It’s been a while since we stepped foot in the local pub for a pint of the darkest of ales and a dinner. We used to go regularly. Can’t say that we’ve done anything wrong to mark the sudden change and now need to avoid the place. Such things can happen! And there have been a few such incidents from the days of misspent youth. We’ve all been there.
The first share house was in an area which was famously dry, probably the result of some puritanical act long ago. Anyway, by ‘dry’, that means there are no pubs within the suburbs boundaries. It’s quite a snooty area, even the street name suggested great things: Royal Parade. Hardly delivered upon by us youthful rogues. The large residences however, could comfortably house five disparate young folks.
One evening we decided to walk the couple of blocks across the suburb border. At the end of the journey, a grand old Victorian era pub dating back to around 1890’s stood before us. Those buildings have a certain ornate look to them and occasionally, there’s even a watch tower high up looking over the roof line. Us five long haired louts opened the heavy timber doors, and it was like a scene from one of those spaghetti western films. The old timers sitting at the bar as one, turned to stare at the intrusion, and then said nothing. Real friendly. What had the cat just dragged in they probably thought to themselves. Sometimes you can tell when you’re not welcome, and without any discussion, we all turned around and left. Clearly the area wasn’t ready for us.
Weird things can happen in country pubs too. Back in the early 1990’s there was no such thing as a mobile (cell) phone. A person in those days made arrangements, then stuck to them. A bunch of friends were heading bush (to my grandfathers legally dubious) camp site way out in the the middle of nowhere, which was nicely positioned on a river bend. My girlfriend was running late that night, and we’d agreed to meet at the last country pub at the edge of the forest.
So late. So bored. Had dinner. Enjoyed a glass to soothe the rattled nerves. Read a book. Spotted a pool table. Had a few friendly games against the locals which I lost. Seeking advantage, the local fellas suggested to play for beers. Why not? Alcohol opened the mind, loosened the wrist, and I began to win the pool games. All of them. Pure lucky streak, nothing more. Eventually girlfriend and company turns up many hours late. With thoughts that there’d be a lynching in the quiet country town (or nearby surrounds), the path of wisdom was to buy some beers and thank the fellas for the friendly games thus settling the uneven score. Always wise to read the room.
In a country town, the local pub serves as a third place, and that means a sort of community shared social space where you see other locals and people you know. Our culture doesn’t really encourage such spaces, although the nearby town has a heavily used recreation reserve. Cricket, football, netball, tennis, scouts and the dog obedience clubs all use that space. On weekends the place pumps. I’d even once noticed a guy walking his large dog whilst driving a four wheel drive over the grass, as you do. The clubs and local council maintain the facilities. Pubs on the other hand are a bit different. They’re a business, and they’ve gotta make mad cash, or the doors will shut for good.
Sandra and I are both accountants, and so we can’t kid ourselves about costs. Australia is nearing a federal election, and the politicians bang on endlessly about a ‘cost of living crisis’, although for all their slippery braying, they haven’t offered to take a pay cut, have they? I’d vote for that. Candidly, I’ve no idea what is actually meant by the term ‘cost of living crisis’. Does it mean that the pub pint and feed with approximately $30 meals and $15 pints is economically out of reach of the masses?
I’m coming around to the idea that the much heard phrase refers to an economic inability to maintain appearances. It’s funny what you see going on all around you. The other day I was filling up the dirt mouse Suzuki Swift with petrol. It’s hard not to wince at the AU$2.06/L ($7.83 a gallon) petrol, but Suzuki vehicles are notably cheap and cheerful to own and operate, so the bill came to about $35.
Long gone are the days when labour was cheap enough that some dude would save you the effort of filling the car with petrol, and that work paid was enough to keep a roof over his head and food upon the table. In these enlightened days, you do that work yourself. So there I was standing out in the cold weather. The small fuel tank was full up to its eyeballs. A lovely reassuring clicking noise can be heard letting you know that the petrol cap is screwed down tight enough. Donk! – the side cover locked into place. You wouldn’t want someone siphoning the petrol tank, who remembers those crazy days when such things happened? It’s a short walk into the store whilst trying to avoid eye contact with other folks. They’re all doing much the same, for no apparent reason I can detect.
Number five, mate.
The red car?
Yeah, the read car. Now feeling less sure of the petrol pumps number and taking a closer look outside.
The operator leaped out from behind the console with surprising agility. And no explanation whatsoever. A true mystery. Decided to wait and see what was going on.
Turns out the bloke in the expensive European SUV on the other side of the petrol pump from me, had told the console operator that he was driving the Suzuki. And then paid for my bill, as you do when it costs $140 to fill up his much larger vehicle. A new and interesting way to reduce costs!
Sadly for him, the younger girlfriend ruined the scam, because she’d delayed their departure. Some toilet visits can’t be rushed. With the proverbial tail between his legs, the vehicle owner was dragged back into the store to settle the account. Tensions were high. Smarmy eyes peered out serenely at the world at this sudden injustice and misfortune, and then he said to me:
You could have paid it for me. That’s a level of confidence I can’t muster.
In such situations it’s best to look menacing, so the arms were crossed, whilst the head leaned forward towards him, all the better to engage with him if necessary. And words of pure poetry and sheer elegance befitting an educated man were delivered in a cutting one liner: Screw that! Look, it was the best I could up with at short notice.
To my surprise, the cheeky scamp apologised for his chutzpah. He settled the difference, and left the shop. Maybe he read the room? He was out in the country after all, clearly not his natural turf. Watching him leave the store whilst the operator sorted out the administrative computer mess he found himself in, gave me time to look more closely at the European SUV. Noting some of the dings in the expensive vehicles body, I read from that interaction he was suffering from an economic inability to maintain appearances. Hmm.
It’s been another odd week of weather. Firstly wet, then warm and dry, then very wet for days. During the drier weather, we continued digging the flat site for the two new water tanks.
It will be many months before all of the existing water tanks are full, so there’s no great hurry with this work. The excavations are done using an electric jackhammer to break up the clay into clumps. The scary old rototiller then breaks apart those clumps into fine easier to move soil particles. Those are then loaded into a power wheelbarrow using a shovel. Easy, but also physically demanding work.
The power wheelbarrow allows us to move the soil back uphill. Excess soil is a very useful material, and always in short supply. This week the soil has been put to use creating a flat site near to the front of the house. The intention is to place a steel round raised garden bed there.
The existing rocks were rearranged and then soil was dumped onto the site.
Most of the soil loads were used in the above project, but we dumped one load on the continuing rock wall project where the long line of water tanks sit.
Five or maybe six loads of soil were dumped on the new flat site, and it now looks very different.
We removed heaps of soil from the area where the two new water tanks will be located. When you’re digging slowly, the work can be quite neat. The water tanks will sit back into the side of the hill. There’s still maybe another foot of soil to remove.
The area we’re digging in has a lot of floating rocks. Any rocks here have some sort of use, in fact there are more uses than there are rocks. Believe me folks, Peak Rocks is real – you heard it here first.
In order to add more soil to the area where it’s being dumped up near the house, we had to install the remainder of our large rock supply. We’ve now again run out of large rocks and will have to split some boulders over the next few weeks.
The area is now ready to take some more soil.
From the underside looking upwards at that rock wall, you can see just how much soil was dumped in that spot.
The rocks are placed carefully so that there is no movement, and also that soil can’t fall between any joins. It takes a lot longer to carefully place such large and heavy rocks so that their stability is assured. We did have to deal with a 5.9 earthquake a couple of years ago.
This week’s video shows more details of the project:
Burn-off restrictions were lifted at midnight last Monday, and us landowners are now free to burn off forest materials. Sunday afternoons it’s something of a rural sport to set off bonfires. In the next image you can see the storm arriving.
And the digital tachometer device was repaired. For some reason the machine had a battery which was soldered onto the circuit board. The impression I was left with from that arrangement, was once the battery was dead, the device was meant to be chucked out. Being the crafty and resourceful dude that I am, a computer CMOS battery was placed on order, arrived in the mail, and then soldered onto the circuit board. The machine now works perfectly again. Those are not cheap devices and the disposable arrangement troubled me.
In breaking produce news:
The pumpkin vines are succumbing to powdery mildew, and look worse every day. Given the warm days and nights recently, I’d have to suggest that the plant is no longer enjoying enough daylight hours.
Inside the greenhouse, things are different, and perhaps more optimal.
The greenhouse is the most productive growing area during the colder months of the year. The subtropical fruit Babaco survives in there when it would have zero chance of getting through the winter outdoors.
The radish and beetroot seeds are also growing speedily in the greenhouse.
Over winter, the only available fresh fruit will be from the citrus trees. And each year those trees produce a little bit better. The Pomello’s which are a yellow grapefruit, are very tasty in breakfast. They require continual feeding to keep producing at such rates.
Onto the flowers:
The temperature outside now at about 10am is 11’C (52’F). So far for last year there has been 178.8mm (7.0 inches) which is up from last weeks total of 151.0mm (5.9 inches)
Comments
35 responses to “Pub Feed”
Yo, Chris – Those were the days. To be young, in shared housing. We won’t mention the Great Seattle Safeway Pumpkin Heist of 1970. It almost went oh, so wrong.
Yes, why do people go places where they are clearly unwelcome? Clueless? Over active sense of entitlement? Tis a mystery.
They probably thought you were a pool shark. Similar to a card sharp. Different games, same operation. You lure the rubes into thinking you have no skill, or are clueless (I’ve never played poker, before!”) One last game, with high stakes. And then you pounce!
That gas scam shows real hutzpah. Did you notice? This week’s post seems to have a subtext. The late girlfriend. 🙂
This weeks post and the video are really interesting. It’s an overview of how you operate (in a good way.) 🙂 Other folks might just say, “Well, we’re putting in two water tanks.” But you see opportunity, everywhere. There are rocks and dirt for other projects. It’s an opportunity to refine and improve your water system. Deal with a raised bed that isn’t quit in the right place. It all kind of flows.
Ollie stole the show! “Sit!” (“Not feeling it.”) 🙂
Good work with the tachometer. I wonder about the moment, everyone else who bought one of those, discovers the battery is soldered in, and not replaceable. Too bad all that negative energy couldn’t be stored up, somewhere, and unleashed on, oh, I don’t know. Zombie apocalypse? Triffid Attack? Alien invasion? You mentioned the company had bit the dust. Might be worth tracking where they ended up. Probably some new scheme to mess over a lot of people. There are probably openings in our health insurance system.
Boy, we really are on the flip side. Diametrically opposed? I planted pumpkin seeds, early this evening.
The chilis remind me of Christmas. It will be here, before we know it!
Only 241 days, 36 minutes and 12 seconds, to go! Mark! Yes, there really is a countdown clock.
Succulents are so interesting. They look like they’ve come from a galaxy, far, far, away. Maybe a small spacial rift opened up, and they fell out onto fertile soil? Stranger things have happened. Lew
Hi Lewis,
Ah yes, to be young and dumb again and get away with such pranks. I’m curious, what was the pumpkin intended to be used for? Glad you all lived to fight for another day without incident. Not easy at all to abscond with such a large fruit.
Well, us collection of long haired louts took one look at the welcoming committee at the pub, and just said no. Why others would choose to hang around after such a frosty reception is an act which is also well beyond my comprehension. It is a mystery, yeah.
🙂 Hehe! That was my thoughts as well with the locals in that pub. They were on their local turf, and I was the blow-in waiting for a tardy girlfriend. Certainly the mood lifted once the young bucks were handed a six pack of quality beer. All hard feelings were put aside. To be honest I was recalling the scene from the film Deliverance where the city folks ruffled the sensibilities of the locals – what did they all expect would happen? I know what my grandfather would have called them.
Oh you’re good, and that was certainly a subtext. 🙂 Yup. Everything would have been OK if the lady had been on time, but no. There’s a certain skill in reading the vibe and then turning the disastrous outcome to a more equitable outcome.
Exactly! And you’ve uncovered yet another secret of mine with that canny observation of yours. One of my motivating principles is maintaining a certain amount of harmony. Other folks may seek advantage, but that doesn’t float my boat so to speak, so I’m playing the long game and inserting the idea of more workable values. Candidly, it’s an uphill battle, but who knows what good vibes will spread outwards. 😉
On that note, I tackled another very large and seriously embedded into the soil tree stump today. All part of the loggers mess, and I’d like to see it all cleared up eventually, but it’s a lot of work. Had a burn off which is nice given that everything is now damp from recent rain. And we recovered as much firewood as we could from the clean up. Man, there’s a Meg tree stump near there which I’m wondering about how to deal with. The thing is huge as befits an old tree. The loggers must have had troubles too, because the broken steel rope was found near to the Meg. All the timber shows scorching from the `1983 fires – and bizarrely that preserved the timber. Hard work, but oh well.
Hehe! Ollie is lovely, and he really didn’t want to sit at that moment. 🙂 He’s got his own opinions about things.
Your health system frightens me – seriously. Stay safe out there. 🙂 It’s nice to fix up these older bits of technology, but it appals me that many things were never intended to be repaired in the first place. I’ll have to open up the oldest inverter machine over the next week or so, and take an inventory of the parts which require replacing. All in a days work. Doesn’t it make you wonder how much of this stuff gets thrown out, when with a bit of effort, sweat and ingenuity, it could be repaired?
Yeah, with the exception of those two weeks of very intense cold weather you get, the climate here is remarkably similar to your part of the world. It’d be a bit early for planting out pumpkin seeds here if things suddenly flipped upside down. 🙂
Lewis, I’m not allowed to say such things about Christmas, but do like your style there! 😉 I think the observation is funny, but all it produces are groans, which may, or may not, indicate annoyance.
It’s raining outside right now, so I might have to head out into the dark and push in the fire closer together. Have to remember to wear the proper fire boots in case I melt the soles again of my new work boots, again. That happened… The Editor has reminded me of this delinquency. Everyone has their kryptonite.
