The Flag
Today is the tenth anniversary of 9/11 and no doubt we all have distinct memories from that time and the weeks following even though it was ten years ago. What I remember most was seeing American flags everywhere: on every house, on every lamp post, in every business. There was a deep sense of patriotism in the air and it was palatable.
I’ve always been a flag person, even when I was a little girl. When we lived in Colombia I made sure to hang the Colombian flag over the balcony for every holiday. Hanging a flag was one of the first things we did when we purchased our first home. I never let my flag get too tattered, replacing it every year or two. For most holidays I have a few other small flags that get put out in the flowerbeds as well. When my current flag needs replaced I plan on purchasing a nice one with stitched stripes and embroidered stars like this one from Valley Forge. I also need to get a small spotlight to shine on my flag at night, I’ve been wondering if a solar spotlight would shine all night long. (anyone have experience with these?) Mr Chiots is also requesting an Ohio State flag be flown here at Chiot’s Run.
In flying a flag at a private residence, all of the relevant guidelines in the Flag Code should be followed. It should be flown at night only if illuminated and in inclement weather only if made of all-weather material. The flag should be clean and without tears, rips or shredding. The flag may also be hung vertically from a window, roof eave, or other structural overhang. Traditionally flags are flown on homes on these special holidays.
New Year’s Day – January 1
Martin Luther King Day – Third Monday in January
Inauguration Day – January 20
Lincoln’s Birthday – February 12
Washington’s Birthday – Third Monday in February
Easter Sunday (date is variable)
Mother’s Day – Second Sunday in May
Peace Officers Memorial Day (half-staff) – May 15
Armed Forces Day – Third Saturday in May
Memorial Day (half-staff until noon) – Last Monday in May
Flag Day – June 14
Father’s Day – Third Sunday in June
Independence Day – July 4
National Korean War Veterans Armistice Day – July 27 (added January 6, 2009)
Labor Day — First Monday in September
Patriot Day (half-staff) September 11
Constitution Day – September 17
Gold Star Mothers Day – Last Sunday in September
Firefighters Memorial Day (half-staff) – Sunday before or on October 9th
Columbus Day – Second Monday in October
Navy Day – October 27
Election Day – First Tuesday in November
Veterans Day – November 11
Thanksgiving Day – Fourth Thursday in November
Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day (half-staff) – December 7
Christmas Day – December 25
State Birthdays
In case you’ve never read the standards of respect for the flag, I thought I’d list them here today.
STANDARDS of RESPECT
The Flag Code, which formalizes and unifies the traditional ways in which we give respect to the flag, also contains specific instructions on how the flag is not to be used. They are:
* The flag should never be dipped to any person or thing. It is flown upside down only as a distress signal.
* The flag should not be used as a drapery, or for covering a speakers desk, draping a platform, or for any decoration in general. Bunting of blue, white and red stripes is available for these purposes. The blue stripe of the bunting should be on the top.
* The flag should never be used for any advertising purpose. It should not be embroidered, printed or otherwise impressed on such articles as cushions, handkerchiefs, napkins, boxes, or anything intended to be discarded after temporary use. Advertising signs should not be attached to the staff or halyard.
* The flag should not be used as part of a costume or athletic uniform, except that a flag patch may be used on the uniform of military personnel, fireman, policeman and members of patriotic organizations.
* The flag should never have placed on it, or attached to it, any mark, insignia, letter, word, number, figure, or drawing of any kind.
* The flag should never be used as a receptacle for receiving, holding, carrying, or delivering anything.
* When the flag is lowered, no part of it should touch the ground or any other object; it should be received by waiting hands and arms. To store the flag it should be folded neatly and ceremoniously.
* The flag should be cleaned and mended when necessary.
* When a flag is so worn it is no longer fit to serve as a symbol of our country, it should be destroyed by burning in a dignified manner.
