Bringing the Drama

Last week I was cutting my grass one evening. It’s been so hot lately that cutting my grass has been a multiple day process. I was mowing the side yard when all of a sudden I felt something bite me on my right big toe. [Yes, I mow my yard in flip flops, and I probably should not, but it's not like I'm putting my feet under the blade of the mower] It was like a nail being driven through my toe. I let go of the mower and said a bad word, then flopped to the ground like I had been shot. I looked around but did not see anything that would be the likely culprit for this pain. I looked at my toe and saw the bite, and it kind of looked like an ant bite, but it felt a lot worse.

I went inside and washed my toe, and googled to see if what bit me could have been a spider. I see spiders all the time in my yard, but they always run before the mower goes over them. I was bitten when I was walking behind my mower, so maybe it came from the side. I was comforted by the pain subsiding and not seeing fang marks, because apparently some spiders leave those.

I went back outside to at least finish the spot I was mowing, and looked at my neighbors’ fence. Between one of the boards for the gate and a post, I saw a wasp nest. There were about 4 or 5 wasps hanging out, and this was right near where I got stung. I went back inside and grabbed some Raid and then sprayed down the wasp nest. They have really advanced the technology of the killing power, because I remember my parents trying to kill wasps with spray and having to run as soon as they sprayed it because the deaths were not instantaneous. They are now, but it’s still nice to have the spray go more than a couple of feet.

I finished up in the yard, and googled some remedies for wasp stings. I found one talking about putting an onion slice on the bite area and holding it there for 20 minutes. Incidentally, this website also came in useful during my grad school class in the spring. I happened to have an onion in my fridge, so I sliced off the bottom and held it to my toe. It was not instant pain relief, but after a while the pain was just about gone, and the bite never swelled up.

So next time you find yourself mowing your lawn in flip flops, or anytime for that matter, and you get stung by a wasp, put an onion on it.

So apparently while everyone was worried about the Saints and getting ready for Thanksgiving, there was a hurricane in the Gulf. Big deal right, it’s NOVEMBER! Just last week on the radio in the morning they were talking about how hurricane season was going to be able to be called early because there were no storms. Oops.

Ida I guess is technically still out in the Gulf as I write this, and will make landfall sometime in the next few hours. The way it came to shore has meant light rain and some wind, but nothing like when tropical storms have come directly over my house, or insane like Katrina. I was reading what I could on the incoming storm today and saw this official briefing from the city of Slidell.

The city spokeswoman’s quotes made me laugh. She actually said ‘hunker down’. Everyone says hunker down for some reason. My dad, my uncle, the weather guys, whenever there is a hurricane the instructions are ‘hunker down and be careful’. I definitely hunkered down once I got home from the gym and the store.

Speaking of those things, the gym usually is the most crowded on Monday nights. I guess everyone thinks “yeah, this week’s going to be different! I’m going to work out everyday this week starting tonight!” Tonight though the gym was pretty empty, most people must have been hunkered down! I’ve been going long enough that I recognize people, and the dude who drags his wife along was there, with the wife in tow. I felt bad for her. She was having to watch him and his workout buddies do something on the bench press while she did nothing. It’s always the same with them, and I don’t know whether or not he makes her go or she wants to spend time with him that she’ll do whatever. It just looks awkward.

As for my hunkering down tonight, I was able to set up Maggie II and also watch MNF. I won one of my fantasy football games thanks to a big night by a Denver WR. Unfortunately my work league game was a lost cause before tonight’s game even started. Did I mention I have a living iPod again? Awesome.

I’ve been thinking lately how I need to follow up on a couple of past entries with new pictures. Ever since I first redid the plants in front of my house in late May/early June, I have been watering them every other day. The gardenia that I thought was going to die ended up having the strength to carry on, and now her relative, the other newly planted gardenia is now edging closer to the ledge. It’s a constant struggle.

Remember how checking out my hibiscus really late at night made for a tense moment? Now it is in full bloom. When we first did the plants, it was maybe 8 inches high. Now the hibiscus is almost 3 feet!

It had not been blooming, so I googled and found a solution that spreading some acidic plant food would do the trick. It took about a week but that plan worked, and the hibiscus is blooming!

The bees have not been around lately because the crape myrtle hasn’t been blooming for a while. However, with the new life of the hibiscus, I have found it attracts strange orange bugs.

I’m not sure what kind they are yet, but I think they eat other bugs like lovebugs. I know that picture is not one of an orange bug on the hibiscus, but it was the best picture I got this morning.

