Beating the Heat

Hope you're staying safe and finding ways to beat the heat. The hot weather has me thinking about what we did during the hot summers when I was growing up. The only air conditioner we had in the house was a window unit in my parent's bedroom, and it was only run at night for them to sleep. I can remember days in front of the fan and visiting the few stores in town that had AC for some relief. The favorite was the Factory Outlet, which was the outlet for the local sweater factory. Always a bargain to be had there, but you had to inspect the merchandise carefully to see if you could live with the defect. 

The movie theater was also air conditioned, so a movie was a real treat for several reasons in the summer. They only played B movies and I saw a lot of old Disney and Elvis Presley movies there.  It cost a quarter for kids at that point in time, so all four of us could go for only a dollar. We lived in town, and were able to walk to all of these places. That way we didn't have to depend on our parents for a ride. That gave us more flexibility which we appreciated.

We also went swimming at the city pool. My father would do electrical work for them at the beginning of the season which would earn us a season pass. The pool was a mixed blessing. This was back in the days before sunscreen, so we four, fair-skinned sisters, had more sunburns than we liked. And when we got one, we had to wear a T-shirt over our swimsuits until it healed. I didn't like the T-shirts, but those were the rules. Also, my mother would give us 2 hours from the time we left home until we got back. It was a 15 minute walk each way, so that gave us an hour and a half there. Not nearly as much time as the popular kids got, but was probably smart considering the sun. And, of course, we went no where if our work list wasn't completed.

Back to the here and now. Most, if not all places, I go have AC, including our house. I am very thankful for that. To beat the heat, I've been working in the yard during the early morning and late evening when it's not quite so hot.  Despite the hot weather, there are still things thriving and here are a few of them.

Day lily

Bachelor buttons

Marigold

House wrens just before they fledged. The nest was crowed with 7 in there. The nest wasn't empty for long. As of yesterday, there were 3 more eggs in it.

Dianthus

Day lily

Cloudy sunset

Rising full moon

This and That

Ward built new flower boxes for the porch. He put rails on the bottom so they can't fall off the railing.

 

We're keeping busy here with nothing special--just the daily happenings of every day life. 

Work has been very busy. People are finally allowed back in the library and they are coming in droves. Well, maybe not droves, but enough to keep us hopping. It can be frazzling at times, but it gives me more opportunity to learn new things. And speaking of books, my entire book club is going to meet in person here next month. It's the first time that we've all been together in over a year because we've been meeting virtually. 

Also, we continue to work on plans for a kitchen remodel. It's a very long process. Right now, we're tweaking the final layout and looking at tiles, countertops, etc. We have been shopping on and off for several months for appliances, and hopefully, are going to purchase those during the current 4th of July sale. If you want to coordinate the look of your appliances, you need to buy the same brand. However, no one brand has a great product across the line. One has a very good dishwasher, but the range has problems. Another has a good dishwasher, but the fridge is awkward to use, and so on.  This had made the decision making process more complicated than I like. Oh, well. It may take several months for the appliances to come in, but that's okay, because it will be many months before our cabinets are built. The plan now is to just accumulate stuff in our basement and when most of it is here, the contractor will start work. There's no way to coordinate all of the materials at this point because of the supply problems that still exist due to COVID. Maybe the price of lumber will be down by the time they start construction. 

A sampling of a harvest one day. For the first time, I dried the carrots tops to be used like parsley.

The garden is doing okay. We're done with radishes and peas now and about done with broccoli and cabbage. The weather is getting too warm for them, not to mention the worms that are devouring them. There's only a little lettuce left because it's too hot for it, also.  We got enough cherries from our tree for a pie, but that's all. However, that's more than last year when we didn't get any before a mold infected them. We also have green tomatoes and blossoms on the, peppers, cucumbers and zucchini. The onions are growing slowly and there are a few more beets and carrots to be harvested. Our garden beds are a drop in an bucket compared to what I grew up with, but they keep us entertained with the added benefit of fresh vegetables.

If I ever want to get this posted, I should stop now. So I will. Until next time...

Happy Father's Day

 Ward is a great father, so I thought I would interview him this Father's Day to get his perspective on on the important job of parenting.  I didn't time things very well and waited until he was in the middle of a work project to talk to him. Oops! I very kindly thank him for the time he was able to give me during my interruption.

Tell me about being a father. 

Newborn Wally. This is when the doubts began.

It's spending your life not being sure what you are supposed to do. How much do I help my kids? How much do I protect them? How much do I give them? How much do I let them fail to learn? Even now that Wally and Theo are adults, I still worry about those things.

As you mentioned Wally and Theo are adults now. What do you see when you look at them?
I see responsible, kind people who can hold an intelligent conversation and who know how to handle disappointment. Also, I see good drivers and I am thankful that all of that stressful time of teaching them how to drive seems to have paid off.

