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| The wind was blowing in the treetops while the clouds rushed by. |
Friday morning the weather was ominous and lowering when the dog and I left for our walk. A front was in the process of passing through the area. The north wind had started to blow and the clouds were rushing quickly to the south. This is usually a signal that cool clear weather is not far away. The temperature although comfortable in the low 70's was dropping quickly. We hurried up to the west end of the dirt road where we could hear the wind blowing through the tops of the trees. There had been a small amount of rain sometime during the night so everything was dripping wet. The dog ran into the wet brush along the side of the road for a few moments and soon popped back out again. He had something in his mouth and his tail was wagging which indicated it was something he liked. He ran across the road and sat down in the bushes to work on his prize so I walked over to investigate. The thing that he had was a discarded USB computer mouse. I believe he honestly thought it was a turtle because he was chewing on it the same way he chews on turtles. My dog LOVES to chew on turtles. I tried to get it from him but he growled and acted like he would bite me. I grabbed the wire and pulled but he pulled back until it broke. I finally managed to get him to fumble it into the leaves and I pretended to kick it away and the dog lost track of it. I quickly grabbed it and tossed it over a nearby fence into the woods. The dog of course was frantic to get it back but as I had started back home with a stick in my hand he quickly gave up and started running after me and the stick.
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| A small Popcorn tree dresses in fall colors. |
As we approached our house I saw a tree that can provide this area with some fall leaf color. It was the Chinese Tallow or Popcorn tree. If the conditions are right the leaves on the bottom of the the tree will start turning yellow then orange and finally red before falling to the ground. The color change will progress up the tree and last about two to three weeks. The tips of the bare limbs will hold on to white bundles of seeds that look like popcorn which is why it is called the Popcorn tree. The seeds are eaten by birds and spread around the area where it seems almost all of them spring up into more trees. This is how the Popcorn tree has become an invasive species here in Grand Bay. Thanks for reading my blog today. I hope you have a good day today. Bye.
