… a special anniversary. More about that at the end of this post.
I stayed close to home and didn’t venture far on this first day of the long holiday weekend. There is construction everywhere, and, with so many of our parks still soggy and swampy and the media advising us to stay away from woodsy and marshy areas due to the EEE mosquito-borne virus crisis, I figured it was prudent to just stick close to home.
Honestly, driving isn’t very fun anymore between dodging orange barrels and cones and then there are all the potholes. There are so many road construction projects in the Mitten State right now, the traffic reporters are tongue tied by the time they relay them all and “the Game of Cones” is how the media refers to Michigan’s current road construction woes.
Our new governor’s campaign promise was she would “fix the damn roads” so drivers, fed up with car-swallowing potholes, flat tires and broken axles, were buoyed by her proclamation. To gain revenue to repair those roads, Governor Whitmer had proposed a gas tax of $0.45 cents, ($0.15 at six-month intervals beginning in October), but it likely will not be implemented as scheduled. So, our roads will continue to crack and crumble and they are even a walking hazard.
Corncobs, ‘maters and cruising on a country road.
So you hop into the car to get from Point A to Point B, but driving has lost its appeal in my opinion. Back when I was a kid, and even a teenager, I remember my folks and me going on a Sunday afternoon drive. My father had a 1972 Chevy Impala and it was the Sunday car. During the week he drove a VW Fastback stick shift and that was because he worked near a cement factory and didn’t want the cement dust collecting all over his “baby”. So every Sunday, we’d take a long drive out in the country.
Long before the large produce markets were available, and even before the tiny farmers market set up shop in our city, come August, a Sunday drive in the country was the ideal way to get the pick of the produce from the roadside stands.
We would pass by dozens of roadside stands, trying to accomplish “one-stop shopping” and, as my father slowed down the car, my mother craned her neck to peer at each stand’s offerings. Sometimes there was a sign advertising their produce; other times you could see the husks of corn, their silks riffling in the breeze, or the bright red tomatoes spilling out of a wooden basket. There would be cukes big enough to put a knot on your head if you chose to wield them just right. Sun-ripened peaches and plums would magically become a cobbler or kuchen before week’s end. My mother would call out “do you have green beans, I’d love to make a stew?” And, if it was time for new potatoes, she’d be salivating thinking about those too. Mom would boil them with the skins on, split them open and spread pats of sweet butter which formed golden pools on our dinner plates. When we finally stopped the car, I remember you’d just point at a basket and they’d have it turned upside down and the contents emptied into a brown bag in a heartbeat. No cash registers were around as the tallying of all produce was done in the proprietor’s head, or on a scratch pad.
My mom was a tough customer and wanted to check out the beefsteak tomatoes herself – she was not going to take their word that there were no mushy ones on the bottom. Her inspection tended to rile the vendor and he grimaced while he said “lady – I throw the bad ones out or eat ‘em myself!” She’d reluctantly relent and grab a basket and off we’d go, returning the following week, weather permitting. This continued through September. Often the vendors had bouquets of Fall flowers for a song, so sunflowers and cheery mums, the occasional daisies or Black-eyed Susans would grace the kitchen counter until the next Sunday outing.
I had such vivid memories of those roadside stands while passing some enroute to Oakwoods Metropark last Saturday morning. I couldn’t help but flash back all those years ago, as it was such a regular ritual and an excuse to run “Old Betsy” at the same time. We’d get home later in the day and Mom would have those tomatoes out of the basket, washing the field dirt off and slicing them with the long, serrated knife in record time. Occasionally she’d swipe one for herself, leaning over the sink with a huge tomato in one hand, the salt shaker in the other, a happy grin on her face and juice dribbling down her chin as she savored that guilty pleasure. Mom was like the character of Edward X. Delaney in the Lawrence Sanders novels, the Detective who liked devouring sloppy deli sandwiches over the sink as he pondered his tricky cases. Our tomato slices were stacked on hot, crispy buttered toast, no bacon or lettuce … a no-frills treat.
Trek bucket list.
It is eight years ago this Labor Day weekend since I began my walking regimen, so I decided to write about that special anniversary.
Just like last year, in the Spring I made a mental list of what walking or miscellaneous events I would like to attend and parks I wanted to visit. The incessant Spring rain annoyingly messed up my weekend walking agenda, and, when finally the torrential rain ceased, the lakeshore flooding kept me away from several of the state parks and Metroparks as well. It seemed wherever I did venture, parks were soggy or muddy or worse, mosquito laden. So I may have not fulfilled my trek bucket list, but, a constant in my walking regimen is Council Point Park, my favorite nature nook, and it never disappoints. Though I began my walking regimen on Labor Day weekend of 2011, I never started walking at this venue until May of 2013.
Rules of the road.
No walk is the same, nor is it mundane. If you are mindful of your surroundings, there are endless things to notice and take delight in at the Park, or even along the way, as you will see in the captioned photos below:
Always have that robust cup of coffee in the morning before heading out; otherwise you might mix up your favorite squirrel’s treats!
Load up on lots of protein and carbs.
If you dilly-dally on WordPress in the morning, this is how you will look bolting out the door.
You’ll keep a spring in your step that way.
Or you’ll look and feel bedraggled even before you leave.
Strap on that pedometer – you go girl!!
No worries, no thoughts, just let your mind be a blank as you stroll.
That way the joy from your walk will stay with you the rest of the day.
Pretend you’re a kid again and explore everything.
It’s okay to feed your furry and feathered friends, but don’t leave any messes behind.
Don’t go off the beaten path on your own and watch for Mute Swans who may chase after you. Surprises are not always fun!
Why? Because you’ll lose momentum.
Stand up and take notice of everything that crosses your path.
And remember to watch for small stuff along the perimeter path.
It’s good to be proud of your walking regimen, but keep it to yourself, except when you’re blogging about your total steps. 🙂
Especially when fellow walkers pour Cracker Jack on the perimeter path.
