The term "Dog Days" dates back to pre-Roman times and is generally thought to be between the months of July and August. It refers to the time Sirius, the Dog Star, was in closest proximity to the sun, causing the Ancient Romans to believe that the heat they felt was the will of Sirius. This is the period in which there is the least amount of rainfall. The days become a maze of sultry slow breezes and piercing hot sun. Not a cloud in the sky. The essence of Spring has officially left, and the hot hand of Sirius has placed itself upon the land.
Recently, my new tomato plants were under attack. Every night, an unknown assailant slipped into the vegetable bed and disposed of a handful of baby tomato leaves. It was quite shocking really to see this perfectly healthy tomato plant practically bald. I couldn't figure it out. The leaves weren't falling off because there were no leaves on the ground below the plant. The birds don't come near the beds as my resident stray keeps them in check. It was a conundrum that had to be solved. After some time on the Internet, I thought I might have found the silent thief; the tomato hornworm (aka the five spotted hawkmoth).
While the website I surfed maintained that this creature could hide in plain sight as its green color matches the tomato plant itself, my plant was only a few inches tall, and there was not a worm in sight. So, how do you prove a hornworm is eating your plant when it is nowhere in sight? How do you prove it is windy outside? You look for the rustling of leaves. The hornworms droppings are oddly shaped hexagonal looking sections that are found below any plant they have been feasting upon. I went out to my tomato beds for another look, and sure enough, there was the proof. I sprayed some insecticide around all my plants, but I cannot say if I killed it or not. I have never seen the hornworm so either one of three things happened: one, he was eaten by a bird, two, he was killed by the insecticide, or three, he turned into a moth and floated on his merry way. Either way, my plant is sprouting new leaves now, and I think it is going to pull through.
In my last post, I talked about my recent experience with my youngest nephew. I thought I might go back to that thought for one moment and talk about the effects of adrenaline on the body. The day after the whole emergency room fiasco, I was pretty well wiped out. Still, I had to get my weekend chores completed. I had lost an entire day helping with my nephew and grandfather, and I still needed to get to the grocery store, clean the house, etc etc. However, while out on my first errand at Target, I started feeling bad. Really bad. I came home with a bad headache and a seriously hurting back. Alieve couldn't touch this stiff pain. After a while I started wondering how I got to feeling so bad. The only thing I could think of was the excitement of the previous day. That's when I started to research the effect of adrenaline on the body.
Adrenaline is an interesting hormone. We have all heard of those stories where a mother miraculously lifts a car of her child, but what is it about adrenaline that allows us to do this? The long and the short of it is this: adrenaline causes the body to preform at it's highest possible capacity. Okay, so you already knew that? Well, how about this: adrenaline changes the beating of your heart and constricts or dilates blood vessels, diverting oxygen-rich blood to where it is most needed in the body. The body stops any process of digestion, and your visions is ultra-tuned (tunnel vision, or panoramic vision). And, while you may be faster than a speeding bullet, trying to do anything involving fine motor skills, like twirling a basket ball. The hands often start shaking during an adrenaline rush, but it's not fear, it's the body constricting blood flow to the areas deemed nonessential. Post adrenaline rush is not much better. You see, adrenaline is not excreted from the body after it has been released; it's reabsorbed. However, the process of reabsorption can take up to two days, leaving you with pounding headaches, places where you feel like you have been hit (a result from the adrenaline tensing various muscle groups), nausea, exhaustion, and disrupted sleep. It's amazing what are bodies are capable of, even when they are in less than ideal condition.
If you're wondering about my cross stitching updates, you will be happy to know I am still working on my floral project. However, I have made so few stitches in the past few weeks, I decided not to take another photo of my "progress". Wishing you a smooth, time-flying week!
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