January 2012- Happy New Year!!!

New thread for a new year!!!

Glad everyone had a great New Years. I hung out with a friend and my dog neice last night. We were both pretty tired and kept wanting to fall asleep but we made it to the new year. lol. Came home pretty quick after that and went to bed.

Today we are taking advantage of the holiday and putting down our new wood floors. The floor will start going down tomorrow. Today (and tonight...still going) we are just prepping the plywood subfloor. Been a long day today!!!

Ack! Putting down a new floor, that is some hard work, Pepper! Thanks Pepper, for making a new thread. I'm looking forward to the 'Penny Lane' climbing Rose shipment we're getting in the Spring!
I'm glad to say that my houseplant season is doing alright. I miss looking at my green plants outside, not inside! In the meantime I can work on the landscaping, I put down another section of Landscape edging yesterday, it's in the photo, (the new part is above the wagon in the photo). There is still a bunch to do by Spring.

23°/26°/13°
Decreasing clouds with strong and gusty winds. Temperatures steady in the low 20s. Winds NW at 25 to 35 mph.

Happ,
I'm kind of glad too :o)
It's nice that your Mom could enjoy the violets. They would be my choice for blooming houseplants. They are like an old friend, since my Mom had them too.
Oh my, I've never heard of anyone getting it either. Just goes to show it's real.
I'm also glad he kept the cat, LOL!

Will, a small lizard would be nice to start with. When you get used to taking care of one, you might get a second :o)
Just Google Lumens. The store will list the lumens their lights have and it will be easy to pick a bulb. I think the new thin bulbs run cooler too. No more scorching tiny starts.

Thank you Pepper!
Grinning over making it till Midnight, LOL!!
New floor! Awesome! We put our laminate down ourselves and it took one day to do it and part of the second just to finish trim and cutting smaller pieces to fit in. It went well tho!

Will,
Thankfully you will be there to do all those things even tho the lady passed. I'm sure she had a good look at all you've done on her way up and was delighted.

Pepper to the rescue with our new thread!

Wow the winds today are brutel and cold! Least a good day for cleaning which I have done a little of, but thinking of getting with it in a minute...rofl.

Got some new great flower pots for Christmas. Spent yesterday watering the solar room. Love these sunny days but watering gets old when I have to carry it out there.

We went out for New Years and I am glad. Could of lived without Auld Lang Syne short of TAPS I think that is the sadiest song always thought it was sad. But was surrounded with lots of friends and DH. Got home around 2am, I was surprised to see the rain.

Sending you all our cold weather. Don't have a thermometer, but sure is cold outside. Windy from NW.
Supposed to warm to 50º by Thursday.

I got a lizard from Craigslist today, I got it free even. The guy found out that it's illegal to sell wild caught lizards, so he gave it to me. It's just a little light brown lizard. I don't know what kind, he called it a "fence lizard".
I'll need to get a bigger terrarium before I can get another lizard, this one is only ten gallon. Here it is today in the photo. -

Thanks for sending the cold weather down here from MN. there, Bernie, it is quite cool now!

I Googled that ol lumen, there is that word lux, I've used that word in Scrabble before! Thanks billyp, I'm determined to get some decent lights someday!

Yeah, the elderly, disabled lady I'm pretty sure was going up there! I'd get her something to eat or drink or just check on her or something and she was always saying stuff like, "God bless you", she was a believer too.
One of the hospice people that came here was a chaplain.

Hi all.
My little daffodil was still blooming about four days ago. We have had a cold spell right now: teens last night. It is going to warm up hence forth.
I have a Sweet William full of little fuchsia buds just waiting for a couple of warm days. This is the same bed that my little daffodil is in.
I have been spending time shopping via computer for seeds to start for winter sowing. I bought mostly perennial flowers and just two annuals.
I have also been trying to put which flowers bloom when so I can arrange my gardens to have flowers bloom at the same time and compliment each other with the correct colors. For me, it's a real challenge. Every year, I tell my self I am going to record what blooms when. I start out really well. Then, all of a sudden all of the flowers are blooming at the same time and then, I quit recording. I wish Dave's Garden had a forum that recorded such information. Maybe there's one out there somewhere that I don't know about. If you know where this info. is, please let me know.
I am excited about the seeds I ordered.
Birdie

Anybody want to see something funny? Check out this coupon that I got from toyotanation.com where I've been trying to find out some stuff about my car.
That coupon says, "buy 2 tires, get 2 free". Which looks like a great deal until you read more further on down, which says with "premium installation".
Just curious, what's that mean? They put the lugnuts on tight?! lol I'm easily amused! haha!

