What is your weather like ... today

[addy1]

Addy, I wonder if you're talking about an ornamental Dogwood. There is one by my beautician's shop, and right now it has these really cute little red berries with kind of spikes on them. I think they are neat, but she says they are a mess! It's called a "Kousa Dogwood". Does it look like this pic I stole from the internet?

Kousa Dogwood tree berries.jpg

YEAH that is it! It is a beautiful tree, love how the branches layer, like in clumps. My pup tries to eat the berries when I walk her, I won't let her. (Well she tries to eat EVERYTHING!) The berries do make a mess, they are covered with them. But it is only one time a year that it is this messy. The older couple could not remember what they planted.

We are at 2.85 inches of rain, our main river is overflowing its banks (far from us we are totally flood safe) 80% chance of more rain today, in two days we made up for our 6 week lack of rain deficit.

Waiting to see if honey gets to go back to work next week....... We are going to a beginning bee keeping meeting today, a all day class, setting up our hives in the spring.

 

[MitchM]

Waiting to see if honey gets to go back to work next week....... We are going to a beginning bee keeping meeting today, a all day class, setting up our hives in the spring.

That's cool, addy. I took a bee keeping course last spring. I'm going to set one up as soon as I can figure out a way to protect it from bears.
Sometimes our yard can turn into a bee superhighway with all the flowers around here. You can be standing in the yard and constantly hear bees buzzing past your head.
Your place would be the same, I bet.

 

[MitchM]

Hey Colleen, Loblaws called, they want their mannequins back! :biggrin:

 

[mrsclem]

I'm confused with this weather. We are getting lots of rain finally but I'm seeing things that should not be. The outdoor cat brought me a baby rat snake yesterday and we have a baby bunny in the yard. When I went to feed the fish yesterday I noticed the lilies are growing like crazy. 5 flowers and the pond is now covered 25%. I also heard the peeper frogs! Those are a sign of spring! Maybe we will skip winter this year?






















5

 

[Big Lou]

Suppose to rain this afternoon and tomorrow. Irrigation system ran this morning then I applied weed and feed fertilizer. Just now manually triggered the watering system again. Still hoping for rain but just in case the fertilizer should be all watered-in. Even with all their high tech thingy ah bobs the weather forecasters miss the bucket quite often. Many years ago me and the boy was pitchin baseball in the street. Not 20 yards away it was raining to beat the band. It was as if a line had been drawn across the street. Not one drop fell on us. Texas, were the weather has a mind of its own!

By the way, fall, if we have a fall, is sometime between the end of October and December. Winter may be a week in December than in January - February. Fall returns in between. Spring, if we have one, may drop in during April and May. Summer is apt to surge in any time it damn well pleases. Confused? As far as the weather goes we stay confused. It is truly "whatever". Never used my nice heavy winter coat at all last year.

Jus seems right to have a bit ah Texas Southern accent this mornin.

 

[Big Lou]

It's frickin 88 degrees! Not a rain cloud in sight.

 

[j.w]

No where near 88 here today,only 50 but sun is out! Time to get some more lawn mowing in before we stop for the winter when grass stops growing. Should be nice and sunny all next week for some strange reason :alieneyesa:

 

[JohnHuff]

54F outside. Lots of big clouds but no sun, though it's bright. I see some patches of blue sky but none of this matters because I'm gonna be glued to the TV for a few hours watching college ball. By the time I'm done, it's gonna be dark! Go dawgs!

 

[j.w]

You can run outside w/ your bowl of chicken wings during the commercials and let the sun kiss your face off and on John :bdaybiggrin:
Hope the dawgs do well for you

 

[Big Lou]

Surprise, surprise! During my afternoon nap I was awakened by the roar of thunder and heavy rain. The welcome downpour lasted about an hour. Temperature went down to 78! Sunny out once again.

 

[CountryEscape]

It started to sprinkle yesterday during my digging up of an oak tree I wanted to/did transplant. Thought that would be it for the digging, but nope, barely got enough to go in the rain gauge. Since I was under the tree, I kept on working, putting rain jacket on and off - was too hot with it on, too cool with it off when rain would start again. Perfect weather to dig in the dirt and move a tree, though. Sun came out later in the afternoon for the rest of the day. Sunny and 75 today! Loving it .... :claphands: :blueflower: :banana:

 

[CountryEscape]

Mrs. Clem, the baby snakes are showing up around here now, too. It's the time of year for them to hatch, then they have to hurry to find shelter for winter. Cruel! No baby bunnies, but then I don't have ANY bunnies or squirrels in my yard, being out in the middle of farmed fields. I have tons of little tiny frogs, not sure what they are, but they prefer the around outside of the pond, it seems. They hop when I'm walking next to the pond or just into the grass. I don't see them go to the pond. They have been around for over a month. I always think of the tiny frogs as spring peepers, but didn't have them show up in the spring here either. And, for the last 2 weeks, the bullfrogs have been croaking early evening, and through the night. I thought they only did that during mating season! So, yeah, if we miss winter and go from fall directly into spring, that would be fine with me, but pretty sure there will be a definite winter in these parts.

 

[Big Lou]

Sorry, I hate snakes. Over the last month two folks here have been bitten. One by a copper head Mohican the outer person by a massive rattlesnake.

 

[CountryEscape]

Oh, man, I would hate snakes then, too, Big Lou! What we have typically in my area are garter/garden snakes and rat/black snakes. They are both very beneficial to have, and non-poisonous. They are not aggressive snakes either, typically slither away if allowed. I've seen huge black snakes in barn when feeding hay over winter. They like to snuggle into the hay stack before winter. We have gone to the trouble of literally leaving a few bales stacked around this large snake in the past, just so it would stay in the barn. Now, a rattler or copper head ...no thank you!
Here's a baby black rat snake I found in my landscaping right off of my deck a week ago. I was thrilled to see him! He stayed put long enough for me to grab my camera, then quietly went deeper into the landscaping and mulch. He is very colorful, and was only about 12" long. Hoping to see him again in the spring, much larger.

 

[addy1]

That's cool, addy. I took a bee keeping course last spring. I'm going to set one up as soon as I can figure out a way to protect it from bears.
Sometimes our yard can turn into a bee superhighway with all the flowers around here. You can be standing in the yard and constantly hear bees buzzing past your head.
Your place would be the same, I bet.

We have seen a black bear in our back yard, farmers corn field area. It may have been trapped and moved out, but then again may still be around.
I asked at the meeting, the ones that fight black bears and bee hives say just put electric wire around the hives. I am not too concerned here, it may have been a random bear, might not come back, might have been removed, no clue. They said to put the bee hives up high, full sun, protected from the prevailing winds, which is west for us. So going on the top of the hill east of the house, right next to the largest wildflower garden.

But I am putting up electric fence around my wildflower garden in the side field and along the inside fence line. I am seeding with all nectar producing flowers that will bloom all season. The deer LOVE those types of flowers, so I need to protect them a little. At the meeting they say maryland is one of the worse states to have bees in. 50% of the hives died out last winter. There are no commercial bee keepers here. According to them our nectar flow is very short, usually done by mid july. I am hoping with the flowers I am putting in the bees will have some nectar until it freezes. The water mint is blooming now and has been blooming most of the summer, it is high in nectar. I am going to plant a bunch of it along our back field fence for the bees. The deer seem to leave it alone.

I have tons of bees, mainly the bumble bees, mason, and other types of "wild" bees. Not many honey bees seen.

Rainy and wet today, but misty gentle rain, not the down pours we were having. 3 inches of rain in the last two days. Still a wet, cloudy, murky.