DOGWOOD BERRIES, DEVELOPING APPLES, AND PICKING UP THE PHONE

RED OSIER DOGWOOD BERRIES...

...DITTO

DEVELOPING APPLES

Saturday,  8:30 AM.  Wind WNW, light to occasionally breezy.  The sky is partially overcast with high gray clouds but there is sunshine.  The humidity is down at 74% and the bardometer up at 30.06"  It will be a pleasant day,

   The common red osier, or red-twigged dogwood, Cornus stolonifera, in the dogwood family, is in fruit.  It's white or lead-clored berries (rarely bluish) are quite attractive and prominent but animals quickly eat them.  Each berry encloes a small stone.  There aren't many white berries or fruits, the only other wild white berries that I can think of are Indian currant and doll's eyes.  The latter is poisonous and the fruit  looks quite similar, so I wouldn't eat white berries unless you really are sure what they are.  Native Americans did use the berries as food and as medicine for colds and respiratory ailments, and the supple twigs in basketry,

   Dogwood species are all opposite branched, except for the native pagoda dogwood, C. alternifolia.  The leaves are entire (without lobes or teeth) and have rather distinctive venation.  

   The common name "dogwood" has nothing to do with dogs, bur is rather a corruption of the Old English dagge, the root for the word "dagger," as the wood is very hard and in Europe dogwood branches were sharpened and used for skewers and other implements.

   Roadside apples are developing nicely, some even reddening.  It looks like it will be a bumper apple crop.
   The obsessive use of intimidating and overwhelming force by  government agencies is alienating more and more of the population.  It is stupid and will eventually lead to real tragedy if it hasn't already.  In Kenosha, Wisconsin last week a small animal shelter was raided by fifteen armed deputies and DNR agents because it had taken in a deer fawn left by Illinois tourists who had found it abandoned (this is illegal in Wisconsin). The agents detained staff and volunteers for three hours, and killed the fawn, which had been named "Giggles."  A young volunteer took photos of the raid on his IPhone but they were forcefully deleted by an officer.
  A raid of a peaceful local animal refuge by armed agents in order to kill a baby deer is ridiculous.  They gave no warning and scared the hell out of everyone.  The goon that ordered this raid should be fired.  He could have just picked up the phone instead of a deadly weapon.