Homegrown Thoughts

Tuesday, July 1, 2008 - Nature coming out my ears

Posted in True-Life Tales

I’m not really an outdoors person.  During summer, I greatly prefer the air-conditioned indoors.  I have had a few interesting encounters with the natural world in the last couple of days, though. Sunday night when we came home from church, there was an interesting addition to the neighborhood.  A hawk had landed in our next door neighbor’s yard and it had *something*.  The hawk seemed to have no fear and was kind of glaring at the cars that drove by, probably just daring them to try to take its treasure.  It had some prey and it wasn’t going to share.  Several neighbors came outside to watch.  It was kind of funny because rarely are so many of us outside at the same time.  One had a camera, a couple of us brought out our binoculars.  We couldn’t figure out what it was eating, though.  We could just see it tearing out clumps of something white and throwing it all over the grass.  Hawks are not neat eaters, it seems.  We were pretty sure it was fur and hoped it wasn’t a kitten or something!  It seemed like too much white to be any of the rabbits I’ve seen in the area.  We were all fascinated and a little grossed out at the same time.  Yes, I know, it’s the circle of life and all, but this was a pretty aggressive ‘tearing limb from limb’ session we were witnessing here.  Eventually we decided we’d seen enough and left it to finish its meal without an audience. The next day I got brave and inspected the leftover carnage.  It wasn’t fur.  It was feathers.  Lots and lots of white feathers.  From the length of what was left, I’m guessing it was a pigeon/mourning dove.  We have quite a lot around here and the feathers were pretty large.  I didn’t see any bones, just feathers and some other unidentifiable inner body part that I tried NOT to look at.  So it seems the hawk’s prey was not much smaller than he was! Yesterday we needed to go to the post office and I decided to make a stop on our way back.  We’ve searched for a geocache at this park once before and failed.  So I thought I’d let the kids play at the park for awhile and search for it again.  We got a little more brave and ventured further into the woods where I’m certain it’s hidden.  My GPS was only giving me an accuracy range of 21 feet at best, so we were looking in a little wider area.  I found many places that would be awesome locations to hide a cache, but none of them hid the one I was looking for.  I finally had to give up because I was getting eaten alive by mosquitoes.  The final tally was 7 mosquito bites (although I think one might actually be a spider bite as it’s on my knuckle and my finger is swollen today).  Those were all on me.  The boys had NONE.  I am not kidding when I say I’m a mosquito magnet.  For some reason they just love me, even when they aren’t biting anybody else.  I feel so honored (not).  We again found some of the tiny frogs that are in the grass between the pond and the woods.  They are so adorable.  I think they are called cricket frogs.  This is because of the sound they make, but I really thought they were crickets at first, they are so small.  It’s fun to hold them and they are very cool to the touch.  I thought about getting a couple to keep as pets but I did some research and it seems they only live a few months and like to eat *gulp* crickets!!  I’m not dealing with crickets, no-siree.  So we’ll just go visit the frogs in their natural habitat instead.  And next time we go I will try to remember to take my camera! Today I went out and harvested more raspberries from the back 40.  Actually, we don’t have a back 40.  We have a regular ol’ suburban back yard.  I’ve written about my raspberry bushes before.  They actually were volunteers that snuck under the fence from our neighbor’s yard.  I decided to go with the flow and have made a little patch for them.  It’s about 2.5 x 5 feet.  I am amazed at the amount of berries I’m getting already this year.  They’re very early and there are tons of them.  For the last week I’ve been getting a good cup to cup and a half of berries every day.  I didn’t get any yesterday so I got a ton today.  This is my harvest from this morning shown in a 3 cup container: Keep in mind that anything I purposely plant dies almost immediately.  But volunteer raspberries…they thrive. Oh, I almost forgot.  We have also discovered that we have a mulberry tree.  Actually the neighbor behind us does, but the tree is on the fence line and a good portion of it hangs over our property.  This tree has never had fruit until this year.  It’s making up for lost time.  I read that people don’t like to plant female mulberry trees because they make such a mess with the fruit.  I can attest to this fact now!  There are mulberries everywhere.  It’s like a mulberry carpet in part of our yard.  The part where the swingset and shed are.  Mulberries stain.  My children play on the swingset.  One of them walked all over the carpet after coming inside.  Do you see where I’m going here?  I have some carpet cleaning to do. Nature and I…we have quite the interesting dance going on here. Technorati Tags: nature, fruit, frogs, geocaching, hawk, raspberries, mulberries

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Friday, May 30, 2008 - Just slap a big "L" on my forehead

