Monday, March 21, 2011

March 21



Since most of our snow is melted, I wandered around our yard to see how things looked after the long winter. These are called rain bells, because when it rains, the little cups fill with water and tip into each other, making a ringing sound.
Do you see what's in 4 of them? It's acorns! We had so many of them come down last Fall, and it looks like a few landed in the cups. Pretty Funny!

26 comments:

bonifer said...

So neat, Mari, never heard of rain bells, we still have a fair amount of snow, another few weeks, at least, I am so anxious for it to go and have something else to shoot!!!

Kathy said...

Or maybe the squirrels put them there!

Aspiemom said...

I never heard of rain bells. That is so cool! Each of those acorns look different, too!

Mari said...

Kathy - they are in an area that we can easily see from the house, and the snow there has been untouched - unless they did it in the last few days when it melted.

Sujomi said...

The tree did a lot better of making baskets than my Illini did last night!

Shelly said...

That is funny! I thought you put the nuts in there yourself. I have never heard of those rain bells. That is neat too. I love the picture!

Darla said...

i have never heard of rain bells! either those are huge acorns or small rain bells...the acorns here are tiny. neat picture!

Unknown said...

hihi... so great!

Redeker said...

what a lovely rainbells, never seen them before!
must be great that the snow is gone ( well, for me than, I'm not so a snowperson!)

Mari said...

Darla - the acorns are about 1 1/4" to 1 1/2" long.

Sharon Creech said...

Love this--didn't know about rain bells, and how funny to see the acorns in them!

sara said...

I love rain bells!!! so glad your snow is gone!!!

LuAnn said...

I love these - never heard of rain bells.

Glenda said...

Love this!! I've never heard of rain bells, but I'd enjoy having them close by, I think!

Christina said...

How pretty. I am enjoying your beautiful pictures on this blog.

Beth said...

I've wondered about getting a set of the rain bells. They're a bit different and not real 'cutesy'--I'm not into cutesey.
I knew immediately what they were and that your trees had given you an unexpected 'gift'. Cool photo. Do you like the sound they make?

S. Etole said...

I love wind chimes and suspect these would be much like that.

Kelly L said...

I had never heard of rain bells... Very clever... I guess you did get a lot of acorns for them to fit so perfectly... I wonder how many missed...

Love to you
Kelly
I've Become My Mother
Kelly's Ideas
Amazing Salvation

Anonymous said...

I bet they made a ring/clang when they landed! YiKeS! =)

Epsminis said...

What a interesting photo. Rainbells, .... i never heard about it before. But i think it´s nice to hear the sound if it´s raining. :)

Have a nice day, Elke :)

Michelle said...

I've never heard of rain bells, but from the sounds of it, I know I would like them. What fun to find little gifts inside. :)

Cherdecor said...

Okay, Mari, now where can we buy Rain Bells? Even the name is cute!

Cherdecor said...

Oh, the master gardener sitting beside me says that he knows where to get them because he has seen them before. I said, "And you didn't buy me any?! =)

LisaShaw said...

The sound must be beautiful to hear when the rain overflows from them.

Those acorns are bigger than any I've ever seen. Awesome!

bentonflocke said...

rain bells... sounds interesting! It must be wonderful to hear it.

Anonymous said...

We had to get our car checked out and the mechanic found acorns and peanuts in the Breather filter. In the snow, they might have buried them in the cups....but I doubt it. Rain cups are extremely delicate and wouldn't hold up a squirrel. Gee. I just blew my own theory.....nevermind.