Great Grandma's New Photobomber

I finally got the time and schedule to visit the great-grand kids over the weekend. Their mom is my granddaughter, and the three kids are from first grade down to just had a 1st birthday. It's a bit of a drive, and right now Steve can't handle one (nor some days simply walking) so I take pictures to share when I return. (As if that were a chore!!)

Just over a year ago I found the photobomber in the family, the eldest. She used to be a bit camera shy, especially the year before that when she stayed shy for most of the visit up to where we were. Last year I got a real kick out of the change. However it became a real challenge to get just a picture of my granddaughter, or just the parents, or Mom with younger brother. 

I tried several things to not have every single photo include my photobomber, but I was surprised when my favorite photo from that entire visit was of her photobombing. She had been off in the kitchen, doing something on her own. I'd tucked the camera away during the mild chaos of Daddy arriving home with their new dog fresh from the groomers with her first ever haircut. I say dog for size, but make it puppy for energy and cuteness. She spent several minutes bouncing from person to person, except for me. We hadn't been introduced yet, though after a while and a pile-up, we got well acquainted. I wanted a good shot of the dog, and the only way was with Mom and the youngest on the floor giving the dog attention and trying to keep her in one place for a decent shot. 

It almost worked.

Second try got closer, and we figured the third would be the one. It was, since they were finally settled down and reasonably well posed. Of course, from the kitchen, the eldest heard that the camera was again turned on and working. When I saw the photo, she was the blur in the background charging in so as not to miss being in the picture too!

This year my great-granddaughter was still something of a photobomber, but not quite as frenetic about it. I figured out ways to separate people, including both her brothers. I'd also brought over a huge bag stuffed with bubblewrap, and she quickly discovered one can't get her "fair share" of bubblewrap and photobomb greatgrandma at the same time. After  being in a generous share of photos, this year she found other things to do, including semi-friendly fights with her middle brother over how bubblewrap was to be properly used and who got to do it. At one point this included coaching him how to get out of the large Hefty bag he'd worked his way into, first following some bubblewrap in, then finding out how, when  one stretches out new bulges in the bag so you can fit too, those bulges like to hug you back and keep you as their captive. Once out again, this time only elbows went in the bag and it became his bat cape. Eventually the increasing number of holes in the cape meant it got put aside. At some point attempts were made to make a fort in various rooms, and breakables had been chosen to try to weight the blanket tops down to hold their shapes.

Oops.

It was noisy. It was chaotic. It was fun. It was so normal!! I hadn't been around kids at play for a very long time and it was delightful.

Eventually the camera came out again. The youngest boy had a new plastic chair to play with, as I'd found three, each different colors, and brought them as presents. I was impressed with how well he walked for just being one. He could also climb into the chair, decide he was facing backwards, stand up and turn around to sit again. He'd get out, tipping the chair, then look at it and figure out exactly how to get it up on all four legs again for the next round. I got nearly 2 1/2 minutes of that activity on video, then reverted back to still shots of everybody, most activity much calmer now with supper time looming, and my head back home imminent. I took a bunch of shots trying to get whatever and whoever I'd missed before leaving. This is when I found my new photobomber.

 Down at the bottom of nearly every photo during this time is the dog. Well, not all, just her head poking up from the bottom, big eyes all but glowing in the pictures as she took everything in. I'd been trying to make friends earlier but she was slow to warm up. I guess she had to be sure her family was being treated well. But now it was all her, her. her. Wherever the camera aimed, there her head was.

The pictures of course are adorable. I have cropped the people out as much as possible. I don't believe in posting other people, especially kids, online without their or their parent's permission, and I never asked for it. For the record, in the below picture Mom is giving a big grimace, Not only is that nose cold but her tongue was very wet over Mom's face.

This one below required flash for the main shot and the dog got herself a faceful. I do not think she learned anything but it was time for me to go, so I have no more samples to check  that out on.

 

Just great memories!

Uhhhh...... DUH!

My Science X Newsletter talks about a Florida study which found increasing numbers of mosquitos after Hurricane Irma. 

OK, I've visited but never lived in Florida. But I have lived most of my life in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Or 14,000 as some count them. Many refer to the mosquito as our state bird. We are regularly warned about not leaving containers of water lying around for mosquitos to breed in, and reminded that even things like old tires can hold enough water after a rain to breed them. So can holes in fence posts, or any number of odd places. If one must have mini ponds like half barrels for container gardens, add a couple pair of crappie minnows from your local bait shop to feed on the the larvae, hint hint.

Those warnings amp up after the first summer cases of encephalitis are reported. Or West Nile. Or whatever mosquito borne illness is in the news. Even vets warn more against heartworm danger in pets.

