Normally the sound of chattering makes it easy to locate a squirrel, but it wasn’t the chatter which drew my attention to this squirrel and I would have missed him if it wasn’t for the noise of a nut being eaten.
Busy Eating a Nut
Picture of the Day for May 20, 2016
The hummingbirds and bees have been enjoying the blossoms during these sunny days and near the honeysuckle, the buzzing of wings can be heard as nectar is being collected. There are approximately 180 species of honeysuckle, but there are some non-native ones in North American which have been very invasive and are a noxious weed after being introduced as an ornamental plant, some as early as 1752.
Pretty but Invasive
Picture of the Day for May 19, 2016
Farming with horses is a look back at how my grandparents farmed until being replaced by tractors and mother machinery, but horses are still used for plowing, planting and harvesting crops throughout the world.
Plowing with Real Horse Power
Picture of the Day for May 18, 2016
Green flowers often get overlooked since they don’t stand out like the other colors. But at least “Jack” had a hood over his head to protect from the patchy frost overnight. New seedlings need three or more years of growth before they become large enough to flower. The Jack-in-the-pulpit flowers are unisexual and normally the larger plants are female.
Jack Hiding Under the Hood
Picture of the Day for May 17, 2016
While one generally thinks of colored leaves in the autumn, springtime also displays some red maple leaves when they first emerge before turning to summer green color.
Springtime Maple Leaves
Picture of the Day for May 16, 2016
It was nice not waking up to a white lawn today, after the snow on Saturday morning and the heavy frost Sunday morning, but some white is missing as the deer have eaten all of my Great White Trilliums. The flowers and leaves are gone with only a stem remaining. Apparently the Nodding Trillium leaves don’t taste as good as the deer eat them or there is no white blossom drawing attention to them as the blossom of the Nodding Trillium hangs underneath the leaves and you don’t notice the flowers.
Elusive Blossom
Picture of the Day for May 15, 2016
The clear skies last evening didn’t provide a pretty sunset, but it did allow the temperatures to drop to 26 overnight so some clouds would have would have kept it warmer and provided more color like this sunset.
Some Color
Picture of the Day for May 14, 2016
With temperatures near freezing overnight, the spring flowers might be a little frosty. The pinky purple of the Wild Geraniums look like their cheeks are already turning rosy from the cold temperatures, but at least they not buried under snow yet although snow is falling at the moment.
Wild Geranium
Picture of the Day for May 13, 2016
While not a returning summer bird, the appearance of a Pileated Woodpecker is not real common in my yard but they are rather noisy when they do show up. The Pileated Woodpecker is a very large woodpecker, with a wingspan nearing 30 inches and has a long neck and a triangular crest that sweeps off the back of the head. It reminds me more of a prehistoric bird than a woodpecker. They dig rectangular holes in trees to find ants and yesterday this woodpecker was checking out my raised garden beds made out of fallen trees, but he must not have found any ants as he didn’t stay long.
Pileated Woodpecker
Picture of the Day for May 12, 2016
Another “Throwback Thursday” image is an old wooden barn, as new wooden barns are rare since they have been replaced by metal buildings instead. This barn, which was my grandfather’s, has seen more than a hundred years. It has heard the laughter of children playing in the hayloft, the grunts of farmers stacking hay and the moos and meows of cows and cats sheltered inside.
Barn of the Past
