Homemade cough syrup

With everything going around these days, odds are we are going to need some cough syrup before the winter is over. I needed some myself last week. I have tried the honey and whiskey mixture before and that works, but after a quick search online, I decided to try a different recipe. This one calls for a few lemons, a couple of onions, some blackberry brandy, peppermint schnapps, and honey. Almost makes you want a cold! :-)

Here's the basic instructions:

Slice the lemons and onions. I used 3 lemons and 2 onions - one red and one white.



I found these half gallon jars at the dollar store last year.



Add a layer of lemon, then onion, then lemon, etc. And pour the honey over them. I used about 20 ounces of honey.



Then top it off with the schnapps and the brandy. I used more brandy than schnapps, but some recipes call for equal amounts and others call for more schnapps.



I think adding some ginger would be a good idea, so I may try that. This stuff is suppose to last around a year if sealed tightly and stored in a cool place.

After letting it sit in the pantry for a week, it taste just like real cough syrup. The first time I tasted it, a few days after making it, the onion was a bit too strong. But now I don't notice it. I personally think we should not try to suppress coughing because it's the body's way of dealing with toxins that need to be removed, but sometimes you need a little break from the coughing. Like at night, so you can sleep.

According to the recipes, the recommended dosage is 1 Tablespoon for adults, and 1/4 teaspoon for children. I'm not a mommy or a doctor, so I can't say if that is a good recommendation or not. But one tablespoon seems to do the trick for me.

red sky in morning ...

OK, it's not that red but it was more red in person and reminded me of the saying:

“Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky in morning, sailor’s warning”

I have always loved the sound of that line and every time I hear it I picture a ship with a sailor that looks something like this:



on a ship like this:



on an ocean something like this:



That must be a sight to behold!

The disappearing lake...

This morning before the sun came up completely, I noticed that the lake looked like it had some kind of sludge along the edge. But as the sun rose, I realized it wasn't sludge at all. The lake was very low! With all the rain we have had, how was that possible? Overnight the overflow drain broke, and as the day went on, the lake went from something like this:



to this:



Ron is trying to find out who does this kind of work. One of the neighbor's thinks everyone can pitch in and do it ourselves. Since it is a shared lake, it will be interesting to see if everyone can come together and work something out. I sure hope so.

Red-Shouldered Hawk

Not much going on in the garden these days between all of the rain and a long weekend in North Carolina. But a few mornings ago, I looked out the window to see this guy...or girl. (For some reason hawks always seems like guys.)



He was hanging around look for breakfast, and the martin house provided an ideal perch.



Red-shoulder hawks typically only live a few years in the wild. Raccoons and Great-Horned Owls are their biggest predators in the wild.

What a beautiful face...

Rest Stop

A few days before the heavy rains, I noticed something on the other side of the pond...



This is one of the larger groups of Canadian Geese that we have seen on our pond. (Just found this: "A group of flying geese is called a gaggle. A group of geese on the ground is called a skein (skayn)." So it is one of the largest skeins we have seen on our pond. They couldn't have been there too long before I spotted them. They splashed around quite a bit, grooming and cooling off. Then they had dinner, and seemed to especially enjoy the algae they were harvesting from the bottom of the pond.



After they had enough to eat, they all lined up and sat on the edge of the pond, resting for an hour or so, and then they were off to Miami, or somewhere south of here!

It's a sure sign of fall.

A very wet last day of summer...

It is hard to believe, but in less than 24 hours we have had 15 inches of rain!

This is the first time the green heron has ventured in to our yard, but it looks like the pond's edge to him!

This is the spot where people sometimes stand to fish.

The gate going out to the pond....

Sadly, there have been several deaths in the area. Many roads are closed and there is extensive property damage in several of the surrounding counties. There is more rain in the forecast, but hopefully, most of it is behind us.

What's that on the parsley?

These very hungry caterpillars will become beautiful black swallowtail butterflies one day:



This guy is a little miffed because I poked him with a pine needle. I actually had to poke several of them to see if I could get one to show me his "osmeterium" or scent gland. When the caterpillar feels threatened they expose their scent glad and emit a scent that is suppose to be foul smelling. But I think it smells kind of sweet. Maybe I was a caterpillar in a past life....




That is one cute face, right?



When the caterpillar is younger he has small black spikes on his back. They fall off as the caterpillar grows, indicating that these are almost ready to pupate. Hopefully before they eat all the parsley!



Here's a link to an amazing slideshow of the morphing from caterpillar to butterfly. Take a few minutes to watch...you will not be disappointed! Black Swallowtail Morphing