Actually I took this picture a couple of weeks ago but this Bitterweed is still blooming. I really didn't have an interesting photo for this run so I decided to give this Bitterweed it's day in the sun (so to speak). I may have called this Sneezeweed in an earlier post but according to Richard Porcher's Wildflowers of SC, Sneezeweed doesn't have these leaf clusters. It is Cherokee Medicine Plant of the West used in a concoction to treat diabetes. Taken straight it may be poisonous to humans and a danger to livestock. Pretty common throughout summer. An Indigo Bunting and a Blue Grosbeak were in their usual Hackberry Tree singing away.
Had a decent run, not too hot at 76 degrees, for a time of 48:43 at 9:44 per mile.
toadshade
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
The Wet Petunia 3
Had to run off some stress when I got home this afternoon. Had a huge thunderstorm that cooled the world down by 12 degrees. It was good to work up some sweat and let the stress of the day work itself out through my muscles and lungs. Dealing with sick addicted can drain your emotional energy. I ran my neighborhood 3 mile Trinity run and enjoyed the wet earth and the glistening flowers. Had a decent time of 28:14 at 9:24 per mile. Felt a lot better. Took this picture of my beautiful Petunias.
toadshade
toadshade
Monday, July 6, 2009
The Sop-Mop Southeast Park Seven
This was the inaugural run of this jog which combines South East Tennis Park with my Dickcissel Field run for total of seven miles. It was 90, still and humid and I was dripping with sweat 2 miles into the run. I took it slow and easy, took on a lot of water and had a decent time of it, in spite of the humid conditions. South East Park yielded a few birds - Eastern Kingbirds and Red-winged Blackbirds. Dickcissel Field provided me with a good glimpse of an Indigo Bunting before he flew into the cornfield. Again, a few Widow Darner dragonflies and quite a few of the various Sulphur butterflies along with a few Buckeyes. Really need to pick up a few short daily runs to go with these longer ones if I'm gonna get in shape for a backpacking adventure or a marathon.
toadshade
toadshade
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Southeast Park Revisited
As promised, I revisited this park to get an idea of what they were adding. I saw yesterday that they had a Wildflower Walk and trail that I only saw a part of, and reported the Heliotrope and Coreopsis. Today I explored the whole trail and it appears that the wildflower trail crosses the causeway and goes through a field where (I'm pretty sure) they have put out various Gaillardiae and Lance-leaf Coreopsis. They have also put out some real showy Hibiscus that really don't seem to fit the natural area. So in my wildflower database I'm only including flora that are endemic to the Lower Richland area. That would be the Gaillardia Pulchella (Firewheels), Lance-leaf Coreopsis, Maryland Meadow-Beauty, and Daisy Fleabane. It's to their credit that they are putting out different trails and distances since many people use this relatively small area for exercise. I may even start to include in my jogging routes. It's a decent birding area, especially in the fall and winter with the Field Sparrows. I birded the area and will include my eBird report below.
Location: Southeast Park
Observation date: 7/4/09
Number of species: 12
Turkey Vulture 1
Mississippi Kite 4
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Eastern Kingbird 1
Blue Jay 1
Carolina Chickadee 1
Tufted Titmouse 2
Carolina Wren 1
Northern Mockingbird 1
Eastern Towhee 1
Red-winged Blackbird 2
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)
toadshade
Friday, July 3, 2009
The Meadow-Beauty 10 Mile Liberation Run
In the spirit of the holiday I decided to liberate myself from good sense, caution, and the fact that I'm 58 years old and haven't run over 6 miles in a couple of months, and try a 10 miler. The logic I used to back up this wild surge of emotionalism was that - even though it's hot (88 degrees), the humidity was low (32) and there was a light wind. Therefore I should finish ok. Well I don't know about ok, but I did finish with a couple of walking breaks in the 10th mile. The heat was enough to zap the water from my body and my legs were pretty sore in the last 2 miles. It wasn't pretty by a long shot but I did finish. My time was 1:48:26 at 10:51 per mile.
I was somewhat inspired and energized by the natural world. The Maryland Meadow-Beauty pictured is one of the most common and beautiful of the summer wildflowers. It's usually seen about this time and later beside ponds and lakes. Another summer wildflower that blooms next to roadsides and in ditches was Smartweed (Polygonum sp). I haven't noticed these two species blooming this early before; but I wasn't keeping a blog before either. One of my points (or maybe the only one) in me writing this blog was to show how varied the natural world is; even on the 'same old jogging routes.'
