Wednesday, August 5, 2015

My First Hummingbird on the Butterfly Bush - Near the Window

White Profusion Butterfly Bush

I decided to put the observational plants in the same area with the most sun, what amounts to the backyard extension of the sunny garden, on the south side.

There I planted butterfly, beneficial insect, and hummingbird flowers:

  • Bee Balms
  • Lavender
  • Coreopsis
  • Dill
  • Gooseberry
  • Beautyberry
  • Chaste Tree
  • White Profusion Butterfly Bush


I planted White Profusion where I could easily see it from the bedroom window. I was doing some laundry and peeked out the backdoor at that garden area. A hummingbird was darting from one white flower to another. I walked to the bedroom window and looked again. The hummingbird continued its work for a time and moved on.


White Profusion close up.
I began the year looking at lists of plants friendly to butterflies and hummingbirds, then added beneficial insect plants to my shopping list.

Diversity of plants is the main goal. As I mentioned with beneficial insects, the adults may live on one type of food (nectar and pollen) while the new-borns live on pests as they hatch. Having a large number of nectar and pollen plants - yea, even weeds and herbs - will help populate all the desirable creatures.

This is also the bird area, and they all get along fine. Birds, toads, and beetles eat pests. Those pests could be killed with insecticides, but that would eliminate the butterflies and beneficial insects. Hummingbirds do not simply sip nectar. They also need insects to feed that astounding energy level.

Driving away and killing the pests will always end in getting rid of the most attractive and useful creatures fashioned for that purpose by God. And best of all, these beneficial creations are a delight to the eyes and ears.

Below proves how one type of Bee Balm can attract the best of the delightful creations.









Rainstorms Make Gardeners Feel Accomplished - Tons of Usable Nitrogen for No Cost


El Nino is predicted by NOAA into 2016

I took Sassy for her morning walk at about 8 AM and saw nothing special. I really wanted some rain, because a long bout of sprinkling yesterday left the soil still dry. I know because I dug a hole for the Double Whammy Sunflower this morning.

The house got dark suddenly and a big thunderstorm rolled in at about 10:30. The rainbarrels, which I emptied yesterday - in hope - are already half-filled.

A long, steady rainstorm is a great boon to gardeners and farmers. No amount of artificial watering can equal a rainstorm in volume of water and in usable nitrogen.

Save the rain for later, like a boss.


Maximizing the Rainstorm
Always planning ahead, I obtained 30 cubic feet of cyprus mulch, which we put on part of the main rose garden. I could use more for the rest of the front garden. I am changing over from black mulch that smells bad until it dries out to dry shredded cyprus, which smells wonderful from the start.

I made sure the ranbarrels were empty and positioned under the eaves. They are the secret to the Intensive Creation Unit. I ladle out rainwater on all lagging plants

Double Whammy can grow to 3 feet.
It is a perennial sunflower.
We did a lot of weeding yesterday. I aimed at the big and ugly, such as crabgrass as big a mature crab, and that stealthy grassy weed that goes out from the center and plants new versions to repeat the process.

I am studying weeds to identify them better. Unfortunately I know too many weeds too well. However, they flatter me by growing five feet tall in good soil with plenty of water. "Aha! You will be composted soon under a layer of cardboard, newspaper, and mulch."

As I wrote, with deep sighs, the sunny potato garden turned into a riot of weeds, an orgy of slugs, and very few taters. You might say I reduced the initial supply of seed potatoes. But instead of hiding the evidence, I keep the composted bales in place, tore up the weeds, with help, and coaxed all the organic material around the roses and raspberries growing in wild abandon.

Keeping the material in place will create or sustain a harbor for beneficial beetles and spiders, an overwintering place for beneficial insect larvae. A heavy rainstorm accelerates the the decomposition process, which needs moisture and nitrogen.

Want to Meet Some Beneficial Creatures? Visit the Bee Balm section at Walmart.

I was looking over the plants at Walmart when I spotted a new, fresh display of Bee Balm. I bought a few of their bargain plants from before.

As I neared the display, tiny insects were flitting about. I approached and saw the flower flies (hover flies) feeding from the flowers. The beneficial insects look for the food, and they flourish where plenty of food is provided.





Details on SP Harrison House Fire


Dear Colleague in Christ: 
On Wednesday morning, July 29, an electrical fire broke out in the home of Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod President Matthew Harrison and his wife, Kathy. While the fire caused heavy damage, we give thanks and praise to our merciful God that no one was injured.  
It appears the accidental blaze began in the basement while President Harrison and his two sons were at home, but they were able to get out of the house quickly. While many possessions may be salvageable, portions of the house were destroyed, and the internal structure was seriously compromised.  Smoke and water damage was sustained throughout the home, and insurance adjusters are now working to determine if the house will need to be rebuilt. 
Meanwhile, President Harrison and his family are staying in a hotel until temporary lodging is obtained through the insurance company. As the Harrisons take the necessary steps forward, please pray for strength and comfort in their family vocations during this process. The prayers and support of all are deeply appreciated by the family.

