Eight years ago I traveled to Ecuador. I bought this blue footed booby figurine to remember my trip. I specifically wanted to remember that one moment when I was snorkeling near Kicker Rock and right ahead of me a blue footed booby dove into the water right in front of my head. I was so surprised to see those blue feet zoom past my face mask. I had the figurine in the pot of my ficus tree on the deck. The wind blew the tree over and my booby broke. I think I can get some glue and glue the booby face back on the booby, don't you?
I was a little embarrassed to read Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kuar Jaswal at work. I was worried my coworkers would think I was reading erotic literature because, well, the word erotic is in the title. But this isn't one of those slutty bodice ripper books. This is a story about a young Punjabi woman, in her twenties, who is a little bit lost career wise. She gets hired to teach widows how to read and write. Nikki is her name and she doesn't exactly teach the widows how to read and write but in the process she helps a great number of widows. The widows help her find a path in life that is better than the one she was on before. I am sorry to miss the discussion of this book next month because I am sure it will be a lively meeting.
I was in the lobby of the building where I work this afternoon when I overheard a conversation between two women who work there and the community service officer. The two women asked the officer to call the ladder truck to come. When asked why they needed the ladder truck to come they explained there was a frog perched on the outside of the glass of a window on the fourth floor. He said he wasn't calling the ladder truck. They encouraged him to call the ladder truck adding that the frog was petrified in fear. The officer explained that if the frog got up there it could get down. The women claimed the frog was blown up that high by a freak wind stream much like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. The officer just shook his head.
I would not recommend listening to Peter Heller's book, The River, while driving. This novel is distracting. Last night I parked in my garage and I realized my heart was pounding and I was breathing heavy because I was so excited about the adventure of Winn and Jack; two young men who love the outdoors. These two college students decide to make a late summer canoe paddle in northern Canada and come at the Hudson Bay. Jack is cautious and a little paranoid about danger. Wynn is fearless and very trusting. Their journey is complicated by a major wild fire in the Canadian forest and by some less than savory characters they meet along the way. The last couple of chapters go by at a furious pace which is why I recommend you not be driving when you hear this story.
Earlier this month I went camping on the north shore of Minnesota with my grand girls. I brought some blue yarn and a pair of knitting needles. I asked if either of them wanted a blue scarf. One girl said she wanted a blue scarf and the other girl said she wanted a purple scarf. They looked at me expectantly as if I could make the scarves appear instantly. I thought I had more room in the back seat of an Audi SUV with two child seats than I actually had. There was no way I could knit on this trip. Since the trip ended I have completed two little scarves. I adorned them with some flowers on both ends. I plan on seeing these grand girls soon. I hope they like their scarves!
On Saturday I texted my neighbor about an article I got in the mail about the local elementary school principal. Today she responded to that text. She also texted she bought too much arugula and romaine and would I like some lettuce? I responded yes if she took my eggs. She comes over at 7 p.m. with arugula, romaine, two magazines, and a Tupperware dish of an egg/tofu salad she likes to make. I gave her my eggs and half a bag of red potatoes that I knew I could not finish before they went bad. I am so lucky to have the nice neighbors that I have. Building a good relationship takes some effort but the pay off is so very large that I don't mind spending my time and energy.
I planted what I thought were all orange zinnias this year. Obviously this one was not orange but white. Despite the flower's lack of orange I still think it has a certain elegance about it so I deemed it worthy of being cut and brought into the house. Some people don't like cut flowers. I have a niece who doesn't like cut flowers. She doesn't like them because they die. My maternal grandfather was a farmer and he grew beautiful flowers. He never cut his flowers. Grandpa preferred the beauty of the flowers stay outside. My mother liked cut flowers. I remember a vase of daisies she had in the dining room on a shelf. She put ink into the water and the white daisies became purple daisies. Maybe that is why I like cut flowers. In the winter if I feel the winter doldrums I treat myself to a spray of cut flowers and then I feel better. If something makes me feel better I don't consider it to be a waste of money. I would not spend $40 on a dozen hot house roses though. I would rather get a vase of flowers from the prairie or a local ditch than a dozen hot house roses.
For the seventh consecutive year Offspring #2 and I have gone to the State Fair together.We always like to see the biggest boar. This boar's name is Charles.
