Break my will

The years go flying by. Wisdom, skills, systems and experience accumulate. Every year, this early part of the growing season presents difficult challenges. We can only do so much around here. When the work on all fronts stacks up in a soul crushing heap, a person is forced to choose. Do you work, lay down in apathy, or be broken by circumstance. I choose to work.

Friday morning we had plans. The demands of the world had other ideas. We worked instead. Life can be like that, and a dude and dudette have to bend with the winds. Every year at this time, there’s usually more work to be done around the property than we have the time for. It’s also a busy period for paid work, and for obvious reasons, that always gets the priority. Plus those pesky bills keep rolling on in. The powers that be, demand their share of flesh. All the same, Sandra and I do occasionally take time out to recharge our oh-so human batteries. Pushing too hard is for folks younger than us. We’ve been there, done that, and gotten the t-shirt.

Other than the hot days on Tuesday and Wednesday, the air has been cool, dry and sunny. The sun’s radiation is now rated as ‘Very High’. You can feel the sting from the afternoon sun on your skin. With the extra solar energy, the plants are growing strongly.

A beautiful sunset on a spring day

With plants growing fast, there’s lot’s to do around here. It begins in the earliest hours of the day. Weeding is one job to be done every day. The sort of weakling annual edible plants we grow, hate competition from the much tougher and hardier weeds. Most mornings, Sandra and I take bucket full loads of weeds to the appreciative chickens. Each day we hit a different location for the work.

My work rounds differ to Sandra’s. Dame Plum the kelpie, and Ollie the gentlemanly Australian pig hunting dog, follow me around the farm on early morning chores. Kitchen scraps need to be taken to the worm farm. Happy worms reside inside the huge tank. Those soil critters munch upon our sewage and kitchen scraps. Sometimes the wormy diet includes the occasional dead chicken or forest creature. The output from the system maintains an all year bright green patch of ground cover plants. All of the animals in the area know that patch of feed and appreciate it. As a thank you, the marsupials show their appreciation by spreading their manure randomly about the property.

Next stop on the journey is the greenhouse. Ollie gets tied up to the adjacent sturdy metal solar panel frame. He patiently sits, whilst the better behaved Dame Plum explores the immediate area. Inside the greenhouse, the raised garden beds need watering. A garden tap (spigot in US parlance) rapidly fills the plastic watering can. In this early stage of the year, a dash of seaweed concentrate gets added to the can so as to speed up the growth of the young plants. It’s hard to believe that the three raised beds each require only 20 Litres (about 5 gallons) of water per day. A person on finite reserves of tank water, is by nature conservative with resources and systems.

Space inside the greenhouse is limited. Weeds have no place inside there. They get pulled and chucked outside onto the grass. But back inside the greenhouse, the alert observer would note that with each year, the plants are spaced wider apart. Such changes are a journey…

Dame Plum admires the spacing of tomato seedlings

With the greenhouse done, the dogs and I move downhill into the nearby large citrus and vegetable enclosure. Once inside the enclosure, the two dogs can run around and can be observed upside down wiggling around, legs in the air, delighting in the fresh grass. There are four rows of potatoes growing now, each of a different variety. At the moment, the King Edward potatoes are producing the largest vines, but it’s hard to know what is actually going on under the ground. This year an experiment is taking place, and new soil is being regularly hilled up against the vines. Far from being troubled, the plants are responding well to the treatment. Piles of purchased compost mix at one end of each of the four rows supplies this resource. An aluminium scoop is used to move the soil from the piles to the plants. Backwards and forwards I move along each of the rows examining each of the plants in turn.

Nine weeks after planting, the potato plants are growing strongly

The potato plants have not yet been watered all season. However, the row of radishes and the other row of sugar beets, do have to be watered daily. There’s no water tap in that enclosure, and that lack is a job which is on the to-do list. It’s just not done yet! So, back and forth I go between the greenhouse tap and the enclosure carrying the water. So far the plants in the two rows seem to be doing OK with a mere 10L (2.5 gallons) each of water daily.

One of the citrus trees, a grapefruit, has some sort of curly leaf disease. The sick tree needs a special daily drink of the seaweed enhanced water. As does the now recovering young seedling chestnut. More buckets of interesting smelling water get carried around the farm. The dogs obediently trail along.

From there it’s back uphill to the chicken enclosure. That needs to be cleaned daily. The bedding and laying straw is topped up, whilst the manure is removed to the chicken run. Chickens are alert creatures and they closely watch the chook bucket of edible kitchen scraps, oats and milk, whilst trying to guess where it will be upturned. Grain feed gets chucked onto the ground. The water is cleaned. And the super pit in the chicken run, gets re-dug.

By this time, both Ollie and Plum are becoming bored despite the many opportunities to chase and be teased by the magpies. Yet there’s still more to do. The recently planted ferns require watering, this time from a hose. In future years, they’ll be hardy enough not to need the additional watering, like this lot of ferns:

Well established ferns dominate this steep soil embankment

The morning loop is almost completed. Some days the micro sprinklers on the raised kitchen garden beds are switched on. I’ve learned the hard way that an alarm has to be set as a reminder to switch them off again. Those productive garden beds adjacent to the kitchen are also on water rations, like all the plants here. Five minutes of watering is usually enough.

With the loop now done, it’s back in the kitchen where breakfast gets made, dogs are fed, and a loaf of bread is prepared. There’s usually other work too. Some days that means baking a batch of Anzac biscuits. The work could just as easily be a batch of toasted muesli getting chucked in the oven. Or a tub of yoghurt needing to be started. Only then do I eat breakfast, read the news of the day, and look forward to the lovely comments posted overnight.

Then the work day starts! Is it to be paid work, infrastructure, maintenance, or the day off? That’s usually planned well ahead, but still, things can go wrong, just like last Friday. Candidly, we’re doing better this year than in previous years at juggling all the various activities at this busy time of the growing season. What’s had to give recently, is the infrastructure work around the farm. But this week we did manage to pour another step on the new concrete staircase project.

The sixth step was poured on this new concrete stair project

With the weather warm-ish and dry, we spent a day splitting, hauling and stacking firewood. The old firewood shed is rapidly beginning to fill.

The old firewood shed is rapidly beginning to fill

On another day, a trailer load of err, soil like compost mixture, whatever that actually is, was purchased. A power wheelbarrow was then used to lug the materials around the farm to where they are needed.

A trailer load of soil like compost material was purchased

Loads were deposited at the end of each of the potato rows.

The potato vines are really enjoying their hilling up

Other garden enclosures are not looking as neat! But then some of those are yet to be planted out, such as the pumpkin enclosure. In that instance, the actions of the weeds will be beneficial since we are yet to practice proper crop rotation with those plants. That’ll be a job for a future year. Weeds can to some small degree replicate the beneficial soil processes of allowing a patch of land to go fallow.

The pumpkin enclosure has become very weedy, which may be a good thing

That enclosure will be cleaned up of weeds over the next week or two, then planted out.

It’s worthwhile mentioning that we’ve harvested the second form of fruit for the season (the first being the Alpine Strawberries). A ripe Babaco (an allegedly cold tolerant mountain papaya) was picked from the bush. It tastes like lemon sorbet to my palate.

The Babaco produced a very yummy fruit

And a few months ago we chose to stop purchasing Cavendish bananas due to the frequent discovery of fungus. Instead we now buy the more expensive lady finger variety. Yeah, well that’s not working out so great either. This morning we discovered that they can have the dreaded fungus as well:

A lady finger banana with a nasty looking fungus

The fruit on the many trees are continuing to gain size.

These Plums are getting larger each week
It may well be a good apple season

During the daytime, the air is humming with insect activity. Fortunately the bees seem to be mostly harmless.

The hard pruning of these Blackberry canes looks like it will pay dividends

This week’s video shows an update on the potatoes planted nine weeks ago, discussed the subject: ‘what is compost’, and mentions crop rotation practices.

Onto the flowers:

An Azalea enjoys the shade of this large Rosemary bush
The Rhododendrons are spectacular
This Daisy has gone feral!
Bearded Irises have finally flowered
The garden beds are full of cottage flowers like this Granny’s Bonnet
Sometimes the rare Plum flower hides in garden beds

The temperature outside now at about 10am is 20’C (68’F). So far for last year there has been 780.8mm (30.7 inches) which is up from last weeks total of 779.6mm (30.7 inches)

45 thoughts on “Break my will”

  1. Hi Chris,

    Yes, plans do need to be changed at times. I changed my routine for the day to complete preparing the bed for the garlic and the potato onions as well as to plant the garlic. Tomorrow I’ll change my routine to plant as many of the potato onions as I have time to plant before it gets dark enough to interfere with planting, around 4:30pm. And whatever are left to plant will be planted on Thursday. After that, I begin the winter gardening work of pruning and otherwise cleaning up.

    I mentioned the 8.5 inches of rain last week. We got another inch of rain on Saturday. But this morning was sunny and quite warm for this time of year (high of 70F), and tomorrow will be sunny as well, so it’s good planting weather. It’s as late as I can plant in autumn to give them a good start on root growing before the weather gets too cold.

    We still haven’t had a frost. Tuesday morning might get close, but no danger of frost otherwise through next Sunday morning. I think our latest first frost in autumn is around 23 November. We could break the record this year, the way things are going.

    You aren’t the only person who received news of a sharp increase in their homeowners insurance. We got our yearly bill yesterday. It’s up 16% over last year! Once planting is done, I’ll have a talk with our agent to get it back down. The thing is, if it’s lowered it’ll be because we’ll get poorer service, like increasing our deductible so we pay more out of pocket or don’t call the insurance company at all. But that’s decline for you. I have to deal with it but I don’t have to like it.

    Claire

  2. Yo, Chris – Why is it some tasks in life, make you feel put-upon, and other tasks you’d rather do (that put food on the table more directly), always seem in conflict. Why, oh, why does are yearly apartment inspections, seem to fall right around harvest time? And my yearly recertification, for housing, falls right around spring planting?

    My you do have a pressing round of tasks. But I know what it’s like, on a much, much smaller scale. Walk the dog, three times a day. Make sure I’ve got a couple of doggie poop bags, shoved in my back pocket. Make the fruit and oatmeal, every third day, and get it on the table, every day. And the constant wash, wash, wash of dishes. Vitamins to lay out, dental floss to have close at hand. Tea to brew. Is there enough tea bags, close to hand, or is it time to dig into the stores in the pantry? Is it time to send off for another bulk purchase? How’s the oatmeal and dried cranberries, holding up? Well, you get the idea.

    Your potatoes are really looking good. It will be interesting to see what comes out of the ground. Sure, the pumpkin enclosure looks a bit ragged, but, it’s resting. And, those weed’s roots will aerate the soil.

    Oh, gosh, the banana fungus looks awful. So far, we’ve been lucky, and it hasn’t arrived. But I’m sure it’s a “not if, but when” situation. And I still don’t have a clue as to a substitute. Nutritionally, I guess mangos might work. But we only see them canned, here.

    Your fruit crop looks promising. Maybe you won’t have to buy any apples out of cold store, this year.

    The iris is a real beauty. And the Granny’s Bonnet looks really interesting. I’ll have to ask the Master Gardeners, when they come tomorrow, if we have any about. It looks familiar, in a different color.
    That picture of Plum is just super.

    Tomorrow is a minor holiday. Veteran’s Day. Mark’s the end of WWI, but is not a more general appreciation of veterans, in general. No postie, or banks open, tomorrow. Weather looks pretty iffy, and we may get some wind. Lew

  3. Hi Claire,

    🙂 The future does belong to the flexible and fleet of foot, yup. Interesting. Did you know that down here the old timers used to say in relation to planting out garlic cloves: Plant them on the shortest day, and harvest on the longest day. Mind you, like your example, I’d tend to get them in the ground in May (your November) when there is at least some soil warmth. Did you end up feeding the soil in those beds before planting out, or is there enough fertility in the soil in that location?

    It’s funny you say that about the sun setting (or making it hard to work outside) at such an early hour now that you’re getting closer to winter. Years ago for some odd reason, I used to believe that we got more work done outside during the winter months, but that’s simply not true. With warmer weather you can start much earlier.

    Speaking of such things, we continued to thin the flower garden beds today and removed a large wormwood shrub. The work is being done to remove housing opportunities for rabbits. A big job, and it was hot hard work. Lot’s of dead woody material with that plant. The aim in future is to keep the plants in the garden beds relatively low, with no woody shrubs. The old cottage gardens were in some ways quite practical on that front, and it is a matter I’d not previously considered.

    Not much rain, then one heck of a lot. 😉 Seems to be the way things are rolling down here as well. Did you find much moisture in the soil today given the late season warmth? It was positively monsoonal looking this afternoon. Thick black clouds lurked overhead at one point, but no rain fell – that’ll happen tomorrow.

    You might break that late first frost record. I suspect that you are enjoying weather which previously was far to the south of where you are.

    It’s no good those sorts of increases, and now I question every single bill. And there is a new development on that front, which I’ll probably write about next week. It’s outrageous. Anywhoo… Well worth your time making the call, and of course, that’s the answer. The thing we discovered was that your concept of how a claim would be processed, may not be how things work out in reality. That’s a question worth asking too – how does it all work. Down here, there are agents, but generally people interact directly with the insurer. A higher excess (deductible in your language) also assures the nice insurer that you won’t pester them with minor claims. I get that.

    The phone call I’d have to suggest, has a very good rate of return. As do they all. How households where both adults are working full time jobs manage this administration is a question which bothers me.

    Cheers

    Chris

  4. Hi Lewis,

    Work, of course is always something of a mixed bag when it comes to fulfilling the many obligations which we all face as active members of a society. I’ve had people tell me with a straight face that work should always be enjoyable, and that is a belief system which I don’t quite understand. Candidly I’m not even sure where the idea was first inserted into our culture? A mystery. The facts suggest that the idea is nonsensical. Work is work. Sometimes in order to stop such unusual beliefs I may say something silly like: What? Have you been smoking drugs or something like that? Tends to shut the conversation down.