Even though you were unsure of what you were doing, you have successfully raised two boys to adulthood. What advice do you have for new dads? 
I'm not sure. I still don't know if I have parenting figured out. But I'll give it a try. Educate yourself, but also use your common sense. Spend time with you kids and let them learn from your examples.

But here's something that Wally said the other day that may be the real key to successful parenting. He said that the best thing we did as parents was to keep trying. We'd try one thing to solve a problem and it wouldn't work. And then we'd try something else and it wouldn't work. We'd try another thing and it wouldn't work either. But finally we'd try something and it would work! He is very grateful the many times we didn't give up when it would have been a lot easier. So for new dads, I'd say, just keep trying.

Thanks. Next time I'll make an appointment and we'll have another conservation about some of the details of raising Wally and Theo.

Cicadas

The cicadas are 1.5"-2" long and have distinctive red eyes.

 I don't know about the rest of the country, but we've been talking about cicadas here in the east for several months now. May saw the emergence of Brood X cicadas that have been biding their time underground for the last 17 years. There are over 3000 species of cicadas around the world, but only 7 of these are periodic cicadas, most emerging after 13 or 17 years underground. They appear for a couple of months in great numbers, mate, lay eggs, and the larvae burrow back underground for a very slow development to the next stage. They have no defense mechanism, so the large numbers assure their continuance. 

Holes where they emerged from the ground. I was at a picnic recently where a 3 year old was entertained by stuffing cicadas and their shells back into the holes. Her younger brother, spent a fair amount of time just walking around and poking his finger in the holes.

And what is it like when they are out and about? First, the sounds that the males make for mating purposes are deafening. The noise can be as loud as 100 decibels, which is equivalent to a low flying plane or a lawn mower starting. The din makes conversations outside difficult and causes ringing in the ears. However, luckily, they usually quiet down at night or on a cool day. They can be everywhere--on the ground, on the fence, up your pants leg, on a tree, down your shirt. The good news is that they don't bite or sting and only do minor damage to trees when the females lay their eggs under the bark of small branches or twigs. However, they have been known to kill a small tree.

The larva emerge from the ground and molt to expose wings.

And while they are all over the area in Mid Atlantic and up the East Coast, they are not ubiquitous. We have not seen any at our house unless you count the wings we find in our yard--presumably carried there by birds. However, a few miles away at Aunt Martha's house, they are out in full force and they have totally surrounded Wally's apartment.

While I don't have cicadas at my house this year, I have shells everywhere from an earlier invasion. It happened before we moved in and I'm not sure when that was. Notice the strong front digging claws.

The cicada invasion is dying down and they should be pretty much gone in a few weeks. Wally commented a couple of days ago, that the noise had died down enough that he could hear birds again. Soon restaurants will stop featuring them on their menus, I guess. By the way, I'm told that you shouldn't eat them if you're allergic to shell fish and they taste like shrimp. I wouldn't know and I don't plan to find out. :)

Thankful Sunday, June 13, 2021

 I am thankful for good service people. 

As you know, we lost a tree during a storm a couple of weeks ago. Luckily, through a recommendation of a neighbor (who also lost a tree at the same time), we hired a local tree service to remove the tree. They were prompt, efficient, and fairly priced. We will definitely use them again. So for a great tree guy to add to my list of service people,  I am thankful.

Here's what the tree work looked like.

The storm took down half of the tree and the rest of it was not long for this world, so we had the whole thing removed.

Tree Guy had his two sons helping him. First they cleaned up the fallen branches and chipped all of the debris with a large chipper.

Next, he cut all of the branches he could reach with a pole saw.

The Helpers cleared the area.

Then Tree Guy harnessed up to climb the tree. He had a chain saw tied to him for cutting the higher branches.

It takes a lot of skill to climb a tree with a chain saw safely.

Tree Guy was almost done with the climbing part of this job.

After watching from a safe distance, the Helpers were at work again.

Tree Guy then cut a notch for the final felling. 

The Helpers helped guide where the tree was going to fall. 

And it fell exactly where Tree Guy had planned. The trunk was 27" across.

Logs that were too heavy to lift (and chip), were loaded into the back of the truck with this handy little Bobcat-like machine (stand behind steer skid loader).

About a week later, Tree Guy came back and ground the stump.

Now, the final clean up is up to us. I wish The Helpers were here to help us move the dirt/sawdust to various low places in the yard. (The pile is much bigger than it appears in the picture.)

So Long.

Last week we had a storm come through that took down a large tree in our front yard.  The tree was a Bradford Pear and is know to have splitting problems because of the way the branches grow out of the trunk. But this one had beaten the odds. It was over 50' tall and the trunk had a circumference of 27". The good news is that it didn't hit anything and we were able to get it cleaned up before it killed the grass.

