Wordless Wednesday

Ash Borer Survey

From the corner of my eye, I noticed a purple box hanging from a tree. I was past it before I could do more than turn my head. My first thought was that the kids were up to something. Then I saw another one. This time I pulled over to see what was going on.

The USDA is doing an Emerald Ash Borer Survey in 48 states. The purple boxes are really 3-dimensional plastic triangular traps. Apparently Ash Borer groove on the color purple. The traps are baited with Manuke oil. The adults fly around and if they land on the trap they will get stuck. The traps will be monitored during the Spring and Summer and removed in the Fall.

Having the traps doesn't mean we have the offending beetle, but they are looking for it. The goal is to define the boundaries of infested areas.

If you see one of the traps on the ground, call the EAB hotline at 866-322-4512 and remember don't move firewood. Burn it where you buy it.

Smitten with Borage

I was completely smitten with borage while at my sister's house last year. It had lovely blue star-shaped flowers and was covered in hairs. I had visions of the local herd of deer munching along and getting a mouthful of icky hairy leaves. Take that, you eating machine. But I can't find it anywhere in any of the local nurseries. I'm now going to try and grow it from seed. If I can find the seed.

Hooded Merganser Babies

While photographing waterlilies in the tea brown waters of the swamp, the leaves riffling gentling in the breeze, the silence broken only by the the song of Red-winged Blackbirds; an agitated jerking of distant leaves and the hint of ripples in the water revealed a duckling, then 2. Looking ahead of the stragglers, I saw a mama Hooded Merganser push through the hidden passages with a flotilla of 10 babies following in her wake.

Hooded Mergansers are cavity nesters in swampy areas. Given how many Wood Duck boxes are scattered around the Great Swamp, I am sure she appropriated one.

Highbush Blueberry

I was meandering down the elevated boardwalk through the Great Swamp struck by all the tiny twinkling wildflowers just emerging from their long winter's nap; when I came across a tall woody shrub with pendulous urns. The shrub was at least 6 feet tall. Remembering that Teaberry had flowers similar to this, I happily hummed the old Teaberry gum jingle all the way back to the car.

Imagine my surprise when I got home to see that Teaberry is low and in the wintergreen family. Definitely not a 6 foot shrub. It turns out this is a Highbush Blueberry and can grow up to 15 feet. That is a lot of blueberries! Our cultivated blueberries are derived from this shrub.

I have wild Blueberries up here on the mountain, but they are at best knee high. I wonder if they will grow up to be this?

Wordless Wednesday

Met and Married on the Same Day or Not

The oldest son of Joseph Temple, Sen., was born May 6, 1827, in Adams County, Ohio. His parents moved to Jackson township when he was fifteen years of age. He remained at home with his parents until over age, clearing, making rails and building fence being his principal occupations.

July 6, 1849 he was married to Lucy A. Andrews, 23, who was then teaching school in Arbela. Her parents, Horace and Azubah Andrews, resided near Marysville and she borrowed a horse of one of the school directors, ostensibly to pay a visit home. He, not wishing her to travel so far unprovided with an escort and, not knowing that she was already supplied, asked Mr. Temple to accompany her. Of course the modest Joseph meekly acquiesced; and early Friday morning they stared for Marysville, well mounted. A heavy shower delayed them and the hour for dinner found them on the bank of Blue Creek. Halting before the door if a rude log cabin, they inquired for dinner and were invited to dismount. They were treated to an antenuptial feast of corn bread, speck and onions. Arriving at Marysville, they repaired to the residence of Esq. Jas Turner and were there married, when in Mr. Temple's own language, "we got on our horses and went on our way rejoicing."

Sunday they returned, she to the school room and he to the harvest field.

When her school closed Mr. Temple rented his grand-mother's farm and they went to housekeeping in the rude log house yet standing near his present residence, a memento of those early happy days.

Memories & Sketches, Civil War Era, Northern Union County, Ohio, Ancestrails Study Group, 2000, p. 98. Material taken from the Richwood Gazette, 1890s.

This begs but also answers some questions.

Was Joseph and Lucy Ann courting prior to the ride? This sketch seems to suggest that might be the case, OR did she meet and marry Joseph all in the matter of a few hours. If so, for a modest man, he must have been a smooth talker.

Lucy Ann Andrews was my Great, Great, Great Aunt, sister to John Morris Andrews. I found Azubah Andrews, their mother, in the 1860 census living with her Grandson Horace on the Temple farm. Her son, John Morris Andrews, while living in the same township was not closeby. While trying to figure out the Temple connection and how Azubah could be living on the same farm, yet in a separate household, I stumbled across the fact the her daughter, Lucy Ann married a Temple. After reading this sketch, it now makes sense since there was a separate cabin. While there still are questions, small locally published booklets can provide clues to how our ancestor's lived.