Weathervane

We went to Davis Farmland in Sterling Massachusetts today. Here are some of the weather vane's, also called wind vane's, that sat atop several of the farm buildings.

mmm, mmm Fresh Corn

It's that time of the year! What time you ask? Fresh corn on the cob time!!

We took a ride this afternoon to our favorite local farm, which just happens to be one town over, called Jane & Paul's Farm and picked up six ears. They have a little bit of everything there, all of it farm fresh and delicious! You just can NOT beat locally grown farm fresh corn, you can't.


Here are the six ears prior to being shucked -

And here they are after being eaten -


mmm, mmm Fresh Corn!

Nothing is wasted in our corn eating process: we feed the rabbits and guinea pigs the shucks and the chickens get the corn cobs - everyone enjoys corn this time of the season.

Blueberry Bee's

Here are some blueberry Bee pictures that I took today while we were out blueberry picking -

Go Walpole Little Leaguers!

GO WALPOLE!!

Here is a picture of my son behind the plate. I took this pic at one of his playoff games this year. Unfortunately, Walpole got knocked out of the semi-finals by rival Norwood. They had a great season and a lot of fun.

Their excitement now lies with their friends who are representing New England in the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Christopher is friends with most of the boys on this team. He's played with many of them in KP Hockey, Walpole Lacrosse and Walpole Little League, as well as going to school together.

Click here - Little League WORLD SERIES Baseball 2007

Click here - Official Website of the Walpole Little League

Zinnia's by Emilie

Zinnia

These are the Zinnia's that Emilie planted at the end of her day-care school year. I'm not sure how many seeds she planted but 4 emerged from the plastic cup that she planted them in. We kept them in the kitchen widow till they got big enough to be transplanted into pots of their own.

Well, here they are today planted in the ground; 4 mature plants with beautiful flowers all doing just fine. They've joined the other plants around the pool, added some nice colors to the area and nourishment for the bees and butterflies.

Here is an interesting one- notice the three different colors, how they're layered and how it gradually changes from top to bottom and visa-versa.

Peaches

Our peaches are almost ready. Don't they look delicious? Well, they have been in past years, so I can only assume they'll be just as tasty this year too, no reason to think otherwise - I'll let you know. I bet you're all jealous and have peach envy too.

The rabbits enjoy the peach tree too; they love to eat the peaches and the leaves. Any peaches that are questionable or are on the soft and rotten side go into the rabbit cages and gobbled up in no time. Emilie likes to pick up the leaves that fall and feed them to the bunnies, which they eagerly devour. Come to think of it last year the woodchucks would venture out and eat the peaches that fell to the ground. Not a big as there were plenty but I'd rather feed my animals instead of some pesky rodent. The good news, at least I think it's good news, is that the woodchucks are no longer around this year. They've migrated to my dad's yard and have become a HUGE nuisance there by helping themselves to his garden vegetables.

Visiting Butterflies

Here are a variety of butterflies that have visited our yard recenttly -



Male Monarch on a voilet butterfly bush.



I believe this is a 'Painted Lady' butterfly, sometimes called the 'Hunter's Buttefly', which is often mistaken for a Monarch. This particular butterfly was pretty beatup but was resting comfortably on this purple butterfly bush.



Here's a female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail sitting a top of a Harlequin glorybower flower.



Here is a female Black Swallowtail. Actually, this is one of the butterflies that we over wintered in our garage as a chrysalis that hatched this spring. My apologies but I do not know what type of plant she is sitting on. I will research and update this posting.

Graf 750 Jr - UPDATED

It's that time of year already; where has the summer gone?!

Took my son to buy a new pair of goalie skates last night. We settled on the Graf 750 Jr, pictured above. For the price we paid I got a guarantee that he'll perform a shutout during the first game he wears them...

Unlike most goal skates that get their stiffness in part from the cowlings, the Graf 750 uses a cut down version of their excellent 705 model which not only assures great fit and support, but also offers wonderful pro level protection. The thermoformable interior is clarino lined to keep your feet comfortable and dry while giving you excellent fit and responsiveness. As one of the most durable skates on the market the 750 is top notch in every respect and will keep you in saves for a long time.