You’ll find a flag flying on most days here at Chiot’s Run. We’re very proud of our wonderful country and flying a flag is how we try to display our patriotism. Some day I plan on having either pleated fan flags on my front porch or small 3 Finger Aluminum Bracket to display flags on each of my porch posts on the holidays listed above. Since I would love to see more flags flying not only in my town but in every town, I have two Valley Forge 2 1/2 x 4 foot Flag to give away. Comment below and I’ll choose a winner next Sunday.
Do you fly a flag in your garden or home?
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My Mom’s Garden
I’ve talked about how I share a large potager garden with my mom. She lives an hour away and each week I head over both for work and to work in the garden (and to chat with my mom). We usually spend a few hours weeding, planting, watering and tending the large garden we share. While I was gone on vacation, my garden at home grew up in weeds, but my mom kept on gardening without me so our garden is still looking very good. This year we added a nice gate, last year it was just a piece of fencing with a wire to keep it closed. Since we added a nice gate, we thought an arch of morning glories would be nice at the entrance. It’s just filling in and starting to bloom.
The tomatoes are coming on in full force. I harvested about a bushel of tomatoes last Saturday and another half bushel earlier this week.
The popcorn is doing well, it will be harvested in about a month when it dries out. I don’t know if the sweet corn will produce or not, we planted it late trying to time it so it wouldn’t come ripe while we were on vacation.
Our fall peas are doing well, the carrots look to be sizing up nicely and our kale it doing very well.
My mom and I were discussing this year’s garden and we said we felt bad for anyone who was growing an edible garden for the first time this year. It’s been a rough year here in NE Ohio. The spring was really wet and the peas did not like that. Then it got really hot fairly early, which the broccoli, cabbage, and other brassicas did not like. Our beet crop was washed away by rain and hail 3 different times after planting. At least it looks to be shaping up well for the fall garden.
How has your gardening year been so for? Any troubles with specific crops? What part of the country/world do you live in?
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Gardeners Should Not Go On Vacation
If you’re a gardener, you should not go on vacation for most of the month of August! It wasn’t that I particularly wanted to go on vacation in August, but it worked best for our schedule and our friends who met us in Seattle. I buttoned up the garden as best I could before we left, making sure to pull all weeds and water everything before we left. We set off and I hoped for the best. We paid the boys from the farm where we get our milk to come feed our cats and to water the potted plants. They did a great job, the cats were well fed and the potted plants were all thriving when we got home.
The edible gardens were also doing well, the tomato vines were heavy with ripe fruit. The boys picked tomatoes and peppers while we were gone to keep the plants from ceasing production (one of them is a salsa maker so he was happy with the different kinds of peppers I had in the garden). They gave me an in depth update about all the things they’d spotted in the garden while I was gone: pumpkins, watermelons, leeks, etc.
The weeds thrived while we were gone and the garden was overgrown when we arrived home. I’ve only had time to spend one evening in the garden weeding since we got home, I’ve been busy catching up on work (on of the bad parts of being self-employed). One evening I was able to spend 2 hours with Mr Chiots joining me for one of those hours.
Between us we pulled five wheelbarrow loads full of weeds from the new garden area up front (the asparagus bed lined with boxwood). Since this is a new garden area this year, it has more weeds than other areas of the garden that are more established. I have found in my few years of gardening that if you are diligent about pulling weeds in new garden areas, eventually you’ll exhaust a lot of the seed bank and you’ll have fewer and fewer weeds each year. My established beds only had a few weeds in them, the new garden areas were a mess!
Many of the weeds were starting to set seed, which is not a good thing. I always try to pull weeds before they produce seeds. There are still tons of weeds in the garden and the new edible garden on the new lot still needs weeded. No doubt it will take me a few weeks to get things back under control.
Do you have someone tend the garden while you’re away on vacation or do you leave it to it’s own devices?
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Tiny Trailer Travels Part Six
After sleeping soundly despite the risk of a big grizzly bear thinking our camper was a can of spam, we were up early once again and heading into the sunrise. Our goal was to reach the Black Hills and the parks and monuments within. We drove through Bighorn National Forest and were amazed by it’s beauty, truly one of the most beautiful things we saw throughout our trip. We were awed by it’s grandeur!
