ANOTHER OF DAD'S PROJECTS

At the recent Portland tractor show, my dad bought an old motorcycle cargo trailer. He tore the top off and gave it away. Then he changed the bottom into a 4-person trailer to pull behind his Cub Cadet. He is AMAZING.

I wouldn't have seen value in this thing.

He took the top off and put it out by the road; it was gone within the hour.

It had good underpinnings.

He custom-ordered Amish buggy seats and the finished product looks pretty spiffy.

Here is the old trailer he had built for Mom years ago.  We used it this year.  There's something about the ladies being consigned to riding on the back that makes people laugh.  (What the guys don't know is that when the day is 90 degrees, being removed from the heat coming off that engine is a great relief!)

 TREES IN THE GARDEN

Today I weeded out baby trees in my flowerbeds. 38 tulip trees, 3 beech, 2 maple, and 1 red oak.

Tulip

American Beech

Red Maple

Red Oak

 OUR WHEEZY

Wheezy Trotter Welton, age 13, of Grove City died today at the Franklin Animal Clinic of cancer. Born April 1, 2008 in the woods, he was brought to the Welton home during a severe storm and decided to be adopted there, where he remained a valued member of the family until his death.

He was an indoor-outdoor cat. He went in and out and in and out and in and out and in. A voracious hunter, his winning streak was a chipmunk every day for 3 weeks in a row. He also brought frogs, mice, voles, and flying squirrels to the back door.

In addition, he was a lap cat, gently leaping onto any person’s lap who happened to sit down.

He was God's good gift and he was the smartest and best cat who ever lived.

This was the moment he claimed our family.

The catsitter had him star in a movie.

He does not look sorry.

His photo was chosen to be the December Man in a calendar.

Wheezy "lost" his wrapping within 30 minutes; to this day, we don't know where it is.

Christmas could be enjoyable in a different way.

He really had a thing about jumping on the roof. Once he fell down the chimney and Ben had to go to the basement to fetch him out of the fireplace.

This was one of his favorite spots to sit.  Can you see him?

 FAIRY CIRCLE

This fairy circle appeared at my parents' house this year.  They have lived there for 45 years and have never had it before.  It was quite an attraction and was photographed by many people.

A fairy ring starts when the spawn ("seeds") of a mushroom falls in a good spot and sends out an underground network of threads.  The threads grow out evenly in all directions, which forms a circle--like spokes on a wheel.  So the mushrooms that grow up through the ground come out in a circle.

Some people believe that fairies dance inside the circle at night.

After a while, Dad would get tired of it, so he would mow the grass.  Dad mowed it off 4 times, but they kept growing back.

Someone stole the one he had spray-painted red, so we had to paint another one (we think it was a friend who wanted to have it analyzed by an expert...but he's not talking).

 CHRISTMAS TREE MERINGUE

TIN MAN

It’s time to paint the tin man again.  My dad made this years ago for the boys. 

Dad has a large one himself (now also with a tin lady and a tin dog) that he created out of odds and ends found in his pole barn.  It is so distinctive that one weekend in the fall it disappeared and the community was up in arms over it.  So Dad went and spoke to the school’s basketball coach.  “If it gets returned, I’ll not press charges.  But I sure do miss it and would like it back.”  The next weekend, it re-appeared.

My little boys were so excited over the tin man that Dad made a smaller one for them to bring here to western PA.  He grabbed an old metal paint bucket, an oil funnel, a tin can, some plastic field tile, and he whipped up a tin man before you could blink.  It’s beginning to rust and some day we will have to switch to a plastic bucket, but meanwhile I text a photo to Dad every time I repaint.  “Good job,” he texts back.

HEAL-ALL

5 years ago I did a wildflower project with our property.  I would identify the wildflowers we have as they appeared each week in the spring.  I took photos of them and put them into an album so that I can refresh my memory each year.

My scientist friend told me to use Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide to help identify them.  Imagine my surprise when I learned that this book is not in color!  Actually, color is helpful when finding a plant’s name, but the structure of a plant is way more important.  Does it have irregular flowers or two regular parts or three regular parts?  Does it have basal leaves, opposite leaves or alternate leaves?  Are the leaves divided or lobed?  This routine will help you to identify what it is.

I discovered a new wildflower in my yard today, right beside the front sidewalk.  I was surprised I hadn’t caught it in the past, but we’ve had a huge amount of rain and rain and rain, so the yard hasn’t been mowed.  I suspect this has allowed them to grow high enough to be noticed.

Our yard doesn’t have much grass; it is mostly…other stuff.  And Selfheal (or Heal-all) is now one of the Other Stuff.

Prunella vulgaris can be found everywhere in the world, often by roadsides and waste-places.  It's leaves and stems can be eaten in salads, and the entire plant can be cooked in stew.  Wikipedia says the Chinese thought it could "change the course of a chronic disease".

I was wondering if I should move it into a more lovely spot as an official herb in my garden, but the internet says it's probably not worth it.  It has no lovely smell and not much flavor.  Some people just call it a weed, and that's what it is in my yard.  I'll just let it join its fellow weeds there and let it be.