Better or Worse?

So thanks to our State of Ohio social safety net of welfare I was able to get an eye exam.  I picked the doctor out of the provider directory because he had the same name as Deep Purple's bass player back in the Seventies and the office was close by.  When you look through this machine they flip different lense combinations back and forth and ask "Better or worse?"  until it gets so close you can hardly tell the difference.  It makes me think of all the political ads that are infesting TV lately.  Better or worse?  A thief or a creep?  A Commie or a Nazi?    I want more choices, or even a "None of the above" selection.

They put drops in the eyes to dilate the pupils so they can look inside.  It makes you very light-sensitive so they give you a little sunglass panel to help shield the peepers.  It takes a long while for the dilation to wear off and it was a beautiful sunny day.  Women used to do the same thing with belladonna (deadly nightshade) so their eyes would be big, dark, and beautiful.  I'm not sure if they used the same stuff on me or not.

By the way, a couple of days later I also got a colonoscopy but I left my camera in my pants in the locker, plus I was narcotized/sedated, so no pics.  But they tell me it was something like this.  Except they didn't find any gerbil adventures, nor polyps neither, just a bit of diverticulosis.  That's right, I got me some pouchy chitlins.  I need less stress, more fiber.

Friday Clearance On Pics & Links

Greetings, my friends!  Once again I'm devoting Friday's post to clearing out my photo archive and Favorites list.  Here's one for my good friend Lili, who posts over on FEARLESS NESTING.  (Hey the pic reminds me of her white pumpkins!)  It's the 10 in 10 Diet.

The 10 in 10 Diet is a total system that makes it easy to transition off meat and cook healthy food conveniently while keeping your grocery bill under $150 a month per person, and reducing our contribution to climate change – think 10% reduction by remembering these 10 key points. It's a way to fast track to a simpler, more peaceful life. It's totally possible to really enjoy food while eating more like the majority of people in the world.

Too many people live just the way the Fat Cats & Corporations want them to live.  To live they way you want, you have to be as self-reliant as possible.  Check out Adventures In Self Reliance for some neat do-it-yourself projects, especially the food.  She has a recipe for Homemade Survival Bars that sounds pretty good, plus fruit leather and such.

You can see what nature thinks of fences.  Robert Frost's poem said "good fences make good neighbors" but he seemed not to agree with his own poem's character who said it.  I feel the same.  I haven't really been all that fond of neighbors since I moved out of Mom & Dad's place next door to Nanny & Grandy, and there was no fence betwixt.  Now, I've been called all kinds of hippy and anarchist for my views on property but my old pal George Carlin reminds us that we all need a place for our stuff.  He says if we didn't have so much stuff we could just walk around.  I got too much stuff - do you need any of it?

Did you ever feel that life was sending you coded message?  Ones and zeroes?  Just me, huh?  It figures.  If your Adobe Flash Player app seems hard to decipher you can get help, and make sure to protect your privacy and security.  You can also get lots of help with your Bleeping Computer.  Vigilant Citizen deciphers the occult symbols in modern buildings, songs, videos, and movies.

I'm not sure what my little friend here is up to but you can Enhance Beneficial Insects With Native Plants, highly recommended by my bee-keeping friend, Dr. Dan.  Maybe I can identify the little guy with Discover Life, a tool that has over a million and a quarter species pages.  There is also a huge amount of material at Encyclopedia Of Life.

Meet my friend Horace Wyche.  When I first met him he was a pretty skinny dude, then he made the decision to get fit.  He can help you do the same with his Hoss Innovative Fitness Training.

Best Road Trip In Ages, Pt. 4, Conclusion

Here's grand-daughter Logan with her Great-Aunt Rebekah.  Who can resist the "I'm so cute" face?

Marcy and I woke that last morning, a Monday, at Dan & Rosario's knowing there would be more more partings later in addition to those who had to leave Sunday night.  We had become attached and could not hurry ourselves to leave, although we had to in order to make it to an appointment at "the welfare office" Tuesday.  We savor our remaining time as we prepare to leave, taking in all the sights & sounds & smells one more time.

The style-conscious moth says to the shell, "Love your colors, who's your designer?"

~ The Monarch March ~

So I walked up on the latter part of a conversation between Lisa J. and Eric the entomologist concerning monarch butterflies and what plants attract them.  Eric stated that milkweed is their preferred food/habitat and that he had seen a stand of it along the two-lane highway near Dan's house.  He announced that he was going to bring back a sample to show her.  I invited myself along.

Shelf fungus

Milkweed

Eric spotted another inhabitant.

