trees — Page 21

Mother Nature Seems to be Ticked Off

August 3, 2009 at 5:31 pm by Claudia

A peaceful, pretty photo from the garden…since things have not been all that peaceful in our own little patch of nature. The other day, while mowing the ‘back 40’ as we call it, I apparently mowed right over a nest of bees and got stung. I yelped rather loudly as I felt the red hot poker of a stinger go right through my sock. I didn’t realize until I went back to the scene of the crime that there was a nest inside a particular hole in the ground. There were about 50 bees swarming the lawnmower. I waited until they calmed down and slowly backed the mower out of the area. Luckily I have no allergies to bee stings and after a day of pain, all was well. You better believe that I stayed far away when I completed the mowing job a few days later!

Last evening, after relentless rain, I heard a sound, a sort of SWOOOSH. I knew it was outside and after looking out various windows, I saw branches on the ground. I ran outside to discover a large ash tree had completely uprooted and fallen to the ground. It is now straddling our property and our neighbor’s property. Luckily there wasn’t a fence there. The ash trees in this neck of the woods all have some disease that is slowly killing them. We have a lot of them on the property – mostly in the back. I suppose we should have them all taken down, but that is expensive. Husband has to call his friend who has a chain saw and deal with it in the next few days.

Nature has been a bit heavy handed lately.

Our Feathered Friends

July 19, 2009 at 8:02 am by Claudia

A few years ago, when we were still very new to Mockingbird Hill Cottage, my husband and I were sitting on the porch at dusk. At the edge of my awareness, I kept hearing a whinnying sound. It wasn’t coming from a horse. It was coming from the trees surrounding the front of MHC. We were fascinated by the sound – it was very distinctive – and it definitely involved more than one creature. I stood at the porch railing and noticed what I thought were rather large brown birds diving to the ground. They were calling back and forth to each other.

We stood out there a long time, silently, trying to see these birds in the increasing darkness. As we were about to go in the house, one of them landed on a branch of our Maple tree – a few feet away from the porch. I found myself staring into large, beautiful eyes. It was an owl. Not the large creature one usually thinks of, but a little owl no more than 8 or 9 inches in height. We stared at each other for a magical minute and then the owl flew off. I was completely entranced.

I ran inside to do some research and found out they are Eastern Screech Owls. What makes this all the more special is that while they live in many parts of the country, they are rarely seen. They have a whinnying call and they live and nest in tree cavities or nest boxes. We have at least 2 or more who live in our trees and fly back and forth, calling to each other.

Image from Wikipedia

When I returned home from San Diego, I asked my husband about the owls – had he heard them yet? No. A few nights ago, Don was upstairs doing some work and he came down and said “I think I heard our friends.” We quietly moved onto the porch, and spent about a half-hour listening to our friends call to each other, watched them swoop from tree to tree, whinnying, hooting, and silently flying, while all around us lightning bugs glowed in the dark.

Our Weeping Willow is huge and overgrown – it most likely needs trimming of some sort. We’ve had all sorts of opinions as to whether it should be trimmed at the top or whether that would be bad for the tree. But since I think the owls nest there, we will be leaving it alone. After all, the tree is their home.

Our Blooming Tree, Quilts, and Theater Under the Stars

June 15, 2009 at 9:47 pm by Claudia

One of my favorite trees back at Mockingbird Hill Cottage is blooming. My husband sent me some more photos of our garden and this tree – the Catalpa. We have 4 Catalpas on the property, but this one is right by our driveway, overlooking our shed. You can see it in the picture of the cottage on my sidebar. We can see it from our living room. It blooms in June with gorgeous, fragrant blossoms. Later the tree grows large bean pods, which drop to the ground in Autumn. We are fortunate because our neighbors have one, too, and I can see it while I am standing at the kitchen sink. Unfortuately, I have missed this beautiful blooming for two years in a row. Next year – I think I am staying home! Here is a close-up of the lovely blossoms.

The quilts are coming along. I am going to baste the smaller one together with the batting and the backing tomorrow. I have been sewing squares together and then sewing rows together on the larger quilt. It is slow going. I am determined to have the quilt top finished before I leave, since that was the goal I set for myself.

All three plays I am working on are in various stages of dress rehearsal and audience previews. Cyrano de Bergerac had its first preview on Saturday night and it was magical. There is nothing like sitting out under the stars, with a soft breeze blowing, watching a wonderful production. It makes it all worth it.

Mother Nature Seems to be Ticked Off

Our Feathered Friends

Our Blooming Tree, Quilts, and Theater Under the Stars

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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