We all make plans, then some external force intervenes. Nature is good at pulling that trick. Accidents and misadventures are another doozy. It happens… Today was meant to be a relaxed day enjoying a brief respite from yet another heatwave, but alas, urgencies intervened, and unfolding events decided that there was work to be done. So we worked.
It’s such a busy time of the year. With 300 fruit trees, berry beds, vegetables, the greenhouse, all needing regular attending too, there’s never a dull moment. Despite the heat and dry summer weather, berries have been having an awesome season, and we’ve made about 27 jars of raspberry jam from almost 7kg / 15 pounds of fruit.
Each winter the raspberries are trimmed to a third of their height, and then one half of all of the canes are pulled from the ground. Usually the older and thicker canes are the ones removed. Then the two 10m / 33ft long beds are fed with the usual heady diverse mineral rich soil feed mixture. So far, that process has worked for many years. And the plants have not been watered, other than rainfall. With 12mm (about half an inch) and several 40’C / 104’F days during the past month, the canes have produced well.
It does take some effort to make jam, and part of the unexpected, but absolutely necessary activities, were cutting up the 5.5kg / 12 pounds of apricots harvested last week. They’d sat on a tray for many days softening. Fortunately the fruit is a slip-stone, which means that the flesh does not cling to the stone (i.e. the so called clingstone fruits). Two cups of coffee assisted me with the hour and half of knife work – all before breakfast too. Oh, the indignity!
Observant readers will surely spot the white coffee cup in the above photo. For those who missed it, the cup sits next to the three dog breakfast bowls on the basis that if there is work to be done before I’m fed, the canines can wait too. The tall clear plastic tub is where the home made toasted muesli is stored, and my own breakfast can be seen just beyond the white and red plastic container used for collecting the apricot pits. The stones were later chucked into the worm farm, and no doubts those slithery earth beasts will know what to do with them, maybe.
Surviving hours of work before breakfast was something of an ordeal, I can assure you. Caffeine really does help. Once two large plastic containers were full of neatly diced fruit, Sandra began the process of converting that lot into jam. It took too very large stainless steel pots to process the fruit, and the electric induction cookers were used to get the mixture up to temperature. However, the gas cook tops were then used to rolling boil the contents. We’ve not yet worked out how to do that step properly on an induction cooker – the heating with electric is simply too uneven for the jam to set properly. And we never use gelatin / jam setter because I believe that it alters the final flavour. It’s the only time we use gas in the kitchen and cooking process. Oh well, we’ll work it out eventually, maybe.
Getting back to plans, well, all that jam making work took far longer than expected, and it is work, so thoughts of more fun activities for the day were pushed off and into the future. That’s what harvest time looks like. Anyway, it’s better to heat up the kitchen making jam on a sort-of-cooler summer’s day. At 7am this morning, the internal house temperature had equalised with the outdoors at 25’C / 77’F. Heck, it’ll be a more pleasant day than the coming Tuesday which is right up there at 44’C / 111’F.
That’s hot, and no day to be doing lots of cooking in the kitchen. Anyway, we’ve got an outdoor undercover kitchen for such work on those days. During the week, the venerable old electric oven was replaced. The original machine suggested that it was working, but the valiant effort was to little avail, and the contents of the device were regularly under-cooked. It had to go, and was replaced with another unit for just under $160. How is that even possible to make the thing and post it to us at that low price? You’d have to suggest that the land of stuff is dumping products in an effort to deal with an over capacity.
Did I mention that the air has been smoky due to all of the large and ongoing fires across the state of Victoria?
Air quality is not good, put it that way. Anyway, we’ve got both types of smoke now: indoors and outdoors! With the warm start to the day, I bit the off-grid solar electricity bullet, noted the batteries began the day at 71% full, and just cranked that 1400W portable air conditioner baby hard, whilst the sun was up in the smoky sky. Set a new record for solar power production too, 27kWh for the entire day. Yeah, electricity be crackin!
Actually, on a serious note, a few days ago, the system may have accidentally, err, produced an audible crack sound. The electric jackhammer with a wide clay spade, was accidentally put into one of the extra low voltage cables, damaging the protective conduit (which is the purpose of the stuff) before then cutting into the plastic insulation. Fortunately the copper was not damaged, but with a steel spade, a very brief short occurred.
No great damage, but it had to be fixed. And that was another reason that plans for relaxation were shelved today. The damaged section of conduit was removed, and the wire cut away on either side of the damage.
Alert readers will note that the black cable (negative) has already been repaired. The spade hit both cables in two separate spots. The option of taping up the cables was possible, it was just difficult to know whether the copper itself had been damaged, which in this case it hadn’t been. Industrial electrical businesses supply super nifty solid cable joiners which crimp onto the exposed copper wire.
The long exposed copper section is fed into the cable joiner and then crimped tight with a tool specially made for that purpose. It’s as good as the original connection, maybe. Plastic heat shrink wrap – colour coded of course – then protects the cables from shorting out against each other. The wires carry up to 40A at 55V, which is a lot of juice at around 2.2kW. Sparkier than your average welder, put it that way. The insulated connections can be tested by merely feeling if they get warm when full power is flowing through them.
The cables were further protected by strong plastic conduit, and then duct taped together so as to stop water ingress. Done.
And how did this minor disaster come to be? We were widening the new path project, and I dug too deeply.
Earlier in the week we’d broken apart numerous boulders and so had a decent stash of more usefully sized rocks. Why not complete the path project? It’s slow going drilling and then splitting boulders, but rocks are a great way to define edges and stabilise soil, which is kind of important when living on sloping ground.
We made about 23 large rocks all up, and now even have some spares to use (more on that later).
Ruby, the somewhat complicated and wayward Kelpie dog, is in training to become a proper Work Wub dog. What does that mean? Well, it’s a long story for another day, but in brief, it’s a dog who becomes my side kick when work needs doing.
One hot day, the rock work on the new path project was completed. Truthfully, as an interesting side story, by 2pm that day we realised that two more rocks would finish the job. I looked at Sandra, she looked at me, and we both came to the same conclusion. Put off lunch until 3pm. Back down to the forest edge in the heat, and we recovered those two additional rocks. Installed them, and felt a sense of accomplishment, but also seriously enjoyed the late lunch.
And on a 40’C / 104’F day, many loads of crushed rock with lime were hauled and spread over the clay surface so as to provide a nice all weather surface.
In an act of indignity, a couple of blow-in Sulphur Crested Cockatoos were dropping half eaten apples onto my new path. Well, I gave them what for, and threw the apples right back at them. They’d not anticipated that response and flew off in a squawky huff. The ancient grand master of strategy, Sun Tzu suggests to do the unexpected. That’ll teach those pesky birds to mess with me.
Breaking Update: I got one this morning, and they’ll take me more seriously next time. The bird was startled, then flew away.
The garden upgrade work has not been completed yet. There is one more major path to construct. I now advise readers to take note of the long chunk of steel rectangular tubing just on the right hand side of the above photo.
The plan is to create a direct flat path from the top of one staircase across an existing garden bed, to the other side. Then we’ll widen the narrow path which already exists there – it ends at another staircase. There’ll be a nice overall harmony to the entire arrangement when completed. Plus it will be useful. We’re now using the steep beds for growing sprawling vine plants such as pumpkins, plus for doing various seed raising activities. Here’s an example now:
In other activities, wallabies (a smaller lone forest kangaroo) finally managed to break into the large citrus enclosure and caused lots of unnecessary damage. The wombats had been digging away creating nice neat entrances – and I have no problems about that – but need they be large enough for the other forest critters to enter? In a pique, many loads of rocks were dumped in some of the larger access holes.
Plants were also hacked away from the staircases leading through the garden beds. It’s hard to use the stairs when they’re blocked by thick vegetation. Long ago I’ve seen what ancient ruins in jungles look like, and have no desire to replicate that effect. Fortunately we have better tools and energy than the ancients did, for this sort of work.
Six large trailer loads of vegetation were dumped down below on an area where the soil was not all that good and could use the organic matter. Then Sandra repeatedly drove the heavier low centre of gravity mower over it all which blitzed it up. It’s all turned into a fine mulch which smells beautifully thanks to the addition of the lemon scented geranium.
In breaking produce news:
The first of the seasons figs were picked. It’s a purple variety.
Both zucchini (courgette) and cucumbers have now produced some fruit.
The green apricots were left on the single producing tree of this crazy growing season, and with a few 40’C / 104’F days, they’ve ripened and will be used for fresh eating with breakfast.
The tomatoes both inside the greenhouse, and outdoors, have all begun to produce fruit. Outdoors the plant vines sprawl all over the ground, but in the greenhouse they’re being trained up strong UV stable plastic cord.
The long rows of potatoes are now mostly ready to harvest. This year, we’re even sun drying the sugar cane mulch prior to storing the tubers. Last year the stuff was too moist, and the tubers either sprouted or rotted. What a waste that was.
Trigger alert for those with sensitive dispositions in relation to the next paragraph – please skip over to the one afterwards, and try to not look at the photo.
I found the biggerest dead rat that I’ve ever seen. It’s a monster. Check this out:
At nights the supposedly endangered Bogong Moths fly around chasing the moon, or whatever it is that they do. They’re big too.
At this time of year, Echidnas can be seen scuttling around the land. They’re quite common in these parts, and I like them because they eat the pesky bitey stingy ants.
Onto the flowers:
The temperature outside now at about 10am is 17’C (63’F). So far for this year there has been 12.6mm (0.5 inches) which is up from last weeks total of 9.4mm (0.4 inches)
Comments
54 responses to “Plans”
Hi everyone!
Hope y’all staying safe and warm in that monster US storm. The news of the storm finally hit our media and they had some footage of an epic looking pile up.
And Claire, there was an image of a dude (it’s always a guy…) riding his bike in your area. Far out, with -40’C wind chill, I’d be indoors… I do sometimes wonder about journalism, and symbolism being important, the text suggests seriousness, yet the images are of people frolicking in the conditions. If they think it’s a good idea… Oh well.
US snowstorm triggers thousands of flight cancellations and power outages
Oh, sorry, I digress, it’s something of a bad habit. Thought you snow and ice bound folks would appreciate an update on the cactus flower – 30 years in the making… 🙂
Cheers
Chris
Hi Chris,
Thanks for the heads-up on the photo of the bicyclist in St. Louis on Saturday! Ice-biking was never my cup of tea, but I’ve read about it. The bicycle was outfitted with wide, knobby tires to get a better grip on the road. It’s probably a mountain bike. At the time the photo was taken, there was only an inch or less of snow. And the wind chill wasn’t worse than -15C at the time, if it was that bad; there was little wind.
I doubt anyone was bicycling this morning, after the storm dumped several more inches of snow. We had a total of 8 to 9 inches of snow at our house by the time the snow ended early this afternoon (Sunday). Good thing it is fluffy, dry snow, since we do not have a snowblower. Mike and I shovel it the old-fashioned way. I spent about 2 hours shoveling the sidewalk to the driveway and some of the driveway, while Mike shoveled off the ramp to the back porch and cooked dinner. More shoveling will ensue tomorrow. The goal is to get the entire driveway free of snow before we need to drive anywhere.
We are burning wood in the wood heater to supplement the furnace and because we need to have a little heat from the house flow into the enclosed front porch, where the citrus trees overwinter. If we can keep it around freezing or a little below overnight, we can keep the trees alive until the sun comes out in the morning and the temperature goes above 0F again. The high might get close to 0C on Tuesday but then it will get colder again, though still sunny. With the sun bouncing off a thick layer of snow it will be very bright outside!
Claire
How exciting about the cactus blooming!
Your newly finished path looks not just good but beautiful to me.
Do you ever use a dehydrator to put by fruit? I don’t eat much jam so I like to dehydrate my figs.
Yo, Chris – The raspberry jam jars look really pretty. Summer in a jar. Ditto the apricot jam.
The cable repair looked quit complicated. But you’re up to the task of getting a good join. At least electricity doesn’t leak all over the place …like water.
Just two more rocks. It can be a little maddening when you just don’t quit have enough supply, to complete whatever task. Getting it done … well, you’ll sleep better. Your completed path looks really nice. Inviting.
So, the new path will be kind of a bypass? Also giving you another triangular planting area.
Just due to the layout of the land, my pumpkins grew up a slope. Seemed to do fine, scaling the heights.
One can see where the ground has been watered, in the large citrus enclosure. That green circle around all the trees.
The fig looks substantial. Fig bars in your future? Your zucchini is well on the way.
Do rats rot from the head, like fish? 🙂 What’s the wing span on that Bogong moth?
Why did the Echidna cross the road? Probably for the same reason as the chicken.
Are you sure that’s a cactus and not a triffid? Sure looks like a triffid. Either, or, it sure is a beautiful flower. I wonder if a pollinator will show up? It might take a very specialized pollinator to pollinate it.
It’s about time to take H out on her midnight stroll. I see the temp is 28F. Brisk. Lew
Hi Claire,
Ah, many thanks for the description of ice-biking (which would not be my thing either). Doesn’t there always seem to be intrepid souls out there looking for new adventures and ways to injure themselves? Did you see that the maximum wind chill air temperatures at one point were forecast to reach -40’C and frostbite can set in within ten minutes? Whoa. I’m so summer soft that such frozen air scares me silly, and Jack London’s classic cautionary tale: “To light a fire”, very much springs to mind.
Glad to hear from you, and fingers crossed that your protected citrus trees struggle through the conditions. I have it on good local authority, that if they’re out of the wind (and yours are), they’ll survive -9’C, which is so cold that it is outside of my experience. Brr!
I’d be running the furnace and wood stove too in those conditions. 🙂
The shovelling activity is a bit like the old joke regarding firewood, in that it warms you up multiple times: Cutting, splitting, hauling, stacking and then using. I’m really happy to read that you and Mike made it through the wintry ordeal in good spirits and with most excellent stoicism.
Claire, I’m mildly freaking out this evening. Tomorrow’s forecast has been upgraded to… get this… 45’C. It’s going to be a total grand scorcher. Oh well, buck up little camper Chris, batten down the hatches and prepare for a storm of poop, as they may have used to say. They probably didn’t say that. 🙂
Tonight in preparation I dumped heaps of water all around the place, and we’ll see what the future decides. The rare cactus flower is really very pretty. The plant came with the first house I purchased in what a friend described as the worst house on an otherwise good street at the bad end. The previous owners had abandoned the little succulent. In recent years the warmth needs of the plant were recognised and so it was relocated next to a very large Moby rock which in my opinion should have been blown up long ago. Cooler heads prevailed, and now the cactus grows next to a rather large granite heat sink, and loves the conditions.
0’F is so cold that my mind boggles in abject horror. I was wondering if some trees, despite being deciduous, had troubles with the snap cold. Guess you’ll find out in spring.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Gretchen Joanna,
Always a pleasure to chat, and hope conditions in your part of the world are mild and lovely.
The cactus flowers are so brief! This morning one flower had fully opened, yet tonight looks a tad sad. However, it’s uphill side companion may open this evening and show it’s full glory in tomorrows forecast of 113’F. The flower smells delightful too. The plant deserves to be planted in a larger pot, and I do hope that it is not divining drama for tomorrow.
Thanks! And the paths and staircases through the steeper garden beds are a pleasure to use.
Yes, the tomato harvest is mostly run through the dehydrator. I hear you, and the jam does contain a lot of sugar, which is part of the preserving process. Ordinarily, if there was an excess of apricots (and I’d expect four to five times the volume of this sad harvest), I’d bottle (canning in US parlance) them.
