Hoary Puccoon

 The Hoary Puccoon or Lithrospermum canescens ( doesn't that roll right off your tongue!) is blooming in the ditches now.  It is a small plant about six inches tall...if in a shady spot they can be taller.  The roots can be used as a dye...a natural red dye.  However that would mean digging it up and wildflowers should be left to bloom where they live:)

Far Guy is doing okay.  Together we are an awesome team.

  I am on day 10 or 11 of withdrawal from the drug from Hell Cymbalta.   My Arthritis pain increases by the day...so there is hope that withdrawal symptoms will be over soon...nausea, fatigue and tremors are still present along with the pain...and yes my Doctor knows of my withdrawal symptoms. 

 I try to do as much around the house/yard as I can everyday.   My blood pressure seems to be responding due to the discontinuation of another med that I have been taking for years. 

Back to being like Thumper " If ya can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all." 

The rain has been wonderful!

Far Side

A few wildflowers

There are a number of wildflowers blooming now.
Here are a few.

Northern Snow Bedstraw..yes the early settlers collected this and used it in their beds.  You can also roast the seeds and brew it like coffee.

The fragile Harebells amongst the bedstraw.  Did you know that Harebells are found all over the world?  Me neither.

I believe this is Oval Leaf Milkweed.

I sprayed Poison Ivy again yesterday and noticed a number of Monarch Butterflies on these Milkweed.

I made the rounds and had a volunteer driver for part of the day...Jordan,,,he said "I don't think I have my license on me" ...I said "Well I am the closest thing to a cop in this part of the woods...so you are safe."  He is a good driver and is getting better at identifying Poison Ivy.   He drives and I spray...

Saturday was a catch up day for me...cleaned the bathroom, did laundry, played 52 pickup and put away and did a bit of dusting before I rewarded myself with outside time and the Poison Ivy.  FYI the woodticks are still out.
Far Side

whats blooming

The Wild Geraniums are prolific this year, the right amount of rain at the right time I guess.

Geranium maculatum or Wild Geranium

Prairie Smoke or Geum triflorum or Old Man's Whiskers

I was happy to see the Prairie Smoke in our wild gardens this year.
A deer went through and ate some of my Lupines and my Baptisia...dirty buggers anyway.

Yesterday I did laundry and cleaned the bathroom and unpacked the rest of our "stuff".  It rained here and it is cool.  Possibly it will be a cool wet summer....who knows!   My other baby brother and his bride mowed our lawn last Wednesday so the lawn is good for a few days.

Far Side

Looking Ahead

This year I am looking forward to:

Maddie’s Wedding in July

A few trips that may or may not happen; 

Searching for Native Orchids in Central and Northern Minnesota.

Going someplace warm in the winter.

I found out the dates that The Tall Ships would be in Duluth Minnesota.  So I booked a motel room.  I have always wanted to go…and never found a motel with openings as they fill up really fast.  It is a waterfront motel so I (we) can watch the ships all day…admire the rose gardens…walk to supper at Grandmas…visit all the waterfront shops.  In essence “be all touristy” not far from home.

Chokecherries: Part One

It was a great year for Chokecherries.  They grow wild here in Minnesota and if you don’t pick them and make jelly the birds eat them. When we pick we always leave some for the birds.

Far Guy and I walked the perimeter of our clearing in the woods and picked about 5 ice cream buckets full.  The best way to pick is to loop your bucket handle through a belt that is held loosely around your neck…that way you can have both hands free one to hold the branch down and the other to strip the chokecherries off.  Your hand turns purple if they are too ripe…and if they are hard to strip then they are not yet ready to pick.  You want to pick berries that are dark burgundy.  I picked about three hours and Far Guy picked about two hours…an hour a bucket!

Jelly, syrup, wine and fruit leather are the only things you can make from chokecherries.  The pits inside the chokecherry are poisonous as are the leaves and the bark of the bush.

I cleaned our berries a little at a time, running cold water over them and swishing them around in a bucket makes the leaves and bits of twigs etc…come to the surface and flow out of the overflowing bucket.

Once they are cleaned I put them in a dutch oven and put just enough water to cover the berries and boiled them. Stirring often.  We cooked up two dutch ovens full.

After the fruit was split we dumped the whole works into a pillowcase that was held above a large pot.  Far Guy clamped the pillowcase in place so it could drip out the juice.

We collected 21 cups of juice.   I put the juice into peanut butter jars and it will stay in the fridge a few days until I have time to make jelly. Some people can the juice to make jelly another time and some people freeze it…I just want to make the jelly now and see it in jars…and taste it!  The pillowcase was sacrificed, it accompanied the pits into the garbage.

