About a dozen years ago, Sandra was in the wrong place, at the wrong time. There she was just innocently going about her professional activities when an attached unrelated office was raided by the Australian Federal Police. As you do. Turns out the folks next door had dealings with a mob boss. Who knew? My laconic response to the distressed phone call was along the lines of: What the f#$k?
Anyway, nothing came of the raid, except a few months afterwards, the mobster ended up allegedly residing with the authorities. On the day, my advice to Sandra was to get the heck away from that office location, and that’s what she did. Cheap office sharing arrangements are perhaps cheap for a reason, buyer beware! The decision did inflict costs and hassles. Unfortunately for me, a few days following on from the raid I was driving the dirt mouse Suzuki Swift (which was registered in Sandra’s name) in that area, and yeah. Not good. That was when I was pulled over by a very heavily armed collection of constabulary and questioned before being sent on my way. The flak jackets sent a strong message, but it sure was an alarming incident for one with a sensitive disposition.
It was so super weird to be just going about your day to day business and end up being caught up in such craziness. One of the Kafkaesque side effects of the drama is that somewhere within the postal system our packages and personal mail gets searched. You know it’s an impersonal service, because the business mail has never been touched. I do know with certainty that it is nobody local, because over the dozen years since it began, there has been a complete change in local people, and yet the mischief still goes on. I suspect that there is some petty bureaucrat in a distribution centre noting that our name is on some sort of list, inspects the contents of our packages and hand addressed mail. For giggles, we’ve kept photographs of the holes and pried open corners of packages. Ironically, it’s a criminal offence to do that act.
One of the things which disturbed me about the Terminator films, was that the killer robot never stopped. Unrelenting. Indefatigable. Tireless. The thing just kept going and going, it was an unstoppable monster. Sadly after so many years I’ve become accustomed to the horror of finding my packages inspected. The opened Christmas cards were probably a step too far. It’s really weird though that nobody has ever thought to ask the question, what was Sandra doing there that day? The bureaucrats have perhaps declared us guilty, and I guess that’s enough in these enlightened days.
However, sometimes the incident has proven to be useful. There are costs and benefits to all situations, if you can work an angle. Not long after the brief craziness, some trespassers just popped up out of the forest and walked through the sunny orchard, as you do. The old times used to say: Bold as brass, and that was their attitude for sure. Given I have the right to hunt deer at any time of the year on this property, trespassing is an extraordinarily unwise activity.
In a normal world, which none of us live in, you’d imagine that the people caught trespassing would be humble and apologetic, but no. They took a very high handed approach with me, and even complained about the rough passage they’d navigated. Fortunately despite being mouthy and expectational, they didn’t seem all that bright, and so I followed them back to their cars and recorded their license plates and gave them another stern lecture.
Being part of a local group, they were not hard to track down, and their mobile number was handily on the groups interweb page. So I phoned them up and gave the leader yet another ear full and advised that it was probably the wiser path to ask for permission beforehand. But there was another option available to me, I called the cops. The nice detective went and had a chat to the leader of the group and probably reiterated my earlier advice to the bloke. A few days later the detective had a chat about the outcome and he told me to leave them alone, because ‘the guy is a nobody’. Wow.
You know what, word gets out in a rural area. This person knows that person, and people sure do love to gossip. The most anyone has ever said to me about the trespassing incident was that ‘I was a little bit full-on’. Yeah, sure it wasn’t their land being blithely crossed. But so far, the fix appears to have worked and the people have they come back. Plus there have been one or two incidents where upon coming into my awareness, they decided to keep away from the area – and had some rather ungentlemanly things to say about me. A friend was with me at the time, and the incident convinced him that living in a rural area was not for him. Anyway, reputation is a thing up in the bush, and who knows what people think, although I can take a wild guess. Nowadays I simply shrug my shoulders whilst nonchalantly saying ‘whatever’, and that’s an option. It’s beneath my dignity to even notice.
And with the mail, I’m no longer bothered by it. It amuses me to consider that our government is wasting money on the task of being unnecessarily obtrusive in our life, for no good reason or outcome. A two minute phone call from them could sort the entire matter out once and for all, but no that didn’t happen. I guess it’s provided stimulating employment for someone, for over a decade, and the phone call may have forced the bureaucrat to have to do something more useful with their hours. With such Kafkaesque activities going on ad nauseam, it’s no surprise to me that we live in a society in decline.
It’s been another hot and dry week, but this morning in a sign that the seasons are slowly changing, fog wafted through the tall trees.
I’m getting a bit over the hot weather and am looking forward to feeling cold. On one particularly warm day, we assembled the chainsaw mill which had been purchased months ago. Timber is astoundingly expensive, and we have plenty of trees, some of which are conveniently laying in a horizontal position. The nice folks who supply me with chainsaw gear have an amusing logo which I often remark looks like Sandra and I, but in cartoon form. Presumably that’s how the locals perceive us!
It took a few hours to assemble the mill and rail kit. It was just too hot that day to test out the device. It wasn’t until Sunday when the weather cooled that usage was possible, and that was the misty day.
The cooler weather really was the perfect time to test out the device.
Long term readers will recall that for the past couple of years, a leaning tree has been threatening to fall over. Well, as is often the case, gravity usually wins such fights and the tree eventually fell to the ground sometime in early spring. And there it has lain for months just waiting to be milled up.
An 11.5ft / 3.5m section was cut out of the dead straight downed tree. The guide rails for the mill were placed on top of the log and levelled.
The chainsaw was fired up and then run along the rails. A lot of people prefer leaning over whilst using a saw, but I prefer to avoid back troubles and simply kneel instead. An old timey forestry worker drilled me many years ago for a couple days in the forest on chainsaw usage, and that was one of the tricks he pounded into my head.
A lot of people using these mills in the US are actually cutting softwood tree species, and those are a no-brainer easy mill job. Eucalyptus Obliqua is an entirely different experience, and one pass of the chainsaw uses an the tank of two stroke fuel plus oil and requires a super sharp skip tooth ripping chain. Softwoods, pah!
The mill works by cutting the log into slabs and I chose a two inch (50mm) thickness. As previously mentioned, the tree species is Eucalyptus Obliqua which is a hardwood with a density of 750kg/m3. It’s a very strong and durable timber which is used in construction and also furniture. It’s also just happens to be hard work cutting through such wood.
The two inch slabs produced were themselves very heavy, and hopefully they’ll get lighter as the moisture content (which I didn’t think to test) reduces.
As you’d expect, nothing here goes to waste. The bark was cut into small sections and will make excellent kindling. Any other chunks of timber not used were turned into firewood. For a couple of hours work, we produced five long boards which will most likely be used as roof beams in the firewood shed project. There’s no hurry to mill up all the timber at once, so we’ll do the work as time and the weather permit.
Incidentally, the ends of the boards were sealed with a 50/50 mix of mineral turpentine and linseed oil. You have to seal the ends of sawn boards so that the timber does not dry unevenly and split.
A tiny smattering of rain fell whilst milling timber, but it wasn’t enough to make any difference to anything. I leave water out for the birds and insects. Even the bees have their own water bowl which has to be kept clean.
The sunny orchard no longer has any green ground cover plants (other than the worm farm sewerage trenches), but at least the trees themselves show no signs of water stress. The cooler weather has begun the process of the trees going deciduous, and I’m guessing leaf change will be short and sharp this year.
The shady orchard has some kind of green looking ground cover plants. Maybe the grass has died and nobody got around to telling the plants that this was the case?
The view from the house looking into the shady orchard shows a lush picture, but at ground level, it’s dry.
So far all the trees have survived this year on rainfall alone. I do hope that the rains return soon. Dry as it is here, the conditions are better than the surrounding area, and the forest critters regularly turn up for a feed.
Oh! The dog barrier which was modified and fixed up last week, scored a nice coat of glossy black metal paint.
The heat has been good for the tomatoes, and I’ve cut back on watering those vines so as to force the plants to ripen the remaining crop. I have a hunch that tomato vines grown in greenhouses are over watered towards the end of the growing season, and this leads to fungal disease issues. The vines will die anyway, so why not try and match a more natural cycle with the plants?
Other than fresh eating, the tomato harvest is being dehydrated, and then stored in olive oil. Every day the dehydrator chugs away outside under cover at it’s work. The results are good.
This week’s video talks about the chainsaw mill and tomatoes:
In breaking produce news:
The yummy addition to breakfast this week are the first of the seasons clusters of grapes.
The hop vines have continued to amaze. Those plants receive no watering or attention other than a regular soil feed. The pods are aromatic and it is a useful plant.
Onto the flowers:
The temperature outside now at about 11am is 13’C (56’F). So far for last year there has been 96.0mm (3.8 inches) which is up from last weeks total of 95.8mm (3.8 inches)
Chris,
Any particular trick to the bee water bowl?
Gerry
Your place looks lovely! I’m in the CDN Pacific Northwest and we are just beginning to get hints of spring. Chorus frogs have been heard…they look just like your little brown tree frogs but are Kermit green. I want to share an idea for sealing the ends of newly cut timber: paraffin wax, the kind that used to be used to seal jam jars, drip-applied, and melted into the end grain of the wood, with a blowtorch. I don’t know where I heard about this but I have used it several times successfully (I dabble in woodcarving, and scrounge and salvage wood). The chainsaw mill looks great, I’m jealous. Jeannie
Yo, Chris – Though I’ve never had my mail tampered with (as far as I know … your lot sound a bit ham-handed), I’m sure due to some of the groups I belonged to, and activities I was involved in, in the late 60s and early 70s, I probably have an FBI file, somewhere in the bowels of some federal building. Most people did.
As far as the trespassing business went, I have a story that while small potatoes, compared to yours, is sort of interesting. Way back when I had a house, and an alley, that’s where the garbage can went for pick up. One day, it disappeared. I was pretty sure it was a family that lived a few houses down the alley. Even though it was a small matter, I made a police report. Why? Because I knew it would be reported in the newspaper “Sirens” section. And, it was. I was sending the message that I would not hesitate to call the police, for the slightest infractions. I never had problems with those people, again.
Just as an observation, it never hurts to appear to be a little crazy. A little unpredictable. People are more likely to respect your boundaries, and keep a safe distance.
I don’t know what I was expecting, but I thought your chainsaw mill would be … bigger. More complicated. But it (and you) sure did do a nice job. That’s some fine looking timber.
It’s thoughtful of you to provide a bee watering station. They look pretty happy. I recognize the bowl, from earlier frog pics.
Leaf change? Oh, my gosh, it’s that time of the year, again. Pepper season! Are you mentally prepared?
The forest kangaroo are kind of funny looking. In form, I mean. But they sure know how to strike a stately pose. The dog barrier is very classy.
That’s a large variety of tomatoes. You dream of flat land, I dream of more space. I’m still working my way through the ones I dried, last year. Those grapes look really tasty. I think I mentioned, the last place I lived had a hop vine. A very old hop vine. They can be pretty invasive, once they get established. On second thought, it might have been a honeysuckle vine, that grew in the same vicinity.
The poppies are very pretty. Last season, in the garden plot next to mine, some volunteer pink poppies, showed up, from who knows where. Odd looking. More of a pom-pom than petals. I’d meant to save a bit of seed, but didn’t. I wonder if they’ll show up again, this year? I also discovered that there’s a blue poppy, out there. Something I need to look into. Originally from Tibet. But it has been successfully grown, up in British Columbia. So, it might do well, here.
That is a really pretty butterfly. Even though we have a butterfly garden, to attract them, we really don’t get many, here. Lew
Hi Jeannie,
Thank you and those are lovely words to hear. 🙂 It’s nice to see the fruit trees growing strongly despite the dry latter part of summer. There are a lot of similarities with the climate between here and your part of the world. Lately, I’ve been coming around to the idea that the summer dried ground cover plants is actually a benefit for the fruit trees in that competition for minerals and water is reduced.
Isn’t it nice to see the land waking up all around you with the early promise of a delightfully abundant growing season.
Whoa! That’s totally uncanny. Your tree frogs (The Pacific tree frog – Pseudacris regilla) are almost exactly the same, albeit bright green. I’d be hard pressed to tell the difference between the local tree frogs here and your PNW brown coloured variant. Nature is amazing, and clearly the frogs fill a niche. Quietly just between you and I, the tree frogs consume spiders and some of those arachnids have a particularly nasty bite, so I’m all for the frogs.
That would absolutely work with the paraffin wax and thanks for mentioning it. I used the linseed oil because that’s what I had to hand. It’s a funny process isn’t it? What’s going on, from what I’ve read, is that the ends of the milled timber dry faster than the more dense bits, and the difference causes the splitting, so sealing the ends slows that differential – but I have no idea and am learning as I go. Back in the day, timber used to have painted ends, but things are different nowadays and a lot of energy goes into fast drying timber products. Way back in the day, everyone used green timber because that is what you had. I’m thinking the firewood shed will have a lot of character.
Respect! Your interests do you credit, and you already know, as a society we’re extraordinarily wasteful. That’s a very useful interest, and I’m getting closer to cutting my own tool handles. What sort of carving interests you?
Jeannie, I broke the chainsaw using the mill. It’s an older and venerable machine with a decent heritage so is worth fixing. Today I spent about an hour dismantling the machine, finding out what went wrong and ordered the parts. Turns out it was a component which is subject to wear. Who knew? But I tell ya what, it’s awesome to access a new resource from the surrounding forest and there are enough trees on the ground to supply the timber.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Gerry,
How did you know I’d experimented with the bees to find out what works for them? 🙂 The birds have a different system (which incidentally is higher above the ground level) because for some reason unbeknownst to me, they foul up their water and don’t just drink from the reservoir, they’ll also bathe in it. That’s another story.
