toadstool

I saw this toadstool in the front yard which just seemed to pop-up through the grass overnight. One day it was just suddenly there. It is about the size of a closed fist which I think for toadstools is large.

The very next day I went out in the yard to see how it was doing and it opened up like an upside down flower. I didn’t realize that it was going to do that. I guess all of the rain has these things sprouting up. Sometimes it seems that the yard is an ecological wonder with its rich diversity of plant life, both flowering and non-flowering. Oh yes, there is also plenty of insect life, salamanders, toads, and most anything else that you can think of. Have a good day. Lew

Who's in the garage?

Did I hear something in the garage? What could it be? Maybe an intruder? Scarry. Look closely. Do you see anything? Is there something in the chair. Could there be a cat? Could there be

two of them? I think that I see a little head just above the armrest.

Yep, there are two of them. Feral kittens looking for a handout. Actually there was three of them on the chair but one of them ran off before I could get a picture.
They have the same mother as Tammy but obviously a different father. They seem to be enjoying the comfort of the chair as they await the food. They are very cute as kittens are known to be. Unfortunately, we can’t get anywhere close to them. They are just too wild. Tammy is 11 months old and is really filling out and getting to be a big cat. It won’t be long before she will be able to hold her own against any neighborhood bully.

As you can see, Tammy the cat is becoming quite an armful. Tammy will let Mary hold her but not me. Mary holds her multiple times a day and so she is probably use to Mary. The animals are cute and they make me laugh with their antics. Now pardon the pun, but have a puurrfect day. Lew

Pete the tile man

This is a picture of my nephew Pete who was photographed while putting the tiles on a space shuttle. This picture ended up being used for a postcard at the gift shop at the Kennedy Space Center. I bought a whole bunch of the post cards and gave some to my brother, most to my nephew, and kept some for my self which I asked him to autograph the backs of. So I will be up tonight to see the fiery trail of the shuttle launch in the night sky from here in Orlando. Everyone have a nice day and an even nicer evening watching the shuttle launch for those of us living in Florida and especially for those on the east coast of Florida. Lew

smart kitty

Now isn’t this one smart kitty. She lays in the shade of the gardenia bush. It seems that I don’t possess that much intelligence because I can be seen working in the hot blistering sun instead of lounging in the shade like the cat. Who says people are superior to animals? Tammy the cat has also been spending more time in the air conditioned house lately. What a good life this cat has. Reminds me of my childhood when all that I had to do all day was to play outside and have fun. Work? Why, work was for parents. Pay the bills? Well, that was for parents also. Put the food on the table? Yep, you guessed it, that was for parents too. So what did I do besides play outside and have fun? Well, that was pretty much it. Sounds good, doesn't it? Have a nice day playing and having fun as much as possible. Lew

bluest of blues

Remember this picture of the faded flower? Well, if you look close toward the bottom you can see a real pretty blue flower that has appeared.

As you can see, it is a really pretty blue flower with such an intensity of colorful. I can understand why my great grandfather had a very large garden and I do mean very large, and the only thing that he grew was flowers. He had a myriad of flowers of every type and color. But his favorite was marigolds and he evidently passed that fondness of marigolds on to me because that is my favorite flower also. Whenever my parents would visit him he often took me outside to show me his flower garden and especially his marigolds. He always praised his marigolds. He spent his golden years of retirement tending his garden. He enjoyed life and had a passion for the beauty of nature.

Today was the last day for Arby's free sandwiches and we stopped and got them for lunch on our way back from Longwood. I spoke to the manager and he told me that the free Wednesday sandwich promotion has now ended after today. I was hoping that they might continue it but that was not to be. After we got home, we did some yard work but only for about a half hour before the rains were upon us. The rains were a real "frog strangler" but they would start and then stop and then start and then stop and then ............................. The cat was outside during the first of these rainstorms and it was a real heavy downpour. She wasn't in the garage and we expected a drenched sopping wet cat to return when the rains had stopped and to be looking very similar to a drowned rat. Well, she showed up on the front porch bone dry. We figure that perhaps she was staying under one of the neighbors houses to keep dry. Usually she will be in the garage at times like these, but not this time. These cats seem to have their own little secret hiding places. We had barbeque ribs done on the Ron Popeil Showtime rotisserie. "Set it, and forget it." They were good. Macaroni salad was a side. Have a pleasant evening. Lew

scapular medal

This is the scapular medal that Mary got me for my birthday. She got it at the gift shop of the Shrine of Mary basilica. It is very nice and has already replaced the St. Christopher’s medal that she had gotten me in the past.

