They say a picture tells a thousand words…
A few people have casually remarked to me over the past week, that the possibility for abrupt change is hanging around societies neck like the proverbial ancient dead albatross. It feels just like it did way back in 2020, you know, before the health crisis which dares not be named.
Almost a quarter a century ago, the outlet for my writing energies were spent upon the hippy press. In those days essays were physically published, like in printed magazines, which people paid for, with leftover funds for contributors. And trust me, trolls and pedants existed way back then too. Letters to the Editor pages were a wonderful forum for people to endlessly argue and nitpick over minor technical details. Tiresome folks, but to their credit, the Editors enforced a general rule that the tirades had to be either amusing and/or at least convey coherent thought processes. By way of contrast, in these more enlightened days, one of the comments on my utoob channel was a one word drive-by trolling effort which suggested: ‘Lies’. Sadly I was unable to determine if the nameless person was suggesting that they were lying, or maybe some other person was. It wasn’t me, that’s for sure.
In those long ago heady days of the financially viable hippy press, a contributor also enjoyed reading articles penned by the other fellow writers. Always wise to keep abreast of the competition, learn stuff and follow trends. In 2005, the spectre of Peak Oil was raised in the hippy press. For those who don’t know, ‘Peak oil’ is the point when global oil extraction reaches its maximum rate. The story wasn’t any great secret, it even started to make it into the mainstream news of the day, and that’s when I started taking an interest.
The reason the subject arose in 2005, was because around that time, the worldwide extraction of conventional oil had peaked. Sure, supplies have been up since then, but as a civilisation, we’re chucking anything that sort of resembles oil, into the tank to keep things moving along. And here we are now this week in yet another war, duking it out for the remaining supplies. Such things have happened before, and will happen again. It’s a messy business to be involved in.
As a pragmatic bloke, the thought: “What does Peak Oil mean to me?” has candidly crossed my mind more than a few times over the past two decades. Over the years I’ve heard arguments that any decline in energy availability will be akin to the zombie apocalypse, but I’d more calmly suggest that we’ll run short, long before we run out. And one adaptive strategy when faced with such a situation, is to reduce your dependence on the energy source. As a plan, it’s got the benefit of simplicity.
When we moved up the bush in 2008, the basic idea was to construct a house which was as self sufficient and devoid of ongoing bills as possible. Yeah, I was in dreamland. We need the output from factories in far corners of the planet, just like everyone else. Just take one example: Sure an off grid solar electricity system sounds good in theory, but the reality is that the thing cost almost a hundred grand. That’s the problem with being an early adopter, and I’ll note that despite the big talk about cheaper panels and batteries, it’s still an uncommon path for households. Grid derived electricity is seriously cheap, except that they’re implementing the same sort of solar technology we use, and so the costs for users are likewise going up.
The technology comes with other problems too, like when the grid popped in Spain a year or two back. The only people surprised by the outcome, didn’t have experience with the realities of that energy source. It’s a funny beast, solar power. Recently on the east coast of this continent, there has been talk of supplying electricity for free around the midday hours, so as to better match supply and demand. Sounds nice in summer when there is heaps of sunshine, but we’ll see how that offer works out in winter. There’s no such thing as a free lunch. I’ve no doubts it will only mean that costs will go up at other times of the day.
Everything works like that when you go it alone and move away from the big systems which most people rely upon. It’ll cost you more upfront, plus more with ongoing maintenance. There are some bright spots though, and some technologies can become both better and cheaper, like LiFePO4 (Lithium Ion Phosphate) batteries. The thing is, Australia extracts about half of the world’s supply of Lithium, and mining is notoriously dependent on diesel fuel. In case you’ve not noticed, the price for that oily stuff, is going up. Prices for batteries will follow in lock step.
Regular readers will recall that over the past month we’ve been constructing a new and larger firewood shed. It’ll have some great improvements over the existing shed, like a bay for gardening tools, kindling will be separated from the main firewood, and the roof will support another fourteen solar panels (most of which were purchased second hand recently: 8 for $300). It’ll be a big step up on the existing arrangements and ensure that we have enough under cover firewood to cover a full year, and then some.
The largest cost of the project is that of the external wall and roof corrugated steel cladding. This material is not cheap at the best of times, and during our construction a war was declared and fuel prices sky-rocketed. Being the canny and resourceful bloke I am, I seriously busted a gut to get the shed frame to the point where I could measure up and order the steel. My thinking was that if I got the order in early before the ramifications of the energy issues became hard to ignore, the suppliers wouldn’t have had a chance yet to raise their prices. Well, I was wrong, and paid a 10% premium for the steel, plus a diesel fuel surcharge to guarantee delivery. We can absorb those extra charges, but I’d hate to imagine how many builders right now are facing the reality of higher costs on domestic fixed price home contracts. My prediction, expect to see a reduction of new home building accompanied by higher prices.
And that’s the future, right there. No zombies, just higher prices, incomes which don’t keep up and dodgy availability of stuff. It’s happening, out there right now. Running short, was never going to look any differently.
Observant readers will by now have noticed that the blog was posted many hours late today. That’s what working so hard that you make yourself sick looks like. Last evening when I’d usually be typing away at the keyboard, was instead spent fast asleep on the couch with Ollie the big dog to watch over me. I slept about 30 hours straight, and was very ill, but forced myself back upright today, and am feeling much better tonight. A salient lesson to not overdo things.
Earlier in the week, we gathered up all of the scrap 50mm x 20mm (roughly 2 inch x 1.75 inch) metal channels and installed them on the internal walls of the new firewood shed. It was truly weird that we had just enough scrap metal to complete that task.
Why are we doing this? Well, we’ve got a lot of corrugated scrap metal sheets, which can then be used to line the inside walls of the shed. You’d be surprised, but firewood can exert enormous pressures on a shed frame and also the external cladding. You can avoid the entire problem by lining the inside walls. The shed is stronger and the firewood presses against an internal facing wall which is less likely to pop outwards (as I have seen elsewhere).
Here is a closer look at the arrangement:
On another very long work day, we cut and installed all of the scrap corrugated metal sheets that we had to hand. And again, bizarrely, there was just enough material to get that part of the job done.
After a late finish, the job was complete. Here’s a close up view of the detail:
Here are some images of the inside space where the larger chunks of firewood will be stored.
The kindling will be stored in its own separate bay which is directly across from a garden tool recess of a similar size.
By now, alert readers may be wondering why the sheets sit above the ground level. Firstly, rust is a serious problem which will be less likely if the sheets avoid contact with possibly damp soil. But more importantly, should any rodents set up winter homes inside the toasty dry walls, we’ll be able to blow or hose their nests away and out of the walls. Easy.
The dozen raised round beds for the kitchen garden had been neglected of late. The disastrous hail storm of a fortnight ago pretty much wiped out most of the plants. The beds were in need of a serious feeding as well as getting in the winter greens like radish, mustard and silverbeet.
Anywhoo, we brought a small trailer load of compost back to the property.
With the sudden loss of the coffee grounds, I’m trialling a new fish / seaweed fertiliser with the amusing name of: Seamungus! It appears to have a bit of everything, but not so much calcium and phosphates. I hadn’t noticed that costs for these had gone up, but there is talk in the media about fertiliser shortages. This will reduce yields and increase costs for food, no doubts about it. However, I strongly doubt I’m competing in the same market for fertilisers as farmers, so I don’t expect the costs for these to increase too much, maybe.
A days work had the beds in tip top condition with both seeds and seedlings.
I was feeling awesome, and may have even remarked to Sandra that for the first time in weeks, we were getting on top of things. Well, they tell me that hubris turns to nemesis and by 4am the next morning, my head hung over the toilet bowl and I felt dreadful, just so very bad. Still, what’s in the past, is in the past, and a canny and resourceful fellow has to gather himself, and move on, after some decent rest and recuperation time of course.
Almost forgot to mention, but earlier in the week, we removed a very large rosemary bush which had not merely threatened to take over a garden path, but had actually done so. A section of the plant, with roots, was relocated to a more appropriate area. The remaining section of the path, which will be fixed up sometime in the next month or so, now emerges out of the primordial murk.
We’re fortunate that the tomato plants growing in the greenhouse were undamaged. I’ve stopped watering them about two weeks ago, and this is forcing the vines to mature the fruit. Which we’re now dehydrating.
In other unrelated news, one of the oldest trees on the property, which clearly pre-dates European settlement, decided to let go of a very large branch. Fortunately nothing was underneath the branch at the time.
I’ve heard serious people debating that if a tree falls in the forest, it’s silent if nobody hears it. Such people are idiots and ideologues of the darkest stripe. Big branches and trees hitting the ground are seriously hard to ignore. So Sandra and I, plus the dogs, went out to investigate the crashing noise. My first concern was for the chickens, but in this case there was nothing to worry about. But the branch fell 20m / 66ft and out of the wreckage emerged a very injured ring tail possum. It didn’t survive long the poor thing, and is also perhaps a salient lesson to not undermine the very things which support us all.
In breaking produce update:
The kiwi fruit vines still have a lot of fruit, but with the hail damage to the leaves, I have some suspicions that the fruit will remain unripe this year.
The hop vines by way of contrast, were entirely unaffected by the storm.
Onto the flowers:
The temperature outside now at about 9pm is 15’C (59’F). So far for this year there has been 153.6mm (6.0 inches) which is up from last weeks total of 153.0mm (6.0 inches)
Comments
52 responses to “Don’t delete the oil”
Hi Pam,
Awful isn’t it? Still, perhaps the many readers here are early adopters in this instance of sickness. Dunno about you, but there is a school of philosophy which suggests that things can always get worse, although I for one don’t subscribe to such dark views. We all get sick from time to time, and you’ve had a really tough time of it with Mr Baby, and hey, I probably stressed my usual unflappable self out. It’s not like the news of the day makes for relaxing reading… 🙂 Oh well.
I’m real sorry for you that Mr Baby passed on, and he was such a little fighter. It’s hard burying one’s friends, dear ones and companions.
Thanks for the positive energy. Caught it early this morning when your comment rolled in. It was very thoughtful of you.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Claire,
Thanks for the positive thoughts, and as they say, better late than never. 🙂 By the way, Sandra tells me that she spotted diesel fuel today for $2.80/Litre which is about US$7.45/Gallon. Yikes! The steel company upped prices 10% and slapped on a diesel fuel surcharge – smart of them. The words ‘demand destruction’ keep bouncing around my mind. Oh well.
Look forward to hearing of events in your corner of the globe. Urea is a product to watch. Yowchie!
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
It’s the true musical professional who can suffer a wardrobe malfunction with good grace, and Linda smashed that moment out of the park.
Sorry man, I’m so tired tonight I’ve gotta pass on the music. Still feeling better, albeit tired, and have to work tomorrow.
Ooph! The ice / snow combination scares my summer softened soul, and hopefully you didn’t have to venture forth in the conditions? Is it my imagination, or is your early spring much colder than usual? No doubts about it, you’re in the months of Husky!
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Thanks mate! I really appreciate your kind words of support. Yeah, this feeling ill business is not all that it’s cracked up to be. I often wonder that without all of the medical interventions these days, that’s how people may depart: Well, then sick, then sadly dead. I remember when I was a young fella, older relatives would just drop dead, and we’re kind of shielded from that reality these days. It’s often become clinical and impersonal, something which happens out of sight. Not sure of the wisdom of that change.
