Cop Car's Beat

The seeds are sown

BEFORE Seeding

TenderCare's lawn service team was scheduled to core-aerate and slit seed on Monday, 10/11/2021. Unfortunately for that scheduling, we received 2.61" of rain that day, starting at Midnight and ending at about dinner time. TenderCare rescheduled us for Friday, 10/15/2021. Now, understand that there are a couple of things driving us to have wanted to have the seeding done two weeks ago: 1) I had originally scheduled our sprinkler system to be winterized on the 20th, and the grass seed would need thrice daily watering for at least two weeks following sowing, taking us out to having the system winterized no earlier than 11/3/2021 - by which time we will surely have had temperatures that will risk freezing the backflow prevention valve assembly* and 2) Kansas State U Extension Service recommends sowing fescue seed no later than October 15, to provide the new grass the opportunity to mature to a stage less likely to be killed by fluctuations in winter temperatures.

The photo, below, is a paste-up of two photos that I finally thought to take Wednesday, 10/13/2021, showing the bare patches in the back yard that were left by the voracious army worms - after I had completed pulling out the Bermuda grass that was prominent in those areas. BTW: We received an additional 0.53" of rain on Wednesday.

The next photo was taken merely to show our daily invasion by "our" flock of turkeys. They came up from the creek bank just as I had come inside from taking the above photos and was closing the patio door.

Came Thursday, the 14th, I ran an errand, returning home to Hunky Husband's news that he had called TenderCare. He did not recall how he received the word (phone? text? email?) from TenderCare that they had scheduled winterization of our sprinkler system for the following day, regardless of the fact that I had asked them to change our scheduled date from the 20th to sometime the week of the 27th, after which I will need to water the seed/new grass by hand. They told him that they would not turn off the sprinkler system before seeding. That is good. However, HH's memory of what transpired is not always accurate these days, so I wondered what would happen on our re-scheduled seeding day of Friday.

Came Friday, the 15th, at 3:30pm, we had still not seen anyone from TenderCare. I called the office to inquire and was told, "You are on the schedule." We waited. No one showed. Now the office was closed and I had no idea what was happening. I decided that, if their team showed up, today (Saturday - usually a non-working day for TenderCare), I would let them seed. If they hadn't shown up by Monday morning, I would tell them not to seed - we'll do that next spring. Spring isn't the ideal time to seed a cool season grass, here; but, then, neither is it ideal after the 15th.

Thankfully, today, one of the TenderCare lawn service guys showed up, bright and early, to do our lawn. He had missed work, yesterday, and the remaining members of the lawn service team had been overbooked and could not possibly get the scheduled jobs all done. Since we are friends of the owner, I suspect that he chooses to take care of less sure customers, first, and that we were scheduled last. The guy who showed up had help, his bride of 19 years who is a member of TenderCare's landscaping team. As they were dragging two trailers behind the Tendercare pickup truck and one was filled with balled-and-burlaped bushes, I suspect that he would be her helper at their next job.

AFTER seeding

The photo, below, shows most of the bare areas in the back lawn, after core aeration and seeding. I immediately took up all of the flags that we had put out to mark locations of sprinkler heads and other obstructions that the workers should not hit with their equipment, and programmed the sprinkler system to do the thrice daily chore. Keeping my fingers crossed that our weather cooperates for the next three weeks, at least.

________________________________________________________

*To the best of my remembrance, we have had to pay to have the backflow prevention valve assembly repaired or replaced three times in the past 21 years. However, that's not the worst that happens. The worst that happens is that I get soaked with 32 degree F water, getting to the assembly to turn off the water, once the ice in the assembly melts and the water starts gushing forth. I have packed the assembly for resistance to low temperatures (we were at 35 degrees when I went for my walk, this morning, with frost on our roof and on the grass along my route.) Unfortunately, the last time the assembly was replaced, the new assembly's configuration makes it impossible for me to apply electrically heated tape to it. Grrrr....

More of this and that - early October

Grass - not the smoking kind

Today was a nearly perfect day for me - something to write about. Nothing exciting happened, nothing out-of-the-ordinary happened; but...well...maybe it was a bit out-of-the-ordinary. Much of my day (5 ½ 6 hours of it) was spent pulling Bermuda grass out of our back lawn. (I wrote a tiny bit about this project at Big accomplishments this week.) We've been having such hot, sunny weather that I dared not spend too much time out there (besides my hands not being up to too much grasping and pulling) - until today. Today was mostly cloudy and cool. Tomorrow, I'll take an update photo and post it below this sentence. It is too dark, now, and I didn't think of taking a photo before.)

