Collard greens

So here is some of our crop of collard greens. There are still plenty more out in the garden. This is a wonderful food to grow because it seems to withstand the frost heartily. These cooked up beautifully, and with a little bacon and maple syrup (real maple syrup) boiled in they were a pleasure to eat.

A Shrike's Love Affair With a Live Oak

It starts with one lizard. Then one day you find nothing can stop the urge to impale a second lizard. It escalates to a grasshopper (bigger and fatter than a lizard). Where will this take us?
It is hard to say when a Shrike begins a love affair with a Live Oak. It is however a six foot tree and a Shrike is bound to think the tree is cluttered pretty soon.

(I should mention I spotted a L. Shrike sitting out on our deck railing. Had I not spotted the lizard the other day I would not have brushed up on I.D. skills needed to appreciate the difference between a Shrike and a Mocking Bird).

Plague of Starlings

They came swooping into the yard from the sky and filled the lawn with chatter and noise, squeeking and clicking and eating. Thousands of Starlings had appeared. I hoped they would stay long enough for the camera but the camera was full of pictures. I hoped they would stay and eat all the fire ants (or would the fire ants finish them?). I picked up the baby and said "birds, look, see birds". Just then they all swirled into action and in waves rose up and left our yard as quickly as they came. Many must have been in the side yard and front yard because for a moment as we looked out the back door it was as if we were standing in a cloud of birds and all we saw were Starling bellies. As much as I dislike these birds I was in awe for that moment when the baby and I were 'in' the swarm.

Dead lizard

Well after all my worries about birds disappearing... this impaled little lizard is a sure sign of a Shrike, a Loggerhead Shrike.

http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i6220id.html

I happened to be out trying out gardening while carrying Grady in a sling. While I was out front I decided to check up on our Live Oaks. At first I thought this poor little guy was a broken twig. He/she is about 4 inches long, a tiny little lizard I have never seen before.

While I was checking him/her out we were approached by a white and orange kitten, a stray that resembles the one that lived on our porch briefly this last spring. Bluew sat down to invite it closer but it was too shy.

Sunset

Taken without a flash.
Taken with a flash.Overall the weather Saturday was amazing, warm, nice. All day Sunday it was rainy and gross. Probably great for the gardens.
Unfortunately I have not gotten into the gardens much in the last three months. A new baby certainly occupies a lot of time and even when I want to be free, and have a few minutes to myself I tend to spend then"relaxing" in front of the TV.
I don't get out much but I do still take Grady for walks around the yard with the Dogs. I have noticed there are very few birds here and that is a little disturbing. I can contribute much of it to the nearby construction but it is really sad. Every so often we can smell burning plastic and I guess someone nearby is not very environmentally educated. Perhaps our area is a little unwelcomming right now. Since we cut our feild most of the summer the Meadow Larks went away. I wasn't suprised but I am saddened. I'm only one lawn and I think even if I stopped mowing it would not be enough habitat. Same with Eastern Bluebirds. Killdeer still wander around here but I havn't seen Barn Swallows all summer. It is eery.

Decisions and Follow Up

This peach tree has held on sadly. What to do with it? Do I replace it with a healthy tree next season or give it a chance? Of three peach trees this is all the leaves they have collectively left. One.

Fall Sights

Grady and I wrapped up in some light fall wear and took the dogs on a much needed outing in the yard today.

The banana peppers actually turn a rich red when they are really ripe. I have no idea if they are hot or not, probably packing a little heat, but that is just a guess.

Collard grees I've been struggling to grow. The ones you see here had about two full weeks as seedling on my covered porch and they took much better in the summer heat than a seedling I tried to transfer just after germination.

The sumac trees - I can't tell you right now which kind of sumac, but I'll look it up - are turning a bright red color, it's wonderful.

If you look you will see a pretty neat looking mushroom. There were a bunch of these growing together in the back of the yard where the soil tends to stay wet longer after rains. They remind me of a mushroom called "Hen of the Forest".

Poor Mark

Worst case of poison ivy yet. These rashes have been plagueing Mark for over a week. We figure thatr he forgot to shower after mowing the lawn and then somehow the sheets have been spreading the rash (ie. poison ivy oils).
So in an effort to stop the madness we washed the bedding. Unfortunately we didn't get to it before it spred up and down one arm and onto the other. If that hasn't stopped it my next guess is to blame the dogs fur.

