Flame tree is the colloquial name for the tree species Brachychiton acerifolius, which grows in warmer coastal areas along the east coast of the continent. It’s large, and bizarrely deciduous, which bafflingly, produces striking red flowers during the plants unnecessarily leafless winter months. It also just happens be the title of an Australian song by the band Cold Chisel. In this country at least, the song is very well known.
The band was a little bit before my time, but the cheeky scamps left an impression on the population which extends even to today. True poets of the people. The song is equally melancholy and nostalgic. It meanders through the lives of folks in a small rural town, but from the perspective of a dude returning after some success in the big city. Plus the lyrics raise plenty of questions which are never answered. The idea communicated I believe is, that nothing much changes there.
Maybe that was true back then. Forty one years later and things sure are different now. The rapid rate of change can feel a bit painful. Mind you, business fundamentals haven’t altered one bit over the years. Goods and services are provided for people to purchase – that’s a simple time tested arrangement. The administration of a business however, is a bit nuts in these enlightened days. Demands placed upon businesses for data are made on multiple fronts. Deadlines are tight. Scope for errors are huge. When such systems are set up properly, maintained and work well, it’s easy. There are however, three variables introduced in the previous sentence, and it’s been remarked upon elsewhere that: people can rarely achieve perfection. Yet that appears to be the unspoken assumption behind many of the computerised systems – Let’s assume that nothing has gone wrong, or worse, it’s an event which has not even been considered. Fixing errors can be a nightmare, and trust me, they happen. Frequently.
Friends and peers have been using the naughty ‘r’ word recently. I’m not sure what you lovely readers are thinking about, but the ‘r’ in this case, refers to: ‘retirement’. A delightful situation which is ever so slightly ever out of reach for Sandra and I. That’s what having irresponsible parents looks like! Oh well. But the larger point is that when faced with the pace and expectations of the work force, I’m hearing stories of quietly quitting, or at least considering how to do so. It’s worth noting for purely comparative purposes, my own mother was retired the venerable age I’ve now reached.
Anyway, retirement is not an option for us. Sandra and I are able to manage the inevitable tension which arises from the confluence of work necessities and all of these rapid changes as best as we are able to. We do that trick by setting limits on our activities and expectations. Limits are the path to freedom. However, I’m always curious to observe how other folks cope with these same stresses.
Stress has many different faces. The other week I was embarrassed to discover myself in the middle of an interweb flame war. It escalated so quickly that I was taken by surprise. What is a flame war you may ask? Well the least emotionally charged definition I could find, and even then had to modify to take out the heat, was something like this: an unfriendly argument between two or more online users.
The argument revolved around a third parties claim that someone had developed a house which was so good, that in a cool temperate area with winter temperatures near or below freezing for the winter months of the year (with serious cold extremes), that they’d only used a few wheelbarrow loads of firewood annually. Plus apparently there was only a tiny solar power array for electricity. And that area gets way colder than here during the winter months. Look, for all I know the claims may be true, but the mind began considering unmentioned aspects to the story, such as how was heat for cooking and hot water provided. Rather ungentlemanly I called bullshit on the claims, and dared to mention extensive use of unmentioned propane fuel, but received no acknowledgement. Whatever, it’s been remarked upon elsewhere that there is no such thing as a free lunch, and those words to my mind express a general truth.
Anyway, after very brief backwards and forwards, I walked away from the discussion. Generally speaking, deeply held belief systems are difficult to talk about with people face to face, whilst over the interweb that is an almost impossibility. And there I was, embarrassed to be part of the little war. I knew better than to get involved. On the only positive note, the incident did get the ol’ brain cogitating upon what it all meant.
So, up to that foolish moment, I’d been doing a lot of paid work for the weeks prior to the end of the financial year. The computer and data demanding systems are now remarkably inflexible, and so I just had to work all that much harder than usual. What can I say, other than the additional workload clearly clouded my judgement.
But what may similar stress look like for other people? It’s hard to know really, but I had an eerie insight which suggested that relying on deeply held beliefs, is a way of putting a persons brain into auto-pilot. Once an idea gets fixed, and becomes unable to be discussed, the inner workings of the mind no longer have to grapple with the difficulty that, you know, the ideas may well be wrong. And that brain process frees up energy to do other stuff, you know, like dealing with the burdensome administrative processes which eat up hours of people’s lives these days. Candidly, rather than being a problem, this is probably a feature of our current civilisation.
There’s nothing fundamentally bad about being wrong. It happens. And does it really matter that despite my hobby and experience with hippy technologies, that other people hold differing beliefs on the same subject? Probably not. Learning to let things go is a part of setting limits on yourself. However, doing that doesn’t mean that I’ve suddenly become apathetic about our civilisation. Far from it really, because changes are taking place all around us, and at an increasingly rapid rate too. It’s hard not to notice that our major ally has re-embraced coal as an energy source. Makes me wonder if anyone has noticed? I’m yet to see public melt-downs and flame wars about that matter, but make no doubts about it, belief systems will surely be challenged.
Earlier in the week, the tail end of an east coast low storm, which has been described elsewhere as a category one cyclone, pummelled the east coast of the continent. This far south, and slightly further west, the storm was no big deal. Just lots of thick clouds and an inch of much needed rainfall. It’s quite damp outside now!
Still, all good things come to an end. By Thursday the clouds had lifted, the sun shone through blue sunny skies, and humidity hung over the valley way down below the mountain range. You could describe the air down there as ‘soupy’, and other words would only misrepresent the damp experience.
Towards the end of the week I had a couple of spare hours, and so decided to connect up the plumbing with the two newly installed water tanks.
The treated pine timber posts were installed last week, and to one of those I attached a basic low pressure garden tap. The other post has a quick connector (known down under as a cam-lock fitting) and a valve, which can be used for attaching an electric water pump. Water can now be easily pumped from these two water tanks, to any other water tanks on the property.
The recent rainfall has been good, and the water reserves are now up to around 80,000L / 21,000 gallons, with another 60,000L / 15,800 gallon spare capacity.
Eventually those two water tanks will be connected up to a roof rainfall capture system. Part of that system involves working out what to do when the tanks overflow – as they will sooner or later. To the side of the tanks, we’ve begun digging a ten foot long swale, which is basically a ditch, that allows excess water to infiltrate into the soil instead of running over the ground causing erosion. Plus the water enters the soil near to the top of the sunny orchard providing an easy drink for many fruit trees.
The scary old roto-tiller loosened up the soil. That was then shovelled into the yellow power wheelbarrow, which was then driven uphill. The swale is located in the sunny orchard and I was amazed at the quality of top soil we were digging up. Top soil went down at least two feet before reaching the clay / volcanic loam layer.
There’s still about a day of digging before the swale excavations are completed. The plan is to line the entire basin with rocks, and then plant some of the local ferns. It should end up looking pretty nice, and is a replication of a similar drainage arrangement on the other side of the farm – the one with the tall tree fern.
In breaking produce news…
This week’s video is on the subject of producing SCOBY’s (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast) for both Kombucha which as a by-product produces cheap protein for then chickens consumption.
As anticipated, the chickens have ever so slowly began to come back on the lay following on from the winter solstice. That’s usually what happens here, and it was nice to see the very first egg of the season this week. And it’s blue! Hard to believe it was produced by a bantam chicken.
Many of the citrus trees are mere days away from supplying ripened fruit for breakfast. This Pomello (a grapefruit) is closest to that astounding winter feat:
A few of the youngest citrus trees had sooty mould. That’s caused by ants using aphids to farm sugars off the leaves in a mutually beneficial arrangement. It is a general nuisance for young citrus trees. Earlier today I took a kitchen scrub and using warm soapy water, gently washed the leaves. Then fed the trees with a seaweed solution. A well timed grease band around the trunk of the trees will put an end to the nuisance. The ants won’t be active again until the weather warms up in a month or two’s time.
And something is eating our many rhubarb leaves. Probably the possums, because nothing has ever eaten those toxic leaves before. Hope the herbivores have upset stomachs… Oh well, there’s always something going on.
Onto the flowers:
The temperature outside now at about 10am is 7’C (45’F). So far for this year there has been 348.4mm (13.7 inches) which is up from last weeks total of 326.2mm (12.8 inches)
Comments
51 responses to “Flame Trees”
I have no clue about the veracity of the claims of your flame war partner, but there are some design standards that can come up with very low energy use. If I had to do it over, I might well have a house built with the Passive house design features. Germany seems to be pushing it the most, but other countries are doing so as well.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_house
https://www.passivhausassociation.com.au
Also, are heating degree day calculations a thing in Australia? It’s handy for planning the general heating/cooling for a new house. Since it is based on local weather station data (with a bit of massage of course) it is an objective way to compare heating requirements from one location to another as well.
belief systems- Ah, wouldn’t it be nice if everything was black and white, no grey areas? Nuance and dealing with uncertainty does take more brain effort, so I can see the temptation to just accept some things as beyond question, so one can spend brain energy on fewer things. I think this must be the attraction of religion.
swales! I don’t know if I’ve mentioned much about the swales in our field, but they are hundreds of feet long, each follows contour, but with a slight, 1% slope away from the natural drainage path, so as to spread out heavy rains and give it more time to soak in. Of course, we had access to the neighbor’s bulldozer. Can’t imagine doing it with my tiller and a shovel.
Yo, Chris – Chicken or egg? I wonder if this ever increasing quest for data, by the Powers That Be, is simply a ploy to justify the ever more elaborate and expensive computer systems?
It reminded me of that movie I watched, last year. “Mr. Bates vs. the Post Office.” In Britain, hundreds of small time post masters, were accused of fraud, false accounting and theft. Lives were ruined, and people lost everything. It took numerous trials to finally get the postal system to admit that it was a faulty system. How could there system, that cost millions of pounds, be in error?
Yes, deeply held beliefs make life very simple. You don’t have to think much. Otherwise, your head might hurt. 🙂 . Or, explode.
Soupy high humidity. Why you have hill stations, at your rich end of the mountains. It’s pretty much a worldwide reaction to getting up and out of the muck. Inversion layers, putting a lid on low lying areas, or something.
I found your water system, with all the various valves and gates quit interesting. if the Inmates here at the Institution want to water their plots, they have to grasp a pretty basic similar system. It seems to just flummox some of them. Once, again, I found myself this evening explaining, “It’s not rocket science. It’s a simple two step process. Twist this knob to open the valve (left-y loose-y, right-y tight-y), and then twist this lever to open the gate.” Total incomprehension. It’s not nice to yell at little old ladies, and I don’t. One or two of them get it, and can train the others. Or, do it for them.
It sounds like the swale will be quit useful. And, lovely, visually, once you get it finished.
The Blob! 🙂 I can’t say I’m the least bit interested in Kombucha, but I watched the whole thing, and now know what it’s all about. The tea you use? Is it spent leaves, or tea right out of the tin? Just as a suggestion, you might mention that if people have questions, they can ask in the comments. Obvious to us, but some people need permission.
We have a lot of Rhododendrons, and it seems like every winter one or two twigs produce a blossom. Maybe they’re just trying it on. 🙂
Ah, yes, that’s a jade plant in blossom. Really quit spectacular. Lew
Hi Steve,
🙂 Ain’t just you, I’ve got no idea either about the actual veracity of the claims made either. All I know is what I know. Probably isn’t all that much. However, in a bizarre twist of fate, I do have some experience with those passive houses, but in the flesh. Friends constructed one. It’s a long bow to draw that such designs can get by with only a few wheelbarrow loads of firewood each year, let alone ignoring mechanical cooling in summer. And they have to have serious air flow systems installed – it’s heavily sealed and insulated. I’ll say no more on the subject.
I’ve never heard of the concept and measurement. Beats me what it means.
Having designed and constructed houses with these constraints in mind and have created a seriously heavily insulated and fire retardant house, about the best you can achieve is some sort of weird average best case outcome. And even then, you’ll learn as you go in that each site is ever so slightly different in terms of how it relates to the local climate. For example, we should have made the verandas on the south facing side of the house deeper. Too late now, unless I have to rebuild the place, and then you wait and see. It’ll be interesting to utilise what we’ve learned.
Bluntly speaking here, there are these things known as ‘ideals’, and then there is reality. Have you ever spent time in a passive house? All of the outcomes we get to see in our civilisation are based on what we can willingly afford to do at the time. And generally there are limits as to what we can achieve and then there is a massive upfront capital cost for systems which deliver over a longer period of time. For example, the solar power systems here, some cheeky scamps might consider to be financially ruinous. And a few days ago I decommissioned an old set of batteries, at 600kg. This stuff can send a person broke.
Agreed, it is the attraction. And there is pay-off in outsourcing your thoughts to whomever is directing them.
Oooo! Awesome and respect! 🙂 Swales just work. Truly, there are times I get machinery envy. Bulldozers can do so much work in such a short period of time. Did a day of forest clean-up of the old loggers mess, and even tackled the ‘Meg’. Me tired tonight, and still have to head outside and push the fire together (in the dark) over the next hour or so. A bulldozer would make light work of such projects, but then I might have to go to gym! 🙂
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
All power to that couple, and yeah, they were honest: 20 gallons of diesel annually, although he is a fly-in-fly-out worker and may be there only every two weeks in every month (at a wild guess). Honestly, it’s refreshing to hear someone to even mention the other fuels they do use. The house looked pretty contemporary too.
Hehe! As someone who was subjected to hippy-dippy education in years seven and eight, I may have some strong thoughts in that matter. 🙂 Dude, I had a lot of fun in those two years, but candidly did it prepare me for the rough and tumble of life outside that lovely bubble-sphere? Probably not. What I discovered was that upon entering the more English than the English grammar school in year nine, I was relegated to the lowest performing grades academically. By year twelve I’d clawed my way back to an A-grade student by sheer force of personality, but mostly hard work, however the experience could have been easier without the hippy dippy bit. The grounds of that place do sound lovely though.
Oh my goodness, well sometimes businesses are forced to indoctrinate basic social standards that may have been missed out upon during a persons upbringing. Parents can be remiss at times. As a former boss I’ve had to have a hard conversation with an employee about their personal hygiene, which was a bit below the minimum societal standards. Oh well, everyone is different. But yeah, shoes are kind of important, and injuries from lack of shoes are probably a workplace matter. Respect, and man I’ve never had to deal with folks originating from a cult. Far out. That’s taking problems to 11 on the dial. 😉
Ah all very good, a day of a bit of this, and a bit of that for you. Sounds delightfully paced, and thus exceedingly enjoyable. Hope H was in good spirits?
Continued the forest edge old loggers clean up mess thing today. Me tired tonight, and I finally tackled the ‘Meg’ mess. It was as big as it sounds, but succumbed to the might of the chainsaw. Had to chuck in a new chainsaw bar too, all this super dirty old timber is ruining the consumables at a extraordinarily rapid rate.
Not good about the fireworks potentially igniting the garden edging sleepers. You may wonder why they were banned down under decades ago? I still think of that gender reveal party in your country which allegedly ignited the massive wildfire. You’re only as good as the weakest link.