    Yes, and your observation is also true. Managing the flow of tasks can occasionally be like the metaphorical herding of the cats. Rarely is our convenience taken into account. The forces of bureaucracy are strong master! 🙂 Far out! Spare a thought for the Editor who has to go into the licensing office tomorrow to uncover and correct the absent bill silliness. As an incidental side note, I casually mentioned this hustle to someone today, and they’d been caught by it and fined. Hmm.

    And isn’t that the situation? It takes a lot of time and effort to live on the cheap! I absolutely agree with you, and get the idea.

    The traffic up here in this usually quiet mountainous road was feral today. There were cars everywhere. Turns out in one of the nearby towns there was an horrific truck smash involving a kindergarten. The usual main road was closed and so and all the cars were sent up over this part of the mountain range so as to bypass the accident. Truthfully the dirt roads here were never intended to handle so many vehicles. When I saw the volume of cars, I just knew something really bad had occurred for the road to be closed.

    It’ll be interesting to see if the additional attention all those potato vines are receiving will produce dividends. Dunno really. Every winter I let that sapling fenced pumpkin enclosure turn to weeds. It’s not really ideal to plant the same species of edible plants in the same soil for years on end. But time and resources are limited, and so you do what you can.

    This morning, Ollie and I spotted a rabbit inside that enclosure, and so the job of thinning out the woody vegetation in the garden beds continued today. A monster wormwood shrub was growing next to an apple tree, and so the woody shrub was completely removed. Man, the work took hours to complete, and by the end, let’s just say that there were some regrets with planting the wormwoods. Regrets, I’ve had a few… 🙂 Still, the areas will be far easier to maintain in the future, and I’m coming around to comprehending the wisdom of all those delightful annual cottage garden plants. Hmm.

    Like potatoes, there’s a lot of goodness in bananas, but man, I’m seeing that fungus more often nowadays. The farms could probably benefit from resting the soils from those heavy feeding plants, but who can afford to do that for a few years? Crop rotation is very necessary. Mangoes are common enough down here when in season, but they grow way up north of the continent.

    It’s funny you mention that, but we’ve begun chucking around the idea of a root cellar for storing such produce. Other than that, I could only consume apples in season, and then for a little while afterwards. Or preserve them in some form, like canning, sauces, drying, cider etc.

    Irises are really attractive flowers, and there may even be a blue one in the plants growing here! 🙂 Oh yeah, Granny’s bonnets come in all sorts of colours too, so it’ll be interesting to hear what the master gardeners have to say.

    Dame Plum sends cordial tail wags, and greetings to H!

    It was remembrance day here today, when back in the day, all those years ago, all became quiet on the western front. No public holiday for us though, that day of general appreciation is reserved for Anzac day. The vets do it tough.

    Did the wind pick up? It’s glorious here, although late afternoon thick black clouds loomed overhead. Looked monsoonal, which is what you’d expect for this time of year. The rain held off today, but is forecast to arrive tomorrow and Wednesday.

    Not to put too fine a point upon it, but DNA tests are probably a bit like soil tests here in that they’re super expensive. 🙂 Those crime investigator shows set up poor expectations for people faced with the realities of lab work. Dude, there’s an awful lot of houses nestled around that volcano. But yeah, it could happen again.

    Oh, I’d never heard of the term ‘stocking cap’ before, and down here, that’s a normal run of the mill woollen hat. Super toasty. Ah well, unfortunately that is a side effect of synthetic fibres. You may have heard the old school story about how frost bitten ears don’t grow back? 😉 Ah, those sleeping bag jackets are what we’d call a puffer jackets – and I’ve never owned one. They do seem rather popular, but possibly don’t get too close to a heater, just sayin’! Leather work gloves are a necessity here, but it just doesn’t get cold enough to need them here otherwise. Your winter weather doesn’t sound too extreme to me for gloves either. When I did the paper rounds as a kid, I preferred the fingerless gloves, but the news ink would stain.

    Thanks! Did you know that down here, those two products are usually not separated? I’d not known that you could purchase blood and bone meal separately. Hmm. Go H! Dogs…

    Good to hear that you are feeling more or less back to normal today. 🙂 And that’s funny, but also true.

    Bait and switch is an old strategy, sorry to say. Thanks for the link, and that hardly sounds to me like: Do no harm…

    Well, I believe the brand reduction process is a result of new competitors to your market who use such strategies of providing fewer options and choices to their customers, yet keeping the prices lower. The thing is, such shifts put some people out of work.

    🙂 Dodge that umbrella wielding, although they’d make a handy weapon. Nobody wants to suffer from a case of mistaken identity if that’s the possibility.

    Whoa, a $38 pizza would have to be pretty good. It’s almost shameful for the makers, hearing that review.

    How do you feel about film characters breaking the fourth wall? I’ve seen that, and it didn’t feel right to me, and in fact upset the overall arc of the narrative. There’s the hard question: Are we watching a film to be entertained with a decent narrative, or are the actors and script writers instead commenting upon the industry?

    Good to hear that the travel didn’t dominate the series of essays. Although, an author could intertwine the concepts of food and travel? I’ve seen that done, and the story was good.

    Forgot to add this week’s video to the blog… Oops…

    Cheers

    Chris

  5. Yo, Chris – I saw an interesting article, in our AARP magazine. About lowering household expenses by doing the same thing you did with your telco and insurance company. I don’t know if you’ll be able to link to it, or not. They’ve got layers of security, but, I’m a member, so I managed to wade through it all. Might be something in here you hadn’t considered.

    https://www.aarp.org/publications/magazines/aarp-the-magazine-october-november-2024/page24/

    So, the poor Editor has to go do battle with the bureaucracy? Did she draw the short straw? Lose the coin flip? 🙂

    Of course, I think jobs can swing to the other extreme. When I worked for the crazy woman, out at our Yelm library, her philosophy seemed to be that people shouldn’t have fun at all, nor be too comfortable. Sure. There are tasks to be done, and some are onerous. But tasks can be made lighter. Maybe through shifts in attitude (you only have to do it once / there is an end.) Or, as simple as “many hands make the work lighter, and go faster.”

    Every once in awhile, I know there’s been a wreck out on I-5. As the detour for all that freeway traffic, is right through town. When one 18 wheeler after another, rolls down Market Street, you know something bad has happened.

    One of the caregivers mentioned to me, this morning, that she makes biscuits for her dogs, out of pumpkin. She’s going to bring me a recipe.

    LOL. I’ve been suggesting, for years, that you need a root cellar / fire shelter. You know. Something to occupy your spare time. 🙂 There was an article, last night, about a fellow whose house survived a wildfire, down in California. One of the few in his neighborhood.

    https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/10/us/california-fire-fireproof-home-fire-resistant

    The forecast for today is 54F (12.22C). The overnight low was 48F. Forecast for today is 55F. We didn’t get any of the forecast wind. There’s been rain, on and off, but I’ve managed to mostly dodge it.

    The Master Gardeners didn’t show, this morning. I got a text that they might be here, next week. I forget that they all have gardens of their own, to take care of. Some quit extensive. I managed to get another variety of garlic in, this morning. I don’t know how it will do. The garlic was a little on the soft side. But, before planting, I tossed in a bit of good garden soil, some bone meal, and a bit of composted chicken manure. I also did a bit of weeding, and pulled out one of the tomato plants. Prepared a plot, for the last variety of garlic. Maybe, this afternoon. I’m seeing worms. Always a good sign. I think the rain is bringing them closer to the surface.

    There’s a German outfit, called The Max Planck Institute, that has been on the cutting edge of DNA research, for years. They seem to be the go-to for archaeological DNA testing. They’ve uncovered some amazing things.

    My jacket is a bit puffy, but not as puffy as some I’ve seen. Maybe the stuffing has compacted, over the years. Some make the wearer look like the Michelin Man. Or, the Pillsbury Dough Boy. 🙂

    Usually, breaking the 4th wall doesn’t bother me. It’s not done, too often. And, it seemed right, for the “Dead Pool / Wolverine” movie. It was a lot of fun, and was poking fun at itself, and the genre in general.

    I read another essay in the food book. It did sort of combine food and travel. A young woman was invited to New Orleans, for Madi Gras. But was sort of taken in by a family, and the festival she experienced was not the tourist stuff, but more as a native of New Orleans would experience it. And, there was food galore.

    I thought your day long odyssey, was perhaps an explanation as to why there was no video. 🙂

    I saw the night manager, the other day. He had a few tidbits of information. I mentioned the hot water doesn’t seem to have quit the pressure and heat, as in past. Weeeel. There’s a leak in one of the couplings. (O ring?) . And the guy who can fix it, is out hunting. Tis the season. Also, the reason we didn’t get a second food box wasn’t because the big truck was broke down. It was because there just wasn’t enough food.

    There’s also a rumor going round, that the HUD inspection will be put off til after the first of the year. Maybe.

    You worked in a shoe factory. You might find this article about a US shoe company, and tariffs, interesting.

    https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/08/economy/steve-madden-china-trump-tariffs

    And, that’s all the news that’s fit to print. Other than an article on “Doom Spending.” But I’ll save that, for tomorrow. Lew

  6. @Pam

    Thanks for the kind words. My sisters, particularly one of them are also helping out with Marty which makes things easier.

    Margaret

  7. Hi Chris,

    I have a 35 gallon tank on which I can attach a hose. I load it on the gator, fill it up and off we go. It’s helpful particularly for individual plants. I used it for the new asparagus and trees.

    The nursing home Marty’s seems so much better. He’s busy yakking it up with other residents and taking part in activities. We have no idea how long he’ll be there – several weeks I think. I mentioned to Pam that two of my sisters are helping out particularly my sister, Nora. She’s always done quite a bit. However she’s off on a trip in a couple weeks and then is in Florida January through March during which time he’ll most likely be moving.

    There is big news at the Nygren wetland preserve that I’ve mentioned in the past. A couple of the endangered WhoopinCranes have landed there. The Natural Land Institute which oversees the preserve has asked that people stop posting pictures and location until they’ve passed through as they will draw crowds of birders which disturbs the cranes. We’ll see if people heed that. Usually that preserve is quite quiet with few visitors at a time. It’s also large, over 750 acres. I was already planning to go there on Friday as the weather will be nice for this time of year.

    The potato plants look great so hopefully all is well below ground.

    Margaret

  8. Hi Margaret,

    Your comment brings back such nice memories. When the old farm machine repair dude was in the land of the living, I turned up to his business one day, and he had one of those 6 x 6 gator’s for sale second hand. You have to understand that such machines are rarely seen down here, and it was a John Deere with a 21hp motor. Who even knew such beasts were made? The temptation was there for the purchase, but cooler heads prevailed. For sure, that beast could haul a 35 gallon tank of water effortlessly.

    Yeah, asparagus does enjoy a drink of water, but mostly the fruit trees here rarely, if ever, require additional watering. I reckon you’ll find that your asparagus plants require less water as the years go on. They have very deep root systems – I’ve had to dig out a few of those plants out over the years, and that job took the electric jackhammer with a clay spade. The job began with a shovel! Err, no – didn’t work.

    Go Marty! Glad to hear that despite his recent fall, he’s landed on his feet, and is now enjoying himself in the new digs.

    Margaret, frankly speaking, the tropical weather is not such a great draw, and I much prefer the cooler environments, despite the downsides of such places. Everyone is different in that regard though. We’ve travelled up in the tropics, and you have a shower, get into clean clothes, and before you know it, you’re sweating again! One of those experiences which is a mystery to me. 🙂

    Oh my, hope the twitchers stay away and leave the endangered birds well alone. That’s a decent sized preserve and would probably discourage the vast majority of such folk, maybe. My gut feeling is that they won’t be a problem due to the necessity to hike in there via uncertain paths.

    You might be interested to learn that those nature reserves I mentioned recently are mostly frequented by locals, and even then like what you said, we rarely see other people. Such places are rarely set up for massed tourism, and the inconvenience arising from that discourages such results. Still, we could be wrong.

    There’s an element of the ‘collector’ mindset to the twitcher community. Hmm.

    Cheers

    Chris

  9. Hi Lewis,

    Alas, the article was behind a paywall. Oh well… I must say, the Editor headed into the roads office today to sort out the mess and was informed that the annual bill is now described as a ‘courtesy reminder’. Hmm, an intriguing use of the English language and inversion of the culture. Can’t say that I’m impressed.

    Rest assured, no short straws were drawn, the bill was in her name, they wouldn’t have spoken to me about the matter, but at a wild guess, I reckon they’d have taken the payment from me.

    Some places of employment are like that, and all we can but hope is to avoid them, then walk away before we discover the meaning of ‘wits end’! Never a good place to hang out at, yeah. I can’t really say for sure how such minds as those you wrote about tick, but I suspect that there is a deep and barely hidden longing in there for a: ‘master – slave’ relationship, and you know which side of that equation, we’d unfortunately be on. It’s been my experience that such bosses aren’t interested in having well run teams. If they were a war lord, we’d be cannon fodder.

    Pumpkin is I believe very good for dogs and their err, rear glands. Take it from me, that stuff has lot’s of fibre. 🙂 We bake dog brekkie mix and also make dog biscuits, plus they get the modified Anzac biscuits (the ones without the dried grapes which we call down here sultanas). Top up the brekkie mix with a bit of purchased kibbles, and the dogs are happy canines. I’ll be interested to hear what H has to say on the matter.

    On that note, we discovered today that the big bags of dog food kibbles are $20 cheaper at the big box hardware for a 18kg / 40 pound bag. Makes me wonder if it’s the same stuff. Of course it could be a strategy of price leadership? They’re new into bulk pet food supplies market, I believe.

    Yeah, you got me there, and you are of course totally correct. You have been making the root cellar suggestion for many years. I hear you, everything here just takes time and effort. 🙂

    Thanks for the link to the fire resistant building article, and we went way beyond those points. You’d be amazed at the details and effort. The only way we could afford to construct the small house, was to build it ourselves. I had plans to kick back and relax you know! Didn’t work out so well. The thing is, I simply don’t know whether it will all work, but may get to find out.