Backyard Feildtrips

I have missed getting out in the backyard with the dogs and doing a perimeter walk with them. Recently I have put a hat on the baby and gotten out a couple of times. I've turned it into a feild trip.
He is nine weeks old and he can hold up his weight with his legs if he's given a little help. So I crouch down and stand him up or hold him on my knee and say "this is a purple flower, can you touch it?", "this is a tree, do you feel it's leaves?", and "this is a tall grass, see how big it is?".
I truely see him trying to take it all in. He can not touch things yet, not on his own. His little hand stays stuck in a tight fist, but I see him want it. I help him extend his hand and gently rub his knuckes against the leaves and petals. Now I think to myself that I have expanded his dreams. His world is gaining texture and I hope as I keep on doing what I do, enjoy the outdoors, that he will gain appreciation for how absolutley real it is.

Spider Visitor

This beautiful spider was with us last fall. Of course probably not the same exact spider, but perhaps its mother. It likes to build huge webs, atleast five feet across in some spots, running from the deck railing to the eves. It has a plesant array of yellows and reds on its back along with the usual spider black.

http://www.termite.com/spider-identification.html is a link to venemous spider identification, but not my spider. (Watchout, they move)

Another Website http://kaston.transy.edu/ tells me the spider belongs to the family Loxoscelidae.

Toxic Cloud

In Apex, due west of here, there has been a big fire at a hazardous waste treatment facility that set off explosions at a petroleum facility adjacent to it. Apparently 15,000 people were evacuated. Not a comforting feeling. Today the weather has been dreary at best and all the news anchors say that this is helping to "scrub" the atmosphere. the fact remains that it is still burning, they are going to let it burn and they have no idea what is burning.

http://www.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl&q=

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15150819/

Otherwise the yard is looking pretty good. The long grasses are turning purple with the fall weather. I took the wrap I had on the Shumard Oak off the trunk and found some evidence tha tit was consticting the trunk. Perhas that explains the trees ill health. Makes me feel kinda stupid. I thought I had put it on kinda loose. When I took it off the was a mesh imprint in the tree.

My baby is getting bigger now and has a fall cold. This is keeping me pretty busy.

T-Bone Steaks

We had a nice weekend here. Some friends of Marks, Bob and Ann, came to town as a "suprise" to celebrate his 50 birthday. I arranged for some hockey tickets, the neighbors came over for cake and then we grilled up some steaks. Purchased of course at a natural foods store, they were all we ate for dinner. The men folk were pleased - and the dogs extremely jelous.

We grilled them late in the evening and snapped a few nice pics of the sunset. I learned that I am not the only person who calls the greenish stage of the sunset the "green moment". I gave Bob a real genuine hug when I heard him use the phrase. That was really a cool moment.



All over the back yard the little yellow flowers that look alot like St Johns Wart are blooming and the tall grass looks kinda pretty. The fire ant have taken over and I have counted up to 12 mounds - seperate colonies I assume - in the part of the lawn we have been mowing.

Our Shumard Oak out front looks near death, something I would not have predicted this spring. I think I could actually count the leave left behind... maybe ten. the good news is there appear to be good strong leaf buds on all the stems which leads me to believe the tree has a comeback plan.

The little Pine that got "all ate up" by the pine saw larve has made a comeback as well sprouting enough new needles to limp its way to the finish line for the season and plan a comeback. Unfortunately the larve will be back as well. I saw plenty of holes at the trees base to know the larve bore down there to mature.

My tomatoe plant are being decimated by an - as yet to be photographed- caterpiller from hell. Big and green with a ferocious top down appetite.

Some of the Lost Photos

My Excuse

I hope this week to get out a slew of flower photos I have been taking all along. As for the excuse... most of July and August I was very pregnant with a bad ankle and I found myself relatively housebound due to heat wave after heat wave. As promised I include a photo of my son, born August 16th, taken in my backyard.

Where Have I Been

I have good reason to believe that the berries in the photo are Elderberries which is pretty fun. They are edible, favorites of bears and have you ever heard of Elderberry Wine? I just might have to try and make some one day soon.

More importantly - some may be wondering where I have disappeared to. The answer is quite simple I sprained my ankle badly about three weeks ago and I also started having false labor. The sprain has, until recently, prevented me from going around my yard and really investigating things. I have started getting out again this week and I have seen many interesting Butterflies. I have also noticed a terrible blight is killing my once wonderful squash plants.

As for the false labor, it has been exhausting and distracting. Hence I had kinda forgotten about the blog... Ooops. Sorry.

