You know those big roadside warning signs. Those babies can be read from half a mile away. And there it flashing intriguing colours advising drivers as to the availability of: “Free Hugs ahead”. It’s all a bit distracting for a bloke who pretends to be able to do only a single thing at any one time. Sometimes circumstances force events, and please don’t tell the ladies about how I was multi-tasking that day, but behind the wheel driving down the freeway into the big smoke of Melbourne, the mind was furiously cogitating upon why fruit and vegetables would have anything all to do with cheap hugs. A true mystery.
Candidly I wasn’t sold on the concept, and so happily drove on past the road side stall. Was I missing out? Being located in a rest spot car park adjacent to a public toilet block didn’t help their cause in my books. In the long distant past I’d sampled those public amenities, and found them to be far from fresh, and decided to never venture there again. However, the fruit and vegetable stall on the other hand was busy, and you could say that business was cracking.
Incidentally, the hugs offer was not the only sign. There were hand written things which stretched on regularly for five kilometres (3 miles), one after the other. They promised all sorts of cheap fruit and vegetables, plus cost of living assistance, whatever that means. Another of the claims was: “Why not darl?”. Darl, of course being short for the word ‘darling’, which is usually an epithet reserved for intimate partners. For the record, this word is not part of my personal lexicon, or general use.
Presumably the advertising was not directed at a person such as myself, given the lack of response. Yet other folks seemed just fine with it. Has age caused me to become uptight? Such lines of inquiry can be damaging to the self esteem, so in order to resolve the dilemma, the question was put out to some people we knew. The survey was all very scientific, rigorous and stuff, and a description of the signs were provided, with the imposing question: “Would you go to that road side stall?” Turns out, they’d already been there, so the entire straw poll was a complete farce and my position was lost by default. However, on reflection, given the poll wasn’t statistically valid, hmm, now there’s a thought! Nah, it’s probably me.
Turns out I have no idea whatsoever about the dark arts of marketing. I’d like to believe that a modest number of skills have been, if not personally mastered, then perhaps accomplished, would be the correct descriptive. Sadly, a dude can’t be over everything. Next year I’m considering updating the advertising for our business, so if any readers have any ideas as to how to go about doing this, now is not the time to be shy. Please do leave a comment! All reasonable comments will be considered.
The sensitive person however, would hope that ‘free hugs’ are not involved in any future marketing programs. It kind of sounds a bit pervy for the serious world of accounting. Although upon reflection, given I know nothing about marketing, I’m sure that once or twice over the past seventeen years in business, I’ve probably said equally stupid things. Oh well. But all this free hug business reminds me of the time some random drug addled hippy tried to give me a non consensual hug whilst crossing Victoria Street in Melbourne.
It’s a very wide and busy road with maybe six lanes, and I’d just bought some electronics gear at a city retailer. Crossing the road, my mind at the time was focused on the problematic off grid solar power system. Yet again proving that doing more than one thing at a time is difficult for some, I’d failed to notice the guy. He could have been an understudy for the Hair musical production, but not quite clean and neat enough to regularly make the stage. A real part time actor type. Knowing his lines might not have been his strong suit.
At almost the last second, he advanced with arms thrown wide suggesting the very distinct possibility of a smelly bear hug. Technically, that’s assault. Holy carp! Get it together Chris! Fortunately the bag of heavy electronics was hanging from the left hand, so the right balled fist snapped faster in to his chest than he possibly ever expected. His sternum made an interesting crunch sound, which was clearly experienced through the drug haze. A now crestfallen look related the information that he’d progressed from a good trip, to a suddenly bad trip. “I don’t want this!” was about the best line my mind could come up with given the circumstances. Certainly not my finest work, but hey, at least I avoided the free hug.
Getting work done around here this week has been difficult. It’s difficult to come up with a way to use the word ‘dry’ in a sentence describing the weather this week, so I won’t. The next photo says it all:
Work continued on the new path project. Several hours were spent splitting boulders and creating large rocks which will be suitable to use on the uphill side of the path rock wall. The work involves drilling holes into the granite boulders, then splitting them apart along the line of holes using a jackhammer.
The large rocks then get loaded into a power wheelbarrow and driven back up the hill. It’s easy enough to dump them out of the machines bucket near to where they’ll be required on the new path project.
The original uphill rock wall on the path is being dismantled. The rocks used were way too small for the purpose, and with them removed, the path is able to be widened to a consistent four feet width.
The soil recovered from the digging, is dumped evenly along the downhill edge of the garden bed. That activity is more easily seen in the next photo.
There’s plenty of weeks of work before that new path project is completed.
In a sunny break between one rain storm and the next, an irrigation pipe was buried in a trench. That watering system is for the round raised garden beds next to the house. The surface cleaned up nicely, and a person would never know that a water pipe runs through the ground there.
There were vague plans to run an experiment to see whether we could use the 240V electric chainsaw for milling purposes. It’s a three horsepower saw, which is a bit on the lighter side for that work, but it’s worth giving the machine a go and see what it can do. Before I could begin the experiment, I decided to up our timber milling game by constructing two sturdy saw horses. This will lift the log and mill to a more comfortable working height. They were both made from scrap materials, but the rain was heavy enough to put a halt to any testing of the electric saw in the mill. Maybe next week.
This week’s video showed the saw horses when completed:
A Chinese Pistachio (Pistacia chinensis) was relocated to a better position. At the lower edge of the shady orchard, there is a triangle of three young trees which have been relocated over the past year or so. They look close in the photo, but are spaced about twenty feet apart.
The remaining half of the deer proof (maybe) enclosure, which protects the smaller citrus trees, had the grass cleared away from the trunks of the fruit trees. Plants grow fast at this time of year, but young fruit trees really struggle with competition from grasses and other weedy plants.
The fern gully was cleaned up of weedy plants, and I’m amazed how many of the rainforest plants growing in there survived the very dry earlier part of the year.
And just because the King Parrots are beautiful, and know it. This one is quite friendly and will follow me around if the dogs are elsewhere:
In breaking produce news:
The many raised garden beds adjacent to the house, are producing a lot of leafy greens and other yummy edibles for the kitchen.
The fruit on the trees are beginning to gain some size:
Onto the flowers:
The temperature outside now at about 10am is 9’C (48’F). So far for this year there has been 802.4mm (31.6 inches) which is up from last weeks total of 764.2mm (30.1 inches)
Comments
60 responses to “Free Hugs”
Yo, Chris – What’s with all this hugging business, all of a sudden? It’s all so … surface. People who wouldn’t invite you out to coffee, or lunch, think it’s ok to throw themselves into a clench. There was a bead shop, up on Tower, and the proprietor always lunged in to give hugs. I’d take a step back, make the sign of the cross with my fingers, and declare, “It’s a slippery slope. Next thing you know we’ll all be out in the woods, beating on drums.”
The Club can be a mine field of huggers. Usually, a declaration of “Not a hugger,” can get them to back off.
Could be worse, I suppose. According to reports, we have a drive through coffee stand, in town, with topless baristas. Or, one step further. The old fashioned kissing booth.
Boy, you harshed the hippies mellow. 🙂 Up close and personal might have led to a case of the scabies. Or, some creepy crawly that would require a trip to the drugstore for an insecticide.
Well, it’s a bit hard to figure out some good advertising for your business. I know so little about it, other than that it’s accounting, and your customers are mostly small businesses. And, that’s it. I understand the reasons for this. Confidentiality. I’ve been in jobs where confidentiality was de rigor.
The rocks in the new path, will come in quit handy to trip up the zombies. Come the zombie apocalypse.
Looking forward to part two of the chain saw mill saga. Your saw horses are quit ingenious.
The rocks in the fern gully give it a real Japanese flavor. I’m glad you haven’t had to pillage rocks from there, for one project or another. A rock sanctuary? 🙂
The king parrot is a little cutie. What’s become of Bert, the magpie? Or, dare I ask?
The fruit looks promising. Keep encouraging those owls. And, hawks.
The pig face (what a name) really provides a splash of color. The rhodie are spectacular. We won’t see the likes for months. Lew
Hi Margaret,
There are plenty of rocks here, although most are inconveniently sized, thus the work splitting boulders into more usefully shaped large rocks. Think of it like fracking for lighter oils, in that it just takes a lot of effort to extract usefully sized rocks.
Snow would definitely obscure rocks, and yeah, it sounds like your plans have to be shelved for the season. 8 inches of snow is unfathomable, and would cause a lot of havoc. Hopefully you’ve got your firewood in and ready for use, plus plenty of stores, just in case. How do your vehicles cope with so much snow?
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family, and hosting a group is a notable skill, which clearly Carla has mastered. Not everyone can host people and make for a comfortable and relaxed time for their guests. How’s Gwen going, if I may so ask? Your last report from Marty sounds as if he’d really come into his own in that new place.
Well done you, and hope the eyes are feeling better and producing clearer vision.
Ah, interesting, and glad that you and Doug have Ben there to learn and work. Did you know that Sage here is more, or less a perennial plant? The winters are hard on the plant, but it happily re-grows each year.
Those twitchy nosed little rotters, and you have my best wishes with that dealing with the rodent activity. They’re geniuses at uncovering any weaknesses in your buildings outer defences, sorry to say. Every April, they begin the process of testing out how to access a snugly warm winters nest. Best not to give the opportunity, for if not addressed, my experience suggests that it never gets lesser.
🙂 Thanks so much for the lovely words, although it feels like winter here today. In other parts of the continent, they’re enjoying almost 100’F weather and bushfires. Up in the more elevated areas of this state, it’s snowing today. A crazy day to the first official day of summer. It barely made 50’F here today. Brr!
It’s pretty early for you to be enjoying such deep winter weather, so who knows what the rest of the winter will do?
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Yeah, I recall mention of the Salatin family’s acceptance into the local area via that joining of families. Seems like the Norman’s lesson wasn’t lost. Hey, I’d never even heard of 4-H groups before, or their purpose. Sounds like a good idea for rural kids with agricultural backgrounds, and if matches are made in the process, then why not? It’s as good a place as any other. 🙂
In Motel of the Mysteries, was the porcelain sarcophagus an up market bathtub? Just a random guess there. How strange the current events and living conditions will seem to those folks of the distant future. Sounds like a fun book, and thanks for mentioning it. My education leaves a lot to be desired…
Exactly, and it’s the same thing. When an item is repaired, a person has to know certain techniques relating to how the thing was made in the first place. And yeah, you do get to see the hands and minds of the people who went to all the effort in the first place to create the item. It’s a nice experience isn’t it? I remember mentioning to you years ago that a machine arrived in a box with the caption, made with pride in the land of stuff. The machine is not without its faults, but you can see that it was well designed and built with a touch of care.
I’ve very occasionally done that, and there was that time the kid was trying to use by head as a bouncing wall for his balloon at a restaurant, and the parents ignored the goings on. Well, I certainly got a reaction, put it that way, but the couple were unable to set some reasonable boundaries. A command voice is a very useful skill to wield at times, and that works as well. A friend of mine was telling me about the social media ban for kids, and it’s probably not a bad idea. He did say that bullying online is usually done on direct messaging software platforms, so probably that won’t change. We’ll see how it goes.
Ha! Thanks for the article. The cheeky rascals, I enjoyed the age old question: What if I lie about my age? That’s been going on for a very long time. I’d heard of people joining the military in WWII by lying about their age, or getting past restrictions such as alcohol purchases etc… What an interesting article on the forthcoming ban. I must say, as a bit of self interest, I had a look to see if the restrictions apply to this blog under the WordPress aegis, and seems it might not, but time will tell. I’ll vet new commenters, and store the replies, just in case.
Today has been a day of extremes weather wise on this continent. As you’d imagine, here it’s been cold and wet. 52’F was probably the highest temperature noticed. In more elevated parts of the state, it snowed, as you do for the first official day of summer. And over on the other side of the continent, they’re having bushfires: First day of summer delivers record heat in the west, record cold in the east
You’ve done really well from all that recent Thanksgiving cook-up, and the pie and ice-cream sounds very appealing. It’s a bit like letting loose for a couple of days isn’t it? 🙂
I’ve always noticed that locally grown garlic has a whiter appearance, whilst the imported stuff looks more dull, possibly due to the fungicides sprayed onto the them, but don’t really know. I’m hardly surprised that you’re seeing differences in the produce, and perhaps the Winco folks have better buying power?
Klaatu barada nikto – Did I pronounce that correctly? 🙂 I’ve not seen this film, or the remake, sadly. On the other hand, sci-fi often does pretty well at the box office, so perhaps the disparity is some of snobbery effect regarding the genre? I tend to go to the cinemas and watch films which I’ll enjoy, and that doesn’t necessarily refer to being entertained.
A fine suggestion with the apple sauce, but we’ll stick to making cider with the surplus of apples. 🙂 I honestly wouldn’t know how to use apple sauce in the kitchen.
That happens here too in winter with the fog and low clouds holding in the heat. It’s the clear night which can freeze a persons toes right off. Well, maybe that is an exaggeration, but it sure can get cold. Some of the rain today fell as hail. A truly crazy day of one storm slamming into the house after the other, and in between, the sun would sometimes shine (but it was still cold). Lot’s of Antarctic air, yup. Your weather is sounding in the similar sort of temperature range.
