People who’ve been long time friends, and also other miscellaneous acquaintances, will probably be aware that I value my sleep. A bloke works hard, a bloke sleeps hard. This fact is indisputable. What other people do on that front, is their own business. As an alert for ‘human stories’ kind of fellow, I do hear stories about poor, or disturbed sleep from all sorts of sources. That ain’t me though: Man sleeps deeply.
Except the past few days. There’s been an unwanted disturbance. Think, an electric shock, to the delicate bits. Hey, come on people, dunno what you’re thinking of, but I’m talking about a shock to the sleep OK? It works like this: Restful repose, then, Bam! Awaken! Then there’s this quiet little creepy voice, repeating over and over:
This is not a dream.
This is a message from the year 2040.
You are receiving this audible message from the future as a dream using the latest time shifting technology for your convenience.
Your annual home insurance premium will be $1,146,217.
You will have 30 days to comply.
Ensure our future financial needs are catered to, by investing now!
There is no opt-out for this future advertising feature because you wisely selected the past-annoyance discount option outlined in the terms and conditions provided to you upon request.
We really appreciate and value your time.
This message will repeat.
Argggggghhhhhh! Wake up in fright! Why would future me have selected the discount option which allows them to advertise to me in the past? So many questions…
The other morning, the annual house insurance bill arrived in the mail. It’s a whopping annual 45% increase. On a more positive note, it was very thoughtful of the business to provide a definition as to what the words “Last year’s” mean, because I was thinking they meant something else altogether, like a distant location beyond the sun.
Despite the waking in fright horror, an alert bloke has to confirm whether the message from the future is mathematically exact, accuracy being rather under rated in these care free enlightened days. Cranked open the spreadsheet program. And on that note, is it just me, or does it seem all a bit weird that personal computers are really competent and grunty bits of equipment, and yet the push for centralised online software has emasculated them all into dumb terminals? No? Oh well.
Talk about back to the future! The first spreadsheet program I used was back in the late 1980’s when insurance was possibly far cheaper. It was on a dumb terminal connected to some distant mainframe computer within the business. The screen had this strange colour scheme where the characters were either orange, or orange. The background was an inky black. Even my Commodore 64 computer at home had more colours, and better games. Actually now I think about it a bit, the dumb terminal had no games, but there was that super nifty spreadsheet program. These days, the latest variety of the species sport more colours and features, and are of course highly programmable, but essentially still do much the same thing. There’s rows and columns. You chuck in data and formulas, and generate a result. A useful tool, but then so is paper and a pencil, which have the added benefit of being cheaper.
Anyway the calculative investigation progressed. So I kick started the latest spreadsheet program, chucked in the premium which was allocated to the year 2025. In the row below, I added in the year 2026 and in the adjacent column typed out a simple formula: “=B1*1.45”. Dragged that row down the page. Some uber cool quick maths discovered that, Holy Carp! The unwanted advertising message from the future was mathematically accurate. Not good. And there was even more cause for further disturbed sleep, like I still don’t know: How much was the annoy-me-in-the-past discount?
Investment as they say, begins early. So I thought about some mad cash making ideas. How about raising heritage chickens for sale? Cool. I could probably manage to raise and sell around 500 chickens per year. So in order to cover the 2040 future-me bill, that would work out to a sale price of about $2,292.43 each. Frankly speaking, just like chickens, the idea might not fly because the birds seem all rather expensive for the roasting pot. Although, and here you can quote me: Chook-flation is real!
Hang on a second though. Future selling expensive chickens for their egg potential might make more economic sense because overall the cost per unit sold will be lower. Estimates of course vary as to how many eggs a hen will lay in her lifetime, and I suggest nobody really knows with any level of accuracy. However, various sources suggest the number will be around the 600 egg mark, maybe more, maybe less. So that future $2,292 chook is beginning to look like a total bargain. What’s not to like about $3.82 per egg? A neat dozen will set a person back a cool $45.84. Under those kitchen conditions, a dropped and smooshed egg would be a real drama, but at that price, whilst nobody is looking, the contents would get scooped up and scrambled. Who’d notice, or at that price, even care?
Every mad cash making idea ended up looking like that. A sleep disturbed bloke can’t even send a message to future-me to cut out the advertising nuisance, or at least don’t accept the discount. This one, I’m going to have to stoically ride through and just deal with, because it looks to me like a total flustercluck.
In an unrelated note, earlier this week I was able to ignite the two bonfires created late last week. That was the final act of the third annual winter loggers mess clean-up project.
The fire had to be pretty hot because we began seriously removing the woody Echium shrubs which had taken over a few of the garden beds. Rabbits and rats used the thick plants as a hiding refuge from the dogs. The only problem with getting rid of them was that they were all green and very slow to burn. But a hot fire will burn most plant materials green, or otherwise. By the end of the day, about two-thirds of the Echiums were removed.
The job wasn’t able to be finished that day. Days passed and the bonfire cooled and was reduced to ash. With a third of the plants left to remove we had to create another hot fire. Why not clean up a new area of the surrounding forest? So we collected all of the materials laying on the ground in that small area.
In a bushfire, sure the trees burn, but it’s the dry materials laying around on the ground which gives the energy for the fire to spread super fast. And fine limbs and leaves, burnt the hottest of all. Hmm. It was also a good opportunity to remove the surface rocks for use in other projects. Then we mowed up the ground so that any fire didn’t inadvertently spread. It’s worth noting that in recent weeks the fires have had a tendency to want to expand outwards from their core bonfire, which is not ideal. The material was moved yet again and then stacked into a neat pile away from trees. We ignited the pile, and sure enough, it burned hot.
Alert readers will note the handy pile of rocks in the above image (to my right). The fire sure burned hot, and you can see that I’m using my gloved hand as a shield against the intense heat. Some readers may believe that I’m performing a salute, and who’s to argue with such logic? Anyway, the rest of the green Echium plants were heaped onto the flames and all were consumed.
What was left in the garden bed, were the many stumps from the rather large Echium plants. I brought out the stump grinder and that machine made short work of the softwood. Given most of the tree species here are hardwood varieties of the densest type, it was a pleasure to pit the might of the powerful machine against such soft timber. Made for quick work.
After the stumps were removed, Sandra drove the heavy low centre of gravity mower over the entire steep garden bed and blitzed up anything which had foolishly decided to stay. It looks pretty neat now, like blank slate of fresh rich soil. We’ll probably plant several Japanese Maples into the area.
Looking at the garden bed from a little bit further down the hill reveals several interesting possibilities.
If you look closely at the above image, you’ll see a narrow path which stops just on the uphill side of the large overflow water tank. This path will be extended so that it runs right through the garden bed and ends on the uphill side of the agapanthus which can be seen in the photo (those plants will also soon be removed). Plus the path will be widened and provided with more sturdy rock walls. Where Ollie is located, a possibly two layer high rock wall will allow us to create a much wider flat site next to the water tank. Plus the soil removed from that area will be super useful for fixing up a few issues within the garden bed itself – for example you can seen the horizontal white pipes which feed water into that big tank. Sooner or later, someone, or something will stand on them and break them. We’ll fix that, but it needs soil from somewhere. All good future projects.
This week’s video is all about why we make paths and use rock walls:
Last week’s rain, combined with sunshine this week has produced a nice shade of green in the ground cover plants in the orchard. Looks good and easy on the eye.
A few of the very early fruit trees have begun to produce blossoms. The earliest of all is the hybrid Plumcott, which is an apricot / plum variety. Strangely, both trees flower later than this one, and unfortunately a late frost always wipes out any possibility of fruit on that early hybrid tree. Oh well, it looks nice, and the ground below it is covered with white flower petals:
Onto the flowers:
The temperature outside now at about 10am is 9’C (48’F). So far for this year there has been 568.6mm (22.4 inches) which is up from last weeks total of 547.2mm (21.5 inches)
Comments
38 responses to “Future Me Hates Me”
Yo, Chris – I also value my sleep. I think I’m making up for little sleep in my early life 🙂 . And I value my three hour nap, in the afternoon. Uninterrupted by bogus fire alarms or people shrieking at each other across the parking lot. Or the ‘beep, beep, beep’ of delivery vans.
I think you need to accept the possibility, that sooner or later you’ll be priced out of the insurance market. It’s all madness. Among the general madness of house prices and a lot of other things.
I see the GST and Stamp Duty jumped by over $100, each. I’d guess neither adds any value to coverage. Probably just some charge the Lenocracy came up with. But even if those fees were wiped out, it would just be a drop in the bucket, compared to the overall cost.
Mad cash making ideas. I guess my first thought is why should you have to? Any innovation just gets sucked away, to who knows where.
The video was quit good. The Japanese maples will be quit striking in that spot. Might add a few interesting rocks for, well, interest. Moss?
It will be interesting to see what you do with the triangular bit. You’ve done really interesting things, in other triangular beds.
Your place has really greened up. Reminds me of the Emerald Isles. 🙂
One of these years, the plumcott may surprise you. The Silver Wattle and daffodils provide a nice contrast, one to the other. I think we have some snowdrops around here, but not too many. I’ll have to pay more attention, next spring.
As far as I know, the Rhododendrons here, are never fertilized. And they always put on a great show. It’s sidewalk, Rhodies and upslope, the grapes. Both put on wild growth, with seemingly no input. But when I think about it, between the grapes and the parking lot, is where the Master Gardenrs usually dump a pile of compost. Maybe some of the good stuff, percolates through the soil? It’s a theory. Lew
Hi Lewis,
It’s good to make up for your earlier lack, in the present now. 🙂 Man, there’s so many possibilities to disturb your afternoon nap, which I agree is a valuable use of time. The repose gives the brain a bit of a reset, then it’s back into the intellectual fray. Just between you and I, the issue I wrote about isn’t really impacting upon my sleep, although I’m not mucking around with the clean up of the surrounding forest. Basically, the increase is absurd, so why not write an absurd essay on the subject? Such was my thinking yesterday. Anyway, there’s some real risk with that industry. Late this afternoon, I was out for a few hours with the chainsaw cutting up downed trees into discs for later splitting. Free (ish) firewood as far as I’m concerned.
Also in the wind and rain yesterday, a huge tree toppled over. It was growing on a silly angle and was destined to be sucked back down to horizontal due to the forces of gravity sooner or later.
Being priced out of that insurance market is not all that far away. But my view in this matter is that far more people will be chucked off the HMAS Insurance Titanic, well before we will be. And many of those will probably be in default on their mortgages because they have clauses which specify that insurance must be maintained. If the asset is destroyed, then all that remains is the land, mess and contractual obligations. Why others don’t see the world that way, is something of a mystery to me.
Yup GST is a Federal sales tax (one rate for anywhere in the country – fancy that simplicity?) and the Stamp Duty is a state tax. The monsters must be fed, they demand their chunks of meat. And rising home prices and inflation basically improves their income, whilst imposing costs upon everyone.
Exactly! In many weird and interesting ways, the less I earn, the lower the parasites can suck up, although there are set fixed costs which can only be avoided by reducing scope for income flows. That’s a predicament which can’t be avoided. They all want flows those things. The question as always is: Do we need to feed the beasts? People talk to me about ideas for making mad cash, and at every turn there is some thing wanting a cut of the action.
Thanks! 🙂 Lovely words, and rest assured (with no undue noise – I’ve resided opposite a supermarket delivery bay and hear you about that nuisance) that many a rock will be used in all manner of interesting ways on the new project. I’ve got some ideas in mind.
On that note, we’d intended to split some boulders today, but the Editor went with friends tonight to a comedy ‘Granny Bingo’ night. I’m sure it was amusing, but splitting boulders beforehand is a dirty job. That idea was ditched, and instead we constructed a new steel rock gabion cage. There are so many rocks available now, that we may make another cage next week. It’ll take a bit of effort to fill them though. Once the Editor was gone, I headed down below to the forest edge and cut up downed tree logs into discs for a few hours. Feels good to achieve stuff whilst cleaning up.
Emerald is the colour du jour right now! It’s easy on the eye. A friend from New Zealand (did you see that the runaway bloke has been deaded?) once suggested I could run dairy cattle here.
It’s possible that the Plumcott tree will surprise, and the old timers used to quip that: Hope springs eternal, or something like that. Yeah, keep an eye out for the snowdrops when early spring arrives at your place in another year. The leaves look fairly similar to bluebells.
I don’t usually fertilise the rhododendrons here either. A super hardy plant, however, there is a story with that one. So on the uphill side of the plant, was a depression in the soil, which made mowing problematic. So we filled in the depression and smoothed out the soil surface, then applied heaps of soiled chicken bedding so as to get the grass re-established. And the plant has grown heaps faster than all of the other rhododendrons, and also flowered earlier. Hmm…
And absolutely! If rain hits that pile of compost, the minerals will leach into the soil and travel with the ground water. It’s a theory with legs. 🙂
20% is not much of a chance, but did it work out anyway and you received some rain? It drizzled on and off again here today. At times it was sunny, then thick black clouds would roll in. We made the best of the conditions.
I would so visit Raintree nursery, but I must say that the prices make plant-flation down here look like nothing to complain about, sorry to say. But what a diversity of plants they sell. With so many machines here, there is always something which needs attending to. Actually, I’m of the opinion that there are diminishing returns for additional purchases, although a cheap saw mill would probably save me a lot of trouble.
Well, fruit trees need attending to and feeding in order to keep up production. Man, I’ve seen mature orchards being removed by excavator. It pains me.
Flat bottom land with rich looking soil is the jackpot. If there are better conditions, and being able to grow both wheat or blueberries merely ups the ante. I doubt a better location could be found.
Your dinner sounds very healthful, and the err, prune liquid will most certainly clean out the digestive tract. There’s something to be said about a high fibre diet. People consume way too much processed food in my opinion.
Owen’s personal life clearly had some ups and downs, and agreed his performances are all solid. He did a good job in Marley and Me.
