Crape Myrtle

This bush in my yard finally decided to bloom letting me know for sure, as I suspected, that it is a crape myrtle. I have always liked them and this one is a nice color. Ziva even consented to sit in front of it and let me take her photo. In a different photo you can see the bush sits behind the house and I can see it from the kitchen window. The other flowers are roses and gladiolas.

Veggies

I have grown vegetables in New Mexico for many years. But this was my first time growing them in Kentucky. I have to admit it has been some what easier than raising them in the desert. The tomatoes have done really well and so have the cucumbers. I expected the zucchini to do well and I have had enough for myself but that is all. The cantaloupe have not produced at all. Just a vine. The watermelon have some very tiny melons on them but they don't seem to be growing. But the pumpkins look like they are going to be big ones. I am guessing that the 2 in the last photo will weight in at about 10 pounds already. 

I did plant everything in very large pots. I have done that for years and find it easier for me than trying to dig and plant a garden plot for no more than we will eat. The vines on the pumpkins, cucumbers, and watermelons have become monsters. If I could figure out which don't have fruit on them I would cull them but they are to tangled to tell which is which. 

And the taste of vine ripened veggies is so different to what you buy in the store. So much better. And yes I have given some to my son and to the neighbors. From the looks of this table full I need to do that again.

Railroad Museum

We go to La Grange Kentucky frequently as it has some half way decent shopping plus several of our doctors are there. We had gone to the old historical part of town several times hoping to see a train come through. La Grange is one of, if not the only town, where the trains still come right through the main street of town. For about 4 blocks the train tracks are down the main street. People and cars have to get out of the way for the trains. I understand the trains go through very slowly, about 10 miles per hour so there isn't much danger. So far we have never seen a train while there. I have read online that that there should be several trains going by daily but as my luck seems to run we have never been there when  train was. It is my understanding that most of the trains that are on this track are freight trains. So yesterday we decide to stop and visit the Railroad Museum. It was's as big as I expected it to be but was very interesting. It was free but asks for donations and we gave a small one. There was the large blue dining car that can be rented for parties. The sign said the car was from 1929. The museum is in an old train depot but it looked as if it had been kept up in good condition. There were several display cases inside with old things from trains including the pressure gage I took a photo of and a 1908 book signed by people buying tickets. 

We haven't seen the trains but we sure do hear them. Where we live just off the freeway between Carrollton Kentucky and a very, very small community called English, Kentucky we hear the trains. They sort of go the same as the freeway but you can't see them except in one or two places. When they go through English, KY they blow their whistles. Loudly. And we hear them at our house. There are times when it is very still in the early mornings we can faintly hear the clicky-clack of the wheels on the track. The trains don't come close enough to be annoying. Just close enough we enjoy the lonely, hoot-toots and wonder what it is like to ride the trains. I don't think now would be near as enjoyable as it would have been back a hundred years ago. 

Pressure gage from old train. 

Telegraph keys 

Old book that recorded who bought tickets in 1908

You can see the train tracks on the main street of town.

 Different views of train tracks and old buildings. Most are still in use. Several gift shops.

An old interesting building that said Antiques. Maybe someday I will take time to see what is inside.

Tornado Warnings

Yesterday was our first experince with tornado warnings since we moved to Kentucky. The tornado sirens that were near us were letting us know there we were in danger of having a tornado. All the local TV channels took over from regular shows and gave constant up dates in what was going on. We had a series of hard rains that totaled just above 2 inches for us. Our local TV comes out of Louisville, KY and Louisville got a lot of hail as well as some other places. Bedford and Carrollton just got the hard rain. After the rain went away we had some strange clouds and a sunset. I did hear that there were some smallish tornadoes to the north of us in southern Indiana that destroyed a few homes and damaged some others but no one was hurt which was good. That said there were tornadoes in parts of Iowa that did more damage. I guess we were lucky this time. I just hope we don't have to go through this very often. Our house does not have a basement or any place that would be good shelter if there actually was a tornado here. Over in Bedford my son, does have a basement under this house. So does my nephew in Iowa. Good wishes for a safe and quick recovery to those that lost homes yesterday.  

Luna Moth

 We had a heck of a rain storm yesterday, even with threats of hail and tornadoes. When there was a break in the storm I took our dog Ziva out for a walk. Every thing was sopping wet. We walked by the clump of yucca that had been so pretty a month ago and I thought 'that's a strange leaf'. So I looked closer and say it wasn't a leaf but a Luna moth. And it wasn't even wet. I snapped a couple of shots of it with my cell phone. On returning to the house I got my Cannon camera and went back to see if it was still there. It was. So I took a bunch of photos. Here are some of them. This was the first Luna moth I had ever seen. It was large, bout 4 inches across and just as long. The antenna looked like little feathers attached to it's head. In the one picture you can see the white body and the dark legs are clinging to the long yucca leaf. I read about Luna moths and discovered that the caterpillar like to eat hickory tree leaves as well as some other leaves. Hummm Maybe that is why I found him just about under one of the large hickory trees on our property. The Luna moth is so pretty it has been used on a postage stamp and in a sleep aide commercial.

these are photos of the hickory tree leaves the Luna moth like to eat and some hickory nuts that are still green. And the squirrels like to eat those. 

Sunday Outing

 Last Sunday we went for a drive. First stop was under the bridge that spans the Ohio River with Milton, KY on the south side and Madison, IN on the north side. From there we watched a couple of the speed boat races that were taking place on the Ohio River. We had never seen a speed boat race. Interesting but might have been better if we had been closer. Had to use my zoom lens to get these few photos. You can see the big spray the boats created as they rounded the turn close to us. There was a boat there to indicate the turn.

Here you can sort of see the area where the speed boats were dropped into the water by the three cranes that were there. The same cranes lifted the boats out after a race. From what I could see it was usually two boats racing at a time. With a long, long wait between races, which got rather boring so we only watched for about an hour. We spent a lot of that time talking to a couple of people that were watching from the same place under the bridge.

leaving the races we took a drive to one of our favorite places in Carrollton, Ky. This photo is of the large pond going into General Butler State Park. The next is a close shot of the point you can see in this picture. There is a path and a pinic table there but we didn't go out this day. Was to hot and humid. This view can be seen when driving the main road through Carrollton. There is a pull off there if you want to stop.

This is the other side of the pond and I got a fair shot with reflextions of the trees on the far bank.

Trees seen at the Lookout Point in the park.

On our way out of the park we saw a buzzard or maybe a vulture sitting up in a dead tree. These big birds can be seen flying all over Kentucky. Not as pretty as other birds but are so valuble to clean up the dead animals (deer, raccoons, possoms, and others) seen along road ways.