    Interesting, did you know that winters here also seem to display little difference between the daytime and night-time temperatures? There’s just no real energy from that big fusion ball in the sky. The direction and origin of the winds at that time of year kind of sets the temperature moods! A little bit of rain fell here today, although storms ventured both north and south of the mountain range.

    I was wondering about the clove as well, because if it is soft, maybe it won’t take. Still, you’ve gotta be in it, to win it, and who knows, the garlic plant might kick off. Glad to hear that you managed to find space for all of the different varieties – they do taste differently too.

    It is pretty awesome that there were lots of worms in the soil. Agreed, that’s a great sign.

    The Michelin Man can’t be forgotten once seen, but what the heck is the Pillsbury Dough Boy? You’ve intrigued me. Looks an awful lot like Gozer the Gozerian, in destructor form. 🙂

    The trailer for the Wolverine Deadpool film looked like a lot of fun. Witty repartee between the characters as well.

    Tourists rarely become immersed in a local culture, possibly for the reason that the locals have lives to live and get on with. Also, it’s a big responsibility for a family to take on board a person in that situation and invite them along to all of the goings on, and also risk embarrassment in the local community should the newcomer stuff up. Although, possibly my introvert tendencies are being expressed there? Dunno. How good would the food in that corner of your country be? Total yummo!

    Hehe! Nah, I just forgot to add in the video this week. Oops. But yeah, doing too many activities may explain that lack! Speaking of which I worked on paid work today, and again finished very late. Me yawning, which is no reflection on your good self, just more of a lack of sleep on mine.

    Far out! Oh well, the dude probably goes out hunting so as to have a good excuse to keep the phone on silent. Like fishing. As a strategy, it’d work. Very funny too, and I do only hope that they fix the system up.

    Even better. When delays are a good thing! 🙂

    Yeah, economists hate tariffs. But I tell you truly, when tariffs were in place, we used to make shoes down under. And they weren’t that expensive. Economists are full of dog poop, and probably fear for their own jobs. If the average person were so worried about the climate, pollution and stuff, they’d say the end of fast fashion is a good thing, wouldn’t they? Wouldn’t they? 😉 People who live in vast areas of your country which have high under employment, probably can’t afford all that cheap imported stuff anyway, so why would they even care if affluent areas suddenly struggle making ends meet?

    Pray do tell, what is doom spending? Is that like constructing bunkers over in New Zealand, or something like that?

    Cheers

    Chris

  10. Yo, Chris – So did you rush off to view (and smell), the corpse flower, that bloomed in Geelong? You probably missed it. Only blooms for two or three days. It does look like something from a planet, far, far away.

    Sorry about the paywall. Well, I suppose, they get their political clout (substantial), due to number of subscribers. A few years ago, I noticed that when I’d get renewal notices, the longer I held out, the lower the price. 🙂

    “Courtesy reminder?” Sounds like weasel words, to me.

    The forecast for today is 53F (11.66C). The overnight low was 46F. Forecast for today is 52F. Another high wind warning, for this evening. They’ve got to get it right, sooner or later. Prof. Mass is explaining King Tides, today.

    There was a clear patch, about an hour and a half before sunset. I got the last of the garlic in. I first dug in some bone meal, good garden soil, and a bit of composted chicken poo. There were worms, in it! The last variety was also a bit soft, but not as bad as the previous batch. Buried a bag of kitchen scraps. Finished cleaning out the tomatoes.

    I ran across a nice little blank book, that came from who knows where. I did a few observations on our fall weather, and, different global weather weirdness. I also drew little maps of where I planted the garlic, and which varieties, they were. I had the odd thought that a hundred years from now, maybe someone will run across it. And think, “This is what it was like, on the ground, when “it” all began.” More likely will end its life in a landfill, somewhere.

    Well, last night, for dinner, I had rice and garbanzo beans. Garlic, parsley, mustard greens and some dried tomatoes, out of the garden. After nuking it for 10 minutes, I splashed on some cider vinegar. Had a little feta cheese left. A couple of dollops of plane yoghurt. Wow! Surprised myself, at how tasty it was.

    I thought the first “Ghostbusters” movie, had the Pillsbury Dough Boy. But, no, it was the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. I’m sure they’re first cousins. 🙂

    A daughter of the New Orleans family, and the essay writer, had been friends, for years. And the family warmly welcomed her in.

    It was interesting, about the tariff article, that in theory, tariffs are sort of to drive factory jobs back to these shores. But in reality, they just go to other countries, with cheap labor costs and lower tariffs. Duh.

    As promised, Doom spending.

    https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/10/business/doom-spending-wellness

    Well, whatever floats your boat. I ran some errands, this morning. bought a new pair of jean like pants. A trip to the veg store, for the usual bananas and apples. Stopped into the Club for a cuppa, and a good chin wag. Last night, I ran up to the regular grocery store, which I do about once a month. To get the few items that I can’t get at the more warehouse store, or, dollar + store. Since last I was there, it changed owners. I didn’t notice any changes. It’s pretty expensive, in general. But I did find some 8oz, Swiss cheese, that was on special for less than $3 a pack. I grabbed three.

    An interesting article from the world of art. And, Banksy.

    https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/11/style/italy-banksy-warhol-picasso-forgeries

    Yikes! I’m glad I don’t play in that ballpark. Lew

  11. Chris,

    Ugg! I was wrong. About the source of the smoke we had. It was from CURRENT prescribed fires in Idaho. Things like slash piles and wheat fields that were undergoing their annual burning. They are NOT supposed to burn if the wind changes to blow the smoke towards Spokane, Boise, or other larger areas. This, of course, is ignored. A storm system arrived Sunday evening which scoured out the smoke. More rain scheduled throughout the week.

    Ya know, back in 2016, I actually received 3 votes for President of the USA. Seriously. It is legal to write in the name of a candidate if that person is not listed on the ballot. So my friend, his wife and their son all wrote in my name for President. 3 votes. I didn’t win. A year later I was elected president of the carving club. I think the carving presidency is a much more prestigious position.

    I perused the article on the culturally modified trees. I enjoyed it and learned a lot. Fascinating stuff.

    Once when I was younger, maybe 17 or so, I had this idea. We had 2 outdoor thermometers in the back yard, the north facing part of yard. One was attached to the wooden back porch and was about 2 meters from the kitchen window and outside door. That part of the house was always heated in the winter. The other was outside my windows, maybe 4 meters from the house in the grape arbor. That end of the house wasn’t heated much, and I rarely heated my room at all. Yes, during the winter there was a noticeable difference between what the 2 thermometers showed. My thought was to add 2 or 3 more thermometers to that yard, record all of the temperatures maybe every 2 hours day and night, see if I could calculate a temperature gradient. It was the long Christmas break from school AND we were having a lengthy Arctic cold snap. It didn’t happen. I chose to sleep at night.

    Banana fungus. In a picture. It has been a few years since we had bananas with the fungus.

    Goo job with the potatoes. Let’s hope under the soil is doing as well as above the soil. It’s a lot of work which usually turns out.

    The flowers are gorgeous. I especially appreciated the daisies and the Plum flower. 😉

    DJSpo

  12. Hi Chris,

    I had a chuckle at your comment about needing an alarm when turning on the sprinklers. I’ve wasted a lot of tank water in previous years when I’ve forgotten to turn off a tap – I made a bracelet from electrical wire that sits over the tap and I put on when I turn on the tap. I’ve realised that if I leave the hose anywhere, even for 10 seconds, I can get distracted and forget 😉

    Last year we got a new (to us) kitchen fridge. We’ve kept the old fridge and it’s now a fruit/beer fridge (in that order). We don’t run it over night, so it warms up a bit, but when there’s lots of fruit in it it only reaches about 10 deg C, which is still good as a cool-room. In Adelaide, ground temperature is about 18 deg C, which is pretty marginal for a root cellar (though I’ve thought about it!)

    I did a bit of testing with my little off-grid 12V system recently, and I think it can run our kitchen fridge pretty much indefinitely. The main limitation is that the start up current of the fridge is really too large for the 650W inverter (power peaks at about 1400W, which I think could affect longevity of the inverter), but it means that we can run the fridge during a blackout. My plan is to start running some of the lighting from the 12V inverter

    Trees are going well – we’ve harvested our first loquats which are tasty and should eventually bridge the gap between citrus and stone fruit. I think we’re gonna have a huge plum harvest this year, and I’m very hopeful for macadamias. It’s pretty nice having home grown macadamias and walnuts on brekkie!

    Cheers, Gus

  13. Hello Chris, Gus,

    Reading Gus’ comment about home-harvested macadamias make me drool of envy. I would almost consider moving to a mediterranean climate zone just to be able to grow macadamias. A handful times per year I cough up the mad cash and get a pound or so of roasted, salted macadamias.
    I laud the trees I sell with the most excellent hazelnuts and delicious walnuts, but I never tell paying customers that I would rather eat macs. Don’t tell anyone… 😉 On the other hand, if I could eat them all the time, maybe that too would grow old? I will probably never know.

    Your tree-trove may look like gold bars to the milling inclined?
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-11-12/australian-hardwood-timber-prices-double-wa-native-forestry-ban/104573916?utm_source=abc_news_web&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_web&utm_content=link
    Here in Sweden, the rotations of spruce are around 50-70 years and oak more than 100.

    I had a strange experience this week. I visited our national parliament and talked to some elected people. I asked for their views on the overshoot situation and the fact that Sweden missed all environmental goals that were set in 2000 for 2020, from eutrophication to poisoning the rivers.
    They could only blame their political opponents and ex- and soon-to-be-president T, and say that the Paris agreement is gone.
    Asking, what we should do next, they just came back to their next week’s meetings and debates about this or that.
    The main focus seems to be on the ritual, not on the content.
    Friendly, charming people. Some of them seem to work long hours.

    Back on the farm, work is hard but never pointless.

    Peace,
    Göran

  14. Hi Gus,

    Always a pleasure to be in good company! And far out, isn’t that trick so easy to do. 🙂 Hey, that’s a good idea too. Hmm, it is so easy to get distracted. Have to fess up that two weeks ago I left a tap on, but with the hose nozzle in the closed position. The connector joint leaked a bit and the error wasn’t discovered until the following day by the noise of the water pump. Lost well over a thousand litres of water. Oh well, that garden bed enjoyed a deep watering.

    Good stuff, and respect. The machines are quite well insulated aren’t they, and as long as door remains closed, the heat exchange is not all that fast.

    I agree with you, and even here, which is colder again, the average soil temperature is too high for a decent root cellar. A year or two ago I read a book on the subject, which as you’d imagine has origins in the US, and they enjoyed winter soil temperatures of 4’C, which is basically an energy free refrigerator. Like your overnight refrigerator idea, a root cellar will slow the inevitable rather than put a halt to the activities of entropy.

    You know, I’ve trialled some of those large 12V camping refrigerators which use thermoelectric devices and a fan, and you’d be amazed at how efficient they are. But regardless, refrigerators as you note have a decent start up current, then a very low ongoing current.

    Ook! Alas, I wish you’d mentioned this matter a few months ago. Recently, the inverter manufacturer Latronics up in Queensland closed down production. They still do repairs and servicing, but no new units are being made. Dude, they had a clearance sale of old stock sorry to say, and I picked up a 12V 1kW and a 48V 3.5kW continuous pure sine wave inverter on the cheap, but the peak is far higher for both units.

    At a wild guess, your inverter might be OK. The peak start up current is reached very quickly, then rapidly subsides. If the machine has a cooling fan, you can test the theory by listening to how long the fan runs following the refrigerator compressor starting. And check the inverter for prolonged warmth – that’s a give away too.

    The cheapie land-of-stuff inverters I’ve had experience with are buzzy sounding and produce a bit of RF noise, which suggests to me that the electrolytic capacitors are too cheap for the task. They could be replaced with better quality components, and the thing would probably have a huge life span. 🙂

    Out of curiosity, and if you don’t mind geeking it up with me, what inverter are you talking about? Lights are easy work for an inverter.

    Stop it! 🙂 Hehe! Now I’m super envious. Loquats are a very tasty fruit, but the trees take so long to produce flowers and fruit. They do fill that gap well those trees. Strawberries will also fill that niche as they use chemicals to produce the aromas and flavour rather than sugars. Home grown Macadamia’s are a real breakfast treat. Yum! By way of comparison, the walnut here has only just broken dormancy.

    It’s raining outside too, although Saturday looks set to hit 33’C.

    Made some sturdy tomato frames today from scrap steel.

    Cheers

    Chris

  15. Hi DJ,

    Ugg indeed, and it is notably difficult to know where acrid smoke stench comes from, even under ideal conditions. The other morning walking out into the fresh crispy air, I could smell smoke from somewhere, but where are the origins becomes the real the question.

    Spare a moment for the challenges those folks would face. They have to burn the dry slash and/or stubble prior to colder conditions increasing the moisture content of the organic matter to the point where it doesn’t burn at all. I appreciate your difficulties with the smoke, but the window for such treatment would be very narrow indeed. To be honest, the more expensive option would be mechanical chipping of the material, but the cost would beggar the kingdom! 🙂

    Good to hear that the rain scrubbed the smoke from the air. That’s free fertiliser, that is!

    You were a contender! 🙂 It’s outrageous you didn’t win, but given yours, and also my own impracticalities, I tend to believe that society overall benefits from the outcome. I’ve worked in vote counting, and you should, but really can’t, see the amazing drawings some folks can do in the privacy of a booth. Of course, a metre long phallus is hardly anatomically correct, and I doubt the cheeky artists would really want such a thing, but yeah, they sure did send a strong message as to their overall opinion of the err, situation. Clearly some folks disagree with compulsory voting for the adult population, and aren’t afraid to show their feelings in the matter.

    But of course, the president of the carving club is more prestigious, and dare I say it, less likely to cause significant hair loss due to ongoing stress.

