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September

September is here

By Peg LubyPublished 3 years ago 16 min read
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September is here.

That’s the first thing that comes to my mind when I sit down to visit with you today. September is here, and I bet you knew that. I also bet that you know Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas are just around the corner, waiting in the wings, and it won’t be long. Then we get to start a new year.

“Peg! That’s rushing it!” you say.

Maybe. But that’s how fast time goes by for me these days. Just way too fast.

I updated you on a couple of things last time and this time I want to update you on one more thing.

The Dog Stinkhorn fungus.

My flowerbed has spawned several more stinkhorns since the last time I talked about them and I learned something.

“What’s that?” you ask.

I learned that the slime appears only on the first day of its life. By the second day the slime is gone. That’s why the very first one I photographed didn’t have any slime on it. It was a two-day-old stinkhorn. They only last two or maybe three days then they’re gone — and I can always smell them before I see them.

I dumped milkweed leaves out before I knew about the tiny baby Monarch caterpillar. I went out to the pile in the yard to see if I could find him and found this guy instead.

I looked for his ID and when I couldn’t find it, I turned to my bug group on Facebook. They really let me down. No one’s identified him there either.

“What about the baby caterpillar?” you say.

I found him and he’s in the bottom of my butterfly house, eating leaves and growing every day.

And speaking of my butterfly house…

Someone knocked the lid off and squashed one of the chrysalises that was hanging on it. The other six survived undamaged. I moved the house so the cats won’t knock the top off again — hopefully.

Last time, I told you our airbag light was on in our Explorer and took it to the garage to have it checked out. They said they needed to keep it and take stuff apart so we made an appointment for early Monday.

Guess what?

“What?” You didn’t want to guess.

The light went out and has stayed out. We kept our appointment for early Monday morning but as you can guess, if the light's not on then they can’t fix it. We ended up leaving and going on down to Dickson City to do a little shopping.

The misty morning Susquehanna.

Birds on a wire.

The bears at Clarks Summit.

I think I showed you a couple of these before, but if you’ve forgotten, here they are again.

Almost missed this one, that’s why he’s blurry, but who knows if I’ll get back there before they remove the bears.

A pretty walking trail.

We’ve passed these old army trucks hundreds of times in the six years that we’ve lived here full-time. A couple of weeks ago I said to Mike, “We should stop sometime so I can take pictures of them.”

Mike surprised me and stopped on this trip. I got out and walked the whole way around them.

“Do you see those little lights in the front?” Mike asked when I got back to the car.

I looked and saw other things besides the headlights. “Those are lights?”

“Yeah. They’re blackout lights. When the enemy planes are bombing at night, they can’t see them. When you turn them on it turns off the tail lights,” Mike said.

I had to go back and take a closer look.

Blackout lights have been on U.S. military vehicles since WWII. The small lights, front and back, are called "cats’ eye" lights and are used by the drivers during blackout conditions to keep vehicles in line during night movements. The hooded white light in the grill is the blackout driving light.

Now you know what I know.

We’re going through Meshoppen and see ROAD CLOSED signs. It was unexpected and we drove right on past it before we realized that probably meant the road was closed.

“Must be an accident,” we speculated.

“Maybe someone died,” I said and kept my thoughts from turning to all of those in my life who were killed much too young in auto accidents. “They always close the road for a long time when someone dies."

We never came close to seeing what was going on. Others who entered the highway after the closed signs or drove past them like we did, were turning around.

We took a side road and set the GPS to get us home. That gave me new roads to take pictures on.

At one point the road was so narrow we thought we might be in someone’s driveway!

We were able to get back on Route 6 at the other end of Laceyville. I asked on Facebook what happened and was told two big rigs had crashed in Laceyville.

I found out later that one truck was carrying an empty oil tank, the other a load of sand. Both drivers were taken to the hospital. Our local TV station did a report about it on the evening news, and me, being so clever and tech-savvy, clipped a picture from their video.

