The winter solstice was only a few days ago. It’s the coldest time of the year down under. Long term readers will recall that the only heating source for our house is firewood. It’s the most sustainable of any fuels, and the stuff is very local. The old timers used to joke that firewood will heat you several times over, with the first time being the physical effort of the initial cutting. It’s not funny though, the other day was only a few degrees above zero Celsius, and I was sweating with the effort required to process firewood. If it was cold, I wasn’t feeling it!
Firewood is sustainable at the rate we use it. The trees grow at about a metre a year (3.3 feet), and there are thousands of all sizes and ages of Eucalyptus Obliqua on the property. Some even pre-date the arrival of the European settlers. It is worth noting that the caveat of course in this instance being ‘the rate we use the resource at’. The local laws provide the as-of right for property owners to harvest the fuel for their own purposes. You just can’t sell the stuff. With those restrictions, there’s no way any one household could use thousands of lineal metres of firewood every year, that I’m aware of.
About an hours drive north and further inland of here are the gold fields. In the 1850’s the rich finds put the newly settled city of Melbourne on the world map. At one point the city was second only to London in terms of wealth, and I’m sure it didn’t hurt that far distant English cold and wet city, that loads of the precious metal ended up there. All good things come to an end, or at least slow down. A decade after the initial discoveries were made, the easy to recover stuff had been depleted.
On our days off work, we enjoy poking around the historic gold fields area, and it can be surprising what you’ll discover just off the beaten track. This week we visited a stone lined railway dam near to the Bendigo to Melbourne railway. The dam would have originally provided water for the steam locomotives, but nowadays the dam appears unused. These days only the occasional steam locomotive will travel on that busy country rail line, and I have no idea what they do for water. The locomotive is operated by a steam train group of enthusiasts operating a branch line to Maldon out of the town of Castlemaine.
Apart from the occasional surprising diesel train shooting past at high speed, the railway dam was a very quiet place.
The dam was beautifully made, and I guess the colonial government in the 1860’s was faced with plenty of mad cash from the gold royalties, and the realities of a large possibly unemployed labour force. What to do? They constructed a railway line from Melbourne to the gold fields in Bendigo (and well beyond to the border). At one time the construction of the dam employed something like 200 stonemasons, and who knows how many other unskilled labourers. Now it’s all returning to forest. Some of the stone and brick work is superb looking, and has worked every day for 160 years, and in all weather.
At the time of the construction, the area had been stripped of trees, mostly for heating, cooking, construction materials and/or engine fuels. It interested me that some of the oldest looking trees in that drier forest had regrown from the root systems of the cut down trees. That’s hardy. But it was difficult to escape the realisation that industrial scale extraction of resources, tends to wipe them out.
Near to the railway dam was a short walk through the slowly recovering dry box and ironbark forest. I’m guessing that much of the original top soil was also lost. Apparently back in the day, plenty of people lived in that area too. There were stores, farms, and even two pubs. You could see the remains of the cobblestone roads which would have provided all weather access for the locals. There was an information board which claimed that when the railway was put in, the main access road for the area was abruptly cut off. After that, all the locals had to use a toll road. The toll troll dude charged two shillings a journey, and apparently that caused massive outrage way back in the day. The emotions are long gone now, as are the people, and it’s all slowly regrowing dry land forest. In a couple of hundred more years, it will most likely look like it once did.
Resource extraction is a funny thing. Australia largely avoided the worst of the 1970’s oil shocks, mostly because the Bass Strait oil fields came online at around that time. The drilling rigs and oil platforms sit off shore between the state I live in (Victoria) and the island state of Tasmania. The fields are in terminal decline nowadays. There’s even been some loose talk of simply demolishing the oil platforms where they are, way out in the strait. Unfortunately, Victoria gets a lot of its gas resources from those declining fields.
As you’d imagine, with the Bass Strait oil fields in terminal decline, and more people being added to the state population each year, demand for gas is either exceeding supply, or so close to it. That’s a problem. A lot of the green status folk want to use the gas energy resource for generating electricity to possibly charge their electric vehicles when there is little solar and/or wind. It’s tough here for solar this far south in winter, and the weather has been surprisingly calm of late. I’ve noticed the conditions, and so have the energy market folks. An alert for possible shortages was issued earlier in the week.
All sorts of solutions are being chucked around, and this week even the dreaded nuclear option was mooted as a policy from the opposition party. Frankly speaking, whatever else you can say about estimated AU$8bn a pop nuclear power plants, they take many long years to construct. Also the heavily indebted government has a bad track record when it comes to estimating project costs, let alone delivering them on time. The idea of using them as a quick fix solution to replace the many soon to be retired coal fired power plants, sounds preposterous and doesn’t make much sense to me. The responses frankly speaking, seem chaotic.
Then there’s that railway dam. It was so simple and well made, that I reckon it will still be there and full of water, in several hundred years time. No doubts the dry land forests surrounding it will eventually recover their majesty. Neither systems require massive amounts of further human investment, they’ll both just do their thing, year after year, and in all weather. And it will all remain undisturbed, for there is little in that area for industry to extract, it’s been taken already.
Did I mention that it’s been rather cold this week? Well, it has! One morning was zero Celsius (32’F) and outside the house everything was frozen. You could see the even colder air pooling in the valley below the mountain saddle.
The grass in the orchards and paddocks had frozen and the ground was crunchy underfoot.
In some parts of the property, the frost hung around until the following day. The dirt rat Suzuki Jimny was covered in ice.
The cold and mostly dry weather has been good for forest clean up work. After a century and a bit of logging from the 1860’s to the mid 1980’s, those forestry dudes sure left a lot of mess. This week, we removed and burned off an enormous tree root. That’s hard work, which is why the loggers didn’t clean up after themselves.
We faced the formidable task with stoicism, and after two, maybe three days of work, that small area of the property was cleaned up.
In the two photos above, you can see a huge rock (just behind Ruby in one of the images). We use rocks for plenty of the projects around and so why not break that boulder apart into more useful sized rocks?
The rock ended up being like the iceberg that hit the Titanic. Most of the boulder lay under the soil surface. We broke a lot of smaller rocks from the boulder before ending up with one large rock, and one very large and heavy rock. It was so heavy we couldn’t lift it from the soil hole, and so will further reduce the size in another week or so.
Speaking of all things massive, near to that tree stump there is an even larger tree on its side. The tree must have been a couple of hundred years old when pulled from the ground by the loggers. You can tell that machines were used to move the tree to its current location, because there’s no monster hole in the ground to the rear of the stump. The trunk shows scorch marks presumably from the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires, and that I believe has sort of preserved the timber. Such a waste to have felled that hugely old tree.
With the hard frost and cold weather this week, the last of the deciduous leaves fell. A leaf rake is used to collect the leaves, and then they’re deposited onto garden beds where they feed the soil.
Where leaves fall in the orchards, they’re mown up. This increases the surface area of the leaves, and the soil critters consume the remains in under a week or so.
Hopefully the frosty weather improves the taste of this years kiwi fruit crop. Every few days we harvest some and put them to the taste test. The freezing weather helps convert the starches in the fruit to sugars. They’re a very late fruit crop.
In a sign that the winter solstice was ‘ere and gone, some of the daffodils have this week only just broken through the soil surface. Nothing eats those plants, probably because they are quite toxic.
In less toxic breaking plant news, the first couple of the seasons Asparagus spears have begun to poke their noses out of the cold winter soil. Clearly, the plants must have enjoyed the recent heavy feed.
Even with winter weather, there are plenty of leafy greens to consume. Silverbeet has proven to be a real winner here, and the plants survived all summer without any additional watering. Including even the two hot months of almost no rain during February and March. A real garden survivor.
Onto the flowers:
The temperature outside now at about 11am is 6’C (42’F). So far for last year there has been 449.6mm (17.7 inches) which is up from last weeks total of 444.0mm (17.5 inches)
culverts and building for the long haul- Around here, the local township is tasked with maintaining the gravel roads, and the county is responsible for maintaining the highways. In both cases, they use galvanized steel culverts. Quick to install, and quick to replace when they rust out. The lifespan of metal culverts is dependent on many factors, and one can get in the weeds very quickly, as engineers are want to do, but the range I’ve read is 30-60 years. Not so great when compared to some of the infrastructure built by Romans, or even those Aussies from the gold rush era. I guess when steel is not on the menu in the future, stone and brick will be the one time fix if done right.
expensive nukes- The company I retired from built the steel enclosures for the containment buildings, so- a major subcontractor, so I’m familiar with them. At least in the U.S., they are ALWAYS over budget and schedule. Just the last ones to be built, recently finished were a good example:
https://apnews.com/article/georgia-nuclear-power-plant-vogtle-rates-costs-75c7a413cda3935dd551be9115e88a64
iceberg rocks- reminds me of the moby rock episode! Wait till you find a rock that is not a rock- but an exposed bump of the solid bedrock. Time to retreat and plant flowers around it.
Nice wet year here so far, our shelling peas will be first out of the garden and are looking great compared to last years’ drought. The cherry trees are loaded, and I am actually getting a share of them, just have to nudge the birds to the side to grab a few each day.
Hello Chris
The peacock is still here. He has discovered a huge branch on an oak tree and this is where he is spending the nights. Perhaps he will survive foxes,
I know about the dreadful noise that peacocks make but perhaps a solo one is quiet,
Inge
Hi Inge,
Go the peacock, and may he survive the direst efforts that the foxes can turn upon the beautiful bird, and hope he enjoys the view from up in the oak tree. I quite like peacocks, and it’s been my observation that only people who expect rural areas to be silent and bird poop free, who get upset by the birds. 🙂
I’m not bothered by the noise the birds make.
I dunno, I tend to wonder if a lot of people head into rural areas with values which don’t quite mesh with the realities? I see that around these parts, and the old timers always whisper about newcomers not making it through the first two winters. I don’t mind the cold weather, it’s just not that extreme. Things may be different in your part of the world?
Cheers
Chris
Hi Ann,
Always a pleasure to have a chat. 🙂 And, a few years ago I knew someone with the name An (with the silent second ‘n’, not to mention the disappeared ‘e’). I’m sure your name has been misspelled many times? Phonetically, the name An, sounds to me a bit like ‘Ahn’, but that maybe my flat Aussie accent? Dunno.
Lucky you to enjoy such cheap fuel prices! But alas, taxes do cover road maintenance, so I hear you. Last week I paid AU$2.20 per litre, but am happy to drive small and economical cars. Not sure how everyone else copes? There are a lot of very big vehicles out there. Dunno. Incidentally, it is the local council who levy property taxes which repair the dirt roads, and some years they only turn up to do that work about once per year. It can get bad.