Speaking of that stuff, just took a long break to head way down below to the forest edge and push the fire together (in the dark). The wind has picked up tonight, but it’s strangely warm here this evening. Not to fear though: Series of cold fronts to bring four days of severe weather. Guess the wind has only just begun…
For all sorts of legal reasons I’m unable to provide financial advice, however, hope you resisted purchasing those WWII war bonds? So Sherlock Holmes death notice was premature?
I get the preconceived notions and have fallen for them, but then after following some very poor advice in relation to mulch (you know where that thing started!), I now tend to keep a more open mind and instead ask the hard question: Does this ‘ere thing being promoted work? Fads are nice and all, but stick to basics is my way of thinking. Your soil will speak for itself the longer you’re at that activity.
Wow! Absolutely not the case down here. Interest on loans only tend to be deductible when the income relating to the loan becomes taxable. Your system possibly supports a lot of banksters. 😉
Well yeah, there is that issue: Are the computer folks generating their own income stream with ever new and interesting projects? Makes a person wonder doesn’t it now. And the sensitive person wonders if the physical hardware can even keep up with the software demands – and I’m seeing signs that it isn’t. One big goobermint mob I deal with announced recently that they were going to introduce a ‘virtual waiting room’ – i.e. they’re possibly unable to keep up with the systems already in place and you have to wait to log on. And yet the new demands keep coming thick and fast.
That story with the post office folks was truly awful. No getting around it. Yet allegedly, it turns out the system was in error. What horrifies me is that the problems were known, but remained undisclosed whilst innocent people were prosecuted. There’s something very culturally wrong about that. However, I often wonder whether people will err, ‘push the button’ on other people, but yeah, they will for sure. There was a famous experiment done about that very subject.
Blame dodgy sci-fi, but the idea of heads exploding due to ‘Scanners’ can’t quite be shaken. Hehe! Possibly a case of over thinking? 🙂
I’d not known that hill station summer retreats were a thing elsewhere in the world. It would be nice working for such folks as they wouldn’t be around for much of the year.
That’s great, and the plumbing for water tanks here is very standardised between all of the different systems. Makes it easier to comprehend what is going on don’t you reckon? Oooo, Lewis, that advice is most excellent mechanical instructions to recall. It’s an old timey saying too, which you do still hear used. And some folks feign technical incompetence on the hope that you’ll just sort it all out for them. Not suggesting that is the case there, but it might be.
Thanks, and we liberated hundreds of rocks from the ground today. We’ve hit a rich seam of granite in the area of the loggers mess. 🙂 Many projects will rock-on now! Sorry for the dodgy pun. That area is interesting because the slope of the land is less, so presumably there is a massive rock shelf underneath the soils? Maybe? Still, lot’s of rocks.
Hehe! That’s funny, yes, the Blob indeed. The Editor is the Kombucha drinker, not I, and I was doing the video with instructions being given in the background. Tis tea right out of the tin, organic too, just to be on the safe side. Nah, utoob is a funny environment in that dialogue is just not there. People can leave a comment, but I’m firm about moderating all comments on that forum. The algae-rhythm marks a person down for negative comments, so best not to give such folks the light of day.
Hehe! You’re probably right about the cheeky Rhododendrons. Who knows what they’re thinking, but I’m guessing that they’ll enjoy a warmer climate.
It’s pretty isn’t it? We cleaned up the succulent bed a few months ago and the plants have responded with gusto.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – Another thing about that off grid house. It looks fairly wildfire proof.
Oh, I think the “barefoot boy with cheek… ” 🙂 was probably raised right. People get funny ideas, when they go to college. I had no idea which year he was in, but onetime said, “Greener sophomores!” Along with a major eye roll. From the look I got, I must have hit the mark. But, as I remember, he was a pleasant fellow, who worked hard.
I dropped a tote of books on my foot, while working for the library. I have one badly ingrown toenail. I’m sure if a doctor saw it, he’d want to start hacking away. But, I keep it cut off straight. It doesn’t hurt, and I have no problem walking. So, why bother …
Oh, H is her usually happy little self. But, she’s slowing down. I notice little things. I made an appointment to see the vet, but could only get one at the end of the month. Nothing pressing. General maintenance. Flea pills and it’s time for another rabies shoot. I was pleasantly surprised to discover they’re pretty cheap. Less than $25. I was asked if I wanted to go on the cancellation list, but said no. I reconsidered, and called them back this morning, to go on the list. I was on hold, a long time. I suppose, after the holiday weekend … Oh, well. I had a book handy.
So, I’ll be tethered to my phone, at least during their business hours, for the duration. 🙁 Let the robo calls and scam calls, begin! I discovered that by leaving my phone turned off, for long periods of time, those nuisances dropped to near nothing.
I did a bit of weeding, in the garden, last night. I also pruned up more the the tomatoes. I discovered that in my stock tank garden, I have four or five volunteer tomatoes coming up. I’m going to let them do their thing, and see how they run.
The Master Gardeners were here, this morning. I told them all about the smoldering fire. They think the rhodies will be, ok.
Looks like you’re going to get a bit of weather. And, maybe snow in your Australian alps. Our high yesterday was 82F (27.77C). Our overnight low was 52F (11.11C). The forecast high for today is 87F. Cooler tomorrow and maybe rain the day after.
I watched “Sherlock Holmes and the House of Fear.” Taken more directly from his story, “The Five Orange Pips.” A tidy little mystery, with a twist ending. I wonder if the library will get any more of those? I suppose it depends on how much they circulate. I did my part. 🙂
“Virtual waiting room.” Take a number. 🙂
Peak rocks deferred! Your own North Slope or North Sea deposit. But as we know, they play out, sooner or later.
LOL. You made it very clear that the Kombucha wasn’t for you. I did not know that, about the utoob commentary. After your video, there was that usual tempting reader board of other videos. I watched one on sourdough bread, and the presenter made a point of urging people to use the comments if they had questions. So, I thought … See what happens when I think? 🙂 Lew
Hi, Chris!
Why is it bizarre that the flame tree is deciduous?
Computers assume we are perfect, which is a recipe for disaster. I do sympathize with you and the Editor in your chosen profession; so much can go wrong, besides the technological burden.
Retirement is sort of a strange concept, mostly modern, I imagine. Of course, it is perfectly acceptable to avoid that naughty word by shifting to a different profession – say, farming.
Yeah, I noticed that little war. No, it doesn’t matter if someone holds a different viewpoint, unless it is affecting your life. And there may be unknown information that would clarify things, Best let it go.
Soupy air – that’s a new one on me. I like it (the term, not the air).
Nicely worked up plumbing and accoutrements, as always. That is gorgeous soil in the sunny orchard; unbelievably rich. Good luck with the new tree fern. I hope it will have a fortress.
I love kombucha, but I no longer consume caffeine, and I miss it. I used to make my own. Does anyone know if the caffeine is still in the drink once fermented? The internet is undecided. What a wonderful two-fer, protein for chooks, a delicious drink for whoever is not Chris. It does seem a bit of work to cut the scoby up. If chickens can swallow snakes whole (I have seen it), couldn’t they swallow big pieces of scoby? Of course, then not everybody might get some.
How could Bantam eggs be so big? Aren’t they small chickens? Wow – I just looked up “bantams”, there are all different kinds.
I am thinking about a grease band around a tree trunk. I think at my house, a possum would just eat the tree. Or maybe a rat, though that might be a good way to get them out in the open for owls and snakes.
That’s a really neat succulent. It looks like a form of bonzai. Thanks for all the flowers!
Pam
Hi Pam,
Oh, well the forest here, and compared to the rest of mainland Australia, it’s sort of considered as a cold environment – and the trees and plants are all evergreen. There are a few deciduous indigenous trees on the continent and also Tasmania, but we’re talking about a handful of trees only. And that particular tree mentioned grows quite a long way further north (your south) of here, so it makes me wonder what selection pressures caused the species to be deciduous, thus the use of the ‘bizarre’ description.
Thanks, and yeah it’s weird because sometimes I find myself wrestling with software and complicated computerised processes, when I know full well what the process should be doing. Of course, should be’s are rarely how things actually roll don’t you reckon? It’s even more baffling for small business owners, yup.
I like how your brain works, and as we all know by now, when in retirement a person requires three things: Hobbies, Purpose and Friends. 🙂
Agreed, and I have let that discussion go. Quietly in the background though, the brain has been wrestling with the various dimensions as to what the whole situation actually means. There’s almost some insight there which I can feel, but can’t quite grasp. Dunno. What my mind was grappling with is that there is a tendency for many people to point to the wins, and neglect the other times when conditions were less convenient / optimal. It’s like when claims are made about areas supplying all of their electricity via wind / solar etc. Then you dig a bit and discover that it was for half an hour on a particular day, and the brain gets zapped wondering about what happened in the other twenty three and a half hours of that day?
Maybe I’m over thinking all this?
The air today is most definitely again soup-like with bouts of heavy rainfall. 🙂 It looks like the next two weeks will be quite damp. How’s the rain at your place?
Thanks, and eighteen years of soil feeding has produced some good results. The colour of the soil is lovely. Picked up more coffee ground today, and a tasty muffin. Yum!
Pam, there are both bacteria and fungi in the SCOBY, so I don’t see why they wouldn’t chow down on the available caffeine. Looking at the molecule, it’s got carbon + hydrogen + nitrogen + oxygen, so why would all those critters waste the stuff? Interestingly, black tea works better than green tea as part of the feed mix, and the caffeine is apparently more readily accessible in black tea, so as a wild hunch… Do you get seriously affected by caffeine?
Blessed are the chickens, for they lay edible eggs. 😉
It is a smaller chicken, and our only bantam chook. Here’s a brain twister for you to cogitate upon: The stuff you feed to your chickens eventually ends up back in the kitchen. Hmm.
The yolks are bigger. Also the albumen holds together better. The shells are strong. Hmm. Our industrial food system is perhaps not all that it is cracked up to be.
Bantam chickens are good because they eat less than full sized chickens. I’m not a fan of a mixed flock though because some of the larger birds are bullies.
Nice one, and that’s my thinking as well with the rats and rabbits. Get ’em out into the open so that the owls and foxes can pick them off.
The jade shrub is quite large now that we cleaned up the succulent beds.
How’s the vegies growing?
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Yeah, they’d done a good job on the fire front, and did you notice that no vegetation was close to the house? I’d have some wire mesh over the windows and doors, and feel about as good as a person could in that circumstance. Presumably they have a well, and electric water pump to dampen down the space if a fire did sweep through.
On that note, the wind really picked up last night. It was feral outside. Wild winds top 100 km/h in four states. That’s 60 miles/hour which is quite impressive. The rain fell today, and put out the burn-off fire (or what little remained of it). The wind noise was so bad that it woke me at about 4am and so I got up and had a check on the fire way down below just to make sure it hadn’t escaped, which it hadn’t. It was a very well behaved fire. Pushed it back together after the sun was up and there’s not much left now other than wet ash.
Hehe! You knew the guy, and I enjoy a bit of quirk in people, especially if they have a sense of humour and are pleasant. There’s a lot to be said about a pleasant nature.
Oh poop, that would have hurt. Books can be heavy, and concentrate downwards force via the edges of the bindings. Dude, I’m not even sure what is an ingrown toenail. Cutting the nail straight is part of the general advice handed down from on high. But dare I look up images… … Wasn’t that bad, although a fun fact was learned: Did you know that nails get thicker as a person ages? A month or so ago I dropped a rock on my big toe, and the nail partly broke. The nail itself remained in place, and eventually the break grew out. So many things to go wrong!
May H live to an enviable age in the finest of health. Reality though is like what you said about slowing down. It happens. The shot is pretty cheap insurance. How long does it remain effective for with H? A true phone hold nightmare, but sweetened by the thoughtful inclusion of a book to read. The cancellation list is a great idea, for both them and you, as long as the timing is convenient. Never heard of such a formal system, but mentioned to you that the dentist receptionist was drumming up business after a cancellation last time I was there. Mobile phones have made people less reliable.
Tethered and tied, the phone’s got ya. Although, for all I know, they called today. Did they? Hmm, that’s an interesting observation. My phone screen flashes red and declares that the call is a suspected spam call. Mostly I only answer calls from numbers which are known. The rest can leave a message.
Ooo, volunteer tomatoes are usually pretty good from my experience, and hardy too. Mostly the ones here are cherry varieties, and usually yellow. Quite tasty too.
It’s funny the master gardeners made that observation, but it triggered a memory. Way higher up in the mountain range, the early state goobermint used to run a plant nursery, and there is an old Rhododendron just growing in that area now surrounded by forest. I may have chucked in a photo of the old plant long ago on the blog. Anyway, a bit bushfire swept through that nursery a long time ago, and all that remains are a few exotic species and the rhodie is one such example. Tough as old boots. 🙂
Your weather is slowly creeping up there, and hope it remains reasonable. Down here it looks like the weather is about to turn to a fortnight or more of rain, rain and more rain. Candidly, we need the moisture, so bring it on I say. Might make getting work done around the place difficult, but we’ll see. At least this week is covered with the burn-off.
🙂 Man, there are heaps of Sherlock Holmes films, but you may be nearing the end of the series from the 1940’s. Sir Arthur may have killed off the character, but he ain’t dead yet… The Editor is very much enjoying the Dexter origin series, Harry is not the pristine character the original series made him out to be, which only hinted at various unsavoury events leading up to the origin series. And I’m intrigued to discover how Dexter weaselled his way out of being shot.
Ook, I intend to party like a rock-star now we have all these extra rocks. Sorry for the dodgy pun, and speaking of such things I heard a meme this morning regarding a certain mushroom incident: The lady felt so bad about the lengthy legal proceedings that she invited the judge to lunch…
Thinking is a fine use for the brain. I’d only hope more people use theirs. It’s not much to ask, is it? 🙂
Cheers
Chris
I fairly often see autumnal blooming on shrubs and trees that are supposed to bloom in spring here in Cornwall, including on rhododendrons. It happens on apples pears and hawthorns sometimes.
Hi Mawkernewek,
You’re in a lovely corner of the planet, and thanks for the comparison notes from your part of the world. Hmm. Yes, I’ve observed apples and pears producing flowers in autumn, and occasionally tiny fruit. It’s interesting isn’t it? And I do wonder how plants adapt to a warming environment – probably it will all be stranger than we can imagine.
Almost forgot to mention, that I do wonder how the plants will adapt to a lower number of chilling hours? Some require upwards of 700 hours to fruit. Dunno.
Cheers
Chris
Hello Chris,
thanks for the video instruction for the chicken-feed-scoby! We watched it together and tried it out right away. We fed our first scoby in snippets to our hens today and they were enthusiastic.
Many things that I am thinking about and will look into the coming time:
* I guess that the conversion ratio is approximately 1:1 dry weight, sugar into scoby material after a few weeks. (cost? sugar is also not free…)
* What is the nitrogen source? Sugar is only carbon and hydrogen, but proteins need nitrogen to build.
* Did you take the whole scoby or just a part of the scoby for chicken-feed?
