or hate them. People eat them. Yes, that is the dandelion. There is quite a bit of folklore connected to the dandelion.
Dandelions are related to sunflowers
Each “puffer” has between 150 -200 seeds
No one knows when the first person believed this: If you blow all of the white flying seeds off of a dandelion in one breath your wish will come true. There is also a belief that sending the seeds in the wind will carry your thoughts and dreams to those you love. In addition, some think blowing all the seeds in one breath means your love is true and is returned. Other stories include using the flowers as weather predicters, and the daily opening and closing of flowers indicating time of day.
It’s easy to enjoy a duck
Lots of activity at the river yesterday! Soon after we saw the snake swimming along this duck decided to cross the shallow backwater to a stick covered sand bar. She found a suitable path across the bar to the river, making sure to shake her tail in the process!
Snake swimming in shallow water
We were out looking for some photo ops of ducks and maybe geese. Imagine the nice surprise of a snake deciding to swim by right in front of us.
Arizona’s Sonoran desert at sunset
Back in February, 2016, we were traveling the desert southwest. Tucson was of course a required stop! One evening we took a drive to the Tucson Mountain District of the Saguaro National Park. It was a visual delight to watch the desert turn from the bright sunlight of the day into the subdued lighting of dusk followed by yet another night.
The shadows lengthen
One by one the cacti lose the sun’s warmth
The golden hues of the day’s last light
There is something magical about the Sonoran Desert
Proof they hatched
We’ve been watching a pair of robins constructing and setting on a nest in the crook of the old maple tree outside our back door. We had yet not seen any blue egg shells on the ground. Discarded shells often indicate that the clutch has hatched.
At least two hungry mouths visible demanding food
Today while taking a break on the swing after some weeding I saw one of the robins returning to the “empty” looking nest. Immediately little wide open beaks appeared wanting to be filled with some tasty morsels. No more wondering: we have a clutch of baby robins. We’ll try to get some more photos soon.
Scary looking but basically harmless
If you saw this black head coming over the plant, you might be worried…
Make you shiver??
This is a Great Black Wasp
They are “diggers”
These large wasps are diggers, meaning they dig tunnels where the females feed their young. These are good as a single female can sting and kill up to 16 grasshoppers each day. That is a great help keeping the population of the grasshoppers down. The good news is they only sting people if they are provoked.
Very strange dandelion
Today I noticed a couple of strange looking dandelions in our backyard. Instead of individual stems for each brilliant yellow bloom several had grown together in one solid super stem. You could sort of feel the cluster of stems in these large “stems”.
One big stem, multiple blooms
Another large stemmed one…
There are plenty of “normal” dandelions nearby. Any botanists or agronomists or anybody who knows anything about these dandelions? I’ve never seen anything like this. Appreciate any comments or answers.
Three years later, still growing strong
June 20, 2020
June 25, 2021
May 26, 2022
April 26, 2023
This Black Cherry was one we got free from the Conservation Service and Indiana DNR. The first picture was taken on June 20, 2020 shortly after we planted it in our backyard. The sapling was then in a cage for protection, and the top visible rung on the cage is less than 2 feet high. The second picture was taken on June 25, 2021. By then the tree was a little over 6 feet tall. The tree reached a little over 10 feet in height by the end of May, 2022. Today, April 26, 2023, has the tree measuring a full 14 feet tall. According to what we have read, after about 7 to 8 years of growth we should have Black Cherries to pick.
Roadtirement 