Seed Collection Day

Usually a group volunteers to collect seeds once a month. There was an event in early September that I missed because I was animal sitting two hound dogs and an elderly cat. But I made it today. We had two men, four women, and four children under 7 years of age. My goal today was to collect hairy gramma  and thimbleweed. Hairy gramma doesn't look like much. The grass and the seeds are just a few inches off the ground. After 90 minutes of picking hairy gramma I wished I had picked a taller plant. The grass is indistinguishable from the other grasses. What makes it different is the seeds. The two seeds in this picture are a little to the left of center. The bottom one is half way up. The top one is above it. They both look tan in color.

The seeds look like eyebrows. Isn't that cool?

With just a half hour left in our three hour tour of duty I got distracted by this grove on red pines.

Here is a shot of the red pines looking straight up into the sky. We had great weather today. The sky was overcast and the temperature was in the 60's.

On my way back to the meeting place I found some ground cherry husks. The cherries were gone but the seeds were still inside the husks.

 

Seed Collecting Machine

Today I went to the Nature Conservancy site at Weaver Dunes which is 20 miles from my place. I saw this contraption on a trailer attached to a truck. The contraption has large orange bristles that rotate like a sidewalk sweeper. I asked a nearby man what it was. He said it is a seed collector for seeds like big blue stem. The seeds are collected into a container in the back.

The sticker reads "Be Careful. This machine has no brain. Use your own." Golly, such sarcastic signage wouldn't work for the general public but prairie owners must be different.

 

The Paris Daughter

The Paris Daughter is an historical fiction book written by Kristin Harmel with an ending I did not see coming. Knowing the ending now I see there were a couple of slight clues along the way. This is a World War II story in Paris. Julianne works at a book shop with her husband and four children. Elise has a daughter the same age as Julianne's daughter. She is married to a successful artist and is also an artist herself. Her husband downplays her artistic accomplishments. Ruth is a widow with two young children. When the Nazi's start deporting Jewish people to concentration camps (with the assistance of French police) Ruth leaves her children with strangers and hides in the south of France. Elise's husband is a strident member of the French resistance. When he is taken he does not incriminate any of his political allies but suggests Elise is a part of the resistance when she wasn't. Elise knows she needs to leave town so she asks Julianne to take her daughter until she can return. The American forces were not always accurate when bombing German machine repair shops in Paris so many people are killed. Who was killed and who was not killed did not come out of hiding until Juliette, Elise, and Ruth meet together in 1960 in New York City. After reading this story and about the war in Ukraine, I count my blessings to have lived a peaceful life.

 

 

Orhan's Inheritance

When one group of citizens deports another group of citizens, is it right that the remaining group of citizens takes over the property of the group that has left? In Orhan's Inheritance, Aline Ohanesian writes about the Armenian genocide that took place in Turkey after World War One. Lucine lives with her family. She has brothers and parents and grandparents. Their job is dying wool for prayer rugs in beautiful patterns. Lucine is Armenian. In Turkey the Armenians are slightly wealthier than the Turks. Also, they practice Christianity while the Turks are Muslim. Lucine and Kemal are young friends. When Lucine and her family are deported to Syria Kemal promises to remember her. Kemal's family takes over Lucine's family property. When Kemal dies he leaves the family business or Orhan and he leaves the family property to Seda. Orhan decides to go to Los Angeles and learn about Seda who is now 90 years old and living in an Armenian nursing home. What Orhan learns from the reticent Seda upturns all he knew about his heritage. This is a great novel about love, loss, and family secrets.

 

  

Doc

 Mary Doria Russell is the author of Doc. This is a story about the famous western gambler/dentist known as Doc Holiday. He is 24 years old and had to move to Dodge City because he had tuberculosis. The dryer air out west would help him live longer than if he stayed in Atlanta. Doc was a dentist and a good dentist too. He couldn't earn enough as a dentist to make ends meet so he became a Faro dealer too. He was friends with all the Earp brothers. When cattle came to Dodge City turmoil happened. Cowhands now had money to spend at the bars and the whore houses full of young Irish women.  Unlike all the other men in town Doc is cultured. He reads philosophy. He can play the piano. He can discuss art and authors. Because of his disease he is thin and he coughs frequently. Drinking whiskey calms the cough. The story of Doc Holiday and his friendship with Wyatt Earp is fascinating to read.

 

 

Word Mix Up

When I was a kid my Aunt Annie was my playmate. We were going to build a fort. We decided to use some fruit boxes that were piled next to my Grandpa's garage. The problem was that one of the boxes held a bee's nest. We were swarmed with bees. As I ran away from the bees I still carried the box in my hand resulting in many painful stings. Back at my own house my Mom and Grandma discussed what to do to relieve the pain. As a kid I sometimes got words mixed up. I started screaming that I didn't want vinegar on me.

This is what I thought vinegar was. Vinegar and manure are not the same thing at all. I know that now.

One day my family was having breakfast in the wood paneled dining room. I asked for more bacon. I was told there wasn't any bacon. I could see bacon on a plate at the other end of the table.

Bacon and toast are not the same thing. I know that all.

Moral of the story? Be careful when picking up fruit boxes that have been sitting outside.

 

Happy Fall