Way Down Yonder

This may take you back a few years; but the song and the singer! 

As a kid, did you ever wonder what a "Paw Paw patch" was?

We have Paw Paw trees on our property now. Dozens of them! 

We noticed them last year, and again this year, when they were in flower. 

The flowers of this native Paw Paw (Manasota Pawpaw) are a creamy yellow. They are cup shaped and hang down, limply. 

They are said to turn maroon as they age. I have not seen them with that coloration....yet! 

The trees are also insignificant looking, most of them leaning at a 45° angle, 

looking like they are doing poorly.

But we have Paw Paws! 

I have read that as the fruit ages it will turn yellow-ish green to yellow-brown.

When ripe, if the tree is gently shaken,

the fruit falls to the ground.

If you hear me singing...I might be out picking up pawpaws in late summer or early fall. 

I have read that the fruits taste something like bananas.

They don't travel well and last only a few days after picking,

which is why they are not found at grocery stores. 

Scene Along the Road - Glubbey

On our recent trek to NC I noticed something on the road up ahead that didn't look....normal! 

It wasn't! 

This pear shaped vehicle turns out to be a moped with a pear shaped covering made from 2 x 4's and aluminum cans. The owner/designer/driver is on his way across country. We passed Glubbey on US 301 just before the GA state line. I found a recent article at Road & Track, where they interviewed the owner/designer/driver in Chattanooga, TN - so he is making progress! If you are an instagram user, you can follow him @glubbey.

Highways and Byways

We Dreamers recently returned to Florida from NC. We were towing a trailer with a tiny tractor and a few other implements on it. Neither of us prefers traveling on the Interstates in SC, as in most areas the roads are substandard. They have not been enlarged to 3 or more lanes and traffic is horrendous. For too many years the state has failed to acquire enough funds for its roads and maintenance and/or new development so improvements are lagging or severely lacking. (We lived in SC for 34 years...we kinda see/understand what is/has happened!)

So, we often opt for traveling on the by-ways. The highways of times gone by. We usually take State 321 out of Columbia to US 301, all the way to Ocala, FL. These roads were some of the original major thoroughfares for travelers in the past.

Sadly, the opening of the Interstates was a death knell for the small towns on the former major thoroughfares. In areas where no manufacturing existed, or those without colleges/universities that brought young folks into the area, the towns slowly shriveled up....and died. 

As we travel on our path, from town to town, I see ghosts! Ghosts of towns that no longer thrive. Ghosts of a by-gone era when small towns thrived throughout the south. Now, the brick storefronts in town after town stand vacant, with blank, unseeing windows, many covered in boards. Buildings that will eventually fall victim to decay in the damp, humid climate.

When we get to US 301 we probably see a hundred motels..."Motor Hotels" that had their hey day in the 50's and 60's, the "Golden Era" before the Interstates and before corporate dominance. Some have reinvented themselves and are still in use, more stand vacant and in disrepair. 

My mind explodes in visual images of vacations past. Of times when the family climbed into the Vista Cruiser station wagon and headed out for a vacation! I can almost see my family stopping for a picnic along the way, and staying at any one of these motels. 

From the Internet 

There we were, the perfect little family, having our own adventures! 

Did you have similar adventures?

Saying Goodbye

I had the occasion to visit a Veterinarian's practice this weekend. Kaitlyn stepped on something while we were out for our morning constitutional. The poor girl squatted to pee when her paw encountered something. Something that really bothered her. She began to hop on three legs, stop, lick her back paw vigorously, get up, take a step, hop a few times, stop, lick and repeat. I checked her paw, numerous times. I felt in between her to toes. I checked the pads, I could see nothing, I could feel nothing. Her behavior persisted. I had to call The Mister to come pick her up - she only weighs 25 pounds, but having one dog on a leash, and another in my arms just doesn't seem to work. 

I went back to the scene of the incident. I didn't see any ground bees (yellow jackets) or ants. I didn't see any bugs. I brushed my hand through the area and didn't get poked by anything. 

Kaitlyn continued to fret about her foot. Examining it under lights we could see no reason, nor feel anything that might cause her to have such discomfort. She paced from one end of the motorhome to the other, sometimes putting weight on the foot, sometimes hopping. She was panting and wanted to chew and lick her paw. I held a towel with ice chips on it, then soaked her foot in cold, icy water. Nothing was easing her anxious behavior and obvious discomfort. 