Posted in True-Life Tales

So today I read my email from the geocaching site and noticed there was a cache pretty close to our house. I decided we should try and find it for a fun little diversion. I’ve known about geocaching and have been registered on the site for a long time, but I’ve never actually gone out and searched for a cache. I located our GPS unit, discovered why it wasn’t working (no batteries in it, ha!), figured out how to download the coordinates file and get it onto my GPS, grabbed a pen and a swag item to swap if we wanted to, and off we went! First mistake - taking the dog. He hasn’t been on a walk in a LONG time and he’s forgotten how to walk on a leash. It only took him most of the time we were gone to figure out that if he runs too far ahead of me, he gets choked. Also, he mortified my by doing his ‘thing’ in somebody’s yard when I had neglected to bring a bag along, if you catch my drift. Ugh! I’m very sorry to whoever’s yard that was! I’m normally not so thoughtless. So we all trot up to the location where the GPS took us and where I thought it would be based on a photo somebody had posted. The area was very freshly mulched with a thick layer of fresh grass clippings. It was also planted with prickly evergreen bushes and those red-leaved prickly bushes. Uh huh. We looked for at least 15 minutes and couldn’t find the thing. Much to my children’s disgust I decided we should give up and try another time. After we returned home, I was determined to make it right for the boys. So I found some other caches on the website that were in easy walking distance, all at the same park nearby. Surely with 3 more to look for we’d get lucky! Well, my computer wouldn’t find my GPS unit to load the information on it. I rebooted, tried all different combinations of plugging in and turning on and went through the whole deal. Nothing. So I decided I’d check the connection to the computer. I pulled the CPU out and disconnected the cord. I then followed the cord back to get to the GPS and found that I had the car power adapter plugged into the GPS unit instead of the computer connection cord. Well, that explains a lot, doesn’t it? Amazingly, once I connected the unit with the correct cord, it was found by my computer quite easily!  Imagine that. Finally, we were off once again. We headed to the park and followed the GPS directions to the general vicinity of the first cache. My GPS thinks it’s funny and decided to tell us it was in the middle of the road. We searched on both sides of the road, near fences, posts, trees, in bird houses…nothing. So we moved on to the next one. This one was by a wooded area on the edge of the park near a little creek. It has rained here a LOT lately. It was a mess in that area. We searched and searched, but again couldn’t find anything. So we moved on to the final one, our last chance at redemption. This one took us to a heavily wooded area on another edge of the park near the bike trail. This one made me nervous. I wouldn’t be able to identify poison ivy or oak if it was put right in front of me, and there was a mention of possible snakes on the cache entry. I wandered around in circles on the edge of the trail, trying to get my GPS unit to give up its secrets, but we were foiled once again. o for 4 on our first cache hunt! The sheer humiliation of it all! I really wanted to get the boys excited about it so maybe we’d get outside on a more frequent basis. My older son is still wanting to do more, but my younger son was begging me to take him home. My older son and I were still wanting to search a bit longer, but we had to listen to the plaintive cry of, “I miss my home, please let’s go home. STRAIGHT home.” Oh well. We’ll try again. I’m hoping after my disappointments today somebody will give me more clues as to the whereabouts of the caches we couldn’t find. I’ll also try to find some ‘easier’ ones that we might have a better chance of finding. I know once we find one, we’ll have a better idea of what we’re looking for and how they are hidden. I suspect a find will get my younger son more interested, also. Until then, I think I’ll peruse Geocaching 101 and work on washing this “L” off my forehead. At least with the GPS unit I’m only a Loser and not technically “Lost”. Technorati Tags: GPS, Geocaching, nature

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Friday, May 9, 2008 - Our First Letter From Selina

Posted in True-Life Tales

We got our first letter from our Compassion Child, Selina a few days ago. So exciting!  It was written on March 14, which was only about a week after we became her sponsors.  Pretty fast!  She answered some of the questions I asked her before she even got our first letter.  It looks like it takes about 8 weeks for the letters to get from her to us and, I assume, from us to her. We’ve learned that she has one older sister and 2 younger sisters.  And a duck.  :-)  She likes to count and write at school.  We also got some drawings that she did - very good for such a young child!  I’m going to send her some coloring pages.  She draws and colors better than my boys do!  She also wants to know when I will come visit her.  Uhhhhh… that would be very cool but at this point I don’t really see that happening.  But you never know what God has in store, right? It’s just so neat to hear from her.  We’re going to put together a notebook to keep her letters in and also some information about Tanzania as a ready reference.  We’re still working on the Swahili!   Technorati Tags: Compassion-International, Africa, Tanzania

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Thursday, May 1, 2008 - Warning: Power Tool Use Imminent

