Stupid mistakes

For future reference, it turns out that if you leave your jump drive in your pocket, so it accidentally goes through the laundry, it doesn't seem to matter.

After the laundry incident, I left mine on the desk with the top off for a few days, kind of dreading the inevitable test. I'm happy to report that it seems to be fine with files intact.

Food Policy

Wow! If Cory can keep this up, Food Karma Alert may become the definitive site for food policy. Take a look.

[Hat tip: What's in Rebecca's Pocket.]

Hail!

Okay. Who thought this was going to be a good idea? Hail! The noun, not the verb. It was very noisy on the windows and the roof. The cats were more upset about it than they usually are about thunder.



I once heard someone question why hail is always described as being "the size of..." something else - usually golf balls. This hail was the size of petit pois. I have to say I've never heard it described that way on the news but it fits.

Charlie's Dentist

As if my own recent dental work wasn't enough, I called Dr Jeff LaPoint this week to check Charlie's teeth. This is no small project for a 900 pound client who doesn't sit down. Notice that the drill is a cordless 14v DeWalt. (He's not really using it as a drill. It has a little horizontal spinning disk to file the points on the teeth.) Notice also that Dr LaPoint's hand is entirely inside Charlie's mouth.

Then notice how calm Dr LaPoint is. That's 'cause Charlie's sedated. As Maggy and Dr Ambis well know, sedation is really for the protection of the dentist. The scary looking halter isn't nearly as restrictive as it looks. Charlie's entirely free to bob his head up and down as much as he likes. And he did. Dr LaPoint was remarkably patient, even amused by Charlie's attitude.

The bottom line is that Charlie has "the teeth of an eighteen year old." This is good for a twenty-five year old horse.

And the excessive drooling we had noticed...? Turns out that was probably "Horse Fungal Saliva Syndrome" or "Slobbering Horse Syndrome" (that's a creative name, isn't it?) The articles said it's caused by pasture or hay with white clover. Dr LaPoint says it's likely to occur on newly cut grass. A fungus on white clover produces an alkaloid which causes the drooling but apparently has no lasting ill effects.

Plastic

I'm often reassured by increasing awareness of, for example, the ubiquitous presence of sugar and salt in prepared foods, nutritional advantages of whole grain over white flour, the amount of gas used and pollution generated by transporting food products across the country. But once in a while there's an OMG moment when I do a double take and ask, "You mean people didn't know that?"

Here, from Fake Plastic Fish, is Plastic Is Made From Oil - You Knew That. I simply can't believe that any of my friends are among the 72% of people polled (PDF) who don't know that plastic is made from oil. I'll grant a huge margin of skepticism for the fact that the poll was sponsored by Archer Daniel Midlands in support of their project to make "bioplastics" from - wait for it - corn!

Still I think it's possible that some people don't know where plastic comes from - or goes - or the harm it does in between. Once you get a grip on that, you may want to follow Fake Plastic Fish's investigation of where plastic exists in her life and how to eliminate it.

Leslie's House

It was no surprise to catch Leslie on a ladder yesterday. But I''m really glad I got there in time to record the all-important color samples before she painted over them. I'm sure Leslie will want to remember them and I know my sister will want to study them. Which one would you choose?

Confused? Can't see the difference, you say? Believe me when I tell you, it's not the photo.

Here. I've sampled them and labeled the RGB values. See? No, really. Do not adjust your set. They are, shall we say, very similar.

So similar, in fact, that I think the color the painter suggested was altogether different. It looks great though, doesn't it?

Here's the next great decision she faces. My sister will like this one, too. The porch ceiling color. Visible only, I should point out, when you're sitting on the porch looking up.

Oil Paintings

Last weekend at the Etna community yard sale, I bought these two oil paintings. The "Fall Bouquet" is signed "D Ramsey" and the barn simply "Alexis."

I should have taken a minute to ask people at the yard sale if they knew who had donated them.

I can ask the postmaster, or the people at the fabulous "Soup and Salad Supper." But I'll enjoy the paintings even if I don't find out more about them.


I might mention that I also bought a drill bit, a copy of I Capture the Castle, a towel rack, a Pfalzgraf platter, two lovely glass dishes and a couple of pieces of fly paper. Yes, there was fly paper at the yard sale. And I need some. We really hate to waste anything in this neighborhood.