Then I thought I’d Google to see if there were any still pictures. Do you have any idea the number of crash pictures that will come up in a Google search?

I was looking for this particular accident and started flipping through the pictures. Picture after picture of people’s misery, bad days, life-changing moments, scattered debris, mangled cars, trucks, and airplanes. The hollow spot in my heart getting bigger and bigger.

“Why, Peg!” I admonish myself. “Why are you doing this to yourself‽” I flipped the picture one more time and there was my name on someone else’s plate.

I closed my search.

I can see, by the pictures in my file, that it’s time for one of my Bondi stories.

I’m not able to keep Tiger and Bondi from playing together even though Tiger gets pretty rough with her sometimes.

In this picture they rumbled and tumbled all over each other the whole way down to the mailbox and back again. Tiger runs ahead to his castle and waited for Bondi.

Bondi has claimed the space between me and my computer chair back as hers. I take her out first thing every morning to do her business. Coming back in, she goes right to my chair and stares up at it, then looks at me and back to her chair.

I laugh. “Okay! Okay! I get the message!” I put her in the chair then I go make my coffee. She likes to sleep for another hour before she has breakfast.

It doesn’t even have to be first thing in the morning either. Whenever she needs a nap, that’s where she goes.

I was fussing in the kitchen. I don’t know if I was getting lunch around, washing dishes, or doing something crafty, but Bondi was playing. She’s gotten so she’ll bring one of her toys over to where I’m working and drop it at my feet. I’m barefoot a lot. If I don’t notice her, she’ll push it against me with her nose. As soon as I reach for it with my foot she’ll grab it for a game of tug-o-war. Sometimes I win and if I can grasp it with my toes, I can toss it. Sometimes she’ll bring it back, sometimes she doesn’t, so I didn’t think anything of it until I heard her whine. I turn around and she was sitting in front of my chair, looking up at it expectantly. Unfortunately, my chair was already occupied.

“Bondi wants to take a nap and Spitfire is in her chair!” I told Mike.

“It’s not fair to make him move for that mutt!” Mike thinks I spoil her.

I gently pulled Spitfire to the front and put Bondi in her spot. Then I stood back to see what would happen.

Nothing. That’s what happened. Nothing. Bondi laid down and they napped together.

Mike talked with one of his cronies this week.

“Peg, Vernon says there’s a place out on 414 that has the best cheesesteaks,” he told me.

Mike knows I like a good cheesesteak and Mary Beth’s Westside Deli in Dushore has one that I really like. “Is it better than Mary Beth’s?” I asked.

“I don’t know. Vernon doesn’t even remember the name of the place. Do you wanna drive out there and try to find it tomorrow?”

I’m generally, but not always, up for an adventure. It depends on the kind of notice I’m given. If I’m in the middle of something, I seldom agree. If he tells me days or even a few hours in advance, I have a chance to get my head around it. “Okay by me.”

I only recently found out where 414 is. I’ve been past it a few times but never having any business out that way, I didn’t take note of it. My beautiful friend Joanie has a sister who lives out that way and her sister was having a yard sale.

“Where’s it at?” I asked Joanie.

“Franklindale,” she said.

I didn’t have a clue where Franklindale was.

“Go out to Monroeton and 414 Y’s off,” Joanie told me. “If you get to Twin Ponds grocery store, you went too far.”

I didn’t make it out to the sale (there’s really nothing that I need) but I knew Joanie was familiar with the area. “What’s the name of the restaurant out that way? They’re supposed to have the best cheesesteaks.”

“JJ’s is the only place out that way,” Joanie said. “You might just as well go to Twin Ponds while you’re that close. They have some pretty neat stuff.”

So, how about a few road pictures?

“Was that it?” Mike asked as we passed a wide spot in the road and a sign that said JJ’s.

“I don’t know.” I’m usually surveying the countryside looking for pictures to take. “Was it there or telling us it’s coming up?” I wondered.

“Should we go on out to the store first?” Mike asked.

“Sure.”

