I’m too far behind on photos to put on blog so I’m wiping the slate clean. (I will catch up on the spreadsheet though haha.) you can see how much is happening even today!
Continue reading “05/05/2024 giving up”01/28/2024 grasslands field trip
![Mom stands on the edge of overgrazed grass at edge of bare winter woods](https://i0.wp.com/garden.eeclaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/img_4554-1.jpg?resize=525%2C700&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/garden.eeclaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/img_4557-1.jpg?resize=525%2C700&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/garden.eeclaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/img_4566-1.jpg?resize=525%2C841&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/garden.eeclaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/img_4564-1.jpg?resize=525%2C460&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/garden.eeclaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/img_4572-1.jpg?resize=525%2C700&ssl=1)
![Briar turns to face the photographer against a backdrop of winter oaks](https://i0.wp.com/garden.eeclaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/img_4575-1.jpg?resize=525%2C700&ssl=1)
![After turning around in the previous picture, briar majestically lifts her head in the bright winter sunlight](https://i0.wp.com/garden.eeclaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/img_4577-1.jpg?resize=525%2C700&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/garden.eeclaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/img_4574-1.jpg?resize=525%2C700&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/garden.eeclaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/img_4573-1.jpg?resize=525%2C700&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/garden.eeclaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/img_4578-1.jpg?resize=525%2C700&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/garden.eeclaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/img_4581-1.jpg?resize=525%2C700&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/garden.eeclaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/img_4579-1.jpg?resize=525%2C394&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/garden.eeclaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/img_4585-1.jpg?resize=525%2C700&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/garden.eeclaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/img_4590-1.jpg?resize=525%2C700&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/garden.eeclaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/img_4591-1.jpg?resize=525%2C700&ssl=1)
01/20/2024 wren feeder
![A wren silhouette is visible on the wire suet cage dangling from the bird feeder above scattered fallen oak leaves with a brush pile in the background. It is clear and bright and sunny.](https://i0.wp.com/garden.eeclaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/img_4228-1.jpg?resize=525%2C700&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/garden.eeclaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/img_4243-1.jpg?resize=525%2C700&ssl=1)
01/16/2024 walk to OU duck pond
It’s 22 degrees F and sunny and with very light north wind now, so we walked over to the OU duck pond to see what was happening. All the geese and ducks were at the north end at a patch of open, flowing water on the creek. We also saw two Belted Kingfishers tangling in the air – squabbling? Courting?
![A woman in a long blue quilted coat looks into an iced over pond at some big slider turtles.](https://i0.wp.com/garden.eeclaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/img_4175-1.jpg?resize=525%2C700&ssl=1)
![Three turtles (two close together near shore and one farther out) under cracked ice that’s at least half a foot deep b](https://i0.wp.com/garden.eeclaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/img_4176-1.jpg?resize=525%2C700&ssl=1)
![A big iron sewer or water cover with the tidy graffiti described in the caption as well as a small geometric pattern of partial squares at right angles. Briar the dog sniffs the concrete under the lid.](https://i0.wp.com/garden.eeclaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/img_4178-1.jpg?resize=525%2C700&ssl=1)
![Paula holds a purplish leaf of the spring beauty. It’s very narrow and long, with dry tan bits of bermudagrass around it.](https://i0.wp.com/garden.eeclaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/img_4182-1.jpg?resize=525%2C700&ssl=1)
![Briar’s fluffy tail near a geodetic survey marker in low bermudagrass and small forbs.](https://i0.wp.com/garden.eeclaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/img_4183-1.jpg?resize=525%2C700&ssl=1)
10/29/2023 first freeze forecast tonight
![Piles of vegetable greenery on a concrete front poor with a black double door in the background](https://i0.wp.com/garden.eeclaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/img_2141-1.jpg?resize=525%2C394&ssl=1)
![An inch thick basil stem cut off, with my hand nearby for scale.](https://i0.wp.com/garden.eeclaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/img_2144-1.jpg?resize=525%2C700&ssl=1)