Sunrises and sunsets. People seem to love the beauty of them. One time I was driving on the highway in the Florida Keys in the very late afternoon and there were cars pulled over to the side of the road. Lots of them. Thinking that something must have happened, I pulled over to the side of the road and stopped. I got over of the car and asked the first person that I saw what was happening. He told me that people were pulling over to watch the sunset over the water. He was right, the sunset was quite spectacular. These were the kind of people who appreciate nature and take time to smell the flowers and watch the sunsets. The lifestyle in the Florida Keys is much more slow-paced than that of the city life. Food for thought: if a person lived in a house on one of those small islands in the Florida keys could he walk out of the front of his house and see the sunrise out over the ocean in the morning and then in the evening, walk out the back door and see the sunset into the ocean? Wouldn’t that be great? Sort of like being on the east coast Atlantic in the morning and the west coast Pacific in the evening. I write this because I happened to step out the back door this morning and dawn was breaking and it was a majestic site. The clouds were lit and shining and although the sun hadn’t peeked up yet over the horizon, I knew that it wouldn’t be long. The birth of a new day with the wonderment of what adventures it will hold for me. I wish that I could paint like Mary so that I could record the wonders that I see. But I am definitely left brain dominant and that means my artistic skills are zilch because the artistic skills are suppose to be located on the right side of the brain. So instead of painting a picture I will just have to describe what I see with a thousand words or take a picture. Life is good. Lew

icy cold popsicles

The good news about summer is that it is popsicle time. After all, who would eat a popsicle during the icy cold winter months? And now these frozen treats come in such a variety of flavors.
I use them for a quick cool down. And they even come sugar free. I even found an inexpensive brand at Wal-Mart and the best part is that the flavors are so intense. They are great. The blue ones are my favorite and they taste like the blue icee’s at 7-11 which I believe is a raspberry flavor. The white ones are coconut. There just doesn’t seem to be anything finer when I am hot, than sitting in my air conditioned living room with a tower fan turned on full blast eating a popsicle and drinking from a glass of ice water. Within a matter of minutes I am almost on the chilly side. Well, at least cool. Does anyone else have any suggestions for getting cool?
Eve’s. No not the Garden of Eden Eve. More like Christmas eve and New Year’s eve and Lew’s birthday eve. I have already gotten a very nice birthday card from Villager and Seaside. No birthday card from my previous employment. Lillian is no longer there and thus I guess that I won’t be getting any cards from there since Lillian was the “sunshine” girl who organized all of those kinds of activities. I use the term “sunshine” because when I worked in a hospital in Phoenix we had a “sunshine club”. It was a group that once a month would rent a bus and take a bus trip somewhere like Disneyland or some other fun place. It was fun going with a group of people that you know because of the company and camaraderie of the coworkers and friends. Plus the driving was done by the bus driver and so everyone arrived at our destination refreshed, except the bus driver of course. So that was our “sunshine club” which stood for merriment and cheer. I enjoyed the trips. And who did all of the work of organizing and coordinating and promoting these trips? Yep, just one dedicated female employee who was always cheerful and upbeat. She truly seemed to enjoy it. We all had fun as a result of her labors. I don’t know what Mary has planned for my birthday and I guess that I will have to wait until tomorrow to find out. Well, I do know one thing that she has planned, we are going to Sonny’s barbeque for lunch which will be yummy. I must close because I am reaching my 500 word limit for the blog. Have a good day and for those of us lucky enough to be in Florida, don’t forget to get up early tomorrow morning (1:40 am) to watch the shuttle launch. Lew

Hello?

