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Friday, July 31, 2026

...a cup of ambition...

My anatomy is dragging this morning. Pulling weeds is hard work and uses muscles that I don't normally exercise.

The weather-guessers are promising an inch of rain tomorrow. We will see.

This is prime-time to control yellow jacket populations. Their numbers explode through August and September. There are countless videos on streaming platforms regarding various traps that involve bait (fish guts, canned cat-food, ham, hotdogs...) and soapy water. It is easiest to spot the ground nests in the late evening when the light backlights the beasts and they circle in for landings. It is a great excuse for sitting on the east end of your lawn drinking a beverage or savoring a cigar. They generally nest in sandy soils that are slightly elevated above the surrounding lawn.

I should pull some more weeds today and cut some wood but I think I need another cup of coffee first. This is the kind of morning when I would walk the property with Zeus and we would discuss the important things in life.

4 comments:

  1. ERJ, there was an community service opportunity at the Community Garden last night (I have to volunteer 8 hours a year as part of the deal). Only an hour of pulling weeds - but funny how those particular leg muscles are precisely the ones that I apparently use very infrequently.

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  2. I noticed a yellow jacket ground nest the other day while mowing the lawn. I went out yesterday evening with some insect dust, which workers will carry into the nest to kill them all, but didn’t have to use it. Overnight, a skunk had dug up the nest and eaten it. Now I just need to fill the hole.

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  3. Another reason why you miss the best dog in the world.
    Fitty

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  4. Dogs are a hard loss. It seems they integrate so completely into our lives you don't realize until they are not there anymore.

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