Did you see the National Geographic on Fox Network last night? Scary. All about bugs and even showed the huge swarms of "locust." They sure look like grasshoppers and when they talked about how and why they swarm, that scared me even more. The damage to the trumpet vine could not have been from the grasshoppers since there was no more damage. The hoppers are still around but the caterpillars are not. They've turned into butterflies to pollinate other plant blooms. The damage was like the tomato hornworm does before it turns into the beautiful butterfly. Even during a mild winter like this one past, there were no big grasshoppers to start the spring but as soon as the eggs hatched, there were more than ever! But last summer, they ate everything that was green. The pampas grass disappeared and that's one tough "leaf." The daylilies and the iris were eaten to the ground. Same with the honeysuckle and the baby wall of china trees. But this year, they've not touched any of those. This spring when the wall of china were planted out, the grasshoppers ate one down to nothing and got a good start on the second. The peppers and marigold were gone before they reached 2 inches tall. The hoppers have taken big bites out of a few cukes but nothing major. There was a major leak in one of the soaker hoses and by the time I fixed it, it had killed one plant and the squash bugs had moved in! 

I have been scattering chicken scratch around the area north of the house to attract the turkeys up to the yard and hopefully to eat more grasshoppers and bugs. The new garden has fence only tall enough to keep out the rabbits but it's located close to the chicken yard and coop. I see enough scrap pieces of chicken wire to make some sort of extension for them to get into the garden as soon as the plants have finished their season. I keep reading what others have done to make their chicken tractors work and I don't find what I need to know. How do you move the contraption around over the existing brush and growth. Guess you'd have to clear the area first. They can't run loose with Max still being loose twice a day. 

Movement caught my eye the other morning and caused me to look out the kitchen window. There was a hummingbird trying to get at the feeder I had set on the windowsill to remind me to check and see if it was really leaking as it had seemed last year. I asked for a few more feeders but they were never purchased so I go to looking at what I can make do with. So, I rushed to fill the feeder and hung it where I could watch from the kitchen window. It's much too far away to take any photos from the window but it is a good feeling to take off the fighting for time at the one feeder. I was able to get an excellent photo of two hummers at the feeder at one time. I tried to get some pictures of the cardinals on the willow trees in the water sprinkler spray but I couldn't get close enough without scaring them away. So much fun to watch them play on a very hot day. They don't like the oak leaves but the willows have a different shape and no acid like the oaks. We only have one sprinkler that works so it gets back to the willows about once a week. I hate where the volunteer morning glories are coming up. There is no handy water hose so it takes special planning and extra work. The wall of china tree must be watered with gallon jugs but they are hardy and never even wilt. 

The baby cardinals have  been coming up to the window seed table. The parents teach them how and they quickly catch on but it's a battle to keep some seeds out after the squirrels have been through. The squirrels won't eat the safflower and the cardinals love it so I put out more of it just for them. 

Did you know that moles don't eat your garden plants or roots? I watched Garden Power one morning on TV and sure enough, they eat the grubs that do eat your plant roots so think twice before you try to kill them all off. None of the hints and tips on how to get rid of moles worked because I tried them all and I know. But we have lots of grubs also known as june bugs when they do their change. We started seeing june bugs this year in February during a warm front. They usually last through the first part of July but no longer.

In the last week, we've started seeing what are called Click Bugs. That's all they do, make this clicking sound and fly until they hit something and land. They don't seem to be able to see where they are going and they are easy to kill. I saw one a day for two days, then we've gone to dozens every night. They start coming in as soon as it's dark out and are drawn to light and water. You could catch them with your fingers since they don't bite but they emit this nasty looking brown juice that I could well do without. Yuck!

Very soon, I will have enough pictures on the progress building the shop to post for everyone to see. The walls are up and when Randy takes off a couple days for vacation, he hopes to get the sides covered and the roof on. Working out in this brutal heat makes you want to give up but doing just a little at a time will get the job done. Already the days are growing shorter and the winds are kicking up again. If we could just get this dome of high pressure off of us, we could get some much needed rainfall. 

I want to start looking at a way to make our own water filter and distilling system. Buying the bottled water is something we could save lots on if we could do it ourselves. We call this place PhancyPharm but fancy it is not. Rough, rugged with only the bare essentials like electricity and water. Randy would like so much just to have one of those places that advertises to come in and build on our place. I keep a list of all the reasons that wouldn't work handy. Like a 30 year note to pay off, them wanting title to the land as collateral. It would have to be located convenient to re-sell in the event we could not pay off the loan. I find myself being glad that this house isn't in worse shape than it is just knowing that rising costs of building materials could make a new structure out of our reach.

This coming week, I will start sending out business letters again. I will pretend that the answering machine works just to get the motions going again. We had one day where the phone wouldn't work at all but we could never figure out why. The internet connection was fine but we are prone to weird service by a company that shrugs its shoulders and  says, "so." Most people consider an internet business to just be a kid's game to play. Business to them is the email bulk spam sales. Guess some people do go for the sales pitch. Most items are more than what you'd pay at a store locally. There are pitches now saying that you get credit cards you never have to pay on. Bet the card companies don't know that part yet. There are drug offers saying you don't need an rx, just the desire to try the drug. They have viagra that works in 5 minutes and another that works in about three weeks of continued use. Guess some people would really take a drug that doesn't come from a pharmacy. They are aiming at older people who find they must save money any way they can. But will their family know who to sue when these "drugs" kill them? The porn is outrageous and instead of one a week, it's more like one per half hour. I have to dump the deleted bin every hour. I heard where there was a bug of sorts being sent out that would infect your computer by email even if you don't open the message. The description was vague and the cure more vague making it look like just another scheme to MAKE the receiver purchase another program.

For the past several weeks, I have been getting one of those Instant Messanger (Microsoft feature for Outlook) pop-ups that gets in our face when sent no matter what you are doing. They seem to have no active link to a website but there were threatening in nature. They tell how this type of message would soon be used by porn sites that would be non-stop in your face. So, go to messagestop.com and messagestop.net or you'll regret it later. This would say, "Pay me while I teach others how to do it." If I see something I like advertised on email, I will find it better and cheaper at a local store or a place I contact that does not send out bulk junk mail. These instant messages were coming in about once a half hour. They get in your face and won't let you continue any program you are working on. A great nuisance but if we must buy a program to make them go away, it will be worth it and we will buy it from a local store!

My oldest daughter has purchased a computer and they did get an email account but with all the selling of addresses, I'd rather not even send them our newsletter. Best not to put what is online in front of children; at least not without an adult to sit beside them and make sure what they are looking at is not something you decide NO !!! If any came to visit, I couldn't turn on my computer and open outlook!

I will yet write an article on elderly parents and how to sort the paperwork and nursing homes and medicaid. How to ask the right questions of the right agencies and who not to believe because of self-interests. The application for medicaid has not been approved and all the talk is about how they aren't good at paying the  centers that are giving care. I'm afraid there have been lots of price gouging and the system is weak and in need of repair before collapsing. All the forms are signed and submitted, we should know in the next week or so. There is a phone handy for residents at the home to call out but dad only calls maybe twice a week. I still worry when I don't hear from him but I don't worry that he's having trouble and might need help.

My last gripe for the day comes from seeing a program on television several weeks ago. An investigator was interviewing a lady who had come by lots and lots of money through an email scheme she ran. She indeed was a policewoman but was not actually having the difficulties she claimed in the heart tugging email message. She had divorced and being used to a better lifestyle wanted more money. She was sure getting it, most responses were a dollar but many were 20 to 100 each. She was so happy, well it wasn't like she'd hurt anyone and she really did need it. She had a daughter to send to private school and designer clothes to buy.

And my Weather Report for this week, it's HOT!! Since I won't post any weather this week, this is it for me! We're forecast 101F and that means it will hit that in the hallway despite the a/c. I made a cloth wall to divert the air toward our bedroom and it works!! What a relief! But it's August and that means most of us are into or in the middle of the Dog Days of Summer.