Unique Aspects of Days – September 2022

The unique aspects for September….

Queen Elizabeth II died. The event is something that will be memorable about 2022. Her coronation was in the year I was born...she was the only well-known person I can think of that was on the international stage for that long period. Closer to home – her death accompanies the older generation of my family ebbing away. I am fortunate that both my parents are still around.

Making a quick run to Walmart for coffee. My dad makes coffee every morning and had somehow forgotten to tell anyone that there was not enough left in the container to make another pot. If I had not been visiting…they just would not have had any morning coffee that day!

Murmuration of pigeons over the Walmart parking lot. Somehow lots of pigeons were on the Walmart parking lot…and they flew up in a big swirl when they were startled by something (maybe a car?) and they did the usual turning in unison….the undulating ebbs and flows in the air. It seemed like they stayed a loft longer than required to escape danger and I wondered if the birds enjoy the ‘dancing’ in the sky.  

Talking with a man hauling hay at the gas station. I stopped to buy gas at a very large gas station just off the highway and a man with a trailer full of the round bales of hay pulled up on the other side of the pump. We had a short conversation and l learned: he is getting $60/bale rather than $30 he got last year, his fields are Johnson grass and cows like that kind of hay, this haul was from the 3rd mowing.

A upside down truck on the highway. The only time I got on the highway once I was in Carrollton, there was an upside truck on the other side….traffic just beginning to back up. It wasn’t obvious how the accident occurred; the truck was against the dividing wall that kept it from crossing over to the other side of the highway. I came back an hour later and could see that the truck was still there (upside down), but a crane has been brought in….and it was rush hour. Fortunately, I was already at my exit and the backup only slowed me down for about 5 minutes.

Rats. My parents had their house treated for rats. Insulation in the attic was replaced and holes in the eaves were sealed. There is a 10-year warranty. Hopefully this is a truly unique experience.

Grilling when it was windy. We didn’t use our gas grill when it was windy at our Maryland house, but we discovered that the house does a reasonable job of blocking the wind at our Missouri house….another reason to like our new location/house.

Laundered/dried our pillows in our new appliances. We don’t launder pillows frequently…and this was the 1st with our new washer and drier. We discovered that the sensor in the drier thought they were dry when they were dry on the outside…but not on the inside. We had to manually run the drier again….but the process was still faster than with our older appliances.

Bakery bread. I have started looking at the list of ingredients for breads…and buying ones where the ingredients are about the same as for homemade bread. It seems like commercial breads have a long ingredient list. I’m finding that the bakery breads with the shorter list taste great and are easier for me to digest.

A third COVID booster. My husband and I got the 3rd COVID booster along with a flu shot (one in each arm). I had more side effects (sore arm, aches) with this 3rd shot than I did the second…but they only were bothersome for about 24 hours and were completely gone in 48.

Rats!

The guest room at my parents’ Carrollton TX house and is near the kitchen – and there were a couple of instances of odd noises during the night during my last visit. One morning when I went into the kitchen, the flour canister had pieces of brown plastics around it (remnants of the lid’s seal which was not entirely breached but was almost gnawed off). I trashed the canister and bits of plastic….scrubbed my hands with soap and water….wiped down the counter with disinfectant several times during the day…acknowledged that there were RATS in the house.

Later I saw one near the baseboard of the cabinet below where the canister was. It ran into my Dad’s office. We pulled a set of plastic drawers out from the wall…and there were rat droppings behind it.

Aargh! I coordinated with my sisters to get a specialist out to assess the situation further after I read through the CDC’s recommendations for how to clean up a rat infestation safely.

One of my sisters had worked with a ‘critter control’ company previously and they came out soon after she contacted them. It turns out that the rats are everywhere in the attic. The company has a process to treat and remove the insulation…replace it. Treat the rooms in the lower part of the house and put traps outside the house…seal places the rats were getting in. They dispose of the material they remove. They can do it in one day if the weather cooperates. And there is a 10-year warranty. We set the date for them to do the work.

We’ve cleared the papers and books from my dad’s office, bought the paint to match the external house trim that will have sealed places, and planned for my parents to be elsewhere for that day. It is happening this week.

I am relieved that it is happening quickly. It is traumatic for my parents to have the flurry of activity to clear out of my dad’s office and then to have a long day away from home….but the health and safety risk from rats in the house is so great that they and our whole family agrees it has to be done. I’ll be back in Carrollton for the aftermath and trying to get my parents routine re-established.

Unique Aspects of Days – August 2022

Most of the uniqueness in August was associated with our move to Missouri….although not as directly as back in July.

