The Honeysuckle Vine

Ruby Sue smelling the Honeysuckle

Close-up of a Honeysuckle blossom

We had quite a thunder shower in the wee hours of Sunday morning, but other than that, it was a peaceful weekend and the days and evenings were beautiful. My soon-to-be thirteen year old went with the church Mission Team again this year on Friday so that made it even quieter with him out of the house. I sat outside for a little while on Saturday and read my Kindle because Ruby Sue didn't want to come inside. She is my Basset Hound and she loves to sit under the Honeysuckle and smell the blossoms and lick the sweet nectar that drips out of them. She's kind of a chunky girl - kind of shaped like a sausage. My husband says we got took by the people who sold her to us. Her ears aren't as long as most Basset Hounds and her body shape is shorter and thicker. But I don't care about that stuff :) She was a little trimmer, though, back when we had a couple of litters of puppies from our Lab Lucy (who got stolen). She would spend her time playing and running with them. She really loved those puppies. She didn't start getting hefty until a while after we sold all of the puppies and she wasn't doing the constant running and playing any more. And walking just doesn't do it for her. I've tried putting her on a diet, but that doesn't help either, so I think it is just her genes. Her and Stella don't really play, and Toby wants to play but he's so big and plays so rough she winds up getting mad and chasing him, which would work, I guess. But he likes to take those big paws of his and smack at her and she just hates it. I'm kind of afraid he will accidentally hurt her so I don't encourage them to be together. 

A younger (slimmer) Ruby Sue

I try to stay away from the honeysuckle vines because in amongst them somewhere hidden is poison ivy. I think it is mainly along the fence line on the north side of the house, but you can never be too careful when it comes to poison ivy. Before we built the carport in the back, the dogs had access to the entire yard, including the north side. I seemed to have a never-ending case of poison ivy every summer and fall and I couldn't figure out how on earth I was getting it. We figured out that it was coming from my little darlings when they would rub themselves along the honeysuckle vines on the fence and then wipe it on me whilst giving me some love. Yeah - the gift that keeps on giving. Once they no longer had access to that side it pretty much stopped. Unless I had reason to walk along there anywhere, and then it was like it reached out and spit on me because never fail I would get it just that easy. I haven't had it in a couple of years, and so far my up-close-and-personal with the honeysuckle hasn't backfired on me.

I'm getting a little concerned about the lack of fireflies and locusts. Still nothing seen or heard of either of them. My husband says it's because it hasn't gotten hot enough for them yet, but we've had plenty of hot days and warm evenings, and humidity to boot. Last year it was so hot and dry! A lot of yards and plants died, and ponds dried up. Even  watering at night didn't always help because the heat of the sun was literally frying the tops of the plants. This year we have made up our rainfall and are looking good, but I'm afraid the damage has been done and we won't see very many (if any) of our favorite summer visitors. Okay, I'm not looking forward to locusts getting in the house or watching (and hearing - ugh!) the dogs eat them, but I still like to hear their buzzing at night. The crickets are out - I don't think even a nuclear event would kill off a cricket, would it? - and I've heard other night bugs, and even some frogs. But no sign of my ethereal little lighted friends :(

It must be an old-guy thing, but I've noticed lately that my dad has started jingling the change in his pockets. It drives me nuts, but I try not to say too much unless it gets too loud and there are people around. Today, another old-guy-type came into the funeral home to sign a register book and he was jingling the change in his pocket too. Why would you want to carry around a bunch of change in your pocket like that? My dad has to actually load that into his pocket everyday in order to walk around with that much change at 8:00 in the morning. My husband does it, but it's because of the pop machine at work. But he doesn't jingle. I'd like to keep it that way.