Motley Monday - September 8, 2025

 Some garden stuff, some not garden stuff.  

Garden Stuff

Morning glories are so pretty.

Even a few hours later in the day.  I love how they curl up.

This a beneficial true bug, one of the few true bugs I like, that I know of!  It's a Leaf-Hopper Assassin Bug.

The Blue-eyed grass has little grasses growing at the top of the old flower stems.  What?

This is an example of vegetative continuation or late-season foliar extension.  It was hot for quite some time, very hot.  Some native perennials react to heat and low moisture by shifting energy away from seed production into survival mode.  Blue-eyed grass is a member of the iris family (no, it's not a grass at all), which tend to prefer leaf production over the effort of seed production.  That takes a lot of energy, and the plant senses it may not have time for that, so if no seeds, makes leaves!  I cut them off, leaving one to see what happens. 

Non-Garden Stuff

We stopped at Taco Bell the other day.  Not a frequent thing.  They forgot three of our items, which wasn't noticed until we got home.  I called and they made good on the items a few days later.  That day though, while we were missing three things, they gave us 27 sauce packets!  They asked what kind we wanted, and we said an assortment, but who would have thought they'd put 27 of them in the bag?  (I didn't pay.  Personally, I think they are expensive, especially the truck-stop location closest to me, which charged more than the prices on the app.  They don't take app orders though.)

I came face to face... face to... something anyway, with the Winco floor polisher!  It waited at the end of the aisle, beeping, until I moved over to the side.  It's creepy seeing it going about its business with no attendant.

Saturday there was a thunderstorm.  Not a lot of the storm portion, if that's rain, but plenty of thunder.  Nearby thunder.  I got Mickey inside before the worst of it started, because he loses control with thunder.  Manically racing around the yard, barking at the sky.  He's taken to standing on the big cedar stump as if it makes him considerably taller!  He was on it again Sunday when a raven was mocking him.  Then, as if that wasn't enough, for the second time since I moved here in 2011 the loudest, most frightening noise.  I think it was from the mill, part of which is not far from my house.  It may have been an emergency venting.  If anyone knows, let me know in the comments.  This was after I went in for my phone (the next door neighbor was taping it too) and the sound was about half what it had been. 

That was it for Mickey!  He didn't bother to react by that point.  Then, about half an hour later some idiots starting setting off fire crackers!  

I ordered Mickey's anxiety chews from Amazon.  They have hemp oil and some kind of mushrooms.   I'd actually ordered them the day before all this!  They came yesterday evening.  What also came, in a different package, but from Amazon, was nothing I ordered.  Have you heard of "brushing scams"?  You are sent something you didn't order, then the senders (company?) makes a fake review to help them.  Of course, they have to hack your information to do that.  They must have gotten it when I ordered Mickey's things, I haven't ordered from them since Christmas.  I reported it, changed passwords, etc.  Never send the items back, that lets the senders know it's a working address.  Never scan codes on the box, or for information on the item, that can be part of the scam. Just like you never respond to a spam text or email, that lets "them" know it's a working number or email.

At least the weather is cooler.  Not just for the break in the heat, but because the portable air condition caused (I think it's the reason) the electricity in the living room and one bedroom to go out.  The bedroom shares a wall with the living room.  It's not the breaker, none were off, unless it's a bad breaker.  Hopefully by the time you read this I've gotten hold of an electrician.  So, cooler, but humid.

On a lighter note, the Canada geese are on the move.  We have some year-round resident geese, but there are other flocks that are just passing through.

Making that typical V and honking all the way.