It’s the 25th of May as I type away at the keyboard. Not only does the date represent seven months to Christmas day, but it’s also seven days to the commencement of the annual solar danger zone. Yup, that’ll be almost exactly three weeks out from the winter solstice. For six weeks the sun will be at it’s nadir position in the sky over Fernglade Farm. A troubling time where the sensitive soul wonders each day what solar electricity gifts that big ball of fusion reactor in the sky will supply. From time to time, it ain’t a lot.
For the three weeks either side of the winter solstice, getting a full charge into the house batteries from the solar photovoltaic panels can be a bit of a dicey proposition. At times, despite your best efforts with energy conservation and marshalling of resources, you just plain old run out of charge in the batteries due to a lack of sunlight. That’s when the trusty old Honda powered generator gets wheeled into action.
Generators are a funny kind of machine. The big one used here is rated at 3.4kVA, otherwise described as 3,400W, which is a lot more than you can draw out of a mains electricity connection. Except generators have this weird thing called a ‘power factor’ (whatever that means), and on this machine it’s listed as 0.8, which bizarrely means that in reality it will only supply about 2,800W, which is plenty for my needs.
The generator uses uses the energy source of petrol to produce mains electricity, which is then sent into a battery charger. Those are also a funny kind of machine. The battery charger takes the mains voltage from the generator, and converts it into a form that the depleted batteries can absorb. All very simple, except you get the impression that the powers that be don’t generally trust the average household wiring. Off the shelf large battery chargers generally have their output limited to about 1,500W.
Serious people suggest that the theoretical energy in a litre (about a quarter of a gallon) of petrol is about 9,000W. But with all of the losses, only 1,500W of that theoretical energy gets sucked into the hungry batteries. The rest of the energy turns into friction, noise and heat. It’s a seriously noisy machine. And I’d suggest that the powers that be are probably correct to limit the output of off the shelf large battery chargers, because after a couple of hours, even the cables are warm to touch. Three hours run time is enough noise for me, and a break allows the electrical equipment and cables to cool down.
By contrast, when conditions are ideal, the solar photovoltaic panels can supply between 7,000 and 8,000W! The batteries are totally unfussed by receiving so much electricity. It’s worthwhile mentioning at this point, I’ve spent a lot of time and resources over the years, so as to ensure that all of the components and cables in the power system run cool. Every last component, and there are an awful lot of them. Nobody ever wants to see a power system emitting magic black smoke, although that has happened here once or twice in the past. A minor failure which produced a salient lesson.
Anyway, enough of the background details, the truth of the matter is that I simply don’t like running the generator. Originally it was my belief that the system would work in all conditions. Reality is otherwise mostly because the sun has it’s own plans. Years ago a state of acceptance was reached, and nowadays I’ve been beaten down by reality. Thus the petrol generator gets wheeled out, started up and plugged in. Life goes a whole lot easier with acceptance.
I do wonder if people with political stripes promoting this technology have actually lived with it? Hard to know really, and I’m way too busy to be bothered asking them. It’s probably not a bad question to ask though. Anyway, my perspective on the technology nowadays is that: it’s good, but not good enough to power an industrial civilisation.
Thought you lovely readers might be interested to see some of the statistics I’ve collected on the real world performance of the off grid system here over the past five years (remembering that winter begins in June whilst summer begins in December):
The statistics reveal an interesting story. At this location, 82% of the year (or 299 days) the sun provides all of the electricity we require. For another 16% of the year (or 58 days) the sun does not provide enough electricity, and so to make up the difference we’ve drawn down on the reserves in the house batteries. Finally, over the past five years, we’ve run the generator to put some charge into the batteries on 40 occasions, or that’s an average of 2% of the year (or 8 days each year). It’s not hard to notice that the worst month for solar power production, also happens to coincide with the winter solstice. Can you imagine households dealing with no electricity for 8 days every year – that’s the future, right there.
Some people might suggest to simply add more solar panels, and that might work. I’m not interested in that option, mostly because dealing with the additional energy when the sun does shine again, can bring new and interesting problems with the various components in the system. It’s not often discussed with conversations relating to solar derived electricity (mostly because in the media they’re deliberately dumbed down), but each and every component in the system has hard upper limits as well as constant limits, and you change one thing anywhere in the system, and there are consequences. The old timers used to have a saying to: Best let sleeping dogs lie. Wise words.
The data is very useful to record, and you get to develop a feel, in detail, as to how the system should be working. Each day the system is checked both morning and night (and sometimes during the day), and last week the readings weren’t meeting my expectations. Turns out that with the sun lower in the sky now, the two olive trees in the courtyard were over shadowing about eight solar panels. If there’s one thing solar panels don’t respond well to, that’s shade of any description.
We purchased the olive trees at a local clearance sale many years ago, and they’ve grown huge. They were a great purchase and clearly conditions are suitable for the trees. Here’s a view from a different angle:
It’s far easier to prune the big old olive trees, than to move eight solar photovoltaic panels. I grabbed the trusty old Stihl mains electric pole saw. It’s a powerful beast of a machine, and made short work of the job. Pruning just one of the trees produced a humongous pile of olive branches which we’d intended to chip up into mulch.
By the time the second olive was pruned, there was so much material in the courtyard that we decided instead it would be easier to simply burn the whole lot off in the brazier – which was conveniently also located in the courtyard. By the next day, all that was left was a pile of ash, and two thoroughly pruned olive trees.
Many things you will now see in the above image, but overshadowing of solar panels is however, not one of those things!
Observant readers will note that the rock wall surrounding the olive on the left hand side of the above photo, has barfed up all of it’s rocks. We dismantled the rock wall because it was inadequate, and had collapsed. The rocks used in that wall were simply too small (the wall was constructed long ago, and Peak Rocks has long been a problem here).
On another day, we brought uphill all of the large rocks created from split boulders last week. They were dumped near to the olive trees.
It took a lot of hours, but the rocks were carefully placed and manoeuvred so that they formed a nice new circular rock wall surrounding the olive tree. It’s quite solid and now exactly matches the dimensions of the other olive tree rock wall.
This week’s video was on this subject:
Whilst we were doing rock work, all of the piles down below at the forest edge were cleared. Those rocks were all brought back uphill and used in various projects.
The steel gabion cages to the uphill side of the shed, are rapidly filling. In the above photo with the completed rock walls around the olives, you can see the gabion cages in two layers at the left hand side of the shed.
Many mid-sized rocks were also placed around the terraced garden beds fence because rabbits had burrowed under it. They won’t be able to burrow under rocks now though! Sadly by the end of that work day, we had yet again run out of rocks. Peak Rocks is real, you read it here first.
And just because we hadn’t done enough work this week, another day of forest clean up took place. Ollie enjoyed cooking his head by the bonfire in the cool evening air.
The fire looked quite impressive at night, and as a bonus for doing that good work, we discovered that there were a whole lot of useful sized rocks in that now cleaned up area. Peak rocks has been averted, for the moment.
In breaking produce news:
We had our first frost of the year this week. It sure felt cold on two mornings in particular.
Other mornings, fog has hung over the valley. One day the sky looked as if it was almost merging with the land. The sky and fog was a lovely blue colour:
Oh, and we harvested four very tasty sweet purple figs from a three year old tree:
And the Loquat tree has finally produced some flowers. That tree is well over fifteen years old and now quite large. Loquats are tasty fruit, but you won’t generally see them for sale because they are soft and don’t tend to travel well:
Onto the flowers:
The temperature outside now at about 10am is 10’C (50’F). So far for last year there has been 208.2mm (8.2 inches) which is up from last weeks total of 206.8mm (8.1 inches)
Comments
54 responses to “Mountain at my gate”
Yo, Chris – So, you’re in your “starving time.” As they used to call it. At least as far as solar power is concerned. Solar power is funny and weird? And there may be some magic involved? “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Arthur C. Clarke. 🙂
Black smoke? So no new pope has been selected? Didn’t you get the memo? 🙂 Well, by now, you must know how weirdly my mind works. I got wondering. There’s a saint for everything else, so, how about solar power? No. Not yet. But I think we have a contender.
https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2016/08/11/cincinnati-loses-its-solar-nun/88510856/
It will take some time. And she’ll have to cough up at least two bonafide miracles, from wherever she is. For the longest time, Saint Isidore of Seville was the patron saint of technology and computer programmers. Though I don’t know why. He lived 560-636 CE. But, he’s been dethroned (de-sainted?). A young chap named Carlo Acutis is now patron saint of the internet. Or, is well on his way to becoming. But I digress …
LOL. I’m sure all kinds of people, who have never set foot in an olive orchard, will be horrified by your pruning job. Smack them about the head with your book. 🙂 I noticed there are several videos, on U-Tub, on pruning olive trees. I hope they produce for you, this year. The video was very good. Again, text, video and pictures work very well, in concert.
Your gabion cages are just so beautiful.
That picture of the sunrise is calendar worthy. At least the sun is rising at a decent hour, these days. Or, more decent than usual.
We have a really old fig, growing in a huge pot, out behind the Institution. Poor neglected thing. Last year it produced one fig, which promptly fell off. Didn’t get pollinated?
Speaking of pollinators, you can see on the Loquat how the clusters of fruit, will form. Do you have any pollinators still about?
The roses are lovely, and will take a bit of a frost nip. Portland, which is a climate zone or two colder than you, has not problems with roses making it through our frosts and even severe cold snaps. Lew
Hi Lewis,
Yeah, almost in the starving time, the darkest days of the year, when the wintry sun oft hides behind thick low clouds. Stoicism is a good guide to getting through such moments, but then, so is a petrol generator for battery charging. Interestingly, there’s always some confusion with solar power because nothing here really runs directly from the solar panels – they all use the charge available in the batteries which can supply reliable electricity. The solar panels work only as a battery charging source, so their intermittancy, like when clouds block out the sun, doesn’t matter so much. The grid folks have confused the whole matter. The tech might as well be magic. 🙂
Alas no papal folks were involved in my particular black smoke incident, although I’ve heard that lot are rather enamoured of the stuff. Probably quite toxic. And miracles, far out. Looking at the lead photo, it was a miracle that the what I’m guessing is around a 120W solar panel bolted to the modified golf cart, could do anything. That’s miracle numero uno (is that close to the Latin?) The second miracle is the impressive marketing effort. I read someone commenting on Mr Greer’s site about how cheap solar panels have become, and sure, that’s correct, but that person needs to get thee to a cable supply business and face up to the eye watering prices there. But I can’t and won’t fight the impressive marketing behind all of this tech, so it’s a true miracle that people believe the hype and the sister has thrown fuel onto the ideological bonfire. I dunno.
A tiny bit of rain is falling now. Yay! We spent most of the day connecting up the drains on the shed which is in all of the photos this week, to one of the water tanks. I became curious about whether this year has been historically dry, but no, not really, it’s something which happens every maybe five or six years. A bit of a long term cycle really. Overall the statistics for the past century or so show an upswing in rainfall.
Is it just my hunch, but Isidore of Seville did great deeds whilst equally annoying many a person over history? I have no idea what to make of the Carlo story, and hagiography is a real thing. A fine digression too if I may say so. 🙂
I can only hope that folks are horrified at the olive tree pruning job and denounce me in the loudest and worst of possible terms, it’ll do wonders for the interweb statistics. The trees will recover just fine, and I’ll be interested to see if they fruit next summer – which they might. Tree pruning is rarely an aesthetically pleasing activity, at first sight. My friends of the big shed fame many years ago also purchased olive trees from an orchard which was being cleared. It was a lot of work to relocate all of the trees, but they’re growing just fine now. There place might be on tv soon.
Thanks, we put more rocks into the gabion cages today, and may have to construct another cage in the near future. We discovered a rich source of rocks yesterday in the forest clean up work.
We can rule out Kuato as having climbed your fig tree to recover the sole fruit. He’s consumed many of the figs this year. Hmm. I’m not sure I fully understand the fig life-cycle. Now Loquats might need some hand pollination given the lack of insects around at this colder time of the year. What else do you do? The trees do self pollinate apparently, but obviously it won’t produce nearly as well. There are about seven of the trees growing here, but the others aren’t nearly as old.
Isn’t Portland the city of roses? If you ignore the winter extremes, the climate is very similar to here in terms of temperatures and rainfall.
It does seem to be one huge Anglo-Saxon burial ground. Wonder why it was eventually abandoned and fell into disuse? The bucket is amazing, and what a journey the artefact travelled – and the scenes it depicted. Knowledge of the wider world was probably far greater in those days than people now generally acknowledge.
That Viking horn debate was unknown to me. If ever you’ve been to an Oktoberfest, dudes wearing faux helmets with horns on either side of their head are a familiar sight. I’d simply assumed that the horns were part of the tradition.
Don’t quote me, and I could be wrong, but I believe the premises the restaurant operated out of was sold for $2m+, maybe. Please forgive the lack of accuracy, but how is any business meant to make money when the premises cost so darn much? They’re preparing and selling food and can only charge what the market will bear to pay. It’s a story which makes no sense to me, and makes less so as time goes on.
Ah yes, H is definitely an at risk fluffy due to her size. The ravens are clever birds, but that is a most anti-social activity on their part. Lambs are also at risk down under. Flies sometimes lay eggs in any poop which is stuck to their backsides. Not pretty, thus why the tails are removed. Some animal rorts group was up in arms about it a few years ago, but have since gone quiet.