Man, it needs to start getting cold here! I put some Elephant Ears, my Tropicanna and some other plants that need to go dormant in the garage for the Winter and their not gonna do it if it is always this warm! I'm hoping their not needing water right now! And I noticed some planted stuff outside has buds on them!

I remember I was excited about seeds I had coming other years, I'm usually not disappointed with seeds. Seeds coming in the mail seem to always have a little, (okay a lot) of consideration for me that the seeds might be bad and not sprout for some reason. One thing that I was so disappointed in from seedrack was the lack of letting it be known that the majority of seeds that I got from them had not been stratified yet. Which meant that they couldn't be planted right away with the intent of having a sprouted plant that Spring. The vast majority of my seeds from them shoulda been put directly in the fridge right after receiving them in the mail so they MIGHT sprout by August, depending on when their received in the mail of course. Unfortunately for me, I planted most of my seeds in pots before I realized that. So, now I have a bunch of black pots in the garage full of dirt and seeds!



This message was edited Jan 6, 2012 1:02 AM

It was so nice outside today, I spent some of it pulling weeds. I left this garden "as is" for the winter as plumbers had destroyed the entire bed last spring. I wanted to see what might come back.

I hid from my dad who is still working on the floor by leaving the house for a few hours, ran out of things to do so came home and got a headache. lol. It's middle of winter. Weed pulling isn't allowed. lol

Marking my spot. I have two little boys bugging me.

birder, DG has that journal section, have you seen that? The tab that says MyTools, I have sort of, kind of, kept mine up.
But to get ideas on how the other DGers are using the journal and/or blog, click on the tap Communities, then click on Gardening Blogs and you can read how other members are using their blog and then on Gardening Journal you can see how they are using it. You can make both private so other people can't see it when you do yours if you want. It is a good winter project for sure. I really am trying to get the journal up to date.

22°/42°/27°
Mostly cloudy skies this morning will become partly cloudy this afternoon. Winds light and variable.

Happ,
Yes, Auld Lang Syne is depressing, LOL!!

Will,
What a great little lizard and nicer than I pictured. I had a chameleon shape in mind. I like him!! And free, awesome!

Birder,
It is nice to keep records!

Will,
Grinning over the ad. I was amused too :o)

Pepper,
Grinning over hiding from your Dad :o)

Yesterday was nice, but with a chilly wind. I took the boys out anyway for clean, fresh air. I hung clothes too. They also got to hand auger holes in the old peach stump we are going to get get rid of this year. It's cut ground level and softened nicely.

This morning, as I was letting the outdoor cats in I heard a hoot owl up north, and up. One was in our front tree. Love to hear them hoot, but always worry about the outdoor cats becoming a meal. Both outdoor cats were here so all is well another day.

Less than three months till the start of warm...ish weather :o)

Hope you are right about warmish weather in 3 months there Billyp.....sounds like the boys had a great time, cold doesn't bother kids especially if they are playing. I hear people say you'll catch cold from the cold, but I have read so many times that it comes from low humidity and loss of vitamin D and all of us folks cramming ourselves all together in closed quarters. Read somewhere that there are very few colds or flu in the tropics because of humidity. Course in the tropics you get all the other great diseases...rofl.

Well I walked around yesterday and I have a micro climate, with roses in it. One still has green leaves and another is budding out....good grief. Not that I don't love the warm weather, but!! Now calling for single digits later in the week. I am going to have to watch these guys so I don't lose them. I think my big peely bark birch tree is budding out also. Course that would be the seeds that will fall all over the place. Not sure I care if they get zapped as long as the tree isn't hurt. I should of picked up all the pots that were blown all over the place during the strong winds but I didn't.

Single digits? I hope snow comes with it!! LOL.

I went to a pet store and got some crickets for my little lizard to eat, today. Oh, it's much smaller than a Chameleon. Coincidentally, I saw a couple of Chameleons at the pet store, they were $179 apiece, that mighta included the tank I don't know. They were neat, they were more like a foot long with the tail. They must cling and climb kinda like monkeys, the way they wrap their feet and even their tail around branches and the stuff they climb on. No Chameleon for me yet, my 10 gallon tank is too small.