ADDITION of 10/7/2 021

The yellow ovals indicate areas not yet de-Bermuda-ed while the diamond shows an example of a small patch that has been completed. The Bermuda is a bluish color in the dew - before I put in my first hour this morning.

What made the day so spectacular for me was how quiet it was. No one was mowing. No one was running power tools in their garage. McConnell AFB didn't have a bunch of KC-135s and KC-46s taking training flights and shooting landings, Fred was at work so his dogs were indoors, air conditioners were not running...you get the picture.

By now, my right hand is a bit swollen, but not too bad since I switched to doing extreme grasping/pulling with my left hand about mid-morning. In all, I took six turns outside pulling Bermuda for that 5 ½ 6-hour total time. Even the 1 3/4 hours that I put in after dinner were extremely pleasant. (Hunky Husband let me get away with our having DQ treats as dinner - he had a Blizzard, I had a Mocha Moolatte - which is okay considering the totally nutritious meals we had yesterday and for lunch, today.) Fred was at home and his Labs were outdoors, but I was far enough away from their side of our yard that they ignored me. (The Great Pyrenees dogs whose fence is fairly near to my work area bark "Hello", then ignore me.)

I am desperately trying to get the visible Bermuda grass pulled before Tendercare comes out on Monday to core aerate and slit over-seed the lawn with fescue. Because of my progress, today, I have a shot at making it; although, tomorrow, Friday, and Saturday are supposed to be hot - and Sunday will be dedicated to other activities. 

Microsoft Ergonomic Desktop

I'm almost getting used to my new keyboard. I'd been putting up with the truly awful keyboard that came with this computer, for nearly two years - basically because I was too lazy to look for a different keyboard. A couple of weeks ago I got irritated enough that I decided to go for a new keyboard. Doing a very little research, I decided on the Microsoft Ergonomic keyboard which was easy to order online through my Microsoft account. Only after it arrived did I discover that I had accidentally ordered the Desktop (keyboard+mouse) instead of only the keyboard. Oh, well. I won't use it when, as now, I am using the mouse to the left of my keyboard; but, I may try the mouse sometime when I am using the mouse to the right of my keyboard. The mouse is configured with a couple of controls that are located for use by one's (right) thumb.

In the above photo, I have pulled the keyboard tray all of the way out (the truly awful keyboard is above the ergonomic keyboard, resting on the desk.) That is not how I normally position it, which is most of the way forward; thus, you would (now) see four keys with white tape over them. I don't have a great sense of touch in my fingers (it's a good thing I don't try to use Braille), so I use little self-sticking bumps or tape to help me "find" certain often-used keys. It reminds me of 1951 when Elder Brother and I put our pennies together to buy a portable typewriter (EB was a junior in high school and taking typing - I was in 8th grade and would not take typing until my own senior year in 1954-55.)

Dad intruded. He covered each key with a square of electrician's tape (he was, after all, a Journeyman electrician.) His theory was that, if we couldn't see the labels on the keys, we would learn to touch-type properly. He was right! By the time I did take typing (which I took only to learn proper forms for letters), I typed so proficiently that Mr Bills put me on one of only three electric typewriters that he had and, later, onto a 10-key adding machine to learn it. Actually, the electric typewriter slowed me down since my throw of the carriage on a manual machine was faster than the electric carriage return.

BTW: It seems strange, but this ergonomic discontinuous keyboard showed me that I was in the habit of striking the "6/^" key with my right index finger. This keyboard has the "6/^" key located to the left of the discontinuity - for striking with the left index finger. Which hand is standard? I no longer know; but, I note that the "7/&" key is nearly twice as wide as the standard letter keys, so I am suspicious that my using my right index finger is "standard".

Big accomplishments this week

Well...not big; but, it beat not getting anything done!

Hunky Husband, it turns out, has been looking for a chronometer to replace his favorite (photo, below). I offered to do the research for him, which offer he gladly accepted. Not by skill, but by luck, I found an online video that told how to solve the problem he was having with his current piece, followed the simple directions, and restored his piece to full function. Note in the photo how the long, red hand (the timing, second hand) is pointing between 1 and 2. The reset indexed that hand back to the 12 position. That was all that HH needed - saving him $600.

