Sometimes it makes me wonder how we get so much stuff done around here. And I ain’t alone there. People over the years have regularly expressed the same astonishment. Once long ago, a local described Sandra and I as the hardest working people they knew of. It’s hard to tell whether such words were a compliment. They may have been. The answer though is really quite simple, we’re just two super organised and motivated individuals. However, very occasionally things with planning the work activities go completely wrong, like with the recent innovative: ‘one list to rule them all’ incident.
Hard work is no stranger to me. As a kid living in a single parent household back in the early 1980’s, I attended a high school for disadvantaged children from years seven and eight. Ignoring the before and after school newspaper rounds, it was otherwise two years of indolence and enjoyment. Alas, academically speaking during that time, I sank beneath the comparative educational waves.
My grandfather took a harsher view upon the entire matter, then stumped the mad cash to send me to a more English than the English grammar school. Upon entry there in year nine, it was discovered that his misgivings were indeed correct, and I’d tested my way into the lowest quartile academically. It was an impressive achievement. Go me!
Having no other valid options, and sensing the aroma of opportunity, I applied myself academically, whilst still working the before school newspaper rounds. The afternoon newspapers by then had faded into obscurity. A young bloke has to have mad cash to spend on the arcade game machines, and there was no such thing as indolent pocket money. Far out, free hand-outs, what an outlandish idea! By year twelve I was back to the status of an A grade student. Not the best in school mind you, but good enough to be satisfied with the results.
To give you an idea of what that effort took, in those years, school nights inevitably involved about three hours of homework, every night. They drilled you, that’s what the tuition fees go toward. Additionally, two nights per week involved a few hours of training for school sports. Then on a Saturday morning, you’d compete against other public schools. Saturday afternoon was more homework. The educational facility greedily ate your entire life, but it also trained a person as to how to navigate our work centric civilisation, if that person was self motivated.
And let’s not forget that I had witnessed enough complicated familial situations, to have long become wary of overly optimistic futures. Let’s just say that I was self motivated from an early age.
Sandra had a different educational experience, and instead attended a government high school. Unlike the relentless drilling I received, hers was a more indolent time. Yet like me, she also worked jobs delivering newspapers, but had also cornered the more lucrative weekend evening babysitting market. We were both mercenary young things and equally self motivated for much the same reasons, thus probably why we hit it off so well and understood each other.
The ace up her sleeve though, is that she scores really well in aptitude testing. In the past, it’s scored her some very interesting jobs. Anyway, some abstract things I struggle with, are comparatively a breeze for Sandra. It’s all a big mystery to me, much like how advanced mathematics is an arcane and esoteric art to my brain.
It comes in handy though. Back in 2010, we built the house here, mostly using our own labour. The only time I can ever recall being stressed out by that work, was the time when we were outside the supplier for sheet steel. An order had to be put in for all of the various shapes and lengths of the flashings used for the crazy flame retardant roof design. From hindsight, the roof design of this house is unnecessarily complicated and it is not a mistake I would repeat. Whilst sitting in the car outside the supplier I had the awful realisation that I was totally unprepared to place the order, because I hadn’t had enough time to think it all through. That’s when my brain went into the rarely seen meltdown mode. As you’d imagine, it wasn’t pretty.
Fortunately for me at that moment, Sandra took over and resolved the detailed requirements for the order. It was a three dimensional problem with overlapping components where no two flashings were the same size and shape. Months later after all of steel materials were installed on the house and there was no wastage, or shortage for that matter, the hard question was put: “How the f$%k did you do that?” To this day, despite explanations, it’s still a mystery.
Whatever, we’re both super organised people. Fleeting ideas get captured on paper and discussed, some are even implemented. There’s rarely a dull moment around here. A few years ago I discovered an obscure reference to Sandra’s personalty type appreciating lists. Right, that made sense. And when I thought about it, there were a few paper lists of ideas literally sitting on the kitchen island bench. I’m certain there was a system to the lists, I’m just probably not smart enough to appreciate it.
A discussion regarding these list ensued recently. The idea was raised to let’s use the lists to guide the activities around the farm for the week in advance. A good idea. The so called ‘one list to rule them all’, sprang into being from that discussion. There were a lot of activities that week, and the list idea was a helpful guide so that needful things weren’t neglected. This all occurred a few weeks ago when we were dismantling the rusty steel shed.
So during that week the work around here took it’s natural course. The list guided the activities. However, the rabbits became a sudden nuisance, and that required an enormous amount of additional effort which we hadn’t planned for. So, by the end of the week, the realisation had sunk in that we hadn’t taken a single day off work to rest. None! By that stage, we were both a bit edgy, and possibly even a touch snippy. The list had been achieved, but nobody in the house was happy with the outcome.
Turns out, it’s not a bad idea that if you intend to set goals, you need to ensure that they’re both realistic and achievable. And whilst we can work hard, that’s not sustainable seven days per week. Nope. The ‘one list to rule them all’ is still there guiding our work now, but in a modified format which no longer includes aspirational goals. And the household collectively breathed a sigh of relief.
A very large tropical storm brought outside work to a standstill on Thursday through Saturday. Over 50mm (2 inches) of rain fell, and it was just way too wet to work outdoors on those days. Never fear dear reader, I was able to work in the machinery shed making two timber water pump frames.
The timber frames sit on thick treated pine sleepers and are made out of whatever scrap materials we had to hand. With a powerful electric table saw, you can mill larger timber pieces down into the size and shape that you require. There was even enough time to connect up all of the various plumbing and electrical components (although I forgot to take a photograph of that work).
In another week or so, the frames will be clad in corrugated steel sheeting for weather protection. Then they’ll be connected up to the 12V DC power and tested. The water pumps may be small, but they can both push 20L/min (or 5.5gallons/min) each and will easily power a strong bushfire sprinkler and garden taps.
Prior to the forecast heavy rainfall and storm, we spent a day of work splitting and hauling firewood back up the hill. The large pile of firewood on the house contour is now pretty much complete. When the new firewood shed is built, we’ll move all of that firewood pile, into the new shed.
The next phase of the firewood job will be to fill up the existing firewood shed. And some of that days firewood haul went into the shed.
On Saturday we travelled to a nearby fern specialist nursery. It’s a lovely place to visit, and we’ve been purchasing from them for at least a quarter of a century. In 2022, they supplied us with the six foot tall tree fern which sits in the drainage basin at the front of the house. Now the weather is warming, the big tree fern is beginning to produce new fronds.
During the visit to the nursery, we purchased an additional dozen smaller ferns for a garden bed which runs beneath the low gradient path.
In breaking produce news, the soil around the potato vines continues to be hilled up. One of the fastest growing vines now resembles a minor volcano. Where it will end, who knows?
The asparagus spears in the three raised beds are growing faster than we can consume them, and we eat a lot of asparagus. I don’t actually mind letting some of the spears turn into the ferny foliage, because it allows the plant to store some energy in the root system.
The sensitive person knows not to count their apricot and almond crops in this cold marginal mountainous environment, until they’re eating the fruit that is! But both crops have now survived a light snowfall, freezing overnight weather, and heavy rainfall – and they’re still on the tree. It’s a good sign, but still… In previous years anyone one of those weather events would have lost the crops, but somehow not this year!
The many varieties of pears and apples look at this early stage of the season as if they’ll do well. Fingers crossed. Growing fruit is not an activity for the anxiety riddled.
This weeks video is about breathing exercises and the benefits of using your nose for that activity:
Onto the flowers:
The temperature outside now at about 11am is 19’C (66’F). So far for last year there has been 776.8mm (30.6 inches) which is up from last weeks total of 720.6mm (28.4 inches)
Yo, Chris – Ah, lists. I really don’t do lists, unless it’s just a shopping list to go to the store. But my good long-time mate, Scott, swears by them. He’s always got one or two shoved in his pocket. He says it’s very satisfying to cross things off the list. Whatever winds your clock.
Although he didn’t say as much, I think it’s maybe important, to stay lose. Set time frames might just prove frustrating, as things come up that require more immediate attention.
“Twas a dark and stormy …” Funny, as I’ve used the phrase a couple of times, recently. As we’ve had several dark and stormy nights. But then I got to wondering (obviously, too much time on my hands), why people make fun of that opening line, to an old novel. Even the “experts” can’t seem to agree on what might make it so bad.
https://w.wiki/BcTR
About the only thing that hits me wrong about it, is, it’s redundant. If it’s dark, it’s probably night. If it’s night, it’s probably dark. Otherwise, seems like a pretty solid observation, to me. Especially when I’m dripping on the floor.
That is a lot of firewood. Each piece lovingly hand crafted by the elves at Fern Glade Farm. 🙂 That one picture looks as if a ship of firewood, has run aground on your shed. Or backed into it.
Go the tree fern. I think your new fern bed, will make quit a nice addition. But just out of curiosity, weren’t there ferns growing in your woods, that could have been transplanted? Or were you shooting for a wider variety?
The potatoes are off to a good start. Your asparagus makes me more resolved to plant some of my own, next year. I’ve got pumpkins planted in two tubs. One tub wasn’t as robust, as the light isn’t as good. I think I’ll plant that one with asparagus, next year.
The video was quit good, except the subtitles are wonky again. I went back and watched your peanut butter making episode. Wanted to figure out which blade you used, in your device. It was hard to find, given the searches I used. I’ll fill you in, tomorrow.
The Sapphire Dragon Tree looks lovely. Rather like a Wisteria, heading in a different direction. Looks like those apples won’t have to worry about frost. The Rhodes and Crab Apple, really dress up the place. Lew
Hi Göran,
Interesting, and I was wondering if you had locally bred varieties of tomatoes for your area. Corn can grow remarkably quickly, and it is a grass plant, albeit a very specialised form. Even here, though tomatoes are a chancy crop outdoors. Usually the cherry to mid-sized tomatoes do well outdoors most seasons, but the larger varieties are a greenhouse only unless the summer is very hot and dry. Then you have other problems, like reduced water stores. Wise for you to stick to the hoop house.
I’m trying to work out a proper crop rotation arrangement, and unfortunately greenhouse space is limited. Hmm.
Ah, that’s also known down here as common couch grass. Right. The grasses here are rye and bluegrass varieties, and I’d not ever heard of grasses doing that potato invasion trick. Oh my! You’ve mentioned the grasses under the orchard trees here in the past, and I agree, they do compete for water and minerals during the growth phase of the trees, but then they also tend to die back over high summer so it’s not too bad as that shades the soil and probably reduces water stress. Dunno, but I’ll let you know how the potato experiment goes.
You have a natural flair for networking. There may be some cultural differences going on as well. Not too may people around here are using their land to grow fruit and/or vegetables. There’s also a cultural preference for meat, and so people generally run cattle, sheep, or have purely ornamental gardens. It’s a wealth and status thing. And the pampered horses I see, probably couldn’t put in a hard days work. Man, I’m left scratching my head about the whole thing as it makes little sense to me. Slowly though, we’re making social connections in this regard. It is something I need to put more effort into.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
🙂 Lists aren’t my thing either, but I can respect them, and have used the tool from time to time when task overload is in full swing. Ook! Mostly, my brain stores the ‘what needs doing’ lists, and that doesn’t bother me. You do know that plenty of people don’t cope so well with keeping such lists in their mind? The Editor uses lists as a brain extension, and once it’s written down, she promptly purges the thought.
Shopping lists on a practical note, are valuable tools to ensure that us lesser mortals are not unduly swayed by advertising and promotions. 🙂
Hmm. Scott does that. Right. I’ve likewise seen such activities taking place, and yes the element of satisfaction in that cross off activity could be seen here as well. It’s always fascinating to observe people and their actions in the wild. For all you and I know, those lists may be an adaptive methodology to a complicated environment, but like you, I’ve also gotten this far in life without them…
Yes, exactly. Stay loose. That was the thing when the ‘one list to rule them all’ took over – there was no spare fat, and aspirational goals had been plonked onto the thing. Truly it didn’t work for me, and upon conclusion of the week, let’s just say that I now take a more controlling guiding hand in the weeks activities.
There’s an old saying which you may have heard – it takes as long as it takes. Most of the time with the sort of activities we do around here, it’s almost impossible to predict how much time things will take. The constant time pressure applied in the top end of town was one of my bugbears with that lot. It’s all completely arbitrary too. Have you ever had a job where time pressures were a feature? I’d imagine the commercial kitchen would have been a bit of an err (excuse the unintended pun) pressure cooker?
We both knew the literary reference, and can quote it verbatim. I’d say given that, the author was onto a winner with such word-smithing efforts. Just an entirely different take on the matter. It’s possible the experts are merely jealous they themselves (he writes whilst cheekily inserting a duplication! 😉 ) didn’t come up with the line? I agree with your take, it is a solid observation of the conditions, and immediately sets the tone, in very few words. It was a stormy night, just doesn’t have the same punch.
Those elves work hard! 🙂 We did some paid work this morning, then headed down to smash up some boulders. Running out of usable rocks is a bit of a problem! The day was warm too, and that added a new dimension as we’ve been used to the colder wintry conditions. Rescued many rocks for projects, and that’s a good thing as I’m not made of rocks, you know. 😉
There are only a few, but we may have to convert some large rock shelves which we don’t have the equipment to break, into garden beds.
That’s very true about the possibilities of relocating the ferns, but people can get a bit weirded out by doing such things, so it is easier to just go and buy them. It might not show up in the photos, but the larger ferns all have tags attached to them with ‘proof of origin’. Some trouble is just not worth it. Of course if I had plenty of time on my hands with nothing better to do, I could simply go and collect fern spores from the forest, and raise those.
Oh yeah, the asparagus is growing so well this year. I believe it would enjoy your food additions which you dig into the soil. People don’t believe me, but each year we add a packet of rock salt to those three garden beds.
You got me there with the subtitles. This time around I didn’t have enough time to key them in. The Editor is suggesting that if more viewers are the goal, we should simply stick to making videos about solar power and it’s failings. Dunno. Last I checked, nobody pays me, and so I go whether the whimsy blows. She might have a point though. Do you have any thoughts about the videos? I’m always appreciative of other peoples perspectives, even when I disagree, mostly because I could be wrong.
