It's only Tuesday, the day after I taped over the third hole in the outlet, but I do believe I'm getting the upper hand in my battle with the ants. Maybe not won the war...yet, but no ants on the kitchen counter today and one of the ant traps was doing brisk business next to the other pocket door in the kitchen. And again no ants this Wednesday morning. I'm encouraged.
Now if my pecan trees would stop dropping green nuts that would be fine. I've been watering the trees every day for what, two weeks now, and this morning I picked up about two dozen green pecans and even more that had already turned brown. I'm beginning to wonder if I'll get a crop or not though I still see a lot on the trees. I water them for about an hour and a half to two hours depending on what time I get up and how weary I am of watering stuff every morning and evening. Today I slept late and did the minimum out there.
Had a wakeful night last night. Spent a couple of hours playing games on my phone. The dog was restless, I guess I was disturbing her sleep. Then she decided she needed to go outside and when I got up she started barking until I could get the back door open. She went out about 5', turned around and came right back in. What the fuck dog? What was that all about.
When I went out this morning after sleeping later than usual, it was in the 70˚s outside, with an occasional little breeze, it was...nice but here at 10 AM it's almost 90˚ already. Triple digits for the next week and then it's supposed to drop in the high 90s and still no rain for the foreseeable future. I have no desire to invoke the gods but I wouldn't mind a little tropical storm right about now.
Our local red shouldered hawk has been visiting lately. I've seen it several times either on the chain link fence railing or the edge of the old turtle pond. I've just been letting the water evaporate because the thing hasn't been mucked out in years and really needs it. It's down to about 10” deep now, too shallow for the hawk to drink from from the rim, too deep for it to get down in there and splash around so I put a plastic basin on Big Mama's old sunning spot and filled it with water.
I don't know if that will be helpful for the hawk or not but it was the best I could do. And I moved the birdbath from where it was into a more shady spot for now though now I can't see it from where I sit in the mornings.
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Since I don't have anything to write about besides hot and dry or ants and pecans, I'll report on the current state of the Republican clown show.
Trump and his minions co-defendants are doing everything they can to lie and cheat their way out of the indictments against them, the consequences of their actions, from claiming that they were only challenging the results of the election or acting on orders or that their position at the time gave them immunity or trying to get their case moved to a different jurisdiction where they believe they can get it to disappear and so far the DAs and judges are having none of it. Well except for Judge 'Loose' Cannon who seems to be bending over backwards behind the scenes to get the documents case thrown out. Other republican politicians from state level to federal are doing what they can to make the cases disappear including but not limited to calling for investigations into DAs Willis and Bragg on state and federals levels, threatening to refuse to fund the government if the DAs prosecuting Trump et al aren't defunded, in Georgia invoking a new law about to go into effect that allows them to remove elected prosecutors not doing their jobs, screaming that this is election inference from a weaponized DOJ under the orders of President Biden all while Trump himself is saying he intends to jail his opponents if elected, once again threatening civil war if Trump goes to trial Their desperation to shift the focus off Trump and onto Biden is pathetic.
Since republican efforts to impeach Biden via all those bogus investigations produced not one scintilla of evidence or proof of wrongdoing even from their own whistleblowers and witnesses they just can't let go of that particular wet dream of retaliation. Now, their position seems to be who needs evidence or proof of wrongdoing. Joe Biden is president. That's reason enough for them. Apparently McCarthy knows he doesn't have the yeas to pass a vote for an impeachment inquiry so he may just start one anyway or maybe just go straight to drawing up articles of impeachment to mollify the far right wackos that elicited that promise from him during his fight to become Speaker.
I'm parched just thinking of how dry it is there. We're expecting some "weather" from Idalia (that my dad pronounces I-DAY-lia).
ReplyDeleteIf it didn't affect our democracy, all of this crazy would be entertaining.
I'm rooting for the pecan trees. I wonder if they're pining for a good helping of that muck in Mama's tank.
ReplyDeleteanother reason to leave the country at this time- the utter fuckery going on is hard to bear.Wake me when it is over. Unfortunately for me I will return before the trials actually occur- I may have to take another trip !
ReplyDeleteI hope you're able to save your pecan crop. It makes me sad to see Big Mama's pond without her in it. :(
ReplyDeleteThe muck at the borrow of the pond reminds me of the state of the Republican Party, although their filth goes a whole lot deeper. With luck they’ll mire themselves in it.
ReplyDeleteA garden is a lovesome thing;
ReplyDeleteGod wot.
There are clearly days when you wot differently. Imagine your reaction to these endless matters when you reach my recently achieved age; in bingo parlours this number used to called out as "Two Fat Ladies" but the practice has been deservedly stamped on.
Trouble is garden problems seem to be circular. When the weather is warm we placate our embattled bodies by sitting on the patio, chatting about the time when our bodies were unembattled and drinking chilled white wine from certain sources in France, a list of which is available from me for a consideration. And looking at the surrounding garden. Gradually the garden becomes overgrown and we avert our eyes. Tackling the garden means subjecting my embattled body to further embatlement. But without this self-infliction I must needs (One of my Grannie's locutions) stare at the nearby fence and nothing else. This week I gave in, created some spaces between the foliages in periods that became shorter and shorter and during which I reflected on life and its lack of meaning. As we gardeners say: what comes up will come up even more profusely.
One good point: while reading aloud some document or other in congress (it may have have been the senate; I mix up the two) McCarthy paused so long that even the most rabid Republicans sensed something was amiss. When he finally put one or two words together they were garbled. To call such a miserable looking guy Mick seems a cruelty, don't you think?
What is that plant in your pond that looks like little trees, the one that is sticking up above the water? I think I've seen it at the San Bernard Refuge, or at least a relative of it, but I haven't been able to identify it. I've got a hawk in my neighborhood now, too. It's not coming to drink, but it clearly believes the bird feeders are its buffet table. I don't mind all that much, since it seems to be taking about one dove per week, or maybe two, and heaven knows there are plenty of white-wings around just now. There are so many they can't all fit on the platform feeders or at the water bowls -- kind of fun, really.
ReplyDeleteI know it as parrot's feather but also called Brazilian water-milfoil. I think I pulled it out of one of the rivers in the hill country. I'm seeing lots of single white wing dove feathers around the yard but not from a hawk I don't think. those doves just mob my bird feeder forcibly shoving each other off.
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