Sometimes in life, you make difficult decisions in the face of uncertainty. Neither Sandra, nor I, could count on receiving an inheritance to boost our economic circumstances. That’s wasn’t happening, and so we’ve had to work. However, being the crafty and resourceful types that we are, during our twenties and thirties, we fixed up old houses for profit in order to improve the household treasury. And because we didn’t know any better, the idea of a casual cosmetic make over, then quick sale, never occurred to us. Instead we fixed the underlying structural issues and took on some crazy-as, major rebuild projects. That required hard labour, whilst at the same time learning on the fly as to how houses were made.
Other people at the time were much smarter, let’s call them speculators, for they simply bought lots of property, did nothing, and enjoyed increased prices. That route was probably ten times as economically successful. Oh well. Instead we sweated buckets, were occasionally injured, suffered discomfiture, endured long work days, and all the rest. That’s meanwhile working full time jobs, studying part time etc. However, on reflection and all things considered, it was a good path to choose. When 2008 came around, we sold up everything, and built this house up in the hills with our own labour. The architect who drew up the plans, amusingly quipped that we were the last of the Mohicans for choosing that path.
Way back in the days of working on houses in the city, we’d get up massively early, often at the break of day, which in the summer months can be rather early indeed. Saturday mornings involved a trip to the Queen Victoria Market, which is just on the edge of the CBD. In those days the market sold lots of fresh produce from rows of vendors. Things are different there now. Whatever. It was a cheap place to buy quality fruit and vegetables. Plus, unlike in these more enlightened times, it was also easy to get a car park nearby so that the booty could be hauled home again.
Residing only 4km (2.5 miles) from the market, made for a short trip. We got home early. Making lots of noise fixing up old houses in the wee hours of a morning however, is frowned upon in gentrifying areas. So instead we’d walk to a local café, read the newspaper, grab a coffee and share a muffin. All very civilised, and the muffin was truly something else. The delectable treat was light and fluffy, but most importantly, dry. Most muffins are way too greasy for my tastes. Over the long years of patronage, and after some probing questions, the secret of the recipe was supplied. The key ingredient was sour cream. Gave it a sharp tang. Very impressive, and always with a fruit flavouring, like say for example, lemon and coconut.
Go to a place often enough, and you begin to be recognised. By 2005, we’d purchased this cheap block of land up in the hills to the north west of Melbourne. The soil was totally rubbish, which was hardly surprising since the area had been logged for over a century. What wasn’t taken away, probably washed away. The old brain began thinking about how to grow some of our own produce, and that meant creating much more fertile soil. Spotting an opportunity for soil minerals with the café, I asked the owner what they did with their coffee grounds.
Hmm. What indeed was done with the coffee grounds! One of the lovely people working there at the time, confided in me that: there was often a lot of talk regarding the coffee grounds, but rarely any follow up. Being something of a responsible person, and knowing what the journey I was embarking upon involved, I made the offer to take the coffee grounds, all of them. As much as they produced. Saves the business the cost of sending the stuff to landfill, for that was the only other option.
From time to time, other folks would take some of the coffee grounds, but rarely did their efforts persist for more than a week. It was unusual to discover less than the ordinary allotment of the material. Had there been a public holiday which closed the business, or worse, a fall in the stock market resulting in lower caffeine consumption? Interest rate rises? Hmm. Such things happen, and trust me, they make a difference, ever so quietly in the background.
Two decades later, and at a wild guess, I’ve introduced to the soils here, maybe around 60,000kg (132,000 pounds) of coffee grounds. Probably more. Sounds like a lot when put that way, and you’d imagine that the property smells of coffee grounds, but no. Every two weeks, for almost two decades, without fail I’d go and pick up the used coffee grounds, enjoy a quality coffee, read a few pages of a book, and chow down on a muffin. Oh my, the muffins were so good.
All things change, and it’s been a good long run. The business sold to new owners late last year. About four months ago, the muffins became intermittent. This year, they’ve stopped being made. Like a little lost soul, I was enjoying the coffee, nabbing the used grounds, and sadly reaching for a muffin, which was not to be. Dithering, and prevaricating words from staff were used to discuss the lack of muffins. Four months. Then last week, the truth was delivered, no more muffins.
Hmm. The arrangement has altered. Hmm. Nobody ever wants me thinking about things. The Myers-Briggs framework lists my personality type as an INFJ, which is pretty rare all things considered. They’re an odd mob that personality type, and all rather extreme. On one side, you have: Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela; and then there is the dark side, which includes: Adolf Hitler and Osama Bin Laden. Clearly very complicated people. Rest assured readers, my moral compass is solid and sweet, just so as long as people don’t seriously p#ss me off! (cue evil genius chuckle soundtrack) Ooo, were did that come from?
So picture me attempting to enjoy my coffee without success, pretending to read a book, and pondering what a world without the most excellent muffins would look like. As an additional chunk of previously undisclosed information relevant to the story, I was informed that morning, that the bin which holds the coffee grounds had been broken, with the implication that as I supplied the thing many years ago, I should pay for the replacement. Now if the bin is broken, and it rains, the coffee grounds convert into a nasty sludge which I have no intentions of taking (and that did happen once long ago when the lid was anchored carelessly). It was at that moment, sipping a coffee, the quality of which I could get anywhere, that I realised that a certain disrespect had entered the relationship.
On the day itself, I had other things needing to be done, some of which were economically beneficial to the household. Having no other reason to head into the big smoke that week, I made the decision to uphold the long relationship, only to encounter the reality of no muffin, now, or ever again, and an expectation from the business that I replace the $40 of broken bin. The numbers added up in my head, there was no longer enough upside to continue the arrangement.
It’s not free for me to travel into the big smoke. The café is a 120km return trip, which in the Suzuki Dirt Mouse uses 5L (1.25 gallons) of petrol at around $10. Plus there are two toll points on the freeway, $3.30 each. There’s opportunity cost for several hours of my time. And the coffee grounds can’t be used without the addition of a bag of agricultural lime at $14. There’s very little phosphates in the stuff, so a bag of blood and bone meal is also necessary, at about $40. Chuck in a quarter cubic metre (0.4 cubic yards) of compost, another cool $30, and the whole story makes no economic sense whatsoever. And I can buy the other stuff locally at the sand and soil place, and save myself the hours of travel, petrol costs, tolls, wear and tear on the car etc. It’s a no brainer, and with no super special tasty muffin, I’m done with the arrangement.
The week has been mostly hot and dry again, but the season is rolling along. Foggy mornings have again made a reappearance, and they’re really quite spectacular.
Rain however, was on the horizon. With that forecast in mind we got to work on the new and much biggerer (TM) firewood shed.
Alas, construction of a larger firewood shed requires materials, and those all needed to be lugged back up the hill in the trusty trailer. There are no nearby shops, which is part and parcel of living in a remote location. Three runs were made, two for timber, and one for the sand/gravel mix used with cement making.
The timber has been treated with a potent mixture of Copper, Chrome and Arsenic, so it’s super tough when in contact with the ground, and should be around for longer than I will be.
After a day sweating heaps in the hot summer sun, the proportions had been set out, post holes marked, corners squared off, and about half of the timber posts were cemented into the ground. Heat exhaustion is real, let me tell you. The weather station in the kitchen displayed that it had reached 35’C / 95’F, in the shade.
The second day of work, just felt hotter again. The humidity had increased with the threat of a looming tropical storm. Oh well, all but one of the remaining posts were cemented into the ground. Digging the holes in the hot sun using the jackhammer and hand powered auger was unpleasant.
Digging the holes produced a lot of spare soil, which was used on the new path project. Regular readers can see that the landing area next to the stairs, has increased in size markedly.
It’s worthwhile mentioning that the two sloping garden beds on the uphill side of this new path, are being used to grow edible crops, like the sprawling vines of pumpkins. The plants are thriving in the conditions.
In breaking produce news:
The first of the seasons Plums have been harvested. Sun ripened plums are a true delight for the taste buds.
Quite a number of different plum trees were picked, and the colours are very pretty.
A lovely lady gifted us about 4kg of plums from her trees, and we supplied in turn a goodly quantity of beans. Everyone was happy with the arrangement. An hour and half with the knife, and the plums were cut and turned into many bottles of jam. It’s such a winter treat when slathered on oven fresh bread.
Sandra does the cooking for jam making. It is a bit of a scientific process and probably not within my skill set. A dozen bottles were made from the fruit, and in sealed glass jars, the stuff lasts for a very long time.
The tomato vines in the greenhouse are growing well, and despite each of the raised beds surviving on 10L / 2.5 gallons of water per day plus with plenty of warm weather yet to go, I’m beginning to reduce watering so as to stress the vines into using their energy so as to ripen the fruit instead of producing more plant.
I noticed an interesting, and yet also mildly alarming thing. In the greenhouse, the chilli plants grown in the new raised garden bed, with brand new soil, have noticeably outperformed their peers, despite only being in the ground for a third of the time.
All were raised from the same batch of seeds. The conclusion is obvious, and crop rotation is clearly an issue, even in the greenhouse. A second greenhouse is a project which will happen, just not any time soon. In the meantime, we may have to remove most of the soil in the greenhouse, use it to fertilise the fruit trees, and then replace the lot with a mostly new batch. If there was an alternative…
One of the grapevines has a persistent fungus, but the others seem just fine. The vine with troubles is a sultana grape variety, and it may well be just too cold here on average for the plant.The other clusters of grapes are getting bigger, as are the plants themselves.
Despite the parrots best efforts, we should have a good harvest of pears. In some ways, when you have a lot of trees, the birds thin the fruit in the orchard, but rarely take everything. And the fruit which remains, gets larger in size.
Just to show how dry the season has become, here is the citrus orchard:
Onto the flowers:
The temperature outside now at about 10am is 12’C (54’F). So far for this year there has been 46.6mm (1.8 inches) which is up from last weeks total of 28.6mm (1.1 inches)
Comments
58 responses to “Muffins, or lack thereof”
Yo, Chris – House flippers. It worked for a lot of people, for a long time. Until it didn’t.
Queen Victoria Market, muffins. Things change and not always for the better. Now if you were Lucy Lawless (“My Life is Murder,) you’d start baking muffins and selling them to the coffee shop. Especially since the “secret ingredient” has been imparted to you. Offset those costs and if you also ran in a selection of jams, would probably put a bit of jingle, in your pocket. You know. In your spare time. 🙂
Photo: “It’s the job that’s not started…” “And a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” That’s an interesting forest of posts. With a comfy chair to take a moment, to take it all in.
The pumpkin vines spilling down the slope, look promising. The same may happen here. Maybe. The plums do look luscious, and the jam will give you many a tasty morning.
Same problem here, as you have in your greenhouse. Tight space thwarts crop rotation. I do what I can, and add stuff every year. And hope I don’t leave something vital, out.
The citrus orchard does look dry, but the trees look healthy. Seems like not all that long ago, the plot was a lot greener.
Your roses are really beautiful. Ours suffer from deer depredation. Unfortunately, we can’t discharge a firearm, in the city limits. Or have a firearm anywhere in the Institution. Some people are just spoil sports. Lew
Hi Lewis,
I know of folks who swear by the air-fryer, but like your experience, have never used one. Interestingly, to me it looks like an electric oven. Ah, you sent me on a rabbit hole, and my understanding of what the machine is: a small electric convection oven, just with a stronger fan. Unsurprisingly, the device is being recommended for reheating and also cooking of frozen meals. Yeah, we’ve gotten this far in life without one… 🙂
I know! So true, and the tourist things we went to see when in New Zealand, I now dubiously wonder about. Going up to the face of the Fox Glacier must truly have been one of the stupidest things we’ve ever done. Mind you, it was winter and there was no melt-water, so that was something, but still. Well, you live to fight another day they tell me. I’m sure we’ve all been there with really stupid acts. Ook! 🙂
Those sulphur miners copped it pretty bad given the risk. Hey, I’ll bet that lucky cat used one of its lives that day, and I’d wondered if the cat sensed the imminent danger, and decamped to a safer spot. Felines know things. Long ago I watched an early Clint Eastwood film, Kelly’s Heroes, and it was set during WWII and in one scene the soldiers were pouring sulphur powder onto an open wound. That scene really stuck with me, and over use of antibiotics is for sure a problem, but then, there are so many of such things, it’s hard to choose which is worse.
In 1914, the miners were probably happy for the work, but had they known the risk? I doubt it, and neither did the tourists by all accounts.
By the way, how deep are your pockets? Home owners struggle as insurance premiums rise more than 50 per cent in five years . Every year, ’tis the dread bill to unsettle the calm sailing. And part of why I’m busting my gut to construct a biggerer firewood shed.
Did some paid work today, then got stuck into the shed project. Cemented in the final post, then attached all of the heavy duty timber which will support the roof trusses. At least today was cool, and we both enjoyed the work. Tomorrow is meant to be off the charts feral wet, but we’ll see. It’s hard to claim that this has been a hot and dry summer, when tropical storms deliver goodly quantities of rain at the very tail end of summer. I feel a bit ripped off, but also appreciate the rain. And yes, as the sun set yesterday, the weather Gods were set a notorious challenge. And why not? It worked didn’t it.
