Double Spider Web

Two webs very close together, double trouble for flying insects!

Watermelon Seedlings

A wide body printer we have at work has cardboard tubes left after it finishes a 500' roll of paper. For a while I was trying to figure out how to use these rolls. After cutting a roll into 4-6" segments, I capped one end and then filled it with potting soil.

I then planted Charleston Gray watermelon seeds saved from last years harvest. I was not sure the seeds would get warm enough in the sunroom yet. It turns out they did and 3 seedlings have appeared. It might be warm enough by next month to put them into the ground.

Tomato Seedlings

In April of 2020 I started some heirloom tomato seeds in various containers. I think I planted over 30 seeds with 26 plants appearing. One seedling died and I planted two more plants outside. The weather is still not quite warm enough but soon after planting the plants were uprooted. I think a chipmunk started digging, but I am not sure.

Hopefully, these plants will produce a good crop of tomatoes this year!

Echinarachnius parma? Sand Dollar

I have had several sand dollars in box since childhood that I never knew the name of. Some of them have a gradient of brown across the surface. The shades of color remind me of the skin of marshmallow as it is being roasted over a campfire.

I cannot remember if I collected them on a beach in Massachusetts, North Carolina or Florida. They might have been given to me by our hosts on one of those trips as well. Unfortunately, digital cameras were not prevalent back then so no pictures were taken or these finds documented.

What I believe them to be are Echinarachnius parma sand dollar (echinoderm). It is also known as the Atlantic Sand Dollar. The species named by Lamarck in 1816 and the genus named by Gray in 1825.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echinarachnius_parma