Fair enough with the pumpkin. And they are quite tasty when oven baked. We do a tasty pumpkin and potato casserole.
What’s Memorial Day about? Ah, I see, reverence for the departed who were serving. I’m genuinely surprised nowadays how many businesses open on some public holidays.
Hopefully the fire alarms were not set off? Always risky…
Good to hear that the adult leaves are now growing out on your beans. How is the slug count going?
I see what you meant about ignoring the coincidences with Mr Dicken’s writing. To be honest, Miss Haversham comes across as a bit of a dodgy character, pretends to be nice and respectable, but is downright bad to the bone.
Stop it! 😉 Nobody really consumes breakfast pizza, maybe… I refuse to consider the outrage. Hehe! You got me there… On that subject of food, my mind is wandering from the key lime pie concept, to a proper lemon meringue pie. That’s my homework for this evening, find a recipe that makes sense and is tasty.
The tomato plants will be loving the conditions when they reach 80’F. It was cool here today at about 59’F, but mostly sunny. Not much rain fell this evening. Oh well, tomorrow, maybe…
Yum! Yum! How are your victims, sorry, I meant to type, food testers going?
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – Solar is kind of like printers. The machines are really cheap … until you go to buy the ink. 🙁
“Historically dry…” It sounds like you’re channeling Prof. Mass. Not that skepticism over media weather pronouncements is a bad thing.
“There is no such thing as bad publicity.” And variations on the phrase run as far back as 1915. Brenden Behan (?) added, “…except an obituary notice.” 🙂
Master Gardeners were here, this morning. One mentioned she has kiwi plants, but that they only produce fruit the size of grapes. She thinks they take up valuable real estate. But, her husband likes them. I mentioned the fig, and they’re talking about getting it out of the pot, and finding a place for it. And maybe getting it a mate. Your Loquat pollination may be fine. We have a “white garden,” which I never really knew the purpose off. Night blooming white flowers attract moths, to pollinate. Who knew? Otherwise, get out the very, very small paint brush. 🙂 The Master Gardeners brought four tomato plants left over, from the sale. For the Inmates. They’ve been sitting there, for a week. With permission, I grabbed a Roma. Now I have three tomato plants, and a volunteer.
Rocks. So, you’ve discovered your own North Sea or North Slope of rocks? Peak rocks is real, but has been postponed.
Yup. Portland is the City of Roses. In fact, it’s about time for the hundredth and something Rose Festival. The town will be jumping (and best avoided) for a couple of weeks.
I’d guess the Anglo-Saxon burial ground was abandoned, when the Vikings moved in. East coast of Britain, easy river access. The Vikings may have had a certain amount of superstitious dread, when it came to the burial ground. It appears the Anglo-Saxons avoided the crumbling ruins of London. They set up shop outside the Roman walls.
The Viking horned helmet guy, showed up on the Oseberg Tapestry, which was found in a burial. I don’t know if you’ll be able to see this article. I have a nagging memory, that for some reason, the site doesn’t work in Australia. But I may be wrong.
https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/vikings/oseberg-tapestry-viking-age-artwork-from-a-boat-burial-that-may-depict-the-norse-tree-of-life
He won’t be mentioned in older articles, as, he appeared due to new scanning techniques. Aren’t we clever? The idea has been adapted to modern times. Sort of …
https://thebeerexchange.io/beer-drinking-hat/
The fire alarms were not set off.
Not many slugs around, this year. Might be a combo of the bait and the nematodes. I did nail three very small ones, the other night.
Nobody consumes breakfast pizza? If memory serves, you only have to look at the nearest, nearby spouse. 🙂
Our high yesterday was 66F (18.88C). The overnight low was 54F (12.22C). The forecast high for today is 66F. Day after tomorrow, the forecast is for 88F. The tomatoes will be loving that.
My food tasters have, along with a lot of other people, pretty much disappeared from the Club. Due to the changes … People have shifted to other outside meetings. They’re having a hard time covering the counter. Mostly due to no one wants to deal with the complicated, new cash register. Without the food pantry, I don’t go down near as much, anymore. Lew
Hi, Chris!
I like your title. It speaks to me.
Seven months to Christmas Day – say it isn’t so! A Solar Danger Zone is not a comfortable time. And you aren’t kidding that generators are noisy. Soon after we have a power outage in our rural area, you can hear the generators firing up. A lot of my neighbors have whole-house generators, meaning the generator is permanently wired into the house’s electrical system (sort of like a hospital). They automatically come on when the mains power goes out. Those are big generators. We have a small one (1800W) and it has to be set up and hooked up before we can use it. It is quite sufficient for the 3 of us, though. I have to know how many killerswatts each device uses so I won’t “blow out the no good degenerator”; thank you Green Acres. I did that once.
That’s an interesting solar use chart. Thanks. Back in the days before our power lines were buried (only a few years ago), the days that we had no power numbered at least 13 or 14 a year, sometimes a week at a time. This was usually due to trees falling on the power lines. We had no generator till 2014.
“Best let sleeping dogs lie.” I think you are right, having known many dogs.
Quite a haircut the olive trees got! Big, shaggy things, to neat and tidy things. Ooh – I love kalamata olives. I have to admit that the new olive rock wall looks really, really nice. And the cantina shed is nice enough to be somebody’s home.
I think that the gabion cages have eaten up a lot of your rocks. All for a good use, though! And, as a matter of fact, they are still there, like all the rcoks along your paths, should someone need rocks in the future. But peak rocks are real. I did read it here first.
What a gorgeous sky/land photo. I can tell that you are higher up than we are.
Ripe figs! Good job!
I was in a posh garden shop today (they had sent me a $5.00 off coupon) and I saw a hat a lot like your blue one, except that it had a little flower print instead of being blue. Also when I was in town today, I went by the Post office to mail my sister a package. When I got there, I thought: “How delightful; there’s almost no-one here.” Well, duh – it was Memorial Day, a federal holiday when all government offices are closed. The thing is, I had warned everyone else about it last week . . .
I didn’t get out to the garden until after lunch since I went to town – and the groundhog had gotten back in. He has eaten about half the bean plants, and the carrot tops again and sweet potato tops. Also some new young kale plants. He learned that he can chew through the black plastic to get to his original hole, which I had filled in with chicken wire and rocks. This is a Super Groundhog. Where is that eagle?!
Almost-Solstice roses – thanks!
Pam
@Lew:
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” That’s what I’ve always said! I wonder if Mr. Clarke got that from me.
Ever since your comment last week, I have been watching the sky for a small nuclear bomb . . .
And in “Lewis” news: Lewis the Wren came to the back door 5 times this morning to ask for a walnut piece for breakfast. He got 5 pieces. Lewis says that it has been too cold for any bugs to be out. He is right about that. It has been quite cool for the past week and a half, especially in the mornings. That is unusual at this time in May. It makes me wonder if other birds are having a hard time finding breakfast.
Pam
Hello Chris,
Thanks for another good update on the realities of solar power.
On our latitude, we would not have 8 days, probably 8 weeks of no power in the winter.
Fortunately, 4 km away in our town is a 100 year old and very reliable water power plant. Just a pity that a million people or so would be dependent on that meagre power source…
I tend to prune quite heavily too. Some people get shivers when they see the pile branches building up next to a fruit tree of some age. Sometimes I pace the pruning over two seasons, if the tree had not been pruned for some time.
Here we got a few days of rain for the first time since March. Yay!
Figs are funny. In warm climates, they set fruit three times per year. Up here, if we are lucky, we get one set of fruits, typically around autumn solstice time.
How often do you get fruit? Do you get pollinated figs with crunchy pits? Here we can only grow the apomictic/parthenogenic kinds that set fruit without pollination, since the wasp that is pollinating in the Mediterranean does not live here.
Peace,
Göran
Hi Pam,
Glad to hear that, one of the titles other many meanings is that people can bring their problems to you, despite your best efforts.
🙂 There’s some sort of ban on me making that Christmas observation which I don’t understand, although as you note, there are workable work-arounds! I’ve seen that sort of generator set-up a few times around these parts, but it’s rare to have such a machine hard wired in and ready to go. In serious and prolonged emergencies, many folks discover that the generator is inoperable (regular testing is not a bad idea) or that they quickly run out of fuel. Your smaller 1,800W generator is my preferred option, although I use the things differently so as to charge batteries. Being light weight, it’s portable and is more likely to be looked at semi-regularly. Plus it’s cheaper to replace if needed.
Pam, you’d be amazed how few people actually comprehend that question: How many watts does this ‘ere device draw? What do you mean that you can’t run four hair dryers on an 1800W generator? 🙂
Burying power cables is a very expensive process and you’re exceptionally lucky that job was done way back then. Did you know that power cables strung up between poles are able to diffuse excess heat into the air? Plus they sag a bit when hot, but nature has that effect on everything and we do our best to resist the lure of the soil.
Ollie is asleep at the moment – do I poke him? That is the question for the evening. Just between you and I, the answer was in the affirmative and he enjoyed the scruffing of his head. You’ve known many a dog as well over the years.
During the pruning, one Kalamata olive was discovered which is impressive for a tree which is a quarter century old. That shed is heavily insulated and used to have a wood heater which was sold to a famous commercial artist – true story. It was a delightful place for guests to stay, but alas few took up the option. And so now it contains harvest preserves.
After reading all of the breaking rocks news from down under, has your opinion of the humble geological artefact changed?
Out of curiosity, how high are you in terms of elevation above sea level? This place is about 2,300ft above sea level.
Hope you weren’t triggered by the tasty and sweet figs? They’ve all been consumed with breakfast. If there were a bucket of the fruit, we’d make jam.
It’s been remarked upon elsewhere that Loki has a terry towelling hat and a cheeky grin, which may mean much, and nothing. Hard to tell, but the flower print adds something special. They are sold in other bright primary colours you know… Yes, always unfortunate to run head first into reality. On the other hand, your blissful unawareness suggests an enjoyable state of mind.
Hmm. Here’s a question for you: What consumes ground hogs? Perhaps whatever performs that trick needs to be made more welcome?
The flowers are so lovely. Thanks for saying that, and respect for appreciating them.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Göran,
Glad to hear that you enjoyed the statistics, and with that in mind I’m thinking about supplying some of the more recent years rainfall statistics next week. Numbers tell a story which words can sometimes fail to elucidate.
Hehe! If memory serves correctly, you had a photo of your solar panels covered in snow from a few months ago? They don’t work in such conditions, or maybe only a tiny bit. And that is the thing which is hard to grasp, although you called it correctly – it is the winter months when the night is longest that a person requires the most electricity to keep the lights on, yet paradoxically, that’s the time of year when solar photovoltaics produce the least daily output.
That’s a lot of people to supply with stable electricity. Much depends upon the size and condition of the dam / hydro-generator, and of course human expectations.
Respect for doing the same! The trees will be fine with the heavy pruning. And agreed, doing the pruning work over a couple of years is easier on the tree, but then as stewards of all the many trees which come into our lives, how long to delay the inevitable is a more important question than many a person would consider. 😉
Grafting scions onto rootstock is pretty hard on a tree too, and they regrow just fine. Nature is tougher than we appreciate.
What? I’d not realised that it had been a dry spring in your part of the world. Although, rain now would be almost perfect for the growing season.
They’re funny trees here too, the figs. From what I’m observing, they tend to produce two crops, but the winter (breba?) crop is not good tasting. Down this way, folks tend to remove those winter fig fruits, but I leave them for the birds and other forest critters who do the same job with less involvement on my part. I’m really looking forward to the day we get a big harvest of figs and can make a batch of jam. That stuff is excellent tasting.
I’ve never encountered a crunchy pit in a fig, but will keep an eye out for that possibility in the future. The edible fruit is usually harvested around early to late autumn. I’d imagine that the symbiotic wasp is present down here, but don’t know for sure. Maybe it isn’t here either. Hmm. I’ve read that most of the fig trees produce some err, flowers/fruits despite the lack of wasps, but not all are great tasting varieties. The darker purple varieties of figs have the best and sweetest flavour, at least that is what I believe.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Oh yeah, so true. Man I could scrounge up heaps of extra second hand solar panels on the cheap and they’d be fine for decades. Everything else required to connect them up to the batteries, would potentially beggar the kingdom, and who needs that? That story heard about them getting cheaper all the time is true, but it’s also an act of brain flatulence of the fourth degree. Nobody wants the fourth degree situation. Even the second and third are bad enough, and you see plenty of that gear. 😉
Maybe Professor Mass has influenced me in that regard, but the numbers don’t lie either, and whilst this year has been dry, other years have occasionally been much drier. It’s raining a little bit tonight. A bit of healthy scepticism is a good thing, and in other parts of the state, maybe the historical dry claim applies – I can only report on what’s going on here.
Incidentally, with the tiny bit of rain tonight, water is now travelling through all the pipes I connected up yesterday, and finally dripping into the tank! Yay! Took about a quarter inch of rain to fill the pipes. Might have to modify one section of the pipes based on a little bit of observed sag. Catching all that stored water in the pipes will be interesting.
That’s a very funny addition to the old adage, and so true. Yup, nobody wants to be the subject of an obituary notice, although how would they know?
