Credit default swaps on sub prime mortgage bonds are a subject which could easily put the most battle hardened insomniac to sleep. Yet the other morning, Sandra casually mentioned to me (and sent a link to an article) which suggested that one of the early purchasers of such arcane financial instruments during the lead up to the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 (Dr Michael Burry), was apparently now busy shorting the AI market.
You can read about it here: If he wins, Michael Burry’s $2.3 billion AI bet is bad news for Aussie super funds exposed to US tech
So there I was pondering the future of the bond and equity markets, as well as a technology which hasn’t impressed me all that much, when before I knew it, Sandra had already gone onto the next subject. Apparently from two rooms away we were now discussing the latest Predator franchise film (Predator Badlands). It all sounded very good, except I heard the words ‘Creditor Badlands’ instead, and suddenly wondered if perhaps Australian pension funds were getting ripped apart alive in the bond market? What can I say, I’m a guy and it takes time to move between one subject and the next…
Anyway, who doesn’t love a good Predator film with a solid storyline which doesn’t involve saving the planet once and for all, until next time? A good old fashioned alien family feud was at the core of the most recent story according to the plot outline. But it isn’t quite the equities and bond market is it? Or maybe it is! After the confusing discussion was resolved and a few hearty laughs were enjoyed, my brain could re-focus on the earlier ‘short sell’ market story. Amusingly, a case could be made that short sellers are indeed the Predators of the financial markets.
One of my favourite books is Michael Lewis’s: ‘The Big Short’. The narrative recounts the tale of some of the few folks who bet against market sentiment regarding sub prime mortgage bond market in the US. Dr Michael Burry was one of the protagonists in that book (him being the person mentioned in the linked article). It was all set in the lead up to the financially disastrous events of 2008. Turns out the protagonists were right. Maybe I need to get out more, but another great read on the subject of financial disasters, but from an even earlier period, was authored by the economist / author, John Kenneth Galbraith. In the book he conducts a post mortem on the events leading up to the Great Depression, which was unoriginally titled: ‘The Great Crash 1929’. You’d imagine that tomes narrating such serious and dark matters would make for dry reading, but by no means. They both recount engaging tales and have disabused me of even pretending to comprehend what the word ‘value’ means when it relates to financial markets. Basically, what goes on in such places, is way beyond my comprehension.
Swimming in metaphorical seas (not the accountant-sea) which I don’t comprehend, is one reason I avoid drowning. Not wanting to encounter big scary Predators though, and knowing I’d have the response of a Baby Harp Seal observing a seafarer approaching with a very heavy club, is another reason. You may laugh, but in this matter, I’m timid.
Within the article linked to above, there was an allegation made that: “In a post on X, the Scion Asset Management founder alleged that major cloud and AI infrastructure providers are understating depreciation expenses”. Obviously, I have no intention (perceived or otherwise) of providing financial advice, or indeed any commentary on that article quote, but it brought to mind a story I learned at Uni regarding the early rail roads.
Way back in the late 1990’s when garage rock bands were beginning to fall out of favour, and debt was just beginning to be poured into the civilisational glass as only a bar tender with a loose hand could do, I won the prize for top mark in the core subject of Accounting Theory. A pleasing result, with a nice certificate, although I could never discover any angle to take advantage of this award. Oh well. In those days I could argue teleological this, and ontological that, with the best of them, but it’s now all been forgotten. What was remembered however, was the story of how the concept of ‘depreciation’ came to be – a subject mentioned in the article.
So it turns out that way back in the day when the first rail roads in the US were being constructed, they were enormously profitable. Seeing the great returns to be had, investors apparently piled their mad cash into all things rail roads. It was probably very exciting. Rail roads have an unfortunate downside to them though, they’re expensive to construct, maintain and eventually replace. As time went on for the brave investors in rail stocks and bonds, the returns diminished because maintenance costs rose. However, once rolling stock, engines, tracks, bridges needed replacing, well, those things are financially ruinous, as the investors discovered for themselves. The subsequent Panic of 1873 sounded like a profound economic bust.
Change is inevitable, and after the emotions subsided and the economic had dust settled, some bright spark came up with the idea of recording depreciation expenses in the books. In it’s simplest form, depreciation is a non-cash expense, representing a portion of the physical assets of a business, allocated over it’s expected lifespan. It’s no great stretch of the imagination to realise that on average say, a motor vehicle will have a lifespan of around eight years. So one eighth of the vehicle’s cost reduces profit each year until there’s nothing left. Eventually this accounting treatment was implemented worldwide. It has the effect of curbing promoters wild claims about profits when it comes to seeking investors mad cash.
Life isn’t easy though, and predators are always out there, and sometimes they don respectable clothing. One of the quotes the economist and author Mr Galbraith noted in his book was from the notable and outspoken Professor Irving Fisher, who nine days before the 1929 crash, stated that stock prices had “reached what looks like a permanently high plateau”. An impressive achievement to be so utterly wrong. In the ensuing aftermath I’m sure that many baby harp seals knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of the Predator that day, I can tell you!
In other economic matters, the cost of living crisis is very real. Today I encountered an horrific example. The tasty lamington I’d purchased earlier in the day, and planned to split five ways accompanied by a coffee in the afternoon, was about half the size it used to be. Sad. Very sad.
The burn off restrictions came into force this evening. Earlier in the week, the area was dotted with the smoke from lots of little fires. We stopped burning off a month or so back, so no big deal for us, and we can legally use the brazier so long as several conditions are respected. All the smoke particles in the atmosphere produced some lovely sunsets.
It’s rained a fair bit this week as well. Earlier, in between paid work and rainstorms, we sewed up two steel rock gabion cages because they were full.
We’re quite rock wealthy at the moment, but with limited space in the gabions to take them all, we decided to construct a new gabion cage.
We’ve probably got more than enough rocks to fill up the two open gabion cages, and then some. Interestingly the second row of that long wall of gabions is nearing completion, and we were discussing the possibility of constructing a third row.
It’s nice to hold Peak Rocks at bay, if only for the immediate future. Two power wheelbarrow loads of rocks for the new path project were brought back up the hill.
For those readers who are interested, in order to create straight parallel rows with the rocks, and also maintain a consistent width, we use a 4m / 13ft long bar of steel as a guide with a timber width spacer.
The gradient on the path is now spot on, and hopefully over the next week we can place crushed rock with lime over the soil surface.
The plants are growing really fast now that we’re getting nearer to the end of spring. The grass in the orchards was completely mowed this week.
Weeds grow faster than other plants, and so a lot of time was spent weeding various garden beds:
Sadly a person only has so many hours in the day, and the other rose garden bed was only a quarter finished. It’s worthwhile noting that roses do not enjoy the competition or humidity created by weeds. Another garden terrace was also half completed, but one of the two garden beds there has green mustard plants which are producing seed. The seed will be ready to harvest in a week or two depending on the weather and rain.
The very first ripe Babaco fruit was consumed with breakfast, and it sure was tasty. To my palate the fruit compares favourably to lemon sorbet.
Alpine strawberries are also great breakfast fruit. They don’t taste as richly as the problematic hybrid varieties people are used to consuming, but they sure produce for a longer period of the year. Every second day we can harvest about half a cup of yummy berries.
The fruit on the many trees are becoming both larger and closer to being harvested. Still, a person should not count their harvest until it’s in the kitchen. There are so many things to go wrong with tree crops. Still, the apricots are looking good.
In an amusing side story, Sandra spotted this local road sign which some cheeky wag had defaced, but in a good way. Enjoy!
This week’s video is about the steel rock gabion cages:
Onto the flowers:
The temperature outside now at about 10am is 9’C (48’F). So far for this year there has been 741.6mm (29.2 inches) which is up from last weeks total of 727.8mm (28.7 inches)
Comments
43 responses to “Creditor Badlands”
Yo, Chris – “Alien family feud.” Not a day goes by that I don’t thank my lucky stars that I’m an orphan. 🙂
I’ve been seeing articles over here, about Burry. I didn’t read them, but gathered from the headlines that he, and other people think AI is a bubble. That can maybe be capitalized on. As he does.
Depreciation, maintenance, upkeep. All those things that are seldom budgeted in, for projects. Here in the states, our infrastructure is pretty creaky. It would bigger the kingdom, to set things right.
The whole stock market is … well, I don’t put much trust in it. In our last election, the state is setting up a long term care fund. Amendment 8201 asks if the funds should be invested in the stock market. Final results aren’t in, but the “yes” votes are well outrunning the “no” votes. Apparently, we’re a state of gamblers. The stock market is kind of like an auction. What something sells for, is what it’s worth. Low or high.
Oh, that is sad about the Lamington. I guess you’d have to buy two, split each into three pieces and have one piece left over. Award it to the dog who is the best behaved. 🙂
That’s a beautiful sunset picture. Truly calendar worthy.
The gabion cages are really pretty. But I wonder about a third row. How’s the stability? You do have earthquakes. The taller a structure, the more sway you’re going to get.
LOL. I wonder if you’ll still be calling it, The New Path, thirty years from now. It’s all in perspective. I had an English friend, once, who referred to the “new pub.” That was opened in the 1770s.
Boy, you did a lot of weeding. Now I feel guilty. I looked at my plots, today, and thought, “I should weed those.”
Babaco, strawberries, apricots. Two in hand, and one still on the bush.
Someone is very creative. That sign was a hoot. Reminded me of Calamityware. The Blue Willow china pattern (you’d know it when you see it), has been popular for a couple of hundred years. Just about every china company made it. Some still do. Well, some wag took pieces and added a few bizarre flourishes. Check out the tea cup, about three pictures down. Not only are there flying dinosaurs, but if you look a bit to the right, there’s a killer robot.
https://www.worthpoint.com/articles/collectibles/calamityware-chaos-in-the-china-cabinet
We have Granny’s Bonnets, here. Also lavender. But it doesn’t smell like much. I even tried drying some, just to see if it would intensify the odor. No joy. Lew
Hi Lewis,
Glad to read that you too enjoyed not being part of an alien family feud. Awful, and best avoided, as you’d no doubt agree.
Man, as I wrote in the blog, I’ve no real idea about those sorts of things, and it may well be that nobody does. That business could be a massive gamble for all any of us know probably based on the success of previous gambles, maybe. Certainly the business case makes little sense to me. Offering services for free when in the background they require hugely expensive upfront and ongoing costs, seems like something of a complete mystery. Last I checked, I have to charge clients for services rendered. Even this blog is not free to run, but it is a hobby and a joy, so like the song says, it ain’t heavy! 😉
Could be his actions were awareness raising? Dunno.
Agreed, that’s a problem with our society. Is there the mad cash (or energy and resources) available to maintain any of this infrastructure stuff? Beats me, but I’d have to suggest that baring a catastrophe, we’ll get to find out.
Hey, we bit the proverbial bullet today and despite the drizzle and winter like weather, the remainder of the rose garden was weeded. Plus, given we’re rock wealthy at the moment, not bragging, it just is, we replaced some of the smaller rocks used in those terraced rose garden beds. Man, I can’t believe it would ever come to this, but we’re starting to get picky about getting the right sized rock for certain projects! 😉 Is it hubris?
Obviously I have no idea about the politics in your part of the world, and goobermints often dabble in the equities market (and did they mention the bond market in the question?) for their own obscure reasons. Like you, I basically don’t understand ‘value’ until the check is banked and cleared. Man, I’ve had that experience too (and you’d have enjoyed it to a much greater experience) that when it comes to selling, an item is only worth what someone will pay for it.
Some incidents produce a before, then an after moment, and the lamington was one of those. Due to previous good experiences, I’d failed to closely observe the purchase prior to handing over the mad cash. We all get done occasionally… My bakery innocence is now a thing of the past. There is no argument as to the outcome of your suggestion, Dame Plum, but of course.
🙂 Thanks! Right now, it looks like winter outside, and it’s hard to know whether the thick low cloud is drizzle or fog. There’s some talk that maybe a tropical cyclone will make landfall near the more northerly parts of the continent. It’s unusual: High tropical cyclone risk near Australia this week – rare November landfall possible
A good point regarding the stability of the gabion cages and earthquake risk. It’s hard to see in the photos, but they’re stepped back a bit which would make them more difficult (but not impossible) to fall forward. It works similar to buttressing on castles and other structures.
🙂 Why not? If the year 1770 doesn’t depict a sense of age, the path has a long way to go before the word ‘new’ no longer applies. I’ve heard people around here suggesting that it takes three generations before a family is no longer considered new-comers.
Do you use a garden hoe for weeding? Actually, how do you go about doing that work?
Very funny! And they’re all worth more in the breakfast bowl. Speaking of which, the world needs more items like the most excellent Calamityware ceramics. A nice send up.
Lavender is highly aromatic here. Hmm. Dumb question, are the inmates watering those plants? To brush against the shrub is a real delight for the senses.
I didn’t know that about not all DVD players being quite the same. Yikes! Hmm. They do say that things come in threes. You haven’t had that machine for very long, so what’s the plans? I’ll note that computer upgrades hit me hard last month. I’m looking at the old hardware and wondering if I could sell it, but no concrete plans have formed.
Had a very tasty Globe Artichoke with dinner this evening. I was a bit worried the core may be spiky given the size of the flowers, but no. Perfect. Had some of our own beetroot which had been roasted previously, and it was OK. We trialled some heritage varieties a while ago, and I’m yet to taste better than the Beetroot variety: Globe. Wonder if the similar name denotes a particular plant breeder?
Mars Attack was pretty funny and way out-there. Bummer the film didn’t play. This is the universe trying to tell you something about the DVD hardware.
Fair enough, and to be honest the French character wasn’t consistent due to going pretty hard in the revenge stakes, then having second thoughts at the end of the book. Yeah, the actors in any film version would look too clean. The crawdad film was notable for that, whereas the book was a bit grittier.
Dude, we’re dodging being the poopy stick people, and may we continue to do so for years to come. I think that’s a worthwhile goal, don’t you? Thanks for the laughs, and it’s true.
I’m amazed that your beans are still blooming.
Agreed, the sprinkler inside the cupboard will cause an epic mess should it go off for any less than required reason. All those sprinklers assume that the pump and controller are good enough to get water at serious pressure that high in any building. I hold doubts that they could all operate at once, but could be wrong.