*** UPDATE ***

My sons team participated in the Valley Warriors Tourney this past weekend. Their first game was on Thursday night. My son played goal and recorded a shutout, 5-0! Outside of practices this was the first game he played wearing his new Graf 750 Jr. goalie skates and he got himself a shutout - WAY TO GO!

Carolina Grasshopper

Can you find the grasshopper in this picture? You have to look real hard, he's not too easy to spot. Plus it isn't the best picture I've ever taken. Keep looking while I tell you a little about him...



I believe this is a Carolina Grasshopper - Dissosteira carolina. The Carolina Grasshopper is one of North America's largest grasshoppers which ranges widely in North America inhabiting weedy grasslands and is considered a minor pest. They feed mainly on several species of weeds and is a strong, adept flier.

Alright, do you give up? Were you able to find him in the previous picture? It's not easy, he's hiding pretty good. I guess that's a good thing from him because if you were a predator you'd walk right on by without seeing him and miss a meal.

Okay, see if you can see him in the following picture - I helped with a little clue...



Here is a link to some interesting images of the Carolina Grasshopper.

Pumpkins

Here are the latest pictures of our compost pumpkins. These are pumpkin plants that grew from last Halloween's pumpkins. I tossed them in the compost pile in the fall and here they've come back for another run - no pun intended.

I am fighting my OCD urges to pull these up so I can mow the grass. It also could be that I am just too damn anal. In any event I will be leaving them as they are - as you can see they're doing pretty good. There are 4 pumpkins growing but only two with any size, as you can see below and Emilie is pretty excited too.

Closer...

Closer...

Closer...


Yup, I was lying on my stomach taking these pictures. The neighbors are gonna think I've really lost it now. Actually, come to think of it, I'm sure they already think that; JoAnne does...

See posting dated Wednesday, December 06, 2006 titled 'Jack-O-Lantern 2006'
See posting dated Friday, June 15, 2007 titled, 'Compost Pumpkins'

Egg Identification - UPDATE

Well we've done it! We've identified the mystery egg attached below. We being a combination of Silvia at Casa In Costruzione, http://www.enaturallist.org/ and I. I mentioned in my original Egg Identification post, "There's a lollipop in it for you..." for the person who helped figure out what kind of egg this was - well Silvia I owe you a lollipop and I'm thinking a chocolate Tootsie Pop would be in order here.

It belongs to the Chipping Sparrow - Spizella passerina. Otherwise known as the "Hairbird" for it's habit of lining its nest with hair. Formerly, it utilized horsehair, but with the decline in the use of horses it takes any hair available and will even pluck strands from the coat of a sleeping dog - ouch!



Originally inhabitants of natural clearings and brushy forest borders, these sparrows are now found in gardens and suburban areas and have become familiar songbirds. During most of the year they feed on the ground, but in the breeding season males always sing from an elevated perch. Their food consists mainly of seeds, but in summer the adults and the young feed on insects.

Description 5-5 1/2". A small sparrow. Upper parts are brown, streaked with black; underparts, sides of face, and rump are gray. Adult has chestnut crown, white eyebrow, with thin black line through eye. Young birds have streaked crown, buff eyebrow, and duller underparts.

Here is a link to a good picture of a clutch on Chipping Sparrow eggs.

Earlier Egg Identification post from Thursday, August 09, 2007

Can it Bee...

I was out in the yard with my camera yesterday afternoon taking pictures of all kinds of stuff. Here are few of my Bee pics. Working my way up to "P" pics, stay tuned...

Pool Time Fun

Here are a few pics of Emilie swimming in our pool and diving for colored rings. It was a beautiful day yesterday and Emilie took full advantage of it by hitting the pool. Her swimming skills and confidence in the water have improved greatly since the beginning of the season.

Yup, Moora Ether Bunnies

Knock, knock
Who's there?
Ether
Ether who?
Ether bunny

Knock, knock
Who's there?
Moora
Moora who?
Moora ether bunnies

Salt & Peppa babies

Abbey babies

Yup, we have moora ether bunnies!

Salt & Peppa and Abbey each had another litter about a week ago.

Salt & Peppa had 6 - all still doing fine. Abbey had 3 - one still born and two doing fine.