Hello? Is anyone in there? Do you need help? Can you get out okay? That is what this picture seems to say. This is the neighbors house as it slowly succumbs to the growth of the vines. Almost looks like something from a sci-fi movie. Maybe attack of the killer tomatoes or the day of the triffids.

It is interesting to watch the progression which is now going full speed because of the rainy weather and bright sun. I just wonder what the end result will be. However, the weather is so hot right now that perhaps the vines will shade the house and help to keep it a little bit cooler. In the afternoon sun I can work outside for about an hour and then I need to come into the air conditioned house and get cooled down. Has anyone ever ordered a replacement battery for a cordless Dewalt drill? Let me warn you that there is a lot of sticker shock because they are so expensive. $ 38 + tax+ $10 shipping. Ouch!! The old battery just won't hold a charge any more. The Dewalt brand of power tool is suppose to be top-o-the-line and I do like it for its power. It just eclipses all other cordless drills that I have owned in the past. The drill is the only Dewalt power tool that I have because of the sticker price on the tools. I like it because of the small size of the Dewalt drill and relatively lightweight as compared to the larger drills and relatively easy to use. Maybe I should have gotten the old fashioned "egg beater" style of drill. Only the older folk will remember those. I had them when I was young but I never had much luck with them. I couldn't get them to even begin to drill through metal. Gotta go. Keep cool wherever you are. Lew

This is one of the flowers that grew out of the packet of seeds that Lillian gave out at her wedding. But now it is starting to fade and I don’t know why. Could the bright sun be literally bleaching the color out of it? If you check a previous blog you will see how vivid the color was on it. The plant itself seems to be doing okay.

It is a very tall flower. But maybe like a fine wine it’s time has come as they say. In the plant world it is good to be a perennial and not an annual. Nothing is planned for today. But somehow things to do always crop up. This morning was big breakfast day and we had fried eggs, maple flavored sausage and English muffins. I put pineapple jam on mine and Mary put honey on her English muffin. Tomorrow we are going to the old Winter Garden theater to see a movie called Wag the Dog. I am most interested in seeing the inerior of the theater. The tickets for the movie are $ 5.00 each. We are planning on touring downtown Winter Garden a little bit before the movie. Lew

Bully!!

Bully!! That’s what he is. Just a bully, Tony the cat that is. Here are Tammy and Tony on the front porch and guess who gets to sit on the rocking chair? Tony!! It isn’t even his house. He just hangs around here like some transient street bum. Shouldn’t it be Tammy who should get to sleep in the chair instead of being made to sleep on the hard wooden floor?

Is this one of those male dominated situations? You know, “Me Tarzan, You Jane" type of thing. Look at Tammy and then look at Tony and see what you see. What I see is this. Big massive shoulder muscles on Tony. Just look at the size of them. I will

have to put Tammy on an extra food regimen of Special Kitty so that she can grow bigger than Tony and then she can sleep in the rocking chair and Tony can sleep on the hard wooden floor. Whatever happened to women suffrage and equal rights among cats? That Tony is just an animal. Well, actually, that is what he is. An animal. LOL. Hope that you enjoyed my tongue-in-cheek tirade. It was a lot of fun just play acting. Did I have you fooled into thinking that I was all fired up? I know, keep my day job. Lew

mouse trap

This blog on mouse trapping is in response to a question posed by Seaside. Here is what I use. It is called HavAHart trap. It is a live capture. There is a bait tray inside which you can put cheese or peanut butter on. I always used peanut butter with good success. There is a program on television called Verminators which is about pest control. They also always used peanut butter for catching mice. You can just barely see the bait tray through the wire mesh in the middle part of the trap. The two levers on the side are trip levers for the two doors to close the doors when the bait tray is tripped by stepping on. Here the trap is in the set in the open position and the two

levers on the side are in their trapping position.