A passel of squirrels might be following at your heels.
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
Linda
Great photos as usual. Wasn’t a Trump campaign promise to to upgrade the national infrastructure and put everyone to work? Hmmmmmmm. Every few years, everywhere, there’s more promises about the “Election section” of the road.
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Thank you Fred – glad you liked them. I originally was going to do two posts … one a post just on the cones and construction as I have collected a series of construction photos and hieroglyphics on the sidewalks from construction markings and you should see how they tore up the street I walk down near the Park – it will be a month before I can walk there so must detour every day. And I planned to do a second post on all these nature shots I’ve been collecting. I decided to just make one post so I could get things done in the house. Yes that is something Trump promised, and hopefully it happens – the roads are bad everywhere. This was our Governor’s platform, her battle cry and likely won her the contest against a career politician who resigned being the attorney general to run for this job. He thought he was a shoe-in. I am glad she won, but the Michigan lawmakers can’t agree on that steep of an increase. Not even the first increment of $0.15. It makes sense to me – you drive a lot, pay more for gas then. The prior governor increased our registration fees by doubling them.
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Beautiful, thank you.
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Thank you Patrizia.
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I remember going out on Sundays with my brothers and sisters looking for those makeshift vegetable booths at the end of the farmers drive! I even remember there being a unattended box where you made change yourself!
We even looked for crab apple trees! We’d hop the fence and fill baskets all the while avoiding the cow bombs which eventually would get us sooner or later!
We are the last generation that experienced that Linda and thank you for reminding me of those carefree days of plenty!
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You know I can remember the makeshift vegetable booths that were on the honor system too Wayne! That’s because the farmer and his wife were likely in the field working with the crops, or picking them and didn’t have time to mess with selling their produce. I remember crab apple trees from the meadow at the end of the street in Oakville. It was wonderful down there – all my little neighborhood pals and I played there until they built Hopedale Plaza there the year before we moved to the U.S. I saw all the produce stands when I was driving around to get to Oakwoods Metropark last Saturday and it brought back fond memories … glad I could give you a few nice memories too. You are right … people today think going to the local produce market as getting your food right from the earth instead of the grocery store being the middleman, but we are better for this experience. I can remember us coming home with bags and bags of produce for very little money spent – a dozen ears of corn for $1.00.
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yes and now a good price for a cob of corn is $1! We have them at $1.60 normally.
The new potatoes were to fie for! Our eating habits have been slowly and subtly altered to our determent If you ask me.
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That’s incredible. The cost of everything is sky high and our little farmers market here in Lincoln Park is really not any cheaper than the grocery store so I don’t get anything there. My mom would go crazy for those new potatoes – they never had them in the grocery store. We ate corn with butter, potatoes with butter and did not get fat from those items because we were outside running it off!
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The produce markets that dominate have cheap labour costs. Explain that to trump.
We have a very similar childhood Linda!
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He likes to think he is the big businessman.
Yes we do have a very similar childhood Wayne and were lucky to have it.
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Linda
I loved the thought provoking post.
All the captions were apt- some of them made me giggle.
Thank you for sharing your family adventures with fresh produce.
How did you all buy produce other times of the year?
Susie
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Hi Susie – I rescued your comment from SPAM – I do not understand why you go there all the time – I have had an inordinate amount of SPAM comments the last week or so.
I am glad you liked this post and I had a collection of fun photos of critters and some beautiful flowers to use and decided it would be perfect to celebrate my walking anniversary. I actually had a photo of my mom and me and that 1972 Impala and standing next to it, but decided to eliminate it for now – another time. The rest of the year we always got fresh produce at the grocery store and in those days there were no special produce stores like there are now. Now the big produce stores which have every type of produce imaginable all year around and a wide variety of cheeses, breads and ethnic food are found in every city. You cannot move at these stores on the weekend as they are so busy. I used to shop at them more, but now just go to the grocery store and we’ve had so many issues of listeria and salmonella and other issues with fresh produce that I stopped buying lettuce and spinach and even broccoli, but mostly the lettuce and spinach, not to mention pesticide worries from not getting them cleaned sufficiently – I have resorted to canned veggies. Plus we have a huge hepatitis A outbreak in Michigan from people handling food and not washing their hands in restaurants, delis and produce markets – not great when you try to eat healthy.
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Miss Linda……………………………that was clever and cute and it made me laugh…………………..you are so good…………………and congratulations…………………………on 8 years of walking!
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Thank you Ann Marie – I had a lot of funny and unusual pictures and decided to have some fun with them. Glad you enjoyed it. I started my walking regimen this very weekend in 2011 and walked one City block only, increasing a block daily – the day I got to one mile walked on my spanking new pedometer, I was over the moon. 🙂
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Your photos are breathtaking, Linda. I love to read your posts, how many miles you’ve walked and the natural-climate seasonal changes at the Park. Great inspiration for me. Thank you, Linda. 🚶♀️🚶♀️
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Thanks Martha – I appreciate you saying that. I take these Council Point Park and neighborhood shots “on the fly” while I am walking in the morning before work. I have, as of today, walked 782 miles of my 1,242 mile goal … I hope the weather continues to cooperate so I can make it to the end goal. It has been a bad Spring and Summer weatherwise so far.
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I loved the photos and the captions! So many great shots. I can relate to the Sunday drive too, only my dad had a turquoise coloured Chevy. We would go to a village where they had a bunch of outdoor markets, and get peaches and cherries etc, or drive down along the river or up along the lake and see how the millionaires lived. I liked going for a drive in the country, even though I lived in the country, as I was horse crazy and could tell you every horse farm along every county road, as many people had horses out in their fields back then. Thanks for the memories. I bought a basket of new potatoes at the farmers market yesterday, and have beefsteak tomatoes ripening in my garden, and a big $9 box of ripe peaches ready to be made into peach jam tomorrow when it rains. I hope you have a relaxing Labour Day weekend, if that is possible?! Our farmer’s market is still a bargain compared to the grocery stores.