Oh poop, the wind you’re getting, with cold air, sounds quite unpleasant. Hope H wore her finest coat when on the neighbourhood walk?
The rain in the outback has been epic. It would be mayhem out there right now, and I’m getting off pretty easily by way of contrast. Rare outback deluge to flood central Australia this week. Far out, I’d say two years worth of rain in a single week, is something of a problem. Not all that long ago geologically speaking, this continent was one third rainforest. Heat the planets atmosphere up enough, and strange things will happen. I look at the forest here and see the rainforest plants waiting out the dry, and biding their time.
Yup, the younger bloke had the face and eyes of a person I’d not trust. Spare a thought for the d’els children, for they know not what they do, and are often surprised when there are consequences. To me, it looks naive, or expectational as you correctly called it. In a super weird coincidence, earlier this morning I met someone who represented such folks in the past.
Three hours is way too long for a meeting. Ouch. All we can but do, is hope for the best, and expect who knows what.
Agreed, the protagonist in ‘The Martian’ dealt with each problem as it arose, and had to navigate through many a least-worst outcome. Such training is rarely taught, and I may add, earlier in the film, his peers were mocking his area of knowledge ‘botany’ as not being a real science. Hmm. My take on the world is that occasionally it can look a lot like a game of whack a mole. Deal with each mole as it pops it’s awful head from the abstract soil of the game.
Dude, two years, and no water bill, but the costs haven’t gone away. The book you are reading may be on the money. Victorian IT projects blow out by $1.25bn over a decade, government data shows. Man, someone is making mad cash, somewhere.
😉 I may avoid the garlic, and stick to the plum jam. But the Japanese have a fondness for plums and peaches.
Ha! What a hassle to be tailgated by those unruly drivers. The Suzuki Dirt Rat was going as fast as she could captain, any more, and she’s going to blow (said in best Engineer Scotty voice)!
I’ve not seen the series, but heard all about it. Peter Dinklage as usual shone, and copped it bad in the end. Look the character was a bad apple, that being the whole point of the story arc. The Editor tells me that Uma Thurman survived. That’s what I’d describe as a loose end. Poor Angel though, oh well, he did not know what he was doing.
Cool, the casual donation system is back! Well done, and I’m glad that events are on the up for your club.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis cont…
Yeah, house flipping was a thing, but then so was accumulating houses, for some folks. The whole house price rise speculation thing bothered me deeply back in 1997 when it took off, but by 2008 it looked very deeply weird, and so we bailed. It’s an option. There’s been a lot of years since then, but far out we’ve learned so much, and continue to do so. How does a person accumulate practical experience, when they perhaps focus instead on accumulating stores of wealth? Dunno. There may not be an answer.
Man, behind the bluster and bravado, I’m sad for what that long term relationship became. Last week fell below my minimum standards for the arrangement. In all of the staff turnover, and hey, even the owners changed recently, they all forgot that I was reducing the business’s costs. It’s not free to dispose of waste for a commercial enterprise. Now they’ll get to find out. And man, I can’t be the only person to order a snack to go with a coffee.
Your advice is sound, and if I had the time for such activities, I’d definitely consider it – especially with energy costs for cooking, now having been largely paid for long ago. By the way, that option is kept up my sleeve as a plan e), if all else fails. I could do it for sure. But spare time is a wonderful goal to which we can all aim towards. At a pinch I could do paddock to plate here, if things got dire.
Thank you, yes, the firewood shed has now taken top priority, and if you look carefully at the photo of the timber posts, you’ll notice two alcoves at the front on either side of the wide entrance. One is for garden tools, and the other is for separating out the kindling. Why make life hard for ourselves?
The pumpkin vines have produced a number of large fruits, which we’ll enjoy in the winter months. It always chuffs me to consider that those fruits were once considered only good for animal feed. I think not. Hope your pumpkin vines freely sprawl and take over any unused spaces for their own purposes. 🙂 Those plants really like a good feed. Actually, we usually consume jam at lunchtime. Brekkies are a fruit and yoghurt situation. What’s the traditional time for consuming jams in your country?
Crop rotation is a serious problem, and the longer I’m involved with growing activities, the bigger the issue becomes. It’s a bit scary, isn’t it? And like you, I too wonder what has possibly been left out. They sell a seaweed pellet mix which is expensive, but I may to have add to the mixture. Oh well, isn’t it the stuff you don’t think about, which gets you unstuck?
Yeah, all of the fruit trees, excluding the relocated walnut, are doing fine this year. Only those younger fruit trees in the citrus enclosure have been watered, and even then, it’s only been enough for them to get by. Tell ya what, after yesterdays rain, they grew overnight.
Thanks! We love the roses too. Such beautiful plants, and your words regarding the herbivore deprivation was slightly triggering. Well, at least you know my response. The nearby neighbour was blasting away in the forest this afternoon, so who knows what was going on. I reckon your roses will bounce back.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – LOL. Yes, All I need are more kitchen gizmos that would be never, or seldom used.
I often start off a story by saying, “Back in the 70’s, when I did really silly things …”
Yes, antibiotic resistance is a real problem. And, sometimes, looking back can provide solutions. Sometimes, looking way, way back …
https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/20/science/romania-ice-cave-resistance-antibiotics
I don’t quit see the connection between the firewood shed and insurance, but I’m sure you’ll enlighten me. 🙂 That was an interesting article about the current state of the insurance industry. Gee, maybe if they were a, well, non-profit, just covering losses, they’d be more affordable. How much do they pay out to shareholders? Never mention that, do they? Nice that there’s an agency, that can give you a certificate, that may lower your insurance prices. But that line, “…eventually they took it into account,” indicates a bit of foot dragging?
I saw an article, the other day, that also had to do with real estate. Office buildings to apartment conversions. What I wondered, if an apartment is $2,000+ a month, and they have set aside a few “affordable” units, what do they consider affordable?
https://www.npr.org/2026/02/21/g-s1-110595/from-cubicles-to-kitchens-how-empty-offices-are-becoming-homes
Our high yesterday was 52F (11.11C). Our overnight low was 43F (6.11C). Our forecast high for today is 47F. Scattered rain showers.
I spent a couple of hours, last night. shuffling around and filing paperwork. You know the drill. One of the things I did was get my 2026 calendar up. Didn’t want to rush it 🙂 . Actually, the Institution sends out a monthly calendar, which is stuck with magnets, to my refrigerator. So getting the wall calendar up, isn’t pressing.
A lot of it was transferring weather data. And, due to the odd winter we’ve had, I referred from calendar, to garden journal. How soon we forget. The winter of 2024-25 was just about as weird as this one. I noticed I noted that calling the last frost, was difficult, as, like this year, often the overnight temps were close … but no cigar. In town, at least. There was also a note to myself, not to push planting until Mother’s Day. The second Sunday in May.
There was a running gag, in “Young Sheldon,” and “The Big Bang Theory,” that geology wasn’t a real science. Academics do seem to protect their patch and inflate the value of said patch. One thing about “The Martian.” Once he reestablished contact with Earth, he had a lot of help from this end.
That was an interesting article about IT. I read some more of the book, last night. I think, managers and C Suite critters, really expect more from software, then what can be delivered. As if it’s some sort of magic solution. And, they want a product shoved out there, never mind if it’s full of bugs and may even be dangerous.
Yes, Dexter still has a lot of serial killers to … clean up. 🙂 The Pony-tail killer is still out there. Among others. The Gemini killer twist was … a twist. I think it might be a popcorn night. Now which to pick … I think I can indulge as last night was a healthy meal. A bit of rice, a can of garbanzo beans and celery, carrots, a tomato and garlic. Laced with cider vinegar. Reconstituted dry prunes and yoghurt, for desert.
Speaking of accumulating wealth, I have a vase I picked up a few years back. It’s from a company called Orient and Flume, in a discontinued line called Hawthorne Tree. It’s a real stunner. About 9″ tall, with a deep, blue iridescent background. Last night I checked E-buy, just to see what similar had been selling for. Bumping up around $400. Which makes me nervous. One good shake … On the other hand, I think I’d regret tearing lose of it.
Well, that’s a smorgasbord of alphabetical plans. 🙂 I’ve often seen a farm gate operation, in your future. Or, someone may start a farmer’s market, nearby.
So, when do we eat jams? Breakfast, usually smeared on toast, or even on pancakes and French toast. Sometimes, for lunch in a sandwich with peanut butter. Sometimes, dinner on bread buns or muffins. I have it as a late night snack, on ice cream. I’m sure I’m not the only one, but it’s probably rare. Rarer now, as I’ve kicked the ice cream habit, for the past couple of months. It was getting out of hand. 🙂
Sea weed. Might make a nice day out. Head for the beach and collect your own. There’d probably be new pie territory, to explore along the way. :-). Lew
Hi, Chris!
With muffins in the title, this is really going to be worthwhile.
It was a lovely arrangement for a very long time, but RIP muffins, and maybe your land would like to consume something besides coffee grounds. Ah! The pony club comes to mind . . .
Surely someone, somewhere makes tasty muffins? Besides yourself, I mean. And at least you got the secret.
Treated timber posts and cement are indeed wonderful products; so simple, so long lasting. You have some wonderful machinery to work with, though what a shame about the heat. That is a huge amount of holes to dig and set in the ground in one day, even on a cool day. “It’s the job that’s not started, which takes the longest to finish.” That is so clever.
I see baby pumpkins. Your mention of plums reminded me that when I was a teenager in the desert, we had a couple of plum trees in the backyard. They were so delicious. We did not have a garden, but people we knew who did grew wonderful amounts of vegetables and fruits in that climate. It seemed like all that was needed to add to the sandy soil was manure and water. So much sun there!
Your tomatoes look beautiful. I think they have time to ripen, though it seems like, if nothing eats them first, we usually get some ripe ones about a month after the solstice.
That is curious about your chillis. They ought to be able to grow in the same bed for several years, though you are thinking that the soil becomes depleted faster in the greenhouse?
I can’t believe how dry the citrus orchard looks – except for the trees.
I have been thinking about last week’s fatberg and its causes. You know, sometimes when we have had people at our house, they automatically assume that we have a garbage disposal in our sink since most people in cities and suburbs here have one. So they expect to be able to put anything down the drain and then turn on the disposal. And so, they probably assume that the appliance also disposes of fat. So maybe I shouldn’t be so hard on them since they are ignorant.
Thank you so much for all the roses!
Pam
Hi Pam,
It’s an unusual business which doesn’t appear to have the owner involved on a day to day basis, but hey, I don’t really know what is going on behind the scenes there. From one perspective, without the muffins, there’s the same pay, but probably a lot less work. However, it saddens me that the long term arrangement has come to this point, but why should I push things when change is clearly afoot?
I like where you are going with the other sources of err, fertility. 🙂 From a casual perspective, the land at the pony club probably needs the soil feed (from all that horse poop), more than here. I’ll adapt, and move on – but the soil feeding regimen certainly has to continue for as long as possible.
You know, I could mix up a batch of compost + soil minerals, then distribute it around the plants, in the same time as spent travelling into the big smoke to pick up the coffee grounds. The numbers no longer stack up, and the lack of appreciation for my efforts, confirms my thinking in the matter.
You’d be amazed. I keep a sharp look out, and am yet to find a tastier muffin. From what I was told, other customers were also complaining of the lack. However, I believe a nearby café recently closed, so I’m guessing, some customers left, and others arrived. Is it just me, or do you also detect the whiff of hubris in that story? Sometimes folks have to learn the hard way.
Thanks! And yes, it’s amazing the materials we can simply nab from a hardware store, and other businesses, if only we have the relevant mad cash to wave around. The heat did strange things to my brain that day, but one must roll with the punches as they say, and you too have known of the perils that come with heat exhaustion. It happens and I ask you, does the weather co-operate with our wishes?
By the way, it rained here today. Quite heavily too. Four fifths of an inch in about 30 to 40 minutes. I was outside at the time (under an umbrella) cleaning drains and making sure that the water was captured in the tanks. Ended up quite damp, but with a tropical low system, the air was at least warm. A strange storm, which has delivered enormous quantities of water to remote arid areas of this continent.
The quote was totally ripped off from Tolkien, and it’s worthy of repeating.
🙂 Ah, you’ve encountered a veritable truth there when it comes to soil fertility and arid country. Regular rainfall often washes useful soil minerals deep into the sub soil, which then gets carried, far, far, away. Woe is us gardeners, for such minerals have to be replaced. In arid areas, with little regular rainfall, the minerals haven’t been leached away, and yeah, if those areas have the water, the produce is much better than you, or I, could ever produce. I wish it were not thus, and there must be some area with really rich soils and plentiful water, but it probably also looks like a flood plain. And insurance in those areas is becoming thin on the ground, for obvious reasons.
Thanks, and I’m hoping the tomatoes ripen as well. One large fruit turned orange today, and that’s a good sign. The same is true here as well. With cooler summer nights, the average soil temperature is lower, and so the plants grow slower. What else can you do?
The chilli plants have grown in that soil for about four years, and perhaps I need to tweak the minerals going into that soil each year? Dunno really. But a second greenhouse would save my brain pondering this question. So it’s actually the simpler solution in the long run. Soil testing in this corner of the planet is expensive.
