Eagles at Chincoteague

A couple of weeks ago we went on another trip to the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. Now, every time we’ve gone there we heard about eagles. There used to be a video monitor in the visitor’s center, which showed some baby eagles in a nest. But, we never saw any until this last trip. Note that there are two here, and one flew by just as we saw these. This was on the wildlife loop in the late afternoon.

Tobacco at the Maryland State Fair

One thing that I always enjoy at the Maryland State Fair is seeing the many different varieties of things that people grow in our state. There are heirloom watermelons such as Moon and Stars ( a personal favorite), nuts such as walnuts and pecans, grains, and hay. One thing I always seeing on display are the tobacco hands, such as this one, which one a blue ribbon. I hate smoking and the tobacco industry, but I do like this because it hints at local history.

Currently tobacco farming on Maryland is on the wane, but it was once a big industry. During Colonial times tobacco was a big moneymaker. At first, workers were brought over from England but over the years African Americans took over this work. It takes a lot of work to harvest a field of tobacco. The local tobacco industry suffered after the Civil War, was revived during World War I, and then waned again. Now, many Maryland tobacco farmers have given up the crop in favor of other, more profitable things like vegetables. To see a recreation of a Colonial tobacco plantation, consider visiting the Spray Tobacco Plantation in St. Mary’s City, Maryland.

I Love Zinnias

Yes, I do and I try to grow them every summer. I usually have a mini variety in pots and semi-doubles in the main flowerbed. This year I tried some new types but they didn’t quite make it. I find that mysterious, as zinnias are the one flower that will grow for me anywhere. In fact, they were the first flower I grew in the all cement yard next to the outhouse.

Well, as you can see some of them are recovering from the drought and heat of early summer and beginning to bloom. I believe this is a Candy Cane mix. I also have them in white with pink streaks, and pink with white streaks. They add a lot of splash and I will certainly grow them again next year. Last year one of my neighbors had a great bed of cactus type zinnias in their front yard. I want them next year but I’m afraid they’d look too crazy in with the candy canes.

And yes, I wrote an article about zinnias. Actually, I wrote this last winter but deleted it a few months ago and re-wrote it for summer. I had planned to introduce a “flower of the month” thing to my column but it seemed hokey so I dropped it. I wanted a winter series but I’ve since come up with better ideas. I also liked the photos in that article, but since Examiner is migrating to a new style we don’t have control over our layout and things look wonky unless they are super simple.

Peachy Goodness!

Yesterday while we were out and about we stopped at Baugher’s farm – they of the famous pies that pop up in stores around the area. My intent was to get peaches because I tend to get a bit peach crazy in summer. While pick-your-own is only on weekends there, they still had a wide variety of goodies to choose from.

I haven’t tried all of the pictures fruits so far, but the Red Haven peaches are sublime. The white peaches are OK, but I’ve never found a white peach that is as good as others. The donut peaches here aren’t quite ready yet and neither are the white nectarines. The apricots are a bargain at $1 a pound – a sign explains that they are smaller than usual and have harmless spots on them. But, they are quite tasty and better than the prettier apricots I’ve been getting at the farmer’s market.

When we were kids there were peach trees on our property so I have lots of nostalgia connected with them. Of course, my brother and I didn’t appreciate them but I remember watching the peaches grow at all stages, from hard green buds to rotted ones on the ground. They were often buggy so my brother and I mainly used them to throw around. Still, they were great trees to have around.

Wordless Wednesday - the Baltimore City Hall Garden

Another Visit to City Hall

I usually don’t repeat here the same photos as I do on Examiner, but I just like this picture and I have a bit of a time crunch today. I used it at the end of the slideshow for my recent report about the Baltimore City Hall Garden. I was happy to find it thriving and productive. Though it is less showy I like it because it seems like they are utilizing the space well and the crops selected are good for a continuous harvest. I also like the addition of sunflowers here. They bring a bit of cheer to an otherwise utilitarian garden. I plan to do a Wordless Wednesday with more photos tomorrow.

I just noticed that Examiner now has spammy little ads on the bottoms of my photos in the slideshow. Ugh! I shouldn’t have done one.

Squirrel Flophouse

It has been hot here. Well, that is an understatement. It is more like an unrelenting summer of 90+ degree days with no relief. At least it has rained here and there so I don’t have to worry about my garden being dry anymore. The grass in front is growing again but the back is a disaster. First, most of the grass died. Then, we had heavy rain that flooded the back lawn. Now when I go out barefoot I feel the weird texture of the crunchy grass that has been pounded into the ground by the rain.

Aside from the heat, my big activity has been squirrel watching. This little guy (we call him the “squirrely squirrel” because he is a little nuts) is often sleeping on our porch, rolling around in different positions like a little kid. Yesterday he flopped into one of my potted plants. I usually keep seashells on top of the soil of my potted plants to deter squirrels from digging. Well, we found him sleeping on top of the shells.

As for Examiner I’ve pulled back from them a bit in favor of things that pay more money. I did write a little heat series earlier this month, beginning with an article on preventing heat stress in plants. Next I did a story on facts about brown grass as it seemed to be a bit of a fascination at the time. One of the TV stations (I believe channel 11?) was running a “worst lawn contest” and everybody I knew seemed to be talking about their brown grass. An easy offshoot of these topics was “Five heat tolerant plants”. No wonder there is so much bamboo in North Baltimore. Them, yesterday I wrote about larkspur simply because I am tired of writing about heat.

I just noticed a large ad with music that took over the heat tolerant plant article page when I went to it. They are on other pages, too. I believe these ads, which begin as an intrusive band at the bottom of the page, are new. If you accidentally move your mouse over them they tell you they will “…expand in 3…2…1….” Thanks, now my readers will be motivated to click away quickly. No wonder Examiner is not getting the page views it used to. I could complain about them a lot, but I do like the body of work I have on the site and I should just diversify a little more. Once this busy summer calms down I’m going to explore some new angles to my writing (for other places).