I had two zucchini that got really huge before I saw them and I just threw those in the compost pile. There are three bugs taking refuge here, a bee, possibly a cucumber beetle, and a really small bug of some sort. It looks like I will be making spaghetti sauce next weekend. ![]() I also planted “gold medal” tomatoes that each weigh a lot and are yellow. This tomato is called “Amish Paste.” I expected a smaller plum tomato like I see in the supermarket, but all the tomatoes are huge in my garden, it seems. We peel the skin and remove the seeds and it is a refreshing summer food, whether in a salad or just as a snack. Phil and I are each eating about one a day. The vine went through the fence and we have cucumbers hanging in the easement. It is time for the summer vegetables and they are coming quickly. I think it was along Walnut Creek.Īll of a sudden I am seeing red show up in the garden and the tomatoes are coming. We need to get another camera as ours is having some troubles.īelted Kingfisher. That is the best we could do with our zoom. Is this a killdeer? It was in the same muddy field. We probably won’t get back here to see the spectacle in the fall, but we could imagine these muddy fields filling with birds. Through our zoom lens from the observation deck we saw two sandhill cranes in the shade and later another flew out of the trees. We visited Jasper-Pulaski Fish and Wildlife Area, where tens of thousands of migrating sandhill cranes stop during migration in spring and fall. I have been too busy to post anything from that trip, but here are a few bird pictures that we saw in other places on our trip. Vacation: We took a long weekend trip to central Indiana over labor day and had a great time at Shades State Park in Indiana. Now at 4 pm it has warmed up and the full summer chorus of grasshoppers, crickets, cicadas, and other noise makers are going at it. It was cool at noon today and I just heard one cricket trying to make a few noises. The pineapple sage will start blooming with bright red tubular flowers, maybe in a few weeks, and will be visited by the hummingbirds. It looks like the leaf below has been chewed on by something. How many house sparrows can hang out at the bird bath at the same time? The bird bath has been generally quiet these days, but once in a while there is a party. We have a lot of cabbage moths in the yard! 6 – 10 leaves head into our weekly pot of soup. This type is “Marketmore,” and is very dependable and tasty for my salads. Moss roses re-blooming this year in an old planter, with no help from me. ![]() I am hoping a few will wander to my neighborhood and take an interest in the zinnias. The annual Monarch Festival is at Lake Katherine today, and at the end of the day I think the monarchs are released. The viburnum bushes are heavy with purple fruit and I am waiting for the day the birds start feasting. Red berries for the birds on the Hicksii yew bushes. It would be a lot of trouble to make anything from them, but eating a few a day is fun! I picked a few up off the ground, too, that seemed fine. ![]() The skin was too tart to eat, but the flesh inside was sweet! I picked a dozen and brought them in to see if I could keep them from just falling on the ground. I tasted one that was between red and purple and was no longer hard. I remembered to check on the American plums and found a number of ripe ones and many on the ground. In the background on the left are the two American plum trees and in the center are the yew bushes. I don’t know if you can see all the flies, bees, wasps, etc. that are hanging out on this plant. The proboscis is the long sucking mouthpart that drinks the nectar. There have been quite a few of these very small skippers around the yard this week. One of the host plants for this butterfly is false indigo, which I have planted close by. I noticed that last September I had a picture of a silver-spotted skipper on sedum as well. Many plants are dying out in the garden, but some plants are at their peak or will be getting going soon. The cool days and rain this past week have greened up the grass again.
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