We drove farther than I thought we were supposed to go. “Let’s pull over and put it in the GPS.”

Mike pulls over and as fortune would have it, “There it is!” he exclaimed.

I’m looking around and don’t see anything that looks like a store. “Where?”

“Way back there,” he pointed.

Then I saw it. And that wasn’t the only thing I saw either. There’s a hawk on the wire.

“Go slow so I can get his picture.” And Mike went slow up the driveway. Often times if you keep moving, they’ll watch you pass by but if you stop, they’ll take off. This is the best picture I got of him.

Twin Ponds is an Amish run grocery store and they had many things in bulk. We only bought two things, well three. I bought my little heart, Andrew, my grandson, a half-gallon of dark maple syrup, and I got Farm Dust and Popcorn Dust for myself.

The hawk was gone when we left.

We went back down the road to JJ’s.

It was after eleven when we pulled in and there weren’t any cars there. The sign on the door says closed Monday and Tuesday. But there was a light on and a gal inside. We pulled on the door and it opened. “Are you open?” I asked as I walked inside.

“Yeah,” the gal behind the counter answered.

“What day is today?” I asked.

“Tuesday,” both she and Mike replied in unison.

“The sign says closed on Tuesdays,” I was confused.

“That starts tomorrow.”

We ordered our food and chatted for a bit.

“How long have you had the place?” I asked Jonelle.

“About 18 months.”

“Who helps you?”

“My mom and my sister.”

“How about a family photo for my blog?” I asked.

Jonelle called her mom and sister from the kitchen. “Who’s who?” I asked.

Jonelle is holding her young son Jameson. “This is my mom Julie,” she indicated the woman next to her, “and my sister Ashley.”

“All these J names, then you throw an A in there,” I laughed.

“Yeah, she’s the oddball.”

“What’s the JJ stand for?” I was thinking it would be Jonelle and her husband, obviously another J name.

“It’s stands for John and Julie. My parents started the place.”

I got my cheesesteak, Mike got a turkey club, we shared a quart of milk from the cooler as we ate our sandwiches on the patio.

“How was it?” you wanna know.

It was okay. I didn’t order it with the same ingredients as Mary Beth puts in hers (because I couldn’t remember what all she put in hers) so I can’t really compare, but it was good.

Just a minute or so down the road I spot a hawk on a wire. Was it the same one or another one? I don’t know. But one thing I do know for sure is that I’ve not seen many hawks in the past year.

I took a few more road pictures on the way home.

My picture file says we have another Bondi story coming up next.

I was making ladybugs on the patio and turned to see what Bondi was doing. I was surprised to see her in the litter box.

“Get out of there!” I told her.

Did she listen?

NO!

I got up to get her and see that she’s taken one of her rawhide chews and was burying it.

Itsy and Ginger never buried a thing! After it was covered, she jumped out of the box.

It didn’t take her long before she went back and dug it up. As she lay at my feet chewing her chewie, I saw cat litter on her nose and had a sinking feeling my stomach. What happens if she eats cat litter? I wondered and Googled it.

Cat litter can cause a blockage, Google says. Just watch their bowel habits. If they poop okay, they’re okay.

A little prayer in times of trouble was uttered and Bondi pooped okay the next day — and I moved the box so it can’t happen again!

Another afternoon, I’m busy workin’ on stuff, and Tiger comes into the yard. I’m tellin’ ya! I can’t keep those two apart!

Bondi yips, Tiger jumps the fence.

“Leave him alone and you won’t get hurt,” I give her the same advice my mom gave me.

I turned back to my project and it wasn’t long until I’m absorbed and not paying attention to them.

Bondi yips again.

I look up.

Bondi comes limping away from Tiger crying the whole way. I check her and find no blood. But at least now I know that Tiger probably wasn’t restraining her the last time he hurt her so bad, small comfort that it is.

I just wish they’d play nice or stay away from each other.

Speaking of playing nice…

I told you that I play with Bondi using my feet a lot. I was holding one of her chewies when she got a little carried away and bit my toe!