Ah, that’d be the smaller variety of kiwi fruit, and I’ve got three of those vines growing here. They’re not as feral as the Hayward Kiwi Fruit variety which is much larger and fuzzy. If you want to set the cat amongst the pigeons in a discussion, mention whether the furry skin is consumed or otherwise. Ask me how I know this? 🙂 Had some friends from New Zealand patiently explain to me that the skin was edible and should be consumed. Locally, the fruit is peeled, then served, but I’m going all authentic in this sticky subject and consuming the skin nowadays. Wars have been fought over less. To be honest, the plant is finicky because it requires a very long frost free growing season, and then almost 700 chilling hours. Those combined conditions are a tall order. What’s left on the vines should be ready to harvest in another week or so.
I’d not heard of a white garden attracting night moths, but it makes a lot of sense and I’d wondered what such night flying critters consumed. Hmm. We get a lot of Bogong moths at in the dark which are attracted to the lights of the house.
Good stuff, and I’ve no idea about such matters and am wondering how you’ll support the tomato vines (note to self to purchase a stronger support twine for next growing season). The jute broke… More than once. And was replaced with strong nylon brick layers line. But there must be some sort of middle ground?
Yes, for sure it’s the equivalent, and I’m wondering if the loggers activities dragged many of the rocks to that spot? Dunno. We could call the cache, the South Slope? Has a nice ring to it don’t you reckon? But Peak Rocks is real, and glad to hear that you’ve gotten the message.
Run, Lewis, run! Big crowds will be tiresome, and you might be left wondering where the toilets are?
Yes, of course! So obvious – the river access to the burial grounds would have saved the Vikings a lot of tedious trudging around the land, whilst delivering them sort of fighting fit. Was scurvy an issue for the sea going Vikings? I’d not known that about the Anglo-Saxons avoiding the old Roman sections of the city of London. I’ll bet they happily took building materials from the ruined city though?
The link was able to be viewed just fine, although the ancient tapestry was difficult to decipher given the condition. A horned helmet would be cooler than an unadorned one.
As an introvert, the beer hat would sit uncomfortably on my head – I’d much prefer to blend into the background and enjoy a quiet dark ale than stand out in such a way. Lifting the party vibe is perhaps a job for others! 😉
Glad that no fire alarms were harmed in the food preparation practices.
Those nematodes you introduced might be working wonders, unless you happen to be a slug, then things turned bad, and quickly.
It’s now warmer in your part of the world! Brr! Running the wood heater right now, and it’s pleasant inside the house.
Oh, so sorry to hear that about the changes at the Club. Poop! Hopefully it’s all just a moment in time. If I may add, support is actually a social process, but I’ve also encountered groups who’ve been taken over by people uncomfortable (my best guess) with social activities. Lewis, my mum used to tell me that I should be able to get along with anyone. That’s a lie, some personalities annoy the daylights out of me. Oh well. Probably a moment in time, maybe.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Chris,
Interesting statistics – thanks for sharing them. Solar farms continue to be installed on farm land at a fast pace. Farmers get more money for renting out to the solar companies than they do to rent for farming so there you go. What land will replace these farm fields – good question.
Doug and I drove by a farm that had collected a large pile of rocks. Farmers are not fond of rocks in their fields and due to the freezing and thawing more are always appearing. I thought ofuf you.
Things are OK here. Too much work for a couple of aging folk. I did hire the son of our next door neighbors who moved away (but not far) 4 years ago. Ben comes about once a week for 3-4 hours and is mostly helping me right now with some of the heavy work. This is the first time he’s hired out for pay and he’s a hard worker and doing a good job. Doug is finding the full honey boxes are getting too heavy and has decided to stop raising bees after this year. Of course after that decision he had two hives swarm and he caught one of them.
I’m pretty much done with raising vegetables for various reasons. There are plenty of places nearby that I can purchase fresh produce. A friend’s farm mostly does pick your own now that they are also getting up there. I’m planning to do that for any of the vegetables that I’ve kept a winter supply. They have excellent farming practices so I know their produce is good and reasonable to boot.
The three pigs are healthy and Doug has 2nd batch of meat chicks brooding. Unfortunately he lost two large chickens to a hawk so they are now confined to the chicken tractor.
We had a decent rain about an inch about a week ago but we
way behind – only a little over 2 inches for the month of May. We were supposed to get more tomorrow but that’s fizzling out and nothing significant on the horizon. At least the gale force winds seemed to have left and we haven’t had any storms.
Marty is doing well and is getting toward the end of his dental work. I went to see him on Sunday figuring he’d be back in his room after lunch but was pleasantly surprised to find him at a table with a bunch of other people in the dining room. I had to pull up a chair and visit with all of them. Marty hasn’t socialized too much yet but a couple of the men are encouraging him to join them in various activities and he’s doing it. I was really happy to see this. I have decided to take the month of June off as much as possible to decompress from the last stressful year and have told my sisters that they need to cover Marty for that time. Of course I had to schedule my time off around particularly my sister Nora’s schedule (she’s always done the most and is pretty up to date and what needs attending to). She’s the one who goes to Florida for 3 months and in July she’s off on a two week cruise. After that she has back surgery scheduled so will be out of commission for some time. I told Marty that I probably won’t be seeing him in June as I was going to take some time for short trips and catching up with friends and he said, “Good! You should do that.” Who knew that he would be that perceptive.
Continuing to limit my time online to just what’s necessary most of the time. Will continue to check out the goings on at Fernglade as time allows.
Margaret
@ Pam – Maybe you should sue Clarke’s estate. Might get yourself a palace, in Bali.
Naaaaw. Lewis the Wren is just a free loader. 🙂
There’s a really good book (isn’t there always?) called “One Second After.” (Forstchen, 2009). It’s what happens in one small, mountain, North Carolina town, after an EMP hits. Not that far from your part of the world. I see there are three sequels. And, a TV series in the works. Should be filming, right now.
Anytime there’s a power outage here, I always wonder if it’s an EMP. I check out the traffic, on the freeway. If it’s still moving, then no. Usually, it’s cause by fried squirrel. Lew
Yo, Chris – Maximize the economic potential of your steep land! 🙂
https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/25/sport/cheese-rolling-coopers-hill-england-spt-intl
It should be made an Olympic sport. Looks far more interesting than what’s mostly on offer.
I bit the bullet, and ordered some asparagus seeds from Nichols. I just don’t think the roots are going to make it. Now watch, the day the seeds show up … I can’t harvest for two or three years, anyway, so, why not give it a whirl?
I put tomato cages, around my tomatoes. But anchor them with a double strand of jute, to a trellis, or t-post. It works for a season Also, I want to stay more on top of pruning them, this year. Take some weight off. I asked the Master Gardener, who is really into pruning tomatoes if, when they get so tall, you can lop the top off. Yes.
Morons! As with last year, someone pulled up the sunflowers I had planted, that were just coming up. They’re in a corner of the strawberry bed, where I can anchor them to a nearby bird house. I had just weeded that strawberry bed, the night before, so it’s not like it needed to be weeded.
I just read a recent article on Viking health. No wonder they were so raspy.
https://www.myclassicsportal.co.uk/my-blogs/new-study-reveals-hidden-health-struggles-of-vikings-using-advanced-ct-scans
I don’t think scurvy would have been much of a problem. Their voyages were rather short. Mostly.
Here’s a good picture of the horned Viking, on the Oseberg tapestry.
https://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/manufacturing/text/horned_helmets.htm
Our high yesterday was 66F (18.88C). The overnight low was 41F (5C). Forecast high for today is 77F. Into the 80s, tomorrow. Maybe.
I watched “Time Bandits,” last night. You know, I don’t think I’d ever seen it. Very entertaining, and quit funny, in spots. I hardly recognized Sean Connery. My, he was young.
I’m reading a book, that has a bit of an Australian slant. “Noble Fragments: The Gripping Story of the Antiquarian Bookseller Who Broke Up a Gutenberg Bible.” (Visontay, 2024). Back in the early 1920s, a New York City rare book dealer acquired a Gutenberg bible, that had some missing pages. He decided to break it up, and sell off individual pieces. Some single pages, some entire chapters.
He’d come from Hungary / Austria, and had many relatives, there. Then comes the Holocaust. Remnants of the family landed in Sydney, Australia, and opened the Minerva Delicatessen. Just about that time the bookseller, died. They received a bit of the inheritance, from the bookseller. Not a great amount, but enough to give them a leg up. It was the author’s family, but he hadn’t heard anything about their connection, until he started clearing out his father’s house. And found documents. So, he started to investigate.
There’s an interesting chapter about his visit to a Melbourne rare book dealer. Doug Stewart. “Doug Stewart Fine Books.” Looks like he still in business. To give you an idea about how interesting his story is, the title of that chapter is, “Confessions of a Teenage Book Hustler.” 🙂
Breaking up books, in the rare book trade (or, even further down the scale) is a fraught subject. Always has been. Some book dealers think it’s heretical and anathema. Others seem to think, under certain conditions, it might be acceptable. And, usually, the parts are more valuable than the whole. Lew
Chris:
“What do you mean that you can’t run four hair dryers on an 1800W generator?” Hee, hee, hee!
I thought we “let sleeping dogs lie”?
So, it really is a house. Neat.
“Humble geological artefact” – nope, it hasn’t changed. You have peak rocks, I don’t, because we just don’t use the volume that you do. You may have some of mine.
Wow! You are Mt. Everest compared to me. I am at about 800ft (244m) above sea level. The Atlantic Ocean is about 140 miles (43m) as the crow flies and the land between us and the ocean is mostly flat, with some hills. So when you get to my area the mountains here look pretty large, though they are actually gentle old things. But plenty steep!
Yes, figs trigger me. I am allergic to them.
What eats groundhogs? Foxes, bobcats, coyotes, hawks – all of which we have, though I can’t see a hawk picking up one of the really big older ones. My son saw one fighting with a dog once; the dog gave up. And Baby Sue (no relation to Mr. Baby), a chow/beagle, caught and ate a young one once.
Speaking of groundhogs, Elvis got in the garden again last night. He did what I thought he might do: He remembered that he had another hole further down the fence that had been covered up and chewed through the black plastic to get through that. We now have a plan involving a LOT of chicken wire. Oh, goody – more money down the drain.
There is a rose that I have been trying to find here in the States, but I missed the window of opportunity for mailing before it got hot (I didn’t know that it would be like March for a couple of weeks). It is one of the best for rose hips: Frau Dagmar Hastrup.
Pam
Hi Pam,
🙂 You know! You’d be amazed how few people realise how much energy their devices require.
Ollie thoroughly enjoyed his head scruffing. He’s now sound asleep on the sheepskin whilst hopefully enjoying pleasant dreams.
It was a very comfortable shed occasionally subject to external colder conditions than folks in the big smoke have nary adjusted themselves too. Sadly, the fear exceeded the reality. Now it houses preserves.
One day perhaps, your son may decry the paucity of rocks at your place, then all and sundry will know that Peak Rocks is real. 😉
Oh! I’d not realised that the elevation here was four times higher. However, your latitude is almost the same as here. Hey, it might be colder here on average than in your part of the world! How funny would that be? A similar visual trick operates here as well – the small mountain range rises abruptly from an elevated plain. The mountains capture the weather.
I know, and recall your latex / fig allergy and what do you do? The commercial dishwashing detergent gives me eczema. Our bodies sometimes are outraged at the various chemicals. The fig flowers do make a tasty jam though.
Ah, those other larger critters may be excluded by fences, and dare I mention it, also the activities of your neighbours. I had plans to deal with the deer, but the neighbours beat me to it, but then they might take actions against the foxes too which will give the rabbits a leg up. It’s complicated.
Beagles are tough as, and it was only the Crusty Beagle who could deal to the original Fluff boss who was feared by all other dogs, whilst being photographed randomly by humans. The boss dog did bring that trouble down on her own head! A force to be reckoned with except for the old blood hound who was her nemesis.
Naughty Elvis! I thought he’d left the building, but apparently not. Steel is good, but I’ve seen forest critter worry at chicken wire. They bend the stuff back and forth until it breaks. Still, your ground hog might not be up to that task.
That’s an old school rose, which looks suspiciously like the one growing here, although the one you mentioned has more consistently pink flowers. They set seed that variety. A fascinating old world variety which I hope you add to your garden.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
I’ve seen that sport in the news, and what a fine human effort it is, especially dodging the folks looking for recompense through legal means. And I’m amazed that people would be taking a touch of Dutch courage prior to the event. Strangely it doesn’t look all that vertical, but a 60 degree drop is phenomenal! Agreed, it’s an awesome test of prowess.
Not good about the asparagus crown, but you did kind of say it was dry looking when you planted it out. Bare rooted plants dislike having their roots in that dry condition, and the plants grow like weeds here, so I reckon they’ll take just fine as seeds, but you might not see any spears this year.
Tomato vines can be a bit Jack and Bean Stalk and reach for the very stars they get so tall. They call that ‘topping off’ of the tomato vines, and it didn’t seem to make any difference, although I believe the plants then send more energy into the fruit – but who knows, and I didn’t run any comparison tests. Double jute – good idea and I’d not considered doing that. Thanks! Pruning near to ground level seems like a good idea to me with tomatoes, and we have less disease problems down here (at the moment) than in your country.