Trip, bam, and we got him. After trapping the mouse in the cage, I would take the whole cage with the mouse in it to a wooded are or remote field and turn it loose. I never liked hurting the mice if it can be avoided and this type of trap doesn’t hurt them. These traps come in all size from small like this one for mice all the way up to raccoon size and beyond. Your friend may want to purchase one and keep it in a closet for future use. I believe that I got mine from an animal feed store. Maybe those pet shops like Petco might have them. They work good and I highly recommend them from a humanitarian point of view. My trap in the picture is over 30 years old and has been painted and repainted repeatedly which is why it doesn’t look so good. But it still works just as good as new. Good hunting. Remember that it is the hunt and not the kill that is fun and that is why now I do all of my “hunting” with a camera and "live capture" traps.
Lew

Hooter

This is Mary's latest painting which she just completed today. The name of it is Hooter because it is of an owl. I was impressed by the amount of detail that she got into the painting, especially the log. She usually works on two paintings at the same time. She will work on one painting and let it dry for 24 hours. While she is letting that one dry, the next day she works on a different painting and keeps switching back and forth while they dry. It keeps her busy and she enjoys it. I just can't understand how she has the patience to paint in all of the detail. Look at the fine feathers. They had to be painted in one at a time. She is very good at it and she is building quite an art collection. But me? I couldn't even do the paint by number paintings. Really! Painting is just too slow moving for me and I don't have the attention span for it. For example, I don't care for the slow moving game of golf but I do like the fast paced action of football. Instead of a paint brush to create pictures, I use my digital camera. Not anywhere's near as pretty and colorful as an oil painting but a lot quicker and easier for me. Have a nice day tomorrow and try to stay dry if tropical storm Ana should loom on the horizon. Lew

what a tale (or tail?)

Tammy the cat doing what she does best which is sleeping. Actually, getting into mischief is a close runner-up. I got this picture to show the length of her tail in comparison to the length of her body. She really has a long, long tail.
What is that? Oh my gosh, she has awoken and we all know what that means, time for

mischief. I see her eyes open. But I don’t think that she is going to get into any mischief. She looks too relaxed.

Today Mary went shopping and got me a birthday present in addition to the scapular medal. She wanted to have a surprise gift. She said that she was going to hide the gift. I told her that if I could find my mom’s fancy chocolates when I was young, then I would be able to find her hidden gift. Mary knows the story of my mom’s chocolates. When I was young my mom would get these gourmet solid milk chocolates. They were small and shaped like seashells and other things from nature. They were very good and I am sure very expensive. While she was at work I would go through the house until I found them and ate them. Then I would put the empty box back (now that was a cowardly thing to do. After all, did I really think that she wouldn’t notice that the chocolates were gone?). Each time she got a box of the chocolates, she would hide them in a different spot. A harder spot to find than the last time. But persistence paid off and I always managed to find them. But I really won’t go through the house looking for Mary’s hidden present. I am older now, and besides I doubt that it is chocolate.

Tonight we are having lamb and fried rice. For dessert, I may have an apple pie. But not just any apple pie but a “no sugar added” apple pie. That alleviates some of the guilt of having apple pie. They were on the “day old” display at the back of the Wal-Mart and they were substantially marked down to an irresistible price. Irresistible apple pie and irresistible price was too much for me and so I got it. We always check out the discount display to see what goodies they have. Have a nice day. Lew

coconut pancakes

Today’s breakfast was coconut pancakes with maraschino cherries. Mary mixed lots of shredded coconut into the batter which actually made the pancakes a bit thicker than usual.

After they had cooked for a bit she added the maraschino cherries. After a bit more cooking, she flipped them and Voila’, fancy gourmet pancakes.

Mary didn’t put any butter on hers but I did on mine. Then a generous serving of pancake syrup (mine was sugar free) and the feasting began. It was quite good and hopefully we will have it again some time.

Today was a “stay at home” day with some yard work until it got just plain too hot and then I retreated into the air conditioned house in the early afternoon for the remainder of the day. When will September 1 get here? The sooner the better. Just slightly over two weeks to go. I am looking forward to it.

