"That's all well and good, but I know good and well..."

A three day weekend is nearly over, and none of that time was spent with cats outside our home.  (As much time as possible was spent with Good Queen Swirly.)  Even with 8 hours of sleep a night, that still left 48 hours for doing useful things.  The above expressly excluded baking and eating chocolate chip cookies, making Lindt chocolate pudding, or any other high-caloric sweet treats.  I did pretty well there.

Some house cleaning, some yard work, but also some cinema (finished Zelig, deleted Whiplash after the first scene), some reading, and some drumming.  Even some dicking around with games like Spelling Bee, Connections, Strands, and WordScapes.  

Vacuumed the car... drove to Walmart for potting soil... dug two planters out of the shed and put marigold seeds in the potting soil... used the new weed whacker to clear the area around the shed, and an area on the landscaped island where a new tree is going to go.  That'll be on the north side, while on the southern end the existing ground cover of wood violets will be encouraged to continue to spread naturally.  

But eventually the cherry tree at the south end is going to die and will have to be chopped down.  This spring, there are a very few areas that contain leaves and blossoms, as in the image above.  The rest of it is bare and brittle.  Still, the tree was in just about the same condition last year, and it made it through the winter to our surprise.  Just glad I got some pictures.   

A squatter on the property

For years, the shed at the back of our property has sheltered local suburban wildlife.  Mostly rabbits, but we believe the little black pooshka took refuge under it as well.  

There were a pair of hollowed out spots on the south side where the current residents could come and go.  But now, one of those hollows that formerly consisted only of Pennsylvania earth has on top of it a layer of stones that had been excavated from under the shed, as in the photo above.  Out of the frame were some wads of fur on the lawn nearby.  

Searches online this morning were inconclusive as to the responsible animal.  I've never seen groundhogs or skunks around here, but when we were feeding the pooshka we'd also be visited by raccoons.  

I posed the question on Facebook, and one responder advised, "My guess is a raccoon burrowing underneath to make a spot for babies especially if finding fur which they pull out to use in their dens." 

Further online searches included useful ways to learn more (sprinkle a layer of cornstarch at the entrance to obtain paw prints) and discourage them from staying (used cat litter and human urine at the same location).  

 

White on White

In this area, a lot of farmland has been converted to housing, including the development where I live.  Near the development, there's a field that hasn't undergone that change, but the township installed a blacktop road through it a year or so ago, and since then it has been left unplanted.   

I drove by it a few days ago and saw these flowers standing alone in the fallow field.  An image search identifies them as Ornithogalum nutans, more commonly known as Drooping Star-of-Bethlehem.  The text at the link calls it "charming and underused", but soon after warns that "it is considered an invasive species in ten Eastern USA states...", including this one.

Besides that, another source reports that it is toxic to dogs, cats, horses, and humans, and is extremely difficult to get rid of due to the depth of its roots.  That's a lot to lay on a pretty little volunteer flower.

Imaginary Conversation

Harvey Haddix (at right):  No, son, I didn't say I went 12 *batters* without giving up a walk.  I said 12 *innings* without a walk.  

Nolan Ryan:  That's super, pops.  It must have felt great to pitch nine hitless innings.  I know that's how I felt all seven times I did it.

 

Spring Wildflowers

Seen all over the place during the drive yesterday, but this one in particular was next to the parking lot at the Flemington Costco.  Google Image calls it Eastern Redbud.  

 Appears to be wintercress, growing in the unlandscaped area behind Tabby's Place.  Both photos taken 4/19/24.

Fact-checking the New York Times

Well, not exactly.  Close, though.  A quick check of the indispensable Baseball Reference shows that Jim Qualls was not in the lineup for the Cubs on July 8.  The next day, the Cubs lost 4-0.  (That's the one where Qualls broke up Tom Seaver's perfect game with one out in the 9th.)  

July 10, however...

 

Keeping Busy

As far as 67-year-old Robert Young is concerned, "Real fulfillment is knowing what you want to do — and being allowed to do it. ... I want to work 'till I die." He says this after having tested retirement for six years...

"There were some of the unhappiest men in that retirement community," he reveals. "Former chairmen of the board — some who had ruled business empires. I'll never forget the day one of them complained, 'I woke up this morning and thought, what in the hell do I do today?'"

 

Credits for the above video:

Video production (OpenShot):  JM (also age 67)

Videographer (Samsung Galaxy 23+):  JM

Graphics (OpenShot and Inkscape):  JM

Still photo:  JM

Music production (Mixcraft):  JM 

    Mixcraft is Ikea build-it-yourself music.  They give you the instrumental loops, and you put them together however you see fit.  In this case, four bars of the solo acoustic guitar, then layer in loops of the bass and organ, and some percussion.  Fade out at 0:42 or so.

Next:  write the Kitten Fund monthly letter to its supporters.  Plenty to write about, and plenty of kitten photos to display.  All I have to do is show up, play with kittens and pay attention.