At Home in the Huddle 2013

It's Garbage Day

43 degrees and clear at 6:15 a.m.

The WKTV Weather Forecast: "Thursday will be windy and warm with plenty of sunshine. Highs will be in the low and mid 70s.

No major storm systems are expected to impact us through the rest of the week and into the weekend, which means it will be quiet with temperatures forecast to top out in the upper 60s and low 70s."

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TODAY'S EVENTS

WCS Sports

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AT THE LIBRARY

Today at 6pm

"Monster Shoot"

ages 5 - 10

We’ll make monsters, set them up and shoot them down with water guns! Then take them home (with

your new water guns)!

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Yesterday

Lilacs. I wish I could "blog" the scent!

Yesterday was a great day to be outdoors, and golfers were working on their swings at Green Acres in Sangerfield.

Nearby, construction is in progress on Easy Street ........

............. and air conditioners were being installed at Michael's Fine Food & Spirits.

Clinging to rocky nooks next to Route 315 in Forge Hollow, Wild Columbine makes tiny dots of color.......

............ and there are patches of tiny white Wild Strawberry Blossoms along side roads.

Clumps of tall grasses remind me what fun it is:

TO MAKE A GRASS BLADE WHISTLE

described and drawn by Darrel Blain of Henrietta, Texas.

"Let’s suppose you need to make a loud noise to frighten off a large wild animal (assuming you’ve encountered a large wild animal that can actually be frightened), or suppose you become lost or injured while hiking and need to signal your whereabouts, or let’s suppose you are eight years old hanging out with your cousins in a small town in Texas with not much to do, trying to make as much noise as possible.

In that case you can make a really loud whistle from a grass blade. Strictly speaking it’s not a whistle but a single reed instrument. A whistle has a fixed surface; a reed instrument has a moving surface vibrating against a fixed surface.

Whatever, it still is ear-splittingly loud.

Here’s how to do it.

Find yourself a grass blade, or leaf, or something similar, longer than your thumb. Not a wimpy grass blade from a suburban lawn, but a native grass or weed that’s tough, with about a finger’s width to it.

Hold it between thumb and forefinger so the grass more or less drapes along the length of your thumb.

After holding it between thumb and forefinger with one hand, so the grass more or less drapes along the length of your thumb, catch the bottom end of the blade with your middle finger.

Pull the grass blade tight along the side of your thumb with this finger, while bringing your other thumb up to replace your forefinger.

After pulling the grass blade tight along the side of your thumb with your middle finger, bring your thumbs parallel to form an opening with the grass blade centered in it.

Keep holding the grass blade taut with your middle finger, at the base of your thumb, so that the grass blade is stretched tight across the opening.

When you blow between your thumbs, the reed (the grass blade) will vibrate against the sides of your thumbs, much the same way a reed works in a harmonica.

This reed-whistle will be piercingly loud and strident, sort of like a one-note saxophone gone bad, a very desirable quality if you’re eight."

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FOR YOUR CALENDAR