Busy times
in our world. I’m teaching or co-teaching three classes this semester. It’s
really keeping me hopping without much time for writing.
The weekend
of October 7 we were down in West Lafayette for Sue’s 90th birthday.
XC in Roman numerals. Fun times had by all.
While we were
down there we spent some time at Prophetstown State Park. Hiking along the
floodplain for the Tippecanoe and Wabash Rivers we went through a forest of the
largest giant ragweed I have ever seen. This
was like being in a corn maze, but one that gives you hay fever. Could have
been worse I guess. At least I wasn’t at a Trump rally.
Giant ragweed is one of
the worst allergens we have around. This beast is downright evil if you have any
kind of pollen allergies. The Latin name
for giant ragweed is Ambrosia trifida. Ambrosia is a Greek word translating to
something like food of the goods. I don’t know who decided to call this monster
ambrosia, but that is one line of genes we should put an end to.
Lise and
ragweed at Prophetstown State Park. These were the first couple plants. This eventually became a solid
forest of ragweed with a path through it.
The ragweed
forest did produce something besides sniffles and red eyes. Lise picked up a
palm warbler giving her 306 species for the year, with me trailing behind at
302 species. Still some chance for both of us to pick up a few more too.
Me looking at dragonflies over the
Prophetstown State Park
prairie.
Yesterday
was plumbing Sunday. Not the way I planned to spend a lovely Sunday. On the pleasurable
scale, it’s right up there with watching presidential debates. The hose on our kitchen
pull-out faucet decided to squirt water out its side every time the faucet is
turned on. So after a trip to the local hardware store I came back with a $30 universal
pull out hose replacement kit that fits every brand faucet. Except mine. A trip
to the big box Home Despot store, where I bought the faucet in 2009, produced
the same universal kit in different packaging. After some internet searching I
found out my faucet, and presumably the replacement hose, are obsolete. There’s
a few of the replacement hoses out there in internet world, but they cost half
the price of a new faucet. So I sent a desperation message to the company and
they are sending me a new hose for free. We just need to wait until the
freighter from China arrives.
Meanwhile, the earth
is starting to tilt away from the sun and we are sliding into fall. The
temperatures have turned decidedly cooler and the number of daylight hours is noticeably
fewer. Meaning the dreary Lansing winter is just around the corner. As a
reminder that winter is coming we had the first junco from up north show up in
our yard yesterday.
Other
species are still on the move too. During the past week the Detroit River Hawk Watch has
been recording thousands of turkey vultures migrating through in a single day.
The scraggly patch of dirt we call a garden has been pretty productive too. Besides the
usual residents we have had a common yellow throat, Nashville warbler,
golden-crowned kinglet and white-throated sparrow making some brief
appearances before heading south. As we sit at the window watching the garden the dog-walkers probably think we’re Ma and Pa Kettle with binoculars.
Ed's and Lise's Biggish Years 