Worst Weed in the World

You are not going to believe this. I don’t believe it, and I saw it with my own eyes.

          There is a weed that virtually explodes, sending out

           5,000

seeds and infesting the ground as far as 10 feet away.

          Its name is Bittercress (sometimes HAIRY Bittercress) and it is the bane of my existence right now.

          When you think to yourself, “How on earth did we get so many weeds?” this is how.

          I was working in my front flower bed and bumped a drip line. Suddenly I saw a wide mist of water emanating from that very spot! “Wow,” I mumbled. I had no idea a drip system could have a “mist” setting.

          Alas, I was wrong—it was one of these horrid weeds, bursting! A light nudge or even a breeze can create the explosion. It looks like water vapor or a powdery puff of smoke.

But don’t be fooled. These little wise guy seeds burrow in and begin to flourish. You have to pull them out by hand if you want to salvage the flowers nearby. But if you don’t get the entire root, they’ll come back.

Meanwhile, if you call and I don’t answer, it’s because I’m in the back yard. Pulling them out with tweezers.

Check out my Youtube Mom videos—sorry there isn’t one on an easy way to get rid of Bittercress!

Ka-Blooey!

          “Hey,” St. Bob says, “Birds are exploding in mid-air over California.”

          I roll my eyes.  “Are there kids with BB guns below them?”  Once again, I am sure there is a rational explanation.

          First I ask him where he’s reading this, and look over his shoulder at his cell phone.  This has got to be another anti-California article about acid rain or metaphysical retribution from jealous birds in the next life, who didn’t get to live by the ocean.

          But no—it’s a legitimate article in a legitimate newspaper, USA Today.  The headline reads, Why birds are igniting in midair over Calif.

          And it turns out that every two minutes, a bird is scorched to death by the light rays coming from BrightSource Energy plant, the largest solar thermal power plant in the world.

          This plant (built for $2.2 billion) has 300,000 mirrors the size of garage doors, and they all focus the sun’s power toward 40-story-tall “power towers.”  And it doesn’t take a genius to see what could happen in the path of those stunning beams—experts say as many as 28,000 birds will die within a year, drawn to bugs that are drawn to light. Thousands are already dead, and pilots flying in and out of L.A. and Las Vegas report being dazzled by the light as well.  Hard to believe?  Here’s the link. 

          Wait a second.  Aren’t solar plants supposed to be nature-friendly?  Isn’t that their entire appeal?  So what happens when the environmentally aware facilities turn on the environment?

          The article doesn’t say what’s currently being done to remedy this mass genocide (I’m guessing nothing), but something tells me there’ll be plenty of feral cats out there, holding butterfly nets and smacking their lips.

Have you visited my website, lately?  It will shed light on some great books you can buy and videos you can watch.  But I promise that light will not make you spontaneously ignite.