About a month ago, the army worms hit our town - hard! Nearly everyone's lawns were hit. Unfortunately, I didn't get around to photographing the damage until this morning. In the photo (below), one can see that the army worms missed eating some of the roots of our fescue grass, and they have sprouted up. The part of our back yard that gets shaded by the cottonwood tree, was spared - something about trees seems to repel the army worms. Tendercare is to come slit seed the barren spots in back, and all of the front lawn, on October 11.

While the army worms readily devoured the fescue grass, they eschewed the native Bermuda that has, over the years, invaded the sunny area of the back yard. While Bermuda grass is much more suited to our current climatic conditions on the sunny side of the back yard, I won't have it, having fought it my whole life (starting at age 4 or 5 when Mom had Elder Brother and me pull the native Bermuda grass out of her rose beds). While the fescue grass is sparse is the ideal time to pull the Bermuda grass - which task I've been attempting since the mornings have cooled down during the past several days. Most days, I've been able to put in 30-60 minutes of work on that tasking, limited by when the sun starts hitting that area and/or my weariness.

In the photo, below, the yellow oval shows some of the Bermuda that has yet to be attacked while the yellow diamond encloses the visible part of the area on which I spent 55 minutes this morning. (The orange tubing running across the upper, right corner of the photo is part of the watering hose that I had out to water the newish trees in back.)

I had but one instance of performing IT services, this past week. It turns out that HH has been carrying a separate subscription to a Norton (Symantic) anti-virus suite that is installed on his laptop. I'm not sure that HH even knows his login for his laptop, these days, but I can state with confidence that the anti-virus suite on his laptop is not worth the $89.99 that he is paying each year - especially considering that he can have the coverage, free, from the up-to-5-machine subscription that I have from Norton, for which I pay $97.19 per year.

Currently, since removing Norton from the laptop that I've prepared to give to Elder Brother (Norton is a space hog and EB only accesses one website - to update his data on the stock market), there are only two machines using my subscription, HH's and my desktop machines. As I recall, at the time HH bought his laptop several years ago, my subscription was fully used on five machines; thus, HH had purchased a separate subscription.

Update on Common Milkweed plants

It has been 18 days since my last report on the results of having planted three milkweed plants to entice monarch butterflies to lay their eggs thereon. While watering the newish trees in the back yard, this morning, I noticed three monarch caterpillars - plus - a couple of ladybugs of some ilk. With the photo, below, I settle for showing three caterpillars.

The photo, below, shows one of the ladybugs. Go, ladybugs, go. Eat those aphids!

 

Caterpillars - or not

Saturday, July 24

Black Swallowtail Caterpillar

Hunky Husband saw a black swallowtail butterfly flitting about the volunteer dill weeds growing at the front corner of our garage a few days ago. In a completely different (planted) dill weed patch under the kitchen bay window, I found a black swallowtail caterpillar this morning. It's the only one I've seen, so far this year.

Tuesday, August 10

Monarch Caterpillar

I've previously mentioned (and shown photos of) the milkweed plants that I planted in my mini meadow, this year, to help the Monarch butterflies that lay their eggs on those plants. I mentioned that, the only caterpillar that I had seen on those plants was not a Monarch.

Yesterday, I saw a Monarch butterfly that flitted about and alit on one of our ninebark bushes, but found no caterpillars on the milkweed plants.

Today, I finally saw a tiny (5/16" long) caterpillar that was a Monarch. By the time I had finished re-positioning my watering hose at another of the new trees in the far back yard and gone into the house to retrieve my camera, the little thing was nowhere to be seen. I never did see it again, so cannot post a photo. Instead, I will post a photo of some of the multitude of "little yellow eggs" that graced the plants, below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, wait - one of the "little yellow eggs" moved. Far from being eggs, online research reveals that those little yellow specs are aphids. (Our native aphids are green.) The linked site propounds, "What are oleander aphids? They are bright yellow, sap-sucking insects that can be found in warm regions throughout the world. These aphids probably originated in the Mediterranean, which is also the native country of oleander plants." Rats!

P.S. I found no identifiable Monarch eggs.