It is a bit like a wisteria, same colour too. Close up the flowers are a bit like foxgloves. The Rhodies and Crab Apples really are show stoppers.
Oooo. Riding a motorbike in the rain, is an interesting experience. The thick line marking paint the authoritas use on the road is very slippery in the rain. And I wonder how the Club riders would cope with steel tramlines? It can be a bit crusty demons on the road sometimes…
I thought that Di had a hard face, but clearly my views are in the minority here, not to mention elsewhere. 🙂 Yes, I agree, the lady was a tireless worker for the family and community, and made an overall good impression. Shame about the allegedly complicated personality, which would not have been an easy path in that difficult family.
That would be a warm night even down here, mind you it is past 10pm and 61’F, so same, same again. Do you regain your lost hour this coming weekend, or the next one? Ouch, but well, the seasons do turn, and frosts will arrive in due course for you. The pumpkins are now on borrowed time sorry to say.
🙂 Hehe! Dude, that was my exact thought with the cleaning up. If I didn’t do this work, nobody else would. The neighbours appear to have lost all interest in the property. I’ve barely seen them. You’d see that in play with garden beds which become neglected? Probably after a brief early burst of activity as well. I’m more like the tortoise, than the hare. What else can you do?
It’s too cold here for okra, so that doesn’t surprise me that they’re grown mostly in the SE of your country. I can’t reproduce those sorts of conditions here.
Ah, spinach in a can. You know, I’ve never tried this, but yeah Popeye did consume the stuff from cans. Hmm.
Man, you learn something new everyday! For some reason I’d thought that Seattle was the capital of Washington – please excuse my ignorance there. That’s been my experience though with furniture, I genuinely believe that quality stuff goes for a song. A complete mystery to me. The guy who sold me the dining table for a $100, told me that it was an heirloom piece, handmade in the big smoke too. It would have costs thousands new. All it needed was a sand and seal. Not hard. Have you ever thought about sending stuff to that auction house?
I’d not known that about Banksy’s art either. Interesting, and clearly good quotes are recyclable items. 😉
True. Oh well… Until the mad cash games get taken away. You’ll hear some epic foot stomping then.
Spent an hour or two this evening getting an old laptop running again and in tip-top shape. Might sell it off, it works perfectly and I’m not using it, better it gets re-used.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – Reading over your shoulder … “…not too many people are using their land to grow fruits / vegetables.” I’d say about half the garden plots, here, are used for flowers. Drives me a little bonkers. Oh, sure, I tuck the odd flower in, here and there. A little variety, and, attracts pollinators.
I think I read somewhere that a person can comfortably hold three things in their mind, at a time. It takes real effort to retain more. The brain is a funny thing. It seems to be an almost universal experience, that people can walk from one room to another, and forget what they had traveled to that room to get. And the memory might not be jogged, until you return to the starting point.
Oh, I think most jobs have a bit of time pressure, built in. To a greater or lesser extent. Sometimes, to a bonkers extent. Restaurants have their “rushes.” Even different library branches, could be overwhelming, as to the number of books returned. A couple of branches, I wouldn’t work in. If they called, I’d just say I was booked somewhere else. 🙂
…large rock shelves.” Let’s hope they’re not holding the whole place up!
That’s interesting about the ferns. I mentioned it to the Master Gardeners, this morning. Here, moving plants around on your own land, isn’t a problem. But harvesting off of private lands, might need a permit. I have known people, in the past, who made their whole living off of “brush picking.” Mostly, for the floral trade. Cedar boughs for the holiday trade. I knew a family of seven, that managed to support themselves. What they did is, they’d lease land, from land owners, for a season. Different things, were harvested at different times of the year. They’d take each day’s haul to a “brush picking shed.” Where a wholesaler or middle man would box them up, and sell them on to the florists.
Several things were discussed, with the Master Gardeners, this morning … in the rain 🙂 . Okra, some varieties, do grow here. Asparagus came up again. One Master Gardener pronounced that okra grows better, here, than asparagus. And that pumpkins need a frost, to turn orange.
I potted up 6 pots of Elephant garlic, for the plant sale, next year. Three bulbs to a pot. They did quit well, last year. The dwarf Iris I potted up, last week, are looking pretty happy.
I think I like your how-to videos, best. Especially food. But that’s just me. 🙂 . When I went looking for the peanut butter video, last night, first I searched “Land of the Wombat, making peanut butter. No joy. So, I reversed it. Still no dice. Although they might have been further down the list, before I lost patience. Adding “Fern Glade Farm,” and it appeared. “Land of the Wombat” just yields lots of videos, of cute wombats. 🙂
Here, as we’re on main north/south rail lines, both freight and passenger, the bikers have to contend with lots of rails.
Our high yesterday, was 64F (17.77C). The overnight low was 45F. The forecast high, for today, is 58F. It’s pretty rainy, today, but the next three days are going to be nice. Although the overnight low on Wednesday, is to be 35F. We gain back our hour, the first weekend in November.
Bad news from the World of Chocolate …
https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/20/business/halloween-chocolate-prices-cocoa
And, I expect the price of anything dairy, will go up. Lots of milk cows in California, are dying from Bird Flu. I hadn’t realized, until recently, how much dairy goes on in California. The major grocery chain (that I am boycotting), gets most of its West Coast, store brand dairy, from farms they own in California.
Don’t feel bad. Our state capitals, are seldom the obvious choice. In grade school, one task was to memorize all the state capitals. Sometimes, it was a matter of being centrally located. But back in the 19th century, there was lots of graft, corruption and bribes, involved. Sometimes, it was a matter of the most major city, becoming not so major, over time. Oregon’s state capital is Salem. New York’s state capital is Albany. Is Louisiana’s state capital New Orleans? Nope. Baton Rouge.
You might check out the prices for your model of old laptop. Before going to the trouble of refurbishing it. Most don’t bring much. If anything at all. I saw a new movie, on our library “on order” list. “Scrap. A film by Stacey Tenenbaum Discover the vast and strangely beautiful places where things go to die and meet the people who collect, restore, and recycle the world’s scrap. SCRAP scratches beneath flaking paint and rusting metal to reveal the beauty and pathos in the ugliness we leave behind.” I put it on hold. I’ve known a few people (there are a couple at the Club), who either collect scrap, full or part time, and sell it to scrap dealers. Lew
Hi, Chris!
I am always astonished at how much you and Sandra get done. But I know that you occasionally have some leisure time, too, as you report on it. Though you’re probably working while you relax . . . Ah, yes – organization. That’s where I stumble, but I’m working on it very hard.
I must have just skated through school. I don’t remember working very hard or having too much homework. I was good at aptitude tests, also. It’s just the way my head is. Let’s say “was”. It’s a good thing that both of you were mercenary young things, and motivated.
I love lists! I love lists! I love lists! But not a master list. Lots of short lists; do it, tear it up, go to next list.
What a pretty storm.
A nice – neat! – job for the water pump. After it’s clad, will it have a door?
I am so proud of your woodpile, even though I had nothing to do with it. And soon a brand new home to go to.
It’s so nice to see the new ferns. I am so glad that the tree fern overcame all the havoc that it received when it first moved in there. It’s a majestic thing.
Ha, ha! That’s so funny – a potato volcano. They all look lovely. You are ahead of the game – it appears – with the apricots and almonds. The apricots are beautiful.
“Knowing how to learn”. There it is in a nutshell.
Video: I think that you still do sports, only you just compete against yourself. I can’t breathe through my nose all night, but I wake up when I start breathing through my mouth and then go back to sleep, and that is an improvement. I forgot to mention last week that breathing through the nose releases nitric oxide – it’s about half as much by mouth – and that gets more oxygen into the arteries and the blood stream – and also into the brain. Who doesn’t need more oxygen in their brain?
Thanks for the flowers!
And, hey – you had 60 comments last week.
Pam
Hi Pam,
It’s not just you, sometimes I’m also astonished by the quantity of work done over the week, and years as well. Truly I’ve done something very bad in a past life to have to now work so hard, but as has been observed elsewhere, there’s no time like the present to begin to make amends. 🙂 And you know what, as an undocumented side benefit I get to eat very well. This evenings dinner is a salad mostly derived from the garden. Roast beetroot is delicious, but there are eggs from the chooks, asparagus, fresh greens etc. Yum! Hopefully when there is a second greenhouse in place, I’ll try my hand at growing peanuts again. Last time the attempt was made, Sir Poopy ate them, all of them. The cheeky scamp. Mr Baby being a gentleman of the finest breeding (maybe?) would never dare dig your garden up, let alone eat it, would he? The dogs have no compunctions about attempting such tricks.
Lucky you! And that’s a very good academic run. Very much so, and yes we’re indeed all wired differently, which is a good thing. Far out, imagine the society wide dramas if everyone’s brain processes worked the same as you or I! 🙂
Having a poor backup plan does tend to force a person to become motivated.
Oh Pam, that’s what Sandra was doing as well. Lot’s of little lists, and things were getting crossed off. It’s a workable system, but alas the main dramas began when I became involved, and that’s where things went wrong. I’d not appreciated that a list of things to do, could be an aspirational goal. Hmm. See above note about it being a good thing that there are many different ways of using our brains. All good now though.
Whether the pump frame will have a door is something I’m yet to decide. It may well be that I’ll leave the side facing away from the weather open so that the arrangement is more likely to be inspected. Dunno. It’s a great question, and one to which I do not know the answer.
We love the wood pile too! 🙂 As do the dogs who can cook their heads in front of the wood heater on a cold winters night.
Tree ferns add an almost prehistoric touch to the garden. Positively ancient plants, which survived the dinosaur serious set back meteor strike 65 million years ago.
I’m left wondering the hard question: At what point do you stop hilling up soil around a potato vine? Clearly gravity will have a say in the matter, but still… A mystery! Sun ripened apricots are truly delightful fruit.
Very true, and setting your own goals has the advantage of nobody really knowing what your goals are! A bloke needs to retain a touch of flexibility in relation to such matters, just in case, say, the weather turns foul. And um, anyway, best not to let others dictate your goals, it probably won’t be in your best interests! 🙂 You know that though…
A person does sleep better when they learn to breathe through their nose, but sometimes alas this is not always possible – is it? The activity also reduces, or can eliminate the need to go to the toilet at night. Hmm. It’s a fascinating area of knowledge, and of course, and as usual, it’s a journey, is it not? At a wild guess, by such processes, the activity itself becomes a slowly improving process, which of course is a longer term game. Well worthwhile, and some people (cough, cough, Sandra) has had to tape her mouth at night so as to learn to use that facility.
Pam, it is a true highlight of my day to read and respond to the lovely comments with good people such as yourself.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Yeah, man, I scratch my head about such things as well. One immediate answer pops into my head and it is that people simply aren’t hungry enough, or that the food quality has dropped low enough, that they’ll get off their behinds and begin planting edible gardens. What, isn’t food expensive enough, yet? 🙂 And a bit of diversity is a good thing, such as those flowers you dropped in, or the garden beds dedicated to flowering plants here, but some edible plants would be a good idea as well. I’ll be curious to learn your thoughts in this matter, but I reckon it takes a long time to get good at growing edible plants.
It’s funny you mention that about brain limits, but the Editor would get some advantage by outsourcing activities to paper in the form of lists of ideas. The gentle art of memory is a real thing as well, which some people specialise in. I read an article a year or two ago (I now forget, please excuse the pun) on a young lady who trained her memory to be able to recall daily details of activities across her life. A possibly very complicated process. Oh, here you go: Super memory is a curse and blessing for just 60 people worldwide, including Rebecca Sharrock. Just between you and I, mate, there are some things and incidents I’d like to forget. Forgetting things is a blessing.
Ah, wise of you to dodge the call to the pressure library. 🙂 After the first shift (which you notably dodged), forever would it guide your destiny – and they wouldn’t let you go either. Hmm. You dodged a bullet there. Nice work.
Oh poop! I hadn’t thought about that aspect with the large rock shelves. Ook!
Things are perhaps not so loose down here in that respect with the plants. People can get weird for no good reason. Best avoided. That’s a clever way to earn a living. It would be quite difficult here because people by and large have a preference for exotic cut flowers. There are a couple of protea farms in the area growing flowers for the trade. I once made the mistake of visiting a peony farm and that was a cultural experience. The English language has a lot of adverbs (?) which soften instructions (for example: please, thank you, excuse me, and of course that most useful instruction: f$%k off!), and some other cultures don’t. It can be a bit confronting.
I salute yours and the master gardeners stoicism. Man, you get varieties of plants that just aren’t available in this country due to quarantine restrictions. Well they know their gardening business better than I, but certainly I would not subject pumpkin fruit to frost as I believe it would impact upon their future shelf life. Of course, you may have varieties growing we have no idea about. You did get me wondering though. Looking back at photographs from February this year, some variety of pumpkins were orange long before any frost occurred. Dunno. A mystery…
Good stuff, and those plants will move fast in the sale.
🙂 I like the food videos too. It’s quite suggestive that the best performing recent video was about the parrots eating the dog poop. Well, if need be, we can forge our own utub market. Why not? The naming suggestion is a goodie, and generally utub doesn’t encourage your most valid suggestion – the software pushes people into viewing a user channel instead. Wombats are lovely creatures who’s good character could never be besmirched!
Ook! Oh yes, train lines are bad on motorcycles as well. I forgot to mention that the trams drop sand in wet weather in order to assist with their braking. So many things to go wrong.
I envy you with that extra hour of sleep.
We both like chocolate, but wouldn’t it be a fine joke indeed if economics and shifting climate weirdness improved everyone’s health?
I have my suspicions that if dairy cows were grazed and rotated on healthy pastures which hadn’t had their soil minerals either stripped mined over the years, or seriously unbalanced, and maybe even both, they’d probably be fine with such things. Dairy is notably hard on soils. It ain’t easy.
