Boyer's Store

Bill and Lillian Boyer behind the counter at their store in Gordon, Ohio

White Throated Sparrow

COPD and breathing

The snow is snowing and the wind is blowing but there is no fire to keep me warm in the fireplace. Firewood, lots of firewood, used to be my number one concern when I was as healthy as a horse, smoked a pipe and a pack of cigarettes once every few days. Now, after ruining both lungs I am not even eligible for a lung transplant. So the doctor told us that I should not use the fireplace because it would do me no good to smell the smoke from it or get the particles from the smoke into my lungs. So we sealed it up and now it is a decorative dent in the wall that is illuminated by overhead lights.

So, I am stuck with toting around a bottle of oxygen or using an oxygen concentrator with a cannula stuck in my nose 24/7 day and night. It takes some getting used to. Since suffocation is not the way for anybody to go, I do my duty and use oxygen any way I can get it.

Things that are supposed to be OK to do and some are thought to be good for you if you do them on a regular basis, like sex, will often surprise you. One day you reach in there looking for the hose that put out so many fires, and you can't find it! That's not something you run to the doctor about until you're positive you are missing an important part of your anatomy. And when the Mrs. agrees it is gone missing, it is time to ask the doctor for an explanation. Studs Terkle's account of shooting the head off a dead man's penis comes to mind when I think about it. So, I try not to think about it.

Abraham's Wood Carvings

I used to spend a lot of my spare time trying different ideas to see if I could do them. I saw a lady on the cover of National Geographic magazine who was carving primitive characters and thought I might be able to do that. I tried the primitive carvings and ended up with "The Hobos" and I still have them. We lived by the railroad tracks in Gordon, Ohio and hobos stopped at our house for a drink of cold water or a basin of water to wash off with. Mother always gave them water to drink and a basin of water and a cake of lye soap to wash with and she made sure they had a plate or bowl full of whatever we were eating that day so they would have something to eat. I have seen them sitting by the railroad with a puff of smoke giving them away. They would be heating up a pot of beans or something to eat. I assume they carried cans of beans with them as they didn't have much of a sack to carry things in. My oil painting depicts one such character reading a newspaper.

Cleome

An old favorite Cleome.

One of my all time favorites is Cleome. I like the way it looks and I like the way it smells but it is also sticky like tobacco is when tobacco is being cut in the field; and I don't like that very much. It is also a prolific seeder and each stem produces hundreds of flowers and pea-pod-like pods filled with seeds. If you allow the pod to fill and grow old it will split open and drop the contents on the ground. Most of the seed will not survive birds and insects but they are tiny and fall into cracks and some will sprout the following year. 

Purple Cone Flowers

Purple Cone Flowers seeds

Purple Cone Flower with Red Admiral Butterfly

The Red Admiral Butterfly is almost always around our house. Not so much this past summer as I am not able to get outside as much or as often as I used to. Still, this is a good picture of the Purple Cone Flower and it shows one of the insects that feed on the pollen and nectar. The gold finch love the seeds when the flowering season is finished. Sometimes there isn't anything left but the flower stock.

Hibiscus

Hibiscus

Hibiscus

A very attractive flower but grows here as an annual. It doesn't attract a lot of hungry feeders but it sure is beautiful in all its colors and shapes.