Queenstown is very much all about snow sports from what I recall of that part of New Zealand. And the east coast of the South Island was pretty dry looking to my eyes. Presumably the mountain range puts that part of the island in a rain shadow. They ran a lot of sheep there from memory.
Did you make it down to the Club for a chat?
Cheers
Chris
Depreciation started after 1873? I thought it had been since forever, or at least the Romans. I’m in no way an accountant, but my job once had me writing computer programs for accountants, so I took an introductory night course to find out what the words meant, and the prof said some interesting things about depreciation; it being recorded as an asset to balance the diminished worth of the productive assets (if I still have that right). So there’s some [ethnic] joke about an [ethnic] accountant who absconds to foreign parts with the Accounts Payable. Ridiculous, but it could be funny if he took the Depreciation accounts.
Professor Fisher’s words sound really cozy, but they conceal horrible death. Taking for granted that the investors were all speculators, and bought the stock because it was going up, what happens when it hits that lovely high plateau AND STOPS GOING UP? Yeah.
To model it mathematically, say the value v of shares is described by
v = K * dv/dt
This describes happy exponential growth, but comes the plateau, and dv/dt becomes zero
d0/dt = 0
and that’s absolutely mathematically true. And that’s close to what the market did.
(See what you started? Tom Lehrer wrote in _The Irish Ballad_:
“You’ve yourselves to blame if you think it’s too long,
You should never have let me begin.” )
Yo, Chris – I saw an article this morning, about … wild parrots. In LA. I think you’ll find it interesting.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/parrots-came-los-angeles-pets-180337937.html
I can’t remember the details, but the birding book I just read outlined the hoops an introduced bird species has to jump through, before being considered “native.” Up until that time, they can’t be counted for someone’s Big Year.
I forgot to mention, the book told the story about a Pharma-bro who was having a midlife crisis, back in 2013. And, decided to do a birding Big Year. He wracked up 749 birds. Of course, that involved
177 flights, of over 194,000 miles. Drove 52,000 miles. Oh, and 15 days at sea. Our bicycle guy turned away from any kind of motorized transport. But, sadly, these days, the globe trots all over the world, doing birding this and that.
I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this blog. 🙂
Infrastructure and maintenance. Well, I found out something interesting about this fire sprinkler replacement. Now, the building manager when I moved in, was a lovely lady, but maybe some of the details escaped her. It turns out there was a recall on these sprinklers, a long time ago. But, it was only good for two years. So, at this late date, it’s going to cost $15,000 to replace the old sprinklers.
I talked a bit to the two dudes who are doing the work, this morning. Nice mellow fellows. They probably won’t get up to my apartment until late Wednesday or Thursday. So, two days grace. But, last night I emptied out half the pantry cupboard. Also, there’s a sprinkler head, close to my bookcases of cookbooks. I threw a blue tarp over it, this morning. I asked about drips, when they change the heads. Might happen. They carry along a five gallon bucket. They started pumping out the system, this morning.
I just wonder when this building won’t be cost effective to run? Last year, several thousand went into repairing the hot water boilers. Luckily, this is not a profit making venture. But, still …
Is this fixation of rock placement, hubris? Sounds more like neurosis. 🙂
I think we’ve all had those moments where we realize we’re at a dividing line between “before” and “after.” Not only world events, but on personal levels.
Drizzle or fog? Welcome to my world. Our high yesterday was 54F (12.22C). Our overnight low was 48F (8.88C). Our forecast high for today is 51F.
I see the Master Gardeners are here, so, stay tuned for further announcements. 🙂
…and now we return to our regular, scheduled programing. Let me consult my notes and script … 🙂
Had a good chat with the Master Gardeners. Today, they’re digging out the weeds, between our raised garden beds, laying down cardboard and covering it with chunky wood chips. Here, it’s called “beauty bark.”
Looks like Darwin might get hit hard. Even though Prof. Mass says no drought, at least in this county, we’re way under our usual rain fall totals. According to the Master Gardeners. The weather gods have been smiling on H and I. Maybe I should slaughter a black goat, or something?
LOL. Maybe you should construct flying buttress, for your gabion cages, if you decide to go for a third tier. Worked to keep cathedrals upright. 🙂
When people ask how long I’ve been in Lewis County, I always say I’m a new-comer. Only been here since ’83.
Since things are so tight in my garden spaces, I weed using a trowel. Sometimes, it feels surgical. I toss the weeds in a 5 gallon bucket, and they go in the dumpster.
If I ever run across a nice Blue Willow plate, I might be tempted to add a couple of flying dinosaurs. Hang it on the wall. See who notices.
Well, I bit the bullet, and ordered a new DVD player, last night. You get what you pay for? The previous one’s were a brand that I later found out came from the Store of Walls. I did a bit of research. The best reviewed was from the Land of the Rising Sun. But pricey? Eye watering. Tariffs? I ordered the next one down the list. Motorola. Around $200. It should arrive before “Mars Attacks!” has to go back to the library. And maybe I’ll have another run at “The Postman.”
Back when I saw the movie “Lion and Winter,” there’s this scene where the king and queen descend the castle steps, to a courtyard. Kicking chickens out of the way, and avoiding the horse poop. I thought, “Yes. That’s how it was.”
Had a nice chat with Carl, yesterday. He has a stream that runs through his place. Great for rock hunting. Its source is up on forest company land. They discourage beavers, as they gnaw on their trees. Carl has two or three beaver dams, on his property. Anytime the water comes up, the dams are swept away. But the beavers come right back. Lew
Hi, Chris!
Are you trying to scare me, Chris? Well, you would have, if I understood it. My brain appears to be mush right now, or perhaps it’s rust. My husband used to say most things become rust, dust, or must. I will grant you that hearing “shorting” makes me sit up. And I, too, wish to avoid drowning.
That is really interesting about the American railroads and the concept of depreciation.
The Case of the Shrunken Lamington? Do we have any clues, or can it all be put down to shrinkflation,which I guess is the same as lamy-flation?
No burning here yesterday. It has been many weeks since we had rain and yesterday, all day and at night, the winds were 20mph (32kph) with gusts up to 30mph (48kph). Very still today. You do seem to be rock wealthy lately. I wonder if it is just an illusion. Look at those wheelbarrow loads of rocks; yes, rock wealthy. The new path is beautiful and the orchard is, too. Did something really eat the weeds in the grape enclosure? And I don’t remember a corn bed. Is that new this spring?
Do Babacos have many seeds? We just bought 100 pounds of persimmons from an Asian couple over the mountains who have a personal orchard and just couldn’t eat them all. Last week you asked if we are diversifying into persimmons and pawpaws for selling. I think so because the ones I take care of are just root stock, to be grafted onto. We do have some fairly large pawpaw trees planted out, but no persimmons planted in the ground yet.
What a great roo sign. Do you think it was Banksy?
Indeed, a beautiful day for a video. If you do a third row of gabions, will you have to work from the other side, up top where the bushes are?
I read the article about the women coping in the drought in South Australia. It was kind of eerie because it read exactly like the stories I have read of the nationwide drought in the U.S, during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. I came across this article today about a place in drought; I had no idea this was going on:
https://www.nbcnews.com/world/iran/iran-water-crisis-taps-run-dry-tehran-evacuation-looms-rcna243430
I love the flowers. Thank you!
Pam
Not being familiar with lamingtons, I didn’t recognize the photo at the top. I thought it probably was food, but I scrolled down quickly to find out. It sounds like a nice dessert! Do you ever make those at home? Seems like it wouldn’t be too hard. It would be dangerously easy to eat them, I suppose.
Everything looks beautiful at your place in springtime. That is a lot of fruit trees! When the time comes that they are all bearing heavily, will you sell the extra fruit, or give it away?
Hi Gretchen Joanna,
Thanks for the laughs, and I might add that lamingtons – when made to a traditional recipe – are super awesome. They are lovely. It’s just that when on the perpetual hunt for the finest bakery treats, let’s just say that there are some dodgy imitation products out there. The strange murky chocolate brown looking square thing with desiccated coconut may look like a lamington, but they’re not quite right… Hmm.
I’ll tell you a funny story. Remember that at the core of a lamington is a sponge cake. So, back when I volunteered with the local fire brigade service, the local country women’s association brought some left-over cakes from a meeting they’d had a few hours earlier. A gesture of appreciation for the hard work the volunteer brigade did in the community. Hearing the words: ‘left overs’, I was a bit dubious as to the quality, but well, dinner was still a few hours away, so why not? Truly after the fourth chunk of cake a person knows that things have to stop before they go too far, but it was without doubt the best sponge cake I’ve ever encountered. Proving that sponge cakes aren’t all the same, and they’re at the core of the lamington.
Do we make such tasty treats at home? No. We eat well made food with the freshest of ingredients, but balance off the goodies consumed elsewhere, with that. Alas, one cannot party all the time! 😉 Sad…
Sandra did however long ago win an award for the best apple cake at a festival when pitted against the same ladies association from a slightly more northerly group. And what a furore that was! Who knew it was against the rules to add sultana’s (dried dessert grapes) to an apple cake? You could feel the hate. But hey, we won all the same, just sayin’.
Agreed, they are dangerously easy to consume. Chocolate, coconut, sponge cake and tasty raspberry jam. Oh yeah.
That’s a great question. Down under there are few plant diseases affecting fruit trees, but the sheer volume of bird life more than makes up for that. And lest Kuato the enormous Brush Tail Possum is forgotten. Truly, I feel bad for cheering on the Powerful Owl which eventually dined upon the fruit fed herbivore. Watching him take a bite on on of the many hundreds of kiwi fruit, then discarding it, only to grab another was a sore trial. Oh well, yay the owls!
Cheers
Chris
Hi Pam,
Being honest, I don’t understand how equities and bonds are shorted either. Such arcane knowledge is probably not ours to grasp, and you know, we’re assuming that the whole lot even makes sense. Equally, it may make no sense whatsoever. And thanks for the lovely saying of your husband’s. Forward far enough into the future, and apparently the planet will get absorbed by the sun. Wouldn’t want to be there that day!
Glad you enjoyed the story of depreciation, and it’s good to remember the stories of how these things came to be. Of course, this does not mean that we won’t make new and more interesting errors as a civilisation. Oh well.
Very funny, and yeah, the word ‘lammy’ is my short hand description of the famous ‘lamington’. I’d have to suggest that a bakery can be judged upon the quality of that item alone, and they’re highly variable too. I trialled one a few months ago which looked OK, but was greasy. Made me feel a bit ill. And who knows why the one this week was half sized? It’s a mystery really, but I’m now alert for the awful possibility. Have you encountered shrink-flation recently?
With those strong wind gusts, glad that you removed the large tree adjacent to the house. Trees and houses are not a good mix.
What! 🙂 Oh you’re good. An illusion, right… Hehe! I don’t think so, for now at least, anyway. All the work in the surrounding forest during the winter months uncovered the rocks. We might break up some boulders so as to get just the right sized rocks for that new path project. It’s such a beautiful time of year. By January it’ll all be dried out.
🙂 Thanks for getting my little joke about the grape enclosure. Far out, we have fun with words here.
The corn bed was a bit different last year and didn’t produce all that well. In autumn with the poor outcome in mind, the bed received a rock wall upgrade (on both sides) and a whole lot more soil feed. It’s a difficult place to get water to, so who knows how that bed will go. Dunno. It has some radishes growing, and I also spotted some Bob’s Crazy Yellow cherry tomatoes (I did not name that variety, but it’s good).
Babaco is a funny fruit in that it is sterile (only produces female flowers) and all of the plants are clones. Interestingly, the wikipedia page on the fruit has minimum temperatures much higher than what winter actually is in the greenhouse. My experience is that the plant will not tolerate frost, which they avoid in the unheated greenhouse. Outdoors here they don’t last.
Hmm, interesting. We’ve discussed persimmons before, and we grow a few of the ‘Fuyu’ non astringent variety and they’re a reliable fruit tree. The fruit really does have to blet / ferment before it can be consumed. I keep getting fed slightly under-ripe fruits and can’t be entirely sure that this is not a plot to keep me away from the harvest. 🙂
Hehe! Banksy would love that roo sign for sure.
Respect, what an astute question about the rock gabion cages. The answer is yes, we will have to install and load them from the upper level. That’s a complicated job, but not impossible.
That drought story has made the news down here as well. The last big drought I experienced when living in the big smoke, there were also calls to ‘pray for rain’ and some cloud seeding projects. It got pretty dire. Hope you get some rain soon.
I love the flowers too. 🙂
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Thanks for the article, and how good was the line: And what kind of new freak-o-system do we get when it’s all combined? I’ve heard that introduced eucalyptus trees thriving in that arid city are treated similarly. Nature is never stable.
Really? That’s interesting about the introduced birds not being officially recognised in the count. For your interest, my photographic field guide to Australian birds (it’s an extensive tome) also includes the introduced species, like the Indian (or Common) Myna, plus plenty of others. Still, one must know how to deal with dogmatic systems.
The well heeled can go on exotic adventures such as the pharm-bro bird dude. It takes a lot of ingenuity and gumption to do the same journey on the smell of an oily rag, as the old timers used to say. Funnily enough, the pollution from that epic bro journey would probably do far more to harm the very birds that the person was apparently interested in, although the irony of that might be lost on the individual. Oh well. The lines to get to the top of Mount Everest are quite extensive these days, and probably dangerous.
Always try to entertain, and be entertained in turn. Fun isn’t it?
Oh poop about the recall. It happens that such things are missed, and I dunno man, it takes a lot of effort to be onto everything. Not everyone is responsible. On the other hand, it’s good you now know more about when the upgrades to the sprinklers will take place. Far out, the cookbook collection is definitely worth protecting with the tarp. If it’s not needed, that’s great, but some things shouldn’t be left to chance. I do stuff like that as well, a little bit of extra effort saves a world of hurt afterwards.
🙂 And who knows how deep the pockets are which are providing the funding. All a mystery, and probably best left that way. Sometimes knowing the extent and breadth of a budget, can be an unsettling experience – possibly affecting that quiet enjoyment. It’s probably a unicorn that state of mind.
Hehe! When a person is rock wealthy, they can enjoy the moment, knowing that Peak Rocks looms not all that far away into the future. See what I mean about knowing the budget? 😉
Do you reckon that those particular ‘change’ moments we are speaking of, is a form of a loss of innocence?
