That's an interesting idea, growing gourds. I have only used them on the table or around the house for Fall decorations, although I had heard of the gourd bird houses before. I don't have a drill, so maybe that's why it never occurred to me to make my own. I like the white color, did you spray them or brush paint them? Most of my outdoor items could use some sprucing up.
Diane, I bought my first gourds from a local man who grew them. I grow my own now. I have some under the carport now that I had my son drill the holes in. I have to soak them, clean them out and paint them next week. The martins have been back a few weeks and are going to start nesting right away. I have a fancy martin house but they have never nested in it. I spent about $300 dollars on it. I wish I had my money back. I also see this out my window. I envy you your oriels. I have never seen one. They only pass through here when they are migrating.
Amazing shots of the Bluebirds Shirley.. we had Baltimore Orioles when we lived up in Maine, ive not seen any here where we live now. I miss them. so colorful, I got this pic off the web..Sorry I cheated.. suppose to be out my window but this is... I WISH IT WAS OUT MY WINDOW !!
Have plenty of these around in south Texas .... They don't seem to know day from night anymore. They HOOT whenever the mood strikes them!
Not the greatest pic, but one of the streets in my neighborhood the other day. Flooding has gone down, but more water is expected, so fingers crossed. Apparently it did go into some of the homes, but this house has never flooded, and God willing, it never will.
That's a lot of water, Diane. Thank goodness it didn't get into your house. This is a hanging basket that my son made for me from one of my gourds. I have a sweet potato planted in it.
Shirley, that is a fantasic idea to use those gourds. this summer we will go to the Amish village again and I will buy a few more gourds and DH can cut it like you did for the sweet tater plant.. !!! they sell for 1 dollar each,,so its worth it for me.. Diane, that really looks bad, been hearing of all that flooding going on. stay safe dear.. This what im seeing out my front windows and door now. we are having some big ole trees harvested near our little creek....its going to be a mess for a while til we can get it cleaned up.... when they are finished I will show you what it looks like.. may be awhile though, we still have many big trees to get rid of yet..
@Shirley Martin That's a really good idea. Is that a sweet potato vine as in the ones that throw off long pieces with purple flowers, or something you can actually eat? I have some of the former, but not the latter. When I'm feeling better, I want to tackle more on the balcony, I need to replant the carrots, since I messed up and now the bird seed is falling into that pot and confusing everything. @Louise Williams That's nothing, it's really scarily deep where some of the others live. It's difficult to tell which areas will flood, it all seems to be a case of how much rain falls how quickly, and they've had some new construction that apparently has caused issues with drainage . Even down in this area, though an assisted living facility had to be evacuated. That land is beautiful, I'm looking forward to seeing more pictures!
I'll have to do some research. Mine throws out runners too, but I've never seen anything resembling actual sweet potatoes, although I guess I've never dug down to check. I took this picture yesterday afternoon. The sky was pretty dramatic. I guess I need to clean the camera lens on my tablet, that dot is appearing in the pics now, but I still like the sun rays and the contrast between the sun and clouds.
That is beautiful. That dot reminds me a while back when I took some glorious pictures with my camera. I put them on the computer and there was a big blur in every one of them. Then I remembered that Bubba had been "Taking pictures" with my camera. He had left one of his greasy little finger prints on the lens.
Haha, hopefully you noticed that before taking any important pictures. I wish my tablet would take better sunrise and sunset pictures, but the light sensor doesn't seem to be the best. The sky was just amazing, very pretty pink with the sunrise, but the tablet camera barely registered it, unfortunately, so I don't have a picture to post.