Later this morning I'll be at the Freeville Festival. I hope they have a rummage sale.

Friday Cat Blogging

Apparently while Maggy and I were at the store, the house cats invited (or at least allowed) Jake to come in through the open window. Jake didn't venture far from the windowsill where he knew he could make a quick escape. Isn't he pretty?

Murphy wasn't happy that we were using the table where he often sleeps. Maggy says, "Remember when the cats weren't allowed on the table?"

In Her Hands...

Warblers are "tunnel fliers." Because they live in the woods, they tend to fly toward a light spot. This one, being new in the neighborhood, was particularly unaware of windows. I can't easily tell you what kind of warbler it is. Bill knew it instantly. The name included "green," "yellow," and "throat." But I can't say in exactly what order. Peterson's Field Guide has a section for "Confusing Fall Warblers." That's close enough for me.

Anyway, B wanted to be sure the cats didn't hurt it. She guarded it for a while, then finally picked it up. It waited long enough for me to get my camera. But when someone suggested getting a box to let it rest in, it took off.

Bees and Honey

I'm not sure what it is in the air that says "late summer." The relaxing drone of the crickets, the rattling of the poplar leaves that sounds like constant rain, the sun a little lower in the sky at midday. But here, above all, it's the scent of honey in the air. Even if I never harvested honey, I'd want to keep bees just for that scent.

A week or so ago I used these pieces and tools to make this new section for my beehive. Frankly, the bees could manage just fine without my help. But if I give them these wax frames, they can spend more of their time making honey instead of wax. And they'll make it in neat rows that make it easier for me to handle. If the weather is good, they'll make more honey than they need for the winter and I can take some.

I've been using the last of the honey I harvested years ago (honey keeps forever) to sweeten the syrup I'm using to can the delicious, locally grown peaches I bought at BB Farms on Route 13 near NYSEG. Goldenrod honey has a stronger flavor than most people are used to. It's a flavor that says, "This is definitely honey, not sugar." To me it says, "Extra special home-canned peaches."

I like "my" honeybees and I'm often disappointed with people's casual references to bees as a nuisance. I'll hear it most often this time of year when yellow jackets are so active. Let's get this straight, friends. Yellow jackets are not bees. In fact, all wasps are "not bees." Stirred Not Shaken has a couple of good pictures - one bee and one "not bee."

You may remember the term "wasp waisted" describing tightly corseted Victorian women. It comes from the fact that wasps' abdomens appear barely connected to their thoraxes (chests) by a very, very thin "waist." (photo credit: Whispers in Nature)


Bees, like me, are pretty substantial around the middle. Once you've got this shape distinction clear, don't forget there are bumble bees, sweat bees, carpenter bees and more in addition to honeybees. (photo credit: State of North Carolina)

Under the "nuisance" heading, I might note that wasps can sting repeatedly. Bees generally die when they sting. So they don't do it casually. In fact, in thirty years of beekeeping, I've only been stung by a honeybee once. I don't believe I've ever been stung by any other kind of bee. But I seem to get wasp stings every year.

In their defense, wasps, like bees, are important pollinators. And unlike bees, they feed insects to their larvae. Anyway, with the general understanding that everybody's just tryin' to make a living, I'll live and let live with wasps.

Friday Cat Blogging

I know there's a special interest out there in cats in sinks. In fact, somewhere I have a picture of my cat in the sink. I've taken pictures of Tang in lots of places. He never misses a chance to climb into a box, drawer, suitcase, etc. But this one was new. When I started the laundry yesterday, Murphy took the opportunity to relax in the empty hamper. How relaxing could that be?





I used to grow these Gladiolus (-es? -i?) in a raised bed in the vegetable garden.

But trying to reclaim the space for vegetables, I created this bed outside the garden fence. And I'm glad I did. What a gorgeous approach to the garden. And deer - even rabbits - don't eat them.

Tomatoes, Datura and Beetles

Yes, tomatoes are starting to ripen. And, sure enough, the Wayaheads were the first full size tomatoes ready. And this year's new variety is the Black Cherry - not truly black, but pretty dark. And, of course, the Snow Whites aren't really white but pale yellow.

