End of summer clearance

The sun was out today, and the temperature was in the low 60s. But most of the leaves have gone orange and then fallen, so there's no question that we are at the end of summer.

It was a busy one here, of course, and with all the work at my mom's house and the extensive coverage of the robins earlier, some things inevitably slipped through the cracks. Now is my chance to make up.

As I came home from work today, I passed some sunflower heads on our back porch. One of the things my wife was doing today. We eventually had sunflowers this year, but it wasn't easy.

During July, things were looking promising. She had planted the seeds at the south end of our clotheslines, and they were growing pretty well ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Sum07-SunfA-7-07.jpg[/IMG]

But there were already signs of problems. Nearby, just inches away, we saw this:
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Sum07-SunfB-7-07.jpg[/IMG]

About a week and a half later, the healthy-looking one up there looked just like the other one. What could have happened? It certainly wasn't rabbits. They were already more than a foot tall. Even on their hind legs, rabbits can't reach that high.

Of course. Our friends, the deer. We live in town, but the deer regularly make their rounds, looking for goodies that are easily accessible. Since these plants were just a foot or so away from the world's roughest alley, they can just stroll along, nibbling on whatever they please. Sort of like a cafeteria line.

The sunflower plants were hearty and started growing again, but when the deer made their return visit, they chomped them all down again. And then a third time. My wife gave up.

But near the house, where we planted sunflowers last year, there was activity. The deer didn't notice those. By late August we had several sunflowers. One of them was over two feet tall. Well over two feet ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Sum07-SunfC-7-07.jpg[/IMG]

In fact, it was taller than me. Here I am, pointing the camera slightly up to look at that big head. Now [I]that[/I] is a sunflower ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Sum07-SunfD-8-07.jpg[/IMG]

Here's a close up view of that natural geometry inside ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Sum07-SunfE-8-07.jpg[/IMG]

My wife is drying out the heads and says she will harvest the seeds for next year.

Another of her projects was her morning glory plant. Last year, she got a few flowers. Not too many. And not too many this year, either. Until August. All of a sudden things started happening ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Sum07-MgloryA-8-07.jpg[/IMG]

Here is a close up of one of the flowers ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Sum07-MgloryB-8-07.jpg[/IMG]

But what's that inside the flower? I waited. I didn't have to wait long ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Sum07-MgloryC-8-07.jpg[/IMG]

Oh, was this little bee ever having a good time, just reveling in the pollen being collected. Once she was done with this flower, off she went to the next--and we had about 20 morning glories blooming at the time ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Sum07-MgloryD-8-07.jpg[/IMG]

We even had a few purple flowers later on ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Sum07-MgloryE-8-07.jpg[/IMG]

The other photos were from our Labor Day trip to visit my father-in-law and the family. I got restless during the afternoon and went for a walk. David came with me. My FIL said there were sandhill cranes in the swamp nearby, and I believed him because I heard them as I was waking up that morning. But we couldn't find any.

Back at the house, we both sat down, when David spotted something in the grass nearby. He pointed it out to me ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Sum07-HidefrogA-9-07.jpg[/IMG]

Can you see it? I had a hard time, too. I went around a little to my right to get a different angle ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Sum07-HidefrogB-9-07.jpg[/IMG]
Remember that this is a close-up, and I cropped away many of the leaves. This little guy knows camouflage.

Later on there was a cookout that included watermelon for dessert. My wife got some of the watermelon and soon had a very interested friend ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Sum07-MelondogA-9-07.jpg[/IMG]

What? "Dogs don't eat watermelon!" she told him. I thought so, too ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Sum07-MelondogB-9-07.jpg[/IMG]

OK, so maybe I was wrong.