What a great idea – which I’d not considered. Yeah, dehydrate the figs. Nice thinking, and I appreciate the prompt.
Many of the fig trees were relocated to sunnier spots over the past two years, so they’re growing fast, but have low fruit set. They’re great trees because they shrug off the hot weather. And how sweet is the fruit? Yum!
Went and watered them all a few hours ago given tomorrow’s crazy forecast of 45’C / 113’F. That’ll be fun. Oh well, such temperatures occasionally happen.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Pam,
Well, if I may say so, the word intelligent is a rather abstract concept which conveys little real meaning. I’ve met very intelligent people, who wouldn’t know how to go about digging a hole in the dirt. All depends I guess upon the context, and I’ve observed that the larger the city, the more neurotic are the inhabitants.
The last area in the big smoke we lived in was at various stages, working class, migrant housing, dubious bohemian accommodation, then slowly gentrified. It was super weird to observe the changes in attitudes of some of the longer term residents to their new wealth. Sometimes you have to know when to leave.
Respect. Yeah, it’s hard wired into the DNA that outlook on life.
Pam! Oh my gawds. It’s not going to be 111’F here tomorrow, no. The forecast sneakily went up today, and 113’F looks likely. 🙂 Not the first time, but such weather is rather unpleasant.
Yeah, all that ice and snow is a form of free food preserving technology. Nice one.
Fortunately the cable boo-boo was fixed up yesterday, and I keep spare parts for such activities on the basis that you never really know when they’ll be needed. Tell you a funny side story, the oldies version of the national youth music broadcaster (a different station) was replaying the annual countdown from 20 years ago, so there I was fixing up the boo-boo, and bopping along to the tunes. Please don’t tell anyone I can multi-task, my reputation would be totally shot.
Oh poop! Oh well, engineered roof loads are a thing, sorry to say. Hope the plants inside the squooshed hoop house can be recovered? There’s always something to challenge us.
I’m so glad you removed the large tree adjacent to the house. It’s sad to do such work, but houses and big trees do not mix well under any circumstances.
Oh, the poor bird, and hope it’s OK out there in the cold. I worry about the birds too, and will top up their water tomorrow morning. All the local birds drink and bathe in it.
Go the yule log! And you know, I’ve said it before, and I’ll no doubts say it again. It is a real skill to be able to light a fire under less than fluffy optimal conditions. Any idiot can light a fire when the fuel is dry and ready to go, but when it’s super cold and maybe even damp, that’s a useful skill.
Lucky you with the large combustion chamber. The wood stove here is pretty large, but I tend to feed it more regularly with smaller chunks of hardwood. Agreed though, it is more work. Life is like that.
Hope you’re doing well in the freezing weather, which even made our news.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Göran,
For interest I had a look at whether the tiny Suzuki Jimny is still sold in Sweden, and it looks like Euro VI regulations put an end to the model. Sad, because it uses very little petrol and is easier on consumables such as tyres, brakes, roads etc. Bizarrely, the website suggests that much larger models are available instead, such as the bigger and heavier Vitara. Oh well…
Nice work on your accounts, and may they be clean complete, and reflect reality – which is always what I aim for with such work. You’d be surprised, and to me the numbers when reviewed never fail to recount a story.
I’d not known that about the microplastics pollution, but it makes a lot of sense. When much younger, I used to live near to a major truck route, and we’d have to wash tyre dust off the walls of the weatherboard cladding on the house. As you’d imagine, the stay there was brief.
Göran, the scrap metal dealers were very excited to receive the almost 1200kg of lead acid batteries, and paid a decent AU$0.72/kg. I doubt the plastic cases were recycled, as you also suggest, but lead can be almost made new from old. It’s a good material in that respect. And I have no idea how LiFePO4 batteries, let alone all of the other varieties of lithium batteries, will be recycled.
Copper is a very in demand, and with dwindling supplies, metal for recycling. Yes, the cable stripping is a sad process. What do you do? And agreed, few if any people talk about this sort of thing, basically because they simply don’t want to know. Thus why I prefer the old timer saying of re-use first, repair second, and only then attempt to recycle. Much of what goes on in the recycling sphere is a puffery, in the old school meaning of that word.
Plastics are a great example, and few of the exotic materials can be re-used. For your interest, the water tanks here are polyethylene, and can be ground down and re-used.
Thank you for the most excellent description ‘sorting garbage into different piles’! Awesome, and yes. 🙂 I don’t have a garbage service here, but do wonder about the sustainability of having so many diesel powered trucks on the road.
Sometimes I wonder if all of the plastic and other waste is a by-product of the continued search for heavier grades of oil. Something has to be done with the lighter grades…
I’m with you about the ban, and in fact would go one step further and argue for a standardisation of materials, chemistry and products. That’s probably what a sustainable civilisation would look like, it’s just not very popular. And we’ll eventually get there too, people just won’t like it.
Hehe! Change is best done from a bottom up organic approach. When dictated from above, and pushed downwards, sometimes the results can be mildly idiotic.
There is a power imbalance forcing the current approach, but eventually due to resource and energy constraints, that approach is self limiting.
Nice work, and like you, I try to reduce waste, which incidentally is economically a very clever adaption to the present cost of living pressures.
Go the seed swap, and I used to have contact with a local group who did just that. Hope you score some very locally adapted varieties of edibles. You’d be amazed at how much of the garden began through that process – plus you also get to learn what grows in your local area via others who’d trod that road ahead of you.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Thanks, and a good whinge or rant can produce the state of catharsis, which as the ancients may have known, helps to regulate a society. By the way, the 111’F nutso forecast was optimistic. It’s now showing 113’F. Yay us! 🙂 Ook. Fingers crossed. Spent a few hours tonight watering plants that may need a bit of extra assistance.
Anyway, a dude has to live, and tomorrow I reckon I’ll mix up a trailer load of soil fertiliser and spread it around. Should be finished that work by lunchtime, and then I’ll seriously enjoy the cooler indoor temperature.
Man, 23’F is super cold. Brr! Hope H had her winter coat on? It was 86’F today, and we had the day off any and all work. Went and had a picnic in the cool air of the higher reaches of the mountain range. It was quite nice, although when we sat on the park bench, the timber was hot enough to feel as though one’s rear was burning, so we grabbed a blanket from the car and sat on the grass under a tall old Douglas Fir tree in the shade. Much nicer, and could have had a nice nap there, it was quiet and peaceful. Headed home, and crashed out on the couch for a while instead. A pleasant thing to do on a hot day.
What’s the tracking say about your eBuy stuff? Extreme weather can really delay transport. Did you see the footage of the major pile up on the highway in your country? Total mayhem, and hope your packages weren’t involved.
Yeah, you know, the Editor said the same thing about transporting a dessert with meringue, and I’ve got an idea which needs to be tested. Still, it would be a shame if the err, future winning dessert, not that it is a competition, maybe, got smooshed on the way.
Exactly, such wealth disparity can sometimes produce a sort of gamblers mindset, which I’ve read works kinda like this: Won once, will win again. Not sure why that would be the case, because the universe is under no obligation to provide a win for anyone, let alone those lucky enough to have experienced the glow. Nah, I’d have stayed on that island and waited out a rescue.
Did you learn anything interesting from the Dust Bowl documentary? My understanding is that one result of all that was a further consolidation of land ownership.
Never had to scrap ice of a windscreen, and usually chuck cold water onto it. Is it hard to do the scraping?
That’s great news about Scott’s wife, and hope you two can catch up again and make up for the missed lunches. Well, yeah, we’ve all been there and done that, and had weird explanations supplied. Long ago a doctor told me I was barfing because of a inner ear balance problem. You may recall the infamous teasing of the Dame Scritchy situation, which lead to me in the emergency day care… 🙂 I only have myself to blame for that. You had the similar norovirus meal a while back with similar unpleasantness. Yuk! May we all value our continuing good health, whilst we’ve got it.
The various jams are really tasty on freshly baked bread in the winter months – the time of year when additional energy is required to keep warm.
Hehe! Yeah, that’s so true. Water repairs are harder again, and have to be just so, in order not to create further leaks. I keep spare parts for such emergencies, and they’re always handy.
Sometimes a job demands to be completed, whether we have the time and energy to do that work. Time marches on, and I tell ya what: The pain of sometimes pushing-on to get a job done, is soon forgotten. Those pesky cockatoos were at it again this afternoon, but now take me seriously.
Nice one, and yes, the new path is very much a bypass which allows the machines to be driven along the entire length of the path – which they can’t do at the moment. But opening up the area for edible plants is very much at the core of the entire arrangement.
Pumpkins will absolutely grow uphill. I’ve even seen them climb walls if trellis is provided. How they hang onto the large and heavy fruits is something of a mystery.
Yep, it would be nice to have unlimited water, or even town water, but that ain’t the case, and outside of total shade, the grass and ground cover plants have died.
Tried the fig tonight after dinner, and it was very sweet tasting. The trees are still too young to produce a lot of fruit, but they’ll get there eventually.
Hehe! The rat had a candidly pungent aroma, thus why I fished it out from beneath the preserving shed. Yuk! The worms know how to deal with those remains. And that’s politicians! 😉 The Bogong moth is about as big as my outspread hand. Meaty, apparently.
Echidnas are lovely and do some good digging. Actually if the dogs encounter one, firstly I’ll instruct them to ‘leave it’, but then the critter will happily bury itself, so they’re mostly impervious to canine mischief.
Man, I don’t even know what type of cactus the plant is, and this evening, the second flower has opened.
28’F is so cold, and about the coldest it’d ever get here. How’s the heating holding up to the wintry conditions? Hope you didn’t have to brave the roads?
Cheers
Chris
Hi, Chris!
An alert for readers in the upper midwest U.S. (Margaret?):
Mr. Greer is sort of back on Ecosophia, but definitely so on Dreamwidth, and has a weather warning:
https://ecosophia.dreamwidth.org/
Pam
Yo, Chris – Well, since weather is the main topic of conversation, I guess I’ll lead with that. 🙂 Our high yesterday was 43F (6.11C). Our overnight low was 27F (-2.77C). Our forecast high for today is 49F. I don’t put H’s coat on her, unless it’s raining. Right now, she’s about due for a grooming, so has a long coat. She never shivers, so, the low temperatures don’t bother her.
Besides the weather on the east coast, people have to deal with exploding trees. It’s a misnomer, but that’s what it sounds like. Here’s an explanation.
https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/22/weather/exploding-trees-winter-storm
And, maybe these pictures will help you deal with your heat.
https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/24/weather/gallery/winter-storm
Scraping ice off the truck windows, is no big deal. Just about everybody in these here parts has a plastic scraper, kicking around under their vehicle seats, or in the glove box. Auto stores often give them out, for free. A credit card will work in a pinch.
🙂 The roads, at least in town, haven’t been bad. Maybe because it seems to be a low humidity cold. Although you want to take it slow, in any shaded areas
The apartment has been pretty warm. At least, to me. A couple of times I’ve run my very small space heater, for an hour or two in the evening.
Your picnic sounds delightful. Catch what breezes are available, at higher elevations.
I haven’t looked at the actual tracking. It’s quit a song and dance, on the computer. But, estimates are, the couple of books I ordered should show up today, or tomorrow.
Last night, I watched another Costner vehicle, “Waterworld.” Popcorn was had. I found it quit entertaining. I had some of those grapes, with yoghurt for desert. The grapes were tasty.
So, in the batch DVDs that were given to me, is another Costner film. “Robin Hood.” When I watch that, it will be the third Costner film I’ve seen, recently. My question is, if three objects constitute a collections, do three films constitute a film festival? 🙂 So many questions.
Yes, there were a lot of interesting bits to “The Dust Bowl.” There were two types of storms. Dust storms and sand storms. The sand storms were lower to the ground, and could strip the paint off a car. One town in the Oklahoma panhandle, experienced 110 storms in a year.
In a way, the farmers really brought the disaster upon themselves. WWI brought high wheat prices. In the early 1920s, motorized tractors began to make an appearance on the plains. As wheat prices fell, more land was plowed up, for crops, to maintain income. The drought came along, and everything just unraveled.
There was also the problem of “suitcase farmers.” “Suitcase farmers were individuals who did not live on the land they farmed, spending minimal time planting and harvesting crops, often outsourcing labor. Their practices contributed to the Dust Bowl, as many abandoned their fields when wheat prices fell, leading to significant agricultural issues.” Smithsonian Institution.
I trimmed up H last night, and washed her coat. She’ll get a bath tonight, which means I’ll be washing blankets and towels.
I made a big batch of Chex mix, last night. Solved a couple of problems. The Worcester sauce / butter / spice mixture produces a gas that knocks my socks off. I dug out an old cotton mask, left over from You Know What. It really solved that problem.
Also, once the mix is done, you’re supposed to lay it out on paper towels, to soak up excess oil and grease. Uses a lot of paper towels, and, I seem to be chasing bits of the mix all over. Soooo … I poured it in a brown paper bag, with just a single paper towel in it, and gave it a good shake. The bag and the paper towel soaked up the excess oils. And it was easy to pour out of the paper bag, into plastic storage bags. Lew
Yo, Chris – More pictures of ice and snow. The second picture down, in this article, is the beginning of a slide show.
https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/26/weather/winter-storm-deaths-power-outages
These will keep you shivering through your 113F heat. Lew
Hi, again, Chris!
Goodness gracious – you have jars of yummy fruitiness coming out of your ears now. That is interesting to know about the apricots being a slip-stone. I have met some peaches that are so hard to get the stone out of that they mostly get squashed. And it was fun to have a report of what you do before you have your coffee. Spare me a thought as I cannot have caffeine and have to make do with my own get-up-and-go.
Thanks for mentioning the raspberry pruning. Does that apply to blackberries?
Since you are using gas in the kitchen, is there a tank in there?
I would certainly like to find an electric oven for outdoors for $160!
Yay! Congratulations on the superb solar production.
I am so thankful that the copper wiring was okay. These things happen, though it is a shame when everything else is so busy. Those are indeed nifty cable joiners and I like your repair job. That’s good stuff to know.
Oh, good – a future Work Wub Dog story.
The path looks so good. Now aren’t you glad that you had a late lunch that day? “Next garden path”: Va va voom!
Were the wallabies climbing under the fence through those holes? They must be pretty small.
Yay – figs! What color is the plum’s eyes?
That is one doozy of a rat. I think that Bogong Moth could maybe make it to the moon . . .
That is so exciting about the cactus flower. I can’t wait to know if it has a scent. Agapanthus never fail you, and neither do the roses. Thank you!
And there the flower is! Phenomenal, and I’m glad you took a picture before something eats it.
From last week: You are taking a beating for sure in that extreme heat. I am so thankful that you have the air-cooling machine.
The greenhouse has been repaired, sort of. It will do for now.
Let’s face it: I need fluffy optimal conditions to light the fires and I do everything possible to insure that they exist.
We are doing quite well in the freezing weather, though it goes down again even more tonight. Today my son got out the Kubota and proceeded to nonchalantly clear the ice and snow off the driveway (it’s a long driveway). I was amazed at what that little tractor could do with a scraper on the back and a scooper on the front. That thing is paying for itself super pronto.
I did see Pickle the Squirrel out today running in circles on the ice in the woods. His nuts are all locked under it.