Yeah, this warm weather is a bummer for the plants, poor things think it's Spring! I think it goes that the swelled buds are only lost if they open. I wouldn't think it stays warm enuff long enuff for buds to open but I've been wrong before. 3 mos., I am also good with that, I hope it's right! I remember that the second week of January is traditionally the coldest time of the year here they say, I don't think it's gonna work that way this year. Although, it's supposed to cool way off, so we'll see how cold it gets this week.

There is kinda a micro-climate here too in the backyard. That dark red climbing rose from you, happ, also has green leaves back there!

I've really been tempted by houseplants from Walmart lately! I've been trying to get houseplants that go good in a hanging basket because those are easier to find a place for in the warm and cold seasons.
I couldn't pass up 4 new houseplants, a variegated ivy in a small hanging basket, for $9, a Sansevieria, (the mother-in-Law's tongue not the Snakeplant Sanseveriea, I already have a tiny one of those too), it was only $2.75, another Ivy 'Primadonna' for $4.50, it's a Helix hedera like the variegated one and the regular, green one, and last but not least, a regular green Ivy, it's just a smaller (cheaper) version of the variegated one, for $2.75. Here is the noobs in the photo, the $9 Ivy is on the next below shelf. I have more cheap little houseplants from the box stores than you can shake a stick at! I'll put a photo of most of them in the next photo.

Here is a bigger view of more little houseplants. Those 2 little ones in the front on the right are 50 cent plants, some days they look good and other days not so good.
Will

Ah, Happ, there's another day to pick up pots! You need to enjoy this beautiful weather. We're having another gorgeous day today.
Thanks for the heads up on the record keeping. I tried to use the journal once about three years ago and somehow had it became all messed up so have been a little gun shy to try again. My page on the journal shows up "Step 3" to start with. So, I am not sure what's going on there. Any ideas?
I have been trying to write down on my calendar when plants start blooming. The blog would be much easier.
There's sooo many aspects to Dave's Garden. It takes awhile to learn how to use all the features.
I finished pulling the weeds out of my garden (no jacket--just a sweatshirt). It looks so nice now. It was mostly chickweed. I put it in a pile in the corner of the bed. I am hoping it will turn into compost. Or. Do you think I should get rid of it due to bugs harboring in this pile? We were so busy with home projects this fall. We didn't get all of our chores finished before it became winter. To me, fall is just as busy as spring for a gardener.

This message was edited Jan 10, 2012 8:48 AM

Don't forget about the Extreme Makeover Home Edition this friday Jan. 13 at 7 pm...
It's about Joplin for families of 7 homes...

Hi there Rusty, good to see you pop in. I believe that is the last show also, which is kind of sad. They have done so much for people. Nice to see shows on a upbeat side. Have you seen the houses they did? How are you doing?

Birder, I know what you mean about using the journal. I kind of fought my way thru and started it probably 3 times before I even remotely got where I thought I wanted it. User friendly it isn't, the other problem is if I leave Daves there isn't any way to take it with you, (I believe you can print it) so I am in kind of a limbo spot. I don't plan on leaving Daves but you never know what is going to happen in the future. Thought about getting my act together and creating a simple way to record my plants and notes but last year was a bust and this year we haven't had enough bad weather...rofl.

No, I haven't seen the houses yet...
Also it 2 hours...

I sold this car on craigslist today, it was an old Mustang convertible. - http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=8836293 None of the money is mine, dangit! My friend wanted to give me some for selling it and getting it out but I told her to keep it to pay for my new tires that she bought me, unemployment is kicking in alright. Only one plant was uprooted today in the process of pushing and stuff, but I've already replanted it.

Thanks for the compliments on my lizard, Sally, it is just right, it's not that attractive with colors, but that's alright, it's also plenty fun to watch. My friend here asked me what I'm going to name it. What do you name a lizard?
I don't even know it's gender. I just call it, "go get them crickets"!

Yes, good to see you, Rusty. Last show, that's too bad, I liked it too. What better way to end it than in Joplin, I'll try to see that Friday too.