In short, an increase of standing water equals an increase of breeding locations equals an increase of mosquitos. So we hardly find it worth the time and expense to study whether hurricanes with all the extra water they dump over large areas result in subsequent weeks in an increased number of mosquitoes.

Or in a word:  DUH!!!!!!

If All Antarctica's Ice Melts...

 I get in my email feed every day something called Science X Newsletter.  It comes overnight, so today I get to read yesterday's offering. It includes a lot of areas of discoveries, but this one hit my particular interests. If all the ice covering Antarctica were to melt, how would it affect global sea level rise, and why?

In case you haven't been paying attention to this piece of the world, perhaps except for the cute penguins, things have been changing. Huge chunks of ice shelves are being undercut by warm ocean water and are breaking up. Ocean currents are already changing, some of which like our Gulf Stream, are either not streaming or are curving backwards in places, and sometimes both. These things I already knew, having been following this news for quite a while. We've been hearing all kinds of estimates from all kinds of sources, both scientific and not, on how much total loss of ice down there would affect sea level, just like people have been doing what amounts to guessing about the Greenland ice sheet, or even total planetary ice loss.

Scientists have more information now than they had previously, and new ways of gathering it, including satellite imaging. I won't get into that. If their "hows" interest you, go read up. What impressed me the most are two conclusions about what will happen when all the southern ice is gone, along with a new number of how high seas will rise just from Antarctica.

First, the number: 58 meters of ocean rise. For those of us with the feet and yard system of distance, i.e. Americans, that is over 190 feet! Just from Antarctica! (You rethinking that oceanfront property yet? How about your own private island dream home?)

Why so high? First, glaciers are a weird kind of ice. The snow piles up and piles up and compacts into ice, which then under increasing volume itself compacts down denser than, say, what pops out of your icemaker to put in your drinks. By the time those molecules have become water they have expanded back to the same volume as the rest of water on the planet. 

Second, all that weight leaving one spot on the globe allows it to rise. What had been deformed now can reform. Without all that weight, it has less gravity. Right now Antarctica attracts a higher amount of water to itself, pulling it away from, say, Florida. If that seems unlikely, just remember how much the pull of the moon way out in space can affect our planet's water in what we know as tides. Ocean levels will rise less near both poles since both still carry glaciers to melt away, thus higher gravity, and will rise around the rest of the globe. So that 190 feet or 58 meters will be just from Antarctica. It won't be the height at which it stops.

We just haven't quite figured out the "when" yet. But the graphs being generated these days on things like CO2 and methane in the atmosphere are rising straighter and straighter rather than looking like the zigzag top of a mountain range. Temperature graphs globally are doing the same thing.

We are living in "interesting times". The Chinese consider that phrase a curse.

Why The Evil Eye?

For over two dozen years I've had a "master" key ring  with a darkening leather piece attached with the original company name on it. By original, I mean before the company I was an independent contractor for was bought out by an international company, which somehow managed to fall into oblivion sometime after I retired.  (Do not mistake that for cause-and-effect. I was in no way holding the company together. That's simply a comment on both timing and my lack of knowledge of why it happened, although I could, from working for them, have come up with several reasons why they failed.)

I kept the leather piece on my key ring partly from inertia and partly because I had nothing to replace it with. The huge ring it was on held four smaller rings, each dedicated to specific purposes. For example, one holds all four keys for the new home, including for the locked mailbox and for the shed. Another ring holds my copy of Steve's scooter key, just so I don't have to go hunting in case I need to move it. Then of course the car keys. The 4th? I've forgotten their use, though I do know they're not for the Arizona house because those keys were blue.

About a week ago I was offered a new master key ring. It has two jewelry type chains of different lengths hanging off it, each with a blue bead which I'll describe later, and a few links lower a filigree metal and blue crystal butterfly hanging on the end. It is a present from a long term friend, the one in fact who introduced me to beading, and whom I later introduced to wire work jewelry. Each deep blue bead has spaced around its middle three white circles, inside of which are a light blue circle, inside of which are a small black circle. In other words, each has three eyes on it. 

My friend explained those are the "evil eyes". 

When she first introduced me to the concept several months ago, she countered what I thought evil eye meant. I always thought the evil eye wished evil on the person it was directed toward. That's how B movies use the term, where the evil eye is ill wishing somebody.  But my friend is Wiccan, and I know ill wishing is not a part of her belief system. She had carefully explained to me that the evil eye is actually protection against evil. The three eyes manage to cover all 360 degrees, missing nothing. So I look at those beautiful beads in the spirit they were meant.

