Last May, while we were still in California, a tornado struck Saint Louis. Its path came to within a quarter mile of our home. While initially it appeared that little damage had occurred to our house, further investigation discovered that one of our few remaining trees had lost a branch. A hanger was left suspended up high in this elm.
Earlier this week, Anne was sitting on the couch, when she heard the distinct who-cooks-for-you call of a Barred owl. Venturing outdoors, we determined that the calling owl was perched in our next-door neighbor’s Redbud. We haven’t heard it since, but hopefully it will return.
Yesterday, Araldo, our gardener cleared out the jungle that had grown all summer long in the backyard. He filled fifteen large yard waste bags. While we were gone for the past six months, vine weed had taken over. You can see how dry it is here. Putting down mulch should help keep the weeds from returning. The night before Araldo came, Anne spied a raccoon atop the garage roof.
The desktop computer’s monitor finally died. None of my tricks managed to revive it. So, I trooped over to the Micro Center. Walking through the sliding glass doors, I heard the guy following me in announce that this was his happy place. I walked out with a new flat screen. Later, I went back and dropped off the old monitor for recycling. This acquisition at least put a band aid on one my three computers. I have had less luck replacing my iPhone. On my last visit to the AT&T store I spoke to a representative and was all set to buy a new phone, but they were out of stock. They wanted to drop ship the new phone to our house, but since it is on backorder, it would likely show up while we were out-of-town. Not wanting that, I cancelled my order. Later, I thought of having them deliver my iPhone to the store, but by then my ardor had cooled.
OBTW, that is Dan’s Mt. Everest sculpture on the side of the garage.
Or in this case the gas man. Laclede Gas now Spire wanted to replace our gas meter. They pestered us for six months, before we finally relented and scheduled an appointment for yesterday, for some time between 7:30 AM to 8 PM. Not that I don’t have other things to do, other than waiting for the gas man. I should not be surprised. This is the same company for whom I had created an online account, way back in the dial up era and promptly lost my password. That online account eventually timed out and I was recently able to create a new one, after twenty years. So, we got up early to receive our visitor. There was no need for that though, because he still had twelve hours left in his window. Eventually, a gas man showed up, but he was not the gas man we were looking for. This guy only puttered around on the parking strip, cleaning out the shutoff valve. Finally, the right gas man arrived. He quickly replaced the old meter and left.
This was all accomplished before noon, but having resigned ourselves to staying home all day, we set about cleaning the house. Anne started cleaning the tub, which eventually inspired me to caulk the tub. It came out quite nicely, if I do say so myself. After this fit of domesticity, we sank back to our regular routine.
While we were away this summer some unwanted squatters invaded our property and took up residence—paper wasps had nested beneath the back porch. I guess the carpenter bees must have invited them. They built their nest just outside the rear basement door. The same door that we use to wheel our bikes outside whenever we go biking. Both Anne and I have been stung by them. I got stung first, the day we arrived home. At the time, I was not sure if it was a sting or a bite, but the next day, Anne got stung too and she found the nest. I bought some spray, and we each sprayed them several times. The spray can claimed to have a 27′ range, but I always had to get to within a couple of feet of the nest for any accuracy. When it felt safe enough, I chipped their nest off the bottom of the porch with a shovel and caught it in a trash can. The trash cans are by the curb now and garbage day is tomorrow.
We have a jungle problem at our house. We have had a lot of rain this Spring. We’ve gotten so much precipitation that the area has officially switched from draught conditions to full on flooding. The plants are loving all of this rain. They just grow and grow. I bought this Shear Shrubber to hack at the yard’s vegetation, but I am afraid to use it, because underpinning this jungle situation is poison ivy, which has infested the yard. I would like to get rid of this nuisance, but I am afraid to go near it. I bought some weed killer spray, but because it is always raining, I cannot really use it until the rain lets up. It would just get washed away before it could do its job. I have a guy who mows the lawn and last year, I got him to trim the shrubbery. I guess that I am going to have to ask him to do it again this year. He probably will not be able to help me though for a month or two, because all of this rain plays havoc with his business too. Rain, rain please go away.