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More and more our lives are mirror images Joni. We used to drive around looking at the places where the millionaires lived too. I can’t remember where that was in Canada (we moved to the States in 1966), but I sure remember doing that here. Often it was Grosse Ile, an island about 11 or 12 miles from here that I’ve written about before and did that 5K on Memorial Day. Beautiful homes, big boats, three-car garages and lovely landscaping. In the 80s, we went to a produce stand that has now become an actual store at the same location, but at that time, it was a huge, flat-bed truck that was hauled out to a field at an intersection “out in the sticks” every weekend. The farmer would pile all his produce and flowers onto that flat-bed truck and customers had to park on the grass, nothing fancy … but you had to wait your turn to even get near this time of year and throughout September. I was already working, as I remember buying small sunflower bouquets to take to work for my desk.
My mom never put up preserves as she made pies, cobblers or kuchens with that fruit when my father was still here, so when it was just us, we had the fruit for eating or slicing onto cereal . My grandparents used to put up green and red tomato chow-chow every year when the tomatoes were plentiful. My grandfather would sit in the basement and peel onions til he could not see. They would eat it on eggs, or just smothered on toast. I was at the Honey Baked Ham store one time. I spotted what Canadians call chow-chow and Americans call tomato relish. I brought a few bottles home and my mom declared it tasted just like she grew up eating. So I would get a case of a dozen for her for her birthday or Mother’s Day. As to the beefsteak tomatoes, we’d eat them just sliced or on toast – sometimes, we had BLTs but we cannot buy the peameal bacon over here – they sell what they term “Canadian bacon” but it is really more like thin-sliced ham. We rarely had the strips of bacon. It was something to savor, just the fresh tomato taste. Are you still getting lettuce from what you planted back in May?
As to me, I did the post yesterday and will do some things in the house and walk depending on the weather which is iffy – maybe some rain today. I’ll try to catch up on Reader a little later. I intended to write more over the holiday weekend, but I will be an adult and get things done inside/outside first.
Glad you liked the pictures and captions – I had been collecting them over the Summer and still have more, and I love that big flower and took some pictures of that color and white and pink. I never see the homeowners when I walk by to ask what type of flower it is. The blooms are huge and beautiful.
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I guess we wanted to see how the other half lived back then, as there was no social media to show us, so we had to drive around! No lettuce for over a month, I pulled it all out as it was tasting bitter.
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My father’s reason was also for “landscaping ideas” though I can’t say our small property ever benefited from those drives. It was a nice escape to see those big homes – it was often a Sunday drive all its own when the roadside stands were closed.
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I was reading an article today about how Sunday used to be a day of rest, before all the stores and everything were open. People had family time and went on drives etc. I hope you get some rest on Labour Day!
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Funny you say that Joni because this could be a subject for a post for either of us next Labor Day. When we moved to the States in July 1966, we were amazed that everything was open on a Sunday and that included all retail stores. Another thing that amazed my parents was that we had mail delivery on a Saturday – it has always been like that. The carriers have a regular mail delivery day and the post office is open until 2:00 p.m. despite the fact that you can go to most grocery stores and use their postal stations there to mail out packages six days a week. I feel for the poor store clerks here in the U.S. because once Thanksgiving time arrives, and Black Friday especially, the retail industry folks exhaust themselves with all the hours stores stay open. I don’t think it is as bad since Amazon has cornered so much of the market but first it was Black Friday, then Gray Thursday … I have a high school friend who I keep in touch with and she works in the cash office at Target. She has some pretty horrid hours beginning Thanksgiving and Black Friday and worse as Christmas nears – and of course it is return time shortly after that. It is much better and less commercialized having your Thanksgiving in October. And the weather is better for visiting friends and loved ones. We often have had snow or crummy weather for Thanksgiving. Here is is one big commercialized mess to be honest. Another thing that surprised us when we moved to the States was the lack of as many long weekends in the Summer. You have Civic Day in August – we do not have a comparable holiday here. So, we go from 4th of July holiday until Labor Day with no long weekends. That is really not right. The rest of the year, if you are a bank or government employee you get Columbus Day off (same day as Canadian Thanksgiving), and also Martin Luther King’s birthday off in January and President’s Day off, but if you are not a bank employee or government worker, you have nothing. That is not equitable in my opinion – either everyone gets the day off or no one does. (Stamping my foot as I write this.)
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I remember when I worked at the hospital (which was government job) getting 11 stat holidays a year, which was quite nice, of course if I worked them I did not get double pay like the union people did. I’m not sure what is open today, some stores are for back to school shopping, but others aren’t, and no banks or govnt stuff. That’s a good idea for a post next year – maybe l Parker will be taking Labour Day off? I sometimes keep a list of post ideas for each season, but I didn’t get to half of my summer ones, so I’ll just add them to the list for next year. Every post in it’s time…..I saw the most beautiful Lavender farm on our 6pm TV news show – they profile Made Right Here – it was in Milton, near Toronto, and had 80,0000 visitors a day, lots of products to buy and you could observe the manufacturing process – very state of the art. It was called Terre Blue, but even a smaller lavender farm would be a site to see.
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I think it would be a good post idea and I have all kinds of post ideas too – some are in the other computer with the disk issue and I wanted to take the rest of the documents off there over the weekend and did not. I did not do all my Summer ideas either … frustrated by lack of time and then this weekend’s weather -Sunday and Monday and storms. I heard the early five-day prediction – rain on Friday afternoon (that might make the sunflower farm soggy, but if no rain, I’ll just go … they say Sunday will be wet but didn’t pinpoint the time. If it rains, I lost money again and that’s it … I’m sure the lavender festival, their first year, will be mid-summer as the other ones are in July. I’ll spring for that and the park passes and that is it. The weather is only going to get more iffy and predictable now. I have a post in my head for the lighthouse, so maybe down the road I could take a picture of it from afar. That might work – maybe a sketch … hmm, now there’s an idea. How difficult could it be to sketch a lighthouse. You cannot get onto the piece of land which juts out into the water where the 40-foot lighthouse stands. So you can’t see it from afar as I understand it.