I went into the big smoke today for work and it was quite warm in there at around 25’C / 77’F, but also cloudy. Felt humid to me. The low here was about the same as your place, but it wasn’t as warm as what the big smoke felt like.
Forgot to ask. Are you tempted to put the new Predator film on order when it hits the library list?
Ha! Beauty bark, what a fine name. Sometimes they sell a dyed pine mulch, which seems a bit odd to me, but people are looking for a certain visual effect. The more robust fundamental stuff is ingeniously named: ‘Bush mulch’. Says it all really. Mulch of uncertain parentage, doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, don’t you reckon? Still, the stuff does keep the weeds down.
Professor Mass has a good dig at the local news quite regularly. The question I always wonder is: Well, are they wrong? And four inches of rain hitting a dam catchment is suggestive. Drought is one of those things which can vary wildly from one place to the next. I’ve had some dry summers where the rain follows a wind pattern which runs through the valley and thus avoids the mountain range. Then other summers it rains here, when it rains nowhere else.
Definitely an offering is due to the weather gods who are shining their beneficence on both you and H recently. A little tray of milk by the door might work, or at least the appease the grumpy local cat population, whom may otherwise dig up your garden beds. See, this stuff is complicated.
Hmm, I had to look up exactly what was meant by a flying buttress. I see, an interesting structural device you don’t see used much these days, but, stone and masonry walls aren’t usually that tall. I’ve constructed masonry walls with recycled old red bricks and noted the wobble until they were anchored, firmly.
We’ll both collectively be new comers in our respective areas, right until the bitter end.
The trowel is a great idea for weeding, especially getting right into heavily planted spaces. The long handled hoe is a bit wider than a trowel, and you’re right it’s a blunt instrument by contrast.
Go the pterodactyl and may it scare your guests! The plate with the painted fly would be troubling…
Well done, and respect for watching product reviews before taking the leap. It’s amazing how good the reviews are these days, and there’s usually no need to purchase the number one product, and in fact the second place probably only lost by the width of a hair.
🙂 That’s more like it. Chickens and poop.
My gut feeling is that beavers build up the dams so they either produce minor floods, or hold the water back upstream where it is needed in the drier years. One of the first things the Europeans did to upset the soil fertility flows in this country was remove the vegetation from the waterways. Floods are bad, but they’re not all bad news. They also serve an environmental purpose by spreading soil minerals.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Mel,
Welcome back, and good to have you hang out here again and share your wit.
Nah, the Roman’s knew a thing or twenty, like debasing coinage, but alas depreciation may have been a step too far! Or the cheeky clerics in the middle ages decided that they’d prefer promoters of investor schemes, to be real promoters of investor schemes!
Technically, you’re correct, but! diminished worth can mean all sorts of things, and an asset could be recorded in the books with a zero value, yet still be very useful. My prior Suzuki Dirt Rat made it to eighteen years, yet functioned well for most of that time, until right at the bitter end.
Oh my goodness, your advanced maths skills, are indeed way advanced, and yet didn’t you just prove that near to zero is still very close to zero, no matter how a person looks at the equation? Admittedly, I’m now in way over my head and this skill could be described in a formula as: maths_skills_v/maths_skills_t = 0
I now rest my case. Thanks for the analysis. Actually repeated margin calls forcing further sales and hence even lower prices, were one of the big reasons behind the Great Depression. The leveraged people took the market down in a weird feedback loop. My best guess is that redirecting liquidity into the markets away from productive enterprises, is how that little problem is being worked around. However, a further wild guess is that if the bond and equities markets continue to be priced upwards, sooner or later, it may all get too big to support using the fresh liquidity flows. But truly, I have no idea and offer no advice whatsoever.
Thanks for the introduction, and Tom Lehrer was a mathematician with a keen sense of art.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – You may have heard they’re discontinuing our penny coins. I saw a very funny article, this morning, about that. And I bet it wasn’t AI written. 🙂
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/going-300-billion-pennies-123100809.html
I can’t remember which governing body decides which birds are native, or when they become so. Our field guides also usually have entries for non-native species. The Audubon Society sponsors what they call the Christmas Day Bird Count. Though it actually runs December 14th through January 5th. It’s a good snapshot of the state of our bird populations.
Those before and after moments. Somehow I get the nagging though that it’s a bit more than loss of innocence. Pearl Harbor, 9/11. Things veer off in new directions. Is it ever for the good?
Our high yesterday was 54F (12.22C). Our overnight low was 39F (3.88C). Our forecast high for today is 52F. Cold last night, and tonight, but not freezing, at least in town. Then the nights are warming up, as the rain is coming back.
Oh, yes, I’ll put the new “Predator” movie, on hold, if the library orders it. But, I think it will be hard to beat the last one, which involved Native Americans, in the past. That was a zinger.
Well, as far as filling another tier of gabion cages, how’s your basketball skills? 🙂
I’m always a bit leery of product reviews, unless they’re at an actual purchase site. I wonder if money exchanged hands, for a good review. Or if a product review is just echoing other reviews.
Speaking of rivers, I saw an interesting article, yesterday, about the LA River.
https://www.npr.org/2025/11/17/nx-s1-5589228/garden-environment-restoration-ecology-la-river-guerrilla
When I first moved to LA, I saw this fantastic flood control system, and always wondered if it ever rained there. I moved there in March, and no moisture fell out of the sky until October. And that was just a heavy mist. 🙂
These channels often pop up in movies. I particularly remember the sci-fi film “Them!” 1954. You don’t see it much in the trailer, but that’s where the climactic ending was filmed.
https://youtu.be/450Es_9F4OY?si=xg5UCC_eLeoAJP1J
Oh, boy! Oh, boy! Oh, boy! I went to the Yuppie Discount Store, last night. They had an item they had last year. Pumpkin spice, yoghurt dipped pretzels! Sort of pricey. $8 for a one pound container. I bought two.
Thanksgiving prep is nailed down. I went up the grocer, this morning, and talked to the butcher, again. No dice, getting the pressed, frozen turkey loaf I wanted. So, I got a drumstick and thigh. 2 1/2 pounds for $6. I’ll get a number of meals out of it. And, the large bones ought to be good to make some soup.
I think I’m going to make a Winco run, tonight. I’ve got a list … 🙂
Lew
Chris:
We are assuming that the whole game isn’t rigged. Ni!
I see so much shrinkflation that I can’t even think of a recent example. What was the heavenly dessert that you made a video of? The one made with “ladies fingers”?
I told my son that forever and hereafter whenever a big wind comes up he is going to hear me cheer that that tree is gone.
I think it is the ghost of Kuato come to haunt you, making sure that you don’t get any ripe fruit. Though you’d think he would haunt the owls first.
Got a little bit of rain this evening.
Recently we were talking about bucks and the rutting season. Yesterday morning, my son called me onto the back porch to point out the biggest buck, with the biggest antlers, that I have ever seen in all our decades on this property. He reminded me of “The Stag at Bay”. I can’t imagine where he has been hiding out to get so huge. Anyway, he and a lady friend were busy eating some of my son’s fig trees where the protective tarp (against the cold) had blown off of them in that big wind. My son threw a couple of logs at them and they kind of trotted away. We did not immediately re-cover the trees. I looked out that way again a little while later and there the doe was, peering at the trees once more. I didn’t see the buck.
My son had gone off to do something else and, well, we can’t have deer after the fig trees, so I grabbed a broom on my way out and marched over to cover the figs up. I also barked as I went along . . . Luckily, no-one saw me going out to fight the dragon with a broom and, luckily, no buck reappeared, just the silly doe, who ran off. Victory! For now.
Pam
Chris,
Pam beat me to it. The Case of the Shrunken Lamington. But I guess great minds think alike. 😉 However, and my innate cheekiness rears its head again…Is it possible that at one time that was a normal proper sized lamington that got SHRINK wrapped before getting placed on your plate? Just asking.
Creditor Badlands. What a grand title. Sort of like maybe the Predator invades Wall Street or something, which might be more fun than even Alien Versus Predator, a favorite of the Princess.
You mentioned something last week: “Yes, ancient Scotland, a place the Vikings dared not tread!” Umm, well, the Vikings DID wreak a lot of havoc in Scotland. They took the “impregnable” Dumbarton Rock fortress. Thorstein the Red ruled over much of northern Scotland for awhile before his new underlings plotted and completed his demise. His mother and surviving members of the family became leading landowners in Iceland, becoming the main protagonists of the Laxdaela Saga. Vikings took and ruled a largish area from Orkney. Most of the Hebrides Islands, inner and outer, were overrun by the Vikings. Caithness and Sutherland, especially the coastal areas, ditto. Many of the Highland clans who are based in the Hebrides have Viking forebears. Sommerled, whose sons and grandsons founded the MacDonalds and other clans, was Viking on his father’s side. Leod, of Clan MacLeod fame? Viking. And so it goes. One theory also suggests that the Vikings forays into Pictish territory so weakened the Picts that it allowed the Scots of Dalriada to take over as the ruling class.
Then there was Sigurd of Orkney, an early Earl of Orkney. He and Maelbrigte Tooth, a Pict of northeast Scotland, had a longish war going. They decided to have a parley – twelve horses per side to meet at a prearranged palace. Maelbrigte and the Picts had twelve horses, one rider per horse. Sigurd, that sly rascal, had TWO riders per horse and rather slaughtered the Picts.
Maelbrigte apparently had a longish tooth that stuck out of his mouth, hence the nickname. In proper tradition for that time and place, the losing Picts all lost their heads, Sigurd carrying Maelbrigte’s head on his own horse. Alas! the tooth rubbed on Sigurd’s bare thigh, cutting into it, Sigurd succumbing to the resulting infection some time later. Or so the story says.
I like that sign with the Killer Roo! Somebody had a brilliant idea there. The artwork isn’t bad, either. I may have to do some pyrography with that image.
Of course, the Killer Roo got me to thinking. And remembering something I read somewhere. What would happen if a kangaroo was jumping on a trampoline?
Meanwhile, after another week of intermittent rain and temperatures a good 6C above average, with actual low temperatures higher than the normal high temperatures, we are now between storm systems, mostly for a few days. Maybe even a week. Frost and some freezing fog are forecast for the mornings. This is expected to stay with us until maybe the 27th, at which time cooler temperatures and some of that s-n-o-w begins to appear regularly in the forecasts. Final check on Big Bertha Wednesday or Thursday.
DJSpo
Hi Pam,
You’ll get no argument from me, and if it looks rigged, it possibly is rigged. Woebetide the traders of obscure chunks of paper the day that market forces really deliver them all a resounding: What for? ” Oh, what sad times are these when passing ruffians can say Ni at will to old accountants! 😉
Thanks for the laughs, and I’m seeing shrinkflation everywhere as well. The other day there was a coffee brick discount to $32, and trust me, I loaded up that day. Wasn’t all that long ago that they were $20, but in the wilds they can now float around $50.
Home made need not fear shrinkflation, for it is tiramisu dessert ingredients which are dealing with inflation. Double thick cream is not immune from such sad economic forces. Might have to make one next month. The Christmas savages must be sated!
Pam, I’d cheer for the reduced risk as well. Nobody ever thanks a person for such work, in fact I’ve observed the very opposite occurring. But when a monster chunk of tree squooshes a house, there’s no quick or easy fix for that, and there’ll be tears of sadness in every which way for a long time to come. Yup, sleep is better when there are no trees within dropping distance of a house.
It’s funny, but I entered adulthood with 10% unemployment in an environment of utter chaos. Being young at the time I was chucked upon the economic scrap heap, and fair enough I get that. The thing is, my friends who are older, dodged the consequences and enjoyed deflation, and my friends who are younger, well it was a problem for their parents. None of them experienced the drama, and sometimes I doubt they believe my stories. After almost three decades of up, up, and away, few folks now consider the possibility that things can turn and pivot towards the negative, but it’s like the tree question you faced. Is it better to take preventative measures when the opportunity presents itself, or do otherwise when conditions are sub-fluffy optimal? I never really know, and perhaps there is no answer to that sort of issue.
Well, yes, Kuato would have greater reasons for issues with the owls. It was a learning experience to see where that episode ended.
Yay for some rain for you! Hopefully it is the beginning of some serious winter damp? The winter here was unusually dry, but spring seems to be making up for the lack of rainfall. Still, it’s a dry year here too.
That’s an epic painting, and our canine friends would do well to study it. And sorry to say, but all of the care and attention you are putting into the trees, soils, and juicy fig trees for consumption are having a similar effect that I’m likewise observing: The critters get bigger.
Pam, your description sounded to me like the actions of a warrior of old, carrying ancient weapons full of manna, and crying battle chants. Your herbivore enemy was surely smote?
Not to stress, they don’t take me too seriously either, but they sure do listen to Ollie – he means business. Is it time to get a big dog? Mr Baby may enjoy the company, maybe, actually, probably not. Oh well.
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
Exactly, it’s a total bakery plot against us all. It’s hard to convey the trauma experienced when a person is left reaching for the missing chunks of lamington. Especially when the cake was as good as I knew it was going to be. There’s a vetting process which has occurred over a long period of time prior to purchase. Dunno, but I’m guessing that the bakers chose to retain the quality and price. We could flip that idea around, like one of those Rubik’s Cubes and come up with a new saying: Quality, Price, Volume, pick any two. It kind of works!
I like where you are going with the dessert issue which brings my entire understanding into question. Of course you could be correct in your cheeky assertion that lamingtons were once smaller, but I don’t remember them that way. Memory is fallible though, and far out, you’ve got me wondering… However, tradition suggests a cube shape, and the original story was that it was an inspired creation of the French chef Armand Galland who worked for Lord Lamington (an English governor of the colony of Queensland just prior to Federation). Apparently the chef’s wife was of Tahitian descent and introduced the ingenious coconut coating. A good use for day old sponge cake.
🙂 The Predator (and here I use the singular) would win that battle against Wall St, every single time. Hope your lady enjoys the latest instalment of the film franchise, which sounded pretty good to me. One of the things I like about those fictional aliens, is that they aren’t trying to take control of the entire planet, no. They’ll just seriously mess up your day if you happen to be in the wrong place and time. I’ve been a bit dodge on Star Trek films recently because really, how many times is it an interesting storyline for the crew to single-handedly save the planet? Why not simply recount a ripping good yarn?