This Datura is one of my favorite flowers. They're five or six inches across. The huge buds take their time opening dramatically over two days.

And I found this critter on it. The trick here is to ignore the brown stuff on top. That is apparently feces and shed skins. The flat, oval, leaf-green, thing underneath is a Tortoise Beetle larva. I don't know what species, but some commonly feed on eggplant. Datura is related to eggplant and the leaves look very much the same.

Random Thoughts

I think Jessica Vitkus is onto something here. A network of crafters would be a powerful thing. I know Leendalu will want to be first on her block with a campaign fundraising scrapbooking party. Hat tip: Spyderkl on Big Brass Blog

I like reading Brad DeLong for lots of reasons but Dark Wraith has the most lucid explanations of economic concepts I can imagine. Read his Pulp Economics to see what I mean. It's long and complex but that's life (if you're lucky.) It's a good investment of time 'cause when you finish you'll understand it.

Birthday 2.0

It was birthday v2.0 this weekend. Maggy was vacationing in Montana on the actual birthday, so we celebrated again this weekend. A large proportion of these packages are related to my innocent request for bamboo sushi mats. Maggy tells a funny story about searching unsuccessfully for a sushi kit. So she set out on a treasure hunt around New York for the perfect sushi ingredients . Then Saturday while we were shopping for dinner in Wegman's, she found the sushi kit she had wished for with nearly all the ingredients she had managed to find in New York.

There's the Nori, wasabi powder, pickled ginger and dipping bowls. There's crab and avocado in the refrigerator and Maggy wisely settled for carrots and cucumber from the garden.

They're delicious.

Zucchini

Tired of Zucchini yet? Try these Zucchini Oven Chips Maggy and I made last weekend from a Cooking Light recipe.

1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs
1/4 cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground pepper
2 tablespoons fat-free milk
2 1/2 cups sliced zucchini
Cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 425
2. Combine first five ingredients.
3. Dip zucchini slices in milk then in breadcrumb mixture.
4. Place zucchini slices on a wire rack coated with cooking spray and place on a cookie sheet.
5. Bake at 425 for 30 minutes or until brown and crisp. Serve immediately.

I swear I wrote this and yesterday's post before I read that zucchini and sushi are Leendalu's least favorite recipes. I didn't even grown zucchini this year. I got some from David. But I'm guessing I'll be using this recipe with my summer squash soon.

Blogthings

This morning on Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish, Liz Mair linked to Blogthings Are You a Feminist?. That seems like a no brainer but how about this one? What Art Movement are you?

You Are Surrealism

Dreamy and idealistic, you've created a world that is all your own. It's very likely that you've either dabbled in drugs or are naturally trippy. You are always trying to push beyond the boundaries of your culture and society. You believe that art, love, and freedom can change the world.

Hmm... Yep.

I should add that I'm naturally trippy. My drugs are pretty much limited to nicotine, caffeine, alcohol and the occasional aspirin.

Vegetables

Tomatoes, cucumbers, beans and squash

This is the season when my garden seems to be throwing things at me. I'm not complaining about too much food. But this is a garden for one person plus giveaways for friends. Tomatoes, onions and beans are staples I can store for winter. They each get about 48 square feet of garden space - about 10% of the total. Cucumbers and squash are primarily summer treats. They each get about 16 square feet and sometimes that yields too much.

Despite rabbits' depredation of my lettuce, I've met my long time goal to have lettuce ready at the same time tomatoes are ready. (There were ripe tomatoes but I ate them before I took this picture.)

Bluejays learned the wrong lesson last year when I netted the blueberries. Instead of learning to stay away, they learned to eat them a bit underripe. So they got quite a few before I put up the net this year. One bluejay, who cursed me loudly as I was putting up the net, has no trouble getting in (or out) under the edge. So, he's still getting some. Note to self: next year when putting up the net, don't wear a shirt with buttons.

There should be sound effects with this picture. Can't you just hear the storm coming?

Have I mentioned how much I love my new camera? The birthday fairy brought me a new Canon EOS and it's incredible. Photoshop says that the original of this picture can be printed at 48 x 32 inches. Of course I don't have that kind of printer but it's tempting to take it to a lab to see if its true.

This butterfly is cropped from a picture about ten times the size. Yet I could print it 16 x 20 if I wished.