The bees water bowl gets cleaned out every day – being sited next to a garden water tap makes that job easy. Originally there was no rock island in the middle of the bowl, and some bees end up drowning, actually more than a few did that trick. They’d land on the edge of the bowl and drink the water, yet a few for some unknown reason would end up floating. Chuck a clean rock in and they’ll swim to the rock, dry off, and then fly off.
The other day I put my hand on the rock not noticing one or two bees still on it, and fortunately was not stung. It’s hard to know why.
Sadly varroa mite has arrived on this continent due to alleged stupidity and greed, and I’m watching the bees to see how they go. All I can do is provide them the best environment and hope for the best now. There are a lot of small colonies in the surrounding forest, so those will be the ones which survive. Like the native bees, I only need them for pollination purposes.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Always difficult to escape from the past! 🙂 Although, man, sometimes there’s so much data floating around that you do wonder if anyone can make sense of it all? And I also reckon it gets lost over the years, so maybe your wild youthful activities are now residing in the archives and not in the digital sphere. Just between you and I, I’m quietly grateful that there were not all these cameras around littering today’s landscape way back in the day when I was a youthful mooncalf. There needs to be some sort of allowance for being young and dumb don’t you reckon? 🙂
The postal intrusiveness is yeah, ham fisted. I’m mildly impressed that nothing has ever been lost from all that activity. Hey, maybe I get special attention and thus the processes work better as an undocumented side effect? It’s a theory… But now I’ve said it out loud… Ook!
Your story makes absolute sense from a dark perspective. You see, people doing things like that, might just be up to other mischief, and you wisely brought official attention to them. The worst thing you could do would be deal with them directly. Such people naturally push at boundaries, because they can’t stop themselves from doing so. I believe your supposition was correct, and only know this because I had a similar incident with a neighbour (when I was a very young adult) who I believe was fencing stolen cars. Weird things were going on, just like your garbage can, and I too reached for the same solution and they gave me the excuse to do so. Afterwards the bloke moved out, but it’s unwise to make death threats to your neighbour, let’s put it that way.
🙂 Agreed. Being unpredictable was one of Sun Tzu’s maxims, so your thought has long historical precedence. Hey, sometimes I also pull the absent minded but harmless card, but the A-bomb is acting dumb before then turning up a more appropriately focused response. Ah, debt collection work back in the early 1990’s taught me so much about my fellow human. 😉
Thanks! The next step up from the chainsaw mill would be a small bandsaw mill, but that would retail for about $4k. It’d do some good work though, but sharpening a huge band saw loop would be very tiresome. I didn’t mention it in the blog – not for any reason other than I forgot – but the chainsaw rear handle felt loose after the milling and clearly there was a problem. The machine is a decade old and runs well, so is worth repairing. They might not actually make them like that nowadays and it was based on an update of an earlier model which had been in use for decades. The old farm machine repair dude suggested to me to buy it when I was looking for a larger saw. I spent an hour dismantling the machine today and found that one of the anti-vibration rubber chunks was torn beyond repair. It’s nice to be able to head online and get the parts ordered (and some extras for spares). Plus I know another thing to look for with the machine.
Good remembering, and that’s the same bowl. The frogs enjoy the water at night, and the bees dominate the daylight hours.
Freak out! The Chris, says Freak! Freak out! Yeah, don’t tell anyone, but it’s getting closer to leaf change time. It’ll be short and brief this year due to water stress and heat issues. Yay!
He’s a little bull kangaroo that one, and sometimes he hangs out with two girlie roos, one of which has a joey in her pouch. I don’t mind the kangaroos and they do the least damage to the garden of all of the forest critters. Hey, we began installing the fence extenders on the large citrus enclosure this afternoon. The deer on the other hand are a nuisance.
Ah, I hear you about that and just like flat land, extra space is a luxury item. Us mere mortals must do the best we can and live with compromise, always was it thus. You’ve got me wondering about the hop vines, and they can live to a very old age. Yup, honeysuckle can grow quite large too.
You’d imagine those poppies would show up again this year, maybe. They’re very hardy once established. Whoa! A lovely looking plant (Meconopsis horridula), with zero chance of survival here. It probably lives in conditions which favour proper wasabi and that plant requires just too much water here, but would otherwise grow fine. Does anyone grow proper wasabi in your part of the world?
Butterflies seem to do better in hot weather. They’re all over the shop. Incidentally, that one on the photo is quite rare and last year I sent an image to a state butterfly group to let them know they’re happily residing here. My good deed for the day… I get the impression that the insects have troubles in the pupae stage of growth rather than the flying stage.
As to the insurance, you have to admit it’s a neat solution. Must be a common practice, because death payouts from some of the massive union controlled retirement funds were doing similar things recently. The goobermint apparently told them to pull their heads in and get their act together. It’s not a good look to take advantage of people when they’re at their lowest point in life.
Hooverville is not good, and the photos painted a bleak picture indeed. The Bonus Army shenanigans were beyond the pale and it is foolish to treat veterans poorly.
Hehe! Very funny, go the bees, and the big bees too. Spring has begun for you. 🙂 This year I’ve seen plenty of native bees and of course the European honey bees, but no bumble bees nor yellow jackets. Of course I removed that willow tree which attracted the pesky wasps.
Ah, good to hear you’ll try out the asparagus and hopefully they sold you a goodie. Did the rain ease up enough to chuck down the bone meal for the garlic? That stuff would be growing fast now.
🙂 My pleasure, and I do my best to avoid ear worms. Mr Shatner nailed that track. He’s got a very strong voice. Incubus has a fascinating plot, and such things have been known to happen – although I’m personally fastidious about avoiding hanging out with such entities. Shame the movie was a dogs breakfast, but what’s with the choice of language, did the makers want a tiny audience? Do you recall subtitles?
I’d like to see a UFO cloud! Awesome photos, and the suggestion at the conclusion was amusing. Yes, the mothership is descending. Bummer about the NOAA cuts.
It’s possibly impolite to be discussing Mr Greer and his strategies here, but since you mentioned it – the subject you mentioned simply baffles me, and perhaps that is more the entire point of the exercise. I was perhaps more concerned about the loose talk of dying alone, but in some regards people tell me that I’m overly sensitive, and then look what happened. Truly, disturbing my sleep is a no-no, but does anyone listen to me?
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – When I posted, last night, you hadn’t got the video up, yet. So, I watched it this morning. The retreating kangaroo was a nice touch. A couple of questions. You salt and pepper your tomatoes? I wonder if salting draws out moisture, that would reduce drying time? And, what holds down the frame / track of the mill. How do you keep it stable?
Well, speaking of Sun Tzu, though he wasn’t mentioned, I had a popcorn night, last night. I watched “Legend” with Jackie Chan. A newish movie from the Land of Stuff. It bounced back and forth between ancient and modern times. Ancient was the Hun and the Han. Modern was an archaeologist looking for the lost treasure of the Huns. It was … OK. Lots of epic battle scenes with lots of horses. Martial arts derring-do. The modern bits were a bit dippy, what with romantic entanglements (or, the lack there-of).
Night before last, I had another round of French toast. Oh, Yummy. Pure Ambrosia. The mythical kind, not the desert kind. 🙂 I think that’s it, for awhile. I’ll get back to something sensible, tonight.
The bull kangaroo? Must be his starter harem. 🙂
Wasabi. Well, I’ve never heard of anyone growing it, here. It a look down the rabbit hole indicates that there are small commercial outfits on the Oregon coast, and coastal British Columbia.
Interesting about the Bonus Army. That was quit a tale. A couple of weeks ago, I watched a documentary about this ….
https://w.wiki/DHCG
Interesting how the Powers That Be manipulated the narrative. The documentary had uncovered the “lost” footage.
I have a question about the asparagus. You mention you add salt to the soil. How much, do you think, for a barrel planter? Can I use plain old iodized salt? The variety I picked up was “Mary Washington.”
Well, surprise, surprise. The Master Gardeners showed up, this morning. And will for the rest of the season, weather allowing. Good to see them, again.
Speaking of weather, the high yesterday was 50F (10C). The overnight low was 45F (7.22C). Forecast high for today is 51F. So, I fertilized the garlic with bone meal, last night. And … of course the forecast rain didn’t show up. Oh, well. It’s on again for tonight, and looks more promising.
As I remember, “Incubus” did have subtitles. But that was a really long time ago.
LOL. Hate to break the news to you, but we all die alone. And, in extremis, may prefer it. I’ve often heard stories of people sitting at a bed side, and just stepping out for a cuppa or wee, and the patient takes that opportunity to slip away. It’s a pretty common story, and I just ran across an example of it in print, the other day.
But, I haven’t seen that discussion, yet. I’m still working my way through the comments, at odd moments. I kind of skim, and look for the interesting stuff. I’m up to comment 168.
I finished reading Alton Brown’s “Food for Thought: Essays & Ruminations.” (2025). He’s a food guy, that has been on different shows on the Food Channel for 20+ years. When he was first figuring out what he wanted to do, he sat down and wrote a short list. “Julia Child, Monty Python and Mr. Wizard. That last was a TV series, for youngsters, that ran from 1951-72. Sheldon Cooper (young and old) often references Prof. Proton, which is a take off on Mr. Wizard.
I quit enjoyed the book, and Brown is pretty sensible when it come to food. I have a couple of his books. I’ll have to take another look at them. I was a bit put off by the science-y aspect of them, and his Rube Goldberg inventions. LOL. He says he often browses hardware stores. Not because he’s particularly handy, but he’s always looking for gizmos or gadgets that can be adapted to better cooking. Do you know the most important ingredient to good cooking? Time. Lew
Hi Chris,
The only issue I have with the mail is mail that isn’t received or delivered. I once had a large packet mailed certified to the lawyer handling Patrick and Michael’s estates in probate court. Well she didn’t get it and I had to redo the entire thing. That’s with taking it in the post office and paying a not insignificant amount of money to mail it. Now I take all mail directly into the post office though as seen above that’s not a guarantee but it’s all I’ve got.
The bees are all over our birdbaths on hot days. I am planning to put out some more bowls for them this summer.
We’ve gotten some precipitation but not enough. Supposed to get a fair amount of rain tomorrow.
Marty’s move is done! Well except for a few details and finishing the clean up at his apartment. This whole process has been exhausting. He’s doing well in his new digs though. My fear is that he’ll fall again. He has a wheelchair and I advised that he start slow with the walker but on no. He informed me that he’s mostly using the walker. Not much I can do but hope for the best and remind him to slow down and be careful. At least he’s closer now – only a 15 minute drive. I’ve found that some good comes out of difficult situations most of the time. I’ve spent more time with Marty than ever. He can be pretty annoying but I’ve found that he’s more thoughtful than I knew. He’s told me quite a few stories about his childhood that I wasn’t aware of.
I won’t be commenting as much at least in the near future. I’ve gotten so behind at home I need to stay off the computer more. I’m looking forward to just enjoying the outdoors as well now that it’s warming up and catching up with friends. There’s some things I’d like to accomplish before I get much older and the internet sure can suck the time away. I’ll keep abreast of the going on at Fernglade and check in when I can.
Margaret
Hi, Chris!
Ye gods! I thought my country was lawless. Maybe I’d better stay here. And tampering with the mail is a federal offense, though incompetence and laziness are not. Then add defiant trespassers, which the authorities don’t care about. Here, one has to have a “No Trespassing” sign posted to be able to claim that someone is trespassing, as they could claim that they did not know they weren’t allowed. Wasn’t Sir Scruffy knighted because of his dealings with trespassers? Is that why you have so many dogs, especially such a BIG one?
Why, Chris – they had you on the chainsaw mill box! Shall we assume that your companion is the Editor? You did a beautiful job with the mill, though it looks like a very difficult method. What is really nice is how straight your trees are.
Isn’t that a cute bee bowl. So thoughtful of you to provide for them. Shall we call them fluffies? Up close they are sort of hairy. Such an improvement on the dog barrier; that should last a good long time. Too bad about your orchard of cactus.
Your dehydrator looks like mine, but nicer. Mine has already lasted 25 years. So, you put salt on your tomatoes before drying?
I have planted alpine strawberry seeds inside and now I have baby strawberry plants. Mine never self-seed.
The new roof is coming along so nicely. Of course, my son is doing all the work, but my daughter-in-law and I are doing the cleanup. Those asphalt shingles are so heavy. And there are nails everywhere, that’s the scary part. We are supposed to go around with a magnet now that we have cleaned up the main mess. We also can’t have any fires until evening while my son is working up there. It’s been pretty cold, too.
Thanks for the flowers! All of them are so beautiful.
Pam
Hi Pam,
It’s probably the safer option, and yes it is a criminal offence to tamper with the mail down here as well. Who are these people doing such dastardly acts? And your memory is excellent, Sir Scruffy was knighted for alerting us to a person snooping around in the wee hours of the morning one dark night. Sometimes big problems require big dogs, and as the cheeky kid once suggested: some other stuff! Nowadays it would be a remarkably unwise decision to trespass here.
The Editor provided much moral support with the first use of the chainsaw mill, and she also drove the milled timber back up the hill using one of the power wheelbarrows. I was to the side during that adventure ensuring that the timber did not fall off the machine.
