Time To Rest

 

It seems like if I get up and walk away from my writing for a day, give my mind time to rest, I think of things I wish I’d’ve added to the story.

“Like what?” you ask.

One thing I should’ve told you was what was on the front of one of those old buildings. There were two pictures of a little old house, only it wasn’t a house. It had a sign on the front that says 1858 Arnold School House.

I thought you’d be able to see it, and I didn’t check before I posted it, but I don’t think you can.

Another one I thought you’d be able to read was the date on the front of this old log house. It says it was built in 1740.

Something else that was in the timeline of the story I told you last time and totally forgot about until after I posted it was another name I thought of for Raini. Yes, the votes are in for the spelling of her name. It was a tie so I get to break it. Dropping the e keeps it consistent with how I spell Bondi.

We were at a gas stop coming home, and before we’d decided firmly and definitely on Raini, I was walking the girls when a name popped into my head. Libby, short for Liberty. I liked the name and didn’t know where it came from, but I couldn’t justify naming her that. Nonetheless, I asked Mike when I got back in the car.

“How about Libby?” No response. Then it dawned on me. “The Kipps had a dog named Libby!”

That night, after we crawled in bed at eight-thirty because someone was so tired, I opened the book I’m reading on my Fire tablet. Right there, big as day, was one of character’s names. Libby. I picked up the story where I’d left off and another name jumps out at me. Reina. Rein is pronounced the same as rain but means something different and in my head I was saying it as Rein-a. Right or wrong, I don’t care.

“What was the book?” you ask.

The Atlas Six. I wouldn’t waste my time on it if I were you but you can do what you want.

A coincidence? Definitely weird.

I also told you about the Yorkie scam. I know that at least three of us reported the account to Facebook. I got a message back from them.

“We didn’t remove the account because it poses no danger to other people or is harmful to the community,” Facebook said.

So much for that.

And lastly, I should’ve told you that Brad said these are mini-Heelers. I didn’t know there was such a thing. Raini’ll probably top out around twenty — twenty-five pounds. Way bigger than Bondi but I’m okay with whatever size she gets to be.

I’ll tell you what! This little girl is so smart! She isn’t really housebroken yet but in the few days we’ve had her, I’ve seen her leave the recliner, go out in the kitchen, get a drink, and go right out the pet door and pee in the grass.

Monday morning, when the door wasn’t open, she sat down in front of it and whined. I opened the door and she went out and did her business. That’s fabulous, right? Then she turned around and pooped on the floor. LOL.

The pet door is in the screen. When I have the door shut, I prop the screen open. That way I only have one door to open when I go out.

Even in June in these mountains, the mornings are chilly. I let the girls out to do their business and didn’t answer their calls to come back in right away. When I did go to let them in, I saw Raini just as she turned to try the pet flap. I had to laugh.

One more thing about Raini then we’ll move on.

We were in bed and Raini was working a chew stick. She choked and coughed up a piece, not once but twice. I thought I’d take it away from her but when I tried. I couldn’t. She had her jaws clamped firmly shut.

“Okay, then,” I told her. “You’re on your own.”

It happened again another time where she had something I didn’t want her to have. There was no getting her jaws open. Whatever she had, she was keeping! And she swallowed it.

Getting a new pup was definitely the highlight of my week but far from the only thing that happened.

Mike and I started closing the front patio in.

“If I get three windows set today,” he said, “I’ll be happy.”

Things were going well and we set five windows that first day. It took a toll on Mike though; he was definitely whooped.

We were sitting there taking a break when a Chickadee flew right in and landed beside us. He hopped around a little then took off.

By Wednesday we had the entire front wall done. This is gonna help so much next winter.

Mike has a general idea of how he wants things and other than what’s in his head, there aren’t any plans involved. That means that once in a while our well-deserved nickname comes into play.

“What’s your nickname?” you wanna know.

The Do-it-again Lubys!

“I forgot to add for this,” Mike would say. Luckily, we’re using screws for the most part but it’s still a pain to do things twice and sometimes three times!