I am struggling with a southern dogwood tree in the front yard that was planted directly beneath the power lines coming into the house and with the summer sunshine and the summer rains it is growing so fast it is a constant battle to keep the vertical branches from reaching into the power lines. As fast as I trim the branches they seem to grow right back again. I feel a little bad about cutting the limbs. After all, wasn’t the dogwood the tree that Christ’s cross was made from? It almost seem slightly sacrilegious to be cutting on it. Because of the problem with the power lines, I am essentially trying to turn the tree into a bush. But I don’t want to cut too much at any one time because I don’t want to traumatize the tree to the point where it might die. So I give at least a week between cuttings for the tree to recover.

Have a nice evening watching television. I multi-task when I watch television. I do crossword puzzles at the same time that I am watching a program on television. I do the crosswords when there is a slow spot or commercials. By the way, isn’t that a fancy word “multi-tasking”. Sounds really neat. Have an enjoyable day. Lew

wild poinsettia

This is a wild poinsettia. They are growing in great profusion along the side of the house as well in some spots in the yard. I find it curious that the red portion of the leaf only comes part way down the leaf whereas the Christmas poinsettias at the stores have leaves that are completely red. But they are colorful and they seem to be thriving in our sandy soil. Some plants seem to do well here and some don’t, so I guess that it would be prudent to encourage those plants that do well. By the way, the marigolds are doing fantastic. They just keep multiplying and now there must be around two dozen flowers. Some Miracle-Gro and lots of rainwater seems to have done the trick. Have a nice day and look at the little small wildflowers growing close to the ground. They have such an intense coloration. Take a picture and blow it up on the computer to see their true beauty and you will be amazed. Have some colorful rainbow sherbet to stay cool. Or at the very least a sugar-free popsicle. Lew

Green Acres

This is Benny the Bunny’s outdoor retreat. His own private Green Acres. Here he can be outside and yet protected from predators like the hawks we have flying overhead just looking for something to swoop down on, like a rabbit. The door on the front of the cage lifts up and has a lock on it to keep it from falling back down. We decided to put a bunch of cut grass into the cage so that he would have something soft and cool to lay on.

Well, he loves it. I guess for a rabbit it just doesn’t get much better than this. Freedom to run around outside unattended would cost him, what with all of the feral cats, hawks, and maybe raccoons (although I have never seen any). Mary will take the rabbit for a walk on occasion on leash with a special vest-type harness. Plus the rabbit gets an unlimited run in the dining room each afternoon as well some running around on the couch with Mary as we watch television in the evening. The rabbit seems to enjoy human company and will even rub noses with Mary as a sign of affection. He especially likes for me to brush him with a brush. So now there is a pampered rabbit in addition to the pampered cat and the pampered dog. Have a good day and take a trip to your local zoo and see the animals. Lew

new police station

The front windows have Venetian blinds. You will notice on the one window that the Venetian blind is pulled up about a third of the way. This is done so that our cat Tammy can lie on the window ledge inside the house and watch the world go by in air conditioned comfort. I sometimes wonder what the feral cats think when they see her pampered lifestyle. I bet that they get jealous. Maybe they might gang up on her at night and beat her up. No, they can’t. We bring her into the house each day around 5:00 while the sun is still high in the sky and then we don’t let her out again until morning. So that keeps her safe from any marauding bully tomcats. She lives a protected life in the house and only goes out during the daylight hours.

Today we went to the open house for the grand opening of the new police building of the Ocoee police department. We got a guided tour through the facility with a police officer explaining everything. Then it was on to the food. They had both hot dogs and hamburgers. I had one of each. The hot dogs were “foot long” and the hamburgers were thick and had a charred flavor from the barbeque grill. They had innumerable sides consisting of baked beans, of course, and macaroni salad, cole slaw, egg potato salad, regular potato salad, small individual bags of potato chips, etc. And of course there was a huge celebratory sheet cake commemorating the new police building. And the icing on the cake had to be at nearly 1” thick. It was all excellent. They also gave both Mary and I a commemorative coin of the event.