We called the closest vet, and emergency service in Flat Rock, NC, about 35 miles from us. Off we went. About half way there Kaitlyn finally settled down. She stopped her pacing, licking and panting. Of course.... isn't it good news that whatever it was, perhaps a sting, had resolved itself and was no longer causing discomfort.  We continued on to the vet planning to assess her behavior upon our arrival, and hopefully, let them know we didn't need their services. 

When we pulled into the parking lot I noticed a young woman sitting in the back of an SUV with a sweet, hound dog's head in her lap. The dog had that skeletal look of a very old, faithful pup. She never lifted her head, nor made any other move. While we walked around the parking lot, checking Kaitlyn's gait and watching her behavior, brief glances at the SUV began to fill in the story. 

The woman was soon accompanied by a Veterinarian. She came and sat with the woman and her hound dog. They talked a bit. The Vet pet the old gal, and placed a tourniquet on her leg. We turned the corner. I found it hard to hold my emotions in check. Too many times I had been in that situation. Each story was a bit different; a story of a dog with its own tale to tell. Each time I felt such depth of sadness, while still realizing what a gift I was giving to let my best friend go peacefully.

When we returned to our car the woman remained in the back of her SUV. Hunched over her dog, cradling and stroking its head, tears running down her face and falling on the pup. My heart was with her. My heart  knows that pain. It is so hard. It hurts. But soon I hope the happy memories she has of her hound will help push away the sadness. 

Image from previous blog post

Coon Dog Cemetery

Behind Bars

 Need I write anything?

Jinxed Myself

It must have been something I said! Just about two weeks ago I mentioned the 'Itsy-Bitsy Spider' in reference to rain coming and washing the spider out. Now it's come back to haunt me as I was confronted by two not so itty-bitsy-spiders!

I am not arachnophobic, as long as something/someone has made me aware that there is a spider....there. And truthfully, I guess I'm not really phobic if I'm surprised, I just don't like it. 

As we were preparing to load the truck for a weekend getaway to NC, where our RV awaits, I grabbed a laundry basket I use for carrying stuff from the house to the RV. The laundry basket had been left in the RV garage in April. I grabbed it, put my fingers under the 'lip' of the top edge, and ran into something fuzzy. Ick. There was a complex net of webbing with a spider egg sac enmeshed in it. Ick. I didn't stop to take a picture. I grabbed a tissue and snatched the mess out of the crevice. I didn't stop to look at whether the egg sac was spiky or smooth. I did notice that the egg sac was close to 3/8" in diameter. Ick! I simply removed it, wadding up the tissue and tossed it.* 

My webbed mess only had one spider egg ball in it,
but looked kinda like this. Ick

A bit later I picked up the laundry basket and happened to notice a bulbous-butt spider. It looked a lot like this picture from the Internet. OMG - that is a brown widow spider. And, if I were a betting person, I'd put money on it...I had a close break with a brown widow - the bite isn't as bad as her cousin, the black widow, put painful never-the-less, according to the Internet. And, she is highly protective of her egg sacs, and will drape her legs around it to 'fiercely' defend it. Ick! She is crumpled up in a tissue near her egg sac. 

Fast forward two days. We are now at our RV site in NC. We arrived after a long, long drive, climbed into the RV and I was ensnared by long, thick, sticky web. It seemed to run from one side of the RV to another. Bleech. Whenever I run into a spider web, I always worry about where the web spinner might be. I didn't run into the spider, and both The Mister and I had instances throughout the evening, running into that darn web! 

In the back of my mind, I must admit, that I kept dwelling on where the manufacturer of that web might be residing. But, we had driven all day. We were tired, and we both went to bed.

I'm surprised that I didn't dream about spiders. One of my friends has a recurring nightmare where, when she opens her eyes there is a huge, black spider suspended above her head. When she sees it, she blows out a breath, like blowing out a candle, and the spider disappears! Hmmm, maybe if I blow on the next spider I see it will disappear?! 

