Tommy the Water Dog - 4/29/11

Tommy insists on being taken to the stream each day.

This time of year there is quite a bit of water in the stream.

He likes to open his mouth and race through the water.

It is nice if he dries off before returning home.

Well, at least a little bit dry!

He leaps over the bridge at the stream.

And carries D's walking stick.

The house is in the center of the picture.

Tommy and D walk up to the top of the meadow almost every day.

This is their view from the "valley",

which is about a third of the way between the house and the top.

The stream is behind the photographer (D).

Early Spring Wildflowers

It's the end of April, and after horrendous thunderstorms led to flooding (that closed schools), we went off to see the damage.

It was interesting - see other blog entry - but it was the wildflowers that captivated me.

We used to call these "Russian Dandelions", the first blooms of spring.

In the 1980s they were rare here, but now they bloom in huge clumps in the sandy, gritty, edges of country roads.

It's actually Coltsfoot.

Tussilago farfara.

The flower emerges before the leaves do.

It's in the aster family.

Spring Beauty

(Claytonia virginica)

There is a pair of opposite leaves, lance like, I would say, but Illinois calls them cauline.

The plant is perhaps 2-4 inches tall.

The plant is 3-6 inches tall.

It's in the purslane family, like portulaca.

Here it grows in the dappled sunshine on the edges of woods.

The speckled leaf on the right in the picture above is not from Spring Beauty.

It's from Dogtooth Violet.

The Dogtooth Violet is also called Trout Lily

(perhaps because of the speckled leaf?)

Erythronium americanum

A drive through the state forests and country roads shows so many wonderful plants!

This is about 4-6 inches tall.

Finally it's Spring!
I thought the daffodils would never arrive.
They are very late, but welcome.


Today Henrietta brought her chick out to see the world.
It is the only survivor. Two others hatched, but did not make it.
The rest of the eggs were not viable.

After the kids left, poor Tommy was sad. Not as much fun without a kid to play with.

Finally Spring!

Spring is very late this year.

Our first daffodil began opening on April 13. It has continued to be cold and damp, and that solitary flower still has no buddies.

Some of the raspberries were putting out side shoots, so D separated them from the mothers. Now, where to put them, since no bed had been prepared. Ah, last year's lettuce patch! The little area is fenced to keep the chickens out, but the chickens think the loosened soil on the edges is just perfect for dust baths!

And a week before Easter, we made sugar cookies, or Spring Spheres as some school has directed they be named. (sphere???)