As you can imagine, we did paid work today. Oh by the way, Ollie is feeling better today, and I’ve cut his food back by half, and added a little bit of salt and honey to his breakfast. Seems to have worked wonders on the big dog.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis cont…
Your comment ended up in the trash, and what sad days are these when such prose is binned by computers. What the heck do those things know anywhoo? 🙂
Ha! Thanks for the laughs about the hugs, and yeah, these people are not my friends, like why the heck would there be free hugs? Could be an opportunity for pick pockets. Such things have been known to happen. Just quietly between you and I, the bread shop would be struck off my list of places to frequent, but your apply was quite amusing. The Club reply was far more to the point, and effective.
I’d avoid the topless coffee drive through too. It’s a purely economic decision as they’re offering services, so clearly there’d be an additional cost for that. And is the coffee even any good? So many questions… You know, I’d heard of kissing booths, but have no idea what went on in such places. Hmm. Let’s see what the interweb has to say about this matter? … … Well, I never! You learn something new everyday. Osculatory favours indeed! 🙂 Usually all in a good cause.
Yeah, the guy looked like he had cooties, or bed bugs crawling on him, or something like that. 😉 Not happy, but yeah sadly I turned his day into a sour note, when he’d begun on such a high. I don’t feel bad about it, that’s for sure.
Thanks for considering the matter, and if I get one good suggestion for marketing, I’m ahead of where I was yesterday when banging away at the keyboard. The confidentiality thing is all too real. I recall the scene from the Ghostbusters film where Ted and Annette entered the party: Ok, Who Brought The Dog? | Film Clip | GHOSTBUSTERS. I certainly couldn’t say that sort of thing, but nice to hear that they’re doing OK. Oh my!
Yeah, the zombie traps will work well when required. That’ll teach ’em a lesson not to mess with me.
The saw horses were a three dimensional problem, and turned out pretty neat. Before commencing, I sat there for half an hour and figured it all out. A real brain-twister of a problem.
The rocks in the fern gully are safe. Removing them would upset the overall composition of the arrangements. Mustn’t do that. It’s impressive that so many of the ferns survived the hot and dry start to the year.
No, the magpies are doing fine. Each morning, they’re having punch ons with the much larger, yet lone, Pied Currawong bird. Both species are smart and adaptable.
🙂 The flowers are a real treat, and glad to hear that you are also enjoying them.
Cheers (again!)
Chris
Wondering you already do this or if it will look unprofessional if you let your existing business know that you have a little more time at hand to serve (other) business and if they would recommend you?
Best wishes, Emily07
stranger in a strange land indeed.
Those of us that have been left behind by a distracted culture of screen starers must wonder who has lost the plot. (I of course think it is others).
This too shall pass is one of my first reactions, but one has to deal with it in the mean time. Oh, there are plenty of societal norms still standing more or less, and plenty of neighbors that maintain continuity with traditions that make sense, but still…….
Humans are jumbled lot, and our cultural melange has both good and bad, just hard to keep up with while we are in this time of transitions.
Got our first decent snow, around 6″/150mm, and plowed the driveway for the first time this winter. And it IS winter now, fall is quite over. Lws in the single digits (degF) forecast for this week.
Hand sorting the hazelnuts in the workshop these days. The prototype machines for dehusking don’t quite get the job done, so as with all farming, no one is getting rich. That’s ok in my case, always thought of it as a research and experiment thing. Anyway, more pest loss this year, as weevils and rodents have cottoned on to the new food bonanza. Who knew? 🙂
Great big old transmission line ( 765kV !) is being planned to pass right near here soon, local protest is ramping up. Gotta feed those data centers east of here. I’m against the line because we’ll likely end up paying for it, and I still don’t buy the business plan that claims they will all make profit from that much AI capacity, much less pay off the prodigious energy use.
So it goes.
240V! that sounds like a screaming motor, and am looking forward to the next update. Had no idea they were making corded electric chainsaws. Sounds like an odd option based on where most of my cutting occurs, but there are those occasions where I haul back smaller limbs to buck next to the house, so might be good for that chore.
Haven’t mentioned books much lately, as I imagine your “going to read” stack is as high as mine, but am mostly done with a book that just confirms “same song, different verse” when it comes to human behavior.
“The Poison Squad” is about the turn of the century (19th/20th) efforts to enact food purity laws and regulations over the strident efforts of industry to sway Congress against such.
The added descriptions of putrid and deceptive wares all in the name of profits sure hit a resonant note with today’s headlines. The profit incentive and the protection of the public will be in forever offense/defense escalation, with the complexity and cunning getting (sadly) quite impressive.
Think I’ll give planting Osage Orange another try next spring.
Any new plants on your place? (I’ve not been keeping tabs very well lately, sorry)
Steve
Advertising works when there is some playfulness with it, especially for an otherwise dry topic of being a professional bean counter, so play that up.
Keeping track of the money flow of business is a challenging but often boring business, just like counting beans, so to keep track of them so that they are in their correct places, let us help you make sure things are done properly and avoid any ‘flatulence’ in/to your business.
Yo, Chris – The 4-H kids are doing it rough, in California.
https://www.kqed.org/science/1999196/chickenless-chicken-shows-bird-flu-reshapes-county-fairs-and-4-h-kids-make-do
There’s always a lot of 4-H activity, at our country fair. You’re ag-show. When I changed high schools, I went to a very rural school. It had an active FFA (Future Farmers of America), chapter. One day a week the guys would wear their very sharp, FFA jackets. Dark blue corduroy, as I remember. There was also the FHA. Future Homemakers of America.
I seem to remember a porcelain sarcophagus from “The Motel of the Mysteries.” Now a-days, fiberglass. I seem to remember a plumber’s helper was identified as a scepter. 🙂 Probably some “religious article of unknown use.” The catchall.
I did a stint as an ID checker in a bar, once upon a time. The owner was a sharp bird. She had me memorize the dates, for zodiac signs. People using other people’s ID, might have memorized the date … but not the zodiac sign. 🙂
Our high yesterday was 43F (6.11C). The overnight low was 34F (1.11C). The forecast high for today is 46F. Australia, land of weather contrasts. That’s rough for the people out west, what with the wildfires. May they stay far, far away.
I found the sidebar article about Woolworths, and affordable housing, interesting. It’s sort of the same, here. Large apartment complexes have to have a certain number of government subsidized units. The waiting lists are long. Same goes for beds, in assisted living places for the elderly.
We take a brief pause, to go talk to the Master Gardeners. “:-) …
We now return to our regularly scheduled programing.
The Master Gardeners were here to decorate the entryway, for the holidays. And, to do some last minute pruning. I mentioned forsythia for the sale, in the spring. They were ahead of me. They already had potted some up. Also, I discovered that forsythia also produce seeds.
They were aware of the willow water trick. But, sometimes they go with the more “scientific” modes of gardening. Like, rooting hormone. That kind of knowledge, is best kept alive, in case rooting hormone disappears. Or, gets way to expensive for the common folk.
Carl has 125 acres. He has an acre of it in redwood trees. His redwood cuttings still haven’t rooted. But he says they still look healthy. His wife is currently rooting some celery butts, in willow water. They’ve taken off.
I cleaned off the turkey bones, the other day. I have five small packets of meat, in the freezer, Use it as a condiment, in this and that. Or, another batch of dressing. I also saved the bones, for soup.
I don’t know when I’ll get around to making that.
“Klamath Barada Nikto.” I laughed out loud, when that pooped up in the “Evil Dead” movie. Yes, I think there’s a certain amount of snobbishness, when it comes to sci-fi films. I think, a bit, because so many really awful B and C movies were cranked out.
Applesauce. As a side, with a sprinkling of cinnamon. Or, it can be swapped, one for one in baking. To replace oil.
I’m glad Ollie’s on the mend. H got a bath yesterday, and will be going to the groomer, tomorrow morning. My Idaho friend’s two dogs have started doing something odd. Dragging rocks in the house. Maybe they don’t have enough toys?
Coffee drive throughs. Just one of the many things I don’t do.
I may have to watch “Ghostbusters,” again. That scene has totally fell down the memory hole. I did think of a motto for your business, as far as advertising goes. And, promptly forgot it. It might resurface. Or, something better. Lew
Hi, Chris!
It seems to me a good idea to put up a vegetable stall at a rest stop. Road weary drivers pass by it on their way to the loo and perk up at the sight of fresh food, can’t resist buying some. Why not darl? That’s so funny about your failed straw poll.
I never thought about whether you advertised your business. I kind of assumed it was word of mouth. Do you realize what you have done by giving your readers a chance to make advertising suggestions? Brace yourself.
That hippy probably wanted to pick your pocket. Good thing you stopped him.
Goodness, those rocks are huge. Though I see how you do it, I don’t see how you do it. The chainsaw mill will be an interesting experiment; I hope it works out. I know it works with a gas-powered chainsaw. I say – control that dog!
Hey, my son just walked in to show me that he had bought a smaller, battery powered chainsaw (his are gas-powered). This was partly because there was a deal on it that several batteries came with it that would work with his other battery-powered tools (they’re mostly from the same manufacturer). It’s also for when he wants a lighter, quieter chainsaw. The neighbors will be grateful.
Has the Chinese Pistachio produced anything yet? Whatever kind we have in our stores here, I sure do like them.
He is a pretty parrot. I think he just wants to give you a hug. You seem to attract that.
From #37 last week:
Thank you for letting me know what you do to the root systems of the trees that you transplant.
When I said I was growing the ingredients for kimchi, I just meant the basic vegetables: Green cabbage, carrots, onions, kale, and Daikon, not counting the spices. I would have garlic leftover from last year if I had been able to plant any then. I have some growing, but it won’t mature for a long time. We did have chillis, but they were too hot and I didn’t dry any. I have tried to grow ginger outside but it can’t mature in this climate.
Ah, you said “chicken coup”; as though your last revolution wasn’t enough.
I wish I had Pig Face. I still can’t find the pig. Your rhodies seem to bloom forever. Thanks for the flowers!
Pam
@ Lew,
Yeah, that hunting episode was rather the thriller, not in a good way. I’d rather meet a grizzly bear with a toothache and a good case of the grumpies than have to hide from idiots with a spotlight and rifles. Add my youthful stupidity to the stupidity of others and it’s a wonder that I’m here. True of all of us, I suppose.
DJSpo
Chris,
Free hugs? Ugh. Ych a fi! It could be worse. Imagine a roadside coffee stand advertising “Topless baristas AND free hugs!”
Once when the Princess wanted her special coffee stand drink, she had me drive to the local topless barista place. “Topless” at that shop meant no shirt. There was other clothing above the waist instead. We were both mildly disappointed. Then she tried the coffee. Let’s say that the coffee was so ungood that we never went back. 🙂
Back on my fellow student and the prickly pear. I DID warn him. I even offered to let him peel the fruit with my pocket knife. He wouldn’t listen. That was on a 30km or so bicycle ride in the desert with it 30C. I had plenty of water. He had none and wouldn’t drink any of the water I offered. Let’s just say that he rarely listened to suggestions from anybody about anything. So most of us ended up ignoring him.
Sorry, no ideas from me for advertising. Well, no useful ideas, just cheeky ones. On the serious side, I rather like the idea Emily07 had. Word of mouth recommendations from satisfied customers. And that might fit well to get the type of clients you prefer, also.
Cheeky ideas. Once upon a year, I was more bored than normal at work. I purposely violated several rules of logic and proved, following a very convoluted argument, that “mediocrity is perfection”. Remember, I was working for the County, and we often got comments about how stupid we were and how no smart people go into government work. So, I suggested to my boss that I had come up with a great, wonderful new County Motto: “Mediocrity is perfection. At the County, we strive to be perfect.” That was the peak of my advertising ideas.
Thanks. You have provided us with another mystery. The rocks are huge while sitting in the pathway and getting their initial photograph. Then they are smaller several minutes later. How did taking their picture shrink the rocks? Big mystery, that is. Would that mean that if you took enough pictures, the rocks would keep getting smaller each time, eventually ending up as stones or even gravel?
Nice saw horse design. I can see it now. You have extra produce, so you go to a certain place, open a roadside stand. Advert signs for several km as the unwary approach the location: “Free saw horse rides. Hugs extra.” 😉
It has been awhile since I saw a picture of the fern gully. It is really looking good. I’d forgotten about the rocks there. Does it stay cooler there on the hot days?
The pigface is striking. Wonderful color.
Winter is here. Had about 30mm of snow today. That means it warmed up somewhat form the weekend, which had two nights near -7C. Not as cold, not as snowy as some of your other readers, but winter has barely begun. Other than walking Dame Avalanche, we stayed home. The first two or three snows are nasty. Well, the drivers are. Seems like people forget how to drive in the snow, forget to go slower. Lots of wrecks.
DJSpo
Hi Emily,
Welcome to the discussion, and thank you so much for the most excellent marketing suggestion.
