Well there were a lot of firsts this week. First fire fly on May 1st. First two large butterflies on the same day. Did not get close enough but think they were giant Swallowtails. They were yellow and quite pretty. First time I have had a pair of birds build a nest in my dryer vent tube. A pair of starlings seems to have taken off two louvers of the dryer vent covering to get inside the vent pipe. They then proceeded to build nest and hatch a family of four. I was sitting in the gazebo when I saw them enter my home. The problem was that my guest was using the dryer. I feel very fortunate that there was not a fire. Think that someone is taking care of me as it has not been too long since a ground fault tripped in my kitchen shutting off an outlet when the outlet was not being used. That had the potential for an electrical fire.
My yard may not be perfect but the flower beds look better than they ever have. Lots of time to remove the creeping Charlie from among the flowers. Have done some pruning of tree branches as well as ground ivy. Have also added a bit of edging to control the ground ivy and cover. The flowers have been and are really pretty. Currently still have Lenten Roses, tulips, allium, a few late daffodils, what I think is a flowering Ammon bush, a red honey suckle bush, a giant white lilac, a small purple lilac and I am sure more blooming. Such a pretty time of year.
Tom Ohnemus is working on the solar panels. They have the holes drilled and some of the piping started. Will be interesting to watch them build the solar panel display. Looking forward to it coming on line in the future.
I have been caning a rocker for a customer. Think I will call it done. The seat is new cane and the back is old cane so they do not match. Everyday this week I added more stain to the seat to try to get them to match better. I like to cane and it is very rewarding to make an old chair usable again. However it is a labor intensive process and it takes many hours to cane just a simple seat. If one charged for their time, it would be really expensive and much more than the chair is worth. I normally just cane items which are family heirlooms or to complete a set of chairs for my store. Have some sets of matching caned chairs for sale , both sets of six and four.
Got a letter from US Cellular this week. Several on face book said it was a scam and warned about it. I called US Cellular to check on the letter. After checking, the lady said it did come from the company. It is always good to check on something like that however. They gave a number to call and I suggest always checking the validity of a notice before calling any number provided. Also I don’t suggest sending out messages to all your “friends” etc. as these are often just ways of getting addresses for scammers. It is sad that so many people have nothing to do but try to scam people. Often these emails are not even sent from the US. I got a call on my land line using my cell number so one can often not tell where the call is actually coming from. Obviously I did not call myself so some one had spoofed my number.
Got an email from a former neighbor telling me she appreciates my column. I love to hear from people who enjoy reading my ramblings. Thank You.
Most days I go to the store to do some work. On Friday I heard a lot of honking. Eventually a quite long parade of cars came on to the Square. It was the administration, faculty and employees from Southeastern. The cars were decorated with messages to their students. Such a nice thing from the school district.
Mimi Lawton called saying that she needed a chair a few inches higher than normal. I had an early oak youth chair so I took it out for her to try. Seemed to work well for her needs. If you need something, just give me a call. I can either meet you on the walk or deliver items to you. I now have masks thanks to Carol and Dennis Rankin and Patty McConnell. Patty has a good selection of face masks at her shop- Silver Needles. She is located just north of the Plymouth Square and her phone number is 309 333 6226. They are five dollars.
Have been avoiding going shopping so I am clearing out the frig and working on the freezer. Had some slightly wrinkled apples so sliced them, added raisins, brown sugar, cinnamon and some butter and cooked them in the slow cooker for several hours on medium. They were actually very good. One has to get creative when all meals are cooked at home with what one has.
Hope you are all well. Noted that there were several new cases of the virus in both McDonough and Hancock Counties today. Many of the sick are young people. Again, you may be young and strong but the people you go home to may not be. We need to think of others more than ourselves at this time.
Do your best to Stay Safe and Well and please consider all those you come in contact with as well as just yourself.