But I miss it. It was the one we saw out our kitchen window that provided a beautiful display of white blossoms in the spring and red and yellow leaves in the fall. It was the one we watched squirrels scamper up and down, and the one we watched birds hop from branch to branch. It was the one that a large flock of cedar wax-wings would land on in the spring to feast on the small fruit, and it was the one that provided interest and structure to our yard. 

 In the grand scheme of things, this was a minor inconvenience. But I miss it.

Travel Log, Day Five

 Our Trip to WV and MD

Today, we were back in Maryland in Cumberland. We had visited Cumberland before seeing some of the sites, but planned to explore more areas this morning. Unfortunately, it was raining, so that put a damper on things. However, we did manage to see a few sites before we put the pedal to the metal and headed home. 

Cumberland was a thriving coal and transportation center in the late 1800's and numerous wealthy families were located here. Many of their grand houses are still around today but this is the only one we got a picture of because of the rain.

This the only remaining structure of Fort Cumberland for which the town was named. It was headquarters for British defense in the French and Indian War. A 21 year old, George Washington, led his first command here. Also, his last when he gathered troops at the fort to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion. And bring it back around, this is where the troops started from that crossed the bridge we saw on the first day at Casselman State Park. 

After we got home (and they woke up from their naps),
the cats welcomed us with demands for lap time. 

This vacation was interesting in that we found several connections, both on a historical and a personal level, from place to place that we hadn't planned or even knew about. That made it fun as different pieces fell into place. Next time, we might actually research ahead of time and go with a plan. But maybe not. What would be the fun in that?

We had a great time on our little excursion. There was just the right amount of family time and back road exploring, sprinkled with some history lessons, hikes, and fun restaurants. Sometimes vacations work out and sometimes they don't. This one definitely worked out in the best way. 

Looking forward to our next trip, but for now, regular life is calling.

Travel Log Day Four

Fairmont is the county seat of Marion County
and has an elaborate courthouse.

Our trip to WV and MD.

I planned our trip so that we didn't have much "have to" driving except on the first day. We had a few goals, but nothing hard and fast except to get the wood.  So our days were focused with a couple of things we wanted want to do, but with plenty of time to do what we felt like. Ward studied maps and often decided that a particular road or area looked intriguing, and I reserved the right to stop at any roadside marker that looked interesting. Each day we managed to find a good balance among all of them.

We started our day in Fairmont driving and walking around the downtown area. This was on the way to locate a friend's perennial flower farm.  It's a long story, but I knew the person who ran it through another friend. I felt awkward about phoning out of the blue after not hearing from her for a couple of years, so it was decided that if we saw someone outside, we would stop. If not, we would drive on. The drive there took us over many back roads and through the little town of Fairview. We found the farm, but didn't see anyone outside, so we drove on. 

In the meantime, another sister texted me and said we should eat lunch at the Poky Dot Diner in Fairmont. Timing was right, so we headed back into Fairmont to find it. What a fun place to have lunch. It was bright and colorful, both inside and out. The only problem was that we didn't know that we should go for the ice cream. The food was good, but the ice cream looked incredible. Next time, we will eat dessert first.

Then it was onto the other agenda item for the day--a visit to Prickett's Fort State Park. We had passed the turn off for it dozens of times over the years without time to stop. Today I was going to make it happen. 

Prickett's Fort was built in 1973 and is a reconstruction of a fort in the area from the mid-1700's. Forts were common during this time for defense against Native American attacks. We had planned to do some hiking in the park after we explored the fort, but the heat got the better of us and we retreated to the car. 

After the fort, Ward mapped a back way to get to our next destination for the night. Once again we enjoyed country back roads through the hills of West Virginia with a detour to find a covered bridge we read about on a road sign. 

Here are a few more details from the day.

We drove though Fairview, WV, a little town of about 400 people. It must have been bigger at some point to have it's own high school (which is now a middle school.)

I didn't know the name of my friend's farm, but we thought we were in the right place
 when we saw this flag. I checked online later and found out we were.
Next time, I will call.

Our fun lunch spot, The Poky Dot Diner.

Fort Prickett. Inside were shops, a meeting house and cabins. Later I found out from my genealogist sister that our 4th (or 5th) great grandmother, Phoebe Cunningham, was married here. Phoebe is in the history books because she was captured by Native Americans in 1785 and held captive for three years. These finds are incredible to me. I didn't know I had any history related to this area, but in just two days, I found two places my ancestors had lived.

Inside the fort were different crafts people demonstrating jobs from the time period.  We got a personal talk from this spinner and weaver because Ward and I were the only visitors at that time.

We were also the only ones at the blacksmith's shop and could ask questions to our heart's content.

Just south of the fort was Jacob Prickett's house built about 100 years after the original fort.

We took a tour of the house and learned what life was like in the mid 1800's. This time we weren't by ourselves on the tour, but still were able to see everything easily.

Dent's Run Covered Bridge. This bridge was built in 1889 for a cost of $448. The bridge was 1.5 miles from the roadside marker and we had to ask for directions before we found it.