Poop! That idea about the antiques and collectibles being lost in the fires hadn’t occurred to me, although now you mention it. In the 1983 Ash Wednesday bushfires, I read that someone local had stored their entire vintage motor vehicle collection nearby and it was all lost. A notable UK comedian who married a local girl, lost his many sets in the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires. Note to self, continue the forest clean-up work.
But I agree, there does seem to be a general shrinking of disposable income. Probably not a good sign.
Yup, the fires on Kangaroo Island were severe, and hampered by a lack of water due to the prolonged drought. I’d read somewhere that despite the sheer size of the island and it’s close proximity to the mainland (the car ferry was one seriously rough journey, and the Editor passed out as did most of the passengers! For some weird reason, I don’t get seasick) that the Indigenous folks abandoned it long ago.
Cults, best avoided. You read it here first. How does that line up with your perspective? 🙂
Cheers
Chris
Hello Chris,
Maybe the time has come for you and the Editor to start a local mutual fire&flood insurance company for your county?
I have been lucky to have local mutual insurance companies wherever I have lived (except China and Russia) and I like the local connection. No fancy head office and expensive marketing campaigns. Just a 1/1000 risk of catastrophic failure for each house, with some minor adjustments.
Probably you would need to have some re-insurance to cover large events, but most of the time it is a fire here or there.
Of course, someone would have to talk to all the customers/mutual partners….
Here in Sweden, there are two insurance companies who have swallowed most of the competition, to create bloated beasts with high maintenance main offices and expensive suites of directors. I guess that is where the money goes, also from your fees…
The mutual cooperative insurance is still strong on the countryside, but not present in most cities/towns.
Well, I guess that the future will be more rural anyway.
Now that we get to know more people here, we start to hear stories from previous decades; of conflicts, debts, violence, land ownership and rent rivalry… It is an interesting fabric of folk legends and intriguing characters. It is not always easy to navigate the rural landscape…
Peace,
Göran
Yo, Chris – I’ve always thought the idea of the siesta was most civilized. Often found in Latin countries.
The toppled tree will eventually find itself deposited in the Fern Glade Farm, Firewood Bank. Makes a lot more sense than mining crypto currency.
The banks never lose, mostly. A lot of those defaulted houses will be sold on to private equity firms, for rentals. And, as you know, some of those bank foreclosure auctions are rigged. They have a price in mind, and if none of the bids meet it, it just goes back on the market.
Yes, I heard that the runaway guy was brought down. I see also, the Mushroom Murderer got three life sentences.
“Hope springs eternal (in the human breast.)” From a poem, by Alexander Pope, 1700s. I used a phrase my Idaho friend had not heard, and sent her this, this morning. “My Australian friend and I, are always tossing around word and quotation puzzles. I’d say 75% of quotations come from either Shakespeare, or the bible. “Wrack” is an Old English term for a wreck … as in pieces of boats washed ashore. “Wrack and ruin” was first used (as far as we know) by some English guy in 1577 who was translating some of Martin Luther’s commentaries. Usage of the phrase peaked, around 1940. Gosh knows where I picked it up.” We do have fun, here. 🙂
Our high yesterday was 72F (22.22C). The overnight low was 50F (10C). I keep waiting for the overnight lows to get into the 40s. Haven’t seen that in a long time. The forecast high for today is 75F. There was a bit of rain, yesterday, but I still watered last night. I think I can skip it, tonight, as the forecast is for 40% chance of rain, late tonight into tomorrow morning.
The Master Gardeners are here, this morning. One of the mainstays injured her knee, and is on crutches. Has been, for awhile. Waiting on the insurance company to see if they’ll cover surgery. Did you see the news about the woman who had quints? Four immature babies. They all survived, and thrived, but the bill came to four million dollars. And they wonder why birthrates are falling.
I thought you had a saw mill? That you had cut some beams for a future additional firewood shed?
The prunes seem to keep me in a Goldilocks state. As she said about the beds, “Not too hard, not too soft. Just right.” 🙂
Earthquakes and floods also take a big toll on antiques and collectibles. One of the reasons I got rid of a lot of my stuff. We’re overdue for a good shake.
There was a lot of finger pointing, after the Kangaroo Island fires. Apparently, when the fire was quit small, farmers could have put it out. But, it was on National Park land, and it took four hours, before they could get permission to enter and fight the fire. By then, it was off and running.
I watched an interesting documentary, last night. “Jimmy’s Big Bee Rescue.” I tried to find the trailer, but it’s … damaged. Some news report about shoplifting thefts at an exotic animal store keep breaking it up. But, anyway … Jimmy is a farmer, who loves bees, near Peterborough, England. He had the idea to improve bee habitat, in and around that town. First, he rounded up a bunch of volunteers, to take a census. Then he got all kinds of projects underway, to improve bee habitat. Mostly, in “waste” areas. Although he also got the city to replant some park areas, with more bee friendly plants. Even to people’s gardens. Schools. Then they took another census, a year later. The number of bees had more than doubled. It was a very good documentary, and, apparently it’s a series on Brit TV.
I also watched the first two episodes of “Death Valley.” I think it’s going to be a winner. Cranky, cantankerous, almost hermit ex-popular TV detective helps young budding police detective to solve cases. Filmed in Wales. I see there will be a second season.
When I worked out at the Yelm library, we had a local cult (well, international, really). I knew the book I’m reading has a chapter on “The Rampsters,” as they are popularly known. I was curious.
https://w.wiki/FHBa
Anytime I heard a foreign accent, I knew they were likely self-entitled Euro-trash who were involved with the “school.” They were heavy library users, mostly using the internet to recruit, and, massive use of the printers. They were a real pain in the … ear.
Also, when I worked at the Olympia B. Dalton Bookstore, we got a manger who was a Rampster. He slowly started replacing employees with “followers.” While running the store into the ground. Finally, B. Dalton security showed up (a Mr. Lynch … how name appropriate), took him in the backroom for an hour or two, he left, and was never seen again. 🙂 Lew
Hi, Chris!
Oh, Chris! I laughed too hard to take this seriously. Okay. I am trying. Well, once upon a time, people did not have insurance. Of course, possibly things did not cost so much and there were not so many regulations with rules that had to be followed when you built. We’ll get back to that. It breaks, you fix it – and pay for it. I noticed the GST and Stamp Duty went up, too. Perhaps they will pull the stunt that Great Britain did and tax windows (glass ones; think rich people).
Still laughing – at your work computer. That was once hot stuff. But don’t worry, the internet will probably become unaffordable, and unreliable ( I mean, more so).
I have heard the rumor that chookflation is real. Hey, my ancestors were lucky to have chicken once a week. Eggs were another thing, being more available (unless you ate their mothers . . .). But how about the last few years? A dropped and smooshed egg WAS a real drama. If it dropped on the counter/bench, I scooped it up and cooked it. If it fell on the floor, too bad, so sad for me. My floors are not the kind that one can eat off of. The price here has doubled and tripled.
Flustercluck . . . lordy . . .
The final act. The curtain falls. Are you done with the ancient log mess? I love that stump grinder. I wish we had one. Japanese maples would be lovely and nothing could hide in the open spaces under them. I knew it! You are going to extend that path! Yay! More projects! Worthy projects.
It’s very green here, too. I can’t figure out why, as we have had no measurable rain for 5 weeks.
Hopefully extinct . . . you made such a funny face. I’d say we’re on a 20 degree slope as well, except for where the property drops off, making a “holler” down below. Then it climbs upward on the other side. A holler is a hollow, a vale. One side of it actually gets quite a lot of sun. That’s where the fig greenhouses are. I much enjoyed the video. No-one in the world has nicer mountain paths than you do.
Mr. Baby was helping me in the garden yesterday. First he sat on the baby May Queen lettuce and smooshed them. Then he walked further down that bed and sat on the baby daikon radishes. He got that funny look on his face which means that – he is about to pee! I couldn’t stop him, but I leapt off of my chair and yelled: “Don’t dig!” You know how cats like to bury their waste. Too late, but I replanted the little radishes. While I was doing that he jumped on the chair – the only chair in the garden – and I had to sit on the ground. We must remember that Mr. Baby is very delicate . . . Hmm.
The flowers are going strong. As so with many spring flowers, they are yellow and white and purple; just gorgeous. Thanks so much.
Pam
Hi Göran,
Your suggestion is most wise, and would probably work in a culture which is more co-operative than the err, the cut throat situation I find myself in. Dude, the core problem here is not the premium, but that the asset it insures costs so much relative to salaries.
The ol’ brain kick started into action, and turns out some sources suggest that the average house price in Sweden is SEK 4.05 million. That converts into Australian dollars to around AU$650,000. Presumably that includes land as well, so clearly it is cheaper to construct a home in Sweden than it is in Australia.
Here is the horror story: First home buyers baulk as average home in Australia passes $1 million or more specifically AU$1,002,500 or SEK 6.2m. Over 50% more… Ouch!
You’ve hit upon a universal truth there, in that it is not cheap to maintain a head office. But agreed, the future will be smaller and more local, although there will still be forays into the great beyond of the wider economic environment for those whom have the wherewithal to sail those complicated seas. I don’t count myself in that category, but know people who will always venture outwards to see what lays beyond their immediate vision.
Hmm. Yes, one must be circumspect when entering into dialogue with locals who’s history is not entirely clear to oneself. It’s very easy to put the proverbial ‘foot in one’s mouth’ – which is an old timey saying to describe the process of completely messing up a conversation by being unaware of the undercurrents.
It’s not easy to navigate the rural social waters, and all we can but do is our best, whilst acknowledging that we will surely mess things up in lots of little ways which we’d never quite considered. 🙂 But here’s the thing, even the crusty old timers, or the jerk up the road who really annoys you, eventually move on.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Pam,
So glad you didn’t take this essay seriously, although it is a real and very dark subject. As a bit of a background story to the writing of the blog, I was initially totally bummed out about the subject matter in its entirety. So I interrupted Sandra and asked her to workshop the idea with me. Just chuck around thoughts and see what sticks to the walls. 🙂 She said that the story itself was crazy, so why not write a crazy story. Yeah, why not? And that was when the ‘message from the future’ concept popped into my brain, and that was a nod to a John Carpenter horror film ‘Prince of Darkness’, which had the future message as a central theme. And there you go, I too was laughing along as the blog was being written. Just between you and I, there is some seriously absurd vibes with all the crazy things going on in the wider world. A good laugh dispels the gloom which hovers over many a futurists words. 😉
Thank you for the historical perspective, and it’s all very true. In the early days of insurance, houses used to display a plaque above the door, and the fire brigades would only attend incidents at paid-up subscribers dwellings. Hmm. I’ve seen some of the old timey insurance house signs. Did they have such things in your part of the world? But yeah, we’re fast moving into a day when risk cannot be outsourced. The past is the future all over again!
The unspoken thing is that if house prices continue to rise, or prices in general for that matter, all the people whom enjoy a cut of the action benefit more, for no additional effort whatsoever. It’s a genius strategy. For those lucky few, marketing becomes a process of imposing further obligations as distinct from adding value, or the proving of worth.
Pam, it could be even worse – the internet might just end up being totally un-fun. That’s my prediction as to where things are headed.
Ollie and I just spotted a tiny little ringtail possum clambering around one of the still dormant fruit trees – probably eating the buds. Do I do anything about the little herbivore with a big penchant for yummy fruit? Anyway, brought Ollie back inside, then took out Dame Plum, and that’s when I heard a Powerful Owl very close by. The possum is most likely about to become owl food. It happens.
And agreed, that’s the thing. If you’re breeding chickens, then you eat the excess roosters (not that I’ve done such a thing). If there was another way… A breeder was telling me that some batches of eggs can produce up to 60% roosters, depending on the time of year.
Got it, floor = not cool, whilst the bench = cool. Yes, such arrangements are in place here as well, for obvious reasons. 🙂 What’s it cost now for a dozen eggs in your part of the world?
That’s a real word. I looked it up in the Urban Dictionary. See for yourself, and I’ve encountered some situations just like the description.
Mostly done with the loggers mess. There are still a couple of random upside tree stumps, one of which I may tackle over the next week. But generally I’m now into the more usual natural forest mess. A massive tree smooshed during the wind storm on Sunday. I heard it rip and fall, but only discovered the whereabouts yesterday.
Go the green! You did get some big rains just before that time. Makes for good growing conditions.
Well, one must not tempt the sacred keepers of ‘hubris’! I’d not want to be anywhere near a volcanic eruption. When I think back to some of the volcanic and glacial tourist stuff we visited in New Zealand when so much younger than today, the word ‘idiot’ comes to mind. It’s nice to grow up and develop wisdom don’t you reckon?
Thanks for that, as I’d not known of the etymology of the word. I use the word ‘holler’ too occasionally. Down Under when spoken it sounds like hole-ah. I’m sure it sounds lovely when spoken in your part of the world.
Mr Baby would never dare take advantage of his privileged position in the household, would he? 🙂 Pets are funny. Dame Plum is subdued this evening. Earlier in the day she was running at full speed, which is quite fast. Anywhoo, like that scene in the film which dares not be named but involves that actor who also for various reasons remains nameless, and it had lots of military aircraft. I enjoyed it and the sequel, although others have differing opinions in the matter. 😉 What were we talking about again? Oh, Dame Plum decided to do a high speed fly-by and buzz Ollie, except she clipped him. Hmm. Ollie seems unhurt, but the Kelpie went down in a ball of flames. Bruised more than injured, but dogs are not meant to hurtle in a forwards direction when upon their side.
Hopefully she has learned a valuable lesson: Don’t do a high speed fly-by of the tower. It was an unnecessary risk.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Oh yeah, a siesta is a wonderful, and as you note, a very civilised invention. Why spend the hottest part of the afternoon working hard out in the sun? Mad dogs and Englishmen…
That’s the plan with the toppled tree. It’s going to be a complicated job to bring it all back down to the ground, but I should be able to manage it. Definitely it will be firewood for a future year. No shortage of that fuel source, at the moment.