Someone must have it in for the sunflowers! Trail cameras are useful for such ‘who dunit’ moments!
Wonder if the ancient Vikings knew of willow bark? But didn’t they run slave farms? Hardly ideal conditions to grow edible plants of the highest quality, so no wonder they were in poor health. And the rains may have leached plenty of soil minerals, despite the glacial grinding of rocks producing plenty of fine minerals for plants.
Ah, of course that makes sense with the shorter voyages, although hadn’t they made it to the eastern coast of the North American continent? That’s a big journey.
Ook! Confronting a Viking warrior with a robust helmet would be a fearsome sight to behold. I like the idea of horned helmets, and it would have a certain scare factor to it. Dunno.
It’s warmer where you are, just. 61’F to 52’F tomorrow. Had a little bit more rain this evening. All gratefully received.
What? Was Sean Connery in Time Bandits? I forgot that inclusion. The actor scored a long and successful innings and is an inspiration to us all. I see that Brazil and the Adventures of Baron Munchausen were not as commercially successful. In 1981, the actor was comparatively young, but then, weren’t we all?
Sometimes antiquarian book sellers have to pay the bills. A professional hazard if I may say so. Hmm, you know I’ve never visited that business you mentioned, and rarely get to that part of town. There’s a lovely very beautiful antiquarian bookshop in the big smoke – Kay Craddock Antiquarian book seller. You should check out the photos, the building is stunning, and they do lovely window displays of their wares.
Isn’t it always the case that the parts are worth more than the whole? Try making a machine from parts, or repair an old machines, and that will soon become obvious. Maybe I’m not much of a purist, but if the book is damaged beyond repair or recognition in the first place, does the activity even matter at that point?
Did paid work today, and finished very late this evening. All part of the job. Had a simple pasta dinner of rocket and blitzed peanuts. Yum!
Cheers
Chris
Hi Margaret,
Ook! Thanks for the lovely comment, however I worked late into this evening and sadly have to call the dreaded mid-week hiatus. Will speak tomorrow.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – Perhaps people in countries with decent health care are a bit more daring? 🙂 I mentioned to an acquaintance, who is going to Italy next month, that if he should (parrish the thought) injure himself, at least his medical care will cost little or nothing. Tourists to the US are often advised to load up on travel insurance. Otherwise, they may be in for a very unpleasant surprise.
Oh, I don’t expect to harvest anything out of the asparagus bed, for two or three years. At my age, optimistic, I think. 🙂 One of the Master Gardeners is a woman, originally from Scotland. She’s one of these women who’s always frantically in motion, so I generally avoid her. Makes me tired. She is also a wealth of negative information. When I mentioned the asparagus, it was, “We have a patch and it’s not worth the real estate, because there’s only enough for my husband and I.” Does she think I’ll be feeding the multitudes? When I mentioned I would probably grow more soft neck garlic, as it keeps better she opined that it wasn’t as flavorful and the hard neck. Always a bit of a negative comment.
LOL. The other Master Gardener who told me about pruning the tomatoes is always harping on how it “sends more energy to the tomato.” Yes, yes, I know. You’ve only mentioned it a dozen times. 🙂 I preempted her, this year, by asking about topping the tomatoes. I’ve also been thinking about taking off a few of the limbs, from the lower part of the plant. As careful as I am to “water low,” I still get some splash back.
I think bad teeth have killed more people, through history, than anything else. The Romans seemed to have pretty good teeth, and seemed to realize the wisdom of keeping them clean. And, they only had honey as a sweetener. One scene from Brin’s “The Postman” always stuck in my mind. He’s very particular about his teeth, and is always scrounging for toothbrushes and toothpaste among the wreckage of industrial civilization. Why? Because all his mates, early on, died from tooth problems.
the Vikings set off from western Greenland, for North America. Not that big of a jump.
Our high yesterday was 75F (23.88C). The overnight low was 48F (8.88C). Forecast high for today is 82F. We may get a bit of rain, late tonight into tomorrow morning. Only a 20% chance, and not more than a trace, at that.
Shelly Duval was also in “The Time Bandits.” A couple of scenes. Including the one where they go down on the Titanic. 🙂 I started watching “Brazil,” last night. Or rather, I watched all the “extras.” Might tackle the actual movie, tonight. I didn’t realize that Gilliam had such a huge dust up, with the movie studio. He had contracted for “final cut.” The suits at the studio didn’t like it, and withheld half the payment, unless he cut it and gave it a happy ending. He stood firm, and after downright guerrilla warfare, prevailed. At least for the theatrical release. Later, a made for tv version was the gutted movie.
Yes, Stewart’s Fine Books is on the High Street, in Anadale. I couldn’t find any pictures of what the exterior looks like. But Craddock’s? Lovely old building and such a cozy interior. If you go to Stewart’s make sure your hands are clean. 🙂
We talked awhile back about the Japanese Kei trucks. I saw an article about them, yesterday.
https://www.opb.org/article/2025/05/24/pacific-northwest-kei-trucks/
I think I’ve seen one, here.
I was kind of at lose ends, for dinner. Finally thought I’d start off with a tin of garbanzo beans and rice. Garlic. I picked some lettuce and parsley from the garden. A Roma tomato. A bit of frozen corn. Chopped up some celery. I had also picked a stock from the garden, of maybe garlic. Though it might have been a red onion. When I chopped up the stock, it made my eyes water! Mixed the whole potage together, nuked it for ten minutes. It really had a … hmmm, smooth (?) flavor, and was quit tasty. Lew
Hello Chris,
Indeed, numbers tell no lies. Or was that statistics?
Anyways, I am learning to observe. It is hard.
At school, I was very good at learning concepts and ideas out of books, and repeating the right sentences in the exams, or executing the correct juggling of a complicated formula in physics.
But looking with my own eyes, not so much.
It is even harder to understand measurements of the invisibles, like the concentration of boron in the soil. How much is enough?
Anyways, tried to share some observations and amendments that we trial this year on the treesforpeace.org blog. If you read that, could you let me know if it is clear enough or what I could explain more. I barely understand the stuff myself.
I long for the figs. And the first potatoes. Probably for midsummer’s night.
Water is life. Looking forward to hearing more about your experiences on the water front. For at least two hundred years, a four meter deep well has been sufficient to get enough water for cows and people. In 2023, it went almost dry. The coming decade seems to offer more surprises so the question is when is a good time to make the well deeper?
Peace,
Göran
Chris:
And yet we have had it get down to -10F (-23C) here, though that was a rare occasion. It is not so rare, though, for it to get down to 7F (-14C) in the winter, or even below 0F. Something is keeping you warmer.
I still haven’t tried cooking figs before I eat them to see if that neutralizes the ficin.
Dogs are something else, aren’t they? That’s why we love them so much. They can’t help themselves, the little darlin’s. Except for those who go to obedience school . . .
Elvis keeps making a return engagement.
I already have a place all dug up and ready to plant Frau Dagmar. The problem is that she is hard to find in the U.S. Hopefully, next spring I will get on it early and find one.
I think our rain total for the last fortnight is 14in (36cm). That’s a good amount. It’s been so cool all along, though, that we really could have been having a fire, but we’re storing up cool air with the windows all open for when it suddenly turns into June’s hot weather.
Pam
@Lew:
Just what I need: A book (or a TV show) to really scare me.
It’s too hot and humid in Bali. Find me a cooler place.
Lewis begs to differ. He works very hard eating bugs. It’s just that he needs his morning walnut to get started since Mrs. Lewis refuses to make him a morning cuppa. She is too busy taking care of Lewis, Jr., aka Peanut.
Pam
@ Margaret:
If anyone deserves a break, you do. I am so pleased at how well Marty is doing. There are a couple of guys at my mother’s assisted living place (I go by once a week to visit people even though she is gone) who remind me of Marty.
Pam
Chris,
My neighbor once put up some solar panels. There were several tall pine trees three houses to the south of him. Their shade made the panels nearly useless. He eventually removed the panels and sold them. Shortly thereafter, the trees were removed. No, there was no correlation, but life can be strange sometimes.
Thanks for you power generation discussion. I always enjoy reading them. I discuss your reality with people periodically. Some people have actually been prompted to rethink their expectations and do more research.
Nice pruning job on the olive trees. They will spring back nicely, I imagine.
Far out, you got frost! We hit 33C today. Definitely not acclimated to that, so it felt terribly hot. Remained indoors all afternoon. The grass seeds are enjoying the heat combined with my watering twice a day. What has sprouted is growing fast, and more seeds sprout daily.
Well, except for a strip about a meter wide. These were just starting to sprout. Then the owner visited the next door house today. It has been vacant since the old gentlemen died 6 years ago. So, the guy came by today and mowed his lawn AND a strip a meter wide on my side of the property line. That sucked the seeds up, up and away. I said “bleeping bleep of a bleep” several times and I also called the owner a “bleeping elbow”, but he had already left so he didn’t hear any of it. Bleep. 😉
As the sun is nearing sunset, it is cooling off. I changed a water setting in the back. Dame Avalanche got the zoomies and ran around the yard like a crazy dog. And dug in the spot I let her dig in. And she dug and she ran and she stood in the bird bath and drank water. Then played with the sprinkler. That’s one I hadn’t seen before, playing with the sprinkler.
The Princess had me stop reading and scrolling and go back to your picture of the fog and clouds and land all merging. I enjoyed the picture and she was very impressed by it.
Okay, this is the time of year when we both have roses blooming. The grafted tops of my roses all died several years ago, but the roots sprouted new growth. All of the roses are now a very deep red. Looks to be a prolific season for the roses. And the thyme is blooming too.
In a brick planter in the front, there have always been snow-in-summer plants. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerastium_tomentosum
The roots spread out of the planters and are spreading through the lawn where it’s not wanted. It thrives in poor soil and dry conditions. The Princess doesn’t like the plant. I’ve spent much of the last 10 days digging it up. Almost done. I’ve got some grass areas in the back where I don’t want grass. I can sense a few days of transplanting grass from the back to the front.
The grass seeding projects have also been in the front. There will be multiple varieties of grass growing, along with thyme and some succulents throughout the front “lawn”. I like biodiversity.
Aren’t you glad you have that power wheelbarrow?
DJSpo
Hi Margaret,
It’s hard to make mad cash in farming, so subsidies for things like solar farms and wind turbines, keep people on the land. But yours is a good question – is the land there in the future for rural or industrial pursuits? Hard to know.
Ooo, never let a good rock go to waste – you can quote me there! Although there have been some Moby rocks which are immovable / indestructible using any means I can bring to bear upon them. At the very least the rocks would be useful on the fence line as a defence against burrowing critters, maybe.
It’s life isn’t it? You do what you do, when you can, then a person asks for assistance. Good to hear that the young bloke is working hard and importantly, keen to learn. Bee hives are crazy heavy when full of honey. To be honest, I’ve heard stories of them being stolen, and that would be a difficult proposition for a hive which is near full.
Good catch with the swarm, and the new colony may slowly adapt to the dreaded mites – you never know. Regular swarming is not good for honey production, but beneficial for the bees, from what I’ve been reading.
That sounds like a great arrangement with the vegetables. A person can only do what they do. We’ve made a contact for heritage breed chickens, so will sort out that mess later in the year when some point-of-lay birds are available. The seller was locked out of the agricultural expo we usually go to, even though they weren’t in a you-know-what-bird-issue affected area. Hmm.
Hehe! Free roaming chickens are a lovely sight, but usually end up quickly dead as feed for critters. Everyone loves eating chicken – a tasty meat. Found a small hole in the chickens run today and filled the tunnel up with roof silicone. The rodents won’t like that at all.
Two inches of rain is not a bad amount as you’re not quite in the hottest part of the year yet. Who knows what the future holds in store for the climate, and do hope the heavy winds don’t return for you. Winds dry the land out.
Go Marty! And that sounds like really good news with his new connections. Hopefully the fishing idea disappeared to wherever it came from? I’m of the opinion that learning good grace is part of the journey we all are on.
🙂 Always appreciate our chats, and glad to hear you’re taking some time off to recover. There’s been a lot of upheaval for you over the past few years, so enjoy the smooth sailing whilst the waters are calm.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Pam,
I thought the Titanic folks had it bad being unceremoniously dumped into water which was -2’C / 28’F (which is as cold as I’d ever seen here), but now you’re telling me that your area can see extremes of temperature as low as -10’F. Far out, that is cold weather beyond my experience. Although we were once in the Himalayas in Nepal camping at almost 15,000ft above sea level, and the clothes on the line froze solid over night. That was so weird for a summer soft person like myself, but also cold. Bizarrely, once defrosted the clothes were then dry, and I didn’t understand that at all. The days way up there at the top of the world were nice enough though. Sadly 7’F will be very challenging for citrus trees, sorry to say. But! They have the toasty basement to enjoy.
Worthwhile looking into, and correct preparation of food stuffs used to go a long way towards neutralising the worst aspects of the edibles. It’s a lost skill don’t you reckon? Some of the early explorers were thoughtfully instructed by the indigenous folks (who in many occasions were concerned for their well being) as to the proper techniques for food preparation of the local plants – but did they take notes? Given some of the outcomes, my gut feeling suggests, hubris can lead to nemesis.
