You never know what you'll see

After strong winds on Monday, this morning I found two large branches on the ground beneath the zelkova in our back yard.  I cut them into smaller pieces, added a dead limb from the cherry tree at the back of the property, and put all of them into a large plastic tote.  Then I loaded the tote with the brush that had accumulated since the last trip to the township yard waste facility, loaded the car with the tote, and took the lot to the township.  

Dumping out the tote, my eye was caught by a small red patch, and I was compelled to take a snapshot.  I believe it's verbena, and rather than try to salvage the plant that another person dumped, I took some notes for next spring.  This would look good on the area where the red maple used to be, provided there's enough sunlight, and that's no sure thing thanks to the tall trees next door that block the sun for a good part of the day.  

The same thing goes for the bare area at the back of the property, plus it tends to be overly dry.  Now, there's some bare ground on the south side of the shed, and that gets much more sun from morning until late afternoon, but I need to make sure there's some bare loose dirt left for the rabbits who live under that shed to roll around in.  (And not incidentally, to make sure that rabbits don't consider verbena to be a tasty treat, the way they did the rose bush and the morning glories I planted earlier this summer.)

 

Getting to know you

Headline from the week of the Raiders/Steelers game.  I can Just imagine someone introducing those two to each other.  "Maxx, this is T.J.  T.J., Maxx."

Adding to the sum total of human knowledge

 

Are there enough clues on the scoreboard to determine the date of the photo?

Yes.  The Pittsburgh-New York game with its high score was the biggest clue.  Also, since the Braves were still in Boston, that meant it was prior to 1953.  Since the Pirates had a terrible record in 1952, I skipped that year and instead checked 1951 for the 11 Pit-NYG games at Forbes Field.  

The pictured game was Milwaukee-Indianapolis.  Also on the scoreboard is Minneapolis at Toledo, but less than a week later, on June 23, Mud Hens owner Danny Menendez moved the team to Charleston, West Virginia, leading to his indictment.  

When the Braves moved from Boston to Milwaukee in 1953, the Milwaukee team in the American Association moved to Toledo, where they were first known as the Glass Sox, but soon settled on Sox.  

 

Too far away to tell what this volunteer is

 

Spotted while strolling

Sachem (skipper) butterfly on red clover, 13 October 2024

 

Seen while strolling

 

Hoverfly (Toxomerus marginatus) on chicory 

Symphyotrichum lanceolatum (panicled aster)

Lots of possibilities; but I can tell it wants to be free of the plastic tree guard.  I've seen deer nearby, though, so it's taking a big chance sticking its neck out like that.

Soybean crop, ready for harvest

One of one

Late this year getting to the purple aster patch down the road, which is why this is the only one left with a bright yellow middle.  There were some small skippers in the patch flitting from flower to flower.  I snapped off a couple of stems with spent flowers that I believe contain seeds.