Thanks. I’m really glad to hear that about the state capitols being not entirely obvious. My head was spinning… Things are a touch more obvious on that front down here where the largest city is also the state and territory capital. Easy to remember. Can I refuse the test? Hehe! I’ll bet a lot of deals went into that outcome.
Fortunately, with the laptop, it was just a couple of hours spent rejigging the machine so that it worked, and wiping the memories. If I get $1 from the sale I’m happy. Better than going to the e-waste stream, where ever that leads… I’ll check out the trailer for the film now.
Cheers
Chris
lists- I’ve always been a list maker, with so many irons in the fire, but with a memory that is noticeably getting weaker, it’s actually pretty important. Any more, it’s kind of a rolling list, where every several days, I start a new one with the items I didn’t finish on the last one, and then add to that.
Utoob- never would’ve guessed. If you’re having fun, well good on ya.
country mouse- went to visit our son in his new home in the Detroit area, so that meant driving on Chicago’s main arteries to get there, as well as the outskirts of Detroit. When you’ve lived in the county for a few years, immersion into the hectic maelstrom of urban traffic is a jolting reminder of how vast the human impact is, and how much we’ve altered the ecosystem. The fragility of our built infrastructure was also evident by how many miles of highway repair we drove through, and that happens every single year, until it doesn’t.
As oil declines, I chink cataclysmic is not too strong a word for the change that will occur.
Collected and husked five buckets ( 5 gallon bucket is pretty much the standard size here) of black walnuts. This will be the indoor busy work this winter. Am still doing the final hand sort of hazels, to be up to standards to sell. Cutting firewood ( for next winter) starts this week. We’ve had an unusually warm and dry fall, so I’ve been waiting for leaf drop and cooler weather.
Hi Chris,
I’m a list keeper too but keep it flexible. Actually I make a list for each day of the week so I can see all I have planned. It’s worked pretty well unless I forget to look at the list haha.
I had to be pretty organized with all the bank accounts, appointments etc. with my three brothers. Now life has settled down and as I get older I’ve become much more flexible with my time. If something comes up that sounds interesting as long as what’s really necessary is done I’m all in for the activity.
One of my little side gigs years ago was balancing people’s checkbooks. Once I got them all squared away it took almost no time each month. Doug’s mom lived with us for a time and it appeared his dad used to take care of the money. She came out one day despairing that she couldn’t get her checkbook to balance. Well for quite some time she hadn’t entered interest or just rounded up or down. It took some time to straighten out a couple years of this but once done I was able to show her how to balance each month. She picked it up right away and was quite proud she could do it herself.
I’ve ordered the book on breathing from the library.
We’ve had some 80 degree beautiful days but still no rain. The dust and chaff from harvesting is awful though. It’s always an issue this time of year but this is the worst. Both our vehicles are full of dust but no sense washing them until harvest is over. Dust seems to get into the house even with the windows closed. Finally it seems we’ll get a bit of rain soon.
Wood burning season is soon upon us so Doug is getting ready to haul some wood to the front porch.
If I’m correct you don’t have a freezer. We trimmed the thicker ends of the asparagus this year and froze it for soup. It doesn’t freeze well to just eat plain but does fine in soup.
Margaret
Yo, Chris – It’s here! We have a frost warning, for tonight and tomorrow night. I’ll be cleaning out the garden, this afternoon. The high yesterday was 59F (15C). The overnight low was 36F. Todays high is forecast to be 59F. 32F (-0-C), tomorrow night. Cold and clear.
I suppose you’ve heard that Cuba’s electrical grid, has collapsed four times, in the last couple of weeks. And, they have a hurricane, on the way. Which may eventually make landfall, in our SE.
I picked up an interesting book, from the library. “The Seed Detective: Uncovering the Secret Histories of Remarkable Vegetables.” (Adam Alexander, 2022.) Here’s a bit about the book, and the author …
https://w.wiki/BdwZ
I loved this part: “It was there that I met the figure who would become the most important person in my seed-hunting life and, from there on, I would always seek out this individual when scouring food markets around the world because what she had on her stall was invariable delicious, precious and unique. Wherever I was, she would come in the form of what is, I think, a character familiar to most: an ‘ideal granny’ type, usually of diminutive height, but always a powerful presence.”
I read the section, last night, on beans. And, Scarlet Runner beans were explored. From Central and South America, they were part of the Trans Columbian exchange. Columbus may have brought them back, early on. They come in a few varieties. Some have red and white flowers. Mine are all read. Other’s have entirely black beans. Mostly shaped like a Lima bean. Mine are black and lavender (mauve?), spotted. In Britain, they are often entered in competitions, as to who can grow the longest (with the most seeds) pod. 🙂 I think it’s going to be a “good read.”
I’m sure the young lady in the article, never walks into a room and forgets what she’s there for. 🙂 Eidetic Memory is similar, but different. Also called “photographic memory.” That’s what the very irritating Sheldon Cooper (“Big Bang Theory”) has. The problem with “bad” memories, is pretty much universal. To a greater or lesser extent. I’ve developed a few tricks, to derail those negative loops. Mostly, I have a small arsenal of pleasant memories, and can choose to think about those, instead.
Oh, I’m sure Australia has a lively illegal plant trade. Most places do.
I bought a pumpkin, last year before Halloween, and left it on the front porch, for decor. It sat there through many frosts. After Thanksgiving, I retrieved it, and got quit a lot of nice pulp out of it. I’ve decided to leave my pumpkins, alone, until the frost kills the leaves.
Well, food rationing in Britain, during and after WWII, certainly improved widespread health. People had to be very thoughtful, about food.
I saw drone footage, of the dairy cows in California. They didn’t look all that crowded, but the landscape they lived in, sure looked bleak.
I looked at the trailer, for “Scrap.” Ohhh! All those iconic red British phone boxes. I want one. Might make a good mini-greenhouse.
Our library system used to have book mobiles. When I was driving to a far flung branch, I noticed one sitting next to a house. It had been repurposed as a workshop.
I was thinking about money, and how the world turns. There’s either too much money, involved (politics / business.” Not enough money being made (profitable business closed, because of that). No money to be made (recycling.) Maybe I should have been an economist. Naaaw. Lew
Hello Chris,
To hill or not to hill, that was the question. Or so I heard.
There has been quite some research on this topic and I found one study with clear positive results of hilling at least once:
https://scholarworks.alaska.edu/bitstream/handle/11122/2250/rpr16.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y
Peace,
Göran
Chris:
I wonder what you did . . .
That’s a fine meal with roast beetroot, eggs, asparagus, greens, and etceteras. Mr. Baby says peanuts are for beknighted creatures and that it just figures that Sir Poopy liked them. Mr. Baby likes bugs.
Tree ferns are a really good example of something prehistoric. Don’t you have some prehistoric sort of animal around there that has a plate in its head or something.
You stop hilling potatoes when you get tired of hilling potatoes.
We have no apricots, but we have some wonderful persimmons.
I had read about people taping their mouths to learn better how to breathe through their nose. I am too paranoid to try that.
Pam
Chris,
Lists? Lists are potential guides, needing to be changed and adapted as situations warrant. Beware of lists! See the Mikado and the list of those who won’t be missed. As mentioned here before, said list includes “accountants of all kinds”! Liszt, on the other hand…
I remember the days of homework, 2 or more hours per day starting at age 12. Then there was university. More homework. Ugh.
Then there’s the aptitude tests. I was always good at those. Made me think I knew something and was smart…Now I know better. 😉 And yes, I’ve done similar things to what Sandra did with the steel flashing problem. Some things just come naturally to people. What it is varies from person to person.
Another heat wave hit over the weekend. I spent Sunday afternoon in a sleeveless shirt and short pants doing yard work. It was +26C. October 20 and +26C! Never before in my time in Spokane. Naturally, a storm system moved in late Sunday. We got 6mm of rain Monday morning, the biggest rainfall event in months. More frost forecast for Thursday night.
Dame Avalanche had her routine disrupted Monday and Tuesday. It caught up to her Tuesday evening, as she was somewhat restless and out of sorts. I stopped all activities and sat and read a book, with her next to my feet. That cured her, as that is a normal event at least once per day. dogs are so much into routine, aren’t they?
A few months ago, rellies on the Rez, well, their daughters were in a car wreck. Younger one had a broken leg and was sent out here for a few days. The Princess was with her brother. One morning, my phone rang…it was Broken Leg girl’s mother. Battery was dead on her car. I went to where they were and used jumper cables to get them started. A younger child, about 6, was with them.
Rellie, knowing that we will help her family with education expenses when needed, texted us last night. The young one has a fundraiser going to help with schoolbooks. (Yes, the schools on the Rez are underfunded badly, so textbooks can be in short supply.) So we were asked to assist if the young one asked. Soon after we were contacted by the young one and his school, the rellie called again. She and I chatted for a while. Young One had been wracking his brain trying to figure out who he knows that might help out. He finally said, “Will my auntie in Spokane help? Her and “Uncle When Your Car was Hurt?” Yup that is my new name: Uncle When Your Car was Hurt.
DJSpo
Hi Steve,
Yes, it ain’t just you there! 🙂 And sometimes when I’m juggling many different things all at once, lists are an absolute gift to be able to extend the mind and most importantly, let things go. Of course, your list sounds well tested by time – we tried to incorporate what I thought was a to-do week in advance schedule (nod to your interpretation) with Sandra’s err, um, aspirational inclusions (also nod to your list for transferring such items from one week to the next). Turns out, it’s probably not a bad idea to clarify what items are a core-goal, and which are a non-core-goal. Who knew that there was a difference? 🙂 Far out.
Thanks. Shot a video late this afternoon with all of the soil minerals we bring in here. You might like the title: Organic gardening, it costs a lot to look this cheap. Catchy, may have stolen the line, but no matter.
Oh yeah, I so hear you about that experience. Man, I make absolutely certain I get into the big smoke at least once per week. It is a jolting reminder isn’t it? It’s big. Hmm. I’ve heard it said elsewhere that a difference in scale, is not a difference in kind. It’s true too. When I think about all those soil minerals getting flushed out into the ocean, it really hits home how big the fall may be. It’s only when a person is at a distance from the land that they can ignore that one-way movement of stuff. And yup, oil is the grease which keeps the wheels rollin’ on.
Ah, 5 gallon = 19 litres, or they get rounded up to 20 litre buckets. Still, that’s a lot of shelling. Oh, presumably the firewood is dry at your time of year? In April, down here that would be a chancy process. Possible, but you’d have to pick your run of dry weather.
Yes, autumn is fast disappearing as a season. Where ever did it go?
Cheers
Chris
Hi Margaret,
🙂 I salute your flexibility in regards to lists, and well, a dude can always do better next time… Hehe! And that’s funny too, yes, the list can be benignly neglected. Like your style, and I also see no reason why that can’t happen! Sometimes the unexpected is fun.
The list here sort of worked out to be a week in advance, and of course there is unexpected weather episodes to take into account – like the rain this morning. That wasn’t in the forecast, and put the stymie on firewood work. Cleaned up the grass near to the potatoes, around the grape vines and citrus trees. Oh well, that’s done, a couple of hundred fruit trees to go. Actually it was a really nice day today.
Presumably, you’re still keeping an eye on Marty’s expenditure nowadays? Is he still working his way down the list? Hope it works out for him with the new digs.
Margaret, I have to fess up here I never even knew checkbooks had to be balanced! 🙂 All I thought a check needed was funds in the account? Did you know that they’re being phased out down here (we use the French spelling – cheque)? Hmm. I’ve used paper based accounting systems long ago, and who can ever forget the mighty: Kalamazoo? It did the accounts for a company of over 100 people, and was good enough, although the software and goobermint folks have made things almost impossible for such a system.
I’m sensing a story here, what’s actually involved in balancing a checkbook?
Your work was ideal in that it prepared you for money matter stuff. The stories I’ve heard over the years of people outsourcing their brains to other people for these boring, but super important details, makes me feel very uncomfortable. Doug’s mom was super lucky to have you to walk her through such a learning phase. You did her a real solid there.
Hope you enjoy the book and get something out of it. Sandra travelled the same route that the author did, but I’ll be very interested to hear what you have to say about the subject after some reading.
Dry weather for harvesting is a good thing, of course! 🙂 But yeah, that happens here too. Winter = mud. Summer = dust. Cleaning can be difficult, oh yeah. And the winter months produce a fine dust layer from the wood heater. The question I have for you is this: In rural areas are we all winning on this subject?
Yup, always wise to have dry firewood ready to go.
That’s right, we don’t have a freezer (other than the small one above the refrigerator). Most items (other than bacteria and yeast stores) are preserved any other way than using continual electricity. All the stories of massive chest (not to mention larger commercial) freezers in houses leave me feeling a sense of awe. Electricity supplies can and will let a person down, that’s life. That’s a great idea with the asparagus in the soup. Winter soups here are root vegetables, kale (of course), silverbeet and dried beans.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Göran,
Man, I was scratching my head trying to work out whether you were being funny or not with the inclusion of those words: ‘just once’? Presumably the practice is not done in your part of the world? From what I can see of the potato farmers around this area, the commercial folks don’t hill the tubers. Dunno, but I get the impression that there are fifty different ways to grow potatoes, and I’m just trying the hilling process to see whether it’s worth the effort. For your interest, it’s kind of enjoyable to every couple of days heap some soil up against the plants and watch them grow. I’ve got a hunch that the hilled soil is warmer (being above the soil level) than the cooler in ground soil. The hilling is accompanied with a flush of growth. Go figure… Anyway, the whole process is a mystery to me.
And also, today I spent some time knocking the grass further back from the potatoes (and citrus trees and grape vines). You got me wondering about the grass, although I’ve never seen what you mentioned happen with grass and potatoes. There is however, a thing known as: Always a first time. 🙂 We’ll see.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Pam,
It was probably bad enough, yeah. Oh well, there’s always time to make amends for past life misdeeds don’t you reckon? And nobody has died from over-work, ook, oh my, but the Japanese have a saying for that very thing. Double ook! Oh well, I can learn to dodge excess work. Hehe!
