Cats Cats Cats . . .

By far, not everyone's favorite critter. Especially when your neighbor's cats are in your yard.

I saw this small female (I believe), when I went down to Shop Rite in Ellenville the other day (8-21). I went to the far side of the parking lot to take some photos of the clouds (& some planes I will be sharing soon in my POD blog) & saw her.





Then, I also saw this. They are both small, and pretty thin. My guess is they are someone's forgotten pets. . :( Maybe not, but they were both nervous & scared & I am guessing at least the kitten, (if not both) is feral.

Cat Bath & Chicken Roost

Here is my cat taking a bath!:) She just looked really pretty . . . Her name is "Bo" - named after the famous bull, Bodacious. (Also see - Bodacious). (I also had her sister a long while, whom I named Laney - after Lane Frost).



Then, the other picture I am going to share here, are my chickens roosting. They just looked really nice that evening, going to bed;) Both photos were taken on 8/22. The black hen is an aracauna, the rooster (a mutt? dunno got him from a friend) & the other hen is a red sex-link.

Warning! Spider Post;)

Ok! You've been warned;)



LOL!



I have a tarantula & her name is Aadi! (Yes, I really do!:)



The other day (8-17, actually), she molted! I got her in March, and I wondered if she would or when she would. I read all about her on the 'net. I learned tarantulas (mostly!) molt UPSIDE down! LOL So, even though it is weird & shocking when you look in & find them on their backs & somewhat (or mostly!) helpless, they are doing a normal process. Now, if things are "good" & humidity is right, the "exoskeleton" comes off, none sticks to her & you have this "new" spider.

This is Aadi - when I discovered she was molting: (notice, she laid down some web for herself - she laid on part of it, I am assuming this was to help her molt to come off)

This is after she molted.
She is a whole new girl:) Very vibrant! The pictures do not show her beauty! The first pic is from the next day - 8/18 & the others are from 8/22.

Weird Bird

I've been offline a few days, so I feel so lost! I've missed posting, so now I will have to make up for it;)

Anyway, this bird has been visiting my parents yard. There were some last year too - don't know if they are the same ones are not - I never did see it last yr! Only vaguely! LOL But mom says to me today that those "weird birds" were back! LOL

So I took a couple not so good pics & looked online. To me, I think he is a green heron. Of course, there is always the chance he is not, because I am not certain! :}

So, if anyone knows what he is, please let me know;)

Flower Identification & More - My purpley flower

Ok, I found some online flower sites.
Wildflowers of NY State

I also found that my purpley flower is an Eastern Purple Coneflower. (There is also another version of this with white petals).
Sites here:
Detailed Information on Eastern Purple Coneflower
Native Echinacea purpurea Eastern Purple Coneflower Seed & Potted Plants
Eastern Purple Coneflower - Plant Guide (pdf)
NPIN: Echinacea purpurea (Eastern Purple Coneflower)
Plants Profile for Echinacea purpurea
Medicinal Garden - Eastern Purple Coneflower - medically uses of this flower - interesting! - they also say that it is also called Indian Head - they also have a photo that shows many different stages of the flower's development - I will look to see if I can also find them next time

Here is some info about the Eastern Purple Coneflower:

This flower attracts butterflies & hummingbirds! :)

Echinacea purpurea

called: Eastern purple coneflower, Eastern purple-coneflower, Purple coneflowers
in the Asteraceae family (Aster family)

native to the US

grows in: AL, AR, CO, CT, FL, GA, IL, IN, KS, Y, LA, MI, MO, MS, NC, NY, OH, PA, TN, TX, VA, WI
but people grow it in other states by buying seeds/plants

In FL, this plant is listed as purple coneflower & is listed as endangered. In MI, it is also listed as purple coneflower & listed as "probably extripated" (according to the USDA Plant Listing - Threatened & Endangered info for this plant)

Characteristics:
perennial
habit: herb
root type: fibrous
leaf color: green
active growth period: spring & summer
slow after harvest regrowth rate
it is fire resistant (interesting??)
the seed color is black
single stem
moderate growth rate
mature height 1.2ft
has a long lifespan
it is adapted to coarse, fine, & medium textured soils
pH min. - 6.5
pH max. - 7.2
root depth (min.) - 24"
temp. min. - -33
prefer to be in the sun, with little to minimal shade (from what I read!) - I read that too much shade will make them "overly leggy"

bloom period - early summer
routinely available commercial
medium seed abundance
seed period begins in summer
seed period ends in fall
can't be propagated by bare root, bulb, container, corm, cuttings, sod, sprigs, or tubers
can be propagated by seed
moderate vegetative spread rate

CT Visitor Center Flowers Part 4

And here is the 4th & last post for this grouping. This beautiful white flower. Isn't it gorgeous??

I am not a good flower person, lol, I have no idea what these flowers are. I will try & find a flower identification chart online:)

Ok, I found some online flower sites.
Wildflowers of NY State

CT Visitor Center Flowers Part 3

Here are some more flowers from the visitor center. Here are these purpley flowers again. It's like the one from my earlier post on August 16th, 2007. Does anyone know what they are called?

CT Visitor Center Flowers Part 2

So, now here, we move into the 2nd part of the CT Visitor Center Flowers.

They were beautiful!

Here we have this pretty little pink flower.

CT Visitor Center Flowers Part 1

Here are some more flowers. These pics were taken at the Connecticut Visitor Center,
Aug 18th, 2007.

Here are some yellow/brown flowers - the brown-eyed Susans, I believe:)

We had a skunk visitor in our front room (between houe/garage) but I didn't get to get a photo:( No harm/problems from "him" - just a visit;)

Corn Fields

These photos were taken on August 14th, 2007.

The first 2 are taken in fields of growing corn in Stone Ridge NY. The 3rd is a harvested corn field in Hurley NY (@ 10 mi up the road from the first 2)

Wild Flowers/Tree

Here are some wild flowers today. I like this pink flower, with the brown middle, but don't know what it is called. I like the similar brown-eyed susan - (yellow flower with brown middle) that I don't have a pic of here today. There's also this pine. I don't know what kind it is, but I like these ones.

My Mom's Flowers

I'm sorry. I had to create another blog. This one will be postings (prob. mainly picture posts) that relate to nature (flowers, trees, scenery, wildlife, etc) that does not fit into one of my other blogs.


Today I took several pictures. I really love flowers . . especially if I get a good photo! Which doesn't happen all that often - but I did get some nice ones of my mother's flowers on 8/14/07. So, I'll make those my first post.

She has a beautiful hibiscus plant. It's has beautiful, large deep pink flowers.

Princess Rayna with her baby & the flowers.

And, I guess everything is food for something! :)

I also took a photo of her yellow roses, but they didn't turn out so well. And in one of them, there were 2 little beetles. .. Doing something I suppose all beetles do ;)

I was taking a photo of the bud, but the grasses/stairs - scene behind is so sharp, I left some of it in the pic.

The Beetles! These are pretty small .. . I haven't tried figuring out what they are yet. Not sure, I don't know anything about beetles! LOL Except, when I was little, we had HUGE ones. . that I don't see much now.

I also took a picture of these little flowers, which are by her hibiscus, which I am not sure what they are! :)

Well! In the back, the cucumbers are now invading their porch!!

This blog will probably not be daily, but then again, it could be::) Whenever I see something I remotely like, or weird, or really DON"T like, I take pictures. I have all kinds of weird pics! I can't wait to get my new camera & see how much my pics will improve (in detail). :) Yea!

So, these are my pictures for (Thursday 8/16/07)! Hope you enjoy looking at them!:)