Do you even understand what crypto mining is? I sure don’t. Makes no sense to me, and candidly sounds inflationary. But whatever. And there are times that the ol’ brain begins wondering about it – sometimes we have excess electricity with no possible use – and then, just say no. There are plenty of other interests. Oh, turns out that mining one zitcoin is equal to about eight times the amount of electricity the solar power system has produced in 15 years. Drats yet again our fortunes have been stolen way from us, we’ll have to think up a new idea.
Now Dame Plum had an incident today. There was a movie which shall remain unnamed, with that actor, which involved military aircraft. I may have said something at the time about the sequel being a simple story, told well. Anyhoo, not for everyone, I get it. But there was a close fly-by of the tower scene, which ended in trouble. These things happen. So Dame Plum is running around like crazy at warp speed, as Kelpie’s do. She obviously decided to buzz Ollie, and that was when she miscalculated the tolerances. Clipped Ollie and went down on her side, but kept moving forward due to sheer momentum. Bruised and sore, hopefully wiser, but not largely injured, although I’ll keep an eye on her over the next few days, particularly her wee (for signs of blood suggesting an internal injury). Silly dog.
You’re probably right about the banks and houses. They also get more for the same whenever house prices (or prices in general) go up. It’s a genius strategy really, but are they geniuses enough to know when to stop grasping? I suspect not.
Mushroom murderer is a bad egg, and the act was a serious betrayal of trust.
Alexander Pope penned some raunchy stuff for the 18th century. How they titter! 🙂 Sounds very Monty Python from the Pontius Pilate-esque scene in the Life of Brian film. Welease Wyan! Yes, the ocean very much owns the word ‘wrack’, and I’d heard of ‘sea-wrack’ for organic stuff floating around upon the murky depths. Words are fun, and each reveals history.
Cold here today, and is colder again tonight. Brr! Your weather seems rather ideal for all sorts of activities. Did you end up getting the rain? The forecast here is for an even colder day tomorrow, with rain.
That’s not good, and may indicate serious health issues. Hope the master gardeners can handle the process of electing a new leader with good grace when the time comes.
Yes, such costs do make the activity rather prohibitively expensive. That’s a big bill. Cost of living pressures don’t just impact upon a person’s annual holiday choices.
Correct, there is an Alaskan chainsaw mill, I was thinking out loud about a more effective machine, given the volume. Incidentally, the timber we did cut is looking really good.
🙂 One wants to be in the correct zone for such matters. Respect to you too. People don’t take that subject nearly seriously enough.
You did mention that motivation regarding a big shake and the overall pruning of your collection. Makes sense. Big fires are a risk here, but then there was that strong-ish earthquake.
Far out! Man, you know, sometimes you can be correct, do the right thing, and still get into trouble because you weren’t following the rules. I recall a story about someone leading a convoy out of a town in the 2009 bushfires which was very seriously in harms way. Probably saved a lot of lives that day, but it was against the rules apparently. A senile bureaucracy cannot make swift decisions.
Go Jimmy and his bee rescue efforts. Who knew that people over used insecticides and didn’t allow for a few weedy flowering plants? Glad to hear that someone is thinking about this issue and raising awareness.
I’ll mention the series to the Editor. Thanks! 🙂
Ramfuster seems to have delivered the worldly goods given the sheer size of the leaders house. It’s big. Probably needs a lot of cleaning, too much for my tastes. Small is beautiful. It’s a fascinating story.
Whoa! Did that store chain have a fixer bloke? Sometimes you need a fixer to you know, come in and sort things out, thus fixing them. An unwise decision to fall foul of such a person.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – From colonial times, into the Victorian era, there were “insurance plaques,” (or, fire insurance marks) on houses. Apparently, insurance companies had their own firefighting teams.
https://w.wiki/FHeK
And, they’re collectible, though fakes abound. I can’t say I’ve ever seen one. Probably, as the west coast was settled after their peak. I wonder who the guy was that went around with a ladder and screw driver, to remove plaques of people who had fallen behind in their payments? 🙂
In the current day, rich folks contract with private firefighting companies, to save their homes in the event of a wildfire. There’s been a bit of controversy, due to them saving a house, and letting the one next door, burn. In the TV series “Fire Country” (very good, by the way), the state firefighters often butt heads with the private outfits.
Currier and Ives did a series of lithographs, titled “The Life of a Fireman.” Circa 1860. They can be quit pricey, in good condition.
I don’t get crypto mining, either. But I did know that they soak up a lot of energy. Between crypto minding and AI, that’s what the proliferation of server farms, is all about.
I thought Dame Plume was more sensible, than that. 🙂 My Idaho friends have a new puppy, and she sent a picture of it exploring the dish washer. I told her when it needs a bath, she can just toss her in. No streaks.
I watched a good documentary, last night. “We Don’t Deserve Dogs.” It had short segments of people and their dogs, from all over the world. Subtitles, but I wish they had indicated which country they were in. A couple I could figure out were truffle hunting dogs in Italy, and a young dog walker in Istanbul. Street dogs in Mexico (?) that the whole neighborhood take care of. Rescue dogs in Britain. (Scotland?).
H was sleeping in my lap during the film. Couldn’t care less about the dogs on screen, even when they barked. H and I have a new battle of wits, going on. Day before yesterday, she pulled the blanket off the bed, three times. Yesterday morning, twice. I’d had it. I pulled her steps away from the bed. Other than when we were napping or for the night. Rocked her little world. Even though she has other favored spots to nap on the floor, being cut off from the bed really bothered her. Maybe she’ll get it through her pointed little head that pulling blankets is a no-no.
Laveta, the Master Gardener with the injured leg is sort of the head of the MGs, here at Providence place. It’s a pretty fluid position, and changes around among a few hard core volunteers. She’s been coming almost as long as this place has been here. Almost 30 years.
Our high yesterday was 77F (25C). The overnight low was 55F (12.77C). The forecast high for today is 75F. I didn’t water, last night, and it didn’t rain. We might get some, this afternoon. But, the gardens look ok. It’s been very muggy. I added some good soil to the asparagus barrel. Then I harvested my zucchini. Three large and one small. Pulled up the plants. That not so great effort and I was sweating like a pig. I might jazz up the soil, and plant some cool weather crops, there. Maybe carrots, beets, radish and red onions. I’ll see.
Mr. Lynch was head of security for the whole company. Running down customer theft, employee theft. Anything that impacted the bottom line. We did an inventory once a year, and that would reveal “shrink.” A certain amount of shrink was to be expected, and low numbers were tolerated. High amounts indicated a problem. I’d guess shrink is what set off alarm bells, in the company.
“Army of Darkness” is in transit, to me. Will it get her by tomorrow? Who knows. Friday, all the libraries are closed, due to the annual all staff training day. That will probably screw up the courier delivery schedule. Oh, well. Lew
Chris:
“Laughter is the best medicine”, a very old saying of at least 3,000 years. Most likely, it’s always been around.
I did not know that about house insurance signs. Hopefully, the folks that rush to put the fire out would rescue anyone in the house, sign or no sign.
And so often now, when someone makes a claim, it is not honored.
Life in general can be so cruel. Today I was digging up a garden bed. I go very slowly; that’s they only way I can go when digging. Suddenly I dug up a smallish skink. “Ah, he has no tail.” I thought. “I wonder if I did that.” Then I noticed that he had only three legs, though he was moving pretty fast. I am pretty sure that I did that, though he had lots of warning because I am so slow. I have been digging up toads, too, but haven’t hurt any, so far.
Ook. I guess they become Sunday dinner.
I pay about $4.50-$5.00 for a dozen eggs. That’s about in the middle.
Well, we all start out as idiots; it’s built in. What matters is if one ever outgrows it.
I don’t know where the word is that she is pointing to, but:
https://www.tiktok.com/@watchkittyshrink/video/6985316530259119365
Poor Dame Plum. We certainly shall hope that she learned a lesson and that no-one else noticed, or she might be demoted. Which movie? What actor? How many airplanes?
We don’t have a basic fabric store anymore since the chain one that we all used for so many years (Joanne’s) shut down. I don’t want to buy fabric online as I have to see it and touch it first. There is a shop for quilters, but they carry only one type of fabric. When I went in there the other day, the manager told me that they were trying to stock more varieties of sewing “notions” to help out. I have a couple of sewing projects going on, small ones (one of them is handkerchiefs) and so I am having to buy clothes from thrift shops and cut those up for what I need. Luckily, I do have a pretty good supply of different materials saved up and stored away for some other projects. It really bothers me to cut up useful clothing, though. In fact, I had bought an X-Large mens flannel shirt for something, but when I looked it over, it was just too nice to cut up, so I gave it to the assisted living where my mother lived. There are actually a lot of indigent people there.
Pam
Chris,
Nice story about the Dread Back From the Future dream. Nightmares those are, true nightmares that type of dream. But then reality can be even more frightful what with those 45% annual insurance premium increases. Since you discovered that during the day, and it IS frightful, would that make the reality a daymare rather than a nightmare?
I was rather appreciative that you calculated the future number correctly under the assumption that each and every year has another 45% increase. The results are, well, there’s no real word for how frightening that is. Maybe you should start your own zitcoin company in order to pay for the future insurance.
No, I don’t know how that zitcoin stuff works either. All I know is that it is extremely energy intensive. Just like all of the AI stuff. I don’t think the peasants are going to be happy with rolling blackouts so that the AI and zitcoin mining can chug along uninterrupted.
Back in the late 1800s, my mum’s paternal side lived in Republic County in northern Kansas. Great Plains. Farming country. Thunderstorms. Occasional tornadoes. My great great great uncle and one of his sons owned the major property insurance company for the area. Then along came a tornado, a lot of houses and other buildings were destroyed, and the business went under. The ancestors had to start over doing something else.
Still warm, but not blisteringly hot. 31C. I awoke to the sound of raindrops and thunder this morning. We got measurable rainfall. Officially about a half millimeter. Oh well, it tried.
We’re watching a late night show that the Princess recorded. Jimmy Kimmell. Special guest Spinal Tap. Yes, the band of “it goes to 11” fame. There’s a new Spinal Tap movie coming out soon. “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues”. The band claims that the new amplifier goes to infinity. They played a song during the broadcast. The Princess erased changed to a different recorded program. The amplifier, allegedly which went to infinity, was that disappointing. 😉
DJSpo
Hi Pam,
The future will be what it is, for this is all ordained, although a few alert folks – and to which that includes all of the lovely readers here – may already be aware that we have as much influence upon the outcome as the Knights Who Say Ni, had over the preponderances of shrubberies in their land. The old advice was correct, best enjoy a good laugh.
Well, having no memories of such historical incidents it would be hard for me to ascertain whether the occupants of an uninsured house would be rescued by a paid local crew responding to the needs of a subscriber. You’d hope so, but I truly don’t know how it all worked out back in the day. Had a lovely long chat with a neighbour today, and alarmingly, his policy was 50% higher again than ours. That’s what I’d describe as a poignant moment. The future is perhaps clear, although we may not like the outcomes.
Here things are slightly different with claims. Now I deal with a business which has a long public history of looking after it’s members, although it is not the cheapest option. So yes, the situation you described can occur here as well, and I chose not to interact with illusions of coverage. What good can spring from a poisoned well?
Pam, there’s an old adage that we all get consumed only once. It’s awful to consider, isn’t it? Us humans have a remarkable ability to disturb the soil, but then isn’t that what the smallish skink and toads were also doing? I’ve accidentally dug up a few toads in my time too. During the old loggers mess clean up, many a skink was disturbed, but the forest arrangement patterns were not quite right, because humans had set in motion certain events which had a negative ending. My neighbour tells me that the 1983 fires missed his property, and there is a fern lined gully in between the boundaries, so that would have been the natural line where the fire didn’t cross. At times, all that stands between us and ruin is the toss of a coin.
When converted to Aussie dollars, the price is about the same, although I chuck in some additional mad cash for eggs laid by hens which have more room and social opportunities to conduct their lives. Actually, many long years ago, I met with the young bloke who runs the local commercial egg farm. He seemed like a decent person to me, and had the welfare of his hens at the forefront of his activities. My chickens go off the lay from around March to June each year (the fall), and that is all part of their normal cycle. Since you linked that video about the eyesight of chickens, I’ve been wondering now if they can observe the time of year by directly seeing the suns UV radiation? They can pick the winter solstice with an alarming accuracy.
🙂 I’d like to believe that you and I made it past that stage, yeah. The stupid thing with my own journey was that I never had any familial adults around to guide me on my way. They were worse than useless. However, a few very strong males took me under their wing and provided guidance when I was so much younger than today – like Sensei. My one guilty regretful thought in life is that early on I let them down in all sorts of minor ways, but that’s part of learning isn’t it? Did you ever encounter any strong role models in your early life?
What a delightful accent the young lady has. I could listen to that all day. It was a pleasure to listen too, and the word sounds to me as if it is pronounced like ‘hole-err’ to my ears. What a delightful concept too, you get to the end of a beautiful road, and have to turn around.
Thanks for the kind thoughts, and Dame Plum is lower key today, but mostly doing alright. Oh my! And like the book which shall never be named, so to that film (it was a blockbuster with over a $1bn in ticket sales) must remain the same. Hint, they used F-18’s… 🙂 The sequel was quite good in that it recounted a simple story, really well.
