Month: July 2020

Posted on in Amazing Creations

Lucky’s Story

I had a request from one of Mike Powell’s young friends to see the dog. Namaste to you, too, Benjamin! Is Gem your grandmother? My grandkids call me Grammy or Gigi.

I posted about the little beagle on June 27, June 29 and July 3. There are some photos on those days. She is settling in to our lives with sweetness.

We have named her Lucky. Sitting here on our sofa I think she looks like a regal princess. She ran to the door today when a salesman came. Ever since she ran away once we have been careful to guard the door and control her. She got past Bob, but was only going out to greet the man. That was amazing as she ran away that one day and we were really scared that she might not know WHERE her new home was. Also amazing because she is usually timid around strangers! We got her right back into the house.

She loves to look out the front door at the people walking dogs, children riding bicycles, and cars going past.

Every night she sleeps in her crate in our bedroom. Last night was the first night that was cool enough to sleep with the widows open. She must have heard raccoons or some other animal outside. At 1:45 AM she barked until we woke up. Ugh! I was so sleepy. I closed the front door and covered the top of her crate with a blanket. She went right back to sleep.

I keep taking her for car rides. She does not like it much yet. This was the first time she put her head out the window to sniff. When we got to the dog park she had lots of fun!

She knows not to beg at dinner time. She does love to lick an empty plate if there is a little gravy or something tasty on it! Her favorite treat is a piece of hot dog. We often stuff a hollow bone with a little hot dog, piece of Milk Bone and peanut butter. Peanut butter is also a favorite! Benjamin, do you like peanut butter?

Here she is exploring the edge of a corn field. Mr. Mike wanted to see how tall the corn was here. Sometimes beagles are called “a nose on legs.” She loves to sniff trails where rabbits, deer or coyote’s have traveled. Squirrels are fairly exciting, too!

She is a nice little bundle of 20 pounds. People think she is a puppy, but she is actually 4 years old. I hope you have enjoyed seeing Lucky and getting to know her a bit better!

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Nature

More from the Walk

I recently posted about a walk with Lucky at Sycamore Park in Batavia. I never finished posting all the photos! Here is yellow Jewelweed, also known as Touch-Me-Nots. When the seed pods form if you touch them the seedpod springs open and scatters the seed! Fun for kids 🙂 like me.

Notice the water drops from rain and subsequent humidity. Yep, I was soaked from humidity when we finished the walk.

This is the base of a sycamore tree. Makes me want to write a kids story about who might live in there. Oh! Maybe that is where Pooh goes!

I started to write that this was thistle, but when I looked it up I was corrected that it is actually a Teasel.

http://www.botanicalaccuracy.com/2014/01/teasels-tousled-with-thistles.html “The problem is the teasels (Dipsacus) are not too far away from thistles, but certainly not true thistles, but they look a bit like them and get confused with them a lot.  Teasels also have large heads of small flowers and are plants that look ferocious with spines.  The teasel itself got its name from that the flower heads were used to tease out the wool before spinning (carding). Several teasels are invasive in the United States and you often see them along highways in ditches and on road banks. Their flowering heads dry beautifully into gorgeous botanical stalks for flower arrangements.”

For comparison “So, can you tell teasels and thistles apart? Thistles have many (involucral) bracts below the flower head that form a cup below the flowers.  In teasels, there are just a few long bracts that stick out below the flower head.  The teasels have lots of sharp parts in the actual flower head, so the flower head looks like a spiny ball the whole season. In thistles, the bracts below the flower stays, but there are no persistent spiny parts inside among the flowers themselves.  The fruits, which are little nut-like, single-seeded achenes have a feathery pappus for wind-dispersal in thistles, but are naked in teasels. “

So much to learn!

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Humor

Growing Corn

Someone mentioned that they could not tell how tall the corn was in my blog from July 2. Well, when I walk the dog alone it is hard to get a photo that compares it to an adult height! July 12 Bob and I walked there on purpose.

The Ohio saying is a good crop of corn should be “knee high by the 4th of July.” So here it is a week later! I am about 5′ 7″.