We each also got a raffle ticket for a prize drawing. We will have to see whether or not we win. We had a good time and all of the policemen and employees of the police department were very courteous. During our lunch we talked for a while with the police Chaplin. He is a volunteer and has a church in Ocoee. We had a pleasant discussion on religion. We were glad to get home and into the air conditioned house out of the afternoon heat.

Today we will be going to the Orlando science museum to see their omni film presentation of an African adventure of an individuals trip to Mecca in their planetarium type dome theater. It should be pretty good. The previews showed the great desert and the camels, etc. We are still members of the science museum and so the show will be free as well as the parking in the parking garage. I don’t know why but for some reason I just like the sound of that word “free”. Have a good day. Lew

Determined

You can see where I had cut the main branch but the tree is determined to regrow the limb. How resilient the tree is. I will let the little sprout grow since the tree is trying so hard. I was just surprised at how close to the cut stump the new growth was. Everything in the yard is growing so rapidly. I guess that it must be all of the rain. It seems that I am on non-stop trimming. Trimming of everything from trees to grape vines to bushes to marigolds.
Villager was right about water making marigolds grow. But I must admit that I put a little Miracle-Gro on them also. Actually, I put a lot of Miracle-Gro on them. Have a nice day. With all of the rain and Miracle-Gro I know that the marigolds will have a very nice day. Lew

air plant

Isn’t this a curious type of plant. It looks to be some sort of air plant. I see them on occasion at various places around the yard on trees. There are not very many of them. This particular one is on an oak tree in the front yard. At first I thought that it might be the beginning of a Spanish moss plant but now I am having doubts. Most anything grows in the warm tropical climate of central Florida. Any ideas?

It is Monday and that means shopping. We prefer not to go on the week-end because the stores are always crowded and the lines are long. On the week-days, the shopping seems to be carefree. Mary is going to go to the bread store to stock up on bread products. They have nice brands there like Cobblestone Mills for really low prices. They also have potato bread which I like because of its rich yellow color and sweet taste. Then she is going to do a little shopping at Dollar General. When you are retired it pays to be thrifty. While Mary is doing all of that I going to Loews to get a new handle for the water control in the shower. There is only one control for the water: push the handle to the left for hot and to the right for cold and up for off and down for on. You know the type. The knob is made out of plastic and it broke.

Also I have to trim the southern dogwood bush/tree in the front of the house. The bush/tree is sending limbs up to the electric wires again. They have only a few inches to go before reaching the wires so they have a high priority on the "to do" list.

But all is not work and no play. For lunch we are going to Captain D's for a free fish sandwich. Mary got a coupon for a free fish sandwich via email and so we both eat for free. Inexpensive is good but free is better, as they say. Have a pleasant day and maybe a small slice of key lime pie to go along with that tall glass of cold ice tea. And if you don't have a slice of key lime pie, then there is always the key lime flavor of yoplait yogurt which is pretty good. Bon apetit. Was it Julia Childs who use to say bon apetit? I don't remember which cooking show us to use that expression. Take care. Lew

playmate

Playmate. Tammy has a best friend and playmate. It is the feral cat who hangs around here by the name of Tony. They get along real good together and spend the day either playing or wrestling or just being close-by to each other watching the world go by.

It is good that she has another cat to keep her company. He is a male and she is a spayed female. Tony is wild and we can’t get close to him and so he doesn’t enjoy quite all of the luxuries that she has of air conditioned home, soft bed, and the best of food. Tony “hunkers” down somewhere but I don’t know where. Sometimes he will come into the garage to lay down. He gets cat food every day in the garage to eat and plenty of water to drink. So he gets the essentials but not the perks that Tammy gets.

It is August and I am counting down the days until September 1. The humidity is just making the heat oppressive. But it won’t be long before the heat cools off some. Besides, on Tuesdays, the movie theater is air conditioned and the popcorn is great. We will be going to the movies for sure the next two Tuesdays. Here’s hoping that everyone (including myself) have a chilly day. I know. I know. But I can hope can’t I?
Think cool. Lew

north or south

North or South

I had heard that if you got lost in the woods and can’t see the sky, that you can tell which way is north and which way is south by the lichens and moss on the trees. Now the way that I heard the story was that the moss and lichen grew on the south side of the tree because that side of the tree gets the most sunlight. But the oak tree in the front has the lichen growing on the north side of the tree.