    Did you know, that way back in the day, the environment down here was modified to the extent that there were groves and also long hedges and rows trees, much like how the folks planted all those ‘avenues of honour’ after the two world wars. Hmm. All changed now in these enlightened times.

    🙂 Science does indeed sometimes need to take a back seat to the practicalities of err, getting a good nights sleep. Like your style there. When I was a kid, bedrooms were never heated, mostly because the heater was located in the living room and houses were zoned. People were expected to put on a sweater and generally wear warmer clothes. That’s what they did.

    Lucky you, and I’m seeing that banana fungus way too often nowadays. When you buy bananas are they green and unripe? And do you eat them in that condition?

    Fingers crossed with the potatoes, and truly, I have no idea how it will all work out.

    🙂 Dame Plum sends Dame Avalanche cordial tail wags and an excited ‘bark’ of greetings. She also asked whether Dame Avalanche is now enjoying the cooler weather?

    Cheers

    Chris

  16. Hi Göran,

    🙂 A worthy and noble goal! Simon is a friend of mine, and in his garden in Melbourne (which is far warmer than up here in the mountains) he has a Macadamia tree growing in his backyard, as you do. They’re not common trees in that city, but mostly because the climate there has shifted over the past decade or two and few folks have considered the opportunities presented by that change. Anyway, we were visiting his place a year or two again, and sampled the macadamia nuts straight off the tree. Used a bench vice to crack the shells open, and man, they were good. Really good.

    We’ve got two of the trees growing here, and they haven’t died, but I can’t say with any honesty that they’re thriving up here. 🙂 About an hours drive to the west and in a sort of similar, but slightly drier climate, I’ve seen a macadamia tree with a single nut. Bizarrely, the tree was removed a few years ago, and I have no idea why. A mystery.

    Your goals do you credit! 🙂 And would be a good problem to have to face. It may surprise you, but in more tropical areas than here, from what I’ve heard, the folks often complain about the taste and variety of fruit produced by the low chilling hour trees (i.e. number of hours per year less than 7’C). Hmm.

    Thanks for the link to the article and I’m watching the outcome of the end of native forest logging in parts of the country, like this state as well. For your info, the timber floors here are Sydney Blue Gum, which is a lovely looking red hardwood. The rotations of harvestable trees are a bit quicker down here than in your country, mostly because the eucalyptus species grow faster than oaks and spruce. Although I grow oaks and have one Norway spruce here and Douglas Fir is feral here. The local hardwood timber eucalyptus species has a really lovely yellow / pink grain, and the acacias are furniture grade timber.

    🙂 Well done you, but dare I mention that to resist is to in some ways, to persist. I try to look beyond such excuses, and do stuff instead. Such folks make similar claims down here as well.

    The ritual is of a soothing quality. If we do this here thing, then tomorrow will be much the same as today – that looks to me to be the sort of thinking on display there.

    Yup, engage, question, then back to the land.

    Cheers

    Chris

  17. Hi, Chris!

    Forced to choose – I say take a nap! Maybe it’s not always apathy; let’s call it a refresher. These days I need one sometimes, especially since the time change, which has messed up my sleep schedule, which it doesn’t usually do.

    You are doing well in judging just how much water to dole out, but you are doing it hard sometimes with the buckets. However, I prefer that method sometimes to dragging a hose around. One of the best investments I ever made was buying timers for our sprinklers. Beautiful ferns and – what? – geraniums?

    So, you clean the chook palace bedding daily? What’s a super pit? And you mean you do all that morning loop before breakfast?!

    All that wood makes me feel warm all over, as you probably did when you cut it.

    You know, just looking at your potato rows, so neat and with their compost at the end of each row, and thinking over the rest of your various plantings which we have seen on tour – it all really looks so professional. Not that it doesn’t have impulsive charm, too.

    Speaking of lemons – our small lemon trees in pots have been brought into the basement for the winter. Some are blooming and the smell is heavenly trapped inside like that. Some have lemons on them already, but I wonder about the pollination of these flowers.

    I wonder if you compost a fungussy banana if it might pass on that fungus to other fruit, or does it only affect bananas? Someday maybe you’ll grow bananas. We have two in pots in the basement for the winter like the lemons.

    I enjoyed the video about compost and crop rotation. I guess compost is like cooking. There can be so many ways and so many versions of a recipe, that no one variation can be called “correct”.

    I canned some peppers today. The seed packet said “Pimiento” and I wanted to grow and can some for making pimiento cheese spread. Well, I’ll tell you what – those things are as hot as any jalapeno. Every pimiento that I ever met had no heat at all, like a bell pepper. I canned them anyway and made some fermented sauce. I guess I’ll use one drop at a time . . .

    I expect you’ve seen this. It makes me think of Steve Irwin, may he RIP.

    https://www.iflscience.com/rip-cassius-worlds-largest-captive-crocodile-dies-at-approximately-110-years-old-76633

    We have this skinny, runty baby squirrel (they’re always skinny when young; we have trillions of ripe acorns and hickory nuts and walnuts), the one who eats spider eggs on the front porch, and I have named him Kaki, even though he’s not orange. Some descendent of Charlene’s. They all are.

    The flowers made me swoon – catch me! I never see red rhodies here; lovely. The iris is so majestic. It looks blue. Si?
    No? Nothing is more cheerful than daisies, but the most wonderful flower of all is the Plum. Thanks so much!

    Pam

  18. Hi Lewis,

    Maybe a year or so ago, one of those corpse flowers was blooming in the Botanical gardens in the big smoke. I can well comprehend the novelty factor, but do I really want to be confronted by the psychic wall of decomposition stench? It could be challenging, don’t you reckon? And it makes the curious mind wonder as to just what environmental circumstances prevailed in order to produce such a plant. Oh, sorry but I’ve now missed two experiences to sample the aroma first hand. Shame. 😉

    No worries at all with the link. These things happen. Speaking of that matter though, we had a new instance of the story happening today. Dunno whether you recall my outrage at the water bill? It’s a bit rich to send me one of those given I supply and pay for all of the infrastructure for that service, but can you really argue with city hall? A local heavy weight took them to court many years ago, and lost. I make no claims to such skills, so pay the bill. Anyway, it turns out, after a bill audit this morning, that bill also didn’t arrive. So half an hour on the phone waiting in queue, then talking to a live human being, they won’t take payment over the phone. The bill has been reissued by post and/or email, but is now almost four months overdue. I smell a rat. As they are goobermint bodies, they can levy fines for late payment. How much energy do I chuck into these time sinks?

    It’s about that temperature here right now, and drizzling. Charming weather, and I can see the lights of the big circus tent in the nearby town. You know, I’ve never been to the circus, blame Mr King and his creation, Pennywise. There’s something really scary about clowns. Looks like surfs up in your part of the world with those king tides, and that the air pressure is like a lion tamer in the circus in that if the whip (pressure) is removed, the lion may spring forward!

    Ooo, your garlic will very much appreciate the tasty soil feed. Isn’t it funny with kitchen scraps buried in the soil in that after a while you’d expect to see at least some chunks lurking in the soil, but no. The coffee grounds are a bit like that too, you’d think the farm would smell of the stuff, but no. An active soil can eat organic matter for dinner.

    Oh man, you’re setting the gold standard there with rough drawings as to the plantings and varieties. That’s an eerie thought, but it’s one which has occurred to me as well over the years. Hopefully we can leave those future archaeologists with a few mysteries. Decline has been taking place my entire life, changes in the political sphere usually only makes things worse, but who knows what actually may take place? Not all of those goobermint workers were doing good things, and in your country, they may soon find themselves out of a job. Anyway, we’re on the other side of the inverted bell shaped curve, and history is sort of happening now in a reverse of the way up. As far as my understanding comprehends the realities, ‘it’ began in the early to mid 1970’s.

    Haha! We almost ate the exact same dinner as your good self, but maybe without the garlic and we’d added eggs. Tasty stuff. The Editor has been making apple cider vinegar, and even seems to be growing the SCOBY mothers. Slimy looking things, which need to be fed occasionally. Some Greek salads have feta cheese and yoghurt added, and they’re super yummy. You’re onto something there for sure.

    Hehe! So true, and how much fun was that original Ghostbusters film? The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man scene was a hoot!

    Ah, now I comprehend the connection with the writer and the family. Makes sense. I’d been wondering at the why of it all?

    Lewis, you are a born cynic. Respect. From another perspective, the tariffs may be a geo-political move against the land of stuff?

    Doom spending is a new concept to me. Whenever I feel unsettled about a subject and / or issue, I do something about the problem. Thus I rarely experience an unsettled feeling for long. I don’t get a thrill from shopping, despite my professed love for the big box hardware store (it’s only because they’re pleasant to deal with), and in fact it’s an activity which I do as little as possible. But then, far out, I do need to buy that thing… 🙂 Did the new DVD player turn up yet? So agree with you there, whatever is a valid response.

    Art fakes have probably been done for centuries. Those characters didn’t appear to be broke, and so they have to protect their works. But yeah, best if we weren’t involved.

    Made some sturdy tomato frames from scrap steel today. The things cost mega mad cash to purchase, so we just made them instead and they’re heaps sturdier and will hopefully have a very long lifespan. Also did plenty of paid work. Finished late though.

    Cheers

    Chris

  19. Hello Chris
    Finally we have a blue sky. My joy is somewhat blighted by the fact that I have a streaming cold.
    The ‘ courtesy reminder’ is hilarious; it hasn’t come my way yet.

    Something has eaten all the cucumbers in my greenhouse. This has been the worst year that I have had here for my food growing being ransacked. I don’t understand why the rain has had such an effect on the wildlife’s food supply.

    Inge

  20. Yo, Chris – Hmmm. Seems to be a trend, Down Under. Not sending you bills for services rendered … or, not rendered. You may soon have to take on another accountant, just to keep track of the bills.

    The high yesterday was 48F (8.88C). The overnight low was also 48F. Forecast for today is 55F. It got pretty breezy, last night. Wind gusts to 28mph. Still breezy this morning, with scattered rain. H and I hit it lucky. Stayed dry, this morning. There are widespread flood watches and warnings, but not here. Yet. The green blobs on the weather map, are encroaching, closer and closer.

    I saw a few circuses, when I was a lad. Given what popular culture has done to circuses and clowns, I’d probably steer clear. And then there’s always the possibility of disaster.

    https://www.americanhauntingsink.com/bigtop

    I read a book, about this disaster. Later, an elementary school, was built on the site. It’s supposedly haunted.

    Watching where I bury kitchen scraps, is always interesting. In just a few days, the convex becomes the concave. 🙂

    Last night for dinner, I made nachos. Used the last of the smoked salmon. Garlic and dried tomatoes and basil, from the garden. Swiss cheese. Dollops of yoghurt, on top. Tasty.

    I bought a new pair of jeans like pants, yesterday. Was I doom spending? I don’t think so. The DVD player arrived yesterday, a day earlier than predicted. Brightness and contrast, are a lot better, though I had to dial both up. Might try a different brand, next time.

    I think it will be a popcorn night, tonight. The new “Twisters” movie, is on tap. Currently watching season 4 of “My Life is Murder.” Twisty tales of murder and mayhem, staring Lucy Lawless. Set in New Zealand. Don’t know yet if there will be a season five.

    No hot water again, today, and maybe into tomorrow. The official story is that the replacement tanks had a “factory defect.”

    And, from the Wonderful World of Waste …

    https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/12/style/salford-university-centenary-building-scli-intl

    If it hadn’t won the award, we never would have heard of it. Lew

  21. Hi Göran and Chris,

    I like Macas – my main regret is that I didn’t plant more when I planted this one 11 years ago! I’ve got two more growing, but they’re years away from fruiting.
    It’s not all peaches in a Mediterranean climate though — we’ve only had about 350 mm of rain on the Adelaide plains so far this year — that’s lower than usual and borderline desert. I’m pleased to be heading into summer with nearly 30 kL of water in the tanks — this is augmented with town water for the trees.

    My inverter is a Victron Phoenix 800. I think it’s pretty good quality – it’s heavy! It can run the fridge fine, but makes a noise when the compressor kicks in, which online reading suggests is not a problem, but I don’t want to push too hard. Shame about the Latronic shutdown – it’d be good if Australia made stuff. I wonder what happened to their IP?

    We’ve got a 50L 12V camping fridge, and it works well. Interestingly, it uses nearly as much power as our 520L fridge in the kitchen (which is one of the last Aussie-made Electrolux fridges, and is very efficient)

    Interesting about the hardwood prices — a friend and I have discussed setting up land to grow native timber. Haven’t done anything about it and with land prices doing what they’re doing… I’ve planted an oak on the verge — mostly for shade and cool, but acorns can be eaten if needed – I definitely don’t want to cut it down for timber (and it’s trunk is only 60mm wide as yet 😉 )

    But yes, the trees are a bit of a “savings plan” — we’ve got a few shares, some money in the bank, and some Australian treasury bonds — but I suspect they’ll all have negative real yields, and may only amount to a fraction of their ticket price. I guess being able to produce (at least some) food, energy, and stuff at home is a hedge against inflation (and, for that matter, currency/asset deflation!). We bought a second hand Nissan Leaf this year (partially) as a hedge against oil/petrol volatility. It’s a pretty good EV for a little over AU$10k.

    Cheers, Gus

  22. @ Margaret:

    I am glad that you have 2 of your sisters to help Marty in his present misfortune. Poor Marty – he’s a character. Maybe he is actually enjoying his nursing home visit because of the socializing aspect.

    Pam

  23. @ DJSpo:

    I wish I’d known you were running for President, I would have voted for you. You are right, though – president of the carving club is much more prestigious, not to mention respectable. I hear the pay’s not so good, unless you count good friends and a worthy occupation.