That is a flat ice pack under the juice pot…it helped to cool the juice quickly.

It was a project and we are only half done.

Milkweed and Misc

The air is heavy with the sweet fragrance of the Common Milkweed….or Asclepsias syriaca.

 

The blooms are full.  I did not see any larvae on them…sadly we have only seen a few Monarchs lately. Fibers from the old stems can be used for nest building by Orioles.

Minnesota has thirteen different kinds of milkweed.

Busy days after the 4th of July.  I went to Bingo with my Dad, he hollered Bingo once! In the N’s …he never Bingos in the N’s… he said it was a historic bingo.

Far Guy and I are working on the Christmas Ornaments, we have 70 ready to paint and 10 are being painted…so 80/100 are carved.  Last year I was done with the entire project by the end of August…time will tell if I make it this year.  The projected heat wave may give me a chance to paint indoors.

Chance is in a funk …again…he gets depressed after Jen visits…Miney and Little Elvis are missed.  Chance got to play “Lassie “ one day…I was keeping one eye on all three dogs as I worked in my garage.  Suddenly Chance appeared and just stared at me….interrupting my work….something was wrong. Little Elvis was with Chance but Miney was no where to be found…I hollered and hollered (she is quite deaf) …I went to the house to see if Far Guy had let her in the house…he hadn’t but said “She is right out the window.”  What a relief.  Not sure where she went but luckily she came back.

Wild Lupines

In some areas of Minnesota Lupine grow wild in the ditches.  We have an area about 40 miles North of us that has a patch of Wild Lupines growing in the ditch.

Lupinus perennis

We caught them at almost peak bloom.  Lupines are native to Minnesota but are usually found over by Lake Superior and the Southern part of the state.

One bunch had escaped into a clear cut area… the bits of yellow color are Hawkweed. There were some Lupines off to the left that were mainly white. (Seedling variation no doubt.)

It wamed up a bit and got to 70 F…perfect weather!

Hello Summer

Summer is finally officially here.  My husband says he wants a “do over” for June because the days are going so fast.

On one of our evening drives we found a wonderful patch of Blug Flag Iris blooming.

Iris versicolor a Native to Minnesota plant.  I took this one near another patch on the banks of the Shell River, the water makes a beautiful backdrop.

Such a pretty flower!

I think I would like a do over too, there are way too many Wild Flowers to photograph in June!

Lesser Yellow Ladys-slipper

The smallest Yellow Lady’s Slipper is blooming.

We saw one clump on a local road.  So we stopped for the photo op.

Cypripedium parviflorum var. makasin or Small Yellow Lady’s-slipper.

They are the first of the native Orchids to bloom.  Most of the time I am too late for a good photo of them.  This slipper is small 3/4 to 1 1/4 inches long at the slipper or bowl part.

This time of year you have to be quite observant to find them as they blend in with the Dandy’s that are blooming it the ditch.

It is a Native to Minnesota Wildflower.

Slipping Cows

In early spring the first of the wildflowers to bloom are the Caltha palustris.  Also known as Marsh Marigolds or Cow Slips.  Picture the flowers growing out of hummocks in a swampy pasture and you guessed it…slipping cows.

Far Guy saw these first.  Just to prove he was not seeing things we turned around and went back to have another “look see.”

There they were amongst the brown…blooming. A REAL sign of spring for us here in Minnesota!!

The color yellow always cheers me up, and I must admit it is my favorite color for flowers…but you probably knew that already.

In search of Slippers

Chance and I took off early Sunday morning.  I ordered some blueberries off the fruit truck and they needed to be picked up at 8AM.  Far Guy loves blueberries…me not so much. 

On the way to the big town…in the middle of the road we saw; a Deer, a Turkey Vulture and a Snapping Turtle.  No photos because I was driving!

After the blueberry pickup my reward was being the captain of my own ship so I took off through Tamarac Wildlife Refuge in search of Lady’s Slippers.

The Yellow Lady’s Slippers are just about done.

An insect or animal ate away the front part of the slipper. SO…you can see the runway that starts at the top of the slipper and travels down…this must show up like neon lights to pollinating insects.

These are very small Yellow Lady’s Slippers. A different variety…I have only seen these on the Refuge.

The Minnesota State Flower The Showy Lady’s Slipper.  Cypripedium reginae.

Yes they are Orchids.  The Showy Lady’s Slippers will be in peak in about a week…Father’s Day right on target. Right now I saw about four clumps in bloom on the 18 mile stretch…but then I was driving…but slow and I stopped and got out of the vehicle to take photos.  I didn’t meet one car the entire 18 miles…it was a perfect morning! Chance hung his head out the window almost the entire drive. 