I agree, succulents do look like plants from another planet – and what’s with flowering now? The suddenly cooler weather has meant that many insects are hiding from the conditions.
Did you notice that Valarie the miniature Dachshund looked pretty happy roaming around Kangaroo Island in the video and pictures? The dog probably did excellent work cleaning up the islands population of rats and rabbits. Toothy was a long haired dachshund and quite the hunter of small prey.
Those large batteries are a great idea, but I should note that right now I’m running a petrol generator for the first time this year. The past four days have supplied between one and half an hours peak sunlight. And there are those repairs I mentioned which need doing to an older inverter. However, will such batteries work – absolutely, I just don’t know about the costs. It’s also worth noting that I rarely charge or discharge the batteries at more than 20% of their total capacity. What happens at utility scale with this technology is anyone’s guess, they probably demand a higher charge and discharge rate.
And yeah, I noticed that, and they appeared to be pulling what I’d describe as a dubious face. The installations are good for grid stability.
My old school friends family did all appear to have that super relaxed vibe which only old money brings. Good stuff with the cleaning to break down the oils. Industrial quality acetone is a pretty wild cleaner too when it comes to organic oils. And yeah, seeing that would give me pause as well, but smoking just never appealed to me. Both of my older sisters smoked which used to send me loopy over the school holidays.
Adding the canned tomatoes was an innovation. Sounds tasty. We had rice, veg, greens, two eggs and a dash of Asian fish sauce for dinner. Yum! The warm weather recently has kicked along the cool season kale.
Took a quick break to head way down to the forest edge (in the rain) and push the fire together. It’s cooking along that fire. It’s such a pleasure to clean up all that mess, there’s just an awful lot of it. And yes, I did wear the correct work boots with the heat resistant soles.
The English were rather canny and um, err, focused in those days. I can see that they would have taken over that part of your country. The Dutch erred because they focused too greatly upon the spice trade.
Didn’t you hear the news? The dream is over man. 😉 I do wonder what the author has to say about that particular story, although for all I know I could be talking about something else. They used to have the Great Australian Dream, which was job, kids, car, house. Getting harder to achieve that story.
Full respect to your brain. I tend to stick to one book at a time.
Hermes seemed like an adaptable to circumstance kind of a dude. Handy attributes. It’s a complicated school of thought, that’s for sure. Revealing hidden meanings then providing plausibility is a very abstract technique.
Did the master gardeners make a decision about the barrel? I wouldn’t have wasted the growing space and put it back to work in a new location. The rot only can assist with drainage. You can buy half wine barrels for use in the garden, but they’re expensive. The crystals in them are interesting, and they must be more than basic sugars because they survive the rain.
You sounded like Dirty Harry of the garden world just then with those land sharks. 😉 Release the land sharks! Hope they work, it’s a good idea. Some local nematode here has learned how to eat the super invasive Portuguese millipedes, and I’m grateful for that. Early on here they were in huge numbers.
The cabbage bride was hard to explain, but she cut a fine figure that’s for sure. Go Talking Heads, and that’s a great song. Yes, we built this city… Hmm. No, avoid the ear worms we must, and will!
The stoners I knew were pretty cool and chill company, unless they didn’t get their weed. Then they were kind of agitated. Mostly they were emotionally stable which I appreciated, and over the years I have wondered if they smoked to mask over the internal turmoil? Dunno.
Those small brown birds will perform all manner of hard work in your garden. They’re the nemesis of small plant eating insects. What’s not to like about that?
The film trailer was completely nuts, I loved it. Look, there’s been Godzilla sequels, so everyone knows that Biollante copped it in the end.
Cheers
Chris
social gathering- Was just talking about this at the square dance this past weekend. First world wealth has enabled families to spread around the county following jobs, and generic suburbs seem like places to sleep between days at work. Sure, there are restaurants and entertainment, but most times, everyone else in the place is a stranger. The “community” we find on line is a not the same. It’s one thing to find like minds on line (like here), and even enjoy it, but another to be able to actually help one another or share a pint, so to speak.
Now that I’ve moved to the country, I bump into friends and acquaintances all the time, but we could use even more gathering places/occasions to further meet the needs of us social primates. Local bonds and a true sense of community will regain its importance.
Truth be told, there is a “red neck” bar nearby that in the ten years we’ve lived here, I’ve never set foot in, but already know I would not fit in, and likely get those stares you describe. But there are other ways to socialize, like the square dance.
repair skills- Such a great skill to have, and the need will explode as things unwind. I can fix a few things, and build projects from left over odds and ends, but electronics is a stretch for me. I recall your impressive work on the amplifier. Top work, and maybe a side gig going forward?
Fun side story- Many years ago, strolling through a second hand shop, I saw a piano hinge for cheap, which you don’t see in regular hardware stores, so bought it on a whim. FINALLY used it in a project this past week! Score.
rock walls- Took a “dry stack” rock wall building class through the local folk school, and found out that even when you understand the principles, it can be difficult to have the patience to sort through the pile of rocks to find the right one for each placement. A rushed placement in the first course will come back to bite you. Carbide faced rock hammers and masonry chisels make it easier. I assume you have?
http://www.miconproducts.com/index.html
siphoning- One fine day when I was a kid, Dad said to have the yard mown while he was gone at work. Well, the mower was dry, the gas can was empty, so no choice but to syphon from the farm truck. I was familiar with the concept, but had never done it before. The inevitable happened, and was sick the rest of the day. Lawn did not get mowed. This was still in the era of leaded gas, so I’m blaming my quirks that. 🙂
Yo, Chris – It was Halloween. If I hadn’t of been greedy and grabbed two pumpkins … 🙂
Was there a small albino boy, sitting on the porch of the pub, playing a banjo? If so, best move along. That movie is on my list of “Don’t want to watch.” I know enough about it to pass. One of the actors was traumatized by the part.
Harmony. “Tis better to light one candle, than to curse the dark.” Or, something like that. I’d guess, early on, you tried to be the peacemaker in your family. Until you realized it was a lost cause, and moved on. Just a theory.
Good luck with the Meg stump. I’m sure you’ll figure something out. Way back, there was a craze to take unfinished oak furniture, and take a butane torch to it. A light application burnt out the grain, and turned it dark. Then finishes were put on it. It was kind of a craze, for awhile.
Maybe Ollie has joined the actor’s strike? He wants more. Although more of what, he might be a little hazy on. 🙂
Planned obsolescence. Claimed to have been formulated by GM Motors, in 1924. When their cars reached a market saturation point. Although it was mentioned that the idea actually came from earlier, in the bicycle industry. First use of the phrase? Some American real estate dealer (Bernard London) wrote a series of essays, in pamphlet form, one of which was titled “Ending the Depression Through Planned Obsolescence. That was in 1932.
Our high yesterday was 57F (13.88C). Our overnight low was 46F (7.77C). High for today is forecast at 59F. It may hit 80F (26+C), on Thursday. We may see some rain, later today, into tomorrow.
I took a pill bug census, using hollowed out half potatoes. I checked them, this morning. Yup, they are there. Not in great numbers. I will release the Kraken, this evening. Yesterday, I got the two half barrels, in the back, ready for planting. Dug out some of the old dirt, tossed in a bag of Miracle Grow garden soil, half a bag of mushroom compost and 1/4 bag of chicken manure. Lots of worms, in that. Egg shells. Stove ash. A bit of sea salt, for the asparagus. I’m glad I soaked the asparagus root, all day. Made them nice and pliable, so I could spread the roots over a small mound in their trenches. I’d soaked the pumpkin seeds, all day, also. It might be too early for pumpkins, so, I may have to replant. Not a problem. Unlike Territorial, last year, which only sent me 6 (!) pumpkin seeds in a packet, Nichols Garden Nursery sent a small handful.
The Master Gardeners were here, this morning. I pushed them to decide where they want the half barrels. The one with my horseradish, will have to be moved a couple of inches. The empty one with the bottom rotted out, a few feet. Then I can fill it up, with soil, and get it ready for Tomatillo.
Maybe you should work on walking barefoot over hot coals? A new hobby! 🙂 Amaze your friends …
Valarie looked pretty chipper, and well fed. Rabbits and rats, beware! In the article I read, there was some concern about poisonous snakes. Maybe she figured out how to kill the darned things, without getting bit.
I always wonder about the few batteries I have to keep track of. Phone, mouse and keyboard. I generally let them get down to less than 20%, before I recharge them. Good practice?
The English and the Dutch fought several wars. The English were envious of the Dutch’s trading empire. And getting ideas of “empire” of their own. It was a two pronged attack. One on the Dutch slaving ports of west Africa. The other on New Amsterdam aka New York. There was also another reason. Due to the English civil war (and rise of the Puritans), the New England colonies, had become a theocracy. When Charles II regained the throne (horrors!), they needed to be brought to heel. Not that they were.
The Australian Dream sounds pretty much like the American Dream. All that post-WWII prosperity. Lubricated with cheap oil. People thought it would go on forever. I saw an interesting article this morning, about people changing their grocery shopping habits. Due to the current economic situation.
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/9-10-americans-changing-shop-013719012.html
I wondered if perhaps you had a special nematode, that targeted Portuguese Millipedes. Your fortune would be made! Unfortunately, not. I found this article, from Australia, no less. It talks about nematodes, further down.
https://www.pir.sa.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/285516/Portuguese_Millipedes_Fact_Sheet.pdf
The nematodes I’m using, were discovered in a derelict Jamaican rum mill. I’m sure there’s an interesting story, there, but I could find nothing beyond that bare fact. Where’s “the rest of the story?” Lew
Hello Chris,
Great to hear that you already in youthful days understood when to pay your way out of a tight spot. Sometimes a small amount of mad cash is a useful lubricant. Some people are too attached to their egos to take that path…
I so hear you about the inverter. Those are chucked on the pile of toxic waste for the slightest malfunction, adding to the shameful legacy of our ruthless civilization.
Grids are great, until they are not, as the Spanish people experienced today. Maybe one day we will learn what caused the house of cards to fall, but I think that is less interesting than the built-in instability of the system. Spain is in the top 10 of countries with the largest amount of grid-tied-solar-PV, at something around 20%.
With lots of inverters that just follow the sinus that someone throws at them, and upping the voltage to be able to push power.
They all interact with each other, in ways that were never part of the design.
Not like your inverter that has to take the lead.
Wise to gather spares when they are available at a price you can pay.
We are considering getting a replacement inverter that could manage off-grid operations, maybe with batteries, maybe not. We do not need 24/7 power, even though it does make life easy.
The kind of installation that Alexis Zeigler at Living Energy Farm runs is not legal here, and I remember you have mentioned that you too have voltage restrictions for home use? Here the max allowed voltage is 50V.
Maybe a project for next winter.
Now growing season is on, and I run a bit behind schedule on the veggie side. Not all brassicas are started and some plots need more weeding.
But the nuts are going great and I am now into grafting time for walnut trees and chestnut trees. So much fun.
We don’t often go out to eat, since most food out is of lower quality than what we get at home. There used to be a few organic restaurants, in the larger towns, but they have all disappeared during the “inflation” of the last few years. I see your point about 10$ drinks and 30$ dishes. Sometimes we go out for a beer, just to be somewhere else. It is good to be in different places, to reflect and to recover.
Peace,
Göran
Hi Göran,
You’ve got a keen eye, respect. At the end of the pool games there was a vast social imbalance, and I was on their turf too being in a country town, literally out in the middle of nowhere. The six pack of quality beers gifted, really gave the guys a ‘no hard feelings’ kind of a vibe and they left the pub with a good story to tell, as distinct from wanting to settle the score in other ways. It’s true what you wrote too.
Once you step outside the capital cities down under, the bush (as they call it) is sparsely populated. Australian’s are an overwhelmingly urban people, and I’ve camped up at that remote camp site of my grandfathers and not seen anyone for days on end. I’ve read that that part of the country is more frequently visited nowadays, but I dunno. It’s probably six hours drive from here, and that’s too far for my tastes these days. Travel no longer interests me.
Yup! And the inverter here is a locally made off grid inverter, so it’s too valuable to me personally (not to anyone else though) to throw out whilst it can have its life extended readily. Basically the machine has to have it’s electrolytic capacitors replaced – not an onerous job. You can hear the components buzzing slightly which means that they’ve dried out a bit and may soon fail. But yes, we are a very wasteful society, no doubts about it – and things would be pretty much the same down here as in your country.
The top place for roof grid tied solar power systems is down under, and every year things get slightly more difficult for the authorities who have to match supply with demand. An exciting job, which I believe a computer manages on the east coast of this continent… 🙂 In cold sunny spring weather, solar photovoltaic panels over produce. And things can go pop, and problems can easily cascade.
Exactly too, voltage moves from highest to lowest. And too many dumb inverters push their electricity outwards into the grid all at once in circuits which can raise the voltage too high on the supply side of transformers – which then trips them. Better to trip the sub stations than destroy them. Some of the transformers have to be restarted manually! As you do… 🙂 And of course frequency as you note, is also an issue – a friend tells me that this happened to his old hybrid inverter. Hmm. A hybrid inverter is a complicated machine.
And that’s the thing with off grid inverters – they have to set the voltage and frequency, then match supply to demand. This is not a simple process. Basically with the grid tied stuff, it’s probably all done too cheaply. If the individual grid tied inverters sought instead to stabilise the voltage and frequency as a priority, then that would be awesome – but who wants to pay for that technology? The vast majority of conversations I hear about solar is when will this stuff pay for itself? That’s an economic concern, rather than my ill informed environmental concerns: Will this technology reduce my households load on the environment? I can’t be sure of the answer either, maybe it will.