Pam
Chris,
You made an observation about the Northwestern USA being milder than the eastern USA. There are a few reason things going on with that. First, west of the Cascade Mountains the weather is radically modified by the Pacific Ocean, which I think is warmer than the Atlantic. While Spokane has experienced temperatures below -29C, this is not common and definitely is rare compared with what can happen in eastern Montana, the Dakotas and Minnesota. The Rocky Mountains curve around to the northwest, so that Idaho and Washington are somewhat protected from direct Arctic air, being blessed with “modified” Arctic air rather than the really cold stuff that gets funneled to the east of the Rockies.
I’ve noticed throughout my life that if Spokane is in the storm track that brings in weather from the Gulf of Alaska, giving us a lot of snow, then the east coast gets less snow. If the storm track goes around us to the north, then you can get the weather that the east coast has been getting this year. That 15cm storm we had a few weeks back was rare, in that it provided a dose of winter weather from coast to coast. I have yet to see a winter which is harsh for both the Northwest and the east coast at the same time.
The newer variable is that ocean currents and thus the prevailing storm track has shifter somewhat, resulting in warmer systems hitting the interior Northwest than what used to be typical. Apparently, the current that takes warm water from the Caribbean north to Iceland and then back southerly to the British Islands is showing signs of stalling out. This could also allow for more Arctic air to get sucked into the east ern half of the USA.
DJSpo
Hi Pam,
We do a lot of old timey preserving methods, and jam is great because it requires no refrigeration, and if properly sealed, can last for years. It’d be great if there was enough apricots to bottle (canning in the US), but one must instead be grateful for what they have. 🙂 This week we’ve picked a couple of buckets of apples for cider making – another process which requires no ongoing refrigeration, and may do that work later in the week when the conditions cool.
Hey, the Anzac peaches are clingstones, and they’re a pain. I hear you about the squooshing with that sort of fruit, and use a knife to slice off chunks. That leaves the remaining flesh on the stones for the chickens. The birds enjoy the tasty treat. Actually they really like scones too, and a lovely local bloke provides us with the day’s leftovers. The chooks make little happy noises when they spot scones.
Oh no, the injustice of it all. No caffeine. Yikes! Total bummer. The stuff doesn’t wake me up, it instead brings the day into sharper focus, so I’m addicted… Yours is probably a more natural path. Apologies, but I’ve forgotten why you avoid caffeine, and was wondering if it was a choice, or health consideration?
Always something to learn on that front. Your mention of the issue with figs sent me on a rabbit hole a while ago as to how the latex allergic reaction can possibly begin. It’s complicated, yup. There are about ten fig trees growing, and I do so enjoy fig jam – which is delicious.
Pam, I’m pretty hard on the blackberry canes with pruning. Years ago I was soft, and they’d produce these glorious canes which were enormous, with little fruit. From memory, I cut them right back down hard to about three major canes in winter. Claire recommended a book on the art of pruning, and it’s brilliant (and I second the recommendation) – takes the guess work out of that task by illustrating for most common plant varieties as to what to do. The Pruning Book by Lee Reich. The author runs a weekly blog too, which I might link to: Lee Reich – blog. The photos look pretty.
Ah, there are two 20 pound BBQ bottle gas tanks outside – the things can be a problem in bushfires I can tell you, and they have a reputation for exploding. We used to cook more with gas and back then used two 100 pound bottles. But the price of gas is phenomenal in this corner of the country, not to mention the exorbitant quarterly rental fee. Do you use gas bottles? I understand that they are cheaper in the US.
🙂 The oven is not intended for outdoor use, it’s just out of the weather (and sun) and has manual controls. Digital style ovens do not like working in variable temperatures – they do strange things (I know this by testing it out!) Whereas a machine with basic dial controls works just fine, because there is no fancy computer. The original oven had been in use for almost fifteen years.
Yeah, the repair of the damaged cable worked out nicely, and I didn’t know it at the time, but the conduit took most of the damage. However, better to err on the side of caution with these things.
Just took Ollie and the Kelpies outside to do their business in the 42’C / 108’F heat, and Ruby found a part shady spot in the orchard and flopped herself down – sun baking, as you do. Hmm. Dame Plum wandered around checking things out at a relaxed pace, and Ollie sprawled out in the shade of the pear trees. Smells nice outdoors, there’s a bit of dust and dry vegetation, but the aroma of flowers is quite strong. It’s probably the first time the dogs have headed outdoors and not run around at high speed. Very sensible if I may say so. Worked outdoors today until about 2pm, just pottering around doing a bit of this and that. Watered the fern gully plants, which are doing better than expected.
Thanks! The paths are awesome to use and lovely to look at.
Kangaroos and wallabies can get under fencing by crouching down and both pulling and sliding themselves through small gaps. Quite clever really. Tell ya what, the wombat is in a stinky mood. He kicked over the water bowl last night, which was odd behaviour.
Dame Plum has quite striking eyes, but surprisingly better eyesight than her sister Ruby. I’ve been training Plum to catch food thrown to her. 🙂 Ollie has that trick down pat, and never misses.
The Moon Moth! Was quite a famous story, although I’ve no idea why. There were better ones from that author.
The cactus flower smells like a daisy, not unpleasant at all. It’s friend opened last night and now there are two of them. It’s funny how they open at night. Took a photo, but not sure how it worked out.
The news is saying that a temperature record for the state was broken today. Are you sitting down? 48.9’C / 120’F at a town called Walpeup. That’s hot-as. I’m grateful for the 1400W air conditioner machine (I’ve nicknamed it the swamp cooler, although it is a proper compressor cooler) and blinds (nicknamed the shields) are working great, and indoors it’s now 26’C / 79’F which is good enough.
Yup! That’s how things work – something is tested out, conditions put the something to the test, then the something has to be modified so as to work when things get extreme. If there were another way… Glad to hear that something has been sorted out with your greenhouse. That’s awful, but extreme weather and stuff tests things out.
Exactly, when conditions are sub-fluffy optimal, we modify the circumstances and arrangements so as ensure that they’re mostly fluffy optimal! 🙂 That’s the theory anyway. Nature obviously has other ideas. Hehe! There are times I simply stuff up lighting the wood heater, and it’s a sad moment to watch it burn out. Dunno about you, but that happens usually when I’m rushing.
Go the Kubota, and that is great to hear. Those front loader buckets are super useful. Wow, good stuff. Bummer that the temperatures are dropping. How’s your water supply coping with such cold temperatures?
Water is on my mind today, and some of the work done involved just checking out everything to see whether it was OK and ready to go if needed.
Hope Pickle is doing OK in the conditions, and I don’t usually feed the birds, but gave the friendly family of magpies some much needed chook feed this morning. Charlene would never have allowed such a situation to occur.
Thanks for mentioning Mr Greer’s warning. If I may add, it can take me about 12 weeks to build a shed from scratch using raw materials, but only a day to tear it down. Some folks, just like breaking things, and that path always ends badly.
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
Your country in many ways is blessed with very large, but not too large, mountain ranges. Thanks for the excellent description which I followed on a topographical map.
Yeah, without those Rocky Mountains, the internal environment of your continent would be uninhabitable at the scale now seen. I’m always astounded by the sheer size of the big rivers and tributaries flowing east and west off that huge watershed. But that Arctic air would I’m guessing be cold and dry, maybe?
In many ways, that outcome of the east and west coasts having differing extremes, is good for agriculture. When things are bad in one area, another makes up for the shortage. Quite ideal really, but it does imply a certain degree of co-operation.
Yeah, I’ve been reading about that particular ocean current, and wondering how it will all play out. We might get to find out. It’s probably also why the Atlantic is colder than the Pacific.
Man, I can’t dodge the subject of weather today: 48.9°C as Victoria sweats through hottest day on record. Hardly record breaking here at 42’C, but it was a cooker for sure. It’s still 32’C outdoors and 28’C indoors at 9pm. Oh well, that’s life. A bit smoky too just for good measure. 😉
Spent today outdoors until about 2pm, and you’d have heard about the general goings on the Australian Open tennis for sure! At least the open court games were shut down.
Anyway, pottered around checking on the various water systems and making a minor change here and there. Dumped a heap of water into the fern gully – what else is stored water used for, than when its needed? The plants there are doing OK, just. Watered more tonight, and took it easy during the hottest part of the day. The smoke stench has gotten quite strong now from the fires in the Otway Ranges closer to the coast. Not under control, for obvious reasons – it ain’t possible there to do so.
Put off the soil fertilisation work just cause it’s too hot. Will get onto it tomorrow. You can taste the burned vegetation.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Ah, truly I wish it wasn’t the main topic of conversation, but perhaps also an exception needs to be made for exceptional conditions? It’s a solid argument, and I now rest my case in the knowledge of a job well done. 🙂
48.9°C as Victoria sweats through hottest day on record That is a 120’F which surely is impressive enough to mention, don’t you reckon? 🙂 Honestly, I’m just happy to be on the other side of that horror show, although it is still 90’F outdoors and smoky, and 82’F indoors which is comfortable enough. Last I checked, 94,000 households were without power across the state. 12,000 of which are in the nearby township of Gisborne and Sunbury. No wonder there are less town lights tonight.
The power system here did well today, and we cranked the little 1400W air conditioner all day long, plus lowered the shields early. 82’F indoors is a pretty good outcome all things considered. Having home made pizza tonight. Yum!
Spent today outdoors until 2pm so as to acclimate to the hot weather. Checked all of the water systems just in case. Had a good idea about a 3/4 inch garden hose and moved it to an area where it will be useful. Dumped a heap of water into the fern gully which was looking rather dry, but the plants there have now perked up. Other than that, general watering and stuff. Made a batch of Anzac biscuits. Napped during the hottest part of the day. The dogs who were bored with a bad case of cabin fever, got to have a good long bark at a couple of kangaroos (who were on the other side of a fence – and knew they were safe). 🙂 Life on the frontier!
Who knew that water and sap in a tree expanded and cracked the trunk? Or ice could split a tree. Far out!Good to see that the trees can survive such whopper temperature drops. I was concerned that many trees would perish under the extreme cold.
The photos of the storm were awesome, Thanks. Not a storm to be caught outdoors unprepared.
Right, I’d not heard about the plastic scrapers for windscreens before. Makes sense that they’d be common, and probably plastic so as not to scratch the glass. A plastic plaster spatula would probably do the same job.
That’s the case here too with frosty mornings. The bits in shade, are a real worry. Ice on the roads is uncommon enough down here that when it occurs, people get caught out. At least they’d be more aware of the issue in your part of the world.
There are some benefits with living in the upper airs from the chimney effect in multi-story buildings. Mostly free heating for a start!
The picnic was nice, and it was thoroughly enjoyable lying flat on the grass and looking up into the exotic tree canopy. One of the older Douglas Fir trees here produced a lot of cones this summer, and they do self seed at this location.
I’d imagine that the winter storm would be causing all sorts of havoc in your country – like with delivery schedules.
The critics slammed that Waterworld film, so good to hear that it served up a solid dose of entertainment. Critics… Can’t live with them! 😉 Ah, the film which brought the million tourists to the now deceased iconic tree. Oh well, plant another, and it’s not like that area is full of trees. Could use some more if you asked me, probably a whole lot more to be honest. The two sycamores here are doing quite well this summer, and enjoyed a small drink of water this evening. They’re going to be really good looking shady trees in a few more decades.
Oh my, dust storms are my personal nightmare, because they presage hard times for the environment and climate. But 110 per year, with sand storms to boot. Youch! Hey flogging the land to death was done down here as well, and for longer too. Sometimes I hear the ghost of those apocryphal lyrics: They paved paradise, and put up a parking lot But yes, that’s a problem with that lot, for they see agriculture as an economic proposition, and may make bad calls seeking yield from an activity which I’d have to suggest, is uncertain at best.
We’ve harvested a couple of large buckets full of apples over the past two days, and are aiming for a bucket per day. May make a big batch of cider later in the week.
Go H! And hope the young lady was pleased with her new doo? The dogs here are pooped out tonight from the heat. They were ratty earlier due to cabin fever. Man, even the wombat kicked over the water bowl last night. What’s with all the negative wave energy forest critters? 🙂
Some recipes are stinky, and elderflower has to take the award for that achievement. The Editor has a less acute sense of smell than myself, but I kick her outdoors for that activity, with the implied threat of a major sooking. Nobody wants that! Hehe! 😉 Nice work with the improvised anti-stink mask.
Tidy idea too using the brown paper bag to soak up the unessential pan juices.
Lots of smoke here tonight from all of the bushfires. Better go before I commence a truly epic whinge-fest!!!! 🙂 I’m actually in good spirits.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – Oh, I think great weather events are always worth commenting on. Our high yesterday was 46F (7.77C). Our overnight low was 28F (-2.22C). The rain is coming back, this evening, and overnight lows are forecast in the 40sF, for the next week. Our forecast daytime high is 48F.
Back east, there’s been 30+ deaths due to weather. I noticed about half of them were from old duffers, out shoveling snow.
One of the books just showed up, via the postie. Haven’t seen my seeds yet, either. They may be down in my mail box.
I watched a good movie, last night. A bit of American history. “Orphan Train.” Turns out it was a 1979 TV movie. It’s a fictionalized account of one of the first orphan trains, in the 1850s. Between the 1850s and 1929, about 200,000 children were relocated via orphan trains.
https://w.wiki/Hcf6
H got her bath, last night. Then I washed a couple of loads of blankets, towels, etc.. I got lucky. No old babes camped out in the laundry room. 🙂 Lew
Chris:
I avoid caffeine as a health consideration. When I had the mycotoxicity some years ago, my nervous system, along with everything else, went haywire. I decided that it might be best just to leave it out. Unfortunately, that also includes chocolate, just in case. Well, that is two addictions I am rid of, but there are so many more . . . I just try to choose them carefully. Sugar is the very hardest of all.
I have just ordered a secondhand copy of The Pruning Book by Lee Reich. And that looks like a nice blog. Thanks so much for the suggestion, and thank you, Claire!
We used to use gas bottles for a BBQ grill, but no longer have it. The greenhouses are heated with gas bottles sometimes.
I would put the oven on the covered back porch.
Well, your dogs may be sensible in the heat, but Mr. Baby is not being sensible in the cold. I let him out to do his duties early the other morning (I had been instructed to do this) and told him to be quick (it was 10F [-12C]) and he decided to go under the veranda and hide and wait for the birds (there were some) to land on the ground. I could have throttled him. I had to wake my son up to coax him out.
Now see, there is another reason why poor Ruby has an inferiority complex. Even her eyes aren’t as good as her sister’s.
Good lord, 120 degrees is like another planet. Yay for swamp coolers and blinds! It is so funny, but now when it’s 23F (-5C) instead of 10F (-12C), we think: “Ah, it’s so nice now that it has warmed up!” and we don’t seem to feel as cold, though I am up to 5 blankets at night, with another at the ready, and wearing double pajamas.
There is no problem with our water supply at all – as long as we have power, which we have had all along. And no frozen pipes as they are exposed in the basement, which is very warm, not exposed to the cold under the house.
Pam
Hi Lewis and Pam,
Spotted this article on the Challenger disaster – and the importance of proper o-rings: Challenger: The disaster five people saw coming
I was delivering newspapers that early morning, and it was an eerie moment for my sci-fi driven faith in space flight had come to an abrupt end.
It’s a bit cooler today, and glad to hear that it’s a bit warmer in your part of the world.