Oh far out! So Dumbarton fell because they only stored four months of water for the inhabitants. Sounds like hubris to me. Hmm. Turns out claims that something being as strong as Stirling castle, isn’t all that convincing either based upon the historical outcomes. Surely there must have been one castle which was impregnable, and defensible? Of course, how silly of me. The monastery on the island of Skellig Michael proved such things are possible.
Yeah, you’ve made a strong case for serious Viking incursions. And yeah, the Picts were either conquered or absorbed. Sad to say it, but land can change hands a lot over time, and history suggests that there is no honour in many such an occasion. Máel Brigte’s buck-tooth had the last laugh though, and perhaps sent a strong message about the act of betrayal. A lesson for us all there? Seemed stupid to agree to such an event in the first place. There was a lot wrong with that entire story.
🙂 Go the killer kangaroo, and frankly speaking, having encountered a full sized buck grey forest kangaroo pulling himself up to his full height whilst pivoting on the tail, produced a marsupial which even Ollie feared. It was an impressive sight.
You called it, the first snow may appear towards the end of the month. Good luck, and may the weather be as consistent as the ability of Big Bertha’s engine to kick off upon first pull of the recoil starter rope. Although! You may have a battery starter motor installed?
The next ten days here are mostly cool, except for the 29’C on Monday – which between you and me, isn’t really all that hot. Did paid work today, and finished at a reasonable hour for a change (about 6pm). Took Ollie outside for an hours walk to clear my head. The warm late afternoon sunshine felt nice.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Every now and then, a serious subject matter requires a person such as Caity Weaver, to dig to the very bottom of the story. Then keep on going. To be honest, I’m starting to seriously hate on her Editor for cutting those 13,000 words. What have we all missed here? I must add, that the solution found to the mess brings a wry smile, and there’s a delicious sense of total and utter chaos, which will probably all work out just fine. We went with the education option as to how and when to round up or down upon facing the loss of one and two cent pieces, and candidly the population blinked as one, and then all moved on with their lives. Adios expensive pennies! And is it just me, or is there something very deeply weird about producing an item such as pennies, when they serve little functional value? Manfully facing bizarre administrative processes seems to be my lot these days, but that manufacture of pennies, just because, is off the charts strange.
Thanks for the article, I loved it. And absolutely, no computer could ever pen such an article. For your interest, this week I was on the fence about a comment as to whether it had been computer generated or otherwise. Usually I can tell straight away, so I gave the benefit of the doubt.
Birds seem to have no troubles moving around the globe, so it’d be a difficult gig to determine what even is a non native species. The short-tailed shearwater spends half the time down under in this more southerly part, then heads to the northern hemisphere. Can’t seem to make it’s mind up… Imagine the tiresome arguments leading up to a change in the listing. Hey, I reckon even nice polite birders could write some pretty toxic poisoned pen letters! 😉
Those sorts of counts are a great idea, and I noticed that there was one going on in these parts too about that time of the year. Although the Christmas period here would be more plentiful for birds. It’s feral out there, and some nice early mornings they make a lot of racket. Might write a noise complaint letter to the local council! Probably put me on a list, so perhaps maybe better not do that.
Maybe it could be for the good? Sometimes people are ill-equipped for even bigger challenges, so a smaller loss of innocence could provide some useful experience for when things get really dire. Dunno. The discussion kind of reminds me of the graduate program I used to run. A few assistant accountants just failed to learn the easy way, and so I let them find out the downsides of things for themselves. Life was never meant to be easy, although it would be nice if it was. This subject is very complicated. What’s your opinion?
It was 68’F today, warm and sunny with no wind to speak of. A lovely day, which I spent entirely indoors doing paid work, but for a change, finished up at the reasonable hour of 6pm. There were some moments of stress today, I can assure you. Oh well, all part of life but I do enjoy the work. Headed outdoors with Ollie from 6 to 7, and just walked around and cleared the mind. It’ll rain tomorrow morning, and be generally cooler and closer to what you’re experiencing. Your cloud cover will keep the air warmer. It’s clear nights here over winter which are the most bracing. Just checking, are you two still dodging the rain? 🙂
I know! I know! And man I have to fess up to not having watched that Predator film. I feel better now, and they do tell me that confession is good for the soul, and we discussed it long ago. Is guilt really productive? Have to laugh, when you and I were discussing the local library the other week, well, it turns out they also lend out DVD’s. Hmm.
Very funny! Yes, we could try that hoop rock throwing technique. 🙂 There are easier options fortunately. Imagine if one of us missed and the rock fell on either of us, or the dogs. Far out! The aftermath would not be pretty…
But what about… … Project Farm on utoob? That bloke is awesome and puts products to the ultimate practical tests. Whilst not having time to watch DVD’s I do have enough time to watch Project Farm product reviews. I know, I disappoint myself too. 😉 But genuinely, I’ve learned heaps and no longer trust any marketing puffs (an old fashioned noun you rarely hear used these days). A sad loss this shrinking of the vocabulary.
The Guerrilla gardeners are an interesting bunch, and they’ll learn heaps, especially if they have to redo their efforts. That part of the world would be too dry for my tastes. I suppose people would get used to it, but your experience is likewise very telling. Thanks for the trailer, and at the very end of the short clip, did the film makers give away the ultimate solution to the horror?
🙂 ‘Tis the season for pumpkin spice. Nice hunting there, and hope the yoghurt dipped pretzels are tasty. Presumably that is the hardened yoghurt which looks like a glaze? And hey, US butter is turning up on the shelves here, and it isn’t yellow, but more of a pale white-ish sort of colour. Presumably that is some sort of dye?
You did pretty well to score some turkey chunks for roasting. Didn’t you do chicken last year? Those cuts save you from having to make stuffing, so that’ll save some effort, but you could chuck some stuffing in the bag. Man, I’m salivating thinking of freshly oven baked turkey. Yeah, they’ll do for plenty of meals. You could freeze some of the soup, maybe?
Ah, beware of the one list to rule them all! It can happen… Hope the shop up was fruitful.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – This sucker is going down! 🙂
https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/18/tech/cloudflare-down-outage-cause
What was that old saying about not putting all of one’s eggs in one basket?
Just about everywhere in the US has sales tax. And, they’re usually odd amounts. In Chehalis, it’s 8.20%. Part state sales tax, part city. So you see how a sale often comes to odd amounts, and the pennies come in handy. But, as the pennies will slowly go away, there will be time for adjustment.
Here’s the criteria for birds that can be counted, from the American Birding Association.
https://www.aba.org/criteria-for-determining-establishment-of-exotics/
I wonder if the local council has a “nutter” list? Right. You probably wouldn’t want to be on it.
My opinion? It’s a complicated subject. And makes my head hurt. 🙂
Our high yesterday was 52F (11.11C). Our overnight low was 37F (2.77C). So, no frost, as forecast. Our forecast high for today is 51F. H and I have had a pretty dry week. Rain is coming back in the early AM, tomorrow. When I had H out at midnight, I notice a deer about a block away, drifting our way. H went nuts. The deer decided to head in another direction 🙂
You might be surprised what the local library has to offer. You could always get on the library board, and move to change the hours. Or, just show up at a board meeting and raise hell. You know, in your spare time. 🙂
I noticed my library put a DVD on order. Four Sci-fi movies, from the 1950s. Including, “Them.” Also, “Attack of the 50 Foot Woman,” “The Beast from 20,000 Leagues, and one other. I put a hold on it.
Yes, it’s a yogurt glaze, on pretzels. In several flavors. But the pumpkin spice is only available this time of year. And I’m not really interested in the other flavors.
Maybe it’s your yellow butter, that has the artificial coloring. 🙂 The Australian cheeses I used to get, were very pale compared to our cheeses. Because they had no coloring in them.
Yes, I did a big plump chicken, one year. And one year I just wasn’t feeling it, at all, and did a pizza. Even with the turkey pieces, I’ll still have stuffing. It’s not Thanksgiving without stuffing. The way I do it is, in a pan, I mix up butter, the spices (sage), pieces of turkey and pan juices. I pour that over a bowl of bread cubes, celery, mushrooms and dried cranberries. Then I nuke it. Tastes just like it came out of the bird.
A couple of nights ago, I had shrimp nachos. Last night, I made a trip to Winco. I spent $143 dollars, but $38 of that was a big bag of H’s dog food. I knew I wouldn’t feel like cooking much, when I got home. So, I grabbed some sourdough muffins, diced up a tomato and some green onions to put on the top. Covered that with Swiss cheese. Nuked. Also tasty.
I forgot to tell you, someone stole my hanging basket with the Vinca (aka Periwinkle), in it. It hangs outside the side door. Our night manager, Chad Sherlock Holmes (his last name really is Holmes), got on the case. I wonder if he’s related to Sherlock? It had been moved to the community room, by one of the Inmates, who in her infinite wisdom, decided it wouldn’t survive the winter. I moved it back. If she’d bothered to ask anyone, she would have found out that Vinca is winter hardy. Tough as old boots. Heck, here, it flowers in February. I first noticed it when I was out picking out a cemetery plot. 🙂 . A February a few years back.
Haven’t seen the sprinkler replacement guys, yet. I could hear them on the second floor, yesterday. Our night manager said they move through an apartment, pretty fast. Although I’m sure they’ll be slowed down by our more chatty Inmates. Lew
Chris:
Well you just say “Ni!” back, Old Accountant.
Tiramisu! Yes, for Christmas.
The times of your young adulthood do seem rather like a bad dream and I can see why some people find it hard to believe the actual circumstances. Someday (soon) it will be your turn to point a finger and say: “I told you so!”. And I don’t know if I ever see conditions for anything at fluffy optimal.
Thank God, he was not smote. That was my fear, that I would come within smiting distance.
If I bring home a dog, even a 5 pound one, I had better be ready to join the rest of the dearly departed.
When I was at the grocery store Monday, I was the next in line to pay. The cashier suddenly announced: “The card readers aren’t working.” Not to worry: I always pay cash. This sort of thing happens every so often.
Pam
@ Lew:
What a great and humorous article about pennies. Thanks.
Pam
A DJSpo:
I’ll just bet you watched all the Perry Mason episodes, too.
Do we think Chris would actually buy a shrink-wrapped lamington?
Thanks for all the Viking history. I’m quite sure I have some Viking blood with my Scots/English background. Were the Vikings much in Germany? I have a lot of German blood, too.
“What would happen if a kangaroo was jumping on a trampoline?” If it was a her, the joey would bounce out.
Pam
Chris,
Not only is the size of your lamington smaller, but they apparently didn’t serve it on a smaller plate. So the smaller serving is on a larger plate, which makes it look even tinier. At least the quality is still good.
Spongecake? Doesn’t matter if it is fresh or a day old. I have it on good authority that a great activity is to be nibbling on spongecake while watching the sun bake all those tourists covered with oil. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohDqjRGqpIU
Oh, Hollywood doesn’t know how to make movies any longer. Or it’s rare. I dunno if Alfred Hitchcock’s movies would make it today, as there isn’t enough action. Or other classics like The Third Man or Casablanca. What Hollywood makes is what people seem to want to watch: Tom Cruise ruining, er, running through seemingly half of the movie.
I remember when I was in Las Cruces, one of my students and I would hang out together. She had a crush on Tom Cruise, so we went to see him in Legend, a very forgettable film. The highlight was when a baddie tossed Cruise across the room and someone in the audience bellowed “Tom’s cruising!” Even my friend was disappointed in the movie.
Well, to give the Dumbarton defenders some credit. Nobody besieged anybody for four months back then. And the Vikings, especially, weren’t known for their siege warfare abilities. But still, one would think that the grand fortress would at least have a replenishing source of fresh water.
There was an awful lot of absorption of the Picts. Kenneth MacAlpin had a Dalriada Scots father and a Pict mother, so he could inherit both crowns. The Vikings also did a lot of that – marry a local king’s daughter to firm up an alliance. The Normans turned that into an art form, however, killing off the leading menfolk then forcing the remaining heiress to marry the leading Norman of the area so that he and his sons would have “title” to the lands.
As Sigurd of Orkney was one of the first Norse rulers of that area, there’s really not a lot known about him, if he even existed. The Orkneyinga Saga is of rather dubious value until the last third of the 900s. Get into the 11th century and Thorfinn the Mighty was ruler of Orkney and much of Scotland. (What “much of Scotland: means is open for debate.) He was a contemporary of Macbeth, and they might have been cousins. Yet, the Norse sagas make no mention of Macbeth by name. Nor do Scottish sources mention Thorfinn. Both persons made a pilgrimage to Rome about 1050 a.d. One writer went so far as to write a novel in which Thorfinn and Macbeth were actually the same person.
A buck kangaroo sounds about as dangerous as a cantankerous bull moose during rutting season. Best to be avoided.
One of my friends for over 45 years is a member of the carving club. We enjoy going over the old stories of our adventures. Many of them included repeated usage of the word “Ni!”. Then there was the time he and his teenage son and several others went on a backpacking trip in northern Idaho. (I couldn’t go due to my work schedule.) Well, they got to the alpine lake where they would spend the night. There was a large meadow between the trees and the lake. The teenager promptly dropped his backpack and began running through the meadow. He stepped on a sleeping bull moose! A rather young one, who was just as surprised as the young man and took off running in a panic.
Big Bertha started right up and ran like a champion this afternoon. The pull cord never has worked well. There is an electric start button if the machine is plugged into an electrical outlet.
Oh, we had nice sunbreaks today. Dame Avalanche and I took full advantage and took a longer walk than usual. Then I harvested the remaining carrots and got the garden area ready for winter. And took down and stored the temporary fence I had around the veggie area. Next is to rake the leaves and place them in the veggie patch. Final step these next few days is to get the leaves out of the gutters.
DJSpo
Hi Pam,
For the record, and I note that you astutely knew the answer already, a shrink wrapped lamington is in my opinion, not fit for consumption. They sell them pre-made in supermarkets in little plastic containers, and how a sponge cake can survive more than a few days of shelf life, is something of a mystery to me. Your diet sounds pretty good to me, and I likewise do my best to avoid highly processed foods. Dunno about you, but too many preservatives gives me hayfever, which I don’t otherwise experience. Hmm.
