How do you balance work and home life?
Actually, here are a few spiders. Happy Saturday.
Here’s A Spider
Tag: Nature
Squirrel Mom Life
Wookin’ Pa Nub
In All the Wrong Places…
If you know, you know.
To cheer myself up, I’m going to do a photo dump of my plant children. There are a couple of surprises this spring.
©️2024, itsamyisaid.com, all rights reserved.
Eh…
Underwhelmed. Let’s look at photos.
Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you have a great day!
William in Spring
I wrote about William last fall. He has been doing his thing all winter, and he withstood a tornado. Although he did shed a few limbs, he seems unscathed overall.
This week William has decided to participate in the pollination of the entire neighborhood. The winds are a bit gusty, so William is trying to populate everything, basically. My next-door neighbor asked me today what kind of tree he is. I could tell she was annoyed by all of his spring activities – i.e. dropping seed pods. I told her he is a Willow Oak and many years ago, my mother thought her beloved Birch trees were dropping these pods, so she had them all cut down. It turns out, William was dropping the pods. My mother was upset about that for many years. She didn’t like William. William is a big boy, it would take a crane and many thousands of dollars to remove him. So William stays, and the bigger he gets, the more seeds drop. Everywhere. You can’t go outside without getting rained on by seed pods these days. They clog rain gutters, they form piles of tumbleweed looking things, and they get under your wiper blades. I think birds use them for their nests, though. But they can’t take a bath in the birdbath because it’s filled with William’s pods.
I was out front fussing with the clematis this morning when two (other) neighbors walked past and talked amongst themselves about these pods being everywhere. I didn’t say a word, except a good morning when the greeting was offered to me. I kept my eyes down and focused on my task. When I was done, I walked in my house and shook my hair. Twelve seed pods fell out. Thanks, William.
Oh – one more thing: for the past several years, there has been a toad living in my backyard. When I had all the English ivy eradicated last fall, I was worried that the toad might have been adversely affected. I am happy to report that Toady McToaderson is back and apparently in fine health. Today is the first day I have heard him singing his dulcet sounds to the lady toads. Welcome back, Toady.
©️2024, itsamyisaid.com, all rights reserved
I saved a bumblebee today
It’s about 90° here now, which is unusual for April and early May. Everything is hot, including humans, animals and tiny creatures. I was on my usual excursion to my neighbor’s mailbox to retrieve her mail, and when I opened the mailbox, a bumblebee was inside. It seemed disoriented and probably was quite warm having been in a hot metal box with no escape. I had just gotten my own mail, so I had torn up junk mail in my hands which came in handy – no pun intended.
My neighbor had a package in her mailbox, but nothing else, so I ignored that for a moment and used the scraps of paper that I had just torn up to escort the bumblebee out of the mailbox. It was essentially a real Lyft. The bee climbed on and I carried it in front of me like a golden child, which bumblebees truly are. I tried to find flowers, but much of them are gone, and the new batch haven’t bloomed yet. I tried a Dianthus, but as soon as I perched him or her on there, I could see there was no pollen. I apologized and eventually convinced the bee that I would find a more suitable flower. We traveled in the same way (golden child real Lyft transport system) toward the backyard where I put the bee on some wild violet flowers. It seemed there was some pollen in these, but the bee was so heavy, the flower took a slow drop to the ground. I frowned. The bee was determined and more lively at this point, so after two attempts at the wild violet flowers, I convinced he or she to get back on the paper and I would find a flower. I walked over to the azaleas, but immediately knew there was no pollen. I was out of ideas. In that moment, the bee buzzed away – took flight and was completely recovered. Buzzy was no more silent bee. Then the bee found an appropriate weed and proceeded to feed. If you’ve been here a while, you know that I chase bumblebees for photo ops. I thought maybe the bee would let me get a quick snap in, but no. But that is ok. Their lifespan is short, after all, and they have to capture the pollen. After the bee buzzed away, I went back to my neighbor’s house, got her mail out of her mailbox and put it on her stoop.
I’ve been on insect saving duty the past three days – one of the hazards/joys (however you want to look at it) of spring. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Christmas (Cactus)
I got Chris, my first cactus, shortly after starting my job at my former employer – around 2011. My Facebook Memories yesterday showed me Chris from a 2015 photo that I snapped in my office at the time. He was still a wee one, and I put a little note on him, because the housekeeping staff would come in overnight, water all the plants in an effort to help, but eventually they would drown them and the plants would die. Everyone knew if you had a plant you’d better stick a post it on it and write, “Please don’t water, thank you!”
Eventually – and most likely unbelievably by looking at the photo above – Chris outgrew his spot on the top of the bookshelf. I had to carefully carry him out to my car at the end of the workday, being careful not to tear any limbs off in the process. I put him on the floor of the passenger side of my car, where he proceeded to tip over three or four times on the thirty mile journey home.
