Wildflower - Springbeauty

The temperature for the past couple of days has been into the 60's and the wildflower are starting to appear. On a walk through the woods today I found an early blooming wildflower know as Springbeauty. This wildflower bloom is very small, 1/2 inch or less, and very easy to overlook.



It is a perennial plant that flowers with five pale pink or white petals.



The individual flower blooms for three days, and flowering occurs when the weather begins to change in March.

Shedding Fur

The weather was into the 60's today and the neighborhood deer were looking for a cool place in the shade. I found these deer bedded under some pine trees next to one of my food plots.



The deer are just starting to shed their warm winter coats of fur for a cooler summer coat. The white streak on this deer's rump is some of the hair it's starting to shedding.

Fungus

This time of year I'm always looking for something with color and texture to photograph. It's too early for wildflowers and insects but when I flipped over some rotting wood I found a perfect subject, fungus.



I can identify some types of mushrooms and fungus but I haven't a clue what this is.

More Wood Frogs

It was below freezing (28F) this morning but by noon the temperature was into the 50's and a chorus of Wood Frogs could be heard throughout the neighborhood.



A small vernal pond located on our cabin property was the gathering spot for hundreds of mating wood frogs.



Large masses of frog eggs covered some areas of the small pond.

Spring Turkeys

I found a flock of turkeys feeding in an old corn field this afternoon.



While the hens and juvenile birds were feeding in one area of the corn field these boys went their own way.



With the spring gobbler hunting season only three weeks away, these gobblers will soon have a lot of followers.



Feeding time is over and the turkeys head out of the field.



It's late in the afternoon and the turkeys head into the woods to roost.

Wood Frogs

The overnight temperatures still dip into the 20's F but the Wood Frogs are ready for the mating season as soon as the ice melts off the small ponds.



I may have missed the peak of the Wood Frog's "spring fling" since large masses of frog eggs can be found in this small pond.

Osprey

I was watching some geese on our neighbor's pond as I drove by and noticed a large white object in a tree on the far side of the pond. Since this "white object" was about 250 yards away I sent in my drone to investigate. It was an Osprey.



I didn't attempt to get too close to the Osprey with the drone since large birds of prey have been known to attack drones when the birds feel threatened. (Birds win most of the battles with drones)



The Osprey's view of the pond.

Spring Flowers

Still not too many spring flowers in bloom. It got almost to 70F today and the only insect I could find to photograph was this small ant on a crocus.

Spring Gardening - Garlic Sprouting

As soon as the winter snow melts and the bare ground of my garden appears, it's time to check on the garlic crop. Unlike most garden crops that are planted in the spring, garlic is planted mid-autumn and develops its root system so its ready to start growing early in the spring.

This year's garlic crop is looking good.

Sweet Potatoes

Here in the northeast there's still frost in the ground but I'm working on this year's crop of sweet potatoes. Several years ago I found some sweet potato rooted cuttings at a garden center and have been hooked on them ever since. Since I can't always count on finding sweet potatoes at garden centers I start some of my own as a backup plan. I selected a couple of sweet potatoes with new sprouts from last year's crop, cut off the bottom and suspended the sprouting end in water.



As the sprouts grow out they well develop a vine with leaves and roots. When the sprouted vine is about 1.5 inches long, with a couple of leaves and some roots, I cut the vine below the roots and transfer it to damp potting soil and let it grow until planting time.

Another Sign of Spring

The snow from a couple of days ago has melted and I found some crocus popping out of the ground.

Opossum in the Neighborhood

As I was driving past a neighbor's lawn I noticed some Canada Geese grazing in the lawn, but one of the objects didn't look right. After a quick look with the binoculars it was easy to see it was an opossum.



Having an opossum so close to nesting geese is not desirable for the geese since opossums will raid the geese nests for eggs.



While I was having a very blunt discussion with the opossum about leaving the neighborhood it suddenly resorted to a trick of "playing possum", in which it pretends to be dead. At this point I relocated the opossum out of the neighborhood.

Fresh Lettuce

Back in January I planted some romaine lettuce seed in a large mixing tub and placed it in our solarium, now we have fresh salads daily as we thin out the crop.

Henry's Haircut

It was getting near Henry's second birthday and he was do for a big boy haircut.



Step #1: Distract Henry's attention with a kids TV show.



Step #2: Build a working relationship between the child and barber to gain the child's confidence.



Step #3: Make slow, steady cuts and don't disrupt the child's attention with the TV show.



Step #4: Know when to quit. (Good job Chuck)

Time with the Grandkids

We were in Iowa visiting our grand-kids last week. The grand-kids grow up fast, but I'm not sure why Myra is reading this book.



Grandma with the kids before bedtime.



Grandma playing with the train as the kids watch.



Henry showing grandma how to run a railroad.



Henry puts on an apron and a chef hat as he prepares a meal for his dad ...



Clean-up time.



Grandma paints Myra's nails as Henry watches.



Time to clean the livestock.



Henry shows his bouncy moose the train.







Nap time. Grandparents get a short break.