Organic Insecticide Fails on Dan’s 4th holiday Lion King
It was an exciting 4th of July here in Santa Barbara: Nazy and I walked through and enjoyed the rose garden in Mission Park. (Nazy, in particular, was dressed for the occasion.) We were most excited about the..
“.. fireworks, Dan!” Nazy exclaimed. “They’ll launch them from West Beach, right over the ocean at 9:00 PM exactly.”
“That’s exciting,” I replied.
“And, here in California, there will be no weather concerns. The East Coast has a hurricane to worry about. But here, it won’t rain until October. It’s going to be great!”
“It may not rain,” I thought, “but that doesn’t mean that there won’t be clouds.” Naturally, I didn’t ‘say’ anything, because I didn’t want to be accused of being ‘pessimistic’. I was, however, aware of a persistent (and annoying) ‘marine layer’ - clouds that form over the ocean at this time of year.
The fireworks began precisely on-time. Luckily (I’m being optimistic here), the major bursts exploded in the middle of the ‘marine layer’, so we had the chance to use our imagination to construct virtual images of how things would have looked if we could have seen more than flares popping out of the top and bottom of the clouds.
“Look at that!” I said. “A red, white, blue representation of the Statue of Liberty with a flock of bald eagles morphing into a squadron of F-18’s. I’ve never seen fireworks like that before.”
“You’re not seeing fireworks like that now.” Nazy replied.
“Aw.. don’t be mopey.”
“Why did the fireworks stop?” Nazy asked. “There was no Grand Finale.”
“Maybe they’re waiting for the wind to blow the clouds away.”
“There is no wind.”
“And no more fireworks.”
“That was a very short show, Dan. I’m not impressed. There was no Grand Finale.”
We walked back to the car and began driving home. As we left the parking lot, the fireworks started again. We caught glimpses of the display in the rearview mirror. It all ended with a Grand Finale that we heard, but could not see.
The cause of the delay: A ‘falling ember’ landed on a wire. (It is hard to believe that nobody considered or planned for this eventuality.) In fact, it happened again after the restart; the ‘Grand Finale’ was not quite as grand as planned. This was the second time in the last 4 years that there has been a technical flaw during the Santa Barbara fireworks.
On a related topic, this year Nazy decided that she would chair the Performing Arts Committee at the Santa Barbara Newcomers Club. Normally, this wouldn’t concern me, but.
“Since I volunteered to chair the committee, you, Dan, will volunteer to be on the committee.”
Out touring the pride lands, I had a quick reply:
“You cannot dictate to me! I am the Lion King. I am the King of the Jungle. I, sleep tonight,” I thought. “Yes dear!” I said. “I am ready to perform.”
“Perform?”
“Performing Arts: I was President of DramaTech. I am the consummate performer. I’m going to call and borrow Tom’s Lion King costume.”
“No performing is necessary, Dan.”
“Performance Art is never ‘necessary’, Nazy.”
“The Performing Arts committee arranges events for newcomers.”
“Arrange? Like organize? Or orchestrate? Direct?”
“Right.”
“Like you arranged for me to be on this committee?”
“Precisely. The next event is the musical Oklahoma!”
“I want to play Curly.”
“You don’t have enough hair to play Curly.”
“I’ll wear a cowboy hat.”
“Just follow my directions.”
“That I can do.” I replied confidently. “I’ve been doing it for 42 years,” I thought accurately.
Sunny Santa Barbara is a gardeners paradise...
“Paradise?” Nazy interrupts. “Don’t gardens need water?”
“Paradise - except for the draught.”
“And the bugs. Something is nibbling the bougainvillea and the geraniums.”
“That, Nazy, is a bigger problem. The ‘insecticide’ that I got at the local organic flower shop doesn’t kill insects.”
“Why not?”
“Potions that kill insects are poison. Ergo, the Californians don’t want us to use them.”
“So how does the spray that they sold you work?”
“I think it makes the leaves and flowers slippery. So the insects slide off before they can eat.”
“What?”
“Or maybe it makes the leaves and flowers sticky so bigger bigs can catch them.”
“Or so the little bugs can stay and munch?”
“It’s the price you pay for organic flowers.”
“I don’t need organic flowers. I’m not going to eat the flowers.”