    Pam

  24. Hi Pam,

    Nothing wrong with switching the brain off for a little bit of a refresher. 🙂 Like that tech support advice: Have you turned the machine off, and then back on again? Yes, the dreaded time change, I wish it were not so, but what can we do? I’ve only experienced serious jet lag once when flying to South America, and that’s mostly because our travel has been in sort of the same-ish time zones as the local one, but it is an unpleasant feeling. And the sudden jolt twice per year, is likewise unpleasant but not as dislocating, although gaining the lost hour is easier than losing the same thing. Hope you feel better as the days roll on.

    Hehe! True, but it takes work to extend the water systems into new areas, and sometimes the free time to do the work just ain’t there! For your interest, I’ve got the parts to do the job, it’s the time which troubles me. So buckets it is. Water robots are good things as well, respect (and also got one of those ready to use, if needed), but the water reserves here are seriously limited. What’s in the water tanks is everything. With limited water reserves, those water robots sometimes make poor choices. Hmm. Manual systems keep an eye on both the plants, and the reserves, it just takes time.

    Geraniums! 🙂 Those ferns are the local ‘mother shield fern’. Little baby plants form on the tips of the fronds, and so the ferns jauntily walk across the landscape, if conditions allow.

    Yup, the chicken poop gets sifted out from the bedding, and a small amount of new straw keeps the chickens happy and clean. The super pit is so named after a hugely deep gold mine I once saw in Western Australia. Anywhoo, in the chickens run the soiled bedding straw, uneaten food and grains gets chucked. I mix the lot around, then redistribute the stuff so that it resembles a deep pit. At the bottom of the pit is clean fresh soil that the chickens can dust bathe in. The constant stirring of the material means that I lose very little nitrogen to the atmosphere. Most chicken houses I’ve encountered over the years smell poorly of ammonia, but my lot are quite neutral smelling. Except for once a few weeks ago. Ook. There’s a story there…

    It’s not ideal waiting for breakfast, but if there were another way…

    🙂 Thanks, and today was spent splitting, hauling and stacking firewood as well. There’s probably another five days of that work to be done before the firewood stores are declared full for the next year.

    It’ll be interesting to see what sort of yields those potato vines produce. I genuinely have no idea. The sugar beets and radishes have suddenly taken off in that area over the past week or so.

    Yeah, but for all you know, the bees have already pollinated your lemon tree flowers? Dunno. Out of curiosity, how do you keep light up for the lemon tree if it survives out the winter in a basement? Citrus flowers do smell beautiful too, yup. Lovely stuff.

    The fungus appears to only impact bananas, and since most of that fruit we eat are almost genetic copies, the disease spreads super easily. It would not surprise me to see the end of banana production as we know it, in our lifetimes. There are some cold tolerant banana varieties, but winters would have to get a lot warmer here for those plants to survive here. However, I’ve seen bananas growing in Melbourne, but people down there just aren’t yet attuned to the possibilities.

    Exactly! At least with cooking we know of the ingredients, but if we buy in pre-made compost, who knows what is in the stuff? Probably the cheapest woody materials, I’m guessing.

    Ahhh, youchie! Yeah, sometimes peppers can be surprisingly hot. They readily hybridise, so who knows what your neighbours are growing. Good luck! An earlier neighbour from years ago (a very entertaining bloke who we had regular dinners with) was very much a fan of those peppers with names such as ‘death’ and ‘reaper’. I’ve always hoped that my nice polite mild pepper plants weren’t indiscriminate with other peppers they may have casually associated with. Hmm. You’ll get used to the fire, maybe…

    Salt water crocodiles are amazing creatures, and in travels in the north of the country, we’ve seen them in their natural habitat. Rivers and water holes have signs warning the tourists and locals alike at the personal risk of entering the water. You know, I’ve seen people blithely ignoring such signs. Oh well…

    Go Kaki, and may he win the fat squirrel award before winter arrives in earnest. 🙂 Ruby had to go to the vet today because she has a sore front leg and is now limping. Turns out it is muscle damage because well, she’s a kelpie and they do stupid things. Anywhoo, the vet advised us that she was 10% over weight and had to shed 2kg. It’s an outrageous slight on her good character. The dog is a sylph, I hardly see any excess chunk to lose. Whatever.

    🙂 There’ll be more flowers next week. The salvia’s have begun their run into the warmer summer months. Don’t laugh, but as a young buck I actually did once catch a lady in the city who’d slipped in wet weather. I was feeling very gallant, it’s not every day such a thing happens.

    Cheers

    Chris

  25. Hi Inge,

    Heading into winter is a good time to spend indoors recovering from a streaming cold, but I do hope that you enjoy some of the sunshine. Makes an alert person wonder where ever does all that streaming liquid come from? Hope you are keeping up your fluids? And for your interest, I read the other day that tea is now reputed to not be the dehydrating substance it was once believed to be.

    I’m sure you have your natural remedies, but when I was really young and had a cold, my mother used to mix up a tea with lemon and honey, then add a dash of rum. It’s hard to say whether the drink had medicinal value, but it sure knocked me out. It’s funny, but if I’ve got a cold these days, I reach for that drink in the evenings.

    Hope you are feeling better today?

    Inge, the bloke at the roads office was serious when he gave the bill that unusual label. Talk about doublespeak. It’s amusing, but I’m also gobsmacked at the inversion and warping of the previous relationship and societal conventions. You may have missed it, colds may have that effect, but that dratted annual water bill also had a similar outcome. I smell a rat!

    Well something ate my bills, and it wasn’t the dog! 🙂 Hmm, what an interesting problem, and do you have millipedes on your island? The only critter I’ve observed tucking into a cucumber is a Portuguese millipede. Pesky little critters, and in recent years a local nematode has learned to eat them.

    Hopefully it’s not the rats. They’re clever enough to break into a greenhouse.

    I don’t really know though, however at a wild guess, too much rain reduces the protein content of the edible parts of plants, not to mention washing soil minerals deeper into the sub soil. So I’m guessing that the critters are far hungrier than you may imagine. A greenhouse would provide a reprieve for those conditions.

    I take the threat from rats very seriously, and rather than poisoning them, I deny them housing opportunities. Extraordinarily clever creatures.

    Cheers

    Chris

  26. Hi Gus,

    Regrets! It’s been said before that we all have a few. To be honest, I wish I’d planted the two macadamia trees here in the sunniest spot on the property. They might be getting too much shade here. But yes, they are truly excellent table nuts.

    I’ve been observing the weird year of weather, and absolutely, you are doing it tough on a rainfall front for the year so far. The Southern Annular Mode has recently gone positive, and this means perhaps a drier November, but the longer term predictions are for a wetter January. We’ll see. Whilst the weather is drier, we’ve decided to bring the firewood in and get it under cover, just in case. Truly, the climate variability has become great enough now that I’m at a total loss as to what the next month may bring. It’s a very decent amount of stored water, and should see the garden through nicely. Trees in good soil don’t really require nearly as much water as people would suggest.

    Ah, that’s a decent machine, and I’d consider the Victron models too, although they do de-rate when the ambient air temperature rises, so that’s something to think about. I’m absolutely agreeing with you, those machines are good quality, and will last. Apologies for geeking it up, but I had a look at the spec sheet and it looks like the peak output rating is 1500W, although it didn’t say for how long. My best guess would be that rating for about maybe a minute before it does a temperature shut down. Dunno, but if the inverter doesn’t shut down on fridge compressor motor start up, the device is probably operating within the normal parameters. There’s always a first time, but I’m yet to encounter an inverter which can push beyond it’s limits.

    Word on the street was that Latronics were going to release their ip to the public. It would be a decent thing to do given I now have to service these machines, but we’ll see. Mostly the electrolytic capacitors in them dry out over the years, but the rest of the machine is pretty sturdy.

    🙂 People are always surprised at how efficient refrigerators are. The reason I mentioned the 12V option was because it would reduce the load on your inverter.

    It’s not a bad option, but alas due to all sorts of restrictions I’m actually not allowed to speak about such matters. My hands have been tied sorry to say.

    But yup, producing is the future, and will be a good hedge against inflation. Well done! And hope you’re enjoying the car? I’ve only heard good things about those Nissan’s. Did you see that the price of the MG EV’s were seriously reduced recently? Geopolitics caused that, I believe.

    Cheers

    Chris

  27. Hi Lewis,

    Fortunately there are not enough bills for that to be a problem. That was the whole raison d’être for this here journey. Oh well. Truly, I wonder how other households are coping with all of this bill weirdness? It’s all rather an inversion of the social norms, because generally if someone, or something, expects to be paid, they must first at least send a bill. The not so funny thing is that given they are statutory authorities, they are able to fine people for late and/or non payment – even if they don’t send the bill. Hmm. That’s a problem. But yeah, funny you mention that, but dude, I don’t need any extra hands or incentive to set up a system to monitor these hustlers. It is a hustle, by the way. They have a built in incentive for the system to fail in that they get more mad cash from the fines.

    And despite half an hour on the phone with the nice people at the water authority, no bill was received. There are ombudsmen for these sorts of things, maybe it is time to lodge an official complaint. Hmm.

    Oh my, it’s getting cold where you are. The sun is lower in the sky now, despite the planets physically closer orbit to the star. Won’t mention that today was 65’F and truly delightful. Spent the day bringing in more of next years firewood. Whilst the weather is dry and still cool, it seems like the right job to do. Probably there are about five more days of that work to be done before the firewood job is complete. Then we can get on to constructing the new shed.

    Professor Mass’s essay on king tides was interesting.

    Actually, given I’ve never been to a circus, I have no idea what you are talking about when you wrote about the effect popular culture has had. A mystery. The fire on the other hand sounded horrific and burning canvas covered with those sorts of flammable fluids would be almost impossible to put out or escape from. Wow, sometimes things go wrong horribly.

    I’d be surprised if the school (and former housing estate) wasn’t haunted.

    It is interesting watching how fast the soil critters will feed upon such tasty kitchen scraps. And a nice word image too, thanks! The soil mineral additions or composts etc, are usually gone within two weeks or so. A mystery! Don’t go to sleep on the grass is one way to think about the entire matter. 😉 Of course, a person would be less likely to sleep on a well aerated vegetable row, that would be a bad thing for soil compression. You’re not meant to place too much weight on garden soils.

    Speaking of such weighty matters! We took Ruby to the vet today. She had to get her vaccines or face suspension with the local dog club. Anyway, she also has something of a limp in her front leg. Turns out she maybe has some muscle damage, the joints are apparently all ok. The dog is a kelpie, and this explains any and all acts of craziness. Anywhoo, the vet casually mentioned that she is too fat and has to lose four pounds. What the… I don’t think so. I’ve never owned a dog which has suffered from health related diseases, although there is always a first time, but I dunno. And most of them live long full lives. So I’ll take that instruction with a pinch of salt, as they used to say. Surely Dr Amanda would never dare say such a thing about H? 🙂

    Your fish nachos are famous, and now I’m salivating thinking about them. Yum! I really quite like nachos, I mean, what’s not to like about them?

    It does sound a bit like doom spending. 🙂 Are you doing ok after the recent election results? Apparently people are doom spending! Hehe! I bought some new boots the other day, and probably like your jeans, mine were just worn out. I’d foolishly stepped too close to a fire during winter, and melted part of the sole. Hmm. However, the incident did get me thinking about such matters, then making certain arrangements not to repeat that mistake.

    Good to hear that the new machine is up to scratch, and what a movie to test it out on. Did you enjoy the film? And did the sequel live up to the original?

    Oh, the Editor enjoyed that series too, after your recommendation. Believe it or not, she’s having a bit of a break from her deep dive into Nordic noir series. Personally I blame ‘the bridge’ series as being something of a gateway into that genre. Apparently it is quite good.

    Far out, that’s not good. You’d expect such things to more or less work due to how simple they are. Oh well, things can go wrong, even if the quality is reputedly good. I doubt the job will be fixed before the weekend. The odds are not good, but you might be surprised. If it were an o-ring, the fix would be easy… Ook!

    Thanks for linking the article. What a stupendous waste of epic proportions. Did I read correctly that apparently the building has not been used for the past decade? The ceilings are enormous, so the heating bills may have been extraordinary. The other thing I noticed from the photos was that the wall of glazing – ten out of ten for form – may have lead to a very hot building in the summer months, like say a greenhouse. Maybe I’d give that one out of ten for function, although if the glazing leaked, I’d suggest a nil result. Is it just me, or does the light in the photos have a curious green tinge to it, like an alien spaceship. In that case, the aliens would have originated from a swampy err, bog world, thus the green glow.

    But yeah, buildings apparently don’t have the lifespan they only once did.

    Cheers

    Chris

  28. Yo, Chris – I might be interesting to get to know your local ombudsmen (man?). Might just be a bull poop job, more window dressing, than anything else. But, getting to know him or her might come in useful, in the future. Or, at least get a feel for how they view this lack of bills scam … or even that you pay for water that you don’t use.

    Our luck ran out. H and I got very wet, on our morning walk. The high yesterday was 52F (11.11C). The overnight low was 48F. Forecast for today is 52F. It was pretty breezy, overnight. Wind gusts to 26mph. But, it died down this morning.

    It sounds like the Fernglade Farm Bank of Firewood is healthy. A lot more productive, and useful, than say, mining bitcoin. 🙂

    I don’t know how many times we went to the circus, when I was a wee small lad. Maybe, only once. But the general take was that they were entertaining and fun. And in popular culture, that was one take. There was a movie, in 1952, that was very popular. “The Greatest Show on Earth.” I see there was a kids TV series, “Big Top,” in the early 1950s. I don’t remember ever seeing it. Then there’s the whole “running away to join the circus” trope. Dizzy did a Toby Tyler movie. Elizabeth Montgomery did an excellent made for TV movie, “When the Circus Came to Town.”