This year we had brand new Smokey Bear suits to wear. The pants are connected to the body and the body suit zips up the back. The new costumes were not as comfortable to wear but we did not have to worry about any pants falling down this year. Here Smokey socializes with the state fair gopher mascots Fairchild and Fairborne.
In this photo Smokey and the handler pose with the governor while the governor's assistants use my phone to take the shot.
I picked up Nora Ephron's book I Remember Nothing because I enjoyed her book, Heartburn so much. Heartburn was read by Meryl Streep. This book was read by the author. I enjoyed Heartburn ten times more than this book. Having the right person read the book is part of that but also this book wasn't written as well as the other one.
Last night my chapter of the Master Naturalists met at Carlos Avery to listen to a talk about monarch butterflies. A woman who is a master gardener came to tell us about her experiences with Monarchs in her yard in Anoka and also her mother's yard in Wadena, Minnesota. She enjoys going to local farmers markets to talk to children and adults about Monarch butterflies. Although I didn't learn much information that was new to me I enjoyed her enthusiasm and the sense of joy she derives from focusing on the orange butterflies. She brought a chrysalis that opened at the beginning of the meeting so we could watch the newly emerged female Monarch pump the liquid from her abdomen into her wings. Her wings expanded while her abdomen contracted. By the end of the meeting the butterfly wings were full sized but still wet. Someday I would love to travel to the Oyamel mountains near Mexico City to see where the Monarchs gather for the winter.
I read Orson Scott Card's best-selling book Ender's Shadow. When I picked it up at the library I did not know this is part of a six book science fiction all about the character Bean. I also didn't know it was a parallel story to another series he wrote about Ender Wiggen. I liked Bean and I liked Ender. Both Bean and Ender are small, highly intelligent children. I enjoyed the concise writing style. I enjoy science fiction now and again. Will I read the parallel story and the five more books about Bean? I really don't think so. The idea of using children for political games and war is not appealing to me. I think children should be allowed to be children
Last Friday a person at work set down a big bag of gigantic cucumbers on the break room table. I took one home. For some reason I decided to cut it in thirds, drill a piece of purple yard through it lengthwise, and suspend the cucumber from the top of the chicken run. Chickenson Caruso was on it immediately. She pecked at that cucumber and got a good piece out of the cut end. She moved her head back and forth as it swung. That cucumber kept those chickens entertained like a tetherball on a playground for at least one hour. Now I am glad I did that. Chickenson had some entertainment with a tasty treat before she passed on.
Chickenson Caruso was hatched on May 17, 2012 in Webster City, Iowa. At the age of one day she traveled to Princeton. She was picked up at the post office and then traveled to Zimmerman, Minnesota. At three days of age she moved to Ramsey, Minnesota where she resided in a coop with four of her sisters and her foster mother, Meredith. She is preceded in death by her foster mother, Meredith, her five sisters, her four Polish step-brothers, and step-sisters Half-Pint, Pollyanna, and Heidi. Chickenson had a successful career as an egg layer. Many people admired her attractive buff pantaloons and her proud way of walking. She was a broody hen who was loved by all who met her. She died of natural causes.
Saturday was a beautiful day for a master naturalist chapter gathering at Interstate State Park in Taylor's Falls, Minnesota. The park naturalist there gave us a class on nature journals and drawing. He gave us assignments. The first picture is me drawing two leaves in detail and making notes on how they were similar and how they were different. We spent ten minutes on this activity.When I focus on small things such as a leaf I get relaxed and into my zen mode. Another assignment was to draw a cross section of the Saint Croix River. We were to draw a two dimensional four foot cut of the river from Minnesota to Wisconsin. Well, I tried to do that. I chose to make the cut in the drawing before the steam boat was in the picture. I think it turned out pretty well. Later he asked us to make a sound drawing. We were to put ourselves in the center of the page and draw what we heard. I drew a couple birds. I drew an 18 wheeler going up the hill and I labelled it Taystee Bread. I was using my imagination. I drew two motorcycles. I drew a little boy named Oliver and his father warning him to be careful. I drew the foot prints of a family of four because they walked right past me but didn't say a word. Later we had a geology tour of the pot holes in the region. I found a green