We put our social calendars on hold this month and plunged into an open-ended period of physical distancing. Here are some of the amusements we used to replace shopping and hanging with friends. – March, 2020
FROG VIEWING
A bevy of green-lipped frogs are a lot easier to see now that we’ve reconstructed our pollinator pond garden. We are replacing the Nandina and Buddleia with Milkweed and Butterfly Weed to go with the existing native grasses, black-eyed Susan, phlox, red cannas, and Autumn Joy sedum.
SEE AND BE SEEN
These ordinarily reclusive frogs climbed atop high perches during a mid-March breeding frenzy.
GARAGE CLEANING
We dusted pollen from Amy’s trunk and found a cryptic note inside. If you have an idea what the purpose of this trunk may have been, please let us know.
ANALOGUE SUNDAY
No-browser Sundays have forced Camille to explore her watercolor pencils and catch up on her reading.
WOODSY WANDERS
Individually or as a pair, we routinely disappear into Tami and Lyle’s woods. What joy to have this beautiful resource outside our back door!
SKY GAZING
This one’s for Jason – a sycamore with four towering trunks that he brought to our attention years ago.
HONORING FORMIDABLE SPECIMENS
Bob stands beside another formidable sycamore, and we gaze up the trunk of our favorite beech.
CARL
Carl provides us a place of repose and the comforting reminder that our lives represent an insignificant blip on the time continuum.
WILDLIFE SIGHTINGS
See the leaves? See the snake?
COPPER HEAD
Following the sound of a small waterfall coming from a three-tributary creek confluence, we went off-trail and nearly stepped on a large Copperhead.
HOME ECONOMICS
Making Pee Squares, a reusable toilet paper substitute, from flannel Taxi towels we purchased in Kumasi.
HOARDING
Camille invested nearly $400 into lock-down supplies and has not been inside a grocery store since March 11. Two weeks later, we’d hardly made a dent in our supplies. Most of the food shown was in stock before the big shop. Not shown: 10 pounds each of dried beans, flour, and wheat gluten; a bucket of extruded soy protein, 4 pounds of pasta, 2 pounds of rice, ingredients to make two batches of chex mix, several dozen eggs, and the contents of the other freezer. Is this good planning or evidence of childhood food insecurity? We welcome your thoughts.
SOLVING MYSTERIES
Are these cute, little flowers native columbines? Answer: No, these are Rue Anemone (Anemonella thalictroides)
What are these sticky-outy things on the trunk of one of our young chestnuts? Answer: This a sign that our tree has been invaded by black twig borers (Xylosandrus compactus) – toothpick frass created as the evil beetles bore into the tree, pushing the wood out behind them. Sadly, it appears we will lose this chestnut, and are hoping to prevent the beetle from killing the rest of our young orchard trees.
BIRD WATCHING
Bob installed this Bluebird box last fall and the first tenants have produced a clutch of four blue eggs.
ARCHAEOLOGY
Camille unearthed a dirt-encrusted toy when planting columbines and a woman in a red dress revealed herself after a good washing. This turned out to be a replica of the Memphis Belle, a Boeing B-17F which was active during the Second World War. Not ordinarily a man-made war object fan, Camille likes her new toy because it reminds her of her Uncle Frank and his model plane hobby.
THE ORIGINAL BELLE
This is a photo of the Memphis Belle in flight. The plane is on display in Dayton, Ohio.