rodents made this into a condo

The past few days have been just gorgeous. The air is cooler. The sky has been a range of clear blue, to heavy thick grey clouds and rain.  The trees haven’t changed color, even though the past couple of weeks the leaves have started to fall and dried leaves crunch beneath my shoes.

The yellow jackets are cranky with the cooler air, and the over abundance of fermented fruit.  Drunken bees are interesting indeed.

The grass and the wildflowers are now orange, red and browns mixed with dirty yellows.   Even the air smells like fall, dried grass and hay, mud, mold and Halloween.

 I feel a little sad; this summer was so hot, I couldn’t enjoy it. Each day was a steam bath of heat, making it nearly impossible to breathe, and walk at the same time. Even when I made an attempt, the mosquitoes forced me back indoors.

Now, I have to make my fall list of chores, I still haven’t finished my spring’s time list. Summer, forget it. That list was eaten by Uriah and I didn’t even care.

This past Friday the garbage was still sitting out by the curb, not having been collected on Thursday, the normal garbage pick up day; by Friday it was ripped open and spread around the mouth of the driveway by a skunk. I wanted to make sure it didn’t spread out into the road, so I rushed out and picked up the paper towels, and chicken bones scattered along the ground.

 As I shoved the very smelly garbage into a new plastic bag, I wondered, why the skunk hadn’t finished off all the bones. At that exact moment, when that question rattled around in my head, I saw a black nose, with black fur and a white stripe slip out of the drainage tile that stretched under the road  connecting the east side to the west.  

We shared a look and I stood up fast, “Oh no you don’t! I said out loud as I backed carefully away.  “You are not going to spray me!”

I thought I was safe, the skunk was in the drainage ditch and I was near the road. He would have to spray upward to get me.  I decided to ignore it.    I watched out for the cars whizzing by me, mere inches from my head.

Hurrying with the cleanup, I failed to notice one important thing.

 That little skunk had sprayed the other garbage bags.

I tossed the bag I was holding onto the pile, and then decided to straighten them all.

Right now, as I type this, I wonder why I had the compulsion to straighten the garbage bags….

The smell hit me hard, rotten chicken and the odd, burning green smell of skunk!

That skunk didn’t need to spray me, I did it myself. Then with all the brain power I had left, I covered my nose with my sleeve. The sleeve, which had skunk juice on it!

I headed back home, fast!  Uriah happily following behind, his nose pointed up as he kept sniffing the air around me. I gagged and blinked multiple times.  Having to stop when I thought my stomach would end up in the driveway if I moved to fast.

Next week, Michael is checking on the garbage!

****

Sorry, I haven’t been here a lot. I missed reading your Blogs. I will get back in the game. Sitting is a real pain.

Uriah is doing great. New dog food he lost a little weight. He needed to.

The examiner isn’t paying out like I hoped. They made some changes and the numbers aren’t posting correctly. Still I keep trying. I wrote my first article June 27^th, I am on number 44 today, and I only made $17.97, that’s with 2,476 hits. Hmmm!?

I am trying my hand at cartooning myself. I jumped around on the internet checkout sites to make your self into a cartoon. Then I pieced together a character, redrew it, and colored it in paint. It is a work in progress. I posted it with this article on the examiner. ( I tried to add a link and wordpress just wouldn’t let me, here is the full link)

http://www.examiner.com/plant-life-in-chicago/searching-for-the-noxious-plant-called-marijuana-hampshire-illinois

 My camera started acting up. 90 % of the pictures came out blurred and the camera started making odd noises. Luckily I had a store warranty I took it back to Best Buy and they gave me a different camera. Maybe I should get an under water camera. It’s a thought.

 **Don’t read this part if your squeamish about women’s issues.* I’ve been doing the doctor run for Michael. Then I had my normal routine -yearly exams.  My doctor thought it would be a great idea to do a biopsy of my uterus. A fast decision he made. He said, instead of me coming back in a few months; let’s do this now…. I was in no position to argue. Michael said, I looked like I saw a ghost when I came out of the doctor’s office. perimenopause is so much fun! Results sometime next week.

I had to get money in that first full month!

They have rules.