Knock, knock
Who's there?
Cargo
Cargo who?
Cargo beep-beep and run over ether bunnies

Lupine

Lupinus

Take a gander at our Lupine. Is this impressive or what?! Regrettably this is last years picture and the plant didn't survive the winter. However, it's put out a number of seedlings this year but they've yet to amount to anything. We'll try to salvage a few we some TLC in the hope that come back like gang busters next spring/summer and out do this plant.

Lupine cultivation is at least 2,000 years old and most likely began in Egypt or in the general Mediterranean region. The lupine is a perennial plant that grows from 10 to 16" tall with many large, full flower stalks, the distinctive palmate leaves consisting of several oval, pointed leaflets and have long stems. The stout flower stalks look woolly in bud due to the hairy calyx lobes.are considered a grain legumes, like beans, peas, lentils, etc.

NOTE: Some lupines contain a number of alkaloids such as lupine, lupanine, and sparteine, and they have been known to cause fatal poisoning in animals.

Roma Tomatoes

Roma Tomatoes (Italian or Plum)

Roma tomatoes are an Italian variety of the plum tomato with a great flavor, Romas are excellent for sauces, especially if they are overripe. Romas are also used in salads. Some say Roma tomatoes thicken as they cook, which is why they’re good for tomato sauces or is it just that Roma tomatoes are not so juicy as slicing tomatoes, and if one seeded the slicing tomatoes they would also thicken when cooked? Time to test...

Here is my batch of Roma tomatoes plants. I didn't have too many good options to plant them in the ground so I opted for potting them in 2 gallon flower pots. This option has worked out pretty well so far; they're easier to care for, I can rotate the pots so they get a more even tan and they're next to the spigot and get plenty of water and TLC. They're doing fantastic and are loaded with tomatoes. I hope we're able to get enough to can a good batch. We'll see...

Egg Identification

What kind of bird egg is it?

While walking during lunch the other day I came across this tiny blue, spotted bird egg sitting on the curb-side. Although the above picture isn't the greatest - believe it or not the paper I used for the background is white even though it looks more blueish, it does illustrate the eggs size. I placed it beside the egg of a standard Black Sex-Link chicken.

In the picture below it's beside a dime. As you can see the egg is quite small. I am having a difficult time trying to identify the type of bird this egg belongs to. I could use your assistance. There's a lollipop in it for you...

Wheel Barrel Impatients

Retired Wheel Barrel

Here is an old wheel barrel of ours that we've converted into a planter. We acquired the wheel barrel from someones trash, well actually JoAnne picked it up at my request. She had a little Ford Contour and was able to get this bad boy stuffed into her trunk. It did a little damage to some of the paint on her car but doesn't matter at this point because we no longer have the car.

The location where this wheel barrel sits gets morning sun and then all shade for the remainder of the day, which is idle for the Impatients we have planted in it. It's high enough so the woodland critters can't reach the plants and eat them. The Impatients we planted in the ground in this area didn't last long; the wild rabbits loved them.

Perhaps, we'll try planting some different flowers in the wheel barrel next year or stick with what we know works. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

"Generator" Links

Here is a collection of "Generator" links that I've come across and compiled. I think they're interesting and something you can have fun with and thought I'd pass them along.

Seal Generator:
http://www.says-it.com/seal/index.php

Error Message Generator:
http://atom.smasher.org/error/

Motivational Poster Generator:
http://diy.despair.com/motivator.php

Image Mosaic Generator:
http://www.adelaider.com/image-mosaic/

Parody Motivator Generator:
http://diy.despair.com/motivator.php‎

Pimp Name Generator:
http://www.playerappreciate.com/pimphandle.asp

Exotic Dancer Name Generator:
http://www.blogthings.com/exoticdancernamegenerator/

Rubik's Cube Generator:
http://www.dumpr.net/rubik.php

Respectfully yours,
Master Pimp stephan Shizzle

Clymene Moth

Haploa clymene



I took these Clymene Moth pictures this past weekend. This little guy was out back hanging around our raspberry plants, that are next to our peach tree, which is one of the moth larva's favorite foods. He would fly off just a few feet and then stop, so I was able to eventually snaps some pictures.