![A blue-gray rubber made plastic tub almost full of bright green basil leaves](https://i0.wp.com/garden.eeclaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/img_2239-1.jpg?resize=525%2C700&ssl=1)
![Close up view of a red and blue striped leaf hopper. Its legs and tip of snoot grade to yellow. It has tiny hair like antennae.](https://i0.wp.com/garden.eeclaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/img_2236-1.jpg?resize=525%2C674&ssl=1)
![A small true bug nymph on my fingers. It’s small enough that you don’t see around my whole finger. The brown colors are speckled](https://i0.wp.com/garden.eeclaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/img_2213-1.jpg?resize=300%2C297&ssl=1)
![A brownish jumping spider with iridescent green pedipalps peeks out from its web, which holds a bright green basil leaf folded over as shelter.](https://i0.wp.com/garden.eeclaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/img_2171-1.jpg?resize=525%2C648&ssl=1)
![Close up of the face of a praying mantis. It is watching me.](https://i0.wp.com/garden.eeclaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/img_2151-1.jpg?resize=525%2C700&ssl=1)
10/17/2023 autumnal
![A black and yellow striped bee fly with dark tipped wings is feeding on the tiny flowers of a Heath aster. The flowers have white petals and yellow centers and cover the whole branch profusely.](https://i0.wp.com/garden.eeclaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/img_1553-1.jpg?resize=525%2C700&ssl=1)
![The small fuzzy body of a common eastern bumblebee worker is dwarfed by the long purple covered flower stalk of Liatris mucronata.](https://i0.wp.com/garden.eeclaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/img_1562-1.jpg?resize=525%2C700&ssl=1)
![I’m holding a branch of Euphorbia steady so we can see the fuzzy rust-colored arctiid caterpillar hiding under a leaf. The sunlight catches the very long hairs that extend beyond its main dense body of bright orange-brown fuzzy hairs.](https://i0.wp.com/garden.eeclaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/img_1565-1.jpg?resize=525%2C700&ssl=1)
![Faded tomato cages hold a series of fruiting pepper plants and blooming marigold plants.](https://i0.wp.com/garden.eeclaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/img_1566-1.jpg?resize=525%2C394&ssl=1)
![A closer view of the bright orange marigold flowers dotting their pointed leaves. The plants are lush and only partly contained by the faded red tomato cages.](https://i0.wp.com/garden.eeclaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/img_1569-1.jpg?resize=525%2C700&ssl=1)
10/07/2023 weeding helper
![Briar the German shepherd dog lays, looking completely and devastatingly bored, with her butt squishing the base of several stalks of Mexican sage, which are valiantly flowering purple and white above her butt.](https://i0.wp.com/garden.eeclaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/img_0994-1.jpg?resize=525%2C700&ssl=1)
![Briar the German shepherd dog stands with her head and back wedged under and draped by long arcs of Maximilian sunflower stalks and blooms.](https://i0.wp.com/garden.eeclaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/img_0988-1.jpg?resize=525%2C700&ssl=1)
10/05/2023 red list day
![](https://i0.wp.com/garden.eeclaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/img_0878-1.jpg?resize=525%2C470&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/garden.eeclaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/img_0879-1.jpg?resize=525%2C795&ssl=1)
09/22/2023 four point primrose
![](https://i0.wp.com/garden.eeclaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/img_0518-1.jpg?resize=525%2C700&ssl=1)
07/20/2023 summer continues
![Green grasses have broad round seedheads forming. The grass are in front of a wooden fence dappled with sun and shade.](https://i0.wp.com/garden.eeclaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/img_8048.jpg?resize=525%2C700&ssl=1)
![Three pink lily flowers blooming at the end of a long bare green stalk. The weathered wooden fence in the background is draped with a few five-leaved vines called Virginia Creeper.](https://i0.wp.com/garden.eeclaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/img_8047.jpg?resize=525%2C700&ssl=1)
![A brilliant scarlet red flower peels out from behind fuzzy green leaves. The flower petals are folded around a long red-pink flower part whose name I can’t remember.](https://i0.wp.com/garden.eeclaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/img_8046.jpg?resize=525%2C700&ssl=1)
![A flower bud with a domed greenish center has tiny skinny yellow petals begin to emerge around it.](https://i0.wp.com/garden.eeclaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/img_8045.jpg?resize=525%2C700&ssl=1)
![Pale fingers with a wedding band hold a small sunflower blossom and three pointy green leaves still for the camera. The sunflower has clean yellow petals and a brownish center. There are various green leaves in the background.](https://i0.wp.com/garden.eeclaire.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/img_8034.jpg?resize=525%2C700&ssl=1)