Those young citrus trees have been the only fruit trees receiving additional water this growing season. Even then, they’re doing it tough. With tank water, they’ll only get half a minute per day of water, which is less than a small bucket. You’d be amazed how little water plants actually need.
Oh Pam, that’s so true. And the same occasionally happens here, and we’ve got no garbage service either. Long ago a visitor handed me a soiled plastic nappy, and we were stumped what to do with the thing. Hand it back, was the eventual solution.
You know, I’ve softened on this topic over the years, people simply no longer know what they do, as you’ve likewise observed.
Glad you liked the roses, and I probably should get up there and give them a feed. Combined with the rain, they’ll produce lots of flowers. On a warm day, the aroma is really something else. Lovely!
I hear thunder. A storm is coming.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Yeah, so true, for mad cash is a finite resource, kitchen gizmos appear to be of an unlimited variety, utility is often hyped, but storage space is always limited, and do we really need these things? I can live without such a machine too.
Man, the 70’s was a strange time. I recall heading to the Lygon street festival, and my mother would just tell us kids to get lost and go and have a look around – whilst she caught up with friends at a bar. Probably drove us all home drunk as a skunk too. Nowadays, there’d be outrage if that happened, but back then, nobody cared. Yup, silly things indeed, I hear you about that.
You’d only hope that the researchers weren’t too interested in the viruses potential for something? Oh well, we all walk along a knife edge, and can but only hope that we don’t fall.
Man, there’s been some rain today. About four fifths of an inch fell in maybe about 30 or 40 minutes late this afternoon. It was crazy, and I had to grab the umbrella, and cleaning brush, head outdoors and ensure that drains, and water filters remain unclogged for the entire storm. Yes there was lightning and thunder. As you’d imagine I ended up quite damp. The water inlet filters on the tanks need a bit of plastic welding too. Oh well, nothing lasts forever. Only lost a little bit of water from the water tanks during the storm, which was quite a pleasing result.
After that, I headed about the area to see how others had coped during the storm, and the material from many driveways had washed onto local roads. Grabbed a coffee too, and enjoyed the sudden sunshine after the storm.
With the wild weather forecast in mind, we took the day off work, and just loafed around. Usually one day off work per week is fine with me. A bloke has to recharge the old batteries. 🙂
Ah, the connection, well, thinning the forest will produce useful firewood, which may in turn reduce the overall fuel loads and fire risk. No point making firewood, when there is nowhere to store the stuff out of the rain. Goran, mentioned that in his part of the world, such an organisation exists which works like a co-operative. Culturally, that won’t fly down here because people are the people that they are here.
Years ago I got into an unnecessary argument with an old friend, which I deeply regretted. He put in an insurance claim for storm damage repairs, and I made the thoughtless suggestion that perhaps if he’d maintained drains better in the first place… And far out, I should have simply kept my opinions to myself.
Dude, sorry for the correction, but the article you linked to made the claim: Projected rent for a one-bedroom apartment is around $4,000 per month. How is $48k in after tax cash annually, a sustainable tithe? My mind boggles, and presumably that number is in US dollars.
Yes, that paperwork drill is known, and you’d hope that after all of your sweat, it actually gets read? You sent me off on a interweb rabbit hole on the subject of: what are these refrigerator magnets made of? Turns out, it’s some form of barium ferrite, and the former mineral is not widely distributed in usefully extractable amounts around the planet. Who knew? Those flexible magnets have only been in my awareness for a few decades. Man, we’re so old school that the calendar is an annual paper one, with a page to a month, but is lifted from the ordinary by a cute animal photo on the opposite page.
So far, your winter weather has been remarkably mild, and similar temperatures and rainfall, wouldn’t be out of place here. Hey, it just rained again a little while ago. There is some seriously stormy weather coming up in the 10 day forecast, but I’ll believe it when the wet stuff arrives. There’s lots of widespread flooding in the interior of this arid continent at the moment. It’s crazy out there.
🙂 Long ago I once dated a girl who was studying geology. Seemed scientific enough for me. Funny stuff, and we won’t mention ecology. Heckles will sure to be raised. Agreed, once some help from Earth was possible, events progressed in the film. The background scenery was epic too. By the way, your planting guide would work here as well, despite it being upside down and November substituting for May.
The thunder is roaring right now, although this current storm is running slightly north of the mountain range. Ruby is barking at the thunder claps. Rockin’ and Rollin’, don’t mind a good storm, although admittedly it is more pleasant when indoors at the time. No. The rain has just begun pounding on the roof. Far out, On no, I’ll have to go and check the drains… Hang on a second… Holy carp… Gotta run!
Back inside now and it’s still raining, but that storm was totally feral, and I absolutely have to be outdoors directing water and other miscellaneous floating organic gunk. So much for predicting that it would run north, it was a direct hit, and there’s more to come looking at the radar. Ook!
That’s exactly it, in relation to software. Is it good, yes, can it perform to expectations, probably not. I believe that a lot of the hype with the so-called AI software, stems from that misplaced enthusiasm. Economically, the constant tinkering with code, is a bitter pill to swallow for society.
🙂 The Editor very much appreciated the series. Nice dinner, and I plan for a basic pasta this evening.
Beautiful work, and I can appreciate your reluctance to part with the vase. Stunning absolutely is the word to use. Hand blown apparently, but was it also hand painted?
All possible, with some of the produce, we grow far more than we can process, or that the forest critters can consume. Not a bad effort after two decades of work.
Ah, breakfast toast / pancakes. I see, and many thanks. Yeah, you’ve not mentioned the ice cream in a while, and it’s probably a good move. If I may, it was the pumpkin spice variety which appears to me to have kicked off the habit.
The beach is a bit far to economically nab seaweed and bring it back here (probably 40 miles at closest, and that’s for the bay beaches, so err, dubious at best). The product I can get locally is: Seamungus. It’s not just seaweed, but other stuff. Probably better than chicken manure, at a wild guess.
Another storm is approaching! Oh no, as the poem says: I love a sunburnt country, a land of droughts and flooding rains.
Yes, we have both kinds of climate horrors, often all at once!
Oh shoot. Storming again…
Cheers
Chris
Oh dear, I had to applaud on seeing your MBTI – mine too! Hail fellow INFJ!
A pity about the coffee supply but you did well. I don’t think one could get two years from a café around here. The last one that opened had the best coffee and ambience in town and didn’t last six months.
I found garden lime at the hardware last weekend. Their 2 bags of “blood & bone fertiliser” (it doesn’t seem possible to get anything pure any more: compost in bags likewise always has additives) were so old and slimy the ink came off on my hands and it was impossible to read the phosphate content. More research is required.
The nursery *might* have some of the right kind of crushed rock but if it does it will be by accident. They won’t know what it contains if I am to go by the answers to previous enquiries. One day when it’s less hot I’ll reccy.
Hi kallianeira,
Cordial greetings to you, and well met fellow INFJ. 🙂 It’s been a fun journey has it not? And if I may, despite the occasional lapse from err, very extreme INFJ’s letting the overall team down, we’re a nice bunch.
What do you do? And you’re spot on, it’s a pity that the arrangement changed. Yikes! Cafés are a volume business, they need to supply lots of coffee to cover the fixed costs. When I was a young bloke, an older accountant casually quipped to me, that it takes a lot of coffees to pay for an expensive fit out. And you’d hope the business wasn’t seven days per week, that could get tiring, and it is very hard to get breaks in small business.
Hopefully the garden lime works wonders on your garden, although like everything, I’d trial introducing the stuff slowly and observe what happens. Dunno about your area, but here, soil testing is not cheap, and so I’ve never gone that approach. Much easier to apply, observe, test, learn, but phosphates (blood and bone meal) is in short supply on the continent, so most likely will be in your garden.
And I’ve encountered that mess of a bag situation as well in the past. It all seems like a good idea to store such materials near to where it can get wet, until the stuff turns into the gluggy mess you described.
The rains belted down here today over about four epic thunderstorms. The Bureau says your area may be in line tomorrow and through to the weekend, and maybe even next week. Fingers crossed.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Chris,
When I took the MBTI many years ago, I also typed out as INFJ. Maybe you put out INFJ vibes that readers of that type gravitate to? 😉
We didn’t get the huge snowstorm that the US East Coast got the past couple of days, though we did have cold and windy weather over the weekend. We have gotten some rain recently, enough to bring us out of moderate drought into abnormally dry. Today is warmer than normal but windy, so it doesn’t feel very warm. It’s cloudy too.
Early signs of spring are daffodil leaves and some still-closed flowerbuds on the earliest varieties. I need to get outside and do more garden cleanup.
Your roses are beautiful! Happy rains!
Claire
Yo, Chris – All that back and forth about garbage disposals. I think I mentioned, each unit here, has a garbage disposal. At one point, they all had to be replaced, as they rust and freeze up. Unless you run water through them, once a week. Which I do, even though I never use the disposal. They once sent out a list of what not to put down the disposal. It was quit extensive. Better to have sent out a list of what you could put down it. It would be a very short list.
This is what the book on the managerial class and software had to say, in general, and specifically about AI. But I think it could also apply to the possible uses for the virus found in the ice. “Managerial companies don’t like to build something the right way before releasing it into the world. It’s much easier on a balance sheet to launch a minimum viable product and then improve it later; you can generate revenue faster and keep upfront development costs relatively low. Because the “right way” is not always clear, the managerial approach allows companies to postpone making hard choices for as long as possible. But this ignores a critical fact about software: once it is sent out into th world, its failures become much harder to address. Sometimes the minimum viable product becomes the permanent one. You may never get another chance to get it right.”
Of course, you can always fix (some) of the bugs, and resell it as an upgrade. I guess, “temporary things have a way of becoming permanent.” Or, “Seemed like a good idea. What could possible go wrong.”
I’d guess the coffee shop was bought by someone who thought they could just sit back and “manage.” I saw that several times, in the rapid turnover of ownership at the cafe, next door, on Tower Street. They don’t seem to “get” that a working owner, well, every hour they put in is one hour less for a paid employee. Which affects overhead and bottom line. And one would hope they’re more … zealous and dependable.
It sounds like you’re having a bit of weather. 🙂 Good ol’ British / Australian understatement. Our high yesterday was 46F (7.77C). The overnight low was a steady 41F (5C). Our forecast high for today was 46F. Scattered showers that H and I have mostly dodged, so far.
“Projected rent for a one-bedroom apartment is around $4,000 per month, but 60 units will be set aside as affordable housing.” Those 60 units of “affordable housing.” I just wondered what amenities would be lacking, to make them affordable. They may be small studio apartments, rather than a one bedroom. And, maybe no access to the gym and pool. Maybe even a separate entrance for the “poor” folk. Wasn’t there a mild scandal down there, awhile back over that issue?
I’ve seen those flexible magnets. The ones I have are metal, with probably the same backing. LOL. Mine are Edward Gorey sketches, of children meeting bad ends. 🙂 Might be an American thing. A lot of people seem to have a lot of magnets on their refrigerators. I suppose it sends a statement, as to what the occupant is all about. I wonder if there are solid gold refrigerator magnets? Ah, seems there are. Magnets are also picked up as souvenirs, of people’s travels.
Tourist kitsch.
As near as I can tell, there’s no painting on the vase. The blossoms are probably a Millefiori glass technique and the trunk and branches appear to be pulled glass threads that were then buffed down. Different glass techniques can be pretty incredible.
I settled in with my popcorn, and watched the new “Predator” movie. Worth a bowl of popcorn. But, of that series, I still liked the one with the Native Americans and fur trappers, the best.
Then I finished up watching the new BBC mystery series, “Lynley.” From small clues, dropped along the way, it turns out the Lynley was the second son of the sixth earl of something or other. So, yes, he went to Oxford, but was slated to join an uncle in a legal practice. But, he became enamored with crime solving. Which wasn’t a big problem, at the time until … his brother died and now it’s expected that he become the next earl. He’s not interested. His sidekick is a working class, prickly young woman. So, class disparities are often on display. But, I can’t say he plays the “earl card,” very often. Occasionally, even the working class lass plays the earl card. 🙂
Yes, the pumpkin spice ice cream is a gateway drug. 🙂 I think it’s the nutmeg, which is slightly psychoactive. Never mind the sugar.
Wow, four storms rolled through? Keeps you hopping. As bad as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs. 🙂 Are your water tanks getting topped up? Lew
Claire:
I’m glad you didn’t get the snow; we didn’t either.
I have a copy of The Pruning Book now, thanks to you (and Chris).
So – thanks!
Pam
Chris:
I think there are a lot of business owners that don’t put much attention into their businesses; not a good idea. Profits are all that matter. That sounds like a very small business, though. Change is always afoot. It is disconcerting.
“You know, I could mix up a batch of compost + soil minerals, then distribute it around the plants, in the same time as spent travelling into the big smoke to pick up the coffee grounds.” There you go – you have already adapted to change because it starts in the mind.
Hubris – possibly. It still seems to me that the casting off of muffin production is due to making a higher profit. Just think, though, how many people only came there because of the extraordinary muffins.
