Family, Home and History
Well, OK; Birds in the backyard.
We have many varieties of sparrows, finches, jays, robins and such that hang out in our back yard. Two of our favorites are the American Goldfinch and the Humming Birds that visit us frequently. Both are bright and interesting visitors.
OK, it’s June I tell you. This afternoon a cold front wandered in and proceeded to dump 2 inches of rain in approximately 1 hour. Not good! We’re only supposed to get such weather in December.
The weather men and women better get it right.
It’s SUMMER!!
We had a plant sprout this year that was planted by the previous owners. For some reason it did not grow last year. Its formal name is Dracunculus Vulgaris. Its common name is Dragon Arum or Dragonwort. It is a most unusual plant as shown below.
It comes from Greece, the Balkans, Crete and Greek Isles. It looks tropical and its pollination technique is definitely tropical. When the flower opens it smells of rotting meat for a day. Its away from the house so we didn’t notice the smell. However, I did notice an abundance of flies day before yesterday. It is odorless today.
The previous owners left an artsy-fartsy bird bath for us. It’s made of solid copper, so it couldn’t have been cheap. The person who designed it may have been an artist, but he/she had no concept of physics or engineering. The bowl was held by one thin copper strap to the upright. When full of water, the weight of even a sparrow would tilt the bowl causing the water to slosh out scaring the bird in the process.
A brilliant thought, some brass chain and copper wire and the bath is now stabilized. It looks pretty sharp if I say so myself. (Which I do.)
