March 24, 2021 a thought for today, To whiten ivory with dye is to spoil nature by art. Latin Proverb

I have spent most of the day working on the church newsletter. It was close to being done yesterday but it needed some fine tuning today. It was fine tuning that required some size adjustments and then proper placing. I was also waiting for a last minute item to be entered. While I was waiting, I uploaded the bulletin and most of the newsletter for proofreading. I wanted a “clean agenda” for tomorrow when I am scheduled for the laser procedure to my eye. I don’t know what time I will be through at the doctor’s office or what my vision will be like after the procedure. I am postponing the normal Thursday printing until Friday morning. Now I have all of the items ready to print. 

On March 23 the photo title challenge was titled “w is for.....”. While we were out for the doctor’s visit, I was on the look out for the photo I would need. As I waited in the car at the pharmacy for my sister, I caught sight of these windows so I got out of the car and snapped the shots. Also while I was waiting, I took a photo of the windows in a bus as it passed by and several other windows and walls in surrounding businesses. 

I did get a chance to work in the kitchen for a while. I got the dishes cleared away and some odds and ends done. 

I also worked on the lap top. It worked fine for me when I was in the waiting room at the eye center when Sue was having her surgery. The lap top doesn’t recognize the printer so I was trying to set it up for wireless printing. I wasn’t having much luck with that as I was multitasking and focus wasn’t too sharp.

Today’s photo theme is “x is for.....”. Wow, what a time I had trying to find something to fit that letter. Some of my peers used the legs of a picnic table that formed an x, another caught some tree limbs that formed an X. I ended up taking a photo of my peace lily and used it as it can take xylene out of the air in a building. Kind of weak maybe but it works. 

The word today is storms. By a divine instinct, men's minds mistrust ensuing danger; as, by proof, we see the waters swell before a boisterous storm, William Shakespeare.  The flesh endures the storms of the present alone; the mind, those of the past and future as well as the present. Gluttony is a lust of the mind, Thomas Hobbes. The greater the difficulty the more glory in surmounting it. Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests. Epictetus. Vows made in storms are forgotten in calm. Thomas Fuller. Storms make the oak grow deeper roots. George Herbert. There is a great deal of unmapped country within us which would have to be taken into account in an explanation of our gusts and storms. George Eliot. Character is formed in the stormy billows of the world. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.   Now and then there comes a crash of thunder in a storm, and we look up with amazement when he sets the heavens on a blaze with his lightning, Charles Spurgeon. Do not fight against Providence; nor bring more heavy weather to the storm. Face what is already there, Menander  Be patient. Like storms, the challenges will pass. Know too, that like the sun, your true soul self is constantly radiating, John Morton  The flocks fear the wolf, the crops the storm, and the trees the wind, Virgil   As the pilot of a vessel is tried in the storm; as the wrestler is tried in the ring, the soldier in the battle, and the hero in adversity: so is the Christian tried in temptation, Saint Basil. In a storm there is no shelter like the wings of God, Thomas Brooks.   

This may not be an exciting news bit but it could be an interesting one and one that may become useful at one time or another. It’s about bugs, bugs that we see in the warmer months. Here are some of the critters listed early in the story: Brown marmorated stink bug, Western pine leaf footed bug, Asian multicolored ladybug, Millipedes, Centipede, Ground beetles, Ants, Black field ants. According to the article these bugs are a nuisance but “won’t do harm”. And here are some more that are pretty harmless are ground beetles, those little millipedes, fowl, bugs, centipedes. As we move along in the article there are some more interesting facts and a few hints. To get rid of spiders is one of the subjects. I hadn’t thought about the different types of spiders....to me a spider is a spider period. To begin, the “sac spider”. The author of the article says it is an “invasive species of European origins”, hides in cracks of walls and has “mild necrotoxin”. This “toxin” can cause redness, swelling or burning if bitten, hydrogen peroxide and an ice pack my help these symptoms. Next in the article are the 17-year cicadas. To “eliminate” them from inside the house, use a vacuum to capture the silk sacs and take outside to empty. Other in-the-house invader are jumping spiders, wolf spiders and funnel-next spiders. “The are harmless” and be “coaxed” outside the house. The next bug in the story is the brown marmorated stink bug. The article said that they come in the house, as do some of the other bugs, to look for water or getting away form “harsh weather conditions”. They can absorb water through their skin. They need to get out of the dry heat of summer to find moisture, basements are humid and cool. The Asian multicolored lady beetle is mentioned. They can enter the house through cracks at the bottom of doors. Toward the end of the article it is suggested that if the homeowner wants to get rid of these and other pests call and exterminator. They can treat the outside of the house around the perimeter and another thing they can do is treat cracks and crevices inside the house. 

We are having spam for dinner tonight with mac and cheese. 

Joy