Hardware stores have always been one of my favorite places, not so much the big box ones, though they have goodies, too. Yesterday I was at the tiny downtown hardware store that has been here since 1893, looking for screen spline. Back then they had a nice, big 2 story building. There is such an ambience about such places, and it doesn’t hurt that they have an employee for every aisle (though that makes things a bit more crowded). By the by, I didn’t know what screen spline was, but they had it in lots of sizes.
Yay! You had rain! And you hear more rain coming . . .
Oh – 4 years in the same place for chillis does sound about like their limit.
I would have liked to have seen your visitor’s face when you handed back the soiled nappy.
I guess I haven’t been paying attention, but yesterday, as I went down the state maintained dirt road to the little highway, I realized that it now has more potholes than I have ever seen, and I thought last year was the worst. My parents used to call such bad roads the Sante Fe Trail. It is going to take a lot of work to get that fixed up. Our private neighborhood road, however, looks very nice. Of course, it doesn’t get as much traffic, but you’d be surprised how many delivery trucks come down it in a week.
From my upstairs windows I can see the snow-covered Blue Ridge Mountains. So beautiful.
Pam
Chris,
Hooray for your rain! And more expected. You need it.
The weekend’s storms brought trickles of rain here. The mountains got some snow, mostly between 3″ and 12 “, depending on location. Supposed to be near 15C in a week or so, which is warm for this time of year. But it has been that type of winter.
Treated posts and concrete mix. Sounds like a song. Good work you did, by the way. Digging those post holes is hard work even in sandy soil.
Avalanche has 3 tags that she wears attached to her collar. One has a pink heart on one side, her name and my phone number etched onto the reverse. Also a rabies tag that shows when her next rabies shot is due. And of course, her dog license tag. Her name tag was missing from her collar when she came indoors Friday evening. The metal that holds all of the tags was horribly bent. I crimped the metal down, overlapped things, crimped some more. Naturally, her other two tags disappeared this evening, and the metal holders were again bent.
I got out a powerful flashlight and scoured the yard. Nothing. Indoors has been searched several times. Nothing. I’ll have to see about replacement tags tomorrow if I can’t find them outdoors in the daylight.
Something ironic happened when I was searching in the yard. When there are only a half dozen piles of dog poo, and I am trying hard NOT to step in any, I always step in something that I didn’t see. Due to somebody’s laziness, there is a lot of dog poo in the yard. Nor did I care if I stepped in any when searching for her tags. I missed every pile of poo. Maybe if I’m not looking for the tags, I will find them.
Say it ain’t so! No more coffee grounds! No more muffins! UGG. It does rather sound as if the new owners view you as an inconvenience.
The Myers-Briggs test is, umm interesting. So I had the Princess take the test based on how she views me. I also know that she knows me better than I do. So…ISFP. Which seems to make sense when you read about it.
Beautiful rose blooms. Colorful, bright and cheery.
DJSpo
Hi Pam,
Sometimes I wonder about things. I’ve no experience with such situations, and am not suggesting that this is the case in this particular instance, but I believe that there are some err, enterprises, which for all sorts of dodgy reasons, excess mad cash is not an issue. At such moments, and again, I’m not alleging anything. Whatever the case may be, I no longer want any involvement.
Change unsettles me, and there, I’ve said it, as perhaps it likewise affects you as well? 😉 I’m not a fan, but often I’ve noted that this tool is over used to keep us folks off-balance. It’s an option, but I’d much prefer a ‘steady as she goes’ arrangement, but my wishes are thwarted at almost very turn. It’s not fair, but mustn’t grumble.
And exactly. Adaption is always the order of the day, but need we react as expected? The ancient grand master of strategy, Sun Tzu, had a lot to say about that.
Hmm. Pam, I take my lead from the folks working at the coal face, and if they say the muffins are too much trouble, who am I to argue with them, for they know more of the background goings on than you or I ever will. Your words assume that the people are necessary, and neither you, nor I, will ever know the truth of that matter.
Ain’t just you, I’d not known of the technical name of ‘screen spline’ either, but it is useful stuff for squooshing into metallic gaps and securing metallic fly mesh. I see that you are thinking of the warmer months to come. 🙂
The rain was feral yesterday. Imagine a four inch plastic uPVC pipe delivering as much water as it could spew forth (and that is a lot), and me frantically getting seriously wet with a hand held brush cleaning any organic gunk out of the stream. Some storms here are feral. And the low pressure system has decided to draw tropical moisture from hot northern oceans and not go anywhere soon. It’s near stationary, which must be horrid for folks living in the more arid parts of this continent. Imagine being in a desert and enjoying four inches of rain in six hours and then some. I’d have to suggest that travel in those areas has come to an abrupt halt. And the low pressure system will hang around for days.
Yeah, crop rotation is a thing, and the very first big red saucing tomato was picked today. It was planted in an area which had not previously grown tomatoes… Ook!
Pam, the visitor was rather annoyed, to put it mildly, and now no longer speaks to us.
Pah! Have to laugh, the new neighbours got a delivery truck of water over the last week, but other than the garbage truck, such big machines are rare. Diesel is a wonderful fuel, but alas… You’d be horrified by the roads here. Potholes are not unknown, and maintenance is getting more, and more, I’d imagine, expensive.
Lovely stuff, and doesn’t nature put on the best shows for us all to enjoy. 🙂
It was gloomy and cold here today, with drizzle, and topped at 57’F. That’s summer for ya!
Cheers
Chris
Hi Claire,
Total respect to you, and it’s a delightful, but at times uncomfortable, world view. And perhaps occasionally even dare I say it, a bit intense! 🙂 The INFJ personality type is drawn to the music of their own beat, and is described as the Advocate for good reasons. You know, I’m yet to meet another such person in the flesh.
Dunno about you, but I like the MBTI structure as it provides a framework upon which to hang the eerie insights into other peoples motivations, and puts the prescience into some sort of comprehension. For your interest, and I’d be very curious to hear of your experiences, but I tend to form strong bonds with INTJ folks, as well as the INFP, and especially the ENFP people, whom I’ve often thought as having a drop or more of the old one’s Faery blood in their systems, without them of course, knowing. Lovely people.
Glad you missed this latest round of snow storms. Whoa, but you’ve had a cold frozen winter. Hey, at least the recent rain will absorb into the soil, hopefully so anyway.
Claire, with yesterdays rain, and the gloomy forecast for the next week, we’ve had a hot and dry summer, but the numbers no longer support such a point of view. The tropical low positioned over the arid part of this dry continent right now, doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. It’s all very strange. Simpson Desert tropical low causing flooding in four states.
Go the early spring indicators! And I noticed today that the Canadian Red Maple tree here is sporting some red leaves, as are some of the fruit trees in the shady orchard which have a few yellow leaves. The wheel of the year, spins her regular yarn, and us humans float along in the wake.
Thank you. I might give the Roses a good feed in the next day or so. Despite the gloom, it was nice to walk around today in the cold air seeing how the plants responded to the deluge.
Cheers
Chris
HI DJ,
At times it can be an uncomfortable and exciting experience to live surrounded by big old Eucalyptus trees when in a hot and dry season. Those plants have their own ideas about long term survival (e.g. fire), which sometimes doesn’t really take my own preferences into account. Oh well, as the song says: Give me a home among the gum trees…
The rain yesterday made for about a fun hour of very wet outdoor activity when all combined, and at least the air was warm-ish. About four thunderstorms delivered the rain, and there were times the water rushing out of the 90mm pipes into the water tank mesh filters was as much as the pipe could deliver. Mind you, I managed to store most of the rainfall, and the house system alone captured 8,500L or 2,200 gallons. That’s a lot of water in a short period of time. Other water systems here also captured the rainfall, so it was much needed and appreciated.
You sure have had a warm and mostly snow-free winter, and hey, it was 14’C and very gloomy here today, so not far off that forecast of yours. Summer likewise has been remarkably strange, but then I can’t say with any certainty, what a normal summer would even look like. Conditions are that variable. The tropical low pressure system causing all of the wet weather near to the centre of this arid continent (and extending it’s tentacles this far south and east), doesn’t seem to want to go anywhere soon. Local conditions are relatively calm and peaceful compared to what might be happening way out in the centre of the country with floods. It’s a big storm.
Thanks, and you know, it feels good to be getting that firewood shed project moving along. We’ve been umming and ahing about which is the best way forward, and then made the decision. Making the decision was actually the hard bit in this instance for all sorts of reasons. After the dry summer, the clay which the timber post sit in, felt like rock. And two hot humid days, just added to the pain. Still, all done now, and I’m onto the more enjoyable bits of the work.
Youch! Hmm. Your story of dog tags is a familiar one here, without the rabies one of course, for valid reasons. Although if ever I come across a dead bat, trust me, all hell will break loose. Nice work with the ikea hacking of the tag, and been there, and done that too. Dogs have their own plans, which sometimes don’t align all that well with ours, and you may have noticed this also? 😉 The local council used to provide annual replacement tags, and now possibly due to cost savings measures, there there is one for life (replaced at a fee if lost) as well as microchipping, which links to a national database.
It’s all fertiliser, and I’m astounded that your local birds don’t consume the err, poop. Candidly speaking, the avians may have better options in your part of the world, but the parrots and magpies here, are filthy for the stuff to the point where they will watch the dogs activities. The Kelpies are annoyed, but the elder statesman, Ollie, simply ignores the bird business as being beneath his dignity to notice. I only have to remove the dog plops from paths, and chuck it onto flower beds, the rest, disappears.
Stay safe out there, and avoid the err, canine landmines.
You know, I’ve never met the new owner. That surprised me, but then…
Ah, yes, I like the Adventurer and know of another (a lovely person too), and respect to you for the open mind, which is rare for those whom have an ‘S’ in their make up. You know, I’d have thought that you were closer to the INTJ, but it is not for me to gainsay your lady! Ook! Oh my. As the old timers used to say, Perish the thought. 🙂
Cheers
Chris
Hello Chris,
To me, “air-fryer” is just the new marketing term for “toaster oven”, and they rock! by cooking as well as a conventional oven or griller with far less power consumption. If it fits in the toaster oven that is how I cook it. Then again, you are the accountant 🙂
I wonder how much the absurd precariousness of accommodation has fostered their popularity. I believe very many people live in unorthodox spaces with power points but no stove.
Rain, you said?
My poor heart skipped several beats. Unless my weather forecast is different to yours, that rain will stop at the mountains west of me. (Yes, mountains to east and to west, but one wouldn’t call this a valley. Well, maybe at a stretch, the way it is claimed Capertee Valley is the widest canyon in the world: so wide it feels like a plain?)
— stop press: what is that connection you mentioned with Weather Gods? It just rained for five minutes! It may be the only rain for another month but your connection to Something seems good!–
I am told kangaroos as well as deer eat rose bushes. Have none bothered yours?
The messy Blood & Bone was in fact inside the store among dry goods. It seems to be specially hydrophilic. Is that what you find? Must it be used up quickly before it turns into red mud?
Hi Lewis,
I’ve never had or used one of those sink organic waste munching machines, and you piqued my curiosity: a) Can one accidentally get their fingers caught in the cruncher; and b) How do you even sharpen the cutting edges. Sorry, for the practical turn of events, but aren’t you curious too? So here goes, grab a snorkel, for we’re going down to see what the interweb opinions have to say.
Hmm, curiously with the finger question, opinions vary wildly, but I will add that my favourite answer was: Depends. How haunted is it? How cool is that response? As to the sharpening, apparently it’s not possible because the crushing mechanism steel edges seems to deform from metal fatigue instead of dulling. And for the record, I was a bit miffed that the many answers to b) were all rather earnest. Although someone did suggest that they knew someone (sure they did) who installed a unit on their toilet. Yeah, right.
Your compost bucket and bury into the soil system, is looking like the superior arrangement to me. The soil critters do all the hard work – for free. What’s not to like about that? And agreed, the list would be very short indeed, and avoid the need to include new, innovative and possibly unlisted products.
Sadly, the description of the software released into the wilds story, was an uninspiring peer into what mediocre potentially looks like. Man, if physical products were put to market with lots of faults, well, look at how differently I believe, that the Ford Pinto issues blew up. What low standards we’ve all become inured to.
Long ago the story of sitting back and getting someone else to manage a small business worked, but nowadays, most people I know, at least, are putting a 100% effort into their business. And if there is a spouse, they work just as hard. Dunno man, but that story shifted maybe fifteen or twenty years ago. But is it still an idea at the back of peoples minds, absolutely. If I may say so, the idea has deep historic roots in our civilisation. And you hit the nail on the head with zealous and dependable. Hmm.
Hehe! Yeah, dude it was rotten here today. Thick fog this morning, then gloomy dark skies with drizzle with a max of 57’F. Tonight, in my summer softened mode, I feel cold, even though it is 68’F inside the house. Brr! You haven’t had much freezing weather this winter, although I probably shouldn’t have just typed that. Oops! Hubris alert!!!!
Good to hear that you and H both dodged the rain, and the dogs here have by preference spent today indoors, which was fine by me, as paid work needed doing. Perhaps I’m feeling cold due to sitting on my backside for long periods of time today?
