R.I.P. Uncle George

 

My Uncle George Popp (September 1, 1929-December 1, 2020) was buried on December 10, 2020. This fuchsia colored rose was part of his funeral arrangement. 

Memories of Uncle George is of a very tall man who did a lot of outdoors things (hunting, fishing, gardening, woodworking). He introduced me to snapping turtle soup. We tended to catch a lot of snapping turtles in the creek running through our backyard at my childhood home. In August of this year I saw some snapping turtles near my watermelon garden. It was the first time in decades I had seen this type of turtle out of water.

We had a family retreat on the Little Blue River in Crawford County, Indiana. He was able to catch a spoon bill catfish (American paddlefish or Polyodon spathula) there. The only one I have seen in person.

He worked and retired from the Armour Star meat packing company. Another childhood memory was when our families bought a slaughtered hog and the process of butchering it. It is my only experience of being up close to when pork sausage was made and day still is with me.

Aunt Mary Jean and Uncle George's house was only 2 miles from our home. I would cycle there from time to time. Also after I returned to Indiana after college, several times I cycled there from a home maybe 10 miles away.

Also remember birthday or other family parties at their house where home made ice cream was made. Such a treat.

All in all, I hope my aunt and uncle are now together again in some form after 70 years of marriage.

Requiescat in pace.

Hosta Flower

The Hosta flowers are beginning to bloom in Louisville, Kentucky.

Yellow-Red Flower at Cemetery

After an internment at the Cave Hill Cemetery (Louisville, Kentucky) on June 20, 2020 from that site I walked up the hill to Muhammad Ali's grave site. This picture is of a very nice yellow-red Sanibel Tropical Hibiscus flower. Below is a picture of his grave site.
 

Purple Iris 2020

 The Russian Iris bloomed in May 2020 and here are the pictures.

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