Tag: going green
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
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.
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!I was looking through some old pictures and came across my first publicity photo, taken many years ago. Notice they spelled my name wrong.
When I was thirteen we moved and that doll was left, sitting on a top shelf, all alone. Heavy sigh! My mother kept insisting it was packed. She lied! During those thirteen years, I only touched it once and that was for this picture..
My mother thought it was cursed or something.
I had gotten very ill after that picture was taken and nearly died. So, no matter how many times I told my mother I wasn’t dead, she still wouldn’t let me play with the doll.
I remember staring up at it, sitting all by itself, in its box, thinking how pretty she looked. Every day I said, hello to her. One day I made an attempt to drag a chair over to the shelf and try and reach her. I nearly fell off the shelf, and I nearly got caught.
Luckily my sister, my partner in crime, had wanted to play with her, too. She had been holding the chair steady. She stood by silent, as my mother waggled her fingers at us and told us over and over again, how that doll got me sick…
Poor pretty little doll! She seemed so lonely.
My mother must have thought my comics were cursed; she tossed them out when I was fifteen.
I copied the flip side of that newspaper clipping; Frank Sinatra, Rita Hayworth and Kim Novak.
Musk Thistles
Tall and strong, they held their heads high
Their skin, a smooth line of waxy green
Coated with thorns
They looked up
And saw the sky
Blue…
Amid fast moving puffs of white and grey
They looked abreast, and saw the ground
Brown…
Lines and leaves of diverse greens, amassed
Thrust, from side to side
with each random breeze
They looked out at my camera
wide eyes of innocence and unease
In that moment of stratum pink and white
they wondered, If…
and survived
The Musk Thistle is considered a Noxious weed in Illinois. These Thistles were growing near the road. If you want to read about them click on the link below.
The air is still hot and heavy with moisture. Add to that a mixture of bug sprays, chemicals and manure, spread across the fields by plane or tractor. At that point, breathing becomes an inflexible process.
The skies this morning were blue, then deep, dark angry grey that rumbled and barked, spitting out streaks of light, then changing back to blue.
I took Uriah out for his morning walk by sitting on the front step and waving him off. With a happy wag of his tail he headed to the pond where he startled some ducks and blackbirds. As I waited for him to return I was bombarded by annoying mosquitoes.
Uriah took his time. So I just stared out over the field grass and watched it grow.
I had the tractor running a couple of weeks ago. It had roared to life, with as much exuberance as Uriah running to the pond.
*If you didn’t get that reference, well, Uriah walks slowly sticking his head in every hole sneezing and rolling in everything that smells bad… The tractor coughed, wheezed, chugged and rolled, jerked and smelled bad…
I checked and filled the tires, added water and oil. Brushed off the cutting deck and oiled anything that moved. Once I pulled her out of the barn I decided to move that downed tree.
I was very careful..
Before I took her on the path, I stopped the engine and walked the area, poking at the ground. I didn’t want to get stuck in heavy mud, or caught up on a stump. I backed into the path and tried to get as close as I could to that tree. Driving backwards is not within my tractor maneuvering ability, so it took me a while.
Satisfied I wasn’t going to be stuck in the mud; I turned off the engine and gracefully slipped off the seat unto a wild rose bush. Ouch!
Finally I was able to wrap the chain around the back hitch and around the middle of the tree.
Once back in the driver’s seat I slowly moved forward, dragging the tree not forward but sideways, just as I planned. The trees roots were facing south and its upper branches to the north. I could only move it a few feet, or it would get caught up on the Bog Willows.
Slowly I inched forward.
Uriah was watching me from the edge of the path. As soon as I made my first lurching movement his tail disappeared between his legs and he ran towards the house. Smart dog! He remembered when that same chain broke free from the last tree I moved and went flying, taking out some branches. I had found it hanging in a tree some fifty feet away.
I hesitated for a moment and watched Uriah run. For a second, I debated what I was doing and thought that maybe this wasn’t a good idea…
That lasted for a minute.
Then I set the tractor in forward motion, slowly the chain went taut. I was very surprised when the tree moved off the path and ended up right where I wanted it to be, top facing west and roots to the East.
Nothing tried to bite me. I didn’t get the tractor stuck in the mud. The best part, I didn’t see one tick!
I removed the chain from the hitch. Then I put Uriah in his outside kennel. And came back to cut the path, I was tempting fate by not walking the path first.. But even that turned out well, so well in fact I took Uriah out for a walk..
A walk that ended with us being chased by a few angry Bumble Bees, luckily they only sting if cornered…
With one of my cats, PJ sitting to my right I finally began typing out this Blog. The past week has been full of gardening fun, rain, high humidity, cold weather and todays temperatures pushed me into air-conditioning. The range has been maddeningly painful.
