Cop Car's Beat

Brown-eyed Susans

Last year I scattered some brown-eyed Susan seeds in my miniature meadow (mm) in the back yard and planted a few potted blanket flowers. Inexplicably, I can find no photos of last year's mm, despite my belief that I had posted such photos last year. Oh, well. This year, a crop of brown-eyed Susan popped up in my mm, by which I was pleased. Early on, the first couple of times that Hunky Husband mowed our grass this year, he avoided one plant out in the middle of our "out back" because he thought it might be a flower that I had planted. Hmmm...eventually, it became obvious that it was a displaced brown-eyed Susan. I happen to like brown-eyed Susans from the plants that grew wild in our cow pastures WIWAK. The photo, below, shows the lone plant in the foreground and my mm in the background.

Had the brown-eyed Susans not come up this year, my mm would have been pretty barren once the daffodils wound down. A few blanket flowers came up, but they were so stunted that one would not know they were there unless one did a close inspection. Those few have already gone to seed (photo, below). Other than the rose and tomatoes which I purchased earlier this year, I've not broken isolation to buy seeds/plants.

The news - June 28, 2020

There is good news and there is bad (but not unexpected) news.

Bad News - The dishwasher drain pump is not working.

It took me 15-20 minutes to empty the water (well, as much as possible) from the washer, last night. No, the drain line is not clogged - the drain pump is not turning on. Odds are that the pump needs replacement, rather than that the controls are screwed up. Twenty years ago, I would have replaced the pump, myself. This time, since the dishwasher has outlived the average life expectancy by several years, anyway, I shall just do the research to see what brand of dishwasher to use to replace it - and - let someone else do the replacement. That should take care of dishwashers for the rest of Hunky Husband's and my lives.

 

Good News - The "large red cherry tomato" (that's how the label from the nursery reads) plant had a couple of ripe fruit on it, this morning.

This being Sunday, it was "water the new trees with the hose" day. While the long hose is soaking one of the trees, the short hose (hooked up in parallel with the long hose) is soaking one of the rose bushes or one of the three largest tomato plants. As I was watering the last tree, I moved the short hose to water the center tomato plant. When I bent down to place the end of the hose, I espied red! I reached around the vine and plucked the cluster of five tomatoes to bring inside. I shall have a home-grown, ripe tomato for dinner, today.

Usually, success with tomatoes is measured in these parts by having fresh tomatoes for dinner on the 4th of July. After a questionable start in late March/mid April (this plant is from the mid-April planting), I count the tomato crop as a success - even if it has been too hot for tomatoes to have set on during the past month. Speaking of the heat: I had gone out to water the trees, yesterday; but, the humidity was murder - the heat index made it feel like 97 degrees Fahrenheit - too much for me! Fortunately, the humidity decreased late yesterday and this morning is bearable.

And then there is Weird - Eastern Phoebe

I've seen birds spread their wings and tails to soak in sunlight; I've seen birds take dust baths; but, the phoebe pulled something, just now (Noonish), that looked like it wanted to soak up sunlight, but I cannot imagine it when the temperature is this hot (90ish). I shot a photo of it through the window. It was only there for 1 or 2 minutes.

Catching up - 6/19/2020

Fresh Paint

             

The house is looking fresher these days - not from the front, but definitely from the back. Cecil, the handyman, painted the three sides of the house that comprise rough cedar siding (although, one of those sides is nearly as much brick veneer as siding). The back side of the house faces southeast and the garage side faces southwest, so those two sides really take a beating from the sun and from the prevailing southwesterly winds. The whole house had been painted when it was built in late 1999, of course, and again in 2008. The front of the house, facing northwest, is nearly all brick-faced and gets little sun and wind, so I decided not to bother the environment by having it painted this time.

With the heat as bad as it has been, Cecil was smart enough to have himself and his helper here at 6:30am to work until a bit past noon each day - plus - the first day, Cecil worked for a couple of hours in the afternoon on the side of the house that faces northeast - in the shade. They were so quiet that we never knew when they were here or when they were not.

