No cake for breakfast

At least no red velvet cake before noon. Never mind about red states and blue states, the United States can be divided into two groups:

1. People who think eating red velvet cake is like dying and going to heaven.
2. People who find red velvet cake aesthetically alarming and too sweet. It's kind of like watching Boise State play on blue astroturf. Just plain wrong.

Until 1996 I had never been exposed to red velvet cake, but office birthday parties on that new job seemed to always feature this flavor. Coworkers would rub their hands together and say, "Ahhhh, uuuummm, there will be red velvet cake at three [p.m.]." And I would remember reading Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown. Eye of newt...tincture of beets.

Just recently two Texans have whispered to me that they also find red velvet cake creepy. One is from Kansas, the other from Wisconsin/Illinois. I'm from Nebraska, that bastion of sanity and good taste. So there you have it, or not. Please comment with your region, opinion of red velvet cake, and preferred cake flavors.

Oh... I do like pink lemonade cake, spice cake, and Sara Lee orange cake.

© 2014 Nancy L. Ruder

New glasses or more coffee?

What are these weird little insects on the cactus near the sand pendulum? I'm sure they weren't there last Sunday. Are they an event, or an unfortunate infestation? Or should I keep trying to wipe that sunscreen off my glasses?

With only my crummy cell phone camera, screen smeared with sunscreen, I attempted a shot to document the invasion of these black-legged insects with perfectly cactus green abdomens.

Mid-afternoon I got another weird cell phone photo, but it makes me happy. The sidewalk shows white hot behind the tumbling bowling pin cacti with backlit fuzzy spikes. The intended subject of this documentation is not very clear, but it's a larger version of these same cacti invaders.

Chelinidea vittiger is my best ID for the cactus insects. They are plant-eaters, and a type of leaf-footed bug. If you want to get rid of cactus they are your allies. If some of your best friends are cacti, these insects are bad news.

Sunscreen is an occupational hazard these days. I get it in my eyes, on my eyeglasses, my camera, my phone, and occasionally on the body part most endangered by continuous exposure to sun rays.

© 2014 Nancy L. Ruder

Toasty sea oats

Chatted with a visitor from the Carolinas who asked about one of my favorite ornamental grasses. She wanted to know if we called it "sea oats"? Yes. "It's growing everywhere here," she said, "but back home we have a Save the Sea Oats campaign because they are endangered." Obviously, this required a bit of research.

I just love the shape of the seed bracts, and the way they look braided. The design would make beautiful earrings. But since I see these grasses along many trails and in the beds at the garden, they don't seem endangered at all.

That's because my "sea oats" are inland sea oats also known as wood oats, Chasmanthium latifolium. This grass gets two feet tall, grows in shade, and prefers riparian areas. It's useful in preventing erosion along stream beds.

The Carolina coastal sea oats grass is Uniola paniculata L. Whether or not it is endangered is disputed, but it is definitely desirable. The grass gets six feet tall and its root prevent dune erosion. The seeds are apparently tasty.

One of my favorite rants is that children don't know that food comes from farms and gardens. I am humbled to admit I know nothing about where or how oats are grown, even though I ate Cheerios for breakfast six mornings a week during my Wonder Years.

And, if I embroidered a design from this photo, I would be sewing wild oats....

© 2014 Nancy L. Ruder