That’s not good, and such weather happens here too and likewise affects my sleep. Sleep being important. Hope the weather cools at night for you, soon. How’s all the other plants growing though?
Many thanks for the lovely words, and I try to tell things as they are, and solar is good, but it isn’t good enough.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Steve,
Don’t think I’ve seen metal culverts used down here. They tend to use concrete which seems to last, or even the really thick plastic pipes which are super strong and heavy. Not entirely certain if this level of quality will be maintained though, because I believe the final plant in the country producing polyethylene shut down a few weeks ago. Makes you wonder what all the water tank manufacturers will now do for raw material inputs?
It’s weird isn’t it? All this wealth sloshing around and we could produce better and longer lasting infrastructure. But we don’t seem to get around to doing that. New houses have reasonably short lifespan now days, and I’ve worked on houses that were over a century old. Where is their like to be found today?
Thanks for the article, and oh wow, that appears way over time and budget. I tend to believe that the system may well end up in a serious mess long before any of the proposals are switched on. People are basically illiterate when it comes to energy. Incidentally the many articles on the subject are also suggesting over time and over budget. But I read one of them pointing to solar and saying you can chuck a 10kW panel system on the roof and that will produce most of what the household uses. Last I checked, the sun don’t shine at night, but try telling people that and they look at you funny like you’ve disagreed about a fundamental religious principle. I dunno.
Nooooo! Well, hope not anyway, although there are some rock outcrops just like what you describe. Talk about big! We leave them alone and exposed so that they’re not accidentally run into whilst on the mower.
You may have noticed in recent photos of the clean up area that there was a grey tree stump leaning on a, I dunno, 20 degree angle. Anyway, that was removed and burnt off today. Took about four hours of work because some of the lower arms were stuck deep in the soil mound. Oh well…
Good stuff, and glad to hear that the season is working out just right. And you got some cherries – always difficult to fend off the birds. 🙂
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
The cheese is good, regardless. But if ever you get the chance, I’d try grilling some of that variety. Talk about yummo!
Me tired this evening. In the background of the clean up photos in recent weeks was a short grey tree stump sitting in a mound of soil on a funny angle. Anywhoo, we removed the tree stump today and burned it off. It was an epic job, and the thing was super heavy and hard to move. The loggers had buried one of the root systems arms deep into the soil, and no matter what we did, the stump wouldn’t budge. We finally extracted the thing as the sun was setting.
Found one of the loggers broken thick steel cable, which they probably used on the really big and old tree on it’s side. I do wonder if there had been an incident or accident, because the cable was broken and just left half in and half out of the ground. Like one of those undead hands reaching forth from the graveyard dirt in a zombie film. Removed the broken steel cable from the ground and placed it on the blackened old, large and very dead tree. Seemed somehow appropriate. When those cable things break, they can flick around in all sorts of directions at high speed, and most certainly it could kill someone. Hopefully soil mounds in that area don’t reveal anything…
Barnum was a character for sure. Had to laugh about the leaning tower of Pisa because apparently the identity of the architect of the tower is a subject of controversy. With poor foundations like that, I wouldn’t own up either, although it did appear to take several centuries to construct and had to be halted due to local military differences. As you do… Oh no! Allegedly the Millenium Tower in San Francisco may now be sinking in the middle. Not good. Makes me feel kind of queasy thinking about that building. Hope all the good folks there know what they are doing. The leaning water tank will be much easier to correct.
Naughty H, and unfortunately, dogs will occasionally do what they will do. It may be of interest to you that dog training is not a fast, nor easy process, and err, Ruby is resistant to complying. No worries at all, and I’ve noticed that 10+ year old dogs seem to be super chill and rarely if ever get up to too much mischief. 🙂 Dogs can sometimes have that effect on finances. And those utoob videos for dog training are pretty good, and I might add that there are less distractions than at dog obedience school. You may keep your dog mostly doing what is required, but plenty of people and their dogs seem way out of control – that’s distracting for Ruby actually. Her school report card may suggest that she is easily distracted!
The stuff I learned recently with the chainsaw was very good indeed and has proven to already be useful.
To be honest, one of the reasons we didn’t buy the place, was because there was always a bit of trepidation about what might accidentally be encountered during the repair work. A bit of risk there, although you’d imagine the risk would diminish over time. We’ve very occasionally found such paraphernalia in the composted woody mulch we purchase. Always gives pause for thought those finds.
The Pittock Mansion looks pretty good nowadays from the photos. There was a photo of the damage following the Columbus Day storm. Downed trees as you’d imagine. There was an abandoned mansion in the Fight Club story as well. 😉
Do we even hear about political correctness drives nowadays? And I can see how the Club would have its fair share of gossip and intrigue. Is the new head of the local chapter doing OK?
I can’t imagine they’d get Russell Crowe to do the next film? Looks like Ridley Scott is at the helm, so it could be good.
Looks like Frontinus also struggled with underground pipes – I so get that. When the pipes and all connections work, it’s a pleasure, but when they don’t, pressure dwindles and water is lost – somewhere in the system. The bloke seemed like an able administrator.
Elephants on the battlefield would be daunting and leave a strong impression that things were about to go badly for your forces.
We likewise had a little bit of rain last night. Top work with the blood and bone meal. The plants will thank you for the feed. Deer are a pain here as well.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – Didn’t get around to commenting, on your post last night. I was tackling something in the garden, similar to what you were tackling … but on a much smaller scale. 🙂
The Master Gardeners had removed the dead palm, from one wooden half barrel, so, I decided I’d get the other one planted. Oh, my. First, I had to dig out the Vinca mat. Then I started in on the palm. Stink! Oh, my. Probably the rotting wood, but I also think maybe someone dumped a load of kitty litter, in there. I got the palm wiggling, like a loose tooth, but it would just not come out. By then, I’m staggering and seeing double. 🙂 So, I called it an evening.
When the Master Gardeners showed up, today, Ted and I managed to get the darned thing out, along with a lot of roots. We also moved the tub to a slightly sunnier location. I’ll fill the tub with good soil, and plant the pumpkins, probably, tomorrow.
Your blog post, gave me an idea. If the pumpkins are a wash out, in the tubs, next year, I’ll plant asparagus. Might do pumpkins in one tub, and asparagus in the other, anyway. I ran it past the Master Gardeners, and they seemed receptive. I didn’t say it out loud, but I think we plant way too many flowers and ornamentals, and not enough food. But that’s just me.
That stone work, around the old mining site, was really nice. I especially liked the culvert. So, was the topping cap on the brickwork stone, or cement? If it weren’t so out of the way, I’d say future stone robbers would have rich pickings. The Chinese movie has the farmer, building a house out of mud brick.
I had a friend, who had a roommate, who was a logger. A cable snapped and …. Well, I still have his nice pair of sandals. Those cables snapping can take a head off. You might find Mr. Bones, grinning at you, from among the ferns. Logging is one of the most dangerous occupations, there is.
That’s interesting about the Millenium Tower. Hadn’t heard of it. I think it’s kind of an eyesore. A lot of San Francisco is build on fill. Some of which is old boats. I think I’d rather buy land in southern Florida, then move in that tower.
H is such a funny little thing. I try and get her to eat her dinner, BEFORE her dental chew treat. LOL. Last night was a waiting game. She caved, first.
I always wanted to live in a big old Victorian house. Or, at least have the tower room. Until I got older and wiser and discovered things like heating and maintenance. 🙂 I’ve got a book in my “to read” pile. “A House Restored: The Tragedies and Triumphs of Saving a New England Colonial.” (McColgan, 2024). It’s about restoring a house built in 1702.
I’m also reading “What This Comedian Said Will Shock You.” (2024). It’s by Bill Maher, who I think, is more of a social commentator, but in a funny way. He’s what I call an “equal opportunity offender.” Any one or anything, is a likely target. He has a section on what Mr. Greer calls the Lenocracy. He’s had a few popular TV shows, and written a few books.
Yes, the Columbus Day Storm brought down about 1/3 to 1/2 of the trees in Portland. You couldn’t even get into the city parks, due to downed trees. There was a lot of firewood, to be had. And back then, more people heated with wood.
I’ll have to check out my Roman Britain books, and see what they have to say about Frontinus.
I think I may have turned a corner, on the pill bug infestation. Maybe. When I checked the beans, last night, there were no pill bugs. But, one night does not a summer make. 🙂 Some of the green beans are past their primary leaf stage, and once they get there, they’re pretty much home free.
The blood meal might be working. No deer damage, last night. Of course, the blood meal may repeal deer, but attract vampires. I better break out my garlic necklace. :-). Lew
Yo, Chris – An interesting article about Mt. Rainier … and the danger it poses.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/23/science/mount-rainier-volcanic-eruption-lahar-scn
What the article doesn’t mention is that the south slope, is in our backyard, so to speak. The east end of my county. There’s also an extensive warning system, in the towns, there. People have been told, “If you hear the sirens, do not stop for ANYTHING. Head immediately uphill. Lew
Hi Lewis,
Mount Rainier is one impressive looking volcano, and yeah always problematic to be down stream, or down wind of such an epic might. I’m impressed that the kids were conducting a drill so that they know what to do, if the inevitable occurs. You’d hope the adults heeded the advice of the drilled kids, but I have some doubts. Don’t they have seismic stations installed which monitor activity? The sirens are a good idea, and as a related side note, I can hear the local fire station siren from this location. It gets tested once per week. Now, you may wonder why we work so hard at cleaning up…
One of the interesting things I took away from the oral history book of the lived experience of residents during the 1983 bushfires here, produced by the local historical society of course, was that people were as often as not, watching television when the poop hit the fan. Doctor Zhivago apparently, a bit of a mind bender of a story when you consider the summer extreme hot temperatures and winds!
Ha! I read your description, and knew how hard the dead palm removal job was which you took on board. Sweat, pain, etc… I reckon that Arctic blast would have been the final killing blow for the palm, maybe? Oh my, what a job that would have been to remove the perriwinkle. Not fun. I’ve not noticed that palms stink, so I’m leaning towards your kitty litter suggestion. Whatever will they think of next? 🙂
Dude, I hear you, and sometimes I understate the sheer difficulty and physical effort required to do such work.
I’ve noticed that as well with tubs and/or raised beds in that they work better in sunnier locations. I’ve got a hunch that the sun warms the elevated soil more easily in those containers. You won’t regret the asparagus, but my only unsolicited advice is to obtain male crowns (if you can and they’re identified as such), and don’t over plant the tub. Dunno the truth of it, but from what I’ve read the commercial growers sell off the asparagus female crowns and they produce not only seeds which may over crowd your tub, but the spears are apparently a bit thinner.