1. You have to write about your subject. Mine is plants in Hampshire.
2. You have to have a picture- sizes are different in article than in slide show
3. You have to connect your articles to each other
4. You have to mention local businesses
5. You have to write between 200  to 500 words
6. You should use quotes

I growled at my monitor, “Alright examiner I am up to the challenge!”   I have to fix some of the earlier articles to follow the rules, while I am writing new ones.

What I found is that writing about a specific ‘subject’ is a lot harder than it sounds.

Sometimes my odd sense of humor comes out.

Like this one:

“Why go to Spain on vacation when you could visit Hampshire instead”

My number are slow, or at least the money amount. Here is today’s tally.

Today I made $0.49 and I had 51 hits…

The average for the, Home and Living section was 16..

Hmmm!

Is my math right on this, I would need over 2,500 hits a month to get that twenty-five dollars…

Anticipating all that cash from the examiner…  I started a laptop jar in the back of my closet.   As of today I have a whole dollar-eighty!  And a fake mouse…added by the cats.  Woohoo!

Ahh! I love a challenge! 

Here is a poem I posted in my last article.

party in the mushroom rings

by Gerardine Baugh

the garden faeries laughed
and planted seeds of fun
they whispered, it was they, who
mixed up the garden, and
planted the green beans far from their trellis
eggplant was placed next to the pumpkins
tomatoes rolled into the neighbor’s yard
they sang and danced inside the ring of mushrooms
table set,
feasting on strawberries and corn
potatoes and cucumbers
glasses rose
a toast to the gardener
drink of dandelion wine
the fey cheered and sang songs
of times past, and those to come
some sat under mushroom umbrellas
wide and white, others
sat atop, and
scrutinized with words of nettles
peals of laughter danced across the lawn
this, the dark end of the new moon

I took a walk intent on what I was to see

Tall grass and wildflowers

Mud and toads, grasshoppers and birds

But my intent was not to be

Even though each flower had grown spirited and tall

The winds interfered with my view

Grasshoppers hopped under my clothing,

And the mud enticed me to fall

I sat in the middle of a pattern of lace

My intent shifted over wind swept fields

I connected within that moment, and

I watched the bees and butterflies race

Martins will dive bomb anyone that comes out the door.  They have a fit when I’m standing on the back deck. They will swoop and whistle. Nearly hitting me and Uriah! The cats watch from the inside windows and love the attention they’re getting from those beautiful little birds.

I have never seen feathers that matte black, it reminds me of charcoal. I have to admit my camera isn’t able to capture their beauty.

I love having them around. I will overlook their mud nests because they eat their weight in mosquitoes daily.

Purple Martins have nested around my house for years, sometimes with dire consequences. They can build a nest fast; within two hours they can set up home. My first summer in this house, I made a mistake of leaving the garage doors open while I cleaned out the garage. I had no idea they had made a nest on the electric overhead garage door opener. So when I was finished I closed the birds in the garage, accidentally. The only reason I knew they were trapped, was when one of my cats brought a bird into the house and let it go…

Last night I took Uriah for his walk a little later than usual. I was trying to avoid the mosquitoes by heading outside when it was nearly dark. That didn’t work. They were busy buzzing, and bugging me just as they did and hour earlier. 

Wednesday is garbage day. I have notes posted to remind me of the fact. I only had a couple of bags I debated dragging them down the driveway, but last week when I attempted that, Uriah though we were playing and grabbed one of the bags, breaking it, and spreading the trash all over the driveway…

This week, I tossed the two bags on the hood of the car and slowly pulled out of the garage.

 I rolled down the car widow as slowly passed that large Blue Spruce when I felt a pinch on the side of my face. My immediate thought was, “Mosquitoes!” I tried to brush it off out the window, except it wouldn’t move. The small inset struck itself to my skin. Without even thinking, I peeled it off with my nails. I was still slowly moving towards the road. (I have a four hundred foot driveway.)

I glanced at what I pulled off the side of my face and stared at it. It was upside down and wiggling its little legs furiously. It was cute in a way. Sort of! The shiny back body sparkled in the sunlight. I was not amused, when my eyes adjusted and I recognized it as a tick. Still irritated when I pulled back into the garage, I told my husband all about being ticked when I rolled down the car window. He couldn’t stop laughing,..at me!  He said, between laughter, that he never met anyone who attracted so many ticks the way I do. 

