Fireworks, parties and grilling out are common events for the 4th of July holiday. And with the 4th on a Tuesday this year, the various towns fireworks celebrations have been spread out on different days. Although I didn’t like the jerk who was shooting off fireworks at 2 am this morning or definitely didn’t like the idiot, who was shooting some off before the professional firework display started, since it malfunctioned and sent debris flying at the car I was sitting in.
Fireworks for the 4th
The other day, a baby grosbeak was screaming as it waited for its parents to bring some food to it, which they had to travel farther to get some as I forgot to fill the sunflower bird feeder. Today I was having trouble keeping the jelly and sugar water feeders filled for the orioles as they are now feeding their young too. This little oriole doesn’t look very cute yet, as it was just out of the nest, and hasn’t gotten rid of all its fuzzy feathers yet.
Baby Oriole Waiting for Food
This weekend sunsets have had some extra lights from early fireworks and will the next couple of nights probably too. Nature has been providing its own fireworks a lot in the skies lately too.
Sunset Without Fireworks
A Saturday shopping experience today is a bit different than going to a general store in the 1800s, which normally meant getting the basic food staples and not the wide range of choices for an item.
General Store
The lilies and other flowers had some sunshine today before getting another bath from heavy rain, but at least it wasn’t hail.
End of June Lily
Unlike crops like corn or soybeans, which have to be planted each year to harvest a crop, cranberry beds are not planted that often and one cranberry bed in Wisconsin is said to have been planted over a 140 years ago. The average bed is around 40 years old, as older beds are replanted with better varieties of cranberries. The old soil and cranberry vines are removed before the bed is prepared for the new vines.
Cranberry Bed Makeover
On cold or rainy days, the honey bees are not too active and when they are, they often bypass these small cranberry blossoms, about an quarter of an inch long, in favor of large white water-lily blossoms, 3 to 6 inches, in the nearby ponds. Europeans named the fruit “crane berry” because they thought the cranberry blossom looked like the head of a sandhill crane.
Tiny Cranberry Blossom
The nice temperature and low humidity made today a very nice summer day, which people may have enjoyed some fishing, hiking or other outdoor activities if they had the day off from work.
Summertime at the Lake
Since lupines prefer sandy soils, I don’t have any growing in my heavy clay soil, so it is a treat for me to see road ditches filled with the colorful display. Large-leaved Lupine is native to the Western US as well as a popular cultivar introduced by gardeners in the Midwest and has become invasive in areas. The Wild Lupine, found in the Eastern US is the only host plant for the Karner Blue butterfly caterpillar. Habitat loss has led to the decline in plants, and put the Karner Blue on the endangered species list.
Lovely Lupines
Weekends during the summer are often celebrations like weddings and reunions. And some family reunions are held at parks, which often have sandboxes and were there is a sandbox, there are kids!
Sandbox Playtime