Old accountant to Pam: Ni! 🙂 An excellent suggestion, and one which I’d not thought of, you know, trying to be a proper gentleman and stuff.
Yeah that’s the one, tiramisu, and it’s a nice dessert to consume on a hot day. Sometimes Christmas days down under can be rather toasty warm, and a meal heavy on roasted meats are a struggle for me. As a mostly vegetarian, I try to be sociable and have a nibble.
It’s weird that, and those days are a bit dream like, hadn’t thought about them like that, but all the same they happened. There’s something quite horrid about working full time, feeling insecure in employment, having people eye off your job because 10% of the workforce has nothing better to do, and being only one unexpected car repair bill away from not making the rent. Let’s say the experienced focused my mind in a way that no other would. And I dodged the unexpected car repair bill, by doing the work myself! 😉 Nice to be crafty and enterprising. Your son sounds a lot like that too. Any signs of the shed construction?
Actually just between you and I, I wouldn’t say I told you so, although would probably think that. People will be most unhappy at that time, and best not to poke them, and just offer a consoling shoulder.
Deer are unpredictable, but mostly I’ve observed they run away. Like you said, the risk in spring is greater. Can we say that you dodged having to smote, or is it smite? Smote sounds tougher, don’t you reckon?
Oops, sorry for the canine suggestion. Mr Baby is clearly tougher than us all.
Hey, that happens here too from time to time, and I’m always amazed that people are caught out. It kind of feels good to saunter to the front of the line, transact the business and be on your way whilst others are left watching your style.
Moved rocks today, and removed a large dead ficus shrub from a huge pot. It had died due to drowning, in a pot of all things. The root systems had escaped the pot and blocked up the drainage holes. The soil did not smell good. Removed the other ficus too for good measure. Might replace them both with ferns, which should look pretty good. Oh, rescued the ficus tree by planting it in the new garden bed. The hole was over two foot deep.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Thanks for the article and it’s interesting to see that clod-fair had those issues. You know, when this interweb site began running slowly, I considered that service as an option. It works basically like a repeater station on a radio network. Same thing really. But yeah, your thought was likewise at the back of my mind – efficient is generally not the same thing as resilient. All the eggs in one basket is a great saying of the old timers. This site sits on a local server, and they’re good folks, but certainly not the cheapest option.
Yes, hmm, US sales taxes… Talk about a complicated system. From my perspective it looks nuts, but clearly it works. My gut feeling is that there is an incentive to round up. Why wouldn’t you? I remember when the metric system was introduced, and 1 kg was 2.2 pounds, so somehow the 0.2 pounds got dropped when everything went metric. A handy increase in margins. Even at that young age, the maths was inescapable.
Oh! That’s a very sensible and well thought out set of criteria for determining when an introduced bird becomes part of the accepted background with the avian population. It’s much more considered than I’d previously imagined, and am very impressed.
Man, I’m sure they do have ‘red flag’ warnings in their customer relationship database, oh yeah. Probably not wise to ever be on such a list.
Wouldn’t want induced head pain, so yeah, let’s drop the subject. Ah, I feel a weight of responsibility has been lifted, don’t you? 🙂
Well done, and hopefully all that fate tempting talk of dodging rain doesn’t produce moist consequences. Did the rains actually return? It’s meant to be raining here from about Saturday night onwards. It was cold today and barely passed 50’F. Felt like winter. We moved some more rocks back uphill and placed them on the new path. Also one of the ficus shrubs in pots at the front of the house had died. Turns out the root system had escaped from the pot, but in the process blocked up the drainage holes. The plant drowned in the last heavy rain. Oh well, so the overall aesthetic composition of the front of the house was unbalanced because one ficus tree in a pot was still very much alive. Removed both, and replanted the alive one in the new garden bed. The roots were enormous, and truly the plant has no reason to be anywhere near a house. Probably pull the house over if given half a chance! I’ll replant the pots with local ferns, which should look quite nice.
Ha! Yeah, a great idea with the library board, but a bit busy for that sort of thing at the moment. You go ahead…
The poster for the film: ‘Attack of the 50 Foot Woman’, is a classic, but is the film any good?
Ha! I don’t think so man about the local butter. Nice try though. Actually why is the butter turning up on these shores white-ish looking? … … Oh my gawds, now I know. Be afraid, be very afraid. Far out, some things dude, you can’t un-learn. A friend hails from your shores and sometimes tries to shock me with examples of cheese from your country, the cheeky scamp. I wouldn’t let him know, because he’d enjoy the experience, but I am a bit shocked, just a little bit.
Very good, and that’s it then, the stuffing is on. 🙂 Sage is a great flavour for savoury foods such as stuffing. The leaves have some interesting herbal uses too. A handy bush to have growing in the garden. Ah! An interesting with the cranberries, and that wouldn’t be the case down under, it’s more essential pan juices, bread crumbs and herbs.
Well, it’s getting ‘spensive going shopping for groceries. Converted into Aussie dollars, the bag of dog food (kibbles presumably) is about the same cost, but would weigh about 44 pounds. A tasty dinner, and we finished work late tonight, so dinner was a linguine with a basic crushed peanut and rocket sauce. Quite nice. Just took the dogs outside to do their business, and it’s now 41’F. It’s been a cold spring, and the tomato seedlings in the greenhouse haven’t yet produced adult leaves.
🙂 Yeah the mystery of the missing periwinkle! Which fortunately has now been solved by your night time manager (great name) master detective / in house sleuth. A handy skill given you live in a place chock full of intrigue. I remember discussion of the plot, was it in that green burial place? What could be nicer than a proper garden setting?
Chatty! I know about that, and do my finest to curb the tendency when I know it’s not appreciated. However, sometimes I’m bad… Can’t be good all the time, can we? Did the sprinkler dudes get to your place today?
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
Ah, sorry to correct your impressions, but the civilised plate was actually my innovation. The bakery lamingtons are on display in the bakery on a tray, and are packed into brown paper bags. I could freak them out by taking a plastic container, as I used to do over a decade and a half ago. Funny side story, when exiting the bakery all those years ago with the bread loaf in a re-usable plastic container, I was intercepted by transition town folks. Internally I wanted to run and hide, but putting on a brave face we had a chat about banning single use plastic bags, and I annoyed them by suggesting that they could simply take a re-usable container to the bakery. Turns out what they wanted was a higher authority to impose this dictat from the heady airs of bureaucracy.
It’s of interest to me that a nearby town is slated to get a waste to energy facility (aka incinerator / turbine facility). Apparently the land fills, are filling up alarmingly quickly. The locals are cracking the sads, but they’re still producing heaps of waste.
Very funny, and yeah Margarita!
I see, Lewis would also agree with your perspective with films. Although, speaking of Mr Cruise, I really enjoyed the film Top Gun 2. A really simple story recounted just beautifully. I can’t speak highly enough of the film. Of course, taste in art, music, films etc is always very subjective, and I did watch it on the big screen at the cinema. Haven’t seen the film ‘Legends’ and so have no meaningful things to say about it, and will defer to your opinion. I believe that the actor is one of the few to still do his own stunts, which would be an insurance nightmare, as well as giving the scenes a touch of realism.
Oh! I hadn’t know that about sieges not lasting four months in those days. You’d imagine the folks doing the siege would equally run short on provisions, although they’d be looting the area clean. And imagine a siege running through the winter months… The shortage of fresh water baffled me. The folks in those days would have known about wells for sure and maybe it was a dry year? Certainly the attack would have been in the summer months, maybe?
Yes, I read about Kenneth MacAlpin yesterday in the rabbit hole you sent me upon. The Normans would have been in a precarious situation early on and so possibly required the hostages, sorry I meant to say, heiresses to cement the support of the peasant population. They were not shy of usurping the countryside. However, it is of considerable interest that the Viking raids slowed to a trickle after the Norman invasion. Makes me wonder if the Vikings were on the Norman’s payroll, serving to continually weaken the kingdom? Stranger things have happened.
If it looks like the two were one and the same person, they may well have been. Unwise to go on a pilgrimage and leave the kingdom in the hands of others. Who knows what mischief could ensue.
🙂 I do avoid the kangaroos, and Ollie and I will clear them back into the forest if they attempt to visit during daylight hours. They know the rules, but do push at boundaries from time to time. I simply don’t want to allow the Kelpies to get a taste for chasing them, so best if they never meet.
Thanks for the story. That’s funny, and glad both teenager and moose were unscathed in the incident. Could have ended badly, and I’ve observed that people new to the bush sometimes fail to watch where they are placing their feet. I’m usually always alert for everything going on around me here, it mildly dangerous to do otherwise, but eventually I’ll come unstuck.
Go Big Bertha! And I’ve never seen a small engine with the ability to start using the energy from an electrical socket. Not a bad idea at all. Usually down here such arrangements have small batteries which can sadly let a person down. Nice to have a recoil starter rope arrangement as a backup.
🙂 Glad to hear you both enjoyed the sunshine today. Man, I’m envious of those fresh carrots, and probably should plant some. They set a lot of seed those plants. You’re winding the garden down for the winter for sure. Out of curiosity, what happens to the leaves in the gutters when the snow falls and they freeze?
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – When my computer bogs down, sometimes it’s the internet. But, most often, it’s that something from a previous site I’ve visited is still running in the background. So, I have to clear my history, shut down my browser, and start again. Pain in the … ear.
Yeah, the sales tax can be a pain. And, it varies from place to place. there’s the state sales tax, and then whatever city or county one happens to be in. Oregon has no sales tax. But, they have a state income tax. Some states have both. The big on-line retailers collect the sales tax, and, one presumes, returns it to the cities. When I had a business, I had to pay my sales tax, yearly. Because I was so small. Larger businesses pay quarterly or monthly. It was always a hassle, as, shall we say, the forms were not all that clear.
Whew! With the weight of responsibility lifted, I feel like I’m floating. 🙂
Our high yesterday was 45F (7.22C). Our overnight low was 43F (6.11C). Our forecast high for today is 53F. For a little while the forecast said “mixed rain and snow.” That disappeared, pretty fast. But, when I took H for her midnight stroll, it was raining. Lightly, but still raining. Today is a glorious sunny day, but the rain will be back, tonight.
So the ficus committed suicide? There are help lines. Oh, never mind. That got defunded.
I’m sure I saw “Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman,” at the old Lombard theatre. Was it any good? Well, that was almost 70 years ago. I will say the poster is GGA (Good Girl Art.) 🙂
I won’t say I’m the only person in the world, who puts cranberries in their dressing, but it’s not seen all that often. I also sauté up some onions, to get that Maillard effect.
The $38 dog food was a 22 pound sack, or 9.97Kg. It’s a cut above the general run of things. A salmon and sweet potato mix.
No green burial for me. I’m going in a proper coffin, in a proper crypt that always reminds me of a septic tank, in a proper plot. I haven’t arranged for the headstone yet, but it will be something simple. These days, they have to be flat to the ground. For mowing.
Still waitin’ for the man. When H and I came back from our 9am walk, they were just down the hall. It’s not 12:30. I don’t know where they’ve got to.
I see the Klimt painting sold for 236.4 million. Set a record for modern paintings. There’s going to be a painting auctioned today by Frida Kahlo. She was a surrealistic (?) painter from the 1930s. Married to the famous Mexican muralist Diego Rivera.
https://w.wiki/3hf7
I think I hear the sprinkler guys, next door. Maybe. Lew
Chris:
Yes, my son has saved us tens of thousands of dollars doing all the repair work around here, vehicles and house and property. You know how that is; that is what you do. I think it will be awhile before any shed construction is begun. He is still leveling out and shoring up the “plateau” and finishing up a new attachment for the CAT that he has fabricated, and this past week he has had to work on shipping out fig trees and cuttings and Mr. Baby (make that “helping Mr. Baby”, not shipping him). Mr. Baby has had a bad week with his heart and his other many health problems, but I think some new, good discoveries have been made to help him.
I think smote is stronger as it shows that the deed has already been done.
P-yew. I don’t think I could dig a 2 foot deep hole in this rocky, rooty soil. I recently had to transplant a largish forsythia bush and the hole was nowhere near that deep, though it should have been. I told the forsythia that it was just going to have to lump as that was the best I could do. I had forgotten that sometimes in the past I had used a manual post hole digger. It takes a long time, but gets a bit deeper. And sometimes one has to hack out or saw tree roots in the way.
Pam
@ Pam,
Of course I watched all the Perry Mason episodes. I enjoy them more now, looking at all the old cars. The Princess enjoys them too, for the old clothing and hair styles.
If Chris bought shrink wrapped lamingtons, I’d say that the world was nearing its end. 🙂
England and Scotland were such melting pots that it’s almost impossible NOT to have some Viking blood mixed in too. The North Sea had been full of pirates and raiders for centuries before the Vikings came on the scene. And not all of the Vikings were of Scandinavian ancestry. There were Germans and Scots and Slavic peoples who took up being Viking as a profession, sometimes all teaming up in the same fleet.
And yes, the Vikings, of Scandinavian background raided Germany too. Part of northern Germany, Schleswig-Holstein, was actually part of Denmark at that time.
One theory about why the Viking raids suddenly began when they did has to do with Charlemagne. He eradicated the bulk of the Saxon leadership and a lot of people. The Danes and a few other seafaring folk got rather alarmed, thinking they might be next on the list. And even though their distant cousins, the Frisians, were raiding competitors, when they got pummeled by the Franks, combined with what had happened to the Saxons, well, after Charlemagne died, large planned raids were organized far up any large rivers that emptied into the North Sea. Retribution and striking before getting struck. Smiting before getting smote. And so forth.
Ohhh, a bouncing kangaroo and a flying joey. I hadn’t thought of that outcome.
DJSpo
Chris,
Back in the late 1980s a friend of mine was already using reusable cloth bags for grocery shopping. Some people tried to give her a hard time about it. Her response? No response, simply a refusal to engage.
Spokane moved from landfills to a waste-to-energy plant in the late 1980s. It is still up and running. I find that the Princess and I don’t produce much waste. We might go several weeks without needing to take our garbage bin to the alley for trash day. We didn’t make any conscious decisions to reduce waste, it just happened.