100' of hose - Front Yard

200' of hose - Back Yard

It seems that all I've done for the past few weeks is water, water, water. Except for one day, the temperatures during the past two weeks have been in the mid-to-high 90s (Fahrenheit) and I don't want to lose our new little trees. On Sundays, I water all of the trees that have been planted within the past 18 months - plus - rose bushes and the three largest tomato plants. That is accomplished by stretching out the back yard hose and setting it to water the base of each of 13 trees for four to twelve minutes, depending upon when the tree was planted, how large the tree is, and the species of the tree. The roses are watered using a separate 75' hose, for four to six minutes each, depending upon how distracted I get in watering the trees. Wednesdays, the three trees that were planted in May get two 9-quart buckets full of water each, and each rose or tomato plant gets one bucket full each. The front hose is used to water the tropical plants that are summering on our front porch, the plantings along the front of the house, and the plantings on the far side of the driveway. [I note that, since 2:00am, today, we have received over one inch of rain - and the heat is supposed to abate somewhat for today and tomorrow. Yay! I shan't need to water plants this weekend. The rain stopped for a bit a couple of hours ago, but it is again coming down. The sump pump has been activating every minute or two since I woke at 2:00am.]

Note that in the left, bottom area of the above photo there are small (tropical) airplane/spider plants coming up beside the sedum. Last fall, I gambled that those plants would come up from roots that had over-wintered for several years now and did not re-pot any of the plants to over-winter inside. Not only did the "established" roots over-winter; a root from a plant that had established itself from a potted plant that I had put into my basement escape window well (see the photo, below) did as well. The window well root took so long to come up that I had given up on it; but, there it comes.

The photo, below, shows the tropical plants that I am summering in the window well this year. Too small to show up in this photo, the airplane plant is in the far corner.

First visitor since February

For the first time since February, we had someone inside our home: Elder Brother (above photo from a visit in 2018). As paranoid as he is (and who wouldn't be who had experienced two heart attacks and about five cardiac arrests?) we felt that he would be as safe as anyone to invade our spaces - and that we would be a much greater risk to him than he to us. EB had phoned a few weeks ago to let me know he would be birding in Kansas. (He had promised me to always let me know, rather than visiting Kansas without letting me know.) I had consulted Hunky Husband, and we had invited EB to stay with us for a night or two - with the proviso that, should he die of CORVID-19 after catching it from us, he wouldn't haunt us.

EB drove in just after 4:00pm, on a Friday, and left at 8:00am, on that Sunday. We enjoyed his stay, but none of us left the house in the time that he was here. Normally, we would have eaten one or two meals out; but, we had pizza for dinner, Friday; leftover pizza for lunch, Saturday; and I put together a chicken salad for dinner, Saturday evening, with EB opting to have a shredded turkey breast sandwich, instead. We had soft-serve ice cream (vanilla with fresh, sweetened strawberries for EB and me and chocolate with chocolate syrup for HH) for the two meals. EB always has the same breakfast, to which he helps himself: bowl of shredded wheat cereal and four ounces of orange juice. He also helped himself to the treats (photo, below) scattered around the house - dark chocolate coated almonds, brownies, etc. EB eats very little and has always been so thin that it is painful to look at him when he doffs his shirt; but, he's a big boy (84 years old) and can take care of himself, I think.

  Left-to-Right: plain M&Ms, lemon cookies dipped in dark chocolate & almond pieces, and pecan candy made from left-over dipping chocolate

At our ages (and with the state of EB's health), HH, EB, and I find that our risk factor is not as worrisome to us as the thought of our not getting to see one another. It should be understood without my saying so that HH and I went into isolation for 14 days after EB's visit. OTOH, EB went on to spend a few nights in motels in Kansas and Texas, his intended locales for birding. EB also isolated himself when he arrived home from his journey.

Birds Fledged

The wren nest among the foliage of a house plant that is summering on the front porch has one egg left in it - abandoned AFAIK. It was probably not viable. The second brood of five house finches in the miniature swing on the front porch all left (the two laggards are shown in the above photo), and a second brood of bluebirds was fledged. I don't expect any more action in the nests during the heat of the summer. I was properly amazed at that second brood of bluebirds since we have been in the mid-to-high 90s during all of June (but for one day when it was 89 degrees Fahrenheit).

Strawberry Moon

We had few strawberries, this spring, my having ripped out our strawberry patch in order to plant HH's roses; but, I did get to watch the Strawberry Moon rise. As you can see (photo, below) the moon had to rise to about 20 degrees above the horizon to clear the tall trees along our creek.

Cherry Crop 2020

I posted a photo of our North Star Cherry tree abloom this spring, here, and posted about the cherry crop of 2019, here. Today, I'll post photos supplied by our neighbor down the street showing the cherries that she picked yesterday, and this morning, from our little tree. She, Wonderful Hostess, had invited us to attend an outdoor pot-luck-style barbecue that she is holding in her spacious back yard this evening. In telephoning our regrets (my not having felt well for a few days, the horrible heat spell we are having - about which she didn't know when she planned the shindig, and our old-people-reluctance to tempt fate in even an outdoor setting), I mentioned to WH that our cherries had suddenly all ripened a couple of days ago and that she should pick any that she cared to have. WH took me up on the offer and you can see her bounty, below. Of course, we were totally oblivious to her presence at our tree; but, she emailed that she had disturbed the birds at their breakfast, this morning.