Mr Baby is quite correct there with the astute observation. Dogs love unsalted peanuts, but they’d probably enjoy the salted ones as well – just my gut feeling there. Does Mr Baby agree with the salting of the peanuts being better for the dogs? Salt is a very useful condiment, but best not to not ever over do that stuff.
Pam, there are a lot of tiny little reptiles here known as ‘skinks’. They’re a local version of a gecko, and fit the same niche. Don’t tell Mr Baby, but he’d probably spend all sunny days (being sensible like a wombat, he wouldn’t venture out in the rainy weather) outdoors hunting them.
Ooo, thanks for alerting me to that local fact. Did you know that wombats have been around for about 40 million years? That’s what longevity looks like. And yes, they have a hard plate on their backsides and can squash a fox foolish enough to enter their underground lair.
Hehe! That’s funny about the hilling of the potatoes. Have you tried using that technique before with potatoes? It’s quite relaxing to walk around observing the nice neat rows of potatoes then taking a scoop and chucking some of the soil against the plant stems. You may have already guessed this, but I’m fast running out of soil. Might have to get some more. I kind of figure that the extra soil used to hill will get spread around that area, so it’s good with me.
Yummo! Are your persimmons the astringent, or non-astringent type? We grow the Fuyu variety, and they’re quite nice, although end up looking a bit manky towards the end of the stores. The birds don’t seem to hassle the trees, and that’s what I’d describe as a blessing. Hey, have you noticed that once they blet, you can squeeze the fruit pulp out – makes the fruit easier.
Trust me, apricots and almonds are very marginal here. Fingers crossed we get a crop.
Fair enough, and I have not tried that mouth taping technique either. Has it worked, yes.
How are you doing today?
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Where did the frost warning suddenly come from? But yeah, other than the cold hardy stuff like kale and silverbeet, the growing season is winding up for you. Now if you had kiwi fruit vines, there’d be fresh fruit in a month or two’s time. Would the master gardeners ever consider such a fruit? Needs a big supporting structure.
It was absolutely 100% pure pleasant here today. No wind to speak of, gentle sunshine. Did paid work early on. Ditched that. Headed outside and cleaned up the grass around the potato rows and also all of the citrus trees. Even had enough time to clean up the weeds in the grape enclosure. Oh, and recorded a video on the fertilisers which will be used over the next two months here. It ain’t cheap that stuff. 🙂 Me busy. Then as the sun lowered in the sky, had to do a couple of hours paid work. Busy. Busy. Still no minutes were wasted on this very day. 🙂
Had a home made vegie pizza for dinner this evening. It was good, and I’d definitely feed it to visitors. That’s the gold standard test: Is this meal acceptable for visitors to consume without words of complaint? Most people visiting barely realise we’re feeding them vegetarian food.
Far out, that’s not good about the Cuban grid. Such large generators aren’t cheap to build, run and/or maintain. And they don’t last for ever. In a blink and you’ll miss it moment, the island state to the south of here is very proud about renewable energy, until you get to the dirty little secrets – like depending on the connection to this state for one sixth their power. Hmm. Tasmania’s renewable energy boast looking shaky with fossil fuels, electricity imports in the mix because of dry conditions. Should shake the core of the true believers. I like how the claim was made that the state has enough installed capacity, it’s just not covering usage due to you know: night, still weather and drought. What do people expect? Nature ain’t a factory delivering stuff on demand.
The author is an interesting person, and has his hands in the dirt. Although clearly he may come from a monied background, maybe, to have had set aside a portion of the parents farm to market garden in? The book sounds fascinating, and if you believe it is worthy of a recommendation, don’t be shy about shouting the words aloud! 😉
Hehe! An ideal granny type would typically brook no nonsense, whilst knowing exactly how to properly improve the soils such wonderful heirloom vegetables are grown in. I read an obscure reference to vegetable plant roots. Did you know that it may very well be possible that large scale commercial seed raisers have bred vegetables with smaller root systems over the past half century or so? Hmm. Probably not a good thing.
Ah, the black and mauve beans are excellent, and we grew them too last year. I forget what the name of the variety is though. Beans store really well, such a great crop. We’ll be setting seed for them in a week or so’s time. The growing season is getting on. Hehe! Some folks can turn everything into a competition, like those long multi beaned stems.
Yes, the young lady had an interest in not forgetting stuff like you and I would. I thought you liked The Big Bang Theory series? Wise to have techniques which can deal with ‘bad’ memories. Not a space a person needs to spend much time in. You’ve got me wondering though as to how do I deal with such memories? Mostly I let such things go, although if they’re bad enough, in the short term there’s a sort of process for working through which takes time. I don’t necessarily forgive, and neither do I forget, it’s more about reaching a state of acceptance that there’s nothing more to be done about the situation – whatever it may be. Dunno. It’s an interesting topic that, and I’m sure the routes would vary greatly between one person and the next don’t you reckon? Presumably the Club has something on-point to say about this subject?
I try not to get involved in such things, but was once dumped full in such a mess. A dude can only but do his best!
Well yeah, that makes sense, and the leaves and vines die due to lack of energy from the sun here, rather than early frosts, so yeah, whatever works. But I’m the same and pick the fruit once the vines are beginning to die back.
Food rationing will do that trick. I do wonder how people would cope with food rationing these days? Probably get healthier and as you note, more interested in all things food related. 😉 What was once old, can be new again. Yup.
The thing with dairy is that the best stuff is getting taken away from the farm and fields and sold off, and unless those minerals are replaced, the soil balance gets way out of whack.
The old red phone boxes are iconic. We used to have them down here too, and nowadays the public phone boxes, well they aren’t a box and rain could be a problem. But I believe they are free. Hey, they used to have book mobiles down here too. I liked them a lot, but hadn’t heard of them since primary school.
Hehe! Be careful what you wish for there with that new career aspiration. Your wishes may get granted! 🙂 But you do raise a lot of mad cash problems, yeah. There’s another one you missed: Not enough money to cover the things a person is expected to pay for.
The nice telco put my interweb connection bill up $20 per month. Aren’t they lovely?
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
Yes, a dude and/or dudette need keep a certain level of flexibility in mind when it comes to lists. Where we went wrong was that it just never quite occurred to me that ‘aspirational goals’ would make it onto a to-do for the day list. Now Lizst-o-mania was indeed a thing. A French rock band (Phoenix) penned a catchy little ditty about that composer bloke a few years ago. See, pop culture references really do yield some solid educational tips and treats!
Hey, what’s with all that homework? Makes you wonder the hard question: Weren’t they teaching the right thing in classes and lectures? Hmm.
Long ago a person could get into the field of accounting by way of apprenticeship. Then a university degree was required. Somehow that wasn’t enough, because suddenly you had to do five post graduate subjects (later six) and three years before professional acknowledgement. And every year there is 40 hours of continuing professional education. Plus now there is mandatory ethics training. The upshot, don’t get into accounting – do anything else, anything…
Yes, Sandra is also good at aptitude tests, and totally blitzed the flashing problem. Exactly, cleverness varies greatly from person to person, and I see and intuit stuff that Sandra utterly misses. Candidly she gets annoyed with me when I suggest to be a bit more gentle with some of the farm tools lest they break. Fortunately, I have machine empathy and am gentle with such things, because fixing them falls on my head. Ook!
Far out, it’s hotter at your place than here. How does that work again? Good to hear you got a decent soaking though, but sadly I agree, the climate is shifting from the south in your case, and from the north in mine. Not good, I have no desire to live in the sub tropics.
Dogs do love their patterns and woebetide the careless human who messes with them. I was working in the citrus enclosure this afternoon blitzing up the grasses which dared grow too close to the plants and trees! Naughty grasses, spank… Ooo, where did that come from, Monty Python memories again… Anyway, oh yeah, dogs, so I locked Dame Plum and Ollie in there with me. Ollie loved it and was rolling around in the grass and having a nice rest in the warm sunshine. Dame Plum instead showed me that she could escape, then decided it was best if she stayed in the enclosure and stalked around, tussled with Ollie, then also enjoyed some rest in the warm sunshine. They’re all out cold tonight.
Man, I gotta hit the sack and your story is worthy of a longer and more cogent reply than my poor overworked tired brain can deliver.
Speak tomorrow!
Cheers
Chris
dry wood- to be more clear- the wood I’ll be working is for next winter- meaning 2025-2026 winter. It has plenty of time to dry out. Wood for this winter has been under shelter for a year, and is ready to go. Our winters seem to be less humid than yours, so even in winter, wood stays pretty dry as long as it is under roof.
utoob- do you plan to interact with comments on your channel? Or do I comment here? I normally prefer reading content instead of watching videos, but succinct, to the point and short as you’ve done works for me. I need to up our game on potatoes, and after watching the potatoes one, decide we are not doing enough for replenishing nutrients. The geology here is quite old, and so the soil needs some help. (What fertility was here got strip-mined when us Europeans came in and did unwise things).
We are in early discussions with our neighbors, who have gone full in on sheep and goats and rotational grazing. We may have them graze our hay field to our mutual benefit. Clearing out woody intrusives, leaving poop, and they get food for their flock.
Yo, Chris – I want a refund! I want to talk to the manager! 🙂 There was no frost, last night, and none in the foreseeable future. The forecast changed, AFTER I stripped the garden. But, what the heck. Needed to be done, anyway. I picked all the Scarlet Runner beans, tomatillos, a good many tomatoes. I was surprised at how many green Cayenne peppers, were hiding in the leaves. I then pulled up the plant. They’re green, but I’ll try putting them in a window. There were some red ones, early on, but not many.
The high yesterday was 59F (15C). The overnight low was 36F. Forecast for today is 59F.
It was Dolly Parton who said, “It costs a lot to look this cheap.” 🙂 Ms. Parton also has a successful reading program, for kids. “Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.” Our local library system, participates. LeVar Burton (Star Trek), also has had a kid’s reading program … for decades. “Reading Rainbow.”
I’ve seen cold hardy Kiwi, on offer at the garden stores. But, I don’t think the Master Gardeners would be very interested. It just occurred to me, that the Master Gardeners have the same problem I do. Space. But on a larger scale.
Well, for dinner last night, I had rice with frozen peas and broccoli. Carrots. Tomatoes and parsley, from the garden. Etc. Tasty.
I read some more of the seed book, last night. He’s got close to 500 seed vegetable varieties. He rotates through them, and gives a lot away to other seed savers, and seed banks. He participates in the Heritage Seed Library, in the UK. There’s a funny interchange, with a crusty old garden market granny … who does not suffer fools, gladly. 🙂
Yup, I’m a fan of “the Big Bang Theory.” I just finished watching the seventh and final season of “Young Sheldon.” In the fullness of time, I’ll be watching the 12th and final season of “Big Bang Theory.” As soon as it’s released on DVD.
Oh, there’s a lot of information, kicking around the recovery community, on how to deal with bad memories. Things one can get obsessive about. One saying is, “Who’s driving your bus?” The bus driver, up in your brain. Who’s at the wheel? You or someone else? A useful bit I often mull over, that I got from a daily meditation book, is, it’s like sitting in a room, with many windows, with many views. But you keep getting up and looking out just one window, over and over, again.
Public phones have all but vanished, from the American landscape.
Ah! I knew there was a name for it, and it wasn’t hard to find. “Unfunded mandates.”
https://w.wiki/BemN
I’ll be making my yearly pilgrimage, to the Franz bread outlet store. To see what pumpkin spice goodies, they have on offer. Usually, they have bagels, and a loaf of bread with a swirl of spice, through it. I hear it makes great French toast. I might have to try that. And, old fashioned donuts. Who knows what other goodies, they might come up with?
One of our major restaurant chains is closing 150 of their “stores”, over the next year. “Denny’s” An old American institution. I’ve always taken exception to calling restaurants, stores. Not that there seems anywhere to lodge a formal complaint. Lew
Yo, Chris (again) – Because I missed a couple of things on the list 🙂
Tasmania and power. Well, they’re giving renewables a good go … but perhaps shouldn’t be quit so boastful. Fact checkers are ever at work.
I caught a bit of an ad, at the Club, the other night. Reference was made to “the paper ceiling.” A phrase I’d never heard, before. It was referring to career paths being blocked, due to lack of a Bachelor’s Degree, or other forms of gate keeping. But I think the ad might have been for a trade school. Here, those can be a mixed bag. From outright rip-off, to really good. Lew
Chris:
Mr. Baby wants to know if salt is bad for dogs. Then he can better answer your question. He already knows about skinks; we have them here. Or we used to. Mr. Baby doesn’t mind wet weather too much. Or so he claims, though sometimes he takes some mighty long naps inside upon such occasions.
That’s it – it was the wombat I was thinking of, with that plate.
Oh, yes. I always hill potatoes. I have had to bring in extra soil, too.
Our persimmons are non-astringent, thank goodness. The wild ones around here really make you pucker up. They do eventually get pretty manky. Not to mention worthless, rotten, and bad (I had to look up “manky” in a dictionary). I don’t know about bletting, but they sure do have a lot of big seeds.
I’m fine; thank you for asking. I am very busy organizing the house and working in the garden in this gorgeous sunny 80F (27C) weather. It has been over a month since it has rained.
Pam
Hi Pam,
Maybe it’s just me, but I read long ago something which suggested that eating too much chocolate can kill a person. Like most things, and as with us humans, salt is probably good for our canine friends in small doses. Too much will make things go very wrong for hapless little poochie and human. When we were in Peru and boating along the Amazon river, as you do, there was a salt lick pouring into that iconic river, and the wildlife feasting upon the stuff was quite astounding. Of course the wildlife was able to pick and choose how much they consumed.
Just out of curiosity, and no need to go into details, was Mr Baby involved in the now lack of geckos at your place? 🙂 Cats will be cats. The local reptile variety are very clever in that they can drop their tails if harassed, thus appeasing whatever it was attempting to dine upon their bodies. Skinks also have an ability to regrow their tails, but you’d imagine that it would be easier to retain the body part in the first place?