Yeah, the Razzies are fun, and serve an important function in the film industry. I’d imagine that most of the awards are well deserved. And that’s it too: Maybe there is something in watching a car crash of a film? How bad can it really be? I look forward to reading your thoughts in the matter given it was suggested as a straight to DVD production.
Rainfall patterns are odd things aren’t they? And the geography in your part of the world would exert an enormous influence on the environment. In many ways, your country is very lucky that it has the Rockies because that mountain range supplies water to what would otherwise be a parched landscape. A similar principle tends to operate here with the Great Dividing Mountain Range which runs right up and down the east coast (but isn’t nearly as tall as your lot) in that the eastern and southern sides are lush (like here), but further west and north are much drier.
Ha! Your blind replacement story is a circumstance where local knowledge proves its worth. Good stuff, and I won’t say things are looking up, lest we let hubris, well you can see for yourself what happens…
Yeah, not all refrigerators are the same, yep. And the door shelve design you mentioned, would have annoyed me for much the same reasons. Stuff falls out.
It’s been remarked upon elsewhere, that nothing is ever simple when it comes to plumbing. I may have mentioned that when replacing one of the last water tank inlet filter baskets, the plumbers for some reason had put a screw directly underneath a large water pipe. A simple job became a remarkably long and involved process. It happens. Glad to read that the dude got the complicated job done.
The replacement for the tug boat weather station, looks like a small black and white spaceship. I forgot to get a photo, and the display now records the UV index as well as the number of Lux for a light measurement. Who knew that such options were a possibility. It doesn’t look as sturdy as the old unit, and I’ve had to modify it a bit.
Drizzly, foggy and misty here today. A good day to spend doing not much. Had a long nap around the middle of the day, but overall am feeling pretty good. Can’t say the same for yesterday. Holy carp. Awful. Oh well, they tell me a dude has to take the good with the bad in this ‘ere thing called life. You’d surely agree, maybe? Did you dodge the rain today? And deftly done for the day before. We got rained on this afternoon, but it was sort of warm, so no big deal.
Thanks for the article on the plants adaptions to their environment. I’m hardly surprised, and the toughest will survive.
Yeah, I don’t need to know who Banksy is either, the mystique is -agreed – an important component. Imagine if he was some spotty middle aged UK public servant? Definitely a case of the less we know, the better. Shame on them.
Agreed, not everyone would understand keeping food scraps for the garden, and awkward questions could be asked.Nice idea not giving them the opportunity to do so. Hope your new beds grow plentifully! The rain is pounding down on the roof now.
That concept has long been associated with this country, and is perhaps why most people on the continent live in a handful of large coastal cities. That historian is not wrong, it’s a long way from anywhere down here. By the way, the Editor spotted diesel for AU$2.80/L or the equivalent of US$7.45/Gallon. Hmm. A long, long way.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – Remember the good ol’ days, when there were comment moderators? With all the lay-offs in the tech sector, it seems like moderators (en mass) are first on the chopping block.
No zombies!? How disappointing. I was equally disappointed while watching that new series, “The Talamasca.” A new recruit was told there are witches, ghosts and vampires. But no zombies. 🙁 Although some feral, proto vampires certainly seemed to fill the bill. If it walks like a duck …
Well, it sort of sounds like you got run down, and what might have been a minor bug took hold, and really took you for a ride. I’m glad you’re feeling better.
Wow, your new firewood shed looks really spacious. And well thought out. I understand why you would want to keep the cladding, up off the ground. I think I’d worry more about snakes than rodents. But, keep the rodents out and the snakes won’t show much interest. One hopes.
Yes, my dehydrator also runs, constantly, during harvest season. Which caused Little Mary Sunshine to speculate that I might have had a mara-hoochie plantation, up here. Due to electrical consumption.
Yikes! That was quite a branch that came down. A future firewood deposit for the Firewood Bank of Fernglade Farm. (The FBFF.) 🙂
The kiwi may surprise you. Yes, there’s leaf damage, but the leaves, even after a week look pretty healthy and green.
Modern medicine stretches out the sick part, all the better to harvest whatever savings one has managed to put aside.
I doubt our library system will get that film that won the Razzies. Given the current financial situation. And, whoever selects films does seem to pay attention, a bit, to reviews.
Must be something in the air, or water. Oddly, this article about pinball machines showed up on the archaeology news feed, yesterday. Though it was republished from last year.
https://www.wamc.org/news/2025-07-01/arcade-archaeology-celebrates-pinballs-past-present-future
Our high yesterday was 48F (8.88C). Our overnight low was 45F (7.22C). Our forecast high for today is 61F. The forecast for today, and last night was for a lot of rain. But, looking at the radar, it seems to be hitting mostly north of us. H’s walks have been dry.
Your weather station. From tugboat to starship. I guess that’s progress. 🙂 The UV function ought to come in handy. Local readings.
The Master Gardners, were here, this morning. Well, two of them. Weather allowing, they’ll be here every Monday, from here on out. Talked a lot about soil and hoses.
You were talking earlier about quality and price. How expensive stuff can be crap and sometimes, the less expansive is the most resilient. And how to tell? I saw this article, this morning, and it seems to address those issues.
https://gothamist.com/news/crappy-luxury-inside-nycs-brand-new-apartment-buildings-that-are-falling-apart?utm_source=npr.org&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=national_highlight&utm_content=homepage
Lost … and found. 🙂 I have a key, that opens the doors in the building. But also a key card, that generally lives in my shirt pocket. I’ve had it since I moved in. I don’t use it often, but sometimes it comes in handy. Well, it disappeared, a few days ago. I could not figure out what had happened to it. Well … when I took all the stuff out from under the sink, I put it in a box. I didn’t replace all that stuff, until last night. I had left the doors of the under sink open, to make sure it was well dried out. When I started putting stuff back under the sink, there was the key card, in the box. Apparently, as I was leaning over, filling the box, it made a break for it. They’re not hard to replace, but there are costs. I guess I should keep that pocket buttoned, from here on out. Lew
@ Claire:
Since I didn’t catch the end of the comments last week . . . Thank you so much for your kind thoughts. I appreciate it.
Pam
Hi, Chris:
As a sickee, how did you get all that written?
Crucial to keep abreast of the competition. A hundred grand is a large investment. I know I can’t ask if it has paid off because such an enterprise would have values that aren’t all economic. I have a feeling that you are glad you did it.
I wonder how long “free” electricity would last.
Ooo – now I’m thinking of Martha Stewart’s machine shed again. That is what your new deluxe firewood shed reminds me of. Your scrambling to get your steel on order just goes to show that sometimes you just can’t win, no matter how hard you try. But it was worth a try, because you NEVER win if you don’t try.
Phew. Glad there are no zombies in the future. That was my biggest fear.
That’s smart thinking about rodents in the firewood shed. After all, you never know – well, you do, because you don’t have squirrels there – if a Pickle might set up house in your firewood like he did (twice) in ours.
I have 10 baby rosemary plants that grew unexpectedly from rosemary sprigs that I cut in the fall and set in a glass. I kept water in the glass all winter and they grew roots. So, are you telling me that they can get quite large? The bush in my garden that I cut them from is pretty small. I wish to use them in a garden memorial I have planned for Mr. Baby where he is buried. Don’t tell me if rosemary is not for remembrance.
Lovely, delicious tomatoes. Today I up-potted some of the baby tomato plants I am growing inside. The best looking ones so far are the Mason Marvel tomatoes. I had never heard of that one before, couldn’t resist the name, or the Granny Cantrell, and the Arkansas Traveler.
It’s hard to believe the size of that tree. “Such people are idiots” – darn tootin’ they are.
Thank you for the flowers. At least there still are some.
Pam
Hi Pam,
You likewise displayed strength of character in a tight spot. 🙂 Actually I felt pretty good today, just a bit tired. Worked all day too.
We were very early adopters with off grid solar, and back then individual panels cost $750 each, so it wasn’t a cheap option. Nowadays I can pick up eight similarly powered second hand ones for $300 – for the lot. Crazy huh? The main value was learning how all this technology works, what it’s good at, and what’s just downright impossible expectations. Glad is the word, yeah. It’s been an interesting journey.
It’s a good question, and we’ll find out. Personally, the stuff sounds free, and is technically free, but users connected to the grid will just pay more at other hours of the day. None of this stuff is cheap.
Pam, I was drooling with envy looking at Martha Stewart’s machinery shed. Talk about taking neat and orderly to the entire next level, and then some. 🙂 Plus look at the redundancy on display. There are multiple machines performing the same function all neatly ready to go. It takes a deep wallet to pay for such things. And when one breaks, pick up the next, repair the broken one, and just keep on going. That is the product of a sharp mind.
Well exactly, and hey, rumour has it, the steel cladding will arrive in the next day or so. And diesel fuel is now AU$2.80/Litre locally. Very expensive. You’ve gotta play the system sometimes, and none of us ever know the results until the die has been cast.
Zombies do seem to be bad news don’t they? 🙂 Probably carry an unpleasant odour around them too. Yuk. Definitely not polite dinner table companions.
The rodents are as devious as Pickle. They’ll do it for sure, thus why the wall cavities in the shed have to be easy to clean out. As we’re getting closer to winter, they’ve been regularly testing the house defences. Pickle would know too, the upper limit on the squirrel population is the ability to survive the winter, and they have to eat – the frozen acorn you mentioned a while ago did make me wonder about the critters ability to survive a serious cold snap. How’s he doing anyway?
Oh yeah, rosemary plants can get quite large, but it depends on their parent plant material, so yours being small, then I’m guessing the cuttings will grow about the same. Any plant is a lovely memorial, and I’m unfussy about such matters, and hope you never come across a person who suggests otherwise.
Hang on… Ook!
Hi Pam cont…
Must have done something bad for this week to happen – you’d appreciate that sentiment. Anywhoo, the computer has now began switching itself off and on again, randomly. I believe it to be a hardware issue maybe with the power supply. It is quite old and may not be easily blamed on the dreaded macrosoft wundows program. Oh well, there’s always something isn’t there. Cracked out the laptop and back into it now.
Oh yeah, it’s getting time for you to sort out the spring and summer garden. Time marches on, yeah! Both are fun names, and nice to try some new varieties.
It’s a big old tree, and older than any of us well ever get. They live for up to around 400 years, maybe more, I don’t think we really know the answer. The local indigenous folks call them grandmother trees (I believe).
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Nah, I don’t recall those days in the tech sector because I never really got onto things like twitter, faceplant etc. They always had a kind of wild west vibe to me that I was uncomfortable with, so they were left well alone. But back in the publishing days, whoo whee, comments were moderated and only the very best diatribes were ever published, such good taste only raised the overall standard, despite the not insignificant other side issue which is outright censorship.
But yeah, that tech lot are getting knifed right now, across the entire tech board. It’s a brutal culling all neatly blamed upon arty-fish-al dumbness, or some such program. Man, tell you what, I got the chop as a young bloke in the recession of the early 1990’s and it was a tough lesson to learn, but I never forgot it either. Then planned accordingly.
Actually, I didn’t mention it, but I had to crack out the laptop tonight because my computer keeps switching itself off automatically. Like what the…. I get the impression that it may be the power supply failing because it happened when I was in the BIOS settings, which sits outside of marcrosofts wundows latest dumb program.
