August 4, 2010. Wednesday.
Situation. I have to work tonight, and so far have no work to do this afternoon, so I think I’ll take Mway for her walk this morning. It’s so greatly disturbing to me that all this time I’ve been calling the shrubs so prevalent down in bug land red willows, basically invoking a nonexistent plant, that I tried again this morning to make an identification, by doing a Yahoo! search, plugging in the words “shrub, “moon,” “blue,” “berries” in various combinations. It doesn’t help that I’ve had to download the latest Internet Explorer, forced to do so if I want to watch youtube videos, because that new program has screwed up the search engine, making it difficult to navigate from page to page. Plus it’s not easy to find good photos of plants online. And worst of all, I can’t remember now exactly what the flowers of the red willows looked like in the spring, though I think they may have been white. Eventually, though, and with the aid of Audubon, by looking for the least objectionable photo, I am thinking that maybe the shrubs down there are purple chokeberries. I haven’t found a good photo online (and Audubon, while it has a photo of red chokeberries, doesn’t have a photo of purple chokeberries), but the leaves resemble what photos I’ve been able to find, and I’ve learned that chokeberries like wet lands (all the red willows are growing at the edges of bug land where the soil is especially wet in the spring). I’ve just asked Moi if she thinks “those shrubs” might be purple chokeberries, and she says, “Ohhhh. That’s a possibility.” Anyway, I’m ready to take Mway for her walk. It’s 10:27, and I’m bringing the Audubon with me.
State of the Path: On the path just before the walled garden, I stop at a shrub which I pass by everyday, and wonder if this might be a “purple chokeberry,” but I see no berries on it (a true shame I don’t know even what this shrub is). Before the pig pen, (if I remember correctly now), I do spot a “chokeberry” bush, but its berries are still green. Anyway, I decide to take the side path along the old orchard because I haven’t gone that way in a while. Grape vines and blackberry briars swipe across my chest; when I get to where I cut down the goldenrod, the scent of dead goldenrod on the ground wafts upward sweet like hay. Down by the creek, I walk into the bull thistle (a good argument for always wearing my walking clothes). But my main focus is to look at those unknown shrubs, the most advanced specimen of which is just beyond the wigwams at the entrance to bug land, where the deepest gullies from the spring rains are. On this plant the berries are turning from green to – what color would they be? Some are dark green, almost purple, others are gray, almost black. And I think maybe this is, not a purple, but a black chokeberry. The leaves definitely look like what I see in the book: they are “oval…with pointed tips,” but they don’t look “toothed,” which presents a problem, and they are not “densely hairy” underneath, which presents a greater problem. But then I read that the black chokeberry has “leaves hairless beneath,” and I begin to feel like I’m closer to a definitive identification; but I’m going to have to study these plant a little longer before I definitely say they are black chokeberries. Down by the creek, I look again at the plant that Moi first thought was an elderberry shrub. I note first of all that it’s not a shrub, but a bunch of plants growing close together. A monarch (or a viceroy) flutters about it, sipping for nectar. In leafing previously through Audubon, I flagged the photo for boneset as the least objectionable photo for this plant, and when I look at the leaves on the plant across the creek I see indeed that they are “opposite…united at base as to completely surround stem,” that the “stem appears to be growing through the leaf.” The only problem is that the leaves don’t look wrinkled, but this is a new plant, and I think to myself that perhaps they’ll get more wrinkled as time goes on. I feel pretty confident that what I’m looking at is boneset, but I’ll have to keep my eye on it.
State of the Creek: The water in the pool along the narrows has crept about 6 inches farther away from the vinyl siding.
The Fetch: Mway fetches the stick once, then doesn’t even consult me further – she just runs past me to head back to the house.
2 comments:
Thanks for asking about Jazz. She hasn’t found a new job yet, and she’s still waiting to hear if she’ll receive unemployment, which I hope she’ll get. Good news for you. I found that book. You’ll find it on the floor here, along with Camus’ book, when you come in here after I’ve gone to work.
Yes, I’ve found the book. Thanks. The picture on the cover only looks a little like me, or at least what I think looks like me. But an insignia in the corner says “Reinforced Binding. Practically Indestructible.” That’s very thoughtful. I’ve poked open the book already to look at it briefly. It flipped to a chapter on Housebreaking and Training, with pictures and photos of leashes and collars, then to another chapter on Health Care: What Toys Are Safe For Dogs? All this doesn’t sound like anything to do with herding cattle, but I’ll take the time this afternoon to nose my way back to the beginning, where I hope that matter will be addressed. Sorry to hear your daughter hasn’t found another job yet, but I hope as you say that she receives unemployment, which doesn’t make much sense to me since she is unemployed what do you mean receive unemployment? M.
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