And with one short, but powerful sentence, you’ve unlocked the secret to where I’m at today. Step, but for a moment into the way-back machine, and I’ll tell you a little story from the past. Early on in my business, I utilised my network of contacts to see if they knew anyone who was in need of my services. The rest is history.
Now, the ancient grand master of strategy, Sun Tzu, made the helpful suggestion that in any fighting force, the champions (and their families) should be looked after. I’ve been lucky to have known a few ladies who’d championed my business far and wide, and truly, those lovely people have done all my marketing for me, and in return I have looked after their interests in turn. It’s a nice arrangement.
Seventeen years down the track, and I’m at the point where some new methodology is required, but what it may be, that’s the question.
Hope you are doing well, and best wishes to you also!
Cheers and respect for mentioning the very best of all methods. 🙂
Chris
Hi Andy,
🙂 Thanks for the laughs, and you’ve commented upon a truth, to which I’d not considered from a marketing perspective. I very much appreciate the suggestion, and will try and incorporate that.
Tell you a funny story from the long dark past, which highlights your point to a tee. Imagine me in the early days of having wrested a licence via much hardship, and then hung out my service shingle for the general public… Anywhoo, I quickly learned that most, but not all, business owners have their minds on operating their own businesses, so that as you noted, when sailing the wide accountant-seas, it was best to only bring important issues to their attention.
And in sailing, that Titanic incident suggests that icebergs are perhaps probably worthy of mentioning in advance. Knowing what thing is an iceberg, now in more polite language, could be described as professional judgement. Hmm.
Your comment merits serious consideration.
Cheers and thanks,
Chris
Hi Pam,
See, I was wrong, and clearly you would have stopped off to peruse their wares. Here, my professional brain suggests that the business would have a lower cost base, being located adjacent to public freeway, err, rest facility, so prices may invariably be lower than elsewhere. Unanimously, the poll was decided in favour of visiting. By the way, you’re clearly in good company there… 😉
That was how it has worked for me to date, word of mouth. And for your interest, I’ve always looked after the people (and their families) who’ve done the networking. Sun Tzu advised to do no less with the champions in his army. Nah, marketing is not my strong suit, so why not ask all the fine readers here for their thoughts, and I’m perfectly fine with hundreds of suggestions.
Pam, that was my thought, but only afterwards, with the idea of the hippy wanting to pick my pockets. At the time it was just all a bit surprisingly random and creepy, and oh, but did he get a surprise, or what with my swift reaction! Serves him right.
Drilling the rocks is an interesting process, because it rattles the body, the machine being a powerful hammer drill. I doubt the ancient Roman’s, who used similar, but entirely manual processes, felt the rattling I do. Still, the job gets done much quicker these days.
Yeah, the gas-powered machine does work when used in that purpose, yup. It’ll be more pleasant smelling though if the electric machine works (no exhaust fumes), and hey, let’s do this experiment (in a couple of days time). Glad you enjoyed the outro, and Dame Plum has her own ideas about this world, and sometimes we don’t align.
That’d be the red variety? 😉 No need to say any more on that subject for obvious reasons. I actually really like the electric chainsaws (corded or battery), and I believe your son will be impressed. Tell you a little secret, if the chain is kept sharp enough, they’ll cut through most timbers. The grunt of the machine really sets the speed and depth of the cut, but the chain does the work. It’s worth noting though, that I heard a rumour, that the cheaper Stihl battery stuff is possibly not repairable.
The poor Pistachio tree is yet very young. Maybe I’m wrong, but I read that the leaves are possibly edible on this particular variety, and have been used for tea making. They are yummy nuts, aren’t they? Pam, I’m looking at the early Peaches on the trees and wishing them along in their ripening process.
🙂 Very funny, and when a parrot, it’s good to be the King!
Ah, thanks for the correction, and that’s still a goodly percentage of the meal. Ginger is hard to grow here as well, even in the greenhouse, and I really wanted the tubers to succeed. Word on the street, is that it will be 84’F tomorrow. That will be a serious shock to my cold adapted system. Oh well. May your current batch of garlic be bountiful. Hey, is it my imagination, or do chilli’s get hotter when they’re dried?
I have it on good authority that the chicken coup, will not be televised. You read it here first! 😉 Nice pick up too. Thanks.
Ain’t just you, I’m still wondering how the brightly coloured succulent flowers earned that name. Beyond my knowledge. 🙂 Hopefully the flowers send you some remote warmth from the land of down under.
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
And see, your lady forced the ultimate test of those facilities, and now we know, because the results are in. That the coffee was no good. Sometimes novelty isn’t enough…
Ah, such unwise thorny decisions may be attributable to heat exhaustion, and I must add that riding 30km in 30’C heat is no small endeavour, but in this instance, the many paths taken may have been the result of longer term, err, lifestyle choices. In all fairness, as individuals we all bring different skills to the table, but yeah, sadly the incident you mentioned is perhaps a red flag. Oh well. For all we know, your friend may have been a great mathematician? Then just as equally, he could have been an as#$ole, hard to know really. 😉
It was an excellent marketing suggestion, and one I’ve followed to date. Unfortunately, now I’m in the situation I have to do a little bit more, and truly the subject is a complete mystery to me.
What do you mean? Isn’t mediocrity indeed perfection? The motto is very cheeky. As an interesting side, but related story, this heavy use (not here) of arty-fish-al words, is actually a move towards the median. How could it be otherwise? And you may laugh, I once worked in a large business which had the words ‘second best’ in their mission statement – what a poop idea. And a strong case could be made that they actually may have been second best in the market. Crazy stuff.
That rock photo surprised me as well. It was an unintentional trick of the camera. Tell ya what, the more I look at photos, the more I realise that they’re good, but our own eyes view the world slightly differently. Lenses have a fish eye effect, whereas the eyes don’t produce that. Look, I’ll try your rock suggestion, but I don’t think it’s gonna work, man. 😉
Ha! That’s funny about the saw horses and free hugs, but hey, someone might take the saw horses and leave me with a hug. It’s not a good hourly rate.
Yeah, the fern gully is pretty much out of the sun for most of the year. It was the tree ferns on the very sunniest edge which turned toes up in the hot and dry start to this year. Oh well, the remaining ferns are spreading. Mother shield ferns produce little baby ferns on the ends of their tips, and those take in the soil if conditions are good.
More flowers to come… 🙂
I’d stay home in such cold weather as well. And such early winter weather is hard in your part of the world, but it’d be mayhem down here. And there was snow up in the more elevated alpine parts of this state. Cold here again today, but tomorrow will max out at 29’C. Like, how does that work. It’ll be a jungle in that heat.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
The poultry auction was stomped down here too, thus our sad chick replacement utter debacle story. Oh well. I’m dubious of the whole thing in commercial environments, and that’s not suggesting that it ain’t real, far from it, but those lot regularly cull their flock anywhoo. The birds rarely get to live one to two years, so if the goobermint helps out with that horrid task…
Given we generally all have to work in groups, so it’s not a bad idea to get the kids used to such social arrangements. Who knows, they might even learn some techniques to put a stop to social nonsense in those environments. I’ll bet they don’t teach those skills! There’s been some groups many years ago where a gesture here or there, could have saved a lot of drama. I’m sure that you’d know the feeling? I’m thinking of the aprons…
Ah, good to read that the guess as to the ceramic bathtub was correct, and yeah, fibreglass, and acrylic seems to be popular as well. It’s quite relaxing to read in the bath, unless the book is accidentally dunked in the water. No coming back from that error. Out of curiosity, how did the library deal with books which were damaged upon return? The plumbers helper was clearly reaching down into the underworld! What a fun premise for a book.
Oh yeah, the zodiac is a great test, and in my misspent yoof, that sort of question got me with the post code, which I’d stupidly failed to remember. The owner was pretty sharp to have worked that one out. Hey, forgot to mention that the gig we went to a month or so back was an 18+ event because they were serving alcohol. It was interesting watching who the security guard was ID checking, and he had a definite preference for the young ladies, even if they were clearly over 18. I just laughed at him when our turn came up.
The weather extremes are intense, and allegedly a farmer over there in the west was overcome by flames, whilst apparently working a machine clearing a fire break on his property. Not good. Cold again here today, but warmer than where you are. It’s meant to get to 84’F tomorrow. Crazy stuff.
It is possible that that business is attempting to circumvent rules around the number of locations they can establish in any one area. I believe that there are limits. And the same thing is true here with social housing. The wait lists are extraordinarily long, many years in fact from what I’ve heard.
Hope the decorations are looking good. Good thinking with the Forsythia and the spring plant sale fund raiser.
Fair enough about the substitute old school rooting hormone. It’s probably a lot like the distinction between say, bakers yeast and sour dough starter. Both get there in the end. But knowing it is an option, and having tested it out, is better than being blithely unaware. And agreed, it’s not like prices aren’t on the up.
Go Carl! And that’s a large parcel of land. I’d struggle with that much, although you’d imagine that most of it would be forest, maybe. Interesting about the celery, but I tend to grow the much easier Lovage plant instead. Tastes almost the same to me.
Oooo, the bones will make a superb soup addition. Back in the old days, nobody discarded bones in the trash! What a horror waste story that is that the stuff possibly ends up in landfill for most households. So much useful phosphates, carelessly discarded.
It was a pretty funny scene with Ash mumbling his way through the line, and stuffing it up. And without you mentioning the origin, I’d never have known. It’s weird isn’t it that sobbery, but the box office is a less biased critic than those who get paid for that task. It’s possibly worse, when critics are criticising other critics! But they had it coming… 😉
I like where you are going with the apple sauce suggestion, but cider…
Ollie is even more sprightly today, and back to his former self. Hope H was well behaved during her moment of unwanted dampness? Never heard of dogs dragging rocks into a house. Wonder what they’re doing with that activity?
Life is too short for take away coffee. Ceramic and a good book is much more civilised, and I’m doing my bit to bring reading in public back into fashion.
It’s a fun film that one, and truly original. I loved the bit where they were discussing that outside of academia, one must work for a living. Did the memory resurface? Could be important.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Steve,
Candidly, I’m with you all the way in this matter. It ain’t us, it’s them. 🙂 I much prefer books over reading the same upon a screen. Dunno why, but books are analogue and that makes them better.
Agreed, and the line: ‘this too shall pass’, very much sums up the disparity of I dunno, doing activities like growing edible plants. I’m of the opinion that economics will necessitate the old ‘dirt under fingernails’ bit. For sure, but until then…
That is a pretty decent dump of snow, which won’t possibly melt any time soon. Whoa! Single digit Celsius is bad enough, like this morning when it was 6’C outdoors, but the same thing in Fahrenheit, is off the charts cold. Is it likely to get colder in your part of the world, or is December / January the coldest months? 29’C here tomorrow, apparently.
Bummer about the dehusking machine, and the job can be done manually, but the volume you’re dealing with is what I’d describe as a challenge. Spotted that one of the hazelnut bushes here has produced a small developing nut. Looks good, and I’ll try and chuck a photo onto next weeks blog. The weevils are a worry, yikes! And yeah, rats (and possibly mice) can climb the fruit trees here as well. They’re like high wire acrobats those rodents, err, good luck. And I’d send you some owls, but would get in a lot of trouble, so make sure you tell your night time predator birds to get their act together. 🙂
Hmm. Similar problems are under way in towns to the west of here. Apparently, locals rights have been legislated against. Few are happy about this, and I appreciate your concern. Nobody puts these towers through the middle of ritzy well-to-do housing areas, do they?
No, the 240V 9amp chainsaw sounds more like a loud sewing machine. Pretty quiet actually, and has a good soft start function, which will prolong the motors lifespan. It’s a Stihl too so is very well constructed, but being now discontinued, parts are expensive.
Thanks for appreciating that about the to-read list. 🙂 Ha! What a read, and yeah, they old timers used to say that the more things change, the more they stay the same. And mineral and protein content of food in those days, was probably better.
No new plants, more just relocating fruit trees to better locations. The Osage orange would probably grow well here, and those are interesting plants. Please do let me know how it goes with that.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Chris,
An early start to meteorological winter here. On Saturday we received 6.4 inches of heavy, wet snow that got heavier and wetter as the temperature warmed a little above freezing and it rained on top of the snow. I’d like to forget how long it took Mike and me to shovel that snow off our 100 ft / 30 m long driveway, but it had to be done to avoid the slightly sloping driveway turning into an ice rink once the temperature dropped below freezing that night.
Because it was Saturday and the start of the snow was well forecasted, it wasn’t as disruptive as it could have been. By contrast, yesterday (Monday), another 3 or so inches of snow started falling before noon, which the local weather service office had forecast would not begin before around 4pm. All the roads of all sizes very quickly became snow-covered and slick before the state, county, and local transportation departments could get their snowplows and salt trucks out. What a mess. Mike had to drive in it, and I had to shovel it off of the driveway by myself. At least it was dry and fluffy snow. Another inch fell in the evening, after I stopped shoveling, which I had to shovel off the driveway, again, this morning (Tuesday). My muscles are not real happy with me, just sayin. St. Louis set new daily snowfall records for Saturday and yesterday, and Saturday’s snowfall was the fifth highest November snowfall on record. The snow is good for the soil and the trees, maybe not as good for my old muscles however. But I did get plenty of exercise!