Mr Baby is a feline of the finest street pedigree and would never dare lie about minor issues such as a desire to head outdoors in super wet weather? Proving that he was true to his word, no doubts he went outdoors into the driving rain and cold conditions, did what he needed to do, then decamped back to the nearest heater?
Koala’s may also have that hard plate. And they’re closely related to wombats, but have somewhat more surly dispositions due to the intoxicating poisonous diet of eucalyptus leaves. Except that poor little sick fella who sought help here many years ago. He was in a bad way that Koala, and we got him help, although not much good came of that.
Ah, thanks for mentioning the hilling of the potatoes, as this is the first year of trials with that method. So far the vines seem to be enjoying the additional soil, and like you I too am also suffering from a soil shortage. Perhaps the potato vines believe that you and I have access to heaps of extra soil? It’s been remarked upon elsewhere that kids believe that mad cash derives from holes in a wall – aka ATM machines. Last I checked, extra soil had to be paid for.
Pam, you must know the person encountering an astringent fruit face number six? Puckered and lined is my interpretation of that horrid encounter. We planted only non-astringent varieties as well. You now have a new English word to your vocabulary, and your fellow countrymen won’t have the slightest clue as to what you are talking about. 🙂 But you have to admit, when the persimmon fruits become edible, they look a little bit not quite right? And yup, big seeds.
What? That’s a while between sky drinks for the garden. Frankly speaking, I’d be freaking out, although the winter weather is approaching for you, and the rain may soon return? What’s your gut feeling have to say about the rain?
Managed to fertilise the citrus trees today, but then had inexplicable problems with reloading the line trimmer head. Whoever designed those feeder heads… Oh well, eventually got it done and the machine working again.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Steve,
Ah, thanks for the explanation as I’d thought you meant firewood to be used for this coming winter. But I totally get that forward planning with the energy source. The firewood we bring in and store now, will begin to be used from about March next year, so same, same. But yes, timber absolutely needs to dry out and reduce it’s sugars prior to being burnt.
Did you know, that down here, there did used to be a species of eucalypt tree which could be burnt green and unseasoned? It’s now extinct of course because the early settlers burnt all of it for winter heating and cooking fuel.
The super cold and dry winters you experience would make firewood a little bit easier to store than the humid conditions we deal with. By August, your February, far out, the humidity is 99% all day, every day, and those are hard conditions to keep firewood dry. I think you’ll be most interested to see the design of the new firewood shed. The core idea of the building will be to reduce the double handling now done, so that firewood can be stored and retrieved at the same time. Working around the local conditions is a bit of a thing.
Absolutely, but just between you and I, the replies here at this website will be longer and more detailed. The comment system at utoob isn’t as encouraging of dialogue, which when you think about it, is a bit odd. The more I learn about the platform, the more I reckon it is a vehicle for advertising, information and entertainment. But like you, I too prefer reading to viewing.
Steve, you’re in for a treat with the next blog and video. 🙂 The exact same thing took place here long ago, and now you and I are left to deal with the results. The mountain range here maybe volcanic, but 250 million years ago is a lot of time and rain leaching of soil minerals. The state of the soils in our civilisation are not pretty. Hmm. Anyway, it’s not a bad idea to think about such matters.
I’ve not been involved in rotational grazing and will be very interested to hear your thoughts on the subject once the experiment is underway. Just thought I might mention a down side with sheep – they can thrive on poor country because they can consume not only the green forage in a pasture, but also they’ll chow down on the root systems of plants. Still, the process may also aerate some of the soil in your paddocks? As you’d imagine, it was said long ago that down under once rode on the back of sheep because of the animals abilities to produce in sub optimal conditions.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
It’s outrageous, don’t these weather forecasting folks know what they’re doin’? 🙂 There may have been a frost somewhere in your area, so who knows the correctness, or lack thereof may be a locally isolated incident? That was a similar frost warning here a week or two back – sure there was a frost, but it was far to the east of this forecast area (which is quite massive and covers a lot of different environments). But more likely the poor forecasting folks are suffering from a sleep deficit due to the lost hour still being in transit. No doubts the forecast will improve once you’re past the first weekend of next month. Still, it would be nice to get that refund, wouldn’t it? 😉
Oh no, you did all that work unnecessarily, but on the plus side, your sun would now have little warmth to speed on vegetative growth so I doubt leaving them an extra week would have made much of a difference. And now you have plenty of free time. This is a good thing!
In breaking farm machine repair business news, a new Stihl dealer has appeared in the nearest town. And proving that some things and events are circular, the business is operating out of the site in town where the former business originally began all those long years ago (it moved twice after that). Hope the new owner has better heart health… I’ll say no more on that and continue maintaining all of the machines, except maybe the really heavy duty ride on mower. Might send that down there for a full service.
Hehe! Sort of similar weather here. Today was 14’C / 57’F, and it feels cold now at night. I’m at the point in the year where the hard question gets asked: Can I be stuffed running the wood heater? Probably not is where my brain is leaning right now. 🙂 Rug up and deal.
Mixed up the soil mineral additives into the coffee grounds today, then spread them around. Thinned out the row of radishes and also the sugar beets. A hard moment, a quiet tear may have been shed for the loss of the cut seedlings. Then got the line trimmer out and continued cleaning up grass growing around the fruit trees. Ran out of line in the machine, as you do, then had a lot of trouble rethreading the spool. Anyway, eventually sorted that out, had lunch and had to get stuck into some life admin.
Went to the nice banksters to see them about a CD, and discovered the best rate. Hmm. Not the length of term you’d imagine. Anyhoo, a dude has to be onto such stuff. Also went into visit the nice telco folks, those being the ones as put up my interweb bill by $20 a month. You hear stories, then you go into the store and talk to a live person. Nowadays I begin such conversations with the line: “I can’t pay this, what can we do’ – you’d be amazed the effect such blunt words have. Instead of dealing with a $20 monthly increase, it’s gone down overall $100 a month. Fancy that huh? Trust me in this, I now question all of these bills. You have to be onto everything. Someone high up in the goobermint mentioned that price gouging is contributing significantly to the cost of living increases. What I want to know is how a household with two adults working full time, can counter such strategies? It’s possible that they can’t.
LeVar Burton is a person put on this planet to remind us mere mortals to lift our game. His quote: “Be a better person. Read.”, err, resonates. 🙂
Oh no! There’s no fate worse to face for a gardener, than running out of space. Bummer, and cold hardy kiwi fruit are an amazingly productive fruit, and tasty once you know how to let them run their full cycle.
It’s funny you mention that limit, but I was eyeing off the swale today wondering whether I could plant corn in there. But no, it being a grass, the wallabies would sadly destroy the plants.
Very tasty, and dinner this evening was similar rice dish, but with fresh veg from the garden. Yummo!
Hehe! The interaction sounds like a lot of fun, and the author probably got a decent ‘what for’, from said old garden market granny. And he probably deserved it too!
Soon, possibly, the twelfth series will be released onto DVD. Oh! It’s been released for years on that format down here. You may have to prod your most excellent library service. 🙂
What an approachable way to focus a persons mind on their internal resources of willpower. Yes, who is riding the bus? It’s a question I have pondered for many long years. Hmm. My best guess is that we get a bit of free will, not much, but a bit, and what’s interesting there is the question: just what does a person do with that? Good to hear the Club deals with that matter – it’s definitely one which falls into the very complicated category, don’t you reckon? The window analogy is equally good, and appropriate. Yes, why choose that one window to look out from?
Dude, not to put too fine a point on it, but your fed goobermint spends something like $3 trillion (that’s thousand freakin’ million bucks) more each year than they bring in. I’d call that lot an unfunded mandate, although technically it doesn’t fit the official definition! 🙂 Nobody asked me whether it was a good idea or not to do that! Anywhoo, that happens all the time down here. You get groups pushing for outcomes that they don’t want to pay for. And politicians have to reapply for their jobs every couple of years and they probably have bills to pay too. It’s a mess of a system.
Did the annual pilgrimage to the hallowed site produce any fine bakery products of the pumpkin spice variety? The place sounds good to me. Yum! Are old fashioned donuts, the sort of round ones with a hole in the centre and often coated in a mixture of spices and sugar? They’re very more-ish. I’d definitely succumb to temptation when faced with such bakery prowess. Any good finds there?
Denny’s used to be down here a long time ago. Didn’t work out so well. It is a bit weird calling such a business by the description of a ‘store’. Doesn’t seem right to me either. Makes you wonder if there is some sort of history there?
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
Thought you might be interested in the minor comparison, but school books are generally paid for down here by the students family. I don’t recall a school ever providing such useful things, although the grammar school at least had a library.
You’ve scored a great name there, and dare I say it, but also a ‘reputation’. And it’s a pretty decent thing to assist with an ‘education’.
I don’t recall the car accident addition to your household which may have been a while back. Interesting to get the young one to ask himself – a test, to which he passed with flying colours whilst endearing himself to both of you. That one has natural charm and wit, and it is such a good cause. 🙂 And the young bloke has taken upon himself an ‘obligation’. Hmm.
The old ways never disappeared did they? And despite the very best efforts of this here warped civilisation to replace those tools with empty promises, there they are laying in wait for future re-use. Hmm. Hope the young bloke does well in school, and I reckon he will.
I’ll tell you a funny, or maybe it isn’t quite so funny observation of this here society which shows a poor comparison to the old ways. Have you noticed, that with larger corporate entities we have to deal with, that loyalty isn’t rewarded. In fact I believe it is getting to the point where that old trait is possibly punished. The nice telco very recently sent me a matter of fact email: We’re gonna put yo monthly bill up $20. What the f$%k? was my exact thought. Went to the store to see them, and bizarrely this is hard to explain, but I just said to them, I’m not paying that. And the monthly bill has now been reduced by $100. Like, how does this even happen? So many things are like that nowadays.
Anywhoo, I’m beginning to sense that the internal culture of those big entities is beginning to seep out of the cracks into the world in which you and I inhabit. That’s ugly, but it sure means something. Hmm.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – Reading over your shoulder … Odd, that. I was down at the Club, for a cuppa, last night. Was talking to another old duffer, and, the topic of corporate loyalty, or the lack thereof, was brought up.
I also remember you asked, or commented on modern vegetables having shallow roots. Somewhere, I saw some old photos, taken during the dusters of the 1930s. Comparing the root length of native prairie grasses (a couple of meters long), to older varieties of wheat (still pretty long), to modern varieties of wheat. (Pretty shallow.)
Our high, yesterday, was 56F (13.33C). The overnight low was 37F. The forecast for today is 56F. Yesterday, today and tomorrow, the weather is quit nice. Then, it’s back to the rain. Still no frost in the forecast. If we make it past November 8th, it will be the latest first frost, since I’ve started recording. As you suspected, the frost did land, somewhere else. To the south of us. Prof. Mass is commenting on snow in the mountains.
Oh, there’s still this and that I can do in the garden. Radish needs to be thinned. Bothers me, a bit, too. Hose emptied and put away. I might throw in the towel on the yellow zucchini, harvest what’s there, and pull it up. I could plant a garlic, there.
That’s good news, about the garden machine repair shop. I hope they’re personable, and know what they’re about. At least, maybe they’ll carry a good supply of parts.
Replacing line, on line trimmers was always a pain in the … ear. Just getting the right size … I’m glad I’m past that. 🙂
Telco’s can be pretty bizarre, when it comes to billing and such. Sometimes, I think the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand, is doing. Competition, is important. Threaten to go to another carrier, and prices magically drop. I often hear the same, when it comes to streaming services. Even more so, in their case.
I read some more of the seed book, last night. Peas, was the topic. And how early seed merchants (and, to this day), would often take a pea variety, give it a new name, say it was “improved,” to boost sales. Modern seed devotees, are still trying to sort out the mess. What appears to be 12 varieties of peas, is actually, three. 🙂
Another trick to slowing down cascades of thought, or action, is HALT. That stands for Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired. Often, one or more of those states, can be at the root of tumbling thoughts or actions.
Not much joy at the bread outlet store. No bagels or bread with a swirl in it. But they did have the old fashioned, pumpkin spice donuts. Yup. Round with a hole. And a kind of crinkly edge. if you do a search for “Franz old fashioned donuts”, and check the images, you’ll see them. They come in many different flavors. But, the only one’s I cave in on, are the pumpkin spice. Not available, year round. Inexpensive and highly processed.
Later on, I found some pumpkin spice popcorn, at the grocery warehouse store. VERY tasty, and not very expensive.
Most restaurant chains here, refer to their restaurants as “stores.” I don’t know where that idea came from, or why it spread. I saw an interesting article, on The Big Coffee Company, last night.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/23/food/starbucks-preliminary-fourth-quarter-results
That big building, in the first picture, is their corporate headquarters, in Seattle. It was originally, a Sears store and catalog center. Way back when.
And, in energy news, there’s been a huge Lithium discovery, in our state of Arkansas.
I also started reading “Reconnected: How 7 Screen-Free Weeks with Monks and Amish Farmers Helped Me Recover the Lost Art of Being Human.” (Whittaker, 2024.) It’s pretty interesting, and well written. A bit of a spiritual journey.
I started watching “Interview with the Vampire,” season 2. Tis the season 🙂 .
We haven’t heard from Inge, in awhile. I do hope she’s doing well. Lew
Chris:
In that case, Mr. Baby says hand them the salt shaker.
Judging from the shortage of skinks around here now, where they used to be plentious, and the number that have half a tail, I would say that Mr. Baby has been at work.
I’ve hardly ever known Mr. Baby to lie . . .
I remember the sick little koala. You did your best to help him.
Rain won’t be here in time. I’ve been watering.
Ha, ha. I don’t have to deal with the line trimmer.
We have a robot vacuum named Rosie (as in The Jetsons. I am so original) that a friend gave us last Christmas. I was watching her vacuum and asked her, please (always be polite to your robots), couldn’t she vacuum the stairs just this once? Alas, I know she can’t climb, but she was working her way towards the bottom of them, so I grabbed a broom and swept them downward faster than you could say “Jack Russell”. You see, I don’t know if I am allowed to pick up Rosie, sort of like Mr. Baby when he’s in a bad mood, so I wanted it in her path as she came along. Well, by golly, if she didn’t get all manky and turn around and go the other way! I think she did it on purpose. I had to sweep up the mess.