Ah, last I checked the legal restrictions here were also 50V AC, but 110V DC. I run a 48V DC, 24V DC and two 12V DC systems and don’t touch the AC side of things. The reason AC systems are used, is of course cheaper switches and fuses (DC arcing is a real thing, as we’ve discussed before), but also the wires are cheaper because they run at higher currents and so are way thinner. No reason though you can’t have 12V or 24V DC power system – and plenty of devices use that.
🙂 The growing season is yet early for you, maybe. Plenty of time yet. And anyway, is that work you mentioned ever really done?
Good stuff and I’m inspired by your nut tree collection, and it is a prod to do better here. Look forward to seeing the results on your blog.
Quality is always a problem, and honestly if you’re going from garden to table within only a few hours, it’s hard to beat that under any circumstances. I get that about heading out for a convivial beer, fun stuff. We tend to grab a take away lunch nowadays and go for a walk, and Sandra has more dinner catch ups with her friends.
Inflation is real, and cuts have to be made – and if the quality is not good to begin with, the cuts are an easier decision to make.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Steve,
Must be something in the water, because I was also having that conversation as well earlier today about one of the nearby towns. It’s a commuter town, and people sleep there, and yet earn their mad cash elsewhere. What strange and unusual arrangements our civilisation has created, makes you wonder how long they’ll last? There’s a bit more community in rural areas, but it’s not great, is it? It’s a funny issue because I once heard someone on the interweb suggest that ‘community’ means learning how to live with the theoretical other local who really pi$$es you off. People tend to run a mile from such arrangements. And I’d love to share a pint and convivial chat with you all.
On that note, down here at least, it’s been my opinion that economic circumstances have geographically stratified the population. After all, house prices tend to only be affordable for certain incomes, and that is dictated by social stratum, whim and circumstances, but generally it is impossible for people on low incomes to live in expensive areas. One of the good things about rural areas, is that this is less likely to occur, but all the same, it is occurring. Hmm. This is an unwise experiment.
🙂 Hey, I say that to Sandra as well. Up in the bush, a person gets their regular social contact in all sorts of ways with casual chats and chance encounters. Your point is entirely valid, and that third space is not encouraged in our society. Still, there are clubs and other groups to get involved with. However, if the pub is too expensive, then patronage falls. And if the venue chases the tourist dollar, are the friendly locals to be found in there?
Exactly, you pick and choose which group you want to be involved in. Like your example, I tend to take the vibe of a place as a guide.
🙂 Electronics geek from way back, and used to even work at a Tandy Electronics store as a teenager. Honestly, I couldn’t make this stuff from scratch, but have a fair idea as to how to repair them and what is likely wrong. If it’s too complicated I’d send the stuff out for analysis and repairs. Some stuff is probably not worth repairing though, or requires specialised equipment. Thanks!
I wasn’t sure what a piano hinge is, but I see what you mean. The things are huge and strong. And rarely seen in hardware stores. Nice buy, and you’re teasing us all. 😉 What was the project?
Whoa! Those guys make carbide tools to order. Impressive. That’s a dying trade that one, and if we were a clever society, we’d put more resources behind such folks. The rotary hammer drill and jackhammer use bits shown in that link you provided (ours are from the land of stuff). We take a lot of time err, choosing and positioning the rocks, so that I can stand on each of them and have no movement. Plus the rock systems aren’t entirely dry stone walling, we’ll use hidden support rocks, wedges and all manner of techniques which aren’t shown. Never thought to discuss those techniques, not for any good reason either.
Hehe! All is now fortunately explained! 🙂 And hey us less adventurous types got to breathe the fumes for many long years. Never tried that technique with the siphon before, and you learned a valuable lesson there. Back in the day, stealing petrol was a thing, and that’s how they did it, and occasionally the practitioners ended up in your predicament – which is how we read about it in the papers. Not good, and glad you recovered. Yes, lead in petrol not good for IQ. They stopped that about 1986 down here, and do you remember the outcry from those crazy days? The engines will knock, or something like that – never heard a single engine make that sound, although it must have happened, somewhere. I think the valves had to be hardened to resist higher temperatures, but can’t quite recall the details. Solder used to have lots of lead too – more fumes…
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Sounds very much like the second pumpkin theory to me. 😉 Glad you survived to recount the tale. What I was left wondering was, whether you made it out with one, two or no pumpkins? And such things happen during Halloween, but was it a full moon?
Agreed. I was not recommending the film. Some things, you can’t un-see, and over the years there have plenty of films I’ve regretted watching. In more recent years I’ll either walk out from them, or switch them off. Dunno about yours, but my brain does not require the stimulation. But also, the greater question is: is it the path of wisdom to annoy the locals? The local paper had an article on the leaf change tourists (I’d also noticed that rubbish was reduced this year – last year was bad): War memorial swamped by tourists. The road was planted out long ago with pin oaks as an Avenue of Honour.
That’s a great saying, and there was no pleasure to be had in being a peacemaker among all those troublemakers. My grandfather asked me to sort the family out as an ongoing task a few days before he died, and can’t say I was enthusiastic. In fact I may instead have had a candid discussion about the difficulties presented by that request. He didn’t leave me anything in his will, that went to his new family. You see what I was dealing with here? 😉 Far out. When I was a lot younger I’d sometimes terminate bad relationships on definite terms, but that is a foolish way to go. There’s a recent saying which captures that act: “May the bridges I burn light the way (forward)”It’s a play on an older adage that makes more sense.
Thanks, and yeah something will work out with the Meg stump. Yeah, I recall the burning, and some folks do a similar preservation with timber weather boards used as house cladding. It’s a thing apparently, although I’ve never seen it used down under. The furniture application would seriously date a piece. What’s you take on that observation?
Ollie wants his cheese tax, and won’t perform until it’s paid, in full. 🙂
No way! Naively I thought that some products were just made badly, because it was cheap to do so. You know, the claim as to ‘planned obsolescence’ is never explicitly made, for obvious reasons. Imagine the hard sell it would be: Buy our stuff! It’ll break down sooner or later, then you’ll replace it with another, which may be worse. You asked for this. And we delivered! Look, I’m not excited about the claim, are you? 🙂
The temperature here was about the same today. Got the wood heater running right now, and it rained earlier. And, just for a laugh, next weekend, it will reach those maximum’s you mentioned 78’F, with a slight risk of frost on Friday morning. Must be something in the water… Did you have to end up watering?
Release the Kraken! Sounds like some horrid creature required to take on Godzilla, but with tentacles. Top stuff that you encouraged the master gardeners to make a decision as to the barrels. Lots of yummy soil stuff there, and may the plants grow well in the mixture.
Hehe! Territorial may have had firm opinions upon the germination rate of those six seeds. 😉 Pumpkin seeds are hard to save in some respects. I’ve had a few of them over the years start off looking full, but then be paper thin by next season. Cucumbers are the worst for that in my experience. Of course I might not know what I’m doing – always a possibility. Is the Tomatillo from seed or seedling?
Man, if the soles of the work boots melted again, I’d hear about it. The words ‘I told you so’ are candidly not very comforting. 🙂
Valerie survived 500 days in the bush – she knows what she is doing. I wonder how happy the dog is now to be reunited with her owners? The dog’s world would be rather large now. Some dogs and cats can perform that trick – as can the birds. I’m nervous of snakes, but the snakes are nervous (if not more so) of being dined upon. Given the dog would have eaten a considerable quantity of rats, mice and rabbits during those 500 days, she should get a medal or a hug, or something like that. That’s quality environmentalism, and for free.
Ha! Perhaps Charles II had something of a grudge against the puritans. Look, I can understand that, but longer term, the monarchy failed in that endeavour.
Yeah, the dream is from the same story-book. The bombing of the country was limited to the northern part of the continent, and most of the manufacturing was down in the southern part. Of course the English bombed us after the war with a couple of nukes, as you do. It’s not lost on me that the monarchists failed to bomb their own country with those atomic devices. Must be unsafe or something like that.
Thanks for the article. I hear such stories too, although I’m not at all certain that people are buying up in bulk, I tend to see more of the shopping around activities. Although, I might not be hanging out with the right people. Dunno. We do bulk buy raw ingredients. It’s cheaper to do so, but we’ve been doing that for many years.
It hardly surprises me that the research comes out of South Australia, where I believe the pesky millipedes entered the country. What an interesting article, thanks! I’m guessing that the way we’ve managed the land here may have had something to do with the reduced numbers of Portuguese millipedes in recent years. But who knows what parasitic nematode is also helping out and dining upon the pesky critters. Something is, that’s for sure.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Chris,
We still have local bars/pubs here and we’ve had many a fun time at them especially when we were younger. It’s rare when you don’t know a few people when you go in. We used to take friends visiting from more urban areas on bar tours where we’d hit all the local dives. Once my cousin was in from California and she went on one of these tours. She kept trying to order a martini and the bartenders looked at her like she was nuts – too funny. Bopp’s until maybe 10 years ago was owned by a friend of ours. It was a classy place with cases of beer stacked up in front of the window facing the sidewalk. Sean had a pool table and if you wanted to have a party he’d throw a sheet on top and we’d all bring in food (totally illegal) and he’d serve one of the two things on the menu, ham sandwiches (the other being frozen pizza). All of us Jr. High teachers used to meet up there on Friday’s at least once a month. It’s spruced up a bit now with new young owners but still pretty hometown. Sil’s was a combo barber shop/bar owned by a mother and son. Larry the barber cut my brothers hair and sharpened chainsaw chains on the side. His mother Sil was not exactly pleasant but quite the interesting character. She’d run illegal football pools on Sunday serving up something homemade in a big crock pot. Stumble Inn is closer to our new house but was still on the bar tour. It’s known for it’s burgers. The bartender does all the cooking. Doug always wonders how the health department lets them get away with it but to my knowledge no one has gotten sick. Out here a lot of residents are still multi-generation families. There’s the House of Lawrence in a double wide trailer where they don’t supply ashtrays but people can smoke if they use a can. I have happy memories of dancing to the juke box with sisters and friends and getting behind the bar. Ahh to be young again. All these places and a few others have been around well before we moved here 37 years ago and there’s no indication they’re going anywhere or changing too much.
Still no rain – supposedly some on Thursday. One thing everyone has commented on this year is the wind. There have been so many days with gale force winds. Makes working outside unpleaseant.
Marty has no issue with dental work fortunately. My BIL, a retired cardiologist and his health care power of attorney is trying to convince Marty that going fishing on his own isn’t the best idea with how unsteady he is. It remains to be seen if he’ll have any impact.
Glad to see you’re finding more rocks.
Margaret
Yo, Chris – The Great Pumpkin Heist. Well, Don was the wheelman (I think it was his Corvair (?). Charlie and I were in the back seat. I was on the “store side.” Someone riding shotgun? Can’t remember. So, we jump out. Charlie grabs one pumpkin (slacker), jumps in my door, and slams it shut. I’ve got two pumpkins, so no extra hand to open the door. The wheelman begins to pull away. I start yelling. Apartment lights start going on, all around the parking lot. But, things were soon sorted, and we made a clean get-away. 🙂
War memorial + Anzac Day + leaf change = tourist hoards. And drones on top of everything else? Maybe a few veterans should do a little target practice?
I like the riff on the old burning bridges schtick. Some bridges deserve to be burned.
I really don’t know how prevalent charing oak, still is. I haven’t paid much attention. I get the sense that it’s mostly done, these days, by little brown people in foreign lands. On small pieces of tat / decor. Planter boxes, and such.
When I took H for a walk, this morning, we ran into Jack and his owner. Jack is some kind of a dachshund mix. Built low to the ground. Just a puppy. H has finally accepted him as part of the scene. This morning, they actually romped a bit. Though young, Jack seems to know that H is a.) an old lady and b.) half his size.
Planned obsolescence is a term, that’s been in pretty common usage, here, for a number of years. People caught on … You hear stories about bits of tech, that were too good, and killed their own market. And bits of tech that used to last and last, and don’t anymore. Mostly, large appliances. Washers, dryers, refrigerators, etc.. I think it was the psychologist, Oliver Sacks who had a relative that invented a light bulb with an extraordinarily long life. Went broke as the market dried up.
Our high yesterday was 46F (7.77C). The overnight low was 48F (8.88C). Forecast high for today is 60F. There were scattered showers, in the evening, and a pretty good rain, overnight. I only watered the areas where I had scattered the nematode beads. I’ll due the same, this evening.
The pumpkin seeds I got from Nichols Garden Nursery are quit plump. I think it’s a matter of storing them in just the right humidity. Maybe.
Valerie should probably be wormed 🙂 .
The New England colonies were also sheltering two of the regicides and wouldn’t hand them over to English authorities. New England had always been a problem, as they exiled or killed anyone who ran afoul of their theocracy. All was well and good when the Puritans were in control of England. They’d pretty much done what they wanted, for a good deal of time. When the political winds changed, there were complaints. Lots and lots of complaints to the King. They stone walled. And, that anti-authoritarian attitude planted the seeds of the later revolution.
As an interesting side-light, when I was growing up, I never heard much about Jamestown or New Amsterdam. Why? Because it was mostly New Englanders, in the 19th century, who wrote the colonial histories.
Well, as you know, I do quit a bit of buying in bulk. And even if I see smaller items, at a good price I’ll pick up a couple (or three, or four). I’ll be interested to see if the new store has bulk prices, comparable or less than what I can get on the internet. I’ll be carrying notes, and a calculator. 🙂 I may make it over this week, but more likely next.
I’m just about finished with “Jane Austen’s Bookshelf.” It was the best read I’ve had in a long time. Boy, women had it rough in the early 19th and late 18th century. General consensus was, if you were too well educated, you might not be marriageable. Might rot your brain and even affect the ability to have children. Women authors were just a slight step above actresses. Which is why so many of them wrote anonymously. One poor author, after she became a widow (and her husband was a shite), had the audacity to marry a man she loved, who was a.) below her class, b.) a foreigner and c.) a catholic. She lost a lot. Children, inheritances. But, she had money of her own (from writing) and he had money, as he was a musician.
