Nature
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@nuleafjhawk The girls have a big puzzle board that Mike made for them and there is always the floor.
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Late getting here today. Another round of storms overnight and another limb down. Today's photo is of the east side of the house flower bed that is covered in salvia. The hummingbirds love them. See all kinds of bees too. Mike welded the railings to keep the deer out and saw a squirrel in there this morning along with a lizard. Who knows what else lives in there.
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On such a gloomy day, I wish I was here! After Mike passed away, the girls and I went to our favorite place. As a family, we made many trips to South Padre Island. We tried Corpus Christi, Port Aransas, Galveston, Houston but nothing compares to South Padre. We tried condos and rentals, but liked best a dive of a 2 story motel, The Surf Motel, in the middle of the island that we always went back to. Back in the early 90s there wasn't the tourist trappings like today. We could walk to the bay side, drive as far north on the beach as you wanted and Mike fished, the girls played in the sand and I sought sea shells and did a lot of reading. The typical family. We went to a wildlife refuge to see the migratory birds and fished off the piers. Rode the go carts. Rented bicycles. Toured the small towns around there. The girls had a pool at the motel, there was the bar and they had volleyball courts. The rooms have kitchenetts and Mike would barbeque with the other guys in the middle of everything. It was fantastic. I am thinking of heading down there before hurricane season.
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Today's photo shows how nature makes itself visible in the most barren places. These native plants (Greenthread) survive due to their long roots to tap into moisture deep in the ground. And this is on the edge of our "road".
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Today we honor all those that gave the ultimate gift so that we can have the liberties I cherish. I fly my flag in their memory.
Our flag does not fly because the wind moves it. It flies with the last breath of each soldier who died protecting it. — Unknown
The ultimate sacrifice for freedom deserves our highest honor.
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Today's photo is of a beautiful amaryllis bloom from a potted plant I received from work when I had the girls in December 1987. I've kept this photo sealed and in a frame all these 35+ years it was so beautiful. It took years to finally get this bloom. I read that the amaryllis flower has a fascinating and dramatic origin story that dates back to Antiquity. According to a Greek myth, Amaryllis is a beautiful young maiden who is deeply in love with Alteo, a local shepherd and gardener. Strong and handsome, Alteo has a passion for flowers and claimed he could only fall in love with a maiden who brought him a flower so unique that it never existed before. Unsure of how to gain his affections, Amaryllis sought guidance from the Oracle of Delphi, who told her she must sacrifice her blood for him to win his love. For a month, Amaryllis stood upon Alteo's doorstep, piercing her heart with a golden arrow each night in hopes he would notice her, but he did not. On the 30th day, Alteo opened the door and, in her place, saw an extraordinary and beautiful dark red flower that had blossomed from the blood of Amaryllis' heart. A sad tale, for sure, but from this myth, the amaryllis flower has become a profound symbol of love, commitment, and determination. During the Victorian era, the amaryllis flower took on the meaning of pride, strength, and confidence due to its sturdiness and towering height over other winter flowers. Gentlemen would give the amaryllis flower to women they respected and thought were strong and very beautiful.
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Today's photo is of our Brittany Spaniel, Jasper, that Mike found at a pet store (with papers back then) when he was a puppy and it was just a couple of months after we had moved to Austin in the heart of old Hype Park neighborhood. We rented a duplex on a side street that was a dead end and had a fenced in back yard for $150 per month. He got some quail and began training him in the back yard. Just the best dog ever. Mike would take him to southeastern Kansas to a farm our friends had and could out hunt any other dog. I saw him once catch a pheasant in the air after he had pointed it. We got a female and they had 6 litters. All of the pups went to his hunting buddies up in Kansas and Michigan. Mike would take him to work on the various job sites and when he would be missing, we found him one time in the community swimming pool, he had a girlfriend and he would visit her house and be inside the ac while Mike would be out in 100 degree weather working, and many nights after he couldn't be found, Mike would come and get me and we would be out searching the neighborhood for him. When he was just 6 months old, he fell out of the back of Mike's truck and broke his left hip. He would sleep in the only chair we had when we first moved all that time he was healing. He lived to be 15. We kept one of the males from his last litter, but he didn't get the same genes. The female was bitten by a copperhead in the throat and Mike put Adolph's meat tenderizer on the bite and although she swelled up a lot, she survived.
Who is your favorite pet?
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UPDATE! Offspring of my banana spider spotted this morning. @nuleafjhawk be aware!
#RCJH GO KU
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@RockChalkinTexas-0 gorgeous!
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@RockChalkinTexas-0 Thanks for the heads up!