Pam
@ Lew:
I have been worried about Inge, too.
Pam
Chris,
It came naturally to me to allow the lists to be the boss. A master list would have meant a master boss. I finally learned how to use the list as a guide, but to allow flexibility for actual events. Amazing how the stress level quickly went down!
The classes were all lecture. Then we’d have to write an essay or do maths problems, but since the entire class was listening to the teacher, well, homework. Ugg.
Back when I was starting university, it was really at a two-year college, aka a “junior college” or “community college”. A lot of vocational courses were taught which could lead to apprenticeships or jobs. There were 2- or 3-year programs to become a civil engineering technician, or an electronics technician, etc. I took the path of getting most of the required humanities and history type courses done there, as well as the core prerequisites for science and engineering majors – chemistry, physics, calculus. Then onto university. That particular university also offered the vocational programs, with a twist. An actual four-year degree was obtained along with the technician courses. Eventually, the program got “upgraded” to actual engineering degrees, rather than engineering technician things. And the other technician programs were discontinued, even at the community colleges. The result? This region has a glut of graduates with engineering degrees, yet it became nearly impossible to find qualified technicians. Some of the other professions where I worked have 40 or 80 hours per year of continuing education. I rather enjoyed being a technician with none of those requirements.
“Naughty grasses, spank”. Dude, if you are so grumpy that you are spanking the grass? Whoa! Either you need a vacation or else a “time out” in the corner of the garden! 😉
So Tuesday night brought more frost. And fog. Thick fog, the first of the season. Not quite pea soup, but definite fog.
Oh, from last week. A final note on skiing into trees. Yes, as you surmised, that type of skiing accident is almost always related to skiing faster than one’s abilities allow. Tight spaces, excess speed, clunk!
The rellies’ daughters’ car accident was a few months ago. Wasn’t too serious, so I didn’t mention it. One was bruised, the other had a broken leg.
Rellie raised two boys, and now is on the 4th of 4 nieces and nephews. Unlike other parts of the family, all of this gang are getting through high school. Just the little one to go. And we’ve periodically helped with books and supplies for the other youngsters. That’s what family does.
And that IS a wonderful name, isn’t it? I’ve been called worse. Much worse.
Before university and in publicly funded schools, textbooks are supposed to be supplied. The school in question is at St. Mary’s Mission but is majority run by the Colville Tribe. I’m sketchy on the details. Hence, funding for books can be problematic. Of course, funding for books at some of the smaller and remote publicly funded school districts can be problematic also. Schools in more affluent areas don’t have such problems.
Oh, I’ve noticed your observation. Indeed, loyalty is punished. Whether you are a consumer, or whether you are an employee of a large corporation, long term loyalty is punished. Similarly to your telco story, I need to visit our interweb/television provider every two or three years. Otherwise, there will be price creep. There are HUGE specials to appeal to NEW customers, but us long term loyal customers have to fight so as not to get gouged. Makes little sense to me.
Meanwhile, there are several small, locally owned companies I’ve been doing business with for years. They know me, I know them, I get good value for the money, and the customer service is fantastic.
Astute observation – the internal culture of those big entities oozing into society. Now you gave me a new idea to think about.
DJSpo
Hi Pam,
I’m likewise worried about Inge, but it’s not like any of us can knock on her cottage door and ask whether everything is OK, and if any assistance is needed. That’s the down side of the interweb. However, the upside is that whilst we’re able, the coloured lights under the metaphorical trees bring us all together in companionable warmth, story telling of news from afar, and most excellent chats! 😉
Mr Baby may require some salt from time to time. A necessity based on us all long, long ago in the dark past being denizens of the ocean. Of course, it is little understood that the rain here having originated from the oceans contains a little bit of salt hitching itself along for the ride. Nature is rather thoughtful don’t you reckon?
It happens and once Mr Baby decides that a daytime of rest bathing in the warm glow of the sunshine on the correct side of a window is the way to go, the local reptile population will no doubt bounce back to it’s previous levels. After all, the species survived the dinosaur killing meteor strike 65 million years ago, so Mr Baby could hardly be worse than that episode, maybe? 🙂
The local wildlife rescue folks do great work against the odds. That day the Koala was in a bad way to have sought assistance here.
Pam, I’m in awe of the wells in your part of the world and their reliability. Here it’s a bit like the mountainous areas of Oregon where such groundwater can occasionally run dry just when you don’t need that to happen. Some of my neighbours have water bores and they don’t appear to stint themselves during dry seasons. Such acts are hard on the forest trees and local area.
Well done you! The trimmer is a nice machine, but far out rewinding the spool head is a nightmare of a job. If someone developed an easier and more reliable process, their fortunes would surely be made. Alas, my mind is not equal to the design challenge, so I’ll have to continue living on the smell of an oily rag – as the old timers used to quip. I’d imagine you know the feeling?
Rosie is a lovely name, and the Jetson’s may have stolen the name from Rosie the Riveter of WWII fame? A handy young lady to know if you ask me! Everyone knows that robots can’t climb stairs, it’s like them being able to look up. No robot can perform that feat. They just can’t do that and don’t comprehend what is looming above them. However, everyone knows that a sulky Mr Baby will appreciate an unsolicited kiss on the head and scritch! Dame Plum is cut from Mr Baby’s personality because the dog has this weird love-hate thing going on with displays of affection.
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
It’s always dangerous for the ‘one list to rule them all’ tool, to rule us all. Therein lays the way of madness. 😉 Yet, like you I was also early on in my work life subject to downwards pressure to achieve the objectives of others, and yup that path equals total stress.
The part time uni lectures here were also just like you described, then we’d go off (almost typed go ugg!) and sit through an hour long tutorial – which was more interactive. The thing is, all that after a day of full time work, and that went on for years, a dude kind of focuses his mind on what is the bare minimum need done to get through this long work nightmare! Are the teachers doing their jobs, well clearly yes, but are they teaching by doing their jobs? Dunno about that. You may have your own thoughts there? And we’ve discussed this matter over the years, yup. Engage and interact is a completely different experience.
You dodged a bullet there with the continuing education requirements, oh yeah. It’s not like I’m earning mad cash whilst doing that work. Hmm. Anyway, mustn’t grumble. Down here the community college route was I believe described as a diploma, which then lead onto the uni journey – as you noted. Man, I ran a graduate program for a big corporate and saw just what was being spewed out the other end of that err, education business. Hmm. And some of the folks I trained who undertook three years of work at one of the really big firms, didn’t know nearly as much as their belief systems lead them to believe. It’s my opinion that they were treated like cannon fodder, probably why they left. I let them down gently. The systems in place are not so arranged as to produce useful skills, as you noted.
Just had fun making dinner. I was pretending to be a chef having a worldclass kitchen melt down. It was a surprisingly hard act to keep up, and Sandra was in fits of giggles. So it goes around here… 🙂
Those grasses have been naughty indeed, and require a proper chastising. The two stroke Stihl line trimmer is just the right tool for the job. Discovered the former farm machine repair dude had gifted me the wrong size trimmer line – which for all sorts of reasons (them being second hand), he couldn’t sell. At the time he said to just drill out the holes, it’ll be fine, but I might drop those on ebuy so they end up at a proper home with a machine of the correct size.
Frost and fog. Yikes! The seasons sure have turned at your place. Are the grasses enjoying the cooler and moister conditions now?
Ah, skiiers and trees, of course a bad match up, it was never written in the stars was it? And of course the facts of the matter do suggest that skills were exceeded, sorry to say.
I see, rellie guides nieces and nephews through the crazy old world they all find themselves in – and here I refer to western culture, which can be a bit odd from time to time, although such absurdities can produce Monty Python – so there is that.
Of course, the nieces and nephews have to walk in two different worlds, and that requires elders to guide them on their journeys. I get that and happily walk in either world. It’s a cold night here with no wind. The sounds travel for ages, and the boobook owls call at a counterpoint to the pobblebonk frogs. Dogs can be heard barking off in the distance. The sky is full of stars. And Dame Plum and I startled a wallaby which bounced off and away, but not too far. Those marsupials would be well advised to take the dogs seriously. Just another night here. I’d no longer be fit for city living.
Haven’t we all been called names?
Funding is problematic in schools down under, and they don’t supply textbooks from what I understand. Actually, from what I’m hearing of that area of work, there is no way I’d work in a school. I’ve heard stories that the parents are often worse than the kids. Unsurprisingly, there is a teacher shortage. All part of the great walking away which is going on.
The utter lack of loyalty, which is totally perverse, is most of the reason why failed societies in the west always go back to the feudal system. Every, single, time.
Ha! DJ, that’s my secret as well. Yes, stay local and be known. Yup. Of course there are risks with that strategy which I discovered during the time of you-know-what.
If it looks like a psychopath, acts like a psychopath, and squeals like a psychopath, it might well be.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Man, the situation is not much good, and I’m unsurprised that other people are noticing. It’s just the continuing effort involved to dial down the worst of the mischief, takes continual effort. The price hike even made the news: ‘Very disappointed’: Telstra customers’ fury as phone bill prices increase. The article even showed the monthly $90 to $110 interweb connection plan we were using. Not a fan. I particularly enjoyed the line: “What this means for you”. At no point does that particular sentence indicate that there may be consequences for them. It’s an odd way of looking at the world from whoever came up with that phrase.
What was the general vibe from the old duffer who was talking about such matters?
Oh yeah! That’s so true about some of those grass species. Dunno whether you’ve grown alfalfa, but that plants root systems can forage very deeply indeed – you’d be surprised how deep. You can see the wheat plant breeding effect from old paintings of wheat fields. The grasses were five feet tall, and then some. Modern combine harvesters may struggle with such monster plants, maybe? But generally breeding for shorter plants also results in shorter root systems. But as a wild card, plant breeders also focus on producing more desirable traits, and all of those probably remove the plants we consume further away from wild plants – which can survive droughts and other climate shocks.
The high here today was 14’C / 57’F whilst the low tonight looks to drop to 2’C / 36’F – which is pretty close to your experience. It was warm in the sun, but cold in the shade here today. And I just heard the solar hot water system sending some hot water up to the panels on the roof.
Did a total nothing day, although we headed north to the cold store to replenish the supplies of apples. Picked up some local honey as well. But took the approach today: Less is more. A sound philosophy! 🙂 Had a nice lunch. The usual roll had been sold out so I was left looking at a baguette with salmon and capers. Alright, the lunch gawds have decided my fate there. Actually, it was pretty good, and I’d try it again. Enjoyed lunch sitting in the sun at a botanical garden. It’s north of here, so the roses were in full bloom. A nice day.
I made dinner tonight. A veg pasta sauce with linguine, which is pretty tasty. Of course, the sauce was made from scratch. Being on dinner duties and having the Editor as a trusty side kick, I decided to ham things up and pretend to be a world class chef in the throes of an epic kitchen melt down. Yes chef. Not loud enough! Again! It was fun to act so stupidly and we were in giggle land by the end. A fine meal was even produced and the dogs also had a little bowl each of the stuff. Can’t be serious all the time, can we?
Lewis, thinning out seedlings does not come naturally. So yeah, I hear you about being bothered by that. Did you get much from the yellow zucchini? I’ve grown that once before, and the more usual green monsters kicked them out of the park (mixing metaphors there). And yup, it would be a good time to get garlic in the ground.
Actually some of the people at the new farm machine repair shop are the same, which is good. The main issue is that it’s been two years and I’ve had to learn how to do a lot of that work myself, so I dunno. They might be good for parts, and the area really needs someone doing that work. I believe that they’re restricting the brands of machines they work upon, and that’ll be interesting with the locals. They’d take most of my stuff, if I chose to do that, which I doubt I’ll do.
Lucky you, the line trimmer is a useful machine, it’s just a pain in the err, ear to reload with line. And yeah, there are a lot of different sized lines. The old farm machine repair dude gifted me some line years ago, and it’s the wrong size, although he said to just drill the holes out. I dunno, might sell that stuff on ebuy. On that note, we seem to be getting a lot of interest on that synthesiser keyboard I mentioned to you a while ago. I checked it out on utoob and there are some real fans of the machine out there. Some of the videos are fun, which is hard to comprehend given it’s about an 80’s era music keyboard.
I agree, when dealing with a big corporate, it’s probably a good idea to have a plan B ready to bring to bear. They don’t care at all if you walk away, so such loose talk gains nothing. Knowing your options, that seems to be the way of things nowadays. I find that the lack of loyalty on display is a very disturbing turn of events.
Ha! Who knew the seed raising folks could sometimes be charlatans? 🙂 You learn something new, every day.
Ooo, that’s a powerful acronym and nobody wants to get stuck in one of those four zones. Nope. I’ve observed though that it can be difficult for people to be self aware enough to recognise that they are in one of those zones. That’s a hard issue with retraining the mind in that it requires more self awareness than was previously brought to bear. But yes, alerting folks to the possibilities and consequences is a wise path. It’s good thinking. Is that from the Club or from elsewhere? The Editor is reading a book titled ‘Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones’, by the author James (another James!) Clear. It’s very good.
Total score! Lewis, you went with pumpkin spice on your mind, and they delivered the goodies. Yum! Dude, they even come gift boxed, and look very tasty. The rough shape does give them an old world vibe, yeah. Did they live up to expectations?
I’ve no doubt interesting things go on in that building, but dude, they’re selling coffee over the counter, or have I misunderstood how that business makes it’s mad cash? How could such a business, selling such a basic product, be that complicated it requires a massive head office? Makes no sense to me, they’re selling coffee over the counter. How hard is that?
Well done for the find. Copper is in increasingly short supply. We’re only ever as good as the weakest link in a materials chain.