The timber here is extraordinarily hard and dense, so that makes the job all that much more difficult. But! If a person can take their time, then it’s no drama at all. And yes, the trees are very tall and dead straight.
We try to look after as many forest critters here that we can, and providing water during hot weather (and it was hot again here today, and tomorrow) is the least we can do for them. The thing is though, tomorrow I have to install a system so as to be able to pump the remaining water reserves in the long line of water tanks back up hill and into the house system. Things are getting a bit grim on that front. Oh well… I’ve experienced worse years.
The bees would be honoured to bee known as fluffies – that being a super exclusive club not open to just anyone you know. You could definitely count yourself into this club, but the standards are high. Comportment is the word!
Thanks! It’s warm here tonight, so the dog barrier will be hauled out and put into use.
Pam, it’s funny you mention that, but my older dehydrator is of a similar age to yours and the circuit board cracked and requires future repairs, thus the fancy shmance digital new machine. Can you believe that the rings are the exact same design between the new and old machine, but! they don’t quite fit together. It’s an outrage that difference…
Yes, salt and pepper go on prior to dehydrating, although you have to clean out the fan unit at the end of the season, just in case.
Nice work, and hopefully the alpine strawberries grow well. Pam, they’re so much easier than the large hybrid varieties that everyone seems to expect. The plants might just surprise you, and could grow in the greenhouse under the figs?
Go your son! It’s an impressive job, and when completed, one you’ll enjoy for years to come. I’ve never dealt with shingles so I’ll take your word for it. Roof spaces are very dusty and dirty locales, yup. I get that about the fires in the house, the smoke whilst up on the roof would be distracting – at best.
🙂 My pleasure and despite the continuing hot dry weather, there are plenty of flowers.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Hehe! What you saw initially was me forgetting to link to the video. The kangaroos are mostly good to have around and they rarely get up to too much mischief, although the dogs are kept well away. The two species shall not meet, unless it’s by accident.
Absolutely, the tomatoes are covered in a smattering of salt and pepper prior to being dehydrated. Now that you mention that aspect of the drawing out of moisture, I’d not considered that. I’ve only ever used that moisture drawing technique with eggplant, but it’s a keen insight, and not something I’d considered with the tomato dehydrating process. I believe that you are correct.
The first rail of the mill is levelled from one end to the other, and there are two little allen key screws on each cross brace so that the rail doesn’t move from side to side. But each cross brace has a dog spike which bites into the timber. It felt pretty solid to me, although I’ve seen videos of people screwing the rail into the log. A bit over the top with the timber I’m using.
The log itself was sitting on two half round chunks of timber which had a V shape cut from them. The heavy log was going nowhere.
The complicated plot line of the Jackie Chan film was somewhat lost on me. It being a sequel, perhaps the first instalment was required to be viewed to make sense of the narrative? Dunno, but there was a lot going on. You know, I’d not been aware of Jackie Chan’s links with Australia, and he took the ‘Jackie’ name from that of the more commonly heard name ‘Jack’. The guy is a master and I’d not want to face him if he were in a bad mood and held a grudge. You know things would end badly!
A simple storyline often works best for the film format given a lot has to be squeezed in in a limited period of time, but this is merely my opinion. Editors are probably a good idea too, I’ve watched some films over the years where the story made little sense. The first season of the series ‘True Detective’ with Woody and Matthew McConaughey was genius, it just required a second sitting to make any sense of the storyline. And do we have time for such investment? What do you reckon?
You started the old mind working (not bad after a long day) as to what exactly is Ambrosia. Honestly, the ancient images even up to the middle ages depicted a lot of scantily clad and possibly rather friendly young ladies. The artists may have been depicting what was on their minds? A bit naughty the cheeky scamps.
Man, with food there’s always a bit of balance, and sure we both eat respectively like rabbits most of the time, but pure asceticism is probably just as dodgy a philosophy as pure hedonism. Again, a bit of middle ground is the saner place to inhabit.
You know, that thought about the bull kangaroo, I’d had that as well. A dude kangaroo has to start somewhere. 🙂
The constantly damp soil for wasabi would be very difficult growing conditions to sustain, and they’re not here that’s for sure. A bit too dry for that plant right now, maybe later… 😉 Tomorrow I plan to begin sorting out the water reserves and pump the water up to the house, but who knows what’s involved in all that activity. It’s hardly surprising that the plant can be grown along the damp coast.
Well anyone who thinks that gobermunts aren’t self serving and has your best interests at heart, is probably a bit naive. Times were hard back then and people were spoiling for a fight. Oh boy, did they get a fight or what? Handmaidens… Nuff said. Look, journos have relationships, mortgages, car loans, kiddie school fees etc. why would they buck the system which pays their wages, and that system by the way, over supplies replacements. It’d be a precarious experience that career choice nowadays.
Actually we used rock sea salt, which was not labelled as having the additive iodine. Hmm, is iodine bad for the soil? … … Well, the majority of opinions suggest using non-iodised salt, but who’s to know if it’s fear, fact or someone long ago said it and everyone now repeats the advice? Dunno. A mystery. On a balance of probabilities stick to the non-iodised stuff.
Hope the master gardeners can do something with the blueberries, and yup, spring is fast approaching for you. By the way, it was hot here today.
Oh, well nobody told me about that! 🙂 Actually that is not a worry of mine because after all, in that instance, someone else has to concern themselves with the details. It was comment #213 and the response. But heck yeah, back when I was a kid there was nothing unusual about elderly relatives dropping dead. It happened and the whole thing was very hands on. The problem with institutionalising end of life, is that the process which everyone has to face, is hidden from sight. I don’t think that is right.
Did Alton Brown get to perfect a roast chicken? I’d have to suggest that a lot of the good chook cook, would be from having a well raised and fed chicken that’s not too young, and not too old, but just right for the baking tray. The last roast chicken I purchased many long years ago was atrocious and the bird should never have been processed. Occasionally for very special guests, we’ll roast up a chicken. How did you rate chicken for Thanksgiving now you’ve had time to consider the matter?
Cheers
Chris
Hi Margaret,
This house exists in a black hole for the postal delivery service. It’s as if we don’t exist. In your country there is a delivery guarantee for where ever a person resides, and err, cost cutting may change that I reckon, maybe. Whoa! Lost certified (described as registered down under) mail would be a major headache. Never heard of that happening, and the journey can be tracked in detail, although lost is lost. Not good. What a lot of hassle.
Your postage is cheap relative to what I pay to send letters and small packages of documents. You’d be astounded by how much it costs down here.
Just out of curiosity, if you certified the lost envelope, how did you do that whilst not in a post office? You’d need to go to the post office here for sure.
The bees will appreciate the water on hot sunny days, particularly in dry weather. The birds also appreciate such treats, but you’d know that. Any interesting birds turned up yet as you get closer to spring? It was hot here today, but at least now the nights are colder.
Oooo! Fingers crossed the rain turns up at your place. Far to the north east of the continent near to the large city of Brisbane, looks like a tropical cyclone is set to make landfall in a few days time. That’ll be interesting and a tiny bit of rain from that storm might even make it this far south, maybe.
Yay! And well done to you, your sister and Marty for co-operating with the move! And yeah, it’s great that he’s closer to you now. People can surprise can’t they? And the old timers do say that an old dog can learn new tricks. Glad to hear that he’s being thoughtful, that’s massive and probably wouldn’t come naturally for Marty.
Thanks for taking the time to drop by and say hello and keep us all abreast of the Margaret and Marty news. 🙂 I’m not going anywhere (that I’m aware of) and so when you get the chance, please do say hello.
Cheers
Chris
mail mischief- And then we have to ask how much of our email is not private. AI and backdoors and the “war on terror” make me think that one should pause before stating certain things in electronic correspondence.
funny story- My job took us to an island country in the Caribbean, which was quite the exotic thing to do for farm kids from Indiana. A well meaning relative sent us a care package, which included some M&Ms. Oddly, the postal system took half the candy, and left some for us. Kind of assuming that we had no recourse to make a claim?
chainsaws and cavemen- Love the logo- really speaks to the brawny inner caveman in all us men. Chainsaws in the news lately, not sure what that portends. I finally got a second bar and chain for mine, so can now go a lot longer before I have to retreat to the workshop to sharpen.
Bushwhacking- ( the term can mean heading right through the forest off path and come what may)You don’t say what in the world those interlopers were trying to accomplish, but here in my immediate neighborhood, it would not be looked on as pretty odd, if not downright looking for trouble. I’m told that many year ago, especially during deer season, property rights were not quite so respected, but present day norms are such that you’d be taking quite the risk if tromping through another’s bit of land.
And there are a lot of areas where the brush and thorns would really make the jaunt unpleasant.
People- go figure.
Tapped the trees this week, very slow sap flow so far, but the temperature cycling forecast looks good for the coming week. I’m trying tapping black walnut trees for the first time this year. Can’t wait to taste it.
Any trees in the Macedons that could be tapped?
Yo, Chris – I’ll give salting down a batch of tomatoes, and see how it goes, next season. If it cuts the drying time, I’ll do it more frequently. I meant to mention, when you were talking about drying the tomatoes. one thing I do that I don’t think you mentioned in your video, is that about half way through the process, I rotate the racks. Top rack goes to bottom, etc..
I noticed the base of your wood mill was a good solid, log cabin like construction. Very solid.
I didn’t realize “Legend” was a sequel. But, according to what I read, it’s a stand alone movie, so I won’t have to go hunting up the rest of them. 🙂 Two movies that I found very confusing, and had to watch a few times were the Australian film, “Last Wave,” and … the original “Dune.”
I’d guess wasabi also needs well drained soil. And most coastal soils are pretty sandy.
Re: Journalists needing jobs because of commitments (which applies to a lot of jobs), there’s this: “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” Upton Sinclair.
So. How much rock sea salt for a 3 foot barrel? I decided to stop by the store this morning, and pick up two more asparagus roots. They were only about $3. I noticed there was some red rhubarb root. Tiny 3-4 inch shriveled up roots. So, I grabbed two of those. I near died of shock, when the clerk rang me up and said, $29. Those little shriveled up bits of rhubarb were well over $12 a piece. Pass.
The Master Gardeners showed up, for the first time this season. Pretty much the same crew as last year. We discovered some deer damage. They ate my chives! 🙁 Well, chives. They’ll bounce back. I liberally scattered around some blood meal, last night. We’ll be assigning garden beds, next Monday.
I figured out the best way to deal with bags of coffee grounds, from the Club. Dump the whole bag, pull out all the filters and toss them in a bucket … along with anything else that isn’t coffee filters. And, there are other things mixed in. Everything from pop cans to those little plastic tubs for “creamer.”
My life is complete. One of the daughter’s of a long time resident called me a “dick” last night. She’s way too chatty and likes to play 20 questions. Grunted replies have not fended her off. I was working in the garden, and saw her pull in. I turned my back (get a clue), but she came up behind me to demand, “What are you planting, this year.” I turned around, looked her dead in the eye and said, “You sure do ask a lot of questions.” Well, that set her back on her heels. As she rounded the corner, I heard her say, “What a dick.” 🙂 Or, maybe it was a “p” word? Whatever.
The high temperature was 54F (12.22C), yesterday. The overnight low was 41F (5C). Forecast for today is a high of 50. Once again, it didn’t rain, last night. The bone meal languishes. But, it was quit a nice evening. I took a look at the weather radar, this morning, and hustled H out for her walk. Just as we finished, it started to rain. Has been raining on and off, today.
Alton Brown has a whole chapter on his (very amusing) search for the perfect roast chicken. He has it acceptably nailed, but it’s still a work in progress. He’s not above tweeking this and that. He also had a chapter on working out how to roast a turkey. With the idea of imparting the knowledge, to a whole generation, who dropped the turkey baton (or, drumstick). I found a nice, plump hen was an acceptable Thanksgiving substitute. Easier to handle, and, frankly, I think the chicken has a bit more flavor, than the turkey. Even though he does go occasionally off the deep end, with his Mr. Science routines, he really believes in keeping recipes fairly simple and straight forward. And, explains, simply, why doing things one way, and not another is the best way to go. But he’s also willing to change his mind about things. He also believes in keeping tools simple, and that they should have multiple uses.
He’s also quit interested in Japan, and had an interesting bit on Japanese “Katei-ka.” It’s probably easiest translated as “home-ec: as taught in schools. But it’s not gendered, and is an ongoing program through grade school and high school.
https://yourglobalfamily.com/blog/katei-ka
And it even covers household and personal finances! What a concept. Lew
PS: I see the comment you were talking about. What is sometimes called “unattended death.” Sort of like the guy, across the hall from me, who they didn’t find for near a week.
By the way, the documentary that was mentioned in the post? I saw that, a couple of years ago. Our library had it. Grim, in a way, but I was impressed with the … respect and solemnity that the first responders treated the situation. Lew
@ Lew:
I am sure that by now you know that Dolly Parton’s husband of 62 years has died. He was 82. They set a fine example for us all.
Pam
Chris:
I’m sorry that the water supply is getting tight. I do remember some other grim summers there. I expect that some rain will shortly be coming about.
My son has gotten the roof underlayment/waterproof membrane on just in time before the storm tomorrow. Now we have the Pink Panther all over the roof. Remember him?
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Owens-Corning-ProArmor-1001-sq-ft-Synthetic-Roof-Underlayment-Roll-PROA21/302659836
Me?! A fluffy! I don’t deserve such prestige and will try to comport myself to show all honor and glory to the cause of fluffiness.
