Tag: WOW

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10/05/2023 red list day

Today I walked outside for a break and saw a very boldly striped bee on the Maximilian sunflowers and thought to myself, “Self, that bee is different.” Turns out I was right! This beautiful lady is a Southern Plains Bumblebee! If I have counted and remembered correctly, this is our fifth bumblebee species for the yard.
This species is an IUCN red list endangered species. It is not federally listed so it has no legal protection in the United States, but it is declining and of great conservation concern. Briar was observing our exciting new friend with great attention.
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08/03/2023 Thursday

The last few weeks have been a bit chaotic. Nonetheless, Briar says it’s important to take time to smell the inland sea oats!
The yellow flower
The flower on its giant plants
My mystery soft growing plants have turned out to be GIANT Heterotheca subaxillaris. the flowers are regular size but the plants are 2-4 feet tall!
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06/21/2023 award winning acting

Paula took Briar out on Wednesday night and she found a possum.
The possum says “nobody home! Ignore my tight grip on the bird bath!!” it worked though. Briar wandered off.
After Briar wandered off to drink water and Paula got this lovely picture of the goofy young creature. They were gone by the time we humans checked again for the young friend. A great bit of possum theatre with Briar none the wiser!
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06/22/2023 garlic business

The garlic, picked on the solstice (accidentally). Almost every one was very large. I have been growing these for years from the same cloves and they were never this big.
The biggest and smallest creatures in the house for scale.
Shackleton thought the garlic smelled of Outside and Dust and was very intrigued. Tuqu was interested as well but not as comically.
This is probably the most accurate size comparison photo. Tuqu is small. Garlic is large.
On the 22nd Paula moved the garlic to a mostly shaded area in the backyard where it can dry for a while warm before we bring it in the house. She did a good job!

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05/10/2023 neighborhood athlete

This series of images shows a magnificent full sized Three-toed Box Turtle pull itself up over a concrete curb. I had no idea they could do this!! Turtle-conscious people have since informed me this is normal but I am still highly impressed. This was a few blocks from our house.