Yesterday's take:

 

This morning's take:

Hunky Husband just came in from his morning jog. He wouldn't be much wetter had he jumped into a swimming pool. I was smart enough to get an earlier start - carrying buckets of water to the dogwood trees. (I wasn't early enough to catch WH at her cherry picking, though!)

ADDITION OF 6/7/2020 2:01PM  - Payback

Wonderful Hostess left me a voicemail several minutes ago, letting me know that she had left us goodies on the front porch. Have you ever seen a finer looking cherry cobbler? (I'll note that WH was sharp enough to use a double, disposable, pan for the cobbler.) I can hardly wait to taste it; but, must wait, of course.

Wonderful Hostess included a thank you note in which she lamented that she misses being a farm wife as she had been for 30 years - before moving to town. She is a wonderful neighbor who has provided a sparkplug to our community since moving in last year. We are so happy to have her here.

Week in Review - 6/5/2020

Health: For a few days, I kept having a new "symptom" to think about each day. As of this morning...no symptoms. I lived through 'em all and I'm pretty sure they had nothing to do with COVID-19 or any other virus. I think it was a combination of age/heat/food choices/hydration. The age and heat are still with me, but I've been doing better on the food choices and hydration for the past week.

Heat: The heat has about knocked me out. After doing yard work (mostly deep watering our nine newest trees - requiring uncoiling, dragging about, and re-coiling 200' of garden hose) a couple of days ago, I was beet red. That's not unusual for me when the temperature is over 80 degrees F, let alone when it is in the upper 90s. I come inside; drink a cup of water; splash water all over myself; swab my face, arms, and legs down with alcohol; and sit under a (ceiling) fan for 20-30 minutes. * The two, new dogwood trees were looking wilt-y, so I daren't wait until morning. Otherwise, I've done yard work in the morning when it has been cooler. I still get hot, but not beet red. (I think it would be nice if I could perspire!) Hunky Husband even found it hot. He was dragging when he came in from his jogging this morning.  (Maybe he just walked this time?) HH perspires enough for the both of us.

Politics: A long-time lurker has emailed to ask, once again, why I try to refrain from political discussions on my blogs. The Dilbert cartoon (above) in this morning's Wichita Eagle (I would provide a link, but it is behind a pay wall) pretty well sums up a major reason. I'm sure that I could be the person in the red shirt or in the blue shirt, in that cartoon, depending.

As I always believed during my working days, just because something can be done doesn't mean that it should be done. Similarly, as was quoted in an article headlined Ill-considered posts lead to lost jobs amid protests, crisis in this morning's paper, "You don't need to always say something." There are times when one must speak up; but, one must address the right audience when speaking up. I choose, in my blogs, to remain silent and be thought a fool, when it comes to politics. (Apologies to the late President Abraham Lincoln.)

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* I am reminded of a time in July, 1980, during a long string of triple-digit temperature days, when I had taken a TR-182 [turbo-charged, retractable gear Skylane] prototype out for an operational test flight. It was 104 degrees F, that day. After refueling (using a step-ladder) and parking the plane, I walked into the experimental hangar and stuck my head under the circular-troughed hand washing station to cool down. The mechanics found me a sight to behold, I'm sure; but, they were kind enough not to give me a bad time. They were good people.

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ADDITION OF 6/5/2020 11:30AM - More from Slashdot.org

Does this posting (below) mean that we Yanks are, in general, hypochondriacs? Perhaps I had no "symptoms" (see, above) at all? I was just fooling myself!

COVID-19 Pandemic Causes 42% Drop In ER Visits Nationwide, CDC Says (upi.com) 74

Posted by BeauHD on Friday June 05, 2020 @06:00AM from the striking-decline dept.

schwit1 shares a report from UPI: Visits to hospital U.S. emergency rooms have dropped by more than 40 percent so far in 2020, compared to the same period last year, according to figures released Wednesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC researchers compared total visits so far this year to the same five-month period in 2019. The number of ER visits declined from a mean of roughly 2.1 million per week between March 31, 2019, and April 27, 2019, to a mean of 1.22 million per week during the "early pandemic" period of March 29 to April 25 of this year, according to the CDC. ER visits declined for every age group, with the largest proportional declines in children 10 years old and younger at 72 percent and children 11 to 14 years old at 71 percent, the agency said. Researchers found the largest declines in ER visits occurred in the New England states at 49 percent, as well as in the mid-Atlantic region at 48 percent. That region includes New York and New Jersey, which has been the epicenter of the U.S. COVID-19 outbreak.

