Showing posts with label pests. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pests. Show all posts

16 May 2013

Pleasantly disturbed, again...

For some reason it feels like Friday.  I have been thinking Friday all morning.  It is, however, Thursday, and though my friend Duane stopped his weekly link-up long ago, I am feeling pleasantly disturbed.  So here, in no reasonable order are random thoughts fluttering through my head today.
Wood ticks.  While I am happy to report I have not noticed a singe mosquito yet this year, wood ticks have made their presence known. Just thinking of them makes the crawly feelings begin and I find myself scratching, swatting, checking and rechecking every inch of myself for invaders before they have a chance to take a bite and burrow in.
Rick was out taking pictures of a unusual cloudy sky the other night and couldn't resist snapping a few shots of Faith.  I was thrilled that her beautiful blue eyes were visible without the typical camera red-eye glare.
But what's that at the top corner of her eye?  I didn't recall Faith having a beauty mark.  She doesn't!  Upon closer examination, the spot was indeed a wood tick getting ready to grab hold. Here come those creepy sensations again....  I know that God has a reason for all things.  I'd be quite willing to listen to His explanation for creating these noxious pests.

Our garden tractor needs repairs but the grass is not willing to wait. So this morning, instead of my usual cycling or video aerobics workout I walked in circles with the power push mower.  Around and around and around, longing for the 54" cut of the tractor but not able to imagine how one could push such a thing.  I trod and pushed until I ran out of gas, using quads and hamstrings, triceps and pectoral muscles.  I could have used the time to sing, or pray or ponder a solution to world hunger, but instead I seem to have spent the ninety minutes numb brained, thinking of nothing at all.  Perhaps the synapses needed the rest.
Every day there has been the scent of smoking stubble drifting by as farmers burn their fields before cultivating and planting.  This is an effective and natural technique that never fails to frighten me.  No matter how safe they try to be, man can not control the changing directions of the wind and fire has a life of its own. Disturbing indeed, but the smoke and ash in the air help create stunning sunsets.
Duane Scott who first dreamed up Pleasantly Disturbed Thursdays is graduating from nursing school.  I applaud his efforts and his ability to continue writing, loving, and giving God glory through his time of studying.  He has even redirected some of his excess creativity into painting.  Stop by a give him a shout at his site Scribing The Journey.  You might want to mention squirrels, one of his disturbing pleasures.
This is not a squirrel.  If you thought it was, you might have already started celebrating Thursday a bit too early.
 

24 September 2011

Time flies and other flies...

These are the days when the sun begins to rise late and set early, unfolding colours that God seems to have created new for the occassion.  Summer days were long and lazy and felt like they would last forever.

Yet time flies.

In fact the days and weeks bleed into each other.  The blur leaves me a bit edgy, as if I've missed much, almost as if some sort of madness has crept in.

picture from Dr. Bug site http://www.drbug.ca/insects/cluster_flies.php
What has crept in for sure is a constant stream of cluster flies.  I never knew about them before, never wanted to know and truly wish I never needed to know. As annoying as these little demons are, I'm relieved to learn there are not a sign of an unclean home.  That helps chase away the sense of shame that was beginning to descend.

After vigorous swatting escapades that left me with streaked, slimed windows, we have taken to sucking them off the windows with a vacuum hose.  This is cleaner indeed!

I have been enjoying the warm and sunny days as Summer tries to linger, but perhaps I am ready for the colder temperatures to settle in, bringing an end, at least until Spring, to mosquitos, grasshoppers and these pesky flies.