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Sketching the lighthouse would be good – everyone likes pictures of lighthouses, in my art world experience!
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Maybe I have to go that route then Joni. They only have tours one afternoon per year by the Historical Society. We were expecting severe weather too – I wonder if it fizzled out – that won’t hurt my feelings any.
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Is it the first flower picture you are talking about? If so it is a Hibiscus. Mine are in full bloom right now. They are always very showy and beautiful.
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Yes, the first flower – that is a Hibiscus? Wow – beautiful and the people have them in all different colors, including this wine color and white and pink. I took a lot of pictures but this looked like one open eye so used it – the mystery is solved Ruth, thank you. I thought it was some type of poppy.
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You’re welcome. I have three of the bushes – two of the wine color and the white and pink in between those two. They were planted in memory of my Mom, as they were one of her favorites. They will be making an appearance in an upcoming post (when I get a chance to write it).
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They are just gorgeous Ruth. Thank you for telling me the name. At first I thought they were moon flowers as they are so large. My neighbor had moon flowers years ago but they used to trail along her deck as I recall. They’d be bigger blossoms in the morning.
I’m worried about this storm tonight – they have narrowed the severe weather period to 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. I’ll breathe a sigh of relief when it’s over – hopefully it fizzles out.
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We have battened down the hatches. Not sure what to expect. Be safe Linda.
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Yes, I shut off the A/C when the first storm blew through and unplugged the laptop and since plugged it back in when the rumbling stopped. The wind kicked up and I was sure it arrived early. DTE says there 2,000 without power in Macomb Township. You stay safe too Ruth. I hope this is the last storm from a heat spike this year – it was really humid this morning when I was out. We had fog earlier and everything was dripping wet.
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So far everything has gone around us. We wouldn’t mind some rain but are hoping for nothing serious. This morning was very humid here as well. I came back from the farm with soggy feet. LOL.
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Yes, dripping wet this morning wasn’t it? We had a good rain last night for about an hour. I just heard WWJ and they said it should be over by 10:00 now, not 11:00 – the sooner to get it over the better.
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Well nothing to report here. We had some rain I heard it around 1:30 AM. But no storms. I had a good nights sleep. Hope you fared as well.
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Same here Ruth – whew! I was nervous to go to bed as I am a sound sleeper, and I heard nothing overnight. If it rained I didn’t hear it. How far are your emergency sirens from where you live since you live in a rural area? I am a mile away, but when they test them once a month, unless I’m outside I don’t hear anything. My nerves are on edge every time rotation or tornado chances are predicted. I hope this is the end for this year. Glad you are fine too. And now to tackle this new day.
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We are about 6 or 7 miles from the nearest fire station that would sound an alarm. We might hear it if we were outside on a quiet day but not in the house. Hope you are having a great day.
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That is a good distance from you Ruth. I don’t have a smart phone, just a flip phone, but I follow Nixle messages for the City which go to my e-mail at my computer. This tells me of impending danger for several topics, including weather (flooding, snowfall), crime alerts, or any other type of danger. Here is the site if you are interested: http://www.nixle.com/
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Thanks Linda. Our county has an emergency alert system that sends out text messages so even though we just have flip phones and have texting blocked from our service we still receive messages for severe weather and other emergencies in the area.
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OK, that’s good and I don’t even know how to use the text function on my phone as I never use the phone since it’s for security only. I text my boss, a friend and my neighbor from my Comcast e-mail. That’s good you have that feature and I think that amber alerts and national emergencies will come thru even if you opt out of texting … didn’t they have a test last year to see if it worked? I keep the phone turned off all the time.
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I heard about those mosquitoes. My goodness, what’s next. I heard that they are in Michigan and certain other states. Soon they will likely be here too.
Our Illinois potholes would win a prize for being the worst in the nation. And they want to legalize pot… so we can have pot and potholes (which is a disastrous combination).
Very cute pics and captions! That black squirrel is special! 🙂
I like the start every day with a clean slate saying. Personally, one feels that mindfulness is never a “practice,” since it is not something that the mind can just decide to repetitiously do.
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Glad you liked the cute pictures Tom – that black squirrel is a cutie and can only be nabbed for pictures when plied with peanuts and the entire time he is watching me with one eye and he will eat several peanuts at one time to get out of Dodge quicker. 🙂 I’ve been collecting some pictures in a folder and used some for this post and have more to come. I had a half-dozen topics in my mind to write with those photos and decided this would be a great way to commemorate my 8th walking regimen anniversary.
This mosquito-borne virus is worse than West Nile in our state and we have a 14-year old girl who was in a coma and in dire straits as a result of it. I never heard of this mosquito issue before her plight came to light the last few days. It scares me as I was at Oakwoods Metropark last Saturday – there were some mosquitoes in the deep woods areas and luckily I saw no standing water, but they are located near a marsh. Not only that, Oakwoods has equestrian trails. Not organized horseback riding where you pay to ride, but you bring your own horse (BYOH – there’s a concept) and leave the trailer in the staging area and you can go on the trails. That was not near where I walked (a mile or so away), but scary to hear about this equine-related virus just days after being there – yikes. I had originally planned to visit Crosswinds Nature Preserve in the next few weeks, but it is strictly a marsh, so that will wait til next year.
Potholes are horrid here and pot IS now legal now in Michigan – there have been arrests already for driving under the influence of legal pot (people smoking recreational pot, not for medicinal purposes). The dispensaries will open in 2020 and now there is more to worry about when driving … the police set up areas to spy on drivers on the expressway around the holidays. They caught hundreds of people last week … no seatbelts, driving over 100 mph on the expressway and texting or on social media while driving and a few pot-related violations as well. Sometimes I want to hunker down at home and stay put. I try to make my mind a blank and absorb what is going on around me and interrupt my thoughts only to visit with the squirrels in the park or along the way if possible. I know the walks will be smaller on weekdays as it gets toward Fall and I’m sorry to see that.
