Ragweed, hay bales, hedge apples, and a resting foal

Before I left for my Florida trip, I was getting antsy to take pictures outside since I hadn't for a while; and I couldn't resist one evening during a beautiful sunset.  I drove down the gravel road close to our home and took images of some ragweed; the first being a bird sitting on the ragweed plant below.

A lot of people confuse ragweed (shown below) with Missouri Goldenrod (shown next).

Many people believe that Goldenrod (shown below) was a main cause of allergies because Goldenrod's peak blooming period coincides with the peak of ragweed season. An important thing to note is that Goldenrods are bee pollinated, where ragweeds are wind pollinated. This means allergy sufferers are especially affected on windy days as a result of ragweed's wind pollination and not Goldenrod's bee pollination.

These hay bales are accented by the setting sun and a beautiful sky background.

As a child, I remember playing with hedge apples.  After they dropped off the trees, we used them as bowling balls outside.

Remember Laughing Horse's baby?  He's gotten a little bigger and is taking a nap. I still haven't been able to get close enough to find out his gender.  Hopefully soon!