Speak later! Cheers
Chris
Chris,
Glad you were able to follow my discussion and that it made sense. We’ve had the nasty winter extremes here in the past. One year there were 6 weeks during which the high temperatures never achieved -12C. The winter of 2007-2008 had 243.8cm of snow, about 1cm less than the record. The following winter had 282cm of snow, shattering the record. Then there have been a handful of winters like this one where we watch the southern part of the country get colder than what you deal with and the east coast get buried with snow and ice. And the upper Midwest (Dakotas, Minnesota etc)get battered by Arctic winds and temperatures approaching -40C and colder. With wind on top of that. I’m not complaining about missing out on that this year!
I seem to remember you’re mentioning recently something about finding a nearby stone circle with some stones displaced, then wondering what to do about it. My first idea is to do nothing, as the origin and purpose of the circle are unknown, nor why the stones were moved. Alternatively, you could take a few hours and sit near the circle and ask the earth what to do.
While sitting outdoors with my tea this morning, I was enjoying watching and listening to the smaller birds. A gathering of purple finches has been feeding on the crabapples that remain on the tree. I noticed two of the sharp shinned hawks fly nearby. A bit later and one of them swooped through the yard, trying to catch a bird. The smaller birds all fled. Dame Avalanche, on the other hand, was not amused, getting irritated and chasing the hawk around. She seemed to be reminding even the hawk that it is HER yard and SHE is the one who gets to chase the smaller birds, not the hawks. Naturally, as soon as her back was turned, the hawk returned to its hunt in our yard.
42C is bad enough. Been in that a few times in Arizona and here. 48.9C? Hideous. No thanks. And the smoky air does NOT help. Hottest I was in was about 47C on the Rez once in August. Miserably hot, that. 28C indoors at 9pm is too hot for sleeping, but better than 42C. I’ve been following the weather due to the Australian Open. It seems to have been weird with a day or two of intense heat then a pleasant day near 24C, at least according to the tv tennis pundits.
Washington State Highway 155 goes near Steamboat Rock and Banks Lake near Grand Coulee, Washington. I’ve traveled that stretch of road numerous times. At the end of last week, a GIANT basalt boulder fell off of the bluffs and landed in the highway. Yes, there was a big “dent” in the roadway. A lot of damage to the roadway. I thought of what you could do with that big of a boulder, one that dwarfed your Moby Rocks. The State had to remove it, and they did. They used the method that you would like to try: they blasted the bejeebus out of it. The big mound of basalt rocks would have provided you with a lot of perfectly sized rocks for many projects.
Good job with the raspberry jam. Awesome stuff. Looks that the apricot crop is good this year, also. Hooray! Question: how do you manage cheery before caffeine???
I enjoyed looking at your fix for the cracked line. I agree that it needed to be done. Even with minimal damage, with your uses of that cable, having it repaired properly will be better long term. And the fix looked great.
You know, when we want to do very much digging around here, there are various underground hazards we need to be aware of. We are always cautioned to “call before you dig” so that any sensitive infrastructure below ground can be located by professionals and avoided. In your case, would “call before you dig” entail you calling Sandra so that she could locate things before you dig through them?
Mate, congrats! The pathway looks fantastic. And the rocks are all done for the borders. Isn’t it nice when a lengthy job is completed and looks good?
Your plans for the next pathway project look intriguing. Also necessary. Being able to navigate without that cumbersome turn while negotiating stairs will be a good thing. The Princess summed it up, “That makes sense.”
Oh my! Blocking off the wombats and larger critters from your citrus grove with rocks. Throwing half eaten fruit at cockatoos, and even hitting one unsuspecting cockatoo! Good shot, that. Hopefully it deters them for awhile.
Potatoes. Red potatoes. My favorite to grow.
DJSpo
Hi Pam,
Yes, of course, the mycotoxicity and apologies for forgetting that most awful of times for your good self. You endured a truly horrible – and unknown – environment with dire consequences.
Truly, we’re very lucky if us as individuals enjoy rude health. You may also recall from a few years ago that Dame Plum suffered some epic seizures, which I guessed were due as well to mycotoxicity. The past three winters have been spent tipping the balance of the soil and plants at the forest edge from a fungal dominated environment to more of a balanced environment between fungi and bacteria. And the health problems have so far been put to bed for the dog, so to speak. Yes, in your situation I’d absolutely reduce the intake of acidic foods, but so hear you about the sad loss of the sugars. So useful.
On that note, I spread around a trailer load of purchased compost today, and always mix in garden lime (Calcium Carbonate) because I worry about correcting the acidic soils here. It was hot work too, taking up about half a day, and hopefully the fruit trees appreciate the effort.
As a true champion of a dog, and total boss pooch material, Dame Plum caught a rabbit this morning. I’m very impressed.
🙂 The pruning book is excellent, and takes the guess work out of the activity for us lesser folks. Truly, I have a tough time trying to remember all of these fine details, so a decent book is an extension of the brain. Claire has great knowledge and experience with these matters and I’m more than happy to be guided in good directions.
Pam, I never cook on BBQ’s, but that may be because we are vegetarians at home anyway. It’s complicated… 🙂
Exactly, that’s where the oven sits here. Under cover, out of the weather, and in the shade – but outdoors. There’s no point heating up the inside of the house baking a loaf of bread on a hot day.
Dame Plum and Ollie are sensible in the heat, Ruby, not so much. The young canine does not yet know when it is time to slow down. I had her out working with me in the hot sun up until about 2pm, and she ventured back indoors at lunchtime but acted a bit weird. Cooked her head. She’s fine now.
Oh my, Mr Baby! That was most certainly not a gentlemanly act in the conditions. Pam, please tune out for this next sentence whilst I provide some useful advice to the super naughty cat: Mate, don’t bite the hand that feeds. Nuff said really. Just ignore that last sentence. 😉
It’s not a subject usually fit for polite company, but one of Ruby’s eyes is a bit wonky. A lovely dog, but not one who is ever going to do hard work and win prizes. No.
Far out, 23’F falls beautifully within the five blanket, with double jammies with extra blankies upon the side conditions! That is so cold, but! An improvement on the more extreme recent weather you’ve enjoyed. Last night was a zero blankie night for the record. Oh my gawd I was so hot, but stoicism suggests that we must do our best in trying conditions. Today was cooler, but the heat has moved into the state to the north, and our nations capital. Yay for them. Much wailing and gnashing of teeth…
Very clever having the water pipes in the basement, and glad to hear that your systems have been tested and passed. I’m thinking about pumping some water up from the reserve tanks over the next few days.
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
Yeah, and exactly. A climate model is suggestive of what may be experienced at a particular location, but, as you noted, extremes can happen. By the way, my mind is attempting to comprehend 282cm of snow, and failing abysmally. That’d be way over my head, and then a lot! Cars would disappear under so much snow, although I’m guessing that it didn’t all arrive at once?
Full disclosure, 14’C tonight outdoors and 22’C indoors and with the window open blowing in cold air, I’m freezing. Just chucked on a woollen jumper and some boots over my feet (flip flops prior to that). My brain hurts with this climate whiplash.
The recent temperatures here are being compared to the infamous Black Saturday hot summer of 2009 (a lot of snow in your part of the world that year), and the year after delivered an unprecedented 55 inches of rain. A bit of rain is nice, too much is a very serious problem. -40’C is off the charts from my perspective, and whilst I love the photos from that wild part of your country, err, summer soft and stuff.
Many thanks for the excellent suggestion, and I had wondered what your thoughts would be. Will do, and I’ll let you know what the answer is.
Go Dame Avalanche! For she is of the top order predators in that environment and the hawk must accede to her wishes. Funny you mention that story, but last night before bed, Ollie called the intruder alert code. Cue klaxon sound! The lone red deer was in the orchard again, and so the dog and I headed down and cleared it off into the forest. Being a total fire ban, I could not take more decisive action.
Oh! And! Dame plum caught a rabbit this morning. The dog is a legend, and now fast asleep. Of course I took the still warm rabbit off her and dumped it in the worm farm, intestinal worms being a real problem and the sort of stuff I don’t want to worry about – ask me why! The chunks of beef jerky supplied in front of the two other dogs sends a strong message of recognised excellence.
Last night was a zero blanket night. Awful, but survivable. Much depends upon where the temperature is measured, and being further north and inland of the Aus Open, it was 27’C here today, but is now cold feeling tonight. Further north and more inland, the weather is hotter again. The hottest I’ve experienced is 46’C, and I so hear you about the 47’C on the Rez. The best lands were pre-empted. Hmm. On that note, I spread around a trailer load of compost with other mineral goodies today, lest the fruit trees fail to grow. One or two of the fruit trees are looking a bit water stressed now.
How are you doing today? Presumably with the outdoors tea, the cold conditions were less extreme for you?
That’s a big boulder, and interestingly I could look at the Faceplant page without an account. A lot of damage to the road surface. But most of the comments were really funny, such as: “None shall pass!”, plus of course many references to ACME products and Wile-e-coyote. Comedic genius. I’d take the smaller rocks, but alas transport costs are prohibitive.
Ha! Alas, as a caffeine addict, the morning is rarely, if ever in focus before a cuppa. 😉 Sometimes the Editor is talking to me at such early moments, and about the best retort is that: “I’m working purely on muscle memory, so don’t distract me or else your breakfast will be totally stuffed up.” 🙂 There was that time I forgot to add bakers yeast to the bread dough, and it didn’t rise. I can tell ya, plus the stuff tastes awful without salt too. Hmm. So many things to go wrong at these awful early hours.
Thanks! Industrial cable suppliers (and there aren’t many down here) sell some nifty products because, well, accidents happen. Yeah, I couldn’t live with the uncertainty that a larger break in the cable may, or may not, have occurred. It could be a fire risk too with potential DC arcing under full 40A load. I don’t need the stress.
Ha! There’s a dial before you dig service down here too. 🙂 One of the things on my to-do list is to sort out the multitude of photos of the underground infrastructure into a more logical project based arrangement. Hard to believe that there are messy things here, but it’s true. They tell me that confession is good for the soul… 😉 By the way, Sandra was unaware of the cable, but aware and supportive of the need to repair the damage!
It is nice when a project is completed and you can sit back enjoy the path and use it as a convenient location with which to throw apples back at the pesky blow-in cockatoos who were half eating the apples. 🙂 Those birds are undeterred, but now super wary of me. They have the cheek to give me stink eye from high up in the trees. Picked another couple of buckets of apples today, and may have to make some cider over the next few days.
Please thank your lady for the high praise, and we may start that work on the new path tomorrow, weather permitting. Ferns will feature in the new project, but they may have to wait for cooler weather.
Had a brain fart thought this afternoon. The wombat may have been annoyed because the lone deer was hogging the best fresh grass over the worm farm sewage trenches – which rightfully is the wombat’s. Thus the fit of pique the big marsupial kicked over the bowl of water.
The potatoes are yummo, and we sun dried the sugar cane mulch they’re to be stored in this year. No mucking around this time.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
The heat has worked it’s way across to the nations capital today. And there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth. Fortunately today was cooler here (but not further north), although last night was a very uncomfortable sleep. Hard to believe, but I had to put on a woollen jumper a while back. My brain hurts! 🙂
Did you and H dodge the predicted rain?
Yeah, I noticed that people were being killed by snow ploughs too. Like how does that even happen? But, I’m guessing that visibility would be very poor. Some of the photos of homeless folks looked to me like they were not wearing nearly enough layers for the conditions, and that was a worry.
The Editor and I were discussing the subject of old duffers this morning, after seeing three of them on bicycles climbing up a steep mountain road. The faces suggested that an unpleasant activity was occurring. It was still hot at that time, far out. Oh well. As something of an old duffer myself these days, I’ve got to consider realistically what I can and can’t do. You may notice that we’re getting a lot of rock work done lately, and that is for a good reason.
Glad to hear that deliveries in your part of the world are going well. We had an order in for a business, and they’d somehow missed it. Having more of a hands-on business side background to the Editor, I encouraged her to contact them, because it’d been missed. And sure enough, it was. A lot of computer processes look automatic, but in many cases they aren’t. The interweb ordering system is often different to the inventory systems, and a person takes info out of one, and puts it into the other – it happens.
The Orphan Train story is amazing, and dare I say it, full of nuance. A lot of good stories, combined with a lot of horror stories. It was also interesting in the link to see how the language surrounding the process had developed from that episode. I’ve known both Indigenous folks who’d been taken from their parents, and other folks taken from their Catholic single mothers at birth. Oh yeah, some strange stuff happened back in the day. As a child of a single mother in the early 1970’s, my position in that household was not guaranteed. Things were very different.
Mind you, go back further to WWII, and many children were orphaned and taken in by family and strangers. We read a book about that a year or two ago: The air raid book club, and that was merely one example.
In these more enlightened days, people can be a bit odd about what exactly constitutes a family. But you know, today is but a moment in time, and when things change, they’ll be different again.
Have you known anyone who was orphaned?
Ha! You survived the dreaded laundry coup / hostile take over. Good stuff.
In the cooler weather today, did a mix of paid work, and also spread around a trailer load of compost for the purposes of feeding the many fruit trees. Got some blood and bone into it, plus more garden lime. Had a good rhythm going, but it still took about four hours. In the early evening we picked a couple of more buckets of apples. Such a great tree, and one of the most reliable cropping plants in this climate.
Looking forward to better sleep in the cooler air this evening. Hope you’re dodging snow, ice and general cold.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Chris,
I’m glad you survived the monstrously hot day! 108F/42C is the hottest I’ve lived through, and it wasn’t enjoyable. The record high in Missouri is 118F, which occurred on 14 July, 1954. The record high in St. Louis, 115F, occurred on the same day. It doesn’t get as hot here as in areas with dry summers, because some of that heat goes into vaporizing water that the trees are transpiring.
By contrast to your weather, it was officially -5F/-21C on the morning of the 26th. According to our weather sensor, it was -7F/-22C at home. Since the official reading is taken quite close to the airport, it’s often a few degrees F cooler here when the skies are clear. It was probably a little colder where Margaret lives than it was here.
Yesterday and today feature highs in the upper 20sF, better but still below freezing. Plowing plus salt applications have resulted in clear roads, so all is back to normal. The two old duffers in this house shoveled the 100 foot long driveway by hand, along with a near 50 foot long sidewalk, the ramp up to the back porch door, and a path to the woodshed. It was a good workout, thankfully not as hard as it could have been however because the snow was so dry and fluffy. No snowball making unless one made them from the slushy snow next to the street that had partially melted from the salt application.
I remember the Challenger disaster, and I also remember the hearing on it. Richard Feynman, the Nobel prize winning physicist, was one of the people called to testify. He demonstrated, on TV, how the synthetic rubber O-rings stiffened up the morning of the launch by dunking a scale model of one of them in the glass of ice water on the table in front of him. He’s my all time favorite scientist for that, among other reasons.
Speaking of cold weather in Florida, the state will get hit by the worst cold wave in at least 15 years this coming weekend. We’re talking near-freezing overnight lows in Miami and maybe snow flurries in Tampa. Much of the citrus crop still on the trees will be in danger of freezing, as the groves are mostly in central Florida where the lows will be in the 20sF.