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With living on the Iroquois River, Linda, we tend to have a lot of mosquitoes in our area, being how they thrive around water. This year, however, was quite different and the mosquitoes were few and far between. Mosquitoes with viruses are a serious thing. I sure do not relish the idea of coating nasty DEET crap all over my body. That isn’t the greatest thing either.
Those states that have legalized pot have higher accident incidents on the highways and more deaths. That is a sobering thought!
Silence and deep awareness of the mind are important; a mind without much silence is an impoverished mind.
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I’ve never put DEET or anything else to repel mosquitoes on me either Tom – I wear long pants and shirt as I don’t trust what it is in it. I’ve stayed away from there and likely will the rest of the year til it freezes. I am glad I never used Roundup too much to clear brush in the yard as they sure were not forthcoming about the ingredients, so people using DEET on a regular basis – who knows what it is in it? My friend lives in a rural area in Kingsville, Ontario and enjoys tracking with her golden retriever. It is a hobby and she also judges tracking and has done so for years. She taught the Windsor, Ontario police dogs and handlers decades ago when they first started their canine unit. Anyway, Ilene uses a concoction made with Avon Skin-So-Soft bath oil and harmless ingredients and applies it to herself and the dog’s coat as well. The vet says it protects them and has a pleasant smell. That is for ticks. I will put it at the end of this comment.
It was sobering enough to hear the statistic that in 2017, 1,000 people nationwide were killed by people running red lights. It is no pleasure to get behind the wheel. Apparently a lot of people were freaked out on an expressway when a Tesla driverless auto had the driver asleep and not watching the car’s movements. Several people called 911 to report him asleep at the wheel and driving on the expressway. Here in Michigan, most cities and townships have refused to allow “pot shops” to open, regardless of the revenue it might bring, because they don’t want problems. Our City is one of them – I was amazed at that to be honest as there are many vacant stores in Lincoln Park these days. Here is the “recipe” for a safe tick deterrent:
*******
Following is the recipe for tick repellant –
“Safe, Natural, Effective Flea and Tick Repellant –
1 cup Avon’s Skin So Soft
2 cups White Vinegar
1-3 cups Water
1 Tablespoon Herbal Shoo
or Citonella Oil
or Eucalyptus Oil (This is what I use)
or Halo Herbal Dip
Combine all ingredients in a spray bottle. Use liberally two to three times daily. (I use it as an “as needed” basis).
Works on humans, dogs, horses etc. Be sure and shake it up before spraying.
I spray this on my dog and myself before we go tracking.
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Thank you much for the anti-tick recipe! I truly hope it works!!! 🙂
I sure hope that pot does NOT become legal here soon. There are enough wacky people on the roads the way it is. We live in a dangerous world!
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You are welcome Tom – I know Ilene has used that “recipe” for years as she loves tracking with her various dogs. She only has the one that she tracks with now as some are older now as is she. She must be in her 80s now – we were coworkers many years ago. She had a long daily commute from Kingsville, Ontario to Detroit every day. It is a dangerous world out there and I am not happy about how pot will affect drivers here either – we have enough worries with distracted driving and drunk driving. We have severe weather coming through tonight … worried about it, a few bouts of severe weather … hope they are wrong.
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Great pictures. Many of our country roads are falling apart patched rather than repaired.
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Thanks Andy – our roads, even the sidewalks are a disaster and worse the past few years due to the erratic weather … we have often had a January thaw, but now the weather has been on so many freeze-thaw cycles that the road crews cannot keep up with cold patching (tar) and they are forced to shut down big highways or expressways for months, if not years at a time. They did that with a nearby expressway and bridge – you could see the rebar through the bridge when traveling over it. They diverted heavy traffic, a lot of semis to a nearby main street in my city and now that street is starting to suffer the consequences.
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I like your photos and your walking advice, pertinent and fun. You could turn this into a great calendar. I know what you mean about the roads. Some of ours are so treacherous that I won’t drive on them if I can find an alternative, often longer, way around. It’s frustrating, but doesn’t seem to be getting any better. *meh*
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Thanks Ally – I had in mind to do two separate posts and decided to just combine them and have some fun with these photos. Some of the squirrel poses I had tucked away as their faces or antics were funny. I should do a calendar – that is a great idea. I store my photos on Shutterfly and they are always giving away free calendars once October rolls around. I made one for my neighbor a few years ago of some of her favorite shots she shared with me and it came out great. Our roads can be teeth-jarring in places and they finally fixed the River Rouge Bridge after the potholes would be so deep you could see the rebar underneath! It took them 18 months to complete that construction and they used a nearby highway to divert traffic while the bridge and expressway were being repaired. It was a nightmare driving on it and now it is in disrepair from all the heavy trucks.
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We do farmers markets for fresh produce at this time of year but you can’t beat tomatoes picked from your own garden still warm from the sun. We would eat tomato sandwiches just with butter and salt. Nothing else was needed if you had a good tomato. Right now we are enjoying peaches and the big beefsteak tomatoes here.
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That’s how we had beefsteaks too – so delicious. The store tomatoes are often mealy or not ripened enough on the vine so they are tasteless. I started buying those tomatoes still on the vine as they taste like tomatoes – I find the Roma ones are usually tasteless. When we tried growing them years ago, the squirrels and birds were pecking a hole then they’d toss them aside, and go after the next tomato. A friend of mine who lives in North Carolina paints tabasco sauce on the tomatoes to thwart the squirrels and birds, even on the cherry tomatoes. I’d skip the cherry tomatoes, painting each one is a lot of work!
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I lose some to the critter but usually I have enough to make us both happy!
