Melon Salad Melons and pumpkins Wagon full of produce Shallots + onions One (?) giant gourd plant Two rows of corn... Almost ready now! Squash ready for the picking Egg-plant... geddit? This one is actually shaped like an egg! Almost-ready Rattlesnake watermelon Two Asian melons... Almost ready! A big clump of elderberries ready to be picked Several ounces of hot peppers with tomatoes in the background Tomatoes! A pumpkin... in August? We're planning on vacationing  in mid-September... hopefully that'll be an interesting experience! Meanwhile, back at the ranch farm, August means LOTS of produce... especially melons! Asian melons, watermelons, cantaloupes, etc. etc. etc... The corn will probably be ready this weekend, so hopefully it'll be okay... School will start next week, and not everybody is excited ... 😕😕😕 Everything's going to be okay!

John Paul Hill 7/30/2020                   Why We Have Fly Swatters   One summer, a tired traveler sat down to rest. A fly came and started buzzing around the traveler's sweaty head. "Get away, fly," he mumbled (almost incomprehensibly). He tried to smack the fly, but instead succeeded in hitting his own head. When he hit his head, it stung, but he still slapped at the fly. When he failed, he became even more frustrated and angry. Finally, he realized his mistake. He thought, "We are likely to hurt only ourselves when we get so angry."

A daylily. Some sort of star thistle? Bachelor's button. Golden tickseed (Coreopsis tinctoria) Corn poppy (Papaver rhoeas) Toadflax? Creeping baby's-breath? Cosmos Chicory (Cichorium intybus) Capeweed (Arctotheca calendula) Rush skeletonweed (Chondrilla juncea) Eastern daisy fleabane (Erigeron annuu s)

John Paul Hill 6/17/2020                                   Scorpions Scorpions are not insects. They are arachnids, with eight legs, two pincers, and a barbed tail. They are found on every continent except Antarctica. All species of scorpion are venomous, but only about 30 have venom that can kill a human. They use their sting to paralyze their prey. They need very little air or food. They can even survive being kept in a freezer overnight! Scorpion babies ride on their mother's back. In China, scorpions are sold as a delicacy.

Common peony ( Paeonia officinalis) Large white trillium (Trillium grandiflorum) American yellowrocket (Barbarea orthoceras) Spotted geranium (Geranium maculatum) Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum) Garlic mustard ( Alliaria petiolata) Golden ragwort ( Packera aurea) Rue anemone ( Thalictrum thalictroides) White evening primrose (Oenothera speciosa) Redhot poker (Kniphofia uvaria) Virginia spiderwort (Tradescantia virginiana) A rose. Isn't it beautiful? Fragrant plantain lily (Hosta plantaginea)

Source Epiphanius was born in Besanduk, Palestine, around 315. He later became a monk and he actually spoke five languages! For a while, he lived in Egypt, but returned to Palestine in around 333. He built a monastery and was made superior of it. In 367, he was made a bishop and preached against Arianism. He died en route to Salamis in 403.