The ongoing costs with buildings with a gym and a pool, are significant down under, mostly because they are shared facilities. I’ve noted articles in the media regarding such regular costs, and they alarm me. Even if the units are affordable, can the people living in them pay for those ongoing regular costs? Dunno man. Nice thinking though with the separate side entrance for the err, lower class of residents. There may have been some sort of scandal, but with things like say, building structural defects, it’s a bit of a target rich environment.
Interestingly, voter unhappiness with very large apartment blocks is about to be targeted. Anywhoo, someone said we’d own nothing, and be happy, although that did work for Diogenes the cynic. A two year old may suggest: You go first, to those proponents of the ideology! 😉
Hehe! Yeah, the materials are probably the same. 🙂 Fridge magnets were a promotional thing down here a while back, but I haven’t seen any new ones for a while now. Actually, now I think about it a bit, physical forms of advertising are getting less frequent, sometimes to the point of non-existence. Hmm.
Astounding techniques, and known to the ancients. I can imagine that way back in the day two millennia ago, such Millefiori objects were treasured items. I see that some had even been dug up in the UK.
Was that the Predator film with the half robot, and where the alien family feud formed part of the narrative?
A fun story, and clearly life in small town UK is a chancy business. 🙂 It sounds like a fun show, and class issues are real. They’re there. Yup.
Thought so about the pumpkin spice. Ah well, good intentions, and the road to Perdition and stuff, which has safely been err, removed from your temptation. It happens, I hear you about that.
Thanks for the laughs. Yup, As bad as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs! Truer words have rarely been spoken. And yeah, the water tanks are refilling. The house tanks were at 50% last week, and are now hovering around the 67% mark, which is a lot of extra water. No need to water any plants today. And, the first large red tomato was harvested. Yay!
Cheers
Chris
Hello Kallianeira,
Ooo, you sent me on a rabbit hole as to what exactly is meant by the words ‘toaster oven’. Hmm. Hang on a second… … Ah, seems like it’s an (cue musical tone Ta Da!) electric bench oven. Incidentally, that’s what we use the um, Breville The Smart Oven Pro Convection Oven. Works well enough, and is pretty easy on the batteries. Yeah, 10A and under for 240V, whereas the bigger ovens have some meaty cables suggestive of energy hunger. I’d not want to see how much energy a pyrolitic cleaner would use.
Well, it’s funny you mention that issue about the kitchen arrangements, and I’d be curious to hear about your set up? When we rented nearby whilst building this house a long time ago, the kitchen had almost no preparation bench space. It sent me loopy that lack, and I do wonder how people cook in such kitchens? Dunno. A mystery to me, but it is one thing I observe when in other houses. The kitchen here has lots of bench space for preparation, and it all gets used. If a person wishes to live well and cheaply, the domestic economy is a very important part of a household. So you’re not wrong.
Sorry to say it, but your area is only forecast to be lightly dampened by this storm. Still, the beast could head east. Hmm. You’re in a beautiful part of the country, and I have fond memories of the nearby Mudgee with a dog story, although it’s been almost three decades since there, and a lot of things can change. Here’s the forecast map:
Ha! Fencing is a wonderful deterrent, although for some reason the deer have not tested those narrow terraced garden beds. Not sure why either. How are the marsupials with your roses? Anything which can consume roses with those prickles / thorns, are an animal to be feared. Rose hips are nice, have you tried producing syrup from them?
Ah, not at all with the bags. The material is usually quite dry and powdery – don’t know about the pellets though, they may be different, maybe. The one time I spotted the mooshed contents, the bag had been in the rain, then brought indoors. It was not a good experience, put it that way.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – Short and sweet … I have a terrible cold. It started yesterday as a runny nose, and then moved into my lungs. Seems a little better, today. cough medicine kicking in? we’re goimg back to bed. Lew
Chris:
Yes, change unsettles me, too, but I think I am getting better about getting along with it as I get older. It happens so constantly that it kind of becomes a familiar thing and one just expects it. Which one had better, as it is built into this world; in fact, into the universe, I expect.
Sun Tzu is right. He usually is.
A 4 inch pipe is a whole lot! When I lived in the desert, we called that kind of weather a monsoon. There was a regular monsoon season.
Your neighbor orders in water? Isn’t that kind of expensive?
Pam
@ Lew:
Poor Lew. I hope you feel better fast.
Pam
@ Lew – hope you feel better soon!
Claire
Hi Lewis,
Hope you feel better soon, and I trust that H is on her very best supportive behaviour whilst you’ve been struck low by the dread cold.
Not much to report here, did a couple of runs to the big box outer urban hardware store to pick up timber for the firewood shed. Might install some of that wood tomorrow, and may even get the roof done. One must have goals which occasionally reach for the stars. Whether the goals are achieved or not, is an entirely different question. 🙂
Your cold, it should be noted, arrived around the same time that your weather became super cold. See, I smell the workings of coincidence! That’s my lame attempt at bringing a smile to your face.
Anyway, feeling for you, and hope that you are comfortable, warm and keeping up the fluids.
75’F here today, and very humid. The big storm is drifting south, and may even make a special guest appearance here in a few days (hopefully not of the special guest death ensign sort…) The forecast for Monday looks feral. Oh well, one day at a time, they say.
Three Cheers for nurse H in your hour of need.
Chris
Hi Pam,
Thanks for the insights, and pep talk. 🙂 Too much change in a short period of time, bothers me, and you’ve inspired me and I’ll try and aim for your calm acceptance approach. Another goobermint agency just roped in the profession, and dumped more work on us, which presumably they expect us to do for free? Sorry, that sounds a bit peevish.
The bureaucracy expands its tentacles ever outwards before pulling in chunks of the economy into its hungry maw. Probably someone else’s image, but it’s somewhat apt.
I like your thoughts about change being built into the fabric of the universe. Makes a lot of sense.
Took the trailer twice today to the big box outer urban hardware store to pick up the rest of the timber for the new firewood shed project. The plan is to install the timber tomorrow, or as much of the job as I can get to.
Funnily enough, the first time I went there earlier today, the order was totally stuffed up at several points in their complicated process. I was left scratching my head and wondering if it was me, or them? Dunno. Anyway, the second trip went without any issues. Oh well, all done now.
Sun Tzu clearly knew about human nature first, and strategy second. Thus why he could predict courses of action and motivations.
There are two water pipes on the house water system, and they need to be that large a diameter so as to carry the volume of water which falls onto the roof – which at times, can be a lot. And it really can add up in big storms like the other day, and ook, the monster storm is moving south, and Monday’s forecast sounds feral. Oh well. How’s the snow and ice going in your part of the world now?
Lot’s of admin stuff today, so not much fun. Made two batches of toasted muesli, which is pretty yummy stuff. The sun was warm, the wind was non existent, so the weather today felt warming as distinct from scorching. Nice. All of this recent rain means that few if any of the plants need watering.
It sure is expensive to truck in water. I’m not sure what is going on over there, but I reckon they used to have a water tank located high up on a timber tower. This I believe has been removed, and I’d have done the exact same – can you imagine what would happen if the timber failed, and it fell over, heavy water tank and all? Talk about a nightmare scenario. The work probably upset their entire water supply system I’m guessing, thus the need to bring in some water from elsewhere.
Still water pumps are very cheap, and also usually good, and you really need around about a 230ft drop in height with water, to produce the same sort of water pressure which town water supplies. The tower was nowhere near that tall.
The water tank stand high up in the air was I reckon, one of those ideas which seemed like a good idea at the time, long, long ago.
By the way, trucks can usually only haul in around 3,000-ish gallons of water, and in dry years, those businesses are super busy.
Cheers
Chris
Chris:
I had to leave the room for something and when I came back, I had left my laptop open and your title of “Muffins, or Lack Thereof” was on the screen and it was so funny. Thanks for another laugh.
Well, now, I can understand your chagrin about the goobermint agency once again adding a large burden to your life. I have to confess that I wasn’t thinking about goobermint agencies. That would throw me for a loop, too.
I am glad that you have finished up your trips to the big box store, especially after there was a problem. At least you can get on with the project.
No snow and ice where I am except under deep piles of things, gravel and dirt mostly, that got pushed over it. It makes me think of when people in the northern parts of this country – though even here in Virginia sometimes, as Thomas Jefferson had an ice pit dug – would cut blocks of ice out of lakes and rivers and store them in the aforementioned pits to use the rest of the year.
My son says that Pickle the Squirrel is probably part of the Barn Clan, squirrels with nests in the barn. The Barn Clan is sort of the hillbilly version of squirrels around here, rough and rather looked down upon by other squirrels. Queen Charlene would have nothing to do with them other than to beat them up. This would account for Pickle’s peculiar house building habits: He’s used to being sheltered by a building. Or in the case right now, a pickup truck. This fits in, too, as we store petrol in the barn and sometimes the Barn Clan chews holes in the plastic cans. My son says they want to get high. Anyway, Pickle likes the smell of petrol.
Pam
Chris:
Oops. I cut my comments short.
I’ve known people in the desert who had water trucked in and it was very expensive; not a good plan longterm. If your neighbor has no more water tower, do you have any idea what else he might do for water? you say that drilling a bore/well does not work there? Perhaps he will glance over your way. Anyway, I am glad you have had rain.
Pam
Yo, Can’t type Finger spasms. Chills?
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/many-people-don-t-see-180000624.html
Lew
@ Lew,
Get better soon.
DJSpo
Chris,
You sent me down the rabbit hole. Give me a home among the gum trees. Nice song. Nice lyrics. Thanks.
It reminds me of one of Wang Wei’s poems, which I’ve mentioned before: “I make no plans for the future but to return to my forest home” is my favorite part of it.
Mate, I have to agree with Pam. Change happens. It never quits happening. Change happens all the time. I boil it down to a simple idea: “There is one immutable law of the Universe: change happens.” All else can likely be deduced or observed from this. The practical questions then become, “What are you going to do about it? How are you going to adapt and relate?”
Far out! You ‘re getting your water tanks replenished, and not by a wee amount either. I bet you’re feeling a bit better about that.
This winter really reminds me of my time in Las Cruces. Although I think that Albuquerque weather would be a better comparison. Anyhow, not a lot of snow. Not a lot of rain (at least after early January), quite a bit of wind, some very dry cold snaps, a lot of daytime temperatures in the 7C to 12C range. This winter has even felt similar to the winter I spent in Las Cruces. Different plant growth and more clouds, but a similar feel.
Of course, Spokane is in that transition zone between the desert and the mountains. The prediction for this area due to climate change is that there will be more rain than there used to be, but it will fall in a much shorter time span. Thus, longer summers and longer and drier dry spells. In other words, I expect Spokane to be part of the desert by the turn of the century if not earlier. My planting and watering are changing to accept that we might as well act as if it is desert now. Of course, now that I say this, one of the next few winters will likely be long, cold and feature heavy snow. 😉
Yes, you’ve done the most physically taxing work on the woodshed. The remaining stuff is work, too, but isn’t so painful as digging post holes. More measuring and thinking, too. Remember: “Measure twice, cut once. Don’t forget to breathe. Breathing is very important.”
I put a call in today to see how to go about getting replacement tags. That agency is brutally understaffed and underpaid. Most likely I won’t hear back until next week. Not the fault of the staff. If I get in a rush, I can always visit the office during normal business hours.
There’s a lot of food varieties around this winter for most of the resident birds. When searching for Avalanche’s tags, I found that she had killed another mouse a few minutes before that search began. I tossed it into the paved alley, figuring a scavenger would enjoy it overnight, or some of the birds today. Nope, still lying there this afternoon.
I know when I first took the Myers Briggs tests, INTJ was my usual result. Sometimes INFP, but usually INTJ. Apparently, I’ve changed. The ISFP characteristics look like a summation of what I try to do and how I think now.
Of course, now I am much more relaxed. It could be argued that getting into a more mentally relaxed state has allowed the real me to show up and become apparent. Who knows?
For some reason, although not anywheres near a windstorm, the recent winds have claimed a local casualty. The giant Skeletor across the street fell down. Face first in the yard and walkway from the street to the house. Its Halloween costume had been tattered and blown away over the winter. Now, Skeletor has taken a big fall. The Princess and I wonder how many months will transpire before they do something about Skeletor the Fallen.
DJSpo
Hi Lewis,
Thanks for the most excellent article, and dude, I had a rotten childhood. It is very possible that my brain severed the visual recollection process as a mode of self defence. You have to admit, that there would be a lot of benefit from doing just that act. And, as a late teenager, I went to get some help from a private brain care specialist (aka psychologist) who put me under hypnosis and took me back, way back. The trauma at that moment, was not worth the cost and ride, although it was a pivotal life moment, where things looked suddenly new and different. Hmm. The article used the description: ‘intriguing variation’, and that is the words to which I’m leaning upon. In some ways, the knack of being unable to see in the minds eye, saves me a lot of drama. People, my sick friend, will be people.
On that note, how are you doing today matey? I hope H has been on her very best behaviour, and avoided all untoward acts of doggy selfishness? The fluffs here can read the room when it is so required.