It was a popcorn evening. I watched “Sonic Hedgehog 3.” Silly, but entertaining. As predicted, the log jam has burst, and a tsunami of DVDs are coming at me. Nine. I slammed on the brakes, and have suspended all my other holds. This is going to take some management. Can’t have popcorn, every night. Or can I?
I was down at the Club, last night, having a cuppa. I mentioned the song “Solsbury Hill.” Turns out, it was one of the counter volunteers favorite songs. She bought it up on her dumb-phone and we listened to it. Three times! Which seems a bit excessive. :-). Lew
Hi, Chris!
G’day, Mr. Blue Hat!
Are you not frequenting the pub nowadays because of the cost? That’s one reason I never eat out or take home restaurant food anymore, besides which, I am not in town often these days. You have to go get your mail, though. Is that in a proper town or just something small at a crossroads? I know about “dry” areas; there were a whole lot of them in Texas, where I grew up. That’s real funny about the Victorian pub that you and your housemates went into. It must have been pretty uncomfortable.
You know, I’m not much familiar with country towns anymore. I am outside of a small city, though it was more “town” when we moved here 36 years ago. I’m not sure that the U.S. traditionally has something equal to a town pub.
I saw an article about your election in the BBC news yesterday. The story was nothing special, but it did mention cost of living and housing as being big concerns. You sure do have a lot of elections. One would think that the population is never satisfied with its politicians.
That’s a strange story about the expensive European SUV. So, that was deliberate on the other guy’s part? Sneaky.
The way y’all are constantly digging, you might have named the place Wombatglade. Though it’s not quite as poetic as Fernglade . . . I was skeptical that you would be able to fit a round bed on that spot, but you have made it so much bigger, that I think it will work.
I wondered what you were going to do about that weird battery. Looks like you have solved another one, Sherlock! If this new battery goes dead, can you replace it yet again?
Don’t say powdery mildew! Soon it will be coming for me. I have written down a recipe for treating it that I just came across. I won’t put it down here until I have tested it. And if I don’t lose it.
Thank you for the flowers. That first one, the succulent, looks like one of those Star Wars sand worms with a wedding bouquet. All of the photos have very pretty flowers, though.
Pam
Chris,
Some of what I plan on planting is several types of leafy greens. They will have to be enclosed to protect them from Dame Avalanche. she eats leafy greens. She totally ate a sage plant and has dined on thyme when the mood strikes her.
Your pub stories remind me of two episodes. In one, an acquaintance was in Atlanta, Georgia for a conference. He and a friend of his ventured away from the conference for dinner and a drink. They entered a pub and everybody froze: they were the only two Caucasians in the place. It was dead quiet. Eventually my acquaintance quipped, “Darn, now I know how Custer felt.” Everyone got a good laugh and they were invited in.
Then there was the time 25 years ago I had to trek to Bath, Maine to rescue my 15 year-old niece from a bad living situation with other rellies. Her mother gave me temporary custody. I showed up one morning, she and her suitcase got into my rental car, and we were off to breakfast. She begged to got to McDonalds, as they hadn’t let her eat there for 4 months. So to the Golden Arches we went.
Now Bath is a navy and fishing town. We entered McD’s and saw a dozen good old boys sitting in a corner drinking coffee and softly talking. Well until they saw us. Niece is Native and looks it. I was still darker than the locals, had my hair in a long braid midway down my back and was dressed like I had just come from a poor part of the Rez. It was written all over their faces, “What the blazes are YOU?”
We got our food, went to a table near the exit. Niece was facing the group. After a couple minutes she said, “Uncle, those men are looking at us.” We chatted about that for a minute, then I had her look at them and smile whenever they looked at us. She did and then started laughing because whenever she looked back and smiled, they all looked away. As we were leaving, there was one last thing to be done. Yes, at the door, we turned around, looked them, smiled and waved. They all looked way, although with a look of embarrassment about them this time. We left.
What you say about the small-town pubs matches my experience. Even if it is on a main highway and gets some outsiders stopping in, the local pub is THE gathering place for the area. News is exchanged. Many places remain open until their posted closing time because, “A rural area needs to have a reliable place for the locals to get a drink and a feed and have an ear to talk to.” I frequented several such venues back in my travelling days. As long as I was friendly and not pushy, the locals were fine. Losing at billiards was usually a good idea, too.
Your reply to the owner of the European SUV was similar to what I would have said. “Sod off, eh” is my fallback line in such situations. Followed by a shake of the head and a cold stare. Similar to what you did, I guess.
A neighbor couple retired when they were younger than I was when I retired. As prices keep rising, things are tightening for a lot of folks. The lady of that house is going back to work. Maybe temporary, maybe for a few years. Her husband does his own auto mechanic work on his car. They live across the street from young neighbor, who does her own car repairs also. This past Sunday, she had to replace some belts. The guy across from her came over and helped. Good thing, too, as it was over her head. Our part of the area is like that. We watch out for one another and help when needed.
Rain is good. Glad you’ve been getting some rain. We got 6mm overnight. Back to early summer weather by Thursday. It was nice having some wet to break up the early heat.
Good work on the old succulent bed. Peak rocks and peak dirt are a reality. The way you dig an area and use the dirt for other projects is great. I grew up learning that way of thinking from my dad.
I scored a lot of rocks from dad’s many years ago, and from the creek at my mother-in-law’s house in the mountains. Many had been in the garden beds in the front that I’m letting go back to grass. They’re going to be used for various projects. I made a stone circle out of some of them this past weekend, placed the bird bath in it. The rocks are snug enough to keep the birdbath from toppling over. The birds are already enjoying it.
I had a thought today when reading about that battery that was soldered in place. Was it manufactured by the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation? The guys that will be the first against the wall when the revolution comes? Share and enjoy! 😉
DJSpo
Hi Margaret,
It is nice to have local facilities like a pub, and back in the days of you-know-what which can’t be named, and travel was restricted to 3.1 miles (5km) radius from home, all we had was the pub and general store (both take away). Ain’t nothing else, other than a real estate agent (no need for those services). There is nothing else that close to us. It’s pretty quiet up here, but the observation of yours applies equally here – you’ll spot someone you know. In rural areas, that sort of chance encounter (and local clubs / groups etc.) is how a person gets a lot of their social interactions.
Thanks for the fun stories, and it boggles my mind that someone would order a martini in a rural dive. 🙂 Oh well, we can’t all read the room, can we? And such merry antics provide much mirth for the rest of us.
Ah, here I have some inside knowledge which may only apply down under. It’s very bureaucratic, but some bar staff also have food handling certification (yes, yes, it’s a thing) and they can prepare basic pizzas on nights where the kitchen is closed. The commercial kitchen staff have to have days off work, usually Mondays and Tuesdays. Not frozen here, but made up fresh (although the dough was probably already to go).
Margaret, work has changed a lot since those days, and I too recall the after work Friday night drink rituals. Sadly the neo-liberal economics of the early 90’s killed the vibe, sorry to say. Once long ago, things were different. Glad to hear that you too enjoyed such fun moments.
What a fun and dare I say it, confused business. 🙂 Sil sounds like quite the character, and dealing with the public, especially when they are inebriated, can round off the softer edges of a personality.
If the burgers are good! 🙂 Hey, I used to live around the corner from a late night burger joint which catered to taxi drivers and other folks working the night shift. People often forget that night shift workers consume their lunch in the wee hours of the mornings. They made excellent burgers too. Yum! And the business is still there.
Is it just me, or does everything taste better when slow cooked in a big crock pot? One never dares ask the hard question: When was the pot last emptied and cleaned? Few nasties can survive at cooking temperatures.
Thanks for the stories, and isn’t slow living out in the country fun? The trailer mob sound a bit like the old Bachelor and Spinster Ball, which is part of the country tradition down under style.
Yikes! I hope rain falls in your area, and soon. That’s so not good. The wind only serves to dry things out. The next week here looks dry, and the rainfall deficit has not been caught up with yet, but at least it’s cooler.
Theoretically speaking, if Marty is a bit unsettled on his legs, how’s he even going to get to a spot where he can fish?
Need more large rocks – sadly, it’s true and you heard it here first, but Peak Rocks is real.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Pam,
Mr Blue hat sends cordial greetings to you and your family, and good wishes that the growing season is fruitful and productive. Plus what’s not to like about a terry towelling hat?
Exactly, it comes down to cost. Something had to give, and so the decision was made. The mail arrives at the local general store, which also serves double duty as a café, so you can get a coffee and basic feed there. It’s kind of an all purpose community gathering place which also serves as utilitarian purpose. In that otherwise older residential area, there’s a pub two doors down and a real estate agent. And that’s it. Gargle street view for Mount Macedon Road, will give you a better idea as to what it looks like. It’s hard to imagine, but long ago there were more commercial businesses operating there, like a garage, tea rooms for visitors etc. Go back further and there were orchards, a creamery, you know all the stuff required for remote living.
Oh really? That surprises me that Texas would have dry areas, but it’s true that preconceptions can be incorrect. For your interest, dry areas are not all that common down here, but that snooty area in particular was known for it. I ended up in the share house because a friend introduced me to the group, and I had to move out of home. The moons had aligned so to speak. It was a lot of fun those days, but also somewhat crazy too, and I didn’t rush back to the experience of such large share houses.
Hehe! It was a weird experience to be stared down by a lot of old timers who clearly didn’t want us louts in the pub. However, we were resilient being so youthful, and just went off and did something else and never returned.
Interesting. The pub was a focal point of the rural community. There’d traditionally be a front bar, which was a bit rough, and then there was the err, so called ‘dining room’ or ‘lounge’ where you’d go to get a drink and feed and perhaps not excite the sensibilities. Things were quieter there. Pam, it’s funny how things change around us all. Life is quiet here, but over in the more fashionable end of the mountain range, the local council allegedly decided to promote the area back in 2017. In those days you’d spot the occasional well dressed bride wearing a red wedding dress posing for photos among the autumn leaves. Well, things can be taken too far, and seems to be the case. Will it get quiet again? Maybe, history suggests that the local tourism ebbs and flows with the economy. I guess what I’m saying is that you can be way far out of any town, and the town can come to you.
At face value the fuel ploy seemed deliberate. He had what may be described as a ‘scam spoiling girlfriend’, who delayed his exit. Thus he was nabbed. You’d hope he’s learned a valuable lesson, although it maybe somewhat different than what we hoped for. 😉 It seemed pretty sneaky, and if caught, he’d claim operator error.
The thoughts of the wombats are rubbing off on me and resulting in all these digging efforts. Thank you for your vote of support, and I still have to worry about encountering a submerged Moby Rock. Those things are plan killers, thus why a plan B and C is the path of wisdom. By the way, I really enjoy the use of the word: “y’all”, it’s really friendly sounding to my reading ear. Thanks for the smile of appreciation. It’ll work fine, maybe…
Well, that’s an interesting point you’ve raised right there. It bothers me deeply, but I could purchase a spare replacement battery for the device. Except they go flat, doing nothing at all. It’s a problem with no solution, and I’ll just have to wait and see if I can purchase another replacement battery in several years time. Hmm.
Whoa! What time of year does powdery mildew strike for you? My friends of the big shed fame once grew pumpkins inside their large shed, and the clean-up required a high pressure sprayer machine. But until that mildew moment, the pumpkins grew great. Hope your recipe works well. There’s a bit of sooty mould on two of the citrus trees which needs cleaning with soap and water – the ants are harvesting sap sucking insects. Always something to do.
Thanks for the fun description and mental image of the alien plant. 🙂
The sun finally shone today from wherever it had been hiding for the last six days. Monday we had to run the generator to get some charge back into the house batteries, and even today they’re still not full. Oh well… Made a new video on solar power, just because it seemed topical.
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
Ouch! It’s hard enough when you’re trying to protect edible and other plants from the deprivations of the various critters which are always present, but when the dog finishes the cleaning up, you know you have to do something different. Dogs sure do love their leafy greens. Who can forget when the fluff collective broke into the poorly made enclosure and ate all of the strawberries? Of course a more calm and measured view suggests that said canines were teaching us humans a lesson.
Ha! Good to hear that Atlanta episode was good natured, and why shouldn’t it be? Custer lost. 🙂 I’d not understood your recounting of the Custer quip at all and had to read up on the history. The guy was a complicated person, and not one I’d follow. And the forest critters in perhaps an act of karma, spread his bones far and wide.
Oh man, such things happen when you suddenly find yourself in the hard to ignore position of that of the outlier. It’s hard to say whether such reactions you saw are folks just lifting themselves up, curious, hostile, or maybe even plain old dumb – or perhaps a mixture of the lot? We’ll never know. A person encounters strange things and events in this here life. And sometimes you get to see inside the souls of others, which is occasionally uncomfortable. Hope your niece could laugh off the incident?
Way back, the local pub or store was the community get together place and source of news from around the area. That’s how it worked, and still does to a small extent. Funnily enough, over the long years there have been the odd person around here who’s gone out of their way to really annoy me. It’s personal such things, and they’ve been dealt to. But long afterwards you discover that those folks are often disliked by others in the area, but nobody thought to mention the matter beforehand. Hmm. In some ways, it’s almost like a test, and other people watch and work out whether you’re alright by how you react to the nuisance.
“Sod off” is pretty effective, but that day I went with menacing because it seemed like the right thing to do at the time. Yeah a cold stare is a good response. Actually, the less I said the better, otherwise my softer side might be detected. It was obvious what I was dealing with, but it wasn’t my problem either, he just involved me.
Yikes! It happens, and honestly I doubt I’ll be able to ‘retire’ so I can see how such things would come to be. Nobody around here fixes anything mechanical that I’m aware of. There’s probably people who do such things, but they keep to themselves, like the folks who strip cars for parts for a living. They seem neat enough with their work.
