Monthly Archives: September 2024

………………..I have always been fascinated by BEES…………They are one of the hardest working creatures that God has created……….They are constantly flying from bloom to bloom…never stopping….always taking their sweet nectar…..I find myself standing in the garden, for who knows how long, just watching them do their thing….It’s funny how our habits change as we get older…..I was absolutely NEVER a morning person! I used to love to sleep late……Now I’m up before the sun, but I still go to bed LATE!….Every morning I go into my garden and greet the day….and there they are……The bees are already at work….Before I close the house up for the night, I take my last stroll in the garden and the bees are still there!….I definitely have noticed a diminished number of bees over the years, and have heard the reports about how their numbers are dwindling……it’s sad……..I realize that some people are truly frightened of bees, and some are allergic from their sting…..When I was 6 or 7 I felt something tickling my throat under my chin, and I scratched it not knowing it was a bee. It stung me and it hurt really badly. I was with my mother at the time at one of her friend’s house, and they put something on it……For the longest time I was afraid of bees, but when I grew older I realized that if you don’t bother them….they won’t bother you!…..Unlike YELLOW JACKETS that are unrelenting, and will harass you constantly, and dive bomb at you!…The more you schuss them away the more they come after you!…….I do not like them at all!!…In the photo on the left there are three bees busily working….Can you see them?…The bees are in my garden from dawn till dusk and probably after that…..I wonder where they go?…..Some hive somewhere, dutifully taking care of the QUEEN BEE.

………………….There is a plague of insects that are killers…..and I don’t mean MISQUITOES!………….They are called….”SPOTTED LANTURN BUGS”……..Yesterday it was a glorious day, and I wanted to go outside and sit on my rocking chairs, and just enjoy the view of the water. It was about 2:00pm….As I opened the glass sliding door I noticed these bugs on the screen….When I went outside there were literally HUNDREDS of them on the chairs, on all of the window screens and congregating on all of the gutters!….ICK!!!!….I had read on line that mixing DAWN DISH DETERGENT with a little water would kill them…..so I went inside mixed the dish soap and some water in a spray bottle. I put the nozzle on JET, and started to spray them. The aim has to be very accurate because they are FAST, and JUMP and fly away, but I must have killed eighty of them, and that’s not an exaggeration!. They are ugly things!…Their wings are the color of tree bark with tiny black spots….but when they open their wings they are a bright RED!!! They even have RED BEADY EYES!…..They may not harm humans that we know of, but they can kill TREES, BUSHES and PLANTS…They are truly disgusting creatures…..I found them in my bushes [photo at upper right, on on my trees [photos in the middle at the bottom], and they were coming out of my grass!….The two photos at the upper left and along the left side are DEAD BUGS after I sprayed the hell out of them….They do die quickly if you can get the liquid on them and soak them, but as I said they are quick! The more I killed the more came……there are thousands of them! Today I had Franco spray the bushes where I saw them. We will have to see if that works, but there are so many more. Due to the damage they can do I’m surprise the Environmental Protection Agency doesn’t do more to destroy them…..If you don’t see them in your area….they will eventually get there!…………The truly are a PLAGUE!!!!

……………….As I sit here at my computer……the ceremony of that tragic day…..September 11th is on my TV………I have watched this sad sad ceremony every year……I feel it’s my duty as an American to spend this time with the families of the fallin’,,,,,I remember that day so clearly all these years later…..I remember thinking that this was the most beautiful, perfect September morning…..cool, clear without a cloud in the sky…..I was in the kitchen squeezing fresh orange juice for Jac, her mom and myself……Jac was upstairs in he mom’s bedroom getting her ready for the day………I turned the TV on listening to the news and weather report of the day……..Then IT HAPPENED………a plane hit one of the towers…….At first they had no idea what kind of plane it was….Was it a private plane that lost control?….Soon it was realized that no….this was a commercial jet liner!!!!….How could this happen??? I ran upstairs and told them to put the TV on in Jac’s mom’s room…..We sat on the bed riveted to the TV as the story unfolded….and then the unthinkable happened…..another jet hit the south tower…It was soon clear where these planes originated from, and that this was an act of TERROR…..The first act of this kind on American soil…..we watched and watched all day, and for the following days ahead…….The images were horrifying….too horrifying to even speak of here………I knew someone on the plane from Boston, which I found out days later….Oh my God how could this happen!!!??? Jac and I went outside to the waters edge….and we could see smoke billowing into the sky….it made it all too real………..Today is a day to put all politics aside….to remember all of those souls in all of the planes, and the people in the towers, and in the pentagon who lost their lives……I will never ever forget them.

……………..Considering my house is 118 years old I have had over the years few repairs on the house itself…….After surviving many pretty major hurricanes and Nor-Easters…the old girl is doing considerably well…When Super Storm Sandy hit it took away half of my sea wall and left a huge gapping hole in almost half of my lawn, but the house did incredibly well. Not even a shutter was blown off!!!…..However, over the past year I have had bad leaks on my sunporch facing the water……Something had to be done!….When the work to repair the leaks started we didn’t know what we would find….When the shingles came down we discovered major rot under them. I guess after all those years on the water I wasn’t going to get away scot free!…..The work began and it was extensive, even some windows had to be replaced, but it’s all done after a month and a half of work….All of the leaks and repairs on the house are finally finished! Singles, windows and new gutters that were added are all fixed and NO MORE LEAKS…..FINGERS CROSSED!……..The entire house, shutters and doors were all painted, and I even had the roof painted a dark chocolate brown……The roof used to be a natural beige wood shingle for years, but the dark brown looks so much better with the white house and blue shutters. I even had the outside lamps and railings repainted black…..It all looks great…..Now I’ll never have to do it again!!!………God willing!

………………..Jac and I loved Hydrangeas, and have many bushes on our property….I just added EIGHT MORE!…….This time of year she would cut the flowers, tie the ends of the stems together, and hang them upside down in the basement to fully dry….I’m not so fussy!…..When I think they are ready to cut, and look like they are starting to dry out on the bush, I cut them and put them in vases without water….They dry out just fine, and maintain their color…..I have a variety of Hydrangeas bushes in different colors, so my dried Hydrangeas are different colors too….I have them in many rooms of the house…..so I have Hydrangea bouquets all year long!