I may have mentioned the near stationary tropical low storm hovering over the desert. Well, today the tentacles reached here (again) and showed the power of nature in the flesh. The garden looks and smells as if an industrial shredder / mulcher has torn through it. The intense hail destroyed a lot of the garden and produce. Fortunately the solar panels and greenhouse withstood the onslaught, but the rest was ripped up in the intense storm. Oh well, these things happen.
Hope you’re feeling better mate. And thinking of you in your hour of need.
Chris
Hi Pam,
Interestingly, I used to enjoy fun dinners with the neighbour of two incarnations ago (he was a real character), and apparently there is a water bore there, but such wells run dry quite quickly (a matter of minutes) in this area. I’d imagine that with the tower now being brought down, they’d have to do just like everyone else – water tanks, and the biggerer, the betterer. Although, you may have noticed that all of the water storage systems here are separate – and that’s for a good reason. A failure in one system, does not become a failure in all. Water being kind of important here.
This area is a hamlet now, but a century ago, hopes were high and a post office and primary school were constructed. The timber harvesting of the ancient tall trees drove the main economy. All were abandoned apparently, due to a shortage of water a long time ago. Fortunately these days, we have better technology for storing water. But in ye olde days, the timber mill machinery ran on boilers, which need, water and lots of it. If you know what you’re looking at, occasionally I discover water races in the forest.
Now it did rain here early this evening. Quite a lot actually, so you could safely say the season has turned. I’m sad to say though, over an inch of rain fell in a very short period of time. And that was accompanied by hail, the size of which I’ve never seen before. So much of the icy stuff fell that it looked like it had snowed. Imagine golf ball sized chunks of ice hitting an orchard and vege beds. The leaves are shredded, the fruit was pummelled, and it’s like a horror show out there. And industrial shredder ate everything tonight. Oh well. Stiff upper lip and all that stuff.
Thanks, and I feel the lack of muffins from my life, but must toughen up and move on.
Yeah, the goobers make all sorts of demands upon my time, and it is not lost on me that they themselves are adequately remunerated for enforcing and administering such demands, unlike myself. It’s what I’d have to suggest that an abusive relationship possibly looks like. They certainly ain’t my mates! 🙂
Today the roof timbers were made and installed on the new firewood shed project. The humidity was feral at 60% and 28’C / 82’F. Lots of sweat, but that part of the job was completed. I’m super happy about this project, and it will make a big difference.
Incidentally, with the crazy golf ball sized hail today, the plastic polycarbonate material used for the greenhouse worked a treat, and I spotted no damage. Also the glass on all of the solar panels survived – somehow. The cars, well there is some cosmetic dingzs for sure, but not worth making the claim due to increased costs down the track.
At one point, we had to head out into that storm and try and sort out the many systems which were failing. Ruby, being Ruby, wanted to follow, and so enjoyed a very sharp rebuke. Being pelted by the large hail stones at high speed would have damaged a dog.
No snow and ice at your place, because it is here. That’s technically what happened! 😉 Hehe! Far out! That old school technology was how things used to be with ice blocks, and hey, I’m old enough to recall ice factories in small rural towns back in the late 1970’s. The climate, has dare I say it, shifted. Hmm.
Ha! What a fun story, the Hillbilly barn clan come to town and get beat up by the locals, as previously lead by Charlene the white, Queen of the forest squirrels. Youse ain’t gonna come ’round ‘ere no more I tells ya! Or else! Oh my gawds, chewing through a fuel canister is an activity, I’m yet to experience. They’ll come to bad end with such habits… 🙂
Cheers
Chris
Hi Chris.
I love home made toasted muesli but the yummy high nutrition ingredients (seeds, nuts, raisins) are apparently now rationed: there is no bulk source around here and in the tiny packets in which they are available they are stupidly dear. For instance, the supermarket has suddenly doubled the price of hazelnuts!
Re bench space: a fair bit, but what with overhanging cupboards casting shadows, LEDs going dim and competition with appliances, there could be more here too. I have a little table in the centre of the room that doubles as prep space for pots of tea, biscuits and whatever else needs it.
marsupials – only 3 kinds have been spotted here. It is a feral animals’ paradise. We/I have seen native mice (dead), an echidna (only once) and a brushtail (also dead – I believe I can thank the cat very much for that. In the city they were an absolute menace.)
Do tell the Mudgee & dog story if you can find the time!
I haven’t collected rose hips. If you say they’re delicious I might try. As is I do as much with the petals as possible.
wet fertiliser – something we all hope to avoid :/ The smell in that part of the store was like a lawn on dynamic lifter day.
Hi DJ,
It’s a lovely song, yeah. A catchy little ear worm of a thing.
I feel at this early stage of the comment, that a brief description of today’s weather, will perhaps put my general vibe into context.
Here goes: Started off the day really early with high hopes. Did a few hours of paid work. Then, the temperature climbed. Headed into the wonderful summer outdoors and finished off making and installing the roof timbers on the new firewood shed project. By then it was 28’C and bizarrely, 60% humidity. Sweating buckets, but felt good about the work done.
Late lunch. Short half hour shut eye in the cool of the house. Grabbed a coffee at the general store, and checked the mail. Those are dark looking clouds. Peals of thunder could be heard.
Arrived home again. Watched the lightning storm roll over the valley, and like the Bob Seeger song suggested, waited on the thunder. Fun visuals. This is gonna miss us for sure.
Alas, woe is us. The storm was a direct hit. Oh yeah. Hail the size of golf balls pummelled the area. I have never seen this happen before, and whilst hail is common here, it is usually very small. Total chaos ensues. The hail quickly blocked the water tank inlet filters, and water was everywhere. Crazy stuff. Had to head out into that disaster zone under an umbrella. Dingz on the dirt rat and mouse. Yup. Bizarrely the solar panels all survived intact. But the gardens and orchards look like they’ve been put through an industrial shredder. If we were subsistence farmers, some hard discussions would be had right now. Far out. So far 35mm is recorded, although the tugboat weather station was broken by the hail too. Crazy stuff.
What a classic poem, which gives a solid middle finger:
Reply To A Magistrate
Late in life, I care for ease alone—
to hell with official concerns.
Look! I make no plans for the future
but to go back to my forest home again.
Let pine winds loosen my robes,
mountain moons play my lute.
You want to taste success or failure?
A lone fisherman sings out on the water.
Awesome. 🙂 Our forest homes, are waiting as well.
Agreed, what are we all to do when faced with change? That, I’d have to suggest is a measure of character. By the way, we’ll recover from this freak storm, and repair and replant, and take the possibility into account for the future systems. The polycarbonate sheeting on the greenhouse shrug off the worst the storm could throw at it. One observes how things work at the worst of times. Thanks for the thoughtful advice.
Hmm. Maybe not feeling as better about the storm as I should! 🙂 Candidly speaking, the minor tornado did less damage! Oh well, have to laugh. I’ll put up a photo below in the comments so you can see for yourself.
Interesting, and glad to hear that you are thinking and acting upon your gut feeling as to your future climate. If I may add, the same is true here. Long periods of dry, then sudden deluges. The days of gentle summer rain, are in the rear view mirror. What to do, becomes a very important question.
Actually, I took photos of adjacent areas, one of which had rock walls, whilst the other was a work in progress. The difference in outcomes was marked.
Such calls are recorded, and can be pointed to if there are troubles relating to the lost dog tag, which can be the case here.
Go Dame Avalanche and her rodent finalising ways. Dame Plum sends cordial tail wags, and suggests that the rodent war will be long, there may be sacrifices etc.
Ah, a person is not bound to a particular set of traits, and err, I will point out that one’s professional life exerts pressures upon the personality. It makes some sense too what you are suggesting given how you were able to stay within that work realm for so long. I’d have probably left, but then that is a personal quirk. The Adventurer has reserves to which I can only wonder at.
Ha! Death to Skeletor! Rogue pirate gusts are possibly to blame.
Cheers
Chris
Hi kallianeira,
Ah, that storm we were discussing which neatly avoids your area, hit here (or part of the monster did) about 6pm. Mayhem ensued. Hail the size of golf balls fell for maybe 20 to 30 minutes, and has shredded the gardens and orchards. The storm was brutal, and trust me, you don’t want this one. So all up, even though things are dry this year, this is one storm which is nice to be elsewhere. I’ll try and chuck a photo into the comments.
Oh! You can purchase bulk packs of such things online. Easy enough with deliveries through Aus Post, especially for dry seeds and nuts. I believe that their limit is 20kg, and of course there are dimension issues as well. Most of my bread making stuff for example comes through a mob with a delightful business name: Simply No Knead. I’ve used them for many years.
I used to buy bread making stuff from a bricks and mortar store, but the ladies there kind of scared me a bit. I know, super tough bloke, but they were always really grumpy and short with me, and eventually closed, but put me onto the online folks as a parting gift. It was kind of a relief, really. 🙂
Nice set up, and yeah, and thanks for the description. There’s always room for improvement isn’t there, and nice to read that you’ve got a table as a prep space.
Ah, the venerable Antechinus are meant to be here as well, although I’ve never seen one. Do you have much mixture of bush and paddock / garden space? Go the cat too, I’m not a fan of brush tail possums, massive creatures with voracious appetites. Do you recall the story of Kuato the possum? Ate all of the hundreds and hundreds of kiwi fruit, only to be consumed in turn by an owl. In Melbourne’s inner urban parks, they’ll get Powerful Owls, and they destroy the possum population, but in more urban areas, the marsupials have a lot of hiding space.
Definitely try making some rose hip syrup. It’s really nice stuff.
Thanks for the visuals with the wet fertiliser! A resounding stink, yup. 🙂
Cheers
Chris
Hi everyone,
Enjoy…
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris, and everyone for your kind thoughts.
I made a quick trip to Grocery Outlet, and decided to swing by the Club. I wore a mask so I wouldn’t infect anyone. For some reason, coffee tastes really awful. Only stayed 5 minutes.
Luckily, no sore throat. How did I miss that? I found the best thing for a stuffed head is saline spray. Get the kids stuff. The adult spray tastes like ca ca.
I’ve just been sleeping a lot, watching Star Trek : Strange New Worlds. It takes place before the original series. I walk the dog 3 times a day. But we take the elevator, up and down. Not much of an appitite. I’m drinking lots of fluids. This to shall pass.
Wow. That hailstorm was really something. Lew
@ Lew:
Thanks for letting us hear, Lew. I think you are doing exactly the right things.
Pam
Chris:
Oh, no! Hail is one of a gardener’s worst enemies. Our snow is gone, but there you have imitation snow – in the summer. How did your vehicles fare? I see further down that your cars had a bit of damage. The old Honda I drive was hit by a hail storm such as yours many years ago in Colorado. It has small, round dents all over it. Lordy – I didn’t even think of the solar panels.
Your neighbors would do well to heed all the grueling work and experimentation that you have already done with water storage. You are a bonafide expert.
That is fascinating about the history of your area. Imagine – they even had a school. Are there not creeks and streams around? We have those all over our area, and springs, though nothing like a lake, and only manmade ponds/dams. But lots of water underground, too.
Roof timbers – you are moving along swiftly.
I finally got some of my indoor seeds started, tomatoes and peppers, and some sweet potatoes set up to grow slips.
Pam
Chris,
Thanks for the description of your day. Wow! Not merely another storm with gully washing amounts of rain, oh no, but literally killer hail. UGG. Fun to watch the thunderstorm, not fun to be out in that sized hail, not that you had much choice about that with having to rescue some of your systems. Very fortunate that the solar panels and the greenhouse came through it well.
But the orchard. And the veggies. That is harsh.
It sounds as if the peak of the day was the coffee at the general store. It all went to #^&@ from there.
Yup, that’s the exact translation I prefer of that exact poem. The middle finger was not lost on me. I had that poem at a prominent place in my cube at the job. Wang Wei’s works can be wonderful on different levels and for various reasons.
Our sunset Thursday was one of our rare ones. It takes clouds of just the proper thickness at the exact proper altitude for the rare ones. The sun is setting and shines up from the horizon to the bottoms of the clouds. The clouds are colored as a result, and this color light is reflected to the ground, tinting everything with that hue. Rarely seen here, and almost always a vivid orange. This time it was a spectacular pink, a pink that would be exquisite in a rose.
Agreed, how we respond to change is a measure of one’s maturity, or lack thereof. Nothing wrong with being sad about losses, nothing wrong with some properly hurled phrases – Shostakovich, Fibonacci, toccata and fugue comes to mind – but then it is time to clean up the messes and move on as best as possible. While NOT being hard on oneself when mourning losses and a few more epithets are shouted. Easy to say, hard to do.
Where you have an advantage over many people goes back to your upbringing, the traumas, and how you learned to move on. Sun Tzu, Lao Tse, martial arts, these all help me. People who have not gone through difficulties or have not learned how to learn and grow from difficulties seem to have a harder time adapting.
Thanks for the photos. About every 5 to 7 years, we have a hailstorm that leaves things looking like it snowed. So far, no golf ball sized hail here. Of course, that could change.
The animal control agency called this afternoon. A replacement dog tag costs $5.00. Dame Avalanche’s registration needs to be renewed in the middle of April. So, they allowed me to renew her registration, expire in middle of April 2027, bypass the $5.00 and also got a $10.00 “senior discount”. Should get the new tag in the mail next week.
