I Can’t Stress This Enough

Edible Starchy Nut Tree - Update

Here’s an update to my earlier post, see link below, about a neighbors chestnut 🌰 tree -

Edible Starchy Nut Tree 

Here it is the end of September and the chestnuts 🌰 have started to turn, ripen, open and fall to the ground allowing me to make a definitive identification on the exact type of tree this is!

Survey says…a Chinese chestnut 🌰 tree

Otherwise known as a sweet chestnut 🌰 tree, which produce delicious, sweet, edible nuts - 

But beware, they’re protected by intensely sharp, needle-like prickles!

I’m not sure if the owners of this tree collect the nuts 🌰 or not. They’ve just started to turn and fall, so we’ll see.

I can’t say that I’ve ever roasted or even tasted a chestnut 🌰 but we’re coming into “chestnuts roasting by an open fire 🔥” season…

Those Are The “Breaks”

Well, that didn’t take long…

So, after spending two hours in the dentist chair this past Tuesday afternoon for step one of a two step crown process, which really needs an asterisk because there inevitably will be some gotchas, making it a three or more step process but I digress.

Here it is Saturday morning, just after 8 o’clock, and as I’m driving to the walking trail I feel something funky in my mouth. Turns out half, yes only half, of the temporary crown that was put in place on Tuesday (not) surprisingly is now sitting in the palm of my hand with the other half still glued in place…for now -

I’m gonna place the blame on this one on that bag of dicks “Murphy”!

Of course, the dental office is closed all weekend and doesn’t open till Monday morning, alas. So here I am with a broken temporary crown that was expected to last two to three weeks, yeah right! Fortunately, I’m not in any discomfort…yet.

It’s been a roller coaster ride with my teeth the past several years to say the least; an expensive, and at times, a painful roller coaster ride!

So for any youngins that might follow along on my silly blog or who happen to stumbled upon it and read this posting, I beg you to please please please please take care of your teeth when you’re young - brush and floss regularly and go to the dentist regularly too to avoid these types of issues with your teeth down the road!

This is my public service announcement for today.

You’re welcome 😉

A New Day Is Dawning

What a peaceful and beautiful morning -

The coffee’s hot, the birds are chirping and singing, the roosters are crowing off in the distance and the sky’s on fire!

Shaping up to be a great Saturday.

It’s chilly 🥶 this morning out on the walking trail, a nice change, and oh so perdy! I have the place all to myself.

Convenience VS Cost Savings

Going through the coupon section of the Publix app this morning and see I that the vast majority of the available coupons, 69 to be exact, are for personal care, health and beauty and cosmetic items. Very few coupons for actual food products. I would never buy the items mentioned above at the market simply because I feel your paying top dollar for them but apparently that’s just me.

Tell me, do people really purchase these items at the grocery store on the regular? I suppose in a pinch a personal care item purchase might make sense, perhaps save you a trip elsewhere but even with a coupon I would think it more expensive versus a store like Walmart.

I say that but have never done the actual research to see. Might I be mistaken?

Prove me wrong 😑!

Let’s Roll

I was looking at a house for sale on Zillow yesterday and was surprised by an installed item in the below bathroom photo (actual picture taken from Zillow listing) -

So do you see it?

Have you ever seen such a thing?

I suppose it works.

It certainly keeps the roll off the floor or counter but does it really work (roll/unroll)?

Creative install or an oops install?!

Thoughts 🤔?

“Served Here, Ice Cold Beer Is”

What’s on tap, hmm 🤔 

Decisions decisions -

One of each please!

Beef. It’s What’s For Diner.

Your ribeyes 🥩 are marinating -

Hashtag NO Fun

I should be referring as a king with all the crowns 👑 I have in my mouth, all the work being done on them AND all the stupid money they’ve cost me, alas!

I spent, literally, two hours in the dentist chair yesterday afternoon, I kid you not, to remove the cracked crown pictured below -

I was given so much novocaine or lidocaine, whatever, that the area is still tingly this morning.

They had to give multiple shots throughout the process because I could feel the drilling at times, ouch 🤕 

This was the first of two visits needed for this procedure and an expensive one too, GRR

Once my new crown 👑 is ready, visit two will be to install it and then adjust accordingly, which will also cost me dearly.

What a rack this dental thing is! A necessary evil 😈 I suppose…

As You Were

A couple of goldenrod soldier beetles enjoying each other’s company 😉 and who’ve ditched the goldenrod for yellow ironweed, tsk tsk tsk -

Yellow ironweed is a part of the aster family, as is goldenrod, so technically this fornication is acceptable, carry on 😉

*Apologies for the blurry pic…

So Many Options, Oh My

Well, “that” time of the year is upon us! Sure did come awful fast too. Although, I do NOT care for Halloween at all, I do enjoy this time of the year, the changing weather, leaves turning and the fall decorations, like these awesome gourds and pumpkins -

Quite the variety these days, just look 👀!