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That is great – we used to have ore tomato-producing neighbors back in the day and a neighbor with peach and plum trees as well. They’d provide brown bags full to the neighbors, but they retired to Florida and the new owners cut the trees down.
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I’m pretty sure I’m the only person in the neighborhood who has any tomato plants. My neighbor across the street always planted on but the deer eat them and his year isn’t fenced. He sticks to herbs now. Oh yes, and jalapeno peppers. No one seems to like them.
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My neighbor planted cherry tomatoes in pots all over – used to keep me in those all Summer. I’m not a fan of jalapeno peppers – no “good trading” there. 🙂
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Lovely photos, very cute squirrel pictures. The roads are rubbish here too.. so many potholes and country roads, yuck… my car hates them. Well done on walking eight years.
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Thank you Marian, glad you liked them. The squirrels and their antics are always fun to take photos of … they are a source of delight at this Park. It seems the potholes are bad for everyone, not just in the U.S. – I thought Michigan held the monopoly on bad roads – they never fix them properly and it jars your teeth sometimes as you ride over the streets. It seems hard to believe it is 8 years already and I started out walking just one city block and increasing a block every day.
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Yes eight years of walking, I wonder how many miles you have written and how many words you have typed. Yes pot holes are everywhere., not sure if it’s the roads not handling the heat or the volume of traffic, but they are very bad.
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I have added up the miles each year except the first year and I’ll add them up all together for my 10th anniversary – I’d be glad to see how many steps I’ve done as well. I think by the end of this year I should reach 1,400 posts – who knew I could say so much?
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Great post, Linda! I love the pictures and captions! There’s lots of road construction here as well, especially in cities. The highways are in really good shape! We didn’t go on Sunday drives when I was a kid because we didn’t own a car, but always went for Sunday walks. I never ever thought I’d ever miss “the good old days”, but I actually do!
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Thanks Sabine – I had a lot of fun with this post with these pictures I’ve been collecting since early Summer. It was a fun way to celebrate my 8th walking anniversary. That’s good your roads are in good shape – riding down some of these streets will jar your teeth sometimes. My grandmother and mother never drove, nor owned a car. But living in Toronto, you really didn’t need a car unless you lived in the suburbs and worked in Toronto. Their mass transportation system is great – you can transfer from bus, streetcar or subway and there is a small commuter train as well. So, no need for a car really. I took the bus to downtown Detroit for almost 30 years, so spared my car and myself a lot of road angst. At least once a day I long for the “good old days” … a simple life suits me just fine.
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Toronto sounds like Europe when it comes to public transportation. We never owned a car there. It was and still is easy to get almost anywhere one needs to go! Eight years of walking is a huge accomplishment, Linda! Congratulations! 🏆
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Thanks Sabine – I hope to be lucky enough to keep it up for a long time. Yes, it is similar and you get one ticket and just use transfers to get around. You don’t need a car.
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I love your “Rules Of The Road” – so clever and great photos. We are picking tomatoes and digging potatoes right now. I love this time of year – you just can buy those fresh flavors in the grocery store.
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Thanks Ruth – glad you liked it and it probably gave you a laugh too. Yes, this is the best bounty of Summer right at this time. I had not thought of the roadside stands in years as we have large produce places around here that are open all year ’round and our local farm market. every Sunday.
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I made potato salad with fresh red skin potatoes and farm fresh eggs for our picnic yesterday. It was a huge hit. The season roadside stands usually have superior produce as it is so fresh. I find buying out of season to be a disappointment – much of it is picked early then ripened during shipping – it just doesn’t have the same flavor.
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My mom used to make the red skin potato salad sometimes too Some of the out-of-season tomatoes are as hard as my head. They are the worst for buying off-season.
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Amazing way to use your pictures. I love the idea of it.
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Glad you liked it Eliza – I thought I’d have some fun with them. 🙂
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Definitely fun!!!
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They were some cute robin and squirrel pictures – remember I mentioned the mother and baby robin to you awhile ago? So sweet – Mom was sitting on the path with it … probably tried to fly and did not do well, so she flew down there to protect her baby.
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Yeah, I remember 🙂
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Hi linda – happy 8 yr anniversary
Woo hoo and I like how you say no walk is the same
I am amazed at how amazing my whole GI feels after a walk! Did two this week and trying to up my amount!!
I sprinted a little on big walks but like the no pressure feel!
And potholes – ugh! Hubs cracked a rim on one!
And the Sunday drives and produce memories are precious and I was flashing back with you!
It was a well written vignette!
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Thank you Yvette as to the 8-year anniversary and also for your comment about enjoying the flashback to simpler times as to roadside stands … I saw several of them and it surprised me since back then we did not have all the huge produce/specialty stores like we have these days. People are so pressed for time these days as they want one-stop shopping –
do it all at the grocery store and be done with that chore and move on to the next task/chore. Our local farmers market in our City is small but I’ve not been in years as they really aren’t all that much cheaper than retail stores. Then you worry about what pesticides they use and after the Roundup verdict – I am so wary. My Meijer grocery store has great deals and incentives so I just go there for everything. The roads – just not a pleasure to drive. The mosquito and tick situation – something more to have angst over. By the time the ticks and mosquitoes are killed off, in the rural areas, you have to worry about the deer chasing each other and racing into your vehicle … the car/deer crash statistics are pretty scary come late October/November and hunting time.
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Well have you ever tried the little deer horns you can put in your car? I had them on the 90s and traveled 150,000 miles around the country and never hit one deer! I think they work !
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Check online for small deer horns for the car and just explore (10$)
And my son and hubs go to farmers market almost every Saturday –
Son got quail eggs!
And ugh – the round up is scary.
I really hope our country does something to get these chemicals off of our food!
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And hope your Labor Day is going well
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No, I will check that out Yvette – it is scary with car/vehicle crashes here in Michigan. Farmers markets are best – quail eggs, wow! We had some stormy weather here yesterday so I was not here at night very much and we have a stormy evening tonight, tornado possibilities if it gets warm enough – hopefully it stays overcast. Already worried about it.