We grow both the male and female plants and get seedlings, but I tend to use a shovel to clear out any over grown beds when feeding them. Just more work, but then you get locally adapted seedlings, so I’m not experienced enough to know what the costs and benefits will work out to be.
It ain’t just you worrying about such things. I recall speaking to a local at the start of you-know-what, and was discussing kitchen gardens and seeds (which were hard to obtain at the time) and was told something about plans to plant up a native garden. Sure, if you think it’s a good idea… 🙂
Gawd it’s a small mountain range. So I headed this morning to the nearest large town anywhere in the area, to pick up supplies for the machines. It’s half an hour drive away, but to my surprise the business seems to be owned by a local bloke. Ordinarily this would be cause for celebration, except that – and there’s always a story – long ago the bloke was talking at volume about his political views. Now I was on the same page, but had a somewhat more realistic view of the situation and may have accidentally looked over in his direction with a sort of benign bemusement. Probably the wrong thing to do at such heated moments because it was noticed and the loud talk suddenly faded, but we all make mistakes. Since then, I’ve always felt this air of tension, but then people do say that I’m overly sensitive. It’s real though. Far out, memories are long up here. 🙂 Next time I see the bloke, I’m going to tell him what a well run business he’s got, or something like that. A kind of social ice breaker to smooth the choppy mountain waters. Do you reckon it will flop spectacularly? Honestly, it can’t get worse, could it?
The lintels on the brickwork were solid granite – bluestone they call it. Strong stuff, and cut to last. The location is far enough removed from anywhere, that the culvert is probably safe from stone robbers, maybe. When I purchase rock dust to use a fertiliser, it’s from that form of granite.
Yup, the snapped cables do a lot of damage, very quickly. Not good, and those are the memorial sandals, much like the scary old rototiller (which needs some minor repairs) is a memorial scary old rototiller. Funny how the departed can in some ways remain with us in all sorts of ways.
Now you may laugh, but the back to the land folks in the 1970’s were very big into mud brick, and the image of that work in the film trailer was not lost on me. Some of the other hippy building technologies are pretty good, like strawbale or hemp construction. Of the two, hemp looks sturdier to me. People forget that buildings need not look like they do.
What? Old boats and fill. Nooooooo! Lewis, I’m very uncomfortable at that thought. You wouldn’t catch me inside that tower, or anywhere near the wrong side of it. Having done a lot of construction work, I can feel when floors are out of level and/or wonky. Makes you wonder how quake proof the design is.
You’re the alpha, you decide when H eats. 🙂 But the dogs here test boundaries all of the time.
That big mansion in Portland was probably empty for a while because the restore and maintain the thing may have been financially ruinous for those without deep pockets, and even then. I like the simplicity of the Victorian era dwellings, and usually if they’ve survived, they were very sturdily constructed, although I’ve seen some odd things like blocking up air flow underneath the floors. Not good.
Bill Maher is an interesting dude, and yes, I can well imagine he could shock. So are you shocked by the book? I see that many years ago he appears to have been cancelled before that culture response became a thing.
The odd thing about trees falling in city environments, is that not many people living there have the equipment to deal with them.
Go the green beans, and fingers crossed that the spray success continues to work.
Deer visited here today, and blood and bone meal was applied less than two weeks ago. Interestingly this evening as I was walking Ollie in the dark so that he could do his business, there was a very healthy looking fox at the top of one set of stairs. Ollie alerted me to the fox. I leave them alone because they hunt and eat the rabbits.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – Oh, yes. Most of our mountains are laced with seismic stations and motion detectors. I can’t link to it, but Backpacker magazine has an interesting article about Mt. Rainier titled: “Mt. Rainier: Thunder on the Mountain.”
What with hot temperatures and scorching wind, of course everyone’s inside, watching “Dr. Zhivago.” 🙂 As one does.
When the Master Gardeners were here, there was no action in the barrel that had already been planted with pumpkins. When I took H for her walk, in the afternoon, there they were, pushing out of the soil. I’ll plant the other barrel, this evening. I think I overdid it, a bit in the garden.
My. Asparagus sounds as complicated as strawberries! 🙂 LOL. At least, strawberry runners don’t need to be sexed.
I don’t think I’d comment on the blokes business. Frankly, it sounds … condescending. Just carry on as usual. You’ll get an opening to mend things.
Stone robbers can pop the lintels off, and build Stonehenge, or something.
Oh, I’ve seen many an interesting house construction, over the years. At least, in pictures. Who can forget Earthships, made of tires, and, well, earth? Yes, back in the back-to-the-land days, there were many interesting building methods and construction materials. I quit liked the mud walls, with courses of bottles. Of course, back then, it was easier to be beyond the reach of building permits departments.
There are over 50 ships, buried beneath the streets of San Francisco. Here’s a 5 minute video, all about them.
https://youtu.be/u5yIo75WZwI?si=gcTMP4qpy9-03M1L
I think I mentioned when I moved in here, I detected a slight “ripple” in the hall floor. Across the hall, and a bit to the left is the elevator. Between my front door, and the elevator. I mentioned it, back when the administration of this building was a lot more … receptive. No one got very excited.
If Bill Maher was cancelled, I’m sure he responded with, “And? …” Or, “Don’t care.” 🙂
Well, I discovered this morning, that I’m in e-mail hell. My primary e-mail addresses, in one part of the internet, are bricked, until I get a “code” from another e-mail address, in another part of the internet. Which doesn’t seem to be receiving. Both need some kind of an upgrade, which I’ve been ignoring. So, I’ll have to spend a lot of time, getting the whole thing sorted out. I hope I-phones, aren’t involved. Which I don’t have.
I think what it all boils down to is, e-mail is so passe. Anyone who is anyone texts, these days. I think I’ve mentioned that my little flip phone can get text messages, but can’t send them. Because that would cost me an extra $3 a month. And I don’t text, anyway. So, I got a text yesterday. “Guess who?” That’s all it said. Well, I’d guess it was some scammer, trying to get my information, or, someone trying to sell me something I don’t want anyway. Lew
Chris,
Our Sunday wind event was very windy and then some. Fortunately, no major fires were started. One of the neighbors and I were discussing the wind Sunday morning. He’s a bit older than me, grew up here. Like me, he remembers a definite LACK of wind throughout most of May into October except during thunderstorms or a rare system moving through. More energy in the atmosphere means more low pressure systems which means more wind as the highs move in to fill the lows. Or more evidence to me that this climate change thingy is real.
No MAJOR fires doesn’t mean that Spokane didn’t have a typical “only in Spokane” moment. Either that or somebody put extra stupid in their morning coffee. It seems that some dope within the urban area had dried grass and dried weeds in his yard. During the nasty winds, he got out a blow torch to burn the dried grasses and weeds. A neighbor called the fire department when the fire got out of control and started burning the dope’s fence. He got the fire put out himself. Then, in true Spokane fashion, continued with the blow torch burn…Then the fire department showed up. It was strongly suggested that he cease and desist.
That is so cool, the old railroad dam. Amazing that it is still working. And the culvert! THAT is how to construct a proper culvert.
The pool behind the dam, however, raises the question: are there fish in that pool? Fish, as in the edible varieties. Which reminds me of an old story.
Old Dan Clark was known far and wide as always catching many fish. It was rumored, however, that his methods of catching fish were somewhat less than legal…dynamite may be involved, or so the tales said. Determined to get to the truth, the Local Game Warden Bill Smith arranged to meet with Old Dan Clark one morning.
The pair went out on the lake to do some early morning fishing. Clark even had a legal fishing license. Unfortunately, the fish weren’t biting. Conversation ensued. Warden Smith brought up the rumors. Clark listened, but Clark said nothing. He steered the boat into the very middle of the lake. Then he pulled out a big stick of dynamite which he handed to the erstwhile game warden. “Yes”, said Old Dan Clark, “I do skirt on the wrong side of the line while fishing. You caught me.” He then quickly lit the stick of dynamite that was in the game warden’s hand and said, “Well, warden, are you gonna just sit there and blow us to smithereens, or are ya gonna go fishing?” I’m not sure exactly what happened next, but apparently both the warden and Clark had fish for dinner for the following week.
“The toll troll dude”! Very funny. I often called the bridge engineer and his staff “The Local Trolls”. They enjoyed the humor.
DJSpo
Hi DJ,
Ah, a stable climate – what is this thing? 🙂 People didn’t value and respect it, so it’s going away. Things seem less windy here, although my observation of this area only spans 18 years and may not be statistically valid. Things I’m guessing are a bit all over the shop right now across the planet, and down here there are blocking systems which simply stall the weather. It’s all a bit crazy really, and I don’t believe that it is a wise idea to alter the chemical balance of the atmosphere. However, I do have the day to day records for solar power for over a decade now, and this year is definitely cloudier than in previous years. This present period of three weeks on either side of the winter solstice has been more extreme than any previous year in my records. The grid folks are likewise noting this cloudy weather as well, thus the gas shortages.
It’s real enough, my best guess is that most folks simply expected the average warmth to increase. And for folks who don’t comprehend what a 45.6’C day can feel like for their personal lack of experience, well, a bit of extra warmth may seem like a good thing.
Oh my! What a story. I used to sort of know one of local cops through another friend, and he told me that he’d charged someone for far less than that odd alleged act of uninspired dumbness. Down here, such an incident in the wrong season would result in charges being laid, with likely convictions. Not good. Have I not mentioned to you before my theory that you are only ever as good as the weakest link in any system?
🙂 DJ, I included that photo because there was this vague idea forming at the back of my mind that it would be like total cat-nip for you! Man, I looked at the culvert and likewise thought to myself: Now that’s a proper culvert. Will either you or I look as good after 160 years outdoors in all weather? I tend to think not.
Funny you ask that question, because my mind was cogitating upon such fishy matters as well. What to do – observe. Despite the day being on or around the winter solstice, insects scooted over the surface hither and yon. Then there were mysterious ripples and bubbles to be seen on the water surface. The observant person would have noted the reeds at the waters edge which would provide a tidy fish hatchery, and so the conclusion could be drawn that there were fish in the water.
I’m guessing the fish were a native bass species. Maybe…
Ah, thanks for the story. Old Dan Clark was the traditional trickster, and hapless Bill Smith was drawn into Dan’s world in a most hands on manner. Respect, and your story suggests to me that one must get up very early to defeat the likes of Ol’ Dan. Alas for me DJ, early mornings were beyond my longer term sustainable abilities, yet I’d have known when d’el came to down under, that it was best not to get involved. I’d have left Ol’ Dan well alone and knowing it was the wiser course of action. 😉
Hmm. In the past day, Sandra came across this little story from over east in the more alpine areas of the state. Honestly, I’d have no dramas with the guy, but then people way out and away from civilisation can be right idiots: Let me tell you about the Button Man. It’s like that scene in Star Wars when Yoda sends Luke into the cave and despite warnings, he takes his lightsaber – and discovers trouble.