Perhaps folks around here are a bit afraid I might call upon social debts, so they’re careful not to incur them. 😉 That’s what I reckon they think, but my brain doesn’t quite work that way. It’s different again.
Good for you with the rain. 6mm is a decent downpour, and it’s a good start for the summer. There’s loose talk of the ‘d’ for ‘drought’ word, although things don’t seem that bad in this area, yet: Sydney’s wet spell reaches day 10 as drought intensifies in South Australia, Victoria. It’s a big country.
Thank you so much for saying that. 🙂 Waste nothing for waste is an opportunity, is it not?
Respect, a stone circle is a thing of beauty and life, and you’ve invited the local birds to participate. Good stuff, and we always leave water out for the birds. They very much appreciate reliable water during the summer months. How’s Dame Avalanche coping with the many birds? Ollie is a bit over excited tonight because Kuato was on the path munching away on the many felled kiwi fruit. Shame they’re all unripe. The marsupial jumped into a nearby fig tree – he’s eating those as well, although the branches don’t quite support his weight…
Hehe! Oh my, you’re right! It’s a device from the future, and now I’ve got that demented ear-worm in my head. Yup, share and enjoy, when they’re first up against the wall. 😉
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Hehe! Your getaway car in that instance was a fine and affordable vehicle the details of which I geeked-out over. I’d not realised your industry made such vehicles. Ah yes, that was a rookie mistake of yours trying to fumble the door handle whilst retaining two pumpkins. Still, you survived the incident, and had more pumpkins to share. Did the Halloween pumpkins have a special certain sort of glow to them given their nefarious origins? 🙂 Ah, the things we do.
Actually the drones were a new concept to me as that was the first time I’d heard of them being used, and candidly it seemed like an idea fraught with hazard. The toilet in front yard, yes I’ve definitely heard that story. Soiled nappies discarded is plain old nasty.
I can’t recall the avenue of honour being used for marches / services. The Anzac day dawn memorial service is held right up at the top western end of the mountain range. A well known developer in the 90’s repaired the original cross (the thing is huge) which had been seriously damaged by lightning. An act of noblesse oblige. The service is held in around that whilst a bugle calls out ‘The Last Post’ as the sun rises. What’s weird about that story is that the trees are beginning to grow out the cross, which kind of defeats the purpose of the thing. There was a proposal recently to thin the trees, and apparently people were getting upset about climate change, which made no sense to me. I would have done a quick audit on their activities and possessions and thus neutered the argument, but nobody seems to get around to asking the hard questions.
Shooting upwards into the air is frowned upon. A slingshot would work much better.
Incidentally, made a video on solar power today – it seemed somewhat appropriate given what went on in Europe with the blackout. Added the links to the video on the blog roll on the left hand side of the screen.
Yup. It’s rare, but happens that a bridge has to be properly burned, with nothing left. I feel awful saying that, but I’ve encountered some really nasty people in my life, and circumstances were never going to get better, unless they were gone.
I see, well yes a lot of furniture making skills have been shipped off shore. It’s astounding how well made the local stuff was that we’ve nabbed over the years. Oh well, not my idea. And you’d have seen first hand what over supply of stuff does to the restoration trades.
Jack is clearly a true gentleman (not easy for a puppy), and may the two dogs enjoy much future frolicking. 🙂 The Kelpies in particular are benefiting from the forced socialising they’ve been getting over the past year and a half. You-know-what meant that the two dogs thought they were the centre of the universe having rarely encountered another dog for years, but I don’t think so pooches.
Your overnight low is now warmer than here. 42’F outside. Brr! Warmer tomorrow though at 66’F. Soon we’ll be shivering and you and H will be shade-wubbing on walks, or avoiding the midday sun. Far more civilised to avoid.
Thanks for the suggestion about the pumpkin seeds. Hmm, I’ll have to have a think about that.
Ha! Yeah, oh yeah, worms… He says looking at Dame Plum. Hadn’t thought about that side of things. There was a video in the news of the dog.
Evidence a) Salem witch trials. Nuff said. There might be a weird energy in that part of the world? Ah, stone walling has a long tradition then, well I guess it’s an option, although for how long is a question which usually gets resolved. If I were Charles II, I’d be feeling miffed and out-of-sorts as well. I still can’t forgive them for the gingerbread men ban, it’s not right.
Ha! Those north easterly folks probably had a need to promote their pre-eminence. They do say that history is penned by the victors.
That’s the thing too, you have to know what a reasonable price is lest you get ripped off. In older times, such knowledge was more commonly understood and traded. If mad cash is lean, people will take domestic economics more seriously.
Dare I mention it, but the lady who married the 19th century musician may have endured being serenaded too in front of a crowd on many an occasion. 😉 Chuck in the occasional flower, good food, shelter from the rain, and the guy was onto a winning strategy. These things the lady lost you wrote of, I know them not either. They ain’t everything.
Hehe! What a film, and I remember playing that game (getting a bit jittery at the thoughts). Far out, it’s pretty awesome how those film franchises work out. The Editor may be seeing the Penguin Diaries film… Anyway, can’t be serious all the time, can we? Rather dull, possibly, that outcome.
Once is probably fine, yeah. Three times, maybe not so much. Well, you won’t make that mistake again in the future, but you did share a moment. Some people really, really, really, like their phones. I don’t get that, but it could be me… Dunno, probably not though…
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – I got thinking the other day, about the pumpkin story. And, other stories. And when I go, the stories will go, too. Here’s another one …
Back in 1967, I moved away from home and into an old house that had been split into three apartments. $49 a month. There was a tiny, elderly couple, next door. At least they were elderly to my 18 year old eyes. They were well past retirement, so, I’d guess they were in their late 60s or early 70s. They pretty much kept to themselves, maybe due to the fact that he was black and she was white. Another neighbor who knew them slightly better, told me that their families were upset that they were living together. But not because they were an interracial couple. It was because they weren’t married. Married couples get reduced Social Security benefits. I’ve even heard of couples approaching retirement, who divorce, in order to get higher benefits. They had a little Nash Rambler. When the weather got cold, every night he’d go out and throw a quilt over the hood. 🙂
Speaking of Custer, every other year, we’d go visit three of my Dad’s brothers, who all lived in the little town of Hardin, Montana. That little town is the closest to the Custer battlefield, at the Little Bighorn. So, every other year, we’d traipse out to the battle site. There was quit the museum there. It used to be called the Custer Battlefield National Monument. It’s now called The Little Bighorn National Monument. Quite a few years ago, there was a prairie fire, in the area. Once the brush burned off, archaeologists were able to do a lot of intensive field work. It was reported on, in The National Geographic Magazine.
There’s probably no WWI vets, left to march. 🙂
I heard that Jack is a mix of dachshund and husky. He has a brother, who could be his twin. He’s moved in with another inmate. Another mate of H’s is Olive, who lives next door. We saw her, last night. She’s a long haired dachshund.
New England, weird energy part of the world, well, yes. After all, Stephen King hails from there. 🙂
There’s an outfit that post a lot of click bait, on the net. They solicit people’s stories, on a wide variety of topics. I usually don’t pay much attention to them. but, one did catch my eye, last night. “51 Photos That Make a Compelling Case that Technology has Ruined
Everything.” Truly frightening.
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/not-sound-boomer-am-convinced-021602787.html
Our high temperature, yesterday, was 58F (14.44C). Our overnight low was 36F (2.22C). Forecast high for today is 65F. Tomorrow’s high may hit 80F. We’ll see. Maybe some rain by the weekend.
I watered the garden, last night, and all the nematode pearls, or beads have pretty much disappeared. Go, land sharks!
And, from the Wonderful World of Archaeology, they’ve found another willie, up at Hadrian’s Wall.
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/archaeologists-unearth-penis-shaped-pendant-094732435.html?
Were those Romans obsessed, or what? :-). Lew
Hi Lewis,
I for one, very much appreciate and enjoy your stories of yore. And fingers crossed we get to rubbish on for many more years to come. People tend to forget that in the past, things were actually different. It’s like what I’m always banging on about with my own profession, that way back before my time, accountants entered the profession by the path of apprenticeship. All the hideous student debt incurred nowadays really hasn’t produced great outcomes, and so other paths are valuable to discuss. None of us ever know when they’ll be needed, do we? But the ideas are important, as a road tested Plan B.
Firstly, the Nash Rambler is a little ripper of an idea, and I have a preference for such vehicles – small, economical and well engineered / equipped. That’s Suzuki in a nutshell. By the late 60’s, those rambler cars were getting on in age. The quilt over the hood was an act of mechanical mercy. Hey, I recall the days before computers and electronic fuel injection along with all of the engine sensors, that cars were a real pain in extreme weather. It’s an interesting ploy with social security, and way back in the day I heard of people pulling that trick. One house mate springs to mind, and in the end, the fraud caused issues, although candidly we didn’t deserve to get the bond back so the scales were in balance. And yeah, living in sin was how such things used to be described, although I’m not really certain what sinful things they were doing to earn that title. Didn’t seem much different to me from other versions, but then I lived through my mothers two divorce proceedings and may have some funny ideas about relationships. 🙂
Speaking of hard starting engines, we did a mixed day of paid work and forest cleaning up. Got the stump grinder machine out for a spin, and it had a tiny quantity of water in the carburettor. That’s the first time I’ve ever encountered that problem. Oh well, easily fixed. Have to overhaul the carburettor in the big chainsaw on Saturday. That’s the plan, anyway. It’s not running right and needs work. Other than that, the clean up went well. It feels good doing that work, and the Meg tree stump is staring at me, demanding to be dealt to.
Oh, and last night about 11:20pm I spotted a bright shooting star. They say that we’re in the early stages of the Eta Aquarids meteor storm. Apparently in a few days as many as 50 could fall per hour. That’ll be exciting. And for once, we may have clear night skies.
The forecast for the next ten days is for bizarrely warm days. That’s global warming for you. How’s things in your part of the world on that front?
The site and museum sure would be interesting. I have fond memories of museums back in the day. It’s odd what can be revealed after climate extremes. Do you recall how in the drought in the UK a few years ago, plenty of sites for ancient ruins were discovered?
Oh! That’s a solid point about the lack of WWI vets. The Anzac day services may in some ways be the same as your Veteran’s day activities, but I don’t really know. A day of remembrance for those who put their lives on the line.
That’s a remarkably unusual combination of dogs. The logistics of that err, pairing, is somewhat baffling. But then, I guess dogs are adaptable. Go Olive! Who doesn’t like a long haired dachshund? They’ve got a naturally grumpy temperament based on the two I’ve known. Olive of course may be a refined lady, unlike Valerie who looked pretty happy and well fed to me. They’re great small game hunters those dogs.
Hehe! Mr King surely would have brought his own energy to the area, and no doubts has created new and interesting waves of energy in that region. 🙂
Bazzfeed – did you know that down under, Bazz is a colloquial name for ‘Barry’. Not a name much used these days. Back in err, 1972, there was the fascinating and commercially successful film: The Adventures of Barry McKenzie. Many, many years ago I heard an interview with a couple of ladies who were rather rude to Barry Crocker. It was on the national youth music broadcaster. Probably not a wise decision to act so, because I recall him saying: “You two have the best fun bags”. And oh my, the interviewers were completely outraged and totally lost their cool (much like me on the Dojo mat in that story), but they were making fun of him beforehand. Probably not a smart move.
Ah, it was warmer here today. What’s going on? 🙂
Go the land sharks, and may they make toast of those pesky pill bugs!
The Roman’s did seem rather enamoured of their bits, that’s for sure. Would have outraged all manner of early century AD puritans. There’s no way that lucky pendant could be mistaken for anything else. You’d hope that the lucky charm warded away the evil eye.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis cont…
The Editor and I enjoyed the link, and all those incidents with tech run feral, are bad. What more can we say? All produced a laugh, but many were deeply uncomfortable.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – Apprenticeships seem to be making a slight comeback, here and there. Though I think some of them have requirements to “higher learning” which kind of defeats the whole purpose. A lot of the trades (tradies) unions have apprenticeship programs.
We had a Nash Rambler, when I was a wee small child. I can barely remember it. Sometime before I was 4. But, when my brother was born, we had to get something a bit larger. I’ve made no secret of the fact that I know very little about cars. I am baffled by people who seem to know every vehicle driven by everyone they know. Even people they don’t know, well. I often make the wry comment about myself, that I can barely tell the difference between Ramblers and VW Beatles. 🙂
In my grade level, back in the 1950s, there were about 70 students. Only two of them had divorced mothers. As I remember, there was more than a whiff of societal disapproval. Probably, also, in your time. But perhaps a bit less. Things really started changing, when the laws started changing. “No fault divorce.” First became law in California, in 1970. Had spread to all 50 states, by 2010.
As little as I know about engines, water in the carburetor is something I’ve at least heard of.
Our high yesterday was 63F (17.22C). Our overnight low was 37F (2.77C). Forecast high for today is 78F. As far as weather and global warming goes, here, nothing you can really put your finger on. Just a bit of weirdness, here and there. Other than that one short cold snap, we really didn’t have much of a winter. If the weather holds, we’re having a really early spring. Will it get really hot, this summer? Who knows. Once after WWII there was a bit of a drought in Britain. And a lot of ruins were revealed. Just photos from planes. Tech has so improved by now, that the reveal is a lot more widespread and intensive. LIDAR is really shaking up archaeology.
Our Veteran’s Day, used to be called Armistice Day. And celebrated the end of WWI on November 11th. Later became more generalized.
Olive is a sweet dog, but rather timid. But, gets along just fine with H.
Buzz is a nick name for Busby. As in, entertainment impresario Busby Berkeley. One of the characters on the old “Route 66” TV series, was named Buzz. Then of course, there’s Buzz Aldrin the astronaut. There were a lot of Buds, kicking around popular entertainment. I’m pretty sure that was a nick name for “Buddy.”