It’s a good idea to purchase fabric for re-use from the thrift stores, and I’m sure you’ve noticed, but some of the materials found there are very high end? Lot’s of natural fibres too. Sandra keeps an eye on such offerings. Funny you mention flannel shirts, but years ago my friends of the big shed fame loaned me a flannel shirt on a really cold day there. My shoulders are fairly wide and I had to be careful not to do an incredible hulk moment and tear the shirt at the seams – which they probably would have enjoyed… Hmm. Anywhoo, like machinery sympathy, I have respect for well made clothing items. And long ago I read that people nowadays accept such poor cut and fit with their clothes because they have no idea at all as to how they were made. It’s an intriguing idea, and possibly correct.
It was positively Antarctic here today. Although you may have other ideas regarding a cloudy day with a maximum of 45’F. Brr!
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
So good to hear the pitter patter of raindrops, plus peals, or is it claps, of thunder from the stormy skies? 0.5mm of rain at this time of year down here can leave everything looking very damp, but things may be different right now for you. Today for example, I believe 0.75mm of rain fell, but combined with 7’C maximum air temperature and cold winds originating up from that far distant southerly frozen continent, well I sure was cold outdoors. Unpleasantly so. A lovely neighbour dropped by for a visit and we chatted for a few hours. I like the guy and have learned a lot of practical local knowledge from him over the years, but yeah, frozen outdoors by the end of the visit. Brr!
The unsurance thing is a exactly that – a daymare. Nasty stuff (although I like the concept! Would a towel help with such problems, being the universal necessity as noted by all seasoned space travellers?) The neighbour and I had a long and thoughtful conversation about this very topic. Today I heard a story that things can always be worse. Hmm. Is it that bad in your part of the world?
Thanks for the confirmation as to the quick maths, and back of the envelope calculations can often be misleading, but perhaps not so much in this case due to the power of the ancient spreadsheet. And you raise a very interesting question there, which I looked into. Turns out that by some estimates, it can take 200,000kWh to mine a zitcoin. Say that’s a lot of electricity. And here’s me thinking that it may be a good use for some of the otherwise wasted electricity over the summer months – the supposed waste is just peanuts compared to the requirements for zitcoin production.
DJ, you said it clearly. Respect. Those were my exact thoughts in the matter. There’s a very odd circularity to the entire mess of a problem when vast quantities of water and electricity is used for such ends. Demand kills supply, and onwards and around and around down the drain ye edifice falls.
And your family history recounts the entire problem then and there. It’s all OK to have such a mutual assurance biz when there are few if any claims. A big enough local disaster though can wipe out all of the funds, leaving little for the subscribers to recover from. Possibly described as falsessurance. When the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires hit, over 173 people died and 2,000 structures were either damaged or destroyed. However, when the 2022 Brisbane floods hit, over 23,000 homes were inundated. The mad cash to recover such losses does not materialise from nowhere.
Speaking of tornadoes. One was observed in the state to the north of this one: Tornado observed near Young amid stormy afternoon in NSW. They’ve had some wild weather up there today. And the image in the video looked exactly like the cloud which hit here long ago on a Christmas day. I really said to the Editor that day that the unknown thing is a funny looking cloud heading directly at us. I wasn’t being amusing either, that time. Seriously wish I’d thought to photograph the weather thing, but more pressing urgent matters soon took over.
31’C is getting more reasonable, although still rather uncomfortably warm. Thanks for the heads up on the sequel and the trailer looked like a hoot. The release date down here is towards the end of the month. Hmm.
It’s a big call going to infinity, after all, the odds of zero in a thousand, is much the same as zero in a million, so the question becomes this: What is a nothing? Is it even a real something? 😉
Did mostly paid work today, although stopped for a break for the long and enjoyable chat. That’s the stuff which life is made of. Other than that, all quiet on the down under front today. I see that your country has introduced some new hurdles for Aussie visas in your nation. It surprises me that the cheeky Oz scamps weren’t returning down under regularly. Who knew? Adds a touch of spice and intrigue to their existences, and makes me wonder what mischief they were up to, to cause such ire.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Yeah, those are the fire insurance plaques I was referring too. For your interest, I’ve not seen any of those on the mainland of the continent, but came across a few whilst travelling around the island state of Tasmania. They were attached to historic houses (of which there are quite a number). The wikipudding article mentioned that the levy for down under was collected from insurance policies, but this is no longer correct in this state. With only something like half of all properties insured, the powers that be slapped the levy instead on property rates (taxes), and so now everyone pays (if they’re up to date with their rates that is). The kitty for the fire and emergency services went up massively afterwards, and it was not hard to notice the new sheds and other infrastructure and equipment upgrades taking place across the rural areas.
Incidentally, if people get too far behind in their property rates (taxes), the land can be sold so as to recover the amounts owed. One of those bills which its probably not a bad idea to pay, all other considerations to the side.
Oh my. What a dirty job it would be to remove the plaques, and there would be so many social consequences arising from that issue for all involved. A dangerous job too.
Haven’t heard of private fire fighting crews down here, but interestingly when involved with such matters, I heard some stories of rich folks trying to seek advantage for their properties, not that it did them any good that I’m aware of. So such thoughts must be universal. Hmm.
The series is probably really excellent and I appreciate the recommendation. However, I have this really strong memory of sitting in the fire shed whilst it was snowing outside, and the boss dude made the statement that it’s going to be a really, really, bad fire season next summer. Except it was snowing right then and there. It was kind of a pivotal moment when I realised that it was a subject I was working hard to mitigate on the property, but also fear could take over via a weird form of continual worry. I had to strike a personal balance between enjoying the wilds, preparing for the worst outcome, and just kind of getting on with life. It was a really strange moment, and probably there is some naivety to it all, but there are just lots of risks inherent with living outside a town, not just that one. Dunno, but that’s why I might avoid that series. Hope it all makes some sort of sense?
Presumably cold hard physical mad cash is cheaper than server farms? But yeah, there’s quite a lot of applications in process for those things in the big smoke. Dunno about you, but I managed just fine before such technologies, and I’ll be ok after them as well. Truly, this is probably the last great gasp of the tech-bro scene. The joke is, you can’t provide such services for free when the real world capital and ongoing costs require ever more server farms. How can it be, other than being built upon enormous piles of debt?
Rest assured that kelpie’s can be rather silly from time to time. Dame Plum seems OK today, albeit a touch slower and more careful. It’s a hard way to learn. Oh my! Hope the dish washer machine is searched carefully for the puppy before operating. I doubt the experience would be survivable. It must be a big dog, do you know what variety the canine is?
That’s one powerful documentary, and I see what you mean about location. The trailer went all over the planet. Interesting that H would ignore the dogs on the screen. The dogs here get rather alert when they hear a utoob clip which has dogs barking. Not excited exactly, more curious as to what is going on. They can usually smell other dogs long before they’re within audible range.
Wonder why H would start pulling blankets off the bed now? Cooler nights in your part of the world would mean that they’re kind of necessary. But your reaction sent a strong message which clearly she comprehended. Such is the way sometimes to communicate with animals. When I eventually let the two new chickens out into the collective, I’ll transfer any miscreants into the small cage in order for them to come to their senses – a sort of poultry sin bin for the bully birds. I’ve read that being so constrained reduces their place in the pecking order. Regardless, I’ll leave the two younger birds in the cage for a few more weeks until they’re bigger, but yes a strong message as to expectations for the rest of the chickens is probably in order.
Actually, I put an end to the hen’s egg eating by executing a few sordid examples of miscreants in front of them all. Not nice, but sometimes polite remonstrations simply don’t cut the mustard.
Man, that’s a solid result for a volunteer to provide over three decades of service. In these enlightened times of the primacy of monetary relationships, people have long since forgotten the obligation of service, although clearly this does not apply to everyone. An impressive effort and hope she recovers.
How are your asparagus plants looking at this end of the season? Did they produce many err, spear / fronds? Humidity adds to the pain of summer that’s for sure. I’d be sweating too in muggy hot conditions. Go the zucchini, and were the leaves showing signs of powdery mildew? And it sure is time for those crops. Seeds or seedling starts, which will it be?
I’ve observed that as well in businesses. It’s hard to reduce shrinkage to nothing, people being people. On that note, I’d never be involved with such activity because I have to maintain the perception of integrity, as well the actuality of it. Yep, and such things are monitored for exactly those reasons, which is why variances are reported.
The film is so bad, that it’s great. And funny. Hopefully you enjoy it, when the DVD turns up. 🙂 Nice to have a day off and hope the staff learn lot’s of useful things.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – Awww. DJ beat me to it. The new Spinal Tap movie. There’s also a book coming out (it’s on my hold list), “A Fine Line Between Stupid and Clever: The Story of Spinal Tap.” Christopher Guest is a genius, what with his mocumentaries. Hmm. They’re pretty old, but I wonder if the library has any kicking around. There might even be some re-releases on the horizon.
A new Banksy, in London. On a court building.
Here, if people don’t keep their property taxes (rates) up, their property might be “sold on the courthouse steps.” Sheriff’s sales are also done there.
https://seedtime.com/buy-house-at-courthouse/
As long as we’re talking real estate, I saw an article yesterday about what happens to the real estate market, and neighborhoods, when private equity moves in.
https://www.npr.org/sections/planet-money/2025/09/09/g-s1-87699/private-equity-corporate-landlords
I can understand why you might want to watch “Fire Country.” Prof. Mass often points out how the media stokes anxiety. It’s hard to keep anxiety in perspective, when it’s constantly being hammered on. Harped on? “What if” is a dark and scary place. Expeditions into that land can be dehabilitating.
Speaking of tech-bros, there’s a new movie coming out, titled “Mountainhead.” I’d like to see it, and I hope the library orders it.
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/utah/articles/2025-05-29/movie-review-a-tech-bro-pocalypse-in-jesse-armstrongs-mountainhead
My Idaho friends new dog is a Yorkie. They’re quit small. I don’t know why H doesn’t seem to be interested in dogs on screen. Or, fussed by fireworks. I know her hearing is good. All I have to do is say “Treat,” and she just about breaks her neck, snapping her head around. 🙂 Oh, she’s done the blanket thing, now and again, all along. But it seems to be escalating. She was pretty good, yesterday … until late in the evening. So, off the bed she went, remade bed, removed steps.
Volunteer programs are doing it hard, these days. “Bowling Alone.” The old timers are dying out, and no youngsters are stepping up to take their place. We have 7 or 8 Master Gardener volunteers, that show up regularly. The medium age is pretty high. I don’t see any younger people, joining. They get a fair amount of media coverage, and, set up a recruitment booth, every year at the county fair.
There’s quit a few fronds coming up in the asparagus barrel. Probably ten or fifteen. There was no powdery mildew on my zucchini plants. They were planted from seed. As will be any cold weather crops I plant.
Our high yesterday was 73F (22.77C). The overnight low was 54F (12.22C). The forecast high for today is 76F. It’s been cool and overcast, in the mornings. Which “burns off” around noon. There’s possible rain in the forecast, for Sunday. But that’s pretty far out there. Lew
Chris:
And I had a good laugh at the thought of the Knights Who Say Ni. “We want a shrubbery!”
My goodness. I hope you put him onto your insurance company (not that it’s a deal . . .). Maybe you get a discount for being so fireproof? Areyou saying we are drinking out of a poisoned well?
Chickens are way more fascinating than I realized. When we had them, I thought they were really fun and neat. With different personalities, of course. They were, as with all our animals, pets, living in the basement in the winter where they could enjoy the warmth and, I’ll have to say, interaction with other pets. I have funny photos of the chickens eating out of the dogs’ and cats’ food bowls – with the dogs and cats. And chickens sitting on the backs of some of the older furniture in the basement.
I guess I had some strong role models. I would say that my grandmother, my mother’s mother, was one. My parents were very nice people, but just teenagers when I was born, so they were pretty clueless about things in general. There were many nice, decent people around me, but, as I have mentioned, no-one was instructing me about some of the realities of life, of how to do things.
My heart always feels glad when I hear the Southern accents. I grew up with a similar one in Texas, so I have one myself, though not as strong as that young lady unless I am in a group of such speakers, then it comes on thick. People here speak that way, but not quite as many as I used to hear, it seems like. We have had an awful lot of people from other places move here. I have no idea if their children start picking up on the inflections.
A green, hulking Chris is an awesome thing . . . No, most people now don’t have any idea of what a well made garment is. And I would say that it helps a whole lot to understand what that is by having constructed such a thing.
Well, I would call that “Arctic”, but I get your drift (snow drift?).
Pam
Chris,
Twas a wee thunderstorm. So, rumbles, but neither claps nor peals. Two rumbles.
Air quality got pretty nasty over the weekend. Got out for walks with Dame Avalanche Monday and Tuesday. I dared not today as the air quality had deteriorated somewhat again. It’s supposed to clear up by the weekend. Weak system moving through with clouds but not much rain expected, if any. In fact, there’s no rain in the 15 day forecast, with highs remaining between 22C and 30C for that time frame. It’s still arid enough out that if I sneeze wrong a fire will start.
Insurance rates have been going up here. However, home insurance rates have been moving upwards, while auto insurance rates have been skyrocketing. The latest increase for auto insurance rates was a mere 7% above 6 months ago, rather than 30% or higher. For 6 months. I’m anticipating that, due to the current USA tariff environment, building materials will continue to skyrocket. In turn, that will lead to rapidly rising home insurance rates.
I’ve been with the same insurance company for over 25 years. They preferred that I pay on an automated monthly plan. Rates were set once per year. Two or three years ago, they switched to changing the auto insurance rates every 6 months. A year ago they decided that they prefer that the entire premium get paid at once for the 6 months. The monthly plan now has a $2.00 monthly fee attached to it. I think auto insurance rates will also go up more rapidly due to the tariffs.
The story about the auto insurance rates is simple. I’m required to have the insurance. This requirement includes “uninsured motorist” insurance, so that my company will pay if I’m in an accident caused by someone who is not insured. In Spokane, the number of uninsured motorists is upward of 30% and likely close to half the drivers. My total insurance bill for auto and house combined has more than doubled in the past three years, nearly tripling.