We had a bit of discussion about the bloke in the comments a few years ago. I used to go camping up in that part of the world, alone for days on end, and never met him. A shared beer would go a long way towards not annoying such a capable person in their own environment. Just sayin… People can forget their manners when at a distinct disadvantage, but you’d have known or heard stories like that.
Cheers
Chris
Hello Chris
Summer arrived yesterday it is over 80F indoors today, ditto yesterday.
As with your experience, here people come eagerly to live in rural areas. Of course they haven’t a clue and 2 winters is often enough plus the lack of all the things that they are used to. One has to be far more reliant on self when living rurally.
Peacock is still very happy.
Inge
Hi Lewis,
I found the article, and I’d describe that as some extensive damage. But even more so, the thought of experiencing 90 inches of rain per year, just kind of totally freaks me out. Man, we’ve had one year where 55 inches fell, and that was not good. 90 is the entire next level again, and then some. What amazes me is that there are any facilities up in that remote alpine mountain area.
Possibly it was the pictures of snow on that hot summer evening over 41 years ago, but probably it was the sheer length of the film. Instead of looking out their windows at the approaching conflagration, the television soothed. But in reality, what appears to have happened was that the fire was predicted to travel further north than it did. One must be alert, and perhaps learn to read the conditions for themselves. I did pick up one interesting item in the oral history book. An older dude in his eighties who’d lived in the area for most of his life stayed to save his house, and used mud applied, then dried onto his skin to ward off the worst of the radiant heat. A clever adaption.
Holy carp, the pumpkin seeds were clearly placed in a good tub of soil at appropriate conditions. Good stuff, and they do enjoy warm feet those plants. Hope you took today to recover a bit from over doing it? We’ve all been there. 🙂 It’s part of the reason the shandy of paid work, and work around here + days off seems to be sustainable – at this stage. Hard to know what the future holds in store, but for now.
Oh you are definitely stirring me with such talk of easy strawberries. Hehe! The plants are just a bit too high maintenance for me, maybe in a future year I’ll revisit the delightful berries. You don’t have to determine the sex of Asparagus plants, but they will multiply if you don’t. They go to seed here, and I’m totally cool with that, but also have to sometimes thin the beds they grow in.
Oh, I hadn’t quite thought of the social scenario in those terms, but you could well be right. I guess not all situations can be rescued, and does it even matter if I do nothing? Probably not. Generally I speak softly when in public about personal beliefs and stuff. Doing otherwise is kind of like inviting in the people around you into the conversation, and who knows what beliefs people hold dear to themselves? Forge not ye oh traveller into the unknown ideological waters, or at least that’s the plan. It’s a good plan is it not?
What a thought! Surely the massive rocks used in Stonehenge had been obtained lawfully and for a fair price? Although, I’d heard a rumour that longbows were involved in the incident. It’s only a rumour though.
Oh yeah, Earthships were pretty cool buildings. A good use of old tyres and rammed earth. I’m honestly not sure much could knock over one of those buildings. The mud walls with the bottles constructed into them let in some really interesting light effects inside the dwelling, and bottles come in all sorts of colours. There was a Grand Designs UK house in Brittany constructed as an earthship. I was impressed, and the laws there were easier for such things. The bottles were interesting because two bottles were cut in half with the wider ends taped together using duct tape. They looked cool in the walls. Aren’t you always surprised at how in these enlightened times there are so many laws around constructing a house, and the outcomes are rather short lived and err, dull.
It’s funny to think that the ships during that gold rush era were of so little worth, or the ship masters had so much trouble crewing them, that they could assist with the expansion of the infill land.
You did mention the ripple in the floor, and oh well, it’s possibly a structural fault, or the dudes pouring the cement floor didn’t scree it properly. It’s a bit of an art form that work. I’m always amazed at how wet they make the cement mixture. You’d hope the appropriate folks know what they’re doing, maybe.
Bill Maher hangs out with some other interesting folks such as Michael Moore. Imagine the dinner table talk!
If I may, have you got your copy of Dante’s book handy? You could use it as a guide as to how to navigate the lower levels of email hell. Or at the very least, you’d know what to expect in advance! 😉 Did you make any advances into the email issues? Yup, it’s not just you who dodges and hates upgrades. But then your old computer was cancelled because it refused to participate on the carousel game. Not fair really. I’ve long since wondered how far away a person could get, and the reach is so all encompassing, that it follows us.
Oh man, I’m forced to text message people, mostly because that is what they expect. It’s hardly my natural space either. The text message sounds super creepy to me. At least with a smart phone, you can block numbers and set automatic do not disturb programs. About the only benefit I can see. Not a fan, but am forced to have one if I wish to keep on earnin’.
Did paid work all day today. Lot’s of things to do at this time of year. Finished up late. There’s a lot of talk about debt at the moment, lot’s of people smarter than I are claiming that it all doesn’t matter. I tend to believe that they are wrong, but I dunno, we’ll see.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Inge,
Oh my goodness, that is hot and I hope that you are doing OK in the conditions? Ouch! Makes for unsettled sleep that sort of heat, or at least I find it to be the case.
We designed and constructed this house to resist the external heat during summer (and not to mention fires). Years ago it used to be the done thing to build project houses in estates with dark coloured tiled roofs, and they get super hot during the summer months. It’s only in recent years that the codes have allowed for lighter coloured roofs. Even the corrugated steel roof used here had to be a dark grey colour. Alas, common sense is rarely on display with the codes, and don’t you wonder if a point in time will be reached when the codes will have lived beyond their usefulness?
🙂 Two winters is the test period for new comers in rural areas! We’re prepared for all sorts of misadventures, as well as the more usual things you’ll experience on a day to day basis. In cities, a person gives away a lot of their independence, and that’s cool because it is an option. It’s just sometimes the cost for doing that appears too high for my liking.
I recall you mentioning a long while ago that your son was the only person in the immediate local area with a working chainsaw and the experience to use it. That boggled my mind, but I can also understand how it all came to be.
I dunno, I’ve got a vague sense that people are failing to put down roots in an area, what with all that that entails, but don’t really know. It’s only a vague sense of unease that such things are going on. Dunno. I assume you see residents coming for a while and then going again on your island? That’s the case here, plus the property prices are shutting out younger folks, and that’s not good for the land I reckon.
Cheers
Chris
Hello Chris
Actually property is cheaper on the island than on the mainland, so is one of the factors that brings people in. Then they discover the travel difficulties with our appalling ferry services.
Inge
Yo, Chris – Yes, we do get rain here. 🙂 On one hand, just about everything that can be washed away, has been washed away. On the other, if you build structures up in the mountains, best attach them to bedrock.
That mud idea, was a clever adaption. The one that sticks in my mind is the fellow that rode out a wildfire by crawling in his pottery kiln.
I think you guys strike a good balance between work and play.
One of my pumpkin seedlings was pulled up and dismembered. It’s not insect damage. I figure either a squirrel or a bird. Death to squirrels! And everyone knows, “Birds Aren’t Real!.” All the birds have been replaced with government surveillance devices. I know it’s true. I got a book about it, from the library! 🙂
https://w.wiki/9Tmr
Maybe the government doesn’t want me growing my own food? I’ll scatter a big of blood meal around, and see if that keeps them off.
Give me the good old days, when people didn’t talk about religion, politics, or money.
There’s a scene in that movie, “Return to Dust” where the man and his wife are cementing in bottles, at the top of their walls. With the bottle tops pointing slightly up and out. Spaced about every three feet apart. The wife later remarks that the sound of the wind, blowing across the openings, is soothing and comforting. I tried to look down the rabbit hole, to see what that was all about. Searches couldn’t seem to get past why roofs in the Land of Stuff have upturned eaves, or, are blue. That’s not what I asked …
Well. E-mail. This morning, everything was back to normal. Last night, I was getting a weird message that my “upstream is not healthy.” Well, that tells me a lot. Not! I did a search for that, and there was an explanation, written entirely in Geek. A dialect I don’t speak. When I checked the “other e-mail”, there were the codes I needed, to open the first e-mail account. They all came rolling in, late in the evening. But, any-who, I’d better do the upgrades on both those accounts. Either tonight, or tomorrow, when I have a good block of time, and nothing else is pressing.
I have a “do not disturb” function, on my little flip phone. It’s called, “Turning it Off.” 🙂 Anything pressing, will go to voice mail.
Looks like I have a lot of stuff, to pick up at the library, this afternoon. The dam created by the “holiday”, last week, has broken. We have another holiday, coming up, next week. Fourth of July. But, what I’m picking up, ought to carry me through. 🙂 . Lew
Hi Inge,
I would have thought that the ferry service from your island to the mainland would be pretty good. Using a ferry for regular transport can be problematic – and not cheap. I’ve experienced some car ferry trips in very rough waters. The passage between the north and south island of New Zealand was notably rough. If memory serves me correctly, a ferry on sort of that route sank in truly atrocious weather conditions.
You’ve sort of raised one of the issues here in this area. The cost of property is such that whilst there is work, does the income cover the costs associated with living in the area? I tend to think not. There’s some weird unintended consequences for supporting ever inflating property prices…
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
🙂 The PNW is rather well known for it’s rain. And I tend to agree with you. There is something to be said about ensuring foundations reach down to the bedrock. Not always possible though, and it depends upon the type of structure sitting atop the soil. I tell you what, before the minor landslide we took drainage systems seriously, after that event, let’s just say that major upgrades to those systems were done. Landslides and Earthquakes, you don’t think much about them, until they occur in your backyard!
Oh that’s a clever solution too as it would have been shielded from the radiant heat. Might have gotten a bit stuffy though. My understanding is that the main fire front is what you have to survive, and it passes fairly quickly. Unfortunately, from what I understand, a house can possibly burn to the ground quicker than the time it takes for the front to pass.
Speaking of work and play. It was sunny here today, but cold, and of course it rained early this morning. Continued on the clean up work, and reignited the burn off pile. Fed a couple more old loggers tree stumps onto it. Those things are heavy. The job is not completed, but it’s well on its way to that condition. Headed to the pub for a pint and feed. Had a very tasty beef burger. Me tired and will sleep well this evening.
Bummer about the pumpkin seedling. And to think the seedling got off to a solid start, only to be undone by the forces of squirrel, or bird – take your pick. That book sounds like the real deal, and hey, it’s good to finally pin the blame for that infamous shooting on the birds. Whatever will they think of next? The guy has the knack for self promotion.
Actually, I’m pretty sure that any level of independence is considered a threat to the system. But who could ever be upset with home grown pumpkins? Maybe zucchini could strike true fear due to the plants productive habits.
