Oops!

Recently, my camera got dropped into some water and didn't survive its dunking well. It is slowly drying out and I am hoping that it makes a full recovery. In the meantime, it is taking some pretty interesting pictures. 

If you want to play a little game, see if you can identify these objects among the wet camera pictures below.

afghan, Kleenex box, telephone, dining room chair, clothes basket, mug, book shelf, loaf of bread, fish-shaped napkin rings

Good luck!

A Second Look--Hedgeapples

A Second Look guest this week--Miss Landers.  Photo credits: Miss Landers

Miss Landers is introducing all kinds of things to me. First it was rutabagas and now it's hedgeapples which she found doing a Second Look around her vacation cabin.  Hedgeapples are something that I've heard about all of my life, but wasn't quite sure what they were.  Here are a few things I found out.

Hedgeapple

Hedgeapples are a bumpy fruit about the size of a grapefruit that grows on a thorny tree. They are a member of the mulberry family and have naturalized all over the United States although they are quite common in the prairies where rows of them were planted as wind breaks. Also, when they were allowed to grow together as a thorny hedge, the trees provided an effective fence for cattle. Hedgeapple trees were used extensively for cattle management until the invention of barbed wire. (Are you starting to get the idea of where the name "hedgeapple" came from?)

Although not toxic, they aren't as popular as you think they would be in the food world. The hulls are tough to get into which sends a lot of animals elsewhere. However, our friend, the squirrel, manages to chew to the inside to get to the tasty seeds.

Miss Landers found the ground littered with them.

We humans don't eat them either, but we do use the tree and its fruit for a few other things. Many people swear by the insect repellent properties of the hedgeapple, but as usual, the scientists don't see any real proof it helps. The wood of the tree is quite dense and is used to make bows. Many think it makes the best bows in the world.

This hedgeapple got caught between branches during its fall.

I know a little more about hedgeapples now. I can't wait to visit Miss Landers' vacation cabin and see the hedgeapples for myself.

(BTW:  Hedgeapples are also known as Osage oranges, horse apples, and bodarks.)

Want to know more?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maclura_pomifera

http://hedgeapple.com/

http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/hortnews/1997/10-10-1997/hedgeapple.html

Merry Christmas

 

^"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and goodwill towards men.'"

"...And that's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown."

 

 "A Charlie Brown Christmas" 

A Second Look--December 21, 2011

Exploring the yard for Second Look posts this time of year is certainly getting me outside more than normal.  I don't like cold weather and tend to stay out of it whenever possible. However, I went out on a cold, damp, and windy day this week to explore the yard with Theodore. We found evidence of deer everywhere including  hoof prints, flattened grass and leaves where they have been laying, and droppings. I resisted one more time taking a picture of their droppings. You're welcome.

The red bellied woodpecker has returned to our feeder after a few weeks absence and the juncos are ever abundant as are all of the other little brown and gray birds that we can't seem to remember the names of no matter how many times Aunt Martha tells us what they are.

See what we found this week.

Red bellied woodpecker.

Weathered black walnut shell half

Green tinted fungus

Part of a shoe that looks like it has gone through a lawn mower.  This shoe did not belong to anyone here.

Black raspberry canes. Or are they blackberry canes? I will forever be confused between these two plants unless they have berries on them.

Trumpet lily (Lilium regal) seed pods

Grazing cattle behind us. It looks like they have a thicker winter coat now.

Weathered hydrangea blossom that was tumbling in the wind far from the hydrangea bush.

Junco on patio

Ponderings from Theodore-the Early Years

Theodore has always been a thinker--meaning long after I have moved on from a subject, he is still pondering it. Occasionally, we are going to visit some of his questions and observations from his earlier years. Some are serious and others are humorous.

 ____________________________________________________________________________________

This is one of the things Theodore was trying to figure out about Christmas when he was younger.
  

                                   Elves
                       For almost all eternity

                       Santa's working elves,

                       Are making toys for girls and boys 

                       To put upon their shelves.

                       It strikes me a bit strange,

                       That no one's noticed yet,

                       If Santa never gets paid,

                       How are the elf wages set?