Anyways, it was great to see you enjoying your cider during the film shot.
Extend our gratitude to Sandra too. Thanks!
Here we are enjoying the tok-tok entertainment platform.
Regarding your discussion at the Greer site, I think you were just posing polite questions to clarify the quite stunning claim of almost no winter fuel.
I have been in contact with Alexis Zeigler for several years and I think they are doing very interesting things. If you want to learn more, contact him directly. He is very approachable and no-nonsense. Until now I have only got solid answers to the questions I had.
I do not like the style of the l*** gardener who is talking about other peoples’ places without firsthand information. It is easy to miss out on important details.
For me, one of the things I like best with you and your site is that you tell things that you have done and what works for you, not peddling a generalized recipe for universal success.
I think world would be a better place if we allowed for more nuance and local observations.
You asked about the home economics of growing food for ourselves. It is a good question. This year we have eaten several kilos of asparagus, worth hundreds of dollars. But in the past, when we did not grow asparagus, I only bought asparagus for ten dollars every year. How much money did we save?
And we eat much more and better salads, from May to November. Several of the greens are not available in the supermarket.
Most of the non-organic vegetables in the supermarket are very cheap, but I don’t want to eat them.
One cost/labour saving investment was to build a cool-storage “root cellar” last year, where we still have some potatoes from October last year. We had apples into mid-May. That was amazing.
Vegetable seeds are also not free, and some seeds deliver nothing due to our mediocre skills.
Maybe the main savings is that for every hour we spend in the garden, we are not in an expensive café chatting away, or watching a movie, or shopping or doing other costly entertainment activities.
How is the economics side of growing food for you?
Peace,
Göran
Yo, Chris – Yes, I noticed there wasn’t much vegetation around that off grid house. What with all the terrible wildfires in the recent past, I think keeping vegetation away from your dwelling is becoming more general knowledge. At least to those who pay attention. I didn’t see any water tanks, so, I guess they have a well. In some parts of the US, the water table is high, and digging a well isn’t such a problem.
It sounds like you’re having, or will have, a bit o’ weather. Fill those tanks! It was 86F (30C), yesterday. Our overnight low was 52F (11.11C). The forecast high for today is 83F. We may get some rain tomorrow, and temps in the 60s.
Given the amount of time I spent on my feet, during my working life, knock wood, my feet are in pretty good shape. We have people here at the Institution, who are younger than me, who hobble around. My hearing is good, too. Eyesight? Hmmm. I really need to get that looked into. Nothing major, but there are signs … Now I haven’t mentioned it, but I wonder if I haven’t had a small stroke. For about the past two months, I’ve been having a hard time typing. It’s not a muscle thing like arthritis. It’s so weird, and a bit hard to describe. I’m having problems typing capital letters. There seems to be a gap, between the shift key, and the letter I want to capitalize. I hesitate, sometimes for a good amount of time, and can’t quit “pull the trigger.” In some cases, I’m back to hunt and peck. It’s just so odd.
Looking at H’s vet records, it looks like her rabies shots are good for three years. And, yes, as soon as I turned my phone on, this morning, I got a call from the vet. We’re going in, Thursday morning.
The thing about the spam calls, is, I have to sit through them before I can delete them. Waste of my time. I feel the same about spam in my e-mails. All that selecting and deleting is just a pain in the … ear.
It will be interesting to see what develops in the tank garden bed, as far as tomatoes go. Last year, I had two tomatoes, in that bed. A red and a yellow cherry tomato. This year, I put just one red cherry tomato, in that bed … in a slightly different spot from where they grew, last year. The yellow tomato and the Roma went in my other bed. A slight bit of crop rotation, given my limited amount of space. So the volunteers could be from either red or yellow cherry tomatoes.
We have native Rhododendron forests, here, mostly out toward the coast. As with our native roses, I suppose their ancestors were from a time when all the continents were connected together.
https://nativeplantspnw.com/pacific-rhododendron-rhododendron-macrophyllum/
There were fourteen Rathbone, Holmes movies. I’ve seen four of them. I hope the library gets more. Oh, I could fill you in on Dexter, but … spoilers 🙂 . Ask the editor … 🙂
I saw that the Mushroom Murderer had been convicted. Do you have the death penalty, in Australia? That was a terrible joke. I love it.
Our news is full of the Texas floods. Prof. Mass has a post on it.
If it’s not one thing, it’s another. I got a notice, yesterday, that they’re washing our exterior windows, tomorrow. And that they may have to enter my apartment, as, there is the patio roof, and entry way roof to contend with. But, they’ve never had to enter before, as there’s a gap between the two, and my windows are accessible. I saw Little Mary Sunshine, this morning, and asked if it was the same company. It is. And, they won’t need to enter my apartment “….If they bring the right equipment.” With a bit of rearranging, the living room window, fine. The bedroom? Forget it. I chatted with the guy, last year, and hope it’s the same one. If he says he washed the bedroom window, I’ll not say otherwise. :-). If he’s got to enter my apartment, at all. Lew
Hi Chris,
Retirement in our culture is just retiring from paid work. Does a stay at home parent ever retire when they were never paid? I think so many get little or no satisfaction from their paid job/career anymore that they’re retiring from the situation. However, you have to have the funds to meet your basic needs, don’t you. If we hadn’t inherited some money from Doug’s mother and, very unexpectedly due to their untimely deaths, Patrick and Michael. One or both of us would have to have a part time paid job. I see so many elderly people, especially women still working as grocery store checkers or handing out samples at Costco. I consider myself very fortunate to be able to live a comfortable life without having to earn an income.
That being said, I’m certainly not retired from life like some. It’s the retired folks who keep so many organizations going.
I make my own kombucha as well and used to give extra scoby to the egg layers but didn’t cut it up but rather let them fight it out. As far as caffeine I have to stay away from coffee after 11 AM or so as it will affect my sleep but I can drink kombucha anytime.
The weather has done a switch-a-roo as we’ve been getting a fair amount of rain for the last couple of weeks.
The 2nd batch of chickens go to the butcher in a week. Doug has a frame of honey ready to bottle and the pigs are doing well. I should have raspberries and blackberries soon. Doug’s had 3 swarms this year.
Marty is doing well. We took him to the family 4th of July party at my daughter Carla’s home in Chicago. He’s become quite the Cubs fan due to some new friends at his facility.
I went on a short trip a couple hours north on the Wisconsin River with Cecily. We rented a nice cabin right on the river. It did rain a fair amount but it was a relaxing time.
Margaret
Chris:
Hobbies, for sure, but retirement also requires real work. Or is that an oxymoron? Or perhaps that is “purpose”?
I always wonder if there is a money connection involved with such an arrangement, is that why negatives might not be mentioned? As my husband said: Always follow the money. I wouldn’t say that you were overthinking it at all. It is something dear to your heart – or survival, anyway.
Yum!
I am indeed very affected by caffeine, besides the addictive side of it. When I had mycotoxicity some years ago my nervous system was just about wrecked and so I gave up all caffeine, even chocolate. Eventually, I did recover fully, but decided it was best to still leave off that stuff.
I do know that “The stuff you feed to your chickens eventually ends up back in the kitchen.” I ought to be buying better eggs.
You wish to know about the veggies, eh? I would say, “What veggies?”. Squirrels continually eat the tomatoes and squash. Something else eats the beans and their leaves and sweet potato and carrot leaves. A bit early for peppers and eggplants. However, they have hardly touched the cucumbers, which are pretty prolific, and I have made a lot of sweet pickle relish, which, here in the Old South, we add to a whole lot of things. I spent most of my time this spring for 3 months fortifying everything, to no avail, so I am now waiting to see if the varmints let up some later in the summer when the nuts start becoming available.
Pam
Chris,
Near the end of last week, you asked if my parents pushed me into science, or if there was a natural affinity. Well, there is a natural affinity. And I was always good at maths. If he were still alive, dad would say he never pushed me that direction. However, for several years after moving to Spokane, he was busy even on weekends getting the physics lab operational where he was teaching. The only way my sister and I could spend a lot of time with him was that we would watch him going through equipment catalogues and by having family outings to the physics lab when equipment arrived and was tested. Several birthday and Christmas presents for me were science oriented “toys”. University was always going to happen. The tuitions that I could afford were at the junior college where he taught and then the regional university in a nearby town. With no engineering degrees available there, physics it was.
My sister went to the same schools a few years later and went into biology. As I said, we were brought up in his physics lab and the science building.
So, was I pushed? I would say yes, but not directly. Mom, however, AFTER I was done with university, said that she always thought I should have been a writer. She was allowed no input when it might have mattered…
The energy levels being with and visiting with people can, indeed, become exhausting quickly. Heck, carving club last Saturday was bad enough. Between teaching the July classes at the club and having to work closely with one of the officers, well, I needed quiet for a few days afterwards.
We’re all different in different ways. Young Neighbor once said that she is very different than anyone she knows. I told her that “different is good. I enjoy different.” Further conversations have revealed that some of her unique differences are the same as and/or similar to several of mine. How people are wired is fascinating.
Another day over 38C today. 16% humidity. Very windy. Somebody set 4 fires just across the river near some of the newer low income housing. Forested area. They were able to get it contained to 4 acres. Sunday two fires were set at the Riverside State Park old equestrian area. Still smoldering but contained at 40 acres. That is part of the area that burned over 300 acres in 1973. It’s also part of the area where I hung out throughout my teens and into my late 20s.
So, yes, there is an arsonist in that area. Another arsonist started 5 buildings on fire downtown this morning. Ugh. Crazy times.
I visited the website of that place that was the subject of your flame war at Mr. Greer’s. Did some other research on that region. The most notable thing about that location is that it DOES get a lot more sun near the solstice than either you or I get. But their website was big on what they have, next to nothing on useful details. Dad researched hay bale walls and super insulated homes with as much passive solar as possible back in the early 1970s. (Similar technology and general ideas as that place. It wouldn’t have worked here without being hooked to the grid.) He also had a heavily insulated attic and insulated all exterior walls. Let’s just say that when our weather was near that other place’s extreme cold (warmer than our extremes), a few wheelbarrows of wood per year wouldn’t be enough. Not even close. So, like you, I’m skeptical about HOW that group is actually making it work. And if you don’t want to reply to this comment about it, I get it.
So, you cogitated upon what that event and conversation meant. Dang, I have to sit down and ponder with a good mug of coffee or tea also, so as to maybe figure out what happened, or why I’m grumpy today, or why I feel how I do and what exactly the emotion is that I’m feeling…and why.
Interestingly, I was reading something over the weekend. The discussions about the main topic basically turned into what you said: “but I had an eerie insight which suggested that relying on deeply held beliefs, is a way of putting a persons brain into auto-pilot.” And that’s something I’ve thought about on different occasions. It’s a lot easier in the SHORTER term to have one’s brain on autopilot. But that means that no thinking is happening. And that is how cognitive dissonance and trying to rationalize facts away happens. And that leads to anger, among other things. And nastily messy situations occur. So, although this is a feature of our civilization, it is a feature that will contribute to this civilization’s demise.
Nice work on the water tanks. Impressive. I bet you feel a lot better having the new tanks hooked up now.
Killian’s human gave us a lot of green onions and some onion starts. Very tasty and I’m excited to see how the starts do.
Hmmmm, something eating rhubarb leaves? And still alive and mobile apparently? Wow.
Thyme is still blooming. Some of the succulents have begun blooming. Other unknown plants in the lawn are blooming. Pretty, and the bees are happy.
Happy bees. I watched several get long drinks from Dame Avalanche’s water this morning. One of the male sparrows has learned not to be scared of me. He will drink out of her water even when I am sitting less a mere meter away. Well, as long as Dame Avalanche is sound asleep, that is. Between her water and the larger water source I have out for the birds, a lot of critters are happy to have these sources in the arid heat we’ve got. And I enjoy watching everybody drink.
DJSpo
Hi Chris,
I sympathise – a lot of people seem to think that renewables run on fairy dust and rainbows, and that any criticism of them must be a form of climate denial. (Eg. I had someone tell me that PV is a negative emissions tech – not just reduced emissions, *negative * emissions)
On the other hand, I’ve also been called a liar for stating that my solar hot water system is unboosted (it is, I assure you)
I wonder how a passive house would perform at a location that had very cold, but sunny winters? I guess it would do well?
Cheers Gus
Hi Pam,
You’ve thrown me there. Is the observation an oxymoron, or not? 🙂 Probably is… The domestic economy is the land of real world savings. But thus it is also work, don’t you reckon?
I know, the folks originally mentioned were flogging old tech batteries (or at least the idea of acquiring and living with), and my little ears pricked up at that mention. However, Goran suggested the way out of the mess and to get to the truth of the matter: Just ask them. Now why hadn’t I thought of that option? Candidly there are a lot of comments this evening, so time may get away from me for this activity, but that path is on the to-do list. Going to the source is probably the safer path.
At this point, I remain deeply sceptical of the claims, and it is very possible that… Oh well, open dialogue and let’s find out what they have to say for themselves.
Oh far out, your area would be ripe with fungi, so yeah, that’s an insidious and quietly sneaking up upon a person all unsuspectingly like, risk. Respect. And you kicked the habit, so why go back?
Oops, sorry for mentioning that about the eggs. 😉 I’ve said it before, and I’ll probably say it again, so please forgive me for repeating myself, but. You can tell how much protein is in the egg by the deeper colour and size of the yolk, but also most importantly, how well does the albumen hold together in the fry pan? If it’s jelly like, those are good eggs. Otherwise, well, there’s the ideal, and then there’s what we can all afford to do. I cut corners with stuff too. If there were any other way, I’d do it.
Those naughty squirrels! Pam, I hear you. Yesterday I almost crashed the dirt rat Suzuki because, holy carp, somehow the herd of deer had gone from two, back to half a dozen. How did this happen? And there has been fresh deer scat in various locations.
I reckon that will be the case as production picks up and there are other things for the varmints to eat.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Margaret,
Agreed, that is part of retirement, although I will add that my grandfather never developed a persona and purpose outside of his paid-work-sphere. His age eventually forced him away from that life, although there was some large talk at the time about how he was going to take on the system legally to implement change. And having encountered reality, and a younger spouse who probably didn’t wish to splurge the resources, I believe he willed himself to death only weeks after retirement. The mind is a powerful thing.
🙂 Believe it or not, there is some paid parental leave down here for about twelve months (I could be wrong there) after a birth. But longer term I’m absolutely with you. There is a notion in society that if it ain’t paid, then it has no value, but that perspective is in error.
And that’s it too, we live in a society which measures many relationships based upon transactional notions, when once long ago we valued less easily measured social arrangements, and earned standing. I believe that eventually human societies will return to that earlier model.
Hehe! True about volunteer organisations, although I’ve read of some country towns which struggle to field a netball or football team for those same reasons. We’d do best to make allowances for most people to participate in such activities.
🙂 Chickens are great at breaking things up, and to see them destroying a rodent is to know that they were once dinosaurs. I’m a bit soft with the chickens and particularly want the bantam to get some of the SCOBY.
