Making adjustments #phenology

The last of the hummingbird / oriole feeders has been washed and put away until next Spring. We won't fill and hang the suet feeders until we get overnight temperatures regularly below freezing, about the same time that we'll plug in the heater for the bird bath. By then, we hope any local bears have gone into hibernation.

As of today, the "rain guard" is much closer to the cap

Photo by J. Harrington

We raised the rain / squirrel shield on the perching sunflower feeder. One or two of the local bluejays have been trying to wedge themselves in under the shield and onto a post, plus some of the larger woodpeckers were having trouble getting at the feeding ports. We're not sure the adjustments we made will help the jays or the larger woodpeckers feed, but at least we're not making it harder than it already is. If we had fewer red and/or gray squirrels around, we'd add the tray feeders. We still haven't found any truly functional squirrel baffles that fit the hangers that mount on the deck railing.

Our dogs, especially the crazy, little yellow lab cross-breed that we belong to, seem convinced there are lots of good and interesting smells in the newly black-topped road. We're totally stymied by what they can be sniffing that isn't overwhelmed by the asphalt/tar aroma, but then we're not a dog.

We've nowhere close to this much color yet

Photo by J. Harrington

Local leaf color is still largely missing. There is some, but not as much as we're used to seeing at this time of year. We remember seeing somewhere or other that this is supposed to be a sensational year for leaf colors. It still may be, but for a relatively brief period? Even the two potted asters we bout a week or two ago seem depressed by our sunless, dreary skies. Neither has shown much enthusiasm for opening the flowers during the daytime, and there's more spent than new flowers scattered on the stems or stalks. Now there's a question we've never considered before: what's the distinction between a stem and a stalk? According to Wikipedia:

• A stem is one of two main structural axes of a vascular plant, the other being the root. The stem is normally divided into nodes and internodes:
• A plant's stalk is a petiole or peduncle

Then, something called Stack Exchange offers a more comprehensive explanation, the gist of which expands on these definitions from the Oxford dictionary:

stalk:

1 The main stem of a herbaceous plant.
‘he chewed a stalk of grass’
1.1 The slender attachment or support of a leaf, flower, or fruit.
‘the acorns grow on stalks’

stem:

The main body or stalk of a plant or shrub, typically rising above ground but occasionally subterranean.
1.1 The stalk supporting a fruit, flower, or leaf, and attaching it to a larger branch, twig, or stalk. 

We believe we've once again learned why our lawyers friends strongly suggest never asking a question to which we don't already know the answer.

The Day

By Geoffrey Brock

It hangs on its

                stem like a plum

at the edge of a

               darkening thicket.

It’s swelling and

               blushing and ripe

and I reach out a

               hand to pick it

but flesh moves

               slow through time

and evening

               comes on fast

and just when I

               think my fingers

might seize that

               sweetness at last

the gentlest of

               breezes rises

and the plum lets

               go of   the stem.

And now it’s my

               fingers ripening

and evening that’s

               reaching for them. 

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