The Week End and the Backyard Stump

 

When you last saw the stump of the pine tree removed from our trashed yard, it looked like this, Our chainlink fence and NO privacy fence that had fallen over. The fence is UP and I got a bee in my bonnet to make that stump look better, I used the hose to find the rocks that were buried after I raked all the trash and put in the big blue trash can.. I have been watering it daily and stuff is starting to grow. I intended to plant ferns on it but gave out, to pooped to plant

I have small trees I could plant but the dirt has so many roots there is no way for us to dig a hole.

you can't see them, but there are two of these Emilia, aka Red Tassel Flowers, Bob found them in the side yard, I picked them and put in the glass and the next morning they were even more open.. I transplanted both plants in the stump pile. They are growing bigger each day. the link says they are invasive, Woo Hoo, invade that stump dear Emilia....

Above is what I have transplanted on the stump pile. the red one is Emilia, there are two of them, and the others are moss ross saved from the old stump in the front yard and a 3rd one I did not get a photo of. there is enough dirt to support flowers, and I might just try sowing seeds.

UPDATE ON THE BANYAN STUMPS AND THE OAK STUMPS WITH THE HEART OF HOPE. 

THE OAKS ARE GONE, AND THERE IS ONLY HALF OF THE EACH OF THE BANYAN STUMPS LEFT. THEY WILL BE GONE SOON. THE NEIGHBORHOOD IS COMING BACK WELL FROM THE MONSTER STORM MILTON

What's Left of our Backyard

the path to the gate into the front yard used to

Look like this, slate pathway with mowed weeds, grass and a lot of pine needles and we are

left with this. (we hope the neighbor will soon put back his privacy fence which is on the ground

we have a six foot chain link fence, that was there when we bought the house.

Due to 5 children living in that house, about 15 years ago, we ask if we could put privacy fence there and they agreed. They moved and the new owner fenced the rest of the yard and it has been a blessing.

The privacy fence has fallen down in 2  prior storms and he put it right back up.

His fence is leaning on the chain fence and we can't straighten it until he puts his back up. It is his fence, he replaced it after Irma tore down the whole fence.

The storm left 2 portions of the back side fence like this

except it was not all the way down like this until the tree people threw the pipe and 4x4 wood that used to hold a swing on top of it.

For now, I have barricaded this by dragging the metal swing, a trash can, and you can't see it but i built a fence of old boards to block access to keep this beloved dog from going through the hole.

 I am done working in the yard.

My husband is refusing adamantly to let me hire a repair person so this may stay like

this until we die.

Beau is sad over his shady yard becoming a one shade part yard. from noon until sundown, there is brilliant and still hot Florida sun, and the entire kitchen, doors and windows must be kept closed because of the heat it brings. our day are still upper 80's until sundown at 7:30

I am sad I can no longer see out the windows and enjoy the sun through the blinds shining in my kitchen. Soon December will bring cool air and I can open the blinds and enjoy the heat the sun brings.

and now we wait for rain... we are back to no rain at all and we have black beach sand. This is the 3rd fence that was crushed by the tree, its on the opposite side in the only shade we have.

Bob propped it up with a limb and a pole

Mama leaned her tools against the house and said I am DONE!

Goodbye Loblolly Pine

 

From this to that

everything in the above photo is GONE leaving us with what you see below.

the sun that goes down directly to the west is now on our house and yard and yesterday it was 90 degrees on the corner of the house due to losing that tree. the temp was 86

From above to below and This 3000 lb Bobcat was fun to watch but it destroyed the entire side of the yard. the only good news I have is we were only without power for 3 hours. Story later.

we have nothing but black/dirt turning to sand to blow in the pool.

my heart is broken

The top of the tree night blooming cactus and the 15 feet tall orange hibiscus, see the reflection in the pool below and the pink hibiscus 6 feet tall. you might see them above is you click on photo

ALL vegetation is  Gone, so is a lot of money. I have a few more pictures to share of the bobcat

Bird Angels?

 

Bing Image creator, by AI and I the MadSnapper

On our ride out to the Natl Park last week, I said to Bob, look to your right, the tall Norfolk Pine, look at the top. It has 2 angels on the top, like a Christmas tree.

Sitting on the very tallest limb was an Ibis and almost leaning on it was a Seagull. I have never seen anything like that before. I stopped and we stared at them. I did not have a zoom lens, so no photo. .

Not a true pine, Norfolk Island pine ( Araucaria heterophylla) is a beautiful evergreen tree named for its native home of Norfolk Island off the coast of Australia.  You are far more likely to see these trees in your living room, or in offices everywhere as potted trees. If you plant, it in sub tropics you get a really tall tree.

We cannot drive or walk a street in our city without seeing these beautiful tall trees.  the one below is in our sunrise view each morning when I walk Beau.

See this cute baby Norfolk pine? If you live in Florida be careful where you plant it outside. 