I love the King Parrot photo! Also enjoyed all the photos of foods and flowers. It’ll be a long time before we see the like.
With today having been designated (by who?) as the day to do digital giving, organizations have their digital hands out. My real fingers are busily giving them the delete key. 😉
Claire
Yo, Chris – Hmmm. Advertising. Maybe something like, “Small business accounting can sometimes be a burden. Let us lift it!” or, “Small business accounting can be like being lost in the bush. Let us help you hack your way out!” Andy and Emily had some good ideas. “Word of mouth.”
The old guy who had bird flu, the next county over, died. Of course, he was 1.) old, and 2.) the article mentioned “underlying conditions.” He did contract it from a backyard flock.
Best stick with paperbacks, in the bath. If one goes in the drink, the loss isn’t great.
LOL. We had some real go-arounds with library customers who returned damaged books. Sometimes, slipped in the book drop, as if we wouldn’t notice. Sometimes, we’d put them in a plastic bag, and hold onto them until the customer contacted us. “That book was in perfect condition, when I returned it!” Really? Damp and smelling of cat piss? We’d charge the replacement cost of the book, plus processing. Of course, we’d get a lot of “Can I buy it cheaper off The River, and replace it that way?” Well, sure, as long as it’s the exact copy and edition … no paperbacks for hardbacks. And, there’s still the processing costs. Remember that bit that about 5% of your customer base isn’t worth dealing with?
Oh, that’s sharp. Postal codes for ID checking.
Our high yesterday was 46F (7.77C). The overnight low was 43F (6.11C). Our forecast high for today is 48F. It’s a bit damp out, but nothing over the top. I was up at 7am, to get H to the groomer by 8. Was the sun up? Got me. We’re socked in. At least I didn’t have to contend with early morning glare.
The Master Gardeners were here, yesterday, to decorate the entry way. Tastefully restrained. A few lights, but you probably can’t see them from outer space. I mentioned to them that I’d like a larger space for pumpkins, next year. Turns out, they prioritize growing food. And, they’ll set their minds to it. I was surprised they felt like that. I guess they don’t make a big deal out of it, so as not to dis the ladies, who plant a lot of flowers.
I watched the newer version of “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” last night. A few scenes were directly lifted from the old movie. I found the ending, unsatisfying. And, there was a very irritating child, who kept tipping off the authorities to capture or kill the alien.
I found a few articles on why dogs might collect rocks. There are theories. I told my Idaho friend she’s lucky they just collect rocks, and not Barbie dolls, or colonial silver sugar spoons. 🙂
Hmm. Reading in public can be a real conversation starter. I’m sure more than one meet-cute moment happened over books.
I saw an article about Australian wildlife. Miniature kangaroos? Any at your place? I predict they will soon become the pet du jour.
https://www.cnn.com/science/bettong-bouncing-back-brink-of-extinction-spc-c2e
I’m reading a pretty interesting book, right now. “What to Eat Now.” By Marion Nestle. Not related to the chocolate people. 2025. She wrote “What to Eat,” back in 2006. Which I’m sure I read. The subtitle is “The Indispensable Guide to Good Food, How to Find It, and Why it Matters.” From the dust jacket: “The typical American supermarket carries more than thirty thousand products. How do you decide what to buy? Misinformation, disinformation, and corporate misdirection play crucial and often confounding roles in how we think about and choose food.” I’m not reading every chapter. At 700 pages …
Right now, I’m reading about organic foods. And the difference between Organic (big ‘O’) and organic (little ‘o’) foods. Just about every huge food corporation are picking up small organic companies, as, there’s money in organic food. There’s also a chapter on pet food, that I’m looking forward to reading. Lew
Hi everyone,
A bit of patience may be required today! 🙂 A WordPress core Update removed the support for the very old theme I’d been using (Twenty Fifteen for those who are technically minded), and the entire website went down in a ball of flames. I’ll try and pretty everything up tonight, so replies to comments will be limited. Anyway, things should be back to normal (whatever that is) within a few days.
These things happen, and it’s been remarked upon before that the most dreaded word in the English language is ‘update’. Oh well.
Cheers
Chris
Chris:
Poor, Chris. That’s the last thing you needed. You go through so much torture for us.
Pam
Chris,
Oh ouch! Updates. UGG.
So, only a highlight. We received an additional inch or so of snow overnight, for a grand total of about 2 inches of wet and heavy stuff. MUCH easier to deal with than Claire’s significantly larger snowfalls. When the snow is wet and heavy like that, it matters not how deep the snow is. Snowblowers clog rapidly with that wet and heavy stuff. Shovels are required.
Good luck with the technology.
DJSpo
Hi Pam,
Oh my goodness, what a nightmare occurred this morning over breakfast. 🙂 One minute all was good with the world, and the WordPress 6.9 core was installed, and then BAM! The old theme was no longer working. How does the new website look to you?
Hopefully you’re enjoying all that snow! It was a beautiful sunny and warm day here today, which I spent mostly indoors, although we got into the garden for a couple of hours prior to sunset. A deer had begun pulling an apple tree over, and ants were climbing all of the citrus trees. They farm sap sucking aphids which leave a sooty mould on the leaves. Grease bands were smeared on all trees, and that’ll mess with the ants. 😉 Better run, sorry, it’s not my natural state to avoid bouts of chattiness, but the tech-bros got me good this time.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Claire,
Ah, the snow Gods got you and Mike good and proper with that heavy wet dump, I’m sorry to say. 6.4 inches is a phenomenal amount of snow to have to deal with, and your words suggested that it continued to snow afterwards. Not good.
Oh my, the thought of a vehicle slipping down hill on ice, horrifies me. One year, during a snowfall I’d neglected to engage the four wheel drive gearbox, and the car lost traction and did a 360 degree spin on ice, and then slid towards the downhill side of the road – which had quite a decent fall with no barriers. So the need for removing the accumulated snow is crucial for road access. Obviously things are different here, and the snow melts in a day, but in your weather I’d choose to hunker down in place.
Far out, you’re getting quite the work out with all that shovelling. How are you holding up after all that effort? And I hear you about that, such things do get harder as a person ages. Why do you reckon I’m getting the rock work done now? 🙂 There are a lot of other projects demanding attention, but the work with the rocks is demanding. Hmm.
The friendly King Parrot sends cordial tail feather shakes! 🙂 And hope you enjoy the view into a warmer clime during your winter months.
Claire, after today, them tech-bros ain’t gettin’ nothin’ from me. An update to the core software of this WordPress site, took it out this morning. You may notice that it all looks different now? I’d be curious to hear what you have to say about the changes?
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
Man, I’m thinking Bob Marley: The tech bros shot the Sheriff, but they did not shoot the ability to rapidly adapt to changing software circumstances. Ooo, ooo, ooo! Kind of works. But I lost a couple of hours this morning trying to get something to work here. I may create my own WordPress theme over the next few days, but we’ll see.
And thanks for the super-cut reel, as you can imagine, fun time has been eaten by the tech-bros. They’ll pay for this, or maybe I will, at this stage, it’s hard to tell. 🙂
Oh my, I’m hearing you about the snow, and yeah, there’s no point breaking Big Bertha. Those small engines, are well, small, and not fuelled with diesel like the biggerer municipal snow ploughs.
DJ, man, real sorry but it was 28’C here today (spent indoors working) and so nice (as seen from a distance). Did a couple of hours in the garden before the sun set putting grease bands around all of the citrus trees to stop the ants. And, can you imagine the temerity of a deer to try and pull an apple tree over and into a horizontal position? Strong steel thwarts such menaces, but there’ll been an accounting for that pesky activity.
Better run. And hey, how’s everything look to you from your perspective? If you have any suggestions, please do say something.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
I like both of those sentences. They add an element of fun, with the offer of assistance, into market offerings. He says, writing them down. Might rebuild the business website over the holiday period, and also pay gargle to up the ranking. I’m trying to bring in more local business, but we’ll see. For your interest, for all sorts of reasons, like you did recently, I’ll have to trial some new local mechanics. The experience will be viewed from the perspective of how are new customers found and interacted with.
Man, the tech bros got me bad this morning. Just after approving your comment, the core software for the website was updated, then everything exploded. Had to spend a rushed hour just getting a replacement going. The old theme I’d used for eleven years clearly wasn’t compatible with the new core update. Oh well. How’s it all look from your end?
That’s the awful thing about the bird flu, or any of those sorts of viruses. A person can get real unlucky and their immune systems takes them out, pretty darn quickly too. But birds and humans have been around each other for a long time, and so there’s some continual exposure. Of course, things can change, and many historically notable pandemics have taken place after long periods of turmoil, or say even two failed harvests. And yeah, underlying conditions are best avoided, for those reasons. When I dealt with those obnoxious chickens two months ago, that thought of blood contact was at the back of my mind.
Good advice with the paperbacks falling into the water. And will do.
Really? Ooo, that’s sneaky dropping the book in the after hours shute, but I’m getting an idea as to how their brains work. The cats urine stench is probably a step too far, and the people would have known. Yeah, some folks really try it on, don’t they? It’s true what you say about the 5%, and that’s been my experience as well.
The post code one stumped me, and it’s embarrassing to be thrown out on one’s ear whilst your mates watch on in a state of mirth.
Your winter weather sounds a lot like what it feels like here at that cold time of year. And yes, days of being socked in is De rigueur for the winter months here. And at least it is above freezing. 🙂 The downside is you just can’t see very far around you. It was 82’F and really, really nice here today. Working indoors all day felt chilly, but then you could walk outdoors in the strong sunshine and warm up.
Spent a couple of hours before sunset working in the garden. A deer had decided that it would be a smart idea to pull an apple tree over. This morning the poor tree trunk was at a 45 degree angle, and I was unhappy. Anyway, hauled it back to vertical and provided some steel star picket supports, and more importantly, pruned off the lower branches.
Then we discovered that the ants had been attempting to farm aphids on the numerous citrus trees. The aphids harvest sugars, and the ants then harvest the sugars in a symbiotic arrangement. It’d be OK, except the aphids poop all over the leaves which produces a sooty mould. I’m not into it, although a bit of hot soapy water can remove the mould. We placed thick grease bands around the trunks of each of the citrus trees.
Ollie is heaps better too, and I’ve cut his food back, and forced him outdoors. Sunshine works wonders.
Yes, but is it traditional to be tasteful with Christmas light displays? 😉 Good to hear that they lean into that aspect of plants. Interesting, and like what you wrote, it’s uncommon.
I’d read about the remake of the film, and Keanu is a good character actor, but yeah. It is a re-make, and they always try and balance putting a new spin on an old story, versus simply repeating the older story. I reckon that’s a hard balance to achieve.
Ain’t not much mad cash to be made from rocks. 🙂
That’s true, and I’ve started many a conversation over the years about reading in public, but mostly what I’m working towards, is displaying that it is an enjoyable, and hence, acceptable thing to do.
Those bettongs would have once been up here, but habitat destruction and then inappropriate land management afterwards probably wiped them out. Interestingly, many of the marsupials dig, like the wombats do, but also the Echidna’s do a lot of digging. The soils need that activity. Some of the surrounding forest has hard clay pans, or way too much vegetation. Crazy stuff. Kangaroos come in all sorts of sizes, and there are the Pademelons.
Have you gleaned anything interesting from the book, and I’m of the opinion that food is far more important a topic than most would believe. I’m hardly surprised by the organic business.
Cheers and better run!
Chris
Yo, Chris – What a dog’s breakfast, no thanks to the tech bros.
Let’s see. From this view, the whole comments section is squished in a narrow band, down the screen. Maybe 5 – 7 words wide. Also, the comments have no numbers.
I’ll keep this short. I can, you know. 🙂 .
I made Anzac biscuits, last night. Over 3 1/2 dozen. With my adaptions. I’m dropping a plate off to the kids at the library. I’d forgot they were so “crisp.” Best with coffee or milk. I’ve got some ideas on how to make a softer biscuit.
H looks very spiffy, after the groomers. Good timing. When we got home, she attracted the attention of a possible new boyfriend. Lew
Well, that’s interesting. After hitting “post comment” everything in the comments is now wider. You must be tinkering. Lew
Chris,
Any writing has been narrowed. There are also two sets of comments. Identical in content, I think, but one is narrow but readable. The other is very very narrow. Weird. Also, if I try to read comments on my “mobile device”, all I get is a single vertical column of letters. Yup, the entire comments section on the cell phone is one vertical line of words with no spacing.
Software updates. Ych a fi.
DJSpo
Yo, Chris – You probably need a laugh, about now. So, here it is.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/03/us/drunk-raccoon-passed-out-scli-intl
We’ll reserve a place at the tables, for the raccoon. Lew
Hello Chris,
I am sorry for the extra unpaid work you got as a cyber wednesday donation from the techbros.
The font looks very modern (sans serif), but the comment numbers are gone, as are the sidebars.
For the marketing, some things that have worked for us: When we started the tree nursery here, I sent some invitations to the local papers to come by the first summer when there was green leaves on the trees. Nice photos. I also called a friend who runs a garden podcast, and he came by for an on-location interview, which led to another and another interview. And in March I started a monthly interview podcast myself.