Iris domestica - Blackberry Lily

Having misinterpreted Bogie's comment concerning my "wild tiger lily", I'll say that she was exactly right. I finally took the time to search for "Blackberry lily". Below is a photo from North Carolina State's Extension service website showing pods that look like the pods on my own plants. It seems that the pods split, revealing the seeds - just as Bogie had written, but I had not understood. Sorry, Bogie. Thanks for hanging in there with me!

Immature fruits - Karelj - CC BY-SA 3.0

The above-linked website includes the following information.

Common Name(s): Blackberry Lily, Chinese Blackberry Lily, Chinese Leopard Flower, Dwarf Tiger Lily, Leopard Lily

....

Blackberry lily is a rhizomatous perennial in the Iridaceae (iris) family and is native to Asia. It has iris-like leaves but the flowers resemble a lily and the fruit splits open to reveal a cluster of blackberry like seeds. The orange-spotted flowers appear in sprays of 3-12 in late summer for several weeks.

That the plant may be propagated from seed, a trait that I had not connected to the iris family, may explain how the unexplained plant (in what was previously the edge of our woods) came to sprout there. We get lots of plants sprouting from seeds carried in bird feces. The other option is that the seeds were borne into our yard during one of our episodic "flooding" events. Now my only question is whether to let the plant alone or whether it should be discouraged before it takes over our land.

Hmmm...in researching the plant's potential for becoming invasive I find the following information at Invasive Species Compendium in Iris domestica (blackberry lily).

Iris domestica is a perennial herb, native to China and also likely to be native to Japan, Korea, Taiwan and the Far East of Russia. Through its use as an ornamental, it has been widely introduced and cultivated, mostly in temperate and subtropical areas. In many places it has escaped from cultivation, particularly in the USA. In Wisconsin, it is considered a species to watch, capable of expanding but generally spreading slowly and with a minimal dispersal range. It is considered a transformer species and potentially invasive in Cuba, however, any impacts on habitats and biodiversity have not reported.

I should run, not walk, out to cut the pods/pod stems from the plants. I don't really need another invasive species to fight - not even when it is as attractive as is the Blackberry Lily. Sorry. It must go!

Summary of the week - July 23

SATURDAY, July 17

Edging of street curb

I finished manually edging the street curb, this morning. The photos show the edged curb and the last load of sod that I removed in the edging process.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SUNDAY, July 18

Flowers for free

On the 11th, Bogie posted More Rain!, including photos of a few flowers that were blooming without her having planted them. She reminded me of a mystery plant that came up under a small mulberry tree that I had saved when having the trees surrounding it removed. I finally thought to take a photo, today. If you can identify the flower, please do so in a comment. I'm calling it a "wild tiger lily" because I don't know what else to call it. For the past three years, I've watched us (carelessly) mow down a couple of irises that I had laid at the base of the tree; thus, I've no idea how long this lily has been there. It has an interesting leaf habit that climbs the blossom stem. The third photo, below, shows what remains of the iris plants for comparison of the leaf configuration to that of the lily. The iris hasn't bloomed for having been mowed down so many times and I no longer recall what sort of iris it is - if I ever knew. I may have picked it up out of my trash heap of irises that were discarded when we sodded along what is now our neighbor's fence line.

 

 

Milkweed

While showing Hunky Husband the free lilies, I took him by my miniature meadow in order to check out the milkweed plants. They are doing well. There was a caterpillar on one of the plants (and a nibbled leaf edge); but, as I read online, "That ain't no Monarch!"

 

 

Addition of 7/19/2021: No caterpillar, no cocoon, no chrysalis, no further nibbling of leaves. Perhaps a bluebird ate the caterpillar.

 

MONDAY, July 19

 

Tomato harvest

After giving our four Ninebark bushes a haircut this morning, I harvested tomatoes. The bowl on the left contains tomatoes from a couple of volunteer vines that came up between the garage and the crepe myrtle bushes, this spring, while the bowl on the right contains tomatoes off of a Jet Star vine that I bought and planted. Because of the wonky weather that we had in March-May, our purchased vines had no ripe tomatoes for July 4th - which is the rule of thumb for gauging success of growing tomatoes, around here. The Jet Star and one of the larger tomato varieties ripened up one or two fruits - one week later.