Then I found out an interesting thing, many machines of the latest version of this unoperating system use drive encryption by default. Now I’ve turned it off on my other computers, and discovered that it is enabled for the laptop. Nice… I’ll undo that tomorrow. It means you can’t just chuck the old drive in a new computer and get back up and running again quickly, and by the way, the key is 48 digits long. Like, who has data which is that important?
Grumble, grumble, grumble…
Awful isn’t it that zombies are off the menu. They provide so many unique challenges to our species, and provide the element of excitement and surprise. Spices a persons life right up. 🙂 Agreed, if it looks like a zombie, it probably is a zombie.
Yeah and thank you, I’ve only got myself to blame for getting run down, but the wider news was stressful and what do you do? The good news though is the steel is turning up in the next day or so. Yay! That’ll be a relief and I’ll get it up onto the roof before the rains really kick into gear. It was very wet here today, although not much rain actually fell. Very murky, put it that way. I feel almost back to normal too, maybe a bit tired, but that’s it. I slept a lot. 🙂
And that’s exactly my strategy. Ensure the snakes have no reason to visit. If there are few if any rodents, they’ll head off to richer pastures. That’s the plan, reality, well, it may be different. All you can do is make it unpleasant here for the reptiles, in the same way the ants don’t get an easy ride here.
You know, dehydrators don’t use that much electricity. The one here is probably 500W, ook, which double ook, I guess it adds up over a day. 🙂 If you ran a mara-hoochie plantation you’d not have to worry about donations for the club as profits could be turned in that direction, and all the ladies would be currying favours with you. Except you might get kicked out! Drats, our latest get rich quick scheme is foiled yet again! When is our luck ever going to turn?
I’ve heard that water consumption is a problem with hydroponics as well.
Oh poop! I updated the core guts of the computer and it is still switching itself off randomly. See what I’m dealing with here? 🙂 Oh well, I’ll grab a new power supply and case. More work.
The trees are remarkably generous when it comes to firewood, and they seem to appreciate the care and attention lavished upon them and their kin. I’d not want to see the trees angry.
You’re probably right about the kiwi-fruit, time will tell. Most of the apples were damaged by the hail, and the parrots have been gorging themselves, but we did manage to harvest quite a lot this year, so it seems fair enough.
🙂 It is a business, and in some ways probably shouldn’t be set up to run in that function. There’s an inherent conflict between profit taking and care.
Have you heard any more about rumblings in the library system due to the economic woes?
I’d love to visit that pinball museum, it’d be a blast. The guy is interesting too because he took it upon himself to repair and restore the machines and thus knows a lot about how they’d work. Some of the digital machines, like old space invaders arcade machines would be very fragile. Interestingly the software though is out there, and there are emulators by the dozens. Not saying I’ve got one…
Yeah, Weather Station, The Next Generation. It’s quite advanced looking.
What’s the news on the hoses? From what I’ve observed, quality costs, and even then the person using the thing has to be careful. It’s not a technology for the careless if you want it to last.
Oh my gawds! Lewis, the article on the apartments ranged the entire gamut between horror show and unreasonable expectations. Take the cockroach for example, how is anyone to know whether they brought the thing in with something? Those insects are sneaky as. Anyhoo the nice website was so woke it locked me out after a while and chucked a paywall. Aren’t they nice people?
Oh far out, the key was a close call. The button is a nice elegant solution, and those things cost a bit to replace, not because they’re expensive, but there is I reckon an element of punitive pricing built into the arrangement. Hmm. You already alluded to that though. No fun losing stuff.
Cheers
Chris
@ Pam – We have a venerable old rosemary, growing in a half tub, here. It’s about 3 x 3′. The last place I lived had one planted outside, that was about the same size.
I’ve seen articles that people often use them for bonsai. Lew
Yo, Chris – Maybe there’s a ghost in your machine? 🙂 Call the Talamasca! Every night I close my computer down, and turn off the mouse and keyboard. To save the batteries. Sometimes, they’re on in the morning, when I could swear I turned them off.
Well, those 48 digit keys provide a lot of suspense in movies. Either just trying to figure them out, or, the time it takes to enter them, before the bomb goes off, or whatever.
Speaking of suspense in movies, last night I hit the popcorn and watched “Running Man.” I thought it was pretty good. Worth a look. Tomorrow I may be picking up “Good Boy.” The movie about the family dog that can see ghosts.
Our high yesterday was 66F (18.88C). Our overnight low was 48F (8.88C). When I took H out at midnight, it felt quit warm. It was 52F (11.11C). It was dry, but, about two hours later, the rain set in. Still raining this morning. As we found out on our morning walk. The forecast high for today is 55F.
Usually, to dry a load of cherry tomatoes, it takes about 12 hours, running the dehydrator. I put it on the stove, under the vent fan. So, that’s running, too.
Not much news from the library, although they had a board meeting that ok’d a budget with the staff and materials reductions. Although the union is fighting the staff reductions. And, there are still questions as to why some management got 15% raises, and was that before or after they knew a budget crunch was coming? The library is posting a few new DVDs each week. I’m keeping a running list of what they haven’t bought that I’d like to see. Might buy them when the prices come down a bit.
Maybe one or two a month.
Hoses. Well, besides dealing with morons, we’ve got a hose reel that eats the hose, at the connection point. Never even lasts a season. I’m pushing for a hanger, rather than a reel. I also need to get out there with a measuring tape, and figure out how long each hose needs to be. It’s complicated.
Well, that’s odd. I didn’t get locked out of that website, or have to deal with a paywall.
Actually, our key cards are old school. Not one of those fob things. It’s about the size of a credit card, though slightly thicker. I wave it in front of an electric eye, and the door lock pops open.
I’m happy to hear you’re feeling better. Lew
Hi Chris,
Happy autumn equinox! It seems like only yesterday I was wishing you a happy summer solstice. Time doesn’t dilate, it compresses as a person ages. 😉
I also have that ominous feeling of a steep step downward, and not just for the oilliness factor. (Speaking of which, gasoline averages $3.49 per gallon where I am. I know that sounds very cheap to everyone else reading this, but it was $2.99 per gallon or less before the recent shenanigans.)
While I’m not one to be thrown by weather weirdness – the Midwest’s middle name is weather weirdness – the current weirdness is exceeding even my very generous weirdness allowance. March has been very warm and wet for us. The first week of March we received about 3 inches of rain, followed by another inch of rain last week, breaking us out of drought for the time being. We set a record high of 87 F / 30 C on 10 March and a record high minimum temperature of 64 F the same day. That’s normal late June weather!
The warmth continued, not as extreme but still well above normal, until late this past Sunday, along with two bouts of severe thunderstorms and weak tornadoes. With such a warm start to the month, my apricot trees and at least half of the daffodils bloomed, and magnolias throughout town burst into full bloom. However, following a high of 69 F on Sunday afternoon, the temperature fell to freezing by midnight, stayed below freezing all of yesterday, and bottomed out at 13 F / -10 C this morning. No apricots this year, or local peaches; I’ve heard they were blooming before this freeze. All the magnolia flowers have turned brown. I think the daffodil flowers will survive, and later-blooming fruit trees haven’t flowered yet, but it’s supposed to get warm again, close to 80 F, by the end of the week, with a month or so of potential freezing weather left. Plenty of time left for early blooming and loss of more local fruit crops.
The thing that worries me most is how much this year is resembling 2012 in weather terms. We had the same kind of extreme early warmth and bloom that year. Although we got fortunate and had no more frost, north of us was not so fortunate, with consequent loss of the fruit crops from Michigan, which has sizable orchards along the west side of the state near Lake Michigan. For us, the worst thing was a serious drought that began in May and continued into early autumn, which affected most of the Midwest, including the corn and soybean growing areas. I would greatly prefer to not experience that again, not that anyone asked.
Other than that, all is good around here. I’m late with yard clean-up and expect to work on that when it warms up again.
You did well to order the steel cladding for your firewood shed when you did. A month from now the premium and diesel surcharge are likely to be more than what you paid. The shed is looking great!
Claire
Chris:
Yeah, that’s crazy, but that’s usually the way the market works. My smartphone cost $35 (not including shipping) and works just dandy. I’m a bit embarrassed that the thing is so cheap.
Since I bought petrol for my car two weeks ago, it has gone up one U.S. dollar per gallon. Not surprising.
Pickle the Squirrel is fine. I’m not seeing that much of him, but, then, I’ve been in bed a lot lately . . . I had to go into town today to the bank and I felt pretty well. Just still congested. I don’t think I’m germie anymore.
I hung on and I am so sorry that you have yet another computer issue. How long can all this go on (a long time . . .)?
Hey – can’t snakes get in your woodshed?
Pam
Pam,
Glad you’re feeling somewhat better. Condolences about Mr. Baby.
DJSpo
Chris,
Thirty straight hours of sleep? Wow! My personal best is 18 hours.
Other than those few days of snow and some cold overnight temperatures, it has been much warmer than usual. 18C this afternoon and cloudy. That’s about 10C warmer than “average”. Still 12C at 10 PM.
Glad to see that you’re doing better, at least well enough to write.
Hmmm, gaps at the bottoms of the shed walls. I understand about the rust and damp soil. But if the rodents can get into the shed, wouldn’t they also take up residence in the wood as well as in the walls? Then the snakes would follow and you’d have snakes in the wood? I get that clearing out nests between the walls would be easy this way, but what about nests in the stacks of wood? I’m very interested in hearing how this works out.
That reminds me of something from one of the Wodehouse novels. Bertie’s uncle, the mean one of cow creamer fame, once accused Bertie of “snake in the grassing”. Such a wonderful turn of phrase, that.
I have nothing to say about the drastic increase in petrol prices other than mumble grumble shostakovich groink UGG. I think that about covers it. 😉
I looked outside this afternoon at just the right time. The young chap across the street had just gotten home from work and was climbing his porch steps, back turned to me. He was wearing coveralls that looked like yours. Same color. I almost wondered how the blazes you had gotten to Spokane and in my neighborhood.
Those tomatoes look good. Aren’t dehydrators wonderful things?
Something different here this spring. There are a zillion robins. Haven’t seen that many in this neighborhood, ever. The gazillions of starlings have been conspicuous by their absence so far.
In some of the grassless areas of the yard, there are a lot of very low growing plants growing with very delicate white flowers. These are growing in different areas in my yards. Young Neighbor’s yards are full of these too. I think they are pretty. Green plants, shorter than grass with white flowers. Something native moved in to grow in the bare patches. More variety and maybe won’t need much water. Probably considered to be a weed by most people.
DJSpo
Hi Pam,
🙂 Go with your gut feeling there! Hehe! Yes, to put it another way, Miss Price is up to her usual mischief, and simply confusing all of us.
Yeah, petrol is on the up here too, and I’m reading articles in the media about how the traditional Easter road trip (something I’m not involved with) may now be financially out of reach for many, and that may well be so, dunno. Official interest rates were lifted yesterday too.
If it goes on for a few more weeks, we’ll have petrol rationing here, but I could be wrong, and maybe this is the start of some new bit of strangeness. A bit of a mystery really, but I’m just keeping the tanks topped up – and reducing travel.
Glad to hear that you’re feeling physically better. The world seems nicer at such moments don’t you reckon? Better here too, although I realise that you’ll miss your little matey, and he was a tie to different times. The soul heals too, it’s just a lot slower.
