Hummingbirds

I think I may have to concede the battle of the hummingbirds this year. I was at my sister’s house a few days ago and she had about 40 bazillion hummingbirds at her feeders. Today I was close; I had four. Yep, just four. I have to think of it this way though, I’m not spending as much on sugar as she is so I’m winning in that regard!

Speaking of winning the shasta daisies are winning too. They have literally taken over the flower bed, like I expected them to. I thought they would have done it last year but I purchased impostors instead of real shastas and they never did grow much. Or maybe they were just giving the mutant snapdragons a false sense of security. When I realized, late last summer, I didn’t have real shastas I pulled them out and bought some real shasta daisy seeds to plant. I swear they have all come up this year. There is hardly a square inch in the flower garden that isn’t dominated with shastas. As you can see from the picture on the right they are just now beginning to bloom. It will be a beautiful display and they cut very well too!

Tonight I’m going to go back out and watch the fireflies. We had a thundershower go through this afternoon cooling things off for a little while. Now though it’s once again humid and very warm. The air is also completely still; just the kind of night fireflies enjoy. Hmmm, maybe a cold beer, surrounded by my dogs and watching fireflies from my deck. Sounds like a good evening to me.

I hope your Sunday evening turns out as good as mine. Here are today’s pictures:

 

Summer Fireflies

Have you ever, as a child, gone out on a late summer evening, the muggy air surrounding you like a blanket, a jar in hand in search of fireflies? I think we all have. The world was a magical place beck then. We never considered what might be lurking in the dark, what might be crawling through the grass. We only had one goal, to catch a few fireflies in our jar, poke a few airholes in the lid, and keep them in out bedroom overnight. Most of us released the insects the next day and, the following evening went out in search of the sparkling prey once again.

I think it was a rite of summer. A passage of sorts. It was something we cherish, not as children of course because we were too young to understand just how special those days were, but as adults, those precious and rare evenings are now gems we cling to for their value. Those warm summer nights are remembered because of the innocence they link us with. Those remembered nights are like our first taste of ice cream. Something undeniably wonderful.

In many ways I have not forgotten those days. Not only have I not forgotten but I still enjoy some of the childlike innocence of chasing fireflies. Last evening my brother-in-law stopped by after dark to borrow a tool he needed. I spent maybe 10 minutes at my gate, after I handed him the tool, to simply watch fireflies in the field. They were performing a dance many ignore. Like the dance of the leaves in the fall, the dance of the fireflies is there is only one will look.

When it warms in your area take advantage of the brief time they are around. The fireflies are dancing for you too.

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I hope your Saturday was as filled with beauty as mine was. Here are today’s pictures:

 

 

Butterfly Bushes

Today’s post is about flowers. If you’ve been reading this blog at all you know that since last summer I’ve been watching the mutant Snapdragons. They lasted all winter long, hence earning the identity mutant, and then seemed to take on the Shasta Daisies. Now, I’ve had Shastas before and they are aggressive and unyielding. For most of the spring it seemed the mutant Snapdragons were holding their own. Unfortunately this evening I have to report it seems the Shastas have finally gotten the upper hand. I’m not going to count the mutants out yet but it’s obvious from the pictures they are having a hard time competing. We’ll see how they do in the heat of the summer but the daisies typically prefer hot weather so I don’t believe the summer and fall will bode well for the mutants. We’ll see and I’ll be glad to share more photos from time to time.

As for other flower news it seems the Butterfly bushes and coming back with a vengeance. Ever since I have protected them from the wannabe gardener or horticulturist Zeus, they have sprung right back. Some of them are now flowering and I expect to see butterflies on them any day now.

So I soon will have flowers all around my yard. It will be a lovely sight.

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Hope your Friday was as filled with flowers as mine was. Here are today’s pictures:

 

Puffy Clouds

Have you ever noticed the clouds of winter are flat? Flat and gray mostly, even here in the south. When I lived back in New York the coming of a winter storm was always, and I mean always, preceded by a flat gray sky. Almost like a gray chalkboard in the sky.