 

For a while, the volunteer tomato plants out-produced our purchased plants. There is still one purchased plant that hasn't set on fruit but has abundant blossoms. (I picked some of the tomatoes a bit under-ripe so as not to give our expected high temperatures this afternoon, and the critters, a chance to spoil them. The temperatures are to crescendo to about 106 degrees Fahrenheit within the next two weeks, making our temperatures more in keeping with expectations for July.)

 

 

Update of 7/24/2021: The one vine that I wrote had not yet set fruit is the Bella Roma and closer inspection, this morning, showed  one walnut-sized and two marble-sized green fruit have actually set on.

 

Tuesday, July 20

 

By 7:15am, I had taken my walk and bought groceries. By 8am, a batch of chocolate chip/pecan cookies had been baked - made necessary by HH's having finished off the sandwich cookies that he likes and by the little WalMart's not having any for sale, this morning.

 

Thursday, July 22

 

Fortunately, I accomplished all necessary outdoor activities before 9am, today - my walk, some yard work, and a quick trip to the little WalMart to purchase more wide-mouth jar flats (for jars of chili that I had ready to put up in jars for Elder Brother). The trip to WalMart was a bust. They had nothing but jars left for sale in the canning supplies area. It seems that canning supplies are in short supply due to COVID-19 shutdowns.

 

I had to re-use some of the flats that I had on hand. I've historically re-used flats when the food is for Hunky Husband and me; because, except for the rare jar of jam, I keep such canned goods in the downstairs refrigerator or freezer. I like to use new flats when someone else is getting the canned goods - even when, as for the chili, the person will similarly store the jars in the cold. EB may choose not to take the chili if that is his preference; but, with careful packing, he should be able to get them to his home at a low enough temperature. I did assure that each jar actually sealed. *ping*

 

The photo, below, shows a loose set of wide-mouth flat and ring, one pint of the chili, and one unopened box of standard-mouth flats. The standard-mouth flats will probably still be in the cabinet when I die. I pretty much have used the wide-mouth jars since an epiphany many years ago in which I realized it is easier for one with tremors to hit a larger target. (My circular error probable, CEP, isn't that small.)

 

 

The reason I was glad to get outdoor activities accomplished early was that the authorities started issuing air quality advisories (stay indoors) at about 10am. The smoke from the wildfires in Northern California wasn't pea soup thick; but, it has been hazy out there.

 

A piece about canning jar flat shortage, Where have all the canning lids gone?, was posted last August. I hadn't noticed, before, because I had plenty of the flats on hand until now. (I've used at least three dozen new flats since August.)

 

Milkweed

While showing Hunky Husband the free lilies, I took him by my miniature meadow in order to check out the milkweed plants. They are doing well. There was a caterpillar on one of the plants (and a nibbled leaf edge); but, as I read online, "That ain't no Monarch!"

 

 

Addition of 7/19/2021: No caterpillar, no cocoon, no chrysalis, no further nibbling of leaves. Perhaps a bluebird ate the caterpillar.

 

MONDAY, July 19

 

Tomato harvest

After giving our four Ninebark bushes a haircut this morning, I harvested tomatoes. The bowl on the left contains tomatoes from a couple of volunteer vines that came up between the garage and the crepe myrtle bushes, this spring, while the bowl on the right contains tomatoes off of a Jet Star vine that I bought and planted. Because of the wonky weather that we had in March-May, our purchased vines had no ripe tomatoes for July 4th - which is the rule of thumb for gauging success of growing tomatoes, around here. The Jet Star and one of the larger tomato varieties ripened up one or two fruits - one week later.

 

For a while, the volunteer tomato plants out-produced our purchased plants. There is still one purchased plant that hasn't set on fruit but has abundant blossoms. (I picked some of the tomatoes a bit under-ripe so as not to give our expected high temperatures this afternoon, and the critters, a chance to spoil them. The temperatures are to crescendo to about 106 degrees Fahrenheit within the next two weeks, making our temperatures more in keeping with expectations for July.)

 

 

Update of 7/24/2021: The one vine that I wrote had not yet set fruit is the Bella Roma and closer inspection, this morning, showed  one walnut-sized and two marble-sized green fruit have actually set on.

 

Tuesday, July 20

 

By 7:15am, I had taken my walk and bought groceries. By 8am, a batch of chocolate chip/pecan cookies had been baked - made necessary by HH's having finished off the sandwich cookies that he likes and by the little WalMart's not having any for sale, this morning.

