Spending a dozen years documenting life on a small hobby farm during the declining years of western civilisation, has left me in a state of awe. Truly! Think of the sheer spectacle: twelve rotations around the sun, at a rate of around two thousand words per week, is a whole bunch of words: roughly one and a quarter million. Thankfully there is no pressure to come up with new insights, that would have killed the blog after week one. Hey, I’ve got this great idea, would be loudly yelled into the interweb ether! Much rejoicing and celebrations would take place. Week two would be a disappointment, and let’s not discuss the unflattering critiques thereafter.
Anywhoo, new ideas, what are these things? The fictional cop, Dirty Harry, suggested long ago that a man has to: Know his limitations, and it’s true. Inspiration however, does occasionally strike at the oddest moments. So there Sandra and I were in the supermarket, and a bulk pack of the usual toilet paper could not be found on the shelves. So living on the edge, we bought the substitute stuff. Why not? For the purposes of research for this blog, we dived on in.
It’s been remarked upon elsewhere, that those who live upon the edge, may suffer the experience of falling, usually towards the direction of the ground. The clinical trials of the new product produced flaky little chunks of…, and also the occasional finger through… OK, that’s too much information. The stuff is a manufacturing abomination. Clearly people are good with the product, the fact of its existence speaks to that. Anyway, who cares about our opinions? We however, won’t be repeating the experiment.
See, new ideas are dangerous! And they come with all manner of hidden risks. For those readers who are concerned, we burned those unused toilet paper rolls off, and the ash will fertilise the orchards. Nothing goes to waste here.
Yeah decline, it’s a funny thing, and it ain’t just about toilet paper. Long term readers will recall that around a year and a half ago, we altered the household arrangements for gas. The hot water system uses bottles of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG). There are solar hot water panels on the roof, but they don’t work during winter when the skies are cloudy and the air is cool. The wood heater has a 30kW hot water jacket sitting inside the combustion chamber, but the way the system is plumbed, the captured heat is used to warm the house rather than providing toasty hot water. At best the firewood produces warm, but not hot water at the tap. The gas makes up the difference between the two systems.
For those who don’t know, LPG is a gas made up from a mixture of propane and butane. Fun fact, butane contains about 9% more energy than propane for the same volume of gas. The stuff is sold in swap over 8.5kg / 19 pound metal cylinders, and down here you can replace them at depots which are all over the place. You drop one off, and pick up a replacement. Easy! Connect it up, check for leaks, and off you go. It’s worthwhile mentioning, that when you purchase a cylinder of gas, you’d really want more butane than propane, as this will give the biggest bang for the buck, but who really knows what is in them.
Back to the recent changes we made with gas. For about a decade and a half we used these really big 45kg / 99 pound LPG bottles. There were two of them, and a company would drop replace them off upon request and pick up the empties. At a rate of about one every six months, we were probably not ideal customers. It’s a volume business, and so they slapped on a quarterly rental fee of around $65 (which excludes the cost of the replacement cylinders). Every bill the rental fee went up. After a while the sensitive person gets the impression that the business no longer wished to deal with us.
What to do? We requested that they pick up the two large gas cylinders, and get lost. Using some scrap metal, a sturdy stand was welded up, and the two big gas bottles were replaced with the two smaller 8.5kg / 19 pound gas bottles. Much lighter, and we could chuck one in the car, and get it swapped over at a depot. We’d reduced the annual costs by over 60%. Winning!
Some folks may wonder why there are two gas bottles? Well, when one bottle becomes empty, you can quickly switch a valve over to the other cylinder, and just keep going with whatever activity it was that you needed the hot water for. You then have plenty of time to source a replacement. It’s a simple system, which works, that is if you don’t forget to replace the empty bottle. Such things don’t happen here, we have lists!
