genuine verdict

Japanese Maple, originally uploaded by trekr.

Some colorful leaves from Jacqui’s garden. A nice change of pace from her beautiful flowers. This photo makes an interesting wallpaper for your computer.

Cactus, originally uploaded by trekr.

You may be wondering how I was able to focus on the pollen floating in the air. Me too.

Clematis, originally uploaded by trekr.

I suppose you may have predicted this post …

Pool Snake, originally uploaded by trekr.

A keen eye reveals a surprising guest. Pool’s Open! Last one in is a …

Cactus, originally uploaded by trekr.

Fritch’s cactus has found a semi-permanent home in a hollow tree stump. I’ve been waiting a few weeks for the blooms and this afternoon it has finally opened. Click on the picture and check out the other photos of this great cactus on my Flickr page.

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 …