Ah, a digital detox is not a bad idea, and if ever we were going to run accommodation here, that’s the model I settle on. You could hear me now: No interweb for you! Two days! and stop sulking, or we’ll put you to work! Hmm, I’m liking where this is going… 😉
Wasn’t that a film with that actor who made that really good film we’ve agreed not to talk about, but it was good? Everything seems to be grist for the mill series fodder these days. Clarksons farm is excellent and beloved of people on the land – at least the one’s I’ve spoken to.
Hmm. It’s a worry.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – And then there’s the infamous “honey-do” lists. 🙂 Often comes up, at the Club. Not in my experience. As I’m fond of pointing out …
The tel-cos are practically a monopoly. And, technology has managed to maneuver a great chunk of the population into dependancy. Maybe, if they weren’t so darned smug about it.
Oh, the other old duffer and I, were on the same wavelength. Just generally swapping tales of lack of corporate loyalty.
And, that’s why open pollinated, landrace plants are so important. I also found out the difference between heritage and heirloom. Though the author thought they’re pretty much used interchangeably, these days. Heritage is grown by a particular culture. Heirloom is often associated with a particular family. I’m reading about beans and peas, now. I’ve always found that part of the plant kingdom to be particularly complicated. Can’t say I’m that much more enlightened.
The high yesterday was 55F (12.77C). The overnight low was 41F. Forecast for today is 63F. It is supposed to start raining, tonight, and rain for as far as the forecast goes.
Oh, I wouldn’t call it a nothing day. You were out hunting and gathering 🙂 . The baguette sounds very tasty. As does your dinner. I see you’re perfecting your double act, in the kitchen. Coming soon to a U – Tub channel?
Well, last year the yellow and green zucchini, pretty much produced the same. This year, so much. Probably, because I planted late. Something came up, and I didn’t get out to the garden, last night. I hope I can get out there, before it starts to rain.
Line trimmers. Seems like even when you get the supposed size, for a particular machine, it still doesn’t want to fit.
I couldn’t find the origin of HALT, but I figure it was something that sifted in from some therapeutic models. There are those in the Program, who believe that everything you need for recovery is in The Cannon. Usually, ridged crusty old timers. Then there are those who feel that, “whatever works.” There is an old AA saying: “Take what you need, and leave the rest.” I couldn’t link to it, but you might find “How 12 Step Slogans Work,” interesting.
Oh, the pumpkin spice donuts, were very tasty. I do hope I can eventually find the swirl bread and bagels. Someone said the bread is particularly good, as French toast. I’d like to give that a whirl.
That coffee company has over 35,000 shops, worldwide. Some company run, some licensed. They expanded into other lines. Baked goods, CDs. I’ve read they are experimenting with other forms of shop. Drive through only, and, shops with no seating.
“Interview with a Vampire” was a very popular book, that kicked off a series of very popular books, by Anne Rice. Which yielded the movie, and now, years later, a TV series. She also wrote another series, “The Mayfair Witches.” I watched season one, of that, and am awaiting season two. Lew
Hi Chris,
I’ll have you know it’s 2 PM and I have completed my list for the day though admittedly it wasn’t very long.
After your reduction in the phone bill I’m going to have to explore that option. Our internet is separate and there’s not another decent option out here in the boonies so we’re stuck.
Yep keeping track of Marty’s expenses is one of my jobs that ends up on a list. My mother had set up a trust for Pat and Mike but not Marty. I had to have a lawyer and each year report all income and expenditures to the penny. This involved categorizing each expenditure according to the budget which I also prepared and had to have approved by the probate court. Each of them had separate bank accounts so separate reports were required. I had to start the the beginning balance for the year of the account, list all the income and it’s source in total for the year and do the same for the expenses and then it all had to come to the end of year total. Let me tell you that was an onerous job for sure. I would also keep all receipts just in case some expense was questioned which thankfully never happened. The judge we had for quite a time was really nasty. I brought in Pat and Mike one year for the annual accounting thinking maybe she would soften when meeting them but nope she scared them. She wanted to know why there were two electric razors purchased in an intimidating voice and poor Michael shakily replied, “I dropped one and it broke.” Then she questioned Patrick about his dental bills and left him stammering. Needless to say I didn’t bring them back. She had such a bad reputation that she was finally removed and we got a very kind judge.
One of the things on my list was to balance my checkbook. Balancing (or reconciling which is the more professional term entails checking off each deposit and check or debit on the statement. Then start with the balance on the statement add any deposits the bank hasn’t recorded and subtract any outstanding checks and if you’re lucky it will match what’s in your checkbook.
I don’t think people do this much anymore. I know my daughter, Carla doesn’t. She just looks at her balance online to see if she has funds. Of course she hardly writes checks and most bills are paid online but I always wonder about when she uses her debit card. How does she keep track of it? I’ve tried to impress upon her and my son-in-law the value of recording your expenses so you know what you’re spending your money on but it seems to fall on deaf ears.
Hey, we finally got .4 inch of rain early this morning.
I am also concerned about Inge. It reminds me that in my instructions if anything happens to me I should add let Chris at Fernglade know.
Margaret
Hi Chris,
I too am concerned about Inge. She hasn’t gone this long without commenting in my memory. I usually skim all the comments even if I don’t take the time to write my own comment.
As for me, all is well, just busy. We haven’t had a frost yet, not even on the morning the low dropped to 34F. October has been very warm and very dry. Our first measurable rainfall for the month came today, but at 0.05 inch it may as well have not bothered.
I’m still harvesting beans in addition to autumn greens and roots. For some odd reason whatever was eating my tomatoes all summer (probably squirrels) stopped eating them in September. We got a decent amount of them for it being late in the season. Meanwhile, I won’t know for sure until I do the calculations, but we may have had the best sweet pepper year ever.
Claire
Chris,
Teaching. The entire educational thingy has become so huge that I really don’t know what a teacher is supposed to teach. Basic reading, writing etc? How do we quantify whether that is being learned? Oh, yeah, standardized tests to measure that. So does that mean that the teachers begin teaching so students can [pass the standardized tests, all else be darned? It’s a nasty, smelly kettle of fish.
And you couldn’t pay me enough to teach on ANY level. My friend was a high school maths teacher. As you had suggested, the parents were a bigger problem than the students. Much bigger. As an example, each March or early April, many school districts have a one week break. Some families go away on vacation. Then the families want to get a head start, so might leave the Thursday BEFORE the school break starts, maybe return the Tuesday AFTER classes start. Hence, their children might miss 3 or 4 days of classes and likely an exam. Then they would browbeat my friend and administrators to allow their students to make up all the work they missed by being on vacation for longer than the break. And the parents would get downright nasty and threatening. Nope, not a job for me.
On my visit to my friend in 2023, we went to a restaurant called The Grouchy Chef. Gourmet food. The owner was the chef and the waiter and the host and cleared and cleaned the tables. Yup, just the owner there. Dinner by reservations only. And he WAS grouchy, had a dress code even. By keeping his overhead low, he was able to serve a very delicious gourmet meal at a very reasonable price. Alas! He was quitting the business soon after I ate there. Were I to imitate him while cooking here, the Princess would giggle herself into helplessness.
I heard the following once: a group of sheep is a flock of sheep. Cattle are a herd of cattle. Similarly a school of fish, a murder of crows, a gaggle of geese. And a giggle of girls. 🙂
Yes, the grasses have relaxed and greened up with the cooler weather. Now that it has gotten somewhat wetter, I no longer need to water. With colder temperatures here, I turned off the outdoor water, drained and stored the hoses.
That batch of the family lives 18 miles from the nearest town and in the mountains. All of the children have received a good education in mountain ways, a lot of traditional ways, and how to survive when poor. In other words, they are probably better educated than most people.
Hmmm, I miss Inge, too. It HAS been too long since we heard from her. Like middle of September?
DJSpo
Hi Claire,
Just checked. Inge’s last comment was the 11th September, and then radio silence. However, the comment discussed issues with the broadband connection, which notably has dropped out before. Of course, I too am concerned, but we must not be hasty to jump to conclusions, and so I’ll send an email query. Hopefully there is a reply.
🙂 It’s been remarked upon elsewhere that the hours available to us are limited in number, so best we use them wisely! Winding down from the harvest season, doing all of the preserving, whilst getting ready for the winter is no two minute task. Thanks for taking the time to drop by and say hello.
Claire, there was a minor frost here this morning, but fortunately the thermometer was recording 3’C / 37’F and the only ice was on the cars and open grassy areas. I tell you what, this fruit tree business is a tough school, and not for those with a nervous disposition. Fortunately, I’m unfussed by a set back in one tree crop because there will be others. The apricots and almonds have hung on though.
Yes, that is not much rain. At least the water from the sky tamps down some of the dust – that’s been my experience of such hot and dry weather. The climate is shifting for sure, and all we can but do is our best, whilst adapting.
Conducted a talk today, and showed a video of the hundreds of dollars of additives it takes to remineralise the soils – which on this scale will only be enough for two months maximum. It was a very interesting discussion afterwards. Nice to get the message out there.
Beans are a funny crop because dunno about you, but I always thought that beans and peas were one and the same, but no. Peas kick off earlier, and produce earlier in the season.
Oh my! Claire, please, whatever you do, I’d very appreciate it very much if you kept the squirrels in your part of the world. 😉 The Pied Currawongs have learned to take cherry tomatoes, although the Magpies will clear them off. I’m on friendly terms with the Magpies, but they can’t do everything.
Oh yeah, sweet peppers are a crop which is beyond the available summer energy here. It takes a really hot and dry year for those plants to produce stunted fruit, let alone a bumper crop like what you are enjoying. I’ll be very interested to hear what sort of winter weather you have.
This morning’s frosty weather was record breaking in some parts of this corner of the continent. Wasn’t so bad here, but required five blankets. The day was lovely though, but on the cooler side.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Margaret,
Respect for the organised, for they shall, I dunno, but maybe get stuff done. 🙂 It’s always a good day when the list of things to do leaves us mere mortals with elbow room to slack off for a bit. It’s been remarked upon elsewhere that the world needs a bit more slack… I’m sure you will agree there?
I took yesterday off any and all meaningful work. Sometimes it just seems like the right thing to do to stop and recharge the internal batteries. Earlier today I was talking with a friend about how it’s not a bad idea as we age to try and work out some additional time off from paid work. In much earlier years, one of the benefits of reaching the master status was having a bit of slack time – it of course being earned through hard graft to get to that hallowed state.
Hmm. It’s difficult in rural areas on the connectivity front. Being elevated with line of sight to the nearest town, the 5G signal (cell phone) can be picked up. That’s weird, and I don’t really need such speeds. However, in other parts of the mountain range, people swear by Starlink. An actual copper connection to an exchange is just never going to happen. It’s an expensive service. What sort of connections do you have in your area?
Oh Margaret, that’s a tough-as story, and Patrick and Michael wouldn’t have deserved such treatment – not to mention yourself, who’s simply trying to enact the wishes of your mother. At least you don’t have to deal with such onerous processes with Marty. Far out.
That’s the terminology, reconciling the bank is what we call that down here, and it’s a job for sure. Years and years ago in the big end, I’d employ people where that is all they do, all day, every day. I quite enjoy the work myself, and you can imagine the complexities when the number of transactions reaches into the tens of thousands per month. Hmm. Over the years I’ve had to soothe the distressed accounts folk doing such work where they make the astounding claim: “It’s just not working out” You’d know that it is a methodical process, and sometimes a bit of hand holding through the process is what needs be done. There’s always an answer as to why it isn’t working out. But based on your description and comprehension of the process, and I’d have employed you to do such work without a hesitation. 🙂
Businesses of course still do such work, but individuals, well I don’t think so either. Checks are falling out of favour here, and it’s a very rare day where you’d see one. It’s all a different mindset now, and I absolutely agree with your description of the present situation.
It’s worth also mentioning that with bank branches closing, it is much harder to deposit physical checks – although the post offices can now accept them on your banks behalf. That’s something at least.
That’s an interesting point about what you are attempting to impress upon those two. They’ll learn the skills if needed. During the recession of the early 1990’s, I was only one unknown repair bill away from serious financial trouble. In those days, income and outgoings more or less matched, and just like your suggestion I tracked and categorised such transactions for exactly that reason – to get a handle on potential future problems. It’s very possible that finances aren’t yet that tight, but they might get there because there is a cyclical nature to economics.
Yay for some rain! Hope the wet stuff falling from the sky has tamped down some of the harvest dust?
Thank you. That’s a very thoughtful thing to do. I’ll be sending Inge a direct email, and we’ll see. It’s been a while though.
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
Teaching is an enjoyable process, and over the years I’ve trained a lot of graduates, and two particularly gifted non-graduates, into this esoteric area of knowledge. A cheeky person may now suggest that those folks can now all count beans correctly, but they also know the appropriate manner of recording the majority of those transactional beans. But most importantly, and hopefully the message got through, they learned to use their brains to work through a problem, and know when to escalate a matter and seek assistance. You would believe that graduates arrive at an workplace with such basic skills intact and ready to employ them, but no, that’s not been my experience.
So yeah, what should be taught is an intriguing question. A standardised test merely homogenises all outcomes centring around a low-ish standard. I’m guessing you already knew that answer due to your physics background and far better comprehension of numbers than I? 😉
Dude, seriously, I couldn’t do that work either. No way. Imagine this little thought experiment: Chris would foolishly, and probably despite the curriculum, get the kids to begin using their critical thinking skills. It’d be easy enough, just get them to judge abstractions by the outcomes, then discuss what that means. It’s not hard, it would be like shooting fish in a barrel. But then far out, can you imagine the parents reaction: Why does little Johnny no longer believe it when we tell him he can be whatever he wants? Why is he now asking us why we aren’t astronauts? What kind of rubbish are you idiots teaching here? A good way to be the most hated person around if you ask me! I ain’t putting up my hand to do that work either.
And I’ve heard such browbeating stories as well, although they usually relate to parents wanting special attention for their kids so that they get better marks. Yup, a situation best to not be involved in.
I recall a story about such a restaurant, and it sounds excellent. I’m not sure that the grouchy aspect would have appealed to my brain, mostly because I’d inadvertently say something stupid and be immediately banned for one year! But it’s a commendable effort to undertake to do all the roles required, and provide excellent food.