We also keep records. Important things which can alert you to changes in the patterns. Here is a record of our purchases since this journey began:
- 17 Dec 24 – 60 days – $32 gas + $53 for the bottle
- 15 Feb 25 – 47 days – $32 gas + $53 for the second bottle
- 3 Apr 25 – 33 days – $32 gas
- 6 May 25 – 41 days – $32 gas
- 16 Jun 25 – 32 days – $32 gas
- 18 Jul 25 – 35 days – $29.99 gas (sourced a cheaper supplier)
- 22 Aug 25 – 36 days – $32 gas
- 27 Sep 25 – 37 days – $29.99 gas
- 3 Nov 25 – 37 days – $29.99 gas
- 10 Dec 25 – 50 days – $29.99 gas
- 29 Jan 26 – 32 days – $29.99 gas (made jam on the gas stove)
- 16 Mar 26 – 24 days – $29.99 gas
- 9 Apr 26 – 25 days – $29.99 gas
- 15 May 26 – not empty yet – $34.90 gas (trying a different supplier)
Has anyone spotted the recent pattern yet? Spoiler alert: the most recent cylinders aren’t lasting as many days.
The March bottle was purchased after the dust up in the Middle East had begun. Also there was that mysterious fire at the only refinery in the southern part of the continent back in April: What we know about the ‘unprecedented’ Geelong refinery fire. Apparently the specific parts of the refinery affected by the fire involved LPG production and low aromatic gasoline. That first product mentioned, is sadly the gas we use. Oh well. Anyway, demand for the gas had been exceeding supply in this state, despite the muppets-in-charge continuing to add more people to the mixture.
Decline is a funny thing, and we’ll run short decades before zombies are roaming the streets hungry for brains. It’s a slow grinding descent into that most awful state of: less stuff. Here, we can adapt our systems, and will probably purchase a third gas bottle, which should provide a bit of extra buffer. Still, as a consumer it’s hard to really know what is going on, and like the experience with the toilet paper, it’s a bit shit!
The season of winter is remarkably humid here. Months can go by with humidity hovering around the 99% mark. You don’t have to water the garden during the winter months, put it that way!
Before I continue, the circus has come to the nearby town. The lights of the big top can be seen from this elevation. Stephen King’s novel ‘It’ has left me with a preternatural fear of clowns, and so we won’t be visiting the show. It’s quite pretty, at this hopefully safe distance (Pennywise sure got around):
The rats or mice have continued their attempts to get under the house. The benefits for them are many, including a toasty warm and dry winter abode. They were thwarted by strong steel mesh on this occasion:
Best if we continued to surround the house with rodent proof concrete trenches. I’m yet to meet a rat or mouse who could dig through properly cured cement. That work continued this week.
Respect the super strong Bakelite bowl. It’s most useful for scooping soil. Once the trench was properly dug, we had to keep a lookout lest a rodent from the nearby garden bed shoot under the house.
A strong water tight mixture of cement was soon poured into the trench. Take that, ye pesky rodents!
Rats could easily dig through wet cement, so whilst the stuff is drying, we’d regularly check to see if there had been any untoward activity. Rodents are usually more active at night, so it’s unlikely they’d try creating a tunnel, but you never know.
More trenches were dug on the uphill side of the house.
Those were also filled with cement, none of which was sampled by the rats or mice.
Observant readers will note the two gas bottles previously mentioned, but such clever people will also note that the soil has been scraped back to clay. Previously, large-ish rocks of about an inch in diameter were used to thwart the rats from getting under the house. It just didn’t work to stop the mice. Now we have a lot of these rocks spare, and are using them to shore up the soil behind the long row of steel rock gabion cages. Nothing goes to waste here.
One of the cages was sewn shut, and more of the geranium on the sloping garden bed was removed. There are plans for this area! The plant material was slowly burned off in the brazier, and the ash will be distributed in the orchard and mixed into the soil.
The soil removed from the rodent trenching activity is an awesome resource. We’re using the material to build up the path and garden bed immediately below the house. The stuff is full of volcanic clay and lime, so it’ll grow plants easily.
The downhill edge of that path has a long line of rhubarb plants. They were planted out this week:
In order to place the soil on the path, about thirty bearded iris plants had to be relocated.
We’ve been a bit late this year cleaning out the greenhouse. With the summer plants now done, we pulled the remaining tomato vines and dumped them in the paddock. A mower will be used to chop up the lot. The soil critters will do the rest.
We try not to do mess here, but sometimes that can’t be helped. Here is the greenhouse after we removed the tomato vines:
The inside and outside surfaces of the greenhouse were hit hard with the pressure washer. Gave it a nice clean up.
The shelves on the right hand side of the greenhouse were removed. They’d been shading the garden bed underneath them. The plants growing there weren’t doing all that great. In the above photo you can see that the turmeric is now planted in a garden bed – which should make harvesting the tubers easier.
