Good Morning!
It’s Friday!!!
Today’s header photo is from Mumsee. It’s a twofer! I can’t believe they let the young man get that close. 🙂
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On this day in 1798 the U.S. Marine Corps was formally re-established by “An Act for Establishing a Marine Corps” passed by the U.S. Congress.
In 1864 Confederate forces led by Gen. Jubal Early began an invasion of Washington, DC. They turned back the next day.
In 1972 U.S. forces broke the 95-day siege at An Loc in Vietnam.
And in 1998 U.S. Air Force Lt. Michael Blassie, a casualty of the Vietnam War, was laid to rest near his Missouri home. He had been positively identified from his remains that had been enshrined in the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington, VA.
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Quote of the Day
“I am a warrior, so that my son may be a merchant, so that his son may be a poet.”
― John Quincy Adams
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Today is Richie Sambora’s birthday. So here he is with some friends.
And this song written by George M. Cohan was recorded today in 1918 by Enrico Caruso.
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Wandering Views 
Morning all. Went and played with the quints today. Never a dull moment and always someone wanting to be held. Such fun to hold a young one.
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Good morning! Wow! That header photo almost makes me feel the breeze from little wings fanning! From Idaho to Georgia! Nice.
Where are the funnies? Oops, meant to say folks! Is it sleep late on Friday holiday that I did not get the message about?
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Well, I see that Jo has been up and making herself useful with the twins. Soon it will be her bedtime. Do you read to the quints, Jo?
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Good morning. Busy day around here. Four boys head out at five thirty to begin haying for a guy, hopefully bringing some hay home in return. The young ones get up at six thirty to go help me with the chores and the two older girls leave about seven, after milking, to help the boys with haying. Then I take the younger ones to swim lessons. The two girls and the boy in the picture return about eleven as the boy is supposed to be helping with a trap shooting event. The girls then head off to Montana to pick up husband! Yay! So, we are up and at em.
I keep reminding the boy, above, who had his wisdom teeth out yesterday that he should be resting and drinking plenty of fluids. And the girl, who got stepped on by the cow and may have a broken toe, to wear solid shoes.
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Twins=quints
Maybe I should go back to bed!
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read to them, sang to them, held them, danced with them, even changed a diaper. We had lots of fun. And talked to them, I always talk to little ones and mention what they do and sing their names. Oh, I see ___, oh I see ___ Hi Ho the derry oh, we all see ____
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So, Mumsee, is Mike coming home to stay? Happy for you all.
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No, just for a week to help me recover from the past weeks of chaos.
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It’s Friday!
You know what that means?
Already to the Y.
Lions later today.
Grass needs cutting again.
Mumsee is up mighty early today. Lots of excitement. I’m glad the guy with the wisdom tooth operation is ok. It was a major event for me. Took a couple of days to stop bleeding.
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I cannot imagine what life is like with quints. Lots of love, of course, and energy. Always a new concern and joy. Busy.
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I am alive and kicking. Really tired this morning. BG is going to San Antonio with friends next week. The are driving 5 hours out of their way to come get her. She started a new job and has to work 4-10pm Saturday. I was supposed to meet them and hand her off in Meridian, MS at 2 pm on Saturday. Instead they are driving here and will spend Saturday night and leave on Sunday morning.
I haven’t been to San Antonio in well over 20 years. I am sure it has changed as much as Baltimore.
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Mumsee, Is that my real estate tycoon?
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He is going to do something. Kind of like a humming bird: here, there, and everywhere.
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Looks like a banner year for currants and raspberries, with lots of blossoms on the blackberries. I do like berries. But I did not have time to harvest many strawberries. Sad. But the few I had were tasty. I did have some this morning.
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I went out blackberry picking a couple of days ago. I gave up. Scrawny little berries, and very few of those.
I’m not an agronomist, but I developed a theory a few years ago when I noticed what was happening to my beans. I got the pods, but few beans in the pods.
My theory, “The amount of beans in the pod is directly proportional to the number of times the flower was visited by a bee.”
I get a blackberry that has only three or four little seeds on it indicates, to me, that the bees haven’t been to the flower.
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Reminds me of a gardening question. I got lots flowers on my veggie plants but only about a quarter of them turned to a vegetable. My grape tomatoes never bloomed at all. Is that normal or am I doing something wrong?
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Genetically Modified. Monsanto doesn’t want your growing your own vegetables. Look for heirloom seeds.
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Chas, there is increasing concern about the lack of bees. Some have raised fears that the bee population is becoming endangered. http://www.cbc.ca/player/Embedded-Only/News/ID/2395740411/
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Flowers do not equal fruit. The flowers need to be pollinated and bees are the primary crop pollinators. My father worked with a beekeeper one autumn and he said even field crops, like barley, depend on bees for pollination.
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Lack of pollinators leave unfulfilled flowers. Two peas in a pod rather than ten or whatever. This year, six year old’s peas were all loaded. I suspect it is a combination of light winter, lots of moisture, cool spring, etc. I did not see lots of honeybees on my cherry trees, but lots of other insects that were pollinating. The cherry trees are loaded.
You can help your bees by putting out mason housing. Drill holes in a chunk of wood for example and they will come and live in the holes and thank you by pollinating your flowers.