 

Thursday, July 22

 

Fortunately, I accomplished all necessary outdoor activities before 9am, today - my walk, some yard work, and a quick trip to the little WalMart to purchase more wide-mouth jar flats (for jars of chili that I had ready to put up in jars for Elder Brother). The trip to WalMart was a bust. They had nothing but jars left for sale in the canning supplies area. It seems that canning supplies are in short supply due to COVID-19 shutdowns.

 

I had to re-use some of the flats that I had on hand. I've historically re-used flats when the food is for Hunky Husband and me; because, except for the rare jar of jam, I keep such canned goods in the downstairs refrigerator or freezer. I like to use new flats when someone else is getting the canned goods - even when, as for the chili, the person will similarly store the jars in the cold. EB may choose not to take the chili if that is his preference; but, with careful packing, he should be able to get them to his home at a low enough temperature. I did assure that each jar actually sealed. *ping*

 

The photo, below, shows a loose set of wide-mouth flat and ring, one pint of the chili, and one unopened box of standard-mouth flats. The standard-mouth flats will probably still be in the cabinet when I die. I pretty much have used the wide-mouth jars since an epiphany many years ago in which I realized it is easier for one with tremors to hit a larger target. (My circular error probable, CEP, isn't that small.)

 

 

The reason I was glad to get outdoor activities accomplished early was that the authorities started issuing air quality advisories (stay indoors) at about 10am. The smoke from the wildfires in Northern California wasn't pea soup thick; but, it has been hazy out there.

 

A piece about canning jar flat shortage, Where have all the canning lids gone?, was posted last August. I hadn't noticed, before, because I had plenty of the flats on hand until now. (I've used at least three dozen new flats since August.)

Summary of the week - July 16

Inside Work

This week, I was able to finish cleaning the second one-third of our built-in china cabinet (in-progress photo, below).

Notice the rope hanging at the right-hand edge of the above photo. It is one support of the three-tiered macramé/glass table that has hung in the corner of the dining room for the past 10 years or so. It had previously hung in the living room in the corner next to the piano; but, during the early years in this house, I had discovered that when I watered the over-wintering house plants that were on that table, the water found a way to drip into the carpeting. It's much easier to clean the mess off of vinyl roll goods floor covering.

Cecil ("our" handyman) un-hung that table (and the table in the opposite front corner of the room) to give us more space in the dining room. We do not frequently have enough family over to require extending the dining table to it's full length with leaves (I gave up being the primary entertainer in our family when I was in my late 70s); but, when we need to seat 10 people, accommodations will be more comfortable. Below are photos of the two vacant corners. (The first photo includes the collapsed table below where it had hung.) BTW: Each of the macramé tables, purchased at an artworks shop in Old Town Albuquerque in the 1980s, hung from a healthy chain and hooks driven into the beam that shows at the top of the second photo.

 

Cecil teased me about the size/strength of the hardware that I used, and for my having used two hooks from which to hang each table. You will note in the photo, below, that I had spray painted the parts to make them blend with the walls (off-white chain) and beam (chocolate brown hooks). I still felt competent to teeter at the top of an 8-foot step ladder in those days. I let Cecil do it, this time.

Cecil's primary purpose of being here was to repair one of the bi-fold doors on the guest bedroom closet. The door had come off its pivots the last time Elder Brother visited us. Since EB is even more anal retentive than is Hunky Husband, it really bothered him that the door "broke" on him - despite my assuring him that the door had been giving me troubles for several years (that bedroom was mine until I moved to the basement.) The pivot point on the bottom had actually been pushed up inside the hollow door. Cecil took the door home with him to see what approach(es) he could come up with and returned it two days later - with, in his words, Plan A. So far, we haven't had to go to Plan B as the door, after Cecil put much elbow grease into adjusting the hardware properly, seems to be working well. (The cranky door is the one on the left in the photo, below.) 

Outside Work

A couple of months ago, one of my postings included a photo a a new string trimmer that I had bought. Since then, I've casually mentioned edging the front sidewalk, the driveway, the street curbing, and our patio. It wasn't until a few days ago that HH pointed out to me that, despite my efforts, the edging of the street curbing did not look all that great. Casting a critical eye on it, I had to agree. Thus, this week, I dug out my manual edger, my Weasel Edge-Chopper, and have been working at establishing neat edgings that I shall then maintain using the string trimmer.