Ha! Thanks for the chuckles, I had to type that quickly before the machine switched itself off again… Grr! Oh well. Yeah, a long time indeedy. 🙂 Ours is to but ride the wild beast that is life’s ups and downs, but it’d be nice if the pesky machines just worked. Anywhoo, drove to Bendigo today to pick up a replacement case and power supply for the computer, and might even get a chance to put it all together tonight.
Everyone asks that question about snakes. Rather than repeating myself, I’ll add in a paragraph or two on the subject in the reply to DJ. He asked even more questions about the subject than you did! 🙂 You’re both keeping me on my toes.
Is it still warm in your part of the world?
Cheers
Chris
Hi Claire,
And a happy Spring Equinox to you and your household. 🙂
It’s not right is it? Just when we’re starting to get good at this ‘ere thing, the time slips away even faster. Far out!
Oh yeah, I’m so with you about that ominous feeling, and um, err, official interest rates were lifted down under yesterday. Now debt produces a loathing in me which is probably not natural, but it has been remarked upon before by the Biggest Bard (well, maybe, maybe not), that ‘He who sups with the Devil should have a long spoon’ Hmm.
Your fuel is still way cheap to me. 🙂 It was AU$2.30/Litre today which for ease of comparison is: US$6.15 / gallon (in your dollars too). I won’t mention that I spotted diesel for AU$2.86/Litre. Far out! The idea that things can always get worse, has now been proven, for the facts suggest as much.
The farmers are screaming about the diesel fuel prices, not to mention fertiliser shortages – and they’re just at the beginning of preparation for the winter wheat. This is going to end badly.
Ouch! Your weather variability scares me silly. Whilst 86’F can happen here in late September (early is improbable), it is all rather suggestive of extreme swings. Claire, 64’F for me is a usual summer overnight minimum. Your poor plants, and you have my understanding and compassion.
Apricots require almost perfect spring conditions, and you’ve heard me crying over such spring cold snaps. What do you do? By the way, I grow a number of different varieties, some early, but most late blooming, and that seems to help, a bit. Your weather sounds disastrous for fruit set, and I’m not mucking around. Not all of the blossoms succumb, but you then get the later problem that the pollinating insect population gets knocked back too – they have to eat, and competition will be fierce.
Who knows what the season will be like, until it’s done and dusted and the records are concrete. I’m not dismissing your woes, but even weirder things can happen like the hot and dry summer here, and then in the final week or two of summer five inches of rain and super sized hail can smash up the plants. It’s getting a bit chaotic out there climate wise, but it’s not like we didn’t know this sort of thing would happen. I hear you about that, and can only do good local works, and then hope for the best.
80’Fs will feel pretty nice after your cold winter. 🙂
I know, fingers crossed the stuff turns up soon. Production has been done, it just has to get here. The only thing which bothers me is: What will break next?
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
A few minutes were spent on replies to comments here, and whilst I was having a bad day sick wise, Pam’s was worse, and so it was no hardship to do so. But yeah, other than here or there for a few minutes, the old brain simply shut down. What the heck happened to you (sensing a story there)?
Man, 12’C would be a very warm winters night time temperature here. Not impossible, just way unusually warmer than normal. Your winter has sounded rather warm this year, still any snow and rain will be seeping into the ground, so that’s something at least. When it’s frozen that might not happen.
Thanks man! Doing alright today, although this morning I was feeling a bit low on energy, mostly because not much food this week. Dunno whether you noticed this effect on long ski runs, or hikes, but at some point your body runs out of the easy to convert energy, and then you’re running on the low grade body fuel. You feel that change over point in long distance running for sure.
🙂 Pam was asking similar questions regarding rodents and snakes and the shed cladding. Firstly, it’s impossible to keep either out, if they want to get in there. Will rats make winter nests in there – absolutely. The volume of rodents on the property, is however subject to the amount of feed that they have available + the amount of cover they can enjoy whilst moving from one feed source to the next. Thus why rodents thrive in cities, the man made constructs are inherently wasteful and predators have a hard time doing what they need to do. Predators keep numbers down.
A firewood shed has plenty of housing for either a snake or a rodent, but absolutely nothing for them to eat. They have to daily leave the shed, and both are tasty snacks for the birds (day and night), who are also hungry and on the look out for an easy feed. It’s not an easy life.
And whilst the local snakes appear to hibernate during winter, it’s more of a case of them having a slower metabolism. So if I’m regularly pulling firewood out of the shed, it’ll get colder for both, and they’ll leave – into the winter weather and probably their demise.
Plus the external steel corrugated cladding on the walls will go to the ground level, so there’ll only be one entry and exit point for both critter – the door. It’ll be a precarious environment which will be watched by the birds, and that’s how the current firewood shed arrangement works.
Hope that describes the various arrangements?
The cow creamer was a fun sub plot due to the sheer unusualness of it all. Yeah, well, the uncle was wrong. Bertie was trustworthy, but perhaps a tad careless. 🙂
Well that’s that then, moving on. 😉 Things can always be worse on a fuel price front, trust me in this see above numbers in the reply to Claire. Diesel was spotted at AU$2.86/Litre today. Your biggest chief needs to put in an official request for assistance instead of possibly drunken tirades spraying allies over the interweb (I get it, and we’ve all been there 🙂 ), it’s not like we haven’t already sent over spy planes and personnel.
Coveralls are super handy, and respect to the young bloke. He’s onto something there. Hey, we call them overalls down here. Dunno why there is a local difference.
Yes, dehydrators are amazing machines. Speaking of such things, might have to fix the computer up tonight… Picked up the parts this afternoon from the delightfully named town of Bendigo. The machine broke last evening – your choice words are appropriate at such a moment.
Starlings are a bit of a nuisance, and they’re a pest species down here, but tend to get eaten by other larger birds at this location, despite their inherent speed and zany flight patterns. The robins are a good sign. What’s your thinking on that matter as to why there’s so many this year?
🙂 Nature favours the brave, who are equally lucky, just like those white flower ground cover plants. Just between you and I, the future contains far less herbicides, fungicides and insecticides etc… It’ll be precarious, but with a bigger diversity of life forms.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
What do you mean, aren’t there ghosts in all machines? 😉 Why does this technology have to be so annoying. It wasn’t all that long ago that computers just kind of worked without all the pesky other nonsense (presumably, hang on, did you ask for this stuff?), like switching themselves on again… Which admittedly is a bit spooky. Man, I turn all the stuff off at the wall, so there are only a few items which ever run continuously, although most folks would think that rather extreme behaviour. The thing is, when winter is harsh on the solar power, you have to extract every little gain, and maybe add on some more panels!
Yeah, true, where are the paranormal researchers when you need one? The world used to be a much more interesting place not all that long ago.
I’d never quite appreciated that purpose of the long code numbers, but it makes a strange sort of narrative sense. Perhaps the tech bros are trying to save us? Or more likely add in an element of surprise to our lives. Oh poop, I forgot to decrypt this computer today. Been busy… Did paid work, then headed a bit over an hours drive north (US$6.15/gallon, just sayin…) to the town of Bendigo to pick up the replacement parts for the computer. Might start putting it altogether later tonight, or maybe get an early nights sleep and do it tomorrow? Who knows… Probably better in the daylight.
It all comes back to Simon Pegg and Nick Frost with that film based on a book penned the master of the craft, Mr King. Same director as Shaun of the Dead. Truthfully, that narrative used to sometimes enter my brain on long distance runs, and such thoughts do strange things to a person when other competitors are faster and with better stamina. 🙂 Thanks for the review.
The Good Boy trailer scared the daylights out of me. Genuinely suspenseful from the first few scenes. Go on, were you spooked, even just a little bit?
Your spring is kind of winding itself up don’t you reckon? At least it is still raining but not too heavily, or too sparingly. The fog eventually kind of lifted today, then clouds moved in. Not as misty as yesterday though.
Same here, except the exhaust blows out the kitchen window. It’s more than a few kilowatt hours. Most preserving methods consume energy of one sort or another. In days of old, the tomatoes would have been sliced and left out in the summer sunshine to do their thing. I’ve been to parts of the world where the potato crop was left out in the summer sunshine, but carefully watched. In those days I’d not appreciated the paucity of those harvests.
As the kids say, the optics of that move aren’t great. Eventually, even those upper jobs may face the firing line. My best guess is that they’re in the shoot first survival mode right now, and that’s the thing about shooting, there’s always someone who knew that the remainders thought that it was an acceptable option. Then back to the Golden Rule, karma, or whatever you want to call it.
Any thoughts about how you’ll deal with the DVD’s once you’ve watched them?
Absolutely, I’m a big fan of hose hangers – they work, but admittedly the ones here are rather well made with no sharp edges. I’ve seen some dodgy product on that front over the years. Good thinking with the measurement, but you can use your feet for that too, as long as nobody is watching, and try not to trip over. 🙂 I regularly use my feet to measure short distances. It is complicated, yup.
I know those electronic keys. Clever devices.
Thank you, and glad also that you shook that dreaded cold thing.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – I make my computer as dead as I can make it, without pulling the plug. Probably not a concern, but I worry I’d have to go through all the songs and dances, as when I set it up.
Frost & Pegg – “Run, Fat Boy, Run?” 🙂 Odd that “The Running Man,” and “The Long Walk” should come out abut the same time. Mr. King must be raking it in. As well he should.
I haven’t picked up “Good Boy” from the library, yet. But it is “in transit”, to me.
Our high yesterday was 54F (12.22C). Our overnight low was 52F (11.11C). Our forecast high for today is 59F. It’s raining, today. And, looking at the radar, it appears the atmospheric river is right over us and heading due east. Could be worse. They’re stuck under a heat dome, in California.
https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/17/weather/heat-wave-west-records-climate-change
I don’t remember the heat wave, it says we had in 2021. Or, maybe I do. I do remember the last couple of days of moving in here, it was hellacious hot.
There was an article about the library in the local newspaper, last night.
https://chronline.com/stories/timberland-regional-library-lays-off-roughly-a-quarter-of-its-staff,398298
I don’t really hold on to any DVDs I buy. I’ll probably either pass them on to someone at the Club, or, donate them to the library, for a sale. If they have them again.
H got a bath, yesterday. I left her home, when I went shopping, at Winco. I spent about $115. The most expensive item was a bag of her dog food. $37.50 for a 22 pound bag. When I got home, the laundry room was free, so, I did take the opportunity to wash all her blankets and towels. I’m taking her to the groomer, today, to get her nails ground down. Then onto the library, and the Club. Lew
@ Lew:
Whoa! One rosemary that size would take up way too much space and I don’t think I have time to keep it bonzai.
Pam
@ DJSpo:
Thank you so much for both things.
Chris:
What is amazing is how you can so often find the parts you need actually within driving reach.
Yes, thank you – that was a wonderful description in your DJSpo comment. I see where I was confused. I went back and looked through your photos and I see that the gap at the foot of the sheet metal is only on the inside. I thought it would also be on the outside.
Pam
Chris,
There is a story. It was August 1985 when I was moving from Spokane to Las Cruces. Travelled to Brea, California, and spent a few days with my uncle and aunt. It was August and it was HOT. Nobody in their right mind would drive across that California and Arizona desert during the day. Took late afternoon nap and left at about 8 pm and arrived in Phoenix, AZ at 7 a.m. It was 30C.
