Last evening the rain ended as the fog was rising while the sun was setting and the colors probably would have glowed more reflecting off the fog and from all the moisture in the air, but with the growing army of mosquitoes, I didn’t stick around to watch the changing of the color at dusk.
Sunset as Rain Ends
This poor tree has seen better days and with the rain today, probably is feeling a bit soggy too. When it finally collapses into the water, it will no longer be a home to the birds.
Worn Out Tree
It has been hard keeping the bird feeders filled now that the baby orioles and grosbeaks have been coming to eat (besides the mother squirrel too). And it appears the baby Northern Flickers have left the nest as I saw a group of them on the lawn looking for their meal. But since they feed on insects, I don’t have to put more seed out since there are plenty of bugs this year.
Peeking Northern Flicker
I do love old wooden barns with their rustic look to them but while I was making a barn board frame yesterday, I couldn’t but think how nice and weathered the boards on this barn are which would make some wonderful frames. But other than some cracks in the foundations, this barn might be around for a little while longer so I guess I have to put my hammer and crowbar away for a bit yet.
Old Weathered Boards
The wind was blowing yesterday, although the mosquitoes were still getting me but I think there are just so many of them, the wind just blows them right into me. The blowing wind does make it difficult to a picture of a small flower though.
Along the railroad tracks, these waving blue flowers caught my eye. About 70 species of Spiderworts exist in the Western Hemisphere, and I think this one might be the Ohio Spiderwort, but then I am just usually taking pictures blossoms and not all the plant parts to identify them.
The name Spiderwort may have come from the resemblance to spider silk when the sap is stretched between the fingers or that the plant looked like a crouching spider. The word “wort” often applies to plants with medicinal purpose and the Cherokee used it for insect bites (or spider bite).
One of the other common for the Tradescantia genus, doesn’t have a nice sounding name as it is also called Cow Slobber. It got that name from the plant’s sap as when you break the flower stalk, the sap forms stringy filaments that look like slobber and cows do ‘slobber’ at times (especially if you are nearby for them to wipe the slobber on your shirt).
Too Pretty to be Slobber
Like many holidays, a lot of the farmers worked on the 4th of July baling hay since it was one of the few opportunities of dry days to get some hay up. Although not all the hay looked very green anymore as it had been washed multiple times from rainy month.
Finally Some Hay Baled
There was more fireworks last night and now this morning, mother nature is providing some booming noise too. But maybe later today, the sun will shine again on the orange lilies so they can show off their really bright orange color instead of the muted orange under the gray skies this morning.
Bright Orange
The Fourth of July in the United States is a holiday commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. For most it means picnics, barbecues and fireworks.
It is a nice day here for those types of activities but the only thing I wish was that the mosquitoes would declare their independence and stay the heck away from me!
Celebrating the 4th
The yellow lilies looked a little soggy from yesterday’s rain and I got wet taking the picture since it seemed to rain most of the day.
Wet Lily
The Orange Hawkweeds might like all the rain since they are blooming where I haven’t been able to mow the lawn. But the plant isn’t supposed to be on my lawn as it is an evasive species and it is becoming a problem in many areas. And while the rain is helping it survived from mowing, the blossoms close up in shade so they aren’t helping the insects during all the cloudy days.
Invasive Orange
