Friday Music

This English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist and main songwriter Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward, bassist and main lyricist Geezer Butler and singer Ozzy Osbourne and is credited as the earliest innovators of heavy metal music.        

Osbourne was kicked from the group in 1979 as a consequence of alcohol and drug abuse and was replaced by Ronnie James Dio.  The band endured multiple personnel changes throughout the 1980s and 1990s.  The original group reunited with Osbourne in 1997 and released a live album - Reunion.   The group performed their final concert in Birmingham in February 2017 - after which they broke up. 

They’ve sold more than 70 million records and earned two Grammy Awards.  Rolling Stone magazine ranked them number 85 in their 100 Greatest Artists of All Time and they’ve been induced into both the UK and US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 

Crank-up the volume on your office workstation for Black Sabbath and Paranoid…..

The Garden Chronicles

click on images for a closer look

As you can see from the photo above the garden has made considerable progress.

It seems that the sweet corn puts on significant height each and every day.  The tomato plants have fruit and we've already dined on some ripe cherry tomatoes.  Salad greens have found their way to the table regularly, the pepper plants have peppers, the pumpkin plants are thriving, the broccoli plants have gone free-range as their cages have been removed and the peas have set fruit.

About the peas. 

I noticed today that there is a variation in color of the blossoms.  Any variation the taste or size of the pea pod or peas should become apparent soon enough - but the interweb tells me that pea blossoms come in one of the widest color ranges in the plant kingdom. 

We'll see once the harvest comes in.

Last, but not least, Jill picked-up my electric fence kit at Tractor Supply today.  My scheme is to electrify the fence around my vast sweet corn patch.  I'm going to show those raccoons a lesson or two if I don't electrocute myself first.

Stay-tuned and Vive le jardin magnifique!

Fawn Recruitment Looks Good

Today's cuteness overload episode is brought to you by this mama and her fawn.  Trail camera closest to the house - photos taken June 18th.  That little one will have grown considerably by now...

click on images fro a closer look

 

Funeral for a Flag

The United States Flag Code (4 USC Sec 8 Para (k) Amended 7 July 1976) states:  The Flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem of display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning.  

We’ve had an old and worn American flag that has been moved a couple of times from house to house for lack of a proper way to dispose of it.  As a youngster our scout troop periodically held flag burning ceremonies for flags that had reached the end of their useful lives.  What I’ve learned is that burning isn't the only mechanism for disposal.  There are actually three respectful ways to dispose of your flag. 

Burning - According to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the first thing you should do is to properly fold your flag the same way it is performed at a military funeral.  Start a fire large enough to consume the flag and place it on top.  After the flag has completely consumed and your fire is safely and completely extinguished - collect the ashes and bury them.

Burial - Properly fold your flag (see above) place it in a dignified box and bury it.

Donation – Some organization repurpose old flags – particularly flags with embroidered stars.  Unused portions of the flag are properly disposed of by means of burning or burial. 

It is nice to know that our local American Legion Post will handle everything for the locals in a fit, proper and dignified manner.  Just like a flag funeral director should.....

    

Survivor

This photo from one of the trail cameras mystifies me.

click on the image to examine it carefully

 

If you look carefully in the shadow cast-upon this whitetail you will see a divot directly behind the right shoulder.  It is a wee bit high; nevertheless, in the location where an archer would target an arrow. Same for a bullet.

By all outward appearances this deer is very much alive and healthy.  The divot (presumed scar) doesn't appear to be festering, infected or weeping.  It just looks like a healed scar.

I wonder what the backstory is about this?

Or am I imagining things?

Talking Turkey

Now that we have the nation’s birthday behind us I wish to talk about one of our founding fathers and the myth that he preferred the wild turkey over the bald eagle as our national symbol.   That’s right – there is a persistent story about Benjamin Franklin wanting the choice of national symbol to go to turkey over the bald eagle.    

Say what you will about a bird that easts roadkill vs. a bird that has a sense of sight beyond that of any mere mortal bird.  The truth of the matter is that Old Ben was not a decider on this subject so all of this talk is nothing by speculation and myth.      

It is a fact that in a letter to his daughter (excerpts follow) Franklin does wax philosophical upon virtues such as morality and respectability bestowed-upon each species - and he does make some good point sin the respectability department.    

For my own part I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen the Representative of our Country. He is a Bird of bad moral Character. He does not get his Living honestly. You may have seen him perched on some dead Tree near the River, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the Labour of the Fishing Hawk; and when that diligent Bird has at length taken a Fish, and is bearing it to his Nest for the Support of his Mate and young Ones, the Bald Eagle pursues him and takes it from him.        

With all this injustice, he is never in good case but like those among men who live by sharping & robbing he is generally poor and often very lousy. Besides he is a rank coward: The little King Bird not bigger than a Sparrow attacks him boldly and drives him out of the district. He is therefore by no means a proper emblem for the brave and honest Cincinnati of America who have driven all the King birds from our country…        

I am on this account not displeased that the Figure is not known as a Bald Eagle, but looks more like a Turkey. For the Truth the Turkey is in Comparison a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America… He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on.     

click on images for a closer look

 

It is reasonable to presume that this may have contributed to the persistence of the mythology.  

Read this take on the subject and clear your head…..

Dispatch from the Butterfly Ranch

From our walk yesterday there is this - one of the first species to make an appearance in very large quantities. 

click on images for a closer look

Acres and acres of this blooming beauty - smooth penstemon - Penstemon digitalis. 

This flower materializes quite suddenly (seemingly out of nowhere) during late spring or early summer for about a month and then it’s gone.  A showy member of the snapdragon family and native to the prairie it is commonly called beardtongue or foxglove. 

Native Americans and folk-healers have made use of this plant for medicinal purposes for both people and animals.  Long-tongued bees, including honeybees, bumblebees, miner bees, butterflies, Sphinx moths, and hummingbirds favor this plant.  The name beardtongue is a consequence of the hairy reproductive parts found within the flower.     



We also found a handful of false sunflower (Ox-Eye) - Heliopsis helianthoides – that are beginning to come on-line. 

And along the wetter conditions bordering the banks of Silver Creek we found some Iris versicolor - sometimes called the northern Iris or blue flag iris – growing in clumps or patches.  Iris derives from the Greek word for rainbow.  Which is appropriate considering the wide variation of colors that wild iris displays.







Last but not least - I started my day with coffee on the porch with one of my monarch buddies. 

The monarch's host plant is common milkweed - Asclepias syriaca - and is just now beginning to bloom....