Posted in True-Life Tales

I’m trying not to lose my momentum with my project completion here. I’m having many discussions with myself about whether it is better to seed and fertilize before or after the predicted rain over the next several days, if I should even be doing this in the spring rather than the fall, if I can do it alone or need to wait for help from my husband…blah blah blah. Having not come to any kind of a solid decision, I settled for mowing the front yard and finishing the de-thatching of said front yard by doing the last side yard. Doing that on a windy day was probably not the best choice, but it’s as done as I’m going to get it. I also went and picked up my new microwave and chest freezer from Lowe’s. They barely fit in the back of my van, whew!  That was what I got done yesterday. I had many plans for great strides in the project department today, also. I didn’t get far. I spent much of the day dealing with homeschool group work, freelance work and spending some quality time with my older son. You see, we just ordered a Wii and it was imperative that we do some research online to see what games we might want to get for it. We bought a bundle and probably will exchange the games it includes for some other ones, so…of course the projects had to be postponed for this important activity. I’m not really a ‘gamer’, but I am excited about the Wii as it will be more active games, not just sitting on the couch exercising our thumbs. I was a little freaked out by the cost, but my friend Heather mentioned it being out of my physical education budget for homeschooling and somehow that made it feel a lot better. :-) What I did accomplish project-wise today was getting our range hood down in preparation for the over-the-range microwave. That was not easy and I got quite a workout. *insert flexing biceps visual* Come to find out, the range hood is not vented! I was sure it was vented out of the house, but no. I’m really surprised because this house is new enough for me to expect outside venting. However, that’s not the case, so we’ll be going the re-circulation route with the microwave fan. GE wants us to spend an extra $40 every 6-12 months on a charcoal filter for said re-circulation, but I’m pretty sure I know how to take care of it for much less. So no thank you, GE, you have enough of our money already. I then started reading the installation instructions and getting the template ready. Tangent: How do you pronounce the word template? I say ‘temp-lutt’ and my husband says ‘temp-layt’. I’ve never heard anybody else pronounce it the way he does. He claims the computer people he’s worked with say it the way he does. I find this odd. Anyway… So I got my ‘templutt’ all folded to size and ready to go, then saw that I have to insert some wood blocks as filler because we have a recess under our cabinets. This is the way my projects are going. If there can be an extra step needed or something a little ‘off’ which causes a lot of extra work, that’s how it will be. Fortunately, I did locate one lone 2 x 4 in the garage, which is there for some unknown reason. I’m very glad I don’t have to go back to the home improvement store for yet another item this week! So that’s where the power tools come into play. I now need to cut this 2 x4 to create 2 blocks of wood that will perfectly fit the recessed area under my cabinet so I can attach the microwave to them. This will involve sawing and sanding as the 2 x 4 is about 1/2 inch too thick for the recess. I will have bandages and tourniquets at the ready. You may be asking yourself about now, “Where is her husband and why isn’t he doing this stuff?” That is a good question. And here’s the answer. My husband would most likely be doing this stuff if I weren’t so impatient and would wait for him to get to it. But his ‘get to it’ list is quite long and I’ve learned that if I want it done on my timetable, I need to do it myself. Which is fine. I’m fairly handy and like doing most of this stuff. So much of what I do in my life is intangible and invisible, it’s nice to do something that I can actually point to and say, “I did that!”, once in awhile. My husband is very good about jumping in to help me when I get to a point that needs more than one person to accomplish or I’ve managed to get myself into a situation I can’t figure my way out of. So…that pretty much sums up my day. Other than a gaping hole where the range hood used to be, my home looks very much the same as it did when I got up this morning, other than some additional dishes and toys strewn about. There were already plenty to start with, thank you very much. Maybe I’ll get some house cleaning done tomorrow. Or not. Technorati Tags: home-improvement, projects, tools, Wii

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Thursday, April 24, 2008 - Vacation means...work?!?

Posted in True-Life Tales

My husband took Friday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off from work. Usually we make plans for these times and then get very little, if anything, done. Well, not this time! I don’t think I’ve had such a continuous stretch of manual labor…ever. Here is what we’ve accomplished over the last few days, in no particular order: Shopped at multiple home improvement stores.  Bought from one, ordered online from another. Replaced the 3 yard lights on the front of our house. Got part of our online order picked up from Lowe’s - the rest is coming later. Replaced non-working  disposal. Put our gazebo up on the deck. Assembled (and used) new grill. Assembled new lawn mower. Used said mower on front and back yard on 2 different days. Manually de-thatched front yard. Declared war on sweet ants who decided to invade our kitchen - their occupation was short-lived. Bagged up yard waste. Hauled several large and small items to the curb for ‘pick up anything’ trash day. Removed front storm door and took to the curb. Gave my older son a haircut. Put down grass patch in several spots in the yard, watered, etc. Weeded, cultivated and seeded 2 flower beds. Trimmed the raspberry bushes. Cleaned out the shed. Got a Razor scooter and helmet for the kids. Got a new bike for older son since we discovered he is now too tall for the existing bike. Raked leftover debris out from the other 2 beds (which should have been done in the fall) and put into yard waste bags. Removed one side of our deck bench after realizing that it was not a good idea to actually light the grill under the gazebo because it could catch on fire and our deck didn’t leave enough room for the grill AND the gazebo.  Decided to do this on the spur of the moment so we could get the wood out to the curb for pick up.  This is a typically impulsive move on my part especially since we didn’t measure to make sure it would fit even after moving the gazebo over! Installed new curved shower curtain rod in the master bath. I might be forgetting something, but that’s probably about it.  You’ll notice there is no mention of laundry, washing dishes or any other regular housework on that list.  That’s because I didn’t do any of that!  So guess what I’m doing today.  :-)  It works out well, anyway.  Hubby is back at work at least for most of the day and it’s rainy and cloudy outside.  My body needs the rest - I literally hurt from the tips of my fingers (from raking and I got a splinter, even!) to my toes (tons of standing and walking and crouching…).  So I’ll hobble around the house today and try to get the inside of our house looking like a family did not run rampant through it without cleaning anything for nearly a week. Whew!  Vacations can really wear a person out! Technorati Tags: spring, vacation, yardwork, maintenance

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