Next week I’ll start greeting students again. It’ll be different with “social distancing” to teach the Spanish culture of greeting with a hand shake. I mention the kissing on the cheek but don’t expect them to do it.
Peter: This thing is messing up lots of customs and opportunities.
i.e.. Football season: Imagine you are a top potential draft choice on a football team. It’s your last year. You have a chance to show off for the pros. However
You aren’t playing this year.
So much is different. This morning I was listening to a podcast on body language on my way into the office. We all have masks on so we are missing a lot of non-verbal cues. If you make your living in sales or in several other “jobs” you are tought to pay attention to those. I am a hugger. I miss that connection. I am a toucher, in that I touch stuff. Fabric, flowers, wood, pottery, but now I have to think about the germs that might be on it.
Something happened in my house this morning that hasn’t happened in a long time. My alarm went off, I got up, let the dogs out, and started the coffee. The bedroom door had been shut. Sometimes Mr. P does that if he can’t sleep and gets up. He wasn’t there. I decided he had gone to the other bedroom to sleep. Nope, not there. He was no where to be found. He had woken up, couldn’t sleep, so he went to the Wellness Center to exercise. It is very rare for me to be alone in my house, so it was weird that he wasn’t there this morning. I am proud of him. Over the last several years he has gained a lot of weight. He is working to get it off.
The dragonfly is a male twelve-spotted skimmer. Apparently they only count the dark marks as “spots.” Until I married my husband I had never paid much attention to dragonflies (and I really had never lived where they were common). I thought they were cool, and their mating behavior is amazing (they form a bit of a circle, sometimes a heart, refereed to as the mating wheel). But I had no idea there were lots of species. Then I married my husband and we’d go on walks and he’d point out the dragonflies.
Once I started taking photos of butterflies, I tried to get shots of dragonflies, but found them really tricky, and it was a long time before I mastered them (still rarely succeed in a flight shot and definitely have never taken a great one). But now I’ve photographed 12 or 15 species of them (I haven’t counted) and more than that among damselflies (and mostly I don’t even try to ID damselflies–there are too many similar ones).
The grayish background on this photo is the pond a half mile from my home where I take lots of photos.
This is one of those days where I have no clue how I’ll get done what I need or want to get done.
One story to finish, one to start writing, a port ‘virtual’ news conference to attend (with a story certain to come out of that on cargo volumes) and a knee doctor appt 30 minutes away that’ll take a huge chunk out of the mid- to late afternoon.
All of that won’t get done most likely.
Cheryl, loving your photo skills and how they’re growing. Who notices insects on a walk? And it’s very cool how you combine your photos with so much natural curiosity, interest and knowledge about the creatures you capture with your lens.
My connection with insects this summer is killing flies, lots of them — I bought a fly catcher ‘bucket’ to hang on one of the trees in the backyard as I was getting a lot of flies this summer and many of them were harassing my poor dogs, landing on Tess’ back in droves sometimes. I do ‘poop’ patrol a couple times a day and keep all of that picked up quickly, but still they were coming in swarms about a month ago.
I feel sorry for killing anything, but pets come first.
I had to go grocery shop at two Publix stores this a.m. I told Art last night I would not be making eggs this morning. He said that was okay. The stores are only about two and a half or less miles apart but have different offerings. Now I have grocery bags all over the kitchen floor. I am waiting a few days before I get into them to lessen chance of Covid contamination. I use to leave them in the car, but it’s so hot now that the kitchen has become an obstacle course.
I told my friend who paints that I had an old wooden easel for her. She dropped by with a bouquet of roses for me. She is in my Bible study and Word Weavers, too. It was my first time to see her in months. She noticed that I have lost a little weight.
I was on the porch outside fo rd a few minutes, but the mosquitos are hungry so I did not stay. One rode in on my forearm. I slapped it, and it left a smear of blood. Guess I will soon have an itch there. DJ and I are acing the bug laboratory class today. Cheryl gets an A++ for her macro photography class!
I went out walking again this morning. When I came back in the sweat was just dripping down from my hair. But, I got on the scale and had lost another pound and a half!!
oh, I forgot that I am now anonymous unless I enter my name. But I want to take credit for the weight loss! That makes at least ten pounds and it was a lot of work.
I’m overwhelmed. Three more stories out of the port conference including one I missed out of LA City Council yesterday so I’m already behind on one of them. And the afternoon is shot with that doctor’s appt. that I absolutely have to get to.
