Sunday Stroll

The Christmas fern forest is in full gear.  These are the only ferns here, out of about 8 different type, that I can positively identify.

No idea what this type is.  Maybe a type of bracken fern?

Chigger guards the entrance to the Enchanted Forest.

Okay, now these are definitely sensitive ferns; I do know that one too.  They haven't put up their little brown center stalk yet though.

Some very large trillium.  No idea the variety.  I should have gotten one of the chickens to stand by these because they are easily taller than the girls.

My red azaleas are in excellent form this year.  Very pretty.  I can't wait until they are big!  The ferns around these steps and walls just planted themselves.  I haven't moved any so far.  They seemed to have picked good spots.

My opinion is this is a rattlesnake fern........but I could be wrong.  Maybe some type of grape fern.

My photo designer checkin' out the set up before hand.  She's got an eye for detail.  Actually, she's making sure I didn't drop any treats anywhere in the area.   She's got an eye for that too.

My never-ending quest to get some decent photos of the birds around here.  Didn't do too well today.  We had intermittent showers, so that's my excuse.  I was happy to see a male grosbeak again this year but my photos did not come out well at all.  I hope he will be back.

The First Days Of Spring

No kind of deep, existential post today.... just a little look around of what's going on in the past week.  We had a bit of a cold snap for the past 2 nights but things should warm back up tomorrow.  And hopefully, STAY warm!  I was pleased to see that the cold did not harm the blooms on this forsythia.  I've noticed that a lot of people don't like forsythias because they say, they're just big, green shrubs after the blooms fade.  But I like them.  I think the blast of sunny yellow lasts long enough and is worth just green the rest of the summer.
Whenever I have some free time I've been trying to get the yard and garden cleaned up and ready for the growing season.  We've got a lot of brush to burn, and have burned a good bit already, from when the tree trimmers came through for the power lines.  I'm fine with that though because the alternative is that they spray those horrible chemicals and I'm not having that on my land.

I like forsythias so much that I fairly regularly take cuttings off my big one and root them, like the one above.  These and blueberries are really easy to do.  With several acres in what could be considered yard, I can't afford to buy shrubbery and flowers for everything so it helps greatly to just propagate what you have.  For many shrubs I just prune off a nice strong branch, shave the bark off maybe 1/2"-1" on the end to root and just stick it in the ground.  Now, I do take them to a spot I have reserved in the garden because the garden soil is much better than what's in the yard.  Sometimes I might dip the end in rooting compound...or not.  Once I know they are established, usually about a year, I simply transplant them out into the yard.

I love to see the little fidleheads of the ferns coming up.  To me, this is the first true sign of spring.  Around these parts anyway.  These don't come up until it is shor 'nuff spring.

I finally got around to doing what I should have done long ago and that is add a third row to my asparagus bed.  I only put in 2 rows when we first made this bed because I was afraid of over-crowding but I came to the conclusion that was probably not going to happen.  Besides, if they do seem to get crowded in the years to come I can always thin them to share with friends.  As we always used to say in construction....better to have too much than not enough.  (and that goes for about anything, lol!).
This year I am determined to finally finish the entrance to the garden and the fruit beds that line the perimeter.  I got a pretty good start on that this weekend.  Hopefully I can keep my momentum up.

I got a couple of new bird feeders, including this one specifically for the goldfinches and I have been amazed at how many are now coming around.  In the past, I had seen 2 or 3 at most but now we are getting 8-10 or more.  I just love them and the bright yellows.  Or even the dull yellows.  They are feisty little birds too!  They fight over that thistle seed and will get up in each other's face, screaming as loud as they can.

So, that's about it for garden progress.  Hopefully I'll have a lot more pretty soon.  Anybody already got theirs planted?

Silent Sunday (Almost)

The ol' rhubarb actually came back this year!  Well, one root did anyway.  I'm pretty sure I had two in this pot but even this one coming back for the 3rd year is pretty good.

Spring appears to finally be here!!!!  Not a moment too soon either.  In my opinion.

The daffodils are in fine form this year.  They seem a bit more prolific this time around.

Hopefully, we'll actually get some plums this year.

At the end of last summer I actually found one, lone, dried up (but quite large) plum that had stayed on and matured, but that I had somehow missed when I checked for fruit.

So pretty!!!  Makes me happy!!

Perhaps some of the bulbs have multiplied too.

I wanted Zuzu to pose in front of the flowers but had to trick her into thinking there was some great treat there to get her to stay in one spot.  She quickly discovered I was pulling a fast one on her and promptly ran off.

This is a wild spice bush that is native to this area.  It has gotten fairly large since I have cleared out some of the area around it.  It's covered in these teeny yellow blossoms and does have a somewhat pleasant odor.  It's more medicinal smelling than spicy though.  Some people dry clipping of it for potpourri.

Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon

My computer is giving me quite a lot of trouble with typing right now...so this post will mainly be photos.

The weather the past couple of days has been very lovely.  Highs in the upper 50s and 60s(F).  Light winds and mostly sunny.

Still enough greenery here and there for the girls to graze on.

Always curious.

The earth is becoming impatient for spring also.

Just a lazy Sunday.

Walking On Sunshine

The weather has just been SO gorgeous here the past week.  If I were not so drugged on pain medication I would really be tearing my hair out about now to hit the road to somewhere, anywhere.  Even in my fog it pulls at me terribly.  I settled by taking Chigger for a short hike around the place.

Well, not exactly around the place.  That would take a while.  We just hiked up the ridge about halfway and took a deer trail over to where several large trees were downed by a storm.

Anyway, it was something to keep me from sitting down for a while.  The Birmingham Botanical Gardens is having their biannual plant sale this weekend and I really wanted to go to that but just did not feel like driving that far.  Don't really have extra cash for plants anyway.

I thought it was amazing that this tree got this big all the while being that hollow!  All things endure.

Why is it we get the wanderlust when we are least able to indulge it?  Or, at least I do.  Maybe it's a good lesson for me for when I am able-bodied again....lol!

Mystery To Me

I have a little bit of a different post for all you dear readers today.  A bit of a Pabloesque mystery to help me solve.  Now, in my daydream world, if I were to decide not to be a counterfeiter, my next choice would be a detective or private investigator.  In fact, if it were not for the fact that you have to go all through police academy and actually work for a time on patrol, I might have seriously considered being a detective in real life.  I'm not much on reading most fiction, preferring technical or how-to books, but I love whodunits and any sort of unexplained phenomena.
So, here is my little mystery....Nothing earth-shattering for sure but a bit curious, to me anyway.  At the road end of my drive, near my mailbox, is one of the largest sycamore trees I have ever seen.  It towers well above the surrounding trees in the canopy and the circumference of it's trunk must be 10-12 feet.  A smaller red maple grows under it and both are a favorite of the local squirrels.  Chigger and I were out for our daily stroll to get the mail and as we approached the gate near the mailbox I noticed something seemed amiss.  Looking over underneath the giant sycamore I saw this:  (you may need to enlarge the photo to really see)

The bright green maple leaves from a newly broken limb caught my eye first.  We had not had any recent winds strong enough to blow that down and the leaves were quite crisp and fresh.  It had to have been very recent.  Patches of a blackish, powdery substances were splattered all about and blending into the gravel just a bit was the fresh body a young squirrel.  It looked as though he had fallen from a considerable height.

My first thought when I saw the blackish stuff was that some passing redneck had spit out his dip but as I looked around I realized it was a very, very large amount.  I seriously doubt that even the big-mouthed knuckle-draggers I know could hold that much Skoal.  Plus, there was no Skoal odor.  Perhaps some type of tree rust or mold?

Upon inspecting the small limb it appeared that the broken end had actually been gnawed.  The marking were very similar to the large teeth marks that beavers make when cutting trees.  It was like that but in miniature.  So, gnawed branch, flat squirrel, black junk.  My brain tumbled it all around for a few minutes while Chigger proceeded to sniff everything but she was careful not to disturb the evidence.
I returned to the house to get my camera. I concluded it had to be one of a couple of scenarios.  A. the little squirrel was being pursued by one of the local hawks and had broken a weak limb in it's scrambling to get away, falling to it's doom anyway.  But that didn't really explain why the end looked chewed or gnawed....And wouldn't a hawk have returned for it's prize?  Surely it would have seen the little squirrel laying there.  B. the little squirrel, lacking worldly wisdom, was simply on the wrong side of the limb it was chewing and essentially sawed itself into freefall.  But why would a squirrel gnaw on a tree limb?  Nuts I can see... and what about the black stuff?  I looked all around the large sycamore for any other sign of this black grunge but could not find any.  No other old decaying limbs anywhere that it might could have fallen out of.  After collecting my photos and evidence, and not wanting to see the hapless squirrel become anymore "messy" shall we say, I conveyed it's small body to a peaceful area of the forest to let nature finish it's process.
So, what do you think?  What was that black stuff and why was it splattered everywhere?

Double brownie points to any who can also tell me, off the top of your head, the band that the post title refers to.  One hint; this title is an album and not a specific song.

Going Through Changes

Well, a lot of the same ol', same ol' going on around here but there have been a few changes happening.  The girls are getting put up a little earlier in the afternoon because we had one Ameracauna hen get taken by something.  She just vanished; not sure what got her although I suspect it was a fox.  I was a little later than usual getting down to lock them up and she was just not there with the others.  Crap like that makes me sad.

The pumpkin is starting to get it's color, proving my guess to be correct!  Just wish it would make at least one more.  All the other blooms appear to be male though.  Poo.