Yes, Cruising Tom still does his own stunts. He gets hurt occasionally and had a rather nasty crack up a few years back doing a tuns in one of the Mission Impossible movies.
That siege of Dumbarton Rock, well, the Britons just didn’t think anybody would be stubborn enough to besiege them for an entire summer. But the Vikings did. The Viking leaders were Ivar and probably Olaf the White. Ivar may or may not be the same person as Ivar the Boneless, whose name nickname was a mistranslation and should be translated as Ivar the Despicable. Anyhow, Ivar ‘s descendants ruled over Viking Ireland, all over the Irish Sea and the Islands, parts of northern England. They are known today as the Ui Imair dynasty. They were raiders and soldiers for hire, too. The granddaughter of one Viking King of Dublin, Sihtric Silkbeard, married Cynan ap Iago of northern Wales. The Dublin Vikings helped Cynan and later his descendants take, retake and hold the Welsh kingdom of Gwynedd. A few generations later, one of these descendants was Llywelyn the Great, who married a daughter of King John of England. Here’s another rabbit hole for you to explore. The Ui Imair. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U%C3%AD_%C3%8Dmair
My take is that the Viking raids on England had mostly ended when Canute became king of both England and Denmark. They didn’t stop, but got slowed down to a trickle. The Viking raiding by the late 900s, at least in England, had become nearly invasions, as the raiding was led by kings of Norway and Denmark, as well as some other high level nobles of Denmark: they were state-sponsored so to speak. The days of a few local freemen banding together for a summer or three of raiding to gain wealth were over. By the time the Normans took England, times had changed, things were stabilizing, and the Viking raiding profession had mostly ceased to exist. Mostly.
That same teenager was always full of extra energy. As were two of his friends. My friend once put a rock in his son’s backpack before a weeklong backpacking trip. Son found it before they left home. He didn’t find the other, larger one until after the trip. Dad scored a big joke on that one. Then the next year, my friend was able to hide a rock in the backpacks of his son and both of his son’s friends. Yes, that extra 5 pounds or so slowed town the energetic youngsters. And gave my friend a good laugh.
Leaves in gutters. UGG! When left there for the winter, they can clog the drains. Then too much weight builds up when the soggy leaves freeze. And then the snow on them, then rain and melting snow from the roof with clogged drains…. The gutters might separate from the house. Or the water will overflow the gutters. House and gutters both can be damaged. Other than that, nothing good can come of leaves left in the gutters.
So, this afternoon, with it nicely sunny and a balmy 14C, I attached this gizmo to the hoses and tried to use high pressure water to get the leaves from the gutters. It sort of worked, sort of not. I think I was able to force a lot of the leaves through the drainage parts and out. There may be a few left in the gutter. As I was by myself today, I couldn’t climb up and look. The Princess doesn’t want me climbing things like ladders without adult supervision. Friday I should be doing some errands and things with Killian’s human, so I can get out the ladder and take a look with her adult supervision. 😉
DJSpo
Hi Pam,
I hear you, for it is what a person does in these sorts of environments. And tens of thousands is probably an understatement. You and your husband built the house you are in, and that work alone saves an unfathomably large amount of mad cash. Maintaining equipment and growing quality produce is priceless, well maybe that’s an exaggeration, but let’s just say that it is hard to put an exact number on the situation. You can’t buy the quality of the sort of produce which a canny person can grow. Far out, after the farm machine repair bloke passed away, I got to learn the reality as to the profit margins on that sort of work. But also no longer skimp on minor mechanical issues, which the farm machinery folks use to.
Hehe! Yes, a wise move and best to allow the excavated site to compact and settle prior to placing a shed upon the surface. Clay slumps slightly, and I spend a bit of time during storms observing how the water collects and flows (an umbrella helps, sort of). It’s always complicated living on land with a slope. Spent most of the day breaking apart boulders for use on the new path project. Made quite a lot of useful rocks for that job. The weather was sweet, not too hot, not too cold, and like those three little bears, just right. 🙂
Sorry to hear about Mr Baby’s turn with his health, but, your mysterious words suggest that new knowledge is now afoot to assist with his health.
Ah, yes, smote, of course, which being of the past tense suggests that the bragging rights were in fact earned, and not mere puffs. Dame Plum caught a large rabbit this morning. Best dog award, again!
Hehe! Nicely put, and for the record, I was half way into digging the hole when hand tools were thrown down, and I grabbed the electric jackhammer with the clay spade. Made the job a whole bunch easier. The poor shrub looks a bit shocked today, but will probably be fine, maybe.
I’ve never seen a Forsythia, and what a beautiful shrub it is. Fine flowers, what a great show it would put on. Hope it is enjoying it’s new home? Those manual post hole diggers work really well, and I use one here for producing nice round holes. Just takes a bit of muscle work don’t you reckon? Who needs to go to a gym when there is a large garden? Although rocks in the soil are a bit of a buzzkill for the tool. Yup, tree roots have a similar effect. How about that monster old tree root which emerged from the soil a few weeks ago? I didn’t even imagine that anything was there. Oh well.
Might plant out the ferns in the pots tomorrow.
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
Haven’t told the Editor yet, but just bought a MIG welder. One of the low centre of gravity mowers has a blade flap which requires welding, and I’m pretty good with stick welding, but wire spooled MIG welding is the whole next level. So much neater joins. Fortunately the land of stuff makes these things at affordable prices. Down under, such spicy moves are described as ‘captains calls’ and it’ll be alright, maybe… 🙂
That’s an impressive achievement using the cloth bags, and one to which we can all aspire too. We only got on board with the cloth bag thing in the mid to late 90’s, and haven’t looked back. Even fruit and vegetables have their own smaller mesh bags nowadays. You know the real joke is that my grandmother used to have expandable, presumably strong woven nylon mesh bags when we visited the Prahran fresh food market in the 70’s! She never had a car, and so we’d walk there and back, whilst everything got chucked into a shopping jeep which was pushed along. All the physical activity probably explains why the lady got to 94 years of age. The rest of my lot, who were a bit, err, lazy, and only made it to around 71 years. A bit of a difference, which wasn’t lost on me.
Respect, and yeah people can be a bit weird about re-usable bags and containers, mostly because the issues are with them. For a retailer, it’s actually cheaper. It’s not as if the plastic bags they’re distributing are free. I’m of the opinion that as a society we will be as wasteful as we can be, until we can no longer afford to do so. Economics will I believe bizarrely decide that outcome.
I get that about not producing much waste, but plastic accumulates despite a persons best intentions here too. It’s the only product I believe that the best outcome is to burn it for the energy. Man, it’s gotten to be like the renewable energy story during summer where I’m finding myself saying that for the grid stability, just turn the fricken air conditioners on and reduce the over supply. Never thought I’d get to that stage, but hey, here we are. Nobody wants to go through what happened in Spain.
Yeah, that’s the risk of being a dual purpose employee. Is he an actor, or a stunt man, or maybe both? I could do neither job. 🙂
I’ll bet the besieged inhabitants of Dumbarton castle were slow to conserve their water reserves early on in the siege. Isn’t the word scion an interesting thing, and (thanks for the rabbit hole) the ‘scions of Ivar’ were perhaps ill-suited to rule given the short periods of reign. I’ve observed over the years that there are those who can take an idea and commence a business, others can run and sometimes even grow the beast, and there are a few which conclude the episode. The inverted bell shaped curve is hard wired into pretty much everything.
History suggests that your theory on when the Viking raids eased off, was pretty much how it worked out. Don’t you think it interesting that the few local freemen banding together were far more adventurous than the state sponsored equivalent?
Oh far out! Rocks in packs is probably what it takes. Man, I’d have noticed the weight. When we used to do overnight walks, my pack was around 22kg, which diminished over time as food was consumed. I read some article a while back suggesting that the forces packs were 40kg, and how anyone is expected to carry that weight for many hours over a long distance is beyond my understanding. Sure, it may be possible, but is it wise given the circumstances?
Thanks for the information as to how the leaves in gutters would work in your winters. Man, I get why you are cleaning them out before the winter freeze and snow hits. To be honest, I doubt the brackets used here to support the gutters would survive in an extreme of your winter weather.
Those high pressure electric pumps work pretty well at that job, although I’m not quite sure what you mean by a ‘gizmo’. It is wise that your lady has impressed upon you the seriousness of that situation, and I also keep the Editor nearby when doing such work. Although, we have an addition ladder rule, which could more or less be reduced to it’s simplest form of: ‘shut up!’ Not pretty, or polite, but once I fell what with being distracted. Now whomever is up the ladder is in charge.
Stay safe on the ladder, stay strong, or your lady will be most displeased! 🙂
Broke a few boulders into large rocks for the new path today. The weather was glorious and hardly budged past 14’C, although it was remarkably sunny.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Yeah, the tech bros have created software which is bulbous and cumbersome. A lot of interweb sites have trackers attached to them, and your solution is probably as good as it gets. The browser I use has that option built in where it can delete all upon closing. Not a bad option, although you prefer the fruit land stuff, and fair enough – it does have less hassles from all that I’ve heard over the years. Of course, the word ‘less’ does not imply the same thing as ‘none’. Always exciting how they freely eat our lives.
How the big online sellers manage all that is beyond my comprehension, but recently I learned it’s all based on postcode / address, or do you call them zip-code? Not sure of the practical details, but it’s more or less the same thing. And apparently software tracks all those details, but every city and state has different registration and collection systems. What a nightmare. Yeah, down under it can be anything from weekly, month, to quarterly depending upon the size of the revenue behind it all but you only deal with one mob for the entire continent.
Yes, I hear you about that, and likewise I’m floating away, and have forgotten the details as to the subject which we dropped. It could have been anything. Possibly life on Mars, or beyond the sun! Hey, did you see that there’s reports of an interstellar comet traversing the solar system? You wouldn’t want to be hit by the thing. Given three such objects have now been discovered, I’d call that a regular occurrence. Still, the solar system is a big place. I like how when they’re spotted that the words: ‘alien spacecraft’ get mooted around. I’d be more worried if they decelerated… Can’t imagine the occupants would enjoy the view at those kind of speeds.
Ooo, that is getting colder in your part of the world. Warrants a proper Brrr! 🙂 It was cold but sunny here today at 14’C / 57’F. Not far off your temperatures, but it will warm up from tomorrow for a few days, before then cooling again. Oh well. Took advantage of the cool to head down below to the forest edge and smash up some boulders. Made about ten nice large rocks for the new path project. It was hard work, and I’m feeling a bit sleepy tonight as a consequence.
Although, my sleepiness may have something also to do with the Editor who woke me up last night to suggest that there was a bright flash of light outside the house. Always worthwhile looking into such things, and I reckon it was either dry lightning, or a meteor. We’re in the Leonid meteor shower at the moment, or near the end of it. Took me a while to get back to sleep after that excitement. Oh well.
Hehe! Very funny, and the now heavily pruned ficus is valiantly struggling on today. Looks like the patient may make it. The other ficus was burned off in the brazier this evening.
Say no more, and seriously I have troubles recalling details from last week. So many years ago would be like a total mystery. 🙂 Hope the film is good, and yeah, the poster is that for sure. I’m certain the artwork sold plenty of tickets.
Hang on, what do you mean by ‘sauté up some onions’? Had a look online and turns out it’s onions browned in butter (or olive oil). Talk about serious yum! We do that too, although as a regional difference I noticed that what you call ‘yellow onions’, we’d describe as ‘brown onions’. You know dunno about you, but I’ve never managed to grow those tasty large bulbing onions. Presumably a person would have to breed them for the local conditions? Dunno.
Go H! Well done her, and the fluffs having heard that are now making ugly sounds of pure envy at the feed. 🙂 Hope that the canine revolution is not televised. We use the cheapie kibbles as a fill for all the home made feed. They seem to like the stuff. But they would seriously enjoy what H is consuming.
There’s a thought, and hopefully the contents of your septic tank aren’t required to be inspected at a later post expiry, or best used by, date. Whoa! You learn something new everyday, but the mowing makes sense. Who knew?
Ha! Maybe the nice sprinkler folks were on smoko? Have they gotten to your place yet?
Hey, the gold toilet scored a decent result too. I’ll bet it doesn’t feel any better to use. You know, the painting result is impressive, but it also shows that the dollar doesn’t buy what it once did.
Day of the Dead looms over all of us, but some more than others.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – We have a big forsythia bush, out behind the Institution. It puts on quit a show, every spring. They’re pretty easy to start. Take a twig and shove it in the ground. I wondered if they were related to willow, equally easy to start, but, no. They are related to olive trees (Oleaceae). When they bud in the spring, you can cut some, bring it inside, and they bloom early.
Plastic bags, here, cost 8 cents a piece at check out. But, the state just raised it to 12 cents. I’m always on the hunt for plastic bags. I line my small garbage container, in the kitchen. At least they’re dual use. 🙂
Yes, zip-codes. Mine is 98532. Then there’s an extended zip-code. Mine is 98532-3071. It’s not often used, but gets things down to a … granular level.
Yes, I’ve been seeing articles about the interstellar comet. And speculation that it is an alien spaceship. More likely the aliens would lob a big rock at us. Saves all the mess and bother of an alien invasion. More cost effective. 🙂
Our high yesterday was 45F (12.22C). Our overnight low was 37F (2.77C). Our forecast high for today is 53F. There it is again. Monday / Tuesday night, “Slight chance rain / snow.” You may have seen some articles about a possible polar outbreak, in the near future.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/19/weather/polar-vortex-cold-snowy-december-stratosphere
Yes, a bright flash of light of unknown origin, would be unsettling. Maybe an alien craft landed in your woods. Now that you’ve cleared them a nice tidy landing spot. 🙂 Oh, well. The kangaroos will make short work of them. Or, the Drop Bears.
I usually use red onions. They lend a little color to otherwise drab dishes. And, I always suspected, due to the color, they were healthier. A quick look down the rabbit hole … yup, higher in antioxidants.
The sprinkler guys are here, as we “speak.” The third floor has been slow going as the sprinkler heads are screwed in TIGHT. Unlike the other floors. It’s a mystery.
The Kahlo went for 54.7 million. There was lots of moaning on-line, that woman artists don’t bring as much $$ a men. But, it set a record for modern woman artists. I saw the articles about the golden toilet. And, a Superman #1 comic, sold for 9.12 million. Highest price paid for a comic. It was in an attic in Northern California, and was in mint condition.