Got a room for the day. Woke up from a lengthy restless doze at 3 pm with the room’s air conditioning cranked and 32C indoors. It was 46C outdoors. Thunderstorm woke me from another doze at 7 pm. It was raining so hard I couldn’t see across the parking lot. It was so hot that the ground was DRY. Cars were wet. Hard rain and steamy.
Got a meal and left at 11 pm. Roads were wet, still a drizzle and it was still 39C. Elevation in that part of Arizona is about 300m. The rain quit but the heat and humidity remained until I was climbing into New Mexico. It suddenly got cooler halfway up Apache Pass on Interstate 10 east of Tucson and got tolerable, maybe 28C, at the 1,400 meter elevation in New Mexico.
Arrived on campus in Las Cruces about 3 pm. Dorm room wasn’t open yet, but the university was paying for a hotel. I got there and was sharing a room with the guy who would be sharing a dorm room with me. We went to get dinner. Fell asleep in the hotel at 8pm. Woke up the next afternoon at 2 pm. The guy was in a panic as I hadn’t even moved in those 18 hours.
Lack of sleep, heat, long drive in the heat with no sleep. Yeah, that set me up.
I never did hit “the wall” while hiking or on long cross country ski trips. A friend and I used to ride our bicycles from Spokane to Cheney when in university. 36.5 km one way. We both ate a LOT, had a lot of fluids, and were both in very good condition. Not a problem with that, either.
That friend was interesting. He was 10 years older than me with 10 years in the air force as an electronics technician. He struggled with the math in physics but eked out a degree. Got hired as an officer in the air force in their research physics group near Albuquerque, New Mexico. (Yes, I would see him when I visited my cousins there.) He was doing well there.
After a couple years, the air force sent him to Los Angeles to get a master’s degree in some cutting edge electronics thing at prestigious UCLA. He was breezing through the courses and got BORED! His family remaining in Albuquerque, he joined the UCLA bicycle team. That’s the one where 5 guys ride in a line around a track. At age 38 he was the number 3 guy on that team. They were the top ranked team in the country. Just before the national tournament, he was called back to Albuquerque due to a family emergency, missing the tournament. He did finish his master’s program.
Thanks for the detailed answer to the questions Pam and I raised. That makes sense. Minimal food in the shed (hopefully). Outer wall flush with the ground. Lethargic snakes, probably, which will then be somewhat docile and preferring to slither away to be visited by the odd passing owl or hawk. I knew you would have thought it through and appreciate hearing your ideas on that.
Overalls, yes. You are correct. Duh! The coveralls are what I wore in the insulation maintenance shop in the way back, complete with long sleeves.
I’m glad I shared the choice words. They are a necessity at times. 😉 Bendigo sounds nice. Big enough to have a lot of things, not too big. Spokane was about that size when I moved here in 1967.
I have no idea what the plethora of robins means, especially combined with the dearth of starlings. I’ve been thinking about it for a bit, but no conclusions yet.
Yeah, decreased access to chemicals will make food production more challenging. Interesting times, yes? I’ve always preferred boring times myself. 😉
DJSpo
Hi Pam,
🙂 The bloke I used to know who did the local farm machinery repair business had that trick down pat. He had a talent for finding just the right part in some obscure locale of the country, or even overseas. But yeah, one of the questions which bothers me (and to which there is probably no answer anyway) is: what if there are no parts to be had? The big Stihl chainsaw is now 15 years old, and going strong, but parts are getting harder to find for that particular model. The big smoke has 5.5 or maybe even 6 million people, so there are a lot of facilities not too far away. And I dunno, because the population of the country is concentrated in a few large coastal cities, they tend to have all of the more obscure businesses which supply parts etc.
The only drama for me on that front, is if the business is located on the exact opposite end of the city. Journeys there are a ‘take a packed lunch’ kind of outing. 😉
How does your son go about finding parts for all the various machines? At worst here, you can resort to ebuy and get stuff online.
Thanks. Yeah, I’ve thought about the shed design for quite a long while, and it’ll be a big step up on the existing much smaller shed. The plan is to get some of the roof sheets up over the next day or so (the steel arrived!!!!! Yay!)
Hows fuel prices looking in your part of the world? I don’t reckon that your country will do too badly out of this current strife, or here for that matter, but if I were in Europe, I’d be freakin’ out.
The sun may shine tomorrow, and the last it has done so, is before I got ill over the weekend. Did paid work today, catching up for the lost day on Monday. There ain’t no such thing as paid sick leave for those whom are self employed. Oh well. How are you feeling today?
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
Thanks for the story, and yeah, who can forget the vehicles of 1985? Did they have air conditioning, or was it an option which was never taken up by the original purchaser. And sot casting aspersions on your good character, but err, student, long overnight drive and stuff (wise for that big heat exchanger device called a radiator, which in those days could have been a problem), suggests maybe not. 🙂 Manual air con involved the triangular windows and/or wound down windows.
Man, that’s a horror of jet lag forcing yourself to stay awake and active during the night on the long drive. All those factors did a job on you that day. Ouch, and respect. Can’t say that I’ve ever done an overnight drive. I’m impressed at your fortitude.
Nice one, and I’ve heard it suggested that the mantra of the long distance bicycle rider is to urinate clear, and urinate often. I’m being serious too, although I overheard the advice a quarter century ago. On a distance run it’s hard to refuel, so you have to go hard beforehand, and that can be difficult to judge. And big breakfasts in the wee dark hours of the morning, rarely sit well. That maybe me though.
You might laugh at this but, well I’ve been on mutli day long walks carrying packs (22kg and no more), and you’d get sick of chocolate. When first I read of the loss at the Battle of Hastings, it baffled me that Harold Godwinson forced marched the troops south to meet the Normans. The loss was unsurprising. I know, we’ve discussed this before, but the sheer foolishness was just hard for me to comprehend.
Your friend probably got to employ what he’d learned in a practical manner – just guessing given what you’d written. 🙂 That can make a big difference to how people learn. I’ve had to deal with some folks who were hopeless at explaining complicated things using words, so I’d stop them from going around and around in circles, and just ask them to show me what they’re on about. That forces the person to explain their thoughts in a different format. We all learn differently don’t we?
Man, that’s the ultimate, could-a-been story for your friend. And he’d been one of the older members of the team too. Some people are guns.
The snakes are a really interesting predicament, and other than the deer, I don’t tend to seek to control what the wildlife here does. More gently nudge here, take away slightly over there, make this bit a touch harder, and promote this other critter etc. It’s like a line dance, where none of us ever really get what we want, but we at least get something out of the arrangement.
And every time I reckon I’ve wrapped my mind around the interactions, something new happens. The snakes are unnecessary here, but may do good works, elsewhere.
Oh yeah, I’d heard the term coveralls, but only have them for the fire fighting gear. It’s way too hot for my arms to be covered by drill denim under normal circumstances. I’d cook under that material. Yup, maintenance shop is the place for such work wear.
🙂 Bendigo is quite beautiful in some parts which date back to the Victorian gold rush era, but are quite grand due to the sheer scale of the discoveries. The recent gold price surge has really kicked some busyness into the town, and I noted that the motels were all booked out. Hmm.
Ha! They do say that we’re a lot like the US from twenty or thirty years ago. I’ve heard that sentiment aired. Man, the changes, I dunno whether I’m a fan.
Like you, I’d wish that the times, they are, a, boring (sung to the melody of that famous Bob Dylan song).
The delivery arrived today. Yippee!
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Man, your fears at not unfounded in that regard. Sometimes when the computers here get switched back on again, there’s like these unasked for, macrosofty screens you have to go through without inadvertently clicking the wrong thing. Usually they’re cajoling me to join the cloud, like I want to do that… Tell you what, we were talking about the ‘I Legend’ film recently, and every time those screens turn up, I get this little spooky brain whisper: “The Family… But The Family…” 🙂 Yeah, nah, thanks. That information super highway does not impress me much, and if I lose my data, that’s on me. But if they lose my data, Sorry to inform you, but you agreed to the terms and conditions. We can’t help you. Don’t call back, or else… 🙂
Wise of you to chose which songs you wish to bop along too.
Mr King combined a solid work ethic, talent, marketing abilities, and luck all in one package, with maybe some other stuff. A pretty good sustained effort! I doff my hat to the gentleman, and have been kept awake into the wee hours on many occasion to see just which characters survived, and how bad it would all get. The dome was a wipe out, almost.
I asked the Editor to watch the trailer for the horror film, and she was equally spooked. So I’m intrigued to hear what you have to say about whether the hype was justified. And um, just throwing this idea out to you, surely you’ll cover over H’s eyes when the scary sections occur? It’s only decent to do such a thing.
Youch! Stalled monster high pressure systems trouble me deeply. In a century from now, many of those areas way to the south and east of you, will only have a tiny fraction of the population they have nowadays. On the other hand, it could get much wetter! They say that every degree Celsius of average heat in the atmosphere, tends to increase moisture content by 7%. The planet has been a jungle planet before, although I don’t believe that we’d like that result.
Man, what I recall from those days with you, was the relief of being able to move in. Things had gotten difficult housing wise, put it that way.
Yikes! Yes, more of this sort of thing will form part of the future. My opinion is that the demands are not unreasonable, and transparency can often shine a light in dark places. It is worth noting, that long ago such board positions were voluntary and done as part of the old noblesse oblige arrangements. You hear rumours that some of the local council folks down under, have negotiated some pretty hefty salaries. Hmm. There is a lack of oversight I’m guessing. Once not all that long ago, local people were all over this sort of stuff to ensure that it didn’t get out of hand. Apathy, well, I’m already bored. What were we talking about again? 🙂
Go H, and I hope that she appreciated the clean up prior to heading out into the social world? Dog food prices are all over the shop, but much depends upon quality, or perceived quality. Was Winco busy, and still looking shiny and new?
The delivery turned up this morning, and the first I knew of it, Ruby barked and a crane truck was appearing out of the mist. Not something you see everyday up here. Anyway, it was all uneventful and I might try and get the roof done over the next couple of days. I can take it easier now, yay!
There is a category five cyclone heading towards the top eastern part of the continent. That’s a very serious storm. 315km/h or 195 mile an hour winds are not something to take lightly.
The weather here continues to be misty, grey and bleak, but tomorrow promises some sun. We’ll see how that pans out. Is it still raining in your area? Is the heat dome to the south likely to impact where you are?
Cheers
Chris
@ DJSpo:
I know the cow creamer novel well. “Snake in the grassing” – there are so many clever remarks in those books.
Pam
Chris:
I don’t know how my son finds all those old parts, but he has become quite the internet Sherlock Holmes. I always tell him that when he finds a part, if they have two, get both. And sometimes he does drive a couple of hours here or there to see about one. Usually that turns out well, from photos and descriptions and talking to the bloke on the phone, but not always.
Yay! The steel has arrived!
I only know about petrol. It has gone up one U.S. dollar per gallon since I bought it 2 weeks ago.
I feel practically human . . . I was working in the garden today and when I’m out there I always munch on the greens. I decided to have some out of a thick patch of endive (frisee). I was munching along when I thought: “That seems like a slug. Naw – slugs aren’t out yet.” It was a slug. It kind of put me off endive.
Whilst out in the garden I sat down in a chair for a rest. I saw a squirrel scampering along the “back road” about 60 feet from me. I called: “Hey, Pickle! What’yer doing?” The squirrel stopped and immediately ran straight up to me. Pickle would not do this. I have never fed him and he doesn’t like me anyway.
