REFLECTIONS: July 2016

Sunday Morning Humingbird

My video is not very sharp but I hope you still enjoy it. I was sitting outside when I saw the hummingbirds and ran back into the house to grab my camera.
Maybe if you enlarge the video you can see more detail but I'm not sure.

Video:

Termite Robots

I find this amazing! I imagine that soon there will be robots to do construction work, maybe even dig in the coal mines. It will be great for safety but what about unemployment? People will have to be trained for other lines of work.

This would make a great Christmas or birthday present.

Watch the video for details. You'll have to enlarge it to full screen to be able to read the descriptions.

Breaking Bad

I've been watching the series Breaking Bad on Netflix. Actually I'm addicted to it. Often I watch two or three episodes in a row.

"A high school chemistry teacher diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer turns to manufacturing and selling methamphetamine, with his former student, in order to secure his family's financial future." - From web

l'ts not a new series. My daughter Laurissa and brother Tony recommended it. I love it. The realistic characters are well acted and the plot is realistic.

Here's a trailer:

Maggots!

(photo from web)

We do not have public garbage collection where I live. You can hire a garbage collection service or take the garbage to the dump yourself, which is what I do.
The other day as I was about to put the trash bags into the trunk of my car when I saw them. I went back into the house for more trash bags to double bag the garbage. I did not want those nasty looking things in my car.

The maggots appear in warm weather if you don't dispose of the garbage sooner than usual. I routinely go to the dump once a week but now while it's hot I'll have to go twice a week to avoid having it happen again.

(photo from web)

Flies lay eggs that become maggots. Thankfully I almost never have flies in the house. It's the trash can that's a problem. I have a metal trash can with a tight lid so I have no idea how flies can get in there.

Here's a great video:

"While these flies are major pests within the home, they are one of the only organisms that rids the world of carcasses. When they are in their natural habitats, they are very helpful, indeed!"
(Jordan from Norman, OK)

Small Vegetable Garden July 2016

First One

Small and Green

Tiny Pumpkin

Early Morning Spider

Here's a yellow spider I found on one of my potted plants. It was hard to stop shaking the camera because of my position. Sorry for the blurriness. I like the dew drops highlighting the web design.

It moved to the center of the web when it saw me.

I tried to make the photo better by editing it but I think I only made it worse.

Here's the same spider this afternoon. I wonder what type of spider it is and if it's poisonous. This photo is a little better.

My hummingbird feeder was empty again after only one day; so I suspected something else was drinking the sugar water besides the birds. There are plenty of ants but I don't think enough of them to empty the feeder.

Notice one of the plastic yellow flowers is broken away like it was bitten. I saw a chipmunk running in the yard. Maybe it was her.
From now on I'm going to bring the feeder inside at night.

I've never heard these lyrics before but I like them.
Video:

Somthing Ate My Tree Sapling!

Here's my now empty pot.

It was looking so good.

This year we had more rabbits than usual.

I suspect one of them was the culprit.

Maybe it was this guy.

Lightning Bugs

Photo is from the web.

I love watching lightning bugs in the summer. We always called them lightning bugs instead of fireflies.
Video:

National Simplicity Day July 12

I found this holiday to be personally meaningful for me. I often make things more complicated than they need to be. I'll just have to keep trying to make my life simple and enjoyable.

From the site:
"In our fast, ever-increasingly busy lifestyles, National Simplicity Day is the time to take a step back and begin to simplify our lives. One can start by slowing down, tuning into nature, enjoying the simple things in life, decluttering and striving for balance. Once you have done this, you can begin to enjoy the many stress-reducing pleasures and benefits of a simple lifestyle."

“In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty poverty, nor weakness weakness.” ~Henry David Thoreau

“My riches consist not in the extent of my possessions but in the fewness of my wants.” – J. Botherton

“Simplicity is the essence of happiness.” – Cedric Bledsoe

“Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.”
– Robert Brault

“It is the heart that makes a man rich. He is rich according to what he is, not according to what he has.” – Henry Ward Beecher

“The simplest things are often the truest.”
– Richard Bach

The Power of Negative Thinking (updated)

Is this Sad or Courageous?

This video has me puzzled. It's a Greek video I found a while back and I'm sure it loses a lot in the translation. I was afraid to post it because it makes me sad and I don't want to make anyone sad.

"Positive thinking is a mental attitude in witch you expect good and favorable results. In other words, positive thinking is the process of creating thoughts that create and transform energy into reality. A positive mind waits for happiness, health and a happy ending in any situation."

Many people have the opposite viewpoint. I think of it as "The Power of Negative Thinking".
Never expect anything good and you'll never be disappointed.

I like the music and video but the lyrics can be sad or courageous (in a Greek way?) or ironically funny .

Lyrics in the video:

Here's a better translation by Martha of the Plowing Through Life blog. I don't know why the above lyrics were in the video.
Link: Plowing Through Life

Wind Chime Shadows

I made these wind chimes from old broken ones. For the one on the right I used paint can openers suspended under a part from a weather vane. Small chains and fishing line make sturdy connections.