It’s been a travesty to have to buy chilli’s, but the above plant is the only one which has done well this year. It is neither over shadowed by the shelves, nor was it crowded out by tomatoes. There is a lesson there, or maybe two or three of them!
One of the shelves had a lot of ferns growing in pots. We’d purchased them mid last year for a project which hasn’t been completed, and may not be for a while. There is no need for these local plants to be growing in the greenhouse, so they got kicked out into the wilds, with some help from the ex-tomato soil.
About ten Mother Shield ferns (Polystichum proliferum) were planted surrounding a Rough Tree Fern (Cyathea australis). There were already two such tree ferns growing in the bed, and in a year or four, it’ll look awesome.
Onto the flowers:
The temperature outside now at about 11am is 13’C (56’F). So far for this year there has been 379.8mm (15.0 inches) which is up from last weeks total of 371.8mm (14.6 inches)
Comments
47 responses to “Funny business”
Hi Chris,
That’s not good about the lowered heat content of your LPG, but it’s also not surprising – the LPG version of shrinkflation. Chocolate chips used to be sold in 12 ounce bags, but now the bags are 10 ounces. So far the quality hasn’t been affected, but who knows how long that will last.
Because the Muddle East thing didn’t start until winter was almost over and March and April were so very warm here, I didn’t pay attention to any changes in the unit price of natural gas, our heating fuel, which is mostly methane. Checking the unit price in the current bill against January’s bill, I see it hasn’t changed. But the US still has a domestic natural gas supply. Gasoline is holding at $4.15 per gallon (4 liters) but diesel is higher, about $5.30 per gallon being the cheapest I noticed.
How warm was it in March? We set 4 daily record highs, and the last of those, at 93F, broke the record high for the entire month of March. It also tied the record high for the month of April. One good thing about the heat outdoors was less need to add heat to the indoors. May, on the other hand, has been cooler and a wetter than normal, and we’ve had to use the furnace a little. We have had more than enough rain and have no drought, a good position to be in as summer approaches.
Outside of my garlic and potato onion crops which I planted last autumn and which the deer turn up their noses at, I’m not growing any vegetables this year. But Mike and I did see, at a local urban farming non-profit organization, their approach to deer fencing, which looks simple enough for us to implement and low enough cost to be worth trying. It won’t look good like your fencing – the fencing is plastic – but it should last for the 10 or so years we may have left at this house, and if the new folks don’t like it or need it, it’ll be easy enough for them to remove. Putting it up will be a project for this autumn, as there is other work on the list ahead of it.
Claire
Muppets? in charge? Chris, you’re too kind 👹
Yo, Chris – Well, that’s quit a tale about the toilet paper (aka: T.P.). That batch I bought with the oversized spindle, was also of poor quality. Unfortunately, I couldn’t burn it in the parking lot, and add the ash to the garden. Might attract undue attention. 🙂 So, I just had to struggle through … with care. At least with the increased size spindles, there wasn’t that much of it, to get through. Luckily, Winco has its own brand, which is pretty good, and economical.
LPG gas. Less gas in the bottles? More shrinkflation? That was quite a fire, at the Geelong refinery. Sounds like it was stomped out, pretty quickly. Unlike a similar disaster in California.
https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/24/us/california-orange-county-evacuation-what-we-know-hnk
Westminster is where I mostly worked, when I lived in S. California. Westminster Mall, was the first bookstore I managed.
Ohhhh, the circus tent looks so cool. If the wind is blowing the right direction, you might be able to hear the calliope. Maybe the shooting galleries. Pennywise the Clown ought to have enough to keep him busy, down in the valley. Part of the “It: Welcome to Derry,” that I just watched, takes place around a traveling carnival.
Chris spent his week in the trenches. 🙂 The mouse and rat Huns were beaten back.
That was quite the job, cleaning out and rearranging the green house. All plants will be happier, given their new arrangements.
I have to ask, what do you do with your chilis? I have a string of Cayenne peppers, and the only thing I can think to do with them is make vats of chili.
