Nature

Those Crafty Cardinals

/ Bill Jones / 5 Comments
Cardinal nest with eggs

Cardinal nest with eggs

I’ve never thought of cardinals as crafty and clever birds, but when it comes to something good to eat, I found they will go to great lengths to get it.

Several years ago I planted six blueberry bushes in the backyard. The next year they were large enough to bear fruit, so I kept checking them during the spring days. I was excited during the weeks as the berries turned from green to purple. Finally, one Saturday, I declared that the next weekend would be blueberry picking time. The bushes were still small and there weren’t a lot of berries, but I still looked forward to having some from our own bushes.

I didn’t have time during the week to check them, but, on Saturday morning, I went out in high anticipation with my bowl ready. My jaw dropped and my heart sank when I found the bushes empty. During that week, the birds, (mostly cardinals around our house) had helped themselves and cleaned them out.

The next year and several years after that I put up PVC pipe to make a frame and put netting over the bushes. I used twist ties to put the sections of netting together and attach it to the frame. That would work for a while, but after a week or two I would look out the back door and see a bird in the bushes, about to kill itself trying to get out the netting. I’d open up the entrance way and shoo him out. As the season went on and the birds seemed to get smarter, I would have to let a bird out 2 or 3 times a day.

            Each time I would look around for holes in the netting. Sometimes the pvc had shifted or leaned and left a gap. Sometimes the pins holding the netting to the ground had come loose. I did watch to see how the birds got in. One day I saw one jump off the pvc onto the top netting. The bird’s weight caused a seam to open between two sections and he hopped through it.

Last year, I built a sturdy frame of 4X4’s and 2X4’s to hold the netting, including a 2X4 runner at ground level. I stapled the netting to the wood, and used squeeze-on clips to connect the pieces of netting. That kept them out until the last week or two of harvest season, when I noticed a couple of rabbits inside the netting and found that they had chewed holes in it. The birds followed them through those, but also figured out if they flapped hard enough on the netting in some places they could work their way between two overlapped pieces and get in.

When I built the frame and installed the netting, I set it up to be able to roll the netting up and secure it with cable ties to uncover the bushes (for easier access for me and the bees). After last season, I did that, and the netting has been rolled up since then. (you can see a picture on last week’s blog)

The flowers came and the berries began filling out on the bushes – hopefully for a good crop for this year. So, last Saturday, I decided it was time to lower the netting, staple it to the runner, and put a strip of chicken wire at the bottom to keep the rabbits from chewing holes.

As I neared the bushes, a cardinal flew out. I looked to make sure there weren’t any others there, and let out an “oh, no!” at what I saw. I moved closer and thought “maybe not, maybe not”. But, then I stood on tippy-toe and peered into the nest I had found. There were three cardinal eggs in the nest.

As I said, “crafty and clever” describes a cardinal. This one went so far as to build a nest and lay eggs, knowing that I couldn’t lower the netting and separate them (and the blueberries) from the mother bird. What a devious plan – but, maybe the little ones will hatch and be out of the nest before the berries are completely ripe. We shall see.

“And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13.

We can learn from the cardinals’ diligence (without the need for any craftiness or cleverness) in finding what they were seeking. As the verse says, if we search for God with all our heart, we will find him. He has always been there and always will be.

Really, Really Bad Spring Fever

/ Bill Jones / 2 Comments
Spring Flowers

Spring Flowers (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Spring has been busting out all over for several weeks now, and the season did officially change last week. So, spring fever is rampant. It’s been a struggle to stay inside working while the weather has been so great. I kept eying the postcard that announced the Georgia Southern University Botanical Gardens spring festival and plant sale was at hand. They hold that on a Saturday, but they also have a preview sale the day before for members. Since at the preview you get first pickings, and they usually have a lot of unusual plants, I decided to take the afternoon off and take advantage of that.

The postcard said the preview was from 3 to 6 PM, and I arrived a couple minutes before 3. There were only a few cars in the parking lot and not many people around. I took a hand pulled wagon, and started around the tents and lines of plants for sale. There was one woman there who also had her wagon. She noted we seemed to be playing leap frog as we took turns moving a little and stopping to check out the plants, while the other one went around. There were very few others looking at the plants, so I was thinking it was still early and the crowd would increase as time went on.

The woman stopped her wagon under the checkout tent and told the guy there she needed another one and left to get it. I pulled mine next to hers and looked to the “checkout” guy.

“Are you with Susan?” he asked.

“I guess not, since I don’t know who Susan is.” (I now assume Susan was the woman with the other wagon)

He looked confused and quizzical and asked if I was a member. I replied that I was and asked “It was from 3 to 6 wasn’t it?”

“Well, it will be that time…tomorrow afternoon.”

Wow! Somehow, my spring fever had taken hold enough to make it Friday afternoon in my mind, when it was actually still Thursday.

I apologized and explained that since I had taken the afternoon off, I must have started thinking it was Friday already. We worked it out pleasantly and he was kind enough to allow me to purchase the plants I had loaded in the wagon. As I apologized once more, thanked him and began leaving, he said “Since it’s Friday, don’t forget and go into work tomorrow!” We both laughed and parted ways.