I know, such topics were considered poor form in polite company, to which I’d add that all of the lovely people who take the time to comment here could be labelled as. Now, we don’t really talk about religion, although sometimes I do stray into the realms of the mystic, it being something of a bad habit. Politics are by and large rather dull mostly because they seem to be failing spectacularly. Of course if they’re doing something particularly stupid, that can be a rather wide catch-all get-out-of-jail-free card. Politics is stupid, but money is stupider especially with the free handed expansionary money supply policies being pursued with reckless abandon. Being stupider, means that occasionally we’ll stray into those weird fiscal waters. What can I say other than I wasn’t brought up right. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it! 😉
What a clever innovation with the bottles in the mud brick walls. Like a permanent wind chime.
Oh no! Lewis, maybe it is just my mind, but the warning ‘the upstream is not healthy’ just sounds kind of a bit weird. And like you I tend to avoid geekoise explanations and stick to more comprehensible idiots guides to that world. Did you click on the update button for those programs? And do they now work? Always a nerve wracking experience.
Haha! True, that off button is very effective. Despite all the words and photos here, I quite appreciate privacy and have a regular need for quiet time. Quiet time does not involve machines beeping at me demanding attention. It’s not my problem if the machine is insecure…
Sounds like the library order system is now in full swing. Did you pick up all the stuff there? Yes, best to be prepared for the impending holiday. It’s on a Thursday, so no doubts plenty of people will be extending the break through to the weekend.
Cheers
Chris
Hi, Chris!
Our coldest time of the year seems to be a month after the Solstice, so I guess your seasons and mine do not track as closely as I had thought. I don’t know if we, on our property, are sustainable for firewood any longer. We have several years cut into stove-sized logs, but so many trees have been cut down over the past year – where we used to mostly just harvest the downed ones – to open up the area for growing more things and to let more sun in on this north slope in the woods. Most of those have been sold to a nearby mill. With deer eating most of the understory and newly-sprouted trees for so many years now, there is not much to replace what is cut. We grow all sorts of trees in pots, including ones native to our area, but have had no time plant out some and protect them. So, I am a little worried. Neighbors have been glad to let us harvest their fallen trees, but that may not last forever.
That’s a lovely dam; what a place for a picnic. What a handsome culvert, also. What amazes me here is how very quickly – unless overrun by deer – the forests take over once left alone. One finds remnants of foundations and stone walls 150 years old, but not much else.
You were lucky to avoid the 70’s oil crisis. It was a nasty time when I was a teenager.
Fools. Fukushima, Chernobyl, Three Mile Island. How could these things really be worthwhile?
Spooky in the valley . . . and frosty at your house. I am so glad that I can’t even try to deal with boulders. I was having Peak Rock Syndrome yesterday morning because the squirrels, as always, are picking off the biggest and best green tomatoes, eating part of them, and throwing them away. Rinse and repeat. So I am swathing my plants in mosquito netting, which kept them off pretty well last year. After the vines are wrapped, I have to anchor them to the ground with a lot of heavy rocks (but not boulders!) and I ran out of them in the immediate area and had to go farther afield.
Lordy, that was a huge old tree.
But how do the kiwis taste at this point? Wait a minute – daffodils and asparagus up? Isn’t this too early?
I love silverbeets; we are eating them right now, too.
What a dainty, hardy rose – Blood in the Snow. And a Yellow Sunshine Rose. Alpine Heath is dainty and pretty, also. Thanks for them all.
Last night was the first rain that we have had for a month.
Pam
Yo, Chris – And, in News of the World, you may have heard that biggest cruise ship, ever, The Icon of the Sea, had a fire on board. On its maiden voyage! I’d be edging my way to the lifeboats. 🙂 Brought under control, quickly, and no injuries.
I didn’t have to water last night, as we had a few showers. I won’t have to water tonight, either. As I was getting H ready to take her walk this morning, the sky opened up. A real gully washer. Discretion being the better part of valor, we waited 10 minutes or so, and it passed. The sun came out. But, I won’t have to water tonight, either.
They had some real weather, over in Idaho. Here’s what my friends had to say. Just so you can figure out the dramatis personae, Greenway is their ex-son-in-law. Who they’re still quit friendly with. Greenway is Ron’s fishing and hunting partner.
“Lots of emergency broadcast for severe thunderstorms, 60 mph winds, ping-pong sized hail and flooding. It hit Nyssa, Boise, etc. Went around us, thank goodness. Greenway’s dad lives next to Nyssa in Parma. Damaged his rain gutters, tore a vent off of his house, powers out and other damage. Made out better than some folks.”
Some folks have survived wildfires by taking to streams or ponds. Of course, you may be sharing it, with other wildlife. But, in those situations, every one seems fairly well behaved. According to reports.
Thermal fire blankets seem pretty effective, in wildfire situations. They’ve saved many a wild land firefighter.
All that area you’re clearing. It will be interesting to see what comes up, when spring kicks in. A walnut spig, has popped up in the middle of the patch I share with our night manager. I’ll have to dig it out, but for now, it’s a wonder. Darned squirrels! My Very Expensive Green Beans are beginning to twine up the trellis.
I’m not to worried, about the one pumpkin seedling, I lost. There are enough of them popping up, that they’ll have to be thinned, anyway. Now here’s something. You know, I always whinge about Territorial seed, and their high shipping costs. We have one local garden store that carries some of their line. I got the packet of pumpkin seeds, from them. Almost $5. Do you know how many seeds were in that packet? Eleven (11)! Just enough, barely, for what I wanted to plant.
Oh, I think the folks who contribute to this blog, and you, strike just the right balance, as far as touchy subjects go. On reflection, I think it may be because, it’s an older crowd. When you read Mr. Greer’s blog, or even when I was taking on-line classes, it’s pretty easy to pick out the youngsters. 🙂 I think older folks are more … measured. LOL. That’s what life experience will do for you.
I’ve decided to put off the e-mail upgrade, for a few days. It’s almost the first of the month, and I do a bit of online banking. Due to all the dual authentication nonsense, I need a working e-mail account, and a designated one, to get into my bank accounts.
It’s lucky the next holiday falls on a Thursday. As far as my convenience goes. I’ll be able to pick up any deliveries, from the library. “Forty Years a Hermit,” is in transit. And, we’re scheduled to get a food box, on Wednesday. I picked up King’s newest, “You Like It Darker.” I think I’ll read one short story, per night.
And, from the Wonderful World of Archaeology, here’s an article on ancient purple dye. The Editor might find it interesting.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/26/science/tyrian-purple-dye-greece-scn
Can you imagine being at a cocktail party, and someone asks you what you do for a living. “Oh, I’m a snail smasher.” 🙂 Lew
Hi Pam,
Traditionally that has been the case here as well, due to thermal inertia. Just like how the hottest part of the year is after the summer solstice. Today was sunny, cold and very pleasant so we went to a nearby bush reserve and enjoyed a long walk, plus a corned beef roll and coffee scroll. So yum! The weather forecast is promising snow above 1,000m (3,300ft) next week, but alas the farm sits lower in altitude, so it shall simply be cold on those days. As to tracking the same, I’d say that the climate is simply weird, and getting stranger. Historically there used to be 10 snow days per year here, but it’s been two or three years now since snow has fallen.
Ah, I see, yes well that makes sense in relation to the trees. For your interest I would be in so much trouble if I sold saw logs to a local sawmill. Yikes! Not happening, but I think for a while you can relax a bit because it takes a lot of skill to produce firewood and if your neighbours see fallen trees as a problem to them, for which you can supply a solution – that’s called winning! However, history suggests that things can turn. During the oil crisis in the 1970’s I believe the forests in your country were opened to folks seeking that fuel source. But then, as I mentioned, it takes skills, tools, energy and systems to be able to recover such a fuel. And people back then may have been more familiar with such skills than they are nowadays? Hmm.
I’d be considering longer term planting out a proper wood lot possibly with fast growing nitrogen fixing trees. Of course there is the deer problem to consider. But then you may move to an area that already has a wood lot anyway? What I’ve observed is that at the moment, such resources are considered to be a bit of a pain. But are they?
The railway dam is quite a lovely place to have a walk and picnic. Your soils are far better than what you’d find in those gold fields areas, perhaps why the forest springs back into life so quickly? Dunno. But in those areas the top soils were quickly washed away due to the careless mining and other industrial activities way back in the 1850’s, and the returning forest is very slow growing. Plus it also depends upon what sort of seed bank the soils hold, and if the soils are washed away, so to are the seeds.
Pam, I recall that in those days cars were far smaller than they are today. Back then I thought that Mad Max’s original locally manufactured Interceptor was a huge beast of a machine. It’s probably lighter and smaller than a current model small car (maybe not the Suzuki Swift Dirt Mouse which is a very light vehicle). But yeah, people didn’t travel as much as they expect to do so nowadays, and entertainments were local. Plus, and I’d be interested in your thoughts, I recall that there was far less stuff available, and you scrimped and saved for the little extras.
I agree, it’s completely nuts. There currently is a single working reactor on the continent just out of Sydney at Lucas Heights for medical grade isotopes. Apparently they haven’t yet worked out what to do with the waste from that thing despite being in operation for decades. It’s my opinion that before expanding, the authoritas need to first get their house in order. Temporary storage of wastes is just that, temporary. Anything which doesn’t begin with the concept of “let’s just use less stuff” is at this point, bound to fail. Sorry.
Truly awful! Peak rocks is real, but then there’s this huge boulder… 🙂 We’re in the same camp here in that I too enjoy the antics of the wildlife, but must they sample edibles then discard them half eaten? Your squirrels scare me, but the owls would certainly not feel the same way as I do. Possums (the marsupial herbivore varieties) are very nervous on this property. Well they should be!
It’s a big tree! I found the broken steel cables near to that tree. I’d hate to think what went on that day all those decades ago. Probably not good. If I recall I’ll chuck on a photo of the broken cables perched on the big old tree. Seems only appropriate to lay them there.
The kiwi fruit are getting better, but they need colder weather. And yes, it is too early for both plants. Not good, but they follow the climate, not the calendar.
Silverbeets are awesome, and in dinner this evening! 🙂
My pleasure! No you have more sunlight at ground level, are you growing more flowers?
Yay for rain! Hope the rain continues for you.
Cheers
Chris
Hello Chris
Rough seas are not a problem here except for the hovercraft service. The ferries only stop in extreme fog. That was once the case but now they stop for myriad reasons When I was in my twenties, I could catch a train in London, arrive at Portsmouth Harbour. Step onto the waiting ferry which would promptly leave. On arriving at Ryde Pierhead I could step onto the waiting train which would also promptly leave and take me down the pier to the bus station.
