Great Blue Heron Downtown

A Great Blue Heron was hunkering down on the west side of the Cannon River by Ames Park this morning. Sorry the resolution on this zoomed-then-cropped photo isn't great (click on the photo for a larger view), but it's exhilarating to see such a magnificent bird in the middle of town life. When I look at herons' formidable bills, I always imagine being a fish whose last thoughts are, "Oops, I think that's a her---!"

Wasp Invasion

This is one of close to 20 wasps -- about 2/3 alive and 1/3 dead -- we have found in our dining and living rooms in the past 24 hours. We can't find a wasp nest outside or (heaven forbid) inside, but they have been concentrated around the dining room windows, so we suspect they found their way in through a gap around a storm window and from there through the open window (now, of course, closed). We have been employing the drinking-glass-and-card catch-and-release method of removal, as I don't like insecticides and don't care to annoy wasps by whacking at them. We keep thinking we have found them all, but then an hour later another one or two will be on the inside of the windows. The University of Minnosota Extension has a good page on bees and wasps and points out that wasp nests can sometimes be underground or concealed inside a wall. I'll post an update if we solve the mystery.

North Shore Revisited

Here, without further commentary, are some of my favorite shots from our August trip to the North Shore.

Bee Heaven

On this newly planted sedum downtown, if you look closely (click on the photo for a larger version), you can see at least four bees. Below is the same photo cropped to zoom in on two of the bees. There were just as many on most of the dozen or so nearby plants as well. Given the bee population problems in the news lately and the implications for pollination of many of our major food plants, it was good to see them. Any kid who saw Bee Movie will likely agree.

September Garden

These were my tomato plants last week in my unkempt, overgrown garden. The foliage went suddenly almost to nothing, leaving the many fruits even more evident than they had been. This was taken before I picked quite a few tomatoes and made sauce.

Above is a larger view of the garden taken today. The zinnias I started from seed and was so pleased with are still going strong at the left; autumn-rusty Joe-Pye weed (center) dwarfs everything else, and the burning bush at right is starting to show the first signs of its autumn scarlet. Click on the photo for a larger view.