Claire
Yo, Chris – My newspaper boy moment was in 1962. In the wee small hours of the morning, as they tossed bundles off the truck, there was the headline. “Marilyn Monroe Dead!!!” However, didn’t lose my faith in Hollywood. 🙂 Let’s see. What was I doing in 1986? I was aware of the Challenger disaster, but can’t say it was a big impact, on me. I guess, what with one body blow after another, one gets a bit “hardened” by each new disaster that comes down the pike.
Our high yesterday was 46F (7.77C). Our overnight low was 41F (5C). Our forecast high for today is 49F. It started raining in the evening. Still raining on and off, today. So far, H and I have dodged the rain. I called this morning and she has a groomer’s appointment, next Thursday.
I noticed quite a few of the deaths back east, were from hypothermia. I’d guess the bulk of those would be homeless folk. There was an O’Henry short story, about a guy, trying to be arrested, so he’d have a warm place to stay for the winter. To commit a crime just serious enough, to put him in the slammer, for a few months. I’ve seen it dramatized. Ah, here …
https://w.wiki/HdeN
That movie about the orphan trains, kicked off a lot of books. Every once in awhile, on the library “new” list, I see a new one. Usually aimed at children or young adults. Do I know any orphans? Well, me. 🙂 When I moved into my digs on Tower, the fellow that owned the restaurant next door at that time, was raised in an orphanage. One of the Carolinas. I’ve probably known more, but he comes to mind.
Well, Chad has been slow to getting that shelving in, for the Club pantry. So, I’ve devised a plan to light a fire under him. I have two bags from the last food box. And last night, I swung by the $+ store, and picked up three more bags. When I visit Jane this afternoon, I’ll put them where the pantry was, before. That ought to get him moving. Or, his wife, Madame President will get him moving. 🙂
I was tired by the time I got home, but, I notice the laundry room was again empty. So, I did two more loads of my pants, shirts, socks and shorts. Dinner was sourdough muffins with tomato and Swiss cheese. Secret sauce.
I have gotten that four movie DVD set, of 1950s Sci-Fi from the library. Last night I watched “The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms.” (1953). Took me back to the Saturday matinees, at the old Lombard theatre. 25⍧ for a day of third run movies, cartoons, even old silent movies and serials. Old news reels. Anything the theatre could get on the cheap.
The movie was quit entertaining, and I saw a lot of character actors that looked familiar. There were couple of interesting DVD “extras.” An interview with Ray Harryhausen, describing how he invented the monster (a dinosaur), and made it move. Also, an interview with Harryhausen and Ray Bradbury.
Back in 1938, the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society was started. A founding member was Bradbury. He was 18. They met in a meeting room at Clifton’s Cafeteria. He soon met Harryhausen, also 18. They became lifelong friends.
In 1951, Bradbury wrote a short story, for the Saturday Evening post. It was the inspiration for the movie screenplay, and Bradbury got a film credit. And, of course, Harryhausen got a film credit.
I saw news this morning that one of our major carriers, UPS is laying off 30,000 employees. Also, the river is laying off 20,000.
I got my other book from the postie, this morning. Now, only the seeds are outstanding. I thought they’d be here before the books, as books come media mail (slow), and the seed packets would come first class. But then I got to thinking about it. I’d guess the nurseries might have got my orders before the storm, but I bet they were doing quit a bit of storm prep. If they don’t arrive tomorrow, I’ll do the song and computer dance, and check into the tracking. Lew
Chris:
See, didn’t I tell you (or did you tell me?) how important good O-rings are? I remember the Challenger disaster vividly.
I am typing with one finger right now as I cannot use my left shoulder, which means that my arm is mostly useless. Too much wood hauling and ice chopping, I guess, with a shoulder that had a torn rotator cuff years ago. It’s been bothering me lately, anyway.
Speaking of ice, we still have plenty and UPS couldn’t get up our road, so the driver called and said that we could come and pick up our packages at the volunteer fire station. I thought that was fair; it’s only a couple of miles away.
Good girl, Plum! Does she share with Ollie and Miss Wonky Eye?
In past power outages at the height of summer, I have sometimes slept with a large, damp towel on my bed.
I wish you could see the pond behind us. I can see it from upstairs and it is white, thus indicating that it is pretty well frozen.
Pam
@ Claire.
Richard Feynmann is my all time favorite physicist, too. He was quite interesting, but could explain almost anything in terms that people could understand. I still have a set of the old Feynmann Lectures books.
DJSpo
Chris,
That 282cm of snow was the total for the season. We didn’t have more than about 80cm on the ground at any one time. The record for snow depth here is 107cm, set in January or early February 1969. The Dread Winter of 1968-1969. The snow was 107cm deep. I was 107cm tall. People shoveled their sidewalks, making the snow even deeper beside the sidewalks. It was like walking through tunnels or deep trenches.
Oh, the winter of 2007-2008, 243.8cm total, saw the lion’s share of the snow hit in late January through the middle of February. The winter of 2008-2009, 252cm total, started with a huge snowfall of 68.6cm on December 17, after a few other smaller snowstorms. The calendar year 2008 actually had 111 feet (335cm) of snow. Of course, that was officially recorded over parts of two winter seasons.
Whipsaw weather like you’re having is hard to be in. And those are big differences in temperatures from 48C to 14C in just a matter of days. I’d have to wear an extra layer at 14C after those hotter days too.
55 inches of rain in a year? I think typically you’ve been getting between 32 and 35 inches per year since I’ve been reading? That’s an awful lot of excess rain. Surprised the entire hillside didn’t wash away.
I still think a nice weapon in your situation, for both those pesky deer and the cockatoos, is a good slingshot. I’ve got one of the “wrist rocket” variety. Small rocks can be sent a large distance with these.
Go Dame Plum! Good that you got the rabbit away from her before she ingested parasites.
Hopefully, that new compost will also help the fruit trees hold some moisture.
Doing good. Woke up to about a half cm of snow this morning. It had all melted before noon. Easy weather to sit outside in with my morning drink. About the only weather I avoid is either high winds or too much smoke. The winds especially if it’s cold with a nasty wind chill below about -20C. Otherwise, I add layers as needed. So the cold hasn’t been bad this year in that regard. Mornings like today’s I find very enjoyable: fresh snow, -1C, no wind, under the patio roof while wearing a heavy wool sweater, enjoying the feel of a hot mug in my hands.
I saw that Faceplant page, too. I enjoyed the comments. That is sagebrush desert country, so the Wile E Coyote jokes were fitting. There are signs along that and many another highway: “Beware of Falling Rocks”. Signs say nothing about boulders!
35 years ago, give or take, there was a local band called “Loose Gravel”. They chose that name for two reasons. One, they weren’t great, they knew it, and some of their voices were a bit gravelly. Two, they figured they were getting a lot of free publicity from the State and it’s “Loose Gravel” highway signs.
Ah, yes, no caffeine, no focus. That’s why I detested meetings before 10a.m., even though I was in the office by 7. When the Big Boss asked me about that one morning about 8:30 a.m., I replied “Always avoid meetings with time wasting morons. It’s from the first book of Dilbert comics, boss.” He knew the comic strip, so he had a chuckle, rolled his eyes and walked away. I promptly walked to my cube and replaced the message on my erasable board with “I can’t people yet.” Then sat out of sight from the hallway enjoying my second cup of coffee.
Of course the pesky birds gave you the stink eye. From out of range, of course. After all, you scored a hit on one of them. Unforgiveable, that. They will never forget, either. Beware, lest they decide to try dropping the partially eaten apples on your head.
It could be worse. Donald Duck had an apple experience, too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shvwSBGDmE0
DJSpo
Hi Pam,
I know! O-rings are super important, and they’re tiny little gaskets which work well, until they don’t. Hey, both households have been hit by faulty o-rings in the past year, however, you’d think that space craft would be better designed than the items you and I are using, maybe…
Oh my! Pam, I’m so sorry to hear that, and respect for your fortitude. What a nightmare tear. Truly, I reckon the cold weather would not be doing your shoulder any good either. Respect for the one finger typing! Hope your shoulder recovers soon, and also that you get some warmer weather.
It was cloudy, but warm today. We have both nuisances: Smoky and humid. Oh well, moved rocks because ta-da, the new path interconnector project was commenced. By 2pm in the heat, I was done. But it’s looking good.
Brr! Hope everyone in your household is snuggly warm given the ice outside? That’s not a bad arrangement with the UPS dude. The lovely folks at the local general store perform the same arrangement, for which I’m eternally grateful. Some delivery drivers refuse to venture into the forest, and the postal service somehow fails to acknowledge that this hamlet exists.
Alas, Dame Plum had her new latest still warm chew toy was removed and chucked into the worm farm, lest the champion canine end up with gut worms herself. After a minor incident with rats a few years ago, let’s just say that I’m wary of dog-caused-dead wild critters.
Damp towels work, and yours is an ingenious solution.
🙂 Pam, I’m impressed when a thin sheet of ice forms on the dogs water bowls. An entire farm pond of ice would totally mess with my head! Nature is pretty amazing, isn’t it?
Cheers
Chris
Hi Claire,
After a certain temperature around the body’s natural state, it’s all revolting. The worst day for heat was way back in 07 Feb 2009, the infamous Black Saturday bushfires when 173 people died, and Melbourne reached a maximum temperature of 46.4’C / 116’F. That was one crazy day I can tell you, and with the strong winds, nothing could stop those fires other than a lack of fuel to burn. I was part of the local volunteer fire brigade at the time, and considered too inexperienced to send out, for which I’m grateful.
See, Missouri and St Louis can also reach such awful heights, and I reckon the humidity would be low on those days, maybe? There is a thought that living in a city provides some protection, but high temperatures and strong winds are an awful combination in anyone’s language. Our nations capital was hit pretty hard one summer day in 2003: 2003 Canberra bushfires. In that fire, a tornado was documented to have produced horizontal winds of 250 km/h (160 mph) and vertical air speed of 150 km/h (93 mph).
There are dry thunderstorms predicted for tomorrow, and let’s just say that I’m keeping a very close watch on unfolding events here.
On the other hand, we began a new path project today. This one links up two sets of concrete stairs, and it’s looking good, although I get the impression that my brain is a little cooked this evening from moving heavy rocks. Oh well… That’s summer for you. 🙂 At least the nights for the next ten days are all cool to cold. Yay!
-22’C is so cold that I’d be quailing in fright, with the wood heater cranking super hard. And it may not be enough. How was the internal temperature of your house responding to such low temperature demands? I feel almost guilty to mention that it was 26’C here today, and a relief from the super hot weather of late.
🙂 Old duffers of the world unite! Hehe! Nice work with the shovelling, and the activity would have warmed you and Mike nicely! Ah, thanks for mentioning that because I’d imagined that all snow was good for snowballs.
Claire, I had a rotten experience with a faulty o-ring and a machine here last year, and whilst I respected the engineers for raising awareness of the issue, the solid fuel boosters were not re-designed until after the awful tragedy. And yeah, scientists who are excellent communicators deserve a medal. Funnily enough, I was listening to Dr Karl on the national youth music broadcaster this morning doing the weekly science hour. He’s been taking random questions from the public on that forum since 1981. Total respect. Hopefully I get to blog for as long a period of time?
Oh poop! The summer soft citrus trees won’t like that one bit. My lot have been exposed to cold weather slowly over many years and have adapted. But it’s the wind chill which will do them in, but even so, 20’F-ish is at the lower limits for their cold tolerances. Yikes! Fingers crossed, for the trees.
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
It sounds a bit weird, but the thought of walking through open snow trenches would be kind of fun (if appropriately attired for the conditions). There’d be an element of sudden mystery forced onto an otherwise known set of surrounds.
Man, I’m a bit jittery right now, and am having a chamomile tea to soothe my nerves. The red deer was again in the sunny orchard as the sun was setting, and I had a good clean shot and took it. Got the heart first shot, and it’s more of a credit to the scope and rifle than my skills, but I was pleased that the ending came quick.
It takes fifteen years to grow a fruit tree to maturity in these conditions, and the deer have been unrelenting in this challenging season, and we can’t sustain such damage. A choice was made. Bizarrely a nearby kangaroo bounced away a bit, and kept on grazing – which I’m totally fine with. The deer had even pushed the wombats off the greenest grass over the worm farm sewage trenches. What do you do?
We might now be in some weird in-between season with hot days and cool nights? Dunno. I’m pouring over the weather forecast like some ancient examining the portents shown in the tea leaves.
32 to 35 inches is the longer term average for rain here, yeah. And I put the stats up every week, because occasionally I learn useful titbits of information. Like when Claire pointed out that the cold nights lowered the soil temperatures on average and affected what we could grow. Makes sense from hindsight, but I couldn’t see it at the time.
You’re right, and it’s a good idea. The cockatoos just need to tone it down a bit, but they’ll be fine. Another local feeds them, and has created a nearby flock, and their visits to here are rare. But they do live for 80 years and have long memories, thus why I made an impression upon them.
Yeah, the rabbit which Dame Plum got will also reduce competition for scarce resources in this year. Nature finds a balance, and us humans are all part of that picture too.
Good to hear! And yeah, outdoors is nicer (I’m not wired to spend too long indoors. Takes one, to know one! 😉 ) The cold winter winds make life difficult outdoors here as well, and smoke, yuk! Thanks for the enjoyable visuals with the hot mug in your hands, dog at your side, and bit of snow, just enough to be a treat for the eyes. Hopefully Dame Avalanche was not upset by the melted cold stuff?
They have those falling rocks signs along the Great Ocean Road too (along the coast and way to the south west of here), and sure enough there are rocks regularly dropping from cliffs, but that boulder took the award for massive.
Hehe! Nice one, and don’t we all have adaptive techniques to get through the day to day? Yours is a goodie, and I do the other side of that coin by starting late. 🙂 If there were another way?
The pesky cockatoos have already dumped half eaten apples onto my head. Have you ever seen the like? An absolute cheek. I’m sure you’ve encountered some tricksy critters over the years?
Thanks for the link.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
That would have been massive news, for the lady was an icon. Very funny, and it’s a touch different, maybe. Anyway, it’s been remarked upon elsewhere that I’m overly sensitive, but there is no way you’d get me on a spaceship. 🙂 Those things can go wrong badly. I’m actually amazed one of those commercial flights hasn’t come unstuck, like that deep sea sub incident did. Gave me the willies that incident, and no doubts this has something to do with a past life, and candidly I probably deserved the outcome.
True, you do harden up a bit as the years roll on. And far out, man, if you’d told me way back in my corporate days that I’d be out doing what I did tonight, your sanity would be under question. But no, yours is safe, and I’m the one in the mildly dodgy state tonight. The red deer came back at sunset, and like Dexter, I went, tonight’s the night. And done, first shot too, which I was pleased with. Dragged the carcass right down to the forest edge where there is a lovely patch of ferns growing, and the forest critters can enjoy the easy feed. It’s been a tough summer for the birds and animals, thus why Dame Plum got the rabbit yesterday, and why the wombat was cracking the sads about the deer taking the marsupials prime food spot. There’s a lot of life here, but, deer are unsustainable. Everything else has a check and balance on its population, but not the deer. And ultimately, I get to choose who gets what, and how that is going to look like. It’s pretty dark view on the world, but also possibly also maturity.
Your weather sounds really nice to me right now. It was 79’F here today which was pretty good too, but the rain would be well received. We hauled heaps of large rocks up the hill and began work on the new path interconnector project. Looking swish-o, well what’s done so far is. Hopefully the photos show where all this work is headed.
H will no doubts enjoy the grooming later in the week. It’ll warm up for you soon.
