Smile for the Joy of Others

Smile for the Joy of Others

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Waspaggedon

Every spring, our front yard flower bed is invaded by wasp.  Our flower bed is nothing but bushes and juniper.  Wasp love to nest all up in that stuff.  Hopefully this time next year, we will have remedied this problem with new landscaping.  But until then, I've been trying to control the wasp population.  I would like enjoy sitting on our front porch without a swarm of wasp flying around as if a division of the Air Force protecting the country's border.

A friend told me about the wasp traps you see below.  I have thoroughly enjoyed watching wasp become trapped and die.  Violent, maybe but I loathe this little spawns of satan. 

I have 2 traps.  You will see a pic below of 23 wasp emptied from just 1 trap.  As of now, the time writing this blog, I still haven't been able to empty the other trap.  There are still about 3 wasp that aren't yet dead.  I will empty it when all are dead, refill it with fresh concoction. However, I quit counting around 30 in that trap. 

1. Our front flower bed is nothing but bushes and juniper. Wasp nest all up in that stuff. And we hope to redo our beds soon to prevent this invasion every spring, summer and fall.
2. There are flies in there, too. But not nearly the amount as wasps.
3. It does not attract honey bees, bumble bees nor carpenter bees.

4. Cocktail that attracts them: 2 oz of water. 1 oz of fruit juice (I've used cranberry and apple cider...both have worked equally well). 1 oz of vinegar (I use Bragg's apple cider vinegar. I used white distilled and had no luck). 4 T sugar
5. I bought these on amazon. They are called Aspectek wasp traps.

6. I have not found them in local retail stores.
7. Have I mentioned how much I HATE wasp.

8. Die, wasp, Die!





Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Who's the Liar?



You must decide who is lying? Reeves' appointee to the Head of the Senate Ed Committee who supposedly knows what is in the bill and has no Republican opposition for the August primaries or Reeves, who is up for re-election and has an opponent?

Friends, if you remotely keep up with the local news, then I'm sure you have read or heard that the legislature passed a bill that would end Common Core. Lt. Gov Tate Reeves is responsible for that lie. You see, it's election year and like many politicians, he will say what he needs to say to get re-elected. He's hoping you are fools enough not to notice. And he's relying on the media to quote him and his colleagues instead of quoting the actual bill, itself. He trusts the media too much and they trust him too much.

I've read SB 2161. There is no language in the bill that actually repeals nor prohibits MS from CC standards and the plethora of federal mandates that are attached to CC. Simply put, this bill says "we don't have to call it Common Core State Standards any more." So, they decided to call it Mississippi College and Career Readiness. You will find many other states who have similar names by means of the same process. And this bill appoints a Commission of such to research standards and make recommendations to the MS DoE. These recommendations can either rid the state of CC or keep them.

If you are still reading, let me introduce another key player in this. I would like to introduce you to Senator Gray Tollison. He is Reeves' appointee as Chair of the Senate Education Committee. Did you catch that?...Chair of the Senate Education Committee. With that appointment, he should know what is actually in the bill since he's responsible for presenting it to the Senate for a vote. Oh, and a side note about Tollison, 2 days after he won his 5th re-election as a Democrat, he announced his switch to the Republican Party, but I digress.
 
Yesterday, as Sen. Tollison was presenting the bill and taking questions from other Senators, he engaged in a somewhat heavy discussion with Senator Jordon of Greenwood. Sen Jordon wants to keep CCSS for MS. He was asking Sen. Tollison why MS was getting rid of CC so soon and not giving it a chance. The discussion went back and forth and it was obvious they were both frustrated with each other bc of their differing view points on this matter and the language in the bill.

It was at this time Sen. Tollison, (and let me emphasize again, Reeves' appointee as Chair of the Senate Ed Committee) with exasperation ended his debate with Sen. Jordon by saying "Again, Mr. Jordon, nobody is getting rid of anything." Please note the use of "again" in his statement. He was emphasizing to Sen Jordon, yet again, that this bill does not repeal CC in MS.

Now, you must decide who is lying?....Reeves' appointee as Chair of the Senate Ed Committee who supposedly knows what is in the bill and has no Republican opposition for the primaries in August or Reeves, who is up for re-election and has an opponent?