That is some big shroom. I have to ask, how is Alkanet, useful? Leaf peppers, aside, leaf change is just beautiful. Lew
Hi Kezza,
One must use the tools (!) to which they have, or throw them out with the trash!. 😉
Cheers
Chris
Hi Claire,
The gas is an interesting matter, and it would not be obvious, unless a person kept records. 😉 In order to reduce the number of variables, we’ve tried a new supplier, and there is also the possibility that there is an unknown fault within the system itself. However, it’s not lost on me that during a period of increased demand, reduced supply, prices remaining the same, that the most probable explanations are either: not full; or different chemicals. Still, I’ve got an open mind on the situation, and purchased a third bottle just in case.
The cost of chocolate surprises me too, and at the supermarket this morning I spotted a box of Lindt 333g for AU$36. To put it in US terms, doing a bit of quick math, that is US$75/kg or US$34/pound. Consume sparingly seems to be the message don’t you reckon?
Right! Methane is what is also described as Natural Gas, and for your interest (I ripped these numbers from a local interweb site so they’re indicative more than exact, but still, they tell a story) LPG (butane / propane mix) is 93.2MJ/m³ whilst natural gas (methane) is at 38.7MJ/m³. Didn’t know that difference, and it’s quite marked. Your methane gas would be locally sourced, that’s for sure. There’s heaps of deposits down here as well, but much is exported so that we can pay for imports of oil (we’re 90% import dependent for crude oil!)
For your interest Petrol (gasoline) is now about US$4.79/gallon and diesel is US$6.65/gallon at the pump. It is worth noting that worldwide, there are more reserves of the lighter grades of oil such as gasoline, than there are of the heavier stuff such as diesel.
Your weather is all over the shop, and nobody really wants to experience record breaking events, in any direction! 🙂 Hope you are doing OK with that? My experiences with late winter / early spring have been kind of similar recently. Spare a thought for the poor confused Apricots and Almonds which go into shock when the cold weather returns after a warm start to the growing season. It’s hard on the early season plants. The Plumcott tree has never produced a single fruit, despite being quite large.
Claire, the deer are an awful problem which I wish was not mine to deal with. Alas, Sandra is even less inclined in this matter, but at least supportive of the reality. Other than me here (and a couple of neighbours), they have no predators. Anywhoo, hope your deer fencing idea works out, and I don’t see why it wouldn’t. The herbivores tend to sample the easiest to get at areas first, and having some fencing will put you way ahead of the pack. Think of your solution like encountering zombies, all you have to do is outrun the slowest in your group! 🙂
Hope you get back into the garden soon. But sometimes the plants have to take a back seat whilst the infrastructure (and life) gets sorted out. The recent firewood shed build took a bit under 3 months, and the plants had to just do their thing during those days. A person can’t do everything, can they?
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
Ha! You’ve given me an entirely different perspective on the matter of corporate meetings. Fascinating, and to think that I’d assumed people turned up to work, to sort of, you know, work. 😉 By contrast, in small business, I get paid to work, not talk. Man, I tell ya what, I used to absolutely hate reporting to boards, and had to hold back on candid opinions lest the embarrassing disclosures not be the sort of thing they wanted to hear. And that’s a problem.
Yeah, can you imagine making that proclamation in a meeting? The uproar, and who could argue with you?
Your selection of ground cover plants reads like a grand symphony of the finest order. Respect, and one the oddest things I’ve observed when living in the nearby project housing, was people dumping their lawn clippings in the bin, or taking them to the tip. Generally if left on the ground, the soil critters will eat all of it. We had a lot of trouble with the neighbours and the grass during those days – the formal notice to cut it back, or else, was the final motivation to leave. Truly, the grass was maybe two inches in height at worst, but mostly less than that.
Thanks, and the chickens are only a few minutes of work each day, and the eggs are worth it. I could harvest the wild rabbits with far less hassles and cost! 😉 But yeah, larger livestock is a drama, and eventually a person has to deal with deadstock, which isn’t pleasant. Cattle are heavy.
Ah, the Jim Chee of the books is more to my liking. Interesting, and who can fathom the minds of series adaptions. I mean, how much narrative meat can a half hour, or hour long visual depiction, actually have? I read daily, and it’s a form which has more, err, depth.
Speaking of Vikings, I came up with the idea that small business decision making operates at the speed of a war band!
