Mayfly mayham

The mayflies have arrived!  


Even though their visits are short, the impact they leave is large...and messy...and smelly.


Rising up from the lakes and streams they ascend in their frenzy to mate and die.  They belong to the order "Ephemoeroptera" which  manes "living a day".    These are insects whose motto definitely is Carpe Diem....because that's all they have.  Some last a few days, some less than a day and none are equipped to feed as an adult.  the are born, breed with a passion and lay eggs which can hatch in minutes.  You'd think with a short life span like that we'd hardly know they were among us...but noooooooo.

They first appeared about 350 million years ago and are still with us today...no endangered list for these guys.  Even though we call them Mayflies, they tend to show up in our area about July.  And they are everywhere!  The frogs love this all you can eat buffet and as annoying as we consider them, they are an important part of the cycle of life. 
  
I can remember times when the snowplows were called out to remove them from the Mississippi bridge because their dying bodies created dangerous slick driving conditions.  Since it's only once a year no signs saying "Bridge may be slick if covered with bugs" were created.


My most recent encounter with them was going to the movies and watching the staff trying to hose them off the side of the building.  The only way into the theater was to walk over their slimy dead bodies and hold your nose.  Gives a new meaning to "over my dead body!".  Now that really puts you in the mood for some buttery crunchy popcorn!


Long Live the Queen

Just trying to avoid head injuries

After ducking under the Quaking aspen branches that hang down for longer than I can remember, and risking getting my eyes poked out...I finally took action.  This is what the area looked like before.  




I didn't want to just cut the branches because I'd lose the shade from them for the hostas.  Oh what to do, what to do?

Shopping!  That's the answer!  I found an inexpensive metal trellis that matches the color of the other structure in that area to solve the problem.  I still had to cut a couple of branches, but not big ones, so I've kept the shade and made the area safer to walk through.  Why have a garden path if you can't stroll on it, right?


Now I also have another area to support the clematis that was out there, plus add another one to the other side.  Ah...more view to enjoy from the arbor.


Long Live the Queen of the Trellis

good morning..again

It's been a frantic couple of days while attending a craft and hobby trade show in Chicago with my energizer bunny friend, Margie.  We drove down early on Tuesday and walked through the show all day before having supper and returning to the room to relax.  Well, I relaxed...she was busy checking inventory sheets and completing order forms.


The show offers many "make and take" projects to try the various paints and glues and it was messy but fun.  This is so far from my doll making world; however, I can see that I will be making some changes to how I construct my creations now.  Clay and paint will definitely be working their way into my art work now that I'm more familiar with these processes.  It really helped that I had taken the clay class from Joyce Diveley before going.


As I walked through vendor after vendor of papers and stamps and products I'd never heard of, all I could think of were my friends Beth and Miss Edna and how their tongues would be hanging out with all the scrapbooking materials.  Beth - you need to check out Margie's store downtown (Stamp n Hand) to see all the cool things she has.  She needs someone to put together her scrapbook page kits for display when they arrive and I think you'd be the perfect person for it.


We worked our way through the show all day again on Wednesday from 10am to 6pm and then left for home.  There was a visit to Cosco on the way and then we had supper in Beloit.  I met a lovely woman trucker in the ladies room as we left who was talking about how hot it was in her tractor trailer as she wandered into the stall with her bottle of beer.  Oooookay.


Then we stopped at McDonalds for coffee for her and ice cream for me and were attacked by an attack of the sillies, where everything is funny and makes you laugh.  She patiently (at first) kept giving her order and no one would respond until I gently said "Margie....that's a trash can" and we moved to the next station. 

There is a lot of construction on the interstate in this area and they were out there working with these huge lights and wearing reflective clothes - it all felt a bit like being in Roswell with an alien attack...but then again we were hyped up on caffeine, sugar and being overly tired.


I got home about 1:30 AM and couldn't help but notice that it was 86 degrees at that time of night.  Thank goodness the AC was still running fine and She Devil was so excited to see me and led me right to the tuna cans and opener for a snack before toddling off to bed.


Checked myself on the scale before going to the hot tub (I know...I know...why bother in this heat?) and today's Weight Watcher weigh in is going to be so uuuuugggggllllly.  Oh well, it was fun being "bad" for a couple of days and I'll get right back on it.


Long Live the Sweaty Queen

Country style garbage disposal

Is it just me or when they took the seeds out of watermelon did they also suck out the color and taste?  Now I used to pride myself on being a good picker, checking the color of the melon, where the vine attached and thunking them.  But the last two I've purchased I've cut open and promptly disposed of after one bite.  How I hunger for a red juicy sweet watermelon!


Living near a hillside affords me some creative disposal techniques.  I can generally compost most of the excess vegetative material and toss other items near the bird feeder for the birds, squirrels and chipmunks.  I throw old meat further up the hill for the fox and raccoons.


But, it was raining again when this melon disappointed me, so I set it in the enamel pan I had used for picking the garden and set it by the backdoor.  I figured I'd take it up the hill later when the rain stopped since my throwing abilities don't include melons.

I like treating the wildlife in this manner and recycling our waste to them.  But, I get frustrated at the loss of bird seed in the feeder.  I've tried two different squirrel baffles...even at the same time...to keep the raccoons out, but to no avail.  So, the other day I added a 3" wide piece of PVC pipe over the pole.  My theory being that their hands are not large enough to grasp this to pull themselves up.  If I find they can dig into it, I will add a layer of tin to it.  I will WIN this battle!


To my surprise and delight this morning the melon was nicely scooped out and disposed of!  All I need to toss up the hill now is the rind.  Thank you raccoon buddies!  This is my parting gift to you for not being able to get into the bird feeder.


Long Live the Queen of Recycling

Overly caffeinated?

I've gone from being totally inactive to just plain antsy.  I can't sit still, can't make a decision...can't get things done.  I always know when the depression is lurking nearby because the mail starts to stack up, as well as the dishes.  No, both aren't in the sink...that really would be depressing.


My garden guild toured each others gardens this morning.  We met at Panera at 9:00am, or at least that's when I got there.  Appears we were to meet at 8:30am.  Ooops.  By the time we finished the first of the three we were already sweaty and hot.  Nice cold bottled water was provided at the second one, which most of us chose to wear rather than drink.  As we arrived at mine we were all sweaty messes and moving very slowly.  Not the leisurely lengthy tours we normally do, it was more of a survival touring.


After the group left I decided to run some errands and catch a movie.  I bought some new jammies at Target in a size M...that's a letter I have not seen in my closet in a loooong time.  I didn't realize until I got home that I only have the bottoms and now I have to go back tomorrow for the top.  Grrrr.  I want to get these washed so I can take them to Chicago on my trip.


The movie was "Horrible Bosses" which I really expected to be stupid, but I wanted popcorn and decided it would do.  Other than a lot of swearing (henceforth the R rating) it was actually pretty funny.  Of course, I may have been suffering from some heat stroke, so who knows.


I picked up some groceries and scurried home to the AC and comfort of my chair.  Man is it hot out there!  Maybe I'll get ambitious and work some some sewing orders I have...maybe not.  She Devil is sprawled on the floor with one eye open.  It looks pretty comfortable to me....we could all learn from cats.


Long Live the Hot Sweaty Queen