Vacation-visiting down under

No, not Australia, even tho I would love to go there.I'm talking about visiting Blanchard Springs Caverns in northern Arkansas. What's that? You've never heard of it before. That's not surprising. We were told they don't have an advertising budget so I'm advertising for them.We visited here when I was a teenager. I'm glad I had the opportunity to come back.

We went down over 250 feet to a wonderful cool, constant 57 degrees. This felt wonderful considering it was 96 plus degrees above. They have two, actually three tours you can take. This one is about an hour long. We saw all kinds of stalactites and stalagmites. There were also a few bats flying around.Afterward we drove down to where the actual springs flows from the cave. The actual springs. They were so pretty and so loud. Hard to believe so many years ago the caverns were filled with water.This is Sylamore creek. I also visited here as a child. The water is crystal clear and cold as ice. We didn't venture in even tho it was so hot outside.

Hope you enjoyed the tour. If you ever find yourself in northern Arkansas, check it out. Tickets were only 10.00 which we thought was well worth it.

At it Again!

During these past few days the bluebirds have been acting strange.They seemed to be hanging out at the blue bird box a little much. There has already been two broods this season so I thought no way for another.They even brought the last bunch of kids along with them. I thought maybe they were just showing them where they were born.But guess what? We now have a new nest and as of today 2 eggs. I'm tickled pink! I hope she lays another 5 eggs. How great would that be to help bring 15 new baby bluebirds into their population?

I know ya'll are probably tired of my posts on blue birds but I just can't help myself.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Fourth of July weekend!

Just one question

Recently I couldn't figure out what was wrong with my elephant garlic. Well come to find out nothing was wrong. It just needed harvesting.
So my question is, what do you do with this much garlic? I hung it up and let it dry and have given some to neighbors. I used a little in one dish but I still have too much left. Any suggestions would be helpful.This is a zinnia I grew from seed this year. It's one of the Benary Giants. I had no idea when I planted it but love it. I has bloomed it's pretty little head off.My Rudbeckia maximas have done well this year. This particular plant is about 7 feet tall. I like the big cone heads. I hope the birds do as they dry up.This is another favorite this year. My perennial hibiscus. It was just covered in blooms. Now I'm just trying to keep it going in this dry heat.As you can see the bees love it as much as I do.One last question. Uh-oh, I guess this makes two questions. Has anyone grown a Desert rose before? The tag said it could get 8 to 9 feet tall. Of course, I guess that would be in the desert. I planted it in a pot. It has pretty pink blooms and a fat trunk which is one reason I like it. It's just different. Kind of like me I guess!!

Happy gardening everyone!

Bird Babies

Recently I told you about us having 5 new bluebird babies in the nest. The other day my hubbie checked and they had hatched. Well the parents have been feeding like crazy and the babies are now looking out the box hole. Yesterday I decided to open the box and stick the camera in to see how they look.
As you can see they look like one big mass of blue feathers. I expect them to leave sometime this weekend. That always makes me sad but I'm happy to know we have help increase the bluebird population by 10 in the last couple of months. Hooray!I think I mentioned(not sure) having a Killdeer at work sitting on a nest of 4 pretty little eggs. I decided to take my camera and get a picture of her/him. She has been on them for what seems like forever so after researching I discovered their eggs hatch within 3-4 weeks. So I am so glad I had my camera today because.......We have our first baby today. It's so cute and blends right in with it's environment.Here's another pic. Mom/dad wasn't squawking but she looks like she was getting ready to. So hopefully tomorrow we will have another baby or two.

Just Randomness

Not much going on but dh has been experimenting with my camera. He really isn't much of a shutter-bug but he has captured a couple of good pics.
This little dragonfly was flitting around in the backyard. Looks like he was doing a balancing act.
Then I was out one morning and spied this guy. I like how transparent his wings are.Hubbie caught this baby mockingbird in a neighbors tree. It had been in our garage and couldn't find it's way out. Notice his little tailfeathers are not yet formed.

I love finding little winged babies in our yard. I hope you find some in yours.

Happy weekend everyone!

Backyard birds and a surprise!

In my last post I had told you I wanted to capture an updated pic of my blue bird babies. Well imagine my surprise when we opened the box and found them all gone. It had been a week or two since I took the last pic. So I'm very glad to know all 5 of them left the nest.Imagine my surprise today when I opened the blue bird house and found these!! We had just cleaned out the old nest a few days ago and now we have a new family. Yippee!!

These are some of the other bird sightings in the yard. I guess these are finches?!?!And last but not least, these guy seems confused. Not sure what kind of bird this is either but he looked pretty.

Hope everyone is finding some pretty birds in your backyard.

Veggie Babies

It's really exciting to find new veggies forming. It's so rewarding to see your hard work paying off.Sugar snow peas are forming. These are yummy and so easy to fix.First bloom of a sweet banana pepper. Usually I grow hot banana but I thought I'd give this a try this year. Plus I have jalapeno growing too. We don't need too many hot peppers.Okra is coming up. I soaked my seeds for several hours in warm water before planting. My grandmother use to do this. They were up in six days instead of the usual 10 or more. Now I have to see if they will receive enough sun where I planted them.
Strawberries are doing great! I planted these last year from just roots and they are producing a lot of berries. I just hope I can keep the birds away from them. Remember after all your hard work in the garden, find a relaxing spot to chill out for a while like Mr. Froggy here. He likes to hang out in one of the bird baths.

Hope everyone is enjoying their spring!

Newbies!

Remember my last post telling about blue bird babies? Well here's a early pic of them. I find it interesting how they are all pointed looking out of the nest. I wonder if that is how mom/dad keeps up with who's been fed?Bless their little hearts. I think there is 5 of the little fuzz balls. This pic is about a week old and mom/dad has been feeding them like crazy. I'll try to capture a newer pic soon.Here's another newbie. I just love these flowers. I wish they would hang around all summer but unfortunately they don't like our heat.This is a new iris bloom this year. I planted these last year and when they were ready to bloom we had a hard frost which killed the blooms but not this year. Yippee!

I hope you all find some newbies in your gardens.