The Clymene Moth is very easy to identify, with its striking black and beige patterning, and a special sulfur yellow treat when the hind wings are exposed upon opening the fore wings. It is a member of the Arctiidae family, the Tiger Moth, which also include some woolly bear caterpillar types. In this family are some destructive species as well; fall web worms, for instance. Clymene moth larvae like Eupatorium-type plants and feed on oak, peach, and willow trees. They range from New England to Georgia and westward to the Mississippi.

Clymene, the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys and wife of Iapetus was the mother of Atlas, Menoetius, Prometheus, Epimetheus, Phaethon, Atlanta, a number of girls known as the Heliades, and others. While these Greek heroes shared the same mother, there were about three or four fathers in the mix

Licorice Plant

Helichrysum petiolare



This tender South African shrub, sometimes called liquorice plant, is a popular filler for hanging baskets and window boxes in summer. The long, slightly stiff stems quickly branch in all directions and eventually trail to form a cascade of silvery grey foliage. It is also a valuable ground cover plant for growing between sturdy summer bedding flowers and at the edge of beds and borders, where it can spread freely and infiltrate its neighbours without being invasive. Cuttings root and overwinter easily, or the plants can be potted up in autumn. If allowed to flower late in the growing season, it produces cream-colored flower heads.

The name Helichrysum is derived from the Greek (h)elios for sun and chrysos for gold, although not all species have golden flowers; petiolare refers to long leaf stalks.

You can see in the above picture the cream-colored flower head on this licorice plant of ours. We keep ours out back by the pool and it loves the hot sun. It doesn't require much care and fends for itself just fine, as you can see from the picture.

Earwigs

Q: Do earwigs get in one's ears?

A: No, not generally. The name "earwig" comes from the Old English ear-wicga, which means "ear insect." The insect was so named not because it enters the ears, however, but because its hind wings are shaped like the human ear.


The Old Farmer's Almanac new gardening question of the day

kneener, kneener, kneener

JoAnne took this picture of our baby bunny sticking her tongue out and hamming it up for the camera. This is an actual picture, no photoshopping. I refuse to post the picture where she's flipping the bird, geez! What a disrespectful little girl wouldn't you say!

More Baby Bunnies II

UPDATE...

Here are a couple pictures of Oreo's babies. She delivered 6, the runt didn't make it and I had to put one down; she now has 4 beautiful babies.

The runt was all black just like the father. The one that was put down was similar in color and markings to triplets pictured above, just like their mother and the odd ball (in color) is pictured below.

They're at that age where their ears sometimes stay up, sometimes down and sometimes one of each. They will eventually drop, hence the name Mini Lop.



Click here to see earlier posting dated Thursday, July 26, 2007 titled 'More Baby Bunnies'

Blossom-end Rot

Blossom-end Rot. I believe one of my four Supersonic tomato plants is suffering from something called Blossom-end Rot. It's a little unusual in that 2 of the 4 plants are planted right next to each other, side-by-side and one of them is suffering from this problem while the other one appears to be fine and showing no effects of Blossom-end Rot; same with the other 2, they're fine.

Blossom-end Rot of tomatoes is a physiological disorder caused by a lack of sufficient calcium in the blossom end of the fruit. Applying too much fertilizer at one time or excessive nitrogen fertilization can result in blossom-end rot.

Here are a couple pictures of what ours look like -

I'm not sure what's caused this problem but I'm thinking of a couple things that may have contributed; The raised garden box they're in is new and so is the soil I used to fill it. I used a mixture of regular old soil, leave and grass clipping compost and manure from my chicken pen, which also has rabbit droppings mixed in too. Perhaps I used too much chicken manure, which is typically high in nitrogen or simply too much fertilizer - too rich maybe. However, you'd think it would have effected both tomato plants since they're planted side-by-side.

Well we won't be enjoying or canning with these particular tomatoes but the chickens love em, so I guess it's not a total loss. I will have the soil tested at the end of the season to see if we can't determine the problem and fix it before next spring. Live and learn...

Foot Print

Footprints are the impressions or images left behind by a person walking.

The footprint above was made by Emilie - 5 years, 5 months, 25 days young.

Click here to read the poem "Footprints in the Sand" by Mary Stevenson

You Gotta Problem!

Whada you look'n at?! You wanna piece of me?!