The Barry Crocker story reminded me of an old saying. “Can dish it out but can’t take it.” I knew one or two Barrys, growing up.
Yes, that whole tech thing is pretty frightening. Set up with no one to have recourse to, when things go wrong. No one to talk to. No one to take responsibility. Let me rake in the money, just don’t bother me.
H and I went down to the Club, last night. They’re clearing the decks and getting ready for the 40th anniversary, on Saturday. The food pantry was gone, but that’s not unusual. When we have a big function like that, I pack it away for the duration. But then I heard there’s to be no more food pantry. It’s been decided that a.) there are plenty of other food banks around and b.) it looks tacky. Of course, I hear this 3d hand, And, of course, when asked where someone heard that, they can’t remember. No one informed or consulted me. I’m slightly miffed. Moving on …
I picked up 8 DVDs from the library yesterday. Last night, I watched a new science documentary called “Dino Birds.” The evolution and ancestry of birds, and our understanding of it, up to the present. Fascinating stuff. I also watched the “extras” on the “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.” They were a mad bunch of 🙂 . Some of the art work, is from medieval marginalia. We’ve talked about that, before.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/medieval-marginalia-books-doodles
One fan asked about the killer rabbit. One of the Pythons responded, “No bunnies were harmed in the production of this film.” 🙂
The Master Gardeners set up a bird house, last year. There wasn’t any action. Over the past few days, some sparrows have set up housekeeping. And … a feral cat has shown up. I think a bloody tragedy is in the offing. Lew
PS: A kangaroo escaped from a petting zoo, in our state of Alabama. It cause a traffic accident, and closed a highway for several hours.
I saw an article about bees. Over 2/3 of the bee hives in Texas, collapsed over the winter. Due to Varro Mites and extreme weather. Nationwide, 60% of hives bit the dust. Higher food prices predicted. Lew
Chris:
I couldn’t find a Gargle street view for Mount Macedon Road, but I found still photos of the general store. It looks like a nice little place. Just a bump in the road, eh?
I don’t like to travel, so I can’t be a tourist, but I would kind of hate to tell other people that they were not welcome. One reads about places all over the world, mostly Europe since that’s what I follow, that have been completely inundated by tourists, so much so that those places are being ruined. I imagine the probelm will shortly take care of itself.
I wonder if the wombats are for or against peak rocks? Not that they have any more choice than you or I.
We do say “y’all” here. Here is what some of us sound like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSb4QI8Rzms
Powdery mildew starts up about mid-summer, can really be a big problem nearer the end of summer.
I have been cooking my head too much working in the garden. It seems to give me a bad headache by evening. But I’m getting a lot done. Do you ever get a headache from too much heat and sun?
This morning when I showed up in the garden, I startled a rat who was busy among some pots. I decided I would make friends with him. I knew he was still hiding behind the pots, so I offered him a deal: I would supply him with a cornacopia of gourmet delights every day if he would leave the stuff in the garden alone. I could hear him snickering. In fact, I read his mind. He was thinking: “Then I would be a free rat no more, but a captive like that Cat.” I gave up that idea, but later I was sitting on the ground next to the giant wooden composting bin for brush and weeds, afixing black plastic around the base of it to, in fact, discourage weeds, when Rat decided that he had had enough of sitting behind pots being a free Rat and he dashed almost over my lap and into the giant bin, which is a Rat palace. Freedom is good.
Speaking of rats, I mean cats – lately Mr. Baby has been spending his days sleeping and lurking under a very large boxwood shrub, where he has a sort of nest (a cat’s nest? – no, that’s rats). It is a vantage point from where he can see the front and side of the house, and the driveway and also the garden. I’ve never known a cat who had a special place under a shrub, only dogs.
Pam
Chris,
Agreed, Custer was complicated as a person, rather over glorified from the Civil War, and very full of himself. He would not have instilled confidence in me if I were in his command.
Dame Avalanche has always had an interesting relationship with the birds. If she is enjoying lazing around, she doesn’t care if they drink from her water bowl, search for food in the grass near here, etc. When feeling feisty, she will chase them from their water, or chase them from the shrubs they’re roosting in, things like that. She has to roust them out at least once a day. I think it’s her way of reminding them that she is queen of the yard and that they are there only because she allows it.
Today was warm again. Friday is expected to reach 28C or higher, followed by a cool weekend then back to 28C and higher next week. That is typical July weather.
Got a fair number of weeds picked from the grass today. Had a long and interesting conversation with a gent who walks his dog by here regularly. We often see each other on our dog walks, too. He once had a dog that looked like a huge version of Dame Avalanche, but it died. He’s good with dogs and gets them trained very patiently and very well. Today’s long chat was an unexpected treat.
Meanwhile, Killian’s human was out of town Wednesday on family business. Dame Avalanche and I gave him breaks a few times. We were walking home in the early evening when the Princess called. A cousin died and she was about ready to leave, having gotten the news when I was with Killian. She waited for me to get home then headed out. Ugh.
Then Killian’s human got home. She needed to talk, as her trip had turned difficult. We spent 5 hours talking on the phone. Listening. I did a lot of that. That’s what friends are for, although it meant a very late night. Me tired.
DJSpo
Hi Pam,
You’ve got a keen eye, and it’s a place where I’m known and the folks there look after the locals. Then there are the times when the tourists stream in and take over. A complicated moment where everyone gets smashed and does their best. You know, today we went to visit a nearby garden run by the big gardening club of which we are members, and picked up lunch along the way at a bakery, which was apparently sold recently. A pre-made chicken salad roll cost $12.50 each. And it wasn’t all that great. Sandra and I had a painful discussion afterwards and worked out how to navigate the changing times. Hmm. An interesting day.
There’s a fun interweb meme which goes along the lines of: If not friend, then why friend shaped? Utterly clueless if you ask me, but also asking the harder questions. After today’s lunch incident, my take is: If not decline, then why decline shaped? You’ll note that the metaphor is rather adaptable? 🙂 I’m sure you can come up with your own take on this most useful phrase?
Ain’t just you, I hate to travel too nowadays. Back in the 90’s travel was a very relaxed and easy-going experience other than wondering where the next toilet would be located, that was always a problem. Nowadays I get the impression that things would be intense, and you and I probably aren’t into that? 🙂 And I’m absolutely with you, if other people want to journey around looking at the sights, that’s cool with me too. And yes, you totally called the end point. Exactly, it’s all self defeating and such activities can only go on when economically they can afford to do so. Why other folks don’t see that possibility is a real mystery to me.
Wombats are one of natures great soil excavators, so they very much appreciate my rock efforts. Pam, the cheeky scamps use the concrete stairs and leave their err, calling cards… Much to the annoyance of the fluffies.
The accent sounds lovely to my ears, it’s got a nice lilting cadence. And I noticed a black cat up to its own business on the side of the poly tunnel. With wind chimes in the background. Like the rock work too.
Oh my! Powdery mildew only ever turns up here at the very end of the growing season, and it signals an end point. Limits are a thing us gardeners deal with, it’s like Brassica species here during the summer – in that they’re not meant to be.
Sorry to say, but cooking one’s head occurs to me more often during the in-between seasons. Yup headaches are a problem on such days. During the summer months I know not to head back outdoors after lunch. A rehydration solution works wonders to alleviate the brain pain, and in a pinch a soft drink works as well. I like a non alcoholic ginger beer occasionally for that purpose.
Hehe! Your rat is very well learned, clearly Aesop’s fable was known: The Dog and the Wolf. True, freedom is good. 🙂
Absolutely. My childhood cat used to enjoy sleeping on top of the hot water service snuggled around the flue. Always a warm spot in the winter months, despite the occasional burn. And she had a nook in a tree from which her domain could be surveyed. A lovely cat who was very precious to me. Lost her ears to skin cancer, but then looked like a baby harp seal. The loss did not affect the cat.
Hope Mr Baby is enjoying the warmer weather?
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
There’s an old word which I got the impression applies to Custer, based on what I read about his temperament: foolhardy. You don’t hear that word used much nowadays, and we’re all lesser for the diminution of the language. I certainly know what my grandfather would have called him! Agreed, not one to inspire confidence.
Who can argue with such excellent canine logic? Of course Dame Avalanche is queen of all she surveys (hopefully excluding humans, maybe – the Kelpies are forever attempting to out-alpha me, it’s tiresome, but must be dealt to) and tolerates the avians under royal patronage, until of course their stay is overly prolonged. And also there’s the little problem of birds (who are often careless and fancy free) physically losing their royal charter. Where’s the paperwork the husky would demand! Forgive me, but did the dog just instruct the birds to ‘sod off’? 🙂
Sounds like nice weather to me. Tuesday is forecast to reach 26’C which is bizarrely warm, but things will cool afterwards. At least the UV is now rated as moderate or low. It’s quite pleasant to be out in the sunshine.
Have to laugh. In the state to the north of this one (New South Wales), there was some sort of entrance exam for students to get into publicly funded selective schools. What could possibly go wrong you may ask when cheap exclusive education is on the line? Chaos erupts at sites of selective school exams as riot squad called to control crowds. Some of my friends are / were teachers and the stories I hear, often about the parents… Ook!
Sounds like a lovely chat, and much of my own local social interactions work just like that. Unexpected, and pleasant. Sorry to hear the bloke lost his dog, and hope Dame Avalanche was on her best behaviour during the interaction? Dare I say it, but patience and assertiveness are key attributes to effective dog training. People who have sudden highly emotional outbursts, tend to have unpredictable dogs as well. Calm… 🙂 I’d imagine you’ve seen that as well with your dog school?
Oh my, so sorry to hear of the loss, and please extend my condolences to your lady.
Man, some days are like that. All we can but do is listen. Hope you’re doing OK though, it’s a lot to take in?
Had the day off any and all work, although had to do some (life in small business). Headed to a garden run by the big gardening club and enjoyed a lunch sitting in a delightful garden in the cool sunshine. The chicken salad roll was $12.50, which was acceptable, but not all that great. Had a long think about what it all means. Hadn’t been to that business since it had sold, and maybe behind the scenes, there’s a lot of debt? Hard to know, really. But I’m a bit iffy about paying good money for alright but average food. Thus are the dilemmas of my day, pretty minor really compared to what you’re dealing with. Thought you might appreciate the distraction. 😉
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
That’s great news that Sheila the kangaroo survived the traffic incident unharmed. Wouldn’t it be awesome if more of the marsupials escaped? It’d certainly liven up stories of encounters with forest critters don’t you reckon? And, Sheila will get much bigger as time goes on.
Bees are a bit like the fall of Rome, there are plenty of reasons that colonies would be collapsing worldwide, and no one magic silver bullet explanation. There are plenty of triggers and factors responsible from what I can comprehend. From what I can gather from reading about the subject, some small adaptable hives will survive. For the us who rely upon the agricultural industry, this is a problem.
Did you see that there is another chunk of space debris ready to fall back to the ground? Soviet spacecraft Kosmos 482 expected to crash back to Earth next week. Here’s what you need to know. Should be exciting.
Yeah, that’s how it rolls with apprenticeships here as well, there’s a requirement for higher learning, and that’s not free. Although, there are incentives to get young folks into the construction industry, there being a shortage of houses and stuff.
Speaking of housing. There’s a federal election tomorrow. I’ve no eerie feeling as to the outcome. None. It will be most interesting if we end up with a hung or minority parliament like those Canadian folks. Although preferential voting methods tend to produce an outcome where the candidate has the most local support. Apparently about half the population voted early this election which might slow down the result declarations.
That’s a funny observation about cars, but yeah, also very true. One being a competitor to the other. My interest in vehicles has long since waned, although my younger self was something of a petrol-head, as they’re known down under. Lout might be a less polite description. 🙂 Nowadays I view vehicle choices as a symbol which people put on public display. The choices made however utterly baffle me.
Those were the days, and um, it was pretty similar down here in the 70’s with that faint whiff of societal disapproval hanging over the family. That may well be and I’m unsure exactly what the term means, but my belief is that my mother probably wasn’t cut out to perform the role society initially told her to do. She was no good at it, and it hardly surprises me that failure was the outcome. But then it’s not unusual to encounter people applying abstract notions to the real world, and then they become frustrated when the ideology doesn’t fit. What did everyone expect would happen?
On that note, today we took the day (mostly) off work and visited the gardening clubs nearby garden. It was really nice and the weather was sunny and cool. On the way we stopped at a bakery we hadn’t been to for ages, and the chicken and salad pre-made roll was $12.50. Sticker shock ensued, and it was OK, but I’ve had better. The Editor and I had a long conversation about what it all meant, and what we might do differently next time. Hmm. I was pestered to go there…
It’s the first time I’ve ever known water to get into a carburettor – and I blasted it out with acetone spray. 😉 Nasty stuff. It’s not an ideal condition for an engine.
That was my impression as well of your winter. From memory, it was about two weeks of serious cold, then for all I know, you could have been reading the winter forecast from around here. There was little difference. It’s hard to know the weather that far in the future with any level of accuracy. Indicative yeah, but details, no. Once the summer is done, you’ll be able to speak with authority on the subject. 🙂 Next Tuesday will be 78’F, which is bizarrely warm for this time of year. How does that work? With this weather in mind, I’m taking the surrounding forest clean-up efforts seriously.
There were some fascinating articles on the use of LIDAR technology in the field of archaeology. Impressive stuff.
Ah, this how the day morphed down here as well.
Never owned a timid dog, but you do see such canines. Glad for H that Olive is pleasant with her.
No way! Now, that is a name you rarely hear used down under. Busby, although there was a band which used that name, and I’d been unsure of the derivation. Names are interesting symbols. Buddy is generally not used as a word down here, the term would be ‘mate’. As in: Hey mate! How’s it goin’ man?
