American Robin (Turdus migratorius)

Hello everyone! I hope this Six on Saturday post finds you all well. The weather continues to be weird but all is well regardless. I filled the bird feeder yesterday afternoon but this morning a lot of ground feeders were looking for food. So, I went outside and sprinkled some on the ground under the feeder. Several species of sparrows and the Dark-Eyed Junco will go to the tube feeder but they prefer eating off the ground or even the at the open feeder. I didn’t have much luck taking bird photos this morning because the birds I wanted photos of kept flying off. There is too much going on in the front yard to allow them to relax.

#1-A few American Robin (Turdus migratorius) have been here all winter but there are a lot more now. They don’t normally eat birdseed and the ground is pretty much frozen. They seemed a little bewildered hopping around looking at the ground hoping a worm would emerge… They often complain about bullying from the other birds, but with a name like Turdus…

House Finch male (Haemorhous mexicanus)

#2-Several House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) males were squabbling this morning but I finally got this good shot of one at the feeder. I noticed there were several extra-large female sparrows feeding then realized they were Purple Finch females. DUH!

Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor)

#3– Talk about a bird that is hard to photograph! A single Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor) was so excited it couldn’t sit still. It would fly down to the ground then back to the tree, preen its feathers, then fly to the feeder, then to the ground… GEEZ! I don’t know how many photos I took of it and they were all even more blurry than this one.

White-Breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis)

#4-The White-Breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) was happily playing around on the tree most of the time. It seems to prefer seeds from the ground and the open feeder but on occasion will also go to the tube feeder. It seems like it prefers being upsidedown as well… Sometimes I have seen several of them fairly close together in the elm trees but only one (or one at a time) comes to feed. I have several good photos but this one is the best I could do this morning.

Bird’s Eye Speedwell (Veronica persica)

#5-The Bird’s Eye Speedwell (Veronica persica) are the first wildflowers to bloom. There are thousands and they are VERY tiny. I had to use a magnifying glass to get this photo. A very similar species, Wayside Speedwell (Veronica polita), looks so similar I am not sure how to tell them apart. One supposedly has slightly smaller flowers, but I bet if you look the two side by side you may still be confused… Their fruits are different but there aren’t any yet since they have just started flowering. Ummm… Steyermark’s Flora of Missouri says V. persica flowers April-June and V. polita March-June. Hmmm… So, maybe this species is V. polita instead of V. persica. Photos of the stems on Missouri Plants shows they are kind of reddish on V. persica and greener on V. polita. The plants in my yard have green stems. Well, GEEZ! I was hoping for V. persica because I like the name “Bird’s Eye” better than “Wayside”. I did notice their flowers fall off very easily, too. Did I mention their flowers are VERY tiny?

Mother of Thousands (Kalanchoe x laetivirens)

#6-The Kalanchoe x laetivirens (Mother of Thousands) flowers are now opening! This plant was in the back bedroom but the top of it was touching the shelf above it. A couple of days ago I looked at it and two of the buds had opened so I moved it to my bedroom. I have had this plant for several years and have whacked its stem in half many times to regrow it. If you don’t do this once a year the plant gets very leggy and its leaves are smaller. Cut the stem and the leaves grow HUGE.

Some information online sys this plant rarely flowers indoors and they are insignificant. Hmmm… I definitely wouldn’t call this inflorescence insignificant…

That’s all I have for this on Six on Saturday post. If you wish to participate in Six on Saturday posts, be sure to read the Six On Saturday-a participants guide from The Propagator.

I was busy working on the blog this week, writing wildflower pages and uploading photos. Sorry I didn’t read your posts so I will have to do some catching up…

Until next time… Be safe, stay positive, and be thankful. GET DIRTY whenever you have a chance!

Cylindropuntia imbricata (Tree Cholla)

Hello everyone! I hope this Six On Saturday post finds you all well. We had another snow this week followed by VERY cold temperatures for a few days. It was 1° F when I went to bed Thursday night. Today is the beginning of a heatwave and the forecast says the high today will be 44°F (but cloudy) and 52 on Sunday and Monday. The rest of the week will be in the 30’s with a chance of rain on Monday.

