Things Outside

 
 
 
Some things outside at my house:

A giant moth on the neighbor's screen door. That thing could give me nightmares! Once, I woke up and a moth was trying to burrow into my ear. For several nights after that, I slept with the sheet pulled up over my head. Imagine that thing trying to get into your head!

I have a couple of teensy tomatoes starting to grow! Yay! I think it's been 10 years since I've grown food. I didn't realize how much I have missed it. I would love to have a huge garden. I really look forward to the day when I have at least a little one, in the ground. For now, I'll be content with my pots.

There's also a shot of me outside, with my blondish hair in natural light. I have about a week's worth of roots now, and they look black against that lighter hair!

Notice what there isn't? No bees! Jason filled the hole with expanding foam, so they can't get into the wall any more. Every so often, one sad bee flies around the area, looking confused and saying, "Wha?"

Yay for outside!

Swarms

 
So, as you know, last week and this week our house was being painted. Swarms of young men were constantly surrounding our place, in front of every door and window, blocking me into my garage and into my house.

Here's something maybe you don't know: Painters are not like Vampires. A Vampire won't enter your house without being invited. I came up the stairs from the basement on Tuesday, and a young man was inside my kitchen! He was painting the inside of the doorframe, and wouldn't reply to my surprised greeting.

Anyway, they got finished and moved on to paint some other places, and immediately, a swarm of BEES moved in. They are building a nest or whatever it's called inside the crack at the top of our patio wall. Yesterday, there were tons of them buzzing and milling around, right outside our back door. You just can't believe how LOUD they are. I thought it was a lawn mower, seriously.

If you click on that picture, it will get bigger and you can see one bee. I took several photos, but it's tough to catch bees in action.

After the bees went to bed last night, Jason sprayed the wall with wasp killer, and did manage to kill one bee. But, this morning it was clear that further action must be taken. We will have to spray INTO the CRACK. And then, once they're all dead, I want to fill that gap so no other tribes of bugs think it's a good spot to bivouac.

YES, I know that we shouldn't kill bees. There is a shortage of bees in our country these days. So, I'm trying a less murderous tactic today. I've hung a lovely flower basket filled with moth balls near the bee hideout. According to uncited sources on the Internet, bees don't like moth balls and will pack up their stuff and leave. After they go to sleep tonight, I will shove moth balls into the hole to try to further discourage them.

One thing I really love about working from home is being able to sit out on my patio every day, and enjoy the sun and fresh air in my little, enclosed area, without any weirdos staring at me. No one can see me, so they can't try to make me pet their dogs. (The last place we lived, there was an old guy with a coffee cup who would just stand there and stare at me while I read in the yard. There were a couple of ladies who would bring their dogs over and try to make me meet them. I'd have to tell them not to let them in my yard, and they didn't like that! Look, I petted one neighbor dog once, and it was gross, and oily feeling.) Now, it's been over a week since I've been able to sit out there, due to swarms of painters and now bees. It's making a little sad and frustrated, to tell you the truth. I really hope those bees will move on!!!

Bee lovers, you should know that the smell of moth balls is coming through our CLOSED back door and stinking up my house!

Little hanging house for creatures

Here is a birdhouse on our patio. There used to be birds that lived in it, but lately I have only seen wasps going in and out. I don't like wasps!

Today is a rainy day, like yesterday. There's something great about a cool, rainy day in the middle of a bunch of 80 degree days.

I think I might make a cheesecake for Saturday's BBQ, even though one guest won't be able to eat the crust. She is allergic to wheat (and she's a vegetarian) so it makes it really tricky for me to think of things to bake (or cook). I looked online for gluten-free crust recipes, but you have to buy special flours and mixes and stuff. So, maybe she can just eat the cake and not the crust? I think there has to be a crust, right? And we can put berries on top! It sounds so good. That's the kind of thing I have to make when we have company, so that I don't eat the whole thing myself.