Then a couple of weeks ago I noticed these things in the mulch that seemed like fungus or something. I googled and found them to be harmless fungus called Bird’s Nest Fungus. I figured it was because while I was gone for Macca, it had rained a lot, and so the mulch didn’t really get a chance to dry out. It hasn’t really spread since though.

Finally, I had bought some small boxwoods to put in front of my house, but apparently the kind that I bought are not very good quality. They were $5 at Home Depot, and apparently the kind I got do not like a lot of sun. They have slowly gone from green when they were first planted to blonde. I’m not sure what to do, but I figure if they pass away I’ll replant with some new ones next spring that actually are not related to vampires.

I get along with pretty much all of my neighbors. We’re not BFF or anything, but when I see them outside, we exchange pleasantries. This holds true for everyone but the older lady who lives behind me. I have never talked to her, and only see her when she’s out riding her lawnmower or letting her dog outside to do his business. She has lived behind me the entire time I’ve lived in my house. A while back in the early spring when I’d start to cut my grass, I noticed her dog was crapping in my yard. This is something she had to have done on purpose, because when I’m outside grilling or something, she keeps the dog close to the back door. Where my yard starts is pretty far from the back door. I flung everything back into her yard. This would go on the whole summer, and then each spring. She used to have a pine tree and an oak tree in her backyard. After Katrina, half of my oak tree (it was like a big V) kept the bedroom side of my house from suffering the same damage my kitchen side did. A pine tree in her yard fell towards my house, but my oak tree saved my house. I picked up everything from her trees that fell into my yard and hauled it out to the curb. She took care of everything that was in her yard. Her oak tree over the years has since died. It had one measly branch on it that had leaves, but the rest of it was dead. My neighbor and I were outside one day talking about how her family was going to get a fence, and we commented on the old lady’s tree and how it looked horrible and she should get it cut down. I told my neighbor about how the old lady lets her dog crap in my yard, and while we were out there, the old lady came out with her dog. Seeing us outside, she kept the dog close to the back door. She knew we knew. The tree thing though bothered me a lot, because I was always afraid it would fall onto my house.

Fast forward to three weeks ago, and there was a heavy thunderstorm that came through. I looked outside the next morning and the top half of the oak tree had toppled over and most of it landed in my yard. I went outside and threw every bit of it back into her yard. There was no way I was picking up a rotted tree that’s been in her yard for 4 years, esp since she’s never shown me respect on anything. A few days later the rest of the tree fell cross ways across her yard. I wasn’t going to have to worry about the tree falling onto my house anymore. The tree was laying across her backyard. After a week or so, grass started growing up around the tree. She never even went out to pick up the little pieces. This morning I looked out and it appears she rolled the log closer to my yard so she could cut her grass. If she needs help picking up the tree, I would go help her if she asked. Maybe she’s waiting to see how long it’ll take me to get to a point where I just call up one of my friends with a truck and haul the tree off myself. It may get to that point, but I’m going to wait her out to see if she can take care of it herself. It isn’t really helping anyone with this standoff, but she knows I know and I’m sure it’s part of her plan.

The picture below is the crape myrtle tree in my front yard. It was one of the left over yard improvements from the previous owners that until this year really didn’t seem to flourish at all.

One morning last weekend I went outside to water the plants in the new flowerbeds about 9 am. It was later than when I water during the week, but one of my plants has been contemplating giving up on life, so I’ve been adamant about watering. So I’m out there and I notice a lot of activity around the crape myrtle tree. It’s an audible buzzing sound and I notice the tree’s flowers are covered in bees. Both bumblebees and regular bees just going about their business gathering nectar. I maintained my cool and kept watering my plants, but kept an eye on the bees. I’m not allergic to bees, but I figured being stung by over 100 bees would probably not be good. I thought about how I’d have to drive myself to the hospital and how long I’d have, etc. I remembered though the golden rules of wild animals “if you don’t bother them, they won’t bother you” and “they are more afraid of you than you are of them.” I kept watering and was only a few feet from all the nectar drinking with my bright yellow hose, but nobody bothered anyone. I tried to take pictures but bees apparently are tough to capture on film. I did catch one of my new yard friends though for a closeup.

The bee activity has been going on for a week now. I get up to water the plants at 6 am, and there are no bees, but maybe one or two early risers. The majority of them get there about 8 or 9. The first time I noticed a bee in my yard was when a big bumblebee appeared to check out my oleander plant. I had no idea the crape myrtle tree would be such a hotspot.