The photo, below, shows a section of the street curb edging. The dark area next to the grass is where the grass had grown out over the concrete - that I had failed to note in edging with the trimmer. I removed about 40 feet of 4-inch-wide sod from along the curbing. I've not quite finished all of the manual edging, but the bit of street curbing that is left to be done has grass that has only overgrown the concrete by about one inch.

While pulling weeds in front, I noted that the one ice plant that has thrived for the past few years is in full bloom (below). The 1/2-inch of rain that we received yesterday made the weeds grow by about six inches in all directions.

When I stepped outside to work, this morning, I was greeted by an unusual sight - an Annual Cicada that had just emerged from its shell. It is on a dill weed that is growing in the rose garden.

Added about 24 hours later - in response to Stu's having asked about the size of cicadas. The photo, below, is out of focus, but will give the idea of size on this particular cicada. I'm judging this cicada's length, nose-to-wingtip, to be about three inches - perhaps a little larger than "normal" in my experience. More information may be found at Common cicadas of Kansas, but in my limited browsing, I didn't see mention of sizes of the numerous varieties listed/shown. BTW: There are nearly 200 varieties (species & sub-species) in North America and over 3,000 world-wide.

Wikipedia notes that "The adult insect, known as an imago, is 2 to 5 cm (1 to 2 in) in total length in most species. The largest, the empress cicada (Megapomponia imperatoria), has a head-body length around 7 cm (2.8 in), and its wingspan is 18–20 cm (7–8 in).^[7][23]"

Summary of the week

The ears have it - 6/14/2021

Hunky Husband had an appointment with the audiologist. The upshot of the appointment was that he chose to have Dr Combs set his hearing aids on "fully automatic". Trying to make adjustments was not working out for him. No more than HH currently wears the hearing aids, it isn't that big a deal. I must say, though, that I'm enjoying that HH is now (mostly) wearing his hearing aids when he watches TV in the evening. (Not so, during the day; but, one thing at a time!)

At times, HH's TV has been set to such a loud volume that, even though my den door is closed, I cannot hear my own TV over his. Note that, in the photo above, the charger sits on a note that I had written HH a couple of weeks ago to remind him to keep the lid open while charging his hearing aid batteries. Dr Combs recommended this as a means to check that everything is proceeding normally with the charging - by observing the blinking green light on each unit, during charging, or a steady green light when fully charged.

Note to Bogie: I showed your dad the hearing aid controls information in the format that you suggested (which reorganized the information and added the bit of info about the beeping that I had previously omitted) the other day. He didn't recognize the difference. He kept saying that it was the same information as on the previous table. It was mooted by his going to the "fully automatic" mode, anyway; but, I appreciated your input. Thanks for taking the time and making the effort.

Outlook and my teeth - 6/16/2021

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was not too pleased upon learning that, seemingly, a recent update to Outlook has changed how it operates a bit. Just how, I've not determined. The effect is that I missed my dental appointment on the 15th and had to re-schedule for the 16th.

My usual practice is to set up important appointments in the Outlook Calendar with first notification occurring 18 hours prior to the appointment so that I am reminded the evening before the appointment. The first notification that I received of the dental appointment on the 15th was when I came in (hot & grimy) from doing yard work and was notified that my appointment was past due. Picking up my phone to call the dental office, I noted that they had left me a voicemail about my not being there.

In setting up my appointment for the 16th, I was doubly positive to set first notification for 18 hours prior to the appointment. However, as had occurred on the previous entry, the default of 15 minutes was actually set on the appointment. Of course, with the kerfuffle, I did make it to the appointment on the 16th. I saw the dental hygienist (Lacey, who cleaned my pearly whites), the owner of the practice (Dr Carol Ysidro, who said she just wanted to see me because it had been at least a year since we last spoke), and Dr Omar (Dr Omar Barakeh who adjusted a few of my teeth to improve my bite). My teeth have been shifting a bit since Dr Omar installed the permanent bridge.

The lawn and my "miniature meadow" (mm) - 6/18/2021

Edward, of TenderCare Lawn and Landscape, came by this afternoon to check out our irrigation system. This is a mid-season service that the company offers. Having spent time weeding in the side yard, this morning, I decided to check out my mm that sits between our back lawn and the far back grounds, to see how the milkweed plants are doing. The above photo shows the mm's status.