Zitcoins and electricity and water, oh my! I really can’t say much more, lest I violate many of your family friendly rules for posting. Knowing the water issues many parts of the USA (not to mention the world) face, and that our electricity rates keep climbing at upper single digit to low double digit percentages each year, the zitcoin mining to me is an exceptionally bad thing to be wasting our limited resources on. This circularity, as you put it, will not end well.
As climate change issues lead to increasingly extreme weather, insurance companies will continue to feel the pinch and try to increase rates. Or refuse to offer insurance in some locations. This is happening in parts of Florida now and may be starting at a few other places.
We’ve had some wild weather here on occasion. I can remember a few tornado warnings. A few funnel clouds have been spotted near Spokane. Two or three “category zero” tornadoes have also touched down 50km or so west of here. Category zero does NOT mean harmless, judging by the destruction. I feel for the folks in NSW.
“the odds of zero in a thousand, is much the same as zero in a million” This brings to mind lottery tickets. I know people who will buy 25 or 50 tickets, rather than their customary one, if the jackpot gets high enough. When asked why, the response is always “If I buy 50 tickets instead of just one, then my odds of winning are fifty times as good.” True. However, and you have probably guessed what’s coming next, if the odds of winning with a single ticket are almost zero, then 50 times almost zero is still almost zero. Or, one in 7 million (our state lottery odds) versus 50 in 7 million, aka one in 140,000. Still horrid odds. Buying 7,000 tickets would bring the odds up to 1 in a thousand. Still pretty abysmal.
DJSpo
Hi Pam,
🙂 It’s fun having fun!
Just bought some parts for the big chainsaw from your country – they’re not available locally. Trying to find the exact replacement part can be difficult at times, as your son probably also knows, especially for the older and discontinued machines. One of the little fuel hoses has the tiniest of cracks in it which is letting in some air. Probably best to fix it before worse things happen, like overheating the motor. Not good!
It is possible the quote from my lot may be even more eye wateringly unbearable. Ook! You’re right, we’re probably now seeing that I get a discount for all the efforts put into making this place resistant to bushfires. Hmm. The times, they have changed, plus the house here is small relative to the more usual Australian home, so reconstruction costs are lower.
Ah, the poisoned well bit. OK, so there’s always a story. A very long time ago we sold a house which we’d constructed. As part of the sale we had to provide an insurance policy to cover possible structural defects – there wouldn’t have been any, but boxes have to be ticked. We took out a policy, got the certificate of currency for the paperwork and handed it over. And later that day, or maybe the very next day, the insurance business folded – HIH Insurance, which was the largest corporate collapse in Australia’s history, there’s a wikipudding page on the event. Anyway, what could we do other than provide the relevant paperwork, hope for the best, and nobody said anything, or perhaps even noticed. It was all very deeply weird. The risk of a claim was just not there because we do things more than properly, but I can understand the need for some sort of assurance on that front. I was annoyed that they took our mad cash on the very day they collapsed, but what did I expect? They’re not my mates, are they? 🙂
Chickens are fun and yeah, they do enjoy a vast range of personalities. They sure would have loved the toasty warm basement, and I’m impressed that everyone in there got along just fine.
My parents were just like your description, too young to be able to provide some guidance, and so it was the next generation up which performed that role. It is weird isn’t it that family members failed to instruct the younger members on the realities of life, or as you also note – how to do things. Maybe they didn’t know themselves? Fascinating, and this is an issue I’ve been pondering for a very long time.
Had a mate who is of Italian heritage, and he was annoyed that his family turned their backs on all the how-to family activities such as the annual passata sauce making, or all the other interesting things which the older generation knew how to do through sheer experience. He told me that they said to him, don’t bother, just go buy the stuff at the shops. But then the flip side was that they were always pushing for him to get a high paying job to pay for all that purchased stuff. Maybe that’s perceived progress? Dunno.
I like the sound of the Southern accent too, it’s got a pleasant cadence and measure to it. I suspect that in the not too distant future, people won’t be moving around the place as much. I’ve moved around a lot, especially as a kid, but never strayed far from the city I was born. Tell ya what though, all that earlier moving around has made me want to stay in the one place now. The answer to your supposition is that it all depends on how strong the spirit of the local land is.
🙂 Hehe! Repairing clothes is a valuable skill, and opens one’s eyes to a different world. The manufacturing I used to be involved in was with boots and clothes, back when most such things were made down here. Nowadays, there’s more stuff, but it’s lower quality and presumably gets disposed of rapidly. There are better ways to go. I tend to purchase with longevity in mind, whilst avoiding novelty. It’s an option.
Very funny! It was another cold and damp day here today. Oh well, that’s early spring for ya. How’s the weather in your part of the world?
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
The memory of Thordog can be heard in those unsettled rumbles. Hope Dame Avalanche serenely ignored the deep audible weather complaints?
At least the weather seems to be cooling now for you, but yikes, you might have to wait until next month for some rain. Man, I’d be mildly freaking out with those conditions, so please do avoid sneezing. If you can help it that is. Hope the air quality improves for you all. How’s Dame Avalanche’s asthma going with all the smoke?
It’s cold here today at 11’C to 4’C. Tonight is back down to 6’C Brr! Thank goodness for the wood heater.
And that’s exactly it, the cost of things issue is very much feeding into the insurance story. Saw an article today for the F-150 electric vehicle which is a beast of a machine, and rather capable if that’s your thing. The article said something about a $170,000 price tag. Ford markets new electric ute to farmers but diesel expected to remain top choice. The Suzuki’s are actually quite small, cheap and reliable options. As you’d appreciate, Japanese build quality for vehicles is usually excellent.
Down here, insurance is either annual, or monthly, with the monthly being a higher cost as it involves an interest component (down here at least). What I believe is going on in the background, the monthly policies probably get bundled into fixed interest bonds and sold off to investors.
🙂 Clearly the guidelines to have compulsory vehicle insurance is perhaps not working out all that great if 30% to 50% are possibly without coverage. Interesting! Down here the policies are a bit different and you select either coverage for all accident situations, or for insuring against the costs related to the other party only (which is the cheaper option). Also, personal injury cover is provided through the registration costs, which no wonder is $850 annually and rising. Given the penchant for purchasing vehicles on finance these days, you’d imagine that the lenders would be rather irritated if their asset were destroyed in an accident?
Thank you for respecting the house rules. 🙂 But yes, that is exactly my thinking in the matter. We could as a society choose to smelt aluminium, or mine zitcoin. Which will win? I guess we’ll find out, won’t we. 🙂
Rationing by price seems to be the preferred cultural option for the English speaking west. Down here, especially when houses are in potential flood affected areas kind of results in a fu, oops, sorry, almost broke my own rule there, a go-away price. A policy which is up around $30,000 per annum for say flood risk, is probably unaffordable.
Yikes! DJ, man, 50km is err, close for such localised extreme weather. The really little tornado’s are actually quite common down under, but they tend to land in remote areas so few people notice. Haven’t heard of any bigger ones hitting, but yeah a category one sure can do a lot of damage. It was seriously weird watching the tall trees being pushed around as if they were matchsticks.
A fine description, and what I discovered with Statistics I and II, was that the house mostly always wins. That’s why there’s a house. There’s logic to my logic, and yes 7,000 to 1 are poor odds. I tend to explain odds to people in terms of: will this aircraft crash and here are what the odds are saying about the likelihood. Blame my grandmother for taking me to watch the film Airport 77 in my misspent youth. It’s left me with an unnatural fear of flying. 🙂
Had a very chill day today. There’s a time for work, then there’s a time for rest. Probably took me 50 years to realise that a bloke needs to wind things back from time to time. Better late than never…
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Well that was a fun blast. Christopher Guest has lead an interesting life and has come across all sorts of fascinating characters over the years. The National Lampoon years would have been fun. The fictional character, Nigel Tufnel, was a hoot. You never know man, there might be some re-releases. Did you uncover anything in the library catalogue system?
I saw the article about the new Banksy. It will be interesting to see (and I refer to the usage of the words in the Chinese apocryphal curse mode) whether the artist has really stuck it up the legal system this time. That lot is not usually known for thoughtfully accepting alternative perspectives which hint at err, perhaps, criticism. Basically, they probably don’t have much of a sense of humour.
Interesting about the court house step auctions, and the risk of the previous owners not vacating would be an alarming thing to deal with. Down under I believe they automatically become tenants, so part of the buying process is making sure they’ve left prior to the final settlement, or that’s my understanding of the matter. Here’s an interesting take on the local situation: Farmer buys back his driveway in ‘astounding’ Queanbeyan land sales. There was some mention of a group of people who sounded as if they were up to mischief and I couldn’t quite work out their angle.
What an article, and those investors would be paying some serious state land tax down here for owning multiple properties. Hmm. Did you spot the statistic that suggested that new home starts were now the lowest in many years? That’s the case down here as well. It ain’t cheap or easy to build a new home, especially a one-off design like we did. I heard a politician recently, forget who it was, but she said something along the lines of: ‘all the rules going towards constructing a home make perfect sense on their own, but collectively they make little sense’. Not a bad way to look at things, but will anyone give ground in the matter? To construct this house took almost four large binders of paperwork. How can that even be possible? Some of the paperwork was just plain stupid, in my opinion.
Yup, that’s exactly why I can’t watch the series, and one of the reasons I pulled away from the volunteer brigade. Does my brain need the continual stimulation on that issue? Probably not.
Steve Carell is a great actor, and please save us all from zealous futurists with zero empathy. 🙂 Sounds like a fun film, and please do provide a review if and when you obtain it.
Ah, a Yorkie. I was imagining something larger given the puppy jumped up into the dishwasher. H may have the most awful condition of selective hearing. You may have heard of that? Sorry for the bad pun, it wasn’t good, but was just there waiting to be deployed. It is possible that H is testing your pack alpha-ness with that new game of hers. Dunno. The dogs here try stuff on all the time testing our mettle. Stay strong Lewis, and you sent a strong message with that response.
Volunteering takes a person’s time, and if two full time incomes within a single household are required to economically survive these days, what hope is there for volunteering, or child raising activities for that matter?
Ooo, the asparagus fronds sound good. When they begin to yellow at the end of the season, I kind of cut them all off just above ground level, maybe an inch higher than the soil level. Dunno what they do in other parts of the world though. The dead stalks hang around – and many are still doing so here. Respect for your garden ruthlessness at pulling the zucchini. The best vegetable growers are tough individuals competent and willing to make hard decisions. I’m still a bit soft sometimes with the plants… How’s the parsley going this season?
I still reckon your weather sounds delightful, for now. 😉 It was cold, cloudy and damp here today. Began at 39’F, peaked at 52’F and is now back down to 43’F, with wind earlier in the day. Too wet and miserable outside to do stuff, so we had an impromptu day off any and all work. Quite nice to re-charge the batteries. It took me a long time in life to work out when to take a day off, kick back and relax, and I have to fight my hard wired work ethic. Oh well, such is life.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – Have you vaccinated your Koalas? 🙂 A couple of interesting wildlife articles, one from Australia, and one from New Zealand.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/10/science/koala-chlamydia-vaccine-rollout-intl-scli
https://www.npr.org/2025/09/08/nx-s1-5507110/new-zealand-conservation-experiment
Our library only has one of the Christopher Guest mocumentaries. Might have to drop them a line and nudge them to pick up some of the others. Due to the new Spinal Tap movie. I stopped by the library yesterday, and picked up a couple of things. I asked, “yes or no,” will there be another courier delivery, this week. Due to the All Staff Day. No. So, my two popcorn worthy movies (Army of Darkness, Book of Eli), won’t be her til next Wednesday. 🙁 I did pick up season three of “Dark Winds.” Based on the Tony Hillerman mysteries. They take place on the reservations in our SW. Trial police, etc.. They often have a supernatural slant.
I was talking to the young lady at the pick up window, about All Staff Day. I didn’t realize that since You Know What, training sessions have been limited to individual branches. This is the first time in awhile, that all 200 or so employees, will be gathered in one place. Just like the good ol’ days. Sometimes they have an author in, to give the key note speech. Sometimes it’s just some nupity flogging some new management theory. There’s usually a smorgasbord, of seminars to pick from. Maybe new data bases, or how to connect with various groups of patrons. One of those that I attended was two young librarians flogging the joys and potential of different social media platforms. I didn’t know what they were talking about. Little did I know …
I finished “Deep Time Dreaming: Uncovering Ancient Australia.” I found it a good read. There was a bit about the Pleistocene volcanos, when people were probably around to witness it. (You might find it interesting to search, “Australian volcanos.”) There was a bit about elaborate and ancient eel traps, out in western Victoria. And, a chapter on Indigenous land management. “The Biggest Estate on Earth” was mentioned, several times. There were also a couple of other books, you may be unaware of. “Fire and Hearth” (Hallam) and “‘Burning Bush” (Pyne.)
I wonder if they’ll paint over the Banksy? Sell it, and they could pay off a chunk of the national debt. 🙂
That was quit an article about the farmer having to buy back his driveway. What in the heck is going on? Perhaps, it’s just “spoilers.” Maybe some new internet challenge. I noticed quit a few won the auctions, and then didn’t follow through. Maybe some of them are rich enough that they have private planes or helicopters and can just fly in. Maybe they’re counting on Mars Boy to pull off his most recent pipe dream, flying cars. The whole thing is a mystery, and I hope they follow through on a criminal investigation. Though those are pricey.
Like a lot of other things, house construction rules and laws are out of control. Due to lack of affordable housing, things are loosening up, here and there.
I’m sure the bottom line of “Mountainhead” will be that tech-bros are amoral and awful. As if we didn’t know … I’m sure it will be a good movie.
