The adventures of a cedar canoe
I recently ordered some glass spray bottles online. It was a great price on several sizes and options that I could combine while making concoctions from my herbs. But… this one could go into the Hummmm file for thought.
Pay close attention to number four in the instructions. Hummmm….
©️ The Cedar Journal, 2020, praying for all rights reserved.😊
Or how to build a better mousetrap.
As the Spring entered the dark days of COVID, I got busy purchasing seeds for our garden. Vegetables, herbs and flowers that would have healing properties just in case the world as we knew it had a total economic meltdown. I believe it was times likes these when fairytales were started. Stories that captured the magic of nature, and gave people hope in difficult and depressing times.
I purchased sunflower seeds this Spring, against my better judgment. I have never had much luck in raising sunflowers. As I opened the seed package I founds the seeds were extremely small (nothing like the sunflower seeds I had always planted in the US). So small, in fact, that I didn’t waste my time carefully planting them, I just tossed them in the front flower bed, then forgot about them.
Remember the story of Jack and the Beanstalk? Jack’s mother tossed those bean seeds right out the window of their very small house. She was very angry with Jack for trading a cow for “magic” beans.
For those who have followed our blog for any amount of time know, my partner is known as Hubby. This is not his name, of course, he wants to remain anonymous to the world. His real name is an old Dutch traditional name that none of my American friends or family can seem to pronounce. He realized this many years before meeting me and adopted a.k.a. American names to use when he was in the US. Jim, John, Jacob, and Jack are the common ones he uses when traveling.
With “Jack” now home working from what used to be and still occasionally is, The Cedar Journal International Headquarters, Jack suddenly became immersed in the daily life that surrounds the international office space. Things such as watching the daily dog walkers, knowing the time that each delivery service would be stopping on our street, noting the neighborhood home improvement activities and watching the growth of the flower/veggie gardens. These activities have opened Jack’s eyes to the vastly complicated responsibilities I have here at my international headquarters.
Jack has had his own issues with the aviation industry during these dire times, but he also found time in his busy home office schedule to build chicken coops, add chicken coop improvements, build a back porch sitting area, and has made improvements to our camper for our canoe trips. Jack is a busy and diverse guy!
Jack now has mostly exhausted his additional home improvement tasks and now has taken up the time old tradition of “how to build a better mousetrap”.
With the addition of chickens we now have cute mice in our back garden. They seem to eat the grain the chickens find undesirable (picky, spoiled hens!). Now we seem to have mice along the lines in of another fairytale The Pied Piper.
These mice seem magical, I have watched them actually sit on the mousetrap, eat all the peanut butter, and never trip the trap! My frustration at catching these vermin is immense. Jack has now volunteered to take on this task in his free time. I never knew there were entire websites and YouTube videos dedicated to the many ways to capture and kill these small cute problematic creatures.
As the summer turned into fall, we saw that my casual toss of sunflower seeds were now growing tall and invading our front garden. Each day from the international office Jack and I would comment on how one of the sunflower plants was growing towards the sky. Just like Jack’s Beanstalk, the large green leaves and the sturdy stalk grew like crazy. Today, I finally captured some pictures of our sunflower.
As with all fairytales, we know this current tale will have a happy ending. Jack will be victorious over the mice, he won’t have to climb the sunflower stalk to get the golden egg from the giants, and one day The Cedar Journal will again be a one person show with Jack returning to his normal duty at Schiphol Airport. The until then, we will be content at creating our own magical garden here within the walls of The Cedar Journal International Headquarters.
One last hummm… I caught this last week while I was out for a walk.
©️ The Cedar Journal, 2020, all rights reserved.
Many of my followers know what is coming with the strange and the possible far out there of this Hummm post. I have to admit, hard to find or see such things if you are locked in your own house for months on end or within the local community where the once hummm… is now just part of the landscape.
But, we have ventured out a small amount and the hummm file got larger than I thought. Now, I must share all the strange hummm in our world with the world.
When I am out for my much needed exercise I sometimes see some strange things in the neighborhood. Yes, this made me look twice and then reach for the camera to make sure I am not totally loosing it.
Then there was the COVID 19 downsizing clean up of the attic. This now brings into question my hubby and his profession in the aviation industry or hummmm… CIA watcher?
Then a Spring trip to Limburg I saw this.
Then there was this strange mailbox on that same Limburg trip.
Another walk in our local area produced this hummm… combination in a front garden.
Same street.
The garden where I volunteer always makes me think hummm. Nature has a way of surprising all of us when we least expect it. This guy, I didn’t expect and never had seen one this big a good 3 inches long in The Netherlands before.
So that brings us close to the end of the summer and this past weekend. Driving home from the Rotterdam area we did a double take when this passed us on the road.
Have you seen the strange and the hummm…recently? Share your comments below. Stay safe and Stay Healthy!
© The Cedar Journal, 2020, all rights reserved.
Military showing support to other military for crisis help when leaders have failed!
I have written hundreds of blogs in the last two weeks. Have you seen them? The answer is “no”! Sadly those blogs maybe lost in history and time due to fast pace of events unfolding each and every day.
But, we are still healthy, food is available in the stores.
The Hubby has now finally relocated from his office at the airport to the office at the house which means I have less space to do my thing. As most of you are also enjoying all the quality time together with your significant others I am sure you all feel like “ why haven’t we done this before.”
Let’s face it. The Hubby can now help me in all those tasks he only accomplishes when I am traveling alone in the US. He has to follow the strict towel folding rules. Accomplish the “Honey do list” that recently has gotten totally out of control with the new situation facing the world.
Our, yes…I said “our” office now looks like a operational war room with lists, dates, tasks to be accomplished, tasks already accomplished and more equipment than I ever use for writing. I guess this airplane business is serious stuff.
In other news we have been preparing for our chickens which arrive tomorrow. I can’t wait to hear their clucking in the back garden. Thanks to my readers and family for providing name requests. They will be revealed next blog.
Also, my tulips are in full bloom. That along with the beautiful weather has made our “home” time like a vacation resort. Maybe the Hubby thinks differently as he has been doing the heavy work. Hummm… another blog, maybe.
So, don’t fear readers/followers we are still here and keep moving forward with each passing day.
Stay safe, healthy, and humble.
