For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Good morning everyone! It’s a nice wet morning here at Steve’s Country, we had about 3/4 of an inch (18mm) of rain overnight. Most of that came from one big thunderstorm that was lighting up the night sky with an amazing amount of lightning. And that thunder was really booming, made me jump a couple of times. Hopefully it won’t start more fires, but they usually do. Thunderstorms are generally not widespread enough to soak all areas and most lightning in a storm is around the edge apparently, where there is also the least amount of rain. And in dry years like this one that means fires get started by those lightning strikes. One of those lightning strikes was very close by and the thunder really shook my apartment. Hopefully some of those fires got this rain too. The largest fire is now 495,859 acres in size. The cooler weather and some rain has slowed the movement of the fires.
Speaking of chipmunks, well, there’s much else to talk about these days so I hope you don’t get tired of these cute little critters. Anyway, they have been very busy this morning. I put out their food and it was less than a minute and every chipmunk was out there trying to get their share. I divided it into two piles today, but that wasn’t enough, so this next time I will make four piles so they all have a better chance to get at the peanuts, and sunflower seeds. There, that’s working better, now they can actually get 4 of them at a time out there.
Hopefully when we get a sunny morning again I will be able to get some pictures of this new way to feed these little critters. Well, it’s not really a new way, just slightly different. All 9 of them were out here at one time this morning, they were running around, chasing each other, it was difficult to keep track of them all. Yesterday, coming home from shopping there were two fawns eating grass beside our cemetery. I was able to get some nice pics of them. They looked so cute munching away at the nice grass, a deer’s favorite food. They were not scared to have me there taking pictures of them, which is normal around here.
In the afternoon I was out trying to get pics of bees again, without success, but while I was trying to get one bee, I felt something touching my elbow. I looked down to see this huge wasp/hornet on the flower right next to my elbow. As he moved around he touched me. Fantastic! I focused in on this one instead and got a couple nice pics of it before it flew away. This thing was more than an inch (about 3cm) long. I wouldn’t want to get stung by that critter. Unfortunately you can’t really see just how big it is in the pictures. I’ll have to see if I can identify this one. I have lots of others to identify as well. Then I can start showing them. Identification is not always easy. Oh well. I hope you all have a great day and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
Β©2021 Steve McLeod.
Good news about the rain, bad news about the lightening
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Yes, I just hope the fires got this rain. It will take a couple of days to find out if the lightning started any new fires.
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Fingers crossed π€
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So far I haven’t heard any news about the fires.
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Aww nature is beautiful
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So very true! Thanks for reading today Tiffany!
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Great pics today Steve!! I can’t wait to see the one of the wasp, hornet or bee whatever it is! I like to see the detail… Have a Great day!!πππ
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Thanks Dusty! I think it’s some kind of a mud dauber wasp, but it’s so much bigger than the ones in the book. I need a better book on the subject. There are over 3300 species of bees in NA and probably the same with wasps and hornets! Have a great day Dusty!ππΊπββππ³
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Wow!! That’s a bunch. Good Luck on the research!!πππ
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Not a mud dauber anyway, coloring is off too much.π€π
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Sorry, just saw this one.. Is it a fuzzy one?
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no, black and yellow markings. Might be a thread waisted wasp, there’s so many different kinds that after awhile they all look alike. I don’t like these online ID sites, hard to compare pictures without flipping back and forth all the time. One site had good info, but no pictures, how does that help??
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It sure doesn’t! There needs to be a program created where you can scan in a picture and press search and it does a Google search and gives you the answer!
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Actually Google has it’s own ID site that works like that. I tried it with a flower, it gave me more than a hundred possibilities, none were correct, some were not even the right color or shape! It is a fairly new program so I guess they have few things to work on yet.
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Rats, gnats and strawberry HATS! I thought maybe it was still not done!πππππ
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Somebody has already thought of everything!π³π³π³π³
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Probably!πππ€π€π²π²
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I can agree with that.π€π
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Ya think??π€π€ππ
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Sometimes, but not too often, gives me a headache.π€ππ€£π€£
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Something happens to me!!ππππ€π€
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Hmm, missed this one. 3 of a kind I guess. How was your day?
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That was supposed to be “samething”
My day went really well! It was nice to hear from you during the day. It breaks up the monotony of the work! The drive is always forgettable! But I listen to music on the drive and that helps it go by a little faster.
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Sounds good, nice when things go well like that.π
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Yes it is..
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Muffin. Three??ππ€π€
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No, not Muffin, there’s you and me and…wait, that’s 2.ππ
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Yep!! New math??π€π€ππ
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Things keep changing.π¬π¬
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That they do! That’s the one constant in everyone’s life!!ππ
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Really? That’s a good one! Must remember that.ππ
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Ha and Ha!π
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Ohhh, I made you laugh too!ππ
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Yes… you do that quite regularly!ππππ
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I do my best to please. Or even make you wheeze. Just don’t sit in the trees. When there’s a great big breeze.
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Don’t need to sit in a tree just to wheeze!!ππππππ
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That is a very true thought. Speaking of thinking, did I see a comment from you about the new chapter today?π€π
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No! I didn’t see it! Until now! But I have been watching for it.
