Wild Flowers

On our walk over to Mary's Woods yesterday, Maggie took me out at the knees. I am sure she meant no harm. Just playing. Problem is, it hurt like Hell. She hit me at full speed on my right knee and drove it backwards. As I went down I remembered thinking this was going to take awhile to heal. 

It is now the next day and I was right. The knee is stiff and swollen and complains with every step. I try to limit the discomfort of being 72 by first, not falling down and second, not taking any kind of hit on my knees, ankles or hips. Yesterday's tumble it seems has created unhappiness in all three joints. 

Just fuckin great. 

This morning I was determined to not cave to the aches and pains I woke up with. Maggie and I headed across the road and I gimped and limped my way through a 45 minute walk. I didn't cover much ground in those 45 minutes, but Maggie sure did. She came home happy. I came home.

While we were traipsing around Mary's Preserve, I decided to check on the small cluster of Rattlesnake orchids that have existed 70 feet off the trail for over 50 years. I was concerned as the last snowstorm turned southern Maine into a FEMA site. Acton specifically, was close to, if not right on top of Ground Zero. Lots of branches down. Lots of trees uprooted. The deadfalls were everywhere.

Because these little orchids are hard to find, especially in the Spring and early summer, it took me a few minutes to locate them. Their site had been spared any major disturbance and I was happy to see the Rattlesnake patch doing well. There may even have been some expansion.

There are several kinds of Rattlesnake Orchids. The patches I find in the woods around here are specifically named "Downy rattlesnake-plantain". They exist in odd spaces and blend in so well, they seem to be invisible; that is, until the end of summer when they might produce flowers. I have only seen this patch produce flowers a few times. Another bunch further into the pucker on private property is larger and I always find flowers there when I check in August.

Downy rattlesnake-plantains are found throughout the USA and southern Canada. Maine recommends leaving them alone as they are not common and very rarely are they successfully transplanted. Their nutritional needs are specific and don't exist many places.

So there you have it; another successful post by MRMacrum that does not mention the orange shit gibbon or the total clusterfuck that makes up current events today. I hope to continue my boycott of all things MAGA. Each day I do, I can feel a little more sanity creeping back into my soul.

Later Gators .................................

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I definitely created a monster when I decided to add a musical number to each post. Some days it is easy; the post points to a tune or a tune points to a post and finding a song is the easiest part of  of creating the post. Other days like today, I am floundering hard. ........ What song works here?

It took awhile before I had an epiphany. A song I have always liked came to mind. Not only did it fit my mindset, It gave me the title for the post. Please enjoy "Wildflowers" by Tom Petty.