Chris had a spot on my bookshelf at home for a while, then he outgrew that space as well as a few pots. I’ve read that cacti don’t like to be repotted. They like to be root bound, which I am all for, because trying to repot a cactus is not an easy task.
After Facebook showed me my memory yesterday, I decided to snap a photo of Chris present day. He ended up on a perch all by himself right next to a southwest facing window. You’ll understand why he’s by himself when I show you what he looks like now.
Chris has thrived at home, and he has cousins in another room who are not quite as large as he. They all usually start blooming in October, so I’ve taken to calling them Halloween cacti. Sometimes they bloom around Thanksgiving, so they become Thanksgiving cacti. They don’t really have a timeframe. They do what they want. That’s cool with me. I’m simply glad Chris likes his pot, because I am never going to be able to repot this lanky gentleman.
As The Crow Flies
To go as the crow flies is to take the most direct route somewhere. Going as the crow flies is the shortest path between two points.
This expression has to do with traveling—in a very specific way. If you travel as the crow flies, you've gone somewhere as quickly and directly as possible. A shortcut is a good way to go as the crow flies. A direct airplane flight with no transfers is another way to go as the crow flies. When you think of this term, imagine a bird flying in a straight line from point A to point B.
I moved to the state I live in now when I was just turning seven. For reasons, Mom and I were graciously taken in by family members who lived one state away from our previous home. It wasn’t terribly far, but to a six-year-old, an hour-long car ride seems like a great distance to travel.
From there, Mom and I moved across a two-lane highway – which is now a four-lane highway – to an apartment complex. We lived there for seven years.
Mom found her final home in a neighborhood she admired for years and would drive through on her way to pick me up from my friend’s house.
I just realized the other day, that if you plot all three of these points of residence on a map, the triangle is very small. In fact, I determined that the distance from Point A to Point B to Point C forms a very small triangle, with each arm of the triangle being about 300m. 300m translates to 0.186 miles.
Some people may think this is incredibly isolating and not very worldly, but it was entirely coincidental and not planned, as far as I know. And since I didn’t even realize it until a few days ago, I guess it could be a statement about how much I like my neighborhood and my surroundings.
You guys know Jerome, right? He’s my crow. Well, it’s more true to form to say that he is my nemesis. He is the crow that’s mad at me for eternity because I wouldn’t let him put his dirty bagels and french fries in the birdbath. He and his friends and family caw at me as I’m walking in the neighborhood. If I’m at the local pharmacy and strip mall, they’ll do it there, too. They somehow know when to show up. If I walk out of my house and Jerome starts cawing from somewhere far enough away that I can’t see him, but close enough that I can hear him, I know I’m in for quite a mouthful. Other people have crows bring them money and shiny objects. Jerome has given me intergenerational hatred. I would prefer money or shiny objects, at the very least.
“I hear you, Jerome! Good morning to you, too!” I say loudly. I’m sure my neighbors think I’m crazy, but that crow and I have beef. I wonder how old Jerome is, and how long he’s been watching me. Maybe his great-grandfather, grandfather and father saw me at Points A and B. Point C is Jerome’s territory now, as the crows fly.
©️2024, itsamyisaid.com, all rights reserved 
When I’ve Worked Outside
The physicality combined with the stress relieving exertion usually leads to a good night’s sleep. Whether I am up to my elbows in dirt sowing seeds, planting plants, putting cages around my perennials, or digging up old bricks from a long ago fire pit, working outside is not only beneficial exercise, but it is a sort of meditative state for me. I don’t have to think about what I’m doing, so my mind can wander. Using my strength and feeling the ground underneath helps to center me when I am feeling shaky. Sweating and feeling the ache in my muscles at the end of the day means that I got a lot done, even though sometimes it doesn’t look like it.
ER, Jr. And His Buds
You met William last fall.
Now meet ERJ. First I should tell you about ER. ER was my beloved first Eastern Redbud. Eastern Redbuds are my favorite tree because the flowers emerge from the bark. They come in shades of purple and pink, and also white. They bloom in mid April. They are a native species to the United States, and if you pay attention, you’ll see them everywhere. 
ER was just a wee babe in 2013-ish, when he arrived to my yard. I estimate he was about four years old, because he was flowering, and it takes about four years for the tree to become old enough to flower. ER was planted out front for all to see. Each spring I would wait for the buds to appear, then the flowers to emerge, followed shortly – or simultaneously if the weather is especially warm – by the heart-shaped leaves.