Hmm – I guess the alpine strawberries could go in the greenhouse. Though in 5 or 6 weeks the plastic cladding will come off for the summer and maybe the strawberries would do as well in the garden. I have a couple of quite old plants in the garden already.
Pam
Chris,
Uh, oh. I see that I’m no longer the only wood carver that frequents this place. You might start to have an influx of us. Be scared, be very scared. 😉
Once upon a year, the Princess took a bus trip to visit her sister in Eugene, Oregon. I was at work when she was returning home by bus. As she neared Pasco, Washington, she called. Every bus was going to be stopped and searched for illegal aliens by the Border Patrol. I told her to have her driver’s license and her tribal ID handy. And that if I didn’t hear from her within 30 minutes, I’d be on my way there. After 28 minutes she called, said she was okay and that the bus would be on its way in a few minutes. Her tribal ID was the key, as the agent who searched her bus was also Native and recognized that valid ID. I imagine I felt similar to how you felt when Sandra made that phone call.
My friend and I got permission from a friend of mine to stake out his apple orchard one September during archery season for deer. Only problem was the guy forgot to tell his wife, who was not amused when she got home from her job. She pulled a gun on us, which I quite understood. Fortunately, I had met her several times, so nothing too serious happened once she recognized me. That did end our hunt for the day and at that location forever. Those guys who were trespassing on your place would’ve been much better served by being polite and calm, not ruffling your feathers. Even with your differing laws regarding trespass and hiking, I’d certainly want to talk to the property owner before traipsing around.
You know the season is changing from summer when you get fog. Couldn’t have been too thick, however, as I saw your anemometer in that photo.
Ohhhh, nice photo of you and Sandra on the box! Well, I recognized you and assume it’s Sandra with you. I showed the Princess the pictures of you milling the wood. She just sorta looked at the pictures, then nonchalantly said, “Oh, I’ve seen that before. It was on the Mountain Man TV show.” So, basically, I got this idea out of the box and your demonstration of the equipment. Chris, the Neanderthal who carries a running chainsaw, uses a portable wood mill as seen on American TV. 😉
Seriously, I was impressed with the lumber you got out of that fallen tree. I remember well the pictures of that tree from last year. It had quite the tilt to it.
I got the remainder of the dog poo cleaned up on Sunday. Darn it, I stepped in it once! Cleaned the shoe thoroughly before going indoors. I also got the neighbor’s piece of shed roofing moved to the ground on their side of the fence.
Rained a bit this morning, got a bit more this evening. Not a lot, but it’s always nice.
The Princess and I arranged to meet younger neighbor for lunch today. One of our favorite places is next door to the young gal’s job, so she texted when she was done. Good food and a fun chat ensued. It was the first time the two women had met.
Your dog barrier project turned out good. That paint made a big difference.
Good job with the rock in the bee watering area. I’ve watched bees drown. Sometimes they just seem to fall in. They fly really good, but swimming? Not so much. Rocks are good. I’m glad that in these days of peak rocks, you are willing to sacrifice a rock for the greater good.
We both really enjoyed the flowers with the butterfly. The Princess was speechless for a minute when she saw it, and NOT because I had just hit the “mute” button on the tv remote control. Well done with that picture.
DJSpo
Hi Steve,
In the old days, I guess the clergy took confessional and then knew what was going on. Email was probably never really secure, although it’s more of a business tool nowadays as people move to messaging systems – which probably are also not all that great either. I run my own paid for email server for this website and my business website, but it ain’t free. Free is probably free for a reason, and I also don’t know what to think about free storage space on some rando companies server. I’ve got a standard test for these sorts of arrangements and it asks the hard question: Are they your mates? In US parlance that same test may read: Are they your friends? Chances are if the answer is in the negative, then who knows what use the data we hand over to them gets used for.
To be honest, they’ve probably harvested so many bits and bytes that making any sense of the data is maybe not impossible, but certainly very difficult.
That would be an exotic trip! 🙂 Oh yeah, the old timers used to say: When in Rome… Of course we all know about the corruption of ancient Rome, but may have just wanted the candy! I’m sure you’ve thought of the situation like a form of taxation?
🙂 Cavemen of the world unite! And be wary of appealing looking ladies holding hefty wooden clubs. Hey, I mentioned that chainsaw (and hopefully we’re discussing the same bright shiny sparkly but totally useless machine?) to my friends and suggested that they stay away from the machine and stick to a more normal Stihl brand.
Respect! Ah, grasshopper, recall to clean the gunk from the guide rails of the bar lest the vegetative gums set hard, and also occasionally file the rails flat. Once you have achieved this feat, then you will be ready to venture into the world. 😉 But having spare parts is a wonderful thing.
Steve, I tell ya man, I filed the chains by hand for about a decade before investing in a 240V chainsaw chain sharpener. I’m now soft, the chains lose more metal than by hand, but now being an old feller, it’s easier on the wrists. 72 drive links is no small matter. Sharpening the 400+ teeth in a bandsaw gives me nightmares!
The interlopers were trail riding, and that was their mistake. And that is how things used to be down here with property rights, it was a bit loose. The interlopers don’t really want to be introduced accidentally to the three-oh-eight. That would be very bad for them, and a headache for me, but heck, accidents happen and if they’re that stupid…
You’ll find nothing but agreement with me: Yup, folks be strange.
Good stuff! And hope your maple syrup stores fill with the backyard sugaring. Sugar maples grow really fast here, and I’ve got one that is over a decade old. The trunk is quite thick, but I don’t know whether the climate is suitable to produce a flow of watery sap. Dunno. There is a local eucalyptus tree known as the ‘manna gum’. The name of the tree should be a dead giveaway and it is a favourite of the Koala’s and is located near to creeks and rivers. Anyway, way back in the day, the kids used to collect the dried syrupy sap and consume it like candy. And what does that suggest about the sugar content?
Cheers
Chris
Hi Pam,
Thanks for your kind thoughts, and tomorrow I intend to drop all other activities and install a water pump and pipes on the long line of water tanks below the machinery shed. There’s about 7,000 gallons stored there, but I have to pump most of that water back uphill to the house water tanks – then hope it rains soon! Ook!
Still, things could always be worse. Further north and east of this continent, a rare southerly tropical cyclone looks set to make landfall near to a major city – Brisbane. That sort of crazy rain and winds, I’d prefer to avoid. It’s been 50 years since a tropical cyclone has made landfall that far south. What’s unusual about Cyclone Alfred, and is climate change affecting how it moves towards the coast?
How did the roof waterproofing membrane work in the storm? Hopefully the stuff was sturdily anchored to the roof timbers? Yeah, we have pink batts down here too, makes you wonder why such a strong primary colour was chosen, but then maybe the dye was cheap? The insulation we used was a more reserved yellow colour.
Thanks for the link, but whoa! Access was denied to me down here, and then so I had a snuffle around to try different ways of seeing the roofing product and they wanted a US postcode, presumably for marketing purposes.
Very good! The standards of fluffy are not for everyone, and we must all strive for excellence, but occasionally be realistic and deal with the occasional slip up, just like how Dame Plum rolled in some unmentionable excrement this morning. Was it necessary for number one fluff to indulge in such perfume? Pam, I hosed her down and remonstrated with the Kelpie, but did she really care. Probably not. Thankfully there are no skunks – that would be a step too far. Anyway, it’s an exclusive club and we must remember: a) High standards of comportment; and b) No rolling around in unidentified questionable aromatic materials. We got this, but Dame Plum, maybe not so much.
It’s interesting that your alpine strawberries don’t self seed new plants. They’re actually a bit weedy here. Out of curiosity, how old are your alpine strawberry plants?
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
🙂 Remember the Poltergeist film? They’re here! Spooky film, but I’m sure that woodcarvers don’t ordinarily multiply, that is unless the soil has been well fertilised.
Oh man, sometimes the powers that be get a little bit over excited and take things too far. Sorry to hear such things go on in your country too and glad that your lady was unharmed. Sandra is clearly on some sort of list now just by being in the wrong place, at the wrong time. What do you? And your response was excellent. Sometimes you have to act quickly. But yes, during you-know-what having to show id and papers just to be be where I was allowed to be to heavily armed authoritas gave me the willies. You could tell that the military folks didn’t want to be there, at least the cops were friendly, far out.
Ah, this morning made up for that and the fog was very thick indeed. Got a photo, and from up here it looks like living on an island where the sea is all clouds. Don’t have to wonder what the place would look like if sea levels rose 650m!
Ugg! It’s a great cartoon isn’t it? And the folks who run that business are awesome. Hehe! I shall defer to your good lady’s opinion, and that’s high praise indeed. Thank you, and please express my appreciation. The mills are sometimes called ‘Alaskan chainsaw mills’. The ends of the boards were sealed with a 50/50 mix of turps and linseed oil, so hopefully that slows the drying process and reduces the potential for splitting. I tell ya what, with lumber prices the way they are, it’s nice to be slightly independent of that system.
The lean on that tree made me slightly nervous when underneath the thing, but eventually gravity won the bout and the tree hit the ground without incident. Hey, if the snakes don’t get you here, the trees just might!
One shoe poo situation is not too bad given it was a winters worth. Actually I’m surprised that you don’t have some sort of critter like a vole tunnelling through the snow and dining on the dread stuff. The rats would do that here for sure. Good stuff with returning the neighbours roof, that’s not something you’d do everyday is it?
Any rain is good and appreciated here too, although there is tropical cyclone bearing down on a major city way up in the north east of the continent, Brisbane. They don’t usually get cyclones, oh well. The very tail end of that storm may even bring a tiny bit of much needed rain here on Sunday, maybe. We kind of need the rain, unlike the folks up north east of the continent, they might not.
The plan for tomorrow is to connect up a pump and pipes so as to bring water back uphill from the long line of water tanks. That’s our last reserves of water…
Nice to have good neighbours, and hope the lunch went well.
Sprayed metal paint produces a really interesting glossy plastic finish to steel, and the stuff is pretty hardy. Might need to use the barrier on Saturday night due to the warm forecast overnight temperatures.
Alas not all bees survive to scramble onto the rock, dry off and then fly away. It’s honestly hard to know what they’re thinking. And the rock was all part of the service for the wildlife which resides here.
Thanks! The butterfly is meant to be quite rare too, and not usually found in this part of the state. Each year there are a few more of them. The place jumps with life.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
We’ve always salted the dehydrating tomatoes so it might be worth running the experiment to see whether it makes a difference. It probably does draw excess water, and thus like you say, reduce the drying time.
And thanks for mentioning that activity, we also move the trays around, clear the chips and rearrange them as the process goes on. They sure do dry faster when there are less trays. The machine instructions makes the claim that up to 15 trays can be used at any one time, but that sounds excessive to me.
Yeah, with the chainsaw mill, it pays to ensure that the log can’t squirm around. Far out. The replacement repair parts for the chainsaw are yet to arrive in the mail, so maybe next week the machine will be fixed? Speaking of fixing machines, I sent the big and complicated ride on mower down to the new farm repair shop to get serviced. There was nothing wrong with the thing, but I’m a stickler for servicing and that machine probably needs that, maybe. A new shop was set up by some wealthy bloke in the area, so it will be interesting to see how the experience will go. I’m now set up to service and repair all the rest of the machines, but it is nice to have a plan B. Had a chat with the mechanic today on the phone, and he used to work for the former farm machine repair dude.
There was a bit of trouble in paradise this morning. The Editor wanted to do a process which uses a lot of water, and I just said: No. Then we had a robust discussion about water, and in between some paid work jobs, I headed down to a nearby town to order and pay for two more water tanks. They should provide another 3,000 gallons of storage, which will be quite useful.
Anywhoo, the water reserves are getting lower. Tomorrow I’ll install a water pump and pipes so as to bring water uphill from the long line of water tanks located below the machinery shed. There’s about 6,500 gallons stored there but that’s it. The house system has about 4,000 gallons left, but that is cutting things a bit too fine. Exciting times, although my gut feeling suggests that we’ll be fine, maybe.
In other parts of the country, the dry has really thumped them hard. Over to the north and west of here in South Australia, it’s grim: Adelaide Hills farmers and households struggling as dams, tanks and waterways dry up. I believe Gus (a commenter) lives not too far from there at all.
But, weirdly, there is a tropical cyclone about to make landfall near to Brisbane. A lot of people live in that tropical part of the country. Say, that’s a lot of rain. Hope they don’t get a king tide as well. A category 2 cyclone might sound low. But Alfred’s bringing serious flooding risks. Hopefully the cyclone is nice enough to bring some wet weather to this part of the continent – only fair you know.
Well that’s one less worry about tracking down the original Jackie Chan film. 🙂 The original Dune film was quite theatrical and missed a major war or two from the book, but yeah, it’s complicated. Lewis, how have I missed this Peter Weir classic film? Here again, and I know it sounds like a dubious cop-out, but I must blame my poor education. There’s a lot of weird things going on just below the surface in these here parts of the world, the land is old and grumpy, best not to annoy it is my thinking.
Hard to know how much sea salt to use on an asparagus bed, but ours are about twice that diameter, and we chucked on about a third of a kilogram, but I reckon go slowly and try a handful or two and observe how it goes. The asparagus roots come from the commercial growers who inevitably have an excess of seedlings. They can get a bit weedy, but what’s wrong with that? 🙂 $12 for a rhubarb crown is a bit rich for my tastes too. They start quite well from seed.
Deer damage. Wildlife eaten chives. Right. Needed a trigger warning there my friend! 😉 They’ll grow back just fine, agreed. Hopefully you get enough garden beds, and that there’ll be no bloodshed over the distribution of such precious space.