Several things worked together to cause my miscue. I work out of our house, and for some reason, in that situation, it’s easy to forget what day it is (more on that some other time). I also have a one track mind – I had been debating throughout the week whether to take Friday off, and then I decided to take two afternoons off instead of a whole day – but I guess that wasn’t on the track my mind stayed on. However, most of all, I really, really had spring fever, and really, really wanted it to be Friday.

I guess the lesson is that God worked it out for me, even though I wasn’t paying attention. We find that happening often, because our God is so gracious and merciful!

“Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; our God is merciful.” Psalms 116:5

I searched and searched,but the lettuce had bolted!

/ Bill Jones / 2 Comments

Bolted Lettuce

Radish (or other) roots

Last Saturday, for the first time in several months, I enjoyed a day playing outside. Bad or cold weather, scheduling problems, and a few bouts of just plain laziness have come in various combinations to keep me otherwise occupied. However, Saturday was clear and warm and I didn’t feel lazy, so, even though I did have some “to do” items, I ignored them and indulged myself.

I cut the grass (actually, mostly weeds at this point – but it still looked good when I finished). That was after I pumped up two lawn mower tires that were flat from just sitting there a couple of months.

I cut down the dead stalks of the angel trumpet in the flowerbed by the back door – and could see the new shoots coming up around the base of the plant. The purple verbena was blooming and had already invaded territory reserved for the coneflowers, coreopsis and liriope. So, a good whacking was completed and its normal borders were re-established.

The remnant of the fall crop of greens was still in the raised beds so I started clearing them out. The mustard and turnips had long since faded and were yellow with age and covered with insect chewed holes. I had left several carrots after an earlier harvest, but now found only holes in the dirt where they had been. Since the bed is covered with netting, I assume it wasn’t rabbits from above, but moles from below that got them.

The most interesting beds still contained combinations of “microgreens”, mixed greens and various kinds of lettuce that were planted in the fall. You can see from the picture that one plant had gone to seed (or bolted as it’s sometime called). Once it’s been neglected long enough to do that, it’s not any good to eat. I’m not sure it’s lettuce but that’s what the seed pack said.

I’m also not sure what the other picture shows. It looks like radishes but they smelled like a root (dirt) with no pungent radish smell. (Maybe someone can give us an idea of what type of plant it was). I wasn’t brave enough to taste it since I didn’t know what it was. Rather than going to seed, those plants had apparently “gone to root”, and were probably beyond the good eating stage too.

It was a great day, and on Sunday, I told Sharon I was wonderfully sore and stiff from the first good bit of exercise in a while.

The story above has several possibilities for devotional topics: The mower tires went flat when neglected. The angel trumpet stalks died but the shoots showed new life and God’s promise that the seasons will change until the end of time. The verbena can be invasive and overwhelm other plants around it, so it needs a good whacking now and then. The carrots were covered with netting but still had something attack them from an unexpected direction. The lettuce (?) bolted and was now unfruitful because I didn’t pay attention. The radishes (?) had taken root in a big way when left alone to grow unchecked.

I may develop those someday, but today I just want to thank the Lord, and praise Him for the work He allows us to do, and the fruits of our labor that we enjoy as blessings from Him. And sometimes, those can be as simple as being stiff and sore from doing something we love.

“Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God forever and ever. Amen.”  Revelation 7:12

Bitten By a Black Widow Spider

/ Bill Jones / 6 Comments
Female black widow spider guarding an egg case...

Image via Wikipedia

My wife, Sharon, is the only person I know who has been bitten by a black widow spider. One day she took her sweater from the coat rack, put it on and felt a sharp sting on her arm. She smashed her hand on the stinging spot, shook her sleeve and the flattened spider fell out. The telltale red hourglass-shaped marking on its shiny black body confirmed what it was. Sharon sealed her attacker in a plastic bag and took it with her as she drove to the hospital.

Everyone at the emergency room was excited because no one had ever seen, much less treated, anyone with a black widow bite. It seemed to Sharon the entire hospital staff stopped by to inspect the spider and the bite marks on her arm.

I was excited too when summoned from an out of town meeting to take a phone call. Sharon told the story and assured me the doctor said everything was okay. The anti-venom was on its way from Atlanta and would be at the hospital in a few hours. Most importantly, she had no extreme symptoms. I trusted her assurances, but it was still a long trip home to see for myself.

The doctor administered the anti-venom when it arrived that evening. Sharon spent the night in the hospital for observation and was released the next morning. Thankfully, the worst effects of the bite were the five days of mental fog she endured from the prescribed mega-doses of antihistamines.

“How did a black widow spider get in her sweater?” I claim the dubious honor as the agent of that. It was winter and we were using the fireplace, so at times I brought in pieces of wood and stacked them on the floor next to the wall. If you picture the wood on the floor next to the wall and move your gaze up, you come to…the coat rack. Apparently, the spider hitchhiked inside on a piece of wood, crawled up the wall looking for a dark hiding place and chose Sharon’s sweater sleeve.

Spiders don’t hide in our sweaters or coats anymore, because, after that episode I don’t bring wood inside the house like that.  I learned the lesson that even things that can be good (wood for warmth) can bring things in that you don’t want in your house (poisonous spiders).

We as Christians need to diligently apply that lesson to many things – the television, books and magazines, music and the radio, and especially the internet.  We are called to be holy because our God is holy, and in order to do that we must be careful of those unholy things waiting to bite us when we least expect it.

“Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”  Pro 4:23, ESV