A jewel among weeds

Back when I lived in upstate New York in the 80's, I ran a bird banding migration station, and I had a friend, Lois Bingley, that would come out to help me monitor the 16 mist nets that I had set up on a ten acre section of land along Owego Creek that I owned. Lois was originally from Nova Scotia and besides being a great friend, knew a lot about wild flowers and plants. She told me about the jewel weed plant that she had grown up with in the wilds of Nova Scotia. It was also present on the ten acres.

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Jewel weed also grows in this part of Missouri. This morning, Bryce (Pam and Kirk Wood's grandson) brought me a jewel weed flower to ask if I knew what it was. I'm not real good on plants, but I remembered this one from Lois and New York.

The jewel weed has a really pretty flower. I told Bryce it's name and also told him that the result of this flowering plant was a pod that was shaped like a small pea pod that would explode in his hand if he pressed on it. It is the way that this plant expels its seeds for propagation.

He immediately ran off to see if he could find some of the pods. He was successful! I think maybe he will remember this little lesson, and if not, he surely enjoyed how these seed pods exploded in his hand. It's nice to pass some exciting outdoor knowledge on...........

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

What a storm!

At four this morning, I was rudely awakened by a huge gust of wind that set the motorhome to rocking! Luckily, I had rolled up the awning before dark yesterday since there was a forecast of possible thunder storms. After some time of high winds, the rain, thunder, and lightening arrived. What a downpour there was. Eventually, it subsided to just rain. When I took Emma on her first outs this morning, my bike was tipped over and various objects were scattered around the site.

It rained for a good portion of the morning, so my weekly laundry trip was delayed a bit. Pam and Kirk headed out early to pick up their 12 year old grandson at the Kansas City airport as he was coming for a two week visit.

I am so happy to meet this young man. He has two dogs at his house and is not intimidated by Emma. He just plays with her and really gives her a workout. A twelve year old boy is just what she needs ! It will be nice to have a youngster around for a while.

Not much else is new for today....just hot muggy weather...

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

Back in business (I think)

Well, along about lunchtime, there was a loud knock on my door. Viola! The UPS lady had arrived and delivered my package of a new power source for the amplifier. I hooked it in, and was pleased to see that the antenna was working. It's been a long week since I've been in contact with the outside world! I now have internet reception and cell phone reception as long as I stay within two inches of the inside antenna. I can deal with that. The first thing I did was get my email and respond to several queries.

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One of my phone messages was from Kirk and Pam Wood. It turns out they were arriving today to volunteer for two months. I had sent Kirk directions to get here last week, so I thought there would be no problems. However, when I went to Sumner early this morning to cancel my oil change appointment for the motorhome, I noticed that the road to Chilicothe was closed. Of course this was the route I had told the Wood's to take. Well, after an aborted trip to Chilicothe for groceries, I headed for Brookfield, MO, a smaller community, but was able to get what I needed. When I returned, I sent an email to Kirk telling him about the road closure. I was too late; they had already tried to arrive and had to turn around and go back to Chilicothe. Eventually, I was able to get in contact with them and give them another route to the refuge.

This is the view from my rocker on my patio before they arrived.

This is my present view.

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I actually have someone to talk to for a change. That makes the change in my view acceptable.

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The temps are on the rise again here, and were in the nineties today. I rolled the awning back in tonight before coming in since there are possible thunderstorms forecast for the middle of the night. I always need to be aware of the possibility of high winds, so I'll sleep better tonight with the awning in.

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

Virtually no connection...

Without the antenna and amplifier, I really don't have much of a connection. This will be my third attempt to post this. I hope to have the new power source for the amplifier delivered tomorrow.

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

A possible change in plans

Not much has been going on the last two days, but I was preparing to take a trip on Monday to meet my sister and brother-in-law in Hannibal for a few days. I couldn't read my email last night due to the amplifier problem, so I gave Pam a call. It turns out that Stanley is having some medical problems and they may not be able to make the trip as planned. Depending on the outcome of a doctor's appointment today, the trip will be either delayed for a week, or go as scheduled, or be cancelled. I am waiting for a call this evening to determine which option it will be.

Yesterday, I made an appointment at an auto shop in Sumner to get the oil changed on the motorhome. I planned to stop there first thing in the morning on Monday to have that done on my way out to Hannibal. I will need to buy the needed oil and filter and bring them with me when I go. After the news last night, I may have to cancel that appointment. If the trip is delayed, I'll just reschedule for the following Monday. If the trip with my sister is cancelled, I'll probably just go myself the following week and do the oil change then. I really don't want to pack everything up and unhook just to do the oil thing. The biggest pain, of course, is taking down the sun visors on the front of the rig and getting them put back up. I've explained my challenges with them in the past. I don't mind doing it if I'm actually going to go somewhere for a few days, but it's a hassle for just an hour's trip.

A couple of weeks ago, the YCC kids blocked in the area of my hookups and filled the area with stones. It was sure an improvement over the mud and grass. Well, yesterday, they removed all the stones and rebuilt the border so cement could be poured today. I thought it odd that they went to the trouble of the stones, and then tore it all out. Come to find out, the refuge needed some cement in other areas and the minimum that could be ordered was three yards worth. I'm not sure how you measure a yard of cement, but in order to get what they needed, the two volunteer sites received paving of the hookup areas. I hope they don't ever have to get at the water pipe, or electrical connection, or sewer connection in the future. That would mean busting up all the cement. Oh well, it was interesting to watch the process this morning. My utilities were only cut off for about two hours, and the weather cooperated by keeping the temps down until they were done.

It's back to ten hours in the visitor's center tomorrow. I sure hope someone stops in. I do have two movies from Netflix just in case, though. :)

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

Slow progress

After working with one of the staff here to check out my 12v converter for the Wilson amplifier, he came to the same conclusion that I had. ;) So, I had a brief interval of semi-good connection and went back to a Wilson Electronics site. I decided to order 120 to 6 volt converter from them. That means I can plug into a regular outlet and have power to the amplifier. I really don't need the 12volt converter since I most always have an electrical hook up, and when I don't I'd have the generator on to use the computer anyway. I don't have an inverter which changes battery power to 120 volt, so I'm hoping this fixes the problem. I'd like to hope the hook up arrives before I leave for Hannibal next Monday, but since it's coming from California I'm not optimistic.

Today is July 29, and in 1917, my mother was born. I would like to wish her a very happy 92nd birthday! Think of everything that has happened in the world in the last 92 years...WWI, WWII, the Korean War, television, the Vietnam War, electric refrigerators, the internet, man on the moon, Iran, Iraq, etc, etc, etc....it's mind boggling, and my mother has lived through it all. I wish her the best..........

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

No help yet from Wilson

I tried to get in contact with the Wilson antenna folks but wasn't very successful today. I'll try again tomorrow. The amplifier not only gives me pretty good internet reception, but without it, I barely have cell phone coverage at all.

So, Emma and I went on a day trip this morning to check out the Corps of Engineer campgrounds on Mark Twain Lake. It's about 115 miles or so from here and it's where I'll meet my sister and brother-in-law next week. I had heard good things about one of the campgrounds, but it turns out I really liked the Indian Creek Campground. It has over a hundred nice, long, wooded sites next to the lake and many of them are first come/first served. Since we'll be camping during the week, there should be no problem finding two good sites together. Of course, most importantly, I'll be able to use my new America the Beautiful Senior Pass for the first time and only pay $8/night for a site with electricity. :)

The drive back to Swan Lake took me through some very heavy rain, and I was sure glad I was driving the car instead of the motorhome. It rained most of the afternoon off and on, so I didn't sit outside this evening. I guess I'll watch a netflix movie tonight.......

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