respublica

Pond yuck

Yesterday, the second or third Monday of our home bound life, I got to work on getting our waterfall/fish pond cleaned up and ready for the season. It will be another day of work because it is truly a mess of string algea and sludge. The waterfall and pumps are turned off in late fall so things can stagnate. We put oxygenators into the bottom with the fish so they have a way to survive.

It was time, however, to get the big filter running again, the water turned ugly around the poor fish. So Kirt came down with the filter pieces and got it running. Meanwhile, I spent time with a strong hoe digging out the string algea which had taken over. Kirt helped with this as well. I bet we pulled at least 40 pounds of this string algea out of the bottom and I got almost that much out of the top. We'd never seen this before and it must have had something to do with the winter weather we had, not hugely cold and very little snow.

Here is some of the algae and the sludge which had to come out today.

Actually algae is really good in gardens, it is loaded with good things like nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium. We will get this to our gardens. Here is a look at the sludge we need to pull out today. It too will go on garden beds.

Dale spent some time in the afternoon bringing out bird baths and working up part of his flower beds.

It's Mickey at the door day

So far I haven't run out of stuffed animals to watch out the front door. Today Mickey joins the dog.

Dog at the door week 3

These two took a well earned nap yesterday while the little sheep took over door duty.

Now the Ferdie dog is back

Sun and wind and tons of people

Yesterday was a bright sunny day, but extremely windy. So windy it lifted a 5x3 foot cardboard box from the big construction dumpster down the street and flew it all the way down the block over to the Sieck classroom building across from our side yard.

The day also brought more flowering trees into bloom including the rare Yellow Magnolia.

It also brought out local neighborhood people who chose to get their outside time on this campus. Early on in this isolation time we were sort of interested in the people who came through each day, but yesterday was too much. Too many are walking in groups or by twos and threes and not separating themselves as we are told to do. They often then sit for a while on our benches. And, the ones who got my goat were 4 ten-ish year old boys who I came across as I was taking the Magnolia photo. They were on the side of the chapel and careening down the steep grade to the bottom and then rolling around with each other before climbing back up and doing it again and again.

I watched this for as long as I could stand it, getting more irritated by the minute. Where are the parents who let their boys go wandering around the neighborhood in these times? They certainly were not spacing themselves from each other. When they finally gave up on the chapel hill diving they headed to the fountain pond where 3 big ducks were sleeping on the edge. I could tell they were about to go after those ducks so I turned into bad cop. I pulled up to them in my golf cart and asked them if they lived on this campus. They looked at me as though I was speaking Spanish. They obviously did not live here, our students' children are strictly isolated and would never be set loose.

I told them for as long as I was watching them at no time did they obey the separation restriction of 6 feet between each other and they would have to head for their own homes. It took them a while to do this, waiting to see if I'd leave, but I sat there until I saw them head off campus. Where are their parents?

Two older gentlemen had been out for a safe walk and watched all this. When I was able to leave the area, one said, "You're President Meyer's wife, aren't you?" I kind of laughed and said, I'm doing bad cop this afternoon. And they smiled.

Lamb at the door

Today being Sunday I placed a small sheep at our front door. We're all listening for our Shepherd's voice today and listening more intently than ever before. Praise God for promising to hear us. And, living in times like this we are thankful for the technology which allows us to be part of our churches' worship services online. In our case, Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Collinsville.

 

Dr. Tom Coburn as seen by our daughter

Senator Tom Coburn passed away today at age 72. Our daughter Katie was on his staff for some years and she wrote an article describing him for The Federalist. As a parent of a child working in Washington DC, it was such a relief to know the type of man who was her boss.

You can read her article here.

What is with this robin?

Our dining room table sits alongside windows facing the backyard. For some weeks now while sitting at the computer with my back to the windows I kept hearing periodic thumps and clicks. It took some days before I realized what it was. It's a robin who continuously leaps onto the window from the bush outside. His beak makes a click sound on the window and if he misses, his body thumps the window. This goes on most of the day with small breaks for rest or worms, I'd guess.

Funny thing is, yesterday my sister face-timed me from her home in St. Josesph Missouri and she brought up the same issue at her house. Neither of us has had this experience before so I wonder, what is with the robins this year?

These pictures are the best I could get, birds are always moving in some way.

There he is on the bush

Coming at the window

And the hit, lots of movement on his part.

 

 

 

Dog at the -Day whatever

We stand the chance to have some bad storms today so our dog greeter at the front door is ready.

My brother in law gave us this rain slicker for Ferdie many years ago. Yes, the same brother in law who dressed as a shark to go grocery shopping this week.

Dumpster runs

It's amazing to see what we're doing the most during these shelter in place days. Our recycling bin tells the story. We're doing a lot of drinking. Don't jump to the conclusion it's all alcohol related, but some is. Water, Coke, coffee, milk, juice.

Living on the seminary campus I've come to appreciate one gift in particular and that is the ability to dispose of trash and recycling any day. Put the bags in the car and take them to one of the dumpsters. No having to wait for the Monday trash hauler, no trash sitting around. I filled 3 bags with non-paper recycling this morning, mostly bottles-as I said up front, Coke, water, Milk juice and some wine bottles. The fact that alcohol is only a small part is kind of reassuring, but then I stumble on this today:

What can I say

Ferdie's bear makes the door

Our front door scene has Ferdie's most loved bear.

Lots of reflection going on outside today.