ER did well for a few years, but then he took a turn for the worse. He wasn’t very old, but he started to develop problems in his bark. His location in the yard was facing southeast, and he didn’t have much protection from southern storms and brutal Nor’easters. It turns out Eastern Redbuds are a little bit of a delicate tree and probably should have more shelter than was provided to ER. ER suffered mortal wounds shortly after his diagnosis and was cut down. I was devastated to lose this tree, but when I noticed the tree was sick, I gathered the pods that formed on the tree, which happens in autumn. Inside the pods are little seeds that disperse as the pods fall on the ground. These pods contain many seeds and there are many, many pods. When the pod breaks open, the seeds are naturally sown, and if the conditions are right, a new tree forms. This is why you’ll see groups of Eastern Redbuds growing in areas where there is not much development and trees can be left to be, well, trees.
Back to when I was gathering the pods. I read up on how to gather the pods, prepare the seeds and sow them. I had little pots with soil, and after I prepared the seeds by scraping off the outer hard layer and doing something with hot water (I can’t remember right now), I planted them. I covered them with plastic wrap and put them in a sunny window. I waited.
And waited.
I kept waiting.
And nothing happened.
It turns out it is difficult to cultivate Eastern Redbuds. I didn’t get any trees from my attempts. ER was cut down and I assumed that in a few years I would buy another tree and plant it elsewhere, where it was safer.
In late spring of 2020, there were some weeds growing in the front flower bed and grass was growing where ER used to be. One day, I happened to be looking around in the weeds and grass and noticed a tiny heart-shaped plant. I immediately pulled all the grass away from this little guy and studied it further. Sure enough, it was an Eastern Redbud baby. Excited, I went in the house to gather supplies so that I could MacGyver a little cage for the baby. While I was doing that, I noticed another one very close to the first baby. I prepared a little nursery for that one as well. And then I decided I’d better check the whole yard even though the pods don’t disperse that far. To my surprise, there was a larger baby very close to the porch, which is about 10 to 12 feet away from where the original tree had been. This was the largest tree out of the three I found. I prepared the nurseries for all of them and tried to mark them very well so the landscaper wouldn’t weed-whack them. Unfortunately, what I was trying to protect from happening did happen – the baby near the porch got weed-whacked. I was devastated. Did he not see the entire contraption around the tree? The pink tape? Nothing?! With hands on hips, I stomped immediately over to the departing landscaping guy and told him what he did to my tree. This was still Covid lockdown time, and one of the positive distractions I had during this time was this baby tree. He was apologetic, but I was still upset. My beloved ER had come back in the form of ER Junior, II and III. And now the largest of them gets weed-whacked. Fast-forward a couple months. I have finally calmed down, and they’re all still growing well – although one of them was missing a limb.
A few months later, the sewer line collapsed. None of the trees were affected, thank goodness, but the ground had to be dug up to replace the sewer line and once that happened, rain water did not drain properly and pooled in the front yard.
In the spring of 2021, I needed to have the front yard graded due to the water pooling issue. I had to move two of the babies in order to save their lives. My electrician was recruited for the job. He arrived in the pouring rain, and I stood beside him with an umbrella, as foreman of the project, showing him each tree and telling him where to plant them in the backyard. After much mud, II and III were successfully moved. ERJ was not in danger, so I left him where he was.
The yard was graded and landscaped. ERJ could be seen properly, and it was obvious that he had been naturally “planted” (I had nothing to do with it) in a perfect spot. Not too close to the house, but not so far away that he would be in danger from the elements.
In 2022, we had a bout of very hot weather with no rain and ERJ started to lose his leaves. I watered him every day, but still the leaves fell off. I thought the tree was dying, but I watched him when he went dormant in the winter. I pushed on his branches to see if they would snap and they didn’t. That means the tree is not dead. In the spring of 2023, he started to grow leaves and I knew that he was OK, though he didn’t have any buds formed on his bark. Recall from above it takes years for Redbuds to mature enough to form the buds. ERJ grew very tall last year. I encouraged him by talking to him and letting him know that he was a very tall young man and I appreciated his heart-shaped leaves that were very healthy. I pruned the tree and shooed away birds who were too fat to perch on his skinny branches. I wondered if ERJ would develop buds for the spring of 2024. I kept checking him all winter, and I couldn’t tell, but I thought maybe…
By March, I could see little nubs growing from the bark. I know what leaves look like when they are starting to form, and this wasn’t that. I think I did a dance on the front yard. No, I’m sure that I did. Certain that flower buds were forming on ERJ, my miracle Eastern Redbud that appeared years after the parent tree died, I began to document via photographs the bud formation. Without further ado, let me introduce you first to ER, then ER Junior.
(And what about the other two trees, you ask? One of them was injured when a nearby tree branch fell on him, but he is slowly recovering and is growing tall. The other one is very small but still alive. They don’t like to be moved after one re-planting, so I’m going to leave him there and see if he might want to be an Eastern Redbud bush rather than a tree.)
©️2024, itsamyisaid.com, all rights reserved
“It's Amy,” I said. 