Local Bloggers

I found two new-to-me local blogs from Daniel's post Ithaca Photography and Blogging over at Migrations.

Local artist Benjamin Clock writes Natural History Artworks about his painting and travels. Check out his description of the work on an illustration for an upcoming issue of The Living Bird.



The Contemplative Nuthatch looks out for birds here and elsewhere. I love her photo of Cecropias in Sapsucker Woods.

Two other local blogs I've been reading for a while, but I'm finally getting around to adding to the side bar:

Craig in Ellis Hollow ranges widely through politics and music consistently returning to his garden. His recent Full Disclosure post includes pictures of the "ugly" parts of the garden. We all tend to take pictures when things are looking their best. How many of us are willing to expose the neglected corners to public scrutiny.

Brenda's changed the name of her Ithaca Daily Photo blog to the more realistic Ithaca When-I-Feel-Like-It Photo. Tho' it's no longer daily, there are frequent cool photos from random spots around town. It reminds me that my photos are mostly around the yard. I really need to get out more...

The Dreaded To-Do List

Hello. My name is Mary Ann. It's been two weeks since my last blog post. I can't remember if that's supposed to sound like AA or confession. I've actually never been to either. But I do feel bad about not blogging recently. Every Tuesday morning, like clockwork, Sitemeter sends me a report of visitors to this site. Needless to say the number of visitors declines in direct proportion to the number of recent posts. But to the dozen or so loyal visitors who keep showing up here every day, my apologies.

Too often it's a choice between working and writing about working. Yes, in a perfect world, I'd choose the writing over the working every time. But I'm so far behind I've been determined to slog through the "to do" list. Lots of things have been added to the list and crossed off in the past two weeks, many of which are worthy of their own blog posts. Like this full day of filing I did in order to find the information I needed to write a report. See that bit of sun outside the window in the upper left? I resisted that all day. And besides finishing 80% of the filing, I amassed all this recycling.


All right, suffice it to say that I've worked my way back to an item that got on the list two weeks ago, just after the last post: "plant iris etc." Iris etc refers to the wheelbarrow full of Siberian Iris, tub full of Liatris and bucket full of bearded Iris that we took out of the garden in front of the rose.

On days that I have a dentist appointment or some similarly annoying obligation, I reward myself with garden work. I managed to plant the "etc," the bearded Iris and Liatris. Of course, to do that, I had to create a space somewhere. There it is. See that little patch of dirt in the sun to the left of the sidewalk? There's the bearded Iris. A little to the left, if you care, is the taller Liatris in bloom. But the wheelbarrow of Siberian Iris awaits. And the sun's shining. Screw the remaining office work on the list. I'm outta here.

Life Is Just a Bowl of ...

The cherries were nearly ripe on July 5 when I took this picture. (I did not add that drop of water for photographic effect. It's genuine dew.) The cherries ripened to a very satisfactory dark red last week and I ate them - unceremoniously. There were seventeen to begin with. Birds pecked a few, despite the net over them. We sampled about a dozen in various stages of ripeness. So, like the four strawberries I harvested in June, the cherries were about $2.50 each. On the plus side, from now on they'll be more or less free (not counting, of course, the fence and the net that protect them.)

This is my favorite rose. Well, in my garden, actually it's the only rose. I don't usually try to grow things that aren't easy. But I have been trying with roses. This "Joseph's Coat" has been doing its best against all odds. It's been here for years. It now has three canes, the tallest of which is still only about thirty inches tall.

Every year I try to remember to fertilize it regularly. I try to remember to cover it in the winter. I try to check it occasionally for Japanese beetles or mildew. And every year it rewards me with more and more blossoms.

In one heroic effort to show the rose how much I care, I persuaded Belinda to move the Siberian Iris you can see behind (and to the south) of the rose in the picture. Well, it wasn't that hard to persuade her. I don't think she's ever had to move a Siberian Iris before. It may be a few years before I try to get her to do it again. She thought I should move the rose (which I admit is only about one tenth the size of the Iris.)

Anyway, now the Iris and most of the Liatris around it is gone. The rose is visible through the trellis at the entrance to the garden. I'm mulching the rose with a full bushel of my best compost. Maybe someday it will cover the fence like the catalog pictures I've seen.