Monday, September 03, 2007

Laborless Day


These galls on my grapevine are probably the work of some insect or mite. I haven't looked them up yet, or cut one open to seek out it's secret. Most galls are harmless and this grape vine seems to be vigorous and healthy.
Every time I look at this picture I get a strong urge to eat candy corn while listening to an early Madonna CD.
Weird.



While mule deer are mostly a western species, like the coyote, they seem to be colonizing the east. I photographed this one in my neighbor's neat woodlot.



I try not to mow the front yard too often. This aggravates my wife who likes things neater and really dislikes damp grass as she walks out to her car each morning.

I'm not sure what the big deal is about a little damp grass ... it's probably a girl thing.

Enjoy your laborless day!

15 comments:

robin andrea said...

Nice pics. Interesting about the mule deer heading east, like the coyote. I wonder if that's because of the demands of increased population in their herds?

Hey, we saw a coyote last evening that was literally stalking some cats in the front yard of a home. The home was in a planned residential community of several hundred homes.

SophieMae said...

Those galls are downright purdy. Not like the oak galls that are running rampant in my trees.

Nice 'mule deer' shot! Horses are prettier, but mules are smarter. I used to love to take the back way from New Smyrna to DeLand. There was a mule breeder on that route who had the most beautiful mules out of his Belgian mares.

And our coyotes are much prettier than the western variety. This is getting to be a positively plenteous pretty-oriented post. I'll probably push off and post pictures of the plant pincher presently partaking in my own pileous preserve.

Peace, pardner. 8-]

Anonymous said...

Nice yard, that's probably what mine looks like.

swamp4me said...

I would guess those galls are the result of midges...

We, too, are anti-mowers! Perhaps you can get Mrs. FC some wellies to wear out to the car :)

jojo said...

this post and sundays' got some serious giggles out of me... how are you so funny? i forgot to flip a rock. uh i mean an old piece of concrete leftover from the house...oh well.. there's tomorrow.

R.Powers said...

Robin,
Wow, I hope you can take a joke. If not, I'm dead.

Sophie,
Amazing awsome alliteration.
I only see our FL coyotes as a brown blur.

Kevin,
I actually mowed mine today, that pic is on a road in Devil's Hammock.

Swampy,
I think it was you that id'd a similar pointy leaf for me a couple of years ago on this blog.
Sometimes I just mow her a path.

Jojo,
Giggles are good!
Be careful flipping your rock!

Sharon said...

I can see why they are called "Mule-deer"! btw, don't hate me for my post today...

Sharon said...

Oh, and the Madonna reference made me actually snort!

threecollie said...

Are you sure you didn't mean to write "dear mule" in place of mule deer there?

R.Powers said...

Sharon,
No, but it was a harmless black racer. A broom is good for shooing them out.

ThreeCollie,
I must have :)

h said...

Are you sure that isn't a donkey? The snout looks kinda broad for a deer.

Thunder said...

You crack me up!
All I did yesterday was catch a cold from Lightnin.

Sharon said...

Heehee, Mom says "Harmless in that it won't hurt me, but it will make me hurt myself!" I'm the same way...I had an awesome zoology teacher who was really into reptiles. He tried every logical way he knew how to get me over my phobia, no go. He grew quite disgusted with me. :)

Anonymous said...

I came over here to get away from all the work going on around da house and what do I find? Pictures of BUGS! LOTS OF BUGS!

That does look like candy corn on your grapevines, and Madonna's hairstyles from the 80's.
Cyndi Lauper's hair too, for that matter.
Oh man, the 80's....

I can't picture you listening to Madonna, however. I've got to think about that one for a minute.

That mule deer is huge! I'm glad you shot him with your camera and not a rifle. :)

And last, but not least, I had planned to ask you if you had any ideas on how to get rid of the sandspurs that are growing all around my side yard. They're mixed with plants I want to keep, so I can't use RoundUp.
But having seen your Jeep in the grass pic, I'm not so sure you'd be the best person to ask about it....
LOL!

R.Powers said...

Laura,
Um ... it wasn't Madonna's hairstyle that was cone shaped ...um ...
I didn't actually LISTEN to Madonna ...
I better move on to the sandspur question.
Take an old terrycloth towel and drag it through the sandspur patch. It will collect the spurs (which are seeds) and then you can throw it away.
Then, pull up the parent plants. There will be less next year, repeat, ad infinitum.