The count down continues

American Beauty Berry.  I thought it was Basswood.

The storms from Tuesday evening have blown a few limbs down but otherwise little damage occurred in our area. The dog and I walked down to the west end of the dirt road and saw another sign that summer is drawing to a close.  A plant called American Beauty Berry is producing big clumps of purple berries which are in stark contrast to all of the green leaves in the background.  When these berries turn purple you know it won't be long before the leaves begin to fall and the Canadian cold fronts will be coming our way.  I have read that some people actually eat these berries.  They don't look very appetizing  to me so I won't be trying them any time soon.  

Pastel purple Morning Glory

Pastel blue Morning Glory

 Another sign of the changing seasons is the wild morning glories growing up on bushes and weeds on the side of the dirt road.  I noticed two different colors were present so I took photos of each.   I think the pastel blue morning glory is the best looking of the two.  Maybe that is because I see it  more rarely than the pastel purple version which is everywhere this time of year.  The wildflowers here in Grand Bay are starting their fall season and it promises to be a good one.  My apologies to the allergy sufferers out  there.  I have had allergies in the past that I grew out of somehow so, I can sympathize with your misery.   Benadryl helps a little and is relatively safe.   Please do try to get out and look at the roadside flowers that are growing free for all to enjoy because soon they will be gone, along with your allergies.  Thanks for reading today.   Bye. 

Coupon cutter

My dog the smart consumer.  

The Tuesday evening walk was cancelled due to severe thunder storms moving through the area.  The dog did mange to get out into the driveway and pick up the bag with weekly grocery coupons in it.  He loves to cut coupons.   In fact he loves cutting coupons so much he just can't stop until they are torn into little pieces all over the floor.  Funny thing is I have never seen him returning from the store with any discounted groceries.  He must be sneaking them in under cover of darkness.  The dog really likes these coupons. On the day when the stores drop the coupon bags in every one's driveway in the area where we walk,  the dog will steal them and immediately turn around and run for home.  When he finds one of those bags he looks like he has found a bag of T bone steaks.  He will snap at me if I try to take them from him so I don't even try.  Most of the time he runs home and tears them up on the front lawn but lately he has been coming inside and creating a mess in the back bedroom.  Well I have to go organize the dogs coupon collection in the trash can.  Hopefully we will get to walk in the morning.  I will let you know.   Thanks for coming by. 

Lonely rose blooms for no one

Fleeting beauty.

This morning the dog and I took a short walk up the road to the home of the lady who is in the nursing home.  After walking around and making sure everything was OK we took a quick look at the flowers.  There is a rose in the back yard that blooms every year without fail.  I don't know what the variety is but it should be called the beauty of endurance because it survives with no help from anyone.  The crew that cuts the grass has not cut it down because it backs up to an old chicken coop which has provided protection from the mower and  the weed eater.  The smell of the rose in the morning and evening is really wonderful and I always look forward to it when I see it.   I have a great deal of admiration for roses that can take on difficulties and abandonment and still produce a beautiful flower year after year.  I think there is a lesson in that somewhere.  Let me know what you think. Have a great day today. Bye  

The happiest dog in the world

Living the dogs life. 

Our walk on Monday evening was a long one.  The dog and I walked about 2.5 miles to a small creek that travels under a bridge.    Once we arrived at the creek the dog jumped in the water and swam around in the cool water for a few minutes.  The county has placed rock on one side of the bridge to help with erosion during periods of high water.  I sit on the rocks which form a sort of amphitheater which runs down to  the water.  The water temperature is very low relative to the air temperature so I imagine it feels very good.   I don't swim there because I am by myself and the bottom has stumps, limbs, snakes and big turtles to worry about.  Maybe one day if I can get my brothers to help we can clean the bottom and it will be a great swimming hole.  For now though it belongs only to the dog and as you can see he really enjoys it. The cool water seems to be the dogs perfect element.   I couldn't get the surroundings in this photo but they are as beautiful and lush as any jungle. The very cool water comes from a shady swamp on the other side of the bridge.  The sun has little chance to warm it so the temperature is probably in the high 60's or low 70's.   There are some large fish here but they are very smart and know how to run for entangling cover when they are caught.   The sad thing about this creek is that for some reason people around here have a tendency to throw all kinds of trash into the water.  It stays for a while but when the water rushes 10 feet deeper after a week of heavy rains everything is flushed down stream.  The color of the water is tinged with brown due to the tannin from the leaves that fall in the water but for the most part it is extremely clear.  People have written graffiti under the bridge which is sometime silly and sometimes shocking.   From the subject matter which is mostly sexual in nature I would say the writers are very likely teenagers.  In the summer time the area under the bridge can be as much as ten degrees cooler than the surrounding country side which makes me wonder why more people don't show there.  For now I guess the dog and I have it ourselves.  Thanks for reading my blog.  Have a good evening. Bye.

One man sows and another man reaps.

Going to see the pigs in the shade.  

The dog and I walked up the paved road to the watermelon patch and turned around pretty quickly due to the heat of the fast rising sun.  We walked back down the shadier part of the road where it was cooler.  The day promises to be a hot one with the possibility of big thunderstorms brewing.  For now though it is peaceful and quiet but very hot for this early in the morning.  Many times during the summer the dog and I will walk south on the shady dirt road that goes to the pig farm to escape the heat.  I have posted a photo of the pig farm road showing the over hanging trees which make it a lot cooler down there.  There is a pecan orchard on the right with about 100 trees that are around 50 years old planted by a neighbor for the land owner.   He told me he planted the root stock in pots and then when the root stock was a couple of years old he grafted the 100 trees with I think 4 varieties of pecans.  Once the grafts had taken hold he went out and dug all the holes and planted the trees and tended them for a couple of years.  He told me that once the trees were started the land owner paid him $15.00 per tree.   That is a lot of work for $1500.00 but if you knew the guy who was doing it you would know that as far as work goes  this job was a  piece of cake for him.  He is quite a character and full of stories about this area as his family moved here in 1949.  As he tells it all the roads were dirt trails back then.  Anyway the orchard he planted is not tended now so it produces pecans erratically.  When there is a good crop the owner cuts the grass low and hires a machine to shake the trees to make the pecans fall and when they are on the ground a crew comes and picks them up with a vacuum harvester.  There is usually not even one pecan left on the ground after the machines get finished.  In bad years the owner still cuts the grass but he doesn't attempt to harvest any pecans.  The neighbors and I go and pick up the pecans by hand while crawling on our knees.  I take my my pecan cracker with me and crack them in the field so I don't have to deal with shells in the house.  I like to have pecans in the freezer over the winter.  They are a good snack and are delicious in blueberry muffins.  Now I am hungry so I have to go.  Thanks for coming by. Have a good Labor Day rest. 

The real Blob

During the summer...Kudzu never sleeps.  

Sunday evening the dog and I walked south to the Pig farm.   We both just tripped along aimlessly in the heat and humidity of the afternoon.   By the time we arrived at the end of the road my clothes were soaked with sweat and I felt exhausted.  We stopped for a few minutes and rested during which time I took a photograph of the Kudzu vine covering the field on the right side of the picture.  There is actually a forest of bushes growing under the Kudzu vines in semi shaded conditions.  The vines grow madly during the summer and are killed to the ground in the first freeze of the winter.  Kudzu was brought here from Asia in the late 1800's as a decorative plant, then it was used to provide ground cover as protection from soil erosion by the Federal government in the 1930's.  Since then it has escaped to cover as much as 7 million acres of the south.  There is no solution for the vine in the form of a herbicide so all anyone can do is cut them down and dig up the roots.  I guess we are just going to have to live with this immigrant as there is no way to make it go home.  A familiar story here in this country.  Thanks for coming by today.  Bye.





Rising with the Sun

The days grow shorter as the Sun moves south. 

The dog and I walked to the east end of the paved road where we found the culvert has almost completely dried up.  The clear skies of the last few days have sent all of the eels, crawfish, and minnows into hiding.  It was fairly early so the sun was just rising.  I turned south onto a little private  dirt road that passes through the soybean fields.  The dog stayed behind on the paved road because he had a bad experience on this road and he has a good memory.  One of the property owners brought some of his goats to an electrically fenced wooded area next to his home.  The idea is that the goats will eventually eat all of the brush making it easier to clear out.  As I said on a previous walk the dog contrary to all of my warnings decided he wanted to check out the goats by sticking his nose through the fence.  Apparently the fence is designed to protect the goats from what is outside rather than the other way around.  The dog brought his nose in contact with the fence and received a memorable shock.  He ran all the way home and hid under the truck.  Now he will not so much as look around the corner much less come down the road with me.  While he waited at the corner, I walked down to where the soy beans fields are split by the road so I could get a look at the sunrise.  It was very nice this morning so I took a photo which I have posted. The soy beans are approaching maturity and it wont be long before they will be harvested.  There are several pecan trees that can be seen scattered through the photo.  The community of Grand Bay once had thousands of pecan trees but hurricanes and time have reduced their numbers.  Fortunately the Chinese like our pecans and have begun to increase the demand for them.  Many land owners are replanting their orchards so in a decade or two barring any serious hurricanes we will see the cool shady orchards spreading across the land again.  Thanks for reading my blog.  I hope you have a good day.  Bye





A borrowed path

These Canadian geese won't have to fly south for the winter.

Sometimes especially in the heat of the evening the dog refuses to walk. He will simply stand in our drive way and watch me walk away.  He and I both need to walk every day as it may help us stay in better health.  Neither one of us is getting any younger.  I will occasionally trick the dog into riding down the road in my junky little truck to a field belonging to a neighbor.    The neighbor keeps a trail mowed through the high grass in the field and in the adjacent woods so he can drive his golf cart and four wheeler there.     When we got to the field the dog jumped out and gladly walked with me on this new unmarked territory.  We walked the circular path around the field and then crossed over to an old abandoned trailer park across the road.  The park was a going concern with 30 or more trailers in a fairly nice pecan orchard.  When we had hurricane Ivan in 2004 and then Katrina in 2005 many of the trailers were damaged when the pecan trees fell on them.  I guess the owners could not keep the place going after their lot renters left for FEMA trailer parks in Bayou La Batre.  When the last trailer was pulled out the owner just let the grass and bushes grow and now all that remains is two paved streets through a growing woods.  It makes a relatively safe place for the dog and I to walk.  As we were finishing our walk and loading up to leave I heard the sound of a flock of geese.  I looked around and noticed it was a very large group flying from a nearby pond to wherever geese go at night.  I managed to get a photo of almost the whole group.  They were moving fast and honking loudly at one another.  It was a very pleasant site to behold.  My experience with Canadians is that they are very polite but their geese are noisy. All in all,  I don't mind having them for neighbors.  Thanks for stopping by.

 

Hurry up and have fun

Looks good, Lets go in. 

This morning the weather was warming fast when the dog and I stepped outside.  The humidity is returning and rain is eminent.  We walked up to the west end of the dirt road and all in all it was a very peaceful walk.   The last few days have been very sunny with temperatures in the 90's.  The water left from the heavy rain is drying up in the ditches and culverts quickly.  In the U.S.  this weekend is a holiday for most everyone. It is known as Labor day.  I know it seems strange to take a day off on labor day but that is what we do.  I am pretty sure the holiday is about the advances made by labor unions and the like to reduce work the work week , improve working conditions and eliminate child labor and those sort of things.  Anyway Labor day has established itself as the official last holiday of the summer.  Everyone tries to cram in one more road trip, vacation, visit with Grand Ma and Grand Pa all in three days and it can be hectic.  I choose to seek out peaceful places so I just stay home.  The dog and I arrived home and I noticed the big Morning Glories I have growing on the fence.  There was a brown moth taking a look at one big flower so I thought that would be a good photo.  These morning glories are large and start off the morning a deep shad of blue and as the sun comes up they change to the familiar deep purple we are all familiar with.  Some time around mid day they begin to fold up and that is the end of the bloom.  This particular Morning Glory never makes seed and is apparently perennial as it has returned year in year out but has never spread.  If anyone recognizes this variety and it's habits please let me know in the comments.  Thanks for reading my blog today.  Have a great holiday.  Bye.

From near to eterninty

Petal powered.

This evening we walked up to the watermelon field where all of the watermelons are gone now. They have plowed the field and the melons that were left have been chopped up.  I guess they did not want anyone looking for leftovers.  Once we got back home it was pretty dark outside so I went into the back yard where the zinnias are next to the garden and there I found a very nice looking white crab spider hiding among the petals of the flowers.  There were actually several of them but this one was completely white.   I photographed the flower with my IPhone set on HDR and flash off.  I held an LED mag lite above and placed the phone a few inches away to get this photo.  The LED light gives the flower a strange almost daylight look with pitch black in the background.  I was glad it was getting dark outside as I wanted to begin the fall season of photographing the night sky.  I managed to get some shots of our Milky Way galaxy in the area of Sagitarius but the haze is a little heavy and it will need to be clearer to really see faint objects.   When the dog and I walk at night there are certain times of the year when the sun is at the right angle we can see satellites and the space station whizzing past so clearly it seems you should hear them going by.  We sometimes see meteors streaking across the sky which is a real treat when you realize how far and how long those little rocks have circled the sun before burning up in a few seconds before our eyes. Last night as I walked I looked up and thought to myself that there is a amall chance that where I am looking there is nothing to see all the way to the end of the Universe.  Is there an end to the Universe?  I will think about it and let you know.   I hope you have a peaceful night.  Thanks for coming by. 

 

 

Big spider. Small danger.

To be seen or not to be seen. That is the question.   

Each day as the dog and I go for our walks I watch for certain signs of the seasons.  There is of course the obvious signs such trees budding in the spring and the first frost in the fall.  Today we saw a more subtle reminder of where we are along the path of summer in my little patch of the country. The dog and I walked down to the pig farm in very comfortable conditions with cool temperatures in the low 70's and not very much humidity to speak of.  When we turned to come home I noticed a large Golden Orb spider hanging in her web near the edge of  road.  When we see these spiders in the trees and bushes grown to full size (about 3 inches) we know we are nearing the end of  the heat of summer and that hurricane season is at its peak.  These spiders can produce webs that can span 30 feet or more and can trap very large insects and even the occasional small bird.    The web has a sulfur color to it which is why it is called the Golden Orb spider.   In the years I have been traversing the woods many have fallen on me and although it is very disconcerting the spiders have never caused anything more than sore muscles from my frantic attempts to get the thing off of me. My research tells me they are reluctant to bite even though they can. You should check with your doctor if you are ever bitten by one.   If you can avoid handling them you should.  These spiders do have a strange habit they exhibit when disturbed.   The spider will not jump off the web as many others do but instead it will begin to swing back and forth causing the web to move back and forth as much as a foot.  I am not sure what this behavior is designed to do. My guess is it is used  to make the spider and web more obvious to the passerby so they will go around it rather than tearing it down.  These spiders are scary but harmless if not disturbed.  They can catch many large insects keeping their populations in check.   If you see one in the woods take a close look and enjoy it and then leave it in peace.  Thanks for reading today.  Have a good day.  Bye.

Eat or be eaten

Hey mosquitoes come over here for a minute. 

Over the last few nights I have been noticing a family of frogs out shopping for groceries. Tonight as I returned from walking I stopped to take some photos of one of the green tree frogs that are a staple every year by my front door.  This year though I have noticed some very small ones like the one in the photo I have posted.   It is only about 1/2 inch long and maybe 1/4 inch wide.  It barely covers one of the slender leaves of the hedge at the front door.  They appear to be very young.  I think these frogs place their eggs in the plants that catch and hold water like bananas and elephant ears.  I have never seen a tadpole from a green frog.  I wonder if they are green.  There is a light that stays on from dusk to dawn and has for years so the frogs and lizards congregate near it every night during the warm summer months.   The frog pictured is catching mosquitos and very small moths.  Most everything else that flys around the light is far too big for it to swallow.   I have seen numerous snakes easing past the glass storm door while I sat watching from inside.  The snakes are in search of small game and you can bet your bottom dollar that frog is on the menu.  It seems as though the snakes may have been successful over the last few nights as the number of frogs I have noticed seems to be declining.   It could be that they are just disperesing to a wider territory.    Thanks for reading my blog tonight.  I hope you have a good evening.  Bye.

What the dog saw

Yum! Turtle flavored.

This morning as the dog and I walked out I noticed that the sky had cleared and there was not a cloud to be seen. The sun at 730 am was a brilliant ball in the azure blue sky and was a welcome site. We walked down to the west end of the dirt road and along the way I spotted a large moccasin hiding under 2 feet of water in a drainage basin. I could see that it had a lump in it's body indicating that it had eaten well the night before. After directing the dog around that obstacle we moved on past the yellow jacket nest where someone had poked a long stick into the opening. I pulled the stick out and immediately the yellow jackets flew out in an angry swarm. For some reason they were not very appreciative of my help. As I ran away from the bees I looked back expecting the dog to be following me but instead he was otherwise occupied. It seems he was having some quality time on the opposite side of the road which was very quickly being turned into a stinging session by the yellow jackets. He managed to finish and was running after me with that "why did you do that" look on his face again. Later, when we arrived at the end of the road the dog started sniffing in the weeds and I knew he had found something and that I should watch out for surprises. He quickly located a baseball sized box turtle and started heading back to the house with his booty. I yelled to him as he ran that I was going the other way and that I would see him later. That turned him around and he came running back to me. When he walked up to me he made it clear that he was absolutely not going to give up the turtle. He held it tight just as you see him in the photo. After 15 minutes of fighting with him over the turtle I gave up and just followed him back home. Half way back he stopped and laid down to rest and I caught him with the turtle on the ground and wrestled it away and tossed it over the fence into the woods. It is a good thing dogs can't really speak because my dog was probably using every curse word in the dog language on me. I have to take the turtles from him or he will kill them or swallow pieces of the shell which I am not sure a dog can digest. Fortunately every walk we take is not this eventful otherwise either the dog or me would wind up in the hospital. If you don't have enough adventure during your walks may I suggest that you get yourself a stray dog and take him for a walk on a dirt road each morning and evening. But remember, you must be prepared for anything and I mean anything. Thanks for coming by. Have a good day.

These bugs are teenagers

The ghost of Cicada.

This evening our walk was once again in the dark.  On our way through the yard I noticed a familiar site.  The exsoskeleton of a Cicada or 17 year locust was attached to the bark of the large pine in the back yard.  Here in our area the Cicadas emerge each summer in small numbers.  There are parts of the south that can experience extremely high hatch outs some years.   There may be thousands of the noisy insects in one tree all making a buzzing sound like a door or phone buzzer.  It can be deafening.  Here we may only see 4 or 5 dig their way out of the ground, climb a few feet up a tree and then they pop out of their shells as in my photo.  They leave the old shell behind and emerge as a flying insect their only task to find a mate and lay eggs.  The eggs will be laid under the surface of the soil and will grow for approximately 17 years before digging their way out and starting the process over again.  Next we walked on down toward the east end of the paved road and I noticed that I could now see the bands of the Milky Way directly overhead.  I could also see the Big Dipper or Ursa major to the north.   The weather is slowly but surely warming again.  The humidity is edging slightly higher each night and we should begin to see thunder storms out in the Gulf of Mexico each night.  Sooner or later it will rain again.  Thanks for reading my blog tonight.  Bye

Can't Pillory the Fritillary

Orange, black and pointy.  

The weather for our walk this morning was nothing short of perfect.   Cool temperatures this morning definitely hinted that a jacket would be needed in a month or so.  The dog and I circled around to the back yard and had a quick look at things there.  I have 5 orange trees several of which are bearing a heavy load of oranges this year.  At this point they are about 1.25 times the size of a golf ball.  Ultimately they will ripen at the size of a baseball.  I have Hamlin sweet oranges, Washington navels and a Japanese Mandarin that the exact variety of escapes me.  After looking at the oranges we walked over to what was left of my Passion flower vines.  The Fritillary butterfly that I posted last night  has laid her eggs on the vine and as you can see from the photo the caterpillars are eating whats is left of the vine.   It's not a problem as the vine has borne all of the fruit this year and it will spring back to life after the butterflies leave in the fall.  The dog and I then hustled on out the gate and made our way down to the west end of the dirt road and very much enjoyed the beauty of the morning.  Here in the south if you can endure the humidity and heat of the summer you will be rewarded with a very long period of what I would call comfortable days and nights.  A time when we can turn off the air conditioner and open the windows at night.  You can hear crickets and night birds, far away train whistles and dogs barking.   I really enjoy this time of year.   I sure hope everyone has a chance to enjoy the out door world because after all it was made for us.  Thanks for coming by.  Have a great day.  Bye.