Welcome to the mushroom forest.

Found this interesting little forest of mushrooms last season growing all around a former beloved old peach tree we had to cut down a few years ago. As always, a little behind on things such as this "show and tell" thing. 
Oh well, enjoy. 😊

Sorry the quality couldn't be any better but I can only do so much with this old digital camera.
 

Jurassic Bone Marrow

Yet another red neck folk art creation of my dad's whimsy. It use to be a perfectly normal porous rock decorating our humble little fish pond. But one to two years ago maybe more, can't remember exactly, my dad decided to make it in to this using some cement that was laying around. Something that looks to me like a giant soup bone. I don't know why he needed to do that but on a whim I guess the need was there. It could have been possibly his love of things drum stick or any bone cooked with meat still on it. I know he always has to be the first to grab those. Its the cave man in him I guess. 
It is pretty cool to look at even though I still have mixed feelings about it. I could plant or someone else could plant some nice pinkish flowers in the hole to represent fresh marrow in a bone? Who knows? So far my dad only has planted some random tulips in the hole thinking they would come back every year (but they didn't) but I think much smaller flowers would do much better anyways. 

 

Little big flood.

While the other parts of the world were having their own natural disasters including north America mainly with those big and nasty hurricanes and parts of Canada with those fires, we had our own little disaster here too a few weeks ago. So I just had to post this so yeah for once this is fairly new stuff. 
Lately for the past few years we've been having lots of things such as floods here. I forgot about the small one we had last year. I remember that day we went to a mall. Not the one that flooded but another one. I had purchased a black stylish hat that day. This year however we got one of those 100 year old floods. It flooded our basement for a second time since our family has lived in this house. The last time was only a few years ago. I think in 2010 was the last time. I suppose we're now going to have these more often now. Sign of the times I guess. 
So anyhow most of the summer we struggled to get some rain so it ended up fairly dry around here. When we did finally get some substantial rain, boy it really rained. And rained and rained until our naighbourhood began to resemble a system of rivers and ponds. After awhile it started to seep in though a wall in the fruit cellar. Later I noticed that when I checked on our sump pump, it was on non stop and I started to get that panicky feeling of "here we go again". Then it started to bubble up through the drain in the floor and that's when I started to run around like a chicken with its head cut off. I'm sure, though out the city this was happening people were probably feeling the same way. I think we were pretty lucky for not having a downstairs toilet which would have probably resulted in sewage in the basement as well. None the less I got as many of our things off the floor as fast as I could on to higher ground while my dad tried to go out to look for tubing for our extra pump. After doing all that I could downstairs, I went outside to the porch and took a few pics of the craziness.  (see pics below post)After taking a few pics a neighbour came over with urgency and asked for assistance. There were many cars getting trapped in the rising water that day and that guy's, van was no exception. So along with a few of the guys and me being the only woman we pushed the van up I guess his driveway to safety. So after a bit of socializing with the neighbours I walked back home. Found out my dad came back home without success. The stores were all sold out of hoses. There was only one way out of this. Compromising. My dad had to Macgyver the feed hose that we used in the fish pond for air and water circulation and use that for our extra pump. It was a bit of a mess considering that thing was all full of long strands of green alga and who knows what else but we had no choice. We hooked up the thing, fed it out one of the closest windows to the main sump pump and pumped away. The water finally started to let up around 7pm in our house and the neighbourhood as well. At its peek we had about 3 to 4 inches of rain water in the basement. It was a long day. Tomorrows day would be just as tedious. Removing wet rugs, placing them outside and the arduous task of re-mopping the floor. I had already done that weeks ago and was not happy about this. We were pretty lucky (or unlucky depending on your perspective)over all compared to some of our other neighbours. They had to redo some parts of their soaked basement and its pretty uncertain if insurance would have covered it fairly. (We have pretty lousy insurance coverage here in our humble and normally boring city.) The next day it was pretty evident how the flood impacted everyone in the city with the gargantuan mounds of trash piled high at the end of almost every driveway from flooded basements. To this day, its sill being collected by our diverted garbage and recycling trucks plus extra trucks from Toronto. They finally got to our street just yesterday although they still have the rest of the city to get to. Not easy when only about 10 houses can be cleared of debris at a time before they have to dump the load at some temporary depot. Ironically at our only and last GM plant which closed years ago and was torn down recently. So much for motor city, now rat city, garbage city and a city loaded with lots of sad and grumpy people. No wonder they all want to desperately smoke pot. 
Yup sign of the times.  😒

A view of our flooded park, parking lot and street from my porch. ⇱

 A view of our flooded park, parking lot and street corner from my porch and the corner of our front lawn.
Some guy decided to take a dip in one of the large and apparently deep ponds that formed in the corner of the park. I wonder if he realized that there was a sewer grate there.  ⇱

Our front sidewalk that leads from our porch. You can see the river that was our street. You can see a wake from a passing van. Many people didn't care that they were speeding and that would cause more water to go in peoples houses. ⇱

I liked how the water looked on our trees. Like sparkling diamonds. ⇱

A view from our dining room of the park and street. ⇱

A view from our dining room of the park and street. Another van goes whooshing by. ⇱

A view from my bedroom window. You can see a few cars stuck in the water at the far right. The same spot where me and some guys pushed a van up a drive way. The water was about up to my knees. A few feet worth. ⇱

