Symbiosis

Yesterday, I noticed a bunch of insects on the backside of some sunflower leaves. Having never seen them before, I wondered if they are beneficial or invasive pests. I also saw that ants were climbing all over them and in a moment of misplaced empathy, felt sorry for them. Are the ants eating them alive?

That was, however, until I used Google Image search to find that these were Entylia carinata, or Keeled Treehoppers. Keeled Treehoppers and ants live in symbiosis. The ants "tend" both the nymphs and adults, providing housekeeping and also protection from predators in return for feeding on the sticky honeydew substance the treehoppers excrete. They help each other. Such a little thing, insects living together peacefully, helping each other. Neither are terrible pests to my flowers. If only the rest of the world could live in symbiosis.

Oh, and the adults look like little miniature sailing ships. Read more about them here.

'Shrooms

 

With all that has happened in 2020, you can't tell me you haven't considered the possibility of the end times and of having to forage in the woods to survive. Could we, would we, eat this mushroom or that berry if there was no Kroger? My natural curiosity is balanced with a healthy distrust of my knowledge of edible mushrooms. I found this clump of mushrooms along my daily walks with my mom and her dogs. Aside from the fact that mom's male dog regularly waters the bush under which this mushroom now grows, my research confirmed that I will not be sampling it. 

The "Picture This" app identifies it at Tricholomataceae or the Pale-Spore Mushroom. Googling, it seems some of the mushrooms in this classification are edible but "one thing you have to watch out for is the possibility that other [toxic] species of mushrooms could be mixed in with a fairy ring". Nope, not eating mushrooms that might be dancing with toxic mushrooms in a fairy ring.

The toxic mushroom to avoid is clitocybe dialata. In a fairy ring. Who, pray tell, named this mushroom? Huh? Really? Nope. Apparently, botanists have a sense of humor.

Closer to home, I did find "hen-in-the-woods" (which sounds considerably safer and tamer) in, of all places, the woods. It is a maitake mushroom and eaten around the world - but I'll wait to take that chance in the end times. 

hen-in-the-woods

Source of quote

Stay Safe

When COVID-19 quarantine started, people, strangers even, started saying something to me when I was out, "Stay safe." Stay safe. I know they really mean, "Stay healthy," right? As a mother, I have had some "stay safe" moments: the first time your child drives away solo with a new license, when your adult baby takes off to another country, when...well you know, something new or challenging.

I guess I'm always thinking about my children and praying for their safety, but I don't worry each time they leave our/their house that forgetting to signal a turn or going for a jog could result in their death. I don't worry that they'll be shot sitting at the kitchen table eating a bowl of cereal. or while sleeping in their own damn bed I don't think every day, they could go out into that world and not come back all because of the color of their skin. I don't worry that they'll be falsely accused, detained, because of what they look like. We have that privilege.

Black Lives Matter - and before you say "All lives matter". Stop. Listen. I have challenges and heart stopping moments, too. I can talk and write about them another time. But we need to sit still and just absorb the message without answering back, hearing the pain, listening. It doesn't mean you condone violence or that you don't also have pain and need to be heard, but as long as you are talking, you aren't listening.

I am not going to white-splain what is going on - listen to the black voices. It isn't comfortable to hear the America they experience, but it is real. We don't need to "Make America Great Again". We need to make America Just. Listen, be still, and understand. Understand that Stay Safe carries more significance for our black and brown family, friends, and neighbors.

Things That Go Bump

It was several years after moving here before I figured out the sound. It didn't happen often. At first, I was sure that our old rough cat, Jack, was out skinning a rabbit. In the middle of the night, I would go out in my nightgown intent on saving whatever he was killing. I could never find him. Later, I mistakenly thought perhaps it was a small screech owl. Finally, I came to know that the awful sound was a fox, likely the mating call of a vixen. It is an eerie sound. 

I'm not afraid of the foxes. More than one season, we've had them make their den back by the creek. They are very territorial and bold. Sometimes, I came across one in our front yard staring at the front porch and all off our cats cornered there. I believe they finally left because Daisy killed a kit.

I'm even a bit cavalier about coyotes because I've only ever seen one on our property in the twenty-two years here. It was a loner, likely sick, chased off by the miniature horses and then, by me, as it headed to the hen house. But, I hear them at night, high pitched, at a safe distance. Two nights ago on the way to the barn, it was very dark. I heard them closer than ever I have. I have to admit it was a little hair raising and I might have picked up my step a bit. 

Most of the time here, I would walk anywhere in the dark without fear. I enjoyed the stars and the quiet. Even in my imagined safety, however, there were things out there. Had I been raised in the woods, likely I would have known these sounds. I had to figure them out. I could tell the new owners, but perhaps, I'll leave the joy of discovery to them.

Before

Living here made me feel "rich". Up on the hill, my gray Arab mare grazed peacefully. We are able to support two mini horses that do nothing but eat money. In the summer, our cats lazed on the driveway, doing their best imitation of an inch worm as they enjoyed the blacktop heat. Around us is a grove of pine trees and oaks that make me proud.

Murphy and I like to stand up on the hill watching the deer in the back of the property. It seems five live here now, three large mamas and two yearlings. I worry that the new owners will appreciate and not hunt them. While we always considered them "our" deer, we share them with the neighbors. Indeed, yesterday, we saw "our" deer join in their pasture with four more deer - the most I've seen in one spot at one time. During the snow, they came often closer than they normally would, looking for food.

I even worry over the birds here. My feeders outside the office are always full, the birds used to that location. The feeders, however, were given to me by my father and I plan to take them. The birds will have to fend for themselves. 

I am looking forward to our new adventure, all the while cognizant of that we leave behind. I will find nature where we go. Perhaps even, I will have more time to admire nature once we are settled. I won't "own" it, but then, whenever did I really?

Scraps of Our Lives

As I pack for moving (which will be another blog post entirely), I have hard decisions to make. When you've lived in a place for over 22 years, you accumulate a good number of things that "I might need some day" or "might some day be worth something" or in the case of my sugar Easter egg, something I just can't bring myself to discard.

I've cleaned out several houses after the owner passed on and you come across items, such as a dead locust in a box in my uncle's drawer, that begged the question, "what did this mean to him?" There was no note or description. The weight of my belongings is heavy on my shoulders and I don't want to pass this weight along someday to another generation.

The egg in question was given to me by my grandmother, Eleanor. Constructed of sugar, egg albumen, artificial flavorings and colors by Hooper's Confectioners, my guess then and now was that it was prettier to look at than to eat. I liked looking inside the hole at the end at the make-believe world of a little bunny.

Sadly, the jelly beans and the edges have started to brown, possibly mold. Time to retire it to the landfill. Apparently, they sell on eBay (without browning) for $8-$10. This packing could take a long time.

Some Quick Tips

It's too bad we only get one life or that it is such a relatively short one. I'm just now figuring some things out and getting my act together. Such as today, my husband asked where the title was for an old car and I could tell him it was in the lock box at the bank. At least, I am about 95% sure - okay maybe 75% sure - that's where it is. I'm slightly more organized about important papers than I used to be.

I've learned how to clean things a little better.  For example, there are several ways to get the white mineral residue from glass shower doors. Once clean, you can keep them that way by using a water and vinegar spray and drying off each time the shower is used. Yeah, like that is going to happen but I'm sure you had the best intentions of doing so. Here's a tip though - when you first pledge that you will keep them clean and you get that glass all sparkly, tell your husband. If you don't, the next morning you'll hear him crashing into that nice clean door as if it weren't really there.

Speaking of the shower, you can clean the shower nozzle easily by filling a baggie with vinegar and using a rubber band to hold it in place while the vinegar does its magic. If you should get very busy with making dinner, washing clothes, answering the phone, paying bills, and in general, forgetting all about it, your husband will remind you what you did when he starts the shower up the next morning. You will know before he says so though as he will be trying to rub the vinegar from his streaming eyes.

Yes, I'm just now hitting my stride.