The photo above is the pond bottom the day after Barry. The white bucket is still in place, so if you click back to this previous post, you have a nice reference point for seeing the change.
The barely visible dark square object about halfway up the right edge of this photo is the end of my little dock. That's a good reference point for how high the water "should" be.
It's still a puddle and not a "pond", but at least it's taken a step towards regaining pondhood.
Totally unrelated to the pond is this picture of coral bean (aka: Cherokee Bean) blossoms beneath the blueberry bushes. This is a tough as nails native that can handle shade, sun, salt ... anything but wet feet.
The hummers love them and are visiting them pretty often as evidenced by the properly pollinated, swollen ovaries below.
Inside these fruits are crimson colored beans that are hard enough to be used as rosary beads. I will be collecting this year's crop and planting them (another hurry up and wait germinator like coontie, Vicki).
In other rambly, unrelated news:
I think our pregnant doe from a week ago did have her baby and it's a single. She was in the yard with a tiny spotted fawn two days ago. I couldn't get the picture, because the kids were making a major motion picture video in that area and I would have been in the picture if I had gone after a fawn shot. It doesn't do for a "LOTR" knock off video to have a wildlife photographer skulking around in the background.
I also saw a doe with twins far down the road, so apparently the little mammals of mass destruction are popping out all over the place.
Yesterday, I tubed the Ichetucknee River with the kids and some of their friends. It was windy and threatened to rain, but we floated without getting wet.
"Rain wet" that is ... the river was wet of course.
While we were lazily drifting down the clear river through a forest of massive cypress trees, a big dead tree deep in the woods cracked in the wind and fell to the swampy floor with a loud crash.
I guess that answers the age old question.
There was no one around it and we heard it just fine.
Don't make me have to come up there to get a photo of the baby deer. :)
ReplyDeleteSomewhere I have a picture of the one I had to raise and the first day I had it, it was such a little innocent thing. Some of Mother Nature's sweetest looking work.
We got three and a half inches out of Barry, but the pond behind the house hasn't shown any sign of coming back at all. Just a lot of lush green plant growth down there.
ReplyDeleteThe precipitation sure made the garden stand up proud though.
.....Alan.
The poor pond!!!! Someday it will be a pond again!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful picture of the coral bean plant. I love the red.
How great to be able to see the fawn and hopefully get to watch it grow!
I'm sure the frogs are happy to have that nice big puddle.
ReplyDeleteHow nice that you were out tubing with the kids. Now that's the way to spend a summer day. And, you got to solve that mystery about trees falling and sound. A day well spent.
Cool beans! 8-]
ReplyDeleteYour puddle is starting to look pretty good. Shouldn't be too long before it repondizes. It's raining here now, a hard, steady, quenching rain. You can almost hear the earth breathing a sigh of relief. Aaaahhhhh!!! Hope some of it blows down your way.
POP,
ReplyDeleteYes maam, I will get a shot. You need to find that fawn photo and post it at the Martini. Might cheer up some of your commenters ;)
Alan,
Let me get this straight, garden plants are supposed to stand up? Is this before or after the deer find them?
Ava,
That coral bean flower is a favorite. It really stands out and yes, we do enjoy watching the fawns grow and frolic.
Robin,
Yes, well, I like to multitask when tubing, so solving that age old question just came naturally to me.
Sophie,
Very cool beans. I'll post a shot later when the pods turn brown and open showing the red beans.
I've seen that plant before while wandering around in Florida, and had no idea what it was. I always feel somewhat disoriented when I'm in a part of the world where I have no clue what most of the vegetation is.
ReplyDeleteAlan,
ReplyDeleteLet me get this straight, garden plants are supposed to stand up? Is this before or after the deer find them?
If the deer find them they'd do well not only to stand up but to run away! {laughing}
.....Alan.
Is Junior planning a career in cinematography? Making movies sounds like good fun. I think my kids have figured out the video features on their digital cameras, but I haven't bothered with video. Yet.
ReplyDeleteI thought our drought up here in the Carolinas was approaching yours. By the look of your pond maybe I'm wrong about that.
ReplyDeletePond is looking pretty good there. Sure glad you weren't UNDER the tree
ReplyDeleteI left a message on a post from a couple of days back, but am not sure you go back that far to look at comments. I am amazed that your wife has roots on TCI. No wonder our families are so familiar, we share a common island! If you e-mail me some names and dates, I bet I can come up with some history them. Seeing as I work in the archives that houses all our county's old records. cathy.slusser@manateeclerk.com
ReplyDeleteBoy, do I empathize about your pond! I'm glad to see it's getting some recharge. I hope you have a wet summer.
ReplyDeleteLibby and I were in the forest on a windy day once and heard a large tree crash to the ground. It's an awesome sound, and if it weren't for the loss of a tree, I'd love to hear it more often.
Your dilemma, FC, is that you were around.
Doug,
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty common in scrubby areas and even behind the dunes along the beach (where no condos grow)
Alan,
I've heard of running bamboo ...
Deb,
He's definitely a ham. Somehow, I have raised a pack of creative hams. They are constantly creating short movies that are mostly a riot.
RCW,
What's amazing is that it has already shrunk from that picture of a few days ago.
ThreeCollie,
There was an impressive crack first, which allowed you time to look and actually see it fall.
Cathy S,
I saw it just this morn. I'll email ya'.
Thanks! This internet thingie is too cool.
Pablo,
Define "around" :)
Thanks for the wet wishes. We aspire to be vast like Lake M.
Do you think Barry will go down on record as the only welcome tropical storm ever to hit Florida? :)
ReplyDeleteThe ponds around here are on the upswing again. Largo got 6 inches of rain! Everything is so green, and best of all, the birds are back. Unfortunately, the mosquitoes will be right behind them.
I'll have to find out if the coral bean will grow down this way. It's a native, so.... I hope so! That's a pretty flower.
If the movie producers happen to see the doe, maybe they could snap a quick pic with the video cam!
Laura,
ReplyDeleteWell, they're all welcome in my book, but that's just me. I think you are right though, after weeks of fires and months of drought, everybody was glad to see this one.
Coral bean will definitely grow in the Saint Concrete area. It's getting near it's northern extreme up this way.
Later this summer, I'd be happy to send you some seeds.
The movie producers seem more interested in filming themselves at this point :)
... and yes maam, it has been nice with no mosquitoes, but that will end soon.