I realized it was Tufty, whose real name is Hiawatha, both names because she has an Indian headdress on the end of her tail, a fan of hair like something a chief would wear.
Tufty is the last squirrel of Charlene’s generation. We stopped feeding squirrels in 2022 after Charlene’s death. But on rare occasions I’d see Tufty about – you can’t miss that tail – and for awhile I carried nuts in my pocket just in case. I hadn’t seen her for quite awhile.
I told her to wait there and I ran into the house to get some walnuts. When I got back, she was mostly still in the same place. I sat back down in my garden chair and proceeded to hand out walnut halves. That girl ate 7 walnut halves before I finally said “enough” (and she did, too). Imagine how long it would have taken her to open 4 of these rock hard black walnuts and get the nuts out and she ate these in 10 minutes.
As she started to waddle away I did give her one for the road, which she carried off.
Pam
Yo, Chris – King’s “The Dome” was pretty intense. It was also done as a TV mini-series. Unfortunately, the library doesn’t have it, anymore.
Plenty of room on my library hold list, these days. There were several new DVDs posted to the “on order” page. A new zombie movie! “We Bury the Dead.”
https://youtu.be/_UKTj9WLdxg?si=_piIvuuoU56_RDpP
It seemed like most of the stuff posted, were documentaries. I placed a few of the more interesting sounding ones, on hold. I picked up quit a few DVDs, yesterday. “Good Boy” was in the stack. It was a mix of old and new movies. A lot of popcorn worthy films. 🙂
I picked up Anne Rice’s vampire novel, “Blood and Gold.” I got engrossed in it, and stayed up way too late, last night.
Our high yesterday was 57F (13.88C). The overnight low was 50F (10C). Our forecast high for today is 58F. Scattered rain. We’re forecast to have a three day weekend, of nice weather. Overnight lows in the low 30s. I’ll see what I can get done in the garden.
I think it was Prof. Mass that indicated that the heat dome, down south, will steer storms toward us.
I think it’s interesting that past Timberland Library employees, can’t serve on the board. I didn’t know that. I guess there’s to be a public comments meeting, that ought to get pretty lively. Feeling is running high to keep their hands off the front line workers. Not that they’ll pay any attention. Some of those librarians, might have to get down in the trenches, and get their hands dirty.
H got her nails clipped and ground down. I think next month she’ll have to go in for a hair cut.
I went a little earlier, than I usually do, to the Winco. Yup, it was pretty busy.
It’s good to hear your steel cladding showed up. Best get it nailed down, before some wind shows up. And sends sheets sailing down the mountain. 🙂 Lew
@ Pam,
Wodehouse had a very unique way with words and phrases. I also liked the way he’d slip in the odd abbreviation, such as “when the s. hit the fan”.
DJSpo
Chris,
My car’s a.c. was the “crank the windows down” variety. It was still that 1969 Datsun 510 wagon.
I’ve always been able to fuel up regardless of the time of day. “Eat when you can”. Served me well on some of my skiing and bicycling adventures. Oh, and salt. I’ve always needed more salt when active than most people do. I used to carry large amounts of roasted and salted sunflower seeds. Salt, protein, fiber.
I hear you about the chocolate. Important to have with you, but some variety is necessary. Dried fruit, chocolate, home made beef jerky and the aforementioned sunflower seeds provided good variety for me.
William of Normandy knew Harold. So, he began ravaging the countryside knowing that when Harold found out, he would hasten to defend his people. The area in which the Normans landed was Harold’s earldom before he became king, so he took it personally. Then the haste, and, well we know what happened.
You nailed it. My friend worked in the lab, mostly designing a lot of things to give a readout on the oscilloscope. He’d print the output and give it to his boss, a theoretical physicist with a PhD from Princeton. Friend would tell his boss what the results meant. After a week or four working with a pencil and paper, the boss would confirm what my friend had said.
Oh, he was more than 15 years older than anybody else competing. Not just on his team, but nationwide. He had the physical ability and a huge mental drive and mental toughness.
North Idaho used to have a saying. “Welcome to north Idaho. Set your clock back 30 years.”
I read that sentence and knew you were basing that on a Bob Dylan song. Jumped out at me, it did.
Young neighbor and I met for lunch today. The usual place was packed. It’s a sports bar and today has college basketball tournament games going on 4 channels simultaneously. I took a peak indoors and said, “No. Too many people.” She saw the crowd by peaking around me, gave a shriek and hastened to her car. We went for Mexican food instead. It was quiet there. She wants to visit a Vietnamese place next time. Yum.
DJSpo
Hi Pam,
Thanks for the insights, and good to see that your son has developed a knack for the part detectorist, as I had wondered ho he as managing the repairs and restorations of the old machines. Interesting. Yeah, that can happen with the reality not living up to the hype, and I’ve also had some generic parts which are good, but not quite good enough to replace the originals.
Speaking of such things, I finally fixed up the computer today, and got it running about an hour ago. Looks like the power supply was dodgy, and guess it was eight years old (but a quality bit of kit in the first place). Oh well.
It’s awesome that the stuff finally arrived, and after heaps of paid work this morning, we prepped the site, installed the bird proof steel mesh and got the shed ready to install some sheets tomorrow. Should be good weather for it, today was the first bit of sunshine in about five days. The rest of the week has been quite foggy and misty.
That’s a big jump in price for your country. It’s like a tax on everything. I’m hearing all sorts of wild talk about the energy source in the media.
Yay! Well done you, and that’s great to hear. 🙂 Sunshine, a garden and fresh air are a wonderful healing balm. But oh poop! Slug-gate 2026… Oh well, they tell me that most insects are edible. There are better greens. Endive tastes bitter to my palate.
Pam, I love the nickname Tufty! 🙂 Nice one, and the young lady clearly enjoyed her treats. I’d not realised that a squirrel could crack Black Walnuts, I mean, I’ve heard of people using cars to crack those hard nuts. Is the outer shell a bit softer now that you’re in Spring?
Hey, I did that with a Kookaburra long ago with juicy wood grubs. The poor bird struggled to fly, but got there in the end.
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
Thought so, thus why I asked. Actually, down under, I reckon it wasn’t until the vehicles of the 1990’s that air conditioning became a standard feature. Before then it was an optional extra. Man, remember sticking to the vinyl seats on hot days? 🙂
Go the Datsun 510, which was sold down here as the 1600, and which I also had one, although it was dead seal grey coloured and a sedan. Actually it was a really decent vehicle, and I don’t recall it ever letting me down. But yeah, hot days, crank down the windows. Bizarrely, the diminutive vehicles were very fuel efficient.
Oh my, beware that rabbit hole on those cars. People love them, and there are some enthusiasts continuing to muck around with them, some installing modern electronic fuel injected twin cam motors – as you do.
Lucky you, I’m not cool about breakfast when there is a 6 or less on the morning clock. And most distance runs were early in the morning for heat related reasons. Eat when you can is a wise path on such endeavours.
It’s funny you mention that condiment, but if the zombie apocalypse were to occur, nab the salt first, and sugar second. That’s my considered opinion for the many reasons you mentioned when exerting oneself.
Yours is almost getting into the quintessential home made trail mix formula, with a dash of everything. I’ve found on workdays sometimes I’ll grab one or two of the Anzac biscuits. Keeps you fuelled. There’s a vast difference between hunger for fuel, than the more usual consumption patterns.
Ouch, I’d not appreciated that the Norman’s landed in Harold’s stomping ground. It was a foolish mistake and maybe the country did better for the change? I mean, if that big of a strategic blunder occurred, makes me wonder what else was going on?
🙂 Yes, the wide gap between theory and practical experience is oft times a yawning cavern of staked out hobby horses. Oh well, ours is but to learn how to navigate through the murk whilst not annoying too many ideologues… They seem like something of a nasty bunch to me.
Focus can make up for that difference. Dunno about you, but I’d like to imagine that the upside of this getting older business, is the garnering of wisdom. Obviously it’s probably wasted, but a dude does what he can.
Ain’t just Idaho! There’s a reason I headed bush almost two decades ago now. 😉 I don’t much like the changes I see going on in the big smoke. It’s too much, too intense, and way too congested. Wasn’t always like that. But you’d have seen similar changes over the decades in your area?
🙂 It’s a good song. I recall Billy Joel singing it on a recording of his extraordinary tour to the land of the bear in maybe the late 1980’s.
Man, I’m so with the two of you. Nice choice by the way, and you neglected the important bit – what did you eat? Had enchiladas for dinner this evening. Yum!
Anywhoo, we’re getting up to leaf change tourism time of the year, so we’ll see how it all goes this year. Actually the more fashionable western end of the mountain range was quite busy this afternoon – for the first time in about five or six days, the sun was shining at 21’C, and it really was beautiful. The weekend will be sort of like that, and they’ll get smashed.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
You’re not wrong, and the book was intense although haven’t seen the series. The ending with the sort of fire-explosion was an epic disaster where only a handful survived. For a while there though, it was getting all a bit Lord of the Flies with all of the intrigue and shenanigans. Best you’re not involved is my thinking in that matter, and stick near to the edge seemed to be good advice in that situation.
I stared reading Robinson Caruso, and it’s a rollicking fast paced tale. Once the character moved past the young man defies dad’s best advice with some guilt, but ploughs on anyway, the narrative picked up. Yes, what could possibly go wrong on the high seas in the 17th century? Let’s find out! 😉
We Bury the Dead has sheer spookiness by the pound, and was filmed down under over on the west coast of the continent. Did you add it to the hold list?
Documentaries I envy your ability to enjoy them. The funny thing about them, is that I’m forced to read so much dry material for my day job, that I do prefer fictional movies and/or books. A profession can exert strange influences upon a person’s soul, so a dude has to be careful. That’s the theory anyway. 😉
Oh man, finally fixed up the computer today, and so far the thing has been working for many hours. Looks like it was the power supply which had just worn out. It was a quality bit of kit originally, but eight years old now, and in more or less, continuous use. It’s a lot to ask of a power supply to operate for that long.
Anyway, the new computer box has a lot of fans pushing air around. I left the case and power supply decision to the guy at the store, who I got along with quite well – one fellow geek to another. We were talking the same language. Anywhoo, so the new box has lots of fans (which are very quiet, but will suck dust and have to be cleaned from time to time). They’ve also got coloured lights glowing around them, and I had to settle the display so that it wasn’t pulsing or rotating. Far out, who needs psychedelics with such technology? And the colour settled on is a nice solid deep blue! The deep red looked like some beckoning entrance to the underworld…
Ha! Lewis, we’ve all been there when it comes to good books. Actually I had a late night too last night, and worked on the computer until around midnight. The last while probably wasn’t ideal as I stuffed up one or two of the connections, but fixed it this morning. Glad to hear that you’re enjoying the read. The author is prolific.
Sounding warmer to me. 70’F here today and gloriously sunny and calm. Did a stack of paid work this morning, and then burst out into the sunshine to get the shed ready so that we’ll begin installing steel sheets tomorrow. The Editor doesn’t want to do the roof then, something, something about recent sick and ladders. I must listen, plus the roof sheets are at the bottom of the pile of sheets. A cogent reason, but the roof…
Far out, just read the Professor’s latest blog on accuracy of the forecast models, and it’s an impressive result. I see another atmospheric river is headed your way.