Yeah, I reckon hypothermia would be a serious risk in the recent weather in your country. It’s a credit to shelters that the fatality rate has been so low.
The Cop and the Anthem is a funny tale, with a delightful ironic twist for the conclusion. Very clever. Thanks for mentioning the author. 🙂
Takes one Orphan to know another. 😉 Interesting, and I appreciated the memory. Funnily enough, I never detected any particular consistent traits in the orphans I’ve known over the years, and most of them simply wanted to move past the past, if you know what I mean. Play the cards they were dealt.
Madame President has her ways, and hey, you may be roped into that job if you’re not careful. 🙂 Hope the bags of food were well received, and was wondering if there was any update on the shelving. It’s such a good resource that I was baffled when it was removed.
Your luck has been good with the laundry, but I’d imagine that timing would also play into that story? Maybe? Sometimes I observe businesses and the flow of people, and know when to visit at quiet moments.
This talk of secret sauce sounds deeply mysterious. What if something should happen to you, and none of us can enjoy the sauce, and you’ve tantalised us all with vagaries and hints? You never know, man. 🙂 My dinner was quite plain and was rice, vegetables, greens and eggs. Good enough, and candidly I wasn’t all that hungry. Oh well. Moving rocks takes energy.
Fun stuff those older sci-fi films, and I quite enjoyed Mr Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 book, although it was a dark tale of strangeness. The author would have seen some things that day, and the view from the air would have been less upfront, but no less personal.
I missed the UPS news, but saw the river. White collar jobs apparently, with loose talk of replacement by arty-fish-al programs. Hope that lot know what they’re doing! Mind you, such vast numbers of employees is an enterprise which is beyond my understanding. In many ways, it’s astounding that such behemoths even work.
Yeah, wise to follow up in a polite manner, which I’ve no doubts you’d do. If you get the chance, ask them how they’re doing. People in business appreciate that when faced with extreme conditions. I certainly do.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – Sooner or later one of those commercial space flights will come unstuck. We’re about to send four astronauts on a loop around the moon. I’ve been seeing articles, “NASA is about to send people to the moon in ship critics call unsafe.” But let’s do it anyway.
I think the event that really shook up and imprinted my cohort was the JFK assassination. Ask anyone in my age group, “Where were you when …” and they can recount their feelings in vivid detail.
Dead eye Chris. 🙂 Look at it this way: the deer had one really bad day. It was what’s called a “good clean shot.” Other people disturbed nature’s balance (importing the deer) and you had to restore it. Sometimes, it falls to us to clean up other people’s messes.
Our high yesterday was 50F (10C). The overnight low was a steady 48F (8.88C). Our forecast high for today is 51F. It’s been raining, but lightly. So light that when I took H out for her walk, last night and this morning, I didn’t even have to towel her off.
O’Henry is all but forgotten, these days. He published in magazines, mostly. The Golden Age of Magazines. Another great story of his is “The Gift of the Magi.” Which I also saw dramatized as a wee small lad. Back in the 50s, there were many programs that dramatized more … literate offerings. “Playhouse 90,” was a big one.
https://w.wiki/8inc
A lot of kids go through a phase where they fantasize that they’re orphans who were adopted, because their parents couldn’t possibly be their real parents. 🙂 So they hope the rock star and super model will show up, to reclaim them.
My secret sauce is plane nonfat yogurt, diced garlic and a squirt of horseradish mustard. I told my Idaho friends that, and they totally freaked out over the yoghurt. They asked me today if I ate summer sausage or bologna. My response? “Surely, you jest. ” 🙂
Last night, I watched another of those old sci-fi movies. “World Without End.” Has to do with one of those pesky temporal anomalies.
https://w.wiki/HeW9
One of the stars was Rod Taylor, a compatriot of yours. I also noticed that a fellow named Alberto Vargas did the set sketches. Whatever those are. He became quit well known for his “Vargas Girls.” They appeared in men’s magazines, calendars and even playing cards. Quit collectible.
I finished “Firestorm,” last night. There was a bit about … parrots. The reporter / author was feeling pretty depressed and beat down, by the third day of the fires. But then the feral parrots, returned to the Palisades, and it gave him a real lift.
They’re mostly Nanday parakeets and Red Crowned Amazon parrots. According to the L. A. Times newspaper, they first made their appearance after the 1961 Bel Air (a very wealthy neighborhood) fire. Private aviaries were opened to save the birds. There’s a “Free-Flying Los Angeles Parrot Project,” at one of the universities down there. They track and study the feral birds.
I heard this morning, that H’s previous owner has died. Made it to 98. Of course, that was seen on Face Plant, that unimpeachable source of information.
I swung by the library yesterday, and one of the people I know there gave me a head’s up. There may be an article in today’s newspaper that they’re going to have lay-offs. Probably due to that property tax claw back. Lew
Chris:
Yes, nature is amazing, gut worms and all.
Still extremely painful; hard to sleep at night. I guess that is what naps are for, eh?
Pam
Chris,
That winter of 68-69 was rather fun. I enjoyed the tunnels/trenches. They dwarfed me. Dad had to shovel snow off the roof. Twice. The mounds of snow from that were so deep we couldn’t see out the front windows. And I could touch the roof from the peak of the mound.
School started at 9:00. a.m. One day, we got to school and an hour later they sent us home. Blizzard warning with heavy snow and high winds coming through with an Arctic front. That was while we could still see out the windows. I remember sitting there watching the snow come down thickly, blow off the roofs, while mum was working in the kitchen and would periodically call into the main room what the outdoor temperature was on the thermometer outside the kitchen. The temperature dropped from -1C to –12C within a couple hours. I drank a lot of hot cocoa that day.
Ugh. I feel your pain, shooting something. Last resort it sounds like. Sounds like a good shot, too. It’s not like you had much of a choice with that particular deer. Your options really became a Sun Tzu type thing, didn’t it? And even when you do what has to be done, it doesn’t mean that you enjoyed it. Heartbreaking sometimes.
Ah yes, putting up the weekly data is good. Glad that one of the trained scientists you have among your readership noticed a pattern. Data and patterns: that’s how some of us think.
You nailed it. There’s the natural pattern and humans are part of it. The patterns and the harmony and the changes hit you in the face where you live. I’m glad I grew up on the edge of town and could spend time in the woods and exploring along the river. And spending several weeks camping most summers. I learned a lot that way.
Today’s big change was with birds. I noticed the odd junco or two a week ago. Today there were about a dozen in the yard, feeding on fallen crabapples. I’m very happy that we always have the crabapples, cherries and out of human reach chokecherries. The birds know that there’s always something for them in my yard. Share. Be PART of nature.
Dame Avalanche is happy as long as I’m around. She adapts to things pretty well. Mostly. That one week she didn’t like the weather, it was thick clouds, occasional fog, -1C give or take a dab, humid and dank. That kind of cold gets in the bones and can be somewhat depressing. The loud bangs from some kinds of fireworks have also started to get her a bit ill at ease. That’s new this year. But she gets through that when she can be near me.
Now that I’m no longer working, I can live according to my natural body clock. Stay up later, sleep in, start slow. When the summer heat hits, then I will get up earlier so as to get in Avalanche’s walk and some outdoor chores before it gets too hot. Then a long nap in the afternoon to make up for the early start. Otherwise, I like sleeping in. 😉
I’ve watched the local crows pester people for fun and then turn it into a huge game when the humans react. They’ve dropped nuts near my head when they’re unable to crack them open, then wait politely for me to crack the nut for them. Magpies used to pester the old dog we had when we first moved to Spokane. But I’ve yet to have the birds drop half eaten fruit on my head. Then again, we have no cockatoos hereabouts. They sound like right cheeky bams.
But the triksy critter? That was Rakhi the Samoyed. She learned how to open tightly shut doors, nose around in the room and find a stray sock or a shoe. Then she would join the humans and slink up and down in front of us gently holding her prize. “After someone would say, “What do you have?”, the sly dog would drop it at our feet. I’d put the object away, make sure all the doors were shut tightly. 20 minutes later, the game was replayed.
DJSpo
Hi Pam,
Nature sure is amazing. It’s been such a tough season, especially recently with the two prolonged heat waves. 30 Sulphur Crested Cockatoos turned up this morning and began systematically stripping all the orchards of fruit and they worked intelligently. I’d never previously realised how frightening it can be to become overwhelmed by a hungry mob. Anywhoo, the birds are not from the local area (that I’m aware of) and I scared them off without incident, but a whole lot of damage, and they may be back tomorrow.
By next week, most of the fruit on the trees may be gone at this rate. Not sure what to make about all this, and am very glad to be able to purchase fruit grown in the land of elsewhere, wherever that is.
Another hot day here, and spare a thought for the folks living in the town of Mildura way up in the north west of this state: They’ve had seven continuous days above 104’F. The phrase: It is very crazy, comes to mind. Oh well, life goes on.
How’s the snow and general cold weather going? And hope Mr Baby is behaving himself?
I went to bed with a heavy conscience last night, and it’s painful. I’d wish that the deer problems were not mine to face, but that’s not the case. What do you do?
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
The tunnels in the snow would have been fun, and overlaid an almost otherworldliness to your area. I’ve never seen snow that deep, and it might produce a sooking incident, factor four from one who is summer soft. 😉
Whoa! Wise to close the schools in that sort of extreme weather. Can you imagine the outcry if something went wrong? Never encountered a blizzard, but they sound horrendous, and a person could easily become disorientated in the low visibility conditions. For your interest, I believe that at-risk-of-fire rural schools are closed on total fire ban days with extreme fire danger ratings. That’s when it’s super hot. Much the same thinking with your blizzard.
Yeah, went to bed with a heavy conscience last night, and the act weighed deeply upon my soul. What do you do? I’ve no taste for such things. The deer in question failed to be adequately scared of Ollie and was even venturing into the orchard during daylight hours – a serious injury risk to the Kelpies – I made the decision, then acted. Fifteen year old fruit trees were being destroyed too. Who knew that a big enough deer could pull them over?
It is heartbreaking yeah, and to add insult to injury, 30 sulphur crested cockatoos descended on the sunny orchard early this morning. Clearly conditions are tough elsewhere, and this place is a like an oasis. At the rate the plundering is going on, everyone will go hungry soon. I fired a few shots low to scare off the birds because chucking stuff at them scared one bird, and another just flew in for a fruit smash and grab. And truly for a few minutes it was like experiencing a mass fast zombie attack – with similar consequences for the plucky protagonist. Super intelligent birds, which I don’t believe are from the local area. Dunno.
Yes, nice to have the company of a lovely observant scientist. 🙂 I believe that we all look for patterns in order to try and make sense of the world.
Plus you’d have earned some independence during that time in the woods and urban boundaries. I loved camping too, it’s a more solid world than that which urban abstractions tend to force upon us all.
Ah, Junco’s are like Wrens, and those a great birds for a garden. There’s a lot to like about birds which eat insects and seeds, and with enough such birds, rarely are insects an issue. Nice one! Presumably your crab apples are still on the deciduous trees from last season? Exactly, share the produce is my goal here as well, but admittedly I do favour the birds and animals which live here all year around. Spotted a massive Echidna tonight near to the wood shed just moseying around and eating ants.
Almost forgot to mention it, but when the cockatoo mob did their smash and grab this morning, the local magpie family were also flying around fighting them, all of them. It was like witnessing a crazy air battle, and once the boom stick did what it needed to do, and the interlopers cleared off, calm descended. I’d not previously taken note of how harmoniously the local critters here have arranged things among themselves until that moment.
Those are the winter doldrums for sure, weather wise, and the dogs here are similarly perceptive to grey, cold and wet weather. The extreme ends of the season are rather unpleasant. By the way, the heat wave continues… Heatwave to ease this weekend after final searing burst. Would I live in the town of Mildura up in the north west of this state, no. Seven consecutive days of maximum temperatures over 40’C is too much for my tastes, and something of a record there.
🙂 Yes, that’s exactly what the body wants to do. Find the natural rhythm for the season. Winter is for rest and recuperation for sure. Sleeping in is one of life’s pleasures.
Go Rahki, and that’s a skill with the doors. We have internal door handles which are rounded, otherwise dogs can learn to open the horizontal handles and go about their own business, which in your case was shoe-napping. A clever dog, and they’re a pleasure to encounter. Keeps us mere humans on their toes!
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Yeah, I don’t wish for that outcome, but space flight is an inherently dangerous activity, like going to the ocean depths – it’s complicated and probably at the upper limits of what our material sciences and technology can do, ergo, never safe. Read some interesting discussions on that particular planned flight (and had been unaware that it was even occurring) and the comments are always good. Some cheeky wag threw in a good one liner: A ship in the harbour is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.
I’ve been reading a fictional work with that assassination as background, and the entire book has given me much food for thought. As a result I’ve also developed a softer perspective upon the author JD Salinger, and yikes! even little ol’ fictional Holden Caulfield. A shame that the English teacher in High School never bothered to put the author and book into some context.
Thanks, and it was a clean shot, to which I’m eternally grateful. In the 19th century, the elites brought all the different varieties of deer down under in order to give themselves something to hunt, and now that lot are too soft to clean up the mess they created. Makes me wonder what other idiotic decisions are now being made, that we’ll all have to live with in due course.
To add insult to injury, about 30 Sulphur Crested Cockatoos descended on the orchards this morning as a massive smash and grab exercise. You know, I’d not want to face off a hungry mob, far out. And they were super clever at how the birds went about grabbing apples and reacting to my efforts. Even the local magpie family were valiantly attacking the all, and it was mayhem out there. The boom stick put an end to the mischief, and the interlopers cleared off.
Dude, seriously, if this was life or death with the produce, I’d have to be out there all the time during the growing season for these weird unexpected blow-in raids. It’s given me a real appreciation as to how difficult things were in the past on that front.
Anyway, the flip side of the experience was that I noticed for the first time, how all the longer term birds and animal residents here operate in rough sort of balance. It was quite calm and peaceful. The magpies were awarded some chook feed for their services to the property.
Sounds like your weather is warming up, but it may be a two steps forward, one back, kind of walk to spring. Hey, it rained very lightly here early evening.
Did a bit of work on the water systems here today, but it was crazy hot out in the sun, and the dogs and I retreated indoors. The city of Mildura up in the north west of this state (which borders on desert) has now had seven consecutive days over 104’F, with some much higher than that.
Another great story, and I could see the twist at the end coming, but enjoyed reading the plot all the same. It would make a good film.
🙂 It happens. My wish was that the parents would ignore me, because when they didn’t it, was simply a lot of hassle and trouble. Some folks bring a lot of drama to the table.
Thanks for the secret sauce recipe. It’s almost got a sort of Greek food flavour to it, especially the yoghurt and garlic combination. And I love horseradish, which grows like a weed here. Man, I don’t even know what a summer sausage is. Hehe! Ha! Right, it’d be called Salami down under, just to add to the confusion.
It’s a bit like the plot from Planet of the Apes, the original version, or at most a nod to the film you watched. Sounded pretty good too. Ah, the actor was in Mr Tarantino’s Inglorious Bastards film. Tempt me not with this talk of collections, lest I, ooo, they do look interesting, but portray possibly very high maintenance individuals.
Parrots. Nice that the birds survived the conflagration of that part of the city. They would have stood out against a truly drab background of colour.
Sorry to hear that Eleanor has passed on. Vale. The losses stack up around us, sorry to say, and you shared many a good memory with your friend. Glad that you got H in the end, the dog leads a charmed life.
