Crape myrtle

| edwinridout


Crape myrtle, just planted, 27″ tall. We’ve wanted one of these for ages, but didn’t know where to put it. After we bought this one, we still didn’t know, as we don’t have many spots likely to give it the full days of sun. Maybe this’ll do.

Black snake down

| edwinridout


This poor guy got thoroughly tangled in the plastic net we had put around the tomatoes. I was able to free him after about ten minutes of snipping, but he got in a shot at me before I could get another of him. We don’t know how long he was stuck, but think it had to be less than 24 hours. There were tight loops around him in lots of places, and I’m pretty sure I got them all cut off. Some were very constricting around his mid-section, and there may have been some damage to his skin there — or it might just have been ruffled scales. I was trying to see when he zapped me.

Went berry picking Friday

| edwinridout


At Westmoreland Berry Farm in the Northern Neck, about an hour east of Fredericksburg. After picking our raspberries and blueberries, we enjoyed ice cream on the porch, looking west from the rocking chairs overlooking the fields. That’s white plastic for strawberries beyond the picnic tables. I think the occasional sparkle through the distant trees may be the river. Below, location A, with map showing Rappahannock River estuary and state route 3 upper right.

A bit more on the Northern Neck:

Bodies of water, from right to left and counter-clockwise, are Atlantic Ocean, Chesapeake Bay, Potomac River, and Rappahannock River. The Northern Neck is the rural and somewhat remote peninsular between the Potomac and the Rappahannock, first visited (as a prisoner of the Powhatans) by John Smith in 1607. It has 1,100 miles of coastline, no cities, many small farms, and a growing number of vineyards.