Ten Things of Thankful

Depending on the one's week and all that has happened, a Ten Things of Thankful post may sometimes be quite short and to the point and at other times filled with a lot of detail. Fortunately for the readers' sakes, they can choose to perhaps just read the first line and skip the elongated version or go along for the ride and read every word. I welcome whichever type of reader you choose to be this week and hope that you will at least take a minute to consider some of the things in your life that have caused you to reflect on why you may have reasons to be grateful. Dyanne of Backsies Is What There Is Not, is the host of the Ten Things of Thankful blog hop. Please consider writing a thankful post on your blog and linking up. The more the merrier.

1. Ways to get rid of a lot of yellow jackets using things you have in our kitchen

With the rising temperatures, the yellow jackets have been thirsty and frequent visitors to the tub where the deer come and drink. That made it easy for me to set up a trap for the yellow jackets and monitor it daily. Early each morning I dump out all the soapy water and dead yellow jackets and refill the pan with soapy water and attach fresh meat or rehydrate the existing meat under the board if necessary. The board is placed meat side down over the pan of water. (The soapy water needs to be as high as possible but not be so high that the water or bubbles touch the board or meat on the board.) I learned recently that yellow jackets will use existing holes in the ground to make their nests. We have a lot of existing holes, thanks to the critters who have made a maze of tunnels in the ground, so I am thinking there is an endless yellow jacket population on this hill, and if we are lucky maybe they will sting some ground squirrels, voles, moles, gophers, etc. while they are at it.

One day's trapping of yellow jackets

2. Knowledge gained in unexpected ways

After putting out the bait for the yellow jackets, I discovered the the bait (left over pieces of skinless chicken pieces) was covered in sugar ants. I wondered if the yellow jackets might be deterred by the ants or if by chance the yellow jackets would not only eat the chicken pieces but also the sugar ants. After googling, I discovered that yellow jackets do eat insects, among other things. The next morning there was nary a sign of any sugar ants on the board. I don’t know how many of them were eaten by the yellow jackets and how many of them just fell into the soapy water with all the activity of the yellow jackets flying under the board to get to the chicken or to the ants. It was kind of like killing two birds with one stone, or in this case two pests with one trap. Perhaps there needs to be more study done to determine whether or not yellow jackets eat sugar ants, but this link indicates that they do eat at least one kind of ant. 

3. Water

Although our water is from a deep well, I am thankful that it continues to provide that precious commodity that many in certain  parts struggle to have due to the drought like conditions, the drying up of reservoirs and rivers, and the ways the watersheds have been damaged by the wildfires making drinking water unsafe for many.

4. Entering another year of life and lots of birthday wishes

5. Generosity and going the extra mile

When I received a call from a friend who had garden produce including green beans that she wanted to share with us, I said, “Oh, I should have bought some bacon when I was at the store this morning.” She handed me two pieces of bacon when she gave me the produce.❤️

Fresh green beans cooked
with pieces of bacon

6. Being able to watch characters in movies portrayed by great actors and actresses 

We watched Maggie Smith in The Lady in the Van this week. We missed seeing it when he came out in 2015. 

7. Movies based on true stories, such as the one mentioned above, and the fact that Vic discovered that it was available for us to watch and knew that this would be a movie I would like

8. Being able to feel somewhat safer from being possibly exposed to COVID variants because masking in all indoor public settings is being required again in my state 

Since we are fully vaccinated, it would be my hope that if for some reason I did get sick with one of the variants my case would be lighter, but I still just don’t want to be sick or to be one of those who might be asymptomatic with a COVID variant and expose someone else to the disease, so I am more than happy to wear the mask.

9. Lessons and lectures available via youtube

There are so many opportunities to learn and ways of verifying  the validity of what one is being taught. I am thankful for the chance to seek truth, and to learn from the past as we venture forth into the future. As I was preparing to participate in the blog hop Six Sentences Stories - Grip this week, I googled to learn how to correctly say “la grippe.” That venture led me to watching a fascinating lecture available through https://oyc.yale.edu. I watched Epidemics in Western Society Since 1600 (HIST 234). (La Grippe wasn't the topic of my Six Sentence Story but I was thankful to listen to the lecture, AND to learn about the open classes available at Yale.)

10. Vic and our family and the many people we care about and who care about us

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