frog on the smooth side of one pot hole. Later we stopped for lunch. I brought my lunch and ate with my friends at a picnic table at the park. After lunch we were invited to the park ranger's home for a tour of his farm and his home. His wife runs the Juneberry Cafe in Taylor's Falls. The farm provides most of the organic vegetables for the cafe. Wow, what a farm! In a very compacted space he had kale and cabbage and lettuce and six kinds of onions, and leeks, and brussel sprouts, and potatoes, and carrots and rutabaga and garlic and six kinds of basil and mint and oregano and eight kinds of tomatoes and spinach and sweet corn and zinnias and celery and I don't know what else he had so much there. He offered us his first watermelon of the season so we all had a slice. He gave us cold water. One of the water containers had mint in it and the other had green and purple basil in it. I liked the basil water better. He had a very complicated electric deer fence around his garden. One electrified line was three feet off the ground and the other two were high and lower than that and set back 12 inches from the first line. He has no deer in his garden. Another part of his strategy is to bait the deer by putting apple scent in pop caps along the fence. When the deer put their nose to the apple scent they get zapped in the nose and learn to leave the fence alone. He offered us food to take home. I left with a huge box of tomatoes, zucchini, celery and kale. I helped cut the roots off the celery as he pulled them out of the earth. After that he took us to the house so we could see the place. He had a cement poured floor except where he has a root cellar below. He had the cement painted black to absorb the sun. He had a Franklin Stove. He also had a propane tank with radiant heating coils in the cement floor but he only goes through one tank a year. He has one bathroom in the house and a composting outhouse out by the barn. He has a nice set up going there. I really appreciated his enthusiasm and generosity. Next week he is starting a new job working for the National Park Service. I carpooled with some friends back to Forest Lake where my car was waiting. As we talked in the car about our day I asked my driver, Kathy, what kind of car this was. She answered,"It's a Mercedes Benz." I was shocked. I don't pay much attention to cars but in the space of one week I had my first ride in an Audi and a Mercedes Benz. Today was a good day.
I am preparing for a trip to Asia by immersing myself in Asian literature and film. I just watched the movie "Nobody Knows." Set in Tokyo, the story is about a true incident where a mother abandons her children in an apartment. The eldest son, eleven years old, tries to keep his siblings fed and warm and healthy. This was a very sad story but I did get to see what the streets, parks, and skyline of Tokyo were like. I also read Daughters of the Dragon by William Andrews. This is an historical fiction novel set in Korea during World War Two. Japanese soldiers are advised by their commanders to cleanse themselves before battle by using the Korean "comfort women." The grand daughter of one of these comfort women was adopted by an American couple. She comes back to Korea to find her grand mother who tells her the entire horrid story. The abuse the comfort women went through has been covered up by almost everyone in Korea and Japan. Women who talked about their experiences were scorned, discouraged, and shamed when they did nothing wrong. Reading this book was difficult in certain chapters but I believe it was a good use of my time.
I have a tendency to say "Phew" whenever I see someone remove their shoes and/or socks. Kids usually love it when I do that. So this weekend, when in tight quarters with two little girls, I said "Phew" quite often. Now the youngest one will say it too. My daughter-in-law took me aside to tell me that in Japan taking off shoes is a mandatory thing in every home. She also told me that not everyone will be amused when a charming two year old girl says "Phew!" Oops. Grandma blundered again. Still, it's kinda funny.
Last night my book club discussed The Dirty Life; A Memoir of Farming, Food and Life by Kristin Kimball. This is an autobiography about a vegetarian writer from Manhattan who goes in interview an organic farmer in Pennsylvania. During the interview she helps him slaughter a pig. A spark is struck. They fall in love, marry, and run an organic farm. They use horses for the farm work. Kristin becomes an omnivore. Mark, the husband, is a hard working fellow and a very good cook. While other farms across the country fail Mark and Kristin make this one succeed. They now have two girls and Kristin is writing a sequel to this story of their first five years on the farm. The sequel is due out in October. Everyone in the book club loved the story. None of us could imagine choosing to marry a man like Mark but we still loved the story. Kristin keeps a blog too, in case you are interested.
