Friday, July 24, 2009

Slilenced Peacock and more!


Hey everyone it was my birthday this week, I'm 29 once again! Meg bought me this very cool peacock yard art with a gold stainless steel gazing ball on it. It as you can see also has blue balls, run with that phrase if you like :-). Best part is that it makes no noise unlike our neighbors noisy peacocks that keep us up at night.

Here is a wild morning glory that took over a tomato cage in the garden. Our larger tomatoes are doing bad with having some signs of Early Blight and the cucumbers have now got Downy Mildew see this link. Worst yet last night the deer finally found the garden, they ate the carrot tops (ok as the carrots are done) and they topped off one row of beans. We need to let out our Jack Russel Terrier a bit earlier in the morning I guess. We have been seeing deer along the road for more than a week at day break.

Greening up a bit by finally adding an official clothes line. I built and installed it over the weekend from scrap lumber I had laying around from my handyman business. I heard that 10-15% of home energy use is from drying clothes in a dryer. I told our neighbor up the street about our line and she noted she does not even own a dryer that the clothes line is what she has used for the past 15 years good for her!

Rose Pink, Sabatia angularis these native wild flowers are growing all along our road maybe 50 or so in bloom right now! Certainly one of my favorite native flowers is these parts.

Here is a yellow composite that I found blooming along our road. I don't know yellow composites very well, they are a challenging group.

Lastly here is a photo I took today at the pond up the street. It is a mated pair of Banded Pennants, Celithemis fasciata. I can't recall getting mated photos of this species before.


15 comments:

Janet, The Queen of Seaford said...

Love the peacock! Sounds like the mildew and the deer are all working against you. 29 again? I have been 29 for many years ;-D

Would you believe that our HOA in SC (where we are moving) does not allow clothes lines? Not too smart. Just wait til I get down there.

Meems said...

Love the wings on those dragon flies... haven't seen any like that down here. Silent peacocks are much easier to deal with than the screeching sort. happy birthday.
Meems

Randy Emmitt said...

Janet,

Meg's sisters HOA has written in it your not allowed to have giraffes in the neighborhood a little bizarre for Chapel Hill, NC

Meems,

Thanks! I'm sure you get the Halloween Pennants which like like these only they are orange

tina said...

I was hoping your neighbor's peacocks were quiet when I read the post title. Bummer. But congrats on being 29 again!

Randy Emmitt said...

Tina,

Nope this morning the peacocks were quite noisy. We did get to hear a Red-shouldered Hawk calling and hear some alien noises this morning also. The last time I heard an alien noise was when I was in the Sierra Nevadas and heard pack mules being cranky in the distance.

sweetbay said...

Randy I'll have to see if our Sabatia are blooming too. I love those! The fragrance is heavenly.

The yellow daisy may be Woodland Sunflower.

Warren Baker said...

Interesting looking Dragonflies. That peacock does look cool, happy 29th (again!)

Cheryl said...

Love the art work.....

I thought everyone had a clothes line.....I only use a tumble dryer if it is raining....rest of the time it goes out on the line, even in the winter. I love the fragrance of clothes that have been in the fresh air.

Love the dragonflies....you always seem to get wonderful photographs........

Anonymous said...

wow, I love that peacock, may I ask where you found it? I'm hoping its local, I'm in the triangle area myself.

Michelle said...

So you're 29, huh? Well, I had my 12th Annual 39th B-day a while back...

Once again, you've delighted me with a set of wonderful photos. I really like your clothes-line as well. Brings back memories of my mom's.

Happy belated "29th" B-day!

Ginger said...

Happy Birthday! And good for you for the line-drying! We tried it but the clothes were too stiff if we did it outright. I now dry them for 5 or 10 minutes then "snap" them and put them on the line. It helps a lot!
Love the peacock, by the way!

Heather said...

Hi Randy~ The silent peacock is an awesome gift, and quiet too! I am thinking of begging for a clothes line too. Trying to green up around our place has presented some interesting ideas and some very much need to be implemented. It would cut down on our power use for at least 4 months every year.

Anonymous said...

Hi Randy~~ Kudos to Meg. The peacock is a classy work of whimsy--if you will.

So it is Sabatia... We have this growing in fields all over in the Willamette Valley. I've tried picking it to bring indoors but it will only open when exposed to sunlight.

Clothes lines are nice. There is nothing like climbing into a bed with fresh, air-dried sheets. No manufactured scent can compare with good ole nature.

Do you visit Sue at A Corner Garden? She's got a photo of a colorful but unidentified bug. I thought maybe you could ID it.

Corner Gardener Sue said...

Hi Randy,
Thanks for identifying my moth. I'm glad I got to come here to see your blog. I enjoyed your blooms and critters photos. Meg did a great job picking out your birthday present.

You did a great job on your clothesline. We had a retractable clothesline at the other house we lived in. It was against the covenants to have one, so we put it back in when not in use. After a few years, my husband and our daughter developed allergies, and we were told not to dry things outside. I miss having one. I had planned on having one in the basement, but Larry uses the space as a closet.

Thanks again! Sue

Corner Gardener Sue said...

Oh, and Grace, if you subscribe to follow up comments, thanks for sending Randy my way.