Joining Nature Friday with Rosy and Sunny at The LLB Life

Clouds In our Sky

 

 I took these photos because I was standing by the pool enthralled with the beauty of our Florida sky behind our tree. The very top of the tree is where the Night Blooming Cactus live.

When we bought the house 34 years ago, that tree to was not much taller than our roof line.

Much easier to see these blooms.

In this view to the right is part of our front yard oak and to the left top is our fish tail palm

in the photo below you can see on the left side that until last month there was a 2nd tree next to our pine tree. You may remember the neighbor cut it down. leaving the tall stump and tried to cut all the limbs over his property on our front yard oak tree. Behold 6 weeks after the Cutting, he had 17,000 dollars of solar panels put on top of his house.

Now we know why he was trimming trees. That missing tree is making our kitchen garage stifling in the afternoons. to be continued Monday

Pine Trees in March

Cable guy is coming today with new Lightning Speed Internet..

If  I am missing you will know why.

See this tiny little thingy off the Pine tree? The squirrels are eating part of it and the rest falls on the pool deck leaving YELLOW POLLEN all over the deck.

I sweep the deck twice a day the result is instant itchy eyes

Our pool is full of pollen, we can write in the water with our finger, and there is a yellow scum line like a million dirty kids bathed in the pool after rolling in 

pine tar mixed with pine pollen. (forgot to mention the pine tar)

But they are beautiful. Sometimes it is hard to remember how pretty they are as we sneeze and our eyes burn and itch... So compare SNOW to POLLEN...
and choose one.

Pine Tree Sun Paintings

Gods Flashlight is the Sun

DETAILS MATTER:
 1/4 cup of self rising white flour has 400 g of Sodium or that 1 frozen biscuit out of a bag from the store has 440 G of Sodium

On the lighter side:

2 Peanuts were walking in a tough neighborhood and one of them was a-salted...

If we cantaloupe lettuce us marry.

Loblolly Pine Doo Hicky revisited

In my March 5th post Loblolly Pine,  I showed a doo hickey I had never noticed on the tree before. click on link to see what it looked like 5 weeks ago.

It is a wonder it has grown at all in the 5 weeks I have stared at it ten times a day waiting for it to change. the old adage, a watched pot never boils, comes to my mind, because it has changed so slowly each day. I am afraid NOT to stare at it daily because I might miss what it will do.

I had no idea the tall cone shaped thing was simply NEW needles, now it is opening into needles bright and green but the little doohicky is still there and not changing much at all.

Above is one opening that has no doohickey

RE: yesterday post of What is the Point

so many of you put into words exactly why I post the blog and I thank you for it, your answers inspire me to keep on keepin on!

Answers were:

1. group therapy, finding others who share our feelings and thoughts, a way to spread the Word of God. Sharing photo's, getting advice, getting help with identiy of flowers
2. 
   sharing photography
3. making friends around the world, exchange of ideas, photographs, to collect her thoughts in one place, fictional writing.
4. sharing is a natural part of us
5. friendship, exchange of views/ideas, share photos, show love for her country and vent occasionally
6. outlet for expression, it's a hobby. enhances the beauty of our daily surroundings. makes us more aware of the wonders of this world
7. started meeting people who loved the things I love (Photography, Birds, Flowers/Roses, Hiking/Waterfalls, Travel, etc
   
   
   
   
   Keep On Bloggin

Loblolly Pine

This is a limb on our Loblolly Pine tree that  has been there for 20 years. Loblolly Pine (also known as North Carolina pine, Bull Pine, Old-field Pine,[1] or Pinus taeda ) is one of several pines native to the American South,

On Feb 7th, as I stood under it throwing the ball for Jake, I felt drops on my head and turned to stare at the beautiful rain drops clinging to every pine needle.

I spied something I had never noticed before. on one of the thingys that come  up out of the middle of every group of pine needles, there was something different. Of Course, I Madly Snapped dozens of photos and ran for Google

Can you guess what this is? Before you read further?

Every group of needles has one of these, but not the little side addtion, that is what I saw different that caused my research

It is a "female strobili" when the bud sprouts like this, it is part of cross pollination process

SAY WHAT? that is what I said when I found the definition.

In Plain English this is what I found.

1. All species of pines are monoecious (male and female structures are on the same tree)

2. this is for cross pollination, fertilization of the trees.

3. Pine trees are not male and female but the thingy's that turn into pine cones are both or either or.

If anyone wants more info that this just type in Loblolly Pine Stobili and get ready to read thousands of pages of info.

Pines Life Cycle is one of the places I found info. TO much detail for me but feel free if you care for long words and lots of detail on this subject.

Sorry I missed your blogs yesterday, and I might miss a few more until I am done with a project I am working on for the next couple of weeks
                                 See you when I see you, don't forget me.




















This came to me in an email, click on Easter Tree to see something similar to my tree.