Mailbox Monday: Country Chicken

It’s lost a few tail feathers, but you can see someone put some heart into “purtyin’ up” the mailbox.

Don’t Let the Cat Get Your Tung!

Don’t be fooled by the large, heart-shaped leaves.

Or the striking flowers, that I think resemble miniature hibiscus blooms.

Or the apple-like fruit. In the pictures above, you can see the young fruit just getting started. This one below is from last fall, so it is not green but almost black.

All parts of the tree are poisonous. But the leaves give some people rashes similar to poison ivy, while ingesting just one seed can kill an adult. Tung trees (Aleurites fordii) are natives of China

Tung oil is derived from the seeds of this fruit. It has been used for thousands of years in paint and water-proofing coatings. It is a component of India ink. I read that teak oil is actually refined tung oil and that in World War II, the Chinese used tung oil as motor fuel because it was so plentiful. I have read that it was also used in airplanes in the United States during that same time period.

For a few decades in our area, many acres of tung trees were grown and several refining plants were in operation. There was a community that is now known as Capps, that used to be called Tungston. Here is a picture  from the Florida archives of a worker in the mill at Capps in 1946. This machine pressed the oil from the nuts.

This picture from the 1930s shows a parade float at the Tung Oil Festival in Gainesville.

I know of no production of tung oil in our area now, though the trees are scattered about on this end of our county and the adjoining Jefferson County.

Some folks still plant them as ornamentals but I have been hesitant as it does not seem easy to have just one tree: they pop up everywhere.

And then there is that whole toxic thing.

Creepy Crow and Sparrow

We passed this dead crow hanging in a pecan tree. There was a stiff breeze and the stiff crow was swinging.

We were puzzled as it seemed to have been placed there. So I went home and Googled it and learned that it not such an uncommon practice to hang dead crows as scarecrows. It rather creeped me out!

Further down the road, B pointed out this paper wasp nest. This was not close and I could not get close even if I wanted to. So wonderful photography this is not. But as I looked at it…..

Jack Sparrow? Is it just me? Or do you see it, too? Dreadlocks and all.

Whatever.

I Like IKEA

When we were in Atlanta, we went to IKEA for the first time. I had heard of it for a while and I was anxious to experience it for myself. I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was huge;  you don’t just run in and run out. You stroll through the whole thing on a guided tour, as marked on the floor.

We only made a few small purchases of things that were obviously better-than-usual buys on things we buy anyway. One of these was a 6-pack of wine glasses for just about a buck a piece. They are very basic glassware but the best thing is that the bases fit in our wine glass rack that B gave me for Christmas. (It had been such a surprise to discover that our glasses did not fit the rack.)

Hooray! They now fit in a space that was wasted before.

Bookcase With Books, At Last!

Here is the newly painted wall, ready for the new piece of furniture. (It is a prettier green than it shows on my monitor.)

I took this picture through the window as B was preparing to bring the “big boy” inside. Without the shelves, it was do-able for the two of us.

Once inside, B mounted it to the wall studs for safety reasons.

As a footnote, there was not a spare half inch between the  fruit-picking ladder and the end of the wall! It fit perfectly.

I added the brackets and shelves.

The first books in were those of my mom and dad.

We are happy with it.

The Bookcase, In Work

A while back, we found and ordered an unfinished solid wood bookcase that I hope will be large enough to have all of our books together.

B sanded it, stained it and applied polyurethane in the garage.

Meanwhile, we observed a couple of curious visitors. This little brown moth in the corner had perfect camouflage, don’t you think? ( I am puzzled as to why the light made the stain look so much darker on the left. It is not so in other light.)

 

Another morning, there was this little spring peeper peeping.

 

It has a bit of a wood grain, too.

Enjoy it while you can, guys. When it comes inside, you have to stay out.

I’ll Taste Your Slice of Paradise

We had such a wonderful trip to see our sisters. At my sister’s in Atlanta, the crabapple tree had carpeted the front walk and steps with pink petals.

The window sills were sprinkled to match.

There was a lovely courtyard in the back with beautiful plantings.

Even better, there was lots of glass on that side of the house for enjoying the view that includes deer, grey squirrels, chipmunks and a large variety of songbirds that come to the bird feeders. In one morning we saw, wrens, chickadees, titmice, blue jays, bluebirds, cardinals, goldfinches, juncos, and probably others that I am not remembering.

We also got to take a look at our niece's yard. She generously shared plants with us that we do not see in Tallahassee gardens.  Time will tell, if they are not suited for here. This lovely little bulb that we think is a wood hyacinth was shared with us in both blue and white. They were naturalized throughout their woodsy backyard.

We also got some red columbine and some large purple irises and some lamb’s ear. It is all in the ground. As I said, time will tell.