A Sunflower Kind of Day

 

My little plot of 15 sunflowers planted early in the season is now beginning to bloom.  The short sunflower in the foreground was the first one to bloom and is facing East.  I'm not sure why the Mammoth in the background is not.  Maybe it didn't hear that sunflowers are all supposed to face East when they bloom?  My sunflowers never get very tall.  In the several years I have grown them, even Mammoth is lucky to top 5 feet tall.  Still, they are bright and cheerful, and if I can keep them from getting munched down to the ground when they are little, they will provide me with months of bloom.

Yes, that is real desert sunshine from behind the first sunflower to bloom this year.  While the disk is only about 4 inches across, the long petals make the flower head seem much larger.

Difficult to tell from the photos, but this is a Mammoth, and while it won't get to Mammoth proportions here in the desert, the center is a good six inches across.  If I can keep the critters off of it, it could provide a nice snack for the chickens in the middle of winter.

Blooming in bed number two - a dainty dwarf sunflower.  As it is supposed to, this one is happily facing East.

A promise of sunflower delights to come - a 4 inch flower head wrapped in layers of frilly green.  By the time I am back from business travel, the main sowing of sunflowers should be in full bloom.  Big, bold, bright - and edible to boot!

Mid West Travel Digressions

Over the summer I had the good fortune to have a day off in the mid-west. I drove out to Lake Michigan. I've seen the Great Lakes on maps, so I knew they were huge - but you really have to see it to realize just how big it really is. From the south shore, you cannot even tell it is a lake - it looks like an ocean that opens up to the north and extends to the end of the earth. A sea gull over Lake Michigan. I love my camera. True, I'm not very practiced, so a shot like this for me is still "just lucky" - but it helps to have good equipment.
And, more sea gulls as they fly out over the lake. You can click on any of the photos on this blog to see the full sized picture.
View of the beach. I understand that at one time, the factories along the bank spewed smoke so vile and plentiful that the skies above the lake were smuged black. I'm glad that is no longer the case.
Pebbles along the shore. Sometimes I just like to take pictures of patterns. Some day I hope to return with more than a few hours to spare - still, I am so blessed that I get to see so much of our country.

Almost Home Again

I love being on the road, and it's always interesting and fun to visit our remote offices - but sometimes I think the best part of being on the road is coming home. Looking forward to hearing "Hungry Jack" crow in the mornings and seeing the girls stampede for treats. You can see our neighbor's house in the background while Hungry Jack does his thing. Good thing the neighbors are a ways away - Hungry Jack can get pretty loud when he chooses. And if he and No. 2 get into a crowing duel, it can really echo through your brain.
Here's a photo of The Princess rooster, Fancy Pants and The Mean Hen as they get ready to take a trek to friends who planned to eat them. Fancy pants did end up as roast rooster, but I hear The Princess and The Mean Hen have become pets. The Mean Hen is laying an egg every few days and The Princess has the run of the yard. Glad to see they have a good home, but I am even happier that my own flock is now so much more mellow. Literally within hours of the mean roosters and hen being removed from the flow, there was a happier, calmer air about them.

Funny side note about chickens - apparently there is a significant minority of people where I work who are somehow involved with chickens! Either they have some (as in the case of someone in our So Cal office), or used to have them (Georgia and Nor Cal Offices), or are thinking of getting them (Nor Cal Office). In a few cases, my coworkers' grown children are somehow involved with chickens on a professional level. I would never have guessed!

Airplane ride most of the day tomorrow and then home!

Trek Over the Sierra Nevadas

Traveled over the mountains to see my daughter graduate Magna Cum Laude from the university this weekend. On the way home, took some photos in the mountains.
I've always been fascinated by tree bark (and lichen, but that's a topic for another day). In the days before digital cameras and photo shop, one never knew if the photos would turn out to be anything useful. They are often taken under challenging lighting conditions and at the edges of a lens' capabilities. After the cost of film and the cost of developing, you were often left with over exposed tones of grey. But here we are, in the digital age, and with some color balancing and some cropping, here we are with some acceptable photos of pine tree bark after all. I like these two photos - it's almost as if I can feel the roughness of the surface.