Category Archives: Nature

Snippets That Stick

September 15, 2020 verily sherrilee 87 Comments

Today’s post comes to us from our Ben

I was talking with a friend the other day and we were talking history of our area and I made the comment that I am always surprised to see in older photos how few trees were in the area. I tend to think, in the terms of Laura Ingalls Wilder, of the men clearing the fields of trees and making room. So to see these old photos and there simply are not any trees for hundreds of acres.

And my friend says “yes, Minnesota was Oak Savannah, so clumps of oaks, but really, not much else”. And I thought oh yeah, I guess I must have learned that in middle school, US history, or Geography, or a visit to the nature center, or something. But I forgot. And then he simply says “It was Oak Savannah” and now it’s stuck.

Isn’t that interesting how we can learn something in school but it won’t stick and then 23 years later someone says “Big pointed bars are called ‘drift pins’” and there it is. Stuck in your brain.

People say “lefty loosey, righty tighty” and I’ve never been able to make that work. I just know you turn it this way to put it on and that way to take it off. Lefty?? From the top of my fingers or bottom?? That just makes me think too hard.

What’s stuck in your brain?

animals, Art, Nature, pets, Uncategorized

The Little Bridge

September 12, 2020 verily sherrilee 25 Comments

Yesterday Guinevere and I turned right where we normally turn left. It was just a half a block later that I noticed a path peeking out between the trees with stairs heading down toward Minnehaha Creek. I was pretty sure where the path would lead so we took the path. After just a bit, I could see the bottom of the steps; there was a rainbow-painted bridge across the creek that I had never realized was there. The steps were completed embowered (I love that word) by a little forest of trees and the creek gurgles nicely as you walk over the bridge.

For several years I avoided using rainbows. It’s hard when something becomes a symbol for a movement; you’ve never sure how your use of that symbol will be interpreted. And not just rainbows but the symbol of the rainbow bridge! But I’ve found that I’m craving rainbows the last couple of months – for me, they give me hope and bring me beauty. I’ve made lots of rainbow-themed cards over the summer and added some rainbow stamps and dies to my collection.

So I was very happy to see the little rainbow bridge. I think that Guinevere and I will visit the path and the bridge often in the future!

If you had a symbol for your life, what would you choose?

Food, gardening, home, Nature, Seasons, Uncategorized, Weather

Freeze Warning

September 9, 2020 reneeinnd 17 Comments

The earliest 28° frost/freeze where we live can occur any time between late August to late September. Last Friday, the National Weather Service warned us that a killing freeze/frost could occur Monday and Tuesday nights, September 7 and 8. That is pretty early, and all the signs were indicative of this calamity.

On Sunday, Husband and I harvested all the chard, green and red New Mexico peppers, red sweet peppers, and any tomato that showed any inclination of ripening indoors. (Tomatoes that have been subjected to a frost when they are still on the vine should not be canned. It produces some enzyme that is contrary to safe canning.) That meant a trip to several local liquor stores to get boxes for ripening tomatoes, as well as a search for canning jars. (There are no canning jars to be had in our town now, as everyone was scrambling to save their garden produce, too. )

We spent Monday figuring out how to maximize the canning jars and lids we still had, and to cook up a couple dozen chili peppers for enchilada sauce. We covered bean poles with comforters and blankets, and also covered pepper plants and cantelopes with old table cloths and a large tarp. So much for a restful Labor Day Weekend.

Tuesday morning dawned with frost covered roofs and droopy tomato plants. Similar cold temperatures are predicted for Tuesday evening, so we will leave everything covered until Wednesday. By then, warmer evening temperatures are predicted.

When has the weather changed your plans?

animals, education, Family, Kids, Nature, Travel, Uncategorized, Weather

109 in Escondido

September 7, 2020 verily sherrilee 29 Comments

The number one attraction on our to-do list in San Diego was the Safari Park. I had been there about 20 years ago, but as is typical of my travels, I didn’t get a long tour – just the back of a truck to feed giraffes. While this was a fabulous experience, I had always hoped to get back for a thorough visit.

It was a 40-minute transfer up to Escondido and we had our ride scheduled so we would get there right at opening as the website had said that it was “first come, first served”. We didn’t need to worry – the pandemic has definitely changed people’s leisure habits – it wasn’t crowded. In fact, as the day wore on, there were fewer and fewer visitors.

The park is like a zoo, except fewer animals with larger habitats, separated into different areas: Gorilla Forest, Condor Ridge, Elephant Valley, Tiger Trail, etc. Due to covid-19, all the various tours by safari van and truck were cancelled, so we were faced with getting through the whole park in one day.

We started with the Tiger Trail and that’s where we met the first of the volunteers stationed around the park to answer questions. These are my favorite people; it’s always fun to ask questions and chat about the animals and the park. The tiger in the photo is Rakan, a two-year old Sumatran tiger. He came to the safari park when he was five-months old from the Smithsonian Zoo, after his mother aggressively rejected him. For the entire time we stood and talked to the volunteer, Rakan laid majestically behind very thick glass, as if it was his turn for the photo op. YA snapped this great photo.