There are getting to be a few skeeters in the deep woods.  We did see some wildlife…more on that tomorrow.

Columbine and a Hummer

The Columbine that is Native to Minnesota is Aquilegia canadensis.  The five upside down red tubes form the bell shape.  These plants show up at will on the edge of the woods and in the wildflower gardens.

Columbine in bud.

Right next door is a bloomer.

Red and yellow perfect together colors if you ask me.

Hummingbirds like this plant.

We had one lone Hummer it kept coming into the yard looking for food.  When I had the Oriole feeder up it helped itself to the orange.  Now that the Orioles are gone…I felt sorry for the poor little thing.

One day in the hardware store I saw this little feeder prefilled with hummer juice.  I figured it was worth a try.  I suppose I will have to boil up some sugar water now.

I will also try for a better photograph!

 

Wildflowers

Ahh-choo it is the yellow and purple time of year.

This is Liatris pychnostachya or Prairie Blazing Star.  It blooms from the top down. 

 

This is Liatris ligulistylis or Rough Blazing Star.  It looks like little bouquets on a stem.  I just happened to catch this Monarch Butterfly by happenstance.

Liatris both types are tall grass prairie plants that are native to Minnesota.

The Goldenrods are blooming everywhere.  There are many different varieties this year and more Goldenrod than I have seen in years.  It must have been all the rain and cool weather in June.

Solidago rigida or Stiff Goldenrod

I am unsure what the REAL name of this Goldenrod is… I hope I have good enough photos of the foliage to identify it…if not I will have to go back to Ashley’s Road!

Far Guy is still struggling with a cold..it is an on again off again relationship...he started taking his allergy pills again.  He finally got his at home oxygen and uses it when he exercises or whilst he cuts down Tansy…a beautiful yellow flower that has taken over the wild gardens.  He first got a sore throat after a long trimming session.  He uses the oxygen at night too…we don’t know if he needs it at night or not yet…they have to run some more tests.  He wears it at night but invariable rips it off…he says some nights the tubing almost strangles him.  His oxygen tank supply gal is a real crank…even worse than me.  Her customer service skills are lacking….you can tell she doesn’t like her job.  She rolls her eyes and shakes her head when you ask a question and says “I don’t have time for this.”  I don’t think she will last long.  Just for the record I have not complained about her yet.  BUT one of these days she might get on my last nerve.

I am feeling better, almost normal but still tired…I was low on potassium so now I am taking a potassium tablet and trying to eat potassium rich foods.

Four O'clock

The Four O'clocks are blooming.  These flowers are tough as nails and will bloom at the edge of the roadside where they must be rooted in Class Five or pure gravel.

They open up by 4 O’ Clock and bloom until the next morning when they wilt.

These are the individual blooms.

They are noted as being a highly adaptable plant and are native to Minnesota.

I usually look for a few down by one of the stop signs…but the ditch mower mowed them off.  Last night we went for a longer ride and found these on one of the backroads that has not been mowed yet.

We are getting a warm spell starting tomorrow…and already discussing what our favorite it’s too hot to eat much for supper foods will be.  Fruit and salad top the list followed by BLT’s and “wraps” that we make with chicken, lettuce, cheese and tomato topped with a little bit of salad dressing of your choice…mine was Ranch and Far Guys was something Chipotle…they were a hit last week when Jen came to visit and prepared supper for us.  I think summer has finally arrived.

Trillium and Weather

The woods are coming alive with the warm temperatures.  It was almost 80 degrees yesterday.

The Trillium are blooming. Trillium are native to Minnesota.

They gladly share their space with another native plant the Large Flowered Bellwort.

( the yellow bloom above )

Far Guy’s Trillium is up and blooming and sharing with a two legged spider..well that’s all I see.. he could have more legs.  I did not notice him until I downloaded the photo:)

The weather is weird..not much for rain..what happened to the weather of long ago when it rained for weeks on end.  Cloud bursts of rain..the girls and I would play barefoot in the rivers that flowed down the driveway and watch out for the snapping turtles that would be chased out of the lake by the rains.  One year at the resort we had a big old snapping turtle next to our step during a rain. I recall dogs barking and girls screaming…Far Guy chased the mean old turtle back into the lake.  That house had a leaky roof in the hallway..so buckets and towels had to be put on the floor every time it rained. I don’t miss that.

Last night there was a bit of a rainbow in the sky..but it was just like a broken little piece of rainbow.

Strange, I have seen sun dogs in the winter on cold days but never sun dogs on a day when it was 80 F or 26C :)