It was a bit windy today but nice. I have to carry mail tomorrow, but we are planning a mini adventure for Sunday. More later
Picture by Linda

Wish List

And She Writes made a wish list on her blog today. I've been thinking about that all evening. Here are a few that immediately came to mind:

1. I wish I could see my grandkids and their parents more often.

2. I wish my Mom could have her memory back.

3. I wish I would be more thoughtful in word and deed.

4. I wish I could wave a wand and my house would be free of clutter and clean.

5. I wish my self discipline would return--exercise, food and sleep.

6. Last, but certainly not least, I wish Dan and I could take off on another adventure!

Progress of Upside Down Tomato

The photo on the left was taken the end of July. I wondered if the plant would be strong enough to hold the ripe tomatoes. There is no problem as you can see. The picture on the right was taken this evening.

Loon

One more post involving our Canada fishing trip.

Those who followed the trip on our travel log, know my fascination with the Loon. We spent many hours on the water, especially in the evening. The call of the loon is beautiful.

I found a site where the Loon sounds can be heard. The first is the Hoot and I don’t remember hearing this sound. It is short and a communication with mates and chicks. The Tremolo has been described as insane laughter. It is a fearful call. We heard it often probably because we were too close. The third call, the Wail, is my favorite. It caused goose bumps when we heard it in late evening. It is not an alarm call, but a communication with other Loons. It reminded us of our Kansas coyotes. The final is the Yodel. I do not believe we heard this call. We might not have been in the right place at the right time.

Facts about the Loon. Loons feed on fish by diving as far as 200 feet below the surface and may stay underwater for a minute. Their young will hitchhike on the parent’s back for the first two weeks. We observed a parent Loon with two young. She saw us close and kept her young diving so I wasn’t able to get a picture. They resemble a duck, but are related to the Penquin. The Loon return to their same nesting area each year. They migrate to both coasts and the Gulf.

Finally, the dollar coin in Canada is called the Loonie because of the graphic

Monarchs in the news

Our neighbor, Chip, is once again in the news. There was a front page article in the Midway section of the Topeka Capital Journal about the open house at the butterfly gardens, Kansas University. Chip stopped by this afternoon to pick up my copy of the article since he had not seen it. He had a container with him with many Monarch larvae collected from milkweed plants in our pasture. He needed additional supply for the open house.

Not to be outdone, I grabbed my camera and headed for the pasture. It took me a while (they are well camouflaged) but once my eyes were trained I saw several.

The article entitled Protecting the Monarchs is very interesting and who wouldn’t want to see that closeup of Chip. CJ Online usually requires a free registration, but sometimes it will go through without.

The information is included at the Monarch Watch web site, which you can reach by clicking on the little Monarch Larvae on the left of my page. The open house is to promote the Waystations for the migrating Monarchs. They will be selling the kits which contain seeds to grow the flowers required by the migrating Monarchs as well as many hands on experiences especially suited for kids.

In case anyone is wondering if they already have the flowers in their garden, here is a list of flower/weed seeds in the kit using the common names:

Milkweeds (monarch host and nectar plants): butterfly weed, showy milkweed, common milkweed, swamp milkweed, tropical milkweed General nectar plants: prairie blazingstar , floss flower, Blue Horizon , purple coneflower, tithonia torch, Mexican sunflower, zinnia, super giant mixed, verbena. I found the larvae above on a blade of grass. It was near milkweed plants though.