In one word.....Wow!

First of all I noticed what a chore of mowing you have to do. Hope that is a powerful mower....lol.

Second that tree is HUGE! I didn't realize apricot trees got that large. Dawn will want one more than ever when she sees the size of that one.

Third....those butterflies do love that fruit. What neat shots you got of them.

Now one question? Was there any fruit left for you?

Thanks for sharing those interesting photos.

G.M.

Hi G.M.

This is pasture north of the house. It belongs to the gentleman we bought the house from. He has someone mow it once a year whether it needs it or not :-). They usually bale it for hay.

The tree is very old for a stone fruit. The trunk is probably 12 inches in diameter. The fruit that's left is above the reach of deer. Amber and I will go out today with a 8 foot ladder and pick enough for a few batches of smoothies.

I may bring a bunch of the over ripe fruit to the yard to attract more butterflies around the house.

randy

Randy,

I think that is the largest stone fruit tree I have ever seen!

The butterflies and moths have been feasting on peaches knocked off the tree by the storm the other day. They also have been having a field day with the peaches on the 1/2 of the tree that the wind brought down. I still hope to get a harvest from the other half of the tree. Then we will do some pruning and try to save the tree.

I always throw old fruit along the fence row for the birds and butterflies. The bunnies come and nibble at the fruit too.

And, by the way, I am glad your neighbor mows his pasture at least once a year. We have a lot of people around us who never mow their pastures and those fallow fields accumulate tons and tons of thatch on the surface of the ground. Many of our worst wildfires in 2005-2006 where in those fields with the large thatch accumulation. Those fires are very hard to fight because there is so much fuel. This spring, many of those field have had HUGE amounts of wildflowers, so I think the fires helped rejuvnate them.

Dawn

Dawn

Me too, it's a monster.

I don't even know where the owner of the land lives anymore. It's just an investment he hopes to sell some day as more of the land close by is developed. Every time I see or talk to him, he wants to buy our property back.

With all the development of the land east of I-35 between Robinson and Tecumseh, it has us seeing dollar signs too. But that's on down the road quite a few years.

randy

Randy Those are some great photo's
I never new that butterfly's would gather like that on fruit

Great shots as usual Randy.

Reminds me of late fall DH and I went to Lake Konawa for a little evening fishing with the first grandson. The monarches were migrating. As evening approached they were massing in the trees for overnight. My GS and I just sat down and watched them for awhile. It was-----breathtaking!

Honestly you are quite a photographer. I am so glad when I do get online and you have posted your pixs. Thanks for the view!

By the way, how were the smoothies?

Steffie

Thanks sheepie58.

Steffie,

Thanks. Amber just got home from playing ultimate freesbee with a bunch of friends. Guess we'll make the trek later this afternoon.

She ate all the ones I picked yesterday before I could make one.

randy

Randy,

As hard as it is to believe, the land between us and the Thackerville area is being developed like crazy. Land that sold for about $1500 an acre ten years ago is now selling to either investors or commercial developers for about $40,000 per acre. The growth is because of the WinStar Casino.

An unfortunate drawback to the development is that people are fleeing the Thackerville area and moving closer to us. It isn't that I don't like people, but I sure liked our area more back when it was quieter and had less traffic. I am afraid that my days of wandering down to the mailbox while still wearing my pajamas are over. :(

I am afraid that someday someone will offer us $$$$ we can't afford to turn down. I hope not. When we moved here it was with the intention that we would stay here and live here for the rest of our lives. We did believe that growth would come up the I-35 corridor and make it to us eventually, but it is happening way too fast!

Bessie,

The butterflies and moths will eat fruit while it is still on the trees and long before it is ripe. I always ignore them. I don't mind sharing a few fruit with them. Luckily a lot of them will congregate on one or two or three peaches, instead of each of them picking a single piece of fruit. Lady bugs, flies and bees often join them.

In the summer, when there is no fruit on the trees or dewberries for them, I will put out some sort of fruit, or a vegetable with a high sugar content, like a watermelon or muskmelon, just for the wild ones to enjoy.

Steffie,

The first year that we lived here, the migrating monarchs congregated one night on a huge dead elm tree that was on the edge of the woods, about 45 feet from our bedroom window. The once-bare tree was so covered by butterflies that it looked like it had suddenly sprouted orange foliage. It was breathtakingly beautiful. I was hopeful that we would see them do that every year, but it hasn't happened since then, and the elm tree finally came down 2 years ago.

Randy,

Ultimate frisbee--that takes me back to our son's Cub Scout days. Seems like it was so very long ago. Nowadays we only play frisbee with the dogs.

Dawn

Great pictures, Randy! I hope you got to have your apricot smoothies. I love apricots. My grandma always made me apricot fried pies when I was young, and they're still my favorite. We had two old apricot trees but they were no where near as large as that tree! The bad ice storm we had on Christmas of 2000 took them both out though.

Dawn

Although we are in a rural setting, we aren't that far from a heavily populated area. When we first moved here, we could only see lights at night from 2 directions. We are surrounded now.

Dawna,

The smoothies were great. About 10 apricots, 3 strawberries for color, 1/2 cup of milk, and 10 ice cubes.

Plums are just starting to ripen and there is going to be a bunch of them. I have a couple of those motion sensor frogs I might put under the trees to encourage the deer to let us have our fair share. :-)

My grandmother also made a mean fried pie. That brings back fond memories.

Hi Y'alll,

When our neighbors gave us the apricots, I asked them what they were going to do with the 15 quarts they already had frozen, and she told me "I make apricot bread and fried pies...." So, I guess I will have to make some apricot fried pies to see what I am missing. I love fried pies, but I usually make them with cherries, apples or peaches.

Randy,

Neighborhoods sure can change quickly in rural areas.

When we bought our land in 1997, there was only a gravel road leading west from Hwy. 77 and then a dirt road that ran off the gravel road to our property and to the houses a mile or so up the road. There was an old bridge that was closed for repair about a mile and a half north of us, so NO ONE ever came down our road. For the couple of years that the bridge was closed and being repaired, we never had ANY traffic. We also had no TV reception and no internet service available to us. It was as if we had moved to the middle of a deserted island.

It was so quiet that, when a neighbor of ours lit the pilot light on her stove and it flamed up in her face, we could hear her screaming for help, and she was about one-third of a mile from us!

Now both those roads are paved. We still can see only one house from our house, but there are actually 6 or 8 houses, 2 of them brand new, within about a mile of our house. We can see the lights from 3 houses, 2 of which are separated from us by fairly heavily wooded areas. Oh, and we can barely see headlights (sometimes) of vehicle on I-35.

I still consider us to be in a rural location, but it sure isn't nearly as rural as it used to be.

Dawn

Randy, those are Hackberry Emperors, with maybe a few Tawnies thrown in. They LOVE rotting fruit. They would rather have that than anything else.

Watch for the Question Marks, too, as well as Red Admirals, that also LOVE rotting fruit.

You are so lucky! I put rotting bananas and watermelon out for mine. I have lots of Hackberries and Tawnies because my entire yard is lined with Hackberry trees.

Hackberry butterflies are VERY friendly, too. They love the sweat you emit - any old kind of body odor, and will land on you to treat themselves to it!

Susan