The bark on the south side of the tree is relatively bare of lichen.



Could I have gotten it wrong about which side of the tree the moss and lichen grows on? When I was young I knew the woods so well that I never got lost. The woods were my playground. But I am perplexed by the north vs south moss/lichen thing. Any ideas?

Today is Saturday and that means "big breakfast" day. Mary made fired eggs with bacon. We split a muffin to save room for the large cinnamon crumb muffins from the bakery department. I had some pineapple preserves on my half of the muffin and butter (spread) on my muffin. I had some diet cola with my breakfast. A fine repast and a good way to start off the day. Today we are going to have lunch at Hardee's because we haven't eaten out for a while. Mary likes their mushroom-swiss burger but I think that I will try their new barbeque chicken pieces. By the way I have gotten a coupon for a free fish sandwich from Captain D's fish restaurant. The coupoin is good for only 14 days and so I will have to take them up on that. I am hoping that Mary gets a free coupon also so that we can both get free fish sandwiches. Tuseday we are going to the movies at West Oaks mall because it is senior $ 5 day and there is a movie that we want to see. Before the movie I will get a free bagel from Auntie Anne's with my birthday coupon that they sent me. So we have a lot coming up to keep us busy. Have a nice day and join as many of these fast food clubs as you can to get the free coupons. Paying a low price for something is nice but getting it for free is even better. Think cool. Very cool. Maybe even a little chilly if you can manage that. It might make this hot weather easier to bear. September 1 is coming, my day of celebration of the end of the summer heat. Well, not any hotter summer heat. Lew
Lew

bee vs wasp

To bee or not to bee - fractured Shakespeare. There are wild poincettias growing in the flower garden along the side of the garage. I see a bee going from one group of flowers to the next apparently gathering nectar.

I took a closer look and it looked for all the world like a wasp. The slender waist was the give-away. But I didn’t think that wasps ate nectar. I thought that they ate other insects. I still remain a bit baffled over it. Does anyone have any ideas on this apparent oddity of nature? The picture is a little blurry because of the constant movement of the wasp/bee. Lew

Disaster

Disaster

I was in the garage just having taken some pictures. My digital camera was in the cloth case that Mary had made for me when it slipped from my hand and fell to the hard cement floor. I thought to myself, what a disaster because the camera is not that old. To have broken it so soon by dropping it would be a tragedy. I decided to test the camera immediately. I turned the camera on and pointed it at the fan to get a test picture. The fan was on “high” speed. I was surprised that the motion of the fan had been “frozen” by the camera. I couldn’t believe my eyes as I viewed the picture. Thank goodness the camera is working just fine. I am not sure whether or not the flash had fired when I took the picture. If it did then that might explain the stroboscopic effect with the fan. I know that there are times that I have problems with motion with the camera which is why I usually shoot two pictures of everything as a picture insurance. I am really happy with my new camera and use it on a daily basis. Have a nice day. Lew

car cat

car cat

Ever since our neighbor car had the windshield and rear window of his car smashed out, Tammy the cat has been on guard duty protecting the windshield on Mary’s car.


Ever vigilant in her new duties she even keeps an eye on me as I take her picture. Now I know what they mean by those cute little signs like “This house is protected by an attack cat”. I guess that I should have one that says, “This windshield is protected by an attack cat”.

Today is going to get off to a bad start with a trip to the dentist early in the morning for a cleaning which I always find painful. The best part of the dental visit is when it is over with and I am walking out the door. After the dentist, the rest of the day has to be better. I can’t imagine anything worse than going to the dentist. Anyone going to the dentist in the near future has my sympathy. I can use the well worn saying of “I know what you are going through” but really mean it. I know, whine, whine, whine. But as you can probably have guessed by now, I really don’t like going to the dentist. Have a nice pain free day. Lew