In the spring you can get a combination of clouds. Sometimes you see the fluffy fair weather clouds and sometimes the flat ones move back in, usually before or just after it gets cold again. However the summer is different. You don’t see the flat clouds anymore. Well, let me take that back just a bit. If you live in Florida and there’s a hurricane coming you get the flat gray clouds. Then you get a ton of rain, wind hard enough to knock you over and no electricity for days at a time but Florida is unique in many ways. You don’t usually see the flat gray clouds and cold weather I’m talking about.

Today I was outside looking at my wilting cherry tree and noticed the clouds were all puffy. I hadn’t noticed them is a long time so I had to get a picture for you folks. I think summer has arrived in Tennessee nad plans on staying now. We might get a few more cold nights but I believe, for the most part, they’re gone.

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Hope your Thursday was filled with warm puffy clouds. Here are today’s pictures:

 

The Electric Yard

OK, I love my dogs. No, really I do. However sometimes they push me to the limit. Zeus did that to me this morning. When I went out early this morning to go to the mailbox to get something in the mail I noticed one of my new cherry trees was not where I had planted it. As a matter of fact it was about 15 feet away from the hole it had been planted in. It was still in one piece but the hole where the tree had been planted was completely, and I mean completely dug out. Every possible scoop of dirt was removed from the hole and scattered nearby. Apparently Zeus didn’t like where I had planted the tree and was letting me know of his disapproval.

Zeus and I had a discussion and he was made quite aware of my disapproval of his disapproval. I replanted the tree, watered it thoroughly and I’ll see if it survives. If not I will go get another one. Fortunately, a couple of weeks ago I purchased a solar powered electric fencer. Now, half of my back yard is fenced off with poly wire and it completely encloses my cherry trees. If I need to I will go buy a couple more of these solar powered babies and protect the rest of my trees, including my chestnut trees.

Life in the country with dogs. Never a dull moment!

Hope your Wednesday was better than mine. Here are today’s pictures:

 

 

Thundering Water Tower

This morning, a partly cloudy and cool morning I heard the very unlikely and odd sounding thunder starting at about 7:30. It was odd because the thunder rolled far longer than thunder usually does around here and it had an odd sound to it. Somewhat hollow is the best way to describe it. My dogs also thought it sounded a little strange because they started barking every time it rolled over the jills. I finally had to go outside and it sounded like my brother-in-law was building something up at his place so I walked up there.

Nope, he wasn’t building anything. It seems the local water department was tearing down the old water tower that sat at the to of a hill at the end of our road. I suppose it was about time because the thing constantly leaked, there was often water running down the road and this winter the leak was so bad water was spraying from the bottom of the tank and covering everything nearby with thick coatings of ice. I guess it wasn’t good for their bottom line either, losing all that water like that.

Now, understand, this was no tiny water tower. If you’ve ever seen a farm silo, that’s what it looked like except it was painted light blue. It was bigger around than a farm silo and just about as high. I’d estimate it was near 70-80 feet tall though that may be a little high.

It looks like they’ll be replacing it with a tower that’s a bit taller than the old one. Hopefully more leak free too! We’ll see. I hope while they’re at it they check the pipes connecting the tower to the main. I suspect, like most things around here, they have been there since the civil war.

Hope your Tuesday was less thunderous than mine. Here are today’s pictures:

 

 

Vicious Headaches

I didn’t post yesterday. I spent most of the day in bed. When I say most that’s exactly what I mean. If I was out of bed more than an hour yesterday that would have been pushing it. I had a headache from hell yesterday. If you’ve ever had migraines you know how bad they can be. I had them many years ago and apparently outgrew them. Yesterday seemed like a migraine except it didn’t have the hearing distortions and flashing lights I typically get with a migraine. Otherwise the pain was exactly the same.

Sleeping last evening should have been a problem but it wasn’t. I went to bed, passed out and awoke this morning with the same freaking headache. Damn! Aspirin didn’t help and I don’t like taking anything more powerful. So, once again, I spent most of the day in bed with the room dark and my arm over my eyes. Finally I thought about what I might have changed since I received my pacemaker. Caffeine was effecting me more than it used to so I cut back. At 1PM today I decided to try an experiment and I had another cup of coffee. My second of the day when I normally would have had 3 or 4 by then. Half an hour later my headache was gone! OK, so I have to figure out whether I want severe, days long, headaches or an extra cup of coffee. Let me think on that one. *laughs* I’m going back to coffee!