Little Tilly is really getting big now!  Although I highly suspect Tilly is actually Ted or maybe Terry so it can go either way.  (S)he is still very sweet though and very rambunctious!  The one in the background is George, who I know is a rooster.

This is George up close.  He's been practicing his crowing a little but not as regularly, it seems, as past roosters.  Poor thing still sounds like a worn out squeaky toy.  He is a sweetheart right now though.  I hope he stays that way.  Loves to sit in your lap just as long as you'll let him and he just kinda chirps real low the whole time.  I guess he's telling me about something so I talk back sometimes.

It's been very hot and dry the past couple of weeks but the past 2 days have been glorious.  It got down to 53F last night here and will probably only be around 60F tonight.  I'm not sure if it reached 85 during the day and there was a nice breeze all day.  We could use some rain though.  It's getting a bit dry and we've been having to water the garden and such which I really hate to do.  Has the weather in your area been about normal or cooler or hotter??  For us, this summer has not been as cool as last but it has still been a little below normal in temps overall.

Chigger and I still take our regular walks.  This is one of the groups of baby ferns that grow all along the creek.  Not sure what kind they are.  I'm just not real good t some plant ID.

The creek is getting low but there is one deeper spot where Chigger likes to go for a drink, especially on hot days.  She will seldom go out much deeper than this however, no matter how hot it is.  She kinda funny.  Then, when she gets back up on the bank, she really shakes all over like boy, she just got soaked!

One of the larger species of fern here.  These get about 2-2 1/2 feet tall.  There is one other species that gets taller but they are not as full and pretty as these, in my opinion.

I've been rather busy lately trying to get out another load of pottery and keep up with parts of the garden, but not all of it.  I start a really cool restoration project next week and I have been trying to get some things caught up around here.  The project should only last about a week or so but at this time of year a week can set you quite a ways back.

April Storms

 I had a few people contact me about the storms last night so I thought I'd do a quick post to let ya'll (who might be interested) know we are fine.  It got interesting about 11:00 last night as we had one storm showing rotation heading just about right for us and a larger storm just south.  They both passed just on either side of where I am, leaving us in the clear.  There was some damage outside of town but it seemed to be mostly trees; I don't think there were any houses or buildings damaged.  It was enough however, to take our power out for about 8 hours though.  It's obviously back on now and I'm grateful for that.  Thank you for ya'll's concern and looks like we get to go though it all again this afternoon.  Yay.
Edit:  I just found out there were some houses damaged in the area but no one was killed.  Thank goodness.

One of my favorite gardening hacks is to wait until right before a rain to plant or transplant anything.  I hate hauling water for that, so I let the storms water them in for me.  My tea plants have not done so well where I first planted them, so I moved 2 down to an area I hope will be better for them.  It's shady and stays more moist, which I think is what they were lacking.  It's not wet and boggy though so I don't think they'll be too wet.  If you are wondering about the pink tape, that is to keep Allen from mowing down or pulling up anything before it gets big enough he knows what it is. I learned this long go when men were anywhere around.

I finally got a decent photo of this iris.  It's just a lone specimen in a clump of day lilies.  I have no recollection of planting this, especially where it is.  I'm okay with it though.  Maybe it will make more.

Of course, Zuzu was right with me the whole time.  When she sees the shovel come out she snaps into action.  Actually, that chicken never slows down and no matter how I try to sneak around and plant something she knows somehow and here she comes running.  I don't mind though.
This is one of my flower areas that I've been really trying to develop lately.  Lots of iris, trillium, hosts and lilies on the edge where they can get some sun.  I think it's coming along nicely.  This is down near one of the wet weather steams and I'd like to get it so naturalized with lilies and such that it does not need to be mowed or anything.

Many of the fruits are starting to come on now such as the blueberries.  They made it through the storms fine also.  Looks like we'll have a bumper crop this year.  Strawberries too.

And maybe even cherries!!  I know this is a crappy picture so forgive me.  It was getting kinda dark from the approaching storms and so the exposures were not the best.  I'll be so excited though, to get some cherries if these stay on.  I've got to get another one of these trees.

The spring garden is progressing nicely.  I noticed yesterday that the broccoli is starting to form heads.  Behind that and the cabbage etc. is garlic and the snow peas.  They are beginning to inch their way up the trellis I made for them.  The potatoes are doing good too.
I've been harvesting various lettuces and asparagus already.  Man is that stuff good!  Had some last night for supper in fact.  I really need to add to that bed also.  I can't adequately get my asparagus fix with the amount of plants I have now.
I have planted a few tomatoes and peppers but decided to hold off on the bulk of the tomato plants.  They were predicting the possibility of large hail with these storms and I figured another day or two not planted won't matter, rather than risk them being beat to pieces.

I hope you all have made it through the storms fine if you live in any of the areas affected.  April is the worst month in Alabama, I think, for tornadoes but we only have a little more to go.