This post will cover quite a few odds and ends that have piled up over the last few weeks. Topics include yard flowers, insects, ethanol production, and a health update.
The hot summer weather is taking a toll on the yard, with parts of the lawn starting to brown out. However, quite a number of flowers are flourishing, including the Grandpa Otts, Hydrangea, Phlox, and a few others. Here is how they appear today. (Deb, are you having luck growing your Otts?)
(Hydrangea blossoms begin as white then turn pink over time.)
The hostas are still blooming and one of the lilac bushes is in its second seasonal blooming phase, so there is quite a bit of color around the yard.
A few weeks ago we were watching the Elma Trail Days parade when we noticed a large flying insect in the front flower bed. Online research reveal it was a “Common White-tailed Skimmer,” nice to have around as they eat mosquitos.
In local news, we had known this area of Iowa produces ethanol, used to blend into gasoline. However, we were surprised to learn just how much is produced. “Valero Charles City is a biorefinery for progress, converting around 49 million bushels of corn into approximately 140 million gallons of denatured ethanol and 368,000 tons of distillers grain co-products each year.” (The grain co-products are sold as livestock feed.) That is a lot of ethanol and underscores just how much this technology means to area farmers.
I’ll finish this post with a short medical update. I am now on a maintenance plan to monitor my PSA and testosterone levels as a result of my prostate cancer treatments. Every 6 months I get a blood draw which is shipped to the Mayo Clinic for analysis. This week was one of those times. The results: My PSA remains low and my testosterone levels are slowly climbing back to normal. Good news all around.
That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!
Pam’s Penny
You DO NOT want to mess with cat ladies. Nope. Not a good idea. Trash them at your own peril.
Happy Trails.