DAVID YOW
Director of Public Relations
The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod


The Two Marks Will Bury WELS.
Silver Mark Serves as Mark-and-Avoid's Enabler

DP John Seifert is another reformer while campaigning,
a pope while reigning.
The latest WELS sales convention represents the end of the sect, which is just as well, since they abandoned the vestiges of Justification by Faith long ago.

Papenfuss, the hero of the Kokomo Statements, never heard of UOJ before he went to the Sausage Factory at Mequon. He left breathing threats against justification by faith, like Paul before his conversion. The graduates who never heard of UOJ certainly heard of Gausewitz. That was their catechism, in WELS and other parts of the Synodical Conference.graduates have never heard of Gausewitz.

The current Sausage Factory grads have never heard of Gausewitz, but they live and breathe UOJ, Emergent Church, and the absolute necessity of having a Pentecostal Praise Band - hallelujah!

Mark Schroeder--a former high school principal with almost no parish experience and the worst kind of parochial education--ran on a reform platform, his way eased by the dismay of the Issues in WELS pastors and laity. That group and website is long gone.

When Mark felt surrounded by the Jeske Crime Family, he urged his classmate to organize a loyalty group, which became the Intrepid Lutherans. But Twelve Apostates (Conference of Presidents) became alarmed and joined Schroeder in dissolving the group.

Mark decided it was better to switch than fight, if any change was really intended. I concluded long ago that he was a Manchurian Candidate, the pliable one picked to finish off the sect. His intense focus on money earns him the title Silver Mark.

My take - he was doing well at first until the Jeske stable of millionaires threatened him with total non-support. Since WELS always teeters on insolvency, that was all it took.

Perhaps Schroeder really was a critic of Church Growth gimmicks. He gave a legendary but now-missing slide show against it, as told by the Intrepid Lutherans.



Let's face it, Schroeder is no leader, but a school principal without principles. He could not make a stand for a good translation of the Bible, so he rolled over and played dead for the New NIV.

After all, WELS members are "afraid of the Bible," as Wendland told a resisting convention. What better way to solve that problem than to make a non-Bible - the New NIV - mandatory for all new publications.

WELS trained teacher - on the far Left.
Silver Mark has made sure that no one dissents from his enabling of Mark and Avoid Jeske. His Intrepids are almost completely gone. No one dares to say anything in public or even anonymously.

Nota bene - all those who used to post anonymously, without a hint of their names or locations, are silent. The nasties have stopped too, perhaps because they revealed too much about the drunken, illiterate, degenerate state of the WELS clergy. Anyone can write using any name he wants, since the email address is open and I happily publish the most toxic statements.

Afraid even when anonymous? That is intimidation. The WELS church workers know that they will be shunned by family and friends when bounced out of the abusive sect, even though that is the best medicine, a fumigant against the soporific vapors of the cult.

As the brother of a real lifetime prisoner told me, "He is happy he has a roof a three meals a day, even if he has no freedom. He thinks I am a loser for working and being free."

An imaginary prison can be just as secure for the people with that mentality. That is why WELS cannot reach new people without assuming a Babtist persona. They have nothing that people need - they can be beaten like a rented mule at work. They do not need a church that charges them for the abuse.

Observe the hilarity pose, used by all Church Growth gurus.
That helps Jeske avoid his default lopsided smile.
Graphic by someone else.

Most people have heard of Planned Parenthood as baby body-parts merchants of death, but no one paid attention when Brett Meyer described how Thrivent was part of funding Planned Parenthood, years ago.

Even if Planned Parenthood were removed - whether honestly or as a ruse - Thrivent would still be the major funder of ELCA and its relentless pro-abortion policies.

Does this bother Silver Mark or his boss Mark Jeske? I see no sign of it.

I decided long ago I would have no part of any pro-abortion institution or those who funded it, and I would oppose them vocally at every opportunity. I have talked people out of March of Dimes, United Appeal, and similar covers for Planned Parenthood.

Mark Schroeder is not offended by the sexual harassment of women staffers in a parish. He protects and rescues the offenders while the victims get sued in court.

But lo - if a WELS musician touches the keys of a non-WELS instrument, Schroeder sends an email, which is a threat.

And if a WELS pastor discusses justification by faith, Schroeder participates with his pal Jon Buchholz in kicking out that parish and trying to take away the parish property.

God uses false teachers to punish those who are indolent about sound doctrine, as Luther observed.

WELS and Missouri - Schroeder, Harrison, and Jeske are your punishment from God.

Luther says that people welcome wolf preaching -
here is the Wolf of Wall Street.
Thrivent even bragged about their speaker being the Wolf of Wall Street -
cocaine, whores, fraud, lies - all supported by "conservative" Lutherans.