I haven't had my baby yet and tomorrow I will be a week over due. The anticipation is tough to bare and is an invaluable lesson in patience. I could get more philosophical but the truth is the while I want to have this baby yesterday I'm still not 100% ready for the planned natural birth.

Look forward to a nice picture of baby in the backyard.

Redheaded Pine Sawfly

Dad has discovered the name of our devastating catapillar. Thanks Dad! I was too creeped out to find out.

http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/DG6703.html#4

http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/components/DG6703fig04.html

Here is a shot of them today doing some ritualistic hanging out, upside down.


Dad says "kill them all" with soapy water.

Another Disappearing Act

Where there had been three volunteer pine trees there were only two.

What on earth had happened to the other one. It looked as if it were dead. All the needles had fallen off, or had they? All I could see was a stick of a tree left. This was worse than Charlie Browns little disaster. As I looked in closer I saw something in the wild world akin to a Stephen King Novel...


I have no idea what these buggers are except that they are some kind of catepillar or moth. I looked in my butterfly ID book and saw no immediate answers. I would love anyones comments on exactly what the hect they are - and I'd love to know if the situation is about to get worse. Does anyone know if a pine tree can survive such a disaster? I think not, but our yard will be the testing ground.

Wild Things

Wild grapes growing along the back of our yard in the Riparian Zone. I've tested them twice for ripeness, and it will be a while. Yes, they are edible. They are growing everywhere, up into the Blackwillows back there.
Here is our friend Poison Ivy. Lovely friend, has left another calling card on my shin. Poison Ivy likes to hang out among the feild flowers Bluew is always playing in.
Here is one picture of many attempts to photograph the feild of flowers growing over the pipeline. This feild of flowers also include Yarrow and Queen Annes lace and has been a real joy.
This bug was huge and creepy and it took some nerves to let it climb up my arm as Mark took the picture! Mark spotted it first so he gets finders credit.
This little wild flower is blooming currently in the back yard near the "Deer Beds". It distantly reminds me of Columbine but I do not know its ID. I has a sof blue or purple quality.

The Flutterby!

I am very excited!

I have just stumbled upon what I think is the correct identification of the butterfly pictured here yesterday (below).

It is an American Painted Lady!

One Sunny Day

Cabbage Seedling



Cucumber - the only one that has really taken.



New pumkin seedlings from last falls pie pumkins we made pie from from the store.



Bright Squash



A Flutterby on my Echinecea (cone flower) plant.



More hibiscus blooms.



Wild black berries that we are babying along. Taste real good.

It is bright out and I thought it would be great to post some photos of our yard as things out there are always changing. I'm learning we humans are not the only hungry creatures. I thought I knew this but I am now learning just how very hungry the rest of all nature really is. There is also a cool snake and a cool centipede I see regularly in the yard now. I keep trying to have the camera with me at the right times but no luck so far. Also I've seen my first official Bunny bottom as it ran away from Bluew. It just waited him out and when he turned to look at me little bunny FOoFOo went boppin' through the field.

Hibiscus Discus

Talk about BIG!

A Giant Green Catapiller

... ate my first tomato and finished off with the top greenery as well. I Didn't kill it when I discovered it because I thought I might get out and photograph it for all you folks to see. Well that plan didn't work, it was gone the very next day. I curse that greedy little bug and I hope one of the Mocking Birds tore it up and ate it.

It is funny because at first I thought for sure a deer had eaten that tomato or perhaps even a bird. The tomato looked like that classic "apple core" still hanging on the "tree". Mark actually discovered the catapillar, and it was huge, maybe a half inch in girth and four inches long in a very bright shade of green. The kind of gaudy green I wish I had noticed two days before when the damage had first started to appear.

As for the rest of the garden, my first squash has also disappeared. The first cucumber has withered and died on the vine before it was 2 inches long. The banana peppers give me some hope and I have had a chance to cook with my first one. It was pretty good. Could all this excess rain be part of the problem?

My flower gardens are looking quite nice. My echinacea or Cone Flowers have started blooming, as well as my perrennial Hibiscus bush (that I thought was dead). Also my Day Lilies are doing quite nice. I also failed to mention quite come time ago that my Salvia, Liatris, Veronica and Butterfly Bush have all made it back and are blooming nicely.

Japanese beetles are attempting to move in on some of these flowers and ruin my fun. I'll have to keep you posted.

Mush

Mush is the sound your feet would make in our backyard today. There is no standing water that I could see but things were so wet out there that I have aborted most missions to walk out too very far. The entire property shifts under your feet as you walk.

