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Borrego Springs, CA

Saturday, March 26, 2011

DISH dilemma

For those of you that travel with a portable satellite dish, I’m hoping you can understand the dilemma I faced today.  For the last two years, I’ve chosen to just have my major network stations come from Chicago.  I could change them to the local stations at each place I stay, but I quit doing that after a stint near Chicago.  I was able to access those stations no matter where I was in the country, until three days ago.  Suddenly, I had no access to NBC, CBS, and ABC.  My 119 satellite connection seemed to also be shaky.  I attributed that to the emergence of leaves on the oak trees surrounding my site.  So, today Denny volunteered to try to help me find a better signal location.  After over two hours of moving the DISH and trying to locate a signal, we gave  up.  I relaxed a bit, and then gave it another try on my own.  It only took me minutes to find a much stronger signal for both satellites.  Don’t you just hate it when that happens?  Anyway, when I checked for the network stations, I still didn’t have any, so I called DISH and had them change my locals to Gautier, MS.  I’m back in business now, but still don’t understand why I suddenly lost the Chicago feed since I had it for six weeks down here.

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Meanwhile, today was a work day for me, and I spent the morning spraying all the sidewalk cracks with “7” to kill the weeds.  Of course, I took time out to enjoy the tiny carnivorous blossoming sundews. 

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These plants are only about the size of a quarter, and entice insects to get stuck on those sticky globules.  The plants then ingest nutrients from the insects for nourishment since the soil here can not provide enough to sustain them.  Those flowers are less than 1/4” across, and only come up about 2” above the plant.  I haven’t been able to figure out how to get both the flowers and their  blooms both in focus at the same time.

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Another, larger carnivorous plant found on the refuge is the Spoonleaf sundew.  They are about 3-4” across, but won’t bloom for a little while yet.  Unless you are really looking for these interesting plants, you’ll just walk right past them since they’re so small and low to the ground.  If you click on either of these pictures you can get a good view of the sticky spines that attract the insects.  I just think they are so cool!

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This little beauty is a Candyroot/Dwarf Milkwort. The roots of this 6” plant smell just like peppermint.  Who figured these things out anyway?  Probably the native Americans, I’d guess.

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A few more fungi have cropped up as well.

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Fonda and I checked out the finished work on the Dees Trail overlook yesterday.  Since her husband, Denny, did quite a bit of work on this, we had to give our final approval!  Smile  Fonda found two of these not so wonderful wood ticks on her on our little hike.  Could it be that a bug likes someone else better than me??  Guess the season for tick checks is upon us.

 

Thanks for stopping by…. talk to you later,  Judy

21 comments:

  1. ewwwwwwwwwwww I hate ticks, but having a cottage in northern Wisconsin, they are a spring ritual. I've become quite a proficient tick picker through the years!!!

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  2. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful pics...ticks are such pesky little creatures -- in the same category as chiggers...YUK! I will email you about the satellite dilemma.

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  3. I feel for you about the satelite dilemma. I have had just about enough of electronic glitches. Hope your TV reception is now OK for awhile. Beautiful pictures again. I have never seen a tick and hope I never will. We had bloodsuckers in Indonesia and that is no fun either.

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  4. I saw some Dandelions in New Mexico yesterday but at least they didn't eat anybody!!

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  5. We have had our first tick of the season here in Tennessee. Yuk!

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  6. The dogs always got ticks when it started to rain. I've been bit a few times here as an adult, but I am convinced I had a case of Lymes after being bit when I was a child in Wisconsin. I had all the classic symptoms (but Lymes hadn't been named yet.) I was "cured" after I got a heavy round of antibiotics that were given to me to treat strep and tonsillitis.

    I have always hated ticks!

    Neat little flowers.

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  7. No ticks so far thank goodness! I'm thinking we will be hit when we get back to Arkansas. Must remember to put the tea tree oil in the 5th wheel. Works great if we miss a tick on Sage.

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  8. those plants are beautiful and fascinating! The tick .... not so much.

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  9. I'm surprised to read that you spray chemicals in a Wildlife Refuge? Not very natural?

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  10. just another day in your 'neighbourhood'..nice shots of the 'spring foiliage'!!..love the dandelion one that smells like peppermint!

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  11. what beautiful little flowers! thanks so much for taking the time to notice and photograph them!!

    and watch out for those darn ticks on you and Emma both!

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  12. No help with you DISH question. We just use an antenna. Icky, icky, icky bugs.

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  13. Perfect photos...

    We have DirecTV and almost the same thing happened to us. First, we thought we were on paperless bills with them since our snail mail is a few months behind always. Found out we weren't so has since changed that issue. Apparently, they sent us a letter stating that as of such and such date there would be changes to our east and west feeds unless they received sign paperwork from us.

    Since we never received that letter, one day out of the blue we no longer had our feeds. We had all the other channels but just not our local feeds. Got on the phone with them and had to sign new waivers and pay an increase, plus they changed the channel lineups for these stations.

    After about a week of aggravation...waiting on signed paperwork to be delivered to them, we finally have our east and west channels returned.

    When I asked why after all this time did I need to re-sign paperwork? They replied that there was some sort of law or government or ordinance or something change and we needed to reaffirm our need for these channels.

    Just another one of life's gliches that makes our lives interesting!

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  14. I have always been amazed at the variety of plants that are carnivorous. With that thought, I am also thankful they do not grow larger.

    John
    relaxedrush.blogspot.com

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  15. It is a govt reg. It is meant to protect local advertisers. When we first moved to St. Louis we were getting Tampa locals because they missed a zip change somewhere.

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  16. What beautiful pictures and interesting plants and flowers.

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  17. Those plants are so neat. Tell Fonda she is not alone. I pulled a tick off yesterday too. I hate those things. They really get the itching started.

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  18. If I remember what John told me. That if you can close down your apature, or raise your "f" stop, the focal point will be greater. Things stay in focus better. I think.

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  19. It's Gremlins, I tell ya'. They mess with your satellite dish and your mind at the same time.

    I think they're also responsible for directing bugs to smash against your windshield directly in your line of sight! ;c)

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