Something like 30% of the customers who show up in the farm store say that they have read in the local paper or heard about this business in a podcast.
I also give quite a lot of trainings on the topic (to 100-200 people per year), and some of them also come here to get trees.
Your business is of course very different, but maybe the media route is useful?
When we moved to this town and started a company, I needed an accountant to help me setup the book-keeping and for the formal audit of the books. I asked the real-estate agent and the local bank office, and both indicated that the youngish and friendly Martin J at Företagsrevisorn would be a good match for our small business.
So… maybe a good word-of-mouth could come via the local bank office or local real-estate agents, for newcomers or people who start new businesses in your general area?
And I concur with the funny part. I often make nut jokes about myself. 😉
To conclude – a word of warning: Don’t come to Sweden. Many of us are compulsive huggers. We never kiss on the cheek like the French, but gladly hug colleagues, friends, neighbors, extended family members and trees.
Peace,
Göran
Hi all,
Ooof! I’m in testing mode with the website and will hopefully get something sorted out today. But until then… This font seems way too small to me.
Cheers
Chris
Hey Chris,
thank you for the warm welcome.
Here I try another marketing thing: the brother of a friend of mine once wanted affordable room to rent in a town that was anything but. He printed himself some T-shirts saying what he wanted (cheap but central) and contact way (in his case: talk to me). Dunno if you´d like to have customers from all the fairs etc. you go to? Or maybe figure out what kind of business people you find cool, go to their hang-out/meeting places and do the same thing? Maybe something with a *shudder* ;.) QR-code paper for contact info? I´m thinking of the Comic-Con (a convention of comic fans, which at one time was in lieu with a games-con where I went) where there were a heap of little stalls with hopeful artists trying to start a claim to fame… erm…business and some of them might have been interested in an accountant…? And thinking of JMG: what do you really wish for? More clients as an accountant so as to serve more people, or more income-security in insecure times? Maybe the way could be noticing where you can generate more of that and not necessarily in your customary way?
Chris:
Now there’s a thought: An electric chainsaw will be more pleasant smelling. I’d like that.
Ja, the red kind of chainsaw.
Yes, it seems to me that chillis are hotter when dried, but so many of them are just plain too hot! And you like that red mustard that I find too hot to eat unless it is the very young leaves. Not long ago I tried to make imitation horseradish with red mustard. Yuk.
Twas not me with snow. We had a sunny day with a high of 45F (7C), though the nights are still below freezing.
This new format is okay except that I miss the numbers on the comments and there is no place to connect to Goran’s blog anymore (and all the other blogs you had links to). Thanks for continuing to wrestle with it.
Pam
Hi Chris,
My favorite things about the new format are the generous amount of white space (I find it easier on the eyes than the sidebar, and I noticed that I can still get the old posts from Archives) and the clean, large typeface. The comment numbers have disappeared, but so far I don’t miss them. For my part, I like this format better than the previous format.
Boo to the techbros who didn’t give you any warning before the update that your old theme wouldn’t work!! They could at least have let you know a week or two before the update, instead of just dumping it onto your website with no warning and making you scramble.
Claire
Chris,
I like the Zen look with the white space. The comment numbers would be nice to have back. Ditto the links to other places. But my aging eyes with early-stage cataracts like the Zen look. The font size is good.
Finished reading 1984. Winston was so stupid that an idiot looks smart in comparison. Rule #1, and he knew it, is “Trust nobody”. So he trusted O’Brien and the alleged prole that he rented the room from. And talked freely to them both. Naturally, both were part of the thought police. And worse.
The fact that he initially hated Julia and wanted to cosh her on the head with a brick, well, that changed as soon as she slipped him the “I love you” note. Naive as well as stupid. He knew that reading that note could get him in trouble. And he knew that pursuing clandestine meetings with her absolutely would get him in trouble. But he did it anyway.
Julia wasn’t much better. While she did try to have her various affairs outside of the city, I was always suspicious that there were hidden cameras and microphones anyhow. Yup, turned out to be true. Worse, she allowed Winston to talk her into having their liaisons at that one rented room. At least if they were always changing locations they stood a slim chance. Maybe.
The Princess and I record and watch some of the late night tv shows. Stephen Colbert will occasionally have a segment that features him asking a guest 10 questions so the audience can get to know the guest better. Always the same questions. Things like “Best sandwich”, “apple or orange”, “cats or dogs”, things like that. The final question is always “What number am I thinking of?” Regardless of the response, Colbert always quickly replies, “Nope”.
Recently, Lady Gaga was the guest. Her response to the final question was “42.” Colbert smiled, said, “That was a good answer, but wrong.” I’ve been saying for years that someone needed to say “42” and, when told “Nope”, to protest with “It can’t be wrong. 42 is the answer to the Ultimate Question!”. At least Lady Gaga answered with the “proper number”. And Colbert appreciated that bit of humor.
More snow expected tonight and in the morning. Not much expected, maybe less than an inch total. Then a warming trend to +7C or so by Friday.
DJSpo
Hi everyone!
Thanks for the lovely comments, time spent looking at the website when it’s under development, helpful suggestions, and overall patience whilst this software craziness is being rectified.
I’ve particularly appreciated the feedback, and spare a thought for Sandra who has been happily testing away whilst picking up on all sorts of strangeness. I reckon the website is working pretty well now.
You may be wondering what happened? The WordPress core software (which runs this here website) was updated to v6.9 yesterday morning. All fine there. What went wrong was the very old theme used had dated back to 2015, and in those days things were a bit looser, and I could load content onto the theme itself.
A theme is basically an entire set of parameters which can be loaded from one of thousands of free (or paid for) templates and that tells the WordPress core software how the website will look and work. Obviously the themes can be highly modified – which is what I’ve been doing today.
Anywhoo, apparently I was doing a no-no website wise error with the old theme, and so it had a meltdown with the core update, and no longer worked. Basically I’ve been forced to mend my evil computer ways.
Well, they tell me that chickens come home to roost, and it may be true, but things have changed and what once was cool, is no longer cool. And the old theme I used was dumped. When you go to the blog now, instead of getting straight into the latest, you and I are now all forced to go through what is technically known as a landing page. Then click on the latest blog to get back to where things used to be done (without the extra click). Most websites do this nowadays, and presumably it’s some sort of standard.
Now, the only suggestion I couldn’t implement was numbered comments. Yes, it is possible, but I have to modify the php code for the theme. No big deal, except when the theme updates, as it does from time to time, the functionality will disappear as it is over written by the update, and then I’ll have to modify the php code all over again. Basically, I made the decision to let that one go. Sorry.
Please do keep providing feedback on the website, as the software is highly customisable, and hey, we’re in the New Age now, apparently.
As a little bit of admin, all this work has taken about six hours of time today, so (other than Lewis) all replies will be responded to tomorrow. Sorry, again, but my brain is technically fried, and it was hot here today too. Oh well.
Until tomorrow… 🙂
Cheers, but hey, we’re back baby!
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Yeah, that’s exactly what was going on when you clicked on the post comment button. Man, the website looked super strange to me, and with all the text squished up together, it looked crazy. Turns out it was probably a bad idea to muck around with column widths… Who knew? 🙂
Them tech bros got me good and proper this time, and consumed about six hours of my day today. It was meant to be my one day off work this week too, oh well. At least I’ve learned enough to re-do the business website, so I would have had to do this sort of activity over the next month anyway.
Now of course, it was rather warm here today, and I spotted 31’C / 88’F. With the forecast in mind we woke up early and headed out to a nearby nature reserve to go for a walk. It was nice and quiet there, except for the flies were a bit of a nuisance. Nearby farms had cattle and horses, so the flies were clearly enjoying the conditions. Used a branch with leaves on it to swish away the flying pests. Seemed to work.
Crashed out mid afternoon during the hottest part of the day, then got stuck into fixing this website. Just before the sun went down, we removed the last of the tree protection cages around the trees in the citrus enclosure. The deer have clearly had a good look inside, and struggled to get in – for now. Fingers crossed, hey!
How’s the rain going in your part of the world? And I must say that I very much appreciated your brevity in this instance, although you may have noticed that chatty is a lifestyle choice here? Tomorrow should be back to normal.
Nice work with the biscuits and hope that they’re appreciated. Yeah, the result is very crunchy, which may surprise people. Not sure how you’ll go about softening them, but I’ve tried bi-carb to get that effect.
Go H! And clearly the new ‘do’ is producing results. 🙂 Hope there is a report to follow from this new and unexpected turn of events?
Thanks for the laughs, and what a naughty little bandit was that raccoon. We’ve all been there little matey (well, perhaps excluding the rampage and burglary bit), and hopefully he’s learned to make better life choices in the future. PS: it seemed like a bad idea to let the dogs see that article. 😉
Might get outdoors and do some rock work tomorrow. Hopefully the website is not problematic for you?
Cheers
Chris
Chris,
Thanks to you and the Editor for all the work you did on the website! Much better. It even looks good on my “mobile device”. 🙂
What the new standard is today, we would have called “sub-standard” not that long ago. The new standard gets rid of much of the flexibility that the actual customers want. Ugg.
Again, thanks for the hard work to make this functional again.
DJSpo
Yo, Chris – Landing page … AKA home page? That’s how a lot of sites work. Everything looks more normal, now. As far as the comments being numbered, I did jot down the last number, each day, to remember how far I’d got. But, no biggie. I’ll just pay more attention to the dates.
Our high yesterday was 46F (7.77C). Our overnight low was 39F (3.88C). The forecast high for today is 46F. H and I got our last dry walk, for awhile, late last night. Three atmospheric rivers in the next week. Prof. Mass has a post. Your walk in the nature reserve sounds really nice. Other than the flies. Probably helped clear the head of all the computer nonsense.
Lew’s Adapted Anzac Biscuits were well received. I put a note on them that they were similar to biscotti. So, how adapted, you ask? Well, I substituted plumped up cranberries for coconut, as I don’t like coconut. So, sue me. 🙂 Also, the recipe just calls for “sugar” but I used half white and half dark. As golden syrup is hard to find, here, I substituted 100% Canadian maple syrup. LOL, I was overthinking how to make a softer Anzac biscuit. Something involving cutting the amount of butter and adding a similar amount of apple sauce. Then it occurred to me, just make oatmeal cookies.
Some things to catch up on. Our Fearless Leader, in his infinite wisdom, has become enamored with the Australian retirement system.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/03/economy/superannuation-australia-retirement-trump
What the article doesn’t mention is(unless I missed it), is that 6.2% of an employees wage goes into the Social Security system, and that is matched by the same amount from the employer. Those funds don’t go anywhere near the stock market. It’s sometimes referred to as “in a lock box.” Wall Street has been salivating after those funds, for decades.
The Faberge egg sold for 30.2 million, US. Of course, the auction house protects the identity of seller and buyer. Talk about confidentiality … But the recap article had some interesting tidbits, in it. There were 50 other Faberge items, in the sale. And that they were sent to auction by “a royal.” I have some ideas as to who that may have been. But, the field is wide. Every royal from Queen Victoria on down, bought or gifted Faberge items. Queen Mary was a big collector.
I read a very well written article (I thought), that you may identify with 🙂 “Chasing the soundtrack of my youth.”
https://www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2025/11/21/band-reunions-millenial-nostalgia-katie-kurtzman
That rock in the foreground of the fern gully photo reminded me of something. If you have the time, do a search for “Japanese deer scarer.” It might give you some ideas.
And, in local news … We got a food box, yesterday. The government commodities box. It was one box, instead of two. And, no produce of any kind. There were some frozen chicken breasts, but otherwise, it was mostly canned goods, and all the usual suspects. Cereal, shelf stable milk. A jar of peanut butter. There were some cans of refried beans and chili. Brands I wasn’t familiar with. I took a look at the ingredients, and it was all pretty straightforward. Nothing weird. The most out there ingredient was a bit of soy protein. I can live with that. I’ll keep those, and look for more on the swap table.
I bought gas the other day. $4.30 a US gallon of regular, with the 10% cash discount.
I spent some time in the garden, just cleaning up. Before the rains came. Still a long ways to go.
Our elevator is out of order. Maybe it will get fixed, before the weekend. I’m going to Winco, tonight, and am girding my loins for the possibility of having to haul 5 or 6 bags of groceries, up the stairs.
I watched the new “Toxic Avenger” movie, last night. What a hoot. Very entertaining and well worth a bowl of popcorn.
A Grizzly bear attacked a bunch of school children, on a nature walk. Up in Canada.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/21/americas/canada-grizzly-school-attack-intl
What a nightmare. And, I think we’re caught up. Maybe, except, I’m still reading the book, “What to Eat Now.” Nestle is a good writer, and uncomplicates a complicated subject. Also, she can be very funny, at times. Lew
Chris:
I think it is just fine now; thanks. We don’t need the numbers, we have dates and times. For half a second when your blog came up, I thought you had lost it, had been driven whacko by all this, because in bold letters was “Fernglade Farm” and”Free Hugs” and nothing else and since I see your blog greatly enlarged, that was it at first until I scrolled down. I figured you had gone to the other side and were offering to get cosy.