    And then you had the flip side of the coin. Tod Brownings 1932 movie, “Freaks.” Ray Bradbury wrote “Something Wicked This Way Comes” (filmed a few times.) And, his “Illustrated Man” (also filmed.) “American Horror Story” had a season of “Freak Show.” And, as you mentioned, Stephen King did not do circuses and clowns a kindness. I guess it’s a case of “you pay your money, and take your chances.” 🙂

    I almost missed that you had posted your video. Very good. More info on soils. Although the way you were stroking (caressing?) that pile of compost, it may need a PG-13 rating. 🙂

    I worry about H sometimes, the way she launches herself into space, and lands on concrete or wood floors. She’s very good about regulating her own eating habits. As long as I’ve had her, she always runs 10 to 11 pounds, consistently.

    Well, since you brought it up … Anytime I think about the most recent election I just push it out of my mind. I do wonder who will end up running HUD (Housing and Urban Development.) It’s not a cabinet level position, so, it will be awhile before someone is nominated. That may have direct impact, on me. The last time that lot had the levers of power, the HUD head was a pediatric brain surgeon. Knows a lot about housing, right? He promptly hired his wife and son, for positions in the agency. She thought the conference table looked tatty, so spent $35,000 on a new one. Anyway. Life in these here United States is going to get … interesting. Looks like Mars Boy is going to be picking some of the agency heads.

    I did a little time in the rabbit hole, last night. Thought I’d take a look at portable Blu Ray players, ratings and such. For the next time around. I did run across something interesting, in an appalling kind of a way. Portable DVD players will last a year or two, and are considered disposable.

    I watched “Twisters”, last night. Well worth a bowl of popcorn. CGI has advanced, since the original. And, I watched a few of the “extras.” Quit a bit of it was filmed with, well, film. No flying cows. 🙁 . But a few chickens had cameos.

    I’ve never been able to get into Nordic noir. The library certainly has enough of them. And, I find my lack of interest, odd. Given my Scandahovian background. Maybe it’s the language barrier, even with the subtitles.

    We got our hot water back, yesterday afternoon. So, it wasn’t down very long. Even though draining tanks (hoses run out windows), and what looked like hauling in a new boiler.

    I thought the maybe soon to be demolished building, was a cut above usual building from that period. It didn’t have that brutalist feel to it. And, I thought the lattice work around the stairwells (?) was interesting.

    There was an explosion in a chemical plant, in Louisville, Kentucky, the other day. Killed two people. What I found interesting was the products they produced. “Natural colours for multisensorial food and beverage experiences.” Which doesn’t tell you very much, but I’d guess it’s where the not found in nature orange coloring comes from, for that powder in Mac and cheese. :-). Lew

  29. Chris:

    Always the knight, you are.

    I can see your point about robot timer thingees on a sprinkler with the system you have. The fruit trees in the basement are under special lights. No more free sunlight for awhile, though since fall is a month late, maybe spring will be a month early and they can go back outside earlier. I see banana trees growing around town, in the ground all year, but they never do produce any bananas. I sure would miss bananas.

    I absolutely refuse so believe Ruby is overweight. That doctor don’t know nuffin. Dodo, our Australian Shepherd of long ago, had a tendency to turn sharp corners at top speed – got to herd those 5 cats, hey! – and once sprained something in her leg very badly. It healed, but we had to keep her on a leash until it did so.

    When we were talking about acorn flour I forgot to tell you that acorns from white oaks (which is awfully general; there are a lot of different white oaks) have the best flavor, are the sweetest. We did some comparison tests.

    Pam

  30. @ Pam,

    Sadly, my friend didn’t tell me that his family had voted for me until AFTER the election was over. He didn’t even give me the chance to vote for myself…

    DJSpo

  31. Chris,

    The local squirrels decided that they adore me. The Princess had several bags of salted sunflower seeds in the shell. They were old. Very old. So I soaked the seeds to wash the bulk of the salt off of them, then spread them outdoors between my driveway and the neighbor’s driveway. Safe from Dame Avalanche there. That area has now seen a lot of visiting squirrels. They crack open the shells, leave the shells behind and take the seeds.

    Between the additional squirrels and a lot of smaller birds, the neighborhood hawks are frequenting this part of the area more. One of the hawks dove into some of the shrubs this afternoon, which irritated Dame Avalanche. That is one of her favorite shrubs to chase birds out of. So she charged at the hawk. Fortunately, the hawk chose to fly away rather than tear at her face with its talons. Then again, can you imagine the pleased look and prancing about that she would’ve done if she had actually caught the hawk? She’d strut so much that the strut-o-meter would suddenly go to 11!

    Normally I would be more sympathetic to the folks who were burning. However, farmers in Washington have learned how to get fine wheat, lentil and canola crops without field burning, as Washington banned the field burning practice. The crop rotation is also helping the soil, but the folks in Idaho, well…Burning the slash piles is a bit more problematic, however, when it drives the entire region’s air quality to the worst levels of this calendar year, any sympathy I had disappeared. Local fire departments did a lot of understory, slash pile and debris cleanup last year without smoking us out, and they were a mere 5km from here.

    We got more rain Wednesday, about 10mm. And tell all of your “friends” who want to see colorful leaves to visit here pronto, where they can view all of the pretty leaves they want, as long as they look on the ground. 75% of the leaves have fallen. So in a few days I get to start raking soggy leaves. Which is fun, as Dame Avalanche might decide to run and slide into the leaf piles again.

    With USA election law, I actually figured out a scenario in which I could have become USA President with a mere 3 votes. It was that close 2016 election. If it had ended in an electoral college tie (I know, our system is beyond weird), then it would have gone to the House of Representatives. If over time they couldn’t resolve it, they could have picked anybody who had received votes and agreed on them via their adjudication process. I can just see it…”Who’s that DJSpo dude from Washington State? He got 3 votes, seems harmless enough.” “I agree. Heck, he doesn’t even belong to any political party!” then it goes to a vote and voila! President DJSpo. But it didn’t end in a tie, so I am left being president of something I enjoy being president of.

    Dad’s house was zone heated. He had a good wood burning stove in the main room. That room could be closed off or opened. The kitchen warmed quickly via a connecting window and use of electric range. Everything else was unheated, although there were electric space heaters in each room. There was also central heating via an oil furnace, but we never used it. And the firewood was freely provided by friends. Extra layers of clothing were donned if I felt chilly in my room.

    Dame Avalanche sends tail wags and “greeting barks” back to Dame Plum. Yes, her energy level is much higher now. She is rather enjoying being indoors a lot, what with the rain, but when we go outside she is very energetic. Especially on walks.

    I guess on Friday Dame Avalanche, Killian the Red and the two humans are going to get together for a hike somewhere near here through some forest. I dunno where yet. Killian’s human is figuring that out.

    DJSpo

  32. Hi Pam,

    One can only but do their best! 🙂 The gallant knight rarely fails to succour a damsel in distress.

    Limited water reserves are frankly a bit of a headache. The neighbour directly uphill of here has a water bore (the local description of a well), and I’d hate to imagine how much ground water is being drawn from that source. And I’ll never really know either.

    In the early days of stewardship of this piece of land, rainfall used to flow over the surface of the hard baked clay. That would have been very hard on the trees, and you could see the stress over the hotter parts of the year when those same trees dropped their leaves – a positive feedback loop as the ecologists may say. It’s been a long time since I’ve observed water flowing over the soil surface. Rainfall is always best stored in either tanks or in the ground.

    The grow lights are a great idea, and I was wondering how you managed to keep the lemon tree going. You never know how such matters will turn out. I’m at the forefront of climate weirdness, and honestly have no idea what next months weather will bring. last night I watched a utoob video of a lady to the north of here who lost her entire vegetable garden to that zero degree (32’F) morning a week or two back. As a gallant knight, I sent an encouraging message, but it is early to be planting cold sensitive annuals in this part of the world.

    I’d miss bananas too! 🙂 Ook! The plants in Melbourne were covered in fruit, but they were all rather green and unripe looking.

    🙂 Thanks! You know, dunno about your experience with cats and dogs, but I’ve never had one of those lovely animals succumb to lifestyle related diseases. All of them have lived happy healthy long lives. Of course there can be outliers, sure. It interests me that the pets I know elsewhere solely consuming the more strictly recommended diets enjoy far shorter life spans. Obviously that is not a statistically valid sample, but still. If they don’t make 16 years here (and Dame Scritchy made 19), and there has been only one of those, who was cheeky, lovely, but so very lazy, but then even he made it to 12 years, I start to ask some hard questions.

    Ah yes indeedy, Australian shepherds have similar energy levels to Kelpies, and when injured, both must be restrained until healed. For a special treat with Ruby this evening, I took her out to see her favourite birds – the chickens – then spent 15 minutes grooming her coat. It’s probably not the same thing as running the quarter mile in under ten seconds, but the injured dog was at least happy with the compromise.

    Pam, there’s an old saying about herding cats. I have some sympathies for Dodo!

    Thanks for mentioning that bit of information. Hmm. Interesting! The main varieties of oaks in this part of the world are Pin Oaks, English Oaks, Algerian Oaks and the other day I spotted a Red Oak. The English Oaks fall under the white oak family. Hmm. Always something new to learn, isn’t there?

    Other than house work, and I have to fess up to being properly house broken, a sad state of affairs for a bloke with more than average Neanderthal genes! I didn’t do much of note today. Nice to rest the batteries don’t you reckon? How are you going?

    Cheers

    Chris

  33. Hi DJ,

    Respect. And I must say that it was a rather cheap ploy to buy off the votes from the local squirrel population with such tasty treats. With such wise strategies you’ll get into high office in no time at all! I’ll bet they would have seriously enjoyed the salt as well. Man, after a long hot work day I’ve had the dogs licking my legs whilst they were trying to use me as some sort of salt lick. It’s not right and so they get shooed away, but still they persist. They get plenty of salt in their diets via the beef jerky treats.

    Dame Avalanche would probably have rather enjoyed the tasty sunflower seeds, kernels and husks. You clearly know her nature. 🙂 Man, over the years I’ve had so much trouble growing sunflowers. The squirrels may go hungry here, but please do keep them in your part of the world. I suspect that just like the possums, the owls would pick them off. It’s brutal out there.

    Birds are amazing though, yup. I can’t recall any time that the dogs have managed to catch a bird. They’re both fast, and wary. It’s very possible that the hawk knows far more about Dame Avalanche and her activities than vice versa. It’s also likely that the hawk was using Dame Avalanche to flush small birds out of the shrub. The strut-o-meter would certainly be dialled up to 11! Go Dame Avalanche!

    I don’t what to say dude, we get smoked out here regularly. And we’ve got both types of fires: controlled and uncontrolled! Ook. Mostly the stubble is left on the ground after the harvesters have rolled on through, but so few people farm around these parts that mainly they’re drying and rolling hay. It’s possible the winters are cold enough further east of you that the stubble doesn’t properly decompose before the spring? Dunno. There’d be a reason why it’s burned off. Maybe even the economics of the situation demand that practice?

    Good to hear that the rain has returned, and is getting into the still warm-ish soil. The best place for the stuff if you ask me. The leaves get pretty mushy here too, but I tend to mow them, which increases the surface area and they break down very quickly afterwards. Dame Avalanche has clearly developed a new sport.

    Man, I seriously don’t understand your election processes, but how good would it be to be chosen from such an epic mess? I tend to believe that you and I, and Dame Avalanche, would be really bad head honcho’s at that level. The Peter principle comes into play here for sure. Yes, such choices are the path of wisdom, respect!

    That’s how I also remember heating conditions as a kid, and yes the kitchen was adjacent to the living room. And I don’t ever really recall feeling cold, although I must have been from time to time. Free firewood would have been good to have access to during the mid 1970’s.

    Good stuff, and was the forest walk good and enjoyable?

    I’ve taken to doing fast walks with Dame Plum and Ollie. From what I’m observing, the dogs seem to be enjoying the pace, although you can see them flagging after about half an hour. Good to tire them out. It’s going to be 33’C tomorrow.

    Cheers

    Chris

  34. Hi Lewis,

    The water bill was tested in court years ago, and sadly the locals failed. I believe that it was the drainage costs at a distance from the property which caused the case to become unstuck. Anywhoo, despite the half hour phone call, the cheeky scamps did not indeed email a bill, and wouldn’t take payment over the phone. I don’t even believe that they have an office you can visit and sort the matter out person to person either. Looks like they’re pushing people onto their online portal. That seems to be the way a lot of things are headed. Personally I’m old school and having worked in debt collection, I’m a believer in making the bill delivery process as easy as possible. Using statutory fines as a stick incentive to offload bill delivery responsibilities, is not cool in my world. But then I’m in their world. Hmm. Just more work to do.

    Maybe a bit over two decades ago I did use a tribunal process to recover funds which a superannuation company (think 401K), had lost when the business was sold. They just took my saved mad cash. That was a surprise, but after much effort, the funds were returned. Someone clearly had pocketed them during the business sale. I now look after and control all of those matters because what I learned was that nobody is going to care about them more than yourself. A hard lesson to learn, but at least the funds were recovered, eventually.

    Oh bummer about getting caught out in the rain. They tell me it’s meant to signify good luck, maybe. Hope you both dried off quickly enough? Excluding some extremes, high here, and low in your part of the world, the weather is remarkably similar. That would have felt very cold getting wet with that wind.

    Tomorrow is meant to be 33’C / 91’F, and dunno whether I’m exactly ready for such summer feeling warmth. The plants will love it though, despite the lack of decent rainfall over the past few weeks. It’ll still be warm on Sunday, but there is a forecast thunderstorm. I probably should start getting the tomato seedlings outdoors and get the pumpkins, zucchinis and cucumber seeds germinating. Always lots to do at this time of year.

    Hehe! Yeah, you’re not wrong. Man, I don’t even understand how crypto could even be mined.

    Do you reckon the old trope about running away to join the circus was ever really an actual thing? I used to hear that said when I was a kid, but I doubt such things are said nowadays. People might say now: Why would anyone do that? Ah, such comfortable days…

    Hehe! All very true, and how good was Ray Bradbury. And Mr King has frightened me silly over the years – a good thing too. Dunno why, but for some reason your paragraph reminded me of a book I read as a teenager: Alfred Besters, The Stars My Destination. Quite liked the idea of being able to teleport oneself. It could have come in handy at times. When I read the book it had a different title: Tiger! Tiger! I guess the publisher suggested that the title should in some way correlate to the story?

