Going Camping!

  Sometimes you just have to pitch a tent and go camping.  When the woes of the world come crashing down upon you, taking a brief respite can be all it takes to get you back on track.  The grandlittles had intentions of taking a swim in the pool this morning but before they could get dressed in swimsuits, I heard the distant rumble of thunder.  Uh oh.  That was not good.  I am one of these folks who respects the weather and all it has to throw at you so the dip in the pool idea came to a screeching halt. Needless to say, the grandlittles were a bit...umm...disappointed at the outcome of their plans.  MawMaw had to think and think fast!  What could divert their attention from the devastation they were facing.  Hmmm??

  I headed to the craft room and pulled some rope, a painter's tarp, a large cardboard tube and a couple of large screw-eyes.  Yep!  We were going camping right in the middle of a thunderstorm!  Mary Ruth trotted herself upstairs to fetch the "guys" as she called them (aka her dad and uncle) and I made plans of how to erect said tent.  "Just throw the rope over the beam, tie a slipknot, pull it tight and measure it.  Then drill a hole here to install a screw-eye.  Slip the tube over the rope and tie off the end in the screw-eye!"  I had it pictured in my head and just knew it would work....the "guys" were not so sure of their mom's tent building nor of her sanity in coming up with the idea in the first place. Erecting a large tent in the living room and camping out sounded to be a bit more trouble than it was worth.

  Come to find out....I was right!  It did work and the kiddos had a blast crawling in and out of their new abode.  Toys from the playroom and about ten thousand balloons were carted in to complete the campsite.  What fun! A couple of scavenger hunts complete with lanterns in the darkened rooms added to the experience!  Needless to say, the grandlittles had a blast pretending in their own tent  especially when PawPaw joined them in the fun. The pool was soon forgotten and the rainy day carried on without a problem.  MawMaw to the rescue!

Attack of the Worms!

  A quick dash outside in a break in the thunderstorms found me face to face with some unsavory characters.  While I was picking tomatoes, a white fluttering caught my eye.  Hmm, that appears to be something in the persimmon tree down near the marsh edge.  Despite getting thoroughly soaked by a mist that was rapidly turning into a sprinkle, a hurried hike to the tree was in order.  Oh, my!  I almost wish I had not seen this.  There, in the persimmon tree (probably twenty five feet up), was a huge mess of tent caterpillars or web worms, as folks call them.  Just what I needed!  Those things are messy and eat just about anything and everything in sight.  The web was getting soaked with the overnight rains so the caterpillars were hastily retreating onto the limbs of the tree.  Perhaps they figured since there was obviously a "leak" in their tent, they needed to seek higher ground.  

  Hurrying back inside, I thought to study the critters as best I could.  Do they really do the major damage that I had always been told?  Or perhaps, was the lore connected with the critter just a bunch of nonsense?  As long as I can remember, the thought was to kill each and every one of the critters.  So..I researched.  Yep, sure enough, the tent caterpillars do indeed munch a bunch but it seems that what aggravates folks the most is the "unsightly" webs that adorn the trees.  No one wants huge webs strung about their well-manicured lawns. Persnickety bunch of folks, huh?  That explains the current thought but why did farmers from days past fret so over the caterpillars?  Seems that it had more to do with the mass migration of worms as they search for a protected place to pupate. If there were many webs in an orchard, the worms would literally take over the place.  Fences, woodpiles, sides of barns, roadways or anything in the path of the caterpillars was covered by tens of thousands of two inch critters. I guess seeing that many critters on the move would be pretty unnerving.  So, folks took action against the critters.

  For a while, chemicals were the way to go.  Spray everything in sight with harmful chemicals and let other critters (humans included) beware!  Recently, however, things have gone "green".  More "natural" and "organic" sprays have been developed that deter the critters.  That is good news!  Pop, his generation and even, I am sure, previous ones had a more direct method of dealing with the tent caterpillars.  FIRE!  Yep, they would burn those boogers right out of their tent homes!  A long cane pole was rigged with an oily rag to make a torch.  Add a bit of turpentine and strike a match.  Poof!  The web was singed right along with its residents.  Of course, occasionally, a few tree limbs were accidentally scorched, black smoke filled the fields and, occasionally, the torch-bearer would receive a burn during the process.  The torch method was used back on the farm as far back as I remember.  In the later years, however, Pop (being the innovative fellow he was) rigged a blow torch on a long cane.  This worked well but still had its pitfalls.  While the smoke was alleviated, the torch still singed tree limbs and the weight on the end of the cane pole made it unwieldy.  

  After thinking about the alternatives of reaching the extreme height of the webs, my method is "leave them be".  I may learn to regret this but, since this is a once a year occurrence, I will ponder it again next year. My mindset may be changed by then.  Until then, I can only hope that the torrential rains will wash the critters from their tents and allow the birds to feast upon them.  Ahh, I like that thought!

Tent Be Gone!

Back when Michael built the dog pen, he put up an awning for shade purposes.  Little do a lot of folks realize, dogs can get sunburned just like humans.  They love to snooze in the warm sunshine but when the summer days get too hot, this can present a problem.  Therefore it is necessary to provide shaded areas when they are outside. Although the yard has plenty of trees, the pen, itself, was built in a wide open area..no trees equals no shade.  The awning was a simple canvas fitted with grommets and stretched across the entire back portion of the pen.  Ms. Ezzy loved her little shaded area and would dig a deep hole in the cool dirt so she would also be out of the flies!  Smart dog!  Then came along Sunny..the not so smart dog!  I am just teasing there..Sunny is as smart as any other dog.  She is just a pup and fully acts as such!

Ripping up what was once their shade tent!

Last week while in the pen, Sunny caught hold of the canvas and ripped a large tear in it.  The shade tent was demolished! With good intentions of mending it, I flipped the torn canvas up over the top pole...and promptly forgot about it.  With all of the wind and rain that has pelted the Bayou in the past week, the canvas tent flapped around enough that there was no hope of repairing it. This morning, Sunny was on the prowl!  She was hunting for a new toy to shred!  This puppy has riddled just about every toy she has ever had.  Nothing is safe!  As she wandered around the rose garden in search of something else to demolish, I spied the old canvas.  Hmmm...although it will probably just teach her to tear any future tents, I brought it in for her to wrestle!  She loved it!  Ms. Ez got in on the action and a full-fledged tug-o-war was soon in the works!  They pulled each other around the grassy area until both were exhausted!  Both dogs flopped down for a five minute break and then were back at it!  The poor canvas was never going to be the same!  I could hear the fabric shredding with each shake of their heads!  My goodness!  Why did I not think of this before?  This actually kept them both occupied for hours!  Not once, did Sunny try to escape the confines of the rose garden!  Not once, did tempers flare causing a spat between the dogs!  Not once, did I hear the shrill, siren-like whine of Sunny being bored!  This old tarp was the perfect toy!

I do believe the canvas is losing the game of tug-o-war!

Finally, the dogs both tired. The canvas tarp had won the battle but I am quite sure that the war will commence at first light in the morning!  To be honest, I do not think the tarp has a chance!  The two dogs will not quit until there is nothing left but a few strings..and then Sunny will try her best to eat those!