Now I would leave London and admittedly have a fast catamaran to the Island, However it can be an hour before it leaves (there is no longer any syncronisation at all). There will be no train waiting and that could be another hour. Often it is not running at all and one has along walk down the pier or one picks up one of the waiting taxis.
Inge
Hello again cont.
The ferry companies are deeply in debt and belong to different companies. One of them was Australian until recently The ferries keep breaking down and also complain about staff shortages. There is absolutely no guarantee that a ferry will be running when one arrives at either end.
So there you are, just more of our current mad, mad world.
Inge
Hi Lewis,
Maybe it’s just me, but that boat looks somewhat top heavy, and you’d hope the designers and ship builders thought about that prior to the behemoth setting sail? After mentioning ferry disasters in my reply to Inge last evening, I went on a deep rabbit hole as to just what happens during such a disaster. So it turns out that when a ship lists, the lifeboats on the wrong side can become unusable. Then there are overloading problems. Sometimes the crew head to the lifeboats first. As you do when you realise the seriousness of the situation! Very occasionally the seas are so bad that the lifeboats capsize. A lot of risk when heading out on the high seas! The deep dive even included the Yorktown carrier sinking, when just as hopes were lifting to revive the stricken vessel, some Japanese sub torpedoed it. Surviving life out on the high seas is not for the naive. But honestly, a cruise ship experience would for me, be like a personal nightmare.
I reckon a fire on a space craft and/or space station would be far worse.
Good stuff, and lucky you and H hadn’t headed out 10 minutes earlier. That’s very true what they say about discretion, and err, make sure you have a seat on the lifeboat seems to improve a persons chances of survival, even if the seas are rough as. 😉
There was some utoob footage of the storms in Idaho in that area. It sounded like a very localised heavy storm to me, looking at the damage, possibly even a minor tornado – like the sort that touch down here once in a blue moon. Not good. Hope your friends are doing OK today?
Ah, alas, there are no streams and/or dams here, mostly for the same reason – such above ground bodies of water attract perhaps unwanted house guests. The old timer forestry workers used to construct underground bunkers next to their mills to retreat into if there was a fire. It’s not a bad idea at all, but the constructions require ongoing maintenance. In these enlightened days they tend to send people into cleared areas, such as sportsfields – especially if the grass has been irrigated during an otherwise hot and dry time. Green grass doesn’t tend to burn.
We’ve got a few fire blankets dotted around the property ready to go. Handy in case there is another sort of fire as well. Dude, trust me, this topic is very much on my mind all the time. Thus the motivation for the clean up work. Look the forest materials we chucked onto the burn off pile were wet, yet they still burned. Hmm. I’d call that sobering. At this time of year, the fire doesn’t spread, and that’s why we do the work now.
It’s going to rain here for the next two or three days.
Yeah, I’m interested in seeing what pops up in those areas as well. I may even diversify the plant species by chucking in some of the local nitrogen fixing plants (Blackwoods) and also some Algerian Oaks, which seem super tough, and provide heaps of summer shade. In the 2008 fires I observed that many oak trees tended to resist the fire and later bounced back. Different minerals and water content etc.
Ha! I’m super impressed that walnuts simply grow in your area. It’s slightly too dry for them here – just. I might try Black Walnuts instead? Dunno. And likewise, please do keep squirrels in your part of the world. 🙂
Ah good to hear. There’s something to be said about over sowing, then thinning as a strategy isn’t there? Why put all your eggs in one basket?
Dude, trust me in this – your shipping costs are peanuts compared to what I expect to pay. Had to laugh, and I acknowledge it is a relative issue, but I bought the supply of baking flour and the delivery fees were $26! Hey, the algorythmns got me tonight. So yesterday whilst working I was thinking about how the chainsaw bar was working (and I’ve pressed into service an older bar) and the thought popped into my head: This ain’t right, and requires further investigation. So what turned up in the email inbox today? An offer from my fave supplier for a discount on bars and chains. What’s a dude to do? I’ll have me some of them, I thought to myself. And placed an order. $15 shipping. Things are more expensive down here.
Did the seed packet provide a guaranteed germination rate? You can sometimes end up with more seeds, but they’re all duds. That happened during you-know-what with some of our seed orders. I recall that the cucumber seeds in particular completely failed to germinate. It was outrageous.
I agree, a bit of age under the skin can provide perhaps a wider world view? You see things over the years, and you kind of know what the possible outcomes may be. But we all have hot button issues, but maybe a person learns to put on a good front of indifference. Maybe… So yeah, more measured is a lovely way to put things. The other thing is, I doubt anyone commenting here has sought an advantage of any sort. A lot of ideology has that issue at the core.
See, that is wisdom right there. Knowing when it’s a bad idea to upgrade the mail software. 🙂 Depending upon the authorisation standard, you can get programs to provide authentication codes. They don’t all have to be on a phone and/or email.
Top stuff! I’ll be very interested in what you have to say about the book: Forty years a hermit. An enviable achievement in my books. Oooo, a new Mr King book. It’s like catnip you know. And the title is very suggestive as to the contents! Hope the books keeps you up way into the early hours of some morning soon. The sign of a good book I reckon!
The purple dye article is fascinating, and the process appears to have consumed a lot of snails. And that’s the problem with making processes super secret, in that sometimes they’re so secret, that nobody ever recalls how they were done. It would make for some interesting dinner table chitchat, yes. 🙂
Had today off work. The sun was shining, and despite the cold air, the moons aligned and we decided to head off for a bushwalk in a nearby nature reserve. It was quite pleasant, and as usual, we had the entire place to ourselves. Lunch was good too. A corned beef and salad roll + a coffee scroll. So yummy! Got home, lit the wood fire and had a nap on the couch as the house warmed. All very pleasant.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Inge,
Oh my, I guess you’d have a lot of water travelling between the south of the mainland and your island. No doubts that situation would produce some rough seas. You can sort of understand why the ferries would stop in thick fog. One of the ship disasters I was reading about last night was when one ship t-barred another ship in thick fog. It was not good. The fog here can get thick enough that if you don’t know the roads well, you’d soon be lost. I can navigate my way around here in such weather, but the visibility is very poor. Out on the ocean everything would look the same I guess.
Oh that’s all very unfortunate. You know, down here, the opposite was true. Back when I was a young bloke (and I usually used public transport to get to and from school / work) none of the systems co-ordinated their timetables. One school run involved two buses, and they never connected. Trains and trams did their own thing too. It was not good. Sandra used to have to catch the country trains into the city, and they were so unreliable that she has a deep feeling of discontent with the train services (although they are very good and reliable nowadays).
She once told me that on the way into a uni exam, the country trains called a snap strike and she was abandoned out in the middle of nowhere. These were the days before mobile phones and easy contactability. Some scars run deep…
But yes, wait times of an hour or more are all signs of decline.
You make a very solid case, and I agree. It is one thing for the train, tram or bus to run late. A ferry is a whole different situation. It’s not like you have an alternative option to get across to the island and/or mainland. Not good, and it’s funny you mention the debt issue, but when I was looking into the scale of the governement debt issue, it was hard to ignore the fact that household and also corporate debt was just as bad. To me, it looks like a top down issue. Not good, any of it.
You reminded me of a story from when I was in my early 20’s and working in the city. There was a huge storm which dumped an enormous amount of rainfall in the city. All the public transport services were shut down, and I ended up walking out of the city. After walking for maybe two hours, I got to a pay phone and rang for help, but was far enough removed from the troubles for someone to come and pick me up. What a day.
Another big storm I was on my bike as I used that to get to and from work. I was able to ride out of the city and just get around all of the downed trees and blocked roads. It was kind of interesting in a way.
Do any islanders step up with their own boats to help out stranded residents?
Cheers
Chris
Chris:
I don’t remember our forests being opened for firewood during the oil crisis, but at that time I was a teenager, not noticing much but my own social interests. I do vivdly recall two things, though. I remember President Jimmy Carter on TV telling everyone to put on a sweater, which seemed like good advice if one was cold, but which was widely scoffed at. And I remember not being very happy about the fact that I had just gotten my driver’s license and now petrol was rationed and the gas station lines were really long, when they were open. For some reason, many people don’t believe that could happen again.
Yes, the new property will hopefully have a wood lot. Not hard to find, just hard to afford.
I think of the beautiful and interesting Nevada desert – we almost moved there – that is a nuclear waste dump.
Could the steel cables be repurposed?
I am growing more flowers, and they are doing really well. Yesterday I planted some Gazanias. Don’t you have some of those?
Pam
Yo, Chris – Yes, that cruise ship looks pretty top heavy, to me. One hopes a large number of passengers doesn’t get it into their heads, to run from one side to the other, and then back again. Marching a large number of people, in lock step, over a bridge, comes to mind.
In a way, anyone who made it into a lifeboat, off the Titanic, was lucky. There were several reports that the seas, that night, “were like glass.” Davits, for lowering life boats, can be a problem. I get the idea that they need two people, to get them to work. And, if one lowers, and the other jams, everyone on the lifeboat is pitched into the water.
If you want to read about a real nightmare of a sinking, check out the WWII, sinking of the USS Indianapolis. There were sharks …
I think you posted pictures, of saw mill fire bunkers, at one time. They’d make great root cellars. 🙂
Well, it looks like our rain is over. The forecast for the next 7 days is for temperatures in the 70sF, and big white fluffy clouds. 4th of July, the temp is edging up to 80F. Beyond that, who knows?
I didn’t think Black Walnuts were edible, but a glance into the rabbit hole reveals that they are. It’s getting them out of the shells. There are U-Tub videos.
I can’t remember ever seeing a guaranteed germination rate, on any package of seed, here. Of course, this is the Land of Take No Responsibility. Ever. Probably on the advice of their legal departments. 🙂
Oh, I don’t mind a bit of age, under the skin. It’s just when age starts showing up ON the skin.
I started reading the King book, last night. I was going to read one story, a night. Well, that went right out the window. And, yes, it was a late night. I can’t say I like them all, but generally, they’re pretty good. I have a problem reading short stories, who knows why. One turned out to be practically a novella. Once I realized that, I skipped to the end. I’ll go back and reread it, in detail.
Technologies are discovered, lost, or just fall out of use. And, rediscovered, again. There’s an old saying. “Reinventing the wheel.” Lew
Chris,
Stable climate? All I know is that allergy season is now nearly all year. It hit with a vengeance on Wednesday, knocked me and the Princess down for 2 days. As the climate changes, so does the amount of pollen.
Friday was another story. We both feel much better, so the Princess is doing chores indoors. I did a lot of work outdoors. In the shade. I was trimming the overgrown quince hedge in the alley. One of the neighbors drove by and said, jokingly, “About time the gardener got to this.” I laughed and replied, “I’m not really here. I’m a figment that is pretending to work.”
