Honeybee Nest

Honeybee Nest in Ash Tree on April 15, 2013. It hung there for an hour or two and then took off in a swirl straight up only to disappear.

Climate Changes Ohio

This was written in August 1988. . .

Ohio is getting hotter. About the only thing surviving outside is a cactus. I think that it would make a good symbol for a new flag.

I wish the state or the Federal Government, and international government leaders, would propose a global environmental clean-up. And, I’d like to see tax incentives provided those individuals and institutions who get involved in planting trees on their properties, or to those who use property for sanctuaries for wildlife. Changing a back yard from a sea of meaningless grass into a wildlife sanctuary is an objective we need government leaders to support.

If I can work on my back yard on my own and realize great pleasure watching wildlife who have made it home; I’m sure most would to the same, given official encouragement.

Abraham Lincoln, August 1988

Pepper Jax

Love this dog. Pepper Jax is a Jack Russell Terrier with a wonderful attitude. We all love him and he loves all of us but is especially fond of the females in the family. And they make over him like he is straight out of the animal kingdom and is here just for them. It is hard to imagine that he was found with his buddy, wandered the roads in rural Darke County.

My Old Writing

We ate a lot of dandelions in the spring before they bloomed. Mother warned me not to dig dandelions that had bloomed—she said the leaves would be bitter—and they always were. I never knew anyone in our village who made dandelion wine but maybe they did and never talked about it.

Esta Flory, our neighbor, used to walk past our house on the railroad track. She carried a coal bucket and a butcher knife. She gave the impression that she was looking for dandelions but was really looking for some coal for her kitchen stove. The D&U railroad went past the coal bins where coal was stored. When coal cars unloaded there, a lot of coal was spilled or left where it fell between the rails. She would bend over and pretend she was cutting out dandelions with the butcher knife but she was actually picking up the coal and putting it in the bottom of the coat bucket. When the bucket was full enough, so she could still carry it, she did dig some dandelions to cover the coal. She didn’t want neighbors to see her take the coal and didn’t want them to think her family was so poor that she had to take the coal. We were all poor in those days and anybody in their right mind would take spilled coal or corncobs or anything else they could use to burn in their stoves.

The country school I went to was over about the time the dandelions were heavy with yellow blossoms in May.

© Abraham Lincoln
Carpe Diem

Creeping Phlox

Creeping Phlox along sidewalk by our garage. Patty cutting it off so it was even with the sidewalk and the cut off pieces were replanted in a clear spot on the slope in our backyard.

Hummingbird Landing

A Ruby-Throated Hummingbird about to fuel up with some sweet nectar.

Bandito

Carved from driftwood on Vancouver Island, BC, Canada