#1 is a photo of the Cylindropuntia imbricata (Tree Cholla) that is patiently waiting for spring. It has been fairly mild, temperature wise, this winter so the Tree Cholla hasn’t turned a maroon color like it does when it is very cold.

I needed to go to town and I could hear geese from the park. So, I decided to head that direction.

#2. On the way to the park, I decided to take a photo f the front pasture looking toward the twin Mulberry Trees. A couple of years ago one of them started leaning… There is an old hedge post growing at the base of the tree that is leaning from an old fence. I think that is the only thing holding it up.

#3. There were a lot of Canadian Geese on the park lake which is still partially frozen. They were really squawking!

#4. As I drove by the hardware store, I saw one of the Amish horses tied up waiting for its owner. Their horses work very hard even in the coldest weather. When I was a kid, this used to be the Gerbes Grocery Store. After Gerbes closed it was Sav-More, then Wischard’s Grocery. There was a Gambles hardware store on Main Street when I was growing up but after the owner’s retired another resident bought the business and it became a True Value. Then it caught on fire… The owners bought the old grocery store and moved True Value here. When I moved back here in 2013 it was a Do It Best.

#5. The local Golden Valley Clinic, which is part of the hospital in Clinton, is building on. It is good to have a clinic for the community residents and the new addition will allow more services.

The above photo is another view of the clinic from Benton Street. The church I attend is next to the clinic and we share the parking lot. The church owns the parking lot between the clinic and the church, so the clinic bought part of it for this addition. It has reduced the size of the parking lot so adjustments will have to be made. When I was growing up, we had as many as five doctor’s offices in town. Over the years they have retired (a few died while still in practice) so it is great to have this clinic.

A lot of changes have taken place in this small community, not all good. Like most smaller communities struggling to survive. Industry closes up and people have to drive to work outside of town leaving businesses to also close. Many business owners were forced to retire that had stores for MANY years because they were starting to sink their hard-earned money into their business. New businesses would open only to not be able to make it. So, our once thriving Main Street is a mixture of struggling small businesses, empty buildings, and a few lots where old stores have been torn down. There are a few, however, that seems to be doing well, or at least well enough to be in business.

Echinopsis mirabilis (Flower of Prayer)

FAREWELL, MY FRIEND… 

#6. R.I.P. Echinopsis Mirabilis (Flower of Prayer). I brought this cactus home from Lowe’s on March 29, 2019 and it rewarded me with several flowers over the summer. Information says it is a fairly short-lived species but I was hoping our companionship wouldn’t have ended so soon. Not long after I brought inside for the winter I noticed it was ailing. I had put it in a new pot which I am quite sure didn’t lead to its downward spiral. I repot a lot of cactus in the winter and have never had any problems. In fact, I have lost very few cactus. Maybe I can find another one in 2020…

Sanseveria ehrenbergii ‘Samurai Dwarf’

BONUS! OK, I seem to always take an extra photo for Six on Saturday. This bonus is about the new plant I found at Wal-Mart on January 8. First, it took great debate about whether to buy it or not because I had very little money. If it had only been a few dollars it would have been no problem, but this plant was NOT cheap. I am not saying I haven’t paid more for a single plant, because I have when I had the funds. One time I carried around a magnificent Kalanchoe beharensis for an hour at Lowe’s when I lived in Mississippi debating whether or not I should pay the price. I had friends with me who said I deserved it, so I brought it home. Only to leave it with another friend, along with over 100 other plants, when I moved back here in 2013.

The thing with this Sanseveria that made it so irresistible was that it is so weird. It is the dwarf form of Sanseveria ehrenbergii called ‘Samurai Dwarf’. Of course, the label from Rocket Farms just says Sanseveria ‘Samurai’ which is incorrect.

