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Headed into the weekend; hope everyone is having a great Friday night!
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If it weren't for the still 100 degree temperatures (slightly less today), I would say that it is "officially" fall...tonight is the first high school football game of the season...
Sikeston vs. Charleston...
"The Oldest Rivalry West of the Mississippi"...
Hmmm...that's the first time I've heard that (that's what they were saying on the local TV station sportscast) ~ I guess it is if no one challenges it! ;^)
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I went out earlier this evening to take some cotton pictures to share...
These were taken just a few blocks from my house.
Yes, there are cotton fields in town...all over town...
I don't know if Sikeston is unique in this...(I doubt it) ~ there are always farmers that just don't want to sell to developers, and I don't blame them.
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I have seen cotton all my life, yet each fall I'm just fascinated with it...
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The blossoms remind me of the blooms on our okra (and kind of like hollyhocks, too), and rightly so...
they are related (the cotton and okra),
both originating in Africa.
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The colors of the blossoms range from white with just a blush of pink, to a bright fuschia...
They don't have a fragrance, though.
(I think Bath & Bodyworks has a Cotton Blossom scent!...ummm, no!)
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The brightest colors had all closed up by late afternoon...curious!
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Despite the heat and drought, the plants look good...
cotton is more tolerant than lots of other crops...
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Little bolls forming...
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It will be about six more weeks before harvest begins...
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However, a few little bolls are popping open already (probably because of the heat).
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Amazing...future fabric!
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A tiny, perfect boll...so cute! (I should have taken him with me!)
Farmers do NOT want tiny, perfect bolls!
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Here's a little cluster...normally, they are a lot bigger and fuller.
I hope, for the farmers' sakes, there won't be too many like this.
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A little bigger, but still not as they should be.
In a few weeks, as the bolls mature, the pretty green leaves will be sprayed with a defoliant (by crop dusters), which will cause them to dry up and fall off. The farmers want as few leaves on the plants as possible when it's time for picking...
(To be continued in a few weeks!)
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Here's my "teaser"!
...I finally opened my "Pandora's Box" ~ can of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint...
I'm experimenting on a ceramic piece (the urn), plaster (the cherub planter) and the piece from the antique chair I'm going to use on the tool box (future planter) from Daddy's barn...
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I have been v-e-r-y s-l-o-w about getting anything done this week...stay tuned!
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One last thing...heading out the patio door to feed the bunnies, there was the biggest toad I had ever seen!
I stepped back inside to get my camera...
I realize there's nothing here for you to compare him to, size-wise, but believe me, he was BIG...
He made it into the Lemon Grass Jungle before I could get another photo...
Camera shy!
I hope everyone has a great weekend!
♥
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