He called me a tick magnet! 

I would rather be a money magnet!  

*I have been out of it for the past couple of weeks. I realized I had written the above post on Thursday, July 1^st and never posted it to my Blog.  Way too many things have been creeping up around here and I’m not including the mosquitoes, or the odd looking flying bugs. I even made a video that I never posted…  Ooops! Had to find it! Here it is! It is a little long- four minutes.  You are walking with me among the milkweeds near the front pond, and you won’t be bothered by the bugs.

The weather has been interesting. High heat and humidity and storms that attempt to blow the house down.

Today, July 10 is our eighth wedding anniversary.  I know I’m on the internet updating. Michael is still sleeping so it’s okay:-)

My husband’s health took a turn for the worse. I dragged him kicking and screaming to a new neurologist. He now has tests all this month. He can’t drive until we know what’s up. He is not happy about that..

I have had thyroid problems my entire life, I no longer have a thyroid and it still causes issues. Heavy Sigh! 

Just before my husband’s doctor’s appointment, I decided to try for examiner.com and they accepted me.  I will write articles on, Hampshire’s plant life.  If you stop over there I would appreciate any comments.  Or, just send me an email and tell me what I am missing.  Or, just read.  I need to work on the set up of the articles.

If anyone wants to try to write for the examiner and needs some advice on how to get noticed- ask me. I will be very happy to help.  

 If you give them my examiner ID number  56021  I get a referral fee.

I will keep posting here, this Blog is for me and all of you who like to take a walk without the bug bites:-)

I hope everyone is doing well.   Be happy and safe!

Yesterday, in the middle of a thunderstorm, with multiple warnings flashing across the television and of course being me, I stood outside on the deck watching the clouds.

Stupid? Yes!

It was amazing! At one point lightning streaked across the sky in a vein of pink and white.   Then in the same spot, the lightning flashed again, this time with multiple tentacles stretching outward, looking like a fireworks display.

Silver white and pink!

 Followed a few seconds later by a cracking roll that shook the ground!

 That flash had sent me in for my camera.  I wanted to capture a picture of that lightning!

Ready! Set! Okay sky smile!

Each time I pointed the camera upward, the lightning would flash in a different spot, above, or behind me.

I noticed a low hanging cloud that seemed to swirl all on its own. I thought, just maybe this was makings of a tornado and I should be inside. I turned off my camera and glanced up before I pulled open the door.  A solid object half appeared for a second, as the clouds drifted slightly.   Before I had a chance take a picture, the cloud moved back around the object, covering it and as it moved upward.

Can you see it? Shaped like an upside down triangle with rounded edges. It is nearly invisible behind the cloud cover.

It was solid, not part of the clouds. Any ideas? Guesses? Funny captions?

Weather balloon?

No lights! And it didn’t move fast, it just hovered.

Maybe I witnessed one too many lightning hits!

My eyes were playing tricks on me.

The Jupiter II slipped out of storage!

With all the odd weather we have been having I would guess at a weather balloon. If I were a meteorologist I would be recording these weather patterns.

Ever see anything odd in the clouds and wonder; Huh! ?

That white ball in the foreground is a mushroom.

I have no idea what type it is. Do you?

I was up at four thirty this morning. I wandered around the quiet house, then I opened the blinds and kitchen door and stepped outside onto the deck to watch and listen to the sunrise. Birds raised their voices in the cool morning air and sang.

When I make a video I try and choose the best audio I believe fits with the visual aspects. Doesn’t always work…

But, standing out in the early morning sunrise I don’t think anyone could have chosen any sounds better for this moment.

Yellow pink clouds in a clear baby blue sky, mists rising off the fields and the sun slowly rising in the east. I watched as the colors deepened to reds and yellows.

“Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning” I whispered to the Robin sitting on the roof.

The odd weather we have been having lately, baking in the humid heat, to storms with seventy five mile and hour winds, I wonder what today will bring. Behind me to the west the sky was a deep misty grey. I guessed maybe around noon I should see what Mother Nature has in store for us.