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Okay, if bees do disappear then there will be a new field of employment to open up for humans. Maybe that is what Obama plans for the future of all the children who are being bussed in from other lands.
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I seem to have a lot of yellow jackets in my yard lately.
Great photo! Hard to catch those humming birds in action.
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Russell Moore on eschatology & the Dawn of the Planet of the Apes:
http://www.russellmoore.com/2014/07/11/christian-eschatology-and-the-planet-of-the-apes/
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We have neighbors who usually have a sign on their driveway selling honey. Although we’ve never bought any, I’d mentioned it to one stepdaughter and promised her we’d get some local honey this summer. But the sign has never gone up. (I ended up buying local honey elsewhere.) My husband and I were out walking and the guy with the honey was at his mailbox, and we asked him about it. He said they probably won’t have honey till September, since they lost so many bees in the recent hard winter. But I see that local wildflowers are loaded with multiple varieties of pollinators, including several kinds of bee. So I think this region is OK.
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When our apple tree was blooming you could sit and watch the flowers for a long time and see lots of bees, and not one seemed to be of the same kind. Today we went to see how the apples were coming and could only find 3! I think the heavy rains must have come at just the wrong time. Oh well, I still have some apples from last year in my freezer.
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A freeze at the wrong time, a fruit spray at the wrong time, too much wind, too much rain, it is amazing we get anything to eat…but wait we have a Provider!
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Since the subject came up, I’m reminded of something I wrote here several years ago. I don’t know how many, more than five. Here’s as much as I remember.
A blackberry vine grows up and has a flower. It has no intention, other than having a flower. But the flower has pollen. A bee comes along and takes some pollen. The bee has no other intention, but to get some pollen to take to the hive. But, in doing so, it pollinates the flower. The pollinated flower turns into a bit of a blackberry, when joined by other bits, makes a big blackberry fruit. The blackberry fruit has no agenda, but to sit there. But then, a bird comes by and sees the blackberry and comes and makes a meal of the blackberry. It flies away, unconcerned about the blackberry bush, which has served it’s only purpose, so far as the bird is concerned.
But then, the bird flies a couple of miles away and drops the undigested seed of the blackberry onto a field, along with its self contained fertilizer. Then, with sun and rain, another blackberry vine has come up.
And again. Computer programmers call this a “do loop”.
And the bee has some pollen,
A bird has some dinner.
And I get a blackberry pie.
You can’t convince me that such a simple, but complicated in theory, process has evolved without some masterful pre-planning.
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Sorry it’s late, but here are your funnies. I’m at a family reunion this weekend, so I won’t be around much.
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Went to a couple of yard sales this morning. I got whiffle balls and Frisbees for my class and some glitter. Fun times
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I found out today the breeder has not had the puppies’ tails docked and dew claws removed yet…they are 7 weeks old and are supposed to come home on the 21st. Does anyone have feelings one way or another about docking a dog’s tail and such? I’m just a bit undone being told one thing and now finding out it may not turn out the way I thought 😦 I don’t want him in pain and wasn’t expecting to get a puppy wearing the cone of shame!
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Our vet removed the dew claws when spaying or neutering. I don’t like the thought of docking tails, it just doesn’t make sense to me.
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My vet once told me natural is better (no docked tails); I think my Aussie’s dew claws were removed, though, before I adopted him.
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Our other two Aussies had their tails docked…Babe still has her dew claws though. I’m thinking of just having the tail left on…from what I have read, it is painful for them after 2 or 3 days old…why do the dew claws have to be removed?
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http://dogcare.dailypuppy.com/purpose-dewclaw-dogs-2110.html
Working dogs, such as hunting dogs, search-and-rescue dogs and police dogs, usually have dewclaws removed to keep them from snagging on vines, fence wires and similar objects. Retrievers and hounds moving quickly through brush could cause trauma to their feet if a dewclaw snags. On the other hand, if you participate in sports like agility with your dog, the dewclaws give Fido an advantage. Since they can grip when hitting the ground, they can aid in the tight turns that make the difference in scoring. If you own an older dog that hasn’t had his dewclaws removed, there’s probably no reason to schedule an appointment to do so unless they’re giving him a problem. If you have a puppy with dewclaws who hasn’t been spayed or neutered, ask your vet about whether the procedure is necessary. If you and your dog live an active lifestyle outdoors, consider dewclaw removal. If you and your dog are more indoor types, there’s little point in removing them unless they are very loosely attached.
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My aussie, Pilgrim, had a full tail (I think he may have been part border collie).
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My friend adopted a sister dog to Fly…she kept the tail on her black/white mini Aussie who looks quite like a border collie 🙂 We didn’t plan on taking one of the puppies and the breeder had Fly’s tail docked before we had made the decision to take her…
This little guy is a blue merle and the plan is for him to be a running companion…not just on the low lands but up and down some mountains …we’ll have to check with our vet on the dew claw situation….thanks ladies for your help…I’m feeling a bit better about the whole thing now!! 🙂
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I worked in my classroom today. It was fun as I could hear the quints playing as I worked and then visited them briefly before I came home.
I had my itouch with me and found that I now have wireless in my classroom. I even did facetime with my son and youngest grandson! Michael enjoyed seeing my classroom.
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