Oh no, man that used to happen to me with the coffee grounds way back in the early days of collections. Some people are unaware that much plastic and metal rubbish simply won’t compost. Lewis, they’re super lovely nowadays and the coffee grounds are very clean and free of rubbish. But like your experience, when it’s bad, there is no other way than fishing through the contents. Yup. The folks at the Club will learn over time, and your garden will appreciate the extra organic matter.
Well are you? Hehe! 🙂 Forcing a chat when one party is not interested suggests to me a person with poor personal boundaries. Well, know them by their acts is perhaps a guide to better living don’t you reckon?
Your weather sounds lovely, and it was 35’C / 95’F today. It is a good day to be us. Tomorrow is looking cooler here, which is good because there is a lot of digging to do to get the water pipes into the ground. H clearly has a nose for rain, and is subtly guiding your walks so that you avoid the wet stuff falling from the sky.
I wasn’t quite sure what the author meant about dropping the turkey baton? I’m with you, I’ve tried both meats and chicken is a superior taste. Like your perspective chicken seems like an acceptable roast bird for Thanksgiving meals. That explaining why some cooking technique is a good idea, is something usually left out of recipes. I’m of the belief – and would be interested in your perspective on the matter – that being able to explain a process so that it can be understood by another person, is a skill which requires much practice. And please spare us all from people you have draw instructions out of, laconic as a lifestyle choice can be taken too far!
What a delightfully written essay, and katei-ka is a great idea, absolutely. Strangely enough, in the High School for disadvantaged kids I did both shop and home economics, but the grammar school was having none of that. They did sex education in the grammar school too. It involved watching a film which suggested that should one human copulate with another, there’s a high probability that either a disease will be picked up and/or pregnancy will ensue. Truly, it was a bit frightening for such a young mind to encounter. I’ll bet Sheldon Cooper never had to put up with such nonsense… 🙂
Cheers
Chris
@ Pam – Carl Dean … man of mystery. 🙂 I’ve always had the greatest respect for Dolly Parton. Besides being a hoot, she has a deep streak of integrity. I do wish she’d done more movies. Like most people, I’d always been a bit curious about Carl. But, being the person I am, if I ran into him at the grocery store, I’d just let him go about his business.
I once sat next to Katherine Hepburn, in a movie theatre. Story for another time. Even though I was a big fan, I left her to herself.
My favorite Dolly Parton quote? “It takes a lot of money, to look this cheap.” She also runs a reading program, for kids. Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Lew
Yo, Really late as … technology. I wrote out that short note, to Pam, hit the post button and … it sat there. Finally, an error message came up (server, something, something.) I went back and tried it again, and … it just sat there. I finally bailed out of the site, but didn’t know if the message had got through or not. I see it has. But I didn’t want to attempt a longer post, to you, and maybe have it end up in oblivion (a suburb of purgatory.) Anyway, no harm done and now that we’ve dispensed with housekeeping it’s on to …
News of the World! (Drum roll.) I see iceberg A23a (you think they could think up a snazzier name), after a long and winding road, has run aground on South Georgia Island. The berg is the size of our state of Rhode Island. Will there be enough life boats to evacuate the population? Women and children, first! Germany Conquers America! I see a certain super market chain, often referred to as a cult, is opening 225 stores in our SE. They’ll open another 800 by 2028. We don’t have any that I’m aware of, up here in the Pacific NW. Only a matter of time, I suppose.
15 trays in a dryer sounds … aspirational. 🙂 Even rotating the trays, how long would that take?
Let’s hope the mechanic lives up to the standards of the past owner, of the machine shop. And that the new owner doesn’t get in the way.
Every time I rinse my rice, I always reflect on your water situation. Boy, are they doing it rough, in the Adelaide Hills. Wouldn’t you know some nuppities think it’s poor planning. Rather than unprecedented
drought. Let’s blame the victim.
We’ve been hearing a little bit about Cyclone Alfred, over here. That it will come in, at night. During a high tide. It’s going to be a rough one. Language is odd. We have hurricanes (your cyclones) and tornados. But often, our tornado shelters are called “cyclone cellars.”
“The Last Wave” was a pretty complicated film. I had to watch it, twice, and read a bit of a synopsis, to figure out what was going on. Just keep in mind that the Richard Chamberlin character is a descendent of ancient aliens.
I didn’t think about growing rhubarb from seed. Hmmm. Maybe I shouldn’t be so hasty about cutting off the seed heads? Let some of them come to maturity.
Our high yesterday was 52F (11.11C). Our overnight low was 34F (1.11C). Forecast high for today is 52F. The next three days are supposed to be nice. The garden is calling. I saw the first blooming crocus, today.
I think what Alton Brown meant by dropping the turkey baton, is, we had a couple of generations where home cooking fell out of use. About the time TV dinners and processed food came in. More restaurant dining and fast food. The knowledge of how to cook a turkey (and, a lot of other things), wasn’t being passed from mother to daughter.
I ran across an interesting quote, the other day, That made me think of Mr. Greer and collapse. I suppose it could apply to collapse in the past, too. It’s by a guy named Nam June Paik. Who? That’s what I said. But apparently, he’s why we have music videos, and he coined (more or less) the term “information super highway.”
https://w.wiki/DJkn
The quote is: “A culture that’s going to survive in the future is the culture that you can carry around in your head.”
We got a food box, today. With all the follies going on, in Washington, D.C., I wondered if it would even show up. It did. A little on the sparse side. As far as produce went, there was one orange, a half dozen potatoes and a bag of small apples. Two boxes of dry cereal, 2 quarts of shelf stable milk. One tin of chicken, one tin of salmon. A jar of peanut butter. A half gallon of some kind of fruit drink. A pound of frozen chicken crumbles. Three one pound bags of dried beans. A packet of shelf stable chicken. A 2 pound brick of cheese “product.” A few tins of mixed fruit and miscellaneous veg. I took two bags down to the Club, this evening. I’ll be keeping an eye on the swap table. Lew
Hi Lewis,
I’ve been told by other wiser folks, that it is better to be late than not at all. Always a pleasure to have your company. 🙂 Yeah, the most recent Worddepressed update has really slowed the software down. It’s annoying and in the background I had to fork over more regular mad cash demands for CPU processing power upgrades. Please do let me know if things hit the poop, and I’ll reconsider the entire arrangement. There are other ways to go…
Look, size is not a competition, but you know, it’s embarrassing to suggest, but A-68 was bigger. Hopefully A-23a is not put off by being second best, often a person’s best work is done whilst just out of the spotlight. And this may be the case here with the smaller iceberg. Who’s to tell? Such mysticism is beyond my understanding. That James Cook bloke sure did get around and winters on that island would be brutal, but quiet.
Man, it’s nice to take a lighter tone because I tell you, I’ve had a day I’d not like to repeat. Oh well, they tell me that it is courageous to whisper truths into the full strength of the gale, and that may be true.
Dude, you can only wish the Germans well in their mercantile adventures in your country, but I ask my friends who shop at such establishments, why do they all start saying the same thing after consuming the produce for a while? Do I get a coherent reply? No. Have we mentioned the pod people recently? No. Personally hanging out with pod people would distress me, the alien emanations would be hard to block out from my sensitivities. But then! How’s this for a narrative – the pod people mutate back into humans, much via the same process where the Martians lost the war in H.G. Wells classic story. Then we end up back where we all started, and that’s discussing the relative merits of a decently brewed cup of coffee. It all comes back to that in the end you know.
Absolutely, the PNW will be conquered. It’s only a matter of time. Stay strong Lewis, and if you venture in, it’s not like you can’t say you don’t know the risks and weren’t warned.
Fortunately the dehydrating machine didn’t come with 15 trays, but it also sounds to me like a big call.
Thought you might be interested: The Block regular Danny Wallis’ surprise new business move with Gisborne Mowers and Chainsaws
Ha! Do you rinse your rice? 🙂 Yes, water is getting that tight, but the situation is not as dire yet as what the folks in that article are experiencing. Holy carp! Due to general levels of weirdness and nipping of problems in the bud today, the water pump was not attended to, but tomorrow in the heat, I shall do this project. The weather conditions today were perfect for the job, but one cannot always get what they want, as the song correctly suggests.
It’s pretty rough to be blaming people who suddenly find themselves in the middle of a drought with inadequate infrastructure. Maybe a month ago I read about a farmer who’d prepared for this dry weather by burying a goodly amount of Lucerne hay almost eighteen years ago, and now he was digging the fermented stuff up for his cattle to eat for the next six months when hopefully the rains return. Cattle tend to appreciate mildly fermented grains. We’re adding in more tanks. But you can only do as much as a person can afford to do. My mind suggests that it’s good to prepare for the average conditions. But preparing for the worst, that takes an entirely different approach. Speaking of which, I better get that water pump installed tomorrow, far out!
Cyclone Alfred appears to have slowed off shore, which only means it picks up more energy and moisture. Landfall is sometime tomorrow or Saturday. There go the insurance premiums again… Tropical Cyclone Alfred expected to ‘pack a punch’ as it edges towards Queensland coast. Hope that some of that rain falls this far to the south and west.
Being descended from aliens would always be a problematic experience because you’d be forced to live in two worlds all at once. But yes, having the plot line in such stories does assist with overall comprehension, but then here’s a question for you: Do films really need to be comprehensible when they delve into the realms of mysticism? Nothing wrong with teasing an audience. It’s an intriguing storyline, and from the same director who produced the etheric film Picnic at Hanging Rock set just on the northern side of this mountain range (not far at all really).
Absolutely! I let the interesting aromatic seed heads of rhubarb develop, and it must work because feral rhubarb plants grow. The new seedling plants will most likely be better adapted to your area than the crowns.
Isn’t it great when the garden begins to wake up from it’s winter slumber? It was 68’F here today and foggy all day, but not to worry, it’ll hover around 86’F for the next ten days. The summer tail is most definitely wagging! For your interest, I’ve slowed the watering down on the tomato vines so as to force them to ripen the fruit, but honestly I have no idea whether this will work or otherwise. Report to follow…
Many thanks for the explanation, and sadly the same thing is true down here with kitchen skills. Some folks take pride in those lack of skills, but this perspective seems misplaced to me. If you don’t know how food is prepared and arranged, I find it hard to believe if the same person would know what the value of the meal is.
Nam is a very interesting person, a true creative visionary. Perhaps the symbolism is lost on me though. On the other hand, that’s an astoundingly insightful quote regarding the future.
Hope the unfolding budget dramas don’t wipe out the future food boxes. Weird times man. Presumably you took the tinned food down to the Club? Restocked the pantry today here as well.
Cheers
Chris
Chris,
Ook! That’s a lot of water and it’s going to need some good pump to get it uphill. Good luck, or maybe it’s already done?
So Cyclone Alfred is one of a litter of three? They did state that once cyclones get close to that part of your coast they tend to lose momentum, so maybe it won’t be too bad. Do you ever get effects at your house from cyclones or are you way too far inland? We do, at our house. They can still pack a pretty big punch even then as we are only about 120 miles as the crow flies from the ocean.
The waterproof membrane worked really well, and there was a lot of rain. Since the rain stopped we have had 20mph winds, which has been drying things nicely, but makes it pretty scary up there on the roof. I was wrong about my son attaching himself to the chimney. He has attached eyebolts to various rafters and runs his rope through those. He has enough so that he would never have to fall too far.
I may be fluff, but I prefer a different brand of perfume myself.
My alpine strawberries – in pots – are about 8 years old. That is one reason I am growing some fresh ones.
Cheers!
Pam
@ Lew:
I can’t remember what I learned about Carl Dean, but he sounded like a decent man and a good husband. Dolly Parton would be in my top 10 of favorite celebrities. She was an all around good person and so generous, as you mentioned about her reading program.
Please do tell about Katherine Hepburn! It’s okay, she’s long gone.
Pam
Chris:
Before the rain yesterday, I was working in the garden. I passed by one of the beds full of weeds and noticed some unusual vegetables. When I got closer, I realized that they were tulips. There were never any tulips planted in that bed. Someone must have dumped out some pots there, not knowing that they were there and then they got covered up by dirt. There were 18 of them and I have now planted them in pots, there not being space anywhere else for them in the garden and deer (and chipmunks) will eat them outside of that.
Also, I think that I have finally figured out what a mystery plant is. I planted it 2 years ago in a garden bed and it has spread out all over the place, but has not fruited. This should be the year. I think it’s a loganberry. There was no tag with the pot it came in once I got hold of it. There was a group of many different fruits that my son had bought to try and then had to set aside.
Pam
Yo, Chris – Sometimes, your pictures are very slow, to load. But not all the time. I’m patient. 🙂 I’ve always been an “on time” kind of a person. They used to call it “being punctual.” Some of my bad dreams are about not being on time for something.
Sorry about the bad day. Just hold onto the thought that a good day is right around the corner. It’s the way it usually works. The same thing goes for emotions. If I get down in the mouth, for no particular reason, I know that it’s a cycle, and I’ll perk up. “This too shall pass.” Wonder where it came from? Well, that’s a surprise. Medieval Persian Sufi poets.
Re: Pod people and H. G. Wells. But you just can’t depend on bacteria or viruses to be cooperative. I suppose you saw the article on the wooly mice? A step along the way to re-engineering mammoths. It seems like a good idea. What could possible go wrong? They are cute little critters. The next pet du jour?
