Milfoil, Bees and a Trip

Well, I learned something on Sunday.  The big yellow splotch on the lake is milfoil.  From this website we learn the following.

Eurasian Water-milfoil is a seriously problematic aquatic invasive species. It tends to be few branched on the lower stem and much branched near the water's surface, forming a mat that blocks out the sun, inhibiting the growth of other aquatic plants and degrading or destroying food sources and habitat for native aquatic wildlife. It can also ruin recreational activities, but that really is the lesser evil. Once established, it can be difficult to control, as stem fragments can re-root and re-infest or start new infestations. In Minnesota, it was first discovered on Lake Minnetonka in Hennepin County in 1987 and has since spread to more than half the state, transported primarily on boats, trailers and related equipment.

I read somewhere that milfoil is on every continent except Australia and the Arctic.  It's a busy little plant.

So, this is the view of the yellow plants from up the hill.

These are from the same article I referenced above.  Those teeny tiny flowers are making all of that yellow.  Male flowers are on the top, female flowers are below.  However, the bulk of their path to world domination comes from plant fragments breaking off, rooting, and growing.

Seattle has a milfoil mitigation plan.  They drive paddle wheel boats around the lakes, scooping up milfoil to try to keep it under control.  The paddle wheel is so that the milfoil does not wrap itself around the harvester's propellers.  We saw one of the boats in 2011.

I am on day three of recovering from a bee sting.  It wasn't a honey bee, it was one of the smaller ones.  We were out in the side yard just standing there, and it flew up to me and stung me on my elbow.  It really hurt, it still hurts.  There is a lot of red and swelling and hot skin.  Recently I had wondered if I was still over reacting to bees, and it would appear that the answer is yes.  Benadryl cream and cortisone cream are not having much of an impact on the area.  So, that is unfortunate. 

It appears that we are going to Tucson for January and February.  We're driving down so we can bring the bikes, the bike rack, the riding clothes, the hiking boots and hiking clothes and the other clothes and the laptops, phones, chargers and etc.  This is why living in an RV made traveling so easy, it was all there and we just pulled up stakes and left.  Anyway, this will require a cargo trailer for it all, particularly given the fact that there will probably be terrible weather between here and there, and the bikes would not like being outside on the bike rack.  The AirBnb is up by the Catalina Mountains.  The biggest drawback that I see is that there is not enough living room furniture.  We'll probably rent a recliner for while we are there, maybe two. It will be nice to go somewhere that is not here.

That's it!  That's all I've got.