You are in for it, as I have been cleaning out the files in my heavy old metal filing cabinet and I found a folder with Mark Twain quotes. Heres one:
“When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it had happened or not”
Pam
Hi Pam,
Thanks for the laughs, and yeah, let’s just say that I hadn’t anticipated that my innocuous blog title would suggest that offers for comfort were being solicited from the general public. 😉 But it now looks that way, yeah. Maybe it’s just me, but hugs from people I know are delightful. Anywhoo, random hippies who are far from fresh, need not apply. They know what will occur! On the other hand, hugs from any of the lovely people here would be a pleasant experience.
Now, onto the business at hand! The website looks biggerer to me too, and I checked it out on the phone, and it’s looking sharp. And bizarrely seems to be loading much faster than previously. Probably why there is a restriction as to placing content on the home page… Oh well. Who can know all of this esoteric stuff?
🙂 Love the Mark Twain quote, and hey, the guy would have made for an awesome dinner companion. You could say that he knew how to ‘sing for his supper’, as the old timers used to say. We’ve got months of witty banter ahead of us with this cabinet clear out find of yours. One of my favourite quotes is: “I’ve had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.” Dunno about you, but I can relate to that, and in fact it happened to me earlier in the week.
The plan is to fire up the electric chainsaw tomorrow and attach the machine to the Alaskan mill. Will it work? Let’s find out. 🙂 And the red brand is a venerable and respectable choice for those who do not want hassles and yet expect performance all at the same time. Respect for your sons choice. I tend to lean towards the yellow brand…
I’m finding that too with chilli’s, but there’s a weird sort of variability to the heat, which kind of troubles me. We raised a whole bunch of seedlings from saved seeds, and I really do hope they are mild varieties. Planted them out in the greenhouse a few hours ago too. It was hot here today, and more rocks were installed on the new path project. That path is looking sharper than the new fandangled website.
🙂 Oh, thanks for the correction with the snow, and that weather of yours sounds more like my kind of winter day. It was 86’F here today, and quite nice.
Thanks for understanding about the numbers with the comments. I could add them in, and they’d disappear on the next theme update. Is it wise to battle city hall? One must know when a glorious retreat is the correct option.
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
Yeah, the newer WordPress themes are designed to be viewed on mobile devices and they do look pretty nice. In some ways the fonts are easier to read on smaller screens too from what the phone testing showed me. So, I very much appreciate the feedback. You might notice that the blog loads a bit faster too, and that is part of the reasons that content shouldn’t be loaded onto the home page. Oh well…
Interweb things were looser in the past, but the noose is getting tighter, and the person who is fleet of foot, must skip to the drummers beat, lest they get washed off the side of the ship in a storm and/or sinking. Sorry, have I just mixed several metaphors in one sentence? Still, it works, and even when that Titanic went into the below freezing salty drink, some nimble folks survived to live another day and recount tales of incompetence.
Also, I should mention that having a plan B ready to hand, worked out nicely in this instance. In the past few months I’d been reviewing some of the latest WordPress themes, just in case.
Exactly, the new standard, is sub standard. The old theme allowed people to go directly to the latest blog post without all of the fluff of the additional selection click. Well, if nothing else, the tech boors force a sort of collective homogenisation upon us all, whether it is asked for, or not. And such moves are always a race to the lowest common denominator. I could tell you some stories about that from my big corporate days, and maybe will do so.
Thank you for saying so. It was not a fun experience to wrest six hours out of my day off, but it’s a lot of fun here, so why let the tech boors take that experience away from us?
Ah, the comment numbers is now a thing resigned to the past. I could add them in via manually adding lines of php code to the back end of the theme, but updates to the theme would overwrite that work. And I’d end up in a tug-o-war battle with no end, which just isn’t worth the effort. On the other hand, the external blog links are now there on the home page, although they look different than before. But they’re there.
I’ll see if it is worth prettying up the external blog links, but am very interested to hear of your opinion of how it works and looks now?
Yeah, Winston’s story made little sense to me, and maybehaps the fictional character had a self destructive streak? I’ve often wondered whether instead of supplanting the system, he secretly desired to numb his aversion to the goings on – for all of the reasons you wrote about. His actions make little sense otherwise, and the horror of self correction at the hands of the party just seemed all very unnecessary. He was already a broken character, so why spend the energy to further destroy him? The thing I wondered about was whether if they broke him badly enough, that Winston ran the very real risk of having nothing to lose. Then he’d be a wild card in a system. The intensive one on one, err, re-education he received never really happens historically – it was pure fiction on Mr Orwell’s part. Those sorts of insecure authoritas tend to either group people in complex and difficult environments, or eliminate them by various means.
Julia had an outlet, which was perhaps officially tolerated, until Winston upped the ante so to speak. I mean, it wasn’t her first testing of those waters. The readers aren’t really told whether the authoritas would have let her particular situation continue, but for all we know, they may have.
Forty Two is always the correct number, these things are known. Thanks for the story. Some folks have a sharp mind and wit.
Did you end up getting the expected snow? It was 30’C here today, and we placed more rocks upon the new path project.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Claire,
Thanks for the feedback, and the new format is quite clean and clear from my perspective as well, so I very appreciate your words. Strangely enough, the blog looks better on a small phone screen than on the larger computer screen, but then the tech-bros have forced me to move with the times… It also loads a lot quicker, and hope that is your experience as well.
I did a deep dive into the comment numbering business, but gave up because any updates to the theme would overwrite my work. Truly, you can’t fight city hall… 🙂 And nested comments is an option, but far out, the comment display would get thin very quickly. Best avoided too.
The whole thing was a bit of a scramble, but I must have had a vibe that things were going to end badly as the plan B I’d had at the back of my mind for a while now was able to be implemented. Six hours of work, and all of the content saved is a pretty good outcome. I’m thinking about maybe adding in a page for a gallery of photos from across the years, but we’ll see.
It was 30’C here today. Summer is here. Got more work done on the new path project, and somehow avoided cooking my head.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Emily,
🙂 Here we’ve all created a pleasant and convivial tiny corner of the interweb.
Oh the horrors of the, QR code, but yeah, that’s a fine point. And thanks for the story of your friend’s brother. Hmm. You’re asking the hard questions, and I will cogitate upon the issues raised. Rest assured, I’m not seeking growth, for growths sake, but now have some free time on my hands with which to chuck in the business’s direction.
A person has to play to their strengths, and I’ve been chucking around the idea of writing some business articles for the local newspaper as a form of advertising. That may be an avenue to explore. Hey, at least updating the website will be a no-brainer after what happened here over the past few days.
Hope you are doing well, and staying either warm or cold depending upon your climate? It was 30’C / 86’F here today, and felt quite toasty.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Göran,
🙂 Thanks for the laughs, and yes, the tech-bros are not getting one cent of my mad cash after the update disaster this week. It was an interesting juxtaposition to be asked for donations in the middle of my own tech induced crisis, but it actually happened. Talk about bad timing… My Christmas donations went to more deserving charities, put it that way.
I know, sadly the comment numbers are gone for good. Those numbers required modifying the php code for the theme, and the effort would be over written with every theme update. Some fights cannot be won and thus the progression to the state of acceptance. It’s easier. On the other hand, the external blog site links are working, but in a new format, and I’d appreciate some feedback – they’re on the home page, towards the bottom of the screen. They can be prettied up a lot, so please do let me know of your opinion? I was wondering if they need some sort of paragraph explaining what the links go to? Dunno.
Interesting you mention the local papers, but one of the ideas I had floating around in my head was writing some business type articles for the local paper. Someone in the last year mentioned that Sandra (who is also an accountant, should put in an article for International Women’s Day – there being plenty of lady business owners). Anyway, the local papers always want content, which I might have to pay for.
A podcast is a great idea, and I’d happily provide a back link to it, but presumably it is conducted in Swedish? Maybe? If you’re looking for a guest interview…
Training is an awesome option, and I may have remarked to you long ago that one day you wake up and discover that you’re the old-hand at these tasks! 🙂 It is an option for the business, and I could do a utoob channel on the subject. That could potentially generate leads.
Most work arrives via way of referral, so word of mouth has been the path used to date for a long time. Those local services mentioned in your area, would definitely not provide referrals. A bit of a cultural difference there, and I’m always impressed at your social networks.
🙂 I’ll definitely include some humour in the marketing. Man, nut jokes are simply asking to be used in your case. By the way, the walnut tree I moved a few weeks ago is growing really well in its new location, as is the Chinese Pistachio.
Thanks for the friendly warning regarding the unsolicited hugs! 🙂 Actually, I’m cool with hugs from people I know, it’s the random folks which make for the uncomfortable experience. But yes, plenty of cultures down here are very kissy too, just like the French and Italians. Oh well, we’re all different.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Yeah, that’s it, the Home Page for the website. Possibly it’s an old school thing to call it a ‘landing page’, or I made that up. Has a nice ring to it anyway, those words. Have you noticed that the website loads faster? It sure does that here, and possibly is why it is a bad thing to have content upon the Home Page of a website. A lot of websites get around that by using an extract for the blog, with a click to read more button. Makes the initial load faster, and I have a hunch it’s more to do with the bot experience, than the human user experience. Still, the cynicism bit has been remarked upon before. 😉
Also for your interest, since I last mentioned website statistics, those hungry chunks of learning word (AKA how to string words together) software have added on an additional 500% worth of traffic recently. It’d be nice if the things paid for the content given it’s being potentially put to a business usage. And it would be nice at least if they asked permission. Oh well, mustn’t grumble.
The comment number thing is a lost battle so I’ve entered a state of acceptance. Serenity Now! 😉 And, I have no desire to go to nested comments. Those would look very strange on this website with the narrow column format.
Brr! Your weather is making me feel cold, although it was 30’C / 86’F today, but is now only 14’C / 57’F which feels chilly to me. Three atmospheric rivers in a week is completely nuts. What the heck? 15 to 20 inches of rain is off the charts wet. Yikes! I know you don’t have to be told to stay off flooded bridges, but it’ll happen, sorry to say.
Ah, the crunch comparison to Biscotti is a goodie, although Anzac biscuits (which as you note are an oat based biscuit) is rather clever. Hehe! I ain’t no purist man, and whatever works for you in a recipe is cool. I tend to prefer raw sugar, but also dark sugar which has molasses in it. Although, on a purist note, it is worth mentioning that there is a bit of a cheeky substitution with these products, so sometimes a person might not be getting what they think they are. Hey, the opposite is true here in that ‘maple syrup’ is a bit on the rare find side of the store equation.
It is worth noting that your Fearless Leader, is also eyeing off that big pool of savings, much of which I’ve heard rumours is invested in your countries tech stocks. Hmm. For your interest, because of my professional background, I’m able to manage my own mad cash as there is a process for that, if you have the skills to do so. That’s not an option for everyone I can assure you.
With your system, I do wonder if the cash is there. I mean, someone must be running / holding it, and for some it would be a sore temptation. Such folks / entities aren’t always trustworthy. But I’m simply guessing based on human nature.
Yeah, given recent incidents in such heady airs, well names could be guessed at. Possibly beginning with the letter A, but let’s say no more. 🙂
Go Weezer, and yeah, I remember that band, and all the rest of them. Fun stuff, and Katie recounts a delightful tale. Interestingly, I haven’t gone to see such bands, mostly because of the economics of the ticket prices. But then, maybe it is me, because I’m not a nostalgic kind of guy. The bands I’ve seen over the past two years are still played on the youth broadcaster. Anywhoo, and maybe you can relate, but some of my past was pretty awful, but you know, everyone walks a different journey, and I’m happy today, tech considerations to the side.
A Japanese deer scarer you say. Hmm. I’ll have to look into this. There was a deer down in the orchard an hour or so ago, and Ollie and I have our work cut out for us.
That’s not encouraging news about the food box. Still, the contents will keep a person going. And interestingly fuel costs are on the up here too, but also they flop around a lot like a beached fish.
Is cleaning up in the garden ever truly done? At least the weeds grow slowly for you now.
Hope there’s no fire alarm go off at your place with the elevator out of action.
Have to check out the trailer for the remake, and how could it be bad? The original film was so bad, that it was good. Ol’ Toxie is back… 🙂
Why would anyone take a bunch of school kids out for a walk when bears are feeding up in preparation for the winter months? There’s a lot to unpack there on decision making.
Hey, we put more rocks on the walls lining the new path project, and it’s looking pretty good. It was nice working in the shade of the two big apple trees which tower over the path. It would have been hot doing that work out in the sun.
It’s nice not to have to do much tech-stuff this evening (there was a little bit as I’d stuffed up the login button link to the back end of the website – as you do).
It’s meant to rain tomorrow.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – Judging from some of the other comments, all this upset is perhaps due to making the blogs more user friendly on dumb phones. Upgrades that cater to changes in technology. Such as, all the progressive “Gs”. I can’t say I’ve noticed a change, in loading time. It’s always been pretty good, at this end. It seems like there’s always something lost. Beginning with time lost, getting back to some kind of functionality.
