A Second Look--January 4, 2012

I did my Second Look this week from the window because it was very COLD outside. Luckily, I was able to get a few pictures before my camera had its unfortunate accident. 

Here's what I saw this week.

Blue jay

Red bellied and downy woodpeckers

 Blue jay

Female cardinal

Male cardinal

Fat furry grey "bird"

Happy New Year--2012

Happy New Year! 

Some years I make New Year's resolutions and sometimes I don't--usually because it takes too much effort to think them through. This year the work has been done for me. I found a list of  Woodie Guthries' New Year's Resolutions for 1942 and I think that I've found a pretty good list to work from. He covers every topic from "Take bath" to "Stay glad" and they are all (almost all) things that would be good for me to do. I'm going to start simple and work up to the whole list. Today I am going to change my socks (#11).

 

(Click picture to enlarge.)

 Hat Tip: boingboing via Science of Heroes

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But Wait, There's More!

What song is Woodie Guthrie best know for?

This Land is Your Land

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"