Tag: Gerardine Baugh

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Sanosuke and Kaoru love to watch the Purple Martins, doing what Martins do best, catching mosquitoes

Purple Martins are very brave or very stupid, I haven’t figured out which, yet.

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…

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Dragonflies, butterflies and bees, Oh my!~

 

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 1st 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!

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Nature photos Nature Writing Rambling Writers Site

I Think I Saw A Weather Balloon!~ Or, “Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.”~ The Wizard of Oz

Captain Jack Harkness ~ “Wanna know a secret? So did I. And just for a second there I felt so alive.”

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.

Dolphin?

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! ?

“Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.”~ The Wizard of Oz
*
Michael took this picture after the storm. 
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Nature photos Nature Writing Poetry Rambling Writers Site

Poem…Without Fear!~ June 21st World Peace and Prayer Day!~

“Without Fear”

There was a little boy who walked across the road

He wanted to see where the wolves had gone

His mother warned him not to wander

Nature is dangerous and needs to be feared

Still, he only looked back once, then sprinted

Between the trees into the darkened corners

Leaves formed a canopy over his head

He delighted in that secret place, and ran on

He saw a flash of grey fur and a shimmer

As the sun flashed off the wolves’ laughing eyes

Without fear he stepped into a clearing

An upsweep of flowers white and yellow and blue and red

A place where cinnamon perfumed plants grew

The boy stopped, his mother’s warning echoed

And fear grew, and he picked up a stick

A wolf cub ran up to him and pulled on his pant leg

Fear had him raise the stick above his head

       Fear had him swing the stick at the pup

Its mother looked up, when she heard the yelp

The eyes of its mother showed fear

             Fear that had shown in his own mother’s eyes

                   Fear that that placed that stick in his hand

                         Fear that now mirrored in the pup’s eyes

The boy dropped to his knees and cried

             He cried for seeing a threat that wasn’t there

                   He cried for what he lost by allowing fear, control

                         He cried for the pup he had hurt

The mother wolf trotted over to her pup

She licked his wounds until he wiggled happily

Then she turned to the boy and licked his tears away

When the sun touched the edge of the earth

And the sky turned pink, then red, then purple, then black

The boy came out of the trees

His mother was waiting, tortured, with fear

He raced to her and tired to explain what he saw

                     She did not hear him

                          She clung to him in a panic

He patted her back and hugged her shaking shoulders

Then he pulled away, and looked back towards the trees

             …without fear

 

*

*

Remember, June 21st World Peace and Prayer Day. I posted a poem on June 4th.  Take a minute and send out a prayer for the earth, a prayer to stop the oil spilling in to the Gulf and our oceans and all our lives.

 Take a moment, one second, to pray. Pray for the earth to sustain.

Picture is from, Word Clipart
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Nature photos Nature Writing Rambling Writers Site

If I Were A Mushroom What Type Would I Be?~

This is to explain that header I put up. You can see Uriah in the background. Once he saw me taking pictures he decided to leave.

That white ball in the foreground is a mushroom.

It is seven and half inches high, and grew in full sun.

I have no idea what type it is. Do you?
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Nature photos Nature Writing Rambling Writers Site

Reflection At Dawn!~Or, I’ll Have A Coffee Minus The Bugs!~

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!

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Nature photos Nature Writing Rambling Writers Site

Photos and Video!~One Man’s Weed Is Another’s Flower!~

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Nature photos Nature Writing Poetry Rambling Writers Site

Walking With Mosquitoes And Uriah!~I Wonder- A short Poem!~

 

I walk outside and
Stare up into the sky and
Wonder, what you see…

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.

 Here are a couple of great sites for wildflowers.

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

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

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Nature photos Nature Writing Rambling Writers Site

YouTube Video From Rebecca Novak In Georgia!~ Or, Walking The Green Mile on Four Paws!~

Here is a video from Rebecca Novak she took these pictures at the Dekalb Animal Control in Georgia.

