Random Thought #10

 Your Name

       Who are you really?

 

     Did you ever google your name and see how many other people have the same name? It is surprising. I found 15 people named Barbara Borror the way I spell it on Facebook. There were several others that had simular spellings. I even found a Barbara Borror that what looked like a couple of my cousins had friended. I haven't seen these cousins since I was a small child. Maybe it really my cousins and they didn't realize it was not their cousin. So be careful who you are asking to be your friend.

Random Thought # 9

 

  I never knew that chipmunks were farmers until I lived here. Of course I have never lived where I had a porch with chipmunks living under it before. I put out birdseed for the birds. Most of it is sunflower seeds which seems to be what they prefer. So do the chipmunks. I found that several birds, cardinals, doves, bluejays, mockingbirds, do not like eating out of the hanging feeders and prefer to eat out of shallow pans on the ground or just off the ground. So do the chipmunks. And the squirrals. 

    But the chipmunks are the only ones that stuff their cheek pouches full of sunflower seeds then 'plant' the seeds somewhere. One of their favorite places to plant their seeds is in my pots of plants that I keep on the porch. Pots full of gerunims, begonias, impations, cactus, suculents, and other houseplants or small, pretty plants that I have grown this year. 

    Every few days a new 'crop' of sunflowers will appear in my pots around the plants that I put in them. So everytime I water I have to pull out the sunflower seedlings. If I don't the sunflowers will take over the pot. Sunflowers do not do well in pots. They just get too big. 

  Of course the chipmunks don't just plant in my pots. I will find a cluster of sunflower seedlings just about anywhere out in the grass. I don't mind that. The lawnmower will take care of them or if not they can just grow there. 

   I guess chipmunks are 'hard wired' to plant seeds. It is natures way of making sure that a plant will condinue to grow and produce seeds that the little critters and birds can eat and 'plant' to grow some more.

   And in case your wondering, no, the squirrles don't do this. First they don't have check pouches to carry several seeds at a time. I have seen squirrels planting acorns out in the yard but never sunflowers. Acorns take longer to sprout and are available to eat in the winter time. I've never seen a chipmunk eating an acorn. I don't think they can crack them. 

Corn!

There are several fields around us that are usually planted in soy beanc each summer. But this year corn was planted. Now we have a living fence around part of our proberty. Thats okay. We can't see out but no one can see in either. I was surprised at how tall the corn got. A good 7 or 8 feet tall. I have raised corn now and then in my gardens but it was always just a hand ful of seed making maybe 20 or so stalks. And what I grew was a good eating corn for corn on the cob. This corn is probably for use as cattle feed. That means it won't be harvested until it has dried completly. That means we will have our corn fence for several more months. 

Corn is actually in the grass family. The pollen at the top of the plant falls down onto the corn silks and each silk goes to a single grain of corn on the cob. As each grain of corn grows the ear of corn fills out until the grains are full. Then you can pick corn that you are planning on eating. If you want it for other uses you can leave it longer. 

Edge of our yard on one side.

Corn pollen.

This is our road into and away from our house. Glad this field of corn is only about a quarter of a mile long. I know there are places where the fields and miles long but not around here. 

 

August Flowers

August is my birthday month. I turned 70 this time. There have been times I never thought I would get this old. And sometimes I wish I hadn't. But putting those thoughts aside. My flowers decided to celabrate with lots of beauty. My favorite color is blue. The wild chicory is a  gorgious shade of blue. We have a bunch on the edge of the road that have been blooming away. They open first think in the morning but are usually gone by noon. The stem they grow on has very few leaves that are hardly big enough to see. Chicory is a kind of daisy and in the herb family. It has been used as an additive to coffee but I have never tried it. 

Little sunflower

Angle wing begonia. I had 3 nice begonias this year. This angle wing has done great. Also had a couple of others that came from a bulb. The angle wing is red, and a nice pick one, and the other one is a pale pink with darker pink edging. First time I have ever had begonias.

My hydraina was here when we moved in. It was planted in front of the front yard water spiket. I thought of moving it but was afraid it would kill it. It was only about a foot tall when we moved it. I haven't done a lot to it except pruning it some. This year it is about 6 feet tall or sort of that tall. It is so heavy with the blossoms that most of the stems are leaning over. The clusters of blossoms have been big and eash one has thousands of indiviual blossoms on it. What is so nice about hydrainas are that the blossoms dry on the plant and last for months. Every time I go to turn the water on to water the plants in pots that need an extra drink I have to duck under the hydraina limbs. They don't have a lot of sent but what there is is pleasent. 

The crape myrtle was, also, here when we moved in. It was already a good size and is bit bigger now. A beautiful color somewhere between a bright pink and a red. I can see it from the kitchen window when I am doing dishes or cooking. It blooms for about the whole month of August. 

These are a common wild flower we see at this time of the year.

My caladium bulbs did well. The leaves have been really nice. One had a flower but it disappeared before I got a photo of it. I think something ate it as there was nothing to be found just a few hours after I saw it. My hosta is hiding under the caladium leaves. 

Had a couple of visitors to our yard. This deer stopped by for a few minutes. 

I know we have snakes here but I don't see them that often. But one day this black rat snake was hanging out in the yard. It was fairly long. First photo is of the head and then one of the body and tail. I left it to go on its way. We have lots of mice for them to eat.