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I am getting ready to savor the great taste of home grown green beans that I picked yesterday off of the 8 plants that have survived this very wet spring. There is nothing better than eating something you grew and nurtured. They, along with sweet corn we are having, are my most favorite thing to eat and brings back memories of picking my grandmother's in her garden on their farm in South Dakota. I believe my love for gardening stems from the summers I spent at their farm when we lived in Bloomington, MN and our parents would drop off my 4 older brothers and me. They had a well and you would drop the bucket down and pull it up and drink from a ladle. No indoor plumbing. No AC. My four older brothers locked me in the barn loft one day and on another escapade they left me atop a hay bale when the cows came into the pasture. They were brutal but, don't worry, I got them back when they were in junior high and high school. I could earn a couple dollars not telling on them. Worked many times. LOL
I can almost taste them now.
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@RockChalkinTexas-0 love fresh g beans w/some new taters and some ham!
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Today's photo is of a crocus. We have lots of these scattered throughout the properties. They seem so delicate. I did not know that they cultivate saffron from these plants!!. Mine are mostly white but have seen a couple of purpleish ones.
Crocus (/ˈkroʊkəs/; plural: crocuses or croci) is a genus of seasonal flowering plants in the family Iridaceae (iris family) comprising about 100 species of perennials growing from corms.
They are low growing plants, whose flower stems remain underground, that bear relatively large white, yellow, orange or purple flowers and then become dormant after flowering. Many are cultivated for their flowers, appearing in autumn, winter, or spring. The flowers close at night and in overcast weather conditions.
The crocus has been known throughout recorded history, mainly as the source of saffron. Saffron is obtained from the dried stigma of Crocus sativus, an autumn-blooming species. It is valued as a spice and dyestuff, and is one of the most expensive spices in the world. Iran is the center of saffron production.
Crocuses are native to woodland, scrub, and meadows from sea level to alpine tundra from the Mediterranean, through North Africa, central and southern Europe, the islands of the Aegean, the Middle East and across Central Asia to Xinjiang in western China. Crocuses may be propagated from seed or from daughter cormels formed on the corm, that eventually produce mature plants. They arrived in Europe from Turkey in the 16th century and became valued as an ornamental flowering plant.
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@RockChalkinTexas-0 this one was really cool! I knew nothing about crocus.
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Today's photo is of a couple of blooming cacti. We have a lot of prcikly pear, pencil, barrel, and "old man" (pictured here) with pink bloom. There is an "old lady cactus" too. We have had workers in the past that asked if they could cultivate the edible fruit (red blooms) called "tunas" and the pads to eat. YUCK. Hannah once fell into a pencil cactus patch and for a week I pulled the little stingers out of her. If you even get near them, they shoot their stingers at you.
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Today's photo is of a Trumpet Creeper that I photographed in the parking lot of The Bluebonnet Cafe, which has been there forever. I have one growing on one of my lots out back. However, I am not about to go walking out there because I would be eaten up with chiggers. Because of all our rain this spring, the grass back there is almost waste high. I have a hard enough time working in the garden and mowing and filling up the hummingbird feeders without getting eaten up.
Trumpet Creeper may be the most famous hummingbird attractor. Not only are its big, showy red flowers a treat to look at, but hummingbirds will swarm them as fall migration begins. This vine can bloom as early as June, but usually peaks in August and early September. Make sure you give it space to grow, otherwise it can take over and grow on top of other nearby plants.
Trumpet Creeper is good for adding some vertical structure to your yard, since it can grow up high on trees, walls, roofs, or almost anything else, leaving plenty of space on the ground for other plants.
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Today's photo shows a Laredo Striped Whiptail checking me out when I was cleaning out the mower and weed eater. There are a number of these that are out during the day. The Laredo striped whiptail mostly relies on insects as their primary food source. They have a lot of energy and move quickly, which lets them hide quickly when they feel threatened. The striped whiptail has a dark green or dark brown body with seven yellow or white stripes. Also, they like to live in places with sandy soil and few plants.
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My photo of the praying mantis was featured in my bug guy's blog today! Pretty cool. He's having a photo contest too at his 4th of July party in Fredericksburg. We are planning to go.
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Heres the current Magic Puzzle called Crystal Caves we are working on. I am a big fan of the inner borders of these puzzles as finding border pieces is my favorite part of puzzle making and this is a challenging version of that task
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Today's photo shows not only the sentiment shown on the cup but also the delphiniums picked from the garden earlier this spring, before a storm was coming. I would rather they re-seed in the garden. Where does the name delphinium come from?
With a little imagination, you can see that the buds of the flower look like dolphins
. Hence the name delphinium, the Latin word for dolphin. If you already have delphinium in your garden, you can use the seeds from it. When your delphinium has finished flowering, wait until the seed capsules are completely dry. If you hold them upside down, the seeds will fall out. Store them in a paper bag in a dry, cool place and sow them next spring.
