The Dormans at Home on a Summer Day

A great-grandnephew of John and Ella Dorman recently sent me this wonderful family photo:


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Image courtesy of James Dorman Greene.

It was taken circa 1907 at Summit Lawn, where the Indian Ridge Golf Course now operates.

Ella Dorman is standing at center. John is seated at right. The boy in the toy automobile is little Winston, who would not live to be named in the 1910 census. The boy standing behind him is probably his brother, Harold. The others are not identified.

It's summer, obviously — leaves everywhere; light clothing, shirtsleeves, and bare feet. Looking at the two American flags on display, I'm inclined to think the family is celebrating Independence Day.

Winston's toy auto is interesting, isn't it? It's probably a pedal car, resembling the full-size autos of the time (minus the headlights). Automobiles for adults were just beginning to be popular in this area. A little boy with a miniature auto suggests financially comfortable parents, who liked to give their children nice things.

The other boy is riding a tricycle of the penny-farthing style that was popular in the 1880s.

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From the same Dorman descendant comes this circa-1935 photo of the Summit Lawn house …


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Images courtesy of James Dorman Greene.

… and these portraits, also circa 1935, of Ella and John Dorman:




These images are from a complete copy of Rose Mathew Dorman's family history booklet, which I will soon substitute for the incomplete copy I posted earlier.

Incipient Hornet's Nest

Recently I noticed this strange little nest under the eaves on the back of my house.


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If you climb up a ladder and get close enough to it, you can see the hexagonal cells inside.



After checking around on the internet, I have decided that this is how hornet's nests start out. We've already seen how they end up.

The bad news is, it's right in my back yard, about 3 feet above my head and 5 feet from my back door. The good news is, I haven't seen any activity in or around it since I first noticed it. I'm hoping and praying that it's been abandoned.


Here is a time-lapse video of a hornet queen building her nest almost from the very start.

Here is a time-lapse video in which you can see the pupae wiggling in their little hexagonal cells.

Here is a longer video by a guy who thinks that having a hornet's nest in your back yard is not a problem.

Midland Painted Turtle

My little dog has one type of bark that means, "The UPS truck has stopped in front of our house. You ought to know about this." He has another type of bark that means, "The UPS guy is on our porch! Right here! Right now!" It can also mean, "The raccoon is climbing the fence! Hurry and help me catch him!" or, "I've cornered a woodchuck in the back yard! Hurry or he'll kill me!" In this case it meant, "A turtle is wedged against the fence and waving its little arms and legs trying to get loose! I've never seen such a thing!"

I'm glad the dog told me about it. I would never have noticed the poor turtle stuck there.

Anyway, I rescued the turtle, took some pics to post in the IN Nature group on Facebook for help with ID, and set it loose.


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Wild Gooseberries

These little shrubs or canes were blooming in my field in late April. I believe they are Gooseberries.


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The little flowers are not spectacular, but I think they're pretty.

I am going to have to find these things again in a couple of months to see what the berries look like (if the critters leave any for me).

Someday I'm Going to Murder the Bugleherb

I was out mowing my field, trying to reclaim it from the Pale Dogwood before any birds build nests out there, when I noticed these lovely little purple flowers with reddish leaves, growing where nobody had planted them.


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After identifying them and doing a little research, I learned that I have to kill them. They are Bugleherb, a non-native invasive species.


(Link for those of you who don't know the song that gives this post its title: https://youtu.be/ug-pRQydlRs?si=JNsdnVkVirX4COCX)

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In happier news, the two or three Mayapples I found at the edge of my field a few years ago have now become a whole colony.







That's a big leaf, isn't it? (Hand for scale.)