    It was a bit pervy wasn’t it? 🙂 I was actually enjoying the feeling of the compost sifting through my fingers. Maybe, just like the sands through the hour glass, so are the benefits of compost – whatever the stuff actually is. No need to stress, the videos are all labelled ‘not for kids’. Probably a good thing because I might accidentally f#$k up and say the word f$%k! Then parents would definitely get upset with me. Could be good for the statistics getting slammed? Hmm. What do you reckon about that strategy?

    Dogs are pretty hardy on that front, but like Ruby, they can injure themselves. You can tell when they’re getting crunchy in the joints though. The vets can give them some interesting anti-inflammatories at that time, but the stuff has downsides. That’s been my experience with all but one dog who starved out her buddy. I had to separate out their food bowls, and then order was restored. I agree, dogs tend to regulate what they want to eat, but they have set meals, and if they don’t eat them, too bad. No fuss pots around here!

    Conference tables are expensive. Actually a long, long time ago I deeply scratched a freshly sanded and polished board table. Man, it was an accident and it happened so quickly. They were pretty good about it. Oh well. I can well comprehend your reticence, and hope that things turn out well. I’m of the opinion, that a lot of layers of bureaucracy may get cut over the next year, and you probably won’t notice, although there may be less inspections. Just a wild hunch, but we’ll get to find out just what crazy stuff goes on shortly enough. But then, from my perspective, thinking about those bill dramas, it’s already pretty crazy. I noticed that about Mr Musk. He may bring an engineers practical perspective to the issues.

    Oh man, I wish such things were not so. That hurts with the short life spans. Nowadays I’m checking reviews to see what lasts and works. Always interesting to read what other people have experienced with items.

    What no flying cows? That was a spectacle for sure. Possibly the CGI offended the animal rights groups? Thanks for the film review.

    I’m unable to get into Nordic noir as well. The scenery is way to bleak for my tastes. Would I live in such a place, no. Would I go psychotic in such a place? I’m not even going to dignify that question with an answer, but err, maybe… 🙂

    Yay for the hot water. That was quick, and I was candidly dubious that it would be fixed prior to the weekend. Nice work. Has the pressure returned back to where it was?

    Certainly the building was different, but the question I was left wondering about was: why hadn’t the building been used for the past decade? That’s a big question right there.

    Lewis, I don’t even understand what that description means. And I’m a bit iffy about orange cheese. You just don’t see that down here, although now that I dwell upon the matter, the fast food place with the clown, does I believe use an usually coloured cheese. It’s been decades since I’ve consumed any of their products.

    Did absolutely nothing of note today, and feel super good about that. Might get some outside work done tomorrow. A few hours were however spent doing chores, you know the stuff which isn’t particularly interesting, but needs doing.

    Cheers

    Chris

  35. Yo, Chris – Our electric company still sends a monthly bill. But, they’ve set up a “portal” which can be accessed via a smart phone (set up in 16 easy steps!). The other night, I pitched my check and bill, through the slot, at their building. Which is on the way to the Club. But how long they’ll let me get away with that, I don’t know.

    Hmm. It just occurred to me that I never get a credit card bill in the mail, or, even by e-mail. When my monthly checks come in, paying off the bill is the first thing I do.

    Buying companies and looting retirement accounts, seems to be pretty common. Usually done by LLCs, these days.

    The high yesterday was 50F (10C). The forecast for today is 49F. Last night, the temperature touched 32F (-0- C). But I didn’t see any sign of frost. Forecast for tonight is the same. Maybe because last night, and this morning was foggy. No rain. My winter coat keeps me from getting wet to the skin. And, it dries out pretty quickly. H wears her little coat, and gets toweled off, when we get home.

    Oh, I’m sure running away to join the circus, was probably done, in the old days. Or running away and finding any kind of employment. Back in the 1930s, my Dad left home at 14, to ride the rails. Didn’t join the circus, as far as I know, but ended up in the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corp.)

    But, in our modern days, I don’t know if you heard about the 11 year old kid, who wandered a mile into town. Mom was arrested, handcuffed, and taken to jail.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/mom-arrested-for-letting-her-11-year-old-son-walk-alone-less-than-a-mile-away-from-their-home/ar-AA1u2WED

    And, a couple of months ago, a mom in the UK let her 15 year old (along with a 16 year old companion), travel around Europe on the rail pass. She wasn’t arrested, but caught a lot of on-line flack.

    As far as your video goes, there’s a theory that any publicity is good publicity. Even bad publicity. P. T. Barnum said there was no such thing as bad publicity.

    I figure when H gets crunchy, I’ll probably start giving her a baby aspirin, every other day. I expect it will first show up, when she gets hesitant to take the stairs. Four flights, three times a day. At least.

    H gets no treats, other than her dental doggie chews, twice a day. When we go to the Club, I often have to fend off people, trying to feed her this and that. She does get “extras” along with her kibble. But not every night. Last night, she got some mixed veg. Sometimes, it’s a dab of peanut butter. Or, plumped up cranberries. I discovered she likes broccoli. And, it’s ok for dogs, if you don’t overdo it. LOL. She doesn’t get her evening dental chew, until she cleans her plate!

    Hot water pressure seems ok, but the temperature seems lower.

    I pretty much had the same sort of day, yesterday. Didn’t do much of anything, it seemed. Other than all the little ongoing maintenance things that aren’t worth mentioning. Lew

  36. @ DJSpo:

    You frighten me, El Presidente. Not for if you had won, but -egads! – just think who else they might have slipped in!

    Pam

  37. Chris:

    At least the neighbor’s bore won’t affect you since you don’t draw on underground water. It makes me think of a Green Acres episode:

    “Mr. Haney has Willie the well-witcher to witch him a new well. But when Mr. Haney has plenty of water, Oliver loses his water. The same thing happens when Oliver has a new well witched, then the Ziffels run out of water. When they get a new well, then Mr. Drucker runs out of water. Oliver decides that Hooterville should open a reservoir. Soon afterwards, everyone has enough water, but when everyone turns on their faucets, they lose their electricity.”

    There you go! It was the damsel’s own fault for planting too early. No knight could have saved her from that.

    I know that we had a couple of pets that only made it to 12 or 13. The ones who lived the longest came after we had given up going to a vet and were making their own food, like you do. Though I will admit to some palliative vet care for some of them in old age.

    Was it Poopy or Toothy who was so lazy?

    I am up to 1/2 teaspoon of hot sauce and going strong.

    I’m doing well. Thank you for asking.

    Pam

  38. Chris,

    Dame Avalanche also has licked my legs and arms after long, hot days outdoors. I’ve thought about pasting a sign to me that says “I am NOT a salt lick!”. The Princess pointed out, however, that Dame Avalanche pretends that she can’t read, so the sign would be useless.

    I’ll gladly keep the squirrels here. They’re fun to watch. You have enough pests anyhow, what with the Rat Wars, wombats, wallabies, rabbits, poisonous snakes and spiders, etc. However, if the squirrels had triangular poo to augment the square poo of the wombats?

    I’m sure the hawk has observed Avalanche a lot. As Killian the Red’s human said today, “The hawk knows more about Avalanche than Avalanche knows about the hawk.” Soaring about overhead and watching, the hawk probably does try to take advantage of Avalanche’s tendencies to flush the birds out of cover, as you said.

    Oh, I would not do well as an elected official. Can’t play politics at all. And to be the head of the USA? Um, no, way too much stress. And I tried as hard as I couldn’t avoid morning meetings when I was working. In fact, my entire attitude toward most meetings was that I needed to avoid meetings with time wasting morons. (A big “Thank You” to the Dilbert comics for that one.) Can you imagine being President with that attitude? Something tells me that dire emergencies wouldn’t adapt to my morning schedule at all. I’d be running around in a grumpy mood all the time. Not a good thing.

    The hike was a lot of fun. We went to a place called McLellan Conservation Area, about 30km from my house. Various evergreen trees, trails, old logging roads. It was +5C and foggy on the drive, but the fog lifted soon after we got there. It is near a dammed up portion of the Spokane River known as Lake Spokane. There was a trail to the river, so naturally the dogs had to splash around in the water. The two humans probably hiked 7km or so, the dogs a lot more, as they were both on very long leads and raced all about. They succeeded in flushing up a covey of quail. Not having seen quail before, Dame Avalanche was very excited. After 2.5 hours, there were two tired humans and two exhausted dogs.

    DJSpo

  39. Hi Pam,

    Unfortunately all of the forest and fruit trees do draw upon underground water. Oh well. It was 88’F here today and I spent most of the day in the hot sun. Not ideal conditions, but a job was crying out to be done. Installed a garden tap (spigot) in the large citrus and vegetable enclosure. The water pipe line of course ran in a trench, which had to be dug. The soil was quite dry. Hmm. By late afternoon the job was done. I’ll have to install one of those nice hose holders in the enclosure now, but that is a job for another day.

    And absolutely! The Green Acres story sums up the situation remarkably well. It’s a lovely anecdote about abuse of the commons.

    Planting early in the season is a gamble, and damsels in distress will learn in time that the gamble plays out some years, and not others. I’m yet to even start germinating pumpkin, zucchini, cucumber seeds, but the time is fast approaching. Maybe next week the pumpkin sapling fenced enclosure will get cleaned up and planted out. I might even install the water robot there…

    Pam, that’s exactly how we roll with pets, and especially older pets. Give them the best conditions, and then towards the end, give them a little bit of extra attention and help. I’ve looked at the options, and it’s also the path I’d choose for myself. Everyone is different in that regard, but I’ll keep going as long as I can.

    It was Sir Poopy who was gifted, but truly lazy. I’ve never experienced such a lazy creature. And he had such a sweet nature too. But then, he’d go off and perform some amazing feat, and retire for a prolonged and extended rest. At a guess his lifestyle choices probably took four years off his life, but truly he was unfussed about that.

    You’re made of sterner stuff than I! Have you had a guess at the potential scoville units of those peppers?

    Glad to hear, and life’s a journey, not always on smooth waters. Has your household had any further thoughts about moving?

    Cheers

    Chris

  40. Hi DJ,

    It’s been remarked upon elsewhere that dogs rarely miss an opportunity, and Dame Avalanche being a dog… Although, now I think about it a bit, Dame Plum could sense a rabbit in her general vicinity late this afternoon, yet completely missed it. Rabbits clearly employ some sort of Star Trek cloaking device which confuses the photon torpedo like Kelpie.

    Your lady is of course totally correct, dogs naturally ignore signage, but they know what’s going on. You have salt, they need salt – the deal is done. 🙂 Oh far out, it was 31’C today and I worked outside in the sun all day. Connected up a water tap in the large citrus and vegetable enclosure, and it’s all working now, despite a few minor hiccups, and one incident with an o-ring. The seat inside the old tap I used was scratched so the tap leaked, and the o-ring did not seal. Oh well, they wear out. Used the last one held in reserves, so I’ll restock the parts coffers next week. It’s nice to have water in that area, but digging the trench in the hot sun was brutal. The top soil looked good, but it was a bit dry. Meant to get a little bit of rain tomorrow.

    The forest critters here are likewise fun to watch, and chucking squirrels into the mixture would probably upset the overall artistic composition. Plus they’d eat all of the fruit. Oh yes, such unusual poop would no doubts cause epic consternation with the wombats, who’d suddenly feel less special. Sorry, way too many problems there.

    Hawks are clever creatures. You don’t get to be a higher order predator without having some smarts. Consider the salt water crocodile, they’ve somehow worked out how to put a ban on hunting, and are now remarkably common up north. Clever creatures, and are possibly in league with the hawks. You heard it here first!

    Man, I am 100% with you, and for all of those reasons. I’m a good captain, but would make a terrible general. Yup. Meetings are my personal nightmare, and in small business they rarely extend beyond a quick minute or two of to-the-point-discussion. One of our prime ministers used to have a very set schedule, so it could work, and he’d force the media to go on a brisk walk with him in the mornings. Of course for me, mornings would be a problem and so the walkies (oh my gawds can the dogs read, they looked up when I typed that word) would have to be in the afternoon. But your conclusion is probably how I’d end up, grumpy. They’d wear me out, and I’ve got better things to do with my time.

    Almost forgot to mention it, there was another minor earthquake this morning. I could hear and feel the rumble.

    The images of the McLellan Conservation Area looked really good to me, and what a great time of year to visit the place. Err, dogs have no sense of temperature, unless the weather is too hot. You wouldn’t catch me in the water at such cold temperatures. Brr. And yes, you’ve hinted at a universal truth, dogs don’t walk in a straight line! 🙂 Did Dame Avalanche sleep well later that day?

    Cheers

    Chris

  41. Hi Lewis,

    Another exciting geological day! There I was this morning typing away a comment to Mr Greer, and then suddenly… Far out! The earth rumbled deeply and shook. The Editor didn’t hear the rumble, but both Ollie and Dame Plum looked up in alarm. Anyway, lodged a ‘felt’ report with the Geosciences folks, and was gratified to learn that I’d not lost my mind. A 3.2 earthquake hit about half an hours drive to the west. Man, the deep sound of the rumbling is really something else. The Editor can’t really hear such deep bass notes, but to my ears the earth sounds tortured. I’ve never experienced so many earthquakes since moving up here, there’s something a bit unsettling about that. 🙂 Oh well. Hopefully the mountain range is asleep.

    Yes, that’s what they call the things down here as well – a portal. Weren’t there horror stories involving some hapless protagonist peering into a mysterious portal only to discover serious unpleasantness, or get sucked in? Now there’s a blast from the past – the night slot. They don’t like checks, mostly because someone has to physically handle them at the other end. The authoritas down here are working overtime to phase that payment method out. For large transactions though, a bank check is less troublesome than electronic transfers. Mostly we’re being forced onto the portals, and sometimes they don’t send you a bill, you have to log onto their system just to see it. What could possibly go wrong with that arrangement?