Another big aggravation I have with Mike is he measures everything so tight. That means there’s no wiggle room. All-in-all Mike’s a good carpenter and builds way above standards.

Friday we started on one of the side walls and got two windows framed and set.

“Did you make anything this week, Peg?” you ask.

I did! I made three more tin can flowers. Three doesn’t sound like much but you have to consider that they were three pieces each. My drying rack can hold a few more than nine but not many.

I put a white star on two pictures I want to call your attention to.

The center piece on these two are made from lids instead of cans. Something new I was playing around with.

I also made them two-tone. Would you believe the center color is the same as the edge highlights? I guess painting overtop of yellow makes it look like a different color.

And I learned something this week.

          When I add POP (plaster of Paris) to my book boxes, the lids tend to warp a little. I can get them mostly flattened back out using weights but I thought, why not prevent it in the first place.

There’s a product called Gesso. Artists use it to prime canvas. Without it the paint would sink into the fibers of the canvas. Most canvas these days come pre-Gessoed but it still has its uses. It provides some ‘tooth’ that allows paint to stick to surfaces. And that’s why I bought it. If I add elements to my book boxes like metal or plastic, I want to be able to paint them. Gesso lets me do that. I thought Gesso may also act as a sealer keeping some of the moisture from my POP out of the cardboard.

Things were going great. I made the box, covered it with paper and glue like I always do, and at this point I added Gesso. Once it dried, I put on my POP. It still warped slightly and I put it under a weight. When I pulled it out a couple of days later, when I was ready to work on it again, some of my POP fell off. I didn’t really think too much of it even though that’s never happened to me before. I started sanding and great hunks of POP started falling off! What a mess it made! Obviously, POP doesn’t stick to Gesso.

“What’d you do then, Peg?” you ask.

I spent the next hour knocking POP off my box, that’s what.

“What are you gonna do now?” you wanna know.

At this point I’m going to continue my plans to decorate it. It just won’t have the same texture as my other books but I think it’ll be fine. If not, he can join all the other misfits on my shelf.

While sitting on my patio I try to swat down the carpenter bees. This big bad boy came buzzing overhead and became collateral damage. I thought he was a carpenter bee when I swatted him out of the air. I felt bad about it when I saw he wasn’t a carpenter. He’s a Giant Hornet.

He lay there at my feet, gasping.

“Put him out of his misery,” I heard Momma in my head. I hit him again, picked him up and threw him into the grass.

It was only then that I thought about getting a picture for you. I got my camera and went looking for him. He wasn’t hard to find — and he was still alive!

“Hit him again!” you say.

I couldn’t. “Live or die on your own,” I told him. Maybe he’ll recover, I thought. I should’ve just stepped on him to begin with but I hate how they crunch under your shoe.

My patio light attracts a lot of moths and bugs if I leave it on for the cats to come in at night. I found this guy on the screen and thought he was interesting looking so I found a container and put him in.

The next day I took his picture. He’s a Stonefly.

“Peg, tell us about Stoneflies,” you say.

Okay, I will!

The common name “stonefly” is a reference to the kinds of streams in which the larvae of many species are found.

There are more than 3,500 species of stoneflies worldwide and 600 in North America. They’re widespread, found on every continent except Antarctica.

The stonefly life cycle involves an incomplete metamorphosis, which means that there is no pupal stage and the nymphs look much like the adults. Some species spend three years in the larval stage and molt more than 20 times before becoming an adult.

They don’t hatch on the water’s surface, like most species of mayflies and caddisflies. Since stonefly larvae are crawlers—and relatively poor swimmers—they stay close to the bottom,

Nymphs get oxygen from the water by filamentous gills and are intolerant of pollution. In fact, the presence of a healthy stonefly population is an indicator of good water quality. Ironic considering stoneflies are closely related to cockroaches, which are perceived as evidence of filth.

