Bugs Abound

Hello,

I have seen no more of those Japanese beetles in the house. I am grateful for that. Unfortunately I have now seen them chewing on the leaves of a bush by the house. Not good either. I hung kitchen laundry out. I carefully checked each piece before I brought it in the house. I did find one bug on one piece. Hopefully my eyes are good enough that I did not miss any.

I did not see any at the community garden. I went to pick Red Russian Kale. I also brought home some peas that may be too old, one lamb’s quarters plant (I have already eaten half of those leaves.), three radishes, arugula, and some not good looking broccoli. The garden is not doing very well this year. I suspect it needs to be tilled more and some good soil or manure added to the area. In spite of these facts there are some weeds that look as if they are quite happy there. I am surprised that there are not more bugs in the garden because I sometimes think they attack vulnerable plants. But maybe healthy plants taste better so they have stayed away.

Frequently in the past I have shared veggies with people sitting on their porches, but have not seen many people out. Perhaps I am going too early in the morning, but I am trying to beat the heat.

Paula

Bugs in the House?

Hello,

True confession: I have found some bugs in the house. When we brought home the raspberries we found some of those unwelcome Japanese beetles in the bucket as we were washing the berries. I thought we were very careful and took all outside to meet a violent foot stomp death. Two days ago I pulled back the quilt on our bed and found one of those critters. I carefully scooped it up in my hands, took it outside and stomped on it. This morning I took the quilt off the bed so I would get the sheets washed. Oh no, there was another bug it met a similar fate as its relatives. Before I was done I found another one on the sheet. It must not have touched us because it too was under the quilt. This one seemed dead so I put it in the wastebasket, picked up the receptacle, went outside, turned the wastebasket upside down on the porch prepared to step on it, but did not see it. Worse than oh no! I do not want those things populating around my house. I hang my sheets out to dry. When getting them off the line I found five of those bugs on the sheets. I got rid of them, but called Leroy to come help inspect before they came in the house. We think we are good, but I saw one of those larger black ants in the bedroom. I smashed it with my fingers. My new name could be insect killer. I am grateful for screens on the windows which stop some of these critters. Leroy commented lovely encouraging words, “They could be even riding into the house on our clothes.”

We picked a head of cabbage today. There were three slugs on it. Never have we had slugs on our things before. What attracts them? The head is not so large, cut nice and compact. It will be on the menu tonight.

Paula

Missing my day off

Hello,

My work hours have changed. I now go to work four days a week instead of three days. The number of hours has stayed the same. This is to spread the workers out a bit more. Hoping that less contact keeps at least one team operating.

I miss that day off in the middle of the week. I used to plan many things for that day, including just being alone. I like my alone time. This week Leroy has only gone to work one day and he will go again Saturday. He gets paid holidays so he does not have to go the third day this week. I do not think he enjoys the alone time as much as I do.

I am reading The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek. It is quite interesting. Not sure that I could have been that type of librarian. It took a lot of courage and stamina.

I am busy, but it is a lot of sitting around rather than navigating through the forest.

We gather items for people and pass them out the door, so that changes our work load. We have to read the message, gather, check out, call the patrons to let them know it is ready, and then pass it out the door when they pick it up. I am still doing much cataloging of books and audio books. When several of them are entered in the collection I take a picture and use a program called buffer to put it on three different social media sites at the same time. I had to learn something new so that is good.

Paula

Busy Berry Pickers

Hello,

We have been going out every other day to gather as many black raspberries as we can. Most of them are going in the freezer which is getting rather full. Before the fall harvest of leaves, you know kale, etc., starts we will have to create room. The berries are getting close to the end of the picking possibilities. We will be both glad and sad. Glad because the arduous work will be over and sad because no more fresh berries. It is a bit daunting to go out in the extreme heat wearing socks, shoes, jeans, long sleeved shirts and hats. I can tell you there is a bit of sweat happening. If possible we go in the early morning. I am so grateful when we get home to air conditioned comfort. Then I wonder, “Would we tolerate the heat better if we had to live in it more?”

We shared some red Russian Kale with one of our neighbors. He looks oriental and speaks with a strong accent. I would like to know where he is from, but hesitate to ask in case he grew up in the USA. Anyway he showed us how well the kale is doing. Next to the kale was a tall herb. He offered some to us. At my ok he gave us plenty. He said, “For soup.” As nearly as I could tell he was saying the leaves went in the soup and the flowers were used as garnish.

