Tripod trellises

Spent the day using up the driftwood I have accumulated over the last few years to make some driftwood tripod trellises. Plants such as clematis or even tomatoes can grow up these very organic and rustic tripods. They have a very silver-gray look and will bring a look of the lakeshore to your garden. Watched the great crested flycatchers at Lafayette Trace park today. The parents seem to still be feeding their young in the hole in the end of a sycamore branch and I was fortunate to get a photo with the adult waiting by the hole just a few feet away. With a little patience you can see them go in and out of this hole where their nest is. They seem to be very busy. It would be great to see the babies emerge! Thoreau often wrote that if you wanted to see real change in Nature, visit the same spot every day. I have found that to be very true. This spot on the ramp at Lafayette trace and the bridge at Stony Creek on Pilgrim road always offers different wildlife and weather. Right now, Stony creek is choked with brilliant green algae due to the heat and lack of rain. Six months ago, the stream was covered with ice and you could see fox and mink tracks. Kingfishers are always there and if you stand motionless on the bridge, one will sometimes fly right by your head. I looked over the bridge the other day and one was perched on a limb close to the water. I have had a mink run over my feet, and saw one feeding on a deer carcass, while the wind blew ice crystals over the ice frozen on the stream. I have seen muddy torrents, crystal clear water with twenty huge carp doing a rodeo up and down the creek. Cold winds, hot breezes, lovely spring sounds- all in the same place while the big wheel keeps on turning. I can't wait to see what will be next. Before I was retired, I would only have few minutes to spare, but now I can stay longer and see more. I am also spiffing up the shop getting ready to celebrate my eighteenth year in Lapel, and twenty-eight years making my handmade rustic willow furniture. The open house will be July 13-14-15, during the Lapel village fair.