And the rabies vaccination tag? Can’t replace. However, if I keep the vaccination certificate handy, that is fine. The Princess even knew where it was. Now I do also.
Good point. The professional life did require some things that were somewhat out of my comfort zone. It wasn’t always fun, but there were some perks. For my final 8 years I only worked 4 days per week. The final 18 months was actually 3 days per week. And even the nasty bosses were very understanding about caring for aging parents, funerals, things like that.
I am amused by Pam’s Barn Gang of squirrels. Complete with the squirrels’ addiction to petrol fumes.
DJSpo
@ Pam,
The Barn Gang sounds like a pack of squirrel delinquents. 😉
DJSpo
Hi Pam,
You’ll get no argument from me there. Minor tornado on a Christmas day, easy. 5.9 earthquake, total doddle. Super cell thunderstorm with four inches of rain in an hour, challenging for sure, but survivable. Droughts, been there, done that. Pleasant growing seasons – what the heck are they? But golf ball sized hail hitting everything for half an hour at speed, is an off the charts experience. You know the smell you get after mowing the lawn on a sort of wet day. It smells like that right now, but magnified many times over. The garden has been wiped out.
The dirt mouse is a bit like your description of the old Honda. It’s all cosmetic though, so I’m not sure how bothered about that I am, and it gives the machine a sort of raffish appearance.
Lordy indeedy! 🙂 The glass on the solar panels were fine as was the polycarbonate roof and wall sheeting on the greenhouse. You could say that that product has been tested under worst case scenario conditions, and found to be good – hope you take note. Candidly, I don’t believe that a plastic poly tunnel would have survived such a storm, sorry to say. Especially given the fine stainless steel mesh on the water tank inlet filters ended up pocked marked with large holes from the repeated impacts. Replaced the most damaged one of those a few minutes ago (picked up a few of the inlet filters today in the nearest outer urban area). No point letting mosquitoes get established inside the water tanks.
Out of curiosity, when the storm hit in Colorado, were your driving at the time? That would be a terrifying experience.
Thanks! But will they even ask any questions? I strongly doubt it given they’ve never even dropped by to say hello.
Yeah, there are creeks and streams around, but they run dry if the rain takes a special guest break – like it did this summer. This part of the mountain range doesn’t have enough flat land at higher elevations to slow the flow of water, and allow it to seep into the sub soil which creates permanent streams. So, plenty of rain, but it all runs downhill. Just between you and I, I’m pretty sure the century of logging the forests ’round here, didn’t help with getting rainfall into the subsoil.
You’re lucky to have running streams and springs! Good stuff, and precious resources. There is a fern lined creek at the very bottom of the property, but it is so far away and also a long way downhill, that it might as well be on Mars. At times it simply dries up. One of the nearby towns captures that water in a reservoir further down the range.
Australia is a very dry and old continent. You’d have to drill down a very long way to find a reliable source of water here. And that deep well would take a lot of energy to bring the stuff back to the surface.
Well done, and before you know it, your days will be replete with the promise of warmth from that big ball of fire in the sky. And fresh veg. Yum!
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
What intrigues me about the hail story of yesterday, was that in the past, the icy balls have been tiny and not uncommon. The larger golf ball sized chunks of ice hurled by the thunder gods at high speed, is an entirely new experience. The umbrella which shielded me from the worst of those missiles, took a pounding. But what else do you do? It makes no sense standing by in the safety of the house, whilst extraordinary events damage the various systems around here. By the way, the house water tanks are around 95% full this morning, and yet last week they were near on 65%. A lot of water fell, and the official nearby rain gauge only recorded 15mm, which was clearly incorrect. Although, it is possible that just like the minor tornado long ago, the storm was very localised and concentrated.
Actually, I’m impressed that the glass on the solar panels (photovoltaic and hot water) survived, as did the polycarbonate sheeting on the greenhouse. Very impressive. Tough stuff.
The plants on the other hand, gone. The trees in the orchard lost about half of all of their leaves, and most of their produce. The more delicate annual plants were destroyed. Oh well, the soil appreciated the moisture and serious feed of organic matter. Incidentally, the worst of the storm, is yet to come: Update: Heavy rain drenching South Australia and Victoria, and much more to come.
Monday’s forecast stresses me out, and we can only but hope for a total fizzer nothing burger. But until the day is done and over, nobody knows.
The poem is really lovely, and a guide to better living. Of course, Wang Wei was probably quite comfortable when he wrote it, but it’s from the heart those words. Just between you and I, your bosses wouldn’t have understood one word of it. You were probably something of a complete mystery to them. 🙂
Delightful stuff, and yup, nature puts on a wonderful show with such sunsets. Isn’t it nice to have the time to be able to appreciate them?
It is easy to say, and hard to do. Had lunch with friends today, some of whom work with computers. Always an enjoyable chat, although I felt deeply bad for introducing the idea that software, no matter how useful, can be abandoned. Maybe I’m old school, and can remember the days when things were done on paper? And said as much. Dunno. The elder statesman card can be played from time to time when the chips are down, as they say.
Exactly, there are downsides to hard times, but there are also the upsides like you mentioned. The great dream never worked for either Sandra, or I, and so we carry our scars, learned how to make do in difficult conditions, and then just get on and do what needs doing. There is a middle ground between sparing another person from facing the realities of life, and throwing them in the deep end – and that’s called support. But that’s merely my thoughts. Things have to be faced, but they need not be faced alone. Dunno.
Yeah man, nobody wants golf ball sized hail stones, trust me in this. When I first heard the sound as they began to hit the metal roof, it was loud, and also too late to move dirt mouse and dirt rat. And it just kept going for about half an hour. Crazy stuff. This is my first experience with such monsters, prior to this, the hail has been tiny and produced a lovely snow in summer effect, which this lot did as well, just a different delivery mechanism. Incidentally, many of the larger chunks of ice, were still around until about 1pm today.
Dude, things are very cheap in your country, and that’s a great outcome you scored with the lost dog tag. Nice one. Do they microchip dogs in your country?
Good for you, and hey, I advise older fellas to cut back on the work as they pass a certain age. And also take that advice myself. If there were another way. Nice to have paid compassionate leave, wonderful stuff. Alas, one of the downsides of small business is that no work = no income. It happens and I’d not put up with someone bagging me off for enjoying a quiet coffee and read during normal business hours, for that very reason.
It’s an awful habit them squirrels have developed, and it can only lead to a bad end. 😉
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
How are you feeling today?
🙂 I’m unsurprised that the coffee tasted bad, discussions of drip filtered stuff to the side. Your nose is connected to the thigh bone, oh, no, I got that completely wrong, and glad that you have no immediate need for home surgery. It’d be bungled, just sayin! No, your nose and throat are connected, and colds affect a person’s sense of taste.
Hopefully there is no pumpkin spiced ice cream anywhere within reach during your present hours of need? Stay strong brother Lewis, and hope you get better quickly. It might taste like ca-ca which could be an indelible stain on your memories of the stuff.
All colds are different, and chewing upon fresh Sage leaves for me, appear to work a treat when it comes to the dreaded sore throat, which you’ve avoided. The Editor uses that saline spray when we do rock breaking work. Can’t hurt.
Nice to hear that you are getting some serious rest and keeping up your food and fluids. And climbing the flights of stairs in the next few days, is a good indicator of general health / recovery from the dread lurgi.
Headed into the big smoke today to enjoy lunch with friends, and it was a fun catch up. Lots of good talk, and yeah, lunch was tasty too. Chicken breast with swiss cheese served in a panini bun. So tasty.
On the way in, I stopped off at the irrigation supply store to pick up some replacement water tank inlet filter baskets. The giant hail yesterday managed to smash up the stainless steel mesh, which is an impressive effort given how strong that material is. Man, I’m not mucking around, it was bad out there, but we got through. The garden and orchards are a mess, but we’ll make do and replant what needs replacing. All of the fruit trees lost about half of their leaves, and the place smells as if we’d only just mowed, but magnified by about ten times. I reckon even you in your stricken state, you could smell the smooshed up vegetation.
If I may add, it smells like the tropics out there. Hmm. They tell me that the worst of this storm is set to make a special guest appearance on Monday. Yikes!
Cheers
Chris
Chris,
There were a couple of storms here in December with similar spheres of ice… delightful in cocktails given that they fell in the late afternoon. If I’d worked out how to get the dirt off them easily without them welding (most were in contact with the ground, so obviously the fall was not as deep as yours) I’d have kept some in the freezer for later. Next time I’ll put out a few ice buckets.
This is a large suburban block split off from what I understand was an area of 4-acre hobby farms until about a century ago. It has a few absolutely enormous tree stumps in the yard (and there are still a few large eucalypts in the lowest third of the block which is too close to the water table to build on,) so presumably it was never clear felled. The land around has mostly been subdivided further by now, but still we are only 1 or 2 blocks from the edge of town. Hares pop in and out, one of my neighbours reports seeing pigs in the streets in the early hours, and more than one wild goat wanders about. Thanks to the indomitable cat for keeping them off the property too. No, I don’t know the story about the greedy possum but can attest that they stole our entire tomato and sweet potato crop one year in town. We gave up with the vegies after that.
Bulk nuts have gone up the same amount and are virtually as expensive as the woolies ones even by the kilogram. There seems to be something suspicious going on akin to the ‘recalculation’ of the CPI by substituting lower quality products in the nominal basket or our national difficulty getting supplies of natural gas despite it being locally produced. I am concerned. I know hazelnuts can grow here – former landlords of mine used to farm them – but all the ones I can find are imported from that place beginning with Tu. If there’s anywhere better than ebuy that you know please suggest it!
Hello Kallianeira,
Now there’s a thought! Free ice from the sky just in time for the drinks hour. Nice one. 🙂 Hail that size was a completely new experience, and one I’m mildly afraid to experience again. We’ve had some strange natural events here, as mentioned above: 5.9 earthquake – tick; Minor tornado – yeah, boring (not really 100mm of rain in summer sure is good but need it all arrive with high winds?); Super cell storms – been there, done that; Droughts – it happens; Minor landslide – confirmed; and nearby bushfire close calls. It sure is exciting to live out in the bush, but the most destructive of the lot, was the hail storm yesterday.
The bucket ahead of time to collect the ice, is some top thinking, yeah!
If you’d told me, that hail can destroy zucchini and the rest of the annual plants, there’d be some doubts, but I’d be wrong for thinking so. Oh well, it’s time to get the winter crops ready anyway.
Small town life has it’s ups and downs, but there is no way I’d want to live in a big city nowadays. Thanks for the description of your place, sounds like a nice amount of land. And as they say, enough to get into trouble, but not enough to be a burden! 🙂 If the trees are big enough, and old enough, they’ll pre-date 1788, easy. Got a sense of presence about them, such trees.
Ah, this talk of large tree stumps, gets me feeling a bit twitchy to get the small stump grinder machine into action – can you imagine the mess a century of logging left here? Far out.
Thanks for the fun local stories, and yes such things happen. Hey, years ago a white goat used to run with the local mob of kangaroos, although I haven’t seen the goat for many years now.
Kuato the super fat possum can be seen here: Not giving in although that week didn’t tell the story. On the other hand, they do say that a picture recounts a thousand words. Hmm.
Sorry to hear that you too have been visited by a suddenly well fed upon your vegetable garden, possum. Voracious critters aren’t they? And the marsupials can get very large. Owls in this instance are our friends, but they can often be elsewhere just when their possum eating services are required.
It happens with quality, but I believe that quality is slowly declining anyway due to the long slow playing out of soils.
And um, well, yeah, I believe that demand for gas in Victoria is at or exceeds supply. The Bass Strait wells are apparently in terminal decline. Hmm. Dunno about you, but we’ve been weaning ourselves off using gas, and are now down to between 37 days in winter and 75 days in summer for an 8.5kg LPG BBQ bottle. It’s the instant on hot water device (which tops up the solar and wood hot water systems), which we are yet to figure out how to eliminate that thing. Although people tell me that cold showers are nice. I beg to differ. 😉
Well, you’re probably right to be concerned. Yup.
Hazelnuts are a very tasty nut. The crop didn’t survive the hail yesterday, but the plants grow exceptionally well in this area. What do you do? I’m surprised that they’re not more commonly grown down under. Dunno why, either. Maybe it is because the shrubs are not much to look at. A mystery.
Sorry to hear that the prices are around the same. I buy from a bloke in a market who supplies everything to me in bulk.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Chris,
UGG indeed – no one likes half an hour of golf ball sized hail. I’m sorry that you got it and it was so destructive to your trees and plants. It’s great that your greenhouse and solar panels withstood it!
I wish I could say I was unfamiliar with that size hail, but St. Louis has had its share of it, and bigger – tennis ball and larger even. The April 2001 hail storm (tennis to baseball sized hail) edged where Mike and I were living at the time. I took shelter in the basement and remember hearing a few large hits, though we didn’t have any damage from it. Our next door neighbor was visiting a friend near where we now live, driving her nearly new car there to do so. Her car’s back window was broken out and the body had many deep divots marking where the stones had hit it. That storm swept through most of north St. Louis County and was the costliest hail storm in US history until recently. At least it happened before tree leaf-out and before agricultural crops had been planted, so it could have been worse.