I put it in a soup/stew dish and we liked it. Leroy put some in his salad and declared, “It is like cilantro on steroids.”

I forgot to bring my phone home from work. Even though I do not use it very much, I feel its absence. Maybe I use it more than I think I do. How did I drive without a phone? What if I needed to contact someone?

Paula

Early morning bike ride

Hello,

Leroy and I left the house at 6:00 am for a “beat the heat” bike ride. It was a pleasant 70 degrees F. With the breeze created by riding it was lovely. We rode on the new wider sidewalk along the street to the close lake. Only one section was not finished and we could easily ride on the street for that bit, especially with no traffic. At the lake it was a bit of a trick to ride through the congregated geese. I suspect there were 100-200 of them mostly on the trail. We rode very slowly and they gradually got out of the way. One couple had with them some younger geese. The elders hissed at us. I was happy they did not attack. On our return trip I thought the geese had gone for the day, but they had just moved around the bend to a new spot. Leroy was ahead of me this time and as he went through these birds he barked and made other strange noises to encourage them to give way. They rather reluctantly moved aside for us. I was pleased there was not so much goose poop on the trail, but Leroy’s tire managed to fling some of it up on the lower part of his water bottle. Unfortunately he did not notice it until he put his hand on it. Bossy me, I insisted that he wash the poop off before he came in the house. He complied, but I suspect he was in agreement with the idea of no goose poop in the house.

There were other people out this early in the morning. We saw, in the seven or more miles we traveled, ten or fifteen riders and four-ten walkers. I suspect others wanted to be out while it was so cool.

The only problem with the bike ride is that I do not accumulate steps for all of this distance. As the temperatures soared into the 90’s I was less inclined to go walking.

Paula

Independence Day

Hello,

Activities were certainly different this morning. Leroy went out picking black raspberries while I walked closer to home. After a bit of walking, I decided to pick up trash around our block. Because of mowing lawns there are usually fewer items that need to be moved off the edge. I managed to get the total in one bag from the grocery store. I feel good about that. Leroy came back with a smaller number of berries. Perhaps yesterday I had almost covered the entire space even though I felt that I had left some. He also reported that in the small patches along the trail there was another couple picking berries so he just walked on by.

After resting and eating breakfast we headed out to pick up donated items for a food pantry. An eagle scout in our congregation is doing this for a project. Leroy volunteered to help pick up the donations. We took quite a while doing that. We started a little later than the first possibility. Then I had to go to the bathroom. What a bother!  On the two lane highway we followed some bicyclists. I was driving and did not feel comfortable passing them on two rolling hills. I did not pay attention to distance, but I suspect the first stop was 15 miles away. They had not gotten their items out so we had to wait while they gathered them. Luckily Leroy had checked the addresses and directions on line before we left home because his phone had no service in this area. Then it was on to another small town where we did two more pickups. All was going well. Grateful for that list and directions as all of this places were on winding, convoluted streets or roads. The last place was in Cedar Rapids, but on the west side where we seldom go. Finally Leroy’s phone had service so we could follow the lady’s voice.

We think this was a good way to celebrate Independence Day, helping others and looking at the tall corn.

Paula

Berry Picking

Hello,

Leroy and I have gone black raspberry picking three times now. We have never picked at this patch before. Perhaps it was not here, as those wild berries seem to move around. This area is across the road from the bike trail where no one mows. We are so grateful for that. It is close enough that we can walk without too much trouble.

This morning Leroy went out by himself because we were both going to work early in the morning. I thought he was taking quite a bit of time. When he got back he told me that he had fallen on this steep side hill after he became entangled in the long grass. The falling thought had crossed my mind and I was considering what to do about it when I thought I would give him five more minutes. He did not get hurt, but he had to pick up a lot of berries.

He still brought home a nice amount. I went back this afternoon after I came home from work. I brought home even more. Made me wonder where he had picked. Can they ripen so much in a day that I would believe I was the first to be there?

We are still picking mulberries, but not so many of them. The tree that has the most is so tall that we cannot reach the best of them. We do not want to drag a ladder that far away. We like the raspberries better than the mulberries, but like our rhubarb/mulberry crisp. Brian brought us a nice amount of rhubarb so we are all set.

My hours at work have changed and spread out so I work four days a week, but shorter times. This means not many of us are at the building at the same time. We are in two teams so we work with the same two people all of the time and do not see the other team. We are hoping that keeps us safer. We still wear masks and use hand sanitizer as well as frequent wiping of surfaces. Hand washing is also in the mix.

Paula