The question: If they’re not getting their hands dirty at the coal face, what do they do all day? Sooner or later, such questions will be asked. Protests and meetings rarely produce anything of substance in my opinion, and it’s the natural hunting ground of such administrators.
Go H!
Out of curiosity, do you try and pick the quiet times when it comes to shopping. I have to admit to doing that.
Oh poop! Could be a problem, and funnily enough the wind will pick up mid next week.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – So, once you finish Robinson Crusoe, is it onto “Swiss Family Robinson?” 🙂 I may have read a watered down children’s version of it, decades ago. Or, maybe, a “Classics Illustrated” comic book. And, of course, there was the Dizzy movie.
Did I add a zombie movie, to my hold list? Surely, you jest. 🙂 Last night, I made my monthly Mac & cheese. Crammed so many vegetables in it, that there’s enough for another meal. Then I settled in to watch “Good Boy.” Hmmm. Well, the dog is great, but the story kind of muddled. And it couldn’t quit decide if it was a ghost story, or a monster movie. And whence came the monster? Spoilers, ahead.
https://w.wiki/K5dJ
So, the computer. A hardware problem, rather than a software problem. Sounds like you got a handle on it. I saw an article, last night, that the fruit companies dumb phone has been severely hacked.
Anne Rice WAS prolific. She’s dead. Another late night. But not as late as the night before.
Our high yesterday was 57F (13.88C). Our overnight low as 54F (12.22C). Our forecast high for today is 57F. We’re still getting rain, on and off. It ought to start drying out, early in the AM.
The library had their public meeting. Break out the torches and pitchforks!
https://chronline.com/stories/public-outrage-mounts-over-timberland-regional-library-layoffs,398560
I discovered two things, when I worked in Library Land. 1.) Librarians cover each other’s backsides, and 2.) Librarians that don’t work with the public, have far more status, than those that do.
I usually shop late, when it’s quieter.
We got a food box, this morning. There was a clam shell, with two triangles of some substance, that was an odd red / orange color. “Chicken Tandoori Samosa.” I’m not even curious enough to look up what it is. Dumpster. There was also a bag or ten or so individually wrapped sandwiches. Dumpster.
A clam shell of ten sugar cookies. As it’s Friday night, I’ll leave them in the lobby. Someone will probably eat them. There was a frozen pack of cheddar smoked sausage and a loaf of pretty good bread. A pound of butter “product.” A bag of “baby” carrots. Those are actually broken carrot chunks that are somehow lathed in a machine, to look like miniature carrots. A dozen eggs.
Three mandarine oranges, a pound of pasta Linguine, a jar of peanut butter and two boxes of Mac & Cheese. A box of chocolate Cheerio cereal. Tins: one each of corned beef, mixed veg, chili, spaghetti and meat balls, Chunky Chili Mac (Beans, Macaroni and meat), veg beef soup, green beans, corn, tomato sauce and apple sauce. Two tins of tuna.
I’ll take the stuff to the Club, tomorrow morning. Last night, I swung by the dollar+ store and picked up about $30 of tinned stuff. Two bags. Between that and the box, we ought to make it through the weekend, and into next week. Lew
DJSpo:
Exactly!
Pam
Chris:
Eight years old is a venerable age. No wonder it was tired.
I can’t tell any difference in the hardness of black walnut shells in the spring. I wonder maybe if burying them doesn’t soften them some. I used to make a nice brown dye with the green hull that is on them in the fall.
I remember that Kookaburra. How is he doing?
Speaking of deer – there were 22 by our mailboxes this morning.
Happy Equinox, a bit late.
Pam
Hello Chris, sorry you have been ill. And everyone else who has been too! Also Pam, very sorry about your cat. My condolences.
My under sink hot water unit is electric. It’s a small reservoir which holds plenty to wash the dishes, not an instant heater. I don’t quite understand the way this works but it has an outlet tube and a small volume of unused water comes out steadily, which I catch and use on the garden. I need to remember to switch it off when I go away… The first one we had was a bit small, probably just suitable for washing hands and smaller jobs. So it was replaced.
In the photo of the dirt mouse at the service station it was very far from dirty, and you said you had been bush bashing that day… what gives? Why don’t my cars stay so clean?
I realise you avoid plastic as much as possible at your place. Do you have to take things like cheese wrappers to town to put in the bin?
The overnight temps here are falling but not nearly as fast as yours did. The weather station says they’re round 17-18 most nights; a few have been lower. Since I’m near the river you could probably subtract a few degrees. There is dew in the mornings now.
If you’re not sick of explaining about the woodshed, is the internal cladding open at the top as well? I get washing or blowing vermin our of the walls but not how you would do that from the base.
Regards
K.
Chris,
The Datsun windows “air conditioning” reminded me of something else from that trip. There’s a portion of Interstate 10 that drops below sea level. Then it climbs back to what in California is the “high desert” at about 300m above sea level. Cars in that era couldn’t handle the climb in severe heat with their air conditioners on: they would overheat. There were road signs at the beginning of the climb warning motorists to shut off the A.C. and drive with the windows down to avoid overheating. Even at night in severe enough heat.
Salt is very important. Need air to breathe. Need water to drink. Need salt to keep the system working properly. The salt trade was one of recorded history’s first large trading networks, IIRC.
Yeah, I know what I carried could’ve been made into trail mix. I preferred the ingredients to be separate. Eating nothing but trail mix always bored me. Eating jerky and dried fruit, then later eating salted sunflower seeds in the shell, then something else later followed by a chocolate with some tea? That worked better for me than trail mix.
Thing is, William had been at war even as a child as soon as his father died. He had a lot of field experience being the leader of troops and campaigns. In Saxon England, however, there had been few battles since 1016 when Canute of Denmark split the country with Edmund Ironside, who promptly died. Border events with Scotland, yes, but none featured Harold or his family. There were internal squabbles in which one leading family or another would raise an army threatening civil war, only to be talked down and given a lot of concessions. No fighting. Eventually, Harold, as Edward the confessor’s most powerful noble, led a war against Wales, killing the king of Wales and marrying his widow. That was the bulk of Harold’s military experience.
Further, the Godwinson family was not universally loved in England. They were NOT of Saxon royal descent but were related by marriage to Canute’s Danish family. (I think it was Harold’s mother’s brother was married to Canute’s sister.) That combined with Harold taking up his father’s bullying attitude made Harold the best adult choice to be the king while also detested by those who were on the wrong side of the bullying. The male descendant of Ethelred the Unready was a mere teenager who had been born and raised in Hungary and really was not king material when England’s leaders knew that William was going to invade.
So, haste to prove to his countrymen that he cared about them was part of his engaging in battle with William after a forced march north, a vicious battle at Stamford Bridge against Harald of Norway and his sidekick Tostig Godwinson, then another forced march south. Haste. Overconfidence. Fear that his own people might not like him. And a subpar battle plan, to say the least. Ooops! not the best circumstances for Harold, and he paid for it. He was lacking proper studies of Sun Tzu in his military education, apparently. 😉
Ack! It got nastily windy today. Dry wind with warm temperatures. Too windy to walk, so Dame Avalanche and I ran errands. She always enjoys riding in the car.
Oh, lunch with Young Neighbor? I had the pork in green chili sauce with sliced cactus. Very tasty with some nice spicey heat. Corn tortillas and, of course, beans and rice. She had chicken in mole (pronounced moLAY) sauce, flour tortillas and beans and rice. She had never eaten there before and was impressed with how good the food was.
DJSpo
Hi Pam,
Eight years seems to be about the maximum I’m allowed to enjoy from this high tech stuff. I’ve got a laptop which is about eighteen years old, and runs the previous version of wundows, version ten. It’s kept ticking along, just in case. It was the software folks which deemed that much older venerable laptop beast was to be made redundant. If I may make a prediction: The future will involve far less software upgrades than at present.
Thanks for the info on Black Walnuts. I’ve often wondered if I should plant one of those trees. Hmm. Very interesting regarding the dye. Out of curiosity, what material did you dye?
Sorry to say, but the Kookaburras all look alike to me, so it may be anyone of them. The magpies on the other hand make themselves known to me, so I get a better feel for the individuals.
Pam, the thought of 22 deer near to the mailboxes, gives me a good old fashioned attack of the vapours. I’m swooning… 🙂 They’d be hungry at this time of year too. Has the herd decamped to elsewhere?
Happy Equinox to you as well.
Cheers
Chris
Hi kallianeira,
Thanks for the kind thoughts, and it’s never a good time to be ill.
Ah, thanks so much for the description of your mini-hot-water heater. I’d spotted those devices and had wondered about them. They probably don’t use a lot of electricity, but I guess it depends on how insulated the small water tank is. Dunno. So yes, switching them off when you are away for a day or two, is a great idea mostly because I’d imagine that they’d get the reservoir of water up to temperature and keep it more or less there, during both the day, and the night. Interesting.
Ha! The dirt rat has a good dark green colour which camouflages the mud and dust. I so hear you about that too. Winter is mud time, and summer is dust time. Have you ever had the sort of rain which brings the droplets of red dust during really dry years?
Nope. We have very little plastic waste, and no garbage service, so there is a system for every type of waste. The only thing I’ll haul to the tip is scrap metal for recycling, because it will get recycled. Oh sorry, e-waste goes to the tip as well, because they collect the stuff for free.
Yeah, the season sure has turned and mornings are damp here now as well. Isn’t it always a surprise to see the dew on the cars of the early morning?
That’s right, the wall cavities are open at the top. On the external side there is strong aviary steel mesh to stop birds getting into the woodshed (that’ll be seen next week). But basically you can stick the nozzle of a blower under or over on the internal side of the wall, and just clean any pests out of there. I’ve got a Sthil 240V electric blower and the thing is a beast and it is used to clean machines, much more powerful than any two stroke equivalent.
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
Holy carp, below sea level is even hotter than the usual surrounding area. It’s good advice too, although I’d imagine that plenty of people would put it to the ultimate test. It’s not a place to break down.
Funnily enough, I’ve never considered the salt trade down under indigenous folks, and trading has been part of the culture for longer than western civilisation has been around. It got me thinking though, what about salt, and that was a Doh! moment: saltbush. Makes perfect sense.
Wow, thank you so much for the larger background to Harold the unfortunate, and there are few signs of great leadership on display in your brief history. They do say that history is written by the victors, and long ancient slurs are often made, but your description matches the outcome. He was a poor leader. It’s funny, but bully’s are woeful leaders because they simply fail to take in new information which doesn’t concord with their pre-existing notions as to how the world should look. There was a security trader allegedly with that trait who lost more just prior to the crash which lead to the GFC than pretty much anyone before, or since has done. A fine achievement. Sun Tzu would never act so.
🙂 Hope the wind has abated somewhat by now? It was truly stunning here today. Warm, but not too hot, and no breeze to speak of. Blue skies ruled. Began putting up sheets of corrugated metal onto the new firewood shed. Did some on the front, and about three or four on the back. Looking good.
Far out, that sounds tasty-as! Yum! Nice to enjoy lunch with friends.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Did he move to Switzerland at the end of the book, thus the sequel? I thought he was English anyway, what’s he doing over there… 😉 Ah, well you learn something new everyday! That family you mentioned were headed down under before getting shipwrecked in the Dutch East Indies. You know, I reckon the name is cursed, so if you ever step on board a vessel and the captain’s surname is Robinson, or some such derivative, run… I ain’t watching no dizzy film.