And the lovely Beagle Princess Lucky, also known as a nose on legs!

Here are the photos from July 2.

Sweltering heat and high humidity. Are they growing corn or rockets?

Posted on in Cooking, Humor

Humor from Consumer Reports

Consumer Reports lists goofs that people spot while shopping. Bob saw this in the monthly magazine. I copied it from their website at https://www.consumerreports.org/advertising-marketing/selling-it-august-2020/

Bryon Skaggs might know something about this!
Oh yuck! I can just imagine that flavor 🙁

That price would certainly cut down on my consumption!!

Keep laughing!

Posted on in Aging, Covid 19, Music, Social Distancing

Just Breathe

Who would have thought last St. Patrick’s day that we would still be fighting pandemic on the 13th of July? Perhaps until someone you know catches the virus people do not take this seriously. Granted many catch it and recover. However, some go home from the ICU in wheelchairs and some in beds, having to learn how to walk again. Our daughter was tested and got a positive result for Covid 19 last week. Stunning. So now we wait.

“To wait, biblically speaking, is not to assume the worst, worry, fret, make demands, or take control. Nor is waiting inactivity. Waiting is a sustained effort to stay focused on God through prayer and belief. To wait is to ‘rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him’ (Psalm 37:7).” Max Lucado

I wait. I pray. I try to remember to breathe. And I post, asking you to pray for her immediate family (2 adults, 2 teens) and ours (2 seniors with underlying health issues).

Max Lucado wrote ” Waiting is a sustained effort to stay focused on God through prayer and belief.” I have found it increasingly difficult to stay focused on God through these four months. The monotony of repetitive actions gets to me: (Didn’t I just change this toilet paper roll? Didn’t I just fill these same prescription boxes?) Changing the wall calendar page has gotten startling! How did we get from March to mid-July?

Many believers have told me they believe that this world-wide pandemic is a massive effort by the forces of darkness to separate us from one another and from God. The level of warfare I have experienced has me leaning that direction.

Hebrews 12:1-2a (NIV2011)  Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.

NOW I have my work cut out for me! Throw off not casually get out from under, but THROW OFF everything that hinders. I have changed up my devotional time. There are days when I let the Bible app read to me in an attempt to immerse myself in Scripture. Morning Prayer, devotional writings, whatever feeds my weary soul.

If I read a chapter of Proverbs a day, I am finished with the book in one month. Psalms can be broken up into just about 5 chapters a day. I have gone so far as to break up Psalm 119 into days as it is VERY long for reading in just one sitting – at least for me! Fix my mind, fix my eyes, fix my ears upon the Lord God Almighty. The hymn below was written by Helen Howarth Lemmel, a woman from Batavia, Ohio! Yep, that is where I live. 🙂 The chorus is sung more than the hymn in most churches. Too bad they leave out the verses! Here is a quartet from the continent of India who do a wonderful arrangement of Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus. I pray you will.

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Cooking, Nature

Summer Walk

When I took Lucky for a walk at Sycamore Park (see Playing Michael Q. Powell) I made certain we went near the water. She was not interested in swimming, though I did put her feet in at one point. Discovered a flower or two I was not familiar with. Bob and I recently discussed Matthew 6:28 “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow…” Some translations read flowers or wildflowers. These plants remind me not to be anxious. My Heavenly Father knows all things that I need. He wants me focused on His Kingdom and His righteousness before all things. Seems this plant might be called Wild Petunia?

Wikipedia teaches that common chicory is also known as blue daisy, blue dandelion, blue sailors, blue weed, Bunk, coffeeweed, cornflower, hendibeh, horseweed, ragged sailors, succory, wild bachelor’s buttons, and wild endive. This is where we get the term describing someone’s eyes as cornflower blue. This plant is in the dandelion family!

Cornflower with a busy bee!

Growing along the sides of the road this always announces summer to me. I remember my mother teaching us that people used to roast the roots and use them to extend their coffee supply. It is caffeine free, but is supposed to taste like coffee. Can’t say I have tried it. It is still used and often known as New Orleans coffee.

Saw this thing below and thought, “What in the world?” Before I could look it up on the internet, I noticed a similar growth in my front flower bed.

