Month: June 2024

I’ve Heard of Invasive Plant Species, But This is Ridiculous!

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Do you have a room in your house that you never go into? And/or one where you haven’t opened the curtains / blinds in quite some time. I have the latter type. It’s the dog’s room. I keep the curtains closed in there in hopes that he’ll see fewer people / things outside to bark about. Well, I went into this room the other morning, opened the curtain, and was faced with this:

Yup. A vine that is trying to completely cover a bush just outside the window has actually found its way INTO THE HOUSE. It managed to squeeze in through a tiny gap where the two window frames come together (when the window is closed). What are the odds? Seriously, what are they? Now that I know the outcome, I might use the Way-the-Hell-Back Machine to go to Vegas and place a bet on it. Come to think of it, why am I not already using my Way-the-Hell-Back Machine for sports betting? I need to get my priorities straight.

Nicotine

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A couple weeks ago, I mentioned the possibility of using nicotine to treat Parkinson’s Disease (PD), but I wasn’t sure at the time whether I wanted to try it for myself. Well, I’ve talked myself into it. I will be starting nicotine therapy within a week. And to make sure I don’t get confused as to what changes (if any) are being caused by which therapy, I will temporarily cease taking the lion’s mane mushroom supplements. As I said when I started on the shrooms, I’ll let you know if I experience any major changes in my PD symptoms. If I don’t notice any changes after a year, I’ll take stock of my condition and report back to you at that time.

I Have Made First Contact

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I have a pond in my backyard. I also have several trees in my backyard. Not surprisingly (since I live in North Carolina), this means my property is home to both tree frogs and pond frogs. But during my first spring at this house, when the frogs started their nightly hollering, I noticed some of the sounds coming from the pond didn’t seem…natural. In addition to the low-pitched croaks of the pond frogs and the high-pitched peeps of the tree frogs there came a most unusual sound. A sound unlike anything I’ve heard anywhere, except maybe in 1950’s science fiction movies. I concluded that my pond had been invaded by alien frogs. I have waited over three years for the opportunity to make First Contact with these beings from another world. In that time, I have seen a few tree frogs, and many pond frogs – but no aliens. Finally, last week, one of the alien frogs made an appearance on my patio furniture. Behold…the first known photos of a frog from another planet…

Since I already had my camera out, and he was just a few feet away, I also grabbed a gratuitous shot of Bear lazin’ in the shade…

The frog and I are still working on finding a translator, so we can begin a knowledge transfer between our two great cultures.