I celebrated selling the car and got a shoplite (and more plants..lol) at Walmart last nite! I got 2 bulbs for it. I had to get the regular sized fluorescent bulbs. I looked the others over too. You mighta been talking about a bulb that isn't at Walmart, billyp. The regular sized ones were priced wrong there and were cheaper than the skinny bulbs by about $3 a 2 pk. The regular ones had those skinny ones beat on all the specs I could find, like the lumens and the lifespan. The skinny 4 ft. ones there may not have been the ones you were referring to, billyp. I have (2) 4 ft. fluorescent plant bulbs from Walmart still going since March 2004 when I bought them!
These new ones say "daylight" so we'll just see! I'm gonna have to also look into this 4 ft. T8 32 watt bulb, the box says it puts out 30% more light than the 40 watt 4 ft. T12 bulbs like I just got, since I now read the box, looking how to spell fluorescent, oddly enuff the word fluorescent isn't on the package, I had to Google it!

I know the feeling of not finishing projects before Winter! Let's see, painting, planting, cleaning, landscaping, the list goes on and on! : )

Man, that wind outside is COLD!!! I'm gonna have to remember to warm my truck up early tomorrow before work. Hubs are locked in too just in case the roads are still a mess when I go to work. It's finally WINTER!!! Whooo!!! LOL

Yeah, has it ever turned cold and windy! I took paper and stuff to the recycle place, (an empty parking lot) and the paper sack it was in ripped when I tried to put it in the thing and half of it blew away! I spent 15 minutes picking up what I could. I could have left the mess I guess but I'm not one of those people who don't have the extra time, I have plenty of time, with my luck it'd be on camera and I'd get a ticket for not picking it up!

Driving in snow IS fun! I'll drive my friend's Dodge Durango in the snow! I don't drive all crazy in snow, but it's nice to be able to get around in snow. It's hard to believe Spring is so close.

Driving in snow is not fun! lol... It will be later on become icy on road!

Dog ran crazy to play the snow!

So chilly!

In a 4 wheel drive it's kinda fun! The first getting stuck part, windshield scraping part, shoveling and the falling on the backside part isn't so much fun! Hehe, ice is a different story here, I don't leave the driveway if there's ice, I don't have to go anywhere, so I sit at home and watch the news! We got roughly that same amount of snow here, that's in your pic, Rusty. I hope the sun melts that little bit of snow out there this time.

Fun in a 4 wheel drive truck.

Haha! Oh, that's funny! But you hafta kinda assume not smart driving there! 4wd just lets you go thru snow better, it doesn't make up for being a bad driver! Although, good traction and stuff in the snow can make one be more confident, you still have to know when to let up on the gas pedal. That old boy or girl could've been drunk! But, unfortunately, I bet that's happens alot, people get overconfident in a 4wd and get in a wreck. I see them speed by in the ice and snow when weather's bad pretty often. I'll stay with my Toyota Corolla and good tires! In that, I just hope we don't get more than 4 inches of the white stuff!
Oh, that's funny, the doors are open, the license plate is crooked, the front is smashed on a pole and they ran over a shorter pole or something that's holding the truck up!

This message was edited Jan 12, 2012 2:07 PM

Happ: Well, I am glad I am not the only one that has had some trouble in the DG journal! I thought it was just me and my poor computer skills. I have been reluctant to spend my time putting my information in this website for fear it may shut down, or I may not want to continue using it (though I can't really imagine that--it's so helpful to me). I did create a spreadsheet on g-mail that works pretty well--but, it does take time to keep up with it. I will probably continue to up date it as well as the Dave Garden journal. I believe the blog will be helpful just to get my thoughts and ideas organized a little bit---and to record what I have planted where in my gardens----and when a plants bloom. I always try to think about what I can plant as companions, but I am uncertain if the plants will bloom at the same time. My Siberian Iris bloom right before my peonies. I have them planted next to each other up and down the driveway. Sometimes I get some cross over but not always.

I have been studying the seed and plant catalogs diligently. I have ordered some seeds and am getting ready to order some plants. Just FYI, there's a website called Graceful Gardens that has some flowers you can order that are $2.50 per plant. The kicker is you have to order at least four of the same plant. The plants come in cell packs--but at least it's not a whole flat of one kind of plant. They have a lot Delphiniums, but I can't grow them here. :(

We have a little snow today with a pretty good wind chill. We had lentil soup for lunch--hit the spot!

Stay warm and drive carefully.
Birdie

Now, I see that picture wreck truck hit the pole!

