WET, RAIN, SO WHAT'S NEW?

Yesterday, before leaving our park, I had a last good swim after breakfast. Got a 10 minute massage in the hot tub and Jim was packed up to go. We  switched directions, making a beeline to  Bellingham, Washington  to look at real estate. A longer drive than normal and this is what it looked like-We passed through historic Raymond where there must have been a hundred metal sculptures along the road. They tell a story of the area, pioneers, ox teams, ag, fish, logging, kids, Indians, all sorts of wild animals, moose, deer, cougar. But rain made it impossible to grab a shot from the window.

Steady, hefty rain most of the day.  We stopped to shop and eat lunch during a little break. As soon as we were back on the road, the rain resumed. The natives are complaining about  unusually wet weather as in:  "Geez, its June and its still cold." But,Kin Hubbard says:  "Don't knock the weather; nine-tenths of the people couldn't start a conversation if it didn't change once in a while."
Before leaving the park, I took a photo of this lithadora. I love this plant. I have it in my yard where it struggles. Here it grows in happy profusion. I can enjoy it in the picture, and besides, earlier, I took a picture of it and misidentified it as liatris. So, this picture is by way of a correction.  Another 150 miles ahead of us today.

THE ANTS GO MARCHING ONE BY ONE...

Its the weather!  Its the rain!  Its the marching ants brigade! I opened a hall closet door and a stream of ants was congregated near the ceiling. I followed them over 30 feet away, marching along at ceiling level and then crossing down to my cupboard doors.

I don't spray but I do dust my cupboards and baseboards with diatomaceous earth.

It works very well. They don't dare come in my door, or up through the floor. It controls the small ants I'm used to seeing every once in awhile. But, these giant cousin found a way around my baseboards by coming from the outside, up the side walls, through the attic and ceiling and into my kitchen. I looked to see what they were after, but they didn't seem to be interested in anything I had in my cupboards. I would have wiped them away, but past experience leads me to believe it never stops the endless stream. Besides, I was busy working on my heritage picture project with my brother and sister.

Bill scanned the photos.

Dawn sorted and read me inscriptions from the backs to type into the program.  We ate dinner late; She told me I should watch the movie ANTZ.  We ignored them.
This morning, before I could get the diatomaceous earth out to discourage this new entrance, they had all disappeared. Haven't a clue? Glad to see them gone. Its still very wet outside, but the rain is gone. I'll be watching for them. My youngest daughter, a biologist, claims you can't do much about them anyway, unless you poison them. I choose not to poison anything anymore. It seems to be working. The ants go marching two by two harrah, harrah!