Our high yesterday was 46F (7.77C). The overnight low was 39F (3.88C). The forecast high for today is 46F. H and my’s midnight walk was in a very heavy mist. This morning, we hit a dry spot. Prof. Mass has a lot to say about potential flooding. But he’s talking about rivers north and east of Seattle. Locally, we’ve had a hydrologic outlook heads up, but noting substantial, yet.
“Cheeky substitutions” in food. That’s pretty much what Prof. Nestle is talking about. Lots of euphemisms or downright lying. Government oversight is compromised by money from big business. Laws and rules that start off pretty good, end up being modified to leave a lot of wiggle room and holes.
I saw a bit of click bait, last night. How people from outside the US view some of our food. There were a few Australian observations.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahloewentheil/strange-american-eating-habits?utm_source=dynamic&utm_campaign=bfsharecopy
Here’s a good overview of our Social Security Trust Fund.
https://w.wiki/GWVG
I’m beginning to consider dropping my Medicare Part B. It doesn’t cover that much, anyway, and always eats up whatever COLA we get. I have to look into it, to see what coverage I do get. And, will I be able to set that money aside? The discipline. I do pretty good with “dog” and insurance. Also, my regular savings is pretty good.
The person in question who suffered defenestration and the woman formerly known as wife, well, there was an article a couple of weeks ago, wondering if they’d be selling off bit and bobs of tat. Probably, for the first time in their lives, they might have to worry about money. Also, his previous place of residence, well, basically, he’d not getting back what amounts to a substantial damage deposit, as he didn’t keep the place up.
You’d have to provide some kind of a water source, for the Japanese deer scarer. Something you could turn on and off. So the sound doesn’t drive you crazy, and, not much water would be used. I’m sure you could figure out, something.
The elevator was back in service, so, I didn’t have to haul bags of groceries, up the stairs. I went to Winco, last night. I didn’t spend near as much, as I usually do, as I’m pretty stocked up. I nailed down the makings for my New Year’s Day lucky meal. Two smoked ham hocks ($6.16). They had Black-eyed peas, in the bulk bins ($1.78 a pound), so I didn’t have to get a big bag. Collard greens were a bit of a problem. Small tins were “turkey flavored.” Why? I had to buy a larger tin of unadulterated greens.
Long grain brown rice was $.88 a pound. Organic rolled oats were $1.42 a pound. Doggy poop bags were 4 rolls for $5+! Don’t think so. I can get them way cheaper, in bulk, on-line. But, the floss picks I use were way cheaper than on-line.
Always good to work in a handy bit of shade, on a hot day. Lew
Yo, again. LOL. When I hit “post comment”, I got a message screen. “You are posting comments too quickly. Slow down.” 🙂 Second attempt went right through. I guess I’m too fast on the trigger. “I was cleaning it, and it went off!” Lew
Chris,
Mixing metaphors is a wonderful addition to most conversations. It shows knowledge, imagination, and even creativity. Besides, most of us are so mixed up that mixing metaphors just adds to our normal status. 😉 We need to keep those proper levels of doubt, uncertainty and confusion.
Races to the lowest common denominator have been some of my general observations about life for decades. My experience at work was that the computer tekkies adored killing off all originality and flexibility to be replaced with overly cumbersome, inflexible and underperforming products.
I found the external blog links to be functional. The newly enforced version of your blog is functional. I wouldn’t spend much time trying to change the format of the external links. Getting that homey feel that the blog used to have won’t be possible again. Trying to resurrect some of that, even for only the external links, could be a waste of effort. In other words, sometimes the “accept, adapt, move on” idea means functionality can be enough.
And at least things are very easily read, both on the computer and my phone. And isn’t that the most important part of the blog and comments?
They HAD to completely break Winston and reeducate him to love Big Brother. For the party members, they really acted like they wanted it to be a cult with only one way to leave it: death. No questions, no “incorrect” attitudes, no unwelcome facial expressions allowed. And the moment someone starts to question the inconsistent stories and orders from on high, even if only in their own minds, if it was observed in any form whatsoever, that person was on the hit list.
Julia might have been allowed to carry on with her behavior indefinitely if she didn’t flaunt it too much. However, the moment that she and Winston started talking about their misgivings and dislikes of the Party, she also had to be reprogrammed and terminated.
The thing is, the Party demanded to have complete and total CONTROL over every aspect of their members’ lives, including thoughts. Control, dominance with resulting compliance and submission was what the Party required.
No more snow. Warm storm systems. Warm, ha! Barely above freezing today. Freezing fog, fog and mist overnight. Rain, fog and unidentifiable (not snow) precipitation all morning at +1C. By the time this system passes through we should have gotten about 12mm of rainfall. Then the winds will hit tomorrow through Sunday morning with increasing temperatures.
It’s a rather grim day outside. Dreary. Misty. Wet. Dank. Unwelcoming. It’s an indoors sort of day again. Even Dame Avalanche wants to remain inside.
DJSpo
Chris:
I spoke too soon – we do have snow now, though only 2 inches (5cm). And on this snowy day, I went down into the basement – and there was a wren flying around with a bug in its mouth. I don’t know how he got in – probably when letting Mr. Baby out – but I opened up both the basement doors to the outside and finally shooed him out. Mr. Wren never did let go of that bug!
The other day I saw a squirrely trying so hard to bury a nut in the frozen ground. He finally gave up and just shoved some leaves over it. Do we think it will still be there when he comes back? Charlene would never have done such a foolish thing!
Good luck with the electric chainsaw!
For 35 years, I always grew jalapenos because my husband ate them raw with almost everything. I grew other peppers and chillis, too, yet the jalapenos never failed to cross with the other peppers and make the other peppers’ offspring hotter. I finally just saved the jalapeno seeds and bought other pepper seeds new each spring.
Pam
Hi Pam,
The snow sounds lovely, and hopefully sticks around for a bit. Provides a nice ambience, especially in the lead up to Christmas. Although I’d probably do a lot of sooking if snow hung around for more than a day here. 🙂 It was cold and wet here, and barely made it past 68’F with about a fifth of an inch of rain.
Still, the juggernaut must go on, and so about a cubic yard of crushed rock with lime was placed onto the new path. It wasn’t enough, but a cold wet day is just the thing for such hot work. Did an inordinate amount of weeding in the early evening too. Winter is the time for rest and recuperation. 🙂
Go Mr Wren! And I’d imagine the bird would have been toastier feeling in the basement than outdoors, given the snow. And that’s the thing, sometimes birds are clever enough to break-in, but that getting out again bit is a more complicated process. The Blue Wrens (or Fairy Wrens) here are small enough to get in and then out of the grape vine cage (which was weeded this evening). It’s been my observation that Wrens do stirling work in a garden feasting up on all of the more peskier of insects. Hopefully the same is true in your part of the world?
Oh my, that nut (or acorn) won’t last. Where are the likes of Charlene the White Squirrel, Queen of her treely domain to be found in these sad latter days? I’d have to suggest that such errant squirrely laziness is very Darwinian.
The rain put an end to the electric chainsaw mill test today, and therein perhaps is one of the more problematic aspects to that option? At least with a two stroke chainsaw, there’s small chance of electrocution.
Hmm. Word on the street is that jalapeño chilli’s are a mild variety, and I very much appreciate hearing of your growing experiences with them. But like your style with bringing in the new varieties, and that’s what I would have done too. Candidly, the chilli’s here came from an ex-friend, yes, sadly I was unfriended a year or so back, so I don’t really know the exact variety that they are, but they’re a mostly medium heat chilli.
To be honest, super hot chilli’s when regularly consumed are probably not all that good for a person’s health. My motto is everything in moderation, and hey, I love my cakes, but eat like a rabbit in-between those treats. Oh well.
It was such a weird thing to be un-friended, and I’m not entirely certain how it all played out, but my ex-friend held firm views, whereas I tend towards a more open minded approach. I can be swayed.
A lovely local lady has provided us with many new and interesting seedlings, which we swap for produce. A good arrangement.
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
🙂 So, are you suggesting that the usual human experience is now so complicated that a few mixed metaphors casually dropped into a conversation will only add to the enjoyable experience (for you and I)? Whatever the facts, it’s very Monty Python, and way out there on the absurd scale. Anywhoo, in these enlightened days of higher education, I’ve had people struggling to follow along when the claim was aired that: The ship has bolted, whilst the horse sailed! Thus proving that the educational opportunity was completely disappeared into obscurity – whatever that means!
Yes, the three mind food groups are all presented there: doubt, uncertainty and confusion. I concede your prowess. 🙂 Everything a growing mind needs to get them through the day.
Man, I’ve observed the same thing as well in my earlier big corporate life. Not a fan, but what do you do? The system requires that us individuals earn mad cash, and so compromises always have to be made. Working with small business has far less of that sort of thing, mostly because there is very little hierarchy between the decision makers, and the people who have to implement the decisions.
Thanks for the laughs, and yes ‘newly enforced blog’ format is a very accurate description of this week’s events. And I very much appreciate your feedback. The plugin which provided that ‘homey feel’ for the external links was a paid for annual subscription, so reducing the overall cost is a good idea in these uncertain economic times.
A good point in relation to readability and the user experience. Again, the feedback is much appreciated because I can’t see the interwebsite the same way as you would. And if it’s painful, I need to know that.
Ah! In that book, the party may have forgotten the golden rule of ‘do unto others’. The guy who Winston and Julia connected up with and provided the book (and later experiences), seemed like a bit of a toff. It was a stupid entrapment, and just really dumb, and that part of the story didn’t stack up to me. Folks with butlers clearly have little need to get off the couch. And so how would the toff, know when he is under the microscope? It just seemed like a whole lot of wasted energy which produced anything of note. And societies can’t last like that. Let’s just say that as an adult, the narrative didn’t pass the ‘pub test’.
But absolutely I agree with your interpretation. It was a cult mania taken to eleven on the dial. It’s not cheap to implement such strict control measures, and I have some doubts whether it is even feasible.
Your weather was sounding not too bad for a winter month, and then you mentioned the winds. Stay safe in those treacherous conditions. It was 20’C and about 5mm of rain fell here today. A good day to move about 0.75 cubic metres of crushed rock with lime and place it upon the new path surface. It’s looking sharp. Plus we went to the nearby tip to drop off the scrap metal for recycling.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Hehe! What you saw with that ‘commenting too fast’ warning, was the core anti-spam software within WordPress. To say that it is dumb, is to insult the very word ‘dumb’. I’d switched the stupid thing off years ago, but hey, it’s all new here now! And thanks for mentioning how it looks to you, as I can do something about that menace. The software has an inbuilt non adjustable timer to put a stop to denial of service attacks from spammers who want to post lots and lots of comments. I’ve got a paid program which does a better job. I got into the code today and stomped the daylights out of that annoying message you saw. Please do let me know if the horror repeats? That message thing sends me loopy on other websites, mostly because I’ve got no idea whether the prose has been recorded into the interwebsites database? Who knows? There’s something not quite right about wasting words don’t you reckon? 🙂
Agreed, when the blog started back in 2014, people weren’t as attached to their mobile devices, and presumably the way we all view the interweb has changed because of the technology. Yeah, I find the interweb on a phone to be a very disappointing experience and avoid it. And I’d not quite thought of the time lost in getting back to some sort of functionality from that perspective, but it sure does fit the facts on the ground. Hmm. Something to think about there.
Hehe! That’s winter for you with those temperatures. Not much up, and not much down. It’s not far off your maximum temperature here right now at about 48’F. Brr! It barely got to 68’F today, and about a fifth of an inch of rain fell – a lot of which landed on me. Ended up being quite damp at some points today, H would understand. 🙂 Tomorrow is meant to be colder again here. Double Brr!
Went to the tip to drop off the collected scrap metal for recycling, and had a good chat to the guys working there. As it was raining, the guys were making jokes about the Bureau of Meteorology’s new webheist, which has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. Bureau of Meteorology’s new boss asked to examine $96.5m bill for website redesign. That’s a big bill, and I may have chucked in the suggestion that clearly none of us were getting paid that. Got some laughs.
Anyhoo, metal I know gets recycled.
On the way back from the tip, we picked up a trailer load of crushed rock with lime, and then spread it out on the new path project. Monday is meant to be hot, so combined with the rain today, that’ll set the lime nicely.
Good to hear that your area is missing out on potential floods. It’s never a good day to experience a flood, unless it’s putting out a fire of course. That’s good, I guess, but with massive erosion risks. They’re luck in LA that it doesn’t rain all that much and often.
You’ll get no argument from me about the food, and you may wonder why we make a lot of food from raw materials? And there are problems in that realm as well. I don’t reckon that there is any easy to feed such a large population as exists nowadays, and have it not look like it does. There’s a certain respect for food, which is lacking in the population, and this is kind of what results from that.
Hehe! Thanks for the fun article. The Aussie comment about being raised to consume all that is put in front of them, is an issue I can relate to. Although when faced with such monster servings, I’d simply leave them, or bring them home and feed to the dogs, chickens and/or worms, and probably not go back. Ordinarily I don’t eat at establishments which supply such monster serving sizes, although down under due to differing economic circumstances, massive serving sizes is not a commonly encountered thing.
