hunger in America, what the rain brought

Thursday at SHARE was so busy, basically non-stop food orders, end of the month coupled with cuts in food assistance because this administration says no money for food but plenty of money for vanity projects (fucking cage fight on the south lawn of the White House, a ridiculous triumphal arch, his butthole mouth face on a new $250 bill, and war). A handful of A and B (one or two people), mostly C and D (3 - 6 person household), and one E (7 and up) the very last of the day. I heard one of the guys ask for a count and Giruard said 40 and I know there were a few more after that. So four hours of constant filling the baskets that had been emptied by the guys filling the food orders and the larger orders, those baskets are heavy. They bring me the empty baskets (one for As and Bs, two for Cs, Ds, and Es) which I refill with canned goods (soup, vegetables, beans, tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce, fruit, meat, fish), instant mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, pasta, ramen, snack bars, instant oatmeal, crackers, juice. Then I carry the filled baskets over to another table where one of the guys puts them back on the shelf ready for the next food order. That’s not all they get. The guys have their own items they put in the cart; dried pinto beans, rice, bread, desserts, snacks, cereal, various drinks (including soda), milk, eggs, dried fruit, produce (whatever got donated that day from HEB and Walmart), various miscellaneous items that get donated. We don’t have everything all the time but that’s what they generally get. I’ll try to remember to take some pictures next week.

Anyhow, I did not sit down one time for four hours and when they finally locked the door I was tired! Basically useless until about 4:30 when I went over to feed the kitties and then looked at the fence between the shop property and the neighbor. And dammit! Turn my back on that fence for 5 minutes and the wild grape, briar, and virginia creeper is taking over so I got out the long handled nippers and got to work. Yesterday, after I picked up all the fallen dead branches in this yard from the storm earlier this week, I went back with the small nippers and get the rest of it and got four sections of the fence cleared before I ran out of shade. I’ll work on it some more today taking advantage of the dry days because it’s feast or famine these days, drought or deluge. Last Monday night a thunderstorm which started with distant rumbling until it was right on top of us with one very bright and simultaneous strike and then again Tuesday night a thunderstorm that sat right on top of us for four hours with constant flashing and rumbling accompanied with high winds. More thunderstorms predicted for next Monday and Tuesday. And we all know what the rain brings…unrestrained green growth and mosquitoes.

Steve Reed of Shadows and Light asked what mosquito dunks are so for those of you who live in bug free paradises, they are little donut shaped biological mosquito control discs that float on water and kill the larva; safe for fish, birds, animals, and people.

I break them up depending on the size of the container of water. The minnows will eat the larva and I never see any in the rainwater tub but I tossed a little in there anyway, better safe than sorry. The old turtle pond is so filled in with water plants now that I’m not sure the minnows can even get to the larva so it got treated as well.

Here’s some interesting trivia about mosquitoes…Those that make it to adulthood outside live an average of 2 to 3 weeks, one trapped indoors can live up to a month but depending on the species they can live up to 30, 40, 60 days outside. If you are waiting for winter for them to die off you may be disappointed. Some species can go into hibernation and survive 6 to 8 months. Only female mosquitoes suck blood and then only to lay eggs after which she can lay up to 300 eggs at a time which take 8 to 10 days to hatch. Every day nourishment for adults requires sugar which they get from nectar, fruit juice, and plant sap. While unaffected themselves, mosquitoes can transmit diseases from one human to another which include malaria, dengue, west nile, chikungunya, yellow fever, zika, and heart worms in dogs. Fortunately most of those diseases aren’t evident here. In case you were wondering how mosquitoes mate here’s a picture courtesy of earth.com.

I’ve started on the drawing for my little art project but not finished yet. This is the design part of the process, what I want the finished piece to look like. Once that’s done the next step is to divide it up into layers…foreground, middle ground, background. It will have at least four layers I think but that’s all I’m ready to share right now.