I finished reading “Watching Evil Dead,” last night. An interesting read. Not so much the nuts and bolts of writing, but more how he approaches writing. And, a bit of a bio. Turns out, he’s written a lot of horror books. One, “The Bird Box,” was a movie. The library has a lot of his books, but, I read the summaries, and nothing really wound my clock.
https://w.wiki/GDPM
Interesting fellow and life. I sampled a couple of his bands songs. Not bad, but didn’t get my toes to tapping. 🙂 Lew
@ DJSpo:
Aren’t the cars great? So much steel in those things! I’m with the Princess on viewing the old clothing and hairstyles – though perhaps the Princess remembers girdles . . .
Ah. “Smiting before getting smote.” And so forth. Thanks for the elucidation. I am rather glad that I am not my ancestors, charming people though they undoubtedly were.
Pam
Chris:
My husband and I (and our two sons, ages 4 and 7) did the finishing work on the house, but the log shell was put up by the company that sold it to us as it was a kit house. We had other people do the wiring and plumbing, though my oldest son replumbed the whole house a few years ago and re-did most of the wiring. I suspect that his early exposure to that construction made quite an impression on him. The 4 of us also prepared – by hand – the site for the house after we had a bulldozer come in and mostly level it.
I wonder what percentage of your time is taken up by handling rocks?
Ooh – yum Dame Plum! Did your liege take it away from you so that he could have it all himself? I have heard that these things happen.
I suspected that a jackhammer was involved. I don’t even have a jillhammer. I hope I never meet an old monster tree root like that; I can’t even handle the ones I have.
Pam
@ Pam,
Charming ancestors? Many of them probably were. Then there were the others. One of mine, surname Duyts and later Anglicized to Dye, was Danish but sailed as a privateer for Holland in the 1600s. Married a Dutch woman, settled in New Amsterdam. Cleared the trees for the development that Bronk was putting in, Bronk’s development. So far, so good, except for maybe his licensed piracy.
But then, well, apparently, he was very big and overbearing. He was nicknamed “Great Shoe”, so at least his feet were big, so I claim to be descended from Bigfoot. He tired of his wife, bullied his neighbor into trading women. When the governor, Pieter Stuyvesant, found out, he was not amused. Physical punishments were enacted. The 3 “innocents” were exiled for 90 days, Duyts for a year. So they settled in New Jersey.
Meanwhile, up in Puritan country near Boston, another ancestor, Thomas Applegate, and his wife were often in the stocks or even had one of those nasty looking 17th century clothespins stuck to their tongues. Apparently, they were not only NOT Puritans, but they both had pointed things to say with some rather foul language included. They eventually ran away and settled in, yes, New Jersey, where their descendants intermarried with the Duyts family.
I’m not sure that those folks were charming, at least not by modern standards. In my mind, they more than make up for a lot of my ancestors who were supposedly outstanding people and paragons of virtue. 😉
I’m about 99% certain that the Princess remembers girdles but probably avoided wearing the things. Devices of torture I’ve heard them called. In one live concert from the 1970s (on youtube nowadays). Linda Ronstadt had some choice things to say about those things.
DJSpo
Chris,
I see that Lewis mentioned zip codes down to the granular level. At least they don’t yet get to the level that describes the Harry Potteresque “cupboard under the stairs”. Maybe that would be 98532-3071-cuts or something. And yes, we DO have a cupboard under the stairs. No, I do not get sent there for time outs. 🙂
Okay, today’s ladder quest went just fine. No adventure at all. Two small locations with minor gutter cleanup needed. No sodden leaves were dropped onto Killian’s human’s head.
Funny that you mentioned the ladder with the advice to stay safe, stay strong. The Princess ends most of her handwritten letters with “stay healthy, stay safe and stay strong”. Great minds and their thinking, I guess.
Cool, a MIG welder. You’ve hit the big time now. I’ve never done any welding. Put together some Heathkit radios back in the day, so a lot of soldering was done, but no welding.
So our first stop today was for lunch. One of the regulars was taking orders and cooking, asked to verify if I wanted my usual green chicken enchiladas. Nope, not today. First time in years I wanted something else. I ordered the “Puerco en Salsa Picante”, aka pork in a hot sauce with cactus. It was served with rice and refritos, of course. And tortillas. I had the corn tortillas. VERY tasty and with just the right amount of “zip”.
The next stop was a brief foray into malwort to get some photographs I had ordered, then to the car parts store. My Subaru needed new windshield wiper blades. Front and rear. Then home. Changed out the wiper blades, then did the gutter inspection.
The “gizmo” I used was this telescoping thingy that extends out almost 1.75 meters with an outlet that is much smaller than the hose, so the water acts like a higher pressure stream. That way, I can stay on the ground while trying to move the leaves to a few locations, hoping I can force them down the spouts with the water jet, then have a minimum of cleaning to do when up the ladder.
Oh, I agree with you on the plastics. Burn them at a waste to energy plant.
Yup, scions. Great word. “The Scions of Ivar” would make for a good movie title, yes? Or maybe a secret society or something, so there could be a book/movie about “The Scions of Ivar Versus the Illuminati”. Ivar and his descendants seemed to be good at conquering and plundering, horrid at governing. Some conquered, got run off, reconquered, etc. Tough people.
Early in the Viking era in France, there were some very large groups raiding up the Seine and to Paris. They even took Paris once. There was also a very large Viking fleet that entered the Mediterranean a generation later, contemporary with the Great Army that invaded England. These were definitely not the norm. Those small groups of freemen, a ship or two or three, they had the courage. It was be successful or die for the smaller groups. It was the smaller groups, whether they be raiders or traders, who did the cool explorations, finding places like Iceland and Greenland, trying to settle in North America. Or the groups that went east, through Russia and Ukraine down to Constantinople. Those guys, the Rus, braved various hostile Slavic and nomadic Turkic groups on every trading trip on that route. AND they portaged their ships and trade goods overland between major rivers. Tough, rugged, adventuresome people.
On our overnight Nordic ski trips, the goal was to have your backpack under 18kg. I had mine at 14kg one year. Several people had overpacked, so things like tarps or shovels for digging snow caves were “given” to those of us with lighter packs.
The first time I went on one of those, my pack was about 22kg. It was heavy. Conditions were icy – thaw during the day, refreeze at night -so skiing uphill on ice with an overloaded pack was no fun. How anybody can march with those 40kg is beyond me. And since they’re military, they’ve got to carry their weapons, too. But they do it. Heck, my father weighed 54kg when he graduated high school and got drafted for World War II. He put on some weight in basic training, but he was always very light. He was the company radio guy, so he had to carry one of those large radios and a carbine all over Holland and Germany. I guess you do what you have to do.
Boulder breaking at 14C. I wouldn’t want it any warmer than that for that type of work. Today was a mere 7C and cloudy. Most trees have dropped their leaves, so with clouds, we have entered the grey season in Spokane until we get some snow to brighten things up.
DJSpo
Hi Pam,
It’s a complicated process constructing a house, and finishing off the insides from a shell (what we call built to lock up) is a pretty awesome effort. Respect. I’m always amazed that in your country a person can do their own wiring and plumbing, whereas down here I’m restricted to extra low voltage wiring and the rural plumbing (water tanks and garden taps and stuff like that). Mind you, I’ll bet your son put more care and effort into the re-do work than what the original folks did.
Yeah, nothing is ever easy is it? Bulldozers can do wonderful work, but they leave a lot of mess. 🙂
Once the rocks are in place, they tend to stay there so the effort is worthwhile. 🙂 Well, that’s the plan anyway, and I hope the 5.9 earthquake all those years ago was as big as we’ll experience. Not fun.
Dame Plum is a champion of a dog. She’s totally cool about the activity too, some dogs get a bit zinged up after nabbing a rabbit, but not the Dame. Pam, I chucked the carcass in the worm farm, because after the err, uncomfortable intestinal worm situation many years ago with the rats, it’s just not worth the drama.
Jackaroo and Jillaroo are very much down under rural jobs, yup! 🙂 Agreed, they’re a lot of work. On that note, planted out local ferns to replace the dead ficus shrub today, then got stuck into cleaning up the grass which had grown around the citrus trees in the past fortnight. It wasn’t a hot day today, but it felt it working in the sunshine.
Hey, my friends of the big shed fame were on television: Green-House and Garden | Incredible Indoors. Enjoy!
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
Forget about Potterisms, not much room under a set of stairs, is there? DJ, surely you wouldn’t need some time-out for overwhelmedness? I do, and he we all feel that from time to time. That’s what the shed was built for! 🙂 Toys are of course biggerer, like the MIG welder which is on its way…
I can’t believe that thought even popped into your mind about accidentally dropping soggy leaves onto Killian’s owners head. And truly now I’m annoyed I never thought of doing that to the Editor. Oh sorry, I didn’t know you were there. Sounding convincing would be the hard part, don’t you reckon?
Respect to your lady, it’s a good saying, and a solid guide to life.
Hehe! I’ve never done MIG welding either, only stick (arc) welding. I’ve been looking on at others work with a sense of having to lift my game, and I’ll tell you a funny story, MIG is closer to soldering than you’d imagine. Have to laugh, those Heathkit folks produce an interesting book titled: “Just Enough Electronics to Impress Your Friends and Colleagues!” That’d describe me, and perhaps yourself to a tee.
Nice lunch, and the right amount of zip sounds pretty good to me. Sometimes the chilli in the Bahn Mi can be variable, so you’re left with the toasty mouth impression for about ten minutes. What kind of cactus was in the tortilla?
Ah, thanks for the description of the gizmo as I was having visions of those electric high pressure washers, which do work nicely. Getting gunk into the pipes here impacts upon the quality of the water supply! Always exciting.
Yeah, society is kidding itself about recycling plastics. It looks like a massive delusion to me, so glad to read that you’ve come to a similar conclusion. If there were another way… And production of the stuff isn’t slowing.
I’m thinking punk rock band, but yes, a film title does equally work. Outlawing secret societies, only tends to work as a recruitment drive as a general rule. Far out, what a rabbit hole you sent me on by mentioning the illuminatus groups, which I knew nothing about, maybe. 😉 The Eye of Providence, nuff said. Fun stuff.
Oh my! 18kg and 14kg packs suggests that you had better gear than I. It takes experience to know what works and is needful, but you can only hope that the experience earned is good enough to survive the worst weather extremes. The news is suggesting that a Category 3 cyclone will graze the northern city of Darwin tonight. Severe Tropical Cyclone Fina to bring deterioriating weather conditions to Darwin, Tiwi Islands this evening. I’d say wind gusts up to 205Km/h are significant. Cyclone Tracy wiped out that city in 1974. Building standards have improved since those days, but they’ll be put to the test.
Those huge old WWII radios were massive, and the giant whip antennas would make a person a target. The carbine would also be heavy enough. People may have been fitter back in those days.
It’s raining here tonight, but earlier the day was 21’C and it felt hot despite the cool air. Planted out some ferns, moved a heap of soil and began cleaning up the grass around the trees in the citrus orchard. By 2pm my brain was mildly cooked.
Yeah, your grey season is a kind of twilight zone. Sorry for the dodgy pun.
Hey, my friends of the big shed fame were on telly. Here goes: Green-House and Garden | Incredible Indoors. It was filmed earlier in the year just prior to winter, and so was quite dry.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
I’ve not encountered a Forsythia plant, and will keep an eye out for one, especially if they’re easy to propagate. Willow trees are good because you can make willow-water which is a natural source of rooting hormone. An interesting tree, and I find the hatred towards it to be a bit on the far side of the odd-scale, but oh well. I spotted that they were in the Olive family of plants. Probably super-hardy too.
Before we move on with the usual programming, we’ll take a break to let you know that my friends of the big shed fame were on the television (as you do!): Green-House and Garden | Incredible Indoors. Late autumn was quite dry in this corner of the world, and their place is amazing.
We now resume normal programming. 😉
Oh! It’s been a lot of years, and maybe they charge for plastic bags down here too now? Dunno, but yeah they can serve other functions like bin liners. Better than purchasing brand new plastic bags for that purpose. Funnily enough, we use the large dog food plastic bags (once empty) for collecting other plastic prior to err, disposal. Plastic as a use-once material is a pain.
Whoa! Proving that your country is much more populated, postcodes down here are only four digits. Less to remember! 😉 How’s the post service going anyway since all of the issues we were talking about a while back? My thinking is that if the news is quiet, it might be working, maybe…
Exactly, why would aliens zip through the solar system at such high speed? That story sounds good, but makes absolutely no sense, and I like how your brain works. Yes, a big enough asteroid would ruin everyone’s day. And, it’s low-tech enough to work. Analogue controls you see.
That’s a cold overnight, possibly even a three or four blanket night? Brr! Raining here tonight, but was quite warm-sort-of earlier today at 70’F. Cooked my head a bit in the sun before a late 2pm lunch. There are two large plant pots at the front of the house (one had that dead ficus – never a good look), and so I replanted them both with local ferns. They should do OK if I remember to water them on really hot summer days. Began cleaning up the grass growing around many of the younger citrus trees. Everything grows rally fast at this time of year, it’ll slow though over the next month as the sun’s UV gets more extreme. Unless it is a wet summer, then all bets are off.
If the lady in the lead photograph was wearing natural fibres of the article you linked to, she’d be warmer. A lot of synthetic materials there man. Oh my! We had one of those sudden stratospheric warming events over the Antarctic recently. Seems to be all the rage these days in the polar regions. Wonder if anyone will change their polluting ways? I see your cold snap, and raise you a category 3 cyclone just offshore from the city of Darwin err, tonight. It’s very early in the cyclone season, and it’s strong. That city was wiped out by Cyclone Tracey in 1974, but you’d imagine building standards would be better nowadays. Anyway, it’s a bit off shore, although the winds and rain will pack a serious punch.
Man, I always knew it would come to this. Them aliens destroyed my orchards with their mother-ship. Where’s my compensation? And what do they mean: ‘We come in peace. Shoot to kill’? 🙂 The flash of light was unsettling (although only noticed by the Editor who woke me up to tell me about it), but probably was either lightning or a meteor from the debris trail the planet is orbiting through at the moment. A similar event was noted in the west of the country on the same night. And yeah, the killer roo’s and the drop bears will have their work cut out for them, but they shall prevail – or at least cause a lot of bites and scratch wounds for the bacteria to do what needs doing upon the aliens.