Have to laugh, but when I was a kid, that eating everything put in front of me, took on a different dimension. Often we were fed a lamb chop and three boiled vegies. My mother was a terrible cook, and that was a source of misplaced pride for her. Anywhoo, with the lamb chop, you’d eat the fatty tail, suck the marrow, and gnaw on the bone. That’s called poverty! The sort of food shown in that article, was just never seen.
Ah, I see, that biggey fund holds treasuries. Well, from the receivers of benefits perspective, bond yields are up. I must say, that reading the link you provided left me with more questions than answers. However, I get the impression that the system requires a rough balance between people employed and paying into the fund, and the benefits being paid out from it. The suggestion in the link was that in the future, benefits will be reduced, although that is merely my interpretation.
The system down here works more like a bank account, in that if a person does not put compulsory mad cash in (because they’re not earning), they won’t have much to draw upon during retirement – and it can obviously run out. Although, it was a bit of a switch and bait routine initially in that some of the earlier folks (and goobermint folks) have an arrangement which looks a lot like your lot – regular payments for life.
Your medical system confuses the daylights out of me. All I’ve learned over the years, is that without appropriate cover, a person is unwise / unlucky to become ill. What is part B? And is there a part A, or C?
That’s so true, it does require discipline in order to be prudent with ones finances. Man, I remember the days when cars weren’t purchased via various loan mechanisms.
The Japanese deer scarer is a great idea, and I’ll cogitate upon it. The herd of deer appears to have been reduced to a single critter for now, but it was there this morning. To my annoyance, I’d not anticipated it to be hiding here, and the dogs chased the big deer to the forest edge. Not happy about that, and now Ollie and I will clear it off without the assistance of the other two dogs.That’s what the big dog gets paid for.
Good stuff with the elevator repairs, and that was fast. Isn’t it strange how these sorts of things always occur just before a weekend, or public holiday etc? Those are some good prices for the ham hock and peas, and hopefully you’ll make a proper pea and ham soup? Yum! Popeye would respect the can of collard greens. 😉
And yeah, we shop around too. If there were another way…
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – Only in New Zealand? There are some police jobs I wouldn’t want to have? I think they should have done the medical intervention … without anesthetic. 🙂
https://www.irishnews.com/news/world/james-bond-inspired-pendant-swallowed-in-auckland-store-recovered-by-police-HFSV3E6UZRL33G26SHYJRC3VHY/
I got curious about the fate of the Faberge family, during and after the Russian Revolution. Over a couple of years, they made it out of Russia. Sometimes, by sled, over the frozen Gulf of Finland. The company eventually fell out of family hands, and over the past 20 years, has passed through numerous owners. Many having nothing to do with jewelry, at all.
LOL. I guess I’m faster than the average, run of the mill, human. I spend a lot of time waiting for home pages, to load. If I push it, it turns into a dog’s breakfast (no disrespect to dogs.) Our library home page, is particularly slow to load. The e-mail service I use, well, I have to wait for ads to load, before I can take a look at the mail. If I push it, bad things happen.
Time lost. I’d bet you probably have a well established, hourly rate, in your business. So, I’d say, bill them, for time lost. If you can even find a human …. or even an address. In a perfect world, that would be possible. Last I checked, the world ain’t perfect.
Our high yesterday was 57F (13.88C). Our overnight low was 48F (8.88C). The forecast high for today is 52F. Right now, it’s glorious sunshine. Santa is coming to town, in a yearly parade. If he gets a move on, he won’t get wet. I need to go down to the library, but won’t stir out, til the dust settles.
Prof. Mass has another post, on possible flooding. All of western Washington and Oregon is under a flood watch. The second image on his blog, the map, is what I see when I look at the local forecast. I just click below “Centralia” and it comes up.
That was an interesting article on your weather service. Wow. What a difference in costs. And the darn thing didn’t work that well, anyway.
Yes, there’s always articles about how our Social Security is going to run out. More money going out than coming in. Although the people beating that drum are the ones who want to take that money and throw it to Wall Street. As you could see, it’s pretty complicated.
As goes the penny, so go paper checks?
https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/05/economy/fed-considers-ending-paper-checks
I have Medicare A and B. It’s also very complicated, and there are traps you may fall into, that would result in charges. Medicare C is the “advantage” plans. Basically, private insurance companies. Who promised (and delivered) the moon, and are now crying the blues because their profits are down. they covered things like optical and dental, which “traditional” Medicare doesn’t cover. Soon to end, I’m sure. Medicare part D is drugs. Also overseen by private insurance companies. If you want to appeal a denial, that process has also been outsourced, to a private company. Clear? I thought so. 🙂
It had to happen. I saw a trailer for a “Downton Abbey” parody. “Frackham Hall.” It looks very naughty, and probably, a lot of fun.
Someone slipped up. The elevator went down on Thursday, so, it was repaired. If it had gone down on Friday, as usually seems to happen, it wouldn’t have been repaired until Monday. Too costly to call repair out, on a weekend.
Not much interesting (to me) has been happening in the Wonderful World of Archaeology. Until I saw this, about a recent discovery of a Roman mosaic, in Britain.
https://greekreporter.com/2025/12/05/roman-mosaic-lost-trojan-war-story-rural-britain/
I didn’t realize that there were more Trojan War stories, not found in Homer.
I thought about half the stuff on that list of American foods, was pretty ghastly. I gave our postie, a small packet of the Anzac biscuits, this morning. He had made them, himself, and knew to watch his teeth. Lew
Chris:
Nope, the snow is already gone. We had some slightly warmer air come in to melt it and give us a lovely London murder mystery fog. Perfect to me – 68F!
Yes, you could be called Juggernaut Farm, there is such an impelling force (who would that be . . .?) there.
Oh, yes – our Carolina Wrens go gangbusters on any bugs. I think they are my favorite birds; friendly, too. Sadly, Lewis, the one who would come when I called (because I fed him), appears to be missing. I think the one in the basement was his son Peanut who came after we stopped feeding the squirrels and so does not know such largesse.
A better day will come for electric chainsawing.
Our jalapenos were always the hottest varieties. That was what my husband liked, having been fed hot chillis by the family’s Mexican cook since he was a tot.
I think you have hit upon a great idea with this comment to Emily: “A person has to play to their strengths, and I’ve been chucking around the idea of writing some business articles for the local newspaper as a form of advertising.” Though where on earth you would find the time to do it, I can’t imagine.
Now, how does this arrangement work: “A lovely local lady has provided us with many new and interesting seedlings, which we swap for produce. A good arrangement.”?
Pam
Hi Pam,
Ah, this talk of rapidly melted snow sounds like my kind of winter weather. 🙂 If I may add, a little bit of snow is a good thing, but too much and for too long, would be a nightmare. It was another glorious sunny day of 68’F here today, although tomorrow is meant to get hotter. There are plans o install those new sun blinds, and I might chuck in an early photo tomorrow in the comments. I reckon they will, but hopefully they do so, work to reduce the summer heat.
Ha! The very whips of memories from the recession of the early 1990’s drive me onwards. You could say with reasonable assurance that we’re both motivated individuals.
Pam, that’s so true and possibly why folks fear encountering nature, tooth and claw and stuff. I see that with the magpie family living here, and during the warm dry winter months, that family was reduced to a couple. Those birds live for twenty something years. Now they have a family again, with squawking youngsters demanding to be fed, and the land can support that. But dunno about you, our own stories can be seen there. Hope your little newbie wren hustles during the winter.
Yeah, no video this week. My brain is cooked after the effort of restoring this website. If someone wants to donate me a huge wad of mad cash to really kick this place into gear, I’m cool with that. In the meantime, such interweb disasters chew up the free time I had set aside. And life goes on, so yeah, waiting for a better day for that work.
This may be my final week for the year of full-on paid work, and I’m candidly looking forward to the Christmas break – which may not be a thing in your country due to upside down seasons and stuff?
I see, yes, your husband would have built up a tolerance for such hot chilli’s from an early age. To be honest, I love traditional Mexican food, especially the type which features lots of super fresh vegetables prepared just beautifully. And then there are interpretations on that theme, but I dunno about those, although they are also tasty, but probably not all that great for ones health. Like you, I eat like a rabbit. The jalapeño chilli’s from reliable sources I’ve grown and sampled are zingy, but not crazy hot. Certainly unlikely to produce sweat! Are you entirely certain that the ones you used to grow were of that variety? They can slowly take up elements of the chilli friends they’re planted with.
🙂 I have to make the time to do such work! That’s what keeps the lights on, and the food upon the table. And not to disparage, because everyone brings different skills to the table, but Sandra has no gift in that direction. I may even have to write under her name. Oh well.
The local dog club has provided the Editor with new local contacts. A lovelier bunch of people would be hard to find.
oooo, better run and get cracking on writing!
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
It’s a shame the article didn’t show what the insides of the egg looked like. And clearly the err, evidence, was cleaned prior to the reunion with the owners. Hey, for a strange twist, imagine some weird sort of substitution racket with the evidence when in custody! I like your thinking, but I reckon it would have hurt passing that err, egg. 😉
A lot of luxury brands get sold, then purchased. It happens, but the obvious question is whether the new management has the same agenda. I used to work in the boot making industry, and yeah, a big name local brand was sold off to foreign interests, and appears to have since returned. Hmm. How Australia’s leather boot manufacturing industry has changed
The old timers used to quip that: ‘patience is a virtue’, and I tend to agree with that. Other people, I dunno man, there’s a lot of demand for instant gratification, and simple resolutions to complex problems. Mind you, the interweb connection here is 5G and way faster than I’d ever need.
Yes, the hourly rate is long established, and tested against competitors and found to be err, competitive. It may even be described as a value proposition, although sometimes that is simply not enough. Man, I haven’t heard diddly-squat about this latest upgrade taking out anyone else. Probably personal… 😉
It wasn’t much warmer down here today, although the when out in the sun it sure felt hot. 68’F was the absolute peak, but most of the day was far less than that. Hope Santa enjoyed your sunshine, and craftily dodged the rain, or at least as deftly as you appeared to have dodged the parade. Well done.
The Editor went to a local dog Christmas thing, and Dame Plum scored an ice cream, and found it to be very much to her liking. Ruby on the other hand discovered a dead deer bone with dried venison jerky on it. A week or so ago, I may have mentioned that someone was blasting away at the local deer. Dunno how the bone ended up in the sunny orchard, but foxes have been around lately.
Your social security system, much like your medical system, is so far beyond my comprehension that I’m left baffled by the details. Does anyone truly understand those beasts? No, the discussion of A,B, C, and err, D, kind of introduced so many abstractions that my mind baulked at the thought of trying to make any sense of the system. Sorry, my poor brain has limits, and they may have just been exceeded!
Ah, we may be ahead of you on that curve. Checks are slated to be stopped as a form of payment sometime in the next couple of years. My understanding is that the banks are winding back issuing new check books.
Go the parody, but is it really cricket ol’ chap? 😉 Hehe!
See, Murphy’s Law doesn’t always apply. And I’m left wondering how such a robust technology could even fail. And there was that awful opening scene from Six Feet Under when the elevator failed to horrendous circumstances. I loved that show.
What a find! And it’s been remarked upon elsewhere that Achilles seriously annoyed Hector, and all ended badly. The original re-telling of the tale is fascinating. Yup. Perhaps it is true what they say about history being re-written.
Speaking of which, oh my, I better get writing…
🙂 Go the Postie! To be truly honest, I’d feel rather ill consuming many of the food products shown in that article. The stuff looks like celebration food, and from my perspective is meant to be followed on by a food coma. But as every day fare, probably not a good idea. Had a gourmet lamb and rosemary pie for lunch today. Yum!
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – Other articles showed the tiny octopus hidden inside. I picked an article that showed a finger, encased in a rubber glove … that blue thing. I thought it better reflected the situation 🙂 .
That was an interesting article about the Australian boot business. Pretty much a microcosm reflecting what happened to a lot of industries. And, not just in Australia. Pretty much what happened, here, too. Neoliberalism strikes again! 🙂
You’re not the Lone Ranger. I did a search, “WordPress update causes chaos?” There was this …”Yes, recent updates to WordPress, particularly version 6.9, have caused significant issues with popular plugins like WooCommerce and Yoast SEO, leading to broken functionalities and user frustrations. Many site owners are experiencing problems such as checkout issues and editor malfunctions due to these conflicts.” And, plenty of links to articles on how to work out some of the glitches.
Our high yesterday was 54F (12.22C). Our overnight low was 48F (8.88C). The forecast high for today is 55F. H and I didn’t get very wet, yesterday. Today may be different. Though weather radar for our morning walk looks pretty good.
Are you sure it was a deer bone? 🙂 I think I watch too many mysteries.
That’s the whole point. No one should understand them.
I made a big batch of Chex mix, last night. As a light, occasional snack, it lasts me a long time. I may bestow a bit, here and there.
Marion Nestle made an interesting observation. A human needs about 2,000 calories a day, give or take. Daily calorie (food) production in the US, is around 4,000 calories a day. Where do all the extra calories go? Around our waists, and, to waste. Lew