As the day wore on, YA started to complain about the heat. I was quite hot as well, but I thought it was probably just all the walking around. I had looked at the San Diego forecast that morning – high of 85. Well, turns out that when you drive 45 minutes north of San Diego, towards the mountains and desert, the high is a bit higher. In fact, at 2 p.m., the temperature was registering at 109. Yikes. And the safari park is NOT built on a flat land. I know that for every up we had a down, but by the afternoon, it felt like all we did was climb up! We went through a lot of diet pop and water but powered through; who knows if either of us will ever get back to the park. The other areas we really enjoyed were Condor Ridge, Elephant Valley and Gorilla Forest. I suppose it’s not a surprise that there were great volunteers at all those locations.

It was a great day and I don’t think either of us have ever appreciated how cool 85 degrees feels after you’ve walked all over a safari park in over 100!

What animal do you like to visit at the zoo?

Fantasy, Media, Nature, News, The Future, Uncategorized, Weather

A Return to Normal

August 29, 2020 reneeinnd 74 Comments

The weather guy in the Fargo Forum announced this week that we were soon to return to our “normal” weather pattern of ten months of wind. July and August are typically the least windy months here on the northern Plains. Oh yay! I can hardly wait for the wind to start blowing!

Our weather shifted abruptly on Thursday morning when we had a torrential rain storm with no wind or hail. It had been hot and dry for weeks. Now it is muddy. Tonight, lows in the 40’s are expected. The birds are flocking. Autumn is coming. It seemed like summer would never end. Now I wonder where it went so quickly.

I wonder what we will return to, weather-wise and society-wise, when things return to “normal”. The header photo is of the normal or Gaussian curve.

What are the typical weather patterns you remember when you were growing up? What do you want “normal” to be like in your life come January?

Fifty Words, History, Nature, Uncategorized

Seeing Stars

August 25, 2020 reneeinnd 33 Comments

Today marks the anniversary in 1609 of Galileo demonstrating his telescope to the Venetian Senate. Imagine what they must have experienced looking through it. I wonder how they wrapped their minds around what they saw and what they thought they knew about the universe? I hope he demonstrated it at night so they could really see the stars.

What are your favorite Heavenly objects? Have you ever seen stars?

Family, Food, gardening, Health, Nature, Uncategorized

Bugs

August 22, 2020 reneeinnd 84 Comments

For the first time ever, we have an infestation of flea beetles in the kohlrabi and cabbage. You can see in the header photo what they did to the kohlrabi leaves in just a couple of days. We very rarely have insect problems in the garden, and usually never have to apply insecticide. This time the Sevin was sprayed vigorously on these tiny, black, flying beetles the size of sesame seeds. We will wait three days to harvest, then all the cabbagey things are getting removed.

I am both fascinated and repelled by insects. I know we need some, like bees, but I wish they weren’t so destructive. People here try to catch flea beetles and take them to the Badlands and put them on Leafy Spurge, an invasive plant that is toxic to cattle and resistant to herbicides. What a wonderful use for them. I like useful insects, but that is in the eye of the beholder, I suppose.

What are your favorite/least favorite insects? How do you manage them in your garden? What are your feelings about insecticides?

education, Family, Food, gardening, home, Nature, Uncategorized

84 Pounds of Pickles

August 20, 2020 reneeinnd 46 Comments

I have never been able to do math in my head. Husband is far better at it, but last week he failed at basic math hilariously while using a calculator.

Husband found some lovely vegetables at an Adventist farm stand. (Adventists are supposed to be vegetarian, but I find it humorous that some of our most prominent local Adventists are big time cattle ranchers.) We decided to make German refrigerator pickles with them. The recipe called for four quarts of brine and one cauliflower, one carrot, twelve pearl onions, two cucumbers, and two bell peppers. It all had to sit in the brine in a steel pot in the refrigerator for a week.

We have a refrigerator in the basement just for this purpose, but we are always concerned about the weight on the shelves. Husband calculated the weight of everything and worriedly told me that we couldn’t possibly put the brine pot in the fridge because it weighed 84 pounds.

Well, that just didn’t make sense to me, and after some sturm und drang, Husband recalculated and determined it all weighed 8 pounds. The veggies are brining away in the pot in the fridge. Now I can finally tease him about his math skills.

How are your Math skills? What kinds of Math are easiest for you? When have you miscalculated?

gardening, home, Nature, Uncategorized

Plants on the Move

July 27, 2020 reneeinnd 26 Comments

Ligularia, or “The Rocket”, is one of my favorite shade plants. We have several in our yard, and I like to pair them with Hydrangeas. They can be somewhat alarming when it is hot, as they droop in the day, but then they perk right up again after it cools in the evening. They come in different heights and leaf colors. I like the large ones with big green leaves.

I am an impatient gardener, and I plant things too close. I seem to forget just how big Hydrangeas get, and that they will muscle out anything next to them if it isn’t far enough away. This happened recently on the north side of the garage. I had planted Ligularia too close to the Hydrangeas, and the they became completely covered. Ligularia can become quite large, as you can see in the header photo. The ones in the north bed were puny, so last Saturday I decided to transplant them to a more open space in the fern bed. It is shady and they can predominate over the ferns. I was amazed to see how resourceful the Ligularia were, and that they had actually migrated from the middle of the Hydrangea bed to the very edge of it, as though to escape the larger shrubs. I initially planted them in a straight line with the Hydrangeas, and here they had moved at least a foot north to the edge of the bed. It is as though they tried to transplant themselves.

We have become more strategic landscapers in the past few years, but our tendency is to plant where there is room and to fill in empty spaces somewhat willy nilly. I suppose that is why we end up transplanting things a lot.

What is your landscaping strategy? What have been your successful and not so successful outcomes?