Just Another Walk In The Burbs

 

Rusty Old Fence With Day Lilies. I like day lilies because they stay in bloom so long. None of that twee, Japanese-cherry-blossom beauty-is-fleeting-and-gone-oh-so-soon crap. We're gonna be here all summer.

A Little Free Library. Nice to see Beatrix Potter there, and not Harry Potter.

And a nice, uncarved beech tree for Sixty Grit.

Back to the Garden

This time I got several unblurred (almost) pictures of things that were further than six feet away. I continue my slow, steady progress toward becoming this century's Ansel Adams.

"My God, It's full of flars!"

The Mutant Japanese Maple oozes onto the walkway in search of prey.

We got Canada Geese around here like New York City's got rats.

Tennis Balls of the Gods

My weekend so far

Friday evening as I was wrapping up the week's work I heard a loud cracking sound - a large branch had snapped off the large Bradford pear tree in my front yard and crashed to the ground. While I would have preferred to prepare my evening meal and retire for the night I decided to spend some time cleaning up the mess - no time like present to git 'er done.

How the broken limb presented:

And from the other side:

I went about my business and when I got home on Saturday I was able to continue sawing the branch into pieces and pruning the smaller twigs off:

Not wanting to run the chainsaw on Sunday I spent the morning using pruning shears to cut the branches into pieces that would fit into my cart. I hauled them back to the burn pile and piled them thusly:

This particular tree is not the usual cultivar of Bradford pear - for one thing, it produces thousands of tiny fruit:

Or maybe it is millions. Who knows? Another clue is that it is huge - that is the main group of trunks and the saw in the foreground has a 3' long bar:

My blackberry lilies were almost a complete failure this year - first it was too dry, then we had a prolonged rainy spell, then they fell over, but they produced seeds anyway:

As I wrote earlier my efforts to propagate them were not successful, but one new plant sprouted off of the underground bulb system, so maybe I will be bold and try to transplant that one. Fortune favors the bold, right?

There is still a ton of Bradford pear wood to move but I received a call from a friend and what do you know - I and my dog were invited on walkies, our first since June. So forget about hauling wood, let's go for a walk on a cool, overcast afternoon. During our jaunt through familiar but subtly changed areas I saw some flars:

M R purdy.

Later, after consuming mass quantities I shall resume my mighty labors. Much remains to be done just to catch up with where I was before the limb fell.

Rumor has it that TS Florence is reforming and heading back. I have no idea. But there is always a song, regardless of the possibilities.

Leon!

How I spent my day

I refinished the eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) box a woman ordered for her 25th anniversary present for her husband. Due to fact that there is a hurricane on I drove over to her town to deliver it so she would have it before the actual anniversary. She was very pleased with it and is certain her husband will like it too. Here is what the sky looked like over there:

On my way home I drove past a friend's house and saw her tending her garden. I stopped and we had a great talk. We usually walk together but the heat has prevented that since June so it was good to see her. I took pictures of the flowers in her garden - she does great work:

Barber is too obvious a choice.

Mo Flars

Seen yesterday on my walkabout:

And a hawk:

Music video.

Weather, it happens...

It's been warm, it's been cold, we had a frost the other night, yet today I had to mow the lawn. Our drought continues and the old John Deere was kickin' up a dust cloud in parts of my yard. I usually won't fire up a mower on Sunday but we are supposed to get some rain starting tomorrow so my lawn, which has not been mowed in 3 weeks would get a bit unruly if I put off mowing any longer. Here are some pictures of my flowering trees and shrubberies that I took today, except the irises which I photographed a couple of days ago:

I hope that wherever you are your weather is treating you well.

I like this song.