May 17

.

Walking.

Maple leaf, growing directly out of the trunk of the tree.  This leaf was  about 1.5" across.

I don't care much about motorized devices of any sort, but I am interested in watching almost anything done skillfully.

These guys were artists at driving these machines.

I was so spellbound, watching the little front-end loader get onto the trailer, that I didn't take any pics.

The guy drove it, forward, straight up onto the trailer, and then turned it around so it was facing backwards, ON THE TRAILER!  Its little treads were well over the edge of the side of the trailer I could see, and I bet they were off the other side, too.  !!!  All I could think was "If that falls off there, it will be Very Bad!"

But it did not fall off.  It neatly and precisely turned 180 degrees, right in place, and then backed up to the front of the trailer.  Then the digger guy drove up.  You can see that the fronts of its treads are not touching the trailer at this point.

When it got high enough, it tipped down onto the trailer, and was driven up until its treads touched the front-end loader's loader.   Then it, too, turned to face backwards.  Unlike the front-end loader, its treads didn't move; it rotated on stationary treads.

Here it is, nearly backwards.

Goodness.  What we see here, is the digger part on the ground, pushing so far down that the machine's treads are lifted right up.

This is in service of making space under the treads to allow the trailer's two ramp bits to be folded up.  See the guy, right bottom, lifting one of the ramps?  It will neatly miss the tread, and fold down right under it.

Here we can see the folded ramp, resulting in a flat top for the trailer.  The digger is about to lift the digging part, and put it on the trailer.

All folded up for transport.

Large dump truck, with other equipment stowed.  I presume they were going to chain down the two yellow machines, but I didn't stick around to watch that part of the proceedings.

Those guys had clearly one all of this before!  Many times!  Nice work, precisely and neatly done.

Walking on.  Iris (with Japanese lilacs in the background).

 

The much-darker bit, top center, is the next bud, getting ready to open.

 Last year I thought this stuff was phlox, until my buddy K pointed out it was Dame's Rocket.  Doesn't it have excellent seed pods?   The back-lighting lets us see the seeds inside the pods....

Peony.  I suspect this is Festivus Maximus, an old variety that is one of my favorites.  In addition to being gorgeous, it smells good.

Japanese lilac.

Iris.

This is the sort of maple that has dark purple leaves during the growing season.  When the leaves are brand new, they are red.

.