This weekend I went agate hunting with Offspring #2, my daughter-in-law and the grand kids. We drove up in a very nice Audi sport utility vehicle which was more spacious than my Honda Fit. I did not know that when you open either of the front doors of an Audi, the name Audi is projected from the bottom of the car door to the pavement below. Fancy! I sat in the back between two child safety seats. I barely fit in there but I managed somehow. We drove up on Friday after having a lunch in Duluth at the Saint Benedict's Tavern. We arrived in Lutsen in the evening. I proceeded to build the campfire while the other adults put up the tent. Unfortunately the tent had been lent to someone who returned it minus the stakes (which we could live without) and the rain tarp (which we could not live without). Lucky for us we were camping in my sister-in-law's yard. She was not going to be home but she told us we were free to use the beds, kitchen, and bathroom. We used all three rooms. We slept in her room for company that slept six. We using our sleeping bags and pillows so she did not have more laundry to do. She also invited us to browse in her garden. Her garden was magnificent. Her garden is so magnificent I felt humbled as a gardener. We ate raspberries, snap peas, green beans, and basil. We could have had yellow squash, Swiss chard, kale, carrots and broccoli but didn't. We made corn on the cob, hot dogs and brats on the fire followed by Colorado peaches and s'mores.We saw bats flying by and we heard a loon calling at night. In the morning we found one girl with her hair plastered to her head with marshmallows. I got up early. I remember my sister-in-law having access to a lake. I walked down her driveway, took a left, and saw a tiny opening on grass on the side of the road. Three brown steps lead to a wood chip path. I go down the three steps and follow the path through the woods. I see huge cedar trees with roots so large and thick I am reminded of the forests near Mount Ranier in Washington. At first I don't see the lake but I do hear the loon yodel. Then I see a metal boat painted camouflage. Then I see a lake and a dock and a big pontoon and two canoes and two kayaks and a swinging bench on the dock. I walk out on the dock and sit on the swinging bench. What a beautiful lake! Across the way I see the mist rising off the lake. As I sit there I see a bird flying toward me. This bird flies right toward my head until finally it sees me and veers off to the right about ten feet away. I think it was a sandpiper bird. I see the loon in the distance. I sit there for about 15 minutes drinking water until I head back to the house. I see someone is up so I get busy setting up the camp stove and making coffee. After coffee we make breakfast with the stove on a tree stump. We have hash browns with corn from the one cob left over from yesterday, seitan bacon, fake vegie sausage, hard boiled eggs, blueberries and peaches. We clean up the dishes and head down to the lake. One of the younger members of our group spots fairies in the woods. I didn't see any fairies. We sit on the swing. We lay on the dock on our bellies watching the minnows swim by. Offspring #2 googles this lake and we find out it is Lake Christine and it is a lot larger than what we can see from this dock. Across the lake we see a person on a paddle board paddle along the far shore. After visiting the lake we climb into the Audi and drive to Gooseberry State Park. We park at the parking lot by lake Superior and walk to the mouth of the Gooseberry River. We eat our picnic lunch of pb&j sandwiches, carrots, hummus and blueberries. We swim or wade in the water watching a family of common mergansers swim and hunt fish. The young mergansers can swim in remarkably shallow water. The water is clear enough to see them clearly. One of the youngsters has a leech on her toe which is very upsetting. When I take the leech off I see it is a half inch long and just examining her toe. The leech did not bite her yet. I allow her to look at the leech for awhile. The girls finish swimming and climb into the child carrier backpacks so they can be carried up to the falls. The hike is 1.25 miles. I carry the lunches and diapers and clothes. At the falls we swim again and climb on the rocks. The sun is shining bright on us as we wade in the water, watch the other guests of the park, climb up and down rocks and examine rocks. One of the swim diapers gets so bloated from the river water that it cannot fit into the trash bag. We use a wet swimsuit to contain the diaper until we can find a trash can. After that we hike back to the car, get rid of the trash, refill our water bottles and climb into the car. Our next stop of Split Rock Lighthouse. We climb up the steps to the top of the lighthouse. A window is open. The breeze from the lake comes in the window so anyone