“.. fireworks, Dan!” Nazy exclaimed. “They’ll launch them from West Beach, right over the ocean at 9:00 PM exactly.”
“That’s exciting,” I replied.
“And, here in California, there will be no weather concerns. The East Coast has a hurricane to worry about. But here, it won’t rain until October. It’s going to be great!”
“It may not rain,” I thought, “but that doesn’t mean that there won’t be clouds.” Naturally, I didn’t ‘say’ anything, because I didn’t want to be accused of being ‘pessimistic’. I was, however, aware of a persistent (and annoying) ‘marine layer’ - clouds that form over the ocean at this time of year.
The fireworks began precisely on-time. Luckily (I’m being optimistic here), the major bursts exploded in the middle of the ‘marine layer’, so we had the chance to use our imagination to construct virtual images of how things would have looked if we could have seen more than flares popping out of the top and bottom of the clouds.
“Look at that!” I said. “A red, white, blue representation of the Statue of Liberty with a flock of bald eagles morphing into a squadron of F-18’s. I’ve never seen fireworks like that before.”
“You’re not seeing fireworks like that now.” Nazy replied.
“Aw.. don’t be mopey.”
“Why did the fireworks stop?” Nazy asked. “There was no Grand Finale.”
“Maybe they’re waiting for the wind to blow the clouds away.”
“There is no wind.”
“And no more fireworks.”
“That was a very short show, Dan. I’m not impressed. There was no Grand Finale.”
We walked back to the car and began driving home. As we left the parking lot, the fireworks started again. We caught glimpses of the display in the rearview mirror. It all ended with a Grand Finale that we heard, but could not see.
The cause of the delay: A ‘falling ember’ landed on a wire. (It is hard to believe that nobody considered or planned for this eventuality.) In fact, it happened again after the restart; the ‘Grand Finale’ was not quite as grand as planned. This was the second time in the last 4 years that there has been a technical flaw during the Santa Barbara fireworks.
On a related topic, this year Nazy decided that she would chair the Performing Arts Committee at the Santa Barbara Newcomers Club. Normally, this wouldn’t concern me, but.
“Since I volunteered to chair the committee, you, Dan, will volunteer to be on the committee.”
Out touring the pride lands, I had a quick reply:
“You cannot dictate to me! I am the Lion King. I am the King of the Jungle. I, sleep tonight,” I thought. “Yes dear!” I said. “I am ready to perform.”
“Perform?”
“Performing Arts: I was President of DramaTech. I am the consummate performer. I’m going to call and borrow Tom’s Lion King costume.”
“No performing is necessary, Dan.”
“Performance Art is never ‘necessary’, Nazy.”
“The Performing Arts committee arranges events for newcomers.”
“Arrange? Like organize? Or orchestrate? Direct?”
“Right.”
“Like you arranged for me to be on this committee?”
“Precisely. The next event is the musical Oklahoma!”
“I want to play Curly.”
“You don’t have enough hair to play Curly.”
“I’ll wear a cowboy hat.”
“Just follow my directions.”
“That I can do.” I replied confidently. “I’ve been doing it for 42 years,” I thought accurately.
Sunny Santa Barbara is a gardeners paradise...
“Paradise?” Nazy interrupts. “Don’t gardens need water?”
“Paradise - except for the draught.”
“And the bugs. Something is nibbling the bougainvillea and the geraniums.”
“That, Nazy, is a bigger problem. The ‘insecticide’ that I got at the local organic flower shop doesn’t kill insects.”
“Why not?”
“Potions that kill insects are poison. Ergo, the Californians don’t want us to use them.”
“So how does the spray that they sold you work?”
“I think it makes the leaves and flowers slippery. So the insects slide off before they can eat.”
“What?”
“Or maybe it makes the leaves and flowers sticky so bigger bigs can catch them.”
“Or so the little bugs can stay and munch?”
“It’s the price you pay for organic flowers.”
“I don’t need organic flowers. I’m not going to eat the flowers.”
“Of course not. This non-lethal spray allows the insects to eat the flowers. We won’t have any to eat.”
And, finally, a baby update. The world’s greatest baby continues to grow and delight. He celebrated his first month on the planet with his first submersible bath and smiles for all. Veracity check: He wasn’t smiling
during the bath.
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