Many children are afflicted with selective hearing … 🙂
H pulled the blankets off the bed, again, late in the evening. I yelled at her to get off the bed, re-made it, and moved her steps until bedtime. She wandered around the rest of the evening looking lost. If I can’t get her to change her behavior in a reasonable amount of time (what is a reasonable amount of time?), I’ll just start moving the steps except when we take a nap or go to bed for the night.
From what I see down the rabbit hole, asparagus should be cut down to an inch or two, when it turns yellow or brown. usually around the time of a first frost. And then, compost mulch.
I have a couple of parsley volunteers, in my stock tank tub. But they seem to be languishing, a bit. Last night, I picked all the ripe tomatoes, and have a load in the dehydrator, this morning. Cherry tomatoes from the garden. Some grape tomatoes from the store. Someone has abandoned their patch (they moved) and the tomatoes were put on the raised bed garden wall. A sign that they’re for the taking. I took three. They were a bit split at the top, but I cut those areas out. They might have been beefsteak tomatoes. One had a stem that was tough as, and a hard core ran through almost the entire tomato. I still got a few good hunks off it, to dry.
Our high yesterday was 77F (25C). Our overnight low was 57F (13.88C). The forecast high for today is 72F. Prof. Mass has an interesting post about a debris flow, caused by heavy rains. On the south slope of Mt. Rainier, which is in the eastern part of our county.
Another horror story from our medico/pharma/insurance industry. A woman had quints. They were premature, and required a lot of care. Though they’re thriving, now. The price tag? Four million dollars. And “they” wonder why the birthrate is falling. Lew
Chris:
How wonderful that you could find the right fuel hose – anywhere. I wonder if there are tariffs on your country, thus raising the cost for you?
I think we got a home insurance discount for that new roof my son put on. There are actually a fair amount of discounts available in the insurance industry here. Sometimes one just has to ask.
What a freaky story about you buying an insurance policy just to sell your house. I’ve never heard of that. Anyway, the whole story gives me the shivers. What was going on behind the scenes, one wonders.
I just cannot figure out Progress. The goal seems to be to make life as easy as possible. I suppose this theoretically leaves more time for one to pursue worthy things like art/music, philosophy, spiritual needs, but you have probably heard that saying about “idle hands”. Some progress is good, of course, but it seems there must always be consequences. I’m not sure why.
You know, I have no feeling of the spirit of the local land here. For the first 20 years we lived here, my husband just hated it. We spent countless hours searching for property back west (before the internet). Eventually, he realized that we had a really good thing with this property and came to like it a lot. But during those earlier years, I would not let myself get attached to the place since it was so likely that we would be moving. I still hold that same feeling, especially as we are eventually supposed to move.
Our weather continues to be just glorious – cool nights, warmish days, but never rain.
The last couple of days I needed lots of rocks of a certain size to hold down the mosquito netting that I am having to drape over everything to try to keep the latest monsters off all these fall crops. I use sticks to hold it up. I started to panic as I wasn’t finding many rocks in the immediate vicinity of the garden. However, if I went a little bit aways, I found the mother lode: An area on a slope (of course) where Mr. Diggy the CAT had been digging. Rocks galore and I could just scoop the up into my bucket; there were even lots of boulders. The downside is that I have to carry them back to the garden by the single bucket load as we do not have a power wheelbarrow . . .
Pam
Hi Pam,
It is amazing that the parts could be found somewhere in the world. Actually, I’m discovering that very recently your country has upped the parts supplies to down under, just loosely based on what I’m ordering. The shipping costs are at least realistic because they cost more than the part. I mean seriously, how can shipping even be free? That story makes no sense to my brain. It’s a service which is provided and I acknowledge that I reside a long way from anywhere – and that is part of the deal. The Federal goobermint here extracts a flat 10% goods and services tax on imports which is collected from me and paid to them by ebuy.
The joke about the part is that Stihl has discontinued supplying it, so it is the supply from your country, or nothing. The saw is 14 years old and I’ll keep it going for much longer than that. Funnily enough, in order to prevent any further damage, I re-tuned the carburettor today so that it runs slightly richer, and that resolved all the problems. Might keep it going like that for the immediate future and see if the problem reoccurs, but at least the parts are on their way regardless.
Some of the newer saws have intense electronic controllers in them, such as fuel injection, and those systems are beyond my abilities to repair. My neighbour and I were talking about that very issue the other day. There’s pluses and minuses with that technology, but I prefer the older stuff because it is simpler.
On that note, we split quite a number of boulders today (for the path extension above the big water tank project), and the super heavy duty Makita drill died. 🙂 Oops! It was about six years old, which is a good outcome. Late this afternoon, we raced down to the nearest big town and picked up a replacement of the same machine. I’ll see if I can fix the dead one at a later date, but the show must go on!
Nice one with the discount for the new roof. Makes a lot of sense. Sandra contacted the nice insurance company this morning and made an adjustment here and there, and saved one large on the bill. Not a bad outcome, although it is still eye wateringly expensive. The upshot with all this is that if the place burns down, we’ll have to rebuild it ourselves, but make the design simpler in every aspect. I’ve got some ideas based on what we’ve learned in the past fifteen years so it probably won’t be the end of the world.
Yeah, I mentioned the story because I’ve personally experienced in my life time, two bank runs and a collapse of a major insurance business. My lack of trust has not come from a lack of experience. 😉 People tell me that such things don’t happen, sure they don’t…
Progress is a complicated beast isn’t it? Like your words suggest (and please correct me if I’m in error), I’m failing to grasp it all. Seems like I work harder now than when I was a younger bloke.
Thanks for the honest response. It’s interesting how a person can change their minds over a long enough period of time and exposure, but I get what you mean by the prospect of having to possibly move at some future date. For your interest, I’ve thrown my lot in here, and this where I’ll stand, until I fall.
Oooo, your weather sounds delightful. It was cool and sunny here today with the lightest smattering of rain late this afternoon. The plants are wakening from their winter slumber.
🙂 Lovely, and fingers crossed that the mosquito netting keeps the fall crop munchers at bay, until you do so. Always nice to have a ready pile of rocks for projects when needed. How’s Mr Diggy going after all of the recent repairs?
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
I like the koalas, but there is no way I’m nabbing one and giving it a jab. Surely you’ve seen the claws on those marsupials? Wicked sharp. People are having a freak out over that issue, but the bigger issue for the species is habitat loss and also environmental degradation. Look at the not-going-away ocean algal bloom over in the state of South Australia. The thing is the worst nearest to the largest city. And what does that tell you? Makes me wonder how their city sewage is treated, I mean far out. Where do people think that stuff goes when it runs into drains and sewerage systems? ‘Bubble curtain’ ready to protect cuttlefish as algal bloom persists in SA. To quote the article: authorities saying the greatest impact is currently along the metropolitan coastline. It’s not a complicated story, and the authoritas only want to expand the population in that city.
Am I ranting? 🙂 I kinda hope not… Oh well. The New Zealand situation is pretty dire with those stoats. They fill the same niche as foxes and cats do here, and once long ago spotted quolls did. Eventually they’ll run out of things to eat. Nature is very fluid and will fill in niches with whatever species are available, like that algae is doing. It’s only humans who have this weird notion that things are fixed and immutable in ecosystems.
They have problems with Australian possums over on those two big islands. For the past couple of nights there has been a powerful owl here simply eating the little tree climbing marsupials. Eventually a rough balance is worked out, and humans role is to work out what and how much to prune. We don’t seem to exhibit difficulties on that front when it comes to stuff our species grows and consumes.
Oh well, the library system will probably cough up the titles next week, maybe. Have we previously discussed the film: The book of Eli? The trailer looked awesome. A man on a mission. I forwarded on the recommendation for Dark Winds to the Editor. Tony Hillerman is a very interesting author, and I’m yet to be acquainted with his works.
The day sounded good fun, and very ra-ra, let’s go do this, kind of vibe. Talk of smorgasboard’s only brings to mind thoughts of yummy food. Hope the offerings for lunch were good? Man, I’m an introvert and can handle my own at such events, but they kind of drain me! Oh well. A friend was recently telling me he missed out on a work team building trip, and was annoyed. For me that would be a reprieve, it’s probably all very anti-social… Presumably the libraries would try and connect with people via social media platforms these days?
Mount Gambier was apparently the most recent eruption, and there would have been people in the area to witness it for sure. Quite a fertile part of the country, although the aquifers are apparently being depleted there. I may have visited the eel traps long ago, and it’s a genius idea. Eel is probably really tasty. I liked the Biggest Estate on Earth book, but the guy was from academia, so the points got belaboured over and over again. In many ways it reminded me of the what was it again, that scholarly book on the history of recycling we discussed a year or two ago.
Looks like the Banksy was chemically erased… I did suggest a possible lack of humour with that lot. I get the impression that the artist would have enjoyed the destruction of his work based on previous episodes.
The auction article was interesting, because I didn’t get the alleged groups motivation. Made no sense to me. Flying cars have been attempted before. I thought that they were trying to get cars to simply drive themselves? What ever happened to that goal? My best guess is that nothing will come of the auction mystery.
I’ve heard of things loosening up too, but we’ll see. Hey, check this out: South Yarra residents facing financial ruin after decades-old building defects. That’s a pretty swisho upmarket area of the big smoke. The alleged extensive use of polystyrene is an impressive achievement, and possibly something you don’t want to get too close to a heater.
The cast is good, so Mountainhead will no doubt be interesting.
Selective hearing? What did you say again? 🙂 We could go on like that for hours.
Naughty H. Whatever will she get up to next? Your plan for a behavioural readjustment (hers, and not yours) sounds solid to me. If she can’t be trusted, she won’t be trusted.
Good to hear about the asparagus over-wintering process. There’s so much to remember, that sometimes I forget. Some of the seed potatoes are yet to be planted out, and the season is getting underway. The orchards are waking up from their winter slumber.
Yeah, parsley is good like that with volunteers. Makes our work easier. Man, I’m no fan of those beefsteak tomatoes because as far as I can understand it, they’re bred for sauce making. They do get better tasting when dehydrated and I’ll be interested to hear your opinion. But there are so many better choices of varieties. Still, the tomato was free for you, so there’s that.
The mud and debris flows struck fear in my heart for sure, and glad to have not been there. Far out. The other post by the Professor was also interesting.
Yup, such things are expensive.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – Bubble curtains are also supposed to be good for keeping out sharks. You go first. 🙂 Yes, must save the cuttle fish. Otherwise, we won’t have cuttle bones to put in our bird cages! Peak cuttle bones!
Speaking of urban growth, etc., I saw an interesting article in our local newspaper, yesterday. I did not realize we had so many large warehouses and distribution centers, around town.
https://chronline.com/stories/centralia-city-council-declares-moratorium-on-large-warehouses-distribution-centers,386962
What? A moratorium on growth? Throw the rascals out! One thing that I didn’t see mentioned in the article, is that the big trucks beat the heck out of the pavements.
“Nature fills niches.” For your consideration, the Carolina Parakeet. Extinct, now. Audubon painted them. But it seems their niche has been filled by escaped parrots, of one type or another, which has filled their previous niche. Maybe better adapted to more urban living?
The population of squirrels, around the Institution seems to rise and fall. And rise again. But, I have never seen as many as the first year I lived here. This year, their numbers seem a bit low, but there are a few around. Owls, hawks, ravens. Disease. The occasional fried squirrel on an electrical transformer.
I haven’t seen Sam the Snail in about a week. But the other night, I saw a Sam Junior. A tiny little fellow about half the size of my little finger nail.
I don’t know what reminded me of “The Book of Eli.” It came out about 15 years ago, and I saw it then. I guess I just need a good dose of a post apocalyptic landscape. I’m a quart low. 🙂
The last time I was at the Winco, I picked up a tin of shrimp. So, as I settled into “Dark Winds,” last night, I had shrimp nachos. Broke up a plate of tostadas and added the shrimp, garlic, diced tomato, Shiitake mushroom and a sprinkling of dried Sweet Basil. Topped with some of that shredded mild cheddar, from our food boxes. Dollops of plane yoghurt on top. Tasty.
In some ways, “Dark Winds” is a bit like some Japanese movies. You get the feeling there’s a lot going on that culturally, we don’t pick up on. As an example. Wife and indigenous police officer are having dinner. He says, “I saw a coyote on the road, today.” She says, “Which way was it heading.” Him: “North.” Wife looks very concerned. Why? Who knows. 🙂
Oh, the All Staff Day, didn’t bother me too much. As another introvert. I had worked in so many branches, that I knew a lot of people. At the first one, I buttonholed building heads I hadn’t met yet, and gave them my card with my pager number on it. There was always someone I liked, that I could get in a one-on-one conversation with, or, when things got too overwhelming, I could just step back, observe, and get lost in the crowd. And, there were adequate bathrooms. 🙂
Oh, I think the libraries are doing a lot with social media, but I just ignore the whole thing, and haven’t explored. I noticed something interesting about the library catalog, the other day. Catalog entries seem to be losing their subject notations. I’ll have to ask about that. Here-to-fore if you had a book on a particular subject, you could look at the record, see how it was topic classified, and find other books on the same topic. Not that there were any guideposts, but yesterday I put “mocumentary” into the subject search. 572 entries came up. Encouraging, no? No. 558 of them were streaming.
I noticed there’s a map, in “Deep Time Dreaming.” There are not state boundaries, on it, but as near as I can figure, here are some of the sites in and around the state of Victoria. Kutikina, Rocky Cave, Cave Bay Cave, Bridgewater Caves, West Point, Toolondo, Mount William and Kow Swamp. Plan your day tripping itinerary, now! 🙂
Oh, well. The Banksy will live on, forever, in digital form. Or at least until the Net collapses.
They keep tinkering with self driving cars … autonomous cars. Not quit there yet. They keep crashing into things, and running over people.
https://w.wiki/B3pd
Well, the auction mystery might not be solved, but if people keep showing up to the council meetings, asking “Any progress on the auction mystery?” Eventually, something may come of it. You can’t fight city hall, but, occasionally, the squeaky wheel gets greased.