ER visits related to abdominal pain and other digestive problems fell by more than 66,000 per week from year to year, while those among patients reporting musculoskeletal pain -- excluding low-back pain -- dropped by more than 52,000 per week, according to the CDC report. Visits for "sprains and strains" declined by nearly 34,000 per week, and those related to "superficial injuries" fell by nearly 31,000 per week, the researchers said. Conversely, ER visits for "exposure, encounters, screening or contact with infectious disease" increased by nearly 19,000 per week from 2019 to 2020, the analysis found. Specifically, some 18,000 ER visits occurred per week across the country for COVID-19 symptoms through the end of May, the researchers said. The researchers say more research is needed to determine whether the decline in ER visits could be attributed to "actual reductions in injuries or illness [due] to changing activity patterns during the pandemic" lockdown, or if Americans simply delayed or declined emergency care.

Three more trees

Three guys came out from Hillside Nursery, yesterday, to plant three new trees that I had asked nursery employee John to pick out for me and send. As always, I knew that John would be better at picking out trees than would I. Since as far back as 1968, Hillside Nursery has been happy to fulfill orders that my family members have phoned in and John has been helping me for at least 20-30 years (he says that he is 10 years my junior although I would have guessed 20).

Two of the trees were more Prairie Pink Dogwoods. Three dogwoods are shown in the photo, below; but, the center one was planted one year ago and bloomed so beautifully this year (see here and here) that I had to give it some siblings. I'm looking forward to next April!

The third tree planted is a pink crabapple. We used to have one; but, I had it taken out a couple of years ago, when I replaced several trees and bushes with sod (see here). This (below) is the new tree.

I'm hoping that the new crabapple will be as pretty as the one I had taken out - shown, in 2012, below.

While I'm at it, I'll show a few of our irises - the kind that has nearly completed its bloom period.

And, lastly, an update on Hunky Husband's red roses, the buds of which were shown here.

Mr Lincoln:

Oklahoma!: Although the photo makes some of the petals appear to be bruised, the dark parts are really deep red and velvety.

Early report on Hunky Husband's roses - 2020May15

Last year at about this time, I posted Something strange in our rose bed. The main theme was that among the roses that I had planted in March, 2019, was a rose that was supposed to be a Mr Lincoln, but which was producing yellow buds (the later blossoms were a creamy yellow), as opposed to the deep red that a Mr Lincoln is expected to produce. On the last day of March, 2020, I posted A little (more) work done which featured a hybrid tea rose bush that I had just planted for Hunky Husband - a Mr Lincoln.

Today, two of the roses blossomed and the two red bushes produced large buds - of the correct color!

NOT a Mr Lincoln:

Rosie the Riveter:

Mr Lincoln:

Oklahoma!:

Unfortunately, with the copious rain that we've been receiving, the fragrances have been washed away (the creek is up, but not out of it's banks, from the 4" of rain we've received.)

Week in Review - 5/6/2020

The first few photos are for Bogie, with a plea that she help me apply a name to a plant that we last decided was "The Magic Plant". This plant has been growing in about the same spot for about 15 years, I think, and I have misidentified it variously as basil or as sage for several years. On a winter holiday visit, Bogie corrected my identification. This past winter holiday visit, Bogie changed her identification of the plant. I no longer recall what the identifications Bogie made were; but, perhaps these photos of the plant in bloom will help her tie it down. Obviously, since the only time Bogie gets to come visit us is during the winter, she hasn't had the benefit of seeing the plant in any other season.

The whole bush - that came up from a small section of the original bush's roots, most of which was hacked out/dug up when the back porch/deck was replaced two and one-half years ago. It seems to me that, in the past, the flowers were a deeper purple; but, I do <i>not</i> remember colors at all well.

Closer look at a stem with blossoms

I'm sure that Bogie recalls that the stems are square, that the leaves are velvety and opposing, and that the leaves are on different sides of the stem as one moves up or down the stem. That is, if one set of leaves is on the left and right sides of the stem, the adjacent set of leaves is on the front and back sides of the stem. The symmetry and placement of the sets of blossoms are like those of the leaves; opposing, and adjacent sets on differing sides of the stem. When crushed, the leaves release a spicy scent. (Which reminds me that I think Bogie mentioned lavender?) Or, how about catmint - except - the original bush grew to quite a large size, so maybe not; but, I recall buying catmint seeds one year. (But, I always thought this plant grew from a pot - albeit, I remembered it as being some sort of basil; but, it made dreadful pesto!)