    That lot you mentioned are doing their best to move to all electronic. Man, my local branch was closed down, and the nearest is now half an hours drive away. I’m with you there, pay the fricken thing off regularly. The interest rates on those card things are quite extraordinary.

    Ah, down here the funds are usually held in trust by third parties and there’d be criminal consequences if that happened, but! In the early days, fees were often excessive, and funds were swapped between trustee companies in search of growth and the members balances sometimes suffered. In one of those swaps, my funds disappeared. Like how does that even happen? I was not pleased and got nowhere with them, until the tribunal legal action was taken. There’s a simple test to conduct with such entities: Are they your mates? Chances are that if the answer is in the negative, they probably should be watched rather closely. Nowadays I manage that stuff. It’s cheaper for me to do so.

    That’s cold, brr! Yeah, that happens here as well where the moisture in the air keeps frost at bay. Good stuff with the rain protection gear for both you and H, and towels are always handy. Did you notice any cold damage in the remaining plants in the garden? It was 88’F here today, and that was quite hot, especially as I worked outside in the sunshine.

    Despite the hot sun, today was to be the day. I installed a garden tap (spigot) on the large citrus and vegetable enclosure. Getting water there has been a bit of a pain for a few years now, so why not just run a permanent water line down to there. Digging the long trench which the water pipe sits in was the hard part. But I also discovered that the tap itself failed – it was an older brass valve and must have somehow been scratched inside during the previous usage. Dunno. Changed the internal components and it still didn’t fix the leak, so into the metal recycling bin. The replacement worked perfectly, although it was the last in the spare parts in.

    Yay, but my head still feels a little bit cooked from the heat earlier today. Drank some rehydration solution and also a gatorade just for the extra salt and sugars, or whatever the heck is in them.

    Your dad would have had his reasons for leaving, and I get that. Not a bad mob to fall into though, and I’ve always thought the corps was a great idea.

    Ook! I used to head into the city and wander around during school holidays as a 12 year old. Never thought anything wrong about that either. Honestly, I couldn’t read any more of the article, sorry. I used to walk to primary school, like, you know, by myself. The whole thing is probably a moment in time. You should read what authors from the Victorian era had to say about kids… 🙂

    Hmm, thanks for the insights in relation to both good and bad publicity.

    Agreed, it’s always the stairs with dogs. I’ve constructed ramps for older dogs, and they were good with that, but the time worm comes for us all.

    H has to run the gauntlet of treats at the Club. It’s good you keep an eye on that, because not all human treats are compatible with our canine friends. Oh yeah, dogs are very different to cats in that they are omnivores and will happily eat greens. There’s a type of grass growing here that I see them all munching upon. And the weed, cleavers is an absolute favourite. Did you know that the plant is from the coffee family and the seeds were once apparently used as a caffeine substitute? Never tried that…

    Hehe! That’s funny and true about the plates. Hey the dogs are really grumpy tonight – the Editor has reduced their chew time. All three of the dogs came in to me to dob on her parsimonious act. I told them to go back in and plead their case.

    The hot water temperature is perhaps lower due to err, well, regulations.

    Always nice to have a quiet day. It’s meant to be hot tomorrow too, then a thunderstorm. Not sure what I’ll do.

    Cheers

    Chris

  42. Yo, Chris – And the ear-worm for today is: “Whole Lot of Shakin’ Going On.” 🙂 We’ll keep our squirrels, if you keep your earthquakes. That is odd, that it was so quiet in your patch, for so long. And now … We haven’t had a good shaker in 20+ years. We’re due, or, overdue. I hope I’m out walking H, or something. I can’t say I’ve ever heard an earthquake, though I’ve been through several. I have a theory, that my hearing shuts down, as attention is diverted to other things. Like finding shelter or running. 🙂

    Yes, portals in popular fiction or movies, are usually bad news. But people being people, and overly curious … “Don’t go in the basement!” Stepping into a snow swept landscape, at the back of a wardrobe seems ill advised.

    I’m not all that hip and with it, but manage to stay on top of most of the ever more onerous administration of this and that. I do wonder how the more adapated old dears, cope. Well, that’s interesting. Searches seem to have a problem with “adapated.” No, I didn’t mean “adapted.” Listen to what I’m saying (writing?) Maybe I’m spelling it wrong.

    Yesterday’s high was 46F (7.77C). The overnight low was 36F. Forecast for today is 46F. Just as I took H out for a walk, this morning, it started sprinkling. The rain is coming back. I’ve decided not to call first frost, yet. When our weather station is firing on all cylinders, it records the temperature every 15 minutes. The other night, it was only 32F for 15 minutes. Mother Nature is flirting with Jack Frost.

    A lot of work to put in the new garden tap. But, it will save you a lot of steps and hauling water around. That stuff is heavy! Collect the whole set! You need a trenching machine, to add to your collection of machines. They look like something out of a “Transformers” movie.

    I’m all for “Free Range Children.” It sure was the way my cohort was raised. I think I’ve mentioned that when I and a (girl) cousin were 11 or 12, we used to ride the bus into downtown Portland, and run wild, all day. Going to and from school, or, ranging all over north Portland was done by bicycle. Back then, parents that were overprotective of their children were thought to be weird.

    They’ve set up a nifty (sarcasm on), system here, where I can’t get H’s flea pills, unless she also has the yearly “wellness” check. It’s a law. $85 a pop. I also can’t get her licensed (yearly), unless she’s up to date on her rabies shot … which luckily lasts for quit awhile. I’m not supposed to take her to the groomer, unless she’s current on her kennel cough and distemper vaccines. Though they never ask for proof. So it’s usually two trips to the vet, a year, to keep her street legal.

    I’d never heard of cleavers weed, before. Took a look in the rabbit hole. Interesting stuff. Though, with those little barbs, maybe more trouble than it’s worth. Hmmm. They used to stuff mattresses, with it. And it does have caffeine in it. Good to know.

    H occasionally grazes on a bit of grass. Have to watch it, though. At least twice a year they put weed and feed granules, on the lawns. Probably not good for dogs.

    I had also been wondering about German camomile. After re-seeding it two or three times, it finally took off. It turns out, with a little care, it can be a perennial. I scattered around a bit of blood meal, yesterday. Didn’t see anymore damage, in the garden, today.

    The lower temperature of the hot water, may be a money saving device. Ours is heated by gas. Even before the replacements, I noticed the hot water, late at night, had less … oomph. I suspected they put some kind of a governor on it, to lower temperatures, during times of less demand.

    I stopped by the Club, last night, and visited with Jane and a few other people. Then I swung down to the dollar + store and the warehouse like grocery. Just shopping for me, this time. Swiss cheese was back in stock. But not much of it.

    News from Idaho. My friend’s daughter, the real estate dealer, bought an old church. And, is renovating it into a small hotel. She’s also taking hotel management courses, on the side. Lew

  43. Hi Lewis,

    We probably don’t have a lot of choice in the matter 😉 but the offer is very thoughtful. And looking out the window, I can see the area where the epicentre of the earthquake was meant to be. Not all that far away really. Agreed, there does seem to be a bit of regular shaking going on around here. The walk with H could be dangerous too if the sidewalk opens up beneath you both. Just something to think about. Actually, does that even happen, or is it a disaster movie trope?

    Dude, when the 5.9 hit that day, far out, I could both hear the rumble, and have a mild freak out whilst exiting the house. Please don’t tell the ladies I can multi-task, I tell them I can’t do so simply to avoid additional work demands. 😉 The comment inevitably gets a groan of dismay, but it also gets me out of work! It’s a bloke thing. Hey, back to the deep rumble though, not everyone has the same range of hearing. Other than the 5.9, which was kind of hard to ignore, the Editor hasn’t heard any of them. I’ve read stories about people being sent loopy by weird industrial noises which are out of range for most people. When in the big smoke, on quiet weekend days I could hear the aircraft taking off from the airport and that was about 20 miles away. At the time a pilot lived next door, a nice bloke, and he told me that sometimes the airport sounds travelled through fault lines, so who knows. But yeah, your strategy of run and seek shelter is probably the best way to go. I’d probably be thinking about lodging a ‘felt’ report instead!

    It’s a bit troubling to my mind that the earthquake was reported on a volcano discovery website… Ook! Mag. 3.2 earthquake – Macedon Ranges. The site has some descriptions as to what the locals actually felt.

    I’m so with you, if the basement is reputedly a portal into the underworld, you know that walking down the stairs is going to end badly. And exactly, does that stop people from checking the weird portal into another dimension out, nope… And yeah, what is it about wardrobes leading to such mystery? All a bad idea, but good fodder for stories.

    Lewis, your fortitude is commendable and is probably the better path to wisdom. Seriously though, this stuff really annoys me. I don’t have a spare half an hour to waste on the phone speaking to the nice folks at the water authority – who never sent me the bill anyway. I need to relax about this stuff, but this stuff has to be done during business hours, and if I’m doing that stuff, last I checked, I ain’t earning mad cash to pay for the bills, or getting stuff done around here. There’s a dilemma in there. They’re just a bit too free with my time that lot, whilst making demands. Ooo, I enjoyed that rant!

    Thanks for the new word. I had to look up the definition for the word, addlepated, which the spell checker was also unaware of. Very amusing too. 🙂

    Brr! It’s getting cold in your part of the world, as it’s getting hot down here. Friday, or is it Saturday, I now forget, but one of them is forecast to reach 95’F. Clearly the honeymoon is over and Mother Nature and Jack Frost have had an epic argument. 🙂 Hope they can patch up things in your area.

    Lewis, lead me not into temptation! I’ve used those trenching machines. Hmm. Fortunately I don’t envisage enough use to go to the effort of purchasing or hiring one. Don’t need to pay to go to the gym either. Winning! But you’re right, the look lethal and your observation is very funny.

    I was raised that way too, that’s how I remember things, and kept out of trouble too. Tell ya what though, I remember the whole stranger danger thing in the 1970’s and that story got pushed hard. Sure random stuff happens, but statistically, most trouble begins at home. And that’s the thing, when I was out and about doing whatever, nobody other than me, knew where I was. Things sure are different nowadays.

    Ah! Right, well that is an interesting system – a bit like an annual check up certificate for your car, but for the dog. We don’t have that in place, but then the annual pet registration fees are $57 a year (and about three times that amount if they’re not desexed). Hang on a second… Are you suggesting that the system is cheaper here? Man, that never happens! I can sort of understand the rabies shot, and you’ve got me wondering about those fruit bats which I’ve only seen rarely here.

    The cleavers weeds are pretty feral, but easily managed and no big deal. Plus everything seems to like eating them, even the chickens do. Free feed as far as I’m concerned. And agreed, that is good fact to know.

    Far out, that’s a problem and yes those granules are probably not much good for H’s health.

    Good stuff, and that’s encouraging to hear. I’ve tried sowing the chamomile plant a few times over the years. I quite enjoy the tea, although some folks suggest that it tastes like compost.

    Yup, there’d be a governor valve which mixes cold water into the hot water stream. Or the temperature on the boiler is now set lower to save on energy costs. If they were there working long enough, the hot water pipes could also have been re-routed. It’ll be interesting to see if the system copes around and after your winter solstice. Then you’ll know.

    Always nice to enjoy a good chat and I trust H was at her finest. Out of curiosity, does Swiss cheese get that orange colour treatment?

    Interesting! And accommodation is in demand, even in difficult economic times.

    Cheers

    Chris

  44. Yo, Chris – I saw a long article on King Arthur, yesterday. I don’t know why they wrote it now. It’s not like it’s his birthday, or. something.

    https://www.cnn.com/travel/king-arthur-tintagel-wales-cornwall-celtic-britain

    Maybe because in the Wonderful World of Archaeology, there’s been some chatter about excavations in Cornwall, at a site called “Arthur’s Hall.” Which I didn’t mention, or link to, as, frankly (Frank), I didn’t find it very interesting.

    I don’t know about range of hearing, but my hearing is pretty sharp. Unlike half the residents here at the Institution. That was an interesting article, about your earthquake. And the comments were also interesting. Some people reported and up and down movement … others side to side. A lot really depends on the soils a structure is built on.

    Oh, I agree. At 75, there might not be all that much sand left in the hour glass, and I certainly don’t want to waste any of it, dealing with bureaucratic bumbling. 🙂

    Ah, that’s how you spell addlepated. No wonder I couldn’t find it. People often play Scrabble, down at the Club. Alas, I cannot play. Sure, I have a pretty good vocabulary, but suffer from CPWS. (Can’t Spell Worth S..t.)

    The high yesterday was 46F (7.77C). The overnight low was 45F. Yesterdays high was 49F. It’s been rain … wind … or, wind and rain. The last being the worst, which H and I walked right into, last night. This morning, just a bit of drizzle, with no wind.

    When I was a wee small lad, you couldn’t have a peaceful breakfast, without staring down a missing tyke on the milk carton. Of course, they didn’t tell the whole story. That nine times out of ten, a kid was snatched in a custody dispute. Not by some random stranger.

    H’s yearly license fee is $5. If I get it in January. Later and there are late fees. I think I get an old duffer’s discount. And, a discount because she’s “fixed.” Given all the hoop-la about city and county budgets, I wonder if it will go up, this year? And, no, they don’t send a reminder notice. I don’t know if it could be paid, on-line. Generally, I just hike up the stairs in city hall, and pay in cash.

    I forgot to mention, once when I went to the vet, I paid by check. They had no problem accepting it. But, it sure did take a long time, to clear. So now I pay in cash.

    I find Camomile tea tastes (and smells) like fresh cut hay. I don’t find the smell of fresh cow manure, particularly off-putting.

    Swiss cheese here, is white. Although I’ve seen some from small dairies, that’s kind of a beige color. Some cheddars seem to run the gamut from bright orange, to very pale.

    I wonder if the Master Gardeners will show up, tomorrow? The forecast is for showers. Lew

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