A fungus among us?

I don't know, but this looks like some kind of fungus or other parasitical plant. It, and others, are growing on the stems of brambles and other plants out by the vineyard. They're pretty, but they don't look like they belong to the plants on which they're growing. They could also be some growth of the host plant that's protecting an insect's eggs or larvae. **Susan and Tim tell me that this is indeed a gall caused by the larvae of a wasp. See the comments for more detail. Thanks S & T!

Anybody recognize this?

It didn't rain much on Saturday, but we had a lot of drizzle most of the day. Later in the evening the sun broke through a bit and we were able to sit out on the deck for a while. Now we're looking forward to a few days of nice, warm weather. Nothing like the heat wave they're having in the southwestern US, though.

Note: I appreciate your taking the time to comment on my posts. Normally I try to respond to your comments, but twice in the past week, after writing responses on previous posts, I hit the wrong key and watched my responses disappear! I didn't try to re-write them. Sorry about that. I'll try to be more careful in the future. :)

Something with poison in it

Poppies! Poppies will put them to sleep... These, however, aren't the right variety of poppy for that. Those would be the larger pavots or opium poppies. This variety is commonly called coquelicot or the field poppy, and it grows wild in a large part of France. In late spring and early summer, whole fields of these flowers paint the landscape bright red.

The center of a field poppy's flower. It looks like something out of the Land of Oz, doesn't it?

A small batch of these poppies "popped" up next to our hedge along the road this year. I'm hoping to encourage them to spread by collecting and redistributing the seeds when they're ready.

Our weather is about to change and we're expecting a week of warm summery weather. Yippee! Our spirits will be lifted and the vegetable garden will get a good dose of warm sun. We all need it.

Drain-o

I spent Thursday morning doing what's become an annual chore: cleaning the drains. All the "gray" waste water from our house drains down into a settling reservoir in the utility room where it then exits the house into the sewer system. You may recall that the sewer line in our neighborhood is pretty new, having been put in in 2006. Before that, our gray water drained into the vineyard and eventually to the river. Yuck.

Curly vine tendrils making their way around a leaf.

The concrete pipes that run through the slab our house sits on can accumulate gunk and deposits from our relatively hard water and blockages form slowly. So, once a year, I snake them out to keep them running. We had recently noticed a smell in the utility room and when I removed the cover of one of the access points, sure enough, there was yucky water accumulating.

I got the power washer out along with the drain-snake attachment and went to work clearing the blockage and cleaning the drain system. Now it's running normally again. By the way, human waste does not go through this system; the toilet has a pipe that runs directly into the sewer line separately. I don't have to mess with that.

Supremes: you can hurry love

Sorry, I couldn't resist. I won't go on about the US Supreme Court's decisions on Wednesday, which I'm obviously happy about. There is much reading to do now to follow and understand the practical implications of these historic rulings.

More grapevine tendrils. These are part of this year's new growth.

We had a beautifully sunny day yesterday. I got a load of chores done in the garden, but the list is still long. Today the overcast is back, but we are in a gradual warming trend and that's a good thing.

Roof work and curlicues

The roofer we hired was here on Tuesday and spent about four hours working on our repair. He said that he's not sure what he did will work, but he didn't want to do the larger, more expensive job until after he tried it. Baby steps. We're hopeful. Now we need some hard rain to test it, but I'm in no hurry for that given all the rain we've had this year.

Last season's dried vine tendrils with this year's new growth. The grapevines are flowering now.

Our weather is still chilly for the season, but we're getting a little sun now. I've got a lot to catch up on outdoors. Yesterday I got the grass cut. The list of chores is long, so I have to pick one or two things to get done today and do them. It always feels good to get something accomplished.

Oh, deer me

On Monday's evening walk in the vineyard, I was greeted by this sight out toward end of our route. Callie was sniffing around some trees and did not see the deer right away. I was able to snap a few pictures before a car came by and scared it. Callie noticed the deer as soon as it moved and was off after it, but it was quickly into the adjacent woods and gone.

A chevreuil kept its eye on me while standing perfectly still before it bounded away to the left.

Luckily, Callie gives up the chase rather quickly and we were soon on our way. These chevreuils (roe deer) are common around here. The growers use electric fences and colored tape around their vineyard parcels in the spring to help keep the deer from nibbling the grape flowers, with mixed success.

How will my garden grow?

Summer is under way, but summer temperatures still elude us. We've had some nice days, but the rule has been cool, overcast, and wet. On the plus side, I haven't had to do much watering in the vegetable garden. But the seedlings need some sun and warmth now.

Callie inspects the plot of winter squash seedlings. Actually, I think she's munching on grass.

They are growing, albeit slowly. I can see the progress. I just know it would go a little better with sunshine. If I remember correctly, we had a late start last year with the same kind of weather. The squash plants didn't produce much, but we had a decent tomato crop in the end.

And speaking of tomatoes, there are dozens of "volunteers" popping up out there, no doubt from seeds that either ended up in the compost or from "dropped" fruit during the growing season. I'll wager most are cherry tomatoes because there were so many of them last year. I guess I should let some of them grow to maturity to see.