Ah, I’d not appreciated that pine has an uneven grain which would make your woodcarving (and burning presumably) more difficult. Some of the knots are rather hard, in what is meant to be a softwood. Hope the Bison details are working out OK, and did you have choice in the material? Interestingly, in the treated pine I purchased recently for the firewood shed, there were few if any knots. It was quite high quality stuff which must have come from old plantation trees. Presumably they’re harvesting some from the fire affected pine plantations from up north east, which might explain that. It surprised me to see the quality.
🙂 Living in the forest, we also like to go for walks in different forested environments in the area. There’s always heaps to see, and the lunches are a good end point! Respect the apple cake.
Your temperatures don’t sound too bad, but that low humidity is a worry. That would have been my guess as well in that it’s a July and August dry experience. And winds, you’ve remarked upon those of late. Never good combined with low humidity for the soil.
I’m not mucking around with you, 6.67 inches of rain for almost five months is not good. Trees will struggle, and perhaps shut down or die in that sort of weather. Yours was a fine snarl, and certainly worthy of baring of teeth. I’d be freaking out if faced with such conditions, and you have my understanding. And well, west of your ranges is a very damp area, which comes with its own dramas, one of which is very serious, being the leaching of soil minerals due to the rain.
Exactly, we can gather around the fire with a fine lady and a good dog and enjoy the moments we have to us.
We’ve been slowly working on the long line of steel rock gabion cages, which continued today. Another was sewn shut. The starter pull rope / cord on a power wheelbarrow broke in my hand today – when the machine was full of rocks way down on the forest edge. Oh well. As I was replacing the rope, the heavens briefly opened (the only time during the day) and I ended up cold and wet. It happens.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
A wise move not to burn off that toilet paper in the car park. For sure, tongues would wag, if you were caught, and perhaps worse. It is compostable, or meant to be. But it would have been better had it not been made in the first place. The wider diameter roll, can only be shrinkflation at its finest, maybe? Crazy stuff, and you sent me on a rabbit hole as to toilets in space. It’s super weird to consider that strange fungi grow on the panels of space stations. Freaky stuff, and some of them on Mir, were apparently quite stinky. The interweb does sometimes lead us into unknown countries.
Oh yeah, the fire at the refinery was put out pretty quickly all things considered. Whoa! What a nightmare scenario that chemical tank is. Did you notice in the article that two fireman were climbing the tank… Nobody wants to experience anything going ‘thermal runaway’. That’s a problem. It’s a risk I’ve been reading up on lately with the battery chemistry I use here. The possibility is very remote, but neither can it be ruled out entirely. And in fact I believe there have been the occasional incident here and there. I might add some more airflow to the battery room (it has some already) which would disperse any possibly released hydrogen gas. Usually charging the batteries at low temperatures, or high voltages causes the off gassing, but there are no guarantees.
Westminster Mall has quite a regal sound to the place name. Was it a busy store?
Ha! I believe that the local steam engine enthusiast group has a calliope, or they repaired one. They’re kind of fun machines, although noisy. I did hear some shooting a little while ago. Hmm. One can only hope so, it is a truth universally acknowledge, that psychopathic clowns, are not to be trusted. And some of those darkly lot do travel around, one down here I believe worked for a telco in rural areas.
Man, the rats and mice have me taking them as a risk, very seriously. We’d somehow walked in a tiny chunk of stick which had fallen off a shoe tread. Anywhoo, I spotted the thing in the hallway and my first thought – given the size – was rat poop. Fortunately a closer investigation revealed the chunk of organic matter to be a stick. That was a relief.
We sewed up another full gabion cage today, and brought up more rocks from way down below at the forest edge. The pull starter rope on the power wheelbarrow broke off in my hands. Went to get the tools and a section of replacement cord, and the heavy rains began, and then went away just as quickly. Of course, at the time I was busy fixing the starter, and ended up quite damp. At least today wasn’t cold or windy.
We’ve had a tug-o-war regarding plant spacing over the years, and the Editor is coming around to the idea of ‘less plants, with more growing space, equals greater production’. I was ruthless (AKA I put my foot down this year) with tomato spacing in the greenhouse this season, and thank gawds too, because that hail storm destroyed all of the outdoor tomatoes. Anywhoo, about ten vines produced our entire years needs, and we’re still eating fresh tomatoes. The Editor over planted the chilli’s in the greenhouse, and so we got very little produce from a lot of weakened plants. The challenge was placed, and the results are in. Now we’ll thin the number of plants in that space and manage them better. Hmm. It’s been a big journey that one.