As far as the birding world, I saw and heard my trusty Blue Grosbeak at the start of Dickcissel Field with a few House Finches in the Black Cherry trees. I'm no expert on Dragonflies but I did see quite a few Widow Darners and Banded Pennants flitting all along the dirt road.
I'm pretty excited about getting this 10 miler today. It's sometimes hard for me to get long runs in the summer. Mainly because I'm too lazy to get up early and beat the heat. But since I've been eating breakfast and waiting til 6 pm to run, I've experienced better, stronger runs. The next 10 miler won't be quite as crazy but just as liberating.
The wheel turns.
toadshade
I was somewhat inspired and energized by the natural world. The Maryland Meadow-Beauty pictured is one of the most common and beautiful of the summer wildflowers. It's usually seen about this time and later beside ponds and lakes. Another summer wildflower that blooms next to roadsides and in ditches was Smartweed (Polygonum sp). I haven't noticed these two species blooming this early before; but I wasn't keeping a blog before either. One of my points (or maybe the only one) in me writing this blog was to show how varied the natural world is; even on the 'same old jogging routes.'
As far as the birding world, I saw and heard my trusty Blue Grosbeak at the start of Dickcissel Field with a few House Finches in the Black Cherry trees. I'm no expert on Dragonflies but I did see quite a few Widow Darners and Banded Pennants flitting all along the dirt road.
I'm pretty excited about getting this 10 miler today. It's sometimes hard for me to get long runs in the summer. Mainly because I'm too lazy to get up early and beat the heat. But since I've been eating breakfast and waiting til 6 pm to run, I've experienced better, stronger runs. The next 10 miler won't be quite as crazy but just as liberating.
The wheel turns.
toadshade
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Southeast Park Summer Wildflowers
Decided to check out this local park about a mile from the house. I like to go there in Winter and Fall to catch the Field Sparrows and Phoebes. It's about a half mile walk around a manmade pond with a few swampy areas that attract the sparrows. It's mainly a tennis park but does provide a glimpse of nature very close to home when I don't have time to do anything else. This Black-eyed Susan pictured was planted by the park service and I included it because it caught the rays of the setting sun quite nicely. The trees have leafed out so there was very little in the way of blooming wildflowers. What I did find was Coreopsis major and heliotropium amplexicaule, which most people around mistake for Verbena (at least according to Porcher and the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas). These were growing on the edge of a small field near the park entrance. There were some Daisy Fleabane also and I saw some small Sassafras trees just coming up.
Even though it's small, the park does offer several different environments. It has plenty of Red Oaks, Sweetgum, and Hickory along with the Live Oaks. The pond is basically still water and doesn't attract many birds even though I've seen a Lesser Scaup there once and Green Herons seem to showing up more frequently. It's always good for a Pie-billed Grebe or two. Red-winged Blackbirds are there along with Orchard Orioles in Summer. Was only there for a minute and IDed 2 Eastern Bluebirds and a Mississippi Kite. Have a birding program for my iPhone that matched up perfectly with the sounds of the Bluebirds. Was easy to look up also. May visit this park for an update in a few days since I didn't get the chance to check out the fields and Live Oaks on the other side of the pond. A pretty good 24 minute stop over on the way to a meeting.
Happy 4th Everyone!
toadshade
Even though it's small, the park does offer several different environments. It has plenty of Red Oaks, Sweetgum, and Hickory along with the Live Oaks. The pond is basically still water and doesn't attract many birds even though I've seen a Lesser Scaup there once and Green Herons seem to showing up more frequently. It's always good for a Pie-billed Grebe or two. Red-winged Blackbirds are there along with Orchard Orioles in Summer. Was only there for a minute and IDed 2 Eastern Bluebirds and a Mississippi Kite. Have a birding program for my iPhone that matched up perfectly with the sounds of the Bluebirds. Was easy to look up also. May visit this park for an update in a few days since I didn't get the chance to check out the fields and Live Oaks on the other side of the pond. A pretty good 24 minute stop over on the way to a meeting.
Happy 4th Everyone!
toadshade
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
The Postal Bear 3
I took a quick 3 mile tempo run late this afternoon. Even though the temperature was 98, there was a good strong wind and low humidity. Had a great time of 27:27 which is 9:09 per mile. Came across this postal bear who seemed astonished at my blinding speed on this hot day. If the humidity stays down I should have a few good running days for the 4th of July holidays. Have a few functions to attend over the weekend but hope to get some nature walks and wildflower study in. All my hiking buddies are out of town visiting friends. Could go up to Table Rock.
toadshade
toadshade
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