Everyone is different in that regard, and I could easily go to sleep after consuming a coffee, although two or three would be challenging! The caffeine seems to affect me differently, and it does produce a more alert state of mind, but won’t keep me awake.
Awesome to hear that you’re receiving some regular rainfall at this time of year. Hope it dries out for the grain harvests in your area. The old timers used to say that: It never rains, but it pours. The rain has picked up here of late, which is good. Things were looking not so great only recently. The water tanks are slowly refilling.
Enjoy your harvest, and may the chickens be super tasty – roasted. Yum! The swarms are awesome news. Yup, more regular swarming will save the honeybee. Fingers crossed that that continues, as I reckon it will.
🙂 Go Marty! And lovely to hear that you had a good 4th catch up and celebration. Was Gwen able to visit as well?
Whoa, that’s a big river. Sounds like a fun and relaxing time, and hope Cecily is doing OK.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Gus,
Thank you for understanding. And um, yeah, they’d be wrong there. For your interest, some of the solar PV panels are now pushing up around two decades old. My gut feeling is that the life span of this tech has been vastly understated. Although, I do keep the glass clean and free of debris – you’d be amazed that lichens and moss would want to set up shop on such hot surfaces? Beats me how they do that.
The thing is, they do de-rate over time, but if a single panel produced 200W when new, and after two decades may only be, say 180W, who’d even notice? Between you and I, I’m truly astounded that second hand solar PV panels can be purchased so cheaply, or even considered a waste product. Crazy stuff.
Where you are located is almost perfect for solar hot water and PV. Winters are cold and damp, but they’re not that cold and damp, especially compared to the mountainous down here – well maybe today it would be cold in your area from what I’ve been reading about the weather. 🙂 A real winter has arrived for you! You need the rain though, as do I. Far out!
We too have solar hot water panels, and they work about eight months of the year. Winters here are a whole bunch colder and cloudier though.
The thing is, and respect to you, it depends upon what you’ve come to expect from your systems. If hot water is only hot when it’s pushing 45’C, well that can be an issue. In Melbourne, Sandra and I have lived in plenty of houses which had no heating. The coldest I can ever recall indoors in those conditions was about 12’C, which was chilly, but rare.
It’s funny you mention passive houses, but I know someone with one, and it’s good, but still requires mechanical heating and cooling. Plus there is some sort of ventilation system which I did not quite understand, although well insulated houses – like this one here – do require a window to be open when say running a wood heater. Everything is a compromise.
Hope your winter garden is bountiful! We’ve discovered radishes recently, and they’re growing really well.
Another reader has moved to your city recently. If you want, I can put you in touch?
Cheers
Chris
Hi Göran,
It was a great suggestion on your part, and the video was fun to make. Glad you both enjoyed it, and the cider was good. With 26 different apple trees some of which are cider specific varieties, I can assure you, the cider is both excellent and smooth – and also preservative free. Some makers use sulphur additives to halt the fermentation, and that is not usually the practice down under. I’d describe it as an acquired taste. And then there are the folks who take ethanol + water + reconstituted apple juice and make who knows what it is… Let’s move on! 🙂
Did the chickens hesitate momentarily before diving in on the SCOBY pieces?
True, sugar is not free, but in Australia there are cane sugar plantations up north east of the continent, and plants have an amazing ability to produce carbohydrates more easily than say, proteins. Sugar beets and honeybees may have been the traditional sources in your part of the world? Dunno.
Ah, I looked this up last night, because I too wondered… Caffeine is the answer! Trimethylpurine-2,6-dione, has a chemical formula C8H10N4O2. You read it here first. 😉 Thus why black tea works better than green tea, the fermentation process somehow allows access to more caffeine from the leaves. Always best to comprehend the process, than simply following instructions don’t you reckon? Well, that’s the goal anyway, reality may be different.
I took the whole SCOBY, because in the glass jar, there are multiple SCOBY’s – with the one on the surface the most active. They fall deeper into the liquid over time (and those are the ones I take). I don’t know whether this is the case with the mother we have, or they all do that, and you may have to wait and see with yours.
Sandra sends thanks for the lovely words.
I read your excellent recent blog, and recommend it highly to the many readers here (Trees for Peace link over on the left hand side of this screen). Always impressed with your activities.
And now I have to thank you for providing a common sense approach to comprehending the dilemma. The idea never occurred to me, but why not: Go to the source. Always the wisest path. People are always looking for an easy solution, like: If we just do this one thing, then everything will be OK. But no, sadly life does not work that simply. Thanks, and all I offer is work. 🙂
That’s a good question. And I ask you, how much better is your health and diet for having done so? Plus, given like me, you operate a sort of closed-ish loop with the incoming soil minerals, well what does that suggest to you? There are times it seems to me as if the entire areas wildlife turns up here for a feed. It’s raining outside right now, and there was an owl perched high up in the kiwi fruit vines hunting rats. Healthy looking things, all of them. 🙂
My err, please excuse the pun, but ‘gut feeling’ is that leafy greens are the best to grow and ‘consume’ for your health when freshly picked. Purchased ones are almost impossible to provide the same level of proteins and other minerals. How could they? It’s an easy experiment to run, simply pick some of yours and leave them in the refrigerator for a few hours – the answer will be clear to see.
Your weather is perfect for a root cellar. I read a book about them a year or two ago, and the average soil temperature has to be around 4’C or lower (refrigerator temperature strangely enough) to work. It’s a bit warmer than that here during winter, but then plants grow outdoors (and in the greenhouse) albeit very slowly.
The soils here are seriously depleted of many minerals, including phosphates and calcium in particular. So it costs a bit to bring those in. I should do what you did and purchase a bulk supply of phosphates source.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Yeah, the vegetation surrounding that pre-fab house looked like young re-growth forest to me, and quite thick too. The thought of a fire getting in there gave me an attack of the vapours, but fortunately smelling salts were near to hand (whatever they are?) Actually, have you ever come across smelling salts?
And sadly, that was what I noticed about the before photos of Paradise, that town which was hit hard by the wildfire. Vegetation was right up to the houses, but you know, the residents did want things that way.
Wells are really interesting, and I’ve no experience with that technology, although a few neighbours have them. You hear stories of the aquifer running dry in these parts after only a few minutes of use, but we don’t really have a large plateau on the mountain range where the water can infiltrate into the groundwater table. A lot of the early Europeans took it upon themselves to clear creeks and rivers of detritus so that the water flowed away faster. I can comprehend wanting to reduce the flood risk, but that flood process also re-distributes soil minerals and recharges the water table. Costs and benefits, and today things look like they do. There’s a bit more flat land at the highest points of the more fashionable western end of the mountain range (nobody resides up there, it’s mainly for softwood Douglas Fir plantations), and so they do have a running creek in that area.
The weather is pretty feral here tonight. We’ve got both kinds of weather: Cold and wet. 🙂 Just took the dogs outside to do their ablutions and there was a bedraggled looking owl perched high up on the kiwi fruit vines probably hunting rats. Go the owls! This one has been hanging around a lot at night recently, and I believe it has consumed many a possum. Take that ye’ herbivores.
Did it cool down at your place?
Dude, well done to you. And people don’t tend to look after their feet. But given that they’re the things which connect with the rest of the body to the ground, they do get a lot of wear and tear. And yes, I too know of people younger than I who hobble around. Me being me, I’ve offered the helpful suggestion to do a daily stretch routine, but do they listen? Nope. Must enjoy hobbling is what I reckon. Preventative measures tend to produce an aghast response. Dunno why?
Dude, I too have troubles reading one point text. Usually legal disclaimers and other important bits of information, probably. I don’t know what it says because I can’t read it. It sends me loopy. Just because we have the technology to print text at one point font, do we really need to do so?
Ook! Man, that can happen, and hope that’s as bad as it gets. Fingers crossed, and thinking of you. Hunting and pecking is no bad thing, and between you and I, no stress at all if you drop capital letters from sentences. Trust me, the dreaded interweb grammar police will be virtually shot dead – the Sheriffs in town here! 😉
At least you weren’t hoping to continue playing that grand Steinway for more years.
The rabies vaccine is super cheap insurance for H. Hope H will be on her very best behaviour for the vet visit. Better than waiting for weeks. A rabid H would be like that vampire Pomeranian in the Blade series. Nobody wants to encounter a vampire Pomeranian. Interestingly the seed detective book (I’m reading about the many virtues of garlic) author mentioned that vampires are cultural legends from Europe to Asia. I’d not realised that they weren’t constricted to Eastern Europe. Do you know what the actual historical source of that fictional beast is?
Oh! Yes, they leave messages here too – often just quiet background office noises. Presumably the spam callers have KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) to meet? Spam email here is bad, but then we run a business so it is in many ways a target.
It will be interesting to see which self seeded volunteer varieties turn up – and if they’re cherry tomatoes, I’ve never had a bad one grow that way. Always wise to rotate crops (except I lack garden space too). Need to construct a second greenhouse, but that’ll have to wait a bit.
And the book, ah yes. The author has convinced me to grow some cos lettuce varieties. Yep, I don’t need to be told twice. Might be good for you too, based on what I read. Interesting! And the Editor’s ears pricked up at the information as well. Who knew?
That’s a lovely variety of Rhododendron (and it may well be growing here as it looks remarkably similar to some of the varieties). I’ve seen them in Nepal too, although it was the dry season so they weren’t flowering.
Man, you’ve got some catching up to do there with the Rathbone series! 🙂 Hope the library comes through for you with the orders. Yeah, I like your style, but may desist from asking the question. One day I may binge watch the entire series, although I reckon that would mess with my head a bit.
No death penalty down under. On the dodgy food jokes, say, the err, knives are now out… Glad you enjoyed that meme, as it gave me a chuckle as well. Candidly, any cook that careless, should probably never be allowed near a kitchen ever again. The youth news program had a mycologist on to discuss mushroom poisoning, and apparently numbers are up, I think he said something like 50% higher in recent years. Some of the side effects sounded horrendous. Basically, outside of a pine forest, there’s a lot to go wrong, because it’s easy to make an identification mistake. The indigenous mushrooms are an unknown quantity.
The news here is full of the Texas flood reports too. That was bad. I’ll have a read to see what Professor Mass has to say. A lot of rain in a very short period of time. Supercell storms are like that here.
Oh poop! Stay strong and continue avoiding the inspection / interruption to your quiet enjoyment. Why gainsay the bloke if he’s on your side? Hehe! Nice one. And hope it worked out fine.
Did paid work today and finished late as per usual.
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
Thanks for that info because I wonder why people get into studying the sciences. From what I understand of the job market, it’s a pretty unstable employment option because you have to reapply for funding, what with all that entails. Not for those seeking a less exciting existence. Ah, interesting about your sister, because the Editor also studied Biology at Uni and earned a degree, but get this, never worked in science. She tells me her parents pushed her in that direction, which is why I asked you how it all worked out.
I’m astounded that no engineering degree placements were offered. Engineers make stuff, err, happen. 🙂
I can see that you’d enjoy writing. At the turn of the twentieth century, poets were held in high esteem and well remunerated. I get that too how it could have happened, although my experience at High School English lessons took away any thoughts of that option. 🙂 Same, same, but different! It was a rotten experience and brought down the average scores. Hmm. And interestingly, given both of your parents perspectives, you went off and did something else altogether, but closer to what you’d wanted to do in the first place. It’s funny how life works out, and you never know where the currents will take any of us.
Introverts of the world unite! 🙂 That’s how it works, absolutely be social and enjoy all that, then a bit of quiet time out to recharge the social batteries. Plus both the Editor and I have our own interests and hobbies, but then work together on many of the projects around here.
Man, one of the dogs just ripped out a stinky. The air is thick here right now. It may be 4’C outside, but I just opened the window. Ah fresh air again.
Different is good. Yup. I was completely different to my mother and older two sisters, and got the impression they had no idea what to make of me. I just kind of lived with them, and spent most of time dodging them because at best they seemed emotionally unstable. The Myers–Briggs Type Indicator is a useful way for me (at least) to work out peoples motivations and their potential responses to certain situations and stimuli. It’s a bit like training for martial arts where I can sort of get a feel for what people will do and develop a response. I had a bad experience with a boss around the turn of the century and realised that effort had to be sort of put into developing my people skills – and have continued to do so ever since. I’ve written about it before, but will out myself as an INFJ personality, and being a bloke, that’s about one in every two hundred people. I never meet people who are like me either! So your neighbour is not alone there. 🙂 Something to think about.
That’s hot, and dry. And yes, that would be the conclusion I’d draw too. There are a lot of cameras around these days, so hopefully the person is nabbed. And that’s what happened down this way. Things have been saner since the guy was put away. Crazy times.
Agreed, it is more sunny than here, but really the sun at that time of the year is a feeble energy source, which I may have said. Honestly, Goran had a great idea – just go ask them. And I’ll do it, although maybe not tonight. 🙂 Strawbale construction is a thing down here too, and they’re very good, but if a house is constructed on a cement slab, well it leaks heat into the Earth. Probably work better in the summer months. I’m sceptical too, and will get to the bottom of this story. Or is it the top of the story? Not sure!
Hope you’re not grump today. This would be a good thing, although one must not stifle their emotions, but rather work with them. Things annoy the daylights out of me, but I do mostly present a calm exterior. You’d know from dog training, that calm leaders are deemed preferable by our canine friends, and I have had some emotionally complicated bosses over the years.
It’s nice to have the extra water capacity. We got pretty low earlier in the year when it was both hot and dry. Mind you, it’s raining outside now, and we’re in for a wet two weeks or so. That’s winter for you.
Fingers crossed the starts work out well. Are they from Killian’s humans’ garden?
Maybe dead now, there’s an owl hanging around most night recently. Hope it is here to stay and raise a family of hungry owlets. That’d it be good. It may have been a possum as there are two types here.
🙂 Enjoy the plants, even the unknown ones.
Safe drinking and cleaning water during summer is bird heaven. And birds get to know the dogs, for sure. Absolutely do they, or what? The magpies love Ollie, because he’s not chasing them – mostly because he’s not allowed to do so. Leave it! That’s the command. Dogs speak English. They know. Dame Avalanche would know, but I reckon her temperament would be closer to the Kelpies.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – I think I’ve seen smelling salts, somewhere along the way. The form looks very familiar, with the glass vial and all.
https://w.wiki/EgTy
A lot of people here, in rural areas, have electric pumps for their wells. But they may put in hand pumps, due to frequent power outages. See: “Prime the pump.” 🙂 Out in our midwest, small (and not so small) windmills were used to pump water. You could buy them out of the Sears catalog.
Now why didn’t that owl show up, when your vines were loaded with kiwi? Poor planing on his (or her) part.
Our high yesterday was 84F (28.88C). Our overnight low was 55F (12.77C). Our forecast high for today is 69F. It’s overcast and cooler, this morning. When I took H for a walk, this morning, I saw the window washers marshaling the troops. Looks like a larger group than last year, so, they ought to make short work of it. Ideal weather, for them. If it doesn’t rain. There’s a 40% chance, but the radar looks pretty clear.