I’ve experienced 45C temperatures a few times. Only one word for it: brutal. People that think that having more hot days have never experienced such temperatures or were in superbly air-conditioned buildings the entire time.
You guessed totally correct about my reaction to the culvert photo. Thanks again for including it. As for what I’ll look like in 160 years? Ummm, the word “decayed” comes to mind for some reason. 😉
Glad you enjoyed the joke. I first heard it in 1985. New boss at a job had gone fishing a few times with a neighbor on my street. New boss was remarking to his 2 employees who fished that some of the other guy’s fishing was “of rather questionable legality”. My coworker and fishing pal brought up that story. It seemed appropriate.
The Button Man! Wow! Eerie story. Different type of man, he is. Sounds the sort that if you show no fear and simply visit with him, maybe nothing happens. Sometimes all a person wants, regardless of how he is wired, is to simply interact with others on his terms. However, if they feel ignored…
Back in the day, one of my friends was nearly a modern “mountain man”. He was our group leader for climbing Mount Baker (and other regional volcanic peaks). Last name was Williams. He KNEW what he was doing. His wife once quipped, “Who needs Indiana Jones? We’ve got Washington Williams!”
Once, on a multiple day canoe trip, he and I were talking. He mentioned a cousin of his who spent most of his life in the wilderness. Very good in the wilds, very stealthy. Friend said that his cousin could be right over there (he pointed across the river) and we wouldn’t even know it unless he chose to step out where we could see him. Apparently, the guy would just show up at a relative’s house, stay for a meal or two, then disappear again for a few more years in the wilderness. Takes a different perspective than what most of us have, including Washington Williams.
Spokane has a lot of homeless people. Some frequent our neighborhood, others walk through the neighborhood. Typically, I will respond to greetings or even have a short conversation. Last summer, I was enjoying my coffee on the patio one morning. A young homeless man stopped in the quince shade in the alley, softly talked to Dame Avalanche who had gone over to see what was up. Never tried to touch her or feed her. After a few minutes in the shade, he stood up, walked over to where we could see one another, and said, “Thank you! Have a nice day!” I replied something appropriate. Never saw him again. Was I watching things closely? Yes. I figured that he needed time in the shade and was happy to have a friendly dog near him. People are people, and when acknowledged as a person usually will act human. It’s not hard to be both aware and polite.
This evening is knife sharpening and scissors sharpening night. The Princess has spoken.
DJSpo
Hello Chris
I don’t know whether or not some boating people rescue stranded friends. There are often attempts to set up small boat ferries.
The peacock has gone, he spent 5 days and nights at my place. I miss him.
Inge
Hi Pam,
Ah, the awful impositions, and like your astute observation, I too wonder why such beliefs exist nowadays. Experience is hard to provide in the face of disbelief. I recall those days as well, my mother drove around in a tiny Honda Civic (first generation) two door car. My sister and I squeezed into the back seats, whilst the oldest sister scored the front passenger seat. Fun times, and that thing was lighter than the current Dirt Mouse Suzuki Swift, and only a bit less economical. Mind you, like you sort of hinted at, travelling anywhere in those days was not the usual expectation, and I rarely recall doing that. Down to the shops and back again was how things rolled. I’m pretty certain that oil would have been exported given the global circumstances.
Your mention of Jimmy Carter sent me on a rabbit hole reading up on the Canadian Caper. The dude was at the helm at a time of serious troubles, but I will note that at least he sort of sounded coherent! That’s not always the case… 🙂
Ah, I see. Well, it took two years of searching to find this property, and eighteen years to get where we are today. If we had to move just as a thought experiment, there is only a vague notion as to where that would be. It’s hard that problem.
Probably provides solid employment for the locals… Ook! Dunno about living in a desert. Water is life, yet too much water can be as much of a problem as too little. It’s complicated.
That’s a definite nope. I went down this morning and took a photo of the cables and you can judge that question for yourself.
🙂 Yay for more flowers! The birds and insects will thank you for your efforts. Yes, we do have some Gazanias growing, and oh my, you will be impressed when they flower. Those plants thrive on hot and dry weather. Hope the colours are good.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Inge,
Sorry to hear that the peacock has moved on, they’re lovely and entertaining birds. Years ago at a poultry auction there was a Golden Pheasant for sale, and it was a beautiful and colourful bird. Didn’t you have one ransack your greenhouse years ago? Birds can get up to some mischief. Sometimes the magpies here will tease the hapless Ruby and Dame Plum, and occasionally try to lead them off into the forest. I have this vague notion that if the magpies could lead the Kelpies to a bad end, they would. I keep a sharp eye out for such mischief.
Maybe after the time of the larger ferries ends, the smaller, lighter ferries will take their place? I’d imagine that you’d have barges too for larger loads? Getting house construction materials on your island would be expensive and problematic I’m guessing? Maybe?
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
Wow, that’s hard as, and glad to hear that you are both recovering. Of course, with that rain combined with the heat in your area you’d be in grass seed season. Sometimes down here it gets bad enough that the authorities issue a storm asthma warning. People die. You’d have hated the pollen rain earlier this year. I struggled with the deluge. Once it was over and just before the rains returned (after two dry and warm months) you may recall that the gutters needed a major cleaning which took most of a day to do. Pollen was matted and thick. What a mess, and I’d never experienced the tall forest trees producing that much pollen so badly before.
Quince would do so very well in your part of the world. Do your lot produce lots of multi-trunks? How good is the fruit stewed? Out of sheer curiosity, what tools do you use to prune the fruit trees?
Mate, I’ve only experienced such temperature extremes a few times as well, although there was that one time we had three days in a row exceeding 40’C. Sometimes you cross your fingers and hope nobody does anything stupid. Not always the case. And I’ve noticed that as well. People say they love the hot weather. Then you ask some searching questions and discover they mean 30’C with full air conditioning indoors. Hmm.
🙂 Dude, I knew that culvert photo would be like catnip to you, and may have said so previously! So well made and to have lasted so long in all weather conditions for 160 years is a real testament as to the sort of built environment we could produce if we only we wanted to pay for it. Extraordinary wealth and labour surpluses produced that culvert. And yeah, me too, it wouldn’t be pretty let’s just put the facts that way.
It’s a great fishing story. Best not to try to outwit the trickster.
That’s my opinion of the bloke too. He appears mischievous, but is met on his terms and in his environment. One must be respectful of that reality, and I guess you sort of said it: Acknowledge the person, unless you are prepared to deal with consequences or simply get the heck out of there.
Mount Rainier is impressive looking, but then so too is Mount Baker. Man, super competent folks have a calmness, almost an aura of authority surrounding them don’t you reckon? I’ve known a few very competent blokes over the years, and you always learn stuff. But I’ve never met anyone with true bush survival skills – in all weather and seasons.
Funnily enough a trial was held very recently, surrounding an older couple who met an untimely end way out in the alpine area. There was a lot of darkness to the entire story. Anyway, what interested me was just how many people were out and about in the remote area during the time of the alleged misdeed. Dunno, but it appears to me that the entire sordid affair could have been avoided, but people can sometimes take their troubles with them.
A friend of mine who worked in the area of acute mental health once advised me (after some prompting on my part) that a good way to de-escalate a situation was to ask a person ‘how their day was going’, ‘having a bad day, mate’ etc. Get them to talk about themselves and their inner workings. The official line is to ask people if they’re OK, but that sounds to me a lot like making a judgement on a persons inner state. Sometimes that’s a good tool, other times listening is a better tool. That’s a complicated and volatile situation.
Get thee to work sharpening! 🙂 Hand file or bench grinder? I must confess to preferring a bench grinder, although it takes off a bit too much material.
Cheers
Chris
Chris:
I had forgotten about ‘The Canadian Caper”. I only knew it at the time as the Iranian Hostage Crisis. I remember the time well; it was very suspenseful.
Pam
Hi Lewis,
Hopefully that awful situation of people running side to side on a ship has not ever occurred? Nobody would be that stupid, would they? … … Ah, the majority of opinions suggest that not much will be harmed if that happens on a very large cruise ship. A smaller boat may be an entirely different matter. I must say, the photos of the stricken Costa Concordia were rather impressive looking and very scary. However, the behemoths even seem to be able to survive rogue waves (or at least so far), but not without damage and loss of life. I hope never to see one of those things out over the deep.
I agree, the odds of making a seat on lifeboat from the Titanic were slight. That’s a good point, and you’d want the crew to keep calm when evacuating everyone. That’s the ideal, but how would it actually play out in reality?
A truly sobering story of loss. To survive being out on the open ocean in a life jacket for three days with sharks circling is nothing short of a miracle.
I need a moment to process that story.
Yes, your memory is correct in relation to the fire bunkers. Bizarrely, they’re sort of frowned upon nowadays, mostly because I suspect that there may be issues with certifying that they work. Some people retreated to cellars during the horrendous 2009 fires, and I don’t believe that ended well. Not only is there a risk of the burning house collapsing upon you, but the combustion will possibly consume the oxygen. We could probably cut into the side of the embankment here if we were thinking about such an option, which we’re not. But it would probably work. And yes, double as a root cellar! Always handy, and at least we’d have something to eat stuck in there.
Your weather sounds delightful to me. 🙂 Now bear in mind that I just took the dogs outside in the dark thick fog to do their business, and yeah, the constant drizzle and cold air, made us all head straight back indoors. It’s way cold out there! Brr! It’s rained most of the day here, and will continue to do so tomorrow.
I reckon Black Walnut trees will be easier to establish here than proper English walnuts. I’ve killed too many of those trees now, and am giving up. I just can’t provide the constant summer water they seem to require in order to become well established. On the other hand, chestnuts seem to be much hardier plants, and a few more of those trees won’t hurt. The black walnuts are reputedly some ‘tough nuts to crack’ – people even drive over them in their cars to crack the shells. I reckon a bench vice will crack the shells.
Haha! Fair enough, and I ain’t arguing with you. The more reputable suppliers list a germination rate, and it usually works out – except things got a bit weird during you-know-what when demand for seeds went up in line with a renewed interest in gardening. Now that people have forgotten this little spike in gardening interest, things are more or less back to the previous conditions.
All very unfair and stuff. I’d like to think that we are now wiser? Always possible! 🙂
Back in the day, weren’t short story compilations for authors in a particular genre, and supplied mostly in trade paperback format, a bit of a thing? I’ve encountered more than a few over the years in second hand bookshops. Hey, there was a very good collection of short stories by varied authors done in a homage to Jack Vance titled ‘Songs of the Dying Earth’. Very glad to hear that Mr King’s book kept you up into the wee hours of the morning. Never a better recommendation than that outcome. That particular author has kept me awake many a night over the years. 🙂 Always fun.