While I was at Wal-Mart, I resisted other cactus that were available. One reason was because of lack of funds and the other were the labels… The labels just said “cactus” and they weren’t from Altman Plants. They were from some other grower that didn’t even remotely bother to have any kind of tag with a proper name, even if it was incorrect. I am not venting at all, in fact I am laughing as I write this. I am thankful the plants weren’t labeled correctly so I didn’t bring any home and decided to bring home the Sanseveria instead. 🙂

I did renew my domain name and my premium WordPress account will be renewed in March. I have to keep premium because I amusing to much “space” for a free blog. It would be interesting if I could figure out how to make some income through my blog but I don’t want a bunch of annoying ads, though. I go to a lot of sites I am trying to read and the page bounces around while the ads load…

If you wish to participate in Six on Saturday posts, be sure to read the Six On Saturday-a participants guide from The Propagator.

Well, that’s about all I have to say for now. I could keep rambling but I think I have said enough. All is well here and I hope you stay safe, remain positive, and be thankful. I know there is some bad weather where some of you live and some of you aren’t 100% well. I keep you in my prayers and hope I am in yours as well.

Hello everyone! I hope this Six on Saturday post finds you all doing very well. It has been a pretty good week with temps continuing to dance around. Today is sunny and it is supposed to get to 48° F. The forecast says 55° on Sunday, 48° on Monday, then 37 on Tuesday and Wednesday with a LOW of 19° by morning. Then back up to 48° on Thursday with a low of 30. ‘Tis the season…

#1 for this Six on Saturday is the cedar carving of a bear given to me on Thursday by friends who were going to throw it out. I could not let him be thrown in the dump sight to be burned so I brought him home. Someone else might have spotted it…

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Dryobates pubescens (Downey Woodpecker)

#2-I took a shot of this Downey Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens) on the hanging feeder. It was pretty happy by itself on the feeder. It seems the migratory birds are slow to come this winter. I did see a few Juncos a few days ago and also a couple of Nuthatches. Even though I haven’t seen many birds, somehow the feeder was empty in a week. Maybe the wind blew the seed out…

Dryobates pubescens (Downey Woodpecker)

No doubt the Downey is hiding seed in the fork of the tree.

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Lysimachia nummularia ‘Goldilocks’

#3-The Lysimachia nummularia ‘Goldilocks (Creeping Jenny) is hanging in there in the north bed. When it gets really cold it will completely disappear.

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Achillea millefolium

#4-The Achillea millefolium is pretty tough in the heat of the summer right up until it gets severely cold. They are still growing new leaves!

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Nandina domestica (Heavenly Bamboo)

#5-The Nandina domestica (Heavenly Bamboo) still has a few green leaves. I learned something this week from a post shared by Eliza Waters. The post says the berries are poison to birds! I never knew that so I suppose I better remove them.

Click HERE to read the post shared by Eliza about the berries. The post is actually from Cindy Dyer’s Blog.

The red berries of Nandina domestica contain cyanide and other alkaloids that produce hydrogen cyanide (HCN), which can be poisonous to all animals.

Tom Oder writing for Mother Nature Network has this to say: “Nandina berries actually have a low toxicity, but they can be lethal to cedar waxwings specifically because their feeding habits differ dramatically from that of other birds, said Rhiannon Crain, project leader for the Habitat Network with The Nature Conservancy and Cornell Lab of Ornithology. “Other birds don’t eat as much or as rapidly as cedar waxwings,” said Crain. “Cedar waxwings completely stuff every possible part of their body with berries. They will fill their stomach and their crop with berries right up into their mouth until they can’t fit another berry inside of them.”

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#6–Hmmm… It seems like with nine cats there is always one following me around when I am in the yard. This one is the kitten that was given to me by a friend (Kevin). It showed up at his house and somehow he talked me into bringing it home. That was several months ago when she was very small…

She is a very odd-looking cat with long black hair with silvery streaks. The hair on her legs is shorter giving her an even stranger look (reminding me of a fox). She is very smart, almost human, which can sometimes be annoying. My son called her Little Bit but I have had a few other names for her. She is now an outside cat but teaching her not to dart in every time the door opened wasn’t easy. She is so fast!