It happen to me few years ago that I has accident on icy road slippery into ditch in between Milan and Osgood... I has injury of my back, neck and shoulder...
So, it's not fun in snow or icy!!

So, it won't melt quickly and it will be next 2 days for chilly and melt so slowly each day... Tonight will be down to 15* and next day will be down to 20* at night...
I almost slippery on my driveway that I didn't see the grey icy when I bring my trash bin...

The roads weren't too bad when I left for work this morning but there were still a few slick spots. One was in front of the main driveway to work. Almost slidthe driveway but just turned my wheel and managed to steer into it and get traction from there. No 4WD needed this morning or this afternoon.

Had a friend tell me what a 4-wheel drive was for. You go as far as you can in 2-wheel drive and if you can't get there, then you put it in 4-wheel drive and go home. LOL... Sounds like perfect logic to me!

Birder, that is my fear of putting all that information in DG and not being able to retrieve it. You just never know what a website is going to do, I remember when Dave sold and lots of people worried, but change goes on. But like you I have been using it. Guess if worse comes to worse I can alway print it and then reenter it into something else...rofl. Well at least print it to a pc format of some kind so not to have to enter it again. Gosh I don't think buying 4 of a kind of plant is a bad deal at all. I started out buying one plant at a time cause I was afraid I would kill it, the problem is I didn't add to them and then figured out why my gardens were not as pretty as I wanted it to be, is because I like the gardens with plants repeated or a large group of the same plant. Took a long time for me to figure it out. But one day the light bulb went on! Finding flowers that flower in succession is not an easy task and every year the weather swings one way or another.

Coming into work, every little town I had to slow up for the road was icy, but on the same road where you could go fast the road was clear, it was strange, do cars slowing down make the water turn to ice?

Happ: I too like several of the same plant in my garden. Sometimes, I hate to spend all my money in one place! If you buy three plants at 8 to 10 dollars, it adds up quickly. I always think I may propagate the first one. If it's a plant I don't know much about, I tend to try one and see how it will work out. Also, I checked further into ordering from Graceful Gardens and discovered the order has to be for a tray of 32 plants at 2.50 each. While 2.50 per plant is a good price, they don't have 32 plants that I want. I already have a lot of their plants, or they have plants I can't grow here (Delphiniums & Campanulas). It would be a pretty good deal if one needed the plants they offer, and if you had a garden area that needs a lot of plants.
Does anyone on this forum winter sow?

Rusty, be careful on that ice! And stay warm!! It's really cold here too. I don't even want to get out of the house to run any errands. I am waiting until it warms up a little more!

Yeah, walking on ice is treacherous too. I once was scraping off my car and I slipped and ended up underneath my car peering up from my backside, in the snow, with only my head not under the car!

I've kinda winter sowed in the past. They weren't in the ground, just in pots or containers. In this photo was a bunch of Baldcypress seeds that I put in the can in the Fall and come Spring I had a bunch of seedlings.
The closest I have outside right now, to seeds, is 3 bulbs of Lily Trees that I got in the mail from Brecks. Not really a lack of interest in seeds this year, it's more a lack of someone else's yard to put new stuff. Not that my friend minds all the plants, she is okay with all the plants in the yard she says. I need to put the brakes on some planting before there is more plants and landscaped areas than there is grass. I don't think I've gone too overboard yet, but I'm getting close to that nuts look! I've seen a couple of yards where there is no grass, just plants, I'm not sure if I can pull that off! I personally can't have too many plants, I always find a spot for a plant, it's just getting closer to the nuts look! I need to count them up sometime, but I bet there is around a hundred plants on this average sized residential lot! I'm more looking forward to finishing up the landscaping that I've started here. Inside, I have a couple containers of seeds, one just catnip seeds and the other Banana plant seeds, I am still waiting on those to sprout if their going to, I got them for Christmas, I'm starting to think they might be duds.

