April 2013: Whistling Ducks, Cold Waters, Rabbitfoot Grass, Arboreal Cacti, Artichokes, Monet, and More

Not a true duck, this noisy black-bellied whistling duck (Dendrocygna autumnalis) and its mate have been staying close by the Creek for most of the month.

We've had several cold mornings recently, with stern ice on the windshield and roof of the pickup this morning (April 20).  But the sunshine along the waters has been beautiful. Even if the quality of the video isn't:

Rabbitfoot Grass in Morning Light

 

One of the lessons of the Tao is that some things just should not be commented upon.  Words fail us.  And that's all I will say about a rain lily in April.

Note the small red dot on the main limb in the upper center of this image.

This fine live oak below the boulders of Whitman's Rough hosts mosses, lichens, ferns, and at least two species of cactus.

  

Under the roof of our back porch, a pair of eastern phoebes have built a nest and hatched out several young.

 And we've gotten back in the bee business.

Leaves of a recently planted bald cypress in our backyard

Artichoke

More Monet scenes (water penny-wort in the Creek)

April 19, 2013

Making June

June 8, 2012


     This evening we walked around the area below the limestone boulders, among darkening shadows and lush foliage well watered (three or four inches of rain above the yearly average by this date).
     The first six images below were taken in deep dusk with the aid of a tripod.

Thousands of bees fifteen feet high in a cedar elm

False gromwell, Marble seed (Onosmodium bejariense)

Plenty of persimmon fruit this year--almost none last year.

And a couple from Harlin:

Sand Bells (Nama hispidum)  

Bladderpod, Buffpetal (Rhynchosida physocalyx)

       Disposable Fly Trap Instructions

“Never seal dead flies in a closed container.”
And that is that.
The wife bought the hanging fly trap—
Clear plastic bucket one fills with
Noxious fluid meant to attract flies.
So it hangs outside the screen door.
But with the fly trap came,
I kid you not, neatly tucked inside the trap,
“Disposable fly trap instructions,” as if
I would keep them for a poem or something.
They tell one how to take and fill bottle
To appropriate level, then hang near flies
(See diagram A). And on and on until
the bottom of the Yellow sheet:
“Never seal dead flies in a closed container.”
How long until I would have thought of
Doing such a bold or happy thing as that?
Will the boys, who have not read
As you and I the yellow sheet,
And who are painfully free from mothers,
Gather now in a neighbor’s garage
Some hot afternoon and secretly
Seal dead flies in a closed container?
Or have I misunderstood?
Is the emphasis on “seal,”
As if one may safely place dead flies in
A closed—but unsealed—container?
No, I rather sense the real meat of the
Warning concerns the dead flies that
Will soon be crowding the surface of
undisturbed fluid like so many housewives
Napping on inflatable mattresses in a
Backyard swimming pool
(See diagram B).
Never seal dead flies in a closed container.