Small spots of orange can be seen in ditches and other areas. The Spotted Touch-me-not, or Orange Jewelweed, is a native flower which grows 3 to 5 feet tall. Hummingbirds feed on the flower’s nectar and when the seed pods are ripe, the seeds explodes out of the pods if they are touched, which is where the name ‘touch-me-not’ comes from.
Spotted Touch-me-not
When my pond overflowed from the thunderstorm, I didn’t get any driftwood floating out but I did have a lot of limbs down on the lawn. But like clouds, when I see a piece of driftwood, I try to picture a critter or object in the wood which can change depending on which direction you view it from. From this angle, I saw an otter floating on its back with its lunch sitting on its belly and all four legs and tail in the air.
Otter Driftwood
There probably wasn’t a lot of work done midday during the solar eclipse while people watched the progress of the moon covering the sun as there are about 12 million people who live directly on the eclipse path, which doesn’t include those who migrated for the day to view the event.
I didn’t travel to the total path, so the sun was only covered about 83% but with rain before and afterwards, I was just lucky to see even that much of the eclipse. The last total solar eclipse in my area was before I was born and the next one isn’t until 2099. Other total solar eclipses seem to be in the 60 to 80 percent coverage for my area with 1979 being about 90% in which the our sheep came in from the pasture to lie down like nighttime and after the eclipse, they headed back out to the pasture. The sunshine here looked like a hazy cloudy day as it didn’t get dark like in the complete total path area.
Total Solar Eclipse Day
There may not have been much color in the sunset tonight, but the southern sky was displaying some red and white lightning from a storm that was 45 miles away. People often refer to it as heat lightning as no thunder is heard, but is really is just lightning from the distant thunderstorms, sometimes 100 miles away, in which sound cannot carry that far.
Silent Lightning
The sunshine today helped to dry the soggy ground but more thunderstorms are in the forecast again and this barn is looking like it has weathered a few too many storms. Missing boards are allowing more rain to seep inside and soon the rotten wood will allow more boards to blow off in the wind.
Barn Feeling Its Age
When mowing this week, a doe with two spotted fawns came near me and although the lawn mower scared the fawns from time to time, they continued to eat the fallen apples. This deer was leaving the corn field, ready to cross the road to the apple trees and pond, until it spotted me.
Deer Waiting
The critters today would have been looking for a dry place during three inches of rain, maybe inside a barn or even under the roof eave like this bird nest on the barn door track.
Barn Door Hanger
The flowers were watered both morning and evening by the falling rain but they were able to catch a glimpse of the sun midday.
Pretty Pink Phlox
In our world, methods and technology is constantly changing. Now there are self driving combines to harvest grain fields, but last century there were huge steam engines using belts to power threshing machines to separate the grain, like oats, from the stalks. Bundles of grain on a wagon were unloaded at one end and if all the belts and gears are working, the grain kernels are bagged and the straw is blown into a pile.
Old Grain Thresher
At the Pope Farm Conservancy, outside Middleton, Wisconsin, thousands of visitors are flocking to view a half-million sunflower blooms reaching peak display which covers nine acres. I won’t see that many sunflowers as I only get a few that get “planted” by my birds throwing seeds out of the feeder.
Sunflower Blooming
