Accidental feral tennis ball planter

We participated in a kayak/canoe outing on Goose Creek last week to pick up trash.  One thing I found was a tennis ball floating in the water, with a plant sprouting in its dirty fuzz. The roots wrap around it. I decided I would keep it to see how it turned out.

Philodendron

I will post updates so YOU CAN SEE MY PHILODENDRON GROW!!!

Update 6-27-15:

Blackberry flower and ant

This ant was very happy with the blissom. I heard her saying, "Oh boy, yum!"

Wild flower detective work

I found a mystery plant growing among my Asiatic lilies and daffodils, and had to research it to figure out what it was.  First, I noticed that its flowers and stalk were similar to those of ground ivy (creeping charlie). I had recently learned that ground ivy was a near relative of mint, which completely made sense in light of its strong odor and invasive nature, plus its stem shape.  I put a photo of the plant on Facebook, and my friend Helga thought it looked like ajuga, which I also have in my yard.  It really was similar to ajuga, but the leaves were the wrong shape, but then I found out that ajuga is also in the family Lamiaceae, along with mint. Aha! So I started looking into other plants in Lamiaceae, but it’s a huge family.  But I knew I was on the right track. Finally, after looking at lots of categories of Lamiaceae, I hit upon some combination of key words that led me to the answer: Salvia lyrata, also known as lyre-leaf sage, a native wildflower.  I forget how I finally figured it out exactly, but I think I tried looking for lobe-leafed salvias and spotted it.

Anyway, I am happy to figure it out.  The information I read indicates that it reseeds easily and can be invasive, but since it’s a native flowering plant I think I’m OK with that.  That’s what I want.

Salvia lyrata

You can add a little Cinco de Mayonnaise

Gardening

Last weekend I tilled a couple of small garden spots in m yard.  They had never been tilled before.  Previously, I had always just turned them over with a spade before planting.  I am thinking that this tilling, with the compost I added, will make a big difference in my heavy-clay back yard.

I planted three different tomato plants (three different varieties: Rapunzel, Mortgage Lifter, and … I forget the third).  I also planted three basil plants, plus a Culver’s root plant (purely decorative, a native flower).

Yesterday I received some seeds I ordered.  Butterfly milkweed, plus a bonus of rose milkweed.  After reading about them on the internet, it looks like I should cold-stratify them by putting them in a damp paper towel or wet sand in the refrigerator for about 30 days before sowing them.  I’m kind of excited about them.

Metal Detecting 4-24-15

Last Friday I spent a few hours metal detecting near the house of a lady Kim works with.  In the first couple of minutes, I hit a nice signal by the back walkway, and started digging.  About an inch down I uncovered the grave marker for Copper the dog (1965 - 1969), and decided that I had better move to another spot. ("Oh, yes!" said the lady who owns the property, when I mentioned it to her later. "The previous owner had three dogs. They're all by the sidewalk.")

I surveyed different spots around the yard. I found four pennies, a dime, a wing nut, a bolt, a nail, two pull tabs, several bits of gutter flashing and can slaw (I hate gutter flashing and can slaw).  Finally, right before I left, I found this quarter-dollar:

This first photo I took because it's the first 2015 coin I have found.  Looking through the change, there were quite a few more, so I guess they have been around and I just didn't notice them.  I think this Homestead Monument quarter has a nice design; almost-but-not-quite symmetrical, rather bold, nice textures without being too busy. I've seen better, but as far as our recent quarters go this one is one of the good ones.

I found this in change and thought it was funny because it sure looks like it was found by a metal detectorist. Discolored, dirt-encrusted, like the ones I pull out of the ground. Someone dug this up in the recent past, I bet.

And speaking of which, I did some detecting for the first time in many months. A couple of months ago, as I was entering my house, I dropped a large coin--either a half dollar or a dollar. It hit the concrete one time (Kim and I both heard it) and then disappeared. I thought it must have fallen into the snow.

So a few days ago, I got out the detector and searched all around our porch and sidewalk. I did not find my big coin, but I did find $.68 (including the quarter and a few pennies from the back yard).  Some of it is from the past ten years, so it was lost by our family; some of it had been there longer, I am sure. I never have thoroughly searched our yard, so I am sure there is more change around.

...But where did that big coin go? I think it might be lodged up against the porch or in the bushes where I can't get to it, and where it's masked from my metal detector by its proximity to the downspout, underground pipes, buried scraps of gutter flashing, etc. Darn it! Maybe it will turn up. I think it was a big ol' Eisenhower dollar, so it should have been hard for it to hide.