The butterfly bush or weed

Just some lovely pics I took last year of my butterfly bush/weed. They had finally made it to blossoming after many seasons of frustrations. First I just couldn't get the seedlings to survive after insects and other critters ate them in the small pots. Or was it just not the right type of soil? Not sure but the next year I decided to use a soil that wasn't loaded with compost. That was successful. There were other problems after that too. By the time I tried again in another season I was left with one successful seedling that actually grew enough to be planted.  Good thing, I was only left with one last seed. So after I planed it and it grew to a nice plant, thinking it was just another weed, my dad nearly killed it off. I was pretty disappointed at my dads kill happy hands. Well another season goes by and in the spring I get a surprise. The plant came back and this time later in July I think with a crown of beautiful bright orange blossoms. So pleased that finally after my hard work and persistence I finally got my butterfly bush. 
So far it really hasn't attracted any butterflies but a few hover flies and other things.
This year it made even more blossoms and the only thing it managed to attract were lots and lots of aphids with their keepers the ants and one ladybug. No seed pods this year because of the infestation. 
Oh well there's always next year. 😏

Did you ever have one of those weird Twilight Zone moments?
Last weekend I went to the grocery store after being out at some place in the evening. I went there originally to buy a newspaper like I usually do and for what ever reason I decided to look at the stuffed animals in the gift area. I picked up this little Himalayan kitten toy and immediately that "what's new Pussy cat? woah ohoo whaohooo" followed by the words "pussycat, pussycat, I love you" song came on the store's radio. I really thought it was funny, amusing and weird all at once. But boy it really doesn't help in my panging for a new kitty in my life and a lack of. Meow!

Anyone get something stuck in they're throats before?
Nothing more annoying then a seed stuck in your throat for several days. At least I think its still there? I really hope its not there since its really freaking me out. Ever since I heard about that story about this woman a few years ago I always get that uneasy feeling when something gets stuck in my throat for far too long.
There was this woman who got something caught in her throat from eating either steak or was it fruit, I can’t remember exactly. But what ever she ate a piece of it got caught in her throat and the membrane in her throat or what ever its called grew on top of it. It later pussed up and gave her all kinds of problems and I think she almost died. Since that article, it really freaks me out.
I am really going to avoid eating the seeds in grapes for now on. No matter how and what they say about grape seeds being good for you. Besides, I bet I can get the same thing from other things too only with out the worry. I’m also avoiding cherry pits too. Looks like I’m going to be in a bad mood for the next few days if this darn feeling doesn’t go away soon.

Oh yeah a small update in my hobby part of my web site. A new avatar for any one that’s interested.
As always you can find that part of my site in my links area or you can take this short cut. KTTSTV

Do you guys ever have strange encounters?

I was doing some bank errands last Friday and when I came out and this old lady whom I don’t really know asks me for a ride to a local shopping center? I was a bit flabbier gasted because normally complete strangers just don’t do that around here. I had encountered the woman before in various other places but never really paid attention. She wasn’t hag like but looked to be in her late 50’ early 60’s like the same age as my mother, give or take a few years. A few days before my mother and me went to the shopping center to do some shopping and there she was sitting on a bench. My mother and me were in a middle of a conversation (can’t remember what we talked about) but any ways she piped up and commented about how cold it was outside. So any ways back to the bank eps, she mentions that she has a cold and would it be alright if I give her a ride. I thought about it a moment and proceeded to tell her that I had my dad with me and if she would like I’ll tell my dad that I know her from church so that my dad would not get weirded out. I also pointed out where the car was parked out and things like that and then for some odd reason she changes her mind. All I can say is, that’s just weird. I wonder if this is just one of those odd moments, or is it a lonely person and or do I have a strange stocker? Yikes!


Nope these penguins are not stocking any one but maybe for food. Fish any one.

I'm sure most of you heard about what happened to that woman astronaut and how she went over the deep end about that fellow male astronaut and the whole nine yards with the diaper and all. Its one of those "what in the world were you thinking" kind of moments. Heh they couldn’t make a stupid soap opera out of this, then again maybe they could. But I probably wouldn’t watch it since I hate soaps. Its just shows you that love can sometimes make people do stupid things.
She sounds like someone who at child hood went though a lot of rejection probably was a nerd, teased and made to feel inadequate. So possibly filled the void brought by rejection with the dream of being something big when she grew up to show all who treated her badly. Her thing was obvious science and she took advantage of it, thus becoming something big as an astronaut. It’s really too bad she blew it big time.

Personally if I could have a talk with her in person, that is if I could, I would put my arm around her shoulder and say, “What in the world were you thinking?” Then I would say “why ruin your whole life for what, some guy?” Some guy that was only interested in that other woman to begin with, someone who probably would have backstabbed you any way. On top of that you ruin your marriage over this one guy? So not worth it. No human is worth fighting over and ruining your life as a result.

Over all no guy should fight over a female and no woman should fight over some guy. It’s just not worth ruining your life and making your rival happy. Besides if anything the rival should feel the guilt and other crap. Why should you? If the relationship is not there or if you feel some one is backstabbing you, just walk away. It’s just not worth it. Besides if some one is a disappointment to you, trust me it will come right back to the perpetrator.

None the less I hope that women gets the proper therapy that she really needs. She sounds like she could really use some emotional support.