Just one of many signs of spring, 

and one of the reasons why I love 

getting back on my bike in the spring.

Robert Frost for 2013

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

Robert Frost

Each year I post a picture of willow trees around this time, because every spring Robert Frost's poem springs to mind as the willow's turn gold!

Slow Sex?

My better camera was not with good battery, 

but my phone camera caught this. 

Mating snails.

Detail to the right appears to show one of the connected penises. Each snail is both male and female, and they impregnate each other.

Grandma Cheryl's Mother's Day Azalea Bush being delivered!

 Maya and Casey deliver and plant Cheryl's Mother's Day Azalea!

Snapping turtle egg laying season is upon us!

 Above - yesterday's  egg site restored.

 Above and below - another snapping turtle laying her eggs along the bike trail.  Third snapping turtle in two days, and 6th egg site found!  Spring is a busy time!

17 mile ride today, including finding a whole new section of bike trail to use.

More good nature on the bike trail!

 A female snapping turtle digs a hole under the edge of the asphalt bike path to lay her eggs!

 Vacant abandoned hole nearby shown below. 

There were three additional recently dug and re-covered holes within 20 feet of this one.  Gestation is 3-4 months depending on temperatures, etc, so being there when  they hatch will be pretty much impossible, but I'll keep an eye out in September for signs they have emerged!  I suspect that the warmth of the asphalt may hasten their development if it doesn't actually cook  them?

Here is a link to a short video  I took of her digging.. she was in no big rush, and alternated left and right feet.

Pig Squeak - Bergenia

 This plant grows in my parents front yard.  Some research revealed that the common name is "Pig Squeak".

Naming a plant for the noise it makes seems rather unusual?

I grew up on a farm, so the sound is quite familiar.

Listen to the video/audio below.

Spring!

First Daffodils!

March 18, 2012 - our first three daffodils unfolded today! Strange warm and early spring after an almost non-existent winter... about 1/3 the usual snow! Previous daffodil pictures seem to be mostly from early to mid April! Also, while I did not get any pictures today, Dad and I saw several willows all decked out in their first spring gold. Previous years, my pictures of this annual spring treat were also from mid April. More frost and snow may hit this year, but spring seems to be almost a month early! I even heard spring peepers on my way home last night! A friend posted today that her first spring lettuce has come up in the garden!

Am I feeling blessed or worried?

Frost

Just in case you thought frost was something simple?

Click pictures above and below to embiggen - not as big as they used to be, but still pretty cool - Get it?? Cool???

Tiny Nature In The Back Yard

Found this little guy last night on the bird house Maya gave me for Father's Day!

Osage Orange

What is it? Too bad I have already answered that question in the title to this entry.

Cheryl and Maya found this wonderful Osage Orange on the ground of the Museum and Science Center where Maya's pre-school is located. Smells wonderful according to some - Grandpa couldn't smell much!

Also known as a "hedge apple" for its tendency to grow in hedgerows especially in the midwest. Below is a picture of what the wood looks like. The Wood Database reports that the wood is prized for turning..... see image at the bottom.

Wooden bowl turned from Osage Orange.

Also prized by young children for rolling about on the floor as a generally delightful play thing!

The bounty of Anne's Garden

Back in mid August I posted about Anne's garden It is now mid October, and this is the result!

Accumulated Nature In The Backyard

A few pictures of neighborhood wildlife captured in the past few days that didn't fit in elsewhere!
These are all good ones to click on to embiggen - I just tested, and it looks like the old click to embiggen system is back, without the ugly translucent grey background with limited embiggening!
Snail on leaf of my Canna Lilly - at least 5 feet off the ground, proving once again how much snails like to climb. Or at least showing that snails climb - no idea if they enjoy it!

Small - 3/8th inch long - bee on the table near my meal at the Taste of the Wedge last Sunday.

A tiny - 1/4 inch - fly that seemed to like hanging out on the slide in Maya and CJ's back yard on Wednesday!

Around the neighborhood!

Sometimes something almost perfect just appears!

Great day at Clothesline!

Well, we managed to fill the empty booth with lots of great stuff, and lots of great customers helped us thin out the supply! We still have some great things left though, plus some things in the van to fill up the blank spots.The other great thing about this show is that it usually seems like pretty much everyone we know in town stops by during the two days. Below, left to right --- myself, Cheryl, Kristel, Toni, and Shalom! Kristel and Toni are old friends, and Shalom is the trainer at the gym Cheryl has been going to with great regularity, and with very pleasing results!

And while zipping up the tent for the night, I found this dragonfly! Large, and a beautiful green and black color, it was the perfect ending to a great day...... well the actual ending was a nice plate of sesame tofu, with rice and broccoli at our favorite diner!

As always, click on the pictures of the dragonfly to embiggen!

One more day to stop by booth 447 at The Clothesline Show

Number Seven Hundred and Fifty

This is my 750th post!

This is also my 60th daily post in a row!
(Someday soon I'm going to skip a day just to relieve the pressure)
Both are sort of cool milestones!
The pictures below represent some of the things I most like to blog about.

Below - NITBY - Nature in the back yard - in this case a snail on a grape leaf in our yard.

Below - general silliness and/or things than make you go UUUUUMMMM!

Below - my grandaughter Maya Louise Sams,

and in the background my wonderful Cheryl!

Below - the ever wonderful and fascinating Caesar James "CJ" Sams

Below - another thing that makes you smile and go uuuuuuummmm!

A yellow submarine tea "ball".

And once in a while I throw in something about our business ventures
and the wonderful things we make and try to sell!

Thank you to all the folks who regularly check out my postings,
and to the people who just sort of stumble by and move on.