Well, at least Wallis started out mowing lawns and repairing mowers. I saw a headline, yesterday, where some Hollywood actor’s spawn desired a $6,000 pair of kicks. Told the kid he’d have to mow a lot of lawns. I hope he sticks to his guns. I had to look up what “The Block” is. My, that was a fancy car in the back of his picture.
The rice I’ve been buying (long grain brown) lately, has been just filthy. The first rinse is just black. Usually four or five … let it soak overnight, and another three before cooking. Well, what do I expect for a two pound sack that only cost me $1.25?
So, if you see cattle staggering around, it’s not some horrible disease. They’ve just been hitting the fermented feed. I hope they don’t need a 12 Step Program. 🙂
If Cyclone Alfred stalls, it will be bad. Very bad. the worst weather and flooding we’ve had here, is when a storm comes in, and just decides to linger around for awhile.
Our high yesterday was 54F (12.22C). The overnight low was 32F (-0-C). But only for a hot (or cold?) 15 minutes. forecast for tonight is also 32F. Forecast high for today is 54F. I’ll be working in the garden, tonight. Probably the strawberry patch. I picked up two more bags of coffee grounds (etc.), from the Club. One of the Inmates’s daughters called me a dick, the other day. That’s Mr. dick, to you! 🙂
I’ve been cutting off the rhubarb seed heads, to get a better crop. I’ll let a couple of them go, this year. See how that goes.
I can’t say I’m much impressed by Nam’s “art.” Whatever winds people’s clocks. But I thought that quote was great. Prophetic. Well, at least he made the world safe for ear-worms. 🙂 Speaking of Korea, I gave a new Korean series a whirl, last night. “Uncanny Counter.” As in counting things. Mostly, souls. It’s a para-normal series, and I quit liked it, so far.
I think it’s going to be a popcorn night. “Red One.” Santa is kidnapped. Great cast. The Rock, Lucy Liu, J. K. Simmons. Also, Chris Evans. I had to look that last one up. Lots of super hero movies. I have Great Expectations.
I took a couple of bags of food down to the Club, last night. And, another two, this morning.
Well. H has been under the weather. We went out last night, and, no problems. She accomplished both. When I got up this morning, there was a puddle in the bathroom, and dog poop. Lots and lots of dog poop. Where was she storing it? It was soft, but not liquid. Very dark. She has never done that, before. I cleaned up the mess, without a discouraging word, from me. Some things can’t be helped. Took her out this morning, and she was still a bit “loose,” but the color was back to normal. When I got back from the Club, unusually, she was antsy, so I took her out. A repeat performance of the morning walk.
I don’t know if she got into something, but I do keep a sharp eye on her. She’s perky, so, apparently, no harm done. Drinking water and snapping up her treat. I’ll just have to keep an eye on her. Lew
Chris,
Yes, Poltergeist films. But wood carvers? Well, the church where our club meets has a sign outside the door “No Weapons Allowed”. It’s a big joke to us, as we all carry inside multiple knives, anywhere from 3 to maybe 24. Carvers are sharp, or at least carry sharp objects.
It’s sad that Sandra is on a list somewhere. I’m sure I am too, by now. Weird how people get on lists. All I can do is to parody the Grand High Executioner “I destroyed a little list…” And with any luck, an ear worm from that song will develop somewhere. 😉
Well, the neighbor has had issues with various shed roofs. He built a shop/shed that is nearly as big as our house. Used a cheap contractor. In the big windstorm of 2015, a big chunk of the shed’s metal roof blew into our yard. They got it fixed. Then more of it started to blow away over the years. They finally hired a crew to replace the roof and get it battened down. I watched them work. They did it properly this time, methinks. But the other smaller sheds, all of which were old when we moved here 29 years ago? They tend to fly around. So, while returning a neighbor’s roof to his yard is rare in most circumstances, it is actually a standard operation here. Unfortunately.
How did the water pumping go? I’ve missed a couple days here as things have gotten very busy again.
Lunch with the young neighbor was interesting. It could have gone better. There were some personality issues that caused a degree of tension which will pass.
When we’ve not been busy doing things, we’ve been staring at the tv. The big high school basketball championships are this week. The tournament for the two smallest sized schools is always held in Spokane. A local station broadcasts “raw feed” from the arena with no play-by-play announcers, just cameras watching a game. We used to attend every year and watch every single game. It has gotten too expensive, so now we just watch some of it from home.
There’s a bit of a problem at Killian the Doberman’s house. The sewage pipe was backing up. Ugh, that’s messy! So Killian’s human hired a plumbing company to come in. They sent a camera down the pipe and discovered that the pipe has completely collapsed in their yard. It will need to be dug up and replaced. Next week. It will cost a pretty penny, that’s for sure. I’ve known several instances of that happening in this area. In each and every case, automobiles were at times driven on the sandy yards, even during wet seasons. My theory is the wet sandy soil didn’t do well with vehicle weight on it, placing too much pressure on the pipes, which caused the old ceramic pipes to implode. Yes, ceramic sewer pipes, not metal, not concrete. And because these fail on private property rather than the City’s alley, the homeowner is 100% responsible.
DJSpo
Hi Pam,
Aren’t tulips such a surprising delight each season, and down here the rats love eating them. I’m not so sure they’d be tasty, but rodents have funny opinions as to what is, and what isn’t food, like say car electrical looms. That’s really nice digging the bulbs up and giving them a better chance at producing some beautiful colour – such lovely plants. Hey are the pots placed out of reach of the deer and chipmunks?
Hang on, have you got both squirrels and chipmunks? Whoa!
Another hot-ish day here today and the sunset is superb. All the dust from the dry weather has produced a really deep red sunset.
Chew Wars are going on right now with the fluffies. For some reason, the dogs all believe that another dog has the better rawhide chew.
Hopefully you’ll like the loganberry? They’re really tasty, but we removed all of the thorny brambleberry plants a few years ago to concentrate on the thornless blackberry varieties. Less spiky! Ouch.
Pam, I believe that all of the plant tags over the years have been lost here. It forces my already overloaded brain to try and remember what the heck all the plants are. 🙂 Even the sturdy aluminium plant tags eventually fell off…
With no rain in the foreseeable forecast, the water pump was installed on a temporary basis today, and a couple of hours of water was pumped back uphill, maybe 2,000 gallons was moved into the house system. It’s a powerful water pump for sure and can run maybe four garden taps at once.
Hehe! That’s funny, and the cyclone has apparently not yet made landfall, but should do so in the next twelve hours or so. Some of the forecasts are suggesting that some areas may receive 40 inches of rain over the next few days – that’s as much as fell here in the entire year. And a lot of that will fall not far from a very big city. Me thinks that there will be major flooding up there.
Down here, it’s blue skies, calm winds, and warm conditions. Go figure…
The very tail of that cyclone may bring some rain all the way this far south, maybe. We’ll see, the weather forecast is being described as dynamic, whatever that means. A cyclone is the same thing as a hurricane but with a different name. Dunno why there is a difference.
Oh yeah, winds and roofs are challenging conditions, and glad to hear that your son has strong anchor points for the harness. Hey, you could say that you’ve put the roof membrane to the ultimate test, and it’s passed. 🙂
Well yes, most ladies would prefer a nicer perfume. Guess I didn’t quite think that one through! 🙂 Thanks for the correction, and sometimes the occasional slip up is part of the fluffy lifestyle. I’d prefer if the Kelpies were more discerning though.
Ah, those are old plants. But how long do alpine strawberries live for? You know, I couldn’t find an answer to that question. The local advice was to divide the existing plants every three years because apparently the plants get woody, whatever that means. How does that advice fit what you’re seeing with the plants?
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
Things sure do get done differently in your country. 🙂 Anyone bringing a weapon to church down under would probably be arrested. Never seen such a sign, but it paints an interesting range of possibilities. Your observation is pretty funny though. Well, we all believe that we’re sharp tools! Hey, maintaining such hand tools is a real skill, does your club sometimes run refresher courses to share such knowledge? I take tool sharpening as an activity quite seriously, and I didn’t mention it but the two handed draw knife was used to strip the bark from the milled boards last week. Such a great hand tool.
DJ, lists don’t make any sense at all, but then maybe you and I expect too much in that regard? Surely it gives otherwise bored bureaucrats something to do? That’s how I see such stupidity. Ha! Here I am fleet of foot and so will dodge your ear worm. A person has to stay nimble so as to avoid days of ear pain.
I see, yes, sometimes cheap construction produces a cheap result. Hmm. Well it’s an option, but sorry to hear that you’ve been on the wrong end of your neighbours choices. It happens, and need I mention the allegedly overflowing septic tank doing apparently interesting things to the groundwater here? It is all rather unfortunate, yup.
Thanks for asking and the water pump was connected up today in what might politely be described as a proof of concept arrangement. Before burying the sturdy pipes and connections, I just wanted to make sure the machine worked. And wow, it did that! The water pump is a beast of a machine – it’ll move 80L of water per minute and lift the water 50m in elevation. Probably make a decent electric fire fighting pump. After connecting the machine up and testing the joins for leaks, it was run for a few hours and moved maybe 2,000 gallons back up the hill into the house tanks. The plan is to dig the long trenches on Sunday, but it’s hot work and the weather will continue to be so for the next week or so. Oh well, that’s why the water pump is necessary in the first place.
Bummer about the lunch, well the more I learn about all the different personality types inhabiting this here society, the more it amazes me that we all haven’t gone postal. At least nobody was injured during the lunch! Agreed, the tension, that will pass.
Now you’ve cleaned up the frozen Dame Avalanche poops you appear to be enjoying this rare thing known as ‘free time’. I’ve heard of that state of affairs, and maybe one day will know the like, but probably not for me having done bad things in a past life one must make up for the earlier past stuff. That’s how life rolls. It’d be a more comfy experience by the way watching the games on the telly than in an arena, and yeah, prices rising… What you’ve hinted at is the five banana theory of economics.
Ha! Man, I’ve dealt with those ceramic sewerage pipes, and they’re quite sturdy but were put in the ground such a long time ago. Candidly, they leak because how can such joins not do otherwise, but you know, it’s no bad thing unless you’re drinking water sourced from a well. Plus I reckon in your part of the world frost heaving would be an issue for them. Plastic PVC is much stronger and more flexible (the standard sewer pipe down here is 100mm uPVC), but if the pipe was driven over, nothing will work as well as concrete. Which is what you were suggesting.
A home owner would be responsible down here to the property boundary too, which is fair enough. At least digging out the old ceramic pipe won’t be too challenging in sandy soil. It’s probably 600mm deep. Do they have property maps of underground services in your part of the world? It’s not applicable here, but in the big smoke there is a ‘dial before you dig’ service and they can supply maps of underground infrastructure on the property. Quite an amazing service, but then putting an excavator through a gas line is an expensive mess, so maybe it’s the cheaper option.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
The server for the interweb site is located down under, and I’m told by reliable sources that if I want the thing to load more quickly overseas, that’s going to cost more. I’m with you though, patience here is the key and the site eventually loads. There are services which operate like the old ham radio repeater services where they bounce the website along, by hosting a copy in other countries, but again, cost.
Like you, I tend also to be punctual and reliable. Long ago those character traits were valued, but sands shift and here we are today. I don’t believe that mobile phones have helped that matter. Way back in the day if you made plans to meet someone, generally the plans came to fruition.
Those medieval Sufi poets were clever folks to have come up with such a useful phrase. Yesterday was not so good. Moving on… Got the water pump installed today in a proof of concept mode. The main water pipes still need to be dug into trenches in the ground (I’ll do that work Sunday), however the pump works a treat. It’s a true beast, and surprisingly more powerful than the house system. I didn’t expect that. Ran the new system in that test configuration for a couple of hours today to check for leaks, and put about 2,000 gallons of water into the house water tanks. Yay! And the peasants rejoiced, so yeah, maybe today could be described as being better.
Picked up the Japanese ride on mower this afternoon. It’s been in for a service with the dealer for a week and a half. You know, next time I’ll do that work myself. The labour costs for the 3 hours of work were about the same as I’d earn in a day, so taking the machine in makes no economic sense. I’m not cool about the cost, but oh well, I tried the new mob out.
Yup, fancy cars and big houses, not viewing or designs for my tastes. As someone who worked in manufacturing of shoes way back in the day, I’d have to suggest that there is a rather healthy margin in those pumped up kicks you mentioned.
Oh my! Well I never. The woolly mice was news to me. You know, you’d hope that the mice weren’t accidentally released into a cold environment like say Alaska and/or Greenland. Can you imagine the damage such preferentially cold adapted critters could do to the local flora and fauna? When they have wet years up in New South Wales (the state north of this one), there are often mice and rat plagues. Researchers are working on recreating the Tasmanian Tiger too, although we’ve spoken of this matter before. Would anyone really want a woolly mammoth wandering around the national park system?
Oh really? Never seen that. Wonder what is going on with the rice? Ah, you’ve outed yourself about the price. 🙂 The old timers do suggest that you get what you pay for, however, I agree with you, the workings of price discovery in our society is a mess. We tend to purchase basmati rice in bulk bags which are pretty cool because they’re cloth, presumably a synthetic, but maybe not, and there’s even a proper zip.
🙂 A local farmer told me many years ago about cattle preferring slightly fermented feed. And grasses do tend to ferment, although you’d hope the bovines don’t over indulge?