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😊hope your Tuesday – which feels like a Monday- goes great
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I love these short week holidays, even though it takes me a day or two to get it straight in my mind what day it really is. 🙂
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Marvelous post. Cute pics.
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Thanks Anne – it was fun putting it together. Safe travels home – we had some storms yesterday and I was not on here much and we have some severe weather coming later today due to the heat spike again.
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Your mom and her tomato eating style is my favorite one of all! I love freshly sliced ones with salt!! Yum! Your photos and sayings are all great advice – love the squirrel one at the end, so cute!
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Glad you liked the photos and sayings Shelley – words of wisdom from a walker … maybe I should have entitled it that way. Yes, squirrel butts/tails are often my specialty if they run away before I get the picture taken. I often come home with squirrels missing snouts as they ran out of the frame to hide a peanut. 🙂
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LOL- furry little critters can be hard to catch in photos! Yes, I enjoyed the post. This weekend we walked through the park while my daughter ran her race, I got some cute photos of squirrels that I think you’ll enjoy. I need to figure out a post to use them in though!
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Yes they are! They move quickly. How about using the squirrel photos for the first day of Fall – squirreling away nuts? (Especially given the “Old Farmer’s Almanac” prediction for this Winter – ugh (7 major snowfalls for us).
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I could do that…! Good thing you commented on your blog, if you had shared it on mine, your comment may have gone to span for swearing so early in September ;-)! LOL!!!
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Shelley – I one time did a squirrel post in the Fall using that old Post-It Notes commercial where the squirrel hides nuts all over and has sticky notes in its nests to remind him where he buried the nuts. I thought that was a really funny commercial. I am having a spam issue right now, getting upwards of 100 or more spams a day when before I had just a few. They are going right to the spam folder, not to my comments area and I wrote WP and the Happiness Engineer said if they are not in your “comments section” don’t worry about it, even though you didn’t have it before. All are attacking the same post, and all originate from a similar IP address according to the WP tech who checked it out, but it is a little daunting to see hundreds of spam there at a glance.
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I remember that commercial, I liked it too! Yikes, that’s a lot of spam – I use Jetpack/Akismet to catch spam. I haven’t checked lately to see how many it captured…!
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Yes, that was a clever commercial – kudos to their ad agency. All the influx of spam started a week to ten days ago. It is all coming to one post – very strange, but WP says Akismet is catching it, and I don’t have to deal with it, but seeing the amount of spam when I look at my comments page is kind of overwhelming. I was looking through it to ensure nothing was legit and with 100 or more a day – it was just impossible, so that’s why I reached out to them.
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Wow – that’s crazy – I’m glad the HE’s were able to assist you!
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Yes, the HEs assured me it was okay and not to worry – it is currently at 439 spam comments, all directed at the same blog post.
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Yowzers!
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Cute pictures and captions! Although our roads aren’t as bad as yours sound, I often find myself dodging potholes when I drive.
We are making a fruit salad to take to a neighborhood Labor Day get together and I was just lamenting this morning how the fruit we get nowadays just isn’t as tasty as it used to be. Ease of transportation has won out over freshness and taste.
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Thanks Janis – I appreciate it. I had fun doing this post. The potholes are bad here and the freeze-thaw cycle makes them huger than normal. There is nothing that beats the freshness of the roadside stand produce – especially since the tomatoes from the grocery store which are as hard as my head sometimes.
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Happy Anniversary, Linda! 8 years is a long time to stick with a walking regimen. Just think of all the calories you have burned along the way and all the sights you have seen. What would your critter-friends do without their pal Linda to come along and give them treats?
Your Sunday drives with your parents sound like my forays to the local farm stands. I used to stop at several, whichever one I was passing when I needed some fresh produce. Now, I have developed a friendship with some local farmers – Merv and Shirley. They are about our age and have 3 daughters who are in their 20s who help put at the stand. I go to their farm stand (about 1 mile from my house) almost exclusively. People do not take Sunday drives anymore. At least not as much as they used to when we were kids.
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Thanks Laurie – I did not use a pedometer the first year but I think for my 10th anniversary I’m going to add up what I’ve done and guesstimate the first year just to see where I stand mileage wise, and my Easy Spirit shoes are great. I’ve only gone through three pair in eight years. Yes, my pals would miss me. They have been burying their peanuts for a month or so already. They know Winter is on the way. You are lucky to have a farm stand so close by and know the folks who operate it as well. I think there are too many people on the road – being a daily commuter would give me gray hair!
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I love to read about your walking regimen. Happy Anniversary. What a great accomplishment. I’m still attempting to walk everyday, but it’s become so hot here that I have to wait late into the evening, and sometimes, I just don’t make it out. I really need to change to a morning routine to ensure the daily walk, but I haven’t quite master that one either. Oh well. I’ll keep trying! 😜 I love the pics as usual, and the commentary is so fun! … oh, and I had to look up kurchen (spelling?)! I’d never heard of that before. Now, tomato sandwiches are so popular here in the South, and having someone who gives us plenty of deliciously red ripe ones right out of his garden throughout the whole summer, I surely wish I loved them! (I haven’t stomached them my whole life, but I love anything they make, spaghetti, pizza, salsa, etc.) They were so beautiful this summer, I determined I was going to try one. Maybe, just maybe, my adult tastebuds had changed. I do this ever so often, just to “be a big girl.” Lol. … Nope, I couldn’t even swallow for fear of a gag reflex. Oh, how I wanted to like that beauty! Oh well, more for my husband to enjoy! 😊 Happy walking!
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*kuchen (has to go back and see spelling!😜)
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My father was German and my mother was not, but learned to bake a lot of the German treats. Kuchen is a heavier type of cake than we eat here in the US- lots of times it has fresh fruit in it too.
