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Tree Bob

More screen time, please

Big dog, bigger oaks.

While sitting on the deck with Sydney and Sunny, I noticed my neglected Kindle Fire and iPhone SE sitting screens-up on the table, reflecting the white oaks above them. So I reached over without moving the gadgets and took photos of what they were “seeing.”

I can’t think of a better way to enjoy “screen time.” The only right wing trolls on my screens were a band of red bellied woodpeckers who noisily swarm in each night like a bunch of juvenile delinquents.

The Kindle Fire’s view of the oaks above Innisfree.
This is the view my iPhone had of the oaks towering over Innisfree.

I finally broke down and bought a book on tree identification, but not without some misdirection. I downloaded the Kindle version of “Identifying Trees of the East” after reading the rave reviews of it. The book merited the praise; the Kindle version did not. The book is predicated on narrowing down what type of tree you’re trying to ID by referring you from page to page until you find the specific tree you’re after. But the Kindle version isn’t paginated so the entire organizing structure of the book is blown up. After whining about it on Amazon, I returned it and ordered the print version, which is fantastic.

Sunny shuffles along beneath an Eastern Redbud as we approach Dove Cottage, which was graced this morning with a solitary dove foraging around outside the front door.

This morning Sunny and I went out and started trying to ID trees. Well, I was trying to ID trees. Sunny was just patrolling her property to make sure no coyotes or deer were stomping around. I also came across a great story in this morning’s Columbus Dispatch about the largest sycamore in Ohio.

That article yielded two more interesting links:

The Ohio DNR’s big tree page

American Forests’ registers of big trees nationwide.

Otherwise, I’ve been working to impose order on Innisfree and Dove Cottage. Yesterday, I used a self-propelled push mower to cut the grass for the first time. It took about 2 hours but wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Hardly sore at all this morning … Har.

Here are a few more photos of life at Innisfree …

Sydney plays with the sugar skull salt and pepper shakers.
I think this was an northern black racer that became roadkill on Peach Ridge near our mailbox.
The butter pig, a gift from our dear friend Mauvette (who makes THE best jerk chicken this side of Montego Bay).
Sunny enjoys the candles at Innisfree.
Sydney chows down on Beelzebub pizza from Avalanche.
The forest shimmering with late-afternoon light.