Friday, June 27, 2008

After A Downpour

I've never seen thunderstorms like this before. For the last few days we have been in the path of several mini-thunderstorms a day. Mostly it is dark clouds and thunder that threaten for a while and then move on. Blue sky returns until the next one washes by. Maybe there is a little sprinkle, maybe not. They are so small you need a direct hit with the center to get any rain.



This afternoon we got a direct hit and some needed rain, a half inch in about twenty minutes.



Once the sun came back out it was time for an evening stroll, to see what I might see.



The Monarda didyma, Bee-Balm, in the sunny utility meadow is beginning to bloom. This is one of the hummingbirds favorites. Their aerial acrobatics will be moving down here shortly.



I saw it then I ate it. It was freshly washed.



I saw it then I ate it. It was freshly washed.



I saw it then I...


started moving slowly so I wouldn't scare it. I wasn't hungry anymore. It is nice to be able to have a small salad while touring the gardens.



Let's compare shells to the box turtle I saw across the road and up the hill at Client # 2's back in April. What do you think, different turtle?



Something not good has been going on with one of my Blue Star Junipers. This guy was tucked inside, but I don't think a snail is the problem. It seems more like something heavy stepped on it. I flung the snail into the woods anyway.



I may not need to slowly fill the hole as Madame Stappers grows. These hard down pours every so often seem to be doing a fine job. I do need to reconsider seeding the whole hillside with grass seed again. The late sowing last year may be the reason for such a poor return of the grass this spring. The hillside is amazingly stable, but bit by bit each hard rain sends a little more of it down hill. Grass seed. Add it to the list.



The Black-Eyed Susan, Rudbeckia, looks fine after a hard downpour.



The skies clear to reveal the distant mountains are still there.

8 comments:

Lisa at Greenbow said...

I always like to see your mountain views.

I don't know how to tell the difference in the turtles. Maybe you should notch the shell of one of them then you could tell the difference.

Frances, said...

Hi Christopher, we have a, or several, similar turtles. I have taken photos just like you, much easier than the hummers, to try and see if it is the same one. Are the markings on their shells unique to individuals, like fingerprints? On yours, the markings look the same, but does that mean anything? We have also gotten some of those showers, heavy downpours with loads of lightning in a short period, for two days in a row. It has certainly perked up the garden plants, trees and shrubs, not to mention the veggies. Hope we get more.

Christopher C. NC said...

The two turtle pictures in this post are the same turtle. The other turtle is at the link. I bet the markings are pretty stable like fingerprints and think they are different turtles. I compared the one scale section left of center on the front end.

Rain is good. We seem to get more than down in Clyde thank goodness.

chuck b. said...

No showers here, just fog and smoky haze from distant wildfires (although it does not appear smoggy for some reason).

I would be happy to have turtles visiting instead of raccoons.

Anonymous said...

I went back to the other post and checked out the turtle picture and it doesn't look like the same turtle to me. The markings on their shell appear different.

Your flowers are fabulous! And I love the smell of rain in the forest.

dlyn said...

Lovely photos - we are having a very rainy summer up here in NY state, so everything is tropically lush. Your flowers are way ahead of ours though!

Anonymous said...

I was in Virginia over the weekend (Charlottesville) - and I was weeding some beds when a little box turtle went racing from one bed to the next one. I couldn't believe how fast it was going!

We had some of those storms too - quick and intense.

lisa said...

Heh...until I read the comments, I thought there were THREE different turtles! Clearly I'm no expert, but I agree-different turtle.