Yes, those two ladies were unnecessarily very naughty with Barry, and scored a strong response. Well, they did start it. As a side note, they weren’t on the radio for much longer afterwards. It’s a name falling into disuse.
Sorry to hear that about the pantry. Is this all part of the err, push for professionalising the activities? Man, I’ve been in some groups where such things went on. Not a fan. Seems all a bit petty to me, and if it’s a resource which gets used, there’s probably a need. Oh well, you may have noticed, I don’t much like change, but that pesky rat keeps on happening. Hope the silliness runs its course.
Ha! The Killer Rabbits are real. Always knew it. Thanks for the laughs. Some of the images are really funny, and it’s kind of nice to know that the clerics were having some fun. The flower skewering unicorn was a hoot!
It. may. not. end. well. Ook! 😉
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – I wondered if perhaps Shelia isn’t a Wallaby. A lot of Americans are rather clueless when it comes to their being two different, but similar species.
I’d seen headlines that there was some space junk, coming down. But, hadn’t read any of them yet. I see there was mention of the Space X stuff. Didn’t mention the stuff that landed in the eastern part of our state. That’s the stuff I saw. I see the owner of the River has launched his maiden voyage, into the satellite internet business. Those two! Always in competition with each other. I’m seeing ads for Mars Boy’s system, popping up here and there on the net.
Good luck with your elections. I hope they turn out the way you want them to.
I don’t understand people’s car choices either. And I agree, it’s mostly about status and show. Enormous SUVs with no kids or freight to haul. Enormous trucks that have obviously never been off the pavement and have never hauled anything larger than a bag of groceries. 🙂 Here at the Institution, there are many vehicles that I don’t think that are moved, at all. Or have outrun their usefulness to a senior citizen. 🙂 But, I also realize that one of the most fraught points in aging is giving up the car keys. Which will come to me, sooner or later.
Oddly, both the boys with single moms, in my grade level, were my best friends. Yes, societies expectations and narratives didn’t pan out for a lot of people. Of course, if your mother hand’t fallen for the narrative, then we wouldn’t have you. And then where would we be?
You may end up making rolls, at home. Another skill to master! We’re hearing we’ll start seeing the impacts of the tariffs, on our store shelves, around the 10th of May. Another article said 7 weeks.
I made a major shopping trip, down to the big box hardware store last evening. I don’t make it there, often. One must negotiate the Round-About of Death to get there. I had a list. After running through three nice, but clueless clerks, I had landed everything I went after … except the biochar. I’ll have to make another trip back. According to their website, there’s 10 bags of the stuff there … somewhere. I’ll dig in my heels, until they cough it up. I spent a lot of mad cash. But, the list was fairly long, for me. And I bought back ups of a lot of things. As an example, I figured I’d need a bulb for my reading lamp, pretty soon. So, I picked up two. I also bought an on-counter water filter. It comes with a filter cartridge, but I also picked up a pack of three back up filters. I picked up two, 3 lb. bags of blood meal. They were $2 less than the place I usually get it.
I seem to remember people boiling out carburetors. Might be a false memory.
Our high yesterday was 79F (26.11C). Close, but no cigar. our overnight low was 46F (7.77C). Forecast high for today is 70F. We may get some rain tonight, but it looks pretty iffy.
Just in Central America, alone, LIDAR has revealed over 2,000 potential archaeological sites. How do you even get to all those? And how do you stop robbers, who probably also have access to that information? Although I really do wonder about the wisdom of trying to save it all. I see articles that museums are running out of storage space. And do we really need one more Roman amphora off a sunken wreck?
I see our Fearless Leader is mulling over changing the name of Veteran’s Day. He wants something more … triumphant?
Where I lived before, Brother Bob the Bachelor Farmer had a collie dog. He’d saved it from an abusive situation. The poor dog, even after she knew me for quite awhile, would only approach crawling on her belly. I’m sure Olive is treated well, but I think, is just timid by nature.
Names come and go, and rise and fall in popularity. People actually track that. “Top ten boys and girls names for 2025.” You get the idea. And they even track those, through time. Deep time.
As our night manager observed, the Club is becoming a business. A non-profit business, but a business. I also occurred to me yesterday, that in certain aspects, the Club is being … feminized. The good ol’ boys don’t run things, anymore.
I watched Monty Python’s Holly Grail, last night. Still a hoot, and worth a bowl of popcorn. My favorite line? “Who’s that?” “Some king,” “How can you tell?” “He’s not covered in shit.” 🙂
Yes, tragic. By evening, the swallows were not in evidence. Either the cat killed them, or ran them off. Oh, dear. I’ll have to break the news to the Master Gardeners. Lew
Chris:
I am guessing that the chicken salad roll was not exactly oversized, either.
The only thing that comes to mind with your meme – “If not decline, then why decline shaped?” is this old saying: “If it looks like a dog, walks like a dog, and barks like a dog, then it must be a dog.” So it is decline.
What fun to think of wombats climbing your stairs.They’re such friends . . .
I have noticed quite a bit of mildew right now (don’t know if it’s “powdery”) on my Monarda/Beebalm plants. I was supposed to move half that group; they’re probably too crowded.
A homemade gingerale should work for sun overexposure, too. Thanks for the idea.
I had not come across that particular Aesop’s Fable. Thanks for that, also.
I wonder if exposure to your strong sun caused your cat’s skin cancer? We had a ginger tom named Peefuss, who was quite light-skinned, especially his ears. He liked to lie in the sun on the back stairs and cook his head, so I put sunblock on his ears. I was afraid he would get sunburned.
Mr. Baby does enjoy this warmer weather, though he is not one to cook his head. You may not know that he has a dinner bell, a lovely, delicate, tiny brass bell that sounds just like one rung in a temple calling people to prayer. I daresay he worships his food.
Pam
Chris,
Yes, thanks. Foolhardy. Exactly the correct word. Foolhardy Custer sounds about right. Although, in the movie “We Were Soldiers”, Mel Gibson’s character said, “We’re about to see how Custer felt.” Sam Elliott’s character replied, “Custer was a pu$$y.”
Dame Avalanche doesn’t tell the birds to “sod off”, at least I think she doesn’t. Huskies don’t bark very often, so I know when she barks at something or someone, she really doesn’t like them. That’s her version of “sod off”. She’s never barked at the birds. She does, however, have a very aggressive and self-satisfied strut after chasing birds.
Thanks for the link to that school article. It is rather humorous. And it should’ve been foreseen. I hope at least one of the non-bosses had given the warning that such a thing would happen. I always enjoyed it when I could tell the higher ups, “Well, I did tell you that this would likely happen. Do you ever listen to me? So, well, sorry, but I told you so.” Those moments brought joy to my workplace. 😉
The gent’s dog was lost several years ago. He kept walking even though he had no dog. Dame Avalanche looks exactly like a smaller version of that dog. The first two times he saw Avalanche, he was in tears. Now he has another large, white dog, an older one that he found through a dog rescue organization. He has done wonders for his new dog. And Dame Avalanche was remarkably well behaved.
The Princess says thanks for your remarks. And she is doing fine today.
Yes, thanks, I’m doing fine. I’ve learned how to listen, say anything that needs to be said. Also, and this is a work in progress, but I’m learning how NOT to be sucked into someone else’s emotions. Being able to remain at least somewhat calm and objective is usually what the other person needs then anyhow and is healthier both for the talker and the listener. Killian’s owner was doing much better today when I checked on her.
A neighbor often raises a rabbit or two. I saw a large rabbit in that yard today. The first thought I had was that I needed to find the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch. It was a BIG rabbit.
Paying more for moderate quality food isn’t fun, is it? We’re having to assess similar things here, too. I saw an article on the interweb today about how the McDonald’s chain is struggling. People can no longer afford to eat there. When the cheap places to eat are no longer cheap, it is time to rethink and reorganize what we do.
DJSpo
Hi Pam,
How did you know? 🙂 Far out, food inflation is real. Anyway, Sandra is working on the election today (and work began at 7am and the count continues well into the night – a long day) and early this evening I took down a ploughman’s lunch for her dinner. It was a tester meal to see if it beat a rubbish over priced chicken and salad. Took a photo, so I’ll be curious to hear your opinion. Vegetarian at home, but off farm, well things are different… Freshly baked focaccia + two slices of triple smoked ham + two boiled eggs + two types of cheddar cheese + Kabana chunks. Much less than $10. Hmm.
Hehe! The dog saying is a goodie. Yeah! And that one has also had its fair share of twisting and turning to suit different contexts and situations.
The wombats really like the stairs, and they’ll leave their square calling cards on steps, as you do when you want me to tread on them unexpectedly (fortunately rarely). Country folk tend to watch where they are placing their feet, and I notice that difference with people who reside in the city when they visit – they’ll stand on, or trip over all sorts of things. Oh, and the marsupials are marking out their territory, much the same way that deer do.
Pam, I’ve never seen nor heard of the Monarda plant before. The flowers are really pretty. Over crowding of garden beds is an issue here too. Truthfully, I’m not ruthless enough to thin them effectively. Lemon balm creates really thick stands of growth. It takes time to bring yourself to cut back perfectly good plants. Ook!
Exactly home made ginger-ale would work perfectly. Dunno about you, but some days extra water simply does not help, and that’s when the rehydration solution (or soft drink) works well. There was much cursing today. A ride-on tire needed to be replaced, and the tire just refused to slip over the rim. It’s possible I didn’t add enough wax / oil, and may try again tomorrow. On the other hand, the big boss chainsaw scored a serious reconditioning of the carburettor. All parts were replaced, the thing was cleaned, and it now works a treat.
How’s tractorzilla and Mr Diggy going?
Yes, the extreme UV over the summer months are pretty hard on skin down under. At midday around the summer solstice and for the weeks afterwards the light has a really brilliant white bleached aspect to it. Not soft at all. And that cat had white fur and very pink skin. Adding sunblock is a pretty good idea, but alas, when I was a kid, such things were unknown. The adults used to say: get out into the sunshine. 🙂 I’m of the opinion that things have now gone too far the other way and people now avoid the sun way too much. There’s some lost middle ground in there. Oh well. Do people use sunblock in your part of the world?
🙂 Pam, that’s lovely and you’ve trained Mr Baby to come for dinner when called. It’s worth noting, that by contrast, the dogs here pester me for dinner from about 5pm! Dame Plum is the worst, she’ll ram her nose into your leg, then run away out of reach and wait for you to become distracted again before contacting again. Mr Baby is a gentleman and would never do such a dastardly trick, would he?
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
Never seen that film, and the battle in the Ia Drang Valley sounded horrific and seriously out numbered making for a difficult orderly retreat. Not good odds for survival. Incidentally, the VC were tough fighters and the Australian forces met a similar situation in: Battle of Long Tan. I’d read an account that the artillery barrels were glowing red that night, and without those heavy munitions, the position would have been over run and all would have been lost – as it was retreat there as well. Travelled in Vietnam back in the 90’s and they referred officially to the US and Australia as the Imperialist forces and their running dogs! Nice to be thought of as a canine. 🙂
Ah! Of course, Huskies howl from time to time. Has Dame Avalanche ever done that? The Kelpies will chase the magpies, whilst the magpies chase Ollie of whom they’re quite fond of. It’s complicated.
The federal election is only 5% counted and the incumbent party is calling a serious victory. It also appears that the opposition leader lost his seat. Talk about unpopular. Who knows what other surprises are in store this evening? Sandra was working on the count today, and began at 7am, and might get back home about 11pm. A long work day. I don’t work that hard for myself! 🙂
Glad you enjoyed the mayhem! Makes you wonder whatever were they thinking with organising the two exams that way. But calling in the riot police was a fun twist to the story. Parents are possibly quite difficult from time to time. Hey, been there myself with those warnings: I’m hearing what you want to do, I just can’t support it, sorry. Your name is mud, until later proven correct. Don’t you think it’s weird that some folks just simply don’t want to hear of realistic negative outcomes?
Dogs are lovely, aren’t they? Glad to hear that the bloke ended up with a large white dog (of uncertain parentage, which are often the hardiest of canines). Spoke to a neighbour tonight whose older dog died a few years ago. They ended up getting a younger one which had serious medical issues and had to be put down. Not good.
Hope your lady is doing OK, and that folks on the Rez gather around at this time and provide needed energy and support.
Man, so true, we’re all a work-in-progress, and I tell ya what, I make plenty of mistakes and both do and say stupid things occasionally. You know, I reckon listening skills are rare, so respect to you. Avoiding picking up the emotional vibe is a difficult thing for me, thus why it works for me living out here surrounded by the forest. If you work out how to block it out, I’m all ears! I’m of the belief that the media and our leaders are constantly stoking up emotions, and what you’re suggesting is what we end up with. It’s nice that things are on the improve.
Four! No Three, Sir, Three. Right Three! 🙂 Insert angelic background music. 🙂 Rabbits are a serious pest here, and nobody would blink twice about them being permanently dealt to, sorry to say. The wild rabbit has caused a lot of mischief down under – as have the people as brought them. In these more enlightened days, we’re all left with the mess, one way, or another.
On the other hand I work hard to keep the mess at bay! 🙂 Overhauled the carburettor on the big Stihl chainsaw today. Such an elegant design, and mostly repairable. The job took a couple of hours including later fine tuning. Makes me wonder why I hadn’t done the work earlier? It runs nicely now, although I discovered a missing screw and sort of washer thingee. Rather expensive to replace those two items. Oh well…
Yeah, it’s totally not fun at all. And with food inflation going the way it is, I’m having similar thoughts. Best to get ahead of the curve in this instance. Did a test run of a picnic this evening and took it down to Sandra who’s working. Dinner got the thumbs up, and less than $10. What’s not to like about that? I’ll chuck a photo on the next blog. A take on the ploughman’s lunch, although it was dinner and vote counting isn’t quite the same as wrangling horses and farm equipment, is it?
