Looks like everyone must be out in their gardens - There's not much internet activity

Our daughter and boyfriend came in for a visit. Here's a couple of pictures from our sight-seeing.


Steam Locamotive at Cass WV, fueled by coal. Cass was a logging town, and the train brought the logs down off the mountain. They were then sent to the pulp factory to make paper.


A view of the mountains from the car.


The trout at the fish hatchery. This picture was taken in May when the grandkids came to visit. They always like to go see the fish.

Yesterday and today are quite chilly here, highs in the 50's and low 60's. But it should warm up and be back to normal summer temps by the end of the week.

You are right MK, about us all being in the garden today. We too are having a cool wave, but here, it just makes it a lovely day. Oh the breeze and cool air was wonderful! Must have been a lot like your summer days in the green mts.

I hope Terry drops in to see that steam engine. He is designing animated railway stuff this year. It is a beaut. How wonderful it has been preserved and is being operated. Beautiful mt shot. Those trout look like golden koi! Thanks for sharing a piece of your world with us again oxoxoxm

Steam engines are rapidly taking over my life, so it's great to one here. I thought Maggie had made it up to lure me back to visit.
Those trout do look golden, are they bred that colour so they are easier to see and catch?

"see" is the missing word....so much for my checking...

I'll have to check on the reason for the gold color of trout, but yes they are very gold - no camera enhancement! They also breed rainbow trout and the plain kind.

The Cass RR has a web site, I'm sure you can find it with a search. If I remember correctly our 3 mile trip up the mountain and back for 1 1/2 hours (with a rest stop) used about 2 tons of coal. That would be enough to heat our house for the winter.

I've been out taking pictures of my few June blooms. I don't know when I'll get a web page made - probably when it rains enough to keep me inside long enough to catch up on all my projects.


I know Maggie likes feverfew. It always comes back here. Now can anyone explain how it came up in the new bed this summer. There were no plants in bloom to reseed in it when I dug the new bed. The compost came from way out in the barnyard. Like I said, it always comes back!


I really wanted a gazing globe, but didn't want to go with the usual round ones on a cement pedastal. Here's what I came up with.


2 mamas brought these 2 fawns in to visit me when I was working on the sheep pen. The 2nd mama is just out of range of the camera.

The mamas and babies were not at all bothered by me taking pictures. They were just calmly walking down the drive to go back to the river. Unfortunately, 1 mama decided to go by way of jumping the fence and her fawn panicked. It tried to cross our bridge, which has the boards spaced like a cattle crossing. It stumbled and fell, and as much as I wanted to go help it, I knew that would only make matters worse. He finally made it to the end, and decided to jump down to mama. That's quite a leap - I just knew he would break something. Mama deer bleeted and blew for the babe for what seemed like forever. Then I saw mama go across the field with the other mama and fawn, but no fawn at her side. I went to investigate, with my heart in my throat. I found baby safe and sound, but shivering at the riverside. I got within 4 feet, before it moved on into the brush. Since he was sound with no broken legs, I decided it would be best to let his mama come back and find him. I've been watching for him but so far she's keeping him hidden.

The mix of metal and blue glass is just right, makes a wonderful ornament.
Talking of garden decoration, what would you give to have those two spotted cuties in yours Maggie?

How do you do that MK. Just look at the framing on that deer shot. The path, fence, trees, the deers positioning - a work of art. And yes Terry, I sure would love to have those lickle guys in my garden !!! And the feverfew. I failed with it this year MK. Maddening isn't it, that one woman's self-sower is another's challenge! I've seen it self-sow in paving cracks in cooler climates than Texas. Maybe I would have better luck getting it going in fall than spring, down here. I adore your blue glass hummer feeder Mk. Everytime I've tried ornamental ones, the stoppers leaked constantly - which the ants highly appreciated. Hope yours fares better than my pretty ones, that are just hanging on a peg in the garage in hopes of me finding a better stopper system one day.

The clue to the picture composition - photo editing I crop out all of the extra stuff. Plus I took about 5 pictures to find one I wanted to work with.

The teardrop is just a gazing ball hung on a decorative shepard's hook, not a feeder. It has fooled others too.

I do have hummer feeders out, the other night we count 8 at the feeder. But I think the average count must be higher with all the sugar water they are going through.

The smaller feeder does collect a few ants. The other day I watched a lone ant start at the bottom of the pole and head upwards. He stopped at each ant coming down the pole as if to ask if he was on the right road, and was the long trek worth the effort You can see, I like all kinds of nature. Well, not those nasty earwigs that are trying to invade my house.

There's no getting out of it MK - talent with the camera and tech editing too

Welllll I thought it was a feeder cause of the hummer figure on it !!

It must be wonderful to watch so many at a feeder at one time. That never happens here. One dominates each feeder by chasing off any others that come to it. Also, yours arrive earlier than ours. For the last few years, our flock arrives around July 1st, staying until Oct. Except for the scout or two we see in spring.

I know just what you mean about that ant asking directions - must have been a female, huh? ;-)

Boric acid under the sink (or wherever they are coming in at) might take of the earwigs. That, or DE or both. Aren't they the creepiest, cause of those pinchers - too close to scorpions for me. Now those really do give me the creeps!