When I was very young, I was diagnosed with flat feet. They hurt a lot. So, it was years of very unstylish orthopedic shoes, and exercises. Scrunching paper towels and picking up marbles, with my toes. 🙂
Preventative measures take effort. 🙂
I picked up some cheap reading glasses, at the dollar store. I have three pairs. One each next to my chair, the computer, and in the kitchen.
I don’t worry so much about grammar. I do a quick edit, here, after I’ve written out my post. Looking for spelling errors and typos.
I don’t know what the historical source for vampires is. There are many theories. I know every once in awhile, in Europe, they find a burial with a brick jammed in its’ mouth. I saw an article on one of the archaeology news websites, the other day, that Dracula’s tomb may be in Naples, Italy.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-14872567/tombstone-Count-Draculas-naples.html
It will be interesting to see, what kind of volunteer tomatoes, show up. Last year, there was one that sprouted in the bark mulch, close to my bed. I slapped a cage around it, and gave it some fertilizer. It turned out to be a tasty medium sized red. Now the real mystery is, I have that hanging basket, half way around the building. It had petunias in it, last year. And, a tomato volunteer. It turned out to be a red cherry, and I got a few tomatoes off of it. There are many different kinds of tomatoes, growing in different garden plots. Probably a lot of different pollen floating around out there.
Cos lettuce? Oh, what we call Romain lettuce. It’s what volunteered in my plot, this year. It’s really easy to grow, but be warned. The slugs really like it. Mine has bolted and is getting ready to flower. But I can still pull off tasty new leaves.
I doubt the Mushroom Murderer, will ever see the inside of a kitchen again. Unless she ends up working in the prison kitchen. 🙂
Still no sign of the window washers. You’d think they’s start from the top, down. Lew
Hi Chris,
Yeah, agreed. 2nd hand panels are crazy cheap. I bought 2 kW for $100. 20% performance degradation over 20 years is amazing too. I think people are too quick to replace their old systems – it’s part of the whole “solar PV is an inherent good” mindset that is such a problem.
On the whole, we’re just not good at understanding embodied energy or thinking about what it means for renewable systems’ ability to reduce CO2 emissions — we just want to think: “renewables good, fossils ba-a-a-d” (to paraphrase Orwell) – my opinion is that renewables are considerably less-bad ecologically than fossils, but if we use renewables to simply increase our consumption, we’re unlikely to achieve much, as they’re still an environmental negative.
Yesterday was so gloomy – our 8 kW PV system produced under 3 kWh. Bedroom was 13C when we went to bed — chilly! I wore my ugg boots yesterday evening 😉
But I think you’ve nailed it — home energy efficiency is mostly about people’s habits and expectations. I read an article a while back which said that in the UK in the 70’s, it was customary for people to heat their homes to 13 degrees C. How times have changed!
(interestingly, I have a friend who regularly has a cold shower, even in winter, for health reasons. It’s supposed to be very good for one’s immune system. She’s tougher than me though!)
Have you and Goran heard about people experimenting with making vegan leather (or similar) from a scoby? It’s pretty cool, and makes me wonder at the potential for biological fabrication that we haven’t really explored.
I recently decided to remove my offgrid system from the house – I was uncomfortable with the (small) fire risk. I’ve put it in the (detached) garage instead, and have taken the opportunity to upgrade it. It’s now about 3.5 kWh and a second-hand 1600VA inverter-charger that is letting me take some house circuits offgrid (work in-progress). Budget for the whole thing is under $2k (if I don’t price my time). I ended up buying some batteries from jay ka – it’s good to have a store to return them to if needed – will be interesting to see how they go. I’m hopeful this system will reduce our average daily grid draw from ~3 kWh to more like ~1 kWh or less.
An important aspect of this system is that I can charge it from mains, which let’s me augment the offgrid PV (currently 1 kW, anticipating 2-3 kW) with our grid tied PV (~8 kW) in the depths of winter so we don’t run out.
It’s been a good learning experience. I’m taking it slow, and thinking very carefully about documentation, maintenance, and safety.
By all means put me in touch — I think you have my real email address somewhere? I can flick you another email 😉
Cheers, Gus
@Margaret:
You made such good points about retirement. You are a shining example of what a good citizen should be in retirement (and I don’t for a moment believe you are retired, just not pulling in the well-deserved paycheck anymore). The volunteer work you do is worth so much. And then there’s Marty . . .
Pam
Chris:
I do indeed reckon that the domestic economy is work, having been in it for a very long time. I assumed that was work I was doing. Of course, they who work in the economy economy, have to do domestic work as well. I have had it easy.
Ah! Goran gets right to the heart of things.
I don’t know if your deer behave like our deer as I can’t remember what ours do in mid-winter right now. In mid- summer here there is a lot of going it alone by the does when they give birth (I suppose the males go off to the Drones Club), raising the little ones alone for awhile, then all the girls gather back together and form their own club, with some yearling bucks allowed. Then fall is the rut, and everyone is running all over the place, especially in front of moving vehicles.
I just realized that I have to start planting the fall garden in a couple of weeks. Lordy, I’m still waiting on the summer one.
Pam
Chris,
Washington State has several regional universities, two major universities and a plethora of two year junior colleges. All of these are public, meaning they get a lot of funding from tax dollars. I attended Eastern Washington University in nearby Cheney. There’s Central Washington University in Ellensburg and Western Washington University in Bellingham. These are popularly referred to by the directional part of their name. There’s also The Evergreen State College in Olympia, which has a wildly different attitude towards curriculum. In addition, there are the two MAJOR research universities, Washington State University south of here in Pullman, and University of Washington in Seattle. Once upon a time, only the 2 major universities were allowed to get the accreditation for engineering degrees. That left the 3 regional universities out. Eastern offered a four year degree in engineering technology, which covered similar curriculum to the 2 or 3 year technical offerings at the junior colleges while also requiring all of the usual support coursework to obtain a Bachelor’s degree. Sometime in the past 20ish years, Eastern was allowed to upgrade this to actual engineering curriculum.
My chemistry professor often quipped that “physicists make bigger and better guns”. On one occasion, someone (not me) cheekily replied that “All chemists do is stink things up.” The professor was far from amused. 😉
I learned English grammar at a Roman Catholic school at age 14. The nun who taught us made us diagram sentences. That’s most of what we did for the entire 8th grade year in English, with some writing interspersed in the lessons. Then high school English, well, the teacher and I regularly fought about grammar. And whether the recent “made for tv” rendition of “Count of Monte Cristo” was any good. (It wasn’t. I saw it a few years ago again. It still sucked.) Or how a certain popular tv show was so unpredictable (her idea) or predictable by the end of the first 5 minutes (my idea). Had more grammar the next year from a different teacher. I yawned through it.
The third year was supposed to be yet more grammar from the first teacher. I had multiple schedule conflicts. The State required 3 years of English out of the 4 high school years. Our school required 4 years. Interestingly, the teacher did me a solid: she signed off on my third year, writing that “DJ knows grammar better than I do and all we’ll do is fight and distract the class. He doesn’t need another year of grammar.”
Sounds like us. The Princess has hobbies and activities. I have my own. Some projects are done together. And there are other overlapping interests. We BOTH like down time and appreciate that our home is a place of refuge and recovery from everything else.
Dog stinky? One of my chemistry labs resulted in similar odors. The entire science building reeked for the two weeks the class worked on that lab project. Chemists stink things up, right? Maybe your dog has hidden chemistry skills.
Yeah, I get the family not understanding you. My dad never understood me, nor did my sister the extrovert. Mum did and her mother totally did. It wasn’t until after meeting the Princess that I began to understand myself. Oh, and I fluctuate between INFJ and INTJ. Usually.
Windier today than yesterday. A fire started 40 miles west of here in mixed wheat, dryland brush and pine trees. About noon. By 3 pm it was over 1,500 wind-whipped acres. With the high winds, temperatures circa 33C and humidity between 15% and 20%, that area is beyond dry. The Spokane River is very wide just north of the fire’s path, so hopefully it won’t jump the river. Winds should die down by sunrise tomorrow.
That is a great idea Goran had. Hopefully your inquiry will result some useful information.
Good that you’re getting wet weather. You need it.
Yes, the starts are from Killian’s human’s garden.
Owls. Hungry owlets. Less possums. Fewer rats. Scared rabbits. What could possibly go wrong? 😉
Yup, Dame Avalanche’s temperament is similar to that of the kelpies. There’s a barely hidden wildness in some of these breeds. Dame Avalanche knows a LOT of English. She knows some Welsh, too. I’ve found that the Germanic languages can sound somewhat harsh compared to some others. With Avalanche, I’ve found that Welsh is calming and has some commands that are very soothing and calming to her. I speak mostly Welsh when on our walks. It is helping her stay calmer around other dogs. Not calm, mind you, but less hyper.
DJSpo
Hi Pam,
Looks like work to me too. Most definitely, such activities are work shaped. Yup. And that’s something I too wonder about, how do people who work full time in the paid economy, also manage their households and all of the many other demands placed upon them? I truly don’t know the answer to that.
The winters are warmer here, so truthfully the deer life cycle in this area is a mystery to me. Until about a year and a bit ago, the deer avoided this area, so it’s all new. Interesting stuff, and I just watched a fascinating short video on their life-cycle. Thanks for the suggestion. Here it is: Australian Deer Life Cycles | Sambar, Fallow, Red, Rusa, Chital & Hog Deer
Ook! Well, at least the plants which survive the predation right now at your place will grow fast. I start the fall garden in your very early September. But the days are getting short then, and it does make a person wonder if getting the plants in early is the wiser path? Dunno.
Rain, rain and more rain today. A nice day to have spent indoors.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Gus,
That’s a good buy. And I picked up 16x 200W panels for $400 a few years ago. This result should never be. My understanding is that system upgrades do not allow for the use of the original panels. It’s a bit wasteful really.
It’s really difficult to live one’s life and not cause dramas on that energy front, however what you say is absolutely true. The main perception of a renewable energy future is that things will look exactly like they do today, but be powered from the sunlight falling onto the ground, or the wind roaring above our heads. Frankly speaking, electricity is a minor player in the energy mix used by society. I’ve read reports that it makes up around 15% to 20%-ish of the total.
Hey, some quick maths… 🙂 (3 / 8) x 60 = 22.5 minutes of peak sunlight. Yup, winter can be like that on some days. The worst I’ve experienced is 15 minutes, and that was one bleak-as day. Thick low clouds and constant rain. Still, your city needs the rain, as does here. It continued raining on and off today, quite icy at times.
Respect. 13’C is cold, but clearly survivable. Ugg boots and a sheepskin jacket is never far away in the winter months here. Wearing climate appropriate clothing is not something that the majority of Australian’s are very good at.
Times sure have changed, and I was very young in the 1970’s but can recall the days when only a single room in the household was heated. In those days, there’d be a diesel heater with a ceramic insert (what they’d call an oil heater back then). The funny thing is, I don’t recall being cold in those days, but they do say that kids don’t feel temperature extremes. Mind you, 1L of diesel has something like 10kWh of embodied energy, so burning the stuff warms things up quickly.
I’m not tough enough either for cold showers! 🙂 In Melbourne there are people who go swimming in the bay every single day of the year. The water would be cold, but the thermal mass also moderates the temperatures of the suburbs closest to it. Look at the differences in temperatures over summer from Sydney’s bay side suburbs to the outer west.
Never heard of anyone making vegan leather from a SCOBY, but can see how that might be possible. There’s a great deal of cellulose in the mothers. Yeah I know, imagine growing shoe upper leathers? I’m reminded of Paul Stamets mushroom hat he wears.
High Rupture Current DC rated fuses are your friends in a worse case scenario! You may have noticed that I upgraded all of the fuses over the past couple of years? The cheaper ones can fail when you need them the most.
Yes, that mob. They sell some good stuff, and having a store to return items too is a good thing. The most recent purchase came from the land of stuff directly. Who knew that Sydney was actually somewhere over there? Oh well, I watch utoob videos of people tearing the products down so as to get a feel for the quality – and problems.
A friend of mine has a massive hybrid system, which can charge from either solar or the mains. Not a bad idea, and if there was a connection here, that’s what I’d do nowadays. Still, the little 3.4KVA generator gets wheeled out a couple of times per year, so no big deal. Isolation and safety are the keys in your case. Plus inverters all draw different amounts whilst on standby, so that’s something to consider. Sadly Latronics in Queensland have shut their doors.
No stress and glad to hear. I’ve got the email. And will sort something out.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
I’ve never seen smelling salts used, or otherwise. I’d imagine that vials would have turned up in the tat trade over the years?
Hey, they still say to ‘prime the pump’ down here for much the same reasons, although many electric pumps nowadays are self-priming. The fire trucks used to have a manual hand pump to prime the main diesel water pump – if needed. Windmills were a thing down here as well, to bring water up from deep wells, although I believe that the last local manufacturer shut it’s doors a few years ago. They’re an elegant and appropriate technology, sadly relegated to the past. And were once a ubiquitous feature of the rural landscape. The slow steady pump would fill a small water tank, which would provide drinking water for cattle.
Not much wind today, but it sure was cold! And rainy. A nice day to spend indoors doing paid work, with the wood heater going. Brr!
We were wondering that as well about the owls and their timing. Surely they need to eat in the warmer months? Thanks to the possums, parrots and rats, we did not harvest a single kiwi-fruit this year. The whole situation has given me much to consider, and we may act earlier next year.
Good to hear that the window washing job is underway – and may get completed in no time at all. How do they get to the outside windows on the upper levels? Can you imagine working as one of those folks who clean the windows of skyscrapers? My mind would switch off if required to do that job. Houston, we have a problem! Yay for some cooler weather for you and H.
Really? Well there you go. I don’t know what flat feet even are. Hang on a second… … A rabbit hole. Yes, the shoes would be quite un-stylish, and also mark you out among your peers. Although, I don’t recall people splurging heaps of mad cash on clothing items back in the 1970’s. The stagflation back then was horrendous. Everyone was broke. Hehe! All good exercises for your feet, and isn’t that the basis of physical rehabilitation?
And yeah, you nailed that observation. Still, I regularly mention the stretching on the off chance that someone, anyone, heeds the basic good advice.
Hey, the Editor has heaps of those cheap reading glasses around in strategic places – for much the same reasons. 🙂 To be honest, if you know your prescription, then the cheapies seem excellent and value for money, especially for the task required of them. And if they get broken, big deal.
Depending upon available time and the number of comments, I likewise do a re-read prior to hitting the post button. Sometimes, my thoughts haven’t quite translated into text on the screen via the actions of my fingers. Did the screen eat the thoughts? I for one, wouldn’t rule out the possibility. Computers are hungry for data, the cheeky scamps. On a serious note, it is possible to discern something of peoples reading tastes via their written comments. It’s obvious you read a lot. 🙂 Respect. As do I! Reading is such a wonderful activity.
What? Are you serious – but of course you would be. A brick in the mouth? Hmm. Grab the snorkel, we’re going down! Another interweb rabbit hole… … Oh no! The hole ended at Readit… My favourite comment (among many difficult choices) was: God help us that none of these morons take that brick out. Gonna be like Raiders of the Lost Ark. Nuff said. And I still have no idea as to the origins of the vampire.
