Watermelon Jack-o-Lanterns

Looking through some old pictures and found watermelon jack-o-lanterns from October 31, 2004. There were some immature watermelons left in the patch that were never going to ripen due to the fall weather. It seemed like a novel idea to make them into a Halloween decoration. The inside cast an eerie red when lit up with a candle at night. Some of the trick-o-treaters found it amusing when visiting the house that evening. Working with these old digital images, we have come along way with digital photography!

Cut Watermelon 2019

In an earlier posting on this blog, I showed a picture of the first watermelon of the season, https://poppular.blogspot.com/2019/08/first-watermelon-of-season-2019.html. Over the weekend I cut that watermelon and it turned out to be very good. I forgot to weigh this Charleston Gray melon but I would guess it weighed about 20 pounds.

Sunset in Verona

Sunset in Verona, Italy in August 2019.

More Iceberg Pictures

Pictures taken from a Boeing 767 flown by Delta Airlines going from Rome, Italy to Detroit, Michigan, USA. A GPS reading from about a minute later showed our position at N 61°50'00.760" W 42°22'44.917", speed 485 mph altitude 33,595 feet, heading 260° on August 21, 2019 16:58 (Rome time). Location at Google Maps shows this to be at Sermersooq Municipality, Greenland.

https://goo.gl/maps/tEyCigUnQRxVEwa97

Glaciers in Greenland

Pictures taken from a Boeing 767 flown by Delta Airlines going from Rome, Italy to Detroit, Michigan, USA. A GPS reading from about a minute later showed our position at N 61°50'00.760" W 42°22'44.917", speed 485 mph altitude 33,595 feet, heading 260° on August 21, 2019 16:58 (Rome time). Location at Google Maps shows this to be at Sermersooq Municipality, Greenland.

https://goo.gl/maps/tEyCigUnQRxVEwa97

First Watermelon of Season 2019

Picked Charleston Gray watermelon. My watermelon crop this season is not good, it looks like I will only get 4 melons this year compared to 50 from last year. This crop did not get affected by fungus like last year. I planted different varieties of watermelon and also cantaloupes.

About 20 cantaloupes were in the field, most are the size of softballs. Two got to be about volleyball size but deer have started eating on them.
I also picked some cherry tomatoes and Concord grapes. Most of the Concord grapes were eaten by deer. I also picked a basil leaf.

Icebergs off the Coast of Greenland

Picture taken from a Boeing 767 flown by Delta Airlines going from Rome, Italy to Detroit, Michigan, USA. A GPS reading from about a minute later showed our position at N 61°50'00.760" W 42°22'44.917", speed 485 mph altitude 33,595 feet, heading 260° on August 21, 2019 16:58 (Rome time). Location at Google Maps shows this to be at Sermersooq Municipality, Greenland.

https://goo.gl/maps/tEyCigUnQRxVEwa97

A Cat Protecting Spoils from a Dog Painting

Picture of cat defending its prey (dead chicken) from a small dog. Painting is entitled A Cat Protecting Spoils from a Dog. It was painted by Dutch artist Dirk Valckenburg (1675-1721) in 1717. The Speed Art Museum (Louisville, Kentucky, USA) acquired the work in 2005 with help from the estate of Alice Speed Stoll. Image taken in early 2019. Not the detail of a closeup below of a fly sitting on a peach.

Queen of Tears Flowering for 2018

The Queen's Tear plant flowered in November (2 bloom stalks) and December (5 bloom stalks).

100th Anniversary of End of World War I

I visited the Zachary Taylor National Cemetery to pay respect to soldiers who served in World War I. The cemetery is located at 4701 Brownsboro Road in Louisville, Kentucky. A number of World War I veterans are buried at the cemetery including Ethel E. Ochsner (nurse), Dee Royalty (bugler), Lovell Marion Humphrey (1st Lt), and Felix H. Carrico (field artillery).

White Alligator at Louisville Zoo 2018

Here is a picture of an albino American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis). This alligator is named King Louie and resides in the Louisville Zoo. It was hatched and raised in Louisiana and then transferred to St. Augustine Alligator Farm in Florida. It was then acquired by the Louisville Zoo and the animal was named after the French King Louis XVI whom the city is named after.

Last time I visited this alligator was in April 2010. He is definitely a lot bigger. See this post http://poppular.blogspot.com/2010/04/white-alligator-at-louisville-zoo.html

Leaving Manhattan

A picture taken from the vehicle transporting us to the airport on July 22, 2018 morning. I believe it is a view of lower Manhattan. We were staying near Central Park in upper Manhattan.

2018 Potato Crop

I harvested the 2018 potato crop which was planted from remnants of the 2017 crop. I planted about 4 pounds of small potatoes and harvested about 2.4 pounds of small potatoes. They can be used to cook with green beans. Crop was grown in Clark County, Indiana, USA.

Watermelons 2018

After a number of years where I did not make a good effort to grow watermelons, this year I got a nice crop planted in Clark County, Indiana USA. New plastic in about a 50 foot by 20 foot plot was used. Eight hills planted with about 35 plants growing. The vines were growing great and the due to all the leaf coverage it was hard to tell how many melons there were going to be. It appeared that 20 pound melons were already forming by the beginning of August and my past crops did not mature till mid to late September. I was getting excited that I might have 40+ lb melons in September!

All my hopes were dashed when disaster struck. The leaves in the middle of the patch started to wilt soon the entire middle was dropped. Within the week almost all the leaves in the patch were brown or wilting exposing a lot of melons (possibly 50 or so). I picked two in the middle of the dead zone to see how far along they had gotten. They were a reddish-pink and had relatively large seeds. They were slightly sweet and were edible once refrigerated. The largest weighed a little over 16 pounds and the other 11 pounds.

I am hopeful that several of the larger melons at the end of the patch will ripen before all the plants are dead. Time will tell.

Crystal Growth on Pyrite

This picture is of pyrite crystals (reddish-yellow block shapes) with a white crystal growth on it. The images was taken Canon DSLR camera using a Anchor Optical Wide Field Stereo Microscope at 40 times magnification. The rock plate the crystals were found on is Waldron Shale from Bartholomew County, Indiana USA. It dates to the Silurian Period about 419 million years ago.

Tomatoes in August 2017

 Tomatoes grown in Louisville Kentucky USA in August 2017.

Orchids

Orchids seen at Home Depot in January 2018.

First Winter Snow

First snow of the season in Louisville, Kentucky, USA.

Dental Bridge circa 1840-1860

While on a visit to Charleston, South Carolina, USA in August 2017 I saw the most amazing thing. It was a solid gold bridgework set with ivory teeth at The Charleston Museum. The two pieces were listed as being fabricated in the United States somewhere between 1840 and 1860.

The odd thing, it was found in the privy of the Heyward-Washington House. So why solid gold objects would be thrown in an outhouse puzzles me? Was someone mad at the owner of these false teeth and put them there where it would be difficult to recover? Were they being hidden where no one would find them (maybe during the American Civil War)?

I suppose the answers are lost to the sands of time...

Last of the Tomato Crop

Here is an image of the last three tomatoes I grew in containers harvested in September 2017. I ended up using them on salads. Grown in Jefferson County, Kentucky, USA.