When it’s time to hatch into winged adults, most stoneflies migrate to the bank and climb out of the water before transforming. Most of the time adults are available to trout only when they are blown onto the water — which is fairly often, given their poor flying skills — and during egg-laying.

I bet you didn’t know they were so fascinating, did you?

Once I took pictures, I tossed him into the grass. Bondi found him and brought him back to the rug. I don’t know what happened to him after that. 

Sitting on the patio, working on my crafts, I listen to the music of nature. Bird calls are sorta like white noise; there’s so much of it. I soon became aware of the squawking and warning calls of a robin family that has a nest under the old debarking chute. I can see the interloper on the left of the picture but don’t know what he is or what he’s trying to do. Steal an egg? Blue Jays will do that because they need extra calcium during nesting season. Lay an extra egg in the robin nest? Some birds do that. They’ll knock one from the nest and lay hers in its place. Lazy mama.

I took quite a few pictures while Bondi laid nearby watching the drama unfold.

Blackie heard the raucous chatter and came to investigate, only he wasn’t content to watch from the ground.

He could probably climb the whole way up to the nest if he was so inclined, but he didn’t. The intruder bird left and the robin pair continued to yell at Blackie until he turned around and left.

>>>*<<<

          Blackberry flowers.

These are the tiny little flowers of the Clevers or another name is Bedstraw. 

And I’m pretty sure you recognize the spent head of a dandelion. The reason I took the picture was to tell you something I recently saw on the internet.

Did you know you can take one of these and totally and carefully submerge it in a glass of water? All the little hairs, or whatever they are, displace the water and when you pull it out, it’s dry! I haven’t tried it myself but thought it was something interesting to try with the kids or grandkids.

I took the girls down to the pond, off-leash. Bondi’s so funny. She goes through the tall grass like she’s got springs on her feet. 

She pops up over the grass, disappears, and pops back up again to sail over the grass.

The girls resting in my shadow as I took pictures.

Spatterdock, my pond lilies.

Craneflies making baby craneflies.

A milkweed at the edge of the pond. I love that Mike dug around it.

The girls raced to catch up to me. 

And raced right past me. They got to the RV hookup and waited for me.

“Good girls!” I cooed. “Now let’s go home.”

Off they went.

They listened really well this day but they don’t always. Mike gets so frustrated when they don’t obey.

“It’s not automatic,” I try tell him. “You have to train them.” Mike hasn’t the patience for it.

Orange and yellow Hawkweed, also called Devil’s Paintbrush.

My Chinese Lanterns are blooming. 

And this one is Fleabane. 

And the Forget-me-nots are blooming!

I came in the house to see one of the boys left me a present. At first, I thought it was a Starling but the more I looked at it the more I thought it wasn’t.

I got my bird book out and looked up Starling. I was right. The Starling doesn’t have the white stripe over its eye. On the very same page and right under the Starling was the Red-winged Blackbird. And the female of that species looks exactly like this.

I tossed her in the weeds.

The next day I found a dead female Blackbird on my patio. Either someone found the one I tossed and brought her in for a patio lunch, or they got another one.

Oh the joys of country life with those wild and vicious predators, the common housecat.

On Friday, just the day after we got Raini, I had to mow the dog run. Bondi did what she always does, she got ahead of me, barked, and challenged the mower.

I couldn’t see Raini but figured she must be on the patio. Wrong! She ran in the house and found Mike. He came out carrying her to show me. I just happened to have my camera slung around my neck so I took their picture.

 I got right down on the freshly mown grass to take pictures of the girls playing.

You know the old saying about if you lay down with dogs, you get up with fleas?

Will guess what happens if you lay down in the grass to take pictures of dogs? You get up with ticks!

I felt a tickle in my arm pit and found this guy. I pulled slowly and gently and it hurt! That little blood sucker’s got a piece of my flesh in his jaws! I showed him! I put him on the butcher block and gave him a taste of my Bic. My arm pit hurt for a long time after and it hurts all over again just looking at the picture! 

Let’s call this one done!