The house we now live in was in the path of that storm; its siding was damaged and one of the two stained glass windows in it was cracked by a hailstone. We bought the house in December 2001, just after the previous owner’s insurance company re-sided it, courtesy of the storm.
Fortunately we haven’t had that big of hail at our place since, though other places in the metro area have had it, and one storm with golf ball sized hail got close enough to us that we can walk to houses that got damaged from it. Big hail is part of living in the US Midwest.
Claire
@ Kallianeira – You probably already know, but have you ever tried to make beads out of rose petals? I’ve never done it, but have seen the instructions, here and there.
I think it goes way back. I’ve seen instructions in old Victorian lady’s magazines. They were big on crafts.
https://www.motherearthnews.com/diy/make-rose-beads-zmaz83jazshe/
Hmmm. I wonder if it would work with other aromatic plants? Lew
DJSpo:
You nailed it. Also, nut cases.
Pam
Chris:
My God – I didn’t realize your produce was wiped out. What can be done, this late in the season? In fact, emigration would be the route some folks might take.
Taking note of polycarbonate sheeting and passing it on. Thanks. Aaaaaa – mosquitos! What next?
The Honda belonged to my parents at the time and luckily it was hit when parked at their home.
I worked in the garden today; it was a perfect spring day. One thing noted was that the yellow Aji Kogane turnips grew perfectly over winter and I am picking them now. The purple top ones grew very elongated, like carrots; unless they grow some more, they are probably a loss.
Also in the garden was – guess what? I opened the toolshed to get something and a large object leapt up like a jack-in-the-box – and it was Pickle! He has a nest under a pile of mosquito netting in there. I am beginning to feel a bit haunted, by a nut case.
Pam
@ Pam – There’s probably a 12 Step Program, for petrol addicted barn squirrels. 🙂 NA would probably take them in. Lew
Yo, Chris – Maybe I should have kept the wardrobe, that came with H. More costume changes than Barbie. There was probably a nurse uniform, in there. She’s been her usual, funny little self. We tackled the stairs, down and up, this morning, without too much trouble.
I’m off any medicine, today. I’m easing back into eating. Had my usual fruit and oatmeal yesterday. A couple of muffins with eggs and cheese, last night. Reconstituted prunes and yoghurt for desert. My digestion is a little “off,” but I’m sure it will recover.
I happened to see Little Mary Sunshine in the lobby, on the first day I was really under the weather. I can’t remember exactly what she said, but I got the impression there was a lot of sickness in the building. The EMTs were coming and going quit a bit, last week.
Change – Yell, swear … and then get on with it.
Here’s morbid curiosity kicking in. Lots of pictures of the storm damage? I shudder to think what the pumpkin patch looks lie. 🙁 I believe you when you say the stainless steel screens on the water tanks were damaged, but that’s … unreal.
Our high yesterday was 54F (12.22C). Our overnight low was 32F (-0-C), for quit awhile. I didn’t see any frost damage. Our weather station is at the airport, in about the lowest part of the valley. I think the cold pools down there. Our forecast high for today is 52F. It’s been dry, overcast with quit a few sun breaks.
Pumpkin spice ice cream is out of reach, until fall. I did feel the urge to pick up a pint of Ben & Jerry’s, when I ran in and out of the Yuppie Discount store, the other night. But then it slipped my mind.
Kudos on the progress on the firewood shed. It jogged my memory of a book title. “Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters.” Ooops! It’s by “that” author of “that” book. But you seem to have had a reassessment.
https://w.wiki/J3eE
My question is, who are you and what have you done with Chris? :-).
I thought you’d find that article on your brain, interesting. Maybe a few new insights. Lew
Hi Pam,
Oh well, these things happen and the most important question you also raised is: what to do? The past two days we’ve been working on that particular problem, and well, you’ll see tomorrow. As the once popular song says: I get knocked down, but I get up again, you’re never gonna keep me down.
The annual summer crops are wiped out. No getting around that fact. Possibly so, but here the land spirits are putting to the test, two crafty and resourceful souls. 😉 Far out, but have to laugh, we’ve seen it all, or maybe not… Hope you enjoy the pictorial tomorrow and we’ll be fine.
Yes, polycarbonate sheeting performed much better than the err, sorry to say it, but cheaper, plastic lined poly tunnel. Entirely undamaged.
Whoa, your parents dodged a particularly unpleasant experience, and if they were on the roads at the time, yes, my very thoughts as well, events could have been worse for them. Pam, I may not have said it often, but you did well by them towards their end.
Lovely to hear that your spring weather was superb, and it does sound rather lovely. Daikon radish grow in a similar way, and look like overly large parsnips. Perhaps the more traditional turnips would work better in your area? I’m embarrassed to admit that potatoes are the tastier crop, but the risk with those tubers… Hmm. A lot of these plants are grown under best case scenario conditions, which you and I struggle to reproduce.
Hehe! Nut case indeed, and Pickle has decided to test out the many local amenities. It’d give me a fright if in that scenario because I’d think: Deadly snake.
Cheers and it’s still raining, and tomorrow’s forecast sounds feral. Oh well, one day at a time.
Chris
Hi Claire,
Thanks, and the past two days we’ve put things to rights, as they used to say. Oh well, the summer crops are done, and you’ll see in the photos with tomorrows blog. Plenty of things worked well though, and that’s one of the upsides of being tested by horrendous climactic and environmental conditions – you can choose to adapt, or not as the case may be. It all becomes a good opportunity to get the winter crops in early.
Claire, I’m genuinely impressed at how both the glass on the solar panels, and the polycarbonate sheeting on the greenhouse survived the hail storm. The corrugated steel roof sheets were untroubled, but you should have heard the sounds the hail produced inside the house. Far out. It wasn’t long before both Sandra and I, had to head into the storm under umbrellas and sort out various failing systems.
They get similar sized hail stones to what you were describing closer to the big smoke, and generally in the outer suburbs to the south of here. Not good, and tennis ball sized hail chunks writes off cars. Yup, they’ll break glass for sure, and the deep divots happen. I’m not entirely sure that such vehicle metal damage is even repairable? Dunno. Looks like a 1920’s mob hit… 😉 Expensive, yup.
I’ll be curious to learn your opinion of the shredded vegetation.
Stained glass windows are lovely, but yes, challenging storms, err, challenge everything. Sorry to hear that they were broken, and I used to know of a bloke who wrote a book about that art form.
The thing with claimz (!) is that the premiumz (!) will only go up, or as I’ve read happens down here, future inzurance (!) will be denied. Best saved for when it is really truly needed, is my way of thinking. I hear stories from the local area… Hmm.
Apparently big hail is part of life ’round here as well. By the way, you’ll get a laugh out of this. Hubris etc… The day it happened we worked on the carpentry with the roof of the new firewood shed, and 28’C and 60% humidity. Rotten stuff, sweated buckets, but the job got done. Last I checked, I’d not chosen to live in the tropics… 😉
Cheers and ooo, better get writing!
Chris
Hi Lewis,
You know, you got me wondering about H’s now long lost extensive wardrobe. So I asked the Kelpie dogs here, they’re both girlies and presumably know about such things. And Dame Plum was promoted to class four this morning. Best dog. Anywhoo, here’s how the conversation went:
Oi! Girls. Come here. Sit!
Yes boss!
Got a question for ya, it’s from the US, so it’s important.
What is it boss?
OK, now I want you to think about this good and hard. What would you prefer, dozens of winter coats, all colour co-ordinated by week and month, or Walkies?
Walkies!!!!!
Sorry, the poll isn’t entirely statistically valid, but it’s a decent straw poll and is probably indicative. What does H have to say about the matter?
Good to hear that you both navigated the stairs. Physical therapy does a lot to bring up lung biscuits to the surface. Nobody wants such things in their innards. Of course, we’re not in Asia, so there are cultural niceties to observe and follow with that practice.
Nice you’re back onto normal food, and well, these things take time to recover, don’t they?
They’ll get us all in the end, but if we can keep that skinny bloke with the sharp scythe and the going-out hoodie busy elsewhere, that’s a fine thing. I’m hardly surprised that illness is going around, your food would be at the lowest point in the year for proteins, minerals etc. The traditional lean time, is what you’re in.
On that note, after all of the hail damage, we’ve spent two days cleaning up, and getting the garden back into some sort of order. It’s probably a good moment to plant out winter crops like radish, silverbeet, mustards etc. Might as well give all of the beds a good soil feed this week. So much to do, and we were already busy. Oh well, life rarely sails along smoothly.
🙂 If you knew the language used here, you’d surely blush. Actually being able to swear properly is part of the training for the profession. That’s a trade secret too, not to be mooted around thanks very much. Most accountants would probably fit right into a commercial kitchen environment, just sayin…
Oh far out, the worst of the monster tropical low pressure system is set to make a special guest appearance here tomorrow. We’ll see, and I take each day as it comes. It’s not widely reported, but parts of this usually arid continent, have suddenly become very damp.
The pumpkins look as if they’d been attacked by particularly noxious bunch of young folks wielding potato guns and an unlimited supply of spud pellets. That’s how it all looks.
Yup, the stainless steel mesh screens were torn by the impact of the golf ball sized chunks of hail. The photos, tell the story. Incidentally, I’ve begun replacing those filter baskets, and will take the old damaged ones off and try and repair them for future use with new mesh and the plastic welder. Can’t hurt to have them as spares.
Cold air sinks to the lowest spot, thus why it is warmer here in winter (and at your place) than in the bottom of the valleys. Sucks to be them! 🙂 Not far off that temperature here which is now at 64’F and dropping. Plus, as you’d imagine, it’s raining. The official weather station I use to record the rainfall, missed about an inch of the rain which fell here on Friday. It’s not far away at all either. A very local storm.
Stay strong brother Lewis, and dodge the ice cream. 🙂
Holy carp! What a story Mr Salinger penned, and yes, we’ve all encountered such a larger than life Matron. And here, blame must fully be allocated upon Mr Kunstler. Yes, this cannot be avoided. Knowing more of the author and his history, and introducing him in a fictional setting, has actually softened my view of him, and put young Holden Caulfied into a more coherent context. Still doesn’t mean that the young fictional rapscallion doesn’t deserve a good clip around the ears served along with the words: Get your poop together mate! Possibly an unpopular act! 😉
Stop it! Hehe! Funny stuff, and thanks for the laughs.
It was a very interesting article, and each time a person peeks and peers under the old hood, they do learn something. Takes courage to turn the eyes in that direction, don’t you reckon? Your club would have something to say about that.
Glad you’re feeling better!
Cheers and better get writing…
Chris
Lew,
Yes, I have.
Grinding in a mortar and pestle so as to be more historically authentic. It was a complete pain and the petals did not become smooth enough for a suitable texture, which is supposed to be carvable. The bead I kept as a specimen is quite coarse and lumpy.
I suspect my Chinese granite equipment might have been partly responsible, and if I had a Japanese or porcelain set the process might work better.
Contemporary methods I have seen call for a blender. Though I do have one it was inherited more or less so I don’t tend to use it in much the way I don’t have a cake mixer and always mix by hand.
I think any aromatic petals could work. Please let me know if you try it!
There is a surplus of petals here every year. Like some? They make lovely tea ingredients.
k
Yo, Chris – Any decent winter coats H has had, I’ve bought for her. Those costumes were all flimsy and hard to maintain. Purely novelty items. H says she’s quit happy with her well tailored, blue and black plaid, winter coat. It’s a classic, and she gets a lot of compliments on it.
Normal food, but I think my stomach shrank. Though the Font of All Wisdom says, that actually doesn’t happen. But I can’t even make it through my usual serving of oatmeal and fruit. For dinner last night, I had two sandwiches. Chopped parsley from the garden, minced garlic, tomato and Mozzarella cheese. Yoghurt as a spread. With a shot of mustard. Sounds like a lot, but the sandwiches were small. That loaf of “good” bread we got in our last box was small, thinly sliced … slices.
Do you think anything survived the onslaught? Any miracles?
I probably wouldn’t get a lot of the Australian “bad” language. I had to look up “boofhead,” last night. More on that, later.
Our high yesterday was 54F (12.22C). Our overnight low was 36F (2.22C). Our forecast high for today is 56F. I do hope the incoming storm gives you a miss. You’ve had enough wild weather, for awhile.
Last night, I watched a movie I quit liked. It was written and directed by Bill Bennett, an Australian director. Though none of his movies rang any bells, with me. It is “The Way, My Way.” Late in life (and with a bad knee), Mr. Bennett, through no reason he could figure out, decided to walk the entire Camino de Santiago. All 800km of it, from France to the NW tip of Spain.
https://w.wiki/3pHM
Spectacular scenery and quirky characters met along the way.
I also finished reading / looking at “Railroad Abandonments in the Pacific Northwest,” (Burkhardt, 2025.) Mostly, discontinued lines in Oregon, Washington and Idaho. Oregon and Washington have put a bit of money into acquiring, and keeping up some of the short lines. Washington has even refurbished about 100 “grain cars” for farmers to use in SE Washington. To keep wheat and barley moving to ports. Lew