Yesterday the rain let up around 2pm. My area recieved about 2 inches of rain which was enough to flood creeks and topple older trees. The wind comming through just after the rain (the kind of wind tails that follows a hurricane) snapped a large limb off my Butterfly Bush.

Locally, aka Raliegh, received between 5 and 6 inches of rain which caused flooding that surpased the flooding of Hurricane Fran from a few years ago by about a foot. Apparently no one researched historic flood plains before building a two story mall next to Crabtree Creek which crested six feet above flood stage yesterday. The good news is that they made up all five plus inches of there rain deficit yesterday officially ending the drought and ending with a surplus of about a half inch.

Today I spotted one of those swallows (my grass is geting longer) and I think I will officially say that we have Barn Swallows here. Did I mention I saw a Chimney Swift the other day. That was kinda odd, they are usually in small groups I thought.

Alberto

It has been raining since sometime lastnight. As of noon the weather reports are saying that we are recieving up to 3 inches of rain an hour. I would not doubt that it could be that high.

My vegetable garden which is starting to see success with squash is standing under 2-4 inches of water. From the photos you can see that the Northwest part of our yard easily becomes a temporary wetland. Temporay and seasonal wetlands are very real and important part of our world - and therefore I am proud of my puddle of a back yard. It is in places like this that watertables get replenished. Water will still be standing there tomorrow.

Watch out Maryland this rain is headed your way!

Ticks, Mowing, Rain, and a Birds Nest

So I was bitten by a tick right on my ripe looking abdomen about a week ago. At first the spot just itched. But the itching was intense. So I pushed aside all these parts of me, lifted up my belly. It was a deer tick. It totally freaked me out. There was this small - yet ominous - parasite sticking out of my belly, beyond my breast, below the roundness in a spot I could barely see or reach. I made for the bathroom and the tweesers. I steadily, yet probably too quickly pulled this thing off. The spot has continued to plague me with itching. A few days ago I begged Mark to pick it open like a splinter and let out the ooze and try to find a tick head. There was no head that he could find but I took a tremendous amount of pleasure in having my belly picked at with a needle. It made Mark nervous and I kept making jokes about performing a ceserean. He didn't think it was funny.

Mowing the lawn has had some interesting effects on the veiw of our yard. It looks neat and clean when we are done and I feel proud as I begin to scratch. Chopping (mowing) up poison ivy in order to keep it from growing does infact turn it into an aerosol. Every time I mow I throw every item of clothing into the wash including my tennis shoes. Then I go straight to the shower and soap up a minimum of three times. No matter, each time I mow the lawn I get poison ivy somewhere. This time it is right next to the tick bite. Joy.

The bird population shifts in our backyard when it is mowed. Last week I finished up doing the entire yard once over. That eveing we had a flood of Starlings, a bird I hadn't seen here yet. Then we had a wave of Grackles, folowed by Crows. All these crews took great pleasure, in shifts, of eating all the exposed and traumatized insects.

Since then I have seen considerably more Mocking Birds. I have also heard Robins though I havn't seen them. The swallows I have been seeing are a little scarce now which is frustrating because I have yet to really nail their identification. They are either Rough Winged Swallows or Barn Swallows. Today for the first time in a while I saw the Meadowlark here again, sitting on our roof.

Mocking Birds spend alot of time being territorial. Yelling at eachother and chasing eachother around. One will chase another into the territory of a third one and around and around they go.

We have also received alot of rain here lately and a bit of hail as well. The storms have been very strong and now routinely scare Ginger into the bathtub - her new comfort tool. I have spent the brunt of two storms in the bathroom with her.

Now we have Alberto! A steady rain started this afternoon. I am not going to complain because apparently our area still has not recovered fully from our drought. My vegetable garden will also be pleased. I am working on a expantion project. If we are lucky I will have pumpkins for the neighbor kids.

The birds nest may not be getting any use. It is so neatly and tighly built, by a Mocking Bird. I observed the bird hanging out in that tree and I thought maybe it was nesting. The outer part of the nest is made of notchy and rough twigs. The inside is made of roots. I think the roots come from the garden I have been turning over where there is a ready supply of unrooted grasses. Just inside the nest are not eggs but what appear to be two leaves, hard, dried, and brown from our Magnolia Tree.

(The photo above is of the tree where the nest is located, perhaps if you use your imagination you will be able to see it. When out in the yard looking at it it is at eye level.)