Bearing fruit

We were walking around on our piece of land the other day and were pleasantly surprised to find a wild tree bearing fruit - lots of fruit for such a small tree. I vaguely recognized them, and decided we better research on the internet before attempting a taste. I found out they are persimmons, which are common in the Ozarks. Although I have seen them in the grocery store, I've never bought any due to their high price. According to the site I found, persimmons are known to be very sweet when they are very ripe, but quite bitter before fully ripened.

We were planning to start a little orchard right around there with some apple and Fig trees, and I am thrilled that we already have an established fruit tree growing wild in that same area of the land. Now if we could only find a pecan tree, I would be in heaven. :o)

Tick tick tick

OK, I'm getting really grossed out by all the ticks we are finding. Yesterday we worked out in the yard for a couple of hours. We wore pants and sprayed ourselves with bug repellent. Later that night, I found one very small tick on my daughter, and then another small one on myself. Luckily those didn't hurt at all since they were so small.

Then today, we pulled three more ticks off our dog. We use Canine Advantix on her once a month, but I think we will try Frontline next time because I heard it works better at repelling ticks. The worst one was a very huge tick (a quarter of an inch across) on her lower lip. There was bruising around it and it bled when we removed the tick. Eeewwwwww.

One of my very favorite sounds

This week, I started hearing the glorious "cooing" of Mourning Doves. This sound always relaxes me and sends my mind to a "happy place". It reminds me of lazy summer days swinging in the hammock in our backyard as a child. I have a book on wild birds that tells you which plants to choose for your yard to attract certain types of birds. I had done some research on Mourning Doves to make sure we could attract them to our yard, but apparently they are already here and I am so glad!