I do not hold the same beliefs she does.  But they are beautiful, were given in friendship, and best of all the new key ring somehow does not let my other key rings tangle into each other the way they used to in my pocket. The old leather one is tucked away in a catch-all place, should a key ring become necessary again some day. The unknown keys have joined them there, just in case. Meanwhile my keys have beauty added to them instead of plain old (mostly) practicality. 

I may not share her beliefs. But I do share the friendship.

Those Pesky Squirrels!

It's amazing the things you can still learn at my age about gardening despite doing it most of my 3/4 of a century life.

You all know by now that I'm busy working with brand-new-to-me gardens in the new home, and dealing with the long neglect of some established plantings as well. It's the brand new plantings right now which are attracting the attention of neighborhood squirrels.

Now, I like squirrels. They're cute. We lived across the street from a growing population of albino ones for several years, making them both fun and easy to watch. Having a family dog helped keep any squirrels from becoming too much of a nuisance. Building a new house on a new lot in a new development devoid of trees kept their attention elsewhere for many years. Living in the desert also discouraged their presence.

But this neighborhood has lots of very tall trees around its edges - on other people's lots - and a very healthy population of squirrels. On walks to the mail hut I can often see two or more, each way. Judging from my bounty of garden weeds, both oaks and maples nearby are producing plenty of huge supplies of food for them to gather and store for the coming winter, and lately they have seemed to always have gaping mouths around a big future meal.

This neighborhood also has no loose dogs or cats to give them chase. Yes, there are plenty of (small) pets, but always on leash or behind porch screens, because rules, you know. And between my increasing allergies and the extra rent fees for pets, we are pet free after many years. I gave squirrels a brief passing thought when I bought wire cages for suet/seed blocks for our winter bird station, already in the ground but only holding wind chimes right now. It might be fun to watch them try to jump up to get a meal. If adjustments are necessary, they'll wait for next year.

Last weekend I put in the last of my bearded iris, leaving a spot I'd designated to crocus. Note that more crocus are in transit from Holland, I'm assured, but this spot was in the middle of a large area and needed to be planted and gotten out of so I wouldn't be stepping on what I'd just planted, or what would be outside of those get trampled while I finished this location. (I stay awake nights planning not just where stuff is to go but when, for just those reasons. It's been well thought out.) In this case I'm talking about the center of the big raised circle bed. There is currently a single path in to the middle. The middle is now planted, and seeds will cover the lone path in/out... before freeze. I had planned on doing the seeds earlier but I now know I still need that path, and the seeds can germinate in spring instead of starting now.

Why do I now know? As I was coming back out of the house to water the iris/bulbs area, I startled away a squirrel, a new hole in the dirt and one of my crocus bulbs in its mouth! There were only 10 in the bag! At least they were the cheap ones from Walmart, but even so! ARRRRGGGHHHHH!

Back in I went, and pulled up Google. I suddenly had questions. My first angry impulse was to ask how to poison them, but I decided that was not the best idea. They might not even eat the bulbs till mid winter or early spring, and they could well harvest half my garden by then. So it became a combined search for what bulbs do they like, not like, and how do I keep squirrels away?

First, they love crocus and tulips. I have a bunch of both, expensive fancy types, arriving soon. I better figure this out fast. 

There were all kinds of ideas like spreading framed screens around over the bulbs. Expensive, hard work, and why wouldn't the buggers just burrow under them? Plus I'd have to remove them in the spring... and store them where, exactly? We've always known if Steve needs a ramp, the only place for it would be where our current shed sits, so bye bye. And the scooter would take up space in the living room, but that's another issue.

Squirrels hate daffodil bulbs, so that's good news as I have a bunch of those coming as well. I doubt planting each crocus or tulip between a couple daffodils would be effective, so keep hunting. They also love Asiatic lily bulbs, and in some countries folks even use those as food. I have enough of those on order to fill a bed 2 feet wide by 28 feet long, and they could be here as early as today or still another week out. The bed is being turned in stages by Paul right now, and it will be wider than two feet but the hollyhocks will go along the back wall at Steve's request, filling out that space. I haven't even dared to ask if squirrels eat their seeds!

After more hunting, a possible solution came up. It turns out squirrels avoid several very strong scents. Mints for example. Sounds expensive and easily dissipated., making that even more expensive. BUT... they also hate cinnamon! I happen to love cinnamon. So much so that I buy it in very large shaker-top jars, the 18 oz. size. One was  currently next to the spice rack, and fairly full. Voila! Out I went, out it shook, a circle of ground was turned from black to brown.

