Happy Haunted Humpday!

Happy Haunted Humpday!

It's getting spooky out there! This sunrise woke me up a few days ago and for a split second I thought the house next door was on fire! It disappeared pretty fast but stuck around long enough for me to grab my camera and take some photos. I'm sure the sky looks like this a lot of the time but I rarely catch the dawn, being more of a night owl than a morning person. Looks like it would definitely be worth it to make more of the effort in the future!

Out in the garden the pumpkins are growing and still flowering. The open blooms always make me wonder if they could have inspired the design of the five-pointed star. So how did this common flower shape end up representing the stars in the sky? Is it possible that we might have ended up singing the Zucchini Spangled Banner?

The flowers are great and it's nice that they keep blooming but it's what they produce that really matters. For some odd reason, this summer, the pumpkin vines seem to prefer to climb up the privet hedge rather than stay on the ground. The pumpkins might need little hammocks to keep from falling off the vines when they get bigger.

This one started out hanging from a branch in the weigela but has slowly reached the ground - without detaching itself from the vine! Hopefully it will get a little bigger.

Burt's pumpkin came from the Farmer's Market. It's good to have backup, even if it's destined for pie.

Meanwhile, in other parts of the garden, this summer's bumper crop of annoying insects have been very busy. Mosquitoes are always abundant here and considered permanent residents but this year's strange weather has brought out a whole variety of new bugs, too. These guys are pretty snazzy with their iridescent emerald, pink and bronze coloring.   

They made swiss cheese out of my roses before I relocated them to my neighbors yard.  

It's currently spider season and those creepy little buggers are particularly abundant this year, too.

This one has even decided to take on the wasps!

They pop up everywhere, this whopper is right next to the screen door of our patio.

She's looking very determined. Eeek!

Here she is fixing her web after I messed it up. A part of it was attached to a strawberry plant that's hanging on the side of the house. I like to know where she is before I start picking the berries but since she's the size of a golf ball, it's pretty easy to spot her.

Thanks for stopping by, see you next week! Stay Spooky!

The skeleton crew and Spencer are joining Marfi at Marfi-topia for Haunted Humpday!

I did, did I? A post on palindromes!

In the rest of the world the date is written in the day-month-year or year-month-day sequence. Here in the US (for some peculiar reason that no one can explain but may have something to do with the document above) we write the date beginning with the month, then the day and finally the year. It doesn't make sense but unless you're doing business in other countries or traveling abroad, I guess it really doesn't matter. What it does provide is some entertainment every once in awhile like the extra special, five-digit Pi Day that occurred on 3-14-15. There's Star Wars Day on May the Fourth (... be with you) and the ever popular, 4-20. After the turn of the century, there were all those years when the date fell in sequential numbers. It was mostly noticeable back then because we used checks to pay the bills. So it was great to see that this August, from 8-10-18 to 8-19-18 there were ten whole days (ignoring the first two digits of the year, it's not a perfect art) of numerical palindromes! Now, numbers are all well and good but words that read the same backwards and forwards - not to mention whole phrases, are even better! Consequently, and in the spirit of utter nonsense, here are a few non-numerical ones, highlighted in red, that I gleaned off the internet.

I prefer pi.
Palindromes have been around since the times of the ancient Greeks and have no useful purpose beyond amusement. Although, the most famous ones, A man, a plan, a canal, Panama; A Toyota's a Toyota and Amore Roma could easily work as advertising slogans. 

No lemons, no melon.

Ok, I goofed, there's a watermelon in the photo but no lemons, ha! It was kind of a surprise to realize just how many common words, like mom, dad, sis, madam, level, rotator, sagas, noon, radar, solos, racecar and kayak, to name a few, can be read the same way backwards and forwards.    

Slap a ham on Omaha, pals!

Oh, and while you're at it, salt an atlas. Did I mention that most of these palindromes don't make a lot of sense? I couldn't even think of how to illustrate go hang a salami, I'm a lasagna hog!

Senile Felines.

Was it a cat I saw? Was it a rat I saw? Was it a bat I saw? Was it Elliot's toilet I saw?  

Poor kitties, they refused to cooperate for a stack cats photo so they ended up being labeled senile.

 Could this be how Dr. Seuss got started writing his books? 

