respublica

Risky frisky

IDOT posted this today: "Fall driving can get risky when deer get frisky."

All this means is that we are now entering the time of year when deer begin to mate and they are apt to be jumping onto roads and highways. "With the onset of autumn, the school year is in full swing, pumpkin lattes are steaming - and Illinois deer are feeling amorous. The Illinois Department of Transportation and Illinois Department of Natural Resources are reminding motorists to be vigilant during deer mating season as the animals become more active, especially in the early morning and evening hours."

I can attest to the sudden appearance of a deer on the road. We've hit or been hit, by deer several times during our marriage. They come out of nowhere. It pays to be watching the sides of any road these days, October, November and December with November seeing the greatest number of deer/car accidents. Madison County had the third highest number of deer accidents last year in Illinois.

This link from IDOT has some advice on what to do if you come in contact with a deer.

Quite frankly, after having run ins with deer over the year I am very paranoid when I'm driving on the interstate or country/county roads.

The first day of fall

I know every food and drink business seems to consider Labor Day the beginning of Fall since they start trotting out pumpkin in everything. I am not a pumpkin fan except in pie. Ads have red and gold autumn leaves bordering things at the same time. But...Today is the real beginning of Fall. It's the Autumnal Equinox when light and dark are equal in hours of the day. 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of dark. It's the halfway point between our longest and shortest days of the year, light-wise. We'll have just a bit more than 12 hours of daylight today. Then it's all down hill to getting darker earlier which if you don't like it dark so early in the evening then you're not thrilled. I actually do like it getting dark earlier in the evening, it settles people down more. 

I get a huge kick out of saying the word Autumnal, it's kind of a funny sounding word.

 

Flys what can we do?

All of a sudden there are insects everywhere and doing their best to get into the house. We've seen spiders, we hear crickets in the basement, and now flies zoom in every time someone goes in or out the door. I am spending way too much time swatting flies, they're the worst because they want to be around food as well as buzz us as we eat. The bad part is I've broken two fly swatters this week, they make them so flimsy nowadays and finding replacements in the store is a challenge. You'd think stores would have them up front at this time of year, but no. 

Today I was successful and found some at the Collinsville Walmart. However that was after walking the entire store and asking at least 4 employees where they might be. These came in two packs which is good because they're as weak looking as the others. How hard would it be to make a sturdy fly swatter? 

This is kind of a silly post, but the flies are so annoying and I'm trying to keep my mind off of missing Ferdie.

 

Accidents and sun

Have you noticed that all of a sudden it is dark later in the morning and earlier in the evening? For some reason it became really obvious yesterday. Sunrise today is at 6:32 and sunset at 7:27. It's still pretty dark at 6:32 in the morning but what is worse is about 20 minutes after official sunrise time is when that sun will be up in the sky right in the middle of car windshields. It's a rare car which has a visor that can cover this big ball of sun right in the middle of of the window and it makes for some scary interstate driving. Yesterday I noticed morning traffic reports in which the reporters were telling us what a mess the highways were with one crash after another.

Part of the reason for this may have been drivers being blinded by sun. If you've ever experienced that sun while driving with no way to block it you'll understand the helplessness.

About the Dog Days of Summer

About the time the high heat of summer hits, we start hearing about the Dog Days of Summer. It's so hot, it must be the Dog Days. This may have started after someone with a big audience told of how much his dog was panting during part of the summer. But, actually, dog days of summer isn't about dogs or heat, but they movement of the stars.

According to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, the Dog Days of summer are traditionally the 40 days beginning July 3 and ending August 11, which coincide with the dawn rising of Sirius, the Dog Star.

But it's still normally the hottest time of year so there's that.

Gardens dry out fast

Yesterday I was doing some more planting around the campus (basil because it's so popular) and I noticed how dry the garden ground was even with the moisture we've had. With high temperatures it doesn't take long to dry things out. So this morning my plan was to get the new sprinkler hooked up in the big vegetable garden next to Sieck Hall. It's kind of an effort dragging the hose from the wall of Sieck, hooking it up, going back and turning it on and then replacing everything afterward.

So hurray. All of a sudden were getting a nice downpour of rain which means not having to go through the sprinkler effort and just leaves it easier to weed later today.

Speaking of sprinklers, what junk they mostly are. Very rarely do they keep working for a whole season. The ones I'm referring to are the oscillating kind which go back and forth or you can set them to do only one side. For some reason no matter how fancy, they quit doing what they're supposed to do after some weeks of use. I"ve googled to find the most reliable sprinkler and as always the reviews will say, "It worked great until it didn't."

And that's the truth. So I decided to get a fairly sturdy one, but I wasn't going to pay more than 15 or so dollars, they just aren't worth going higher. I got this one at Home Depot for 14 dollars, it beat Amazon's price by 6 dollars. It has a metal base and a brass fitting for hose attachment. I'm interested to see how it works, but just as happy to put it off for another day. Thanks rain!

Actually the best sprinkler is the small flat one like this:

We have a couple of these but they do best in small areas not big garden beds. They saturate quickly and last forever and we use them for the flower beds we have circling trees.

 

Memorial Day in Collinsville

Lots going on in Collinsville this past weekend. The big news was the official opening of the water park, now under the auspices of the city rather than the now disolved park district. There were food trucks, swimming, bands, and fireworks which wowed the big crowd. I'm very happy about how well done this day was put together.

Then on Monday, there was a short parade and program honoring those who died in service to the country. Quite a few people lined Vandalia street to be a part of this.

Dale and Mayor Miller

Ferdie and I with the mayor

People were really nice with Ferdie, especially giving him some shade in the heat.

Downtown looks so good with the banners recognizing local service people who served through the decades. Each has a photo and times served.

 

 

A question about Memorial Day

Why is this weekend so big on mattress sales?

It's that time of year

So many things going on right now, most of which having to do with the end of the school year. Yesterday a wonderful group of people from Village Lutheran Church in Lacombe Louisiana arrived with a truck load of Jambalaya food and proceeded to cook on the campus patio all day. At 4 they began serving the entire campus, students, faculty, wives, husbands, kids, staff and on and on. This event is probably one of the most looked forward to and popular of any of our food oriented special times. The Louisiana folks work really hard all day cooking and setting up and serving and more cooking and then the clean up.

Thankfully we have lots of students who help in any way they can.

Tonight is the concluding class's big dinner off campus. This is a dress up affair and marks the last time they will really be together in one room. Next week is graduation and all that goes into that.

Much of these two weeks have food connected with each thing and I'm playing poor me...for the last time...I promise...but with this stupid tooth extraction and implant I won't be able to eat any of it. I'm sick of this tooth thing. Hoping Monday's dentist appointment will let me eat more normally.

 

Wonder why you're sneezing?

The green dust is back with a vengeance, it's covering everything including you.

It's why you walk through your house and think, "I thought I just dusted, it sure doesn't look like it".

And, does everyone but me realize there is an 'a' in vengeance?