Today I also received word that a friend of mine from the last company I worked for, Bill Ryan, passed away. Bill was a great guy. Always had a good word for everyone, always laughing, always there when you needed him. As everyone who reads this blog knows I don’t like many people and avoid everyone if I can. Bill was different. He was truly a kind person and always a treasure to be around. His wife linda is much the same and if she gets to read this I sincerely wish her the best going forward. Bill will be missed by many people and I definitely count myself in that number. There’s not many people I will say that about.

Bill, you will be missed.

Hope you had better news on Monday than I did. Here are today’s pictures:

 

 

Things Are About to Even Out

I’ve mentioned a couple of times in the last weeks about how dry it’s been here in Tennessee. I’ve mentioned I’ve been watering my new trees daily, that I’ve been filling the birdbath, etc. It’s also been really dusty around here since I live far off off a dirt road. Well, things always do even out and it looks like we’re about to see that in spades. When I was out taking the daily pictures a few minutes ago I noticed the sky was quite overcast. I came inside and checked the weather forecast and it seems we’re under a significant weather advisory. That surprised me because this morning started out cold and the day has been absolutely beautiful! Here’s what the weather service now says about this area:

Growing Season

Growing season has hit high gear here in Tennessee. Everything is exploding from the ground in a frenzy to get established before the really hot weather of summer hits. The Chestnut trees are doing very well, my butterfly bushes are growing like crazy and the shasta daisies are seemingly growing an inch a day.

Fortunately it’s been dry enough lately that the grass isn’t following suit. I suppose it helps that I water the trees on a daily basis. I want them to get as well established as possible before the really hot weather hits.

I’ve been watching the birdhouse the Carolina Chickadees have been using and I have not seen any activity in it for the last several days. I know that some birds have already had a batch of young and I hope that’s the case with these little guys. I would suspect they would use the bird house all summer raising more than one batch, but maybe that’s all Chickadees raise in a single season. Then again, maybe with the leaves on the trees now perhaps they moved deeper into the woods for their next batch. I know Chickadees like the deep woods in the summer so they may have just used the house for the first batch until the environment was suitable for their needs.

Today I finally finished a story I’ve been working on for the last three weeks. It felt good to finally wrap it up. I need to edit it now and revise parts of it but the heavy lifting is done. What remains is only fine tuning. It’s a good feeling.

 

Hope your Friday was as productive as mine. Here are today’s pictures:

 

 

 

The Woods Are Closing In

That’s not a bad thing. Earlier in the spring I posted pictures of the trees in the area around my house just beginning to get leaves. Since I live practically in the woods I could see quite a ways into the woods when this was happening. There weren’t enough leaves on the trees to block the view. Now, all around my home, the trees are in full leaf and it’s like I have a solid green wall surrounding my home. It’s very comforting and actually very beautiful. There are literally hundreds of shades of green all around me. Right now I’m looking out my computer room window and the sunlight is patterned on the nearby trees making a visual of strikingly bright greens contrasted with deep dark ones. Very beautiful.

As you can see from the picture above the flowers are really taking off too. The shastas are taking over the flower bed, as I expected they would, with the mutant snapdragons putting up a valiant fight. The butterfly bushes that Zeus ate almost to the ground have come back well too and may even get tall enough to block out the light from the yard light my sister has mounted on her telephone pole. If not this year then definitely next.

The chestnut trees are also growing well as well as the cherry trees. Things are going crazy here in Tennessee and it’s a great season for anyone who likes growing things.

Speaking of growing things the catbirds have seemingly spread the word. No, they’re not really catbirds but that’s what I’m calling them because they are going after my cat Sparky’s food like there’s no tomorrow. As you can see from the picture, not only are the catbirds eating the food now but they have invited their neighbors and relatives along for the buffet. It’s all good. I like watching the little devils.

Hope you have a good Thursday. Here are today’s pictures: