Had to happen sometime

The weather looks bad but it really wasn't.

Sunday morning the weather appeared iffy when the dog and I headed out to the west end of the dirt road.  About half way through our walk the sun began to break through and the day appeared more promising.
As we arrived at the tunnel of trees I noticed that something I feared would happen has happened.   About an acre of the thick woods  next door to one of only two houses on that end of the road has been completely cleared with the exception of two trees.  It was a little shocking to see it happen so quickly.

Bulldozers do their work fast.

 I suppose someone will be building a house here.   Maybe another home in this area will cut down on the people who throw out their trash and dead fish on the road.  I wish I had taken a photo of the woods before they were cleared but I did not.

3,2,1, Sneeze. 

  As we walked back from the end of the road I noticed that allergy season is about to begin.  The Golden Rod or Rag weed is only a day or so from bursting into a wild blooming party that will last for the next month or so.  I feel sorry for those who are going to have to sneeze during that period.  As the weather becomes cooler at this time of the year I hope you will take the opportunity to go outside and take a look at your world before someone pushes it away with a bulldozer which is after all their right to do.  Thanks for reading my blog.  Bye.

Dress for success, take an umbrella

Not one of the more beautiful days here in paradise.

Saturday afternoon the dog and I ducked out between rain showers and managed to walk down to the east end of the paved road.  It was a dull gray afternoon walk but the temperature was low due to a weak cold front moving south.  When we arrived at the end of the road we saw that the hay I photographed the other day, has now been rolled up into bales.  We also saw that Zig-Zag the bull has broken into one of the bales already and made a mess. We saw a couple of the wild flowers that grow up this time of the year along our roadside. The first was Bladder pod.   This is a plant that grows along any untended roadside here in Grand Bay.  

They look like beans but their not.  

 It will grow to be 3 or 4 feet tall and after blooming the pods will appear.  They hang there until they dry and fall off.  The plants and seed are poisonous to domestic animals so most of the cattle folks around here work to keep this plant out of their fields and stored hay.   The other plant is a Showy Crotalaria which grows in spikes at this time of the year.

Crotalaria , pretty and dangerous.  

The yellow flower are very pretty and as the name implies are very showy.   The flowers eventually fall off and are replaced by hanging bean pods. The pods dry and the loose seeds in the pods make them sound like baby rattles or rattle snakes when you walk through them in the winter.   These plants and their seeds are poisonous to cattle as well.   All these poisonous plants must make cattle ranching a difficult task around here.  I can look down the road where I walk and see both Bladder pod and Crotalaria growing in profusion up and down the road.  I guess they are a fixture.  Thanks for reading my blog.  Bye.

All quiet on the western front

The last time I will be on this side of the fence.  

Friday morning the dog and I walked down to the west end of the dirt road. Along the way I stopped to look at the new barbed wire fence my neighbor is putting up on the edge of his property. Although I will loose access to a place I have walked for 13 years now I cannot blame him for fencing it in. Some of the people in this area do not respect other peoples property and drive their 4 wheelers and 4 wheel drives trucks out onto the property and tear it all up. For some reason as I mentioned before people will dump bags of garbage and deer and pig carcasses on the property within site of the land owners home. One year they dumped some 50 gallons of yellow traffic paint into the ditch which is a wet lands area. The county had to spend a large amount of money cleaning that hazardous waste up. So no I cannot blame him for putting up a fence.    

Raccoon family night.

I stopped and looked at the edge of the pond and I could see that the raccoon family had been there last night and left a large number of tracks in the mud. They were most likely there eating the crawfish that are hiding in the mud around the pond. The crawfish come out at night to eat at the water's edge and the raccoons know it. It would be interesting to be there one night and watch what goes on there. I need my sleep so that job will have to go to someone else for now. I also stopped and looked at the Yellow Jacket nest which is empty now that the owner has killed the entire hive with a spray of some kind.  

The lights are on but no one's home.

 I pulled some of the parts of the hive out to take a look at the inner workings that I could never see other wise.As I pulled the paper nest chambers out I was often startled by what I thought was a yellow jacket still in the nest but as it turned out they were all quite dead. The parts of the nest that came out whole were other worldly in their appearance. There was an out side wall or cocoon that surrounded the nest and hanging from that were stair stepped egg chambers each one slightly smaller than the other. There was a little pouch hanging from one part of the nest that I suppose was where the queen held court and laid eggs. Just looking at the parts I brought out of the nest gave me the willies and made my skin crawl. I have spent an interesting 4 or 5 years watching the Yellow Jackets come and go each year and I was sorry they had to be dispatched this way. The neighborhood is more populated now though and these wild things will most likely succumb to our encroachment. Sorry about that natural world. Thanks for reading my blog today. I hope you have a great Friday. Bye.

Blue sky and black snake

The straight lines, blue sky and green grass looked very serene.  

On this Thursday morning I persuaded the dog to walk with me down to the east end of the paved road.  The dog doesn't like to go down there because of the electric fence. When we arrived we found that the owner of the field where zig-zag the bull spends his days, had mowed the hay and raked it into nice straight mounds.  The straight piles of hay presented a very pleasant site with the white clouds floating in the blue sky above the green field.   While I was in the area I decided to check on the passion fruit.

Look closely for the snake in the grass. 

 When I bent down to take a look at it I got quite a shock.  Hiding in the grass just behind the hanging fruit was a black snake.  He was just finishing swallowing a salamander he had caught so he was not very concerned with my presence.  I only knew it was a salamander because I saw the tail lying on the ground still wagging.  Apparently the ploy of losing it's tail had not worked to distract the snake from eating the salamander.   I watched as the black snake crawled into the grass and disappeared.

Almost ready.

I picked up one of the passion fruits that had fallen on the ground and broke it open.  It was edible but still a little tangy.  Hopefully the animals that live in the area will leave a few ripe fruits for me to pick.  On the way home I saw a group of pink wild flowers blooming on the roadside.

This little flower puts on a big show.

 I researched them and found they are the False Foxglove.  They are a snapdragon like flower that happens to like growing on roadsides.  These flowers never grew here until the county paved the road.  They broadcast wild flower seeds that have returned each year since then.  I am looking forward to the other wild flowers that will be showing up soon.  I hope you have a chance to get outside and see the flowers today.  Thanks for reading my blog today.  bye

Time for the pitch fork

The last of the Christmas trees hang on tenaciously. 

Wednesday morning's walk took the dog and I down to the pig farm again.  On our way we passed through the pecan orchard where the owner has begun mowing the grass as he does two or three times each year.  The freshly cut grass is a boon to my mostly organic garden.  I bring my little truck down the road and drive into the field where I pick up two or three truck loads of this seed free grass.  I use it as mulch in my garden in the spring and fall.  I wait until it has turned gray and it is really dry before I pick it up.  The owner of the orchard never mows this grass for hay because it is so full of cogongrass. He just cuts it and leaves it laying there.  While walking in the grass I noted the several large cedar trees in this field that appear to be out of place.  These trees are the last remaining survivors of a Christmas tree farm that was here when I first moved to the area in 2000.  There were quite a few cedars out there then.  The trees are much to big to use now as they are about 20 feet tall.  In the cold weather they produce a pleasant fragrance when you brush against them.  The smell always reminds me of Christmas time.    The county's road grader and dump trucks were out again this morning finishing the road work they started last Thursday.  They are laying down a thick layer of crushed limestone which will become cement like once it rains.  It should keep the red dirt from washing as badly as it has in the past.  The weather during the last few days has been very hot and dry in the daytime and cooler at night which is normal for this time of year.  I was told by my brother a tropical system is in the Gulf of Mexico and the weather forecasting models show it coming our way.  Let us hope the models are flawed.  Thanks for reading my blog. I hope you have a great Wednesday.  Bye.

A short walk and a tall pine

A friendly giant lives in the woods.   

Tuesday mornings walk took us up to the west end of the dirt road.  It was a very quiet morning after yesterday's tumultuous passing of a very large thunderstorm.  Fortunately the brunt of the storm passed north of Grand Bay.   We did receive a small amount of rain which was appreciated by all gardeners in my area. On our way up to the end of the road we passed a gigantic pine tree standing right on the edge of the road.  I stopped to ponder this tree as it was so much taller than all the others around it.  The tops of the surrounding trees were probably 40 to 50 feet up but the pine soared another 30 feet above them.  It's top was in the morning sun long before the shorter trees ever felt the first rays. I would imagine the tree is 40 to 50 years old judging by it's height.  Pines here in the south can grow very quickly and reach tremendous heights in a relatively short period.  All of the limbs on these pine trees are growing near the top which gives them a good bit of protection from a fire that may be burning far below in the under-story.  I pass this tree often when we walk this way and I always look up in awe of it.

Head south here for a cool swim. 

  Once the dog and I reached the end of the road I took a look down south on the paved road.  When we want to go to the creek where the dog likes to swim we head south on this road for about 1.5 miles or so.   It makes for a long walk for both of us because this highway is dangerous.   The dog must remain on his leash which he does not like at  all and he pulls me along which is very wearing to someone who likes to amble like I do.

Idyllic prospect is only recent.

  We headed back home from  and I stopped and took a look and a piece of land I rarely ever look at.  It is directly across from the Yellow Jacket hive so most of the time I am looking in that direction.  I climbed up behind the brush and the prospect  was very nice.  The land falls away to a drainage at the bottom.  There are pines and short cogongrass growing in the field.  The present appearance is only recent though.  The owner had the land which was very overgrown cleared about 5 years ago.  He told me that the way it looks now is the way it looked when he was a kid working at his Dad's pig farm  some 50 years ago.  I guess the more things change the more they stay the same for some people.   Thanks for reading my blog.  I hope you have a good day.  Bye.

Meeting the Sun

Night hangs on but it's grip is failing. 

This Monday morning the dog and I were out on our walk very early. When we arrived at the watermelon field the sky was transitioning from night to day.  Above us was the dark dusky blue sky where hints of the fading night still held onto the the gauzy cirrus clouds.  At the horizon the sun was just peeking from behind the trees glowing brighter by the second while just below the faintest hint of fog hovered above the dusty dry soil of the plowed field.  Overlook a sunrise and you miss a gift that has blessed mankind since his creation. The dog and I are fortunate beings in that we often see this beautiful event.  I can promise you that if you go out to meet the sun as it comes up you will not be disappointed by your effort.   Thanks for reading my blog today.  bye.  

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire? Maybe

That dot on the road is a dog who is scared of electric fences.  

Oh what a beautiful morning it was.  Very cool.   You had to have been down here in Grand Bay the last couple of months to understand what a relief it is to walk out in the morning and not arrive home covered in sweat.  Those mornings may be gone until we have our mid December heat wave some time between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  The dog and I walked down to the east end of the paved road and I turned the corner to go and look at the goats.  As you can see from the photo the dog begins his homeward journey when I turn the corner because he is afraid of the electric fence as noted in my earlier blog.  I went down the little private dirt road to see what the goats were doing and while I was looking for them in the fence something clicked behind me.  I turned to see two beady goat eyes looking at me through a tall fenced corral normally used for herding cows into a trailer.  I walked over to where the goat was looking at me through the fence and noticed that all of the goats were now here in the corral which was across the road from their previous location.  Apparently the owner wanted the goats to clear the brush growing in the corral which was pretty much obscuring the presence of the goats themselves it was so bad.  The goats had eaten all of the brush from the area where they were before and the only goat left there now was the baby goat who was bleating loudly for it's Mom I suppose.  They have cleared the woods there so effectively that I can now see through to the field behind the wooded area where the goats were before.

Shoes are mandatory here.  

 I took a photo of the chestnuts growing by the road which are almost ready to fall from the tree.  It should be a good crop of nuts. The owner of the goats usually allows me to pick up the chestnuts as he doesn't like to deal with the stickers on the shell.

Looks like Hawaii.  

 I also took a photo of the beautiful Hibiscus that is growing nearby just at the edge of the road by the water trough for Zig Zag the lonely bull.  The Hibiscus is a distant cousin of okra and cotton.  Their flowers are similar but each ones plant is very different.  You don't want to have your Hibiscus near your okra as they can cross pollinate and cause your okra pods to grow strangely if you save seeds.  Once I was back on the paved road I managed to coax the dog back down to the end of the road with a ruse about throwing something into the bushes  He never wants to be left out of any game of fetch.  We then headed on back toward the house.  As we passed by the soy bean field on the left I saw Zig Zag the bull considering his chances at getting through the barbed wire fence into the soy beans.  I suppose cows will eat soy beans when they are green but I don't know if they are good for them.  I will keep and eye on him just in case.  Thanks for reading my blog.  I hope you got a chance to go outside today.  Bye.

Why can't every day be Saturday?

Wait until wild persimmons turn pumpkin orange before eating.

On Saturday the dog and I walked out into a cool morning and we headed up to the watermelon field.  The owner of the field is preparing it for a new crop.  What that crop will be I don't know yet but I will keep you informed.  As we walked by R.J. the donkey made a very loud request for a hand full of grass from my side of the fence.  I guess he thinks the grass is tastier on the other side of the fence.  We traveled over to the unoccupied house and had a look at the wild persimmons which are getting very close to being ripe.  I found one that was ripe and it was pretty good.  An unripe persimmon is a very unpleasant experience.  When you bite into an unripe persimmon your mouth feels like you have eaten a mouth full of wax.   As I said these are wild persimmons so they are small, about 1.5 inches in diameter.  Most of them are eaten by squirrels and birds before I can get any so I eat them when I find them ripe.  We traveled back over to my house where I had a full day of gardening ahead of me. 

Mexican petunia in the early morning.

In the back yard I noticed the Mexican petunia looked quite purple in the morning sun.  Later in the afternoon when all of the gardening was done we drove down to the neighbors field and walked the paths.  It was very warm at around 7 pm when we were there.  The weather pattern has changed as it often does this time of year to dry warm days and cooler nights and early mornings.  It won't be long and we will have the opportunity to open the windows at night.  That will be the nicest time of the year. 

The end of a great Saturday.

When the dog and I where leaving the fields this afternoon I took a photo of a colorful sunset.  There seems to have been a lot of opportunities for that lately.  We drove around in the truck a little and then went on back to the house.  Tonight we are having vegetables from the garden. Black eyed peas, yellow squash and some volunteer turnip greens that I picked today.  All in all not a bad Saturday.  Once again I hope you are getting all you can out of your walks and your time outside.  Thanks for reading my blog.  Bye.

Yucky Charms, Green potatoes, Golden orbs, yellow crabs

The Air potato looks pretty as it takes over.  

This morning the dog and I walked down to the west end of the dirt road.   It was a very comfortable morning with fairly low humidity. At the end of the road we turned around and I spotted a vine of interest growing up a magnolia tree.   The vine is what we call the potato vine.  Apparently the correct name is the Air Potato.   This vine according to my research has been in Alabama at least since 1770 when it was first noticed.  I don't know if you can call a plant that has been here over 200 years an invasive species or not so I will leave that one to the philosophers.   The vine grows up and makes big green potato like spheres which hang from the stem.  They do look very much like potatoes but the web site I checked said they were poisonous so do not eat them.   I also noticed an example of our old friend the Golden Orb Spider.

Hard to see from this angle.  

Hiding in plain site.

 I had a chance to get fairly close to this one and I could see that it was very large.   It was slowly and meticulously weaving it's web while as I watched.  When you consider that they weave the web without ever actually seeing it you realize how much of a miracle these things really are.  When we arrived home my quick walk through the garden turned up another of the spider family hanging out on my okra plants.  This was another of the crab spiders that seem to be taking over my garden.   This yellow one was I guess trying to look like a vein in the leaf so a fly might mistakenly land on her.  As many of them as there are in the garden now I am surprised those little flies can survive but, I suppose there are plenty of flies to go around.  Thanks for reading my blog.  I hope you have a good day.  Bye

A walk in the park

The pecan orchard is beautiful in the morning.

Thursday morning the dog and I walked down to the pig farm.  It was very comfortable  with  cool temperatures.  As we walked down  we passed through the pecan orchard on the right side of the road. The shadows cast by the morning sun  through the trees were very long and eerie.  The orchard when the grass is cut looks much like a park only there are no people there.    As we walked along I began to hear a familiar roaring sound.  It was a sound that I have come to know well after 13 years of living on or near a dirt road.

Our old buddy the road grader.  

                                                   The sound was coming from the big road grader that maintains all of the dirt roads in my part of the county.  Although I do not know the name of the driver of the grader we are still friends who know each other.  I wave as he passes and he waves back and continues on with his never ending task.  When I was preparing to go to work I noticed the county dump trucks were hauling in red dirt which is what the roads around here are made with.  The dump trucks put the dirt on the road and the grader smooths it out and then they repeat the process.   The red dirt constantly washes down the road  to the end that is lower and then it washes into the woods. Because the dirt won't stay where it is supposed to it must be constantly replenished.

Very small morning glory.  

We continued on to the farm and then turned around and were  headed home when I saw several groups of pretty morning glory flowers in the brush.  I thought the white ones were pretty because they are just so small.  They are only about 3/8's of an inch across. All in all an enjoyable walk this morning.  I hope that if you are able to walk that you will let me know what you see a comment.  Thanks for reading my blog.  Have a good day

When you reach the end of the road turn around and now you are at the beginning

Crimson glow of prickly pears contrast with the blue sky.  

The shadow puppets dance this morning.  

The weather this morning was feeling very fall like with cool temperatures before sunrise.   As we started our Wednesday morning walk and headed out of the yard I could not help but stop and look at the prickly pear cactus in the front yard.  The little fruits are an amazing shade of crimson and stand out brightly from the green cactus pads.  I think I am going to try and do something with them this year rather than letting them go to waste.  I am hoping to  make prickly pear jelly from the juice extracted from the fruit.  No matter what,  the cactus is a nice addition to my front yard as well as providing a little disincentive for burglars who might want to run around in my yard at night.  We headed out and walked by the Yellow Jacket hive and as I expected the property owner has dealt with them.  I can't blame him for wanting to protect his family.  We walked on down to the end of the road and then turned around and started back when I saw a very nice scene looking down the road in an easterly direction.  The sun was coming down through the trees to the road below presenting shadows that stretched out toward the west.  This part of the road can create some amazing shadow effects in the fall and spring when the wind moves the the leaves on the trees causing a shimmering pattern on the road.  I always enjoy the show when I see it.  As a note to all of the people reading my blog I will be submitting one blog per day now instead of two. I have a second blog for work called "A little help with big prints"  at  bigprinthelp.blogspot.com which I will need to work on each day as well.  I will still try to get both walks into the blog during the weekends though. My thanks to those who stop by regularly.  I do appreciate you reading my blog.  Please remember 9/11 today.   Bye.  

Turtle transportation

Tuesday morning the dog and I walked down to the south end of the dirt road where the pig farm is.   The temperature was very nice and the humidity was acceptable.  We arrived at the end of the road and noticed that the owner has moved in the cattle trailer which means that in a month or two he will be bringing in the 4-H student's pigs to stay till the State fair later this year.  The owner has put in some heavy duty fencing to keep people from driving up to the farm buildings and possibly making off with the pigs.  On the way back home the dog decided to take a detour through the woods.   When he popped out of the woods a few minutes later he had a fairly large box turtle in his mouth.   He ran past me and kept on going all the way to the house and sat outside the gate waiting for me to get back.  When I arrived he picked up the turtle and made ready to go inside.  I had thought ahead and picked up  a piece of wood about the same size as the turtle and brought it with me.  I asked him if he wanted me to throw the piece of wood which made him drop the turtle and get ready to play fetch.   I picked up the turtle walked through the gate and  into the back yard.  I stood by the fence with the woods on the other side and threw the piece of wood out on to the yard and when the dog went after it I threw the turtle into the woods.  Problem solved till the next walk.  Thanks for coming by today.  Bye.

Fruit salad in my future

Green for only a little while longer.

Monday evening the dog and I started our walk just after the sun had set.  As we were walking through the back yard I stopped and looked at the oranges.  These are the Louisiana sweet oranges which some people call Hamlin oranges.  They are slightly smaller than a baseball now and are pretty hard.  The inside has already taken on the familiar orange look but the taste now is that of a lemon.  As the weather gets cooler they will ripen pretty quickly and just after Thanksgiving I usually start eating them.  They will remain on the tree from Thanksgiving to march if I allow them to and they will still be good to eat.  Earlier this year I still had last years crop hanging on the trees when they began to bloom.  In another part of the yard I noted that a second banana tree has opened a flower and a small bunch of bananas is beginning to form.

The real second banana.  

The Yellow Jackets may be going. 

  

The dog and I  then walked on down to the area of the Yellow Jacket hive  where we arrived there in the dark.  I saw that the Yellow Jackets were not flying and they all seemed to be hanging on the front of the hive.  As always I will use care when approaching them as they can be viscous when aggravated.  I managed to zoom in my IPhone and get a photograph showing their front entrance.  They are just milling around and not doing very much.  The dog and I made our way back home and I drove over to the house of the owner of the land where the Yellow Jackets are.  I described the location of the hive and reiterated the size of it.  I wanted to make sure the owner of the property knows about this nest as he and his crew are running fences nearby.  The last thing I want is for someone to get hurt by these things when it can be avoided.  Thanks for coming by tonight.  Bye.   

   

The morning dew shows a spider's work

Spider webs like this are numerous in the morning. 

Our walk on this Monday morning took us up to the east end of the paved road to look at our passion fruit crop.  On the way I saw a spider web in a field which was hanging heavy with dew.  The dew soaks everything at that early hour of the morning.   I managed to get  a good photo of the web and got all wet in the process.  We continued on from there up to the culvert where the passion fruit has been growing all summer.   It is very important to check it every day as it will become ripe quickly.  When it is ripe any animal that can reach it will take it away.  I managed to get a good look at quite a few of the fruits this morning although they are scattered in a field of unidentified vines that may be itchy.   I will only go out in that area when I am covered completely to prevent an itchy reaction.

Three Passion fruits almost ready.  

 I got a good photo of the fruit while the dog sniffed in the high grass for some type of musky smelling animal that even I could smell.  We headed on toward the house as we went I noticed the pecan tree leaves are starting to fall.  They will usually fall once in the late summer due to a fungus that affects the leaves.  The trees will grow a new flush of leaves which will fall again when the frosts and freezes start later this year.   I hope you have a great day today.  Thanks for reading my blog.  Bye.