Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Monday’s Musings #8.
Good morning everyone! It’s a beautiful sunny Monday morning here at Steve’s Country. But it is cool, only 45F (7C), that’s cool even for us this time of the year. Normal would be at least double that temperature. But our high for today should be 61F (16C), which is cold for a daytime high. And the warming trend they had originally forecast for us seems to have disappeared now, though we might still get a couple days of nice weather. A big day coming up on Wednesday, that will be International Chipmunk Appreciation Day! I will talk more about these fascinating critters on Wednesday. So if you have chipmunks around, share some peanuts with them, if not, wear something brown to show your appreciation for these beautiful little animals.
Jasper and Jasmine are out here right now eating peanuts. Well, Jasmine is eating, Jasper is trying to eat. He was here first. But Jasmine “convinced” him to leave so she could eat. Jasper isn’t really too happy right now as a result of that. I think he finally decided to give up and leave for a while. He will likely come back once Jasmine is finished. I’m still amazed at how much she can eat. Yesterday while I was sitting out there she ate 7 peanuts. How can a tiny squirrel like her (she’s not much bigger than a chipmunk) eat so much? And how does she manage to beat up the larger male squirrels. There were 3 male squirrels out there one day and she kept them all away from those peanuts.
Quite amazing really. Well, I tried to get pictures of our pink lady slipper again this year and it looks like I missed out. Kind of late for them now, they generally bloom earlier than this. They are presently our largest wild orchid. The largest was the showy lady slipper, but they are impossible to find around here now, though they used to be quite common. But because they are so beautiful people like to pick them. And they will not bloom again if they are picked. I will be talking about them more in the coming days on our Wildflower of the Day posts. I do have some old pics of them, but I have been wanting to try and get some updated, and better, pics. Perhaps next year. I hope you all have a most wonderful Monday and God bless! (😺2 days!😸No, not for chipmunks)
Steve and Muffin.
©2021 Steve McLeod.
Steve And Muffin’s Wildflowers #30.
Hi everyone and welcome back to another week of wildflowers! Today’s wildflower probably looks familiar to many people, but perhaps not. This is the “smaller forget-me-not”, it’s a native wildflower and related to the garden variety forget-me-not, but, it’s only about half the size with it’s flowers. The flowers are about 1/8 inch (3mm) across, which is tiny compared to the normal forget-me-nots which are about 1/4 to 1/3 inch (6 to 8mm) across. The plant height is 4 to 16 inches (10 to 40cm). It blooms from May to September though in our area it’s mostly just late May and June. It will grow in sunny to partly shady locations and likes areas with moist soil. It is found across Canada except in MB and SK. In the US it is found mainly in the western and eastern states, absent in the southern and southeastern states and some mid west states. It is a beautiful, though tiny, wildflower. I hope you all have a wonderful day and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2021 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 