The lacy-looking white flowers are Annual Daisy fleabanes, I think. I didn't plant them, but neither did I pull them when I saw them growing. The daisy-like yellow/brown flowers at mid-height are Brown-eyed Susans that I seeded a few years ago.

The multi-hued little flowers lurking in the shade of the towering Brown-eyed Susans and Wild asters are Blanket flowers that I planted from pots in 2019. At the left of the photo, one can see that the milkweed plants have grown little since I stopped babying them. Perhaps they are thirsty. The mm is just out of reach of the irrigation system unless the wind is from the north.

As an afterthought: The yellowish long leaves sticking up at the edge of the bare dirt, toward the right edge of the photo, is what's left of one of the Narcissi that surround the mm and a few of the trees that I've had planted in the edge of the woods. The Narcissi have shriveled, fallen, and been mowed down for the season.

Weather notes for the week

It has been hot, hot, hot - and it isn't even summer, yet. The NPR station was announcing that their studio thermometers (in Downtown Wichita) were showing 103 degrees Fahrenheit. The hottest I saw, myself, was 103 on my car (but it changed to 100 when I turned down-sun) and 100 on our front porch. It is supposed to be hotter, today. It is 96 on our front porch. On my drive home from visits to the gym, this week, I've been swabbing down my carotid arterial areas, etc, with the wet wipes that I have been carrying in the car for COVID-19 precautions for the past 15 months. When one cannot perspire, it really helps cool one down.

Bogie, how's it doing up there in New Hampshire? You've been having really hot weather for an area that is supposedly "cool". You were hotter than were we, by about 20 degrees during May, I think.

Today's yard work & after-effects

Yard work & observations

This morning was cool and dry enough for me to be able to get some yard work done. I didn't stay out very long each time, but I went out several times. Mostly, I pulled weeds; but, my greatest achievement was completion of the task of removing the root system left when the yew bush outside one of my bedroom windows died this past spring. Our freshly-sharpened axe and my rarely-used razor tooth saw were my friends. The photo (below) shows that the hole has been filled with the dirt that I had dug and piled - as shown in Weekly summary - 5/22/2021. 

Some of my neighbors appreciate having a ready source of dill weed for their cooking (at which they are much better than am I!) Last fall I seeded, with far too many seeds gathered from last year's crop, a couple of beds, of which I show one (below).

While thinking of our neighbors, I am about ready to call them over to pick cherries. Just a few more days, I think.

In going out to the previous edge of our woods to pull creepers, I saw an array of gorgeous, ruby-red jewels among the grass (below). The closeup shows one ruby-red jewel. I don't know whether the seeds came from the strawberry bed that we had (now, HH's rose garden) or from green garbage that I've buried. At any rate, the taste of these left something to be desired.

Just an update: The new Oklahoma redbud tree, the planting of which is shown in Pretty Trees, is doing great, so far. Unfortunately, the new cherry tree still hasn't shown up. (I need to call the nursery.)

Visual Disturbance

Sitting at the luncheon table across from Hunky Husband, I noticed that I couldn't really see his right eye. Admittedly, it was not entirely light in the room - we've had a lot of practice getting food into our mouths, so vision isn't really required. However, I checked to see if it was one eye or the other that had an issue and found that it made no difference which eye (or both) I used. Absent my long history of migraines and migraine equivalents (variants), I would probably have been very concerned. As I have that history, I quickly cleared my plate from the table, did a quick check for possible stroke, told HH that I thought I was having a migraine, and retired to my darkened den. Indeed, my loss of vision progressed to nearly 100%; but, within 15 minutes, I was recovering visual field. Strange. I've not had a migraine of any sort for about 10 years and haven't experienced a retinal migraine equivalent for at least 30 or 40 years.

Migraine is a syndrome characterized by paroxysmal headache associated with other signs and symptoms, such as aura, but when a migraine manifests in a way other than head pain, it is termed a migraine variant (or migraine equivalent). These variants are not as common or as well understood as typical migraines and may be characterized by paroxysmal episodes of prolonged visual auras, atypical auras, confusion, dysarthria, focal neurologic deficits, gastrointestinal manifestations, and other constitutional symptoms, with or without a headache.

I'm surprised to have come up with a migraine equivalent at this late date; but, perhaps it was triggered by all of the bright sun that shone while I was working in the yard.