Tag: yard

First it was falling leaves from my Maple trees and then falling stems. Now it’s falling branches.

Fortunately, the dropped branches are few in number and small in diameter. In examining the breaks, they are suspicious looking. 

Certainly, there was a weakness at the point of separation that caused them to break. 

Each fallen branch has a small cavity in the center and seemingly an exit hole on the side, as one might expect if an insect egg had been laid inside and hatched.

It’s just a theory and I have not researched it, but it seems like a reasonable idea.

Besides, there’s nothing I can do about—except pick up the branches.

Do you like this post? Want to read more? Check out Peter’s book, Bridging the Sacred-Secular Divide: Discovering the Spirituality of Every Day Life, available wherever books are sold.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

A few weeks ago, I shared about leaves falling from my Maple trees (see Raking Leaves).

In the spring an insect lays eggs in the stems of Maple leaves. When the eggs hatch, the stems become weak at that juncture and the leaves fall off. That was June 6.

At this time, the leaves have stopped falling off (at least until fall when they’re supposed to) and now it’s the stems’ turn. Apparently, each stem that lost it’s leaf now has nothing to do.

So out of boredom or a loss of purpose, they are jettisoning themselves to the lawn below.

It’s not a big deal, but I do find this interesting. I grabbed a handful of them to show you.

Notice the long stem on the bottom.

The left end was attached to the branch and the right end was where the egg was laid in the stem.  The brown is the trauma caused by the egg hatching and the stem breaking.

I realize this is likely trivial to you, but I find it fascinating!  Tomorrow, I will try to find something that you will find fascinating as well!

Do you like this post? Want to read more? Check out Peter’s book, Bridging the Sacred-Secular Divide: Discovering the Spirituality of Every Day Life, available wherever books are sold.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

For the past several years, at about this time, leaves fall from my trees in alarming quantities. Yes, leaves falling in the spring—enough that they should be raked.

In our yard are ten Maple trees, which are the culprits (victims) of this phenomenon.

Apparently, an insect lays eggs in the stems of Maple leaves in the spring.  When the eggs hatch, the stem becomes weak at that point and the leaves fall off.

As you can see on the close-up on the left, the stem is only partially present; the rest is presumably still on the tree (not that I’ve actually checked).

For the past several years, this leaf problem has been increasingly more pronounced each year. I assumed this was because the trees were getting larger, ergo producing more leaves, a percentage of which become afflicted and fall off. 

However, this year the magnitude of dropped leaves is greatly decreased over last year. This lasts for a couple of weeks and then it’s done.

Fortunately, the majority of leaves stay in the trees—that way they can drop in the fall when they’re supposed to, providing ample opportunity for raking in the fall.

Do you like this post? Want to read more? Check out Peter’s book, Bridging the Sacred-Secular Divide: Discovering the Spirituality of Every Day Life, available wherever books are sold.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Last week something outside caught my eye. Every few seconds some dirt would fly through the air. It was emanating from grass level in the middle of my back yard.

Upon further investigation I discovered an industrious gopher furiously cleaning out the entrance to his subterranean abode.

I stealthy approached the nexus of the activity just as his dirt-covered snout emerged from his underground cavern. He sure was cute—and quite shocked at my presence.

In a split second his eyes adjusted to the bright sunlight, glimpsed at me, and made a hasty retreat. 

I waited patiently for several minutes, but he did not re-emerge.

I didn’t see him again for several days, becoming fearful that a prolonged rainstorm had caused him harm. But today, I again saw him, working busily as before.

I thought about trying to snap a photo, but he disappeared before I got my camera. 

It least I know he’s okay. Now, if only I could get him to stop making a pile of dirt in the middle of my back yard.

The title for today’s blog is taken from the deep recesses of my childhood memory, referring to a cartoon I watched as a lad: “GO GO Gophers.” 

According to Toontracker.com, “The Go-Go Gophers featured a pair of buck-toothed gophers, Ruffled Feathers, who spoke in unintelligible phrases, and his interpreter Running Board.” 

Wikipedia has an entry about the show and YouTube has a couple episodes, just search for “GO GO Gophers.” Enjoy.

Do you like this post? Want to read more? Check out Peter’s book, Bridging the Sacred-Secular Divide: Discovering the Spirituality of Every Day Life, available wherever books are sold.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

I’m so excited; my first outdoor flowers are in bloom—primrose.

Seeing my yard’s first flower of the year and with daytime temps finally in the 60s and 70s, I know that spring is actually here—not because the calendar says so, but it actually looks and feels like spring!

However, the primrose shouldn’t be my first flowers, the daffodils should have beaten them, but once again they let me down. 

You can see their anemic stems in the photo below that they are not going to amount to anything this year—again.

At one time, my daffodils were a lush and inviting row of springtime yellow. Then I thinned them because they were getting too crowded, and they’ve never done anything since—except produce wimpy little stems.

In my yard, I’ve been working on ensuring that during the growing season there will always be something blooming. That vision, however, is easier to see than to realize.

First, I found that some things don’t bloom for as long as advertised by the nursery. 

Then, when I was finally getting close to my goal, my growing trees were producing enough extra shade that the light conditions changed sufficiently so that many plantings were no longer in their optimal spots.

This year I will be moving things around in an effort to coax them into producing their rainbows of color. I will keep you posted.

Do you like this post? Want to read more? Check out Peter’s book, Bridging the Sacred-Secular Divide: Discovering the Spirituality of Every Day Life, available wherever books are sold.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.