 I keep checking on it a couple times each day. I figure if I see black dirt a squirrel has been digging. It's all brown. Mother Nature stormed almost everywhere but here last evening, splitting and going around us instead, though we did get a bit of rain. So back out I went this morning, shaking some more. While the little rain we did get made a few inroads in the brown color, nothing matched a digging pattern, so presumably the remaining bulbs are still intact. 

The can sits on the floor near the front door, accessible at a moment's notice. A replacement set of them are on the shopping list, as they will be in use until a good freeze. At some point I will try to find out if, once the flowers have bloomed and new bulbs are replacing the old ones underground and even multiplying, fingers crossed, the treatment needs to be renewed or if they are good now, safe from those pesky squirrels for the rest of their lives. 

Maybe next September I'll just spread cinnamon all over regardless, just in case. It certainly won't hurt anything. Hmmm, wonder if there will be sales around the holidays for stocking up.

Our Front Porch Signs

It won't always look like this. Come mid November, it'll be plain white spindles holding up the top railing over a dark green wood plank floor. Maybe with snow even. But for now, we're advertising.

 I know there are neighbors who (proudly?) display their support for the Felon, not that they describe him that way. A few standard Harris/Walz signs are finally appearing along the streets here. But the folks/wingnut/neighbor (we haven't met them yet so can't be more specific) across the street stirred me to be a little more visible and flagrant than the mostly grey signs for Harris. They're trying to flaunt their "virtue" by equating their regard for Jesus with their regard for The Felon. We as a result have been prodded to talk about actual values we hold.

I realize the signs in the above photo are difficult to read. So I took several pictures and cropped them way down so you can.

These are made of fabric, and both sides of each read the same. There is a wide hem in the top to run whatever through it so they hang from a flat top. In our case, there was a foam "dowel" in the middle of a tube of rolled window coating film, the kind that adheres by static cling, lets light in but gives privacy, and has patterns which, when the sun hits it, displays rainbows where the light hits, whether the opposite ceiling, wall, or floor. I saved it. I did have a different idea for its future use, but it fits perfectly inside both hems with room between to run a string around to separate the two while tying them to the smaller rings in the railing spindles. Both ends of the foam dowel also have string tightly wrapped around and tied to spindles to keep the flags from falling or blowing off. 

I realize they aren't proof against vandalism. But if, for example, somebody tries to spoil them with paint, I can take them down, flip them over, and voila,  good as new. Only this time they would be displayed prominently behind a window. If they are stolen, I'll just order more from Amazon, where I happened to find these. And hung like this, "they" make "one" sign. Nobody has more than a single sign in their yards, unlike out along the county road. So it's likely that the park powers-that-be have somewhere in the lease fine print a restriction on quantity. I could go look it up... but the damn document is a dozen pages long.

Meanwhile, Steve and I stand fully behind these.

I'm thinking of velcroing the "IN THIS HOUSE WE BELIEVE" one to the front door we actually use when the election is over. The storm door is clear glass to both protect and display it. Plus there is a nick in the door which needs covering, and a paint-free spot where we figure a former sign was removed, probably something like "The Smiths". Those are popular here. Morning sun will eventually get to it, but it will keep the spirit going for a while. This porch faces the street on the north side of the house, and is simply the required 2nd exit if a fast one is needed. It basically just gives access to the utility/laundry room.

Don't Assassinate That Despicible....

 Please, everybody, Do Not Assassinate that despicable excuse for a human being. You know who I'm referring to. 

You might think you are justified. He's a narcissist, caring only about himself, associating with people who fawn on him and agree with him, falling for the alleged admiration of world despots who treat their own people terribly, turning him into their puppet, making him in no way suitable for the office he's running for. Don't forget he's a 34 times convicted felon, and up for other charges around the country, including however they charge for selling intelligence to foreign interests. His mind is failing, likely the Alzheimer's most of his elder relatives were subject to. His speech is nonsense. He advocates violence and praises the wanna-be Nazi element in this country.

I could go on and on and on. But. Just. Don't. Assassinate. Him!

Let him live. Let him fail, more visibly by the day. The debate showed his selfishness, his inability to keep on a topic, his contempt for women, and his wholeheartedly swallowing of the most ridiculous ideas used to denigrate "those people" - whoever they happen to be for the day. As the days go by his downward slide will become more apparent, so let it show.

Let him lose the election, like he did the last one, only by more extreme numbers as  more people on his side advocate against him, eyes finally (!) wide open to the dangers of having him in a position of power again. Let him be humiliated. 

Don't make him a martyr.

Let him, finally, be imprisoned.  Don't take that away from him.

Don't take that away from us!