It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog. Today's flower is a new find for me. This is Plains Milkweed. It usually blooms July through September. It is in the Dogbane family. It grows anywhere between 6 to 16 inches high normally. It prefers dry rocky soils and can be found along roadsides a lot.
I have also updated my White Wildflower page with this flower. Remember that those are there to assist you in identifying certain wildflowers you may find.
Today's image is another I was able to capture when the Redwing Blackbirds were chasing the Redtail Hawk near Milford Lake. I am guessing the hawk got too close to their nest. Still very fun to see such a big bird being chased by a small one.
Happy Monday and happy new week! My Cosmos has been blooming nicely this year. Almost all of the flowers I have are volunteers from seed from last year's flowers. This is a rather different colored one compared to most of what I have and is rather lovely. All my others are solid pink or shades of orange. These flowers are fun to grow and make me happy to see. Somewhat delicate yet also sturdy.
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! Today's image is one that I don't think I have ever showed before, it is inside the cab of Locomotive 353 in Minnesota that I get to help fire on. I am usually scooping coal in through those "butterfly" doors (which operate with steam pressure by a pedal on the floor or the handle that is hanging down when no pressure) or I am sitting up in the left hand seat operating the Injector to get water into the boiler, the 2 valves you see on the very left. The pressure gauge is currently reading 0 but when we are operating it's sitting almost completely opposite at about 165 to 175, hopefully anyway. 😃 The "Sight Glass" for the water level in the boiler is just below that gauge. Most of the gauges and levers on the right hand side for the engineer are for braking. The bar that goes across just under the 2 gauges is the throttle. The lever next to the window on the right is the Forward/Reverse. A couple of pieces of equipment up above are oilers. The 2 levers hanging from the ceiling are for the whistle. There is one for the bell as well on the left. These are all the main things we are using and paying attention to while operating the locomotive with the most important being the pressure gauge and sight glass.
I finally was able to see an photograph a Sphinx Moth at my Surprise Lilies. The Lilies have been blooming for several days and I have been checking in the evenings as that has been when I have seen them and was finally rewarded on Tuesday. These moths are quite large and remind of Hummingbirds and are difficult to capture as they move around a lot. I am always happy when I can get a decent capture of one.
It's Friday, TGIF! Today's image is another Dragonfly that visited my yard and gardens. I believe this one is called a Widow Skimmer. Once again I chose this image for the great bokeh because Friday's Are Bokehlicious!
Today's image is one of my frogs at my Gazebo pond. The frogs there are so skittish, I barely get near and they are squeaking and splashing into the pond, it makes me laugh but they are difficult to get a photo of. Once in a while one will stay in it's spot like this one being very cliche on a Lily pad.