Uriah complained. He wanted to go outside. I pushed past the cats huddled near the screen. All were hopefully waiting for a bird or a horsefly to come their way. Kaoru talks to flies and Sanosuke eats them.

“Eat too many and you’re going to throw up!” I warn him over and over.

Kenshin stands close by and in total agreement about the flies.  He had to be given antibiotics because of his infatuation with flies. Now he ignores them. 

Uriah whined again. I let him out through the garage doors, then came back inside and collected his breakfast. Some Iams dry food, two liver snaps and a beef basted dog bone.

By the time I stepped outside he was already hunting out his ‘mouse’ formally known as, That Rat.

If, I call it a mouse he chases it. If, I call it a rat, well, I think he hears cat and we don’t chase cats.

I took a few moments to notice the wet grass and the chilly air was a bit more uncomfortable, while standing in the grass, than on the deck.

Still, early mornings, in the summertime, remind me of camping.

I would wake up starving and make an attempt to light a fire. Some worked most didn’t. When the fire started I would fry some bacon in a pan, add an egg or two and pull out some stale bread, which I would toast by setting on the edge of the pan. 

When the wet wood refused to burn; I would let my nose find breakfast. In state parks they have a small store, with a little area where they cooked up and sold a breakfast of pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage and coffee, milk or juice. Sitting around on a damp picnic table wrapped in a sweat shirt, half asleep, eating like I was starving  in that cool damp morning air, and usually the only meal without the added protein of bugs. Was a wonderful adventure! And that food was amazing!

The sun lifted up over the trees. Bright white yellow and reflecting off the mist and dew everything sparkled.

Uriah munched on his breakfast and I headed into the house for some pancakes and coffee, minus the bugs…

Happy Father’s Day!

I grabbed a can of Off bug spray and waved it over my head encompassing myself, and Uriah. He sat next to me leaning against my legs panting from the heat and humidity.

The mosquitoes are worse early morning and at dusk.  Right now it was only ten in the morning.  I was hoping for a reprieve from their onslaught.

Last night I had made it to the back path, I pushed past the Bog Willows, as they hung heavy from the rain storm. I stepped out onto bare dirt in the drainage area and I immediately became food.

I heard them first, that irritating high pitch buzzing.  Then I felt them surrounding me, like a piece of cheese cloth, barely touching my skin, yet laying heavy.

 I swatted and waved my arms around my head and muttered to the mosquitoes, telling them to leave me alone.  They followed me all the way back to the house. Uriah was watching from under the deck.  He rolled in the dirt, which seemed to dissuade the mosquitoes from attacking him.

Just for a moment I thought of crawling under the deck with Uriah.  I shook off the thought when I pictured myself getting stuck with a happy wiggly, smooching dog covered in dirt..

I looked up at the large fluffy clouds floating over head in a baby blue sky. I spotted a thickening grey line off near the horizon.  We’re in for another afternoon thunderstorm. 

I set the bug spray back inside the garage door. Picked up my walking stick, and motioned to Uriah to walk. He headed for the Blue Spruce next to the driveway. He pushed past the heavy boughs, wiggling underneath. Turning around he faced me, then sat down.

 I left Uriah to his cool spot under the tree and started walking along the drive way, checking out the grass. It needs to be cut, but with the rains and heat, I keep putting it off.  

I noticed a thin, two to three foot spiky leaved stem pushing up between the grass.  Every year these wildflowers blossom out with some very pretty neon blue flowers, hanging off the side branches like tiny frilly bells

I hope to take some pictures when that happens.

To take pictures of this plant, I need to come outside early, before six or seven. At that time of day, there are flowers that open up and smile upwards into the cool morning sky.  Those same flowers are closed tight by nine to ten in the morning.  

I spotted a stem full of closed flower buds; I knelt down to take a look. Uriah pushed in front of me and sat on the unopened flower and grinned.

“Uriah you’re a nut!” I rubbed his face and gave him a push.

He took that as time to play and fell flat on his back and started to roll and moan. All over the plant I was looking at….

 I started to chastise him, but when I looked up, inches away from his head was another plant. All the way down the driveway they stood waving at me slightly higher than the field grass, waiting for morning to come.

http://dnr.state.il.us/education/CLASSRM/grants.htm

http://www.wildflower.org/howto/