Dogs are lovely yeah, except for when the cheeky scamps are up to mischief. 🙂 Pam, they’ve ditched me tonight for a prized spot in front of the wood heater. What’s worse is that naughtiest, has prime position, and may in fact be cooking her floppy ears…
Are you sure that Elvis the groundhog isn’t swapping notes with flo and flopsie the rabbits (here) over the interweb? Something has been snacking on my parsley plants the past few nights, and I drew a line when I noticed Ollie about to mark his territory on the crinkly leaves. Note to self: wash the leaves before the next salad!
A lovely rose, but aren’t they all? Maybehaps (nod to DJ for the useful word), and here I declare a touch of discomfiture, why not obtain a variety which is close? Or, wait until next spring. All fine paths, don’t you reckon? Does the particular variety hold a special place for you?
That’s a lot of rain. An awful lot of rain. Well done! We do that too with capturing what is technically known as the ‘coolth’ over night in the summer months. There may be better ways to keep the insides of a house cool, but they usually cost. I recall the days before air conditioning was considered a necessity.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Göran,
Very funny! Yes, all true too, on both counts. Hey, I have it on good authority, that numbers are both useful tools and abstract concepts. Who is the master in this instance: the tool, or the wielder of the implement? Or both?
Oh my! You are delving into some deep waters there. Hmm. Sandra thinks as you described and does extraordinarily well in aptitude testing and has a couple of degrees and a masters. And you have reached higher places, respect. To be honest, I don’t know a correct reply to your search (for wont of a better word, the English language is a poor vehicle in this regard).
My world is different again, and stories, relationships and patterns fill my mind. When a machine is broken, or say, not working as my mind expects it do so, instead of feeling frustrated, a question gets asked: What’s going on in there little matey machine? Then the stories in my head get checked against what’s happening in reality. For me, that’s the core of the skill of observation. Looking and comparing. Fuel, air, ignition and compression – they’re all meant to be acting in a certain way for the whole to work, and they interact in relationships. Listening to the machine as it operates reveals the patterns, and does the observation fit the narrative as to what is expected? Lot’s to see.
The thing is though, my stories are not fixed, and in fact they’re able to be disposed of, and hopefully replaced with, more workable stories. Fun fact, about two thirds of the population tend to rely instead upon a more rules based approach to all sorts of real world problems. As a creative thinker, you’d probably consider options and approaches which may come into conflict with rules, and then that creates friction. Hmm. What to do then?
And absolutely! It’s a subject I too wonder about. People can be rather dogmatic about the outcome with soils, but my perspective is to hope that the outcomes here are good enough. The perfect may be achievable with soil, but at what cost? It’s like extreme sports people, they only hold the best position for so long.
Yum! Yum! You’re in the hungry phase of the year when plants are growing, but not delivering, yet. Do you have fig trees there?
Thanks, and might do the next video on the water pipe system I installed earlier this week.
Four metres is pretty deep, but wells (we call them water bores) can reach 100m deep and then some. The hidden treasure can always be exhausted through over use.
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
Funny about that shade business, yeah! Shading is one of the issues here with solar power when that ol’ sun is low in the sky. This afternoon was sunny, but by late afternoon, only eight panels were soaking up the rays. Hmm. And hey, doesn’t your story of the pine trees suggest to avoid acting in haste and repenting at leisure? 😉 We’ve all been there and life can indeed be a strange journey.
Yeah, like how are those devices meant to produce any electricity when they’re covered with a thick layer of snow and ice? Good to hear that some people you’ve interacted with can lower their expectations. It’s a topic which is worthwhile coming back to over and over again. As a society we could have implemented the technology in a more appropriate way, but the need to make the systems economic has produced some weird outcomes, which may get worse over time. I never thought I’d get to the day where suggesting to switch on appliances around the lunchtime hours when connected to the grid in the lead up to the summer solstice, is not a bad idea.
Thanks! I really appreciate your opinion, and olive trees are as tough as old boots.
Hehe! The worm has turned!!! It was sunny and about 15’C here today which was kind of nice, but then I like 33’C days, up until about 2pm. Retreat indoors at such times – nobody wants a cooked head. Plants are candidly hardier and appreciate catching the rays.
Dumb question, how does the bloke even have access to a metre strip of your property? It might surprise you, but last Saturday I mowed the verge on the entire road, either side, and it was about 400m end to end, with a couple of passes. Looks really neat now, the other neighbour and I have some sort of random unspoken arrangement with this activity. Kind of works.
Good to hear that your nights are cooler, and that makes for a really delightful evening enjoying the activities of a certain Husky. Standing in the bird bath is a very dog thing to do – they cool their paw pads. Up north the working cattle dogs will jump entirely into the cattle watering troughs to cool off. Dogs are smart! Who doesn’t love playing with a sprinkler.
Thanks, the sky really blended into the fog layer and ground that day with the photo, and the blue fog just added a layer of mystery.
Hey, losing the graft sometimes happens with fruit trees too, especially when wallabies are involved. Hmm. Nice to hear that the rose rootstock produced a vivid red flower. How’s that for a good result?
Ah, well, not all plants appeal to everyone, and Cerastium tomentosum looks rather hardy in the sort of way that it can entirely take over a garden bed. Although has that happened in your part of the world? Not an ideal situation. It’s probably very flammable too looking at the leaves, but I could be wrong.
Grass happily spreads seed everywhere once established, but I get that with the transplanting and wanting to help the plants get established. Saves waiting.
Man I feel like Gordon Gecko (remember that character?): Biodiversity will save civilisation! 🙂 It’s not a bad option, and I can’t really fathom the effort required to have only a single species of plant growing in a lawn. Seems like a lot of trouble to go to, but then, the whole purist mindset is lost on me – and clearly you too.
It was a lovely day here today. Spent most of it indoors on paid work, but did slip out at lunchtime to pick up some supplies in the big town closest to the big smoke. There’s plenty of things which can’t be purchased in the nearest town to here, which no longer has a hardware store. Hmm. Oh well.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
They used to suggest that ‘an apple a day, keeps the doctor away! But those possible medical bills in your country would have a similar effect. Scare me silly. Man, I so hear you about that, nobody wants that sort of a nasty surprise, and insurance seems to be a what do they call it, pre-existing condition?
One does have to be realistic, but then there’s that optimism side of the story as well. Blend the two together. Chuck in a touch of pessimism, and you’ll probably be back where you started with realism. Dude, what will be, will be and I can’t speak for other people, but I just try to do my best each day and am satisfied with that. Other people might and sometimes do judge that harshly, then so what?
I reckon you’ll have some spears by next summer with those seeds. Ah, well that’s an option for behaviour. Sometimes I freak people out by giving them my full attention. There’s probably some middle ground in there don’t you reckon? But on a serious note, we live in a very distracted and overly stimulated society. Dude, I don’t get that negativity, and I’ve heard people make claims about how much they consume from their garden, when in reality it’s just not all that much. Then there’s the other end of the continuum where I mention the couple of hundred fruit trees and they think I’m supplying a small village with fruit. Except the village contains a lot of forest critters! The physical activity of gardening produces a sense of mental well being. Hmm.
Honestly I don’t know whether the claim about the pruning of tomato vines actually does improve the fruit set and ripening? Like I was saying, maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t matter so much. Haven’t run the comparison test, and people do tend to repeat what they’ve heard or read – heck even I do that. We’ve grown tomatoes for years, and sometimes the vines have sprawled over the ground like pumpkins can. Didn’t seem to matter too much. On the other hand, I like growing them in the greenhouse climbing up string. That’s easier but doesn’t suit varieties like the small prolific yellow cherry varieties.
Do you get much in the way of tomato diseases? They’re not common down here. Oh my gawds, I water the leaves of the tomato plants! Do I go straight down into the underworld for that naughty act?
Interesting about teeth. Long ago I read some correlation between the health of a person’s set of teeth, and their heart? Always worthwhile looking after teeth as the Postman’s friends discovered. Still, I doubt that there’d be much sugar and/or other sweet treats in a post apocalyptic Oregon, and probably plenty of carbon to clean one’s teeth with. Hey, I’ve never heard of this trilogy. What a mess my education has been. It’s not right, you know. The series sounds pretty good.
I’d not realised that. Greenland would be a very difficult land to inhabit, even today. Hey, makes you wonder what happened in the colony for them to head south and west? Weren’t the Viking settlers of Greenland somehow officially cut off by the Viking Kings? I never quite understood the reasons for that act. But yeah, not a large distance.
Your weather is sounding pretty good to me, although it was sunny and 59’F here today. Spent most of it indoors doing paid work – must have done something bad in a past life, but we can only ever speculate, maybe! That was then, some things need to be gotten over. 🙂 Not much of a probability for the rainfall there, did it eventuate?
The plot line of Time Bandits is way out there, and sounded like fun, although the exploding parents at the end would have been problematic for the protagonist. Did you end up tackling the Brazil film? How did it compare to the earlier film?
Thanks for the advice, and I’d not realised that such things were a social faux pas in a hallowed environment. Presumably food and drinks are right out. Man, I’ll try my best, no promises though.
The article on the Kei trucks was right up my alley. They’re my people! 🙂 Suzuki Jimny’s used to sell well in your country, but safety concerns killed them off. I don’t believe that they grace your roads any more? Your missing out for sure on the experience. At least they’re an option in your state, and a good one too. And that’s been my experience too, second hand stuff from Japan has been cared for well.
Nice meal, it must have been the day for corn – a cob of which graced my meal plate this evening. Hehe! Your onion has some bite, and you got bit. It happens with onions although there’s a trick for cutting them to stop the err, pain. And hey can you imagine the pain of accidentally wiping some hot chilli near to your eyes? Youch.
An uncomfortable thought to conclude on. Taking a leaf out of the Brazil story you mentioned and the forced conclusion.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Chris,
I’m sitting on the back porch on a rainy, cloudy, cool afternoon, almost caught up with the backlog following several days out of town. For all that we are nearing the summer solstice, our high temperatures this month haven’t been much different from yours (at least we haven’t had any frost). This is due to a persistent weather pattern that has brought the same cool, cloudy, rainy weather to a large part of the US Midwest and mid-Atlantic. If we had solar panels, they would not be producing much of anything for batteries to store or to destabilize the grid. While this is unusual for May in our area, it isn’t unprecedented. I’d really enjoy a high of 30C and the chance to cook my head properly! Maybe by Monday we’ll get that.
Because the electric lines are overhead and severe weather happens, multi-day electrical outages occur often enough that two of the neighbors have whole-house natural gas fired generators in a constant state of readiness. They are programmed to come on shortly after an electrical outage begins. They must also isolate the house from the electric grid for the safety of the people who repair the grid following an outage and sense when the grid is re-activated in order to shut off and allow the grid to take over. Sounds complex to me, and we can hear them when they are running, so we don’t get the benefit of silence when the electricity is cut off. Natural gas service is stable barring an earthquake … at least as long as the natural gas pipelines keep bringing it to us at a price we can afford. For how much longer that is, who can say? Nature bats last.
The lettuce has been loving the cooler than normal weather this month. The tomatoes and peppers, not so much, but they are alive and ready to grow strongly once it warms up. Most of the seeds I planted just before we left town failed to produce seedlings, so I re-planted seeds of summer squash and pole beans yesterday and today. The combination of rain today and warmer temperatures starting tomorrow ought to treat them well. If the birds leave the seeds alone, all should be well.
As for fruit, I am harvesting a few handfuls of strawberries every few days – better than last year but not as much as I’d like. The mulberry tree is ripening its fruits, which I am sharing with the birds. At least there are some branches low enough I can harvest the mulberries from them. One of the apricot trees is full of fruit; I hope the birds leave us a few to eat!
Claire
@ Margaret – good to hear from you, and I’m glad Marty is doing so well! I get hiring out the work that is getting to be too much as we age. I halved the size of my vegetable garden this year for the same reason; it’s worked out well.
Claire
Yo, Chris – Reading over your shoulder .. Freeze dried clothes. Also works on potatoes. And, yak dung for fuel. Or, Llama. 🙂 We have a patch of Snow in Summer, here. In the white garden. It’s about a meter across. Last year, we sent some to the plant sale. It pulls up, very easy, and is also easy to transplant. But, yes, it could get out of hand.
Preexisting condition is when the insurance company denies your claim. because you’re trying to pull a fast one (from their point of view) and get coverage for something you had, before you signed up for their insurance. Some insurance companies don’t cover anything, for a year or two after signing up. It’s a favored ploy, for denying coverage.
Last night, I planted a tomato, replanted the sunflowers, picked more Chamomile tea, scattered slug bait and watered. As far as diseases in tomatoes go, we have to watch for tobacco mosaic virus. Though it doesn’t seem like much of a problem. There’s blossom end rot, but that has more to do with not the right nutrients in the soil. Usually, calcium. Split tops of tomatoes is usually from too much water on the tomatoes. Either through rain or watering incorrectly 🙂 I noticed if I snip the tomatoes off with scissors, leaving the tops on until I process them, I get very few split tops.
Oh, I’ll keep my tomatoes pruned up, this year. If nothing else, it will take some weight off, and the cage won’t fall over and kill a small child. 🙂 We had an inmate who planted her whole bed in unsupported tomatoes. She said that’s the way they did it in Iowa, and it was fine. I did notice she had a lot of rot, close to the ground.