I didn't have to wait long to find the web builder. The next morning, as I went to take the dogs out for a walk, I found the owner of that icky, sticky spider web. She was cowered in the corner of the steps of our RV. She looks a bit 'more' because of the reflective surface of the step. But, trust me....she was huge! Like, 4" in diameter. Ick! (The Internet tells me she is one of the largest spicers in North America)

To be honest, she reminded me of Marcellus, the Octopus in "Remarkably Bright Creatures" (if you haven't watched that...it's a sweet movie!), as she was huddled in the corner. I grabbed our broom, and gently swept her outside to make a web another day**....but please, not in our RV!

Again, if I were a betting woman, I'd probably win a bet that this 'little' gal is a 'Dark Fishing Spider'. 

Ick!

And, another interesting fact....both the Brown Widow and the Dark Fishing Spider females cannibalize their mates. Ick!

* I tossed the tissue wrapped egg in the trash can in my sewing room. Now....I'm worried. While I'm away could those spiderlings 'hatch'? Ick!

** The Internet tells me that the Dark Fishing Spider doesn't make a traditional web to ensnare food. She jumps on her prey. However, she does make a long dragline to find a mate, or to keep her safe if she should fall while traversing through trees (or around an RV!).

Our New Little Stag Horn

 What I knew about stag horn ferns last week:

• they have leathery fronds that look like antlers
• they are green and like water
• they can be hung from trees forming large balls
• they prefer indirect light
• they enjoy humid environments
• they have oval-round pieces at the base of their fronds that are either green or brown
• they are epiphytes (air plants)
• they don't like extreme cold temperatures

What I have learned about stag horn ferns this week:

• they are in the Platycerium genus (ah, yes, the 'plates' I've noticed at the base of the fronds!)
• the 'plate' is a type of frond called a sterile frond or a shield.  It hugs the base where the plant is growing (natively found on trees in tropical and subtropical rainforests). Nutrients are absorbed through the shield, which also protects the root structure.
• the antler-shaped fronds are the fertile fronds. Spores grow on the underside of the tips of the fronds for reproduction purposes. 
• new stag horn plants will also grow from 'pups' that grow from the base plate of the mother plant.

After reading online, watching some videos, and gathering materials I was ready to tackle the job of replanting (hmmm, can you say 'plant' when you aren't putting it in a pot?) perhaps better described as 'repositioning' the stag horn we were gifted earlier this week. 

The Mister had picked up some sphagnum moss* for me, and I soaked a few handfuls in a bucket. 

I located some monofilament fishing line, some cotton twine, and scissors.

*another new learning: the Mister and I first thought we might use Spanish Moss (which isn't a moss at all, it is another epiphyte) which hangs from our trees and is readily available and abundant. A quick check on-line showed that Spanish Moss is not at all suitable as it does not hold moisture the way that Sphagnum moss will. 

I went on a foray out to the barn to get a scrap of wood on which to mount the stag horn. I had seen one earlier this week (probably last week, or maybe even the week before),  but I failed to locate it. I next decided to cut some hardware cloth wire we had to make a basket, but on the way to get the wire nippers <squirrel> I walked by the garden cart with the 'boot jack' from a Sabal Palm. When the native palm's fronds fall off, they leave a "Y" shaped piece still attached to the trunk. Those pieces are commonly called a bootjacks, and eventually fall to the ground if not cut away. This week I had picked one up and tossed it in the garden cart. 

I had what I needed and was ready to get to work! I removed the stag horn from the pot in which it had come. A pot is totally unsuitable for this plant. I rinsed the dirt off of the roots. My plan was to nestle the root base in the crotch of the boot jack. However, I felt I needed something to bridge the gap formed by the "Y" to hold the sphagnum moss in place. Hmmmm....all kinds of things went through my mind. I could get that wire, or...I had this knotted hemp netting. That might be perfect. I cut a piece and stapled it across the lowest section of the boot jack. 

I squeezed water out of handfuls of sphagnum moss and packed it into the netting and fork of the boot jack, then I placed the roots under the plate into the nest of moss. I wrapped it all in place using loops of monofilament until it was secured. 

I grabbed a footstool and took the stag horn around to the back. Using twine, I tied the boot jack back to the trunk of a Sabal palm. I hope she is happy in her new home and thrives! 

(We will be having the trees trimmed later this summer, so she will have to be moved temporarily during that process, but she seems right at home there, so unless she objects, back she will go!)