Murder for a jar of red rum?

Red rum sir, is murder!

Stop! Murder us not, tonsured rumpots!

This creep stuffing his face is the despicable governor of my state. He has taken away health care from thousands and destroyed a world renowned university system. His many transgressions against women's health and the environment are too numerous to list and his unconstitutional voter ID policy put a moron in the White House. Like Trump, he needs to be voted out of office.

Rise to vote, sir!

Burt wants you to be sure to vote in November.

Too hot to hoot.

However, it's never too hot to squawk.

Looks like Mr. Owl ate my metal worm.

'

No sir, away! A papaya war is on!

For over a century, "Able was I, ere I saw Elba." was attributed to Napoleon. It was supposedly a response to a question about whether or not he could have invaded England. According to the Quote Investigator it was actually created in 1848 by a man from Baltimore who liked playing with words and is known only by his initials. It seems obvious now that Napoleon couldn't have said it, considering he spoke French and the quote didn't appear in print until decades after his death. 

Finally, there is the one that not only reads the same way backwards and forwards but upside down!

NOW, NO SWIMS ON MON.

Jeremy will probably be playing in his pool on monday anyway, signs mean nothing to him.

  Do you have a favorite palindrome?

Thanks for stopping by and stay cool . . . like Jeremy!

Families Belong Together

As much as I like to post pictures of pretty flowers and butterflies with an occasional skeleton here and there, I can't continue to do so without commenting on the horrible treatment of immigrant families that began in April on our southern border. To me, Trump's "Zero Tolerance" policy that resulted in the separation of over 2,000 children from their parents was unspeakably heartless and cruel. I find most of the president's actions as well as his total disregard for the truth appalling but literally stealing children from their parents was a new low even for him.

The need for this sort of poster was unimaginable to me just a few months ago. Yet a month after the government supposedly stopped separating families and despite judicial rulings, there are still more than 500 children that have not been reunited with their parents!

Like thousands of other Americans HM and I wanted to do something that would stop the actions taken by our government against immigrants. So we sent emails and called our members of Congress, told Paul Ryan he was a disgrace to our state and finally took to the streets to let Trump know we think this is a horrible way to treat human beings. 

Even though June 30 was one of the hottest days of the summer, there was a crowd of around two hundred people who assembled to rally for the cause in our town. It wasn't a long march and the speeches were thankfully short (no need to preach to the choir). There was a lot of posing for  Facebook photos in the hopes of getting the word out to vote in the upcoming elections. It's the only way things will change.

Obviously, unless we are Native Americans, we are all the descendants of people who immigrates to this country at one time or another. So how much of a threat do parents seeking a better life for their children pose to our national security? Why take the children and incarcerate the parents for illegally crossing the border when, according to Federal Law, that offense is classified as a misdemeanor?  When is the last time you heard of children being taken away from people charged with drunken driving or disturbing the peace? They are misdemeanors, too.

It was nice to be among so many nice people who were standing up for treating immigrants with the respect they deserve. There are people who agree with Trump's immigration policies so it's crucial that those of us who believe differently show up on election day to vote for Congressional representatives who are willing to stop these inhumane policies.

      

Burt and Ivy are grateful for the efforts by the ACLU to reunite immigrant families. They also want to remind you that election day is just a little over three months away. Make sure you are registered and don't forget to vote on November 6th!

https://www.familiesbelongtogether.org


I hope everyone is staying cool and having a wonderful weekend.

Thanks for stopping by!

Catching Up - The Brief, Strange Spring of 2018

It's always hard to predict when spring will show up in this part of the country. After a cold and rainy start, followed by a three day blizzard in mid-April, it finally made a brief but glorious appearance in June. The poor plants in my garden had quite a rocky start but eventually they persevered. In the end there were a few less than spectacular performers but lots of overachievers, too!  

The ants didn't waste any time, they showed up for work on the peony blooms right away.

This was a good year for our crabapple. The pink side usually blooms first and most of the time it's petals are gone before the flowers on the white side begin to open. It's nice when they coordinate!

To be honest, it was probably the one day of mid 90° F. temps that got the white buds to open sooner. Later, another bout of unseasonably hot and rainy weather brought out a bumper crop of mosquitoes!