By the way, I spread the ash on those raised garden beds inside the greenhouse earlier today.
The chilli’s are a Jalapeño variety and they’re pretty mild. Although randomly, they can be a bit zingy at times! I don’t eat chilli at night, or other spicy foods for that matter. But for lunches, we chuck them in all sorts of meals – like the pesto made earlier today. Minestrone soup is err, spiced up with some chilli. Your rice with eggs and veg could have a few chunks of fresh chilli chucked in. Yum! They do affect a persons sleep, and that’s why I only eat them at lunch time. Pepper and fiery curries can have similar impacts. Why mess with a pleasant repose?
Alkanet provides plenty of fresh greens all year around for the chickens, but they’re particularly reliable during the winter months. Related to borage and comfrey. They’re good for the soil as well.
The leaf change is very pretty, yes. 🙂
People do get rather odd about not wanting to join in on social media. That was my impression as well, but mostly the lack of dialogue bothers me. If I were a comedian though looking for material, there’s some very amusing comments on some of the less filtered sites like readdit. But it’s all social point scoring…
Hehe! Your face plant risk, is probably how things would roll. The Editor tells me that with face plant, she can tell by unrelated ‘people who you may know suggestions’, are also very much the same folks who are interweb stalking. How else would they turn up on that list of suggestions – especially if there are no other links?
Oh my, the number is about the same down under, and also rising. The median house price nationally in Australia compared to income, is an insane number. Mad. A friend who is into the yellow metul, told me bluntly, that it’s not the metul which is worth more, it’s that mad cash is worth less. An astute observation. Right now, the politicians are fiddling around at the edges, but many of those apparently own multiple houses.
It’s a good gardening pun, yeah! 🙂 Nice idea to chuck in some benefits for taking those tomato and tomatillo seedlings. The beans will enjoy the rain, and hope you and H dodge it.
The turmeric root systems was impressive, and there was some temptation to remove a tuber or two. The plant may need to get established in it’s new location. I’d like ginger, but it’s just slightly too cold for that plant at this location, even in the greenhouse.
🙂 Cool. Yes, cooking in the slow lane.
Agreed, Gertrude Stein lead a fascinating life, and I can appreciate your interest. What a time to be alive that would have been. I’m sure her writing is genius, but the language! The language! What the heck? Now Larry McMurtry, he’s a very interesting character. And to imagine that in the background of all that writing work, or was it the foreground, he ran a respected antiquarian bookshop, as you do. A strong work ethic, to which I respect.
Hmm, I was not sure of the origin of Mr King’s book stack which he read during the year of illness, and will take a re-read. By the way, the ear surgeon visits sounded horrendous. A real butcher incident.
Did the rain return? We’re back in the land of the mountainous glooming. 🙂
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – I saw a headline this morning, that the chemical tank fire is out, or at least, under control. Our poisoned planet, indeed.
Yes, Westminster Mall was a happenin’ place. Oh, dear. I sort of wish I hadn’t read this. I might check the ultimate fate, of all the other malls I worked in. I think the mall opening was earlier, than stated in the article. I do remember that there was a construction strike, but the crew to build my store came from out of state, so, we were about the first business, open in the mall.
https://w.wiki/PGYH
Isn’t that always the way? Of course, it’s going to pour, when you needed to replace the rope. H and I went out for our walk this morning, and just as we headed back in, the rains came. We dodged the worst of it.
Our high yesterday was 77F (25C). Our overnight low was 50F (10C). Our forecast high for today is 58F. Gee, all round numbers. Maybe I should play the lottery? 🙂 It will rain today, and tomorrow. Then clear off with highs in the upper 60s and low 70s. Just about ideal weather.
By necessity, things are pretty tight in my garden plots. I got the last two tomatoes, and the two tomatillos, planted last night. Did a lot of weeding. I saw the caregiver, this morning, for the plot I put the tomatoes in. All’s well. Turns out she was on vacation, last week. No Master Gardeners, this morning. I suppose between the holiday, and the rain … Beans will have to wait until the weather clears.
Speaking of the Master Gardