Good Sunday Y'all!!!! I hope and pray that wherever y'all are today, that you are loving the creation around you and thanking God for it. It is a little gloomy here today with expected rain today. The spring rains make everything grow and look so lovely. There have been some beautiful flowers, with the promise of even more to come. Don't you just love the beauty of all the flowers and blossoms around us. Even some of the weeds are just beautiful when in full bloom. I guess it really does come down to "beauty is in the eyes of the beholder".
For the last few weeks, we've had a little tree frog sitting in a tree right under one of the windows in our living room. This little thing makes itself known very early every morning. I think it may be talking to it's sweetheart, kinda like my husband and I talk to one another. I wonder if the little frog hears us talking to each other and I wonder what we sound like to this little frog. hahahaha Who but me wonder something like that. We have also had a couple of different pairs of owls hanging out in the pine trees and I love to hear them talking to each other. The two pairs are different types of owls and their calls to one another are very different. We also hear a lot of Bob White quails. They have a very distinct call, as do all the birds, but I do love to hear them calling. Every once in a while we will hear the lonesome call of Whippoorwill. I don't know why that is such a lonesome call, but it is. Sometimes we will hear squirrels talking. They make a really funny sound. If you have ever been outside and think you hear a front porch swing screaching as it swings and there is not front porch swing, then that's a squirrel talking. hahaha Now you know. I didn't know that for the longest time. And I forgot when and where I learned that, but, like y'all, now I know and it's an interesting sound. There are lots of wonderful sights and sounds in nature and it's fun to try to identify what we see and hear. I've mentioned it before and it bears repeating again, my allergies don't let me hang out in nature as much as I would love, but I do enjoy what I can when I can. I hope y'all do too. Being outside is natures way of giving you a big healthy dose Vitamin D which helps your body metabolize a lot of the vitamins and nutrients that our bodies need. So try to spend 10 minutes a day outside in the sun and enjoy the sights and sounds. If you're like me, then you have to go in, take a shower and get a fresh change of clothes or you will itch and scratch yourself to the point of misery. Yeah, not fun, but that's what I have to do. hahahaha
************
One of the problems we have had around our neck of the woods this year is carpenter bees. Yes, you read that right, carpenter bees!!!!! Many of them!!!!!! We could not even open the door to the house without being dive bombed by them!!! The males don't sting, but the females do. And it's mostly the males that you see swarming around you. If it has a white/yellow face, it's a male. They swarm around and try to protect the female while she is boring in some wood and trying to lay her eggs. We have a 2 section privacy panel that comes off the edge of our house at an angle, and the bees have just about bored that thing up!!!!! So, we got to looking, and sure enough that is where most of the activity was coming from. There is 3 4x4's holding up the privacy panels and my husband replaced them a few years ago because one or 2 of them broke in a storm and now they are riddled with holes from the carpenter bees.
My husband came in and started looking online for a solution and he found it!!!!!! He made some bee traps. They work really well. It does take a while for the bees to find them, but when they do find it, they will slowly start filling up. And, once they do, you don't want to empty the bottles. It's pheromones that the bees give off that attracts others to the traps. It's a slick trick.
This is my public service announcement for those of you who are inclined to protest EVERYTHING and be OFFENDED!!!!! Turn you offended little head and frown to someone that cares, because at this point in time, it's our backyard, and where there's 1 carpenter bee that you do see, there's 1000's that you don't see. And we are sick and tired of being bombarded by them every time we go out!!!! So, if you are inclined to leave some hate, leave it somewhere where they care about your opinion, because as long as this is a free country, I don't care about your opposition or your offense. Go hug a tree and maybe they will swarm you. hahahaha
Ok now, back to the main story line. hahahahaha So my husband set out to build a trap and this is what he done. Hope you like the pictures and that you can get some ideas for your own trap. You can buy them, but why? If you are handy with a few tools, you can whip out a few in no time at all.
All 3 bottles have between 15 and 30 in each bottle. There is too many to count in them now. If you do build some of your own and start catching them, don't replace the bottles with fresh bottles unless you put a few from the old bottles in the new bottles. You want to make sure there is bee pheromones that will attract the other bees that will come around. So, between the bee traps and just plain old ingenuity, we've probably gotten rid of about 100 of them. Now we wait for the next generation to hatch!!!! So while the skirmish looks like it's under control, there is still a battle to be fought. hahaha
************
This Spring, in the midst of everything else, our back yard has been covered with wild strawberries.I do love them as a groundcover. I love seeing the hidden little pops of red when out walking thru the yard. It seems like they multiply more and more each year. Well, this year, I decided to have a little fun. And I invite you along to join me in my tea party. hahahaha
This is a close up of the penny with a strawberry on it. Cracks me up. You know what, I actually washed one and popped it in my mouth and it was completely tasteless!!!! Like what I always imagined sawdust to taste like. No, not really, because I believe sawdust would taste like the tree it came from. These were absolutely tasteless. I was kinda surprised. But is was a cute staging if I do say so myself.
************
In the title of today's post is says "Problem or Solution". In most situations in life, there are generally 2 sides. We think in terms of right and wrong. Let's looks at another set of terms. And that's where "Problem or Solution" comes in. We are either part of the problem or part of the solution. No middle ground on this one. If we are sitting back, bumping our gums to hear our teeth rattle and not doing anything about what we are mouthing about, we instantly become part of the problem!!!! That is a fact that CAN NOT be denied. Are we problem minded or are we solution minded? I finally said in a meeting one time several years ago, that if we are not fully prepared to engage in a solution, we need to stop mouthing about the problem. Don't throw me solutions if you are not fully planning on being a part of the solution. If you can't or won't help implement a solution you may have, no matter how great it is, don't' throw it at someone else's feet and expect them to do it. If you have the suggestion and want to verbalize it, then tell me how you are willing to help me make it happen. If not, keep your suggestions to yourself.
The reason I say this is because one of my brothers is Mayor is the town he lives in. I'm pretty proud of him myself. He got the votes to get elected, so I fully expect the ones who elected him to support him, right? Well, people give a lot of lip service in the form of advice and then expect him to jump on everything and do it all by himself. Well, he can't do everything by himself. When he was wanting to get federal funding for projects that NEED to be done, no one wanted to help him!!! So, as a result, the city still doesn't have money to do anything with. Everyone blames him!!!
The town had started looking pretty slummy, long before he became Mayor. He actually sent letters out to some of the people that needs to clean their places up and that was received pretty well by some and not so well by others. You can't make people have pride in something, they either do or they don't.
Anyway, he mentioned on his fb page what was happening in a certain situation and oh boy that brought out the problem solvers in FULL FORCE!!!!!! A lot of people was snarky and hateful. When I first seen the post, I responded with encouragement to him. He did have a lot of support, but there is always a handful that think they are God's gift to problem solving and higher thinking. So the same old bs started. I had responded one time, maybe the first one to respond a few days ago encouraging him. It showed up again in my feed and I read the responses and they were just plain snarkey and hateful. Everyone has solutions at the expense of the city, which has no money to spend on anything!!!!! Last night I just responded that it's easy to give lip service to what needs to be done and there is nothing free, it always costs somebody else for what we think is free. My last statement was that the only thing that is free is lip service!!!!
So, if you want to give advice to someone about something without some sweat equity or backbone, I would suggest keeping your suggestion to yourself. I remember many years ago, at a former church, one of the church members would always call me on Monday morning as regular as clock work and have a list of things that she thought I should do. Me, being young, naive and dumb, I tried to do it ALL!!!!! Well, after getting burned out on trying to do everything this one person thought I should be doing, the pastor's wife told me I was way too NICE!!!! She said you are the only one that can stop it. Next time she called on Monday morning, I listened intently to what she had to say and then I just told her that it sounds like a perfectly good idea and that when she starts it, let me know and when my schedule clears, I'll help her. She called the following Monday with some more projects, and again, I listened intently and politely told her that it was an awesome suggestion and when she starts working on it, if my schedule allows, I will help. Funny how when you turn the tables, the suggestions stop.
So, that is what my brother needs to do. If it's good enough to make a suggestion for him to do, then it's good enough for the one suggesting it to implement it themselves, then it won't cost the city anything and maybe some of the others that are offering lip service will jump on the bandwagon. hahahaha Yeah, like that will happen!!!!! These are people who only want to hear their gums bump together!!!! No action, just lip service!!!!! So, that's where my title comes from, "Problem or Solution". If we are not a part of the solution then we are a part of the problem. What we are is up to us, there is no middle ground.
************
Well, that's about it today. I hope you seen or read something here today that makes you smile, laugh or just think. I hope before the day is over that you will thank God for all blessing that He has given you. Praise His holy name. In the situations that come along in life, try to be a solution and not a problem. A lot of people have good ideas and suggestions, but if we're not willing to help, then maybe we need to remain silent. Just my thought anyway. Have a blessed rest of the day. Always remember that the God of all creation loves us as His creation, and He provided THE only way for us to be in right relationship with Him, that way is Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior. I hope and pray that Jesus is your Lord and Savior too. If He is, remember this, we may never meet face to face in this life, but we will meet face to face in eternity with our Lord and Savior. I can't wait to meet you on the other side!!!!! love and hugs in Christ, patty