One of the several day forecasts relating to cyclone Alfred suggested that some areas will receive 40 inches of rainfall. And no that figure is what they’re saying for the next week or so. That’s more rain than I got for all of last year. There’ll be flooding for sure, but it’s hard to know where and when until it happens. The system hasn’t made landfall yet, but should by tomorrow morning, maybe. It has slowed a bit but then seems to have sped up, so who knows. Cyclone Alfred expected to hit outer islands early Saturday morning . The beach erosion images are quite sobering.
Here, the weather forecast suggests hot, calm and dry weather for the next week.
Do you thin out your strawberry patch? They’d probably enjoy the coffee grounds. Did you still have to sieve out the rubbish from the stuff? And um, did you just make a cheeky obscure film reference to Tom Hanks classic early film: Batchelor Party? A very funny film, and things sure were different in those days! 😉
I reckon the experiment with the rhubarb seeds is well worth your time. They really do produce enormous numbers of seed, quite err, they’re a bit stinky really, but I’m observing that the seeds are viable and just do their own thing. Speaking of self seeding plants, earlier today I discovered three self seeded ferns in the drainage basin where the tall tree fern grows. Conditions must be just right for the ferns there. Hmm. I’ll keep an eye on those plants and it will be interesting to watch them grow. At this stage I’m not even sure which type of ferns they are.
To be honest, I didn’t really understand Nam’s art, so I get you there, but clearly he’d carved out a niche for himself. It was an awesome observation and quote for sure. Very insightful and is foresightful a word? Very funny, yes, the ear worms walk among us. 🙂
The Koreans seem to be producing some new and unusual series. I’m not really certain I could watch Squid Games for example.
Santa probably needed kidnapping. Was the film good and worth the popcorn? Hey, last night I managed to watch another episode of Clarkson’s farm. Such a great series.
Nice one with the bags of food, and I’ll bet they move fast at this time of year.
Poor H. Hope she is feeling better today? Maybe she ate a sneaky snack? When the dogs do that, I chuck a small quantity of activated carbon in their breakfasts, and that settles their guts nicely. Sometimes the dogs proclivities disturb me.
Another hot day tomorrow. Oh well!
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Pam – I was living in S. California (Orange County) in the early 70s, and had two roommates from Ohio. There was a new Barbara Streisand movie premiering up in LA. Can’t remember which one. We decided we’d have a better chance, of getting in, if we waited until the second week, and caught a matinee.
So, we’re sitting about half way down, on the right. Aisle seats. There were three empty seats between us and the wall. Just after the house lights went down, a man and two women came down the aisle. To get to those three seats on the other side of us. Being gentlemen, we stood to let the party pass. There was a lot of “Excuse me, pardon me, excuse me.”
My first clue was the voice. Can’t mistake that voice. It was Ruth Gordon, Garson Kanin and … Katherine Hepburn. I knew Miss Hepburn was pretty touchy, about her privacy. I respected that. Although my eyes never left the screen, I don’t think I could tell you a thing about the movie.
I also saw Ethel Merman swilling vodka, out of a brandy snifter. In a bar in Laguna Beach. 🙂 Lew
Yo, Chris – Huzzah! The water pump is in, and perking along, better than expectations. Can’t ask for more than that. Or can you? 🙂 Nicer weather would have been … nice.
If mammoths end up wandering around our national parks, there will be more contenders for the yearly Darwin Awards. Tourists are warned, over and over again, not to get too close to the wildlife. Do they listen? Nope. And, every year, several are injured, usually taking selfies. Or, contrary to advice, they wander off the paths onto the crust of the (very hot) thermal springs. If they manage to conquer the mammoth problem, can dinosaurs be far behind? Seemed like a good idea. What could possible go wrong?
And, from our More Money Than Sense Department …
https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/06/us/cheeto-pokemon-charizard-sale-intl-hnk
You might want to take a second look, at the bag of crisps.
Yup. I get my long grain brown rice at the dollar + store. They don’t have it all the time. If I see it, I grab two or three bags and throw them in the freezer. I figure if they’re that filthy, there might be bugs in there, too.
Wow. Cyclone Alfred isn’t even ashore yet, and there’s already been one suspected death, and a lot of damage. Our high yesterday was 54F (12.22C). The overnight low was 32F (-0-C). But only for half an hour. Forecast for today is 54F.
Easy to manage strawberry plants. When the mother plant gets old and woody, you plunge a trowel, straight down I a circle around the plant. To sever any lingering umbilical cords, from daughter plants to the mother plant. Then you just pop it out, and discard. It’s not rocket science. 🙂
Oh, there will be rubbish in the coffee grounds. I didn’t get out to the garden, last night, as my nap ran long. I won’t get out there tonight, either. The Club has turkey, bacon and Swiss cheese sandwiches, on offer, for $5. I’m not missing that. The garden will still be there. The sandwiches, not. I have two bags of coffee grounds to go through. I’ll probably pick up another one, tonight. One’s already in. I figure four for that patch ought to do it.
I wonder if your self seeded ferns are tree ferns. I hope so. I remember you said they were on the pricey side.
Foresightful is a word. Even the spell checker recognizes it. But, I think, it sounds … clunky. I’d use “shows foresight.”
The little I know about “The Squid Games” is enough to know I’m not interested. Just sounds like a bunch of people being mean to each other.
“Red One” was really great! Pure fantasy. Great CGI. It had mixed box office and reviews, but I think it will become a Christmas classic. And, wonder of wonders, the movie “The Dig,” hit the on order, new list, at the library. Only took four years … 🙁 It’s on my hold list. That’s the one about the archaeological excavations back in the 1930s, at Sutton Hoo.
H seems a bit better, today. Though, besides the pooping thing, she seems fine. There was a little gift waiting for me, on the bathroom floor, when I got up this morning. Luckily, it’s a lino floor, so, easy clean up. I think her digestive distress might be my own fault. Right before all this started, a gave her a few little pieces of hot dog. Cheddar hot dog. Her symptoms are consistent with dogs ingesting cheese. The night before, I gave her a dab of yoghurt, which I don’t think helped. She’s on straight kibble, for now. I might add a few mixed veg, tonight.
I started reading “The Peanuts Papers: Writers and Cartoonists on Charlie Brown, Snoopy & the Gang, and the Meaning of Life.” (Blauner, ed., 2019.) Same publisher and format as “The MAD files.” Lew
Chris:
Yes, we have squirrels and chipmunks. And rats and flying squirrels and several different kinds of mice and voles and groundhogs and skunks. I’d say we have the rodent families pretty well covered. Also beavers and muskrats, though not at our house, though I’m surprised with the pond behind us. And rabbits, who are not rodents, but close enough. The tulips are inside the 8ft (2.5m) garden fence, though all those rodents except the groundhog can fit through the fence. The groundhog digs in (though there is chicken wire buried around the perimeter). But no wombats or kangaroos or wallabies – or super-deadly snakes!
Dog squabbles and sunsets – part of a great life!
Yeah – ouch! Loganberries had better be good. All of our blackberries are thornless.
Two thousand gallons is a fine job.
I am very sorry to hear abouth the amount of rain that may come from the cyclone. There is no way that could turn out well. Though you need rain, so I hope you get a bit.
Yep, my alpine strawberries do look woody, but rather than divide them (we shall see) I may just retire them, thus the new plants.
Pam
@ Lew:
There were definitely some advantages to living in Southern California in the 70s, not even counting the weather. Ruth Gordon I certainly remember, but the name Garson Kanin does not ring a bell, though I looked at his photo and it seems familiar.
Pam
Chris,
There is always a power sharpener at the meetings, available for anyone to use. One of the Master carvers will sometimes bring his power sharpener in and sharpen tools for people. Interestingly, I do okay with a green compound rubbed onto a leather strop, then use that on my blades, unless they get a bit too dull. Then I use some aluminum oxide on a leather strop. That sharpens things right up, then the green compound treatment polishes it well.
Interestingly, aluminum oxide on a leather strop is what we use for cleaning any carbon build-up from our wood burning tips. I learned the idea of using that for sharpening blades from one of our Novice carvers. However, I’ve known him for 47 years. He was the chap I learned most of my backwoods survival ideas from.
You’re not far from the truth regarding lists and bored bureaucrats. Or bureaucrats who wake up in a bad mood. Having worked in a bureaucracy, I constantly had to fight those things, simplify the processes I worked with. In the technical fields I found that the worst were NOT the engineers, but those guys who had studied Urban Planning at university.
Good job with the Ear of Nimbleness versus the ear worm. 🙂
80 L per minute and a 50 M rise? That’s one impressive pump. Nice to have something like that, isn’t it?
Hehehe. Gone postal. Bwahaha! I laugh so much because ultra shy neighbor works for the postal service. So you could say that she has gone postal but hasn’t gone POSTAL. 😉
Our sewage pipes are actually quite deep. They are maybe a meter beneath the basement floor, or 3 meters beneath the ground, perhaps. I’ve seen the trenches for them and they are deep.
There are wonderful maps of the public sewage system, whether City or County. These show about where the junction is to go to a home. However, as these need to be located in real life as opposed to paper, we have the “Call Before You Dig” number. They’ll send someone out to do the locate and paint the ground with the pipes they find. Each type of pipe has its own specific color. It’s a good program.
DJSpo
Hi Pam,
Doesn’t it seem like us gardeners are always testing our wits against all the many critters wanting an easy feed? To be honest the rats are more cunning and motivated than I, and that’s saying something. And please keep all of that lot on your side of the Pacific Ocean – oh my, that is what I’d describe as an extensive list you’ve made. 😉 Wombats are lovely, if somewhat surly creatures, which can attack the best of fencing like a heavily armoured vehicle. Yup, all we can but do is our best. This evening I was looking at a tunnel some rats had dug in one of the terraces whilst cogitating upon life’s vicissitude’s. The cheeky scamps had eaten all of our kale seedlings over the past week. Oh well…
🙂 Would we have things any other way? Mr Baby would bring such colour and noise into an environment and by that alone he’d earn his feed. I couldn’t imagine living without all of the canine craziness going on around me. Dame Plum has been enrolled in dog obedience school (which she doesn’t need) and even in beginners is excelling. Ruby may make class three, maybe. On the other hand, Ruby has gotten the message and appears to have lifted her game. Petey the Possum just by being around probably has a similar impact upon Mr Baby.
🙂 Well, a taste test of the berries will determine the difference, but I prefer the thornless varieties merely because they are easier to maintain. One must consider the big picture, at least that is my excuse.
Thanks, and the plan is to bring more water back uphill tomorrow, and then begin digging the long trenches (note the use of plural) for the water pipes. The weather forecast promises 95’F, so I dunno what is going on? My brain hurts. Mind you, the UV radiation from the big fire in the sky is less now, so the hot days don’t make you wilt so badly.
Went to a local cidery for lunch today – a pint of cider and shared grazing box of nachos which was quite enjoyable sitting in the shade. The venue was closing at 3pm because they were booked for a wedding tonight, and the couple have the best weather for that as it is warm outside right now, but about just right. It’s all very rural and there are LED fairy lights strung up over the tables. A nice choice of venue.
Pam, the cyclone rain forecast has been downgraded somewhat to 800mm / 31.5 inches. That is a lot of rain in anyone’s language. And to think it is so warm, calm and dry down here. Last I checked there were something like 300,000 homes without power in that part of the country.
I see, hey retiring the plants is a great choice too. It’ll be interesting to hear from you if the new lot you plant out self seed? They do here and are actually a bit weedy, which for that plant is a good thing. I refuse to grow those large hybrid varieties, so much trouble in one plant.
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
Whoa! Now power sharpeners I get, although use a number of different machines for various blades. You’d be amazed how many tools us humans use are for cutting stuff! Ooo! The leather strop, now you’ve piqued my curiosity. There’s always a story… A third generation orchardist I’ve sort of known by acquaintance for a decade and a bit had her dad (the previous of three generations) run a course on bud grafting. So the old bloke brings out his pocket knife and proceeds to demonstrate just how sharp the edge is. He used a strop to sharpen it, and I recall people doing just that as a kid with knives. But what is this green compound you speak of?
Thanks for mentioning the stuff, aluminium oxide is a versatile cutting and polishing material. Tiny stuff. A dude has to start at some age and that’s what being a novice in a particular field of endeavour looks like. But I tell ya what, with a mostly urban population such skills are rare, although things may be different in your country.
Hehe! Well, there’s theory, and then what happens in the wider world. The two fields are not necessarily the same thing. Speaking of such matters, there some sort of festival in a way out country town up in the north west (maybe) of the state. Anyway, it appears that the council approved some of the permits for the thing which had run for years, then cancelled one permit at the last minute – the local businesses probably needed the boost. I read some comment from the local butcher who made the wry observation as to how expensive it was to stock the fridges to feed a sudden influx of 8,000 people. Blame game begins after last-minute cancellation of Esoteric Festival. How can a permit system be so hard?
The pump is a beast. It draws 1.1kW of electricity too, so I’m grateful we run 240V as a standard down under. Eventually the machine could easily supply water for four bushfire sprinklers. Might have to think about that, but first, get the water pipes into the ground.
Very funny, and I do hope that ruffled feathers get soothed.
Whoa! Dude, those are some deep pipes for a household connection, although basements seem to be a thing in your country, so maybe that’s part of the reason. Dunno. It’s notably expensive to dig up a pipe buried 3m deep. Back when I worked for the water authority (my first adult job), I got to visit a main sewer under construction. To see a tunnel boring machine in action is to realise how amazing our infrastructure is. Back in the day, such tunnels were dug by hand! A new underground rail loop in the big smoke will be opened later in the year, and um, it’s been expensive. I have a hunch that perhaps the folks in charge wanted the belt and road initiative to fund the thing. Hmm. There was an agreement which was discovered and ripped up.