standing by the window has their hair blown like a movie star. After that we are exhausted so we drive back to Lutsen. I start the camp fire while the girls play on the elaborate swing set and the other adults prepare the foil dinners. We have our protein sources of real and fake chicken, onions, potatoes, red peppers, and zucchini wrapped up in tin foil. We set the dinners on a hot log and wait. Soon our food is cooked and we eat outside watching the stars come out. We eat the last of the s'mores and go to bed happy and content. In the morning I get up early and start the coffee perking. I take my cup of coffee down to the lake to see the sights. The wind is blowing toward me and waves form already at this time of the morning. We make a hearty breakfast of oatmeal fortified with peaches, dried cranberries and sliced almonds. Some of us add Greek yogurt and others add soy milk. We examine the magnificent garden again and take some beans, peas and raspberries. We write a thank you note to our host and hostess and take off for home. We leave a bottle in wine and a knitted dish cloth with the thank you note. Right away we stop at Lutsen lodge to pick more agates. The resort is crowded. Some people are fly fishing in the river. The water is cold and refreshing. The youngest one of our group does not like sand on her feet. She likes to be in the water but without the sand. She prefers to be dangled by her arms in the water which I do but I can only do that for so long. I set her down in the sand. She wipes the sand off her feet. She stands up and gets sand on her feet. She sits down to wipe the sand off her feet over and over and over again. We finally put her shoes and socks on and she promptly walks into the lake getting them wet. Eventually she takes her shoes and socks off. She fills one sock completely full of rocks to take home. She is less discriminate than the other agate pickers. Some of us have so many rocks in our pockets the pants start falling down. I do not take any rocks home. This agate picking has taken so long we are ready for lunch so we stop at the Schroeder bakery just past the Temperance River state park for lunch. After that we head home. Traffic is slow in Two Harbors because of an art festival. We crawl through that town. By the time we get to Pine City the girls have had it. They need a break. We see a park in Pine City. We exit the freeway. Unfortunately the bridge over the freeway to get to that park is completely missing. We find a tiny park without any facilities except for a few benches, a display of common birds and a bird blind. We walk the short path and see a few frogs and a muskrat but no birds.The break helps and we are on our way again. By the time 7 p.m. comes we are in Minneapolis. The girls run up and down the sidewalk with joy. They have another short leg of their journey to get home. The one song that was requested many times and played nearly every time it was requested follows:
Yesterday after work I monitored the Rum River. As I throw my metal bucket over the bridge I see a man on his phone floating in an innertube go by. The sign ahead on the Highway 10 bridge reads "DANGER. DAM AHEAD IN 2400 FEET." He's not looking at the sign, he is looking at his phone. I throw my bucket down and to my astonishment I see a very large snapping turtle come up for a breath of air right next to the man's left foot. Not only is this man in danger from the dam ahead but also a turtle could, if it chose, bite a toe off or perhaps another body part dangling in the water. How did his floating adventure end? With all digits intact and safely I hope.
A cousin sent me this picture today. My grandfather is on this steam threshing machine. During the depression he was smart enough to diversify his income by purchasing this machine. He threshed the grain on other farms besides his own thereby keeping his farm from being taken by the bank. Except for babysitting jobs before I was 16 years old I have always worked for a salary and benefits like insurance and retirement funds. I never wanted my own business because I thought it would be difficult to quit. I also fear failing at running a business. I admire others who own their own businesses or farms though.
I chose the book Heartburn by Nora Ephron because I saw on the cover that it was read by Meryl Streep. Holy cow, I was smiling and snickering the entire time I listened to this book on CD. Part of the reason it was so darn funny is the acting talent of Meryl Streep. This author also wrote the screen play for When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle. This story of based on the author's marriage to Carl Bernstein. After reading a book like this I vow I would never marry an author. Good lord, the things they could write about you! The book is probably not as funny to her ex-husband and his lover, Margaret Jay.