Cheers
Chris
Hello Chris,
What a week this one. Hotter than 40C and still getting things done. Downed a deer. Good to hear.
Up here, we have a strange weather system locked in place. -3C and strong eastern dry wind for a week, seems to be a week more coming. It is tough for the young walnut trees, since the top buds may freeze-dry in the wind. I have built some wind breaks out of pallets which soften the wind a little, but I cannot put a sock on top of every of the 300+ trees in the field… Not enough socks.
In the spring I will see how much damage is done.
The next path looks convenient. Good to get infrastructure in place so that you two can maneuvre with your four-wheeled walkers in the future.
Peace,
Göran
Yo, Chris – Maybe ships should stay in harbor? 🙂 “A sailor never wastes resources.” That kicks off the cannibalism scene, in the movie, “In the Heart of the Sea.” The first sailor has died, and the others begin preparing him for burial at sea. The sailor is sharpening his knife, as he says this. You can see the emotion on the other sailors, as it dawns on them exactly what he’s talking about.
Say it ain’t so! 🙂 You’re being sucked into the cult of Salinger! I see you don’t mention the name of the book. Sort of like actors never refer to the title of one of Shakespeare’s plays. It’s bad luck. They just call it, “The Scottish Play.” You know the one.
I wonder if the cockatoos have been displaced by the heat and fires? Also, I think it’s the first time you’ve mentioned an Echidna so close to your digs. If you had to depend on the orchard for all your food, I’d guess you’d have cats. Yes, yes, I know all the reasons you don’t. I’d guess a cat wouldn’t discern between the resident magpies, and blow-ins.
I actually had a dream about parrots, last night. I suppose inspired by the book I read, and your parrot encounters. In my dream, first I saw a single green parrot, flying high. Then I saw a whole flock of them. I got very excited, but not in the way you were excited 🙂 .
Our high yesterday was 54F (12.22C). Our overnight low was 46F (7.77C). Our forecast high for today is 51F. H and I have pretty much dodged the rain. It’s windy, today. The souls in hell are howling in the elevator shaft. 🙂
Mildura made the news, here. Along with other nearby towns.
Maybe I should have my secret sauce recipe, engraved on my tombstone? 🙂 I’m going to tell my Idaho friends, today, that summer sausage is only good for beating people about the head and shoulders. Though bologna has more heft.
The estate of H. G. Wells got raspy about the plot of “World Without End.” Said it was too close to “The Time Machine.” The case went nowhere. Oddly, Rod Taylor played the lead in the 1960 film, “The Time Machine.” Which was very good.
I watched an interesting documentary, last night. “The Thief Collector.” About a couple who stole a de Kooning painting, in the 1980s, that wasn’t recovered until their estate was settled, recently. I did hear something about them.
https://w.wiki/HfFK
They may have stolen other things, and sold them, to finance their glob trotting lifestyle. They traveled a lot (fencing other stolen things?) but never first, or even second class. Low profile.
I told H she leads a charmed life. She was unimpressed. I think she thinks it’s her due.
Budget crunch at the library. Here’s an article about it. I don’t know why they didn’t mention the property tax claw back.
https://trl.org/news/2026-budget-message/
Temporary secrets. The night manager waylaid me last night, to give me a heads up, that he and his fiancé have bought a house, and he’ll be leaving the end of February. He will be missed, at least by me. Of course, I don’t know how that will impact our shared garden space. If there’s not much pressure for spaces, I’ll recover that other half. He said our maintenance man Jeremy, may take the job. Although they have a new baby …
Half the five bags of groceries I took to the Club, on Wednesday, were gone by Thursday night. I’ll get the commodities box, next week.
I still haven’t gotten my seed. I didn’t look at the tracking, but I did look at the e-mails I get, that let you know when a shipment is actually in the hands of a carrier. It’s only been a week and a day. I’ll give it awhile longer. Lew
Chris:
I will never have to face 30 Sulphur Crested Cockatoos, and for that I am grateful. It is such a sad story that you tell, man vs. beast and, like my groundhog stories, who is it that is usually ahead in the game?
I don’t see why you have a heavy concious. It is someone else who is causing all the trouble.
There. I have spared a thought for the people in Mildura. That is very tough. We still have all the snow and ice that we got a week ago. Still below freezing here, day and night. I haven’t left the property for a week, can’t drive anyway with one arm, certainly not Mr. Musty.
Pam
@ Lew:
I am sorry that Eleanor is gone. She passed on a priceless legacy to you, though.
Pam
Hi Pam,
The rampaging mob of cockatoos was a rude awakening that morning for sure. And before coffee. The outrage. I’ve never seen that happen before, and it was a little bit disturbing, to put it mildly. Oh well, like your groundhog, there’s always some critter/s looking for an easy feed.
Humans usually win that battle, but much depends upon resources, and what we can bring to bear on situations today, may not necessarily be the case in the future.
Pam, probably I’m a bit soft on that front, thus why we don’t keep livestock, because sooner or later a person doing so, has to deal with deadstock. The deer are an odd occurrence because for many years I’ve never seen them. Rumour has it that in the 1980’s there were about four deer farms in the area, and word on the street is that allegedly the gates were let open after the economics of those enterprises possibly didn’t pan out all that well. And the herbivores keep getting moved on.
Just did a deep dive on what exactly is your rotator cuff tear, and whoa. Hope you’re doing OK, and that the shoulder is getting better? The cold weather would not be helping matters at all. Was it a complete or partial tear? You have my sympathy and may possibly be feeling that pain every waking moment, plus that’s also when you realise how much your arm gets used day to day. Fingers crossed for you. The thought of having the feeling of a knife in the shoulder blade is something I’ve known a number of years ago, and had to make some changes to how we do work around here.
Another hot day here. When will it end? They reckon tonight is it for a while… Pumping water up to the house water tanks from the reserves today. It was nice to test the new system and discover it worked – after a few minor modifications. Nothing is ever simple… Oh well.
Maybe the Universe is telling you to rest up and take it easy? There is a bit of cabin fever though, and there’s always stuff off the property which needs to be done. Hope your household is pitching in and helping you out.
Hiding from the sun today… 🙂
Cheers
Chris
@ Lew,
Sad news about Eleanor. Condolences. Losing friends sucks.
DJSpo
Chris,
The winter of 107cm snow depth was our second winter here. The first winter, 1967-1968, was pretty mild, although not as mild as the current winter. So we were still newbies from the southland and not a bit acclimated to what winter really is. Although, as children, my sister and I enjoyed the snow. We had no idea how serious things actually were.
Deep snow events and Arctic blasts are what delays school openings or even closes schools altogether. For every day closed due to snow, a day gets added onto the end of the school year. Now, schools have a lot more “teacher curriculum days” where the students stay home. Some of these get used as class days if there have been many snow days.
I’m not surprised that the deer could pull over trees. I’ve seen what white-tailed deer can do, and it is a lot of damage. They’re quite a bit smaller than the deer in your area. Elk are even worse. Then the giant moose sort of go where they want and dare anything to get in their way. Those critters are ALL much stronger than they look.
Ouch. 30 or more of those fruit bandits, all at once? Would that be considered to be organized crime? Not surprised you had to get the boom stick out to make some noise to scare them off. Glad the magpies flocked together and attacked them, protecting their turf. They deserved the rewards you gave them, I’m sure.
I remember at the beginning of “Steel Magnolias”, Tom Skerritt’s character was firing blanks at the trees, trying to keep the birds away from where a wedding was about to start. Of course, every time he pulled the trigger, a host of birds squawked away, but all of the humans got startled, too, and got upset with the shooter.
Dame Avalanche and I walked near a large flock of robins this afternoon. Dozens of them. That part of the neighborhood has several mountain ash trees that had berries on them. The robins dined well and had eaten all the berries. They might wander over to my area and finish off the crabapples that remain on the tree.
Well, yeah, you’re lucky here. Two of us: Claire and me. Observers and thinkers. I’m impressed with the scholarly improvements she has done to her garden areas.
I feel fortunate to have grown up where I did with the access to the river and miles upon miles of hiking trails. And the upper level where we lived had a lot of trees too, back then, which have all been removed and that area developed. It let me grow up with a better appreciation for nature and birds and trees and everything. And quiet.
Poor Mildura. 7 consecutive days over 40C is brutal. Beyond brutal. Today warmed up into the +7C range with clouds. Foggy start, some rain showers at times, maybe 2mm total. Extended forecast is for warmer than average and somewhat dry compared with the typical January/February. Sorta scary that the rain spigot appears to have shut down already. But that is sort of the past several years. I imagine we’ll have a wet week in February, then get back to dry for 4 weeks, then repeat in March and April.
Oh, Rakhi and the doors? Round doorknobs. I have no idea how she opened those, but she did. I’d try to sneak a look to see how she did it, but she always heard me coming and wasn’t near the doors when being observed. Yet, she could open those doors with round doorknobs without making any noise.
Ugh. Our thermostat for the furnace suddenly had the screen turn black today. Meanwhile, the humidifier attached to the furnace was making a weird noise. To the basement I wandered. Turned off and on the circuit breaker for the furnace. Turned off the humidifier – there was a bit of water on the floor. Ugh! Shut off the furnace switch then turned it back on. You know, like the old Commodore 64 – when it got stuck, turn to off and on and it was fine. Then back to the main floor. Changed the battery that runs the thermostat. Five minutes later things were mostly back to normal. I’ll have to look further at the humidifier over the weekend.
DJSpo
Hi Göran,
The weather sends challenges to us all at this time of the year with extremes. Man, it’s been one hot week, and today was no exception. On a bright note, the heatwave broke about half an hour ago and supplied 1mm of rain. It’s not much, but one must be grateful for whatever the clouds will deliver.
Exactly, work continues, life goes on. Always was it thus.
Whoa! Wind chill makes for some very challenging winter conditions, and adds to the woes of young trees. Hope the improvised wind shields made from the pallets work. They’d help a lot.
Dude, people sometimes seriously make the suggestion that I should cover all of the orchards in bird netting. The economics of that suggestion never seem to enter the discussion, but trust me, the cost would be prohibitive.
In this area, there are massive century old walnut trees, producing huge crops of nuts – most of which go to the birds. I’ve tried about five different varieties of walnut trees over the years, and all of them have sadly perished. There are moments where I’d appreciate having a time machine so as to go back and ask the old timers how they managed to get such trees established in this climate? The heatwave of the past week cooked the leaves of the young walnut tree I’d been nurturing. The leaves have now turned black, although there is still some signs of green on the trunk. Oh well…
It’s an uncertain enterprise, this growing of plant business. 🙂 We must celebrate the wins, and the majority of fruit trees performed really well. Some trees in particular loved the heat and dry conditions – the apricots. Some vegetables also grew strongly, like the white navy beans.
The lesson I’m taking away from the extreme weather, is not to put all of ones hopes into a single variety of plants.
Thanks! And hopefully more work can be done on the path tomorrow. I hear thunder outside now, and a little bit more rain is falling.
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
Talk about a ‘welcome to the neighbourhood!’ experience for you and your family all those years ago. The south west of your country is not as cold as what you’d all have experienced that year for sure. 🙂 Think of it like a test, which clearly worked out for you. I’ve got a rough theory about this story and it equally applies here: if people can get through two winters, they’ll be around for a while.
Folks arriving from warmer climates such as the big smoke of Melbourne, are often surprised by the long cold grey winters. That city is mostly frost free now, and could grow all sorts of sub tropical plants, if a household had access to the water – not always guaranteed. And yeah, kids are resilient to such temperature extremes.
What? Well, I guess such closures are relatively rare in this corner of the continent, and they’re simply vanished away. This adding on bit at the end would probably not cut the proverbial mustard so to speak with the kids. They do the curriculum days down here as well down here. One memory springs to mind of the grammar school, in that if the forecast temperature exceeded 38’C, the school tie could be removed. This is perhaps how people are trained to wear suits in a casual manner from a very young age?
Yeah, I observed the red deer up on their (at that stage there was a herd of half a dozen) hind legs grabbing high up branches with their mouths. Then the big herbivores used their weight to pull the branches (and tree) over. Those are fifteen year old apple trees too, and not small. Hmm. Some things are unsustainable.
Here’s the interesting thing. Late this afternoon I watched a wedge tail eagle take an interest in the carcass. It has begun, and the inherent minerals in the deer will again be redistributed throughout the forest. Candidly, I’m grateful that the well heeled elites of the 19th century hadn’t conjured up dreams to bring over elk and moose to these shores. They did bring squirrels at one point, but those critters did not survive the summer weather.
Yup, Ollie is a very big canine who’s breed was developed as a pig hunting dog (not that I knew it at the time we got him, almost eight years ago), and the red deer simply disregarded his presence for a few weeks, and casually sauntered away from him and I, only to hide in the surrounding forest barking loudly in annoyance. To be honest, I take Ollie seriously and treat him with respect and warm companionship, and he’s super chill. But neither is he allowed to do what he wants either, nope. I just couldn’t get the message through to the deer. Oh well. It’s done now. Dame Avalanche likewise has a wild streak, and must be attended too, but there is joy and respect in that relationship as well. It’s earned, and not lightly given by our canine companions.
Organised crime is one way to put it, yeah. 🙂 I’ve never before encountered such a well organised smash and grab raid by our avian compatriots. Crazy stuff, and they’re really big birds too. I’m on very good terms with the local family of magpies, and slip them some food when times are tough – like right now. And they work hard, but five birds and two humans against thirty cockatoos was utter mayhem. Thus why the boom stick was reached for. The resulting calm afterwards reminded me of why the various arrangements have evolved into place. Dude, I’d seriously not want to see a fast zombie attack. Chances of survival would be slim.
On a related note, we made our first batch of cider from about half of the picked apples today. We’ll eventually produce about sixty Grolsch swingtop bottles of the stuff. All preservative free and very tasty.
Ha! Yes, that was a good film. And it’s only in areas where there is little life other than us two legged things, that folks don’t consider how it rolls elsewhere with critters. Man, I head into the big smoke now and it’s an event to see an insect foraging for pollen or nectar, but few people seem to notice.
Ah, a Rowan tree (Sorbus americana)? Maybe? I see that the fruits are apparently edible following on from a freeze – clever tree to get its seeds off to an early start. Mountain ash trees down here are a variety of Eucalyptus, the biggest of them all. Not something a person would want growing next to their house: Eucalyptus regnans. Much debate has gone on as to whether they are taller than your redwoods.
You may be surprised to learn that a few of the regular readers (and some who’ve dropped off the radar) have achieved the heady heights of doctorates. Respect to all, it’s a tough road.
Yeah, it’s funny you say that about how much things have changed in our life spans, and we were having a similar conversation here today. Paved paradise and stuff, because it actually happened.
The heatwave finally ended an hour or two back, and 1mm of rain fell. Who knew wet stuff fell out of the sky? I’d forgotten. It’s been so hot of late, but life goes on. Began pumping water uphill from the reserve tank to the house water tanks, but nothing is every easy and the arrangement had to be modified – but that was to be expected given it was the first use of the new pipe system. Nice to use the power of the sun to lift water.
Fingers crossed that your rain picks up, and it may. Climate variability is challenging to say the least. What I’m observing here is that the rain tends to arrive in larger splats, and then there’s a dry period, but that’s anecdotal.