Last spring I had some garlic in the kitchen that was beginning to sprout leaves. I decided to plant it where I could watch it. A friend had told me that if I plant it in the fall I could harvest my own garlic the next year. Granted, I chose a different time of year because the garlic presented itself ready to grow. Learned from Leslie Land at https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/gardening/advice/a18057/growing-garlic-460709/

“I spent most of my gardening life cutting off the flowering scapes of hardneck garlic so they wouldn’t draw energy from the bulbs. Then I read a story about a garlic growing guru who said it didn’t matter a whit. Well, it isn’t really much bother. Tender young scapes are delicious and older, curly ones look wonderful in the vase.” I never knew ANY of this! Perhaps I should have picked that “scape” at the park? Nah, leave it for someone else to notice and wonder about.

Keep looking around! Never know what you might discover in plain sight!

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Nature

Bursting With Activity

The side garden is a busy place right now. It does not matter if I visit at morning, noon or evening, the milkweed is cluttered with bees, beetles, ants and aphids.

This photo only shows a portion of the milkweed. The fragrance is heady this time of year. Early evening carries one of those “knock you down” perfumes. We have seen a few monarchs flitting about. Have found no evidence of caterpillars yet. There seem to be tiny white/cream eggs on the underside of the leaves. They hatch so tiny that until I see actual holes in the leaves I cannot be certain we have newborns.

Until then, I enjoy the busy pollinators.

Even the bachelor buttons are humming with bees. Made me wonder how much pollen these plants produce? Do the bees run out after a few days? Seemingly not.

Looking this idea up on the internet I found these facts! “Very fond of milkweed blossoms, bees will desert other flowers when these are available. The plants provide a good nectar flow. Bees discard the pollen.  Assuming enough plants are available, milkweeds can bring a good crop of honey.” says https://www.beeculture.com/milkweeds-honey-plants/ Oops. I was only thinking pollen not nectar. Our bees are mixing it up between those two plants!

Will keep you posted as the milkweed gets taller and taller. Bob says it is taking over the garden. Jumps the rock border and tries growing out in the yard, where it is promptly mowed down. We started the seeds several years ago and have been rewarded with caterpillar feeding, raising and releasing after chrysalis.

Posted on in Covid 19, Humor, Just do it

More Humor From a Friend!

For me, it would be much more than 20 seconds!!
That is Hilarious!!
Made me laugh out loud!!

Hope you are staying in and staying well! PLEASE wear a mask. Please. Just spoke with a neighbor whose wife has MS. She gets an infusion twice a year that basically kills her immune system. If you passed her on the way to or from the infusion you would not know. If you sneezed on her before her white cells grew back, you could kill her. They have two young boys. Please, wear your mask!

I like the nurses who remind people “If you think a mask is an inconvenience, you should try a ventilator!” My husband was on a ventilator once. It is frightening and more than uncomfortable. In fact, it is so bad they have to put you in a medically induced coma to tolerate it.

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Nature

Playing Michael Q. Powell

Walking the dog on a trail I had only taken once before on a night walk, I was startled and delighted to see an Ebony Jewelwing Damselfly, I think! I have been following Mr. Powell’s site for quite some time. His photography is amazing.

This photo was taken with my iPhone 8+ and the new dog on a leash in the other hand. I was delighted to capture this. And I immediately thought, “I am playing Mike Powell!”

Then I spotted one I could not photograph as it was too jumpy. It was a delightful almost turquoise. Have no idea what kind of damsel or dragonfly it was. Wished someone else was with me to capture the image.

We left that area and headed back to the car. And voila! There was another sort!

And another shot of same one. I even captured the shadow of it’s wings 🙂

Mike! Come help me in Ohio!!! Absolutely NO idea what this one is. I was walking near the east fork of the Little Miami river. It was a humid morning and the dog kindly cooperated while I took photos. What a champ!!

If you are interested in dragonflies and damselflies I cannot recommend a better site than https://michaelqpowell.com. He is a terrific photographer who also writes well. He is quite fun to follow. At least until he gets to the snakes.