After Hunky Husband mowed the lawn the other day; and after I mowed along the "new" edge of the woods (after taking out trees that had formed the "old" edge of the woods); and after Adam trimmed along his fence; and after I trimmed around trees, daffodils, and marking flags, I took some photos to record such a stupendous occasion. The marking flags, btw, keep HH from mowing full-tilt over the roughly eroded area of the lawn at the "old" edge of the woods.

The pole in the midst of the daffodil plants is there to support a hummingbird feeder. I've put it out there so as not to have to move it when the handyman starts painting the house later this month. Tomorrow, I'll move the two other poles that support peanut, sunflower seed, and safflower seed feeders. We've not yet seen a hummingbird and I'm beginning to worry. Most years, I think, at least one has arrived by now - flying up and bobbing just outside our living room window or breakfast room sliding door if I have failed to have a feeder awaiting her arrival.

Yesterday, I installed a new, 100' garden hose at the front water spigot and another at the back water spigot. The one in back replaced three of the four lengths of hose that I had strung together last fall in order to water the new gingko trees in back. It turns out that I had misjudged how long those three lengths amounted to. The new hose plus the longest of the old hoses must add up to 175' instead of 200' (I haven't checked.) They barely stretched far enough when I watered the trees, today - and - they did not reach the walnut that is inside the wood, transplanted there three years ago.

The house finch babies have fledged from the nest in the miniature swing that hangs from the ceiling of the front porch and the bluebird babies seem to have fledged from the bluebird nesting box; but, we failed to catch any of them in the process, this year. Yesterday, when I started to water the houseplants that are in their summer home on our front porch (using the new hose in front), I was startled when I flushed a bird from the upper plant. I won't bother the bird to get photos of its nest; but, I'm sure it's a Carolina wren nesting there. I posted photos of one such nest back in 2012, two photos of which I repeat, below.

The nest - doesn't look like much from the outside

The eggs - found by peering down the tube of the nest

One more time I was faked out.

Having watched the miniature swing that hangs from the ceiling of our front porch for a new nest built by house finches and seeing none, I gave up a couple of weeks ago. In the meantime, Hunky Husband has told me of seeing an adult house finch in the swing on occasion. However, I still saw no nest - just a few assorted pieces of western cedar mulch. Today, I happened to glance up through the window that is above our front door and note two gaping mouths and hairy heads. New babies! The adults had built a nest that was so low that it wasn't visible from my height (or lack thereof). In addition, I noted that Mama Bluebird seems to be feeding babies, regardless of the fact that (atypically) we had been unable to determine that the bluebirds were nesting in our nesting box, this year.

I must become more observant!

And, just because it is still so pretty, another photo (below) of the Prairie Pink dogwood tree. The blossoms are nearly red when they first open, but fad out to pink as they age.

Dogwood Saga

April 5, 2018, I had a Prairie Pink dogwood tree planted just on the inner edge of our woods. Dogwoods are an understory tree, so it seemed the perfect spot. And it was. Except: That year, we had a record cold spell of 18 degrees Fahrenheit the night of April 6, 2018. Great timing on my part. (Actually, I had purchased the tree a few weeks earlier, in March, and the nursery got around to planting it in April.)

On April 6, 2018, I wrapped the tree up to protect it - Readying for freeze. It did well, pulling through the freeze, beautifully - Effects of the Freeze. However, the tree all but died in the winter. When the nursery guy came out to plant the Texas Whitebud tree in April 2019, he examined the dogwood tree and its one little blossom, and pronounced that the nursery would replace the tree. They did - in May 2019. This spring was to be the replacement tree's first year to bloom, here. I'll let you judge from the photos, below, how well it has done.

Although Hunky Husband thinks me a nut for planting gingko and walnut trees, as I shan't be around when they grow large enough to be significant, he doesn't make fun of my planting trees that blossom, shortly. In fact, he has listened to my glowing remarks about how much I enjoy observing the blooming dogwood that he has given me "permission" to plant more small, flowering trees - well away from the house; but, he said he would be willing to mow around them if I gave him ample room. For several years, now, I've pursued the goal of taking out trees that are near the house and planting trees further away - fire considerations.