I have a nice apricotish climbing Rose plant coming in the Spring that I have plans for with the Rose that I got from happ, that will finish that arbor. The biggest job is getting all my weedblock down and the landscape edging down before Spring. My friend here wants to plant a Dogwood for the passing of her Mom. She isn't really liking the smallness that the seedlings are from the Missouri nursery program (they are only about 12 - 15 inches tall). But, I told her they grow fast and they are dirt cheap, you just need to find something to do with the rest of the bundle and seedlings establish better than large trees they say. I might pot some others up and wait until they get bigger and plant them at my vacant lot in Kansas. Here is the plants they offer, if anybody wants to peruse them. - http://extra.mdc.mo.gov/cgi-bin/mdcdevpub/apps/seedlings/search.cgi?record=all
Will

We have used the Mo native shrub/tree offer several times. It has worked well for us. Natives don't require as much TLC, and a lot of the natives offer something for wildlife. We planted dogwoods two years ago. Some, the deer have eaten the tops off, a few died, the rest are doing fine. They are, however, little. They are about 30" to 36" right now. I think they will shoot up a little more this year now that they are established.

Where'd everybody go?! I placed an order at Missouri nursery for a bundle of 25 of that Dogwood and a bundle of 25 of Hazelnuts. I've never had Hazelnuts before, they sound neat and they're not big so I thought I'd give them a try, and, sounds like they taste good. Does anyone know if I need to plant more than one Hazelnut to get fruit? It has turned quite cold here, it went down to 12° F last nite. Sunday is supposed to be kinda decent, up to 50° anyway. If you was outside for long you'd have icicles hanging off of your nose! Nbcactionnews says a low of 5° tomorrow nite! It's hard to believe that Spring is so close.
Ack, deer eating the plants, boy I hate to hear that! They even come in the yard here, this is a residential neighborhood even, but that doesn't stop deer, I've seen them several times. I've seen their dastardly hoofprints in the snow other times! I better save some of those seedlings from the Mo. Dep't. of Cons. in case that happens to me.

Its better if you plant two or more of a fruit. Even if they are supposedly self fertile you are better off with a second one.

Been busy working and getting truck worked on. I had a wheel bearing go bad and when my dad did my back brakes last year he put them on backwards (wrong wheels) so my mechanic fixed that too. Also getting my running around in while I can afford it. If gas shoots up like they are saying it will, I'm staying home.

I remember now that you mention it that they recommend that even on monoecious plants. I'll plant them in a small cluster of about 3 or so Hazelnut shrubs, I think that'll look better in the landscaping anyway.
I have one Semi Dwarf 'Red Haven' Peach tree that is monoecious, I got lucky in that it seems to be okay with producing plenty of peaches by itself. I'm glad that it's seemingly happy being it's self fruiting self because room to plant back there is pretty limited. Years ago, my uncle cut down a big old Persimmon tree because it didn't fruit, in hindsight I think it was because it was dioecious. Persimmon is one tree that I've always been lucky to grow from seeds.

I've done 2 or 3 shade tree bearing jobs and it's a tricky job! What I did wrong was tighten them too much, it burned them up in a few days, I think smoke was even rolling if I remember right. I'm gonna try a couple more do it yourself home repair jobs this weekend, there is a drippy bathroom faucet here and a leaking copper pipe downstairs that I'm gonna try to fix myself I think. I'm gonna try to save some money! I'll probably tear up more stuff than I fix but i guess you live and learn! Plumbers are so expensive! My friend here is trying to make me feel bad, she says, "I guess we'll pay a plumber to replace a bad washer", so I'm gonna try to fix it myself first.

Eeek, gas shooting up, that can't be good! Get a small car on Craigslist like I did, Pepper! I sold my truck on Craigslist too for that same reason, gas! Altho, it's nice to have a truck on occasion.
I was looking for anything small back then. Having a small trailer to pull behind my small car makes up a little for not having a truck, at least I can still haul a pushmower. I've been averaging 32 mpg, in the city, luckily enuff. For one thing, with a manual transmission you can coast down hills which I do all the time! If I had a choice, I'd have a 4wd truck, a 1 ton 2wd truck, (and a covered trailer for each), a small car and a sports car for Sundays, but alas, I can only have one, an old, small hoopty!
Will

My truck gets 20 mpg so not desperate for car yet. Plus I would keep truck and just use it for pulling trailer and bad conditions.

Anybody want to see an albino hummingbird? This forward was sent to me today.
This below is what the message said originally.

"A rare treat ... an albino hummingbird. Something that is seldom seen and almost NEVER photographed.
Fifteen-year-old photographer Marlin Shank was fortunate enough to capture
several images of a rare albino ruby-throated hummingbird while in a park in
Staunton , Va"