I agree with Kim on the missing cues and body language. It is hard to communicate with hearing impaired persons when you are wearing a mask. I feel like we are on an old Saturday Night Live skit with Garrett Morris in weekend update. Shouting “our top story tonight…..”
The other night, around three in the morning, I had gotten up to go to the bathroom. Heidi followed me, which is very unusual, as she usually stays on the bed, maybe peeping through a sleepy eye to see what I’m doing.
On the way back to the bedroom, she indicated she wanted to go upstairs. That is something she doesn’t normally do. After I said no, and encouraged her to come back to my room, I noticed that along with panting briskly (which I had already noticed), she was trembling something awful. She would not get on the bed, but stayed by my side of it, panting and trembling. Finally, after over an hour, I fell back asleep, with her still sitting beside the bed, still panting and trembling.
The next morning (by which time she seemed fine), Nightingale and Boy filled me in on their night’s adventure. A bat had gotten in upstairs! (Probably through the disconnected dryer hose which goes out through a hole near the roof.) Upon seeing this, Nightingale had screamed, and then quickly closed her living room doors (which are glass), where she and Boy were, to keep it out.
So we wondered if Heidi was shaking and panting nervously because she had heard Nightingale scream, or if she could sense that the bat was up there. Can dogs hear the echolocation that bats use?
Nightingale and I searched all over upstairs, expecting to find the bat sleeping, and intending to scoop it into a plastic container and set it free, but we couldn’t find it. And it didn’t make a reappearance last night. Maybe it found its way back to the dryer hose and got out? Maybe its still in hiding?
Have any of you on Facebook seen the pretend campaign poster saying “Joe and Hoe”? I have seen it mostly used as comments on friends’ posts, and it sickens me. So this is what I wrote as my own status”
“To the folks referring to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as “Joe and Hoe”, please stop. There are no words like “slut” or “whore” for men who sleep around or cheat, but there have been plenty of male politicians who do so.
.
In fact, if you are sharing that “Joe and Hoe” thing, then I would assume you prefer President Trump, who cheated on at least his first two wives. But there are no slurs to call him, at least none that refer to his past sexual behavior.
.
And btw, a “hoe” is a garden implement. “Ho” is supposedly how you are to spell the shortening of “whore”. Not that I endorse the word at all.”
One of our old printing presses is on display in the lobby of the medical building that replaced our old news headquarters. 🙂 Really strange to go there for a doctor’s appt now.
We had a bat go into a heater and then into where the wiring was through a hole the size of a quarter. Nightingale’s will probably be out again tonight.
Just finished making dinner here for the first time. I made sweet and sour lentils with broccoli done on the barbecue.
We are predicted to be over 100 degrees every day for the next week. So… I emailed my friend on the coast and I am going where it is 60 degrees for a few days. Doesn’t that sound delightful?
I’m sorry Mumsee!
The bat will be in a crevice hiding. You will be able to locate from the droppings that will accumulate beneath. Kind of look like a cross between mouse droppings and bird poop.
Praying Mumsee.. 😢
Jo did you get your car yet? I might have missed your post saying it had arrived? 60 degree weather sounds delightful right now…it has been hot here in CO…even in the forest….
Kizzie we have bats out here and that is why I no longer walk in the evening…they would swoop over our heads as we walked down the road….creepy! Hoping yours has left the premises!
I had bats and was told the local pest control was not allowed to do anything. A deacon from my church came. He knew if you spray with amnonia they leave. It was so nice to see them fleeing my attic.
Wandering Views 
Hey, am I first?
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Good morning, everyone.
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Cheryl beat me by THAT much!!
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Morning! But that is not a typical dragonfly is it now Cheryl? What kind is it as I believe I have only ever seen the blue ones 😊
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¡Buenos días!
Next week I’ll start greeting students again. It’ll be different with “social distancing” to teach the Spanish culture of greeting with a hand shake. I mention the kissing on the cheek but don’t expect them to do it.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Peter: This thing is messing up lots of customs and opportunities.
i.e.. Football season: Imagine you are a top potential draft choice on a football team. It’s your last year. You have a chance to show off for the pros. However
You aren’t playing this year.
LikeLike
So much is different. This morning I was listening to a podcast on body language on my way into the office. We all have masks on so we are missing a lot of non-verbal cues. If you make your living in sales or in several other “jobs” you are tought to pay attention to those. I am a hugger. I miss that connection. I am a toucher, in that I touch stuff. Fabric, flowers, wood, pottery, but now I have to think about the germs that might be on it.