For the “older” visitors, correct me if I’m wrong, but seems like back in the day we basically had the typical orange pumpkins 🎃 to choose from and some gourds. Certainly not the varieties and options that we see today.

Just an observation, no bitterness here.

Walking Streak Activities

Rise and shine peeps -

Heading out for my daily walk -

Not stupid at all. Truth be told, I very much look forward to it each morning!

As a matter of fact, today marks the 83 day in a row that I’ve got my walk in; 13 weeks and counting -

 

Even got my walks in when visiting my granddaughter in Chicago last week!

Avoidance

Pop Corn, It's Been SO Hot

Guessing it won’t be long now before this field corn 🌽 is harvested -

The lack of rain certainly has contributed to this corn drying out faster. It’s dry as a bone and the plants themselves are super brittle.

Where’d the summer go?!

Find The Critter

Can you find the critter in the below pic -

Oh The Places You’ll Go

And I’m off -

Oh, but wait, as they say, don’t count your chickens before they hatch…

Captain just announced approximate takeoff time is 8:59, UGH!

The delay is one thing and frustrating but to add insult to injury, they were boarding us as the delay was announced, so we’re all now stuck seated in the plane, on the runway.

Well, at least the seat beside me is empty, so that’s a plus…

A Day In The Life Of A Mad Scientist

So, I’ve been noticing these grubs crawling on the walking trail the last several weeks. I believe these are Green June bug grubs, as they crawl upside down, I kid you not! There’s not a whole lot but enough that it’s peaked my interest, also it’s something I’ve never seen before.

These dudes live in the dirt, so not sure why they’re coming up and out and crawling on the hot pavement, it’s odd to me -

I’m also seeing oodles of these, what look like sifted dirt mounds in the grass along side the walking trail. Turns out these are fire ant 🐜 mounds, yikes 😬 and ouch 🤕 if you get into them -

Using a stick, I poked some holes in and around a couple of these mounds and boy-o-boy they came alive!

I also performed a teeny, what some might view as a, sadistic experiment today 😬

Click the YouTube link below to see what happens when you disturb a fire ant nest and then introduce a grub into the  melee -

Fire Ant and Grub Experiment 

It’s a tad violent!

And a bit of a waste of a tasty morsel, yum 😋! Think I’ll see if I can find a couple, then head on over to the Nolichucky for bit of fishing, upon my return from Chicago. I’m guessing they would make terrific bait!

What A Lovely Start

What a beautiful morning for a walk!

Slowing It Down

Friday afternoons are meant for porch sitting and just “hanging” around -

Breaking in new coozies -

And some delicious pizza 🍕 -

#Blessed

A Beauty

Final got some much needed rain yesterday afternoon, although not enough but every little bit helps.

What followed the rain was this awesome rainbow -

Mild Or Harsh

Could this be a sign of things to come?!

The oak trees are loaded with acorns this years, oodles of them, see the pic I took the other day -

According to popular weather folklore, a heavy crop of falling brown acorns in the autumn 🍂 predict a harsh, cold and snowy winter…

Or

Is this simply a “mast year” - a natural cycle where large groups of oak trees drop an unusually massive and coordinated crop of acorns, which happens every 2 to 10 years.

Ask me in the spring of 2027 and I’ll let you know what it means 😉

Udderly Confused

Is this what the question means when asked, “if the carpet matches the drapes”?!

Asking for a friend.

Deer Dynamic Duos

“Sorry folks parks closed, the moose out front should have told you”

This mother and her youngster combination tried to bully me and keep me from passing.  They had the walking trail blocked and it looked like they were prepared for a game of chicken! However, they underestimated who they were trying to intimidate and bounced off into the overgrowth as I neared. Pfft, talk about chickens…

There was another mother and youngster pair not far from the two above who we’re frolicking in the soybean field as they worked up the courage to cross the walking path and off in the direction of Moon creek. Perhaps, they were parched and needing some fresh crisp water.

Click the link below to be taken to a short YouTube video of the duo high stepping through the crops-

A Frolicking They Go

I think I’m getting better at this video thing 😉

Perfect Camouflage

Yesterday, as I was trying to take some pics of this striking looking double-banded scoliid wasp -

I had to move around the yellow ironweed plant in an attempt to get a good pic. That’s when I realized I wasn’t alone and the only one eyeing this wasp!

Look closely, what else do you see in the picture below -

Here’s another angle that may help. See it -

Yuppers, that’s a Carolina mantis completely upside down (in pic above) just patiently waiting for the right opportunity to strike, whether this wasp or some other unsuspecting insect -

I prefer the Carolina mantis over the Chinese mantis, just saying.

Blow This!

To the conductor of the 3:30AM train that just roared by, I hope you get the foreskin of your willy stuck in the zipper of your trousers!!

“How’d you get the beans above the frank?!” - from the 1998 comedy There’s Something About Mary

Was it really necessary, at that time of night, to lay on the whistle like you did, twice?!

Not only did you blow that darn thing SO flipp’n long to wake up the dead but you also woke up every sleeping dog in the area who are now barking incessantly, GRR