Ah, yes, well zombies. 🙂 Enjoy, and I always appreciate your reviews. Gourmet mac and cheese with heaps of veg, could also be described as a seasonal vegetable pasta, the Ortolana. Oh no, oh well, the film was an excellent premise and the trailer did look spooky. Actually, I liked the sound of the plot.
Nobody wants their phone hacked – remember those days and it ended up being some UK media mob allegedly behind it all?
I’d not realised that the author had passed away after a long and productive life. The book clearly has some power.
Actually I’m getting pretty tired tonight. Worked on getting sheets onto the walls of the new shed in the delightfully warm sunshine. Barely made a dent in the job, but it’s the job which isn’t started etc… The screw designs have changed since only a few years ago. Presumably the manufacturers expect people to own an impact driver… For those who don’t, it’s hard work.
The library story is not a good look. Seriously, no admin on the chopping block is very poor optics as the kids would say. I dunno man, it’s not how I’d run things, and certainly didn’t do so when at the big end of town. Decline comes on the back of millions of such decisions based usually on acts of self interest.
Me too, although sometimes I shop very early for similar reasons. 😉
Yup, they’d all get turfed in the bin here as well. I’ve got this thing about sandwiches being made fresh, or only a short while beforehand. Interestingly, I’ve not come across a sugar cookie before. There’s some good produce in the box though, and the story of baby carrots is fascinating. How it can ever make economic sense, baffles me.
Very good with the Club pantry, and I’m glad to read that it’s back and in use. Times like these…
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – I watched a DVD extra. The making of “Good Boy.” The dog, Indy, was not a trained “actor” dog. So the dog was owned by the Director. And, in a way, it was a bit of film sleight of hand, that made the dog’s performance. It’s probably stuff they teach in film school.
It was discovered, very early on, back to silent films, that audiences can be manipulated, in a way. The “feeling” of the film, or scene, can have a lot to do with context. It’s called the “Kuleshov Effect.”
https://w.wiki/AW8m
There’s also a link down at the bottom of the article, for “uncanny valley.” Which has to do with what makes a monster, a monster. At least as perceived by an audience.
I meant to ask, is that corse ground pepper on your dehydrating tomatoes? What sort of things might you add to them, and how would you use them?
Anne Rice really cranked out the books. 🙂 I began to wonder if there was any kind of order, to read them. Well, sort of. I found this interesting site, which gives a short synopsis of each book, and a bit of a critique. There’s one or two others I might have to look into. The one I’m reading now, is “Blood and Gold.” Which is the story of Marius, the Roman. Made a vampire in the reign of Augustus Caesar.
https://rtbookreviews.com/anne-rice-books-in-order/
Like Dexter, several of the vampires kill only “Evil Ones.” LOL, at one point, Marius wonders if he’s killed so many bad guys, in Venice, if the general crime rate has fallen. 🙂
Let’s change the screw designs! Seems like a good idea. What could possibly go wrong? 🙂
I don’t know how the whole library thing is going to shake out. But a lot of people are going to be hurt in the process.
Sugar cookies go way back. I’d guess you have them down there, but perhaps call them something else. I left them down in the lobby, last night. It will be interesting to see if any are left, tonight.
Well, since Americans demand perfection in their produce, misshapen or broken carrots value, can be recovered by relaunching them as “baby” carrots. Initial investment in a machine, to do this, is probably rapidly recovered.
The same desire for perfection, was also at work in the antiques and collectibles biz. Any real (or perceived) flaw, could drive an items value down to zero. Something a dealer was aware of … but never a seller. 🙂
“Times like these…” indeed. I can’t quit shake the feeling that something really bad is going to happen. A feeling of “impending doom?” Big changes in the works? I hope I’m being silly. Lew
@ Kallianeira:
Thank you so much for the condolences. That is so sweet of you.
Pam
Chris:
“If I may make a prediction: The future will involve far less software upgrades than at present.” You may, and I sincerely hope you are right.
I dyed organic, unbleached cotton. I was making various natural dyes in those days, and sewing shopping bags and dyeing them.
The herd seems to go around in big circles. They are also fairly fluid – sometimes there are more, sometimes there are less.
I planted more seeds in the garden today. I guess it is coming along okay. There have been a lot of days I couldn’t get out there. I have a veritable forest of not-so-small tomato plants in the plant room (fig nursery) upstairs in the house. I have been given my own little corner to start seeds in. The whole room is grow lights and there is a hose to use that is attached to a tap my son installed in the closet (connecting to the bathroom plumbing with a shared wall). The floor is vinyl over the pine boards (that’s temporary). It’s a pretty neat room.
Pam
Chris:
Nifty! You think of everything.
Pam
Hi Pam,
Many years ago when working on the election count, I got to speak with all of the folks voting from out of the area. One bloke was a farmer from up in the drier western part of this state, and it’d been a dry year too. After some discussion, he told me that his cattle were fine for feed because he’d grown several large paddocks of saltbush. I’d forgotten about that story until a few days ago. Hmm.
Yogi Berra was heard to have remarked that ‘predictions are hard, especially when they’re about the future’. The cheeky scamp was not wrong either, but I’d have to suggest that in the long run, less tech workers, means less upgrades.
Nice work. Ooo, I get that about the unbleached organic cotton as a fine choice, and likewise have used heavy duty cotton shopping bags for over a quarter of a century. Plastic is hard to avoid, but like all fossil fuels, its application runs hand in hand with resource decline. Hey, I recall the days of paper shopping bags, shopping jeeps, and have noted a return to the paper shopping bag.
Ah! Interesting, and a person learns more about the critters with observation and such details. The unknown neighbour was again out there today declaring world war three on the herbivores. I must add that the bullet budget seems to be rather large. Mind you, I’m seeing no deer now, but imagine that they’d be lurking up in other less volatile parts of the mountain range, biding their time. Probably best not to waste the ammo especially given the last of twenty was something around $80, but ain’t my call. Haven’t met the bloke either.
I know what you mean. Sometimes the weather doesn’t accord with plans, and other times you and I are recovering from recent bouts of the horrids. 🙂 We’re getting there though, you and I! Far out. A nice set up to grow the seedlings in, and it’s a business, and biz which brings the mad cash in takes preference – even here.
Some of the grape vines probably aren’t appropriate for this climate, but one or two are, and I might pull the others out and propagate the ones that are doing really well. No point growing plants which don’t work out.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
There are dogs with crazy energy, and then there are other more sensible and intelligent dogs, so it’s hard to know how far an individual pooch can be trained. Although there are always folks with great skills in a given area. And you raise an interesting point, does a person working in the film biz, really need to go to film school? We’ve mentioned many a time, that when I was a young bloke fresh to the profession, there were heaps of older accountants who’d learned the ropes via the way of the apprenticeship. It’s a cheaper path, and in the long run will be the model that we return too. I’ve trained two folks over the years who’d had the natural aptitude, but lacked the credentials, on the basis that they’d be loyal employees to an organisation once I’d departed. And such was the case last I heard. I’m of the belief that society trashes relationships and that that is a bad thing.
Well it’s symbolism at large isn’t it? People identify meaning with symbols, and the combination of the parts become larger than the whole, thus the effect of the montage. Thanks for mentioning the effect too, and the folks a century, or indeed a millennia or more ago, were equally as clever as we are, but lacked the energy and resources.
Reading about Mr Crusoe’s (I’ve got a mental hang up about how that surname is spelt) adventures, the bloke displays a canny knack for making the most of a tight spot. An achievement which we could all aspire too.
Man, I’d not been aware of the uncanny valley effect, but whoa! My mind is now blown, and dare I mention the strangely hard to ignore film: Ex Machina (film). Talk about super creepy robots.
It is course ground black pepper (and salt) on the dehydrating tomatoes, and yummo! Once they’re crispy dry, they’re stored in olive oil and used on all sorts of meals as a taste bomb. Home made pizza, pasta, and other dishes. The oil isn’t wasted either as that gets used as olive oil, but with some additional flavour oomph. So good…
That’s funny, yes, vampires in the crime fighting business. Makes about as much sense as Dexter, which kind of works. 🙂 Someone needs to take out the trash.
I know, the Editor was wondering why I was a bit err, poopy after drilling over a hundred of those new screw designs. And I ain’t buying an impact drill just for this one job. I use the hammer function now to break the steel surface tension, and then revert to drilling. Look, the screw design is cheaper and I get that, costs are ratcheting up for building products. The Editor tells me that plastic stuff is up around 30% to 40% due to the unfolding events. Lucky I picked up bulk supplies of that stuff a few weeks ago. The Editor if I may add, is politely still in bubble land about events. When fuel is rationed, as I reckon it will be soon, then she’ll know. But until then we have a difference of opinion and I’m pulling her through this by sheer force of will, as she’s not quite yet convinced of the need for urgency. Time will tell who is right. Dunno.
Yeah, the library thing is sad, but the admin folks are simply dodging the bullet of today. Their time will come, for ‘if you tolerate this, then a person can hardly complain when it happens to them.’
Any of the sugar cookies left? Maybe there are local equivalents, but I believe that the name would not sell here.
I know about the perfection thing, and it’s true down here as well. People have been fed unrealistic expectations, and I don’t know how that can be managed. Hunger is perhaps what it may get to before such standards are quietly shelved. Man, I’ve shopped at fresh food markets, and grown produce, and the stuff is all over the shop in terms of size and shape. Nature is very random. And yes, I was aware of the carrot lathe and wonder at such marketing genius.
😉 Well done you, and buyer beware ‘Caveat Emptor’ has long been the way of things.
No, it isn’t just you, and easiest path to peace in say energy starved Europe, is simply to cut off the fuel supplies. Like that Harold bloke who lost to the Norman’s, his weaknesses and potential responses were well known. Thus the uranian folks response would have been an opportunity to sort out a bunch of problems all at once. Heavy fuels are the key to the entire story.
Cheers and better get writing, but might make some dinner first. Gourmet veg pasta tonight. Yum!
Chris
Yo, Chris – Is film school necessary? Well, the gate keepers would make you think so. 🙂 It seems like, over the last 50 years or so, gate keeping and setting up a lenocracy in different areas seems to be the thing.
People who aspire to be chefs seem to think a stint in culinary school is necessary. Artists and writers aspire to BFAs (Bachelor of Fine Arts) or MFAs (Master of Fine Arts.) But I can’t see that any of those things are guarantees of success … or, talent.
Formal education and certifications might give you a leg up, mostly due to connections made. And, people have been able to wiggle through to success, un-degreed.
I watched a rather interesting old film, last night. I remember when it came out. I saw it then. It’s become part of the Criterion Film Collection. It’s called “Testament.”
https://w.wiki/KBP$
The clam shell of sugar cookies, disappeared in less than 24 hours. 🙂 It was rather hard to figure out if you had them down there, mostly due to the linguistic gyrations between “biscuit” and “cookie.” 🙂 But here’s the basics. One thing I’ll mention is that sugar cookie dough lends itself to cutting into shapes.
https://w.wiki/KBLh
I made up a batch of my version of Spanish rice, last night. I think tonight is going to be a popcorn night.
LOL. I’ll be glad once you’re through with “Robinson Crusoe.” I also have a problem with that name. I have to look up “Crusoe,” every time it comes up.
Our high yesterday was 59F (15C). Our overnight low was 32F (-0-). Our forecast high for today is 52F. Clear and sunny. Lew