Right, red onions. I call those ‘salad onions’ for obvious reasons, but they can be equally cooked up as well. Lower sulphur compounds apparently, which might be a good thing? I’m unsurprised they’d have other benefits – the colouring is a dead give away.
Hope the sprinkler dudes avoid breaking any pipes. That would be messy, and it is a mystery why the originals were installed tighter. That can be a problem because it transfers torque to the connecting pipes when trying to undo the sprinklers, which presumably would be threaded fittings. Did they finish up the work in your place?
🙂 54.7 million is a great result in anyone’s books. Far out, I’d be happy to receive that sum for say, a couple of thousand word essay on bubbles. Hang on a second though, do I have to be dead to enjoy such large earnings? I’m not cool about that, so drats, our get rich quick scheme has yet again come unstuck. Those sorts of prices suggest that mad cash has lost further value, yet again. The comic would have been an awesome find.
Just read the plot line for the book: Bird Box, penned by the author you mentioned, and it’s a spooky premise. Although being a practical bloke I do wonder about water and food issues, let alone phones and plumbing still working in such a situation. The touch with the mad folks surviving unharmed was a nice one too. You may have noticed that I’ve slowed book purchases lately, and may have to get to that library! 😉 Yes, yes, I hear you.
Hope to finish off the work on cleaning up the grass around the citrus trees tomorrow, and maybe even construct some saw-horses. A cunning plan has formed…
Hey, just a touch of interweb weirdness, gargle forced me to install a file of theirs on the website today. Not happy, but what do you do? One does not live on an island. Hmm. If ever this thing gets hacked and taken down, I’ll just start it up again with a blank slate. Easy enough to do. I’m observing that the arty-fish-al bots are strip mining the prose, and hopefully those beasts learn some good values from the activity. It’d be nicer if they paid for the privilege, or at least asked first if it was OK to do. Manners these days…
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – First up, a Titanic story … and an auction. Notice the time on the watch. The Titanic went down at 2:20am.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/21/style/strauss-watch-titanic-auction-scli-intl
That was quit an interesting video about your friends in the Big Shed. But I have to ask … do they have help? Staff? LOL. Doing a little basking in reflected glory? 🙂 I have to say, Fern Glade is just as interesting, striking and beautiful, in its own, and different ways. They don’t have gabions, that I noticed.
Speaking of housing, here’s an interesting article about a couple trying to get a house off the ground. They’re north of Seattle, not far from the Canadian border. I hope it doesn’t give you bad flashbacks.
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/articles/were-building-small-mortgage-free-123201447.html
I’ll have to ask the Master Gardeners about willow water. They were using some powder, for rooting compound.
The postal service seems to be ticking along, and I haven’t seen anything else lately, in the news. You may have seen that one of the other big carriers had a big plane crash. They, and the other big carrier, have grounded their air fleets, until inspections can be done. With the holidays ramping up, not the best time.
Our high yesterday was 54F (12.22C). Our overnight low was 45F (7.22C). Our forecast high for today is 54F. Possible rain / snow is out of the forecast again. I can’t say I’ve thrown any extra blankets on the bed. Or, turned on any heat, for that matter. I do hope the worst of the storm bypasses Darwin.
You might give those ferns a mist, from time to time. They seem to like that.
Red onions may be lower in sulfur, but they still make my eyes water. I generally cut them up, on the stove top, with the hood fan, on. Not perfect, but it helps.
The sprinkler dude could not figure out why the third floor sprinklers were so hard to replace. He said, the lower floors replacement time was 10-15 minutes, per apartment. They were in my place, almost an hour. I speculated that maybe, 35 years of extreme temperature swings, might have something to do with it. As the sprinkler system is pretty much close to the attic space, above the apartments. He thought that might be a valid theory. Or maybe he was just jollying along an old duffer 🙂 .
He mentioned that the Inmates didn’t have a high opinion of Little Mary Sunshine. He also noticed her decided lack of humor. And, two of the apartments, the Inmates are gone. Traveling or hospital. So, he got to see the memo we got. He couldn’t believe the lack of information, we were given. “It didn’t even say the time we’d start working!” Yup. SOP. Tell the Inmates as little as possible, to keep everyone off balance.
In the two empty apartments, he also had to fend off old dears, who wanted to get in. “Oh, she told me to go in and check this and that.” “Do you have a key? No? Then no dice.” I doubt theft had anything to do with it, though it’s a possibility. I just think it’s curiosity. “Ohhh. Let’s see if she’s a good housekeeper!” Anyway, it’s done and I can get on with my life.
Yes, some artists work takes a big jump, when they die. Due to lack of output. 🙂 What you have is all you’re ever going to get.
The library needs to work on quality control. I opened up a new DVD, last night, and discovered its disc was the same as another new DVD I had. I’m setting up my new player, this evening. I see the new sequel “Sisu, Road to Revenge” is out. That’s the Finn guy, fighting the Nazis in WWII. According to reviews, the sequel is better than the original.
The other night, I watched a documentary, you might find interesting. “The Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism.” Right up front in the opening credits, it said they used a lot of AI. Nice to be warned. Mostly, to animate still photos. Seemed pretty harmless. There’s also a book, by the same title. The library has one copy of it, which was in a far flung branch, out in the hinterlands. I put a hold on it.
https://youtu.be/E5TWEWZKNDs?si=iA4sg8cXLzGyUyeo
We got a food box, yesterday. Felt a little skimpy, to me. There was a bag of small apples, an individually wrapped bagel, a four pack of tiny vanilla scones and a frozen box of 8 slices of garlic Texas toast. One pound of butter product, a dozen eggs, a one pound box of spaghetti pasta. An instant noodle stiro cup (lime, chili and shrimp flavor), a box of Mac and cheese and a box of chicken flavored Rice a Roni. A squeeze bottle of mayo “product.” An 18oz bag of quick oats, a jar of peanut butter, and a box of Jello artificially flavored cheese cake pudding (?).
Tins. A one pound tin of ham, which is probably mostly water. 2 tins of tuna. One tin each of vegetable beef soup, chicken noodle soup, beef stew, spinach, diced pears, tomato sauce and salmon.
I kept the apples and eggs. The rest I took down to the swap table. Somehow or another, I’ve ended up with a lot of apples. I think I’ll make an apple crisp, sometime this week.
And, finally, someone has studied why some people dislike musicals. I must admit, I find some of the new one’s pretty tedious.
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/articles/hate-musicals-heres-may-according-110017238.html
Read the article, and you won’t have to go into therapy. :-). Lew
Hi Lewis,
Thanks for alerting me to the time on the watch, and clearly the end came quickly for the wearer. You’d hope nobody wound the mechanism back for theatrical effect, sorry for mentioning the awful possibility. Also of interest was that there was a suggestion the couple were washed overboard by a wave, whereas in the film, the ship sort of tilted horrifically then rapidly sunk. No chance for waves in that sort of a rapid descent to the bottom. I’d read references to the baker – that bloke again – being the last off the ship and just calmly stepping into the water. Being cool in a crisis is not something everyone can do from what I’ve observed of people’s actions over the years. It’s a skill, or they’re total psychopaths. Dunno.
Yes, there is a farm manager – nice deduction work. 😉 Absolutely I’m basking in the reflected glory, and why wouldn’t a person do such a thing? Their place is really like nothing else, and I also very much appreciate your lovely words. You know, a contrast between the two approaches is that we are working very hard to make this place easier, and here I don’t know whether the correct word is to ‘operate’, but the word I’m reaching for, and sadly failing to grasp, encapsulates part of that ideal. Man, we’re getting older, but then so too are the systems which we continually modify based on what has been learned and with future possibilities in mind. It’s complicated… This place in some ways is a living system in that it can grow, or decline. All of a full life can be charted on the inverted bell shaped curve.
Spare a thought for my poor brain which struggled comprehending the need for 4,000 square feet of house. I tried, and the effort defeated my best efforts. The paperwork is a nightmare, but as a contrast to those folks story, I was only held up once by a consultant whose report I desperately needed, but they went AWOL. Wait them out, and pester them daily, was my strategy which yielded dividends. The Editor and I did all of the physical work which we legally could, and so took 18 months from the start to the signed completion certificate. It may be harsh, but if I could offer those folks some advice it would be: in between melt downs, work. After meltdowns, work. A bit of blame was being directed at other folks, when nobody else will have their interests at heart like they themselves would. Maybe I’m too harsh.
Willow water works, and has been known about for a very long time. Thus why they’re perceived as a problem tree in waterways down under. Doesn’t mean that they’re no good though. I’ll be interested to hear if your master gardeners have heard about the cheaper alternative?
It was hard to ignore the aircraft crash, and engines allegedly decoupling from the frame is never going to end well. The fleet was apparently old, and perhaps that is the risk the carriers ran to keep costs low. Possibly this was an economic decision, like the Pinto with it’s optional $10 safety fuel tank bladder. When in the big smoke we used to live next door to a pilot, and the stories he told me about a failed airline and maintenance would raise your hairs.
Well done with the heater, and H would provide some decent heat in lieu of extra blankets. The entire day here was a pea souper, so planned work was shelved and we headed north to the cold store and replenished the apple, pear and honey supplies. Plus had a nice lunch and walk. The weather was sunnier and warmer an hours drive to the north. Quite pleasant.
Looks like the northerly city fared OK in the strongest (and earliest) cyclone in a very long while.
The ferns enjoyed misting for the entire day… Happy ferns! Although the larger one flopped over a bit. Hmm.
Agreed, dicing onions is challenging work for the eyeballs under the best conditions.
Your theory about the sprinklers sounds good to me as well. Plus being higher in elevation, there may have been times the pipes dried out, and the steel worm kicked in and corrosion did its usual thing. The thing with being an old duffer, is that you have a bit of experience under your belt, and hopefully can share it. Being an old duffer myself these days, I hear you about that uncertainty.
Ook! Always dangerous to speak of others with contempt, and none of us really know what goes on in that august office. AND I would certainly put a stop to such inquisitive inmate nonsense. The sensitive person notices that the word ‘inquisitive’ is not all that far removed from the word ‘inquisition’. And look what historically happened with the latter.
Spew, maybe arty-fish-al programs can continue to produce artwork afterwards and thus improve supply conditions? 😉
How did the new player work? And was the sequel as good as the original film? Why didn’t those pesky folks just leave the Finnish bloke alone?
Yes, I recall the changes in the late 1980’s which stemmed from that ideology. Can’t say that I was a fan, and it impacted upon me personally only a few years later, but everyone else seemed to be cheering it on. Nobody listens to the minority lot, Gen Xers… 🙂
My thoughts were the same with the box. Would it keep a person alive, sure, but is it any good? Mind you, if I were wrecked on a desert island, all of it would be consumed. Oh, looks like the fog has finally lifted a bit.
Thanks for the musical article trigger warning. Yes, I read the entire article and noticed err, inherent biases. 😉 Maybe it is just me, but the thought of trying to make sense of 50 people dancing around and singing on stage is a total non-starter. Way too much mental stimulation. I freely admit that there are far more people in the world willing to break out into an impromptu song and dance routine mid-idea, than folks with my more introverted and measured personality type. I’m still not on board with the idea… 🙂
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – I did a quick bit of research, and you do have forsythia available, down there. The variety is called “Lynwood Gold.”
Maybe the words you’re searching for, is to easier (or more conveniently) live in or at, Fern Glade Farm? With an eye toward aging.
Speaking of farms, I saw an article about Jeremy Clarkson. Besides the farm, he also has a pub. I couldn’t quit follow the article, but, apparently, he needs a large car park. Big enough to be seen from outer space. And something about wrangling with archaeologists.
That 4,000 foot house must have been to impress … someone. At least they came to their senses, and dumped that pile.
I happened to think, H and I are headed to the Club this morning. And, may run into Carl the retired plant nursery guy. I’ll ask him if he’s heard anything about willow water. I think they’re lovely trees. Also, useful. You can weave baskets out of them. Among other things. The Master Gardeners wanted to plant one here, where it was a bit boggy, but Little Mary Sunshine said no.
Our high yesterday was 52F (11.11C). Our overnight low was 45F (7.22C.) The forecast high for today is 51F. It was dry, all day yesterday when I took H out. It started raining overnight. It might clear before we have to go out, this morning. Or, not. Speaking of things falling from the sky …
https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/22/us/bald-eagle-cat-911-north-carolina
Try explaining this to your employer, as to why you’re late to work. Or, to your insurance company. With all the invasive species we get here, maybe it was actually a Drop Bear.
“Sisu” (Road to Revenge), just premiered in theaters, here, about a month ago. So the library might get a DVD copy, sometime after Christmas. I set up the new DVD player, last night, and everything seems tickety-boo. Turns out it’s not the brand I thought I was buying, but, it still gets high marks. The screen is a bit bigger, than what I had. I tried several DVDs in it, and everything seems to work. For the present. I’m figuring out all the buttons on the remote. Even with the manual close at hand, some are a complete mystery.
I started watching “Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?” An Agatha Christie mystery. Three or four episodes. Takes place after WWI in Wales. Great costumes and sets.
I had nachos for dinner, last night. I threw on green onions, a diced Roma tomato, garlic and peas. The tin of salmon I had from the box, was tuna tin size. I hadn’t taken it downstairs, yet. So, I added that on top. By the time I got the bones and skin out, and, a bit for H, it was just the right amount to top the nachos. Then grated mozzarella cheese. It was pretty tasty. Similar to shrimp nachos. I should eat more fish, anyway. Although I probably get enough omegas from the nuts I eat.
I’m reading “Joyride,” by Susan Orlean. It’s really an autobiography. Quit engrossing and entertaining. I knew she had worked for the “Willamette Week,” in Portland. Sort of an underground / entertainment publication. For about four years. Turns out it was at the same time I was living in Portland. She’s only about 5 years younger, than me. Before writing books, she wrote for quit a few magazines. Back in the golden age of magazines.
Well, one thing you have to say about musicals, is, they employ a lot of people. 🙂 Lew