A juvenile grackle on our bird feeder. We had gackles under our feeder in Maryland too but they must not have nested nearby because I didn’t ever see a juvenile. They are smart birds and don’t seem to be as noisy around our house as the ones I see at the Josey Ranch Lake in Carrollton TX….maybe because there are not as many of them.

3 kittens. It’s been almost 40 years since we had a kitten in our house…and it was only one back then. 3 of them make for many unique experiences…usually positive.

Did not want a breakfast burrito. A McDonalds breakfast burrito has been my favorite mid-morning snack on driving days…but recently, it just did not appeal to me at all. Glad I realized how I was feeling before I made the purchase!

First time to vote in Missouri. The primary was in early August. We had registered but didn’t yet have our permanent driver’s license…fortunately the paper copy was sufficient. The polling place was convenient and not crowded. Evidently it was a new polling place.

Setting up a compost ring. I used some cedar edging with prongs that pushed into the soil to keep them in place. I was pleased with the way it looked on the first day and even more pleased with how fast the compost is ‘cooking.’

Urgent care for spider bite. I had never gotten a spider bite….wasn’t sure that it was a spider bite (since I didn’t see the spider). It seemed to be getting worse so I went to Urgent Care on the 3rd day. They said it was a spider bite…gave me a tetanus shot…topical antibiotic…instructions to come back if a list of symptoms developed. Fortunately none of the dire symptoms happened but it is taking considerable time to heal.

Ice pack on spider bite helped. The spider bite on the back of my calf caused considerable pain which was a new experience…as was the relief of 10 minutes with an ice pack!

Puddles and cruise control. It was a little scary to drive through a puddle…and have my cruise control turn off. It wasn’t raining very hard at the time but evidently the water had accumulated enough to slow the car too suddenly and a safety mechanism engaged.

Rat trying to get into flour canister. Definitely a unique experience I would prefer had not happened. I went into my parents’ kitchen one morning and found bits of brown plastic all around a metal canister. The plastic has been the seal on the canister which the rat chewed partially through….but not completely.

Using  the self-scan in a Missouri grocery store for the 1st time. They haven’t been doing it as long as my store in Maryland so there are a few kinks…but not too bad.

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 31, 2020

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

What’s That Cloud? Your Guide to Cloudspotting – A little tutorial. Maybe a prompt to do some cloud photography too.

This white paint keeps surfaces cooler than surroundings, even under direct sunlight -- ScienceDaily – I remember being at White Sands National Park on a hot day and walking on the sand barefoot (i.e. the sand was not hot!). Hopefully the architectural norms will begin to shift toward white roofs and then durable paints/shingles will be readily available to make it affordable. The heat islands of cities would be reduced…which could be helpful now and an increasing benefit as climate change continues.

Google Maps Gets More Electric-Car Friendly – Android Auto (not the phone app) adding features.

Top 25 birds of the week: Land-birds - Wild Bird Revolution – Enjoy bird images!

NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft successfully touches asteroid -- ScienceDaily – We went down to Florida for the launch back in 2016 so I try to at least scan articles with updates. The sample is now safely stored away and will be heading back to Earth…arriving in 2023.

Why older people are harder to vaccinate - BBC Future – What vaccines can do…what they might not do. For example – did you know that the flu vaccine reduces disease but does not do much to reduce transmission because a vaccinated person can still shed virus particles?

Black Witch Moths: A Night-Time Trick or Treat – Because it’s Halloween….it will be a very quiet one this year with the regular form of trick-or-treating called off in our area.

The rats evicted from paradise - BBC Future – A positive result for humans correcting a problem we caused….only able to succeed because of the resilience of nature (and because we corrected before it was too late for recovery).

Flowers Are Changing Color in Response to Climate Change | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – Adjusting UV pigmentation to protect themselves (rising temperatures/thinning ozone)…maybe confusing pollinators.

Nature Nerd Trivia: Wild Canids – Dog relatives from around the world.

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

Firsts for the season at our deck. We saw our first Dark-eye Junco for the season. A small flock has spent the winter in our area – frequently visiting our feeder – for many years. We think they go to the Appalachians/Alleghenies for the rest of the year rather than the far north.

I finally managed to get a picture of a Red-breasted Nuthatch enjoying the seed spilled under our feeder. There were other times recently that I thought I saw one but was never fast enough with my camera.

Hawai’i Island Festival of Birds Swag pack arrived. It took more than 10 days for the small envelope to get from Hawai’i to Maryland. I don’t know for sure how long it took because there was no postmark. I will use the field notebook (upper left, a nice fit for one of my photo vest pockets) and the magnet (lower right) is already on our refrigerator to remind us of the virtual festival…and we’ll sign up to go to the festival when it is held ‘in person’!