Archive for the 'Home' Category
Yesterday was a big day. It was the day that i had been waiting for a very long time. Yesterday was the day when Smelly and i picked up our Shiba Inu puppy Mango from our breeder Leslie Engen.
We arrived slightly before 1000 at Leslie’s beautiful home, earlier than usual because we had a noon appointment with a well-known dog trainer Diane Rich. On arrival, we were greeted by Leslie’s Japanese Akita Kai and her Leonberger Hef.
Kai - the Akita from Japan.
The Leoberger and the Akita.
We played with Mango and her two other remaining litter mate.
Mango and i in the fenced playpen.
After signing the contract and listening to some advices given by Leslie, she gave us some toys and some treats for Mango, including a stuffed toy with KD’s (Mango’s mom) scent.
Mango, as expected, threw up in his crate while on our way back home in his first journey in a car. The first thing we did on arrival at home with Diane, was to take Mango to the backyard. After some hesitation, Mango peed near edge of the paved rock and Rosemary bushes. He then found a hiding spot behind the stone Lion statue.
Mango found a shady spot under the patio umbrella.
Mango spent most of the late afternoon napping.
Mango taking a nap.
Mango resting under the late afternoon sun next to Smelly.
Mango resting under the late afternoon sun next to Smelly.
Mango resting on his paws.
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About two months ago, i bought a mantis egg case from the Home Depot on 1st Ave. There really isn’t any need for a biological pest control in my backyard since the few plants that attracted tons of aphids last year were no longer there. Last year, the three pepper plants in the backyard were infested with aphids so i introduced two batches of lady bugs to eliminate the aphids problem. The only reason for getting the mantis case is to satisfy my curiosity.
The instructions on packaging material mentions that the eggs hatch in about 10 days after the temperate reaches at least 70 degrees. This had been a relatively cooler spring and summer so daytime high did not hit the 70s until a week or two ago. After inspecting the egg case at least once a week for the past month, i gave up the idea that i would see mantises in my backyard.
Yesterday afternoon, i was inspecting the recently planted Irish Moss and to my surprise, i found several mantis nymphs!
Tiny mantis nymph on my thumb.
A mantis nymph hidden in Irish Moss.
I am a little concerned that i may not have any food in my backyard for the mantises. I may have to introduce some pest just to feed my mantises!
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Update: The Mariners were beaten 6 - 2 by the Nationals.
Update: Throughout this season gone horribly wrong for the Mariners, Seattle Times’ Geoff Baker has written some deservingly critical posts on the Mariners organization. In his latest post, he wrote about who’s going to be dumped in the next round of firing.
I am taking a break on my bike ride from Gas Work Park to Woodinville. I have just checked the score of the last game of the series between the Mariners and the Washington Nationals. So how bad and how pathetic are the Seattle Mariners? The Mariners are in danger of being swept at home by the worst team in the National League, four runs down in the bottom of the 9th inning.
Several weeks ago, I wrongly predicted the firings of manager John McClaren and GM Bill Bavasi. They are still holding on to their jobs. The only firing that Mariners did was to let go of the sacrificial hitting coach Jeff Pentland. One of the many players that should have been released - Richie Sexson - is still playing, just as badly as before. The past two games with bases loaded and no out, Richie struck out and the Mariners could not even get a single run home.
This 2008 team is the most over-rated and the most under-achieved team among all the past Mariners teams. It may not be sufficient to just let all the coaching staff and all of the front office go, the current core of players must be traded or released since they are all accustomed to the culture of losing. They do not know how to play as a team to win. In this fire sale, no single player, including the popular Ichiro, should be under the illusion that they are allowed to stay unless they are able to commit to playing as a team to win.
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Several days ago, i discovered that leaves on most of the onion planted by Smelly, were showing signs of being eaten by slugs. They were in a pretty bad shape. Last season, they pretty much decimated Smelly’s pot-grown sweet basil. For some strange reason, they left the two other pots with Thai basil alone.
So today, i stopped by at the Home Depot on my way home and bought myself two types of slug-controlling products. One is a more environmentally friendlier material with iron phosphate as the active ingredient. According to the instructions, after the slugs have eaten some of the pellets, they will stop eating for several days and then they will die. The second product is what i would consider the nuclear option. It is Methaldyhde-based and it is probably extremely toxic if swallowed. Nuking the slugs is probably the last straw for me. After arriving home, i sprinkled the iron phosphate-based pellets all around the slug-infested area.
Several minutes ago, i took a flashlight and went to the backyard to check on the plants. Several of the slugs were munching on the leaves, instead of eating the tasty pellets! I was very very tempted to go nuclear at that moment. But a cooler head prevailed. Serenity now.. serenity now…
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This spider built a web between the sweet bay tree and the Thai basil plant in my backyard. As it caught a fly in its web, i took a series of pictures. Click on the picture below for the slideshow.
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… mating! These are my third batch of ladybugs. I bought these organic pest control tools because of a huge aphid infestation on my pepper plants. The first two batches of ladybugs that i released, it did not appear to me that using ladybugs to control the pesky aphids was working, as by the third or fourth day after releasing all the ladybugs (in the thousands), i would not see any ladybug remaining on the pepper plants.
When i bought my third batch of ladybugs at the Home Depot off Aurora Avenue, the cashier told me that to in order to make the ladybugs stay on the pepper plants, i should spray the plants with something sugary like Sprite. The idea is that if the ladybugs have consumed all the aphids on the pepper plants, they will continue to stay on the plants because of the sugary syrup on the leaves. If everything goes well, they may even mate and in no time, i should have thousands of baby ladybugs on the plants getting ready for the next round of aphid infestation.
Public enemy #1: Aphid and kids
One thing i noticed yesterday afternoon is that ladybugs are not the only natural predator of the aphids. I saw some wasps walking all over the leaves and some black flying insects that actually grabbed the aphids and took off with them! I think the main reason why the aphid infestation went out of control initially was the pepper plants were kept indoor. By keeping the plants indoor, the aphid population grew uninhibited since its predators could not get to them.
From now on, the pepper plants are staying outdoor.
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