Never let it be said that Count Vlad didn’t thirst for blood. In Bram Stokers book, the Romanians (some at least) were favourably impressed with the Count.
Absolutely, the tomato may be of uncertain parentage, but then you’re developing a landrace variety specific to your garden. Especially if the plant self seeds.
Oh poop. Trust the slugs to be onto cos lettuce. And don’t you think that it’s odd that people expect lettuce greens over the summer months when that’s they’re worst time to grow? One hot summer day here and they’ll bolt to seed too. Oh well.
Frankly speaking, putting the mushroom lady in a prison kitchen doesn’t seem like all that bright an idea. 🙂 As a general rule, a person should always be wary of a poisoner. They’re bad news.
Have they finished the work yet?
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
It’s interesting all of the changes to higher education which have occurred over the decades, and such things happened down here too with colleges becoming much larger before morphing into Universities. And funding comes from that similar state mob. There’s a big push with that lot for overseas students, and that business model comes with other problems. Sadly a lot of education has become very vocationally based, so employers have somehow managed to offload training costs onto employees which probably feeds the ever hungry bond market. Also the whole thing is a barrier to entry, and I do wonder about the return on investment side of that story for the trades are much better remunerated in Australia. I’ve been reading articles suggesting that Uni placement numbers are down. That’s the problem with succeeding at a business model in that sometimes there are fewer customers available in the future.
🙂 It’s an amusing observation. Speaking of which, a power plant was being tested today and caused quite the stink: Snowy Hydro apologises for burning diesel smell from Kurri Kurri power plant. Even the professor would have struggled to top that effort! 😉
Man, that’s what baffled me about English lessons as well. We learn the language via applying our ears and eyes, and yet in school they drilled structure by introducing an entirely abstract set of (occasionally contradictory) terms and then attempted to overlay them. Were they bored, or something? Reading and writing will introduce a person to structure, and if they’re interested to delve further into the subject they are able to do so and develop elements of style and technique. In teaching graduates, or working with teams, I’d ignore the fluff, and stick to drilling the basics. The old timers used to quip: Grasshopper, one must walk before they run. And it’s true!
Clearly you are, and also were, an avid reader, from a young age. I believe that it is really deeply sad not to instil an almost love of words for the joy of them, but the lessons were simply painful. And what a surprise that literacy rates are falling.
Your description matches our own household experience, exactly.
Yes, the big dog is cogitating upon the idea of wolfing down portions of my dinner. 🙂
Man, I used to care about being understood, then it became easier to simply do my own thing. Interesting. My comprehension of the subject is that the INFJ can slip into INTJ mode, but usually not the other way around. In an interesting twist to the story, many of my friends are INTJ’s and I like their strategic perspective, open minds and even temperaments. It’s been an interesting learning journey, and also alerted me as to the reasons behind why some folks I can be pleasant to, but will never be friends with. Hard core rule followers are one example. If needed, they’ll push the button, even if it makes no sense whatsoever to do so and they can acknowledge that – but still push it.
Oh my! How’s the smoke levels in your area with that big fire? Fingers crossed that the wind dies down, and sooner.
Yeah, I’ll wait until a quiet day, and then contact the folks. Opening a dialogue with the source will be a fascinating journey. It was so wet and cold outdoors today that we spent the day indoors doing paid work. And yes, the rain is very well received.
I’ve never used an onion start, so please do let me know how the experiment goes?
Watched a very interesting and informative video on the life cycle of deer (of which a link was in the reply to Pam). I very much wish that the large herbivores were elsewhere, but there is feed here. It’s awful to have to pick and choose in an environment, but humans have done such work for many millennia.
Barely hidden wildness. Absolutely and Huskies fit that description to a tee. Ah, yes, I too change instructions for the dogs and get differing results. Presumably the dogs react to the sound of the words? Dog Obedience club would prefer we used the command ‘No’, but truly the words: ‘Hey!’ and ‘Oi!’ get better results. It brings their wild fertile little minds back to wondering about me. They say the words sound a bit ‘country’. The old timers used to say: If the shoe fits…
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – I may have only seen smelling salts on movies, and on TV. Proper Victorian ladies kept them close to hand, in case they got “The Vapors.” WARNING!!! TANGENT AHEAD!!! Given the tight corsets, and lack of oxygen, fainting was a frequent event. There was a piece of furniture, called a fainting couch. Similar to a chase lounge. I always hankered after one. Given my lack of space, I doubt it will happen. Maybe in the next life …
Pictures or paintings of desolate and abandoned rural landscapes, always seem to have a broken down old windmill, hanging about. It’s almost kind of a cliche.
Our high yesterday was 70F (21.11C). Our overnight low was 57F (13.88C). The forecast high for today is 74F. The forecast for next week is temperatures in the mid 90s. 🙁 .
It was a nice morning to take a spin out in the country, and take H to the vet. That dog is gold plated! $307. Over half of that was two doses of the three month flea pill. It’s gone up. Tariffs? “Made in Japan, Formulated in Austria.” H was her usual good self, but did give a loud yip, when she got her rabies shot. Dr. Amanda is so good with animals. Any animal. She keeps a couple of large snakes!
I don’t drive out that way, very often. There are several large housing estates going up.
I was dipping into that book on weather’s effect on history. How about the locust plague of 1874?
https://w.wiki/Eh76
I think it’s interesting that the Rocky Mountain locust went extinct, soon after.
A very tall, pleasant, youngish man came to clean my windows. We were in agreement on the saying the bedroom windows had been done. More sleight of hand (?) when it came to the living room windows. He pops them out and cleans them. But one of them wouldn’t come out. The building has settled. But, he popped the one out, and managed to reach around and get the other one, clean. He said heights used to bother him … until he took this job. The trick is, don’t look down. I hate those shots in movies, where they pan down between the tall buildings, from an elevation. I have to look away.
Speaking of movies, I watched a good one, last night. “Novocaine.” I should have made popcorn.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PyOIlJEdqA
When I was getting into my teenage years, they came out with an orthopedic shoe, that was a stylish slip on. My Dad wouldn’t buy it, as, he said the only reason I wanted it was because I was too lazy to tie my shoes. Some things, you never forget. 🙂
I worked in the garden, a bit, last night. Watered. I also cut all the garlic scapes. Yes, yes, I know they’re edible. I tried them awhile back. I thought they were rather tasteless and stringy, even chopped small.
I got into that one jar of current / cranberry jam, that I thought might not have sealed. I had a bit on vanilla ice cream. Very tasty, but, oh, my the current seeds! LOL, took me a good 15 minutes to get them out of my teeth, with a floss pick. Chewing gum, helped. Lew
Chris:
That’s a wonderful deer video. You have so many kinds of beautiful deer in your country. It’s too bad they are such stinkers. That fellow is pretty enthusiastic about his hunt club, isn’t he?
Speaking of stinkers: You said (to DJSpo?) – “Man, one of the dogs just ripped out a stinky. The air is thick here right now. It may be 4’C outside, but I just opened the window. Ah fresh air again.” We called that “dog fog”.
Yes, the days will not only be getting shorter, but on this north slope in the forest, by September 1st the sun is no longer clearing the trees by much.
I was looking at my package of carob powder today and realized that it is Australian. If you could get to like it, I wonder if it would grow in your area. I’m pretty sure people eat it raw, too, (it is sweet), so you wouldn’t have to make flour.
Pam
@DJSpo:
How do you come to speak Welsh?
Pam
@ Pam,
It started with dogs. Our neighborhood has a lot of dogs that often get walked at the same time. I found with previous dogs that if I taught them basic commands in a foreign language, it was easier for them to distinguish the foreign language commands when in a group of people all giving English commands to dogs. I spoke some German and the Glasgow dialect of Lowland Scots. The latter worked well with Cheyenne, our Finnish Spitz. However, Scots, as well as German, can be somewhat harsh sounding and both of those languages irritated Avalanche when she was a puppy.
Thus, I had to find a language that was more musical to the ear. I remembered that a cousin had had to learn Welsh so that she could do her PhD dissertation research in old archives in Wales. I figured that I could surprise cousin with some Welsh sometime, as well as learn a language that worked for Avalanche. So I researched and really liked the sound of the language. And cousin gave me a couple books written in Welsh as further incentive to learn the language.
Duolingo online offers Welsh lessons, as well as a lot of other languages. It’s free and I can study at my own pace. Three years later, I’m still slogging away, half hour to an hour each day. I finished their course 6 months ago, but continue with their daily reviews and also go back and do random lessons. With no study partner, it’s slow going so I go over lessons multiple times. I can read some Welsh, understand some and can even speak a bit of the language. I have learned enough to be able to talk to Avalanche in Welsh with some basic commands, encouragement, etc on our walks. She responds well to the Welsh commands and is calmer than when I give commands in English.
I’m also finding that learning a language is another fun hobby to have in retirement.
DJSpo
Chris,
Smells from industry are, umm, interesting. I’ve been in both Billings, Montana and El Paso, Texas during air inversions. That means that both of those towns had all of the odors from their oil refineries trapped near the ground. Very distinct aroma, oil refineries. Lewiston, Idaho has a large wood pulp mill. It’s a major employer for that area. It is very hard to get that wood pulp smell out of your car. I’ve experienced that several times. Hence, I can sympathize with the residents of Kurri Kurri.
Good point. Reading a lot teaches one the structure of the language. Having always been an avid reader, and having observed the structure and rules, I find it easier than many to be able to write, which requires further understanding of the structure, as you noted.
Basics is an interesting thing. Basics, fundamentals. When I went to the high school basketball tournaments, I noticed that most years there would be teams with a lot of talent which also knew the fundamentals. They typically did very well. Teams with a lot of talent that were weak on fundamentals didn’t fare as well. Every year there would be a team with some talent, but not really stellar. However, that team would be excellent with basketball fundamentals and know how to play as a team. That type of team always did well and often beat the more talented teams that were lacking fundamental skills. Learning and honing the fundamentals is so necessary in many things.
I think you’re right about the INFJ being able to morph into an INTJ, but not the other way around. That makes sense.
The fire is officially 33 miles west northwest of us. The wind has been from the southwest, mostly, keeping the smoke far away from us. However, there were some wind shifts today, so when the winds came from the northwest for a few hours, I found that some of the smoke had arrived. Not a lot, but enough so that we could get a slight whiff of it and visibility had diminished. Air quality is still good, actually.
Yes, I’ll let you know how the onion experiment goes.
Avalanche has always responded better to “Nah” than to “no”. Dunno why. “Hey!” works well here, also. When all else fails, a loud “Hup” has worked for every dog I’ve had. Definitely gets their attention.
DJSpo
Hi Pam,
Those herbivores are rather naughty, but then so were the wealthy early English gentleman who brought the deer over to hunt, and forgot to bring the other more wild predators who’d control the population once the original human hunters shuffled off this mortal coil. There’s even a suburb in the big smoke with the name Deer Park, and that was the original purpose of the area.
Yes, the young bloke seems both knowledgeable and enthusiastic. I have no taste for this work, but also acknowledge that us humans stuffed up the ecological balance in the first place and responsibilities cannot be shirked. It was interesting that the dingoes (local wild dogs, originally arriving from Asia long before the Europeans arrived on the continent) were able to take down and drown the older deer.
Tourists have often been rather casual about dingoes, but I’d treat them warily. Like you would with an unknown coyote. There are none in this mountain range, but eventually over a long enough period of time, there will be.
Dog fog! I love it, and thanks for the fun description. 🙂
That’s an issue here as well. Tall trees and south facing (or north facing in your case) land is notable for it’s cooler and shadier aspect. Tomorrow marks the end of the six week problematic period of time for the solar power, but we’ll see. The forecast for the next ten days does not look promising to deliver lots of sunshine.
Absolutely carob trees grow here! And in the shady orchard there is a single happy carob tree (need more for good pod set). A few months ago I roasted a couple of pods, but sadly burnt the powder – oops! I’d not appreciated that the powder was derived from the pod and not the seed too until making that stuff. Who knew?
Another cool and rainy day here today. I’m dreaming of warmer weather. How’s your place going?
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
I love the smell of oil in the morning – to paraphrase an old film quote. Man, I hear you about that. When we lived in the then gritty inner urban suburb of Yarraville, there was a tank farm up the road. The suburb traditionally prided itself on inviting heavy industries, but I’m not sure how that rolls today, a couple of decades later what with gentrification and stuff. The area way back in the day had lovely Victorian era housing stock which was quite affordable, but probably isn’t today. And yes, there was a nearby wool scour factory. Imagine the aroma of lanolin, but in overdrive and enjoyed at a considerable distance away. Oh! The wikipudding page has a wonderful aerial view of the suburb and oil terminal. An aerial photograph looking east over Yarraville. The house we built is just off the frame, but would have been at the middle and bottom of the picture. Honestly, missed by a few millimetres. It was Free St, but I can assure you, the house was not free.
I’ve never been near a wood pulp mill, and your description suggests an epic stench. Diesel fumes at that scale would also have been very unpleasant. I sometimes wonder if people forget the scale of pollution way back in the day from all this stuff?
Yeah, exactly. The written word, from a structure perspective, is almost a different language to that which is spoken. In many ways it is a more formal usage of the language, and would sound strange if spoken aloud, almost Baroque – other than in a formal reading environment. 🙂 Conversely, when people write using the spoken word structures, the results look very unusual to the reading eye. But then, that is better than the waffly computer nonsense being generated, which I may add looks as if it is written in point by point form. What do computers know? Let’s find out! 😉
Learning and drilling the basics does produce that result. And yeah, an average, but well trained team, can surpass the team with more flair, but less cohesion. A nice way of thinking about the matter – thanks for the insight! 🙂 The volunteer fire brigade stuff never felt to me as if they focused enough on training the basics over and over again. All that stuff and equipment should have been drilled so that using it was second nature, and that when in an emergency there was no uncertainty. That was one of the reasons I walked away.
😉 Yup, F refers to the ‘feels’ as the kids may say. T’s don’t see the feels as much, and generally have a less broad emotional palate, so that’s why I reckon they’d struggle with that chameleon like switch you mentioned. It’s also been my observation, that the T’s have to be interested in that side of human behaviour before they begin to consider and learn the value of it. Just my twenty cents there.
Oh my! Glad to hear that the air quality is still pretty decent, but ouchie, southwest winds would be warm especially given where they originate from. Does moist air from the Pacific push as far inland as where you are?
Interesting, and I’m forming an opinion that dogs don’t respond well to the command ‘No’. It might not sound sharp enough to their brains, especially given it is a deeper sound, which they might relate to growling, which expresses unhappiness and discontent with circumstances. What do you reckon about that? ‘Hey’ or ‘Hup’ has a higher pitch don’t you reckon? And I use either to snap their minds back to the wishes of the pack leader. ‘Oi!’ is a goodie as well, and very Australian…
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Another rabbit hole, which ended up at Sigmund Freud’s chaise lounge. Looked comfy too, although mildly soiled from a casual observation of the photograph. A fine tangent, and who’d want their blood to the guts and oxygen to the lungs restricted? I’d faint too under such conditions. Anyway, it’d look cool, and would work wonders for an afternoon nap. Even H must approve of such innovations. And who knew the Romans invented the furniture item? Some things are not meant to be. I can’t imagine that there’d be too many around for purchase these days?
