genuine verdict

DSCN0335, originally uploaded by trekr.

yet another clematis

Rose Garden, originally uploaded by trekr.

A few years in the making, Kathleen’s garden is magnificent.

DSCN0337, originally uploaded by trekr.

Clematis on Fence, originally uploaded by trekr.

Briefly the Clematis blooms, every day different. In the summer heat the vine void of flowers is nondescript. The winter stalk is dry and brittle; flowers don’t seem possible. The blooms of Spring always surprise me.

I noticed my second grader was counting on his fingers to solve simple arithmetic. Somehow memorizing the answer to 17-9 wasn’t worth it. He was perfectly happy employing 8 fingers in pursuit of a solution. Now most kids can add and subtract easy numbers ending in zero or five. So it occurred to me that if you are going to count on your fingers, you only need two fingers at most to change the problem into something easier. For example,

17
-9
—-
8

Can be transformed to an easy problem by adding one to both the minuend and subtrahend

18
-10
—
8

Honyesuckle, originally uploaded by trekr.

Flower candy.

Rose, originally uploaded by trekr.

We had some severe weather this afternoon and into the evening. I captured this rose between storms.

Bald Cypress, originally uploaded by trekr.

The delicate leaves of a young Bald Cypress tree holding on to an afternoon rain.

White Rose, originally uploaded by trekr.

Pump motor, originally uploaded by trekr.

The old pool pump motor gave up last week. I would’ve loved to have the local pool company fix it, but they wanted to redo the entire pool. I’m exaggerating, but only slightly. So I decided to fix it myself.

Well, not exactly by myself. I had some help from my wife the electrical engineer, and my brother who has touched every piece of industrial air handling equipment ever made in the last two decades. All I needed was a little more knowledge to get the parts.

A few Google searches later, and I’ve figured out the difference between a square and a C frame, a threaded vs. keyed shaft, high and low voltage motors, and how to match the impeller to the motor horsepower. I placed an order online and viola! Two days later, Brown delivers me a Chinese made fractional motor at a fractional price. We’re off. Initially, I wired it up incorrectly, but a quick call to my brother and some QA from my wife and we are pumping !

No Yellow Pages, no driving all over town, no haggling, no hassles.

DSCN0228, originally uploaded by trekr.

A double, pure white Clematis growing on a ranch fence shaded from the afternoon sun by a Blackjack Oak.

Rose, originally uploaded by trekr.

In a light rain I captured this Rose underneath an insect. Click on the photo to go to Flickr and look at the original size image for the amazing detail.

Pink Rose, originally uploaded by trekr.

A carefree beauty indeed!

Orange Rose, originally uploaded by trekr.

Although this Easter weekend we had snow and a freeze warning, this Rose celebrated.

Mosquito on Hawthorne, originally uploaded by trekr.

“Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference has never tried to fall asleep with a mosquito in the room. “ — Christie Todd Whitman

I’m not certain that this is a mosquito. They are everywhere. At night, they buzz against the window pane.

Fly, originally uploaded by trekr.

“An optimist is a fellow who believes a housefly is looking for a way to get out” — George Jean Nathan

It snowed today. This housefly was caught cold.

Ginko, originally uploaded by trekr.

One of the oldest living tree species, this Ginko Biloba is only a few years old rising up next to the stump of an oak that succumbed to the drought of ’98.

Japanese Maple, originally uploaded by trekr.

Temporally incongruous,
Fall colors in Spring,
Sanguine first, later green

Carpenter Ant, originally uploaded by trekr.

A lone ant explores the new leaves of a Cardoon, alertly looking over his shoulder at my lens.

Clematis and Rose, originally uploaded by trekr.

A Happy coincidence of bloom and blossom. After two weeks of overcast skies, the color of Spring has arrived.

Iron Cross Vine, originally uploaded by trekr.

The Iron Cross Vine blooms next to the fence pillar where the bees have made their hive. How convenient for the bees! The Red Tip Photinia have grown so thick that the flowers have been obscured from my view until today. The garden has secrets known only to the gardener. I’ll ask her sometime …

DSCN9853, originally uploaded by trekr.

Another view of the Royal Empress. It almost seems like you can watch the tree grow !

Royal Empress Blooms, originally uploaded by trekr.

The Empress tree is in full bloom this week !

DSCN9739, originally uploaded by trekr.

I’m sure many of my regular readers have been wondering – “Did the Ducks come back to Mike’s pool this year?” Well, yes, and here they are!

White Morning, originally uploaded by trekr.

It snowed during the night transforming the landscape.

DSCN9321, originally uploaded by trekr.

Another year of fantastic growth on the Empress Tree! You can see the extent of last year’s growth by looking at the interior verticle branches that don’t have any seed pods on them. The tree is 30 feet tall with a girth of 16 inches at 4 1/2 feet, and an average crown of 12 feet. The tree was planted in 2004.

Frost Weed, originally uploaded by trekr.

Frost weed (Verbesina virginica) is prized in Texas. At the first frost the water laden stem splits and the released water freezes in delicate patterns around the stem.

Brugmansia, originally uploaded by trekr.

Jacqui read the Last Flower post and disagreed 🙂 Apparently this Brugmansia bloomed last night and promptly froze. It wins the title of last bloom of the year.

Canna, originally uploaded by trekr.

A late bloomer, this Canna Tropicana lilly is the last flower of the year …

Birdhouse Gourds, originally uploaded by trekr.

With the big freeze coming tonight, it was time to bring in the birdhouse gourds. All twenty-three of these are from the same plant, a volunteer that sprouted up just off the back porch.