Something happened in my house this morning that hasn’t happened in a long time. My alarm went off, I got up, let the dogs out, and started the coffee. The bedroom door had been shut. Sometimes Mr. P does that if he can’t sleep and gets up. He wasn’t there. I decided he had gone to the other bedroom to sleep. Nope, not there. He was no where to be found. He had woken up, couldn’t sleep, so he went to the Wellness Center to exercise. It is very rare for me to be alone in my house, so it was weird that he wasn’t there this morning. I am proud of him. Over the last several years he has gained a lot of weight. He is working to get it off.
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The variety in nature is just astounding! I have never seen that type of dragonfly either.
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The dragonfly is a male twelve-spotted skimmer. Apparently they only count the dark marks as “spots.” Until I married my husband I had never paid much attention to dragonflies (and I really had never lived where they were common). I thought they were cool, and their mating behavior is amazing (they form a bit of a circle, sometimes a heart, refereed to as the mating wheel). But I had no idea there were lots of species. Then I married my husband and we’d go on walks and he’d point out the dragonflies.
Once I started taking photos of butterflies, I tried to get shots of dragonflies, but found them really tricky, and it was a long time before I mastered them (still rarely succeed in a flight shot and definitely have never taken a great one). But now I’ve photographed 12 or 15 species of them (I haven’t counted) and more than that among damselflies (and mostly I don’t even try to ID damselflies–there are too many similar ones).
The grayish background on this photo is the pond a half mile from my home where I take lots of photos.
LikeLiked by 4 people
This is one of those days where I have no clue how I’ll get done what I need or want to get done.
One story to finish, one to start writing, a port ‘virtual’ news conference to attend (with a story certain to come out of that on cargo volumes) and a knee doctor appt 30 minutes away that’ll take a huge chunk out of the mid- to late afternoon.
All of that won’t get done most likely.
Cheryl, loving your photo skills and how they’re growing. Who notices insects on a walk? And it’s very cool how you combine your photos with so much natural curiosity, interest and knowledge about the creatures you capture with your lens.
LikeLiked by 4 people
My connection with insects this summer is killing flies, lots of them — I bought a fly catcher ‘bucket’ to hang on one of the trees in the backyard as I was getting a lot of flies this summer and many of them were harassing my poor dogs, landing on Tess’ back in droves sometimes. I do ‘poop’ patrol a couple times a day and keep all of that picked up quickly, but still they were coming in swarms about a month ago.
I feel sorry for killing anything, but pets come first.
Not seeing too many flies out there anymore.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I had to go grocery shop at two Publix stores this a.m. I told Art last night I would not be making eggs this morning. He said that was okay. The stores are only about two and a half or less miles apart but have different offerings. Now I have grocery bags all over the kitchen floor. I am waiting a few days before I get into them to lessen chance of Covid contamination. I use to leave them in the car, but it’s so hot now that the kitchen has become an obstacle course.
I told my friend who paints that I had an old wooden easel for her. She dropped by with a bouquet of roses for me. She is in my Bible study and Word Weavers, too. It was my first time to see her in months. She noticed that I have lost a little weight.
I was on the porch outside fo rd a few minutes, but the mosquitos are hungry so I did not stay. One rode in on my forearm. I slapped it, and it left a smear of blood. Guess I will soon have an itch there. DJ and I are acing the bug laboratory class today. Cheryl gets an A++ for her macro photography class!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Wow.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I went out walking again this morning. When I came back in the sweat was just dripping down from my hair. But, I got on the scale and had lost another pound and a half!!
LikeLiked by 2 people
oh, I forgot that I am now anonymous unless I enter my name. But I want to take credit for the weight loss! That makes at least ten pounds and it was a lot of work.
LikeLiked by 4 people
I’m overwhelmed. Three more stories out of the port conference including one I missed out of LA City Council yesterday so I’m already behind on one of them. And the afternoon is shot with that doctor’s appt. that I absolutely have to get to.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I agree with Kim on the missing cues and body language. It is hard to communicate with hearing impaired persons when you are wearing a mask. I feel like we are on an old Saturday Night Live skit with Garrett Morris in weekend update. Shouting “our top story tonight…..”
LikeLiked by 3 people
The other night, around three in the morning, I had gotten up to go to the bathroom. Heidi followed me, which is very unusual, as she usually stays on the bed, maybe peeping through a sleepy eye to see what I’m doing.
