Instant Cardio Workout... (Guest Post by Himself)

 Hey...

Ever get ‘spooked’ about something?   It just happened to me...

First, I’m the type who – if I take off my glasses – needs Teri’s to help me locate where I put them because I can’t see well enough to FIND them.   Next, with my glasses off, if I see something (or reach for it because I thought it was something else) and then it turns out to be something potentially dangerous, I ‘get spooked’ and am all hyper for a few minutes.  (Imagine seeing a foot-long piece of dark yarn on the floor and reaching for it, but as your hand gets close to it.....it moves.)

Well, something like that happened...

I was about to take a shower and had already set my glasses down.  I turned on the water spigot down below and, once it got warm, I reached above to turn on the overhead part.  I then started stepping into the tub.  But as I was stepping in, I saw movement near the drain.  

This.....

A wolf spider...

He didn’t move until he was getting wet AS I was stepping in.  He had been straddling across the drain so, without my glasses, I didn’t see him.

Closer.

And he’s big – here he is in the large pitcher we keep birds in who knock themselves silly after hitting the window.  That is a dime down below to show you the size.   After Teri flicked him into this pitcher, she had to shake it to keep him from running up the side before she got the lid on.  You could hear his feet skittling along the sides trying to get out.   

Lots of footsteps...

Kinda colorful up close though with his reddish/brownish colors. 

By the way, I have been told that they have a very painful bite.  Which brings up an incident of just months ago:  While downstairs sorting thru stuff, I got up from my chair and ‘felt something’ brush my outer leg that had been ‘just inside’ my blue-jean shorts. 

It was right there where I am pointing – a wolf spider clinging to the inside of my pants leg.   Because my pants are so loose, I didn’t feel him.......until I stood up.   As I stood up, I felt him ‘slip out’ against my thigh and fall – (seeing this out of the corner of my eye as I just happened to be looking down) and I then heard a small ‘thunk’ as he hit the carpet.   Attempting to skittled away I grabbed a glass jar and scooped him up to be tossed outside later after I finished playing with him.   Only half the size of the wolf spider in the tub, still, his bite would have been painful.

But back to the bathtub spider...

We have no idea where he came from or how he got in the bathroom.   Man.....after we got him out of the shower, I searched every INCH of the shower curtains and other places in the bathroom – including under the toilet seat!   😓   I was now hyper! 

  

~Himself~

(PS – By the way, That Woman – as a child – would catch and keep wolf spiders as pets.  It was the one spider that didn’t seem to bother her.  She’d keep them in a terrarium and would catch bugs for them to eat.   She wasn’t allowed to get a tarantula so a wolf spider was the next best thing.    Only Teri...)

"She Did It Again..." (Guest Post by Himself)

Yesterday was "Learn About Composting Day".  Yep... there's a day for that and it is something I've been doing since last month.  I've been looking at ways that would work for us as the large bin type composting seems a bit much.

I finally found something that I think will work... now to get Himself on-board.  He had a bit of something to say about it.  I'll just let you read what he said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hey...

Well, she did it again.   Something weird...

For you married types, does your spouse ever ‘get an odd idea’ and you are left wondering what you married?  When this happens, do you take an interest and inquire about what he or she may be doing?  Or do you slowly back away because you really don’t want to know.

Well, I can’t back away this time – I am part of ‘the help’...

Let’s let pictures take it from here:

Teri – who received a box in the mail. 

Nothing is unnerving than when they send off for something, and don’t even tell you about it.  (Because we might run interference.)   Then they have that happy look on their face when it arrives.  

OK – I’ll bite.   I’m like, “Whatcha up to this time?”

Me?  I wasn’t too sure about this.  For one thing, it look unprofessional - the box was dirty.  Maybe they dropped it or something.   Maybe something you paid good money for got broke.

Then, you look at the label...

Didn’t help.  Actually made things worse.   Seeing the word ‘live’ on a box that might have been dropped doesn’t fare well for the poor live ‘whatever’, nor my nerves.  

Then she proceeds to open the box.   To what? 

A green bag.   Whoopee...   What is so interesting about a green bag?

This...

(Seeing it yet?)

Let’s take a look at a portion of the box again.  

Notice ‘500 RW’.  And what does that stand for?

Look closer...

What does that look like?

You guessed it............

Worms.  And ‘RW’ stands for ‘Red Wigglers’.   For real.