Back in the day of my youth, I recall seeing plenty of those old windmills in various states of disrepair. Wind generators of any kind are subject to some awesome natural forces. The little 600W wind turbine we installed years ago produced remarkably little energy, mostly due to the gusty (as distinct from constant) winds in this area. Happy to be rid of the thing after a few months. But yeah, I see what you mean about the cliché description. Still, a wind driven pump would work better here than the same scale blades trying to convert the kinetic rotation to electrical energy.
That’s a hefty vet bill, but surely the little lady is worth every cent? Hmm. Flea treatment here doesn’t cost that much, and usually it is a liquid poured onto the back of their necks. Haven’t treated the dogs for fleas for decades. They just don’t seem to get them regardless of dog, and I’ve no idea why that would be. Ticks are another matter, and those get physically removed when found. Could be the tariffs, yup. The old world order is fast unravelling, although I’m not entirely sure that people see it that way.
Oh, pet snakes. Well, everyone enjoys different pets, and they are kept down here too, although usually people keep pythons. Just not by me. 😉
Lot’s of housing estates are being constructed not all that far away from here as well. What’s interesting is that I’m hearing anecdotal reports of rubbish from construction being dumped randomly in the nearby area. Tip fees are not cheap, possibly due to them filling up and stuff. Interestingly, a local installed a rural fence across an area which had experienced rubbish dumping. Externalising costs, huh?
Oh wow! That was a proper locust plague, and would have been horrendous to have experienced. The locust plague which reached here many years ago, fed the local birds. They destroyed the insects, and it was brutal to see. It’s interesting that the historic plague changed the approach to disaster assistance for both the providers and receivers. And that was weird too, all that ploughing wiped out the same insect species which had caused enormous problems. Thanks for alerting me to that aspect as I may have missed it. It was also interesting that the environmental event went hand in hand with the Panic of 1873.
Whatever works on that front! 🙂 And nice one, a fine dodge. Hmm, I guess it is a form of err, what’s that therapy called where a person is exposed to all sorts of horrendous experiences in order to cure them of their fears? Hey, some folks climb the outside of skyscrapers just for the thrill of the experience. One would suggest that it allows them to feel something, anything…
A fun film, and the comments were all very positive, although there were those who took the subject matter seriously.
Oh no, that’s rotten. And it’s biology rather than aesthetic considerations. People can be remarkably casually cruel.
I’ve heard the stories about the scapes, but I tend to avoid garlic bulbs as well. I learned in the Seed Detective book that this is a very English concern. Who knew? Other cultures have differing perspectives on the plant.
Read Professor Mass’s essay on the floods, and I pour over the weather forecasts, but then there was that supercell storm incident which took me unawares. I can understand how the mess came to be, and a forecast is only good if it is read and comprehended.
It happens, and you’ve remarked the same about blackberries having similar seedy qualities. Floss is good for sorting that out, although I’ve never used those floss picks.
No work outside done here today. It was simply too cold, drizzly and windy. Not into it. There’ll be other days.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – I’ve often heard of any type of couch without a back, referred to as a “Freud couch.” The initial cost of those old couches can be low, but most of them need to, at least be reupholstered. And springs replaced or reworked. It can be pricey.
I usually walk H on a strip of grass, at the back of our building. So do a lot of other people that live here. Some of them aren’t as on top of fleas. So, she picks them up from the grass. I never let her near the grass strips, out by the street. Every dog in the neighborhood uses those.
Dumping rubbish, construction debris and toxic waste is a big problem. More abuse of the commons.
I finished the book on weather and history. To have those locusts, when there were so many of them go extinct, is kind of mind boggling. But then we have the examples of the Passenger Pigeon, and the buffalo. They also numbered in the millions. Picked up “The Seed Detective,” again. By chance I had just got to the chapter on lettuce. Who knew there were so many families? I see chicory is a lettuce. Does garlic upset your tummy, or do you worry about offending? 🙂 I usually chop up three or four cloves, to go into whatever I’m making for dinner. I let it sit, while I’m putting together the rest of it, and then mix it in and nuke. Letting it rest after chopping allows the allicin (a good thing), to develop. I apparently metabolize garlic in such a way, that I don’t reek of the stuff. At least no-one has complained. 🙂
Our high yesterday was 72F (22.22C). Our overnight low was 54F (12.22C). The forecast high for today is 85F. Edging up there.
Oh, lordy. This weekend is the STP (Seattle to Portland bicycle ride.). 6,000 of them, through our little town. I finally found a map of the local route. They’re swinging out the other side of the freeway (why?), through the Roundabout of Death, and over Chamber Way, which is a two lane overpass over the freeway and railroad tracks. That will put them on the east side of the freeway, again. And right down Market Street a block from the Institution. I’ll be staying home, this weekend.
I see there’s wildfires, up around Shelton and Belfair. That’s across Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle. There are evacuations. Timberland has library branches in both places.
When I took H for her late afternoon walk, we saw the LBB (Little Brown Bunny … not to be confused with the other LBBs, Little Brown Birds). Apparently, he (or she) has taken up residence back there. H barked at it. She won’t bark at deer, but bunnies she’ll bark at. It better leave my pumpkins, alone. I have to watch H. She finds the bunny pellets quit tasty. 🙁 This morning, the ravens up in the woods were carrying on about something. I just realized I haven’t seen any Blue Jay’s, this year. Maybe the ravens ran them out?
I went to new Winco, last night. I spent about $150. I noticed they had California olive oil (the best quality, along with Australia). But it was really expensive. It’s a lot cheaper at the yuppie discount store, if they have it. I bought their store brand toilet paper (12pack) and paper towels (6 pack). Less than $5 each. I found H’s original dog food, which I haven’t been able to find since I started boycotting Safeway. A bit on the expensive side. $37 for a 22 pound bag. I was asleep at the switch, and got stung on multi vitamins for old dudes. $13+. I might have found them cheaper, elsewhere. They don’t carry the Goya tinned beans, but do carry the Bush’s. Which are the same quality. $.98 a can. That beats the Dollar + store.
Another de-extinction attempt. Probably, not so far from your part of the world.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/09/science/giant-moa-colossal-biosciences
As if we need a giant, flightless, and probably dangerous bird. Lew
Chris:
Goodness, I hadn’t known that the deer were brought over, but it makes sense.
Well, goodness again! A dingo is a wild animal.
How exciting about the carob! I look forward to future reports.
We’ve been getting afternoon thunderstorms most days, thus we are getting plenty of water. Yay!
Pam
@DJSpo:
That is fascinating. I highly commend you for making such an effort, and for so many worthy reasons. You are an especially good doggy daddy. As a matter of fact, our five dogs (the ones that made dog fog . . .) knew my husband by the name “Big Daddy”.
Pam
@ Pam,
Thanks. I try. My dogs have always known me as “Papa”, although I’m certain they’ve also called me “Food Guy”. As in, “I’m totally starving. What’s taking so long with dinner, Food Guy? Get off your lazy behind and get to fixing my grub. NOW! Grrrrr. Stupid Food Guy!”
DJSpo
Chris,
Nice movie reference. Interestingly, one late season archery hunting trip with a friend and my sister’s future husband was plagued by weather extremes. High winds and abnormally warm temperatures (+10C), the first day, massive rain the second day (11 inches in 24 hours. Everything was a puddle.) The third day had snow squalls, and we awoke the fourth day to a temperature of -14C. I discussed the adventures of trying to start a fire on the second day with a group of people trying to learn survival skills. Let’s just say that it was so wet, dry newspaper only smoldered! This is how I wrote the culmination of the fire-starting saga to the group, “Eventually, my future brother-in-law came back to camp. He took one look at us and said ‘Guys, this is how it’s done.’ He grabbed two quarts of motor oil from his truck, poured them over the wet wood, tossed on a lit match. The fire was going. Summary: Sometimes no matter how well prepared you are and how good your skills, the only thing that can start a campfire is napalm.”
Where your house was in Yarraville was much too close to the oil terminal for my tastes. Then again, where I grew up was uphill and a bit downriver from the regional sewage treatment facility. When the wind was wrong, the aroma spread over our neighborhood like a thick blanket. ugh.
I knew someone once who claimed that he wrote exactly the way he talked. I read some of what he wrote. I listened to him talk. Nope, they were not the same. I agree with you, that writing the way people talk looks weird. Have you ever read a textbook or a technical manual out loud? NOBODY talks like a textbook or a technical manual. Yet, some future archaeologists and linguists might unearth some textbooks from our era and conclude that that is how we talked. And since the books had been properly preserved, they must, of course, have had religious significance. Any calculus textbook would have them mystified by the weird religious symbols we used.
No, don’t, please. Don’t get me started on the hideous writing by AI. Banal would be an improvement.
Professional firefighters train the basics regularly. Martial artists train the basics regularly. If the fundamentals aren’t regularly reviewed and practiced, well, the phrase “use it or lose it” comes to mind.
I like your idea. It matches with my observations too.
Our storm systems are generated in the Pacific at least 95% of the time. I’m including the Gulf of Alaska as part of the Pacific. The more powerful of these storms sometimes go all the way across the continent and do weird things when they get to the Atlantic. On the way back to Las Cruces after Christmas break, my fellow student from Idaho and I started the long driving journey south in a snowstorm that began in the Gulf of Alaska. We followed the storm all the way to Las Cruces, where the tail end of the storm had left a dusting of snow a few hours before we arrived there.
Our fiercest summer heat occurs when high pressure systems from Arizona and even the Mexican desert expand and cover all of the arid regions in the western USA, even going into the Canadian desert at Penticton, British Columbia.
Good point. “Hey” and “hup” are higher pitched than “No”. “No” sounds almost passive in comparison. I can communicate a lot via body language with my dogs, but when “No” is used, it means that my body language is being ignored. Something sharper needs to be used. And “no” isn’t sharp. Thanks for the insight. I’d never thought of it that way.
DJSpo
Hi Pam,
Yeah, the early aristocracy in this country were fabulously wealthy, basically from the production and export of sheep and their related products to the UK – the herbivores on the other hand ate a lot of the plant life, whilst the soils were depleted of minerals at the same time. Sheep are interesting creatures because they can consume the roots of plants, as well as the bits above ground so they can survive in complicated environments. Anyway, lot’s of mad cash, and so animals moved in both directions without a second thought. We even returned the favour of deer to the UK by sending them wallabies (which are now very much on the loose in the south of the UK). Lovely marsupials which fill the same niche as deer. The environment is an ever shifting target. One day, the local descendants of Mr Baby will be much hugerer and preying on the local deer population. And scaring the daylights out of any humans unlucky enough to encounter the sharp claws, wicked teeth, and delightful purr. 🙂
Dingoes are wild animals, yup. The thinking is that they arrived down under through ancient Indigenous trade links with the Indonesians. If you ever seen a Bali street dog, well it’s not a long stretch of the imagination to a beefier better fed more alert coyote equivalent. Before they arrived on the continent, there were marsupial carnivores such as Tasmanian Tigers (recently made extinct) and Quolls (which still exist).
Pam, it was truly regrettable to have burnt the carob pod powder. So much potential, lost in a moments error. Next time, they’ll be slowly roasted… Oh well.
Yay for you! That’s great news and will make for a less problematic summer. Plus I enjoy a good storm, and thunder and lightening remind us of the power of nature don’t you reckon? I’ve heard it rattle the windows.
It was as delightful a day as possible here today. A good friend visited to enjoy lunch and a convivial chat. Lovely!
Are you winning the war against the squirrels?
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
It’s a great quote isn’t it? And the spoken words are just so ‘off’ as to be memorable. I’m embarrassed to admit that I’ve never watched the film. Ook! This sad lack of proper education must be addressed! Alas, moments are fleeting by as the years go on, and tough choices get made about how to spend ones time. Oh, a good friend visited for lunch today and a long and winding convivial chat was enjoyed by all. Even the dogs were mostly well behaved. Sharing the house with three wild animals can be challenging at times, as I’m sure you are aware?
Thanks for the story of the most revolting hunting / blokes trip weather ever. 🙂 But I like the solution, and yes, sometimes a dude needs a bit of extra authority in the form of fossil fuels. Never tried that myself, although once long ago the Editor and I went head to head with a local farmer (and another group) to burn three massive piles of organic matter. We started slowly and got the fire going nicely so that a hot core was produced and the lot could be pushed together. Unbeknownst to us, the local farmers soaked a small hay bale in diesel, set it alight and their pile was reduced to ashes many hours way before our efforts. Very impressive. Fortunately, of the three piles, we came in second place. Not a bad effort, but still lost by a significant margin. And you already know the lesson, for it was the same thing, but in a different context. The story of ‘to light a fire’ haunts me as a warning tale for the dark side of hubris. I’ll bet the fire in your case was well received and appreciated?
Hehe! Those facilities do produce some interesting aromas. And I mentioned to Lewis a while back that long ago in my first job I was invited from time to time as a super sniffer to an odour assessment panel where the nose was put to good use in assessing the very stinks you mentioned. Look, it was a good way to get paid for reading a book whilst performing a community service.
Exactly, and those technical manuals are a real struggle and mind bender to comprehend. What fun stuff we’re leaving to future archaeologists to interpret? Anywhoo, the ones which have been edited and proof read by competent folks, are a genuine pleasure to browse. The rest, well, incomprehension is a real thing you know. 😉 Having had to explain accounting concepts to graduates makes it far easier to put words to complicated processes for people who are from outside the profession. Plus, dunno about you, but I put myself at the coal face with business, and it’s a life which is determined by a persons wits and communication skills. Keeps me sharp, otherwise I may fall into the darker side of abstractions! One must step away from the abyss, you know.
Yup. Who writes in point form? The Editor loves a good list, but those words alone do not convey meaning and narrative.
Ah, I’d not realised that the Pacific storms (and those from the more northerly parts) could push that far inland in your part of the world. I’d had this notion that the bigly tall mountain range running down the coastline would block those air movements – and you’re on the eastern side of the ranges.
For your interest, the Great Dividing Range down under is a watershed of sorts for storms originating in the Pacific Ocean. Although down here the trade winds usually run west to east, so that may limit the extent of the storms. Dunno. But like your part of the world, some storms are just epic and can leap the mountains.
And your experience is what I’d describe as an extensive storm. 🙂 The weather is a funny business, and from a distance on a freeway many long years ago we got to see a supercell storm which was really concentrated. It was the many close lightening strikes which alerted us to something truly weird going on at a fortunately safe distance. We read the next day that the area got pummelled.
That happens here too with the north-west summer winds originating from the arid inner areas of the continent. Now that lake Eyre appears to have filled up (mostly), it will be interesting to see whether this summer those same hot winds bring more moisture to down here? Dunno. But they’re usually strong enough to drag some moisture from the far distant tropical Indian Ocean all the way across the continent to the south east.
