Photography

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The Eastern Bluebirds

We have so many birds in this area of Texas but one of my favorites are the small Eastern Bluebirds.

I caught them having a pool party at the bird bath. I know these are juveniles because their blue is very limited. The adults are a lot bluer and their chest is a darker orange color.

They can splash a lot of water out of a birdbath really quick. At one time there were 4 in at a time with others zipping around waiting their turn. I even saw a few adults supervising.

I am glad I was able to sneak back into the house and grab my camera to get a few action shots.

Nature never ceases to amaze me the beauty is all around us we just need to take the time to notice it.

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For the love of garlic

There are many benefits of cooking with garlic and we use a lot of it it is a very healthy thing to have in your diet.

Elephant garlic is our favorite type to grow. It makes this beautiful flower then when it dies it is time to pick the garlic. When you dig it up you will find the bulbs of cloves and seeds for the next year.

I truly love photographing these blooms, especially in macro.

Garlic

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DIY Verticle Herb Garden

Verticle gardens are amazing and a verticle herb garden is just perfect.

This would also work great for flowers if someone wanted an accent wall.

I started out wanting to use a pallet but they are too heavy to hang on a wooden fence.

My husband decided he could build me something much lighter but the same sort of concept.

I ordered the fence clips, bought the pots, painted the wood and personalized it for my sister her birthday is today.

My husband came up with the idea of staggering the clips on each row so the water did not flood out the next ones down.

Supply List:

1 x 3 x 6 – 3 pieces

2 x 2 x 8 – 1 piece

Pots clips will work on 4″ -8″ pots – 12 packs on Amazon

Pots – we used 6″ pots for this one  x 11

Accent stones if you want.

We ended up adding two more rows of clips after I took the pictures now it can hold a total of 18 pots.

I ordered more clips because now I want one or two lol.

Having the herbs on a nearby wall outside is so much more convenient.

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Heirloom Tomatoes

We love gardening and trying new things but we only stick to Heirloom varieties for vegetables.

These yellow/orange tomatoes are called Persimmon and they are a meaty tomato. The taste is wonderful and it will wake up your taste buds.

The big ones average about 1.25#s each. They are huge.

We have them in the greenhouse in dutch buckets using gravel no dirt, the no-till garden and in pots.  We were experimenting to see what works out best and produces the biggest and most fruit.

The largest tomatoes were grown in the no-till garden. The temperatures have gotten so hot we have added 40% shade cloth over the outside vegetables.

Our greenhouse is getting up to 97 degrees and the plants are paying for it. Even with fans, shade cloth at 40% the sides rolled up and the front and back doors opened we can not seem to get the temperatures down below 90 degrees. The auto drip system for watering is set for 5 x a day.

The joys of gardening are figuring out what works best and enjoying what you have grown.

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Fitbit Versa

I love the Fitbit Versa it has everything I need and want in a fitness watch.

This was a gift I bought for myself for completing my cancer treatment.

In the past, I have had the Fitbit Charge and the band messed up so Fitbit replaced it with the Fitbit Alta. The Alta was a little smaller than the charge and I never liked it quite as much. It was harder for me to see and seemed more difficult to use.

The Versa has big numbers and everything is set up very conveniently.  It does so many things.

If you want to exercise there are 15 different modes. For walking, you just get to that apps for exercise and pick walk and hit start.  In the past they have not included bike riding but the Versa includes that and swimming now.

I did see it can store up to 300 songs but I have not gotten into that part yet.

On the main screen, there is the clock, date, heart rate, steps and calorie burn. That is quite convenient if you’re like me and trying to get in those steps each day. The battery seems to last a good 4 days.

The Fitbit Versa is great if you’re looking for a fitness watch that does it all.

fitbit-versa-smartwatch

 

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Spider webs and dew

Spider webs have always intrigued me.

Amazingly it only takes a spider about one hour to create their masterpiece of this silk thread.

This type of spider web is called an orb web and they are quite noticeable in the early morning with the dew on them.

Last week we had spider webs all in the grass and the trees in the backyard.

Just think if a spider can accomplish this beauty in one hour what we can accomplish in a day if we really try.

Spiderweb