I couldn’t get that article on the building defects to open. Not even when Gargle search found the original article, for me. But other articles were more cooperative. 🙂 I see. High rise defects. You may remember that high rise condo that collapsed in Florida? Well, other such buildings have been investigated, and the defects are many. And, expensive to fix.
“Who’s on first?” 🙂
Well, we had a day of H behaving herself. Will she relapse? Of course.
Here, Beefsteak tomatoes are often used on burgers. I think I’d prefer a nice pickled beat root. 🙂
We had a plane crash, in town, yesterday. Actually, a plane that crashed, in a field on approach to our airport. A small plane with a single pilot. I guess he survived. Early stories were pretty wild. That it had crashed into the court house, or residential neighborhood.
People say the wildest things, on social media, just to get clicks.
Our high yesterday was 68F (20C). The overnight low was 57F (13.88C). The forecast high for today is 74F.
Did you know Christopher Guest is Lord Haden-Guest? Fifth baron of something or other. Tuck that factoid away. It’s bound to come up in a pub quiz. :-). Lew
Chris:
Here, when shipping is free, it usually means that it is built into the item’s price, though that doesn’t always fit as some of these products are really inexpensive. I have never figured out how the company that we buy our herbs and vitamins from can offer free shipping on any total purchase of $49 or over – no matter what the weight. Some of this stuff comes in heavy glass bottles. Or I might buy things a pound at a time and that adds up.
Re: chainsaws – I sent my son your comment to me about the chainsaw and carburettor. Then I couldn’t remember what part it was that you were replacing. What was it? He, of course, has older chainsaws.
How nice that you could immediately get another Makita drill! You do work them hard!
For sure, I know that bank runs and insurance company collapses happen; I’ve seen it here and there. I also like to read about the Great Depression. What I can’t figure out is how to manage without banks or insurance. Or at least banks.
I think you’ve always worked this hard. You and me, Chris – we’re just tireder.
Mr. Diggy is tip top, but he is running every day and we are so lucky that our closest neighbor doesn’t mind.
When I was in town today I had a flat tire. Luckily, it was only half flat. I knew that I couldn’t reasonably call my son today (except for an emergency) because one of his friends was over at our place all day, going back and forth to his property with a gigantic dump truck (way bigger than Mr. Dumpy, who is no longer a dump truck, but a tool truck) full of cut-down trees that my son wants off the property (think sort of a Meg mess, but not so big). This way his friend gets years worth of firewood; he and his family use a whole lot. And my son gets the mess cleared of what we don’t need.
Anyway, I did remember that there was a tire repair shop only two blocks away and, since it was only half flat, I figured I could make it. They were so nice and immediately put my spare on. Then, while I did a couple of nearby errands they looked over the tire and found that it had a screw in the sidewall and could not be repaired. Mind you, this was a new tire (recently got 4 new ones), only two weeks old. They did not even charge me for putting the spare on (and so promptly) so, of course, I am buying a new tire from them. I go in Monday morning.
Pam
@ Lew:
Maybe H is having a phantom pregnancy and is trying to make a nest. Perhaps she figures it’s never too late . . .
Pam
Chris,
Thursday was a day away from the computer for me. The Princess was learning some new crochet stitches on the computer, while I had other things to do. Then we had errands to run. And a good meal out. Fun and relaxing day for us.
Today the Princess is at the Spokane Interstate Fair. She enjoys it. Too many people for me. When people ask me what my favorite part of the fair is, I usually reply, “Not going.”
Yep, cooler weather. Less smoke. MUCH better than a week ago on both counts. And Dame Avalanche? She has handled the smoke better than both the Princess and I have. Thanks for asking about her. She’s learned to stay indoors when the smoke is bad.
$170,000 for an electric Ford F-150? For that price, in addition to being the best truck ever, the truck had better tuck us in bed at night, massage all the kinks out of our muscles, serve us a full English breakfast in bed complete with perfectly brewed coffee, do all of the outdoor chores, etc. If I spend that much money on something, I actually expect to be able to live in it. Comfortably. I’m still trying to comprehend that price for a vehicle. Moving on before my head begins to hurt… 😉
A very large percentage of the Spokane population lives near or below the poverty line. Automobile insurance, vehicle maintenance, those become luxuries rather quickly, apparently. And many people who are doing okay on the surface are only a missed paycheck or two away from being homeless. There have been many suggestions over the years to address this, but most of these ideas would cost the insurance industry profits, so of course nothing changes and the insurance premiums continue to increase.
I ran into an article today about data centers, water and electricity. I lived near the north end of Donna Ana County when I was in New Mexico. At the south end of the county, abutting El Paso, Texas, a company wants to install some beyond ginormous data center. Big water hog, even if their proposed recirculating water theory actually works. Plus heated water will get released into the ecosystem. And then the power consumption is obscene. The company says that they will have their own electricity generators, natural gas powered until they get all the solar and batteries installed. 30 km away east of El Paso, Meta wants to put in their own facility, powered by the local El Paso utility. Huge but only about a tenth the size of the one in Dona Ana County. But El Paso Electric has problems keeping up with demands already.
Anyhow, the locals in Dona Ana County are very angry. Water is a giant issue in the area. Texas is not able to get the Rio Grande River water that water rights require, as the Rio Grande is almost dry in Las Cruces. Mexico, therefore, gets none of its treaty required water from the river. So all of the water for this ginormous center will come from ground water that is rapidly getting depleted by farming. (Pecans are a huge crop there and suck up tremendous amounts of water.) The water quality the locals near the proposed facility get is poor to undrinkable as it is. So they are upset. Also, the Dona Ana County Commission would allow the data center to operate tax free for 30 years, although the facility would pay the county a fixed annual fee. My experience is that the fixed fee is always lower than what the taxes would otherwise have been.
The secondary issue, to me, is the pecans. On a hot afternoon, it was always enjoyable to ride my bicycle through the pecan groves. Shade, standing water for the trees made it pleasantly cool even on the hottest day. However, pecans are native to the southeastern USA, an area that gets a lot more rain and is extremely humid. The pecan growing area in New Mexico averages about 9 inches of rain per annum. Yes, it is part of the Chihuahua Desert.
Crops grown in Arizona, near Phoenix, include cotton and alfalfa. Both of these are water hogs, again being raised via irrigation in the desert. And that part of the Arizona desert gets about 7.5 inches of rain. The Colorado and San Juan Rivers are having extreme issues, similar to the Rio Grande in New Mexico and Texas. Those two rivers provide water for millions of people in many southwestern states. It’s an interesting tension that is only going to get more tense, I reckon.
Ah yes, movies that shaped peoples’ perceptions. The Airport movies, of course, with flying. Or Jaws and swimming in the ocean. The Alien movies and space travel. 🙂
Yes, kicking back and slowing the pace is a necessity. Hard to learn to do so voluntarily for some of us. Late 40s and I began learning it.
DJSpo
Hi Pam,
🙂 Always there are differences between your country and here. Free shipping is usually offered on orders over $150, although with the way inflation is headed, that limit may be lifted. But agreed, it is built into the price, but there are some really low value parts (and I’m talking about stuff under $10) which have free shipping from abroad, and that story makes no sense to me. Exactly, shipping costs are a factor of weight, size and distance – which is probably why mattresses are still manufactured down under. The other stuff, beats me what is going on. A mystery.
The part soon to be replaced in the chainsaw (when it arrives from your shores) was the Nitrile rubber fuel line connecting the tank to the carburettor. Over time the line cracks, which then lets in air, thus making the air/fuel mixture slightly more lean than it would otherwise be. Older chainsaws are more easily maintained, as your son would know.
Alas the poor now replaced Makita drill, I knew it well. Although, I’ll crack the case open and take a good long look at what went wrong. It’s not meant to be oozing black smoke. I suspect that the gearbox crunched and died, but there are other possibilities like dead brushes. It’s a very expensive drill and worth a few hours of time to restore if possible.
Pam, I have no idea either how to get by without such institutions, but eventually history suggests that sooner or later, they’ll be no more, and the future all of us will get by just fine. During the recession of the early 1990’s I can assure you, people were far more social than these days.
Hehe! It’s true, this ageing thing is not all that it’s cracked up to be. 🙂 For most of the day, I removed a long line of agapanthus plants as part of the fixing up all the paths near to the house project. One day, the work will be done.
Go Mr Diggy, and one of the benefits of rural areas is that they are somewhat noisy on a machinery front. Planting, tilling and harvesting does not politely wait for weekends.
An excellent arrangement which in no way should be upset, and you dealt with the exigencies anyway. And hey, that’s exactly what happened with the Dirt Rat Suzuki Jimny a month or so back. A stick punctured the sidewall of a tire, and that was that – unfixable. I mentioned at the time that they had almost brand new second hand tires of the exact fit, so we replaced it with one of those. And it was remarkably cheap at $60 fitted. Tire folks are usually quite helpful, and glad to hear that this has extended into your country. I learned recently that the local mob also do replacement vehicle batteries too. There’s a lot to like there.
Nice to have other locals and businesses looking out for you. 🙂
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
The kids call a day away from the computer: A digital detox, whatever that means. It sounds impressive, doesn’t it? Always fun to take a day off, enjoy a good meal and just generally chill-out.
The Editor is going to begin watching the Dark Winds series. Have you seen it, or read the books? Any recommendation for a good starter book?
🙂 Man, I so hear you about that, and err, feel much the same about comedy shows. Now if the Editor could comprise and consider sitting further away from the front row… But for the moment, she attends such things with friends. Hope your lady dodges the more bizarre fair food? That stuff has an international reputation! The food at the farm expo by contrast is usually pretty good stuff. Anyway, hope your lady has a lovely time.
Dogs can learn, can’t they? Although I tell ya, Dame Plum missed dog obedience school last week due to a combination of heavy rain and strong winds, and the canine has been in a tetchy mood ever since. Have you used the air filter / purifier this season? Does yours have a washable filter?
🙂 Man, I added a link to the article so you’d know I wasn’t making up that humongous price tag. I’d call that eye watering, but if people are happy to spend such sums, it ain’t no business of mine. You know, those are all excellent suggestions, but I’d feel mildly weird if a vehicle seat began massaging me gently, although I see what you mean, expectations are somewhat high. It’s a story which makes no sense to me either, and yes, let’s move on before heads explode ‘Scanners’ style…
DJ, I recall during the recession of the early 1990’s being only one unanticipated car repair away from not being able to pay the monthly rent. Income was only slightly more than fixed costs, and that’s what outcome 10% unemployment can produce. It was pretty touch and go there for a long while, so I can well comprehend how people get into poverty. Of course I learned many valuable lessons, and took lots of measures to insulate myself from that future possibility, although it is not a popular approach to life.
At that time my girlfriend was given a brand new car by her parents, and they just covered all the costs, no questions asked. I recall having a bit of a major relationship disagreement because she wanted to head away for the weekend, and simply did not think to pool our resources, so she drove a couple of hours away, a day early as you do. It was an awkward conversation to say I simply didn’t have the petrol money to get there. Look, the whole thing was indicative of the future, and so I just said no. Of course, things ended badly…
Sandra on the other hand, had a difficult time of those days as well, and so we just could relate to each others experiences better, but also it motivates us to work hard towards avoiding such a future. What other people expect of an economically constrained future is beyond me.
The Editor (previously named! 🙂 ) managed to reduce the insurance bill by one whole large. It’s still a pricey bill, but I hear stories from other local people suggesting that things could be worse. We don’t make frivolous claims.
Oh my! Yes, the data centre planning applications are making an appearance down here as well, and yup, all the same issues apply. In drought years, the big smoke uses electricity to run a desalination plant to top up the water supply for the city. What a fine joke it would be to use both electricity and desalinated water in such a business! I recall during the Millennium drought that dam levels for the big smoke got down to the mid teen %, which is almost as low as can be used. I simply don’t use art-e-fushal unintelligence for any purpose for all those reasons, and more. But, people do use the thing, and the costs are somewhere. To be honest, the business model of providing such services for free, makes little sense to me. Someone has to be paying for the thing.
9 inches of annual rainfall is probably not enough to sustain trees. One of the reasons agriculture heads to such locations is that bizarrely, due to the low regular rainfall, the soil minerals have not been as badly leached by the rain. Great soils, lots of solar energy, if you have the water.
Forgive me for my ignorance, but why is the desert named after a diminutively sized dog? Chihuahua’s are pretty small and fiesty.
There’s lots of confluences of events going on, and water is a big problem. They grow cotton in some dry areas of this country too. Easy to do, if you have access to the water.
Of course, the Airplane! film hinted that flying could be fun, and a bit whacky. Robo Cop and the Terminator on the other hand informed us all on the dangers of clever computers. You’d hope that Mr Mars had watched the Alien film, and didn’t think that it was a good idea? Ook!
Late 40’s for me with that trick as well. 🙂 The body and mind at that age enforces such things don’t you reckon?
On that note, I began getting the site ready for cutting in the new path extension near to the big house overflow water tank. It took all day to remove a long line of agapanthus plants. Those things are feral, like Triffids – the book at least may have something to say about vegetarianism (of which I’m a mostly vegetarian). No doubts the angry plants in that story were out for revenge!
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Thanks for the kind offer with the sharks, but the only time I’ll be found in the ocean nowadays, is because I had no choice in the matter. 🙂 I’ve done my share of ocean swimming over the years and had enough drama. It’s funny you mention sharks, but I was listening to the news program the other day (there was a recent fatal shark attack), and there’s apparently not really a lot you can do which is guaranteed to work, other than not being in the ocean in the first place.
As a kid I recall finding cuttlefish bones on the shoreline, and yes, they’ve probably peaked. Shark is pretty tasty too. Back in the day they used to describe it as ‘flake’, which sounds a whole lot nicer than ‘shark’. Haven’t had fish and chips for decades.