Wise to keep your lady giggling with such silly antics. That’s the fun stuff in life. I just sent a really whacky email out to some friends, and hope it gets some laughs, maybe. Or they’ll cancel me, maybe!
That’s funny, yes a giggle of girls indeed. 🙂 Over the years I’ve observed that people learn far better when they are engaged and laughing along. Spare a thought for the poor graduates, and also the management who probably wondered: What’s going on in there?
Ah, so you’re packing things away for the winter weather? I forget, have you had a frost yet? It sure was cold here this morning, but the frosty areas weren’t close to the orchards – thankfully.
Yeah, those kids will be fine knowing how to navigate such situations. It’s interesting you mention that, but knowing how to navigate the recession of the early 1990’s was not the issue for me, it was being suddenly thrown into unemployment from a cushy job – that was the hard bit. Now as a consequence, I’m hard, and those kids will do good and get by just fine.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Hadn’t heard of one of those lists, so with a sense of foreboding, looked up what exactly was meant by the term. Whoa! Well that’s an exciting way to conduct a relationship. Probably a bit too exciting to my tastes. My brain simply can’t operate in such top-down hierarchical structures, mostly because it would really err, annoy me. Yeah. It’s a strategy though, I guess. It’s been my observation that down here about half of all marriages end in divorce, and who knows what the failure rate is for other incarnations of relationships. Look, for all I know, such lists might work for people, but far out! Most unwise to treat a partner as if the person was a work-unit, just my opinion there. Total respect for having dodged such lists. Nice deft foot work. 😉
Yes, there isn’t really a lot we can do to dodge the nice telco’s, although I have a friend who gets close to achieving such glory. Alas running a business takes that option off the table for the likes of I.
Swapping such tales is a good way to discuss the matter don’t you reckon? Speaking of such matters, went into the big smoke today to have lunch and a chat with friends. A good fun day, and we had some laughs, talked about the world, and this time around I took a talk on the subject of physical health matters. Introduced a few subjects which may be a bit woo-woo. Just in case you were concerned, a gourmet burger was harmed in the process. Shame, can’t be helped. It was good and tasty though.
Agreed, the open pollinated landrace varieties are proper treasures. The local gardening club tends to offer such seeds by default, and that’s a great service. It’s nice to be able to save your own seeds, but I’m under no allusions as to the scale for them to be grown at where they’ll continue indefinitely. You may have noticed that over the years we’ve reduced the variety of annual edible plants, whilst increasing the number grown. No point stuffing the genetics up, if we can help it. I’d not know the difference between heritage and heirloom, but it makes sense. Heirloom varieties are often donated to the local gardening club so that they can reproduce them and distribute the seeds.
I also have not gotten my head around the pea and bean family of plants. But we’re reducing the variety grown, and instead trying to produce enough volume of those plants so as to save seed. It’s complicated, and you’d never want to be in the position of having to consume your seed stock. Nope. That would be a very bad situation.
The weather wasn’t much different here today, although last night was a record breaking October minimum. I’d call it a five blanket night, yup. Cold. Coldest October morning in decades in southeast Australia. There was a little bit of frost on the grass this morning, but fortunately nothing near the fruit trees. I’ve been wondering recently whether the improved soil feeding regime over the past two or three years has improved the fruit trees resiliency to such climate shocks? Dunno. Certainly they are enjoying more phosphates these days, and that is in short supply in the soils down under.
🙂 Nice one, and thanks. That video might not get made. People could get the wrong impression there. The utub audience has a fickle, fickle component to the market. Not sure what to make of it all yet, we’ll see. The next video is on the soil mineral additives.
In life, as in gardening, they do say not to let the perfect get in the way of the acceptable. There are things I know I should do out there, but getting the time to do such work is where things get complicated – which you’d know as well. Did you end up getting the rain? Forgot to mention, other than the super cold start to the day, the weather was glorious (65’F here, but a bit warmer in the big smoke).
You’ve reminded me. I should watch some utub videos to see if there are any tricks to restringing a line trimmer reel. Dunno.
Hehe! It happens, and yeah, we’ve all encountered the frightening monster known as the rigid crusty old timer. Hey, I only found out recently that a good percentage of the population are rule followers by their hard wired nature. Who knew? That was news to me, but it makes sense in a funny kind of way. I would definitely fall into the ‘whatever works’ pile, mostly because in this particular case we’re discussing, it is the outcome which is the important thing to keep in mind. I’ll have a read, but I really should contact Inge directly after clicking on ‘post comment’. Y’all are getting me worried. 🙂
French toast is good, but I’m soft and unused to consuming very fatty foods. Still a person must put aside their weaknesses from time to time in order to undertake such gastronomic journeys – that’s the theory anyway.
So many shops is beyond my comprehension, and I’d probably completely stuff up any job there in that caffeine head office. I’d imagine that there’d be some point where peak complexity is reached, then nobody can really cope with an overview of the day to day workings. Upon reflection, it’s an amazing effort to be able to co-ordinate such a behemoth.
I’ve never read the book, but very much enjoyed the film. It was a tale of warning not to seek such a path, from memory. How does the series stack up to the film?
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – From our “more money than sense” department …
https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/25/style/banana-artwork-maurizio-cattelan-comedian-auction
This is the kind of stuff traded around, in that book on the modern art market, that I read.
I had never really thought about seed saving, and scale, until you mentioned it, awhile back. Again, for me, it comes down to space. I’ve saved seed, off that volunteer tomato. I collected seed from two tomatoes, off the bush. But will only have space to plant two of them. One from each fruit.
I’ll be looking forward to your video, on soil additives. I worked a couple of hours, in the garden last night. I hacked down some fennel, at the request of the Master Gardeners. After harvesting some seed for culinary purposes. No worries about a crop next year. That stuff volunteers all over the place, every year. I thinned the radishes, buried some kitchen scraps, and pulled up the yellow zucchini. Only harvested two 8-10 inch ones. I also dug up two enormous shallots. A couple of years ago, I planted a couple, from the veg store. I thought they’d multiply. Nope. Should have looked into it, a bit more. They been transplanted, once. Now I shall have to see what to do with them. 🙂
Looks like you’re having a bit of weather. 🙂 It started raining, last night. Prof. Mass has a post about it. It also got very windy. Gusts to 33mph. The soul’s of the damned, were howling in the elevator shaft. When I took H out for her midnight stroll, we happened to hit a patch where it wasn’t raining. Sat for awhile and just watched the wind. Odd that. First the leaves blew in one direction, across the sidewalk. Then in the other direction. Back and forth. The high yesterday was 59F (15C). The overnight low was 55F. Forecast for today is 61F.
I see just the opposite, around me. Not many rule followers. More, “the rules don’t apply to me,” as I’m so unique and special. I’m entitled.
Another article about businesses downsizing or going out of business.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/25/business/the-retail-apocalypse-is-back
From my own personal “Well, that was dumb,” department. The winter coat saga, continues. I think I finally found someone to repair the coat. Well, I was taking another look at it, last night, to discover that the piece I thought had broken off, had crawled up the zipper, to the very top. It works just fine.
I’ve had a black cowboy hat, in my closet, for a couple of years. I tried it on, last week, and thought I looked ridiculous. Well, it being Halloween, and all, I wore it down to the Club, last night. Feed-back was overwhelmingly positive, so, I guess I’ll keep it.
My friend Kenna, usually works the counter, Saturdays, from 4-7. Likes it, as it’s usually, a very quit shift. Well, today at 5, the Club is having their Halloween party. Potluck, raffle, etc. etc.. I’ll go down at 4 (in hat), and keep Kenna company, until the critical mass gets too high for my comfort.
“Bread upon the waters.” (See: Bible.) You may remember I found a home for one of the carnivorous plants, to someone at the Club. Well, they brought me two nice chunks of smoked salmon, last night. I figure I can get four meals out of it. Had it with my usual rice and veggie, last night. Now what to do with the rest of it? Maybe, some yogurt dip … with those shallots?
How does the movie of “Interview with the Vampire,” compare to the new series? Well, the movie came out in 1994. The erotic aspects of Lestate and Louie’s relationship, were only really hinted at. In the series, it’s front and center. Although tastefully done. Nothing graphic, other than a lot of snogging between dudes, and all that throat biting. 🙂 Of course, being a series, there’s a heck of a lot more detail. There will be a season three. And, of course, the actors are a lot better in the series. 🙂 . Lew
Hi Lewis,
Yes, yes, but is it art? 😉 People can say what they want, but my perspective is that it is not art. The work just doesn’t speak to me on that level. Hmm, it’s kind of like a stunt to see whether people will accept the thing, but that’s their issue.
Tomato is a self fertile plant so the seed works out to be OK, and that’s mostly why the seeds grow true to type. They do cross though! Always fun. But yeah, I wish it were not so, but genetic drift is a problem for plenty of vegetable species. Back in the day when every household grew at least some vegetables if they had the room, such issues would never have arisen. But growing spaces have become like little genetic islands, and who knows what may eventuate? My gut feeling suggests that the entire issue will sort itself out down the track when households have to get serious about growing at least some of their own edible plants. History in this case is probably a pretty good guide for the future.
Ooo, the video has only just been published. I went with a controversial title just to see what impact that has on the algorithms, but all the same, the message is still very much true. I’ll be interested to hear what you have to say. I didn’t have time to key in the subtitles. Had to mow the property today, and we were both out there zipping around doing just that. We both individually managed to become bogged, although I was on the lighter ride on and could lift the back end of the machine to one side and then drive away. Had to tow the Editors much larger and heavier ride out of the boggy ground, which we did easily enough. The machines are both fun to use, mostly because they’re designed like go-karts so as to be stable on sloping ground.
Fennel is a bit weedy as well as being super reliable. I enjoy munching on the ferny leaves of that plant. It’s got a nice flavour, but not all cultivars are equal and I’ve inadvertently tasted some fennel which wasn’t as good. Do you eat the bulbs? Some cultures use them as a salad green, but the flavour is a bit intense for my palate. Stay strong, and keep those radishes thinned! The seedlings will thank you for your efforts, and also feed you in April, although you can pull the tasty bulbs at any time.
Ooo, that’s interesting. The shallots I’ve experimented with multiplied and produced an abundance of bulbs in a cluster. What’s your take on your lot? My unsolicited suggestion as to what to do with them: Eat them! 😉
Actually today was a superb day, warm, but not too hot. And dry, although there were a few heavy raindrops late this morning which amounted to very little rain. Oh my! Professor Mass suggests that the SE has a probability of experiencing another hurricane. It’s been said before that for those whom the gawds wish to destroy, first they send them mad. The photos of the snow on your peaks looked delightful to me. Lovely stuff.
The wind is likewise gusty here. Overall it is easy to discern where the weather here originated because of the temperature and humidity and how the trees react, but even so, the topography heavily influences the movement of air so it is never a constant. Hope H wasn’t too freaked out?
Man, we’re on the other end of that continuum! The difference being that down here was originally a penal colony, and the waves of culture spread from there. Your lot were escaping European oppression whilst seeking Utopia – whatever that may be. People move down under to fit in, whilst they move to your country to express themselves.
Poop! That’s not good, and it has been my observation that large corporate expansion either requires excessive profits, or cheap mad cash. When either flow slows like a drought, then things get ugly.
Oh no, what’s a dude to do without a decent sewing machine and the knowledge of how to use the thing. It is a saga, yeah. Every dude has a smoking jacket which works for them. I’ve got three winter jackets which I feel lend me a certain extra quantity of mojo. Now, you may muck around with your winter mojo, but I’d strongly advise against such actions, and dare I again mention the baker on the Titanic. He clearly had winter mojo.
Have to laugh, but to my mind there ain’t nothing wrong with a black cowboy hat. Despite a poor visual memory, I’m left with a vague feeling that your hat exudes a certain Walter White flair? Of course, you may recall the blue hat I once had which was too cool for me to wear. The other day I recounted the story as to how that hat ended up in the UK, and a more reserved grey rabbit felt Akubra hat instead. Some mojo is way too potent.
How did you go with the crowd? I’m not much of a fan of crowds either. Way too much stimulation for my brain.
Vampires have long been known as entities which seek their satisfaction first and foremost, so the relationship hardly surprises me. The True Blood series introduced the concept of the sexy vampire, but seriously who wants a snogging partner with such issues? 😉
Cheers and I better get writing. Oh my gawds, it’s almost 8pm and I don’t have a clue as to what to write about. Focus, Chris, focus! 🙂
Chris
Yo, Chris – If I run around, anonymously duct taping bananas to wall, like Banksy, it would be viewed as a prank. 🙂 If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck. Bananas taped to walls neither walk or quack art.
I have not eaten fennel bulbs. Given the odor of the plant, which I quit like, I think they’d be a bit over the top. To me. I just took a look, and there are several interesting looking fennel cookie (biscuit, to you 🙂 recipes.
I have no idea why the shallots didn’t multiply. Given the size they attained, I’d say they were pretty happy, where they were growing. It’s a mystery.
Our high temperature, yesterday, was 61F (16.11C). Our overnight low was 50F. Forecast high for today is 57F. It’s been raining, on and off. The wind doesn’t seem to bother H, at all. She’s not very sensitive, to noise. It’s not her hearing. That’s sharp. All I have to do is whisper “treat,” and her head snaps around.
I have no idea who Walter White is, or what style he pulled off. Maybe that series about the dope making and selling high school teacher? Can’t remember the title.
I only stayed down at the Club, for about an hour. Things were gearing up. I think it was probably a successful party. Someone had brought in about four boxes of stuff for the food pantry. It was tucked out of the way, so, I’ll go down this morning and sort through it all. Just a brief glance and I’d say it’s from the local food bank. There’s quit a bit of produce.
It was a popcorn night, last night. I watched the third, and newest alien invasion movie, “The Quiet: Day One.” That’s the one where the aliens are attracted to sound. Could do with a few of those aliens, around here. It does not end well for people who can’t shut the (insert f-bomb, here.) up. :-). Lew