Yesterday we chose to paddle on Lake Harriet instead of the Saint Croix so that we could rent paddle boards. When we got there the entire park was very crowded. Once able to park and unload my kayak we ate our lunches in the shade. After lunch we dragged my kayak down a big hill, up a big hill, and down another big hill to the lake. My two companions rented equipment and I was surprised to see they both got kayaks. We went clockwise around the lake trying to avoid colliding with the other canoes, kayaks, sail boats, and paddle boards. We picked a lovely day to do this. The sun was shining, the clouds were puffy cotton balls, and the wind was just a light breeze. We saw many mallards on this lake with baby ducklings in tow. We saw one turtle and one bald eagle. Although scenic this lake has one huge drawback. The airplanes fly over every two minutes drowning out all conversation. These huge jetliners are putting down their flaps and the noise is so loud you can't even hear your own thoughts. I know that in less than a month I will be aboard one of these planes so I tried not to let it bother me too much but it did. I hated the noise of the airplanes. As we circled the lake this group of classic cars also toured around the lake. The first car had the motor mounted on top of the hood and it was extremely loud. The second was a Dodge challenger from the 1970's I think. The third was an old pick up truck all painted fancy in black and green. I can't remember the fourth car but it was loud too. I swear they went around ten or more times during the hour we went around the lake. We got to the area where the sail boats are tied up. One sail boat was flipped upside down. Six ring billed gulls sat on top of the overturned sail boat. One person in our party wanted to turn her kayak in for a paddle board. We waited for her to make that transaction which took a long time because there were a line at the rental shack. We waited in the water for her to come out. She got on the paddle board while we took her belongings in our boats. She was a natural on the paddle board. She had excellent balance. She said it was easy but not as easy as kayaking. She felt the strain in her legs, arms and core. She paddled over to another dock and got off because we wanted to try it too. My other companion felt sea sick so she paddled back to get out of her kayak. I got out of the kayak and nervously mounted the paddle board. I just sat on the dock and cautiously moved my rear end from the surface of the dock to the surface of the paddle board. Immediately I had wet pants. No matter because I could still paddle with wet pants. Earlier I had seen a woman my age on a paddle board go from sitting to standing with what looked like no effort. Her younger companion, perhaps about 40 years old, struggled enormously to get from sitting to standing. I asked her if she was having fun and she said, "No. I am too scared to have fun." So that is why I decided not to try and stand up on this paddle board. Since the other person was waiting for us I quickly got off the paddle board and back into my kayak. Once on shore we stopped to use the facilities, refill our water bottles, and drag that kayak back to my car. Someone parked too close to my car so I had to pull out into the street a little bit to fit it back in. As I tied my kayak down along came the group of classic cars again. We actually had a wonderful day on the lake and decided to treat ourselves with a DQ on the way home.
"To be Frank I would have to legally change my name." That is a joke I heard this week. I just finished Let Me Be Frank With You by Richard Ford. I enjoyed the story about a somewhat grumpy retired man. He was a real estate agent, a father, a husband, an ex-husband, a friend, and an ex-friend. In the beginning of the book Frank listens to his wife tell the story about the 1862 uprising in Minnesota. As the 38 Native Americans are hanged by the neck to die at the same moment by the United States Government, they all are shouting "I'm here!" The sound of their voices in unison was a moving moment to those in attendance. I have studied that tragedy and I didn't know that detail before. I think Richard Ford is an excellent writer. I understand he wrote a trilogy about Frank Bascombe. Oddly enough this book I picked up came after the first three were written. Does that make this one a quarterly?
In my effort to live a simpler life I have been getting rid of stuff around the house and garage that I can live without. Take this extra large work table, for example, I didn't really need this. I have used it but I didn't really need it. One fall I used it an entire afternoon cracking black walnuts open. This table was two yards long and one yard tall and heavy as all get out. I got the idea that a certain young cousin of mine might want it because he has a big garage and works on motors. I sent him a facebook message with four photos and he immediately calls me. He wants to come over and pick it up. So I drop what I am doing and remove all the stuff from the table and put it in other places. I dust it off and wipe off all the spider webs. I move my car out of the garage and drag that heavy table out to the driveway. Soon enough I hear him rattle up the road in his huge pick up truck with a trailer. He was cutting grass for someone this morning. We load that table onto the back of the trailer and he ties it down with straps. Away the table goes on down the road. He sent me a picture. The table is tucked up next to his garage under the overhang. He tells me it fits perfectly. Thank you for your service green table. Sayonara!
Last night I went to a literary meeting at the Prohibition Barbershop in NE Minneapolis. This is a place where you can get a haircut and drink a beer at the same time. Some people I know were reading the work that they wrote. The place was jam packed full of people. I had to stand the entire time except when I went to the restroom which is where I took this photo.
The crowd was neurodiverse and positive. After every reading people clapped in appreciation. The entire neighborhood was crowded because it was the first Thursday of the month and many artist studios have open houses on the first Thursday of the month. I can't see myself ever getting a haircut here but I thought it was very nice of them to host this event for the Cow Tipping Press.
Last night I went out to check on my chickens at their new location. They had spilled the water dish again!
On my way back to the house through the back yard I saw these pods on the mulch to the right of my pond.
So what kind of tree is this? A locust? Those leaves in the right lower corner are basswood.
I always thought this was a black walnut tree. When I cut the tree down I thought it was a black walnut. As the shoots came up I tried to braid them to make them look interesting, OMG. I am not the sharpest tool in the shed. I don't even know the tree in my back yard that I have been looking at all these years.
