There are some lovely labels affixed to produce. Do you ever wonder who designs them?
Easy Seed Removal
Category: Misc Interests
Rat, Orange Mold, and Lichen Glaze with Lichens
Yesterday I found a 3′ long gopher snake in my garden. It was wrapped around the hose reel. Nearly stepped on it. Totally creeped me out.
Today I found a roof rat in my bird feeder.
When I was in the process of baiting our live traps, I found an orange with a lovely distribution of mold.
Why do we have so much wildlife in our gardens? Drought conditions and gardens that are great habitats for loads of critters.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t successful trapping the rat today, maybe tomorrow.
Update
This morning I asked my husband to open and set the trap. When he opened the trap, the rat ran out. Apparently last night when I asked if he closed the trap, and he said yes, he was talking about something else.
The rat ate all of the bait–a nice chunk or juicy orange and a saltine smeared with peanut butter topped with seeds.
Has the rat learned its lesson to avoid the trap? Maybe not. The trap was moved and more tasty treats were placed inside.
After the Storm
New Orange Mold Growth
2019 February 3
2019 February 6
2019 February 7
2019 February 12
Change
Orange Mold 16 January 2019
Orange Mold 17 January 2019
Orange Mold 18 January 2019
Orange Mold 19 January 2019
Orange Mold 20 January 2019
Orange Mold 21 January 2019
Orange Mold 22 January 2019
Orange Mold 23 January 2019
Orange Mold Flip Side 23 January 2019
31 January–The orange is still changing, but too fragrant for inside. Found a new home in the greenhouse.
Valentine’s Day Gift, Wasps, and Bees
It has been over a month since Valentine’s Day, but I really liked my gift. It was not jewelry, flowers for the garden, or candy.
I was given this–
Yep, it is a paper wasps’ nest.
Detail of Wasps’ Nest
Flip Side of the Wasps’ Nest.
The wasps’ nest was found at the airport, under the wing of this plane–
Fouga CM.170 Magister is a 2 Seat, 2 Engine, French Military Plane
The Yellow Arrow Points to the Previous Location of the Nest
Wasps can be particularly dangerous for 3 reasons–
Wasps like to build nest in air vents. When the plane is in flight, if the pilot opens the air vent the result can be a swarm of wasps inside the cockpit.
Wasps will make their nests in fuel vents preventing air getting into the fuel tank and the engine starves. If you have no gas in the engine it will stop running.
If wasps make their nests in a pitot tube, there will be no air speed indication. What does this mean?
The way you get an airspeed indication is that air pushes into the pitot tube and moves the dial in the airplane. If no air gets into the pitot tube, then airspeed reads zero.
The interior of the Fouga is quite small, a bit claustrophobic. It was a plane used for instruction, with the instructor seated behind the student.
The plane was most likely built in the 50s.
The interior reminds me a bit of my 1968 Volvo.
The plane information was supplied by Touring Machine. I supplied graphics for the site, including a six pack simulator for Unusual Attitudes.
I made the six pack instrument graphics in Flash. Each instrument has multiple layers so they could function properly. I handed off the graphics to the programmer, Michael Whipp.
Last week I read a CBS News story about bees causing a flight delay.
This is a screenshot of the image that accompanied the article.
Yep, bees can be just as dangerous as wasps.
Beyond the Pale
Recently the expression, “beyond the pale” has been used numerous times in reference to numerous things said by the republican presidential candidate. Yes that is numerous and numerous.
I knew what “beyond the pale” meant in the context, but did not know the origin.
Of course I did a google search. I found this great site, The Phrase Finder.
According to the site, beyond the pale is defined as the following:
This ‘pale’ is the noun meaning ‘a stake or pointed piece of wood’, a meaning now virtually obsolete except as used in this phrase, but still in use in the associated words ‘paling’ (as in paling fence) and ‘impale’ (as in Dracula movies).
The space within the paling fence was safe. Beyond the pale, not so much. Unless, protection becomes a trap.
I do like sharp and pointy things, so I am delighted with the definition. Several years ago I made the series Tools for Rent. It consisted of 11 bronze daggers, each bound into a cedar box.
The Phrase Finder is a truly fun site to find meanings and origins of phrases you may be using and to find phrases you might like to add to your future conversations.
Pale is also a homophone (pail), so that could have possibly lead to some confusion. Loads of words when heard can be confused for other words.
A few confusion words in the previous paragraph:
so (sew)
Some (sum)
heard (herd)
for (four)
I will end with this quote from The Phrase Finder site bulletin:
The evil that men do lives after them,
The good is oft interred with their bones.
From Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
Agave
Current State of Many Agave Leaves
Top of the Agave Has a Tilt
Inside of an Agave Seed Pod
There are loads of critters living on and around the agave. The spider in the following photo has a huge web between sections of the agave. When the spider saw me, it tucked in its legs. When I moved in for a closer look, it skittered to its hiding space among some seed pods.
Spider Living in Agave
Powdery Mildew
A month ago I bought a begonia boliviensis. Very beautiful plant. I had’t even popped it in the ground yet, when I noticed the flowers were dropping. According to what I read that is not uncommon.
Then I noticed powdery mildew. A small bit of powdery mildew can be seen in the upper most leaf. I couldn’t remember how to treat it, so I googled it. Everything I read stated that the plant should be destroyed.
I contacted a friend and he suggested:
“…a mixture of 8oz isopropyl alcohol (70%), 8oz water, 1 Tbsp Dr. Bronners Peppermint castille soap. It works really well on arthropod pests but also has a slight fungicidal effect. Fairly non-toxic to boot.”
I do love peppermint soap, so I gave it a try. Shortly after the application all of the leaves dropped.
This week I started to feel a bit positive about saving the plant. There are a few new leaves.
The leaves appear to be healthy and clear of powdery mildew. Now I wait.
The Agave Today–August 28, 2015
This is How the Agave Looks Today.
Agave Pod Litter
The seed pod was not mature, but I took a look inside.