It's been a while since I posted flower photos . . .

. . . So, I thought I'd post a few today.

Weekly update - July 14, 2021

Here is our weekly update for July 14, 2021. 

Wives of sons and grandsons

·         All inputters (except Heather) are now working on the wives data collection

o   We’ve collected 1,645 wives of 1,492 sons and grandsons

o   We’ve completed 14.9% of the sample

# Sons of veteran	513
# Grandsons of veteran	979
# Wives of sons and grandsons	1645
# Veterans complete	292
Total # veterans	1962
% sample complete	14.9

 

Draft cards

·         Coralee is working on getting the draft card data for Dora. 

MVCC Screens

·         The 1850, 1860 and 1870 pages have been released on MVCC, leaving only 1880 as the remaining data collection page. After that is released, we plan to add minor but necessary functionality to facilitate correction of data issues, then build the ability to generate reports.

Weekly update - July 7, 2021

Here is our weekly update for July 7, 2021.

Wives of sons and grandsons

·         All inputters (except Heather) are now working on the wives data collection

o   We’ve collected 1,346 wives of 1,222 sons and grandsons

o   We’ve completed 12.5% of the sample

# Sons of veteran	421
# Grandsons of veteran	801
# Wives of sons and grandsons	1346
# Veterans complete	245
Total # veterans	1962
% sample complete	12.5

 

Extra 1,067 Sons sample

·         The Extra Sons data (without draft cards) is almost compiled and should be ready by the end of the week.  Coralee and Heather are just working on some simple gender and age issues that can easily be worked out. 

MVCC Screens

·         All decades 1900-1940 are up and available.  Giles easily completed 1850 and 1860 except for one bug with the submit button that is proving tricky to overcome.  We hope it will be fixed soon so she can work on 1870 and 1880.  After all the decades are up, Giles will begin working on the report functions.

Yards without lawns

Several weeks ago, a few of you asked to see some photos of yards without grass lawns. I've been reluctant to post photos, because they are not very good. I do much better photographing individual or small groups of flowers. But, I gave it a try. In addition to the photos, there are some links to resources if you want to replace some of your grass with native plants, grasses and flowers. Sometime in the future, I'm hoping to help my aunt convert some of her land in Wyoming to native prairie grass and wildflowers. I think it will be both beautiful and good for the environment. Plus, it will give her horses a new place to explore.

Here are some photos from my neighborhood. Of course, your results would look different if you live in a different climate.

I'm not sure if there is grass at the top of these stairs or not, but the yard is filled with azaleas, hydrangea, lilies, and trees. This week, they painted the steps with designs that I haven't photographed yet.

The above three photos are the same yard. I included them all, because I couldn't get a good view. They still have grass, but at the center of the yard, there are pieces of an old tree they must have chopped down (before I began walking past their yard). In the last few weeks, all these wildflowers started blooming. It is beautiful!

I couldn't get a good picture of this place, but it is an Audubon certified habitat.

This yard has a mix of ground cover, flowering plants, maybe some food plants (I'm not really sure), and not pictured here (I think this is the yard), they also have a pear tree, that they attempted to partially protect from cicadas but didn't do a very good job of it.

The above two are the same yard, two sides of it. I think there are some grass paths.

The above two photos are the same yard. There are a lot of yards that have a steep incline before the flat surface of the yard. People will often use ground cover or flowers, so they don't have to mow it. I don't know if there is grass behind the fence. These terraced flower beds have different plants growing in them all through spring and summer.

The above four photos are from one of my favorite yards. She has some grass paths that she seems to use to get to the plants in her yard.

Additional resources

Here is an article from the Washington Post about making your yard a little more eco-friendly.

Here is a link to the National Wildlife Federation's Native Plant Finder. You can search by zip code to find what plants are native to your area. After that, you can do an online search for places to buy those plants.

Here is where to buy Doug Tallamy's book Nature's Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard that was mentioned in the Washington Post article. Someone recommended this book to me the other day. Tallamy also has several other books that might be of interest.

I'm not suggesting that you get rid of all your grass. I have good memories of lying in the grass as a child and watching meteor showers. But, a yard full of native plants can attract birds, butterflies, and other wildlife to your yard, making it a more beautiful and interesting place. It can also help all the birds and insects who are struggling because of loss of habitat, and pesticide use. Bonus, you'll probably save money (in the long run, definitely not up front).