Such programs save lives. The electrician here put his excavator bucket through a water pipe during construction. That was fun, and I had to quickly work out how to shut the water system down. Hmm.
Too today off any and all work. A bloke needs a day off every now and then. 🙂
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Very amusing! When I was young, my expectations were rather high. Back then I worked harder and tried to excel at activities. The years roll on, and now in my perhaps more wiser guise, I’m just happy if things work. It’s not much to ask is it? 🙂
After yesterday’s success with the proof of concept test for the water pump, we took today off work. Seemed like the right thing to do. Had lunch at a nearby orchard and cidery, and whilst the weather was hot at 86’F, the UV from the sun is now reduced from the super crazy days of only a month ago (it’s now only very high rather than extreme). So, sitting in the shade, putting the produce to the test and munching upon a shared nachos grazing box was all very pleasant. The venue was closing at 3pm (we left earlier than that) because they were hosting a wedding tonight. The big marquee was up, fairy lights were tested in the middle of the day, and I reckon the couple scored a most excellent day of weather. How the rest of the marriage goes, well we can speculate, but do we really want to know? Probably not! At about 10pm it’s 66’F, although it would be a bit warmer at the cidery.
Incidentally, it’s not widely known, but UV levels down here are now much higher in these enlightened days than in the distant past. Most days for the next week promise to exceed 86’F. My brain hurts, but mustn’t grumble things could always be worse. Inge’s daughter doesn’t live too far from where the cyclone made landfall, and there’ll be some serious flooding in that part of the country over the next week. I’d say 35 inches in some areas is a lot. The most I’ve experienced here was 10 inches of rain in five days – that was crazy. I’d never seen so much water before.
Well, such silly tourist antics gives us something to discuss. And oh yeah, some old bloke was allegedly washed away in the flooding up north yesterday. Why is it always old blokes? – they’re making us look bad my friend!
I agree with you, there’s a lot to go wrong with bringing back such huge creatures, and surely the genetic pool would be so small as to be unviable. Yes, it may happen, but no it won’t end well. Hey, did you see that Mr Mars lost another big one? Puts on a good show.
When Cheetos met Pokemon. Years ago I sold off an item of computer hardware and the dude who bought it was really chuffed. He sent me a thanks, but the language referred to Pokemon characters and narratives and made no sense to me. Oh well, there’s only so much my brain can take in, and the comment was meant well, maybe. Anyway, I wouldn’t have known otherwise if it was meant well. The thing is like a Big J toast icon, don’t you reckon?
Nice shot with chucking the rice in the freezer. Probably a good idea given the number of washes required. Oh! Picked up an ice cream in a waffle cone on the way back home from the cidery (mint choc chip). I’ve decided to stick to a single scoop (as distinct from a double scoop) mostly because I’m not used to consuming such rich food (when combined with the nachos), and there’s no point feeling queasy on an otherwise enjoyable day?
Here’s an update on the cyclone which has now been downgraded to a tropical low (the storms run out of additional energy once on land): Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred posing flood risk to Queensland, northern NSW. Forecasts of 800mm (31.5 inches) of rain in a short period of time leave me quailing in fright!
Thanks for the info on managing older strawberry plants. I’ll keep a close watch on the alpine strawberries to see when they stop bearing berries. The ones I grow have been bred to start from seed and produce no runners. There’s a fascinating history behind the development of strawberry plants.
Good rocket science is not having the things blow up.
Ha! The need for enjoyable time out is on your mind as well. But yeah, occasionally one must swoop when there are enticing offers for yummy morsels. Were the Club’s turkey sandwiches good? Truly your description sounded tasty. Had rice, vegetables and two eggs for dinner this evening – a bit of balance there! 😉
I took some photos of the self seeded ferns earlier today, and until the leaves are bigger, it’s hard to really know what variety they are. I’m hoping for more tree ferns too.
Yes, such usage of the vocabulary is very much a question of style. And I agree with your less clunky verbiage, it sounds better to the reading ear.
Well that’s a relief, the show does sound all a bit unpleasant to me as well. I mentioned Squid games purely for research purposes. Little wonder birth rates are declining in that country. Actually, my gut feeling suggests that the population there is required to work way too many hours per week. Who’d want to raise a child in that sort of an environment?
Have you read the book ‘The Dig’? Hope the film is good, it’s got a great cast of actors. You gotta feel for people caught up in academic turf wars.
Poor H, but glad to hear that she is feeling better today. That’s extraordinarily well behaved to stick to the lino. Often canines prefer carpet, and there is precious little of the stuff in this house! Dogs… Aren’t dogs meant to consume cheese? Hmm. Ah, little miss has issues with lactose, right. Yes well, cheese is probably not much good for her guts. A sad lack in her diet, but she must be stoic about this.
It’s a long weekend here (Monday is labour day public holiday). The plan for tomorrow is to begin digging the 50m (165ft) long trench for the water pipes. Oh well, could be worse like breaking the rocks on the chain gang.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – Strange s–t happens in this county. He was a crim, but his personal hygiene was top notch! 🙂
https://www.chronline.com/stories/man-accused-of-breaking-into-adna-home-stealing-gun-arrested-after-being-found-in-hot-tub,376545?
Sounds like a nice day out. Always best to mix up the hard yard days, with a little R&R.
Our high yesterday was 54F (12.22C). The overnight low was 41F (5C). Forecast high for today is 58F. The rain is coming back, tonight. Probably, for the next week, at least. Nothing major. On and off showers. Prof. Mass has a post about the increasing light. We lose an hour of sleep, tonight. 🙁 I thought our Fearless Leader would take that hot pen, and do something useful with it. He claims, not, as we’re pretty evenly split, between liking it, or not. For a change, he’s not stretching the truth. It’s about half and half. Typical. What is wrong with those people?
I’ve been watching your, now, tropical storm. Still dangerous, but some people will take that as a signal to get out and about. Fools.
Yup. People see things everywhere. Some make money off of it. It’s called “pattern recognition.”
I had two sandwiches, at the Club. With Tater Tots! And catsup! Turkey, cheese and bacon. Tomatoes. Etc.. On good bread. Very tasty. It turned out to be a mob scene, and lots were sold. Don’t know why. Perfect storm? Some people got a little miffed that it took awhile, to crank them out. It’s not Mickey D’s. A good time was had by most. Next up, St. Patrick’s Day. Burgers. I stated that I wanted shamrock shaped patties, on green buns. No one thought it was a good idea. 🙂
I’m watching the Korean series “Uncanny Counter.” It’s a little hard to explain. Some odd and interesting people run a noodle shop. But this is kind of a front, and their real mission is that they are agents of the afterlife. And, their mission is to hunt down demons who have eaten peoples souls. Send the demon to hell, and free the souls of the people eaten. Just as an added twist, the more souls a demon has eaten, the stronger it is and the harder to put down. They’re tracking a serial killer …
I didn’t realize “The Dig” was a book. Library has it … now on my hold list.
On the road to recovery? H didn’t leave me any doggie treasures, in the bathroom, this morning. Shouldn’t count my poops, before they hatch. Or, are laid?
Interesting. Cause of death for Gene Hackman and his wife. She died of Hantavirus (!) and he probably died a few days later, of a heart attack. He might not have even known she was gone, as he had severe Old Timer’s Disease. Quit a few years ago, a fellow died up in our east county from Hantavirus. The virus was first identified, decades ago, when several people mysteriously (at that time) died, on a Rez in the southwest. There’s not much they can do for you, once you have it. Mortality rate is around 40%. Lew
Hi Lewis,
Well that is strange behaviour. Who does that sort of stuff? But as you say, the guy was clearly concerned for his personal hygiene. Wonder what happened to the dog which was allegedly with him?
Last night the dogs told me that there was someone up on the road walking around at about 11:30pm, and sure enough they were right. It’s a public road, but yeah the people probably should carry a torch and act less mysteriously.
In more err, normal matters, yesterday was fun and relaxing. It was good getting the water pump installed and tested the day beforehand. Today I began digging the long trench for the water pipe and may have done half of the job and will get back to the rest tomorrow. It’s a 60m / almost 200ft long trench in total, and it was quite hot working in the sun at 93’F in the shade. Ook! Also the leaning water tank was emptied so that I can build up the crushed rock dust underneath it and set it level again. Doesn’t hurt to be neat! 😉 And that leaning water tank was one of the reasons we began installing the long rock wall for that line of water tanks. Turns out soil has to be retained lest it slowly move downhill.
It’s slowly warming up in your part of the world, and are you observing that the plants are beginning to grow again? The lost hour is an outrage to those of us who are finely tuned and suffer mild jet lag due to time differentials. Hey, imagine if we fell into a temporal anomaly? Not good, and much bleary eyed grumpiness may ensue. Ah, in this instance the forces have moved against us. Looks like it will be another four weeks before we regain the lost hour. Hope you don’t continue to feel time cheated today?
That’s a possibility, but up north east where the ex-tropical cyclone is wreaking havoc, a lot of rain appears to have fallen today. Interestingly the rain is not consistent from place to place which I thought it might be with such a powerful storm, but no. Hervey Bay lashed by storms from ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred. The rain continues, up in that part of the country at least… It doesn’t take much water at all to float a vehicle away, and people do sometimes act as if they’re invincible.
I’d never quite thought of seeing things in stuff as pattern recognition, but that makes a lot of sense.
Hehe! Thanks for the laughs, and hope the tater tots were a tasty addition to the meal. It’s hard to know when do’s like that one are going to be sold out of meals. It was a good combination of ingredients though, so that would have helped sell the sandwiches. Years ago I went to a local thing where they were doing a BBQ and I ordered a vegie burger and they asked if I wanted bacon in it: Sure, why not! It was good and bacon is such a tasty meat but the combination of your lot with the Swiss cheese is a winner. Yum.
Hehe! Pah! Some chefs have no sense of adventure. Candidly the green bun suggestion was a step too far though. 🙂
Sounds like dangerous work tracking down demons, what do the agents of the afterlife get as a reward for their work? An intriguing tale and you’d hope they didn’t mess up the job.
Sutton Hoo is a fascinating find, and surely both the book and the film will be excellent. Did you spot that some Anglo-Saxon glass was found at the dig site? Apparently not much glass from that era has been found – probably wasn’t all that much produced during those centuries to be honest.
Definitely dumped! 🙂 It’s awful when dogs don’t feel well. They can’t necessarily tell you what is going on either – or what they may have done. Is her business less squishy and where it’s meant to be today? The dogs here have been running around like crazy in the heat earlier in the day, and have all now crashed out in the cooling air of a ceiling fan. Might take them for a walk now, then we’ll be in for the night.
Yeah, I read that news about Gene Hackman’s death. I reckon he wouldn’t have known or understood what was going on given what the reports suggested about his own health issues. He had a pretty good innings, but the hantavirus twist was completely unexpected. You may wonder why I’m serious about making life for the rats hard here. Hmm. During the rat and mice plagues up north a few years ago a farmer ended up being quite ill presumably from contact with the virus. Like you say, the survival rate is not good.
Better get writing! But first a dog walk.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – Not good about the prowler. I always carry a small torch when out and around late at night. It’s pretty well lit, around our place, but there are a few dark corners. There’s a facet of Alzheimer’s that is called “sundowning.” Patents tend to get more agitated and prone to wander more, early evening and night.
You need a pack of Navvies to help you out with your trench.
https://www.wikiart.org/en/ford-madox-brown/work-1863
Not the art I was looking for, but it will do. Maybe could do without all the on-lookers. 🙂
Yes, a lot of plants are beginning to flower. Bulbs, mostly. Crocus are blooming and daffodils will show up, any day. They’ve got buds.
Us humans are sensitive to light, and changes in same. The time change throws all that off. Slowly lengthening or shortening days, we can cope with. These sudden jumps? Not so much.
That article on Hervey Bay was really something. Storms. They really cover too much ground to figure out where they’re going to dump hard. Our high yesterday was 55F (12.77C). The overnight low was 41F (5C). Forecast high for today is 52F. We’re heading into another week of on and off rain.
On St. Patrick’s Day, there will be burgers and potato salad. Actually, I’m curious about the potato salad. It will be homemade. There are so many variations on that theme. All good, but different.
The agents of the afterlife develop some “super” powers. Seems to vary, from person to person. One’s a healer, another is able to read past events, through people’s minds. Some can detect demons, in the general vicinity.
There were a few things from the Mediterranean, found at Sutton Hoo. And if I remember right, a mix of Christian and pagan stuff. I don’t know if you read this article, but, it’s pretty extensive. I hadn’t realized that besides the first discovery, the archaeology in the area is quit complex.
https://w.wiki/DMoG
I thought maybe H was getting better. I took her out at 6PM, and again at midnight. But, sometime during the evening, she made a small deposit to the Bank of Bathroom Floor. During the night, several large deposits. Luckily, clean up is pretty easy. But other than the poop stuff, she seems perfectly normal and healthy.
I saw an article, last night, about the reserve crypto thing, and crypto in general. You might find it interesting.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/08/business/bitcoin-strategic-reserve-explained
Might be a sidebar to your economic talk.
Mars Boy fixates on the darnedest things. He wants to visit Fort Knox, just to make sure the gold is there. They’d better thoroughly check his pockets, when he leaves. I see more of his space junk, came down. If it does damage, or kills someone, I wonder if some kind of restitution will be paid? Probably drag through the courts, for years. Lew