“OW!” I yelled. The blood didn’t start right away but when it did, I showed it to Bondi. “You made me bleed!”

She doesn’t seem to care and wouldn’t even kiss my boo-boo.

Wednesday was the first day of the Wyoming County Fair and seniors get in free. This is my first year to qualify for the senior discount.

The weather forecast was for rain all day Wednesday.

“I don’t want to go slosh around in the rain,” Mike said. “Do you?”

“No, I guess not,” I agreed.

We woke to rain.

“We’ll just pay the gate fee and go another day,” Mike said.

Mid-morning the rain slowed to barely a sprinkle.

“Wanna try it?” Mike asked.

So off we went to the fair.

“At least we won’t have to fight the crowds,” we joked.

I was a bit surprised to see as many cars there as there were.

And we didn’t have to fight the crowds. The midways were mostly abandoned and some of the vendors weren’t open.

But I got my perogies from the ladies at the church stand, and Mike was able to get his favorite Italian sausage sandwich from his favorite vendor a few spaces down.

“Wanna walk through the building and visit with Jon’s brother?” Our handsome neighbor Jon Robinson has a brother who does fine wood work and is always at the fair — until this year. The spot he usually sets up in was occupied by someone else.

There were others who you’d expect to be there but weren’t either. The book guy wasn’t there nor was Triton Pizza, another local favorite.

At the back of the building was a display of historic photos. The trash littering the fair ground in 1898 surprised me.

“Let’s walk around before I get my ice cream,” I suggested.

The rain had picked up a little and other than our feet, we stayed dry under our oversized two-person umbrella.

There wasn’t much to see as we walked around the fair grounds.

We hit Loch’s Maple Syrup stand for my Deluxe Walnut Bowl. It’s a waffle bowl with ice cream, Loch’s maple walnut topping, whipped cream, a cherry on top, and two spoons! I dug right in.

“I’ll eat as we head back to the car,” I told Mike. He was ready to go, too.

“Look at that truck. Why’s he got a chain there like that?” I wanted to know. It creates a smile on the front of his truck but somehow, I didn’t think that was its purpose.

“Maybe to pull people out,” Mike guessed.

When we came in, the parking attendant was careful where he parked cars. The wet grass and downhill grade had to be considered. “If you don’t have four-wheel drive, you won’t get out of there,” we heard him tell one driver.

It was only after we were back in the car that I thought about taking a picture of my Deluxe Walnut Bowl for you. This is how much I took home for the critters! I didn’t let Bondi have it all although she would gladly have eaten it all if I’d’ve let her.

The next day the rain cleared, and it was going to be a sunny warm day. I went out early to gather milkweed leaves for my caterpillars and decided to see if I could find any spider webs.

The milkweed pods are getting mature and’ll soon split, releasing its seeds to the fall winds.

I had a butterfly pose for me. I think it’s a Checkerspot but the Pearl Crescents look almost exactly the same.

We love eggs in this house. We have a hot hardboiled egg mid-morning almost every day. And Bondi gets one too! Sometimes I give the shell a little crack and let Bondi peel it for herself. I think it makes it more interesting for her.

She heard a car, mid-peel, and stopped to listen.

She ate most of it, shells and all, before settling down in the sunshine for a nap.

Do you know what else Bondi likes?

“Tug-o-war with Smudge’s leash?” you guess.

She does that! Poor Smudge hates it!

But what Bondi also likes is earthworms! The rain brought them up and she had five of them on the patio, drying in the sun. She’ll eat them once they’re nice and chewy.

I’m not having much luck getting her housebroken so she’s still in confinement. She’ll go outside if I take her out, she just doesn’t tell me when she needs to go out.

And with that, let’s call this one done!

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About the Creator

Peg Luby

I've been chronicling the story of my life a week at a time for the past 23 years. I talk about the highs, the lows, and everything in between. After all, there are no secrets between friends, right?

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