Musings

There’s no reason you should remember that I received a packet of “wild”flower seeds at the baby shower back in late May. Here’s the first bloom they produced. BTW, the baby has arrived and is about a week old! From the two photos I’ve seen (sleeping in both), she’s a cutie!

I learned the word rubisco from a WashPo article by Michael J. Coren. Somehow I only came across it this week, although the publication date is 27 June. Rubisco is a protein officially named Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase. It’s the chemical catalyst for photosynthesis and is found in leaves (apparently all leaves). As I’ve mentioned before, my ignorance is vast.

Posted at 6:24 PM | Comments Off on Rubisco

Golden-lit potentilla.

My morning fun…exercising The Beast.

The Beast…waiting.

Last summer, we bought The Beast to frustrate, and hopefully to ultimately remove, an invasive grass that has very strong stems and out-competes the “normal” pasture grasses. Of course, this is no longer a pasture, nor doesn’t anyone hay it, or otherwise manage it for agriculture. Just. Too. Much. Effort. [Yes, more than operating the beast on hot, humid, hazy days. Long story.]

Posted at 8:45 PM | Comments Off on Finished before noon

We’ve been watching what to me is the “new” series in the StarWars franchise, Andor. When I hear it, I hear and/or (like and/not and similar). When I read it, I can see it as Andor. Anyway, mostly a pretty good story…grim world, but decent story/characters/writing.

Posted at 9:29 PM | Comments Off on Andor

The smoky haze continues to hang here; you can barely see the other side of the lake (approximately three miles). Thankfully, yesterday and today it didn’t smell smoky outdoors.

Meanwhile, on land, the lupine blooms have mostly become pods—still green—as Fabaceae do.

Posted at 4:20 PM | 1 Comment »

This is what I think of as the standard, even ubiquitous milkweed leaf shape on this property.

Lately, I’ve noticed that a minority have this narrower leaf shape. Without a doubt still a milkweed….

I haven’t seen enough monarch action to see if they notice a difference.

After poking around in details online, I think the first one may be Asclepias syriaca, and the second Asclepias meadii, but that’s an off-the-cuff assessment.

And I thought a milkweed is just a milkweed. My ignorance.

Yeah, I know the light is totally different. The colors of the two are slightly different, with the broader leaf plants “greener,” and the narrower leaved ones, slightly more blue-green. IMHO

Posted at 9:28 PM | Comments Off on Morphology mystery

People say age brings wisdom, but for most of us that really isn’t true, when we get old we’ve just accumulated more experiences, good and bad. The result is more likely to be cynicism than wisdom.*

I have to go with Backman on this. We age into cynicism?

*Text is on page 30 of Neil Smith’s translation of Fredrik Backman’s The Winners (2021; hardback version; title in Swedish original: Vinnarna).

Posted at 4:08 PM | Comments Off on Aging into…

We’re in another hot and dry spell. I’m glad I watered these beauties earlier, or I don’t think the blooms would be as substantial as they are. Now I’m back to watering to maintain them—fingers crossed.

Posted at 7:00 PM | Comments Off on Bloom beauties

Dandelions aren’t the only species that uses the wind to disperse orbs of floatable seeds.

Here’s what the yellow goatsbeard looks like when it’s still in the quiescent blooming stage.

Posted at 7:16 PM | Comments Off on Summer wiles

Today.

Yesterday.

In one hot and humid twenty-four hour period, the bud became a fully opened bloom. Insects note the progress.

Posted at 5:33 PM | Comments Off on One day

Ya leave for two nights and the critters and varmints and infestations set in. Aphids are sucking the juices out of (a minority, I admit) the lupines. Arrgh; it’s tough to be a human molding the world. [Hello, Anthropocene.]

Posted at 8:43 PM | Comments Off on Just that fast