The Bau Family |
Joys of GardeningAugust is worm picking season. This is the month when all the flowers are in full bloom. Different flowers attract different moths and when moths lay eggs and the eggs hatch, the fat little half inch to 1" long worms start to eat the flowers. The candy-striped petunias are especially attractive to moths.Sevin spray could be applied, but Rachel prefers to go around with her clipper, cutting up the worms. First of all, it produces instant results. Secondly, it is a very satisfying feeling to see the flower juice oozing out of their sqirmy bodies and know that these destructive arch enemies will never resurrect to eat the flowers again. Thirdly, the less use of poison the better. Chipmunk EpidemicA racoon has been eating more and more of Rachel's flowers. The problem has not been solved. (Related story) She has been leaving delicious little packages of strawberry jam, blueberry jam, and apricot jam in the Havahart trap as baits. The jam was always neatly and cleverly finished but the trap has not been set off yet.As if that were not bad enough, she then started spying chipmunks. The chipmunk population has grown by the thousands ever since 2 summers ago when the natural weather & climate elements were perfect in producing a record amount of acorns from the dozens of oak trees in the Bau's yard. That year, our lawns, driveway, flowerbeds, doorsteps and everywhere were covered by inches of acorns. It was an agonizing job to remove them bag by bag because they were heavy, so a lot of nuts were left on the barkchip beds. For a while, they looked more attractive than barkchip covers. That season gave the squirrels and chipmunks plenty of field days because nuts are the staple of their diet. Fully fed, they multiplied by the hundreds. Now they are burrowing in and out of our stone walls in both the front and back yards. While they are very cute, about 6 to 7 inches long not counting the tail, they could wreak havoc. If their population is not controlled, the stone mounts they build inside the stone walls could actually cause walls to collapse. Paul and Rachel are trying to leave mole poison pellets in the entry and exit holes and setting rat traps with peanut for bait. Philly AdventureOn the night of August 15, 1998 a franctic phone call was placed from Philadelphia's 30th street Train Station to the residence of David and Heidi Bau...No answer...doh! Oh well, the caller thought, considering Philly is not the safest city in the world, and I have no idea where their apartment is, I had better stay in the friendly confines of the train station where there are at least some security officials about, weary, but still a presence.Another phone call was placed, and eureka, Heidi answered the phone. After a hurried consultation it was decided that the guest would take a cab to the corner of Walnut and 18th street in order to reach David and Heidi's residence. Walking out of the train station, the caller tried his best to hide the fact that he was a tourist in a big city, but the fact he had no idea where to catch a cab, gave him away. After pleading with the taxi driver to give him a ride to what they considered was too short a distance to be worth their time, the caller's first ever lone ride in a cab ensued. It was a frightful experience as the caller had never witnessed such driving since his last trip to Taiwan, however, it was even worse in this case because it seemd like only the cab driver who felt like driving in such an ungodly manner, which meant, the other drivers were not practiced in handling such drivers. Finally after 15 anxious minutes, the cab stopped and the corner of Walnut and 18th was reached. "Oh, oh..." thought the caller, "where is David and/or Heidi? What was the address of their building again?" Fearfully peering at the street sign for a clue as to which way to turn, a voice cried out "Ryan!" Looking around, he spotted someone who looked familiar, except for the fact she was pregnant, but now he knew he was finally safe. No More Smoking For RonWell, after a year and a half of regular exercising, gym workouts, lost pounds and inches, Ron decided it was time for him to "kick the habit".With commitment, help from the VA "Stop Smoking Clinic" and Nicoderm (a three step series of nicotine skin patches), Ron has not smoked a cigarette in over two months. It's not so easy to break a 30 year habit. Congratulations Ron! |
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