Yes, inflammation in the teeth, can cause inflammation in the heart. Any kind of inflammation is generally, a bad thing.
The history of the settlement, and abandonment of Greenland is interesting. More seems to be discovered, all the time. There are various theories, floating around.
https://w.wiki/EKid
Our high yesterday was 77F (25C). The forecasts keep promising some 80F+ days, but so far, close, but no C-gar. 🙂 The overnight low was 54F (12.22C). The forecast high for today is 69F. When I took H for a walk, around midnight, it was clear. By the time I went to bed, it was bucketing down. Still raining when I got up, this morning. I diddled around long enough, before walking H, that it had cleared off.
I made popcorn, and watched “Brazil,” last night. Compare and contrast to “Time Bandits?” Well there was only one dwarf in “Brazil” who only had a brief cameo. 🙂 In some ways, it’s thematically a “darker” movie. Someone in the DVD extras said that it was a cross between Kafka and Walter Mitty. I’d agree with that. I found it engrossing and entertaining. There was humor, but more of an ironic dark humor than broad, slap-stick.
I saw an article about the “right to repair.”
https://www.chronline.com/stories/washington-state-consumers-will-gain-right-to-repair-cellphones-and-other-electronics,381699?
Two steps forward, one step back. Lew
Chris:
I love really freezing weather – especially with a wind – for drying laundry on the line outside. It’s weather that’s not nice for much else, but it sure is fun to see blue jeans frozen stiff. In those conditions sometimes it only takes a half hour or less to put things out and have them dry. Mark this, though, that it hasn’t been nearly that cold for awhile. But 15,000 feet is super high, so I know that was cold!
“Hubris can lead to nemesis.” I think you’ve got it!
Ruby, I thought pricked ears got colder. Shame on you for stealing the best heat from your sister.
Oh – ick, Ollie! I am re-christening Elvis. His name is now Attila. Today I hurt my back building more fortresses. I am treating it. It is better.
Yes, I especially want a Frau Dagmar Hastrup as it is supposed to have the very best hips, can take a bit of shade, and does not get too overgrown. Besides, I like the name . . .
“Maybehaps” is good. Thanks DJSpo.
Pam
@DJSpo:
How could the house next door be vacant for 6 years and what is a bleeping elbow?
Pam
@Lew:
Since you are the master slughunter – what do you do with them after you catch them? They have just started bothering the garden this year. Oddly, I am mostly seeing those giant ones. Maybe it is because they are hard to miss. One was 5 inches long (12.7cm).
Pam
@ Pam,
Glad you’ve found “maybehaps” to be useful. It’s something that just came to mind one day and got put on paper and wherever.
The house next door? The owner/occupant died 6 years ago. His 6 children, the heirs, have been dilly dallying about going through things, spending months not doing anything with the interior belongings, etc. They also had quite the fight about whether to sell it or whether to use it as a rental. So, 6 years of empty house has gone by and it’s still not ready to sell.
“Bleeping elbow”? That’s a phrase coined by the old outdoor writer Patrick McManus first in his comical articles in outdoor magazines and then used in his books. I am 98% certain that he meant effing donkey’s hole, if you get my drift. 😉
DJSpo
Chris,
Indeed, if the panels are covered with several inches of snow, it doesn’t matter if the sun shines or not, there will be no electricity generated via solar. In addition, you get about 6 weeks of iffy solar power. Being further from the equator than you are, Spokane is probably closer to 8 weeks of iffy solar, and that’s if there is no snow cover. It’s these practicalities that are often neglected in the discussions.
Olives are a fruit. I’ve seen a lot of fruit trees get trimmed in similar fashion to how you trimmed the olive trees. They’ve always done superbly after such pruning.
It was cooler today, but still achieved 26C. It was cloudy most of the day, it was very windy and there was 2 hours of rain in the early afternoon. It was a pleasant break from Wednesday’s heat. Any rain is a welcome treat, too.
Okay, front yards in most parts of town, including where I am. On our block, there are 11 houses. One is entirely fenced in. Two others have fences on both sides of the front yards, but none facing the street. This means that most of the front yards connect directly to the neighboring yards with no barriers. (Back yards are universally separated by fences.) The younger folks north of me and I can access one another’s front yards freely. In fact, in winters, I will blaze a trail from the front porch of their house to my north down to the yard two houses south of me using Big Bertha.
In this case, the house to my south and I have a 15 meter wide strip between our two driveways, the only two driveways in this part of the neighborhood. So, the gent to the south just got carried away with mowing and did a meter on my side of the property line between the driveways. In all fairness, until the older gentleman in that house died, either he (or his sons) or I would mow that entire patch between the two driveways. Sort of like your unspoken agreement with your neighbor regarding the road’s verges.
I can tell it’s nearing summer. Where Dame Avalanche was digging the past two days is her “summer den”, a nice hole she’s dug in the lawn abutting the brick patio. It’s deep enough that she can barely see out of it unless she stands up. It’s got to be nicely cool.
The rose result turned out fantastic. When the lighting is good I should take some pictures of the roses, send you one or two photos. The roses are pretty and contrast nicely with the brick front of the house.
There are three flower beds on our normal walking routes that are full of snow in summer plants. A younger guy I rode the bus with researched what to grow in his yard that uses little water. He decided on snow in summer where most people would have grass. Where most people would have flowers, he decided on succulents. He got a lot of succulents from me. His mother doesn’t like succulents. However, in one of those weird twists of fate…rather than a 30-year-old man living in his mother’s basement, in this case the mother is living in the 30-year-old man’s basement.
Ah, yes, Gordon Gecko. He of “Greed is good” fame. I’d forgotten the biodiversity quote, however. Thanks for the reminder. As you surmised, I have learned to prefer a biodiverse lawn. If it includes wildflowers, too, so much the better. I think it’s a much more natural look, reminiscent of meadows in the mountains. I also think it will be better for insects and other creepie crawlies and might assist with more biodiversity among that subset of life.
DJSpo
Hi Pam,
🙂 Thanks for the laughs, and if I’d not seen that for myself with frozen clothes, I’d be dubious about the claim. Totally crazy cold weather that is, and wouldn’t happen here even at 28’F (which is rare, but does occur once or twice per year). To be honest I was worried that the clothes were going to be damaged by the freeze, but no it didn’t seem to be a problem at all.
It was a long way up into the sky and glad we walked up the elevation and acclimatised slowly. At one point we peered down from way up high in the mountains deep into the Kali Gandaki Gorge and could see an aircraft flying way down below. My brain had trouble comprehending the totality of the visuals, and so the thought: “There’s something you don’t see everyday” popped into the consciousness.
Oooo, I’ll have to check with Dame Plum about the pricked ears. For surely the lady has some opinions on this issue.
Elvis has a sort of loveable rogue element to the name, Attila kind of suggests that things have turned ugly in your garden. Hope your back recovers, and as an old fella I can only but suggest to stretch everyday and do weight bearing exercises regularly – for that’s what I have to do. Hard it is, difficult that may be, reluctance is real.
The rose does have a lovely name, and is there a story there? Kinda sounds like it.
Made a lemon meringue pie this evening with Anzac biscuit base. It’s looking good.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Claire,
It’s been my observation that dry and warm years where you have access to enough water, are the very best growing seasons. Too little water in those conditions, and things become problematic, if not dire. But too much water and low temperatures during the growing season is like my personal nightmare. Still, plants grow exponentially and yours may make up for lost time next month leading up to the summer solstice. It’s still early in the season.
Yes, solar power production can dip to lows, even in the summer months. It’s a good technology, but not one for the anxious or expectational! 🙂 Do you reckon the weather in your part of the world is becoming more variable? That’s what I’m seeing here, with extremes all over the shop. Dunno. I’m thinking about including the rainfall statistics on the next blog and writing about that story?
An enviable, but super expensive back up electricity system you’ve described. I’m not so sure about gas as an energy source, and don’t know whether I’ve spoken to you about the recent efforts here to disentangle ourselves from the propane bottles? Nowadays we use very little of the stuff. Hmm. It appears that gas supplies in this corner of the country have peaked and demand is, or has, outstripped supply. Other parts of the country are a major gas exporter, but then as a country we’re reliant for 90% of oil imports and so have little real choice in the export matter. An interesting time to be alive. Exactly, nature bats last. 🙂
Good to hear that your diversity of plants are producing some results, and isn’t that the case with the lettuce enjoying the cooler weather? It bolts to seed here during high summer. And those other plants require warm soil, as you know. It’s a gamble planting the seeds early, and sometimes it works, and other times it fails.
Respect! Strawberries do my head in, and I’ve given up. 🙂 Glad to read that you’re made of sterner and more experienced stuff. Alpine strawberries are not so bad, but honestly they don’t taste the same as the sun ripened hybrids. Good stuff with the apricots, and fingers crossed. I don’t net the trees here, and usually the birds leave the unripe rock hard fruits alone, but when they finally ripen and soften, you have to be fast.
The birds need to eat too, and they bring in plenty of soil minerals here – as do the rest of the forest critters. Claire, the thing I worry about is: they might be more cunning than I!
You may have missed it, but Goran (Trees for Peace blog on the left hand side of the screen) did a soil test at his tree nursery. There’s a book I may recommend, which you have had some part in. Worthwhile having a look.
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
Yes, the solar panels don’t work well when snow and ice is the norm for the winter experience. How can they? At the moment almost three weeks out from the solstice with the sun low in the sky, the surrounding tall trees shade the solar panels at certain points in the day, and that reduces the potential. A lot of people presume that they’ll be in a perfect situation for this technology, but look at roof designs, they’re constructed with aesthetics and water shedding abilities in mind. Placement of solar panels is the last consideration, if it even gets a look in. In the big smoke I note solar panels pointing in all manner of directions due to the inherent roof designs.
Sometimes with fruiting trees, they need to be cut back hard to a new shape, and that’s fine. Olives, apples and pears can live a long time. Tree diseases aren’t too much of a problem here, so that’s a consideration as well.
Almost perfect weather in your part of the world, and the couple of hours rain is a tidy bonus. It was cool and sunny here today around 15’C. The sun felt nice and we got outside and dug soil on the new water tank sites. Many of the other projects require soil, so I’m working the angle with the Editor on creating a flat materials storage area adjacent to the new water tanks. So far she remains unconvinced, but then I often arrive at decisions far more quickly mostly due to relying on intuition (gut feeling). Steering committees are for other people! 🙂
I see, and had not realised that there were no front side fences. They’re a thing down here in housing estates, although bizarrely there’s often no front fence, just to either side of the yard. The rental property we lived in a nearby town had no back fence – that was weirder and also a problem with the dogs. Had to set up a temporary dog proof back fence. A strange house that one, and also the coldest and hottest house I’d ever lived in. 4’C in winter to 40’C in summer – indoors. Not good and the result of an uninsulated black clay tiled roof. Moving in to an unfinished house here was no great hardship relatively speaking.
Go Dame Avalanche, and surely at such times she is dreaming of Buck sleeping with his pack in the snow in the classic ‘Call of the Wild’?
Please do, and I look forward to seeing the photos of the roses.
Gardens can be climate appropriate for sure, and the local insect, reptile, small avian and amphibian critters will appreciate the wildness of those plants. Yup. Ha! Not all mothers are responsible, I can assure you of this. 🙂
I don’t really get the desire for a perfect competitive lawn, but everyone needs a hobby. But wildflowers and other low growing plants sprinkled through grasslands does exactly as you say, produce a pleasing meadow effect. And yeah the insects do appreciate the flowers for their nectar and pollen. People forget that insects leave manure for soil feeding as well.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Yes, I’d forgotten about seeing folks in other countries using the cold overnight temperatures to freeze dry the potato crop. And dried dung does get burned as cooking fuel in parts of the world, even today. It didn’t smell too bad from what I can recall.
There’s always talk about invasive species this and that, and some do get out of hand, but eventually some other critter works out how to make a meal of the many examples of surplus species. Like those ravens up in the northern part of the continent which learned to consume parts of the dreaded cane toad, whilst avoiding the toxic chunks. Clever birds.
Dienying coverage allegedly had some pretty nasty unintended consequences a year or so back. Not an industry I’d want to work in.
The skies were blue and sunny today after an early foggy start. A great day to continue digging soil on the site for the two new water tanks. Moved a lot of soil, but we might not have enough to complete other projects. Negotiations have begun on a new excavation idea! A flat area for materials storage and racking. One must employ a flexible mindset when problems wish to be resolved! 😉 We’ll see if I get the idea across the line with the Editor who at the moment is sceptical.
Is that the tomato you got from the master gardeners? And fingers crossed with the sunflowers. Did you know that the tobacco mosaic virus apparently becomes unstable at temperatures exceeding 104’F, which would happen in your part of the world, but perhaps not on the east coast as much? Probably why it’s not that big a deal for you. One of the benefits of the PNW climate I’m guessing. The sun is a great sterilising agent.
Dude, everyone will get upset if your tomato vine falls onto a small child, and where was the do not climb on this structure warning sign? 🙂 Talk about high risk behaviour! The sprawling tomatoes did well here, except they took up so much garden space.
Is that what it is? Right. Gums can be an issue as well, and tooth brushing should take them into account.