Rahki was perhaps smarter than the rest of us combined! 🙂 I’ve no idea how a dog would manage such a feat either. And dogs quietly observe their humans for sure.
It took me a while to comprehend that you were discussing an LCD display for your thermostat. When first I read it, my brain absorbed the words ‘screen’ + ‘furnace’, and I was thinking how cool that you could see the inner workings of the contraption through glass. But no. Glad the battery change over worked, and that old Commodore 64 users trick never fails! 🙂 Button up my sleeve, and hey presto!
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
There is something in what you say about ships staying in harbour, but then our species has the wanderlust hard wired. As someone who grew up moving around a lot, stability has a much stronger pull on my spirit. Home body. It’s a great line that one about resources and the sailor, and where the narrative was headed. A line was about to get crossed. It’s happened before, and I wondered how Captain Bligh made it over open ocean after the mutiny of the Bounty. Water, water, everywhere, and not a drop to drink.
I feel for the author, the bloke had been traumatised, and that imparted flavour is possibly why I disliked young Holden. Dunno. Hehe! All very true, and I ask you: Is there really a need to name the book? A friend once quizzed me as to why I called the health subject which shall not be named, by that long winded title. It was a fair question too, and can only be answered through the use of one little word: Superstition. If the weight of the industry has long suggested that the Scottish play should be so named, who are we to argue? I’d imagine that every now and then, there’d be some brave rogue actor scaring the rest of the crew by uttering the unutterable! It would make for a good horror film plot.
Agreed, the heat and lack of feed elsewhere is why the mob of cockatoos descended upon the orchards. I hope that I’ve seen the last of them… Hmm. Oh, Echidnas are pretty common, and they’ll absolutely take a stroll through the orchards. Great diggers, those critters, and their noses leave an impression in the dirt. Their movements are random though, so I keep the dogs away from them when they do turn up. The command: ‘Leave it!’ gets a rapid response. Much better and more effective than ‘No!’
No worries on that score, I’m flexible and the magpies are clever enough to avoid cats. The other birds, not sure about some of them. If things were life and death, I would absolutely manage the land differently. Cats are very useful creatures, and mostly quite pleasant.
Go the parrot dream, and in your country, they’d be an opportunity! Alas the authoritas would crack the sads at ideas of export, and we’ll have to find some other get rich quick scheme. 🙂 It’s funny what you dream about, isn’t it? With no visual memory, I have remarkably vivid dreams, not all of which are nice.
54’F is getting up there. Today was 88’F which is bearable, but it hadn’t cooled much over night. Interestingly, the heat wave appears to have broken a couple of hours ago and a twenty-fifth of an inch of rain fell. It ain’t much, but it’s something. Actually, it’s nice to feel cold again.
Tested out the new water pipe system I’d installed almost a year ago so as to send water uphill from the reserve tank and/or machinery shed. It didn’t quite work right, and a few modifications were required in the hot sun. But then, ran a water pump for about four hours sending water uphill to the house system. Nice. The house water levels were around 40% full earlier in the day.
It’s an option for your tombstone! But surely the meringue recipe would be the better choice? Maybe? All this talk of using summer sausage as a weapon, reminds me of the British comedy team ‘The Goodies’ and their usage of such food items in the little known martial art of: Goodies – Kung Fu Capers Fight Scene – Ecky Thump. Such visuals from the 70’s very much warped my brain. 🙂
Would have been good publicity for the film. Although nobody wants to face such a legal challenge. JD Salinger was apparently frightened of such things as well, probably for good reason.
It’s a good story, that art theft, and suggestive of whom may possibly have done it. Tidy work. The painting however, is beyond my comprehension, and I’m astounded that it generated so much controversy, and wonder what I’m missing.
H is clearly a refined little lady, like that Princess and the Pea story, who clearly expected that better things are always to be expected.
There is a lot to unpack in that memo. And hope that the services continue. As a suggestion, maybe some bells and whistles could be removed, and I was struggling to comprehend what a library would even have paid performers for. Mission creep is always a risk.
Sorry to hear that the night manager is moving on. The future is an uncertain country.
Good stuff that the stuff at the Club is moving on. Shows that there was a need for the pantry.
Fingers crossed that your seeds turn up.
I’m looking forward to a cooler day tomorrow. The prolonged heat knocks it a bit out of a person – like being hit by a stick of preserved meat – Ecky Thump style!
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – Sometimes, it’s best not to mention things out loud. Besides superstition, there’s always Hubris. And we know who travels in the wake of Hubris. 🙂
I think there’s been more than one murder mystery in a theatre, that’s revolved around the Scottish curse. There’s a way to defuse the curse. “To defuse the curse of the Scottish play, one should step outside, turn around three times, spit over the left shoulder, and recite a line from another Shakespeare play before being allowed back in. This ritual is believed to ward off the bad luck associated with mentioning “Macbeth” in a theater.”
Speaking of birds, when I took H for her midnight stroll, I heard what I can only imagine was a bird, up in the woods behind our place. It had a bit of volume, and went on for awhile. I can only describe it as a cackling trill. It didn’t seem to disturb H. I wonder what it was. We don’t have that many night birds, and it certainly wasn’t an owl.
Our high yesterday was 52F (11.11C). Our overnight low was 48F (8.88C). Our forecast high for today is 60F. Well, here’s something interesting. Starting Tuesday, we’re getting another run of nice weather. This time of the year, that usually means cold nights. But, if the forecast holds, the overnight lows are nowhere near freezing. Early spring? Scorching summer?
Good to get the new water pipe system sorted. Before there’s a dire need.
The Goodies carry on that long British comedy tradition. Benny Hill, Monty Python, etc. etc..
Yes, I don’t “get” that kind of painting, either. I always think someone is putting someone on. 🙂 There were some interesting interviews with the art theft unit, of our FBI. One of the agents was saying that there’s three types of art theft. There’s theft that is purely for profit. Then there’s art theft that’s spontaneous crimes of opportunity. And the third, and hardest to recover is the thief collector. Hence the title of the documentary. They steal for their own private pleasure. It reminded me of that German couple we talked about, a couple of years ago, who were stealing from under staffed European museums.
Last night I watched “Them!” (1954). Giant ants invade Los Angeles. It was interesting as James Arness (Marshall Matt Dillion, “Gunsmoke”) had a major role. And Fess Parker (Davy Crockett / Daniel Boone), had a little cameo. Lots of other familiar faced character actors. Again, took me right back to the Saturday matinees at the old Lombard theatre.
I thought the article on the library system’s financial woes would be interesting, to you. Warm the cockles of your accountant’s heart. 🙂 Paid performers are mostly used for children’s programs, mostly the summer reading program. The reptile guy is always a big draw. There may be other performers I can’t think of. Lew
Hello Chris.
Here in sunny NSW we have been enjoying similar temperatures to you, although minus the complications of smoke.
In an old ecosophia post you mentioned your peculiar blend of organic matter and minerals: https://www.ecosophia.net/february-2022-open-post/#comment-79093
It reminded me that Peter Bennett in his organic gardening book highly praises lignite from Bacchus Marsh. Do you ever see that? On my searches I find that everyone wants to sell you a liquid with humic or fulvous or whatever minerals in it, which to me would be beside the point. I want something to add to the dust and to hold in water.
Hello Kallianeira,
And a big warm (sorry for the dodgy pun, but it has been hot of late 🙂 ) welcome to you!
Some summers are crazy weather wise, yup. The worst I can recall was the infamous Black Summer of 2019-2020, and with ten days of temperatures in excess of 40’C, three of those were consecutive, was worse than this. How are you holding up?
Out of curiosity, are you coastal, ranges, or in the west?
Thanks for the blast from the past! 😉
For your interest, about every two weeks such a soil mixture is made up, and spread around. These days, the trailer is slightly smaller at 7×4 feet (and galvanised – after the former workhorse rusted out), so mixtures have been halved.
Half a cubic metre of purchased, what they describe locally as vegie mix, which in reality is a mix of: Mushroom compost + brown sand + super fine woody mulch. Seriously, I’d not grow vegetables in that, so add bags from Bunnings of: 10kg of Yates blood and bone (4% phosphates) + 10kg of Garden lime (which is Calcium Carbonate). Much of course depends what is already in the soils in your area, but at a guess, always add blood and bone meal (that’s a fine powder) because Australian soils are deficient in phosphates pretty much everywhere. And it wasn’t that long ago when the bags reported 6% phosphates. Yikes! Some of the bags are now only 1.5% and I’d not touch them.
How’s your garden looking in this crazy weather?
Respect to Peter Bennett, and any book which is in its 7th Edition, has much to recommend it. Like my beloved old tome: ‘Cookery the Australian Way’.
From here, I look directly towards Bacchus Marsh, but am unable to see it due to a line of low hills rising behind the township of Gisborne. However, the Wombat State Forest which drains into the marsh can be seen. Two rivers intersect in Bacchus Marsh and have for countless millennia accumulated minerals there. Fun fact: As a child, Sandra’s parents purchased a truck load of soil from there for the home garden. Hmm.
Once long ago it was an area of market gardens and orchards. Now, there is an enormous sand mine, and on the other side of the township anthracite was discovered, and that’s a big mine too. I dunno about that, but black coal for export and sand are useful items, sad to say.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Yes, exactly and I’m so with you. The deities have a wicked sense of humour, and must we tempt them with our foolishness and loose talk? From my older perspective, it’s amazing to consider that we’ve all done as well as we have, so why tempt fate is my thinking. My friend who is marginally more literally minded than I, was initially unhappy with that perspective, but has hopefully had time to ruminate on the subject. I hope so. The world is a much stranger place than many of us would like to admit, and chance plays a role every single day of our lives.
Oh poop! The best ideas seem always to be other folks, so my future as a renowned playwright is not a career worth pursuing. Thanks for the time tested antidote for the curse of mentioning the proper name of the Scottish play. Such acts at the very least would focus an intemperate actors mind. And hey, at least we’re not in a theatre right now with your loose talk! 🙂
We’ve got some night birds other than the owls, and I can hear the weird calls of the sugar gliders and fruit bats which haunt the darker skies. They make a trilling sort of sound. Do you have Nightjars or Nighthawks in your area? On a good note, if you can hear the trilling, your hearing is pretty good, because the sound is in the upper range for audible noises. At the gig a few months back, I wore ear plugs, just sayin… 🙂
The heat will be back in a few days, but for today, we had something of a reprieve. 17’C / 62’F with strong southerly winds which is not far off your forecast at all. With the suddenly cold weather, we did more rock work on the new interconnector path. It was a pleasure to work outdoors and not feel like the ol’ brain is about to explode.You’ll enjoy the 60’F days for sure, but who knows what they portend for the future? We tend to get a warm patch in early spring that fools the early fruit trees, and then bam! A rapid brief slide back to winter suggests hubris and nemesis, and four fifths of the early blossoms are toast. All over the shop, is a likely possibility.
Thanks, and that is such a lovely way to put the water pipe situation, because it is very true. Iron out the bugs in systems now, before it may be too late.
The British comedic tradition can be very silly, but fun and like Mad Magazine, it can only explain our collective warped minds! And who can forget the ‘Carry On’ films? Oh my gawd… Airplane! anyone? All in the same vein. I doubt such fodder would be well received nowadays, but! If you can handle some naughty language, the recent music poll ripped out a classic Aussie larrikin track for number four position. It’s a story about a neighbourly dispute over car parking: PLAYLUNCH – Keith . The subtitles are censored and incomplete, so perhaps the lyrics may assist proper comprehension: Lyrics. Yes, such songs can be played on the radio down here!
Honestly, I looked at the painting and tried to comprehend what it was revealing, and perhaps there was a lot of hype attending to the artist? A splodge of weirdness was my initial reaction, but you know, art is about communication, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and perhaps the artist was intending to communicate some sort of joke?
In my first full time job, the boss took me aside after I’d penned some drivel memo, and unceremoniously gave me what could politely be described as a ‘dressing down’. It was a good lesson to learn at a young and impressionable age, that ideas have to be communicated clearly, in order to be of any use. And to think that they no longer teach spelling and punctuation in these more enlightened days.
Yes, that cheeky German couple enjoying their nefarious art gains, whilst sending a strong message to museums and galleries to not skimp upon security.
🙂 The Saturday matinee was a lot of fun, and I spent many an hour at the double features of the seventies.
My cold accounting heart is never warm, sorry to say. One must work dispassionately in the field, lest they be overwhelmed by what the kids call: ‘The feels’. 🙂 It’s long been my professional observation, that I can only help those whom want to help themselves. Man, they’re talking about an official interest rate hike on Tuesday due to the recent inflation numbers, and there will be much wailing and gnashing of teeth. I’m appalled that our political leaders are already decrying: Not our fault. I kind of feel sorry for them for even thinking that. The economist Milton Friedman suggested otherwise:”inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon”. The goobermint and banksters inflate the money supply for their own sordid purposes, and here we are today.
What did they expect would happen, is the question which bothers me.
Cheers and better get writing!
Chris
Yo, Chris – I’m lucky my hearing is so good, for my age. I’d say half the inmates, here at The Institution, have some degree of hearing loss.
No night birds that I’m aware of, here, other than owls. I heard quit a few frogs, last night. Oh, I’d heard the one off, from time to time. But this was a full chorus. And yesterday, I saw a bumble bee in the heather.
But, mustn’t get too excited about getting things in the ground. Might just be a “false spring.” “False spring is a weather phenomenon where a period of unseasonably warm temperatures occurs in late winter or early spring, tricking plants and animals into thinking winter is over, only for cold weather to return. This can lead to damage for crops and plants that have started to grow prematurely.”
Our high yesterday was 63F (17.22C). Our overnight low was 43F (6.11C). Our forecast high for today is 52F. It was quit nice when I took H out for her midnight stroll. But it rained hard, overnight. Woke me up a couple of times. Looking at the weather radar, there were several green blobs, that indicate rain. And, some yellow within them, which indicates really hard rain. Looks like it will clear off, before we head to the Club.
Uncle Larry was a big fan of “Are You Being Served,” and “Keeping Up Appearances.” So I saw a lot of those, when I’d go down to Portland to visit him.
LOL. People take their parking spots, very seriously. Parking in my neighborhood can be very tight. I’m glad we have our building’s parking lot, with all its problems. Looks like it’s tightening up, again. I don’t know why. I hope our next night manager, rides herd on it, as well as this one.
Believe it or not, that de Kooning painting is supposed to be a woman. It was part of a series. More than my taste are paintings like these. There’s a link in the article where you can see more of them. Boy, when the Roman Empire crashed, a lot was lost. As the article mentions, it was about 1,000 years, before art reached this level of realism, again.
https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/31/style/fayum-mummy-portrait-sothebys-masters-week
I watched a pretty funny movie, last night. “American Pickle.” A Jewish man and his wife, immigrate to America in 1920. He gets a job in a pickle factory in New York City. Killing rats. (You might pick up a few pointers 🙂 He falls into a vat of pickles. 100 years pass. The world changes. Out he pops, hail, hearty and not looking a day older.
https://youtu.be/tHsqU8yK3Nc?si=ZXdGANofXXOc3IXb
I made a big plate of nachos. Broke up some Tostadas, piled on garlic, tomatoes and mushrooms. Tuna fish and peas. Mozzarella cheese. Big dollops of yoghurt, on top. Ya know, I think I prefer the tuna to shrimp. a.) It’s a stronger flavor and b.) it’s a lot less expensive. Win, win. Lew