A smile is a curve that sets everything straight.

You already have zero privacy - get over it

Pet peeve time . . . do you know what annoys the crap out of me?  Of course you don't, so I'm going to tell you.  I hate it when people use a public bathroom as a private phone booth. 

For those of you who grew up in the 1990’s may not be familiar with this nearly obsolete 20th century necessity.    For the un-initiated and/or clueless . . . a telephone booth is a small structure furnished with a payphone; often, but not necessarily, with a door to provide privacy.   When I was a kid you always carried a dime in your pocket just in case you had to make an emergency phone call.  When I was in high school it was up to a quarter . . . now, mostly everyone has cell phones, hence the obsolescence. 

Besides using a phone booth for making calls, they were once used for a fad called . . . appropriately enough . . .  phonebooth stuffing.  As the name implies, the point was to get as many people into the 80”x32”x32” space as possible.  It was considered "one of the all-time great fads” of 1959 but the craze had come and gone within the year.

Anyhoo, I find it irritating to walk into a public potty room to do . . . uhm . . . you know my thing and to find someone chatting away.  It’s especially annoying when their actually using the toilet and talking at the same time. 


I'm  better about it in my old age, but I've always been self conscious about going to the bathroom with other people around.  It's bad enough to have to use a public bathroom with other people constantly coming in and going out but to have to someone talking on a cell phone while trying to peeps or poops takes the discomfort to a whole new level.

Okay, so there I am  . . . er . . . doing my thing.  I know the sound of my thing is reverberating off the walls of the small room . . . and I know the person on the other end of the call can hear what I’m doing.    


To add a little fun into the mix I bring my phone into the stall with me.  No, not to make an annoying phone call.  There is a whoopee cushion app on my phone that makes some awesome nearly authentic arse muzak.  

Whoopee cushions are fun . . . and the fact that someone took the time and effort to invent one is proof that farts are funny.  And to develop an application to simulate the sounds of a whoopee cushions that emulates that sound of flatulence is further proof.

ANYhoo, so when I’m done doing my thing do I flush?  Do I not flush?  

You know what?  F^ck it . . . I gonna flush dammit.  Let the person on the other end of the phone no where exactly their phone call is made from.  Think about it . . . do YOU want to talk to someone while their pooping?  Ew . . .

Ssplooooooooosssssssssssssshhhhhhh gurgle gurgle gurgle.

Standing by the sink and talking is one thing, but still . . . 

If you want to live and thrive, let the spider run alive. ~American Quaker Saying

Harvestmen . . . AKA Daddy Longlegs . . .  are arachnids, but they are not spiders.  Kind of like ants are insects but not dragonflies. Harvestmen have one body section and spiders have two).  They have only two eyes and spiders have eight.  They have a segmented abdomen and spiders don't.  They don't make webs, silk, venom . . . and . . . surprise, surprise . . . . they don't all have long legs.  

These are some photos I took of one I happened by.  Cool beans!

How my garden grows - We have met the enemy and he is . . . a bug

Cucumber beetles . . . harmless looking but devastating.  The larvae look like hairy horse snots, the juveniles are a longer yellow bug with racing stripes and the adults look like large rust colored ladybugs. They may look a bit like lady bugs but they are in no way beneficial to your garden . . . especially your cucumber and squash plants.     

I wrote about these evil critters when they appeared in my garden last year  . . . see this post and that post.  Yeah . . . they're back.  I am not going to allow them the pleasure of munching on my plants.  I will take whatever action necessary to eradicate these little buggers from my garden.

Spotted cucumber beetles do not overwinter in northern areas but migrate in from southern states each year, arriving around June.  Look for them every couple of days . . .  since cucumber beetles like shade, examine the undersides of cotyledons, young leaves, and stems.

The good news is that they have natural predators: Tachnid flies, soldier beetles, parasitic nematodes and braconid wasps. Lacewings and ladybugs eat the eggs.  And, bats.

Some effective cultural controls are spreading any type of onion skins on the soil around the planted areas and deep mulch of straw or other organic materials tohelp prevent the larvae from emerging from the soil and keep immature insects from walking from plant to plant.  

They don’t like radishes so, plant radish seeds right in the hills with the cucumber or squash plants. Also, any type of beans are a deterrent.

Since they like the shade, trick them!  Flatten a square of aluminum foil around the base of plants to bounce light on the undersides of leaves. This also helps the plants in giving them more light!

I am going to try my homemade insecticide against them; which is completely organic.  However, chemical insecticides are also effective against all stages of the cucumber beetle life cycle . . . but, obviously, not organic.

A rose is a rose is a rose unless it's a daisy

A day in the garden - update

Hubby and I went away for a week for a much needed and well deserved vacation.  I was worried about the garden . . . was it getting enough water, would the weeds be taking over, did some beastie ravage the plants?


I was happily surprised . . . mostly.  The tomato plants looked a little wilted and there is A LOT of weeding to do, but overall the garden looks pretty darn good.


The pea plants vines are managing to find their way to the fencing we set up for them to climb.  There's purslane popping up all over, I can't wait for a yummy salad of the greens!  There are developments in the radish and jalapeño plants . . . they are starting to bear fruit!  An unexpected surprise was bean plants popping up miscellaneously all over the garden . . . we didn't plant them but there they are . . . I can't wait to see what kind of beans they turn into because I have no clue.  And, finally, I planted a couple of sunflower plants given to me by the innkeeper of the motel where we stayed (and always stay) on our vacation.


I love to see the progress that can be seen from day to day . . . stay tuned!