The Greenland Vikings sent me on an interweb rabbit hole. Fascinating stuff, and has the wikipudding page been altered recently to sort of downplay the Danes claims? Hey, it might be like that list you referred me to years ago about the 99 reasons Rome fell. All of the above theories with the Vikings suggested how things rolled at the end of the colony’s life.
Teasing you with talk of long lazy summer days, that’s what the weather is doing. Not quite reaching the 80’F though. Although a lot work can be done in the mornings and evenings at that time of year, so maybe lazy is for the timely siesta. How’s H enjoying the warmer days? Your rain sounds perfect to get any seeds germinated and begun. That’s hard to do in drier years.
Well that was unexpected. Who’s this Walter Mitty character? Never met him. Interesting, and almost Don Quixote ability to day dream, maybe. I like the word quixotic, paints a very strange and unusual mental mash-up, and it’s one you rarely see or hear used these days.
If I may say so, slap stick visual humour probably has wider appeal than the ironic dark humour you mentioned. Although I prefer more complicated humour and physical comedy like the Three Stooges just doesn’t work with my brain. Might not have been brought up right, or something like that!
Go the right to repair, and I’ll be interested to learn if manufacturers release service manuals for items like smart phones. You know plenty of the old Japanese stereo equipment I’ve fixed up over the years has service and repair manuals. Pretty amazing stuff. The thing is will the new service manuals be able to be understood?
Made a lemon meringue pie today from scratch. Used the Anzac biscuits in the base by blitzing them up and blending in butter. Smells nice. And picked five lemons from the Eureka lemon tree. Has a sharp lemony tang that tree although I don’t believe it is as cold tolerant a citrus as the Meyer Lemons.
Cheers
Chris
@ Pam – I carefully catch them, drive them 30 miles out in the country and release them into the wild. 🙂 Not! hey either get the patented Woody Harrelson double tap with my shoe, or, if on a plant, a spritz with a spray bottle. Ammonia and a pinch of salt. Doesn’t seem to hurt the plants, and the ammonia turns into nitrogen.
We have huge slugs, but they stick to the forests. Banana slugs. We also have snails, but they mostly stay away from the gardens. I quit like those, and leave them alone. I’ve named them. Sam the Snail, Samantha and Darius. Not that I’m sure I’m seeing the same snails.
Every little town around here has some kind of a yearly festival. Egg Day, Cheese Days, Loggers Jubilee, Bear Festival … you get the idea. Apparently, Eatonville was late to the party. They ended up with the Slug Festival. Lew
Yo, Chris – Or, buffalo chips. What our pioneer ancestors burnt, out on the treeless Great Plains. I wonder what they did when the buffalo all but disappeared? Scroll down a bit to see a picture.
https://www.sutori.com/en/story/westward-expansion–RwaTMB8enqJxk9aZuFVATYxd
Oh, I’m sure there’s a personality type, that just loves working in the health insurance business, keeping busy denying claims. Although I guess a lot of it is done with algorithms, these days. Not someone you’d want for a spouse or friend.
Our high yesterday was 68F (20C). The overnight low was 43F (6.11C). Forecast high for today is 81F. Promises, promises.
Peak soil? Look under your feet. 🙂 I’ve always meant to ask, what’s this “racking” you refer to, from time to time?
The Master Gardeners are always banging on about how the tobacco virus is spread by smokers. I really don’t know if that’s “real” or if they just have an antipathy to smokers. A look down the rabbit hole … yes, it’s possible.
I don’t know. There seems to be a lot of small children, about. I don’t think we’re anywhere near peak small children. 🙂
H doesn’t seem to mind the hot weather. Of course, I keep her well hydrated, and out of the heat as much as possible. I’m wondering if she needs to go to the groomer (again?!). Maybe I can put it off another month.
Last night, I watched a pretty good movie “My Dead Friend Zoe.” It’s about veterans and PTSD. A woman who was in the Army, in Afghanistan, is out of the military but haunted by a good friend she had. A sub theme is her grandfather, who is descending into Alzheimers, is a Viet Nam vet with his own issues. An engrossing and timely film.
LOL. Oh, sure. Service manuals. Available on-line for us to print, at our own time and expense. Well, at least they’re available … somewhere.
Your lemon meringue pie sounds really tasty. I’m sure it will be a hit. Stroke of genius to use the Anzac biscuits.
Canada is burning.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/29/weather/canada-wildfires-smoke-midwest-climate
I wonder how bad it will get, here, this summer? Time will tell. Lew
@DJSpo:
Thanks for enlightening me. I am drifting . . .
Pam
Chris:
Most worthy Dame Plum: I used to have pierced ears, and when I first starting skiing I used to leave my earrings in. Then I began to wonder if the metal in my earlobes might cause a bit of frost bite, so I left them off. Now, you have pricked ears, not quite my situation (perhaps I should check more closely in the mirror . . .), but they aren’t lying near your head like Ruby’s, so you tell her that it is a medical necessity that you be closer to the fire.
Cor blimey! The Kali Gandaki Gorge is a forbidding place. Why did you go up there? Did you see any signs of Shangri-La?
This is no loveable rogue. Attila fits him best.
I have had many a piece of memorable lemon meringue pie; it was one of my grandmother’s housekeeper’s specialties. Her most popular specialty was chocolate meringue pie. I swoon just remembering it.
Petey the Possum’s latest offspring came toddling through the yard this afternoon. Mr. Baby was fascinated with him or her (a little hard to tell . . .) and couldn’t decide whether to make overtures. If you remember, Petey and Mr. Baby keep company on the front porch in the winter, when it’s not too cold.
Pam
Chris,
Yes, Thursday was nearly perfect weather, especially with some rain. Only improvement would’ve been no wind. Friday was warmer and windless, and still very pleasant.
Hmmmm. If you need soil, then it seems that you’ll need to take it from somewhere. As you’re on the side of a mountain, then the obvious thing would be to dig soil until you’ve created another flat area. Flat areas in your terrain need to be used for something, and you have a need for a storage area. I clearly see how you worked this one out.
Dame Avalanche has been doing more work on her summer hole. Yes, probably she is thinking about Buck. Does the Fluffy Collective like to dig? If so, maybe you could get the Collective to assist on your next project by doing some of the digging? 🙂
Two of the three fenced yards here are only side fences. Seems strange to me, but they are not my houses so I don’t give opinions. 😉
The Princess was called away on some family thing. Killian’s human and I decided to have a short outing and had lunch at our favorite Mexican eatery. I had my usual: chicken enchiladas with green sauce. Very yummy. I could eat green chicken enchiladas every day and never tire of eating them.
Hopefully the picture of the roses that I sent will arrive intact.
You and I see the lawn thing almost exactly alike. Greater plant variety allows for greater critter variety, healthier “lawn” and soil, more things for birds to eventually eat, etc. And, as you said, the insects and similar critters add fertilization to the soil, too. I remember growing up with a plethora of “lawn moths”. Now many people pay to have a company spray their lawns several times a year. This kills the weeds and spiders and lawn moths, so that the result is one type of grass with nothing else living in it due to the poisons. I’m just not interested. I like the moths and spiders and other things.
The clear nights have brought the summer constellations into view. I remember countless hours staring at the stars, starting as a wee bairn and continuing through today. Seeing the stars and constellations that were absent during the winter is like seeing old friends again.
DJSpo
Hi Pam,
To the esteemed Lady Pam from Dame Plum: Piercing of the ears would have a most detrimental effect on my ability to maintain said lobes in a vertical position. Then! Can you imagine the horror when astute people such as yourself accidentally mistake me for my floppy eared sister, the ever so wayward and naughty Ruby? Awkward. And it would be worse if someone (other than your more discerning self) incorrectly pinned mischief on the epitome of show Kelpiness, which is none other than I. Lady Pam, not that I’m bringing your good judgement into question, nay, but why would any individual wish to bite frost? I know such things! As boss fluff, the subordinate Kelpie must be given first preference for the hot fires, on the basis that true leaders collect not debts, but favours. Yours sincerely. Dame Plum
Oi! Go on, get back around. Pam, Dame Plum was at the keyboard. Sorry for that. 🙂
Pam, that’s such a good question, and truly, the answer is that I have no idea why I was even there. It all seemed like such a good idea at the time. Nowadays I’m something of a home body, you know, there’s no place like home – unless you relocate of course, and then the new home might be better.
Attila it will be for that cheeky burrowing scamp. I pumped a tube of roof and gutter silicone into a rat hole exiting into the chicken enclosure the other morning. I can’t say for sure that the tunnel was even being used, but why take chances? That’ll mess with their rodenty heads. They have the run of the place bar a few areas which are off limits. Is that not enough for the rodents?
The lemon meringue pie was good, but could have been better. The meringue slid off the lemon tart, and was fed to the appreciative chickens – should have warmed the lemon filling so that they bound. And the recipe in my opinion, called for too much butter in the biscuit base. The filling was perfect though, so that’s a win. A lemon filling has to taste as if it was made from real lemons. More homework is required… We have the technology to perfect this treat!
Yum! Thanks for sharing those memories, and some people have a gift for making proper desserts. Mostly what is dished up is pretty average, but when it’s done just right – swoon – is a worthy description.
Congrats to Petey the Possum on his latest bubs. And Mr Baby is clearly a gentleman of the finest pedigree, and knows how to both make and sustain friendships. An enviable achievement, but then cats are like that.
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
Your weather is sounding very pleasant, and the plants would be loving it. And what great timing to get water into the subsoil prior to the summer solstice. Today down here was really pleasant, warm and calm. In fact the sun by the mid to late afternoon even had the smallest bit of toothiness to it. Had lunch with friends, and the Editor tagged along and was delighted by the massive and convivial talk fest and feed. Originally she’d planned to head into the big smoke tonight for dinner with a friend, but that fell through. It’s not lost on me that the Editor and most of my friends share the same Myers-Briggs indicator! They get along well.
I know! The additional soil all makes a perfect plan. It’ll require some work though… Unfortunately I arrive at decisions and conclusions quite quickly relative to everyone else, whilst the Editor takes a more strategic approach to problem solving. However, that materials storage area project will get done for sure, maybe… 🙂 We’ve got heaps of scrap galvanised metal at 2×2 and 2×1 inches, and they’d be perfect for the racking. DJ, I don’t really show all the photos from around here, but the stash of useful materials is a bit err, messy.
Go Dame Avalanche and no doubt she is reaching deep into the subsoil to discover the more temperate environments? The digging abilities of the fluffies would be most excellent to channel, but they have their own ideas about things which does not align with mine. Digging becomes a canine concern when they’ve uncovered an entrance for a rat nest or rabbit burrow. It’s a bad day for the critters when a Kelpie discovers that. Then they begin digging. Keeps the critters further away from the house.
It ain’t just you, my mind is bamboozled by the lack of fencing in an urban environment – although I get the lack at the front – which may be some desire to keep a clean look to an area. Fences can also suggest a desire to limit boundaries, which can mean more than the physical words suggest.
Green chicken enchiladas sound awesome, and your observation makes a lot of sense – and has given me an idea for future meals. Hmm. There’s no finer way to spend some time, than with friends over a meal.
Thank you for the photo, and the roses are beautiful. The metal work is outstanding too, and has that carbon steel look which suggests careful metalwork and a long life. If you’re cool, I can post the photo so that others here can enjoy the flowers? Your sunshine would be producing a delightful aroma from the roses.
And that’s it, a whole bunch of critters of whatever sort, are going to fertilise the soils if we but give them the opportunity to do so. We get a local variety of lawn moths here too, but they’ve never seemed to be much of a big deal to me. In fact, I’d have to suggest that the moths which burrow into the soil (in whatever form) are probably aerating the soils. Almost the very definition of a fragile environment is where only a small number of species are found – and that’s kind of what perfect lawn folks might be aiming for. The diversity of life creates the better soils though.
🙂 The night skies are a true gift, and presumably your winters include lots of cloud cover? If a person sits still for long enough and fixes their gaze on something like a tree branch, it becomes possible to notice the movement of the stars.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
The buffalo chips in the wheelbarrow made an impressive sight. And I’m surprised that they could even dry before some other critter ripped into them, but then, they might have all been consumed as well? Birds would sort through such morsels for that is part of their role in the ecosystem. I’ll bet those prairies have some of the best soils in your country – if there is rain or other sources of water available.
For some reason I’d almost typed enchilada chips, because DJ has got my brain thinking about maybe making some, enchiladas that is, not the chips bit which relates to the earlier buffalo poop conversation. Hmm. Grated carrot and radish. Maybe some tinned salmon (a break from the usual kitchen veg mode). Chilli. Finely diced roast pumpkin. Rolled up in the flat corn breads. Yoghurt. Covered with cheese (not blue cheese of course) and maybe a few bread crumbs even thrown into the cheese to bulk it out a bit. Baked. Should be tasty, maybe. At the moment it is all theory until put to the ultimate test. Do you have any suggestions?
The lemon meringue pie was err, like the tiramisu fail. It tasted good, however the recipe and preparation requires some tinkering with. The meringue was set onto the lemon tart which had just been removed from the refrigerator, and yes, the two did not bond because the lemon filling should have been warm. In order to avoid the inevitable meringue sliding off at an awkward moment drama, the meringue was fed to the chickens. The dessert then became a lemon tart. I’m dubious about the quantity of butter used in the biscuit base, and will use less next time until the base is both crumbly and sticks together. Other than that, the fill was just about right, but I’m wondering if a fill made from condensed milk would be nicer? Not sure. More research is definitely required, but overall the dessert is heading in the right direction. We can definitely do this!