Last Saturday a family of magical beings came by and helped turn over the garden and plant some vegetables. They stayed only about three hours, but during that time I was able to talk to, and walk around with three little boys, while their parents grunted and groaned, as they dug, straightened and chopped up large chunks of dirt and moved around rocks.
When the boys spotted the rocks, the middle one was enthralled by the odd shapes and sizes. He wanted to take some home so they could make their own, Stonehenge under a tree in their back yard. I was in agreement, so a pile was formed and a box appeared from the barn, a sturdy box that would hold all the rocks. Their father didn’t’ realize those rocks, when placed in a box, would weigh a ton and a hernia, until he tried to pick them up.
Being a magical family, the boys had hoped to float the box of rocks above the ground. But alas, they forgot their fairy dust and had to settle on using a simple dolly.
In the meantime, Uriah was being ridden like a horse. A horse that was too tired to stand. He laid on the ground while the youngest boy sat upon his back and held tight to his ears. I was worried Uriah wouldn’t like this, but when I saw his furry face he had a happy doggy grin. Finally, Uriah got tired of the game and stood up. Luckily the littlest guy was expecting this to happen, so he jumped off Uriah and gave him a big hug.
Uriah heard something in the trees and did his slow walk towards them. He kept looking back at me. When I finally turned my back, he slipped in-between the trees. Totally vanishing between the green leaves and heavy branches
Uriah’s normal disappearing act caused great distress to the youngest boy. He called Uriah’s name over and over, it must have seemed like hours to him instead of minutes, until Uriah reappeared to hugs and kisses. Uriah looked up at me, I shrugged and he happily trotted off with the little guy running along behind him.
Because of that extra help, I was able to plant a large amount in a short time.
This morning the rain was still pouring down, watering the seeds and plants, allowing the garden to take root, now, that also means the weeds will have a fighting chance too. I haven’t used weed killers or inhibitors in many a year. I prefer the old fashion wrestling techniques… I pull and the weeds pull back:-)
What am I?
This tree is growing in my neighbor’s yard and a couple further out back on my property. They are in bloom. Multiple bright orange flowers, with a center that is an odd misshapen ball. Flower pedals that are tube shaped, bright orange and soft sticking out all over it. The pedals are closing and melting in on itself. Odd..
We have had a large amount of water and the North side of the property is under water and the front pond is over flowing. We aren’t in the tropics and this to me, looks similar to a less spiky, Sea Urchin. I wouldn’t mind living in Hawaii, but even there I don’t believe Sea Urchins live in trees. I could be wrong..
I did a Google search and couldn’t find a flowering evergreen that even came close to this description.
Years ago my neighbor may have told me those were Cedar trees. Hoping I remembered that correctly, I Google ‘orange flowers on cedar trees.’ What came up was, that this tree maybe infected with Cedar-apple rust gall, which is described as an orange gelatinous with telial horns protruding.
Strange days indeed…
This is rather odd, but a pretty fungus, at least from my prospective, as I snapped these pictures.
I did see some galls (abnormal outgrowths) from the previous year connected to some of the branches. In this picture you can see one directly under the orange flower.
Even after finding the information on, Cedar-apple rust gall, I am still wondering “is this real?”
Over the years, I have seen those odd galls growing on the branches and never saw any damage to the Cedars themselves. On the other hand, I have had some fungus issues with my apple trees. I just thought it was old age, too much water, Uriah and the deer nibbling on the branches…
Strange..
*
http://urbanext.illinois.edu/focus/cedarapplerust.cfm
http://plantclinic.cornell.edu/FactSheets/cedar-applerust/cedar-applerust.htm
As the Earth bleeds
and
Oil seeps from its core, smothering life
Our needs come before everything
Our needs move in circles where money rules
Our needs place us up above all else
Our needs cause the Earth to bleed
Our needs smothers and drowns
Every living thing in oil and blood
Our needs are not what we think
For
If
We
Took
A
Moment
To
Think
Outside
Of…
Our needs, would we notice
Our needs are killing the planet
Stop!
And ask yourself
What do you really want?
As the Earth bleeds
*
~ Question: What’s wrong with using wind and solar energy? When will life take a front seat to profit? I found the picture I used here: http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=news+on+oils+spill+in+gulf+of+mexico++2010&go=&form=QBIR&qs=n&sk=#focal=d0016a8f167db3282e26c160de37391c&furl=http%3A%2F%2Fi.dailymail.co.uk%2Fi%2Fpix%2F2010%2F05%2F10%2Farticle-0-096DF4F9000005DC-336_634x577.jpg
**
Visit: Jingles Thursdays Poets Rally-http://jingleyanqiu.wordpress.com/2010/05/12/thursday-poets-rally-week-18-may-13-19-2010/