We decided that someday we’d like to go back and hike the Bench Trail through the park, we took a photo of the sign to remind ourselves.
We took the extra time to stop at Devil’s Tower. It’s such an interesting place.
Then we were off again toward the Black Hills. We actually drove south and reached Wind Cave National Park before sunset. Elk Mountain Campground was very nice, our favorite from the entire trip and quite a bargain at only $12 per night!
Once again we were up with the sun and the bugling bull elk in the morning. The sunrise was especially lovely that morning. We drove through the park and spotted all kinds of interesting wildlife, including some pronghorn which we hadn’t really seen yet until this point in the trip.
We then set off up the winding road with pigtail bridges and lots of tunnels that goes through Custer State Park toward Mt Rushmore. This trip offered tiny glimpses of Mr Rushmore between the trees and at one point it was framed at the end of a tunnel. A perfect way to head to the monument and highly recommended to anyone thinking of heading to Mt Rushmore.
We were quite disappointed with the commercialization of Mt Rushmore, so we didn’t stay very long, only about 15 minutes. Sadly all the stuff they’ve built up around it really detracts from the memorial. So we hit the road with Badlands National Park on our itinerary.
We camped that night somewhere in South Dakota and were up early for a long drive across South Dakota and Minnesota the next day. We stopped at Mitchell’s Corn Palace on our way and then drove until we reached the Maple Grove Campground in Iowa that evening.
We celebrated our last night camping with a hot dog roast (we purchased these dogs at a small butcher shop in Seattle) and we relaxed late into the evening by a fire.
The next morning we were up early for a hearty breakfast of eggs and bacon and set off to visit Seed Saver’s Exchange (more on this part this visit later).
After staying at Seed Savers until after noon, we headed off and hit the highway in an effort to reach home that evening. It was a few hours after midnight when we finally arrived home.
All in all we traveled 7500 miles, used 29 tanks of gas, traveled through 12 states, visited 9 National parks and 5 National monuments. It’s the longest trip Mr Chiots and I have taken together and good practice for future trips which will be much longer! Check my Flickr Photostream for more photos of each part of the trip, I’ll be uploading them as I have time.
What’s the longest trip you’ve ever taken?
Other posts from this trip:
Tiny Trailer Travels Part I
Tiny Trailer Travels Part II
Tiny Trailer Travels Part III
Tiny Trailer Travels Part IV
Tiny Trailer Travels Part V
Tiny Trailer Travels Part VI
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Tiny Trailer Travels Part Five
After leaving Grand Teton, we headed north to see the famous Yellowstone. I visited the park when I was in high school and wasn’t as impressed with it as it seems everyone else is. Mr Chiots had never been, so we decided to drive through.
It’s a huge park and you have to drive many miles to see everything. It’s also quite busy and it can be difficult to find parking at the pull-outs. Since I’m not a huge fan of crowds, Yellowstone is not my favorite park. It’s interesting nonetheless to see all the weird stuff that is found within it’s borders from geysers, hot springs, boiling mud and so many other things.
Luckily we arrived at the Old Faithful stop about a half hour before it went off, so we didn’t have to wait a long time to see it.
As we drove through the easter part of the park the sun was setting so all the wildlife was out and about. We spotted many bison and a few elk. Since we didn’t want to stay in the park, we drove out of the park to stay in Shoshone National Forest on the outskirts of Yellowstone.
As we were driving we spotted a sign that said “Camp at your own risk – grizzly bear area”. That didn’t stop us, we camped at Eagle Creek Campground. Unfortunately we didn’t see the camp at your risk sign again the next morning when it was bright enough to take a photo, just this bear sign.
Check my Flickr Photostream for more photos of each part of the trip, I’ll be uploading them as I have time.
Have you ever visited Yellowstone National Park?
Other posts from this trip:
Tiny Trailer Travels Part I
Tiny Trailer Travels Part II
Tiny Trailer Travels Part III
Tiny Trailer Travels Part IV
Tiny Trailer Travels Part V
Tiny Trailer Travels Part VI