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I read up on it a bit when I looked it up. It sounds delicious! You know how I like a good treat! 😋😂
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We need some kind of reward, sweet or otherwise, in this crazy world of ours. 🙂
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💕
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Thanks Mia – I enjoy it so much. This year our Spring was soggy, Summer has been hot and humid (though nothing like what you have had to endure) and I complained about that weather, but I am already dreading the Winter weather. I hope the “Old Farmer’s Almanac” is wrong about the “seven major snowfalls and a Polar Vortex or two” because then I’ll be wishing I was back in Summer. I did walk at the local grocery store several times this Summer to get my steps in – that does work. I rarely walk in the evenings as it won’t happen – things come up, or working later. Much better to do it in the morning.
I like tomatoes but I think my mom liked them more. When she was growing up, her parents “put up” red and green tomato chili sauce. They slathered it on everything. You are not a fan of fried green tomatoes either then; I had never heard of that Southern treat until the movie by the same name. Tomato in other forms works for me too.
Good luck starting a walking regimen – wait til the weather gets a little cooler and you’ll enjoy it more. I started with just a city block and kept increasing another block each day til I was up to three miles – I did three miles for the longest time, then added more steps.
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Actually, here’s to show how quirky I can be: I LOVE fried green tomatoes!! 😂 How crazy is that? 🤪 … yes, the neighborhood we live in stretches for quite a bit, with several culdesacs, and differing elevations; so, when I do get a “full walk” (all the neighborhood with all culdesacs), I actually get a full mile and a half. So, I try my best to do two full laps, giving me three miles as well. 😊 Sometimes, when my neighborhood friend and I walk and get to chatting (and it’s a bit on the cooler side), we can get almost five! 😉
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That is good – good for you Mia and it is a cardio workout as well being on differing elevations. So that’s good. Heart disease runs in my family so that is another reason I started walking – I work from home and sit way too much, even more since blogging. I’ve only had fried green tomatoes once and they were good – my mom made them after we saw the movie. But they don’t have the mushy consistency of regular tomatoes so I’ll bet that’s why you love them. Who could not love the breaded crunch? It’s all about texture sometimes – I do like cookies, but prefer crunchy over soft-baked as I find them more satisfying.
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Yes, I am pretty convinced it’s the crunchy breading. As my husband says, “You can eat anything fried. I’ll even eat a Michelin tire fried!” 😂🤣
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Ha ha! Well, they are particularly tasty, so I don’t blame you!
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Loving the rules of the road. ❤ Well done on the last 8 years of achievements. You are fab. ❤
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Thank you Zena – I’m pushing to get those miles done – I was walking for you too – you are healing up and doing admirably on your own according to your last post I read – I am behind in Reader right now.
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Great post Linda, l love the rules of the road. And every photo that went with them. I was one that had the roadside produce stand in my teenage years. My step parents had the best garden, and I would sell the rest out by the road under a giant shade tree. I never did get there green thumbs, but I enjoyed selling the extra produce. My step mother canned everything. Luckily I did not have to help, my job was working with horses and my sister helped in the kitchen. And that was fine with me.
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Thank you Sandra – and I really had a visit back in time when I got lost that day and saw the roadside stands as we used to always go out in the country and patronize the farmers who sold their produce at the end of the Summer and early Fall. In those days, I do not recall that big produce markets were around, you just grew your own, chose from a small selection at the grocery store, or grew your own. My mom really liked those produce stands and that was a regular Sunday outing. I am glad you liked the photos too – I remember the post but went back and checked out the photos – yes, I had collected those photos in Spring and Summer as I intended to do a post called “Look up, look down and all around” (I think I mentioned this the other day) and decided to use it here instead.) That sweet baby robin with its mom on the perimeter path – he was not doing well at his flying lessons.
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I saw that photo, I have never seen a young Robin. The flower photos were beautiful. The produce back then was so much better also. We never used pesticides or sprays at all and had way more then we needed. I can’t even grow a tomato now.
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Yes, it was nice produce and I can remember us coming home with bags of new potatoes which my mom loved, and those beefsteak tomatoes and two kinds of beans to make stew. Those were the days – here is a small robin and I think he fell out of a tree and he was on the sidewalk. He was not hurt, just scared … this happened a few years ago and by the grace of God, I did not step on him with my heavy walking shoes – he was so very tiny: https://lindaschaubblog.net/2018/07/11/missed-steps-and-a-misstep/
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Great post, he is so cute. I have seen baby birds on the ground before and you can just hope they survive. They must make it, there are so many out there. I would get nervous watching the Eagle cams when the babies took there first flight.
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Thanks Sandra – I wanted to pick him up and I worried about him after I left – happy to see the mom with him the second time. How I didn’t step on him I’ll never know. I would worry like a mother hen watching the eagles fledge. You will see a post a few years ago in the Spring which was one robin’s nest that I followed and the fledglings were hanging out of the nest as they were so big, and I thought to myself “surely they are ready to go!” The next day I walked by and the nest was empty, but one baby robin was on the fence, all wobbly and not really steady – he looked at me. I talked to it a little, took its picture and then another time, not sure how long afterward, a week or so I believe, that robin was at the same house where it was in the nest and on the fence, and I swear it was smiling at me. I made a post about it – it was on the roof and I know it was not my imagination … there was a connection going on between us like “look at me, I’m a big bird now!”
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Awww, what a beautiful story,I look forward to seeing those photos also.
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I was able to find it by searching for “robin on the roof” … it references the earlier post … it is the image at top where I think he is smiling as the other pics he looks grumpy, but I am convinced he recognized me. My new post “Spring Fling” has published … I am going to get off here as I want to take some pictures ouside once it is light. It was snowing like crazy, still a little. I have something I want to try to do with the camera if it’s not snowing. Because we are going to Windows 10 and hopefully no issues that keep me here late in the evening next week, I’m going to try to do a few posts for next week … I hope I can sneak in a little housework and laundry too … hopefully anyway – have a good day Sandra and will catch up later.
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