Tomato Tragedy

It must be the blight.

Tomato plants look terrible.

I know I should just cut them down but I want some tomatoes!

Butternut squash is fine.

Peppers too.

The weight of the fruit is bending the stems.

And it's such nice sized too,

Here's my basket full for today.  I pick some of the tomatoes if they are just showing color because I don't know what will happen to them if I don't.

Yikes!!

 I said that this morning when I spotted the mousetrap.  We have traps in the garage but mostly catch mice with the season changes.  Never expected to catch this snake.  

Don't know what it was.  Thankfully it was good and dead.  Dan checked with a broom handle first.

I'm the one to empty the mousetraps but couldn't do it when it was a snake trap.  Dan did the tossing. Carcass will likely be gone by tomorrow with the scavengers we have around here.

Anyone recognize this one?

I know it was not a Ribbon Snake seen here.

Here's a link to Maryland snakes.  Maybe its Mole Kingsnake?

Garden Bounty

Beans, zucchini, 3 kinds of peppers, and a variety of tomatoes.

Bunny & Blooms

There's nothing to give you the size of this bunny rabbit, but it is tiny.  So small it fits through the wire fencing around the vegetable garden.  I've scared it out of there and seen evidence its nibbled on ripening green beans.

It is a cute one and I enjoy seeing it in the backyard eating the crabgrass.  Dan noticed it last night up on the deck (one step off the ground so no great distance for it).

In the Perennial Garden the predominate color is now yellow with the black eyed susans blooming.  The moon flower on the trellis gate has grown big but though there have been buds I've missed seeing the blooms.  I believe its an evening bloomer.

The white butterfly bush in its first year has put out the blooms and the butterflies have found it. The fishing line (deer deterrent) is visible there.

Speaking of deer deterrent - I still have hosta.  Love the green of this large one.  

I did have one flaw in my fishing line system that left an opening between my brush fencing and the fishing line.  At least on one occasion a deer got in.  I saw its tracks and with some sleuthing discovered the entry point.  More fishing line went up and that seems to have worked for now.  The final test will be when we are away for a week later this summer.  Deer always seem to know when the coast is clear.

What Is This?

Spotted along the roadside as we toured British Columbia in 2012.

Anyone ever seen it before and know what it's supposed to be?

It was huge.

Spires of Cumberland

Church spires in Cumberland, MD

Photo taken as we headed west to St. Louis, MO.

Linked to Inspired Sunday

A Visit to the Human Origins Exhibit

I recently read "The Strange Case of the Rickety Cossack" by Ian Tattersall a wonderful description of how the study of our origins as human beings developed as discoveries of ancient remains were made.  With the scientific advances of carbon dating and DNA testing we know so much more about how we evolved.

A visit to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum and the Human Origins exhibit was necessary for me to see for myself what Tattersall was describing.

As you walk into the exhibit through a tunnel you are met with these depictions of our ancestor species and a timeline of when they lived and what skills they developed: walking upright, tool making, social groups, use of fire, etc.

There are displays like this one that allow you to compare your footprints to earliest known footprints.

 There are skeletons.

There are sculptures.

There's a booth that takes your photo and transforms it to your choice of an early human.

Then there are the heads in glass cases at the height they would be.  You can face them one by one and wonder what life was like for them.

No need to have our species represented as a head because we are all around at this exhibit.

We lived on Earth initially with three other species: Erectus, Neanderthal, and Flora all of which are now extinct.

I've only shared a bit of the exhibit.  It's worth the trip if you are visiting Washington, DC.