I laughed and cried as I watched these dogs on death row.

Please!  Pass this on!

 I was going to post this as a response to a comment.  Then I decided it needed to be posted up front with the video.

Pit-Bulls are tortured to be mean.  Pit-bulls were bred to be a nursemaid; a family’s protector.

We should have stricter laws protecting animals from abusers and exploiters.

But, so many people turn away from the anger and evil, allowing the exploiters to treat animals and people so cruelly. It filters into everyday living. We can see it in the oil spill, and the disregard for life there.   

It is sad we can’t even fully protect humans from cruelty. 

When that cruelty falls on innocent animals, and then rolls over children due to the disrespect and self-serving greed of an abuser, then we all feel the pain.

 There are more than Pit-Bulls in that video. Maybe some one will adopt them.

Also, Rebecca Novak won’t allow a dog to go to a home with out training both the dog and the owners.  

She works with a team of wonderful animal rescuers in Georgia.

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Video Of Sanosuke!~ Or, A Mouse Condo Of Poop! “No Vacancies!”~

 This morning when I opened Uriah’s dog food container I  noticed it was very low.  I usually set the bag of dry food inside a tall plastic container, so each time I scoop out a cup I don’t have to lift the bag. Today I lifted a nearly empty bag. 

Time to go dog food shopping!

Uriah has a bad habit of not eating what I give him, at least not right away. When his brothers were alive he would tease them with his food. They ate faster then he did, with his usual, “I am starting trouble!”  grin!  He would sit on his food and wait.  Literally! Sit on his food!  So when they were finished and came nosing around he would show off by slowly eating in front of them.

Uriah, set in his ways, keeps up that play. With no one to show off to, Uriah wanders off and those country rats steal each morsel right under his nose. A problem starts when the mice take his food and carry it into the cars engines.

To get Uriah to eat I have to stand next to his food bowl, no matter where it is.

Or, I try to anyway. Uriah is a dog that has the ability to ‘out wait’ anyone.

He can hold his pee for hours, then still wander around and hold it in until I can’t take it any more. I will stand next to a bush and pretend that I’m lifting my leg, until Uriah looks likes he’s laughing at me, and then joins in.

Today I opened the garage doors and pulled out my car. I opened the engine and Uriah helped me look under the hood. 

Mouse poop littered the top of the engine!

I loosened the air filter and pulled it out. Mouse poop inside under the air filter! Great!  When I had taken my car last month for a fix on a recall, I had to dish out an extra eight hundred dollars to remove a ten pound bag of dog food from my air intake. Lovely little Mice! 

Michael had a doctor’s appointment on Friday.  He took his old Saturn, not trusting my mouse condo.  *His car saved our lives in an accident in 2004. A young girl on a cell phone..* So he totally trusts it to fend off mice:-)

Michael came home two hours late riding in the cab of a tow truck. Seems the mice may have invaded his engine too. Lack of a dollar, means his car is now a paper weight in the garage.

Back to Uriah helping with my engine!

 I pulled out the Shop Vac and vacuumed up mice poop on my engine. Then I popped the hood of the Saturn. I removed the air filter and didn’t see any mice droppings. Michel told me, that the air intake was under the car, and that will need to be removed to find the problem.

If a mouse was sucked into the engine…well, bye, bye engine. I can’t crawl under that car …

I stepped outside with Uriah and we both contemplated the problem. Or, I should say all three of us thought about it!  Me and Uriah, and That Rat who was sitting near the door on his hind legs watching us with a thoughtful, “what’s going on guys?”  look…

I jumped when I saw that reddish- brown haired rat. He in turn jumped and raced into the horseradish plant as I yelled after him.  “We are not your family! Stupid Rat!”

Hmmm! I wonder if he could be trained to keep the mice out of the garage.

I looked down at Uriah; he never made a move to chase the rat. But he did take a mouth full of his food and started to chew, slowly.

*

Sanosuke had me laughing this morning. So I made a video for fun. Enjoy!