Well, that is it for this post. If you wish to participate in Six on Saturday posts, be sure to read the Six On Saturday-a participants guide from The Propagator.

Until next time, be safe, stay positive, and always be thankful! Get dirty if you can. I know I will one way or another… 🙂

Hello everyone! I hope this post finds you all well. This is my second attempt to make a Six on Saturday post. Jade was looking out the window and I told her I was going to take a few photos for a Six on Saturday post. She said, “good luck with that.” When I came back inside and found there were photos of eight I decided to not include the photo of Jade in the six (although the photo is clearly here). Then I deleted the photo of the Equisetum so I wouldn’t accidentally include it.

Mammillaria karwinskiana (Silver Arrows) flowers on 11-23-19.

#1) I wanted to make a post about the Mammillaria karwinskiana (Silver Arrows) since all the buds were fully opened. I decided including it in this post would be appropriate and was glad they were still looking good this morning. There are a couple of buds on the other side.

Mammillaria vetula subsp. gracilis buds on 11-23-19.

#2) I looked around a bit to see if there was anything else that was exciting then I noticed the little Mammillaria vetula subsp. gracilis (Thimble Cactus) had a couple of buds. That may not sound exciting, but I thought it was. For this plant to be so small and have two buds… Yeah, that is exciting!

I could have easily found all six items to post about inside, but I went outside to see what I could find. It was 37° F and it had rained during the night.

#3) I finally filled the feeder hanging in a maple tree in the front yard yesterday. Although there are very few birds here right now, I saw a group of sparrows in a bush that seemed to be hungry. They were no doubt waiting for me to fill the feeder in “the other yard”, which I did. This morning while taking the photos I saw the “other feeder” was empty already so probably the deer found it during the night. Maybe I am anxious, but it seems the birds are late arriving this Fall.

Phlomis ‘Edward Bowles’ on 11-23-19.

#4) The Phlomis ‘Edward Bowles’ is still alive and well. I did make a note to cover it when nighttime temps dipped a few days ago even though it has proved it didn’t need it. I have a sticky note stuck to the computer that reminds me. 🙂

#5) The old Mulberry tree in an area along the boundary fence behind the chicken house is always worthy of attention. It would be great to know how old it really is.

It is very gnarly and was a very old tree when I was a kid. Sometimes I sit next to this tree, with my back against it and it seems I can feel its energy. A very good place to meditate.

It is by far not the biggest Mulberry tree here now because age has taken a toll on this tree. It has survived many lightning strikes, heavy winds, ice, snow, drought and so on for MANY years. I remember as a kid when I was in the barn with my grandpa as we watched lightning strike an old tree along the fence. I call this the elder tree and hope it has many more years to come.

#6) Hmmm… Could it be? If so, I am shocked I missed it before! This is definitely a species of Physalis (Ground Cherry, Japanese Lantern) and likely it is Physalis longifolia. When I was at Kevin’s farm this past summer I spotted a single Physalis longifolia in the pasture. The plant there was similar in size to the Solanum (Horsenettle) species because it had no doubt been nibbled on by the cows. So, when I looked for it here in the pastures I was looking for a smaller plant similar to the Horsenettle with yellow flowers.

Well, this dead plant is 31″ tall… I checked with the Missouri Plants website and read where Physalis longifolia can grow to 3 meters, which I must have ignored earlier. Missouri Plants lists six species of Physalis.

Common names for Physalis longifolia include Long-Leafed Ground Cherry, Longleaf Ground Cherry, Wild Tomato, and Common Groundcherry.

To think I had been looking for this plant during the summer only to find it NOW when it is all dried up. GEEZ!!! I found it not in the pasture, but on my way back from photographing the old Mulberry tree… Among other tall weeds. You can bet I will have my eye on this area next summer! Hopefully at least one will come up so I can make a proper ID. 🙂

Well, that’s it for my attempt for a Six on Saturday post. Remember, Jade doesn’t count…

If you wish to participate in Six on Saturday posts, be sure to read the Six On Saturday-a participants guide from The Propagator.