What kind of hummers do you get there? Our's are The Ruby Throated. Sometimes they look like they don't have the red throat, until they turn their head and catch the sun.

The earwigs are worst in the living room, on the North side of the house. I have no idea how they get in, since it's a half story off the ground.

Our mama deer and baby have been coming in at dinner time each night this week. She was out there in the thunderstorm looking for us last night. Baby has been named "Cutie Pie".

I couldn't believe it, when Monday evening Cutie came up to me and sniffed the feed bucket I was holding. I just held my breath, afraid even a breath would send her scurring back to mama. She didn't frighten, just wandered off in another direction to explore.

As they continue to get used to us out there (I'm making sure Ray is out there most nights too) we hope to get some good pictures.

Sorry to be gone so long MK. Hope everyone had good holiday over the long wkend.
We mostly have green irridesent ones know as the "Black Chinned" hummer. The Ruby Throated ones are more prevalent in the eastern half of Texas. We occassionally spot one or two on their way to East Texas, but they do not take up summer residence to nest here, as the blk chnd ones do. So you can imagine how exciting it is to catch a ruby one in the garden!

Our summer flock usually arrives in the 1st week of July lately, and we just saw the first one of the year today! It was unusually cool and rainy in late June, which may have delayed this years arrival. Our rainy spell had been glorius until the heat came back and now we are suffering jungle level humidity. Shouldn't complain,, just a few hours south of here, San Antonio area has been having deadly floods with dams threatening to break. Terrible tragic news reports - homes and lives lost.

I love hearing about your deers MK. You'll have Cutie Pie 'eating out of your hand' in no time! The closest I've come to that wonderful experience this year, is this baby mouse that I wretched from the clutches of our cats. They were playing with it. It was still alive, but in shock. I nurtured it for a few days. Okay, I couldn't stand to part with it for 2 wks. After I released it, it went right back to playing with the cats and still pops up in the borders when I'm gardening,,, says hi, scatches its ear and trots off again. Is probably hoping I'll bring him regular meals again.

Maggie, tries to grow Rhodentendrons, but without success. I think she planted it too deep in the pot.
It's no good complaining Maggie...you asked for it.

Terry, that was soooo bad that I had to read it thrice to figure it out :-0

So pleased you got there in the end Maggie...always knew you would...even with my convoluted brain working against you...lol

I just wonder how long it took Terry to think that one up

We've been getting the deer on vhs tape. The fawn must be camera shy - she has only come in once to get her picture taken.

The garden is in bloom - at last. I've gotten some work done on the new beds too, but they don't look like much right now. But here is the 1st new bed I had finished in full bloom.

Lovely Daylilies, all mine seem to come out shades of orange. Perhaps it's just that the slugs prefer the other colours. I see some wire, but how do you keep the deer off your plants MK? Is it just that you feed them so well they have no room for the flowers?

The deer eat the plants winter through spring. Then after that it seems that they find enough elsewhere to eat - unless they get a hunger for sunflowers and garden veggies. I save a few veggies for our table by covering them with row covers at night time. The fence you see is a cold line of electric fence wire - just to give my 3 big dogs a boundry to respect. Or at least that's the idea. If they see something interesting run through the garden they forget the boundries. But at least with the wire I can yell at them when they cross the borders without feeling guilty.

I have an almost red daylily that seems to have morphed into an orange stripe this year ??? Or maybe I've been dreaming about red lilies that never were

Sounds like the day lily I thought you sent me a couple a yrs ago. Or is it my daydreaming (nice word for that age affliction thing ) I was thinking it was one your mother brought you and named it "sumthin red" after a fav football or baseball team. Does that ring any bells, or have I completely lost it this time ? ;-)

The new bed is so pretty with it pinkie theme. They look lovely together. The blue grass looks like one of our natives, which is becoming a very desirable perennial across the nation. Of course, like most natives, it always looks much better in tended rich garden soil, than it does out in the wilds. How wonderful to have such mature plants in the bed's first season. Good job MK!

Hi how are all you gardeners

I am from Barbados and enjoy looking at\ your gardens. I would love to put some of my pictures from my garden here could someone tell me how.

Thanks guys
looking forward to hear from your soon

Hi Patricia, I'm sure Maggie is e-mailing details to you as I type. Will be interesting to see what you grow and whether you need a hand, particularly during our English winter.

Hello Patricia, I am ecstatic about getting to cyber-visit your garden in Barbados!
There are instructions in the side bar on the left of this page, under ‘Formatting’, then "Images, Attachments, and Clipart". But I don’t think the directions are very clear. Gee Terry, you could’ve posted them for her In fact, I wish you had of – it is so much easier to do that to write it , isn’t it? ! Course you probably had to run out and get that passport renewed ;-)

Let’s see if I can pull this off. Post as usual, with the following code in the space you want the pic to appear.
I can’t actually write it out here, or the program tries to post a pic, but …
Type… \image (immediately followed by) {title of pic in curly brackets}
Then hit ’Post’, then click the ‘Browse’ button to open up your files,
click on your pic, your file name will appear in the box,
then click ‘Post’ again and it should load your message with the pic in it. We are really looking forward to having you join us Patricia!