My Dear Wife bought................a box of worms.   500 of them.   

(In this picture she told me to hurry up with the shot because the worm’s movement between her fingers...tickled.)

And those suckers were fast too – only two seconds between pictures, those wigglers starting dropping into the box.

And she is PROUD of ‘em!  

Now, let’s back up here for explanation...

That Woman got it into her head to order 500 worms from a worm farmer.    Yes, there really is such a thing!

(By the way – those unprofessional markings on the outside of the box was dirt – probably from ‘Uncle Jim’ himself who one presumes packed the worms.)

Even comes with instructions.

Why did Teri do this?   Because she has it in her mind to use these worms to help with composting.  Seems 500 worms can make soil rich very fast. 

(Side note here:  On a farm close by a farmer who raises cows has a granddaughter who refuses to use the word ‘cow manure’ for the cow’s.....(well, you know).    This little girl renamed it ‘cow dirt’.   So, in effect, Teri has 500 Red Wigglers who will help her make.....

          .....worm dirt.)   

How does this work?   Take a look:

First you get a tub.  

Then you label your box.  Makes it official.     (I think these are the worms from the ‘Men in Black’ movie.)

Then you drill tiny little holes along the upper edge.   

Like this:   Had at least 50 of those holes drilled with, (I think she said) a 1/16th inch drill bit.   When I asked her about it she said, “Hey – worms have to breath too!”   (Ya know...I never thought about it.  Worms breathing.  Can’t picture it.   Hmmm...)

Then, you cover up the holes that are already in the handles of the plastic Rubbermaid container.    Why? 

So the worms don’t escape.   Look at them go!  I watched several worms truck on up the side of the plastic box like nobody’s business.   

You put your finger there to block him?

He just changes direction...

Backing up again, if worms need to breath, they obviously need to eat.  Eat what?

Backing up again here, you start out with a big tub with a mixture of dirt, shredded cardboard & newspaper, and ‘coir’ - which I’ve been informed is shredded coconut fibers.   

Here is ‘coir’.

You just mix them together and then moisten it up.  Then?

Then you dump in the worms, get ‘em used to their new surroundings.

Then you basically feed them healthy table scraps.     

Teri?  She has saved up a various vegetable leftovers and scraps that she ‘adds to the mixture’ every few days.   She even makes little piles in various spots to see what food scraps the worms like best.   So far we have discovered that broccoli is out.   But they like tomatoes, apples, cantaloupe, lettuce, and I don’t know what all.    

Here is a cantaloupe half turned upside down.

Here I picked it up – look at that bundle of worms.   And, look at how they are eating – Teri had left decent amounts of cantaloupe within that half, yet you can see that they have ‘eaten to the rind’ and were working on that too!

At the same time, look at this worm-highway along the top.  (In the 30 seconds it took me to open the box, pick up the cantaloupe to take that picture, two worm had escaped up and over the top.  I had to retrieve them and toss them back in.) 

She waters them too.   With a spray bottle.  Moistens them and their bedding (or home, or whatever you would call it).  

The end result of all this?  Two things:   More worms, (as they are prolific), and...........

......... ‘worm castings’.    (What that little girl would call ‘worm dirt’.)      

So, what do you do with it all?   Well, it seems you mix this worm dirt in with another project of hers – her bonsai plants, and certain house plants.  (I cannot abide throwing that into a potted plant that I would eat – like a small carrot or something.  Somehow that just doesn’t seem right.....not that I would grow a carrot in a pot.  But you know what I mean...)

Eventually?   Eventually you have to ‘divide them out’ of the container because at a certain point they will ‘max out’ and stop reproducing.   So you split some of them out to a new worm house and the process starts all over again.   

Or you can go fishing..................

Lake Winona Walk ... photos by Himself

While we were visiting in Winona, MN Himself went across the street for a walk in Lake Park.  He took my camera with him.  I was impressed by the photos he took.

Enjoy the sights along his walking route...

In the background is the famous Sugar Loaf Bluff.  The 'sugar loaf' was created by quarrying in the late 1800s.  The height is 500 feet, with the sugar loaf being 85 feet tall.

The lake as a population of Giant Canadian Geese, a subspecies of Canadian Goose.

They are HUGE.  A standard Canadian Goose gander weighs 8-12 pounds.  A Giant gander weighs 16-20...and up to 23 pounds.

Lake Park is one of the nicest parks I've seen, wouldn't you agree?