🙂 The dog obedience school is paying dividends. Interesting that Dame Avalanche also responds to those words the same way. Even ‘hup’ sounds like a higher note than ‘No’.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Interesting, and I’d never previously heard of the term relating to the famous psychiatrist, mostly they are described down here as a ‘day bed’. Those words have a nice sounding relaxation vibe to them. Chaise lounge is more likely heard in the UK, and I only know that because a UK band with the mildly dubious name ‘Wet Leg’, had a catchy song about the furniture item a year or two ago. Rather naughty lyrics if I may add.
Man, do people even reupholster couches these days? Presumably some high end stuff gets repaired, but I’d imagine that it’s become a niche activity. Looking into this matter many years ago, and I may have written about a leather couch which was in need of repairs, the darker sides of manufacturing were revealed to me in all their ugly glory. Who even knew that the word ‘leather’ could have so many different meanings? And I’m old enough now to recall the days when furniture was (mostly) all made locally. How far we’ve fallen in these enlightened days when passing ruffians can say ‘there’ll be no reupholstering’ at will to old ladies. There is a pestilence upon this land, nothing is sacred! 🙂
Of course, the other dogs would have fleas, so even if you smite H’s lot, there’d be further incursions. I’d not considered that aspect of H’s story. Yeah, fleas are no good at all.
What do they call that, is it ‘externalising costs’, where it is an abuse of the commons? Nice for some. And your swap table died an untimely death from that same rubbish dumping activity, but probably at a smaller scale? Presumably all of the stuff ends up in the dumpster nowadays? Guess there are no extra costs for the double handling of the rubbish.
It is pretty weird isn’t it that the locusts would all go extinct after such an epic plague. You’d imagine that the farmers and other landholders observed the life-cycle of the insects for a few seasons and then collectively said: Never again! Makes me wonder what would have eaten the locusts prior to the monster plague? Certainly something would have to have done so in order to keep their numbers in check. Oh well, our species is very good at mucking around with the landscape, but trying to extract every last bushel for human consumption is possibly a very dangerous game.
It’s an interesting read, and I’m learning quite a lot about the history of the plants we eat. And I’d not been aware that lettuce was a form of chicory either. The latex from the stems is rather an interesting product. Hmm. Nobody tells you about that… And the author confirmed my suspicions regarding chicory root coffee substitutes. Oh garlic, right, well, there’s a story as you’d imagine. My mother eventually hooked up with a guy who appears to have lost his sense of taste through an earlier incidence of heat stroke. Yes, an acquired brain injury of sorts. Charming. So he couldn’t taste much of anything. His cooking was very high in fats, salts and of course garlic. Man, I’m not talking three or four cloves here, but the whole fricken bulb. Yup. Dude, I was a reasonable distance runner who competed at weekend events, and also trained at the Dojo a couple of nights per week. I knew that food was no good, and did my utmost best to avoid it even having to buy my own food as a teenager. As a sort of postscript to the story, they’re all dead now, and didn’t make your age I can assure you. The incident has left me with mental scars rather than any real and serious dislike for the plant. I left home at the earliest opportunity. 🙂 A truly crazy situation.
Most people are fine with garlic.
Your weather is edging up, yeah. Still, quite enjoyable temperatures. It was lovely here today and a friend caught the train from the big smoke up and we all enjoyed a fine lunch. I tried that enchilada recipe we’d been working on (thanks to DJ for the recommendation). All up it was such a pleasant and relaxed day. Good chats were had all around.
You on the other hand, would be well advised with that lot on the streets, to abstain from good chats at the Club. Stay safe out there. 🙂 Hope you stocked up on necessities in advance? We’ve been on a long distance cycle event decades ago and most people were quite welcoming, but there were also some notable exceptions. I’ve read that they’ve stopped doing those rides nowadays. Possibly insurance concerns at a wild guess.
Hope the fires remain small and there is some decent rain to extinguish them, and mostly (fingers crossed) that the libraries escape the worst that nature may occasionally throw at them. You worked at those branches didn’t you?
There ain’t no season on rabbits down here. No-sir-ee. And that’s for a good reason. Hope the rest of your garden remains unscathed. I’ve noticed that here the rabbits will avoid the pumpkins, but it depends on how advanced the vines are? Those spiky leaves are probably unappealing tasting. Yes, dogs do consume the most awful of foods. How could that stuff be any good, but it is a bit like dog chocolates based on what I’m observing. Generally not a fan of rabbits.
Maybe the ravens did that. They are bigger birds, and it’s a tough world out there. Don’t get any ravens here, but the closest equivalent are the pied currawongs, and the other birds combine forces to clear them off. Those large birds happily eat my tomatoes.
That’s a big shop up. Not bad prices, are you enjoying having access to the new winco store? Good quality dog food, and a big 44 pound bag of kibbles is about half that price per pound down here. Multi-vitamins for old dudes, sure, but what kind of price can you put on your health? 🙂 Some of the stuff in your country is really cheap. Good stuff.
Don’t you think that it’s a bit Jurassic Park like, that effort? I mean the bird is 10 foot tall. It’s not small and yeah dangerous is the word which popped into my head as well. Wouldn’t it be easier and cheaper to simply import Emus from Australia if they want a big flightless bird roaming around the south island? The artists impression candidly didn’t look all that much different to me, except the local birds aren’t ten feet tall. Scare me silly encountering a bird that big out in the forest. If they want to be scared, how about breeding a cold tolerant variety of Cassowaries?
Cheers
Chris
@ et all – Dog smog. 🙂
Industrial stink? Camus Paper Mill on the Columbia River. When I was a kid, we’d travel through there to get to a fishing lake. The stink was unbelievable. And people live there. Lew
Yo, Chris – I see there was a plague death, in northern Arizona. I guess we have about 7 deaths, a year. Or maybe, it’s just cases. Treated with antibiotics, these days. But, if you wait too long to go to the doctor, or have underlying conditions, the prognosis is not good. Many of our western rodents, are reservoirs for the plague virus.
When I was a wee small lad, I hung out in a very high end antique store. Museum quality stuff. Long story. The proprietor had a little old man who did all her reupholstery work. She always had pieces covered in a cheap, but sturdy fabric (can’t remember what), because whichever customer bought the piece, would have their own ideas about fabric and color. There were always books around about how to do it yourself. Now, I suppose there’s a lot of utub videos on the subject. I looked at reweaving cane seats. I never did it, but it was pretty interesting.
Our dumpster which is emptied three times a week, is often overwhelmed with discards. Then the night manager plasters all the doors, drops and elevator with signs directing the Inmates to please hold their garbage, until the next pick up. Not that everyone pays attention. They’re special, you know. 🙂 A big problem we have is people pitching boxes into the dumpster, without breaking the down. Even though Little Mary Sunshine mentions it, in every monthly newsletter. And there is another smaller bin, that gets wheeled out once a week, for broken down cardboard.
I suppose in pre-Columbian times, there were a lot more birds about, to eat the locusts. And I wouldn’t be surprised if the indigenous folks didn’t also have them on the menu.
As you know, I left home the morning of my 18th birthday. I can’t remember garlic ever being around, when my mom or dad cooked. Onions, yes, and a lot of them. But not garlic.
Our high yesterday was 84F (28.88C). Our overnight low was 55F (12.77C). The forecast high for today is 86F. I saw back to back articles on the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). One claimed (as does Prof. Mass), that it’s likely to be a neutral year. The other said it might be an La Niña fall and winter. Which means colder and wetter for us. I put more stock in what Prof. Mass says, and will keep an eye on his pronouncements. He has another post on warnings and weather disasters. The comments are … interesting.
I have nowhere I need to be, this weekend. I’d bet half the people on the roads, also have nowhere they need to be, but will come up with some lame excuse. 🙂
I never worked at the Belfair or Shelton branches. Some of the library branches had dependable, local people to cover any staff shortages.
Something sampled one of my pumpkins, last year, but apparently didn’t like the taste. I’m thinking of maybe wrapping the in bird netting, when they start to turn orange. But then, one pumpkin spoiled out of seven. Not a great toll.
I think the ravens did run off the Blue Jays. They’re more in competition for the same food sources. There are still plenty of LBBs, swallows and robins around. I haven’t seen any hummingbirds, but they may show up as my Scarlett runner beans have started to flower. The other morning when H and I were sitting on the garden wall, a great shadow swept over us. There were two eagles checking us out. They came back for a second look. I pulled H in close, and they soared off to find easier pickings.
I saw an interesting article on bees and other pollinators. There’s pictures of some interesting looking hives.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/11/style/saving-the-bees-design
I also thought of the cassowaries, when I read that article about resurrecting Moa birds. Emus, ostriches … already plenty of big, flightless, dangerous birds, about. 🙂 Lew
Hi Lewis,
Not good, and um, easily treatable if caught early. Sent me on a rabbit hole and there was a suggestion made that rural plague spread outwards from infected urban areas. There were a couple of nasty early twentieth century incidents. Here’s an article on when the plague arrived in Sydney in the early twentieth century, and it’s a bit ra-ra-yay-oz, but there are some fascinating photographs: Bubonic plague. Did they get all of the rats though? It’s not a bad idea to put a bounty on rats if you want them properly exterminated. Makes me wonder about the garbage situation in that UK city.
Ah, it’s lovely to hear that the lady who ran that business found a kindred spirit in you. I do hope that she put you to practical work. Man, I too have been lucky sometimes in this meandering existence to come under the wing of a knowledgeable person, like Sensei, or my grandfather. There’s probably a debt there, somewhere and I have wondered about that subject over the years. Presumably when the time is right. And that’s a really clever idea to cover the furniture with a cheap but durable fabric so as to give the purchaser a chance to go their own way.
It’s funny you mention the cane seats, but around the now restored and locally made once-long-ago-super expensive dinner table we bought for a $100, sit six French farmhouse ladder back chairs. They have cane seats and are truly comfy. My friends of the big shed fame were having lunch here a few years ago when it suddenly twigged upon them just how comfy the chairs were. Before I knew it, they were tipping the chairs upside down and taking multiple photographs (one of them being big into design). The old stuff is pretty good. But like you, I’d have a bash at replacing the cane, but would probably not be any good – at first! 😉
Yup, it takes effort to break up boxes, but they do contain much boron which is necessary for the garden soils and plants. Sadly they’ll end up in landfill. Can you imagine making the suggestion like the old days to install an incinerator? The insurance would beggar the kingdom. 🙂 I reckon we’ll all get there again in time, at some point in the future.
Locusts are edible, and it’s only western cultures that have a fear of consuming insects. In Asia, they are definitely on the menu, and who can forget the humble Bogong Moth (which is endemic to this area). If I were hungry enough, absolutely would I consume the critters, roasted is apparently the best cooking method.
Well that’s it too, and yeah. Garlic just wasn’t around when I was a kid, and then this bloke introduced it to the household, but can us humans find a middle ground? Many Asian and European cuisines have that knack down pat. It was just so extreme to be mildly crazy, and like you, left early to live in share houses. And that too was an experience. Onions were always part of the food stuffs, and locally there’s a ubiquitous brown onion which grows well in the area. Still grown and sold today.
Ah, your minimum was about the maximum here today. 86’F would have been odd at this time of year, but appreciated. 🙂 Actually the wind was blowing strongly so we abandoned ideas to work the forest edges, and instead went to visit the fern nursery in a nearby mountain range. Such lovely people and we had an enjoyable chat and came away with a bakers dozen plants, as you do. Your thoughts about the dry stressed tree ferns in the fern gully were at the back of my mind, so I asked the bloke about whether they’ll bounce back with the warmer weather. He said they might and suggested a feed of seaweed solution. Thanks for mentioning the idea as I’d written them off, but they deserve a second chance. We’ll see, and it’s a job for next week.
I tend to agree with Professor Mass in that the current signs are suggesting a neutral phase. Still, it’s subject to change, and things can get weird. There are multiple climactic influences here, due to the influences of the many oceans and seas. I’ll check out the comments. Can be triggering such advice that the climate may go where she will.
🙂 Hey, I wonder about that as well. Yes, lame excuse. If the local area were better, then lame excuses need not apply?
Shelton branch. Hmm. That reminds me. I heard that there was some new Big Bang theory series mooted, or in production.
That’d be rats. What else can chew through the tough and thick skin of a pumpkin? There’s a nest near to the pumpkin enclosure which has to be dealt to, but an old fella like me only has so much time and energy.
The bee hive designs interested me deeply. Hmm. The one which looked like a tree root got the old brain working. What if? Hmm…
Exactly, recreating a 10ft Moa bird probably takes up a lot of energy and resources, but why not just drop in some readily available angry flightless birds from Australia? Look, the experience wouldn’t be that much different… It’s like dreams of travelling to Mars. Sure, why not? But wouldn’t it be easier and cheaper to look after the world we already have access too?
Cheers and oh man, I’m so late tonight. Hope I don’t write rubbish due to sheer time pressures. 😉
Chris
Yo, Chris – That was an interesting article about plague in Melbourne. Must have been a good year for plague. San Francisco suffered at the same time, but they made a real dog’s breakfast of it.
https://w.wiki/Eick
As antibiotics are getting less effective, I wonder about the future of plague.
I break down my own boxes (and sometimes other people’s, to spare the night manager), and put them in the dumpster. I know where the “recycled” ones end up, and refuse to participate in “performative environmentalism.”
Back when I was a wee small lad, you had a choice of brown onions or yellow onions. Stores had piles of them. These days, it can get pretty, not so much exotic, as just more choice. Red onions and our famous Walla Walla Sweets. I usually use red onions. I figure the extra color in the them, is probably good for me. 🙂
Our high yesterday was 86F (30C). The overnight low was 59F (15C). Our forecast high for today is 91F.
When you give your tree fern some seaweed liquid, make sure and talk to them. Give them a little encouragement. It will be three weeks, today, since I planted the asparagus seed and … nada. I gave them a pep talk, last night. 🙂 As far as the pumpkins go, it’s a regular rogue’s gallery of potential suspects. Rats, rabbits, squirrels, or maybe, even mice.
I saw an article about the expansion of the Big Bang universe.”Stuart Fails to Save the Universe.” It’s going in a more sci-fi direction. Something, something, multiverse. Because who isn’t doing multiverses, these days? It does have some of my favorite secondary characters. Stuart, the comic book store owner, Barry Kripke and the geologist fellow. I still hold that successful series have great supporting actors.
Speaking of movies and such, I see Super Dog is finally going to make an appearance, in the new Superman movie.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/12/entertainment/superman-krypto-dog
There was an interesting sidebar to that article about the cool beehives. About efforts to encourage a wide range of pollinators, not just bees.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/03/us/bees-butterflies-pollinator-charities-iyw-climate-scn
I’m not seeing any honeybees, about. But yesterday I saw a bee that looked like halfway between a honey bee and a bumblebee. We have 15 types of bees in the state. Ah, it might have been a Bombus. Lew