These super short daffodils were one of the more freakish surprises of the season.

Not all of the daffodils came up short - could that be where the saying comes from? Anyway, about three quarters of them didn't come up at all so I'll probably plant some new ones this fall.

Then there was this pile of snow in the parking lot by one of the garden centers. It was one of several  and as I wheeled my cart full of new plants past it, I had some serious doubts about their chances of surviving. The snow melted right before Mother's Day and by the end of the month I had finally convinced myself it would be okay to plant the flowers. They are currently doing quite well.

On the overachievers list are these lilacs that HM and I planted five years ago. This spring they finally put out some spectacular blooms with a great fragrance! I was about to give up on that ever happening but apparently they flower best after a cold, harsh winter, who knew?

On another positive note, we have new neighbors! It seems that untidy stick across the entry is to keep out unwanted visitors. There's been lots of singing but no signs of any hatchlings yet.

Finally, Burt and Ivy decided to flaunt convention and threw a Friday the 13th party. As usual, it got completely out of hand but since they're not superstitious, they don't believe in bad luck. Guess we will see how well that works out for them.

Do you celebrate on Friday the 13th? 

Thanks for stopping by!

A Visit from the Pelicans

Please pardon my negligence, it's been way too long since I've added a new post to my blog. Somewhere, deep in my subconscious, I think I was waiting for all the immigrant children to be reunited with their families and all the other horrible things to be resolved (like that was ever going to happen!) So even though it still doesn't feel right to carry on as if bad stuff doesn't exist, not blogging isn't the answer either. So here are some pictures of pelicans because I was lucky enough to get a chance to photograph these big, goofy birds and we can all use some cheering up!

In the middle of May I took these photos of American White Pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) as they passed though town, probably on their way to Canada. Although, lately they seem to be around all summer and they do nest in the area. We are on the migratory route between the Gulf of Mexico and Canada so there's quite a parade of water fowl in the spring. I missed seeing the beautiful swans and elegant cranes that came by earlier but these guys made up for it by putting on a good show.

Pelicans are very social birds often nesting in large groups. Here in town, there were hundreds of them hanging out on Monkey Island, a manmade narrow rectangle of land that circles the city's water supply equipment in Lake Winnebago. Yeah, that's a really icky thought, think I'll go change my water filters now. In any case, they didn't stay very long since there is a lot of boat traffic in the area and this is where the city shoots off the fireworks on the 4th of July.

They fly in formation, like ducks and geese but instead of sticking their necks out they keep their heads tucked back towards their body. I've only seen them flying in groups of six or less.

They also like to "fish" together, cooperating in order to corral their dinner so they're easier to catch. They look so cute, as if they are patiently waiting for their turn to eat, ha! Luckily, they don't upset the local fishermen because they feed on the undesirable species that occupy the shallow waters.

Pelicans consume about four pounds of fish, crayfish and frogs each day. Instead of diving for their prey, they scoop them up as they innocently swim by, usually with a lot of water. You can see the outline of one unfortunate fish in the expandable throat sac of the bird above. They let the water drain out before tossing their heads back and swallowing the fish whole. Sorry, I didn't get a photo of that!      

Those funny looking knobs on the top of their beaks are actually referred to as horns. They appear on both the males and females just before the mating season begins, later in the summer after they lay their eggs they fall off. 

With an average wingspan of eight feet, only the California Condor beats out White Pelicans for having the widest wingspan of all North American birds. Since they typically weigh between 11 and 20 pounds, it seems like their bodies must the same size as a typical Thanksgiving turkey, minus two yards of wings and a foot long beak! Guess they need those long wings to keep them up in the air!  

Oddly, adult White Pelicans are for the most part silent unless they are involved in aggressive behavior. Then they make a very low rumbling sort of noise that sounds a lot like heavy furniture being pushed across a hardwood floor. The chicks will squawk if they are too hot or too cold. Our ever present, talkative seagulls could learn a thing or two from them about not being noisy.  

This cute pair of Mallards seemed totally unfazed by the invasion of giant pelicans. They are here all year round so I expect they're used to all sorts of weird people, boats and birds. It's a big lake.

There's plenty of room.

Thank you (and the pelicans) for stopping by!

Stay cool! I hope to be back soon with a Spring Catch Up.