It’s no bad thing in my books to take some time out to consider big changes like new distribution centres. And that’s true too, and the checking of load limits for trucks is often very spotty nowadays.
The Carolina Parakeet sure sounds like it’s a thing of the past. I’ve got plenty of parrots to spare, and I’m sure they’d do well, the cheeky scamps. Plenty of the parrots down here have adapted to urban settings, and some folks who occasionally comment here are troubled by the effective Rainbow Lorikeets. It’s hard to be upset by such attractive birds consuming your edibles.
Yeah, a lot of critters have a boom and bust cycle like your squirrels. Funnily enough, many years ago we were plagued by the invasive Portuguese Millipedes, but nowadays I only see them occasionally. Hey, I spotted both flies and bees today. That’s exciting because the almonds are in flower.
It was a nice day here today. I began getting the site near to the big house overflow water tank ready so that we can extend the path (which currently ends just above it). Had to remove a long line of agapanthus plants, and they have root systems not dissimilar to asparagus. Had to crack out the electric jackhammer to break the clumps of plants apart, then haul them all away. It was a long day of work, but I got it done. Depending on how I feel tomorrow, might begin the soil works for the path extension there. We’ll see, it’s meant to be windy tomorrow…
Go Sam Junior, and may he find the local conditions appealing.
Best not be a quart low on that front, who knows what may happen! And the film has not arrived yet, or has it via some library miracle? I know what you mean about streaming services too. There’s always pressure to finish watching the show from those services.
The shrimp nachos sound very tasty. Had a plain-ish and basic pasta this evening. Nothing too fancy, just a peanut and chili sauce. Having all those chili’s growing in the greenhouse is a good resource for the kitchen. They’re drying too on the plant now were getting some warmer-ish weather. Actually, we’ve got to plant the peas and potatoes shortly, like this coming week.
Interesting! I’ll mention that aspect of the series to the Editor. It was already on her too-watch list, but has moved up the list. One of the local broadcasters offers it free (with advertisements) on its streaming service.
Wise to have adequate bathroom facilities at such events. Are librarians predominantly introverts anyway? Hanging out with like minded people can smooth many a social gathering. And nice work with the handing out your card and number whilst getting known. A clever bit of thinking, which I reckon would have paid you some dividends.
What exactly where the subject notations in the catalogue system originally? Searching of indexes is probably meant to work better than what you experienced.
Mount William is not far from here at all. It has a very important indigenous flint quarry there. It’s somewhere I’ve been meaning to travel too for a while now. You’d seen the photos of some of the other indigenous quarry’s we’ve visited over the years, and they’re not at all like how the west does such digs.
Hehe! Yes, one day we’ll discover just how permanent digital photographs really are. I’m not fussed by the thought of the loss.
Reading about fatalities involving self driving cars is a disturbing activity. Makes you wonder who is ultimately responsible for the incident if the self drive mode is activated? I believe that the desire for that system, exceeds our societies abilities and ethics.
Not speaking to city hall under any circumstance, is probably the preferable path, for me at least. I’m simply too busy to pester them with grievances, unless they make it worth my while to do so. Hopefully that property issue is one I don’t have to ever consider.
Whoa! Did you notice that there was a reference to that apartment block in Florida. Hmm. Such things are not simple to fix, but then how long are these things going to last anyway? I’ve worked on houses which were structurally OK and they were over a century old. Hmm, wonder how that tower in SF is going? Oh my, it gives me stress reading about that thing. And who knows what else is out there that has unknown defects?
Very good to hear that H was well behaved today.
I did notice that Mr Guest was titled.
Cheers
Chris
@ Pam – When H grows wings and starts laying eggs, she can build a nest. :-). Lew
Yo, Chris – Lions and tigers and bears, oh, my! 🙂 Speaking of large predators. I got a memo, yesterday, that a bear was spotted on Adams Street. That’s the street behind the Institution, between us and the overgrown park. There are several volunteer apple trees, and they are loaded. I think that’s what attracted the bear. When I took H out, around midnight, we varied our usual route and didn’t stay out, long. Head on a swivel.
Oh, I’m sure we have some escaped Australian parrots, here and there, that have formed flocks. If you have parrots to spare, send me some of the $3,500 ones. 🙂
https://w.wiki/FKhm
Go the bees! (Flies, not so much.) Are there any blossoms left on your plumcot?
Our high yesterday was 73F (22.77C). The overnight low was 54F (12.22C). The forecast high for today is 76F. I don’t think I’ll have to water, tonight or tomorrow night. 80% chance of rain, early tomorrow morning, through Sunday. We’ll see.
My pumpkin vines and green beans are turning color and dying. Tomatoes are still banging along, and even producing some blossoms.
It’s going to be a good month, for movies. There’s a web site that has DVD release dates. Usually, the library gets them a couple of weeks after. Jurassic World, Fire Country: season three, Superman, 28 Years Later, M3GAN 2.0, 40 Acres, Flow and the Marlow Murder Club: season two, are all due out on DVD this month.
I’d say (sweeping generalization) that more library workers are introverts, than extroverts. But, being secure in their little niche, can put themselves out there.
Just to prove me wrong (the exception that proves the rule?), “Deep Time Dreaming” has an extensive subject list.
Subject and genre
Excavations (Archaeology) — Australia.
Prehistoric peoples — Australia.
Indigenous peoples — Australia — Social life and customs.
Indigenous peoples — Australia — Antiquities.
Historic sites — Australia.
Archaeology — Australia.
Aboriginal Australians — Antiquities.
Aboriginal Australians — Ethnic identity.
Aboriginal Australians — History.
Australia — Antiquities.
Australia — History — To 1788.
Biographies
Clicking on any of those subjects, would lead one to “Deep Time Dreaming,” and any other similar books. I suppose it depends on who does the cataloging. A lot of it is outsourced, these days. DVDs used to have the year of release, right on the spine. No longer. Or, in the catalogue listing.
Let’s face it. Most of Florida is going to be a write-off.
H made two half-hearted attempts to pull the blankets, yesterday. Enough to be yelled at, but not banished to the floor. Lew
Chris:
Ah, yes – the rubber fuel line. Thanks.
Mine, too, was a brand new tire that bit the dust. What a shame.
Pam
Hi Pam,
Nitrile rubber which is used in fuel lines, is pretty hardy stuff and resistant to the corrosive environment of a fuel tank, but eventually time takes them out and they crack and then let in extra air.
To be honest, that sort of tire side wall puncture has never happened to me before, and the thing was only three years old and not heavily used. I knew it was write off though, as was yours. Dunno, maybe they don’t make them like they used to. I recall when they were made in a factory in the big smoke, but now they’re all imports I believe. Oh well.
It was a lovely day today here, sunny and warm. Did some digging and moving of soil. Seemed like the right thing to do.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Bears. Yikes! That sure would make for an exciting evenings stroll to encounter such a large beast. Best avoided. Mind you, more people probably meet their ends whilst using vehicles of all sorts than being ripped limb by limb by a hungry predator. Sorry to say it, but H may out run you. The Kelpies would definitely leave me for dead – no questions about it. Ollie may act more valiantly, for a while. Those two campers up on, err, Bear Lake (just sayin’), apparently lost their dog before it took their lives. Allegedly there were cans of empty bear spray. Hmm. You know, the number of times in the kitchen I’ve accidentally wiped chili into my eye, well, it certainly didn’t produce a passive and relaxed response, put it that way – bears may more be easily annoyed. Have there ever been rabid bears? Imagine that!
Good to hear, and best to keep alert in those circumstances.
Hehe! Lewis, you know I’d like to, but the authoritas would get seriously annoyed, so we’ll have to drop that idea. Drats, yet again our fortunes have been taken away from us. Did you notice that in the US, the number one listing (which may have been in alphabetical order): Budgerigars from down under. Our contribution to your local ecosystem. The others were all from elsewhere. The New Zealand entry listed five birds, all of which are wild in this particular area. We’ve got a lot of parrots. Now they do too.
Yeah, there are a few blossoms left on the plumcott, so fingers crossed. It is very possible that my hive died over the winter, which is a nuisance, but probably was worse for the bees living there. I’ve seen no activity from it in the past two weeks. Oh well, it’s had a good long run and some numpty did let the varroa mite into the country. However, based on what I’ve seen today, there are plenty of bees from wild hives enjoying the flowers here, and the smaller, more agile hives which swarm regularly, are the future for that species. Plus I spotted many more other pollinators. Funny we’re discussing this but…
The weather here is pretty similar to what you’re experiencing, but things will turn cooler again on Tuesday with rain. Did you get the forecast rain at your place? I actually enjoy watering the plants, mostly because it forces me to take a regular closer look at their condition.
Yum! Those dying plants are telling you something. Hope the beans went well for you this growing season. 🙂 Tomato plants sometimes pretend that they exist in a much warmer climate than the reality would suggest. Man, I had some tomato seedlings over winter in the greenhouse. They don’t look healthy now, and I have no idea what variety they are, but they’re still alive and growing slowly. I should get the tomatoes started in the greenhouse soon. Tomorrow we may plant the potatoes and peas.
The weather was glorious here today. Warm-ish and sunny. Did a few hours digging soil near to that large house overflow tank. The intention is to fix up the path which runs above it and then extend it. It’s a big job, and we moved a lot of soil today.
Your library system always amazes me. I’ll be very interested to hear what you have to say regarding 28 years later – and hope the footage is watchable and not bouncy due to the use of the phones. The 40 acres trailer was scary AF! 🙂 You’re gonna love it.
I get that too, and would be most happy just processing away on numbers in a back room with no hassles. But my paid work is all about people, as are most lines of work really, librarians included. Came as quite the shock a very long time ago to comprehend that there was, and still is, a need to learn about that subject, mostly because I’d not known enough about myself. And that can never end well.
Ah, I see the ‘subject notations’ are the keywords in the database index. All makes sense, and yes, doesn’t it just go to prove the old adage: Garbage In, Garbage Out. A lot depends upon the person who sets up the listing in the first place. You’d imagine publishers would supply the keywords for catalogue purposes, but that does infer a degree of competency. Anyway, the interweb is just one big ol’ database.
Oh yeah, hope they’ve got a snorkel, and avoid the gators.
Her resolve for this latest blanket power play, is clearly failing. You’re winning, until the next move on her part. Good luck!
Cheers and better get writing!
Chris
Yo, Chris – And you’re more likely to be killed crossing the street, than in an airplane crash. Dead is dead.
I haven’t seen (heard or smelled) the bear. When I go out with H, I also pay attention to whatever is going on with her. Night before last, she didn’t bark, but seemed “on-point” as far as the woods up the hill were concerned. We took a more sheltered path back into the building. Last night, she seemed pretty relaxed.
Budgerigars are just called “parakeets,” here. It used to be (when I was a wee small lad) that there were a lot of parakeets (and even canaries) for sale. Besides real pet shops, every five and dime and variety store seemed to have a selection. Along with hamsters, turtles and topical fish. “How Much is That Doggie, in the Window.”
We have a locally owned feed and garden store, that has a lot of fish and birds. Usually, some cats are also available. There was also one over in Centralia, but they recently moved, and downsized. So I don’t know if they’re still in the pet side of things. There is the “exotic” pet store, over in Centralia, but I’ve never been.
I’m sorry your hive died. Maybe. I wonder if there’s honey in that thar’ hive? Since we’re at the end of the growing season, I’d say, this year, I saw a lot more native pollinators than their Euro cousins.
Our high yesterday was 79F (26.11C). Our overnight low was 59F (15C.) Our forecast high for today is 68F. The parking lot doesn’t look very wet. I’ll know more when I take out H for her morning walk. The weather radar is still pretty lit up.
Back when I was a teen, I happened to work summers for the two best cataloguers, in the Pacific Northwest. Miss Fox, at the Fort Vancouver Regional Library, and Mr. Zandenburg, at the Seattle Public Library. When I was working for Timberland, I took some classes from the University of Maine, on-line. I took a couple of cataloguing classes, just for fun. 🙂 I can’t say I’ve been very happy with the direction of cataloguing, Every once in awhile, you might run across a few books, from a few publishers, that have library catalog card mock-ups, on the copyright page. Here’s a “brief” outline of library cataloging.
https://w.wiki/BNka
If I had a nickel for every catalog card I typed up, or filed in those big oak cabinets, I wouldn’t be living in government subsidized senior housing. 🙂
Odd that you should mention the need to keep learning. There was an article about that, yesterday.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/13/us/personal-curriculum-tiktok-cec
Libraries have been flogging “Life Long Learning,” for awhile, now. Timberland sure has.
https://w.wiki/9bwA
It’s a bit of a buzz phrase, that’s usually incorporated right in a libraries mission statement. I don’t think it’s a bad idea. 🙂
H managed to hold out until about three hours before bedtime, before succumbing to the temptation of destroying the covers on the bed. She was temporarily cast into outer darkness. Lew
Yo, Chris – I want it. 🙂
https://www.homes.com/news/a-lloyd-wright-house-that-still-turns-heads-100-years-later-is-on-the-market-in-california/1324079058/?utm_source=taboola&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=RSSFeed_Desktop_buyingandselling&utm_content=yahoo-home_1551771&utm_term=GiDHM8WHMQT8K2JYikI_JxTI1bb2HrjDpS1_XRqaQE73vCCy0GIokp3i4KDSnYXvATCb214&tblci=GiDHM8WHMQT8K2JYikI_JxTI1bb2HrjDpS1_XRqaQE73vCCy0GIokp3i4KDSnYXvATCb214#tblciGiDHM8WHMQT8K2JYikI_JxTI1bb2HrjDpS1_XRqaQE73vCCy0GIokp3i4KDSnYXvATCb214
Well, that’s a ridiculous URL. Maybe if I ask Santa? Lew