Honestly, I can’t say that I’ve never skipped to the ending to discover what happened as a form of bracing myself against the fictional turmoil, but err, we’ve all been there.
True, reinventing the wheel. Of course.
Had lunch in the big smoke today with friends, and a good time was had by all. It was raining in the city today as well. Oddly enough, it’s been dry there of late.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Pam,
It was a pretty awesome extraction, and I dunno about you, but my nerves would not be up for such work. The two dudes who went in to extract the six folks using a film ruse must have had nerves of steel to undertake such dangerous work. Oh, what do you do for a living then? I extract hostages from dangerous situations. Right-e-o then.
I don’t recall that crisis, but watched the fictionalised account of the escapade in the Ben Affleck film ‘Argo’. A good film which changed some of the details around a bit, but overall was kind of what happened.
There was a lot going on then. There’s a lot going on now, sorry to say.
It’s raining here and cold, but that’s winter for ya. Dame Plum has stretched out asleep and is taking over most of the white couch.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Chris,
It’s been Marty, Marty, Marty the last two weeks. My sister and I brought him home from the rather substandard nursing home. He really shouldn’t be living on his own so we’re trying to set up some home services for him like help showering and meals as well as researching assisted living facilities that will take someone on public aid. We also spent many hours cleaning up his disgusting apartment and ridding it of old expired food as well as other items that would be tripping hazards. Gwen had an unbelievable amount of stuff there as well though she lives in a group home. We were able to get the agency that runs the group home to get most of it. He is a terrible fall risk – about 3-4 times a week. So far no major injuries but it’s only a matter of time.
Luckily we’ve had quite a bit of rain so I haven’t had to water – over 7 inches in June. However, that means things that shouldn’t be growing are taking off as well. Raspberries are coming in now – yum.
I’m enjoying the descriptions of your forays around your area.
Like Pam I well remember the oil embargo. It was a challenging time. I admire President Carter. He seemed real to me and rather than spending his post president years making lots of money doing speeches he and his wife built houses Habitat for Humanity.
Margaret
Yo, Chris – I have to run down to the library, when they open, but in the meantime, I’ll leave you something that might entertain you …
https://youtu.be/cn3G_VoJjYk?si=nw2FUlg5M5ao-xcR
How did we miss this? I think it might have got lost in the You Know What shuffle. I just happened to run across a reference to it, as the young lady who stars in this is also the star of the new “A Quiet Place: Day One.” Catch what the soldiers say, as this opens up. It will give you a giggle. Lew
Back! (And now we return to our regularly scheduled programing.) I wanted to be at the library, when they opened the doors, because … Michael Crichton and James Patterson, have a new book out, “Eruption.” Looking at the jacket, the big island of Hawaii is toast, and “…could mean the end of life as we know it.” I’m always up for a good disaster yarn. Book or movie, fiction or non-fiction. Yes, yes, I know, Crichton died in 2008. Might be one of those brain in a vat, hooked up to a computer, situations. 🙂
I really read a lot more non-fiction, than fiction, these days. So, I was asleep at the switch, when I became aware of this book. Put it on my hold list, but I was number 80 something. Might not get to read it, in this life. But then, I discovered some copies are part of the “Lucky Day” collection. It’s mostly fiction, and some DVDs. You can’t put holds on those copies, and they can’t be renewed. I’ve been watching for it, and, could tell from the catalog, when it started through processing. Then it was “in transit.” Chehalis was to get three copies. It was put on the shelf, late yesterday. By closing time, there were still two copies on the shelf. Hence, H and I headed for the library, and I was first through the doors, this morning. As an extra fringe benefit, it clears up a spot on my hold list.
I was on a plane, once, when everyone rushed to one side, to get a view of the Grand Canyon, at sunset. And, we pitched a bit to that side. I was a nervous flyer, anyway.
There is a movie, about the USS Indianapolis. And, it stars Nick Cage. But I’ll pass. Even short reports give me the willies.
Hundreds of people, in Dresden, during WWII, were in shelters, but asphyxiated. Due to the firestorm from the bombings, above.
Wear goggles, when you crack those black walnuts. Pieces will fly!
There’s a whole series of books, that go back decades. “Best American Short Fiction for (insert year, here.) It’s part of the series of topics, that includes “Best American Food Writing.” There are still quit a few short story collections, that come out. Either themed, or by one particular author. Such as King.
I read a couple more stories, last night. Restrained myself, and got to bed at a decent hour. So far, there’s only one story that I think is rubbish. There’s two alien invasion stories, and even one that revolves around Alcoholics Anonymous.
They stole our line. Dig back through the blog posts, and see when we first used it. We can sue for plagiarism. Our fortunes are made. 🙂 Lew
Hi Margaret,
It’s really nice you were able to take some time out and say hello. Thanks! How’s Marty doing anyway? Is he aware of what’s going on? I’d imagine he didn’t appreciate the clean up. And as you say, it is only a matter of time.
The garden sure would appreciate 7 inches of rain at almost the hottest part of the year. Doesn’t get better than that. Oooo, yummo, raspberries!
More often than not, there’s a lot of interesting things to see in the area. And what surprises me is that they’re often overlooked. Still like your bluebird trail, do you want heaps of people disturbing the birds?
I agree, he was right, but also proved that nobody ever gets into that office by promising less, even when reality suggests that will be the case. He is an outstanding orator. Respect.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
That one slipped right past me too, but looks like a lot of fun. Slow zombies are notably easier to deal with. On an amusing side note, the Editor says to me that I must not swear at children, but then that guy did exactly that. Nice shot! It’s been added to the to-see list. Looking at the date, I believe that you-know-what may have scuttled the film. I sure did get a giggle from the hubris.
Well maybe like Jurassic Park, there was some way of bringing back the author? As a casual observation, and not knowing anything all about the technology, you know, 16 years is probably easier than say 65 million years? It’s clearly a complicated matter these brain vat things. Hope the book is good, and as someone who resides on the side of a massive super volcano, which caused a lot of problems worldwide 250 million years ago, it’s not out of the realms of possibility. Plus the Editor loved the trailed for the zombie film. 🙂 So many question as to how we missed this one?
Honestly, I’d avoid the brain vat situation. When you think about the power imbalance inherent in the relationship, it’s not good.
I get that balance, but I try to cleanse the reading palate by flipping between fiction and non-fiction. The Editor was prompting me to write an amusing dog story for this week, but I dunno, the events are coming thick and fast and so a bit of commentary and perspective doesn’t hurt. But are people interested in that? That was her point. Honestly, wherever the wind blows is my thinking with the topics.
Nice work! And you and H proved that in order to play the system, one must first comprehend how the systems works. You’d be amazed the number of folks who’ve decried over the years that the system should work a certain way – mostly so they themselves don’t have go to any effort, like fronting up to the library early and nabbing a copy. The old timers used to say that the early bird gets the worm! And it’s true, although I struggle with early mornings and so have to make other arrangements. 😉
I so hear you about that, and what did that bloke say about flying in Cold Comfort Farm? Was it, ‘tes not natural. Or something like that. Dunno about the source of your concerns, but my grandmother took me to the films to watch the film Airport ’77. The plane crashed into the water. Not good. Prior to the film, I had no opinions in the matter… Why would they make them so that they can crash? Nobody seems to ask that question. 🙂
No. That is not happening. Nick Cage is a fine actor, but some images you can’t shake from your head. I’ll pass on that one as well, but thanks for mentioning the film.
My grandfather flew a bomber on that sortie, from what I heard. You get the same effect with big bushfires down under. All depends on the fuel loads and the strength of the winds.
Thanks for the advice with the black walnuts. I’ve never seen them for sale down under, and can’t recall anyone ever growing the trees. I’d put them in the niche crop basket. In this corner of the continent, sometimes you see Stone Pines growing, and they provide pine nuts used in pesto, but I don’t really like the taste of those.
An author can’t hit every ball out of the park. It’s more whether the average score is pretty good. Mr King would have some experience with the Club, maybe. I recall in his most excellent book On-Writing where he mentioned something about the frightening book Cujo. I’d imagine he’d be pretty down-home and low key at meetings, maybe? The book gave me a whole new appreciation for the down sides of rabid dogs. I now look at the marsupial bats differently…
That’s outrageous! Dude, we should have copyrighted the good line. Again, we totally messed up and missed out on the chance to make our fortunes. Oh well, back to the drawing board.
We bit the bullet today and did the first of the videos:
Saving Money Quick and Easy Anzac biscuits ep1
Cheers
Chris
Hello Chris
The larger ferries are needed for all the lorries bringing our essentials over. Many firms won’t ship to the Island and those that do, charge more. Yet more problems that incomers don’t expect.
Inge
Yo, Chris – Haven’t heard back from the library, as to if they will order “Little Monsters.” But that end of things tends to be … uneven. Sometimes, I get an e-mail, advising me that they’ll order it. Sometimes, it just appears on my hold list. Other times, it just pops up on the “New, On Order” list.
Yes, the library system sure has gone through changes, over the years. Not always for the better. But, if one wants to keep a steady supply of books and DVDs, on the go, one must adapt. Though bitter whinging is allowed. 🙂 They really are getting deep into the social media kind of thing. Rating items, leaving comments. Etc..
Yes, the brain vat thing could be problematic. “We won’t clean your brain vat, and will cut back on the liquid nutrients, if you don’t crank out 2,000 words a day!”
Airplanes sure have been getting bad PR, lately. Plunging hundreds of feet, unexpectedly. Bits falling off. Not quit a plane, but astronauts stuck on the Space Station. Not a good look. There’s also an old saying, “If God had meant for man to fly, he would have given him wings.” 🙂
I’ve read, here and there, that Dresden was pay-back for Coventry. Tit for tat. I’m watching more of the “Foyle’s War” series. WWII is over, so now it’s all atomic spies and the Cold War. The Home Front is still a mess. Soldiers returning and not finding jobs. Not near enough housing. Rationing still grinding on.
I think King mentioned in an interview, that one of the stories has some connection to “Cujo.” Often, characters from one story, drift into another, over the years. I have a hard time keeping up 🙂 .
I thought your video was very good. Mine en place was good. Everything to hand. Though the two plastic containers to your left, did block a good view of the baking sheet. Was there parchment paper on it? An appearance by the hounds, was a nice touch.
I’m sure the Food Channel, will come knocking 🙂 Do you have any control over the comments? I loved how you just used a regular old cup, for your measurements. And, spoons. Hard core foodies will be apoplectic! I wonder if any of that lot will show up, with a critique. You’ll probably get a lot of questions, from people who don’t follow the blog. “Solar? You use solar?” I’ll subscribe, when I figure out how to do that. Lew