Another photo from Shaker Village

Draft horses at Shaker Village

Undulatus

Visiting Daniel Boone's Grave

On our visit to Frankfort a couple of weeks ago, we went by the grave of Daniel and Rebecca Boone in Frankfort Cemetery.  The view of Frankfort and the Kentucky River was nice from there.

Nearby was the grave of Elison Williamson, "Friend and Companion of Daniel Boon."  My Google searches have turned up no information on Mr. Williamson, so he remains a mystery to me.

Also nearby were the graves of some Bibbs, my distant kin.

dream

A couple of nights ago I dreamed that I was running a saloon in the old west.  Some woman came in and ordered a pitcher of beer, but refused to pay for it, and my staff were angry with her.  She ended up spitting in the pitcher of beer and cussing at us. We'd had trouble with her before.  There was also a guy there who was on the run from bounty hunters, but he was going out to where they were--to confront them.  He did not expect to return, which was sad, because he was a nice guy.  So he was preparing to leave, and meanwhile my staff was grabbing this woman and holder her upside down, trying to shake money out of her pockets, and I finally told everyone, "Meet me back in my office NOW!" because I was going to start teaching everyone about conflict de-escalation.  Then I woke up.

Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill

Last week, during spring break, we visited Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill.  It was my third (I think) time there, although I had not been there in more than ten years.  It's a beautiful locale, and I find the history of the place fascinating.  The people who work there are top-notch, and the displays are fun to look at.  While there we watched a sheep-shearing demo, saw lots of baby animals, enjoyed a presentation of Shaker worship and music, and toured the numerous old buildings (some more than 200 years old.) Lots of fun.

gardening

Yesterday I put in some work on the garden. I had done a little work already, planting some carrot and spinach seeds, but this weekend was the first time I was able to devote a real chunk of time (probably 5 hours) to it.  I moved around some perennials, weeded, turned over some soil, raked out some old stuff, and spent a significant amount of time staring at the garden trying to figure out what I needed to do.  There is a lot still to work on, however; it really feels like I hardly got started.

Ohio River at Flood Stage: 29.9 Feet, During and After photos.

Here are some photos from the week before last, alongside photos from a couple of days ago.  The water was right around 29.9 feet on the upper gauge at Louisville.  The river is actually back behind the houses you can see in the distance in these photos.  The school campus is right near where Little Goose Creek hits the Ohio, so I guess most of the water here is actually flowing from Little Goose Creek.

We spent some time this past Saturday cleaning the greenhouse, which was a mess.

In some part of the fields, areas where I often walk and kids play, the water was 5 feet or more deep.

The school's athletic field. The greenhouse had thigh-deep water, and parts of the field where the cross country team usually runs were shoulder-deep.

The bottom half of the lower parking lot/drive was flooded.  The field beyond, used for some overflow parking for school events, was 5-6 feet under water in spots.

When I think about this being all up and down the river, it really seems like an awful lot of water!

Some pictures from the summer of 1987

Ball State Pre College Visual Arts Program, 1987

Ball State Pre College Visual Arts Program, 1987

I am still in touch with a couple of people from this 2-week program, but I only have frequent contact with one of them (via Facebook.)  There are a quite a few more I'd like to run into again.

Cooking

I like it when I wing something for dinner and it comes out delicious. Tonight I wanted something to go alongside or atop some cheese tortellini. I had frozen fajita chicken strip (unseasoned) and 3/4 of a white onion and so thought maybe I could use those. I ended up simmering and sautéing them with minced garlic, chopped kale, and yellow squash. Added a little balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper. It was good.  I am not keen on, nor good with, elaborate recipes, but at least I occasionally have a knack for figuring out what order in which to throw stuff in the skillet and for how long. I rarely cook with kale, and was nervous it would not work out, but the kale was the best part. It really soaked up the onion and garlic flavor.

Ohio River flooding in Louisville

Two days ago (Sunday) we drove down to check out the flooding.  This first photo is the view from the top of the steps of Virginia Chance School on Lime Kiln Lane.  A fellow was getting a small boat ready.  He cruised around the fields for a while.

This is a broad panaromic shot of the road and school field.  The school greenhouse is knee-deep (I estimate, anyway) in water.  Speaking of knee-deep, I could hear a lot of frogs. Upland chorus frogs, I think, but I don't know for sure.

Some people were driving or wading through the water to get to their homes on River Road.  Kim (who is at left in this picture) and I shut the school parking lot gates so people would not be inclined to park there--the top of the lot was still dry, but only a foot above the water, and although it was not forecast to rise much more we thought closing it off would be a wise move.

Flooding on Lime Kiln Lane.

Pity the poor tiny people who live in this tiny house!  Actually, it's used as a tool shed.

I spotted this fishing spider crossing the road from 30 feet away. He was big!