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Had a closer look at the Sheila video and she looks like a kangaroo to me, although she’s got more red than the grey forest kangaroos I see here. Wallabies are a darker brown colour, and not as lean as Sheila, although that might be my well fed lot. 😉 The red kangaroos are the biggest of them all, and they tend to live on the plains. Any animal which can survive on a diet of 90% spinifex must have come through some tough evolutionary pressures in the past to develop that survival response!
Yeah, the space X junk apparently fell way off far to the east of here. You wouldn’t want to have been hit by the stuff, it was embedded solidly in the ground. Apparently there some phone number to call when you encounter space debris – we haven’t mentioned the pod people for a while. Mars Boys toys were once considered the height of green technology, and a status symbol, but weirdly the tech is the same, but somehow the folks that buy those machines have different ideas nowadays. Maybe they’ll go back to the large SUV’s they always coveted, and just found a convenient excuse? 🙂
To be honest, I had no clear idea one way, or another, about the election results, although I was hoping for change. The results suggest to me that people want more of the same, which makes sense – that reflects a deeper return to ritual in times of uncertainty. As far as I can comprehend things, the uncertainty doesn’t go away. The result is wipe out for anyone opposing the government. The opposition leader apparently lost his seat, which is brutal.
When to give up the car keys is a serious issue, and hey, there is nothing within walking distance of here. It’s weird the choices people make about vehicles, the larger vehicles in many ways present serious risk on many fronts, but then the whole thing is but a moment in time. If fuel prices go up, economic realities will sort out the mess. The election promises sounded like a lot of expanding of the money supply – from both parties, and that story has no good ending. History suggests as much. I suspect that we may get to find out.
🙂 Good for you, and them. People need friends, they’re great! And you’ve got another one now! 🙂 All true, but on a side note, my mother didn’t have friends from what I recall – she was difficult. But also there was the awkward unmentionable aspect to the story where other women may have seen her as available competition for their partners. I saw that subtext, for sure. In those days, sad to say, she was ostracised, but ultimately was the root cause of the troubles.
That’s a lot of variability in predictions as to the impacts of the tariffs. Are you noticing anything at a store level view? Basic things are getting expensive here. Oh! On a food note, I made a ploughman’s lunch for the Editors dinner this evening as a test for an alternative to buying ‘spensive rolls. She had a 15 minute break to wolf it down, but gave the results the thumbs up. Will include a photo on the next blog, and who doesn’t love a food photo? She was at the vote collection thing by 7am this morning, and so I had the day all to myself. Lovely! 🙂 Was at the deli by about 7:15am and who knew the sun was even up at that time of the morning? Hehe! Anyway, picked up some crumbly cheddar ploughman’s cheese + kabana + triple smoked ham (super yum!) Boiled up some eggs, and made a fresh focaccia. Yum! Yum! Yum! Beats the stuffing out of an overpriced (in my opinion) chicken salad roll. Our combined dinner was less than $10. You wait and see. Food porn coming at you! 🙂
Getting help at such businesses may not be what it once was. The big box store here advises aisle and bay numbers for stuff – which you can look up online in advance. Of course being a guy, there’s a list… I recommend the list system for its efficiency, but as always beware the one list to rule them all problem. Wise to stock up on spares before prices go up. Nice score with the blood meal.
Gave the carburettor on the big Stihl chainsaw a complete overhaul today (and put another overhaul kit on order). It’s working really well now, and it was a moment of why hadn’t I done this earlier? Accidentally splashed a drop of acetone cleaner onto my eye and immediately ran to the tap and washed it out. That was fun. Guess you could heat up such a device.
True, was very close, but no cigar. Today was lovely here. Sunny, sort of warm and no wind to speak of.
It seems like all of the locations might require more than a few extra researchers, but seriously, what are they hoping to find? Gold probably, and other artefacts. The adventurous robbers have always been with us. Hey, the amphora could come in handy. Imagine someone using one as a planter box… It’s kind of not quite right.
You’d think he’d ask the vets to see what they want the day called?
Poor collie dog, that’s not good. Some folks shouldn’t have pets. And that’s the thing, I’ve mentioned this to you before, but we got Ruby and Dame Plum at 12 weeks, and their personalities were already clear to see and the core hasn’t changed. That surprised me, because we’d only ever known adult dogs before.
Ah, I see. Well, it happens, but you know, your Club is at it’s heart, part social club and another part community service. People can forget that, but what do the rules suggest is the way to go on that front, or do they allow a degree of freedom in that organisational regard?
It’s a great line, and oh so true!
I expected the worst for the sparrows.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – Things that look like dogs. Actually, it’s ducks 🙂 Let’s go to the source …
https://w.wiki/36XU
Doublas Adams is mentioned, as is, Monty Python. I remember it as being attached to a pornography court case. I suppose, the abbreviated form would be, “I know it when I see it.”
Speaking of strange animals, and evolution, there been some recent work on egg laying mammals. Your lot.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/30/science/platypus-echidna-monotremes-evolution
I didn’t read the article, but saw a headline: “Australia Votes for Stability.” I guess that means, more of the same. I’ll give it a day, before tackling the articles. Let the dust settle.
The Plowman’s Lunch sounds substantial. And, tasty. Real “stick to your ribs” fare. Seems to be a bit free-form, at times.
In the early days of AA (1930s), women were … discouraged from attending. The wives of the early members were … nervous. 🙂
I haven’t really noticed any difference in shopping. I saw this article, yesterday.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/could-soon-seeing-empty-shelves-110030463.html
But then, I really don’t shop, a lot. My needs are modest. The big box hardware store used to be staffed with old dudes, who knew what they were about. Handy. Now, it’s seems to be mostly hip and with it youngsters, with lots of tattoos. 🙂
Our high yesterday was 70F (21.11C). Our overnight low was 41F (5C). Forecast for today is for a high of 59F. It began raining, late afternoon yesterday. Hardly a drizzle. But constant. Enough so I felt like I didn’t have to water. The next week is supposed to be gorgeous. Prof. Mass had an interesting post about local weather stations and temperature sensors. I’d guess we got a new one. Gee, I wonder where those things are made …
The vets are voicing their opinions on the name change. They are not happy. They are also not happy with having 70,000 staff, purged from the Veteran’s Administration. Several useful programs are on the chopping block.
I agree, There are people who shouldn’t have pets. Or, children. 🙂
I watched a newish, Canadian comedy, last night. “Retail!” About a brother and sister who own a huge furniture store. Their demented customers and bizarre staff. It was pretty funny, but, I thought it could have been funnier.
You may, or may not have heard about the guy who let himself be bit by many venomous snakes.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/02/science/antivenom-snakebite-treatment-tim-friede
Now there’s a career path I never considered. Would make for an interesting CV. Lew
Hi Lewis,
The duck test is a real thing! And I thought that the Python crew were mucking around with that bizarre logic employed in the witch scene. Which of course they were – via an unnatural series of logical leaps towards the mob rule end. My favourite was the Marx brothers quote which I’ll supply here purely for educational purposes: “He may look like an idiot and talk like an idiot, but don’t let that fool you. He really is an idiot.” Such a clever observation.
There’s an Australian take on that test, which is used to determine whether a person and/or act is reasonable (much like it may be employed in common law as a test of reasonableness): Pub test. The Monty Python scene probably wouldn’t have passed, thus the dark humour with the quip at the end: It’s not fair, you know. Which they would have known.
There may be platypuses in the creek which runs down the more fashionable end of the mountain range – which is a more reliable source of water than this section of the range (the water capture area is a 1,000ft higher in elevation). But Echidnas are fairly common here, although I have no idea where they reside – and because of the dogs the monotremes are only active at night. You can see where they’ve been because there are digging and snout holes. Very distinctive. Apparently echidnas are quite intelligent and have a massively large brain to body ratio.
Exactly. More of the same. I’m with you, let the dust settle and there’s no great emotional investment in the outcome. It’s too late to change, and loss is the best guide as to how to adapt.
Given this evening is the time to write and review the week’s photo’s, well all I can say is that err, food porn. 🙂 Of course, you may observe the photos and have other ideas. I’m just adapting to food inflation as I experience it. The crumbly cheddar cheese wasn’t garlic, but had strong notes of pickled onions. The Editor loved the stuff, however candidly I’m soft and would have appreciated a more restrained hand with the cheese additions. Taste being a very individual concept, don’t you reckon? My thoughts are that you would also have loved the sharp crumbly cheddar cheese.
Sorry to say, but that has always been a problem, and I can think of one major historical example which is probably hurtful to recount, so I’ll hold back and keep my mouth shut. However, it does in no way suggest that individuals do not have problems at home and with themselves all to deal with. We’re a messy species! 🙂 We’ve spoken before about doing a geographical, and in some ways this is a similar story.
Haven’t seen any issues here on shelves, other than increased prices, which may reflect our dollars underlying worth. You know man, the difficulty with quitting a habit, is that it induces pain, both real and experienced. Years and years ago, I had to go cold turkey on video games and get back into life. That was a painful experience, because I no longer liked what I saw of myself.
The same here, and it’s buying spare parts and other weird items which are background, but kind of necessary that will be the problem. Your experience with the big box store rare visit is how I roll too. On a different note, way back in the day when old dudes ran hardware shops, the experience was not all what it was cracked up to be. I know what my grandfather may have called them… 🙂 My experience back in the day was that those old dudes made me feel like an idiot, and at least the big box hardware stores have learned to be friendly to their customers. Women love those now friendly places, and given they make up around half the population, and probably control a bigger share of the household budget, that’s called backing a winner. I’m not into tattoos, but if that’s what people want to do, it’s no drama.
Ooo, it was about the same temperature here today, but without the rain. Quite nice really, and the crisp over nights are enjoyable. That’s unfortunate about the condition of the weather sensors in your part of the world. Hmm. Makes sense though. Incidentally, the temperature sensor here which is out in the full sun, has a solar PV panel which runs a fan and so it produces a reliable reading. However, when the afternoon sun swings to far to the west, the voltage drops and the fan ceases – and the temperature readings rise. Under the carport is another temperature sensor which spends all its time in the shade. The comparison between the two can be interesting at times.
That’s not good about the vets, but none of this was ever sustainable, that’s what monster deficits look like. Personally, I’d be more careful of where cuts are made, but maybe it is too late even for that possibility.
🙂 No argument from me there.
That dude displays a serious dedication to science, and the results are promising – and probably super useful down under. What a legend the guy is.
Interviewers would no doubts soon be reaching for bite comparative stories. What’s the worst?
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – Ah, the pub test. As opposed to the pub quiz. I see some Melbourne legal cases were referenced. I’ve always been fascinated with WWII’s “Mass Observation”
https://w.wiki/DzvL
It later provided a lot of fodder for studies of the Homefront. One of the novels I read, about the British Homefront had a minor character who was always skulking around, writing things down in a little notebook. Everyone thought he was a spy. Nope. A volunteer for Mass Observation.
I’ve read a couple of articles, about your election. Not that I understand completely, how it works. LOL. I barely understand how our elections work. 🙂 I did notice a mention that it was the first time in a couple of decades that a Prime Minister was re-elected.
Platypuses and Echidnas. You do have some odd animals, Down Under. You seem to have a lot of species that are shy and nocturnal.
I’m always up for a bit of food porn. As long as it’s of the home made variety. Did you have the food stylist in? 🙂 I just wasn’t “feeling” dinner inspired, last night. I ended up having a tin of peaches, some reconstituted dried prunes, a tangerine, and a small bowl of cereal.
I’d probably like both garlic or onion cheddar cheese. I do like some strong flavors. I should explore some other cheese options. They sure are on offer, at the local stores.
I’ve been meaning to go through the sack of stuff I got at the local big box hardware. See how much of it is made in The Land of Stuff. I’m also working up to a big (for me) internet order. Doggie poop bags, doggie dental chews, a brand of tea and one of the two dental flosses I use. Will be interesting to see if they are available, and how the prices are.
Our high yesterday was 59F (15C). Our overnight low was 37F (2.77C). Forecast high for today is 63F. We’re getting a bit of an onshore flow, from the ocean. Which keeps the temperatures pleasant. We have a shaded thermometer, on the front “porch” of the Institution. But I rarely go in or out that way. I’m just happy the temperature sensor at the airport, is up and running again.
I’m all for ferreting out waste and fraud in government programs. But for gosh sakes, use a scalpel, not a chainsaw. I think, the way it was (is) done, is all for show. “Shock and awe.” People are beginning to discover how up close and personal these cuts can be. I saw an article, yesterday, about a children’s early reading program is being cut.
I thought those articles about the snake venom guy should have carried a disclaimer. “Don’t try this at home.” 🙂 I’m sure there will be some whacked internet challenge, that will end in tears. Through history, rulers had “tasters,” to make sure their food hadn’t been tampered with. Some even took small doses of various poisons, to build up resistance. Sometimes, it’s not good to be king.
The Mushroom Murders (?) are beginning to make the news, here. Now that the trial has started. As a nation, we’ve gotten bonkers about true crime stories. There used to be some respectable weekly hour long news programs. That had interesting or investigative reporting. From the snatches I see at the Club, they’ve all gone to just reporting true crime stories. Bread and circuses.
I watched a new-ish movie last night. “Werewolves.” Not bad. Premise was a bit thin. Some kind of “super moon” caused a genetic anomaly that turned one billion of the earths population, into werewolves. If the super moon made another appearance, it will happen again. And, it does. So, people are barricading their homes and scientists are racing for a cure. Engrossing, but not quit popcorn worthy. :-).
I almost forgot to mention. Night before last, I was checking out my garden bed, and discovered one of the volunteer lettuce was being attacked by several small slugs. I didn’t have my spray bottle of ammonia, with me. So, I took it out, last night No slugs. I did a little research. Some nematode varieties will attack slugs. My species wasn’t specifically mentioned, but that may be what’s going on. Bears watching. Lew