On the way back to the bedroom, she indicated she wanted to go upstairs. That is something she doesn’t normally do. After I said no, and encouraged her to come back to my room, I noticed that along with panting briskly (which I had already noticed), she was trembling something awful. She would not get on the bed, but stayed by my side of it, panting and trembling. Finally, after over an hour, I fell back asleep, with her still sitting beside the bed, still panting and trembling.
The next morning (by which time she seemed fine), Nightingale and Boy filled me in on their night’s adventure. A bat had gotten in upstairs! (Probably through the disconnected dryer hose which goes out through a hole near the roof.) Upon seeing this, Nightingale had screamed, and then quickly closed her living room doors (which are glass), where she and Boy were, to keep it out.
So we wondered if Heidi was shaking and panting nervously because she had heard Nightingale scream, or if she could sense that the bat was up there. Can dogs hear the echolocation that bats use?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nightingale and I searched all over upstairs, expecting to find the bat sleeping, and intending to scoop it into a plastic container and set it free, but we couldn’t find it. And it didn’t make a reappearance last night. Maybe it found its way back to the dryer hose and got out? Maybe its still in hiding?
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I’d say still in hiding.
Or turned into a vampire.
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You’ll all need to buy black capes before long. Heidi too.
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LOL. 🙂 This conversation reminds me of one of 1st Arrow’s favorite songs from his Sesame Street-watching days.
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Have any of you on Facebook seen the pretend campaign poster saying “Joe and Hoe”? I have seen it mostly used as comments on friends’ posts, and it sickens me. So this is what I wrote as my own status”
“To the folks referring to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as “Joe and Hoe”, please stop. There are no words like “slut” or “whore” for men who sleep around or cheat, but there have been plenty of male politicians who do so.
.
In fact, if you are sharing that “Joe and Hoe” thing, then I would assume you prefer President Trump, who cheated on at least his first two wives. But there are no slurs to call him, at least none that refer to his past sexual behavior.
.
And btw, a “hoe” is a garden implement. “Ho” is supposedly how you are to spell the shortening of “whore”. Not that I endorse the word at all.”
LikeLiked by 2 people
I haven’t seen it (but saw your post) — not surprised. It’s going to be one nasty campaign season.
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One of our old printing presses is on display in the lobby of the medical building that replaced our old news headquarters. 🙂 Really strange to go there for a doctor’s appt now.
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No, I hadn’t seen that, Kizzie. It is disgusting.
We had a bat go into a heater and then into where the wiring was through a hole the size of a quarter. Nightingale’s will probably be out again tonight.
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Eighteen year old is showing her dark side. Vile talk about stabbing the baby and the baby’s mom. We need to find a home for her.
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Just finished making dinner here for the first time. I made sweet and sour lentils with broccoli done on the barbecue.
We are predicted to be over 100 degrees every day for the next week. So… I emailed my friend on the coast and I am going where it is 60 degrees for a few days. Doesn’t that sound delightful?
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Oh, Mumsee….
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I’m sorry Mumsee!
The bat will be in a crevice hiding. You will be able to locate from the droppings that will accumulate beneath. Kind of look like a cross between mouse droppings and bird poop.
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Oh, good luck, you bat-hunters.
Get to it.
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Praying Mumsee.. 😢
Jo did you get your car yet? I might have missed your post saying it had arrived? 60 degree weather sounds delightful right now…it has been hot here in CO…even in the forest….
Kizzie we have bats out here and that is why I no longer walk in the evening…they would swoop over our heads as we walked down the road….creepy! Hoping yours has left the premises!
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Thanks for praying, God moved and she is doing okay now.
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Bats outside are a good thing. Just think of them as mosquito control. In the house, however…
Kizzie- You should call your local animal control officer. If they can’t catch it, they might be able to direct you to someone who can.
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Oh, and bats in your belfry are the worst.
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There’s a GhostBrusters, maybe there’s a BatBusters?
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And BTW, I think animal control takes bats pretty seriously, as they can carry rabies. (Not that they usually do, but that they can.)
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We had a bat on our porch for several years. It roosted between the rafters in a very small space. I like him there as he helped with mosquitoes.
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I had bats and was told the local pest control was not allowed to do anything. A deacon from my church came. He knew if you spray with amnonia they leave. It was so nice to see them fleeing my attic.
LikeLiked by 3 people