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It came out at 2pm. Sigh.ππ
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Well I was working then driving.. but I did check before I left at 330 and it wasn’t there yet.. sigh… what can I say?? I missed it!π
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That’s okay, these things happen. Probably didn’t notice the next post either. But that’s okay…
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Well yes how coukd I help it ?? It was right there!!π
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I’m glad it was there!
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IBRB!
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HIGBS.
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Okay ya stumped me! AGAIN!π
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Hurry, I go bed soon.ππππ
Good night Dusty! I’ll be back with more, um, with more, uh, forget that.π€―π€― Talk again tomorrow! That’s it!π I knew I’d think of it.πππππ΄
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I thought it was Hope I get better sleep
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Ohhh, that’s good too!
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Took me a bit though!πππ
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I can imagine.ππ
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I hope so also! Good Night π΄
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Busy day today? How are you?
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It was a moderately busy day which kept me moderately busy. Fine, except I don’t feel good.
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Stomach again or your back?
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My back, shoulder, neck. Back is really bad today.
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I am so sorry to hear that!π Perhaps things will calm down after the new landlord take over??π¬π¬
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Though I’m glad I can stay here, there could be some problems, but maybe I’m overthinking and I should start thinking over instead.
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It would seem like that from my perspective, but I don’t have insight, just what you’ve told me. But maybe thinking over is a better way to approach it?ππ
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He is actually very nice, however, it’s possible his girlfriend will handle things, not him, she looks after their other house they rent out, and she’s, well, different.π€π³
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Ah… I see… well you do have a lease agreement correct?
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ππππ€£π€£π€£
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You better get one that spells out boundaries and protections for yourself.. but you know this stuff already! Right?
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Around here you can’t worry about things like that right now. Landlord’s are in control, they know a tenant can’t make demands, there’s nowhere else to go. And I really don’t want a lease, then I’m stuck whether I like it or not. Rental agreements are okay, but landlord’s here don’t use them. They just can say, if you don’t like it, move, there’s 50 more people willing to rent the place, and they’re right. However, I don’t really expect any serious problems, except I’m sure the rent will go up.
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That’s an issue wherever one is. The lease spells out the term and amount, but when you go month to they can raise it whenever they want.. You’re smart you don’t need me to tell you that.ππ
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Not here, tenants are protected, a landlord can only raise the rent once every 12 months, lease or not, and only by 2.5% (though that amount changes from year to year depending on inflation). However, when a landlord takes over a new place, like this, they can raise the rent basically as high as they want the first time, then it goes 12 months from there. He takes over Sept 1st. My present landlord is moving on Monday but will still be coming back to go through and deal with her remaining stuff. It’s some little details that can be problematic, like driveway use, paying for snow removal, noisy tenants in the house, or just uncooperative ones. Some people are easy to get along with, some are not. However, I likely won’t have to worry about that for awhile anyway, he wants to renovate the house before renting it, so it may not be done until spring.
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That can be good.π Or not??π€π€
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My thoughts almost exactly!ππ
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Whew!! That was scary!ππππ
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Telling me about it!π¬π¬ππ
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Or!! Perhaps less thinking all together!! A bit of meditation π§ββοΈ might be helpful in calming yourself from thinking so much?π€π€π
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Are you trying to say I’m not calm? Well, are you??π€¨π€¨π€£π€£
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Ahm…well maybe a little aggeitated??π€πππ¬π¬
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Not me, not at all, calm as a leaf on a windless day.ππ³πΏπ
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Okayyyyyyyy…… if you say so?ππ
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Thanks.πππ
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U R welcome
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T Y 2 U.
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Niceππ
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ππ
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You’re Welcome!ππ
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Oh, guess what, guess what? I finally at long last after many years of trying, got a picture of a gray tree frog!!π€ΈββοΈπ€ΈββοΈπ€ΈββοΈ And guess what color it was?π€π€ππ
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Blue??ππ
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Of course not, it was gray!! Such an amazing thing.
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Huh?? Grey??πππππ
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Yep so strange.ππ
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I agree! Who would think a gray tree frog would be gray??πππ
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Yep, up this way most gray tree frogs are a bright green!π
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What about it is unsettling?
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How strange, I thought I just said what it was. Guess I just thought that I thought that I did.π³ππ
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I sent it after your first reply w/o reading the second reply.
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Oh, that makes sense, so does that mean you only read every other reply?π€π€¨
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No! Does that mean you only send every other one?πππ
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Naturally I send every one, who else will?
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Okay smarty pants!π
Then why does your second response come through before your first?? Huh?? Tell me..ππππ
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They’re in a race.ππππ
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What kinda race??1π€π€
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You got that right!ππ
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Thank You!π
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Me too!π
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Yep U2!ππ
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Good hunting on the wasp/hornet/bee you captured on your cameras ! The fawns are so cute ! Wonder where their mother was…chipmunks are delightful…we got thunder, very loud , rain and lightning at night and early morning…more tonight…maybe…does Muffin watch you feed the chipmunks ? βοΈβοΈππΊππΏπ₯π₯βπ¦
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Doesn’t look like it will be easy to identify, I thought it would be considering how big it is.π€π Most likely it’s a wasp of some kind, but there is so many different species!π¬ We’re supposed to get more thunderstorms tonight also,π but I hope not. She watches sometimes, but not often, which is good, it’s too hard when she’s right at the door.π³πΎββπ
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I’m glad you didn’t get stung!
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Me too!
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