Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Around Home

We had a little road trip to Charlotte, NC this weekend for a 60th birthday party but otherwise we have just been homebodies.

Rosie is getting braver, coming out of what has become "Rosie's room", on cautious forays now and then. She holds her ground when the dogs come to sniff her with only a hiss or two, but when they bark she is back under the couch to hide.

 

 

 

 

 

She emerges low to the ground, one carefully placed paw at a time.

 

 

There is always something to watch outside. The anoles who live on the deck and back porch provide constant entertainment. The babies are especially cute and this guy is eating ants out of the hummingbird feeders.

 

 

 

Say hello to the deck toad, another welcome insect-eating resident. I hope he eats chiggers (called Red Bugs here) because they are fierce this year.

 

 

"How do you open this thing? I want to go out!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mrs Corn Spider has been busy. She had a husband an eighth her size for a bit but she ate him and produced two more big egg sacs you can see in the background. Here she is wrapping a grasshoppery snack for later.

Remember, this is her third egg sac and there are up to 3000 eggs in each sac. See what I mean about busy?

 

 

 

One last deck-dweller here. Meet the Leaf-Footed Beetle that hangs out on the porch screen. I don't know what he eats but whatever it is, it apparently lives in the screens. See that big foot on his last leg? It looks like a dried up old leaf.

He is a big guy, about as long as my thumb.

We do venture forth now and then, mostly to the dump and the grocery store. There are no garbage trucks that roam the neighborhood at 6am waking everyone up here. You are responsible for disposal of your own stuff at the local dump. Sadly, way too many people can't seem to find their way to the dump and the roadsides are littered with fast food detritus, furniture, and whatever else the user is done with.

In town there is a one-woman campaign on to solve the problem. Her signs pop up here and there and usually express exasperation. The poor woman's pretty yard is less than a block from McDonald's.

She is one of my heroes!

 

 

This is "The Pig," or the Piggly Wiggly, the store where my mom shopped when I was growing up. We haven't had Piggly Wigglies Up North for probably 40 years so it was a big surprise and a bit of nostalgia when I discovered they still existed down here.

 

 

 

 

Shopping is somewhat of an adventure. There are different kinds of fizzy drinks than I'm used to. You know, like Coke and Pepsi and 7-Up?

This is the most unusual so far, funnel cake flavored soda! I didn't buy any, but I'm imagining it tastes something like ... fried donuts?

 

And then there is corn meal. Up North you would find two options, white or yellow. Here the possibilities cover 20 feet of shelf space In a small store!

Who knew there were that many things you could do to cornmeal to make people buy your brand over, say, 30 others?!

 

 

 

 

 

I'll leave you with one last thought for the day.

Whee! Have a little fun today, okay?

 

16 comments:

  1. I sure enjoyed this post! Living in North Carolina in the country, I can relate to just about everything you mentioned, especially the trash. I just may have to fix up a can and a sign like that woman has. Sweet Rosie. I am glad she is adjusting to the big change. I've never seen a lizard on a hummingbird feeder or a bug like that one. You have really had some big changes to adjust to also! Take care.

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  2. Cynthia, you live now very close to nature and i hate frogs

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  3. Interesting post Cynthia. I enjoyed seeing more close to home or at home pics. I feel for your pretty kitty and how afraid she is but she will come around soon. Too bad about the trash. I can't abide litterers. We have so many here too and there is garbage collection. Some people just don't seem to respect property. I enjoyed seeing inside the Piggly Wiggly store. It is so nice and clean and orderly looking at the check out. I like stores set up nice and neat. The cartoon at the end was very cute. Have a very nice week. xx

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  4. Oh my goodness! I love the neighbor on the trash mission! She is pretty blunt about it, too. The cornmeal options made me smile. I would love to jnow the differences. But the bugs . . . I'm not sure how well I would do. You are very brave!

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  5. Great post! We have a tv programme here where they sift through the fly dumped trash to find identification, then bundle it up and return it to the person who dropped it with the cameras rolling. What is with some people?!! The cornmeal selection is amazing, bugs interesting too.

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  6. Don't you admire people who have a cause and really go after it? We are pretty much a recycling household, so litter does not appear around us or in our garbage...rather in the recycle bins.

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  7. The "Growing Up is Optional" - so true and so many don't!

    No rubbish collection???? How strange and your new location can hardly be called
    an "out of the way" place or you are in the middle of the Gobi desert and ALONE!

    I wish the understandably upset and annoyed lady all the very best in her crusade against
    filthy mongrel litterers and dumpers! These lazy misfits should be - well use your imagination!

    The parade of little creatures is great. Those anoles ( green large gecko type lizards) should
    turn out to be your best friend - they love Mossies! I loved the pet one in the BBC series of
    "Death in Paradise" - the series shot on a Caribbean Island.

    Piggly Wiggly! Shades of "Driving Miss Daisy" ha ha.
    It is such a unique name for a supermarket chain.
    Cheers
    Colin (Brisbane. Australia)
    PS: Well you know what the weather is like here as I have noted and
    I can assure you that this morning (Wed.15th) it is bloody unreal
    cold - bugger these winds from the Southern Ocean. Covering
    now unseasonably, even though winter, Australia with this bloody cold
    vortex. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Only the snow skiing fraternity is ecstatic
    with this weather.

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  8. Good to see that Rosie is adjusting! We used to have a Piggy Wiggly when we lived in Moorhead, it was a great store. Interesting that you found one in the south. That many types of cornmeal...they must have lots of different recipes. That Funnel Cake Soda sounds horrid...but then I don't like funnel cakes either:)

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  9. I like that saying, it's so very true.
    That is such a shame that people do that with their rubbish...it's a wonder more people don't take pride in their surroundings.
    Your cat is lovely, hopefully soon feel more at home..

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  10. Loved the quote at the end made me smile. We are blessed to have our rubbish taken away, but we do have to pay for the service. Great shots of all those insects.

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  11. Rosie is such a beautiful looking cat. I loved reading about the creatures that share your deck area...great photos! Also lived reading about the grocery store and all those different products that you showed. And I do live by that poster's quote! Lol

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  12. Rosie looks stiil a bit wary, that tail is low. My neighbours have two dogs and my cat always runs inside when they are in the garden behind the palisade.. Nice to see how you explore your new surroundings.

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  13. Love the joke. You seem to be finding some interesting creatures in your new environment including litter bugs

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  14. Your deck looks like ours, always some critter out there stalking something. No chiggers here, just no-see-uns.

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  15. You seem to have quite a number of different visitors in South Carolina.

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