I don't have your email Patricia, but you can write me at maggie@maggiesgarden.com
We'd love to see your garden!

Maggie, you're not dreaming. I told you I was sending my mom's "Redskin" daylilies. But what you received may be something completely different. Or will daylilies revert back to original strains as they multiply over the years? I have the nice "Redskin" lilies still, but now they seem to be mixed in with these orange striped ones.

I've planted flowers that have become weeds before - hope the blue grass doesn't do that. It's easy to get a mature garden the first year - I dug the 1/2 grown yarrow and lilies up from the established beds and moved them

Patricia, we're all anxious to see your gardens. Never too many flowers in the world.

The hybrids wouldn't revert Mk, but you may have a clump that began as a self-crossed seedling in your garden. Or it may have come in with the soil of the Redskins or another plant you brought in. Day lilies are the hardest plants for me to keep labeled correctly, no matter how hard I try to keep them straight, and then surprizes like yours still manages to happen here too!

What am I growing here?



I've been letting the fruits get big thinking they were melons But over on the gardenguides.com forums gardening pals told me it looks like spaghetti squash. So I went out and cut one to determine if it was squash or melon. No wonder it's producing like crazy - it's a squash! Could it be the white marrow? The flesh is white and has a mild slightly sweet flavor when eaten raw. I thought the white marrow was going to have a white outer skin, and be slightly pear shaped. And I didn't expect it to come on a vine that is ready to take over my house And dummy that I am - waiting for my would be melons to ripen, I missed all the wonderful young squash. I'm going to cut the large ones off and wait for more young ones! Anyone want to tell me the best size?

this picture of my mystery fruit might help. If this is a squash it's probably should have been picked a couple of weeks ago.

Who did you get those seeds from MK? Was his name ‘Jack’?
The fruit looks like huge golden goose eggs to me

Well after looking back at my seed orders and descriptions, I'm sure it's not the white bush marrow that I ordered. But they do sell a round zucchini that could have been mixed with my order. When the fruit is baseball size (not my huge overgrown golden eggs ) it looks like some of the lighter green round zucchini I saw on my web search.

Or maybe Jack dropped a few golden egg seeds as he went by

Maybe next year I'll get a white marrow from the seeds ?? I was so hoping to have one this year.

The deer had an overgrown zucchini for an appetizer - they loved it! Then went on to the main course of sweet feed



I have this image in a large size (I'll share) that is now my wallpaper. I feel they're watching me everytime I wake my computer up, just waiting for more goodies.

Send me that beauty MK! Oh those big doe eyes !!

Maggie I just sent your screensaver out as your's was coming in on my e-mail. That's of your garden right? Have you posted that for us to see before? I don't get over to your pages as often as I would like. Thanks.

It is one of my fav pics of the circular steps. The sedum in the pic is just now in bud in real time, so I'm hoping to get a newer version of that same scene.

I can see such detail in the wallpaper size of your deer pic above that I keep getting the urge to pet their furry faces! I can even see a scar on the back of one on the left. Poor thing. That is neat that even the daddy (buck?) came to tea. I would expect the males to be more timid than the mother and babes. What is sweet feed?

We have the local mill mix us a blend of grain for the sheep - and deer. It has sheep minerals and salt, ground soy bean, cracked corn, crimped oats, and the magic ingredient - liquid molasses We buy it by the 1/2 ton.

After we started getting this milled, they started carrying a feed that they call 16% sweet feed. It looks an awfully lot like ours. So I guess our mixture went over well.

You should see the does chase the buck away from the grain. The deer can get quite fiesty at feed time, striking out at one another and even rearing up on their back legs to flail at each other with both front feet. We have it on the new video camera (Ray's new toy) and I hope to make some mini clips this winter and put them on a web site.

That blend sounds good enough to eat as well as healthy. I am guessing the molasses is added for a source of healthy sugar carbs for energy, or is the main intention to make it more tasty? Maybe you should patent it ;-)

I'm feeling sorry for the buck already - hope he gets his fair share some of the time! That film clip sounds great - looking forward to it.

We take the digi video cam on trips and select some of our stills off the video. It is handy to capture a scene quickly and select the best frame later on. It too is DH's department, while I still drag around a bag with both a 35mm for slide film and a digi still camera for web work. I look like a pack animal most of the time!

I like the look of the new digi cameras that are very very small. Some don't have the quality of pictures though, and the others have the high price tags

Here's a still that we took from the digi movie.



Everyone has been petting the deer but me. I did get to pet a doe, but Ray was late at work, so I don't have any proof again

You need to start charging an entrance fee MK! Who is the lucky gal? I wanna feed them too

Alex and I were just having another adoring look at this pic and I noticed how one has a black tail and the other doesn't. Am wondering if there is any significance to it? Would have expected them to all be more alike at that age. But then, you know us city gals - dunnonothin much outta town ;-) I'm still amazed to have just now learned that pigs have great big long tails!

MK, No wonder Sheila had fun. Love the pic of her feeding the fawns and doe. I just cannot believe how you have tamed those deer! Amazing!