Eric takes samples of milkweed and finds a fallen monarch along the road.

I'd sure like to know what this is.  Currant?  Some related edible berry?

Marcy takes a good look.

~ End of The Monarch March ~

We hiked up Mount Johnson and found this beautiful specimen of fungus on a fallen log.  The camera ran out of juice with no spare dilithium crystals.

The ritual fire stirrer.  We'll carve the date at each gathering of the tribe.

Massive egg recall?  Not my problem!

Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies attracted to Joe Pye Weed along the trail down Mount Johnson

Fairies watch over fallen St. Francis.  Not sure if that bottle was involved.

Dan traded these elderberries for a bushel of beets from a local farmer he knows

Zucchini

This honey is not up to Dr. Dan's exacting standards of sweetness (he blames the Devil's Walking Stick nectar) so he's giving it back to the bees.  Note the sticks for them to crawl on so they don't get too bogged down. 

Here there be Salamanders in spring-fed purity.

Dr. Dan snubs the honey but I go at it like Winny-The-Pooh.

This is the head of Dr. Dan's femur bone.  A ball joint in a Ball jar!  He let me take a picture of his scar from the replacement surgery but I decline to post it in the name of decency ;-)

"I wish you guys could stay!"

This is the road by Dan & Rosario's home.

Gently sloping down out of the Alleghenies

The kind of store I like to see

The power grid leaves a scar

Are we near Three Mile Island?

That building & tower look a bit depreciated

We spent all day chasing the sun and still can't catch it on the glacial plains of Eastern Ohio.  Where are we, Zanesville?

Mark has been at the helm all day, guiding the van homeward non-stop.  Nice job Mark.  It's nice to know it can still shoot the gap, even with the "service engine soon" light on.  We arrived home after dark but the warm glow we felt from being with good people in a good place still remains even as I post this 2 weeks later.

Best Road Trip In Ages Pt.3

So our third day away from home and we're really missing Logan, but we resist the urge to call home and check up on the kids.  They have to learn to stand on their own, like little Logan is doing here.  The previous night had brought a new noise which sounded like a military helicopter zooming past the window.  Some of the gang is talking about going to town for the Sunday flea market.  Marcy & I already have a flea market in our house so we opt to hang out at the Johnson home.

Dan & Rosario are both fans of Art Deco/Nouveau and have a lot of neat pieces around the house.

Rookwood, if I'm not mistaken.

Mark's peppers, grown in the soil of Shandon.

When I was a kid my dad worked for Diamond company up in Middletown, making wire-screen forms for these paper-pulp egg cartons.  These eggs are nothing like the massive commercial egg recall I heard about on the news today.  They are different sizes and colors, with rich yellow yolks.  I met the chickens who laid these eggs and I saw the yard they run around in and eat from.  They are not "Matrix Eggs".  Raising chickens is very do-able.  I bet someone near you has chickens and might trade you some eggs.

Everyone has gone to the flea market so Marcy enjoys some quiet time by the fire before we hit the shower.

And we enjoyed some quality time with Rosario.

She told us some great travel stories...

And she shared some photo albums with some great pics of Mayan Ruins and scuba diving and such.  She and Dan are both certified to dive.  That's fascinating!

"That sounds so nice..."

This is Eric Day, an entomologist at Virginia Tech.  In addition to knowing his bugs, he is a member of the Virginia Christmas Tree Growers Association and he has that asparagus farm with Nan.  Nice guy, smart, not afraid to get dirt (or bugs) on his hands.  Everybody is back from the flea market.  Time for a snack and then something really special.

~ The Honey Heist ~

Eric advised me to tuck in my shirt so no bees would confuse me for the hive.  You better believe I took his advice!

Dan smokes the hive.

Got the top lid off, showing the hanging frames of combs , with room for the bees in between.

This is a foundation for a new comb, not much built up yet.

This comb shows a lot of bee-labor put into it.

Here is the entry to the hive.  Do you see any fat drones amongst the workers?

Dan re-assembles the hive carefully so as not to squash any bees.  If one gets hurt it sends out a pheromone that alerts the entire hive.  We all are careful about where we step, squat, or move at all.

The Bees Brothers?

A loaded comb.

Dan & Rosario's daughter Autumn, 19,  watches intently.

I hope she knows how cool her parents are.

Whew, what a day!  But it's not nearly over.  I still have go in search of Monarch Butterfly habitat with Eric and Dan makes goat vindaloo for dinner, and then we sit around the bonfire again...We might be able to wrap up this trip in one more big post.  Join me for the thrilling conclusion next time!