Oh the dessert testers… Had a pot luck (is that the right description?) lunch today with friends in the big smoke. The Editor came along too and enjoyed herself. We sat outside in the sunshine and shared food, drink and talked rubbish for hours. A very pleasant activity if I may say so.
You’re not wrong there about the personality. When I was a young bloke an acquaintance worked in that industry, and it is hard to know whether he was telling tall tales or what, but he swore that the staff were paid bonuses for denying claims. To be honest, the work burned him out and he was one of those people who’d be in your life for a bit, then disappear, only to reappear at a later time along with a complicated story. Then disappear again. The Golden Rule of do unto others always applies and never goes out of fashion.
Nice weather, and it’s colder here right now at about 41’F. Tomorrow marks the official first day of winter, although don’t they count the solstice and equinoxes as the seasonal change over time in your country? Did the temperature reach such heady highs?
Ha! That’s funny, and also cannot be disputed. 🙂 The racking is an idea I’ve had for a while. You see, I’ve got a whole bunch of 2×2 and 2×1 inch long lengths of galvanised steel. The idea is to use the 2×2 as posts, and the 2×1 as supports and create some racks to store all of the various materials we’ve got in many err, piles. I know, I know, there’s a little bit of mess here. But I ask you, if there are no photographs of the mess, does it really exist? Plastic pipes, corrugated steel sheets and longer bits of timber all need a home. Plus various projects need the extra soil. My mind has already been made up, but this is no guarantee of the project getting off the ground.
🙂 I’m agnostic on smoking, mostly because I’ve never been inspired to take up the habit. If I may say so, some of the worst anti-smoking sorts, are ex-smokers. Personally I don’t care what people do, as long they do the activity outdoors and away from where other people eat and drink. Being subjected to the second hand smoke is unpleasant. People from other countries, notably Europe, are horrified by the common sense and long agreed upon restrictions down here. I recall the days when people could smoke indoors at workplaces, and wasn’t a fan mostly because it’s a workplace and I didn’t want to sit around inhaling the stuff all day long.
I reckon your occasional summer hot days will reduce the efficacy of that plant virus.
🙂 Plenty of kids around, no real worries about declining population, yet.
Well done to H, and given her breed, that’s good. Sir Poopy hated the hot weather and would find the coolest location and just wait it out until the sun went down – and he was clipped short too. What does H have to say about a potential trip to the groomer?
Just when you think that the film industry is creatively bankrupt, a challenging film like that is produced. Adding it to the to-see list.
Hehe! Forgot to mention that I had to buy the service manuals for the old stereo equipment. The machines are all over three decades old. That’s when the Japanese for some reason really pumped out quality electronic equipment, which is not too hard to refurbish, although I get the impression that there are less people nowadays who can (or are willing) to do the work. The new laws might produce a similar result, although I reckon they’ll add to the costs of the stuff.
Whoa! We’d heard nothing of those fires. I left a note on Mr Greer’s blog about them too. It’s difficult for my mind to comprehend how there could be huge fires in that region because there are lakes and tarns dotted all over the photos. And then you start to notice little things like the ridge tops are dry as – you can see the exposed and bleached soil even in the aerial photos. My gut feeling about that area is not good because it suggests to me that forests are only possible there because on average its colder – the usual annual rainfall might not support that plant community if the area warms appreciably.
Fingers crossed that things stay OK in your part of the world, and like my spring, you’re getting a lot of rain right now.
Cheers
Chris
Chris,
There’s nothing secret about the photo I sent, so share it if you want to.
DJSpo
Yo, Chris – The woman collecting the buffalo chips, was probably heading back to her “Soddy”. 🙂
https://westwardexpansioninventions.weebly.com/sod-houses.html
Same times, same place. I think in one of the Laura Ingall Wilder books, they lived in a Soddy. If memory serves, snakes fell out of the ceiling. 🙂 Search: “Soddy” – images, for some far out examples.
A look down the rabbit hole … “Why does my meringue slide off my filling?” provides plenty of tips to avoid the meringue slide. There’s also peanut butter, or peanut butter / chocolate meringue pies.
Well, if most people brought a little something it would be a pot luck. Some pot lucks are more organized, than others. Occasionally, the host provides the main dish, and people might sign up for salads, sides or deserts. So you don’t end up being top heavy in one kind of food course or another.
Yes, it’s a real thing. Bonuses or raises depending on how many claims you could deny. Managers riding herd on claims “specialists” asking hard questions, such as, “Why did you authorize this claim? Your denial numbers are down!” Same kind of thing is seen when traffic cops are assigned a certain number of tickets, to write.
We finally made it. Yesterday’s high was 81F (27.22C.) Our overnight low was 48F (8.88C). The forecast high for today is 68F. Seasons? Equinox / solstice and all that. And, also, “meteorological seasons.” If you want to get crazy, looking into all the different ways people mark seasons, check this out.
https://w.wiki/3p65
I see. The racks you keep referring to, just live in your head 🙂 . If there are no photos, does it exist? Sort of relates to that whole existential question, “If a tree falls in the forest … etc.” Also sort of relates to the current idea that if there isn’t a photo, if didn’t happen. Which has turned people into picture taking fools.
H loves going to the groomer. She doesn’t have to pay for it. I think they ply her with drugs. 🙂
Canada also has a lot of peat bogs. And peat bogs, burn.
I started watching “Miss Austen.” I thought it was a movie, but it’s a four part miniseries. From PBS, which the current administration is trying to defund. It’s told from the perspective of Jane Austen’s sister, Cassandra. It’s pretty good, but a little confusing. It’s told from Cassandra’s point of view, from after Austen had died. There are frequent flashbacks, where different actors play different characters younger selves. Which makes it a bit confusing
On yesterday’s “New / On order” library list was “Penguin Lessons.” And, also, a 1991 Wim Wenders movie, “Until the End of the World.” I put it on hold, but then discovered it’s almost five hours long. Boy, that would be a commitment.
Bees. Millions of bees. You may have seen this in your news, as it’s getting a lot of play, here.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/31/us/washington-state-honeybee-hives-crash
It happened north of Seattle, up near the Canadian border. Same area that had the Murder Wasp infestation, a few years ago.
Well, I stuffed it up. I went to the big box hardware store, last night, and finally ran down what their search called “biochar.” When I got it home, I discovered it’s actually “horticultural charcoal”, which isn’t biochar. Oh, well. Still useful in the garden, especially since I’m running low on the stove ash. On a more positive note, the Scarlet Runner beans have broken ground. I think I should plant a few more. Lew
@Lew:
Ammonia and a pinch of salt. Thank you. Not a recipe I’d serve except to enemies. I saw a couple of cutworms early in the season and so put cutworm collars around everything except things in rows like greens and beans. That means tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, squashes, and cucumbers. They were made out of cardboard and staples. I used to use two liter plastic bottles cut up, but didn’t have any. Nothing has bothered those plants yet, so I wonder if perhaps it is part of a magic spell.
I rarely see a snail, though I saw one in the woods today and left it alone. I did not name him, however. That’s taking critter naming to another level. I saw the young possum following my son and Mr. Baby across the lawn this morning. I am wondering if it is a “her” and she has become enamored of Mr. Baby. After all, he is white, black, and grey, sort of possumy. Or could it have been something I just learned: That my son and daughter-in-law gave the p. a banana the other day?
Have you ever been to the Slug Festival? Perhaps they provide lawn chairs and everyone just lies about? I would go for the Cheese Days myself.
Pam
Chris:
Don’t apologise; I am always glad to hear from a Fluffy. Dame Plum is very accomplished. I expected no less.
A new home . . . well, we shall see.
I wonder if there is a place for roof and gutter silicone in my Attila fortifications? I worked on them all day today, but that is one thing I haven’t tried.
Ah, well – there is always tomorrow for another pie. I do suggest chocolate meringue sometime.
Bubs – that’s cute. See note to Lew about a banana.
Pam
Hi DJ,
🙂 It was a lovely photo. Thanks!
Cheers
Chris
Hi Pam,
The Fluffies send cordial tail wags to Mr Baby and of course his side kick Petey the Possum.
Hmm. Time has a way of sorting out such issues, but moving is hard. A pump in the hydronic heating system failed late this afternoon. It’s cold… And a Sunday night. Brr! Still, better than a Friday night and all weekend wait for repairs. Updates on this unfolding situation to come…
The stuff just works for rat holes, although how large are the tunnels ground hogs make. It’s a lot of effort for Attila to pull material backwards through the soil.
I very like your chocolate meringue suggestion and have never seen one before. What did the old timers say about practice makes perfect? Hopefully you enjoy the photos of the pie.
Will do! 🙂
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
The sod houses would work, although the thought of snakes dropping onto my head gives me an attack of the vapours. We used sods a few years ago as a supporting wall on the terraced garden beds, and they’ve held up really well to the test of time. The only downside is that the soil is easy for rats to dig into.
Hmm, yeah there’s a few reasons the meringue failed to adhere to the gel, and not following the recipe hints and tips section was one of those. 🙂 Still, man I learn far more in the kitchen from my fails than if I get the thing right first time around. The finer details become more obvious and the comprehension as to why a process is the way it is becomes known. If you followed recipes exactly to the letter, you’d not ever gain that insight.
Everyone brought something to add to the meal, and there was plenty to go around. Nobody went home hungry! By the way, the additions were completely random and at the choice of the person bringing the stuff. It all seemed to work.
If I may add, there is an inherent conflict of interest in both examples. If the cops are forced to meet arbitrary ticket key performance indicators, there’s a moral issue raised where average folks can become walking ATM’s. It’s not a pretty look and is entirely a choice of the higher ups. There’s a tendency in society to forget that some services are a cost to be borne by society – they’re not a profit centre.
You hit the magic 80’F mark, well done. 🙂 It was the first official day of winter here, and who knows what the signs and portents presage? A pump on the hydronic heater system appears to have failed, and now we have no heater. I can’t even run the wood heater because the wet back inside the combustion chamber is at risk of turning into a steam boiler. Hmm. It’s cold tonight. Brr! Last I checked it was at your minimum outside, but will get lower here tonight.
Ah, the six modern mid-latitude ecological seasons make a lot of sense to me, and the link also suggested that the planet is five million kilometres (3.1 million miles) closer to the star than when you guys hit the summer solstice. No wonder it feels hotter here.
Exactly, the racks are a whole bunch of available materials and a good idea! Given deep fakes, even photos might be a bit suspect these days?
The thought of H being on some sort of party drug at the dog groomer may be what is going on! Hard to know really unless you keep an eye on the groomers.
Of course, the peat bogs are burning in that region. I was wondering what had been fuelling those intense fires. I’d imagine that the old forests in that region have long since been logged and what is growing there now is a former shadow of what once was?
Narratives should be comprehensible to the intended audience. Seems obvious, but you’d be amazed at the things my brain has been subjected to over the years. The Editor loved the ‘Penguin Lessons’ film, and hope you also enjoy the experience when it turns up.
Far out. It’s impressive that the local beekeepers arrived in force to help out. Their solution was pretty neat, and all anyone can do is hope that some of the bees return to their hives. What a fine mess that was.
What? Is there a difference? Hmm, a minefield I’ve not delved into, mostly because I use neither product, although do spread around wood ash and left over charcoal from fires. A thought for the future. I’m unsure that it would be all that wise given the forest fire risk, to produce soils which had the attributes of peat.
Good stuff with the runner beans! And may they reach for the skies.
Cheers and better get writing!
Chris
Yo, Chris – Yes, some recipes, when tinkered with, sometimes produce variations on a theme. Which can occasionally be better than the basic. Occasionally. 🙂
That was one of the themes of the movie “Brazil.” Citizens were always being hit with unexpected fees and charges, for every little thing.
Our high yesterday was 63F (17.22). The overnight low was 43F (6.11C). Forecast high for today is 71F. Yesterday and this morning it kept looking like rain, but never delivered. Thick, dark, fluffy clouds.
Well, that’s a bummer about your hydraulic system. I suppose you’ll have to call in a plumber? Observe him carefully. Next time, you might be able to fix it, yourself.
Elliptical orbits and planet tilt, etc.. Seems like poor planning, to me
🙂 .
As a group, I think beekeepers are pretty helpful. Besides, they might get a free hive out of the deal. I forgot to mention, years ago, I couldn’t access the Centralia post office. Someone had dropped a crate of bees, on the loading dock, that broke open. No mail was delivered, that day!
I got the book on biochar. But haven’t had a chance to sit down with it. It sure look …. comprehensive.
I planted a few more Scarlett Runner beans, last night.
It’s interesting. I share that one long bed, with the night manager. They’re only separated by a 2 x 4. My side looks pretty lush. His side is struggling a bit. I’m sure it’s a difference in the soil. My side even looks a few shades darker. Same thing with another bed that is divided between two people. One was complaining that her side just wasn’t as lush as her neighbors. I tried to tell her about all the stuff I put in mine. I sometimes feel like I’m tossing in everything but the kitchen sink 🙂 . Lew