This and That: A Blog

  Skywatch Friday The sunsets to the northwest are always filled with wires, poles, and rooftops.  So, here's one reflected, which makes those a bit less noticeable! The white foam board in the window is because of Mickey.  He is reactive, and while the sofa is pulled away from the window about 3 feet, he would just put his front feet up on the window sill to see out.  Now he stands up on the back (often with three paws up!).  He can still see out, but he can't bash the glass.  If the curtains are closed he moves them with his nose to peek out.  From outside he looks like a dog ghost!  If you've ever had a reactive dog you know you can't just " Train him !" out of the behavior.  You have to work on avoiding triggers and distracting.   I have some new foam board with Contact paper, both from the Dollar Tree, on one side to put up.  This makes it a little more private for me too.    Have a nice weekend.

It's Public Parks today for Thursday Postcard Hunt .   The lily pond at Shaw's Garden (now the Missouri Botanical Garden  - search " lily pond " for more images from the past),  St. Louis, MO  postmark 1909 Portland, OR Classical Chinese Garden     Princes Street Gardens , Edinburgh, Scotland with Scott Monument in the background. Postmark 1942 The famous Swan Boats in Boston Public Gardens , Boston, MA  This garden was the first botanical garden in the U.S.  Boston also has the honor of having the first public library.  It's not the oldest, but the first publicly funded free one. Next week we visit Beaches. 

 I went to an estate sale last month.  It was the second day, so items were half-off the stickered prices.  I would have bought more if they hadn't had so many little things (figurines and salt and pepper shakers for instance) in boxes sealed with plastic wrap for one price.  There would be one or two things I liked in a $10 box.  I overheard quite a few other shoppers complaining about this among themselves.  Four things at 50¢ each...  Japanese bone china Persian cat.  A menu cover from an Alaska Steamship Company cruise, copyright 1941.  It's a print by Joesphine Crumrine, called Mageik .  There were at least eight different dog menu covers by Crumrine.  Inside right would be the daily menu, breakfast, lunch, and dinner.   This poor little basset started out life as a pincushion, however he was used as a planter and is quite worse for wear now.  A thrilling find! Rio Hondo pottery bud vase, 1930s - 1940s.  I l...

 I didn't see any ladybug larvae, which look like tiny dragons, but the adults are out and about doing their good deeds. Seven-Spot  Spotless (I'm not just calling it that because it has no spots, that's what it's actually named.) Common Red Soldier Beetle   These are often mistaken for red and black pests, so be careful before you rid your garden of these beneficial insects! A spittlebug nymph at the half-way stage of development.   At this stage spittlebugs actively feed on plant sap, but unless you have a lot of them the plant won't even notice.  The foam, called cuckoo spit, or spittle, is a moisture shield, and won't harm the plants either.  The adults are called froghoppers.  If the spittle is noticeable I remove it.  Bold Jumping Spider  I've posted about these geniuses of the spider world before.  Jumping spiders problem-solve, learn from experience, plan routes (short-cuts, detours), and explore just out of curiosity....

 O is the stamp of the week for Sunday Stamps .  Let's see what I came up with for O animals.  O ctopus Republic of Togo 1964  O strich   Zimbabwe 2000 O kapi East Germany 1980 - "Endangered Animals" series, Berlin Zoo  O ryx, Arabian East Germany 1980 - another of the "Endangered Animals" series P stamps are up next Sunday.