Itzl Alert Network: Tuesday, May 21, 2024: Trees in Wichita, Kansas

I didn’t take the picture above.

But it looks like the maple trees here in Wichita.

One day I guess I’ll learn how to take still photos with my nice video camera.

Then I find out where I can upload them to my computer.

Then I’ll learn how to upload them from there into the Daily Kos’ image treasure trove, the so-called image library.

Step by step. I plan to learn it one day.

As you can see by Itzl’s concerned look, this group is for us to reach out and let people know that we are alive, we are OK, and we are not affected by things like heat, snowstorms, floods, wildfires, Hurricanes, tornadoes or power outages or other things that could keep us away from Daily Kos. If you are not here or anywhere else on Daily Kos and your area is experiencing adverse conditions (floods, heat waves, hurricanes, etc.), we will check on you. If you find yourself away from your computer for a day or a week, let us know here. We take care!

IAN is a great group to join and a good place to learn journaling. Send one of us a PM to be added to the Itzl Alert Network at any time! We all share publishing obligations, and we welcome them all Who reads IAN to write diaries for the group? Each member is an editor, so everyone can have a turn if they have something to say, photos and music to share, a cause to promote, or news to share!

This is our current schedule for regular IAN diarists:

Monday: Youffraita

Tuesday: bigjacbigjacbigjac

Wednesday: Pam from California

Thursday: Art ah Zen

Friday: FloridaSNMOM

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The little dog’s name is Itzl.

But for now, I just felt the urge to post a list of the trees I’ve identified while taking my walks around my neighborhood here in Wichita, Kansas.

Keep in mind that I have been learning to identify trees since I was a teenager, about 55 years ago.

When Tonia died over two years ago, I found that taking walks and noting any trees I saw along the way made me feel good.

Okay, here we go.

The following immediately comes to mind:

• Oak
• maple
• elm
• Sycamore
• ash
• chestnut
• Catalpa
• Pride of India or Golden Rain Tree
• Bradford pear
• Crabapple
• Redbud
• Hackberry
• Sweet bubble gum
• Honey locust
• juniper
• Jaw

At this point I pulled out my two tree books to refresh my memory:

• Weeping willow
• Osage orange
• Holly (Bush)
• Mulberry
• Poplar (the state tree of Kansas)
• Black walnut
• mimosa
• Bald Cyprus
• Kentucky coffee tree

In this video from six months ago I talk about the maples and oaks and elms and a sycamore tree. In the video:

Interesting little thing:

As far as I know there are many species of oak, maple, elm and ash.

And chestnut trees, although I only see one variety here in Wichita.

But for many of the trees I listed, as far as I know there is only one species:

• Sycamore
• Sweet bubble gum
• Honey locust
• Hackberry
• Osage orange
• poplar
• Black walnut
• Bald Cyprus
• Kentucky coffee tree

It seems to me that it makes a huge difference if I say to myself, “That’s an oak, but I really don’t know which of the many, many species of oak it is.”

And sometimes when I say to myself, “That’s a sweetgum tree.”

By the way, the sweetgum tree has pretty five-pointed leaves and a fruit that I call a spiny ball.

Very distinctive.

And the Osage orange tree has large fruits, larger than any navel orange and green and bumpy (not edible).

And bare Cyprus has small green spaces that look like junipers or other evergreens.

But in autumn it drops everything green, like an oak tree!

Ha!

Okay, I could talk forever about the oddities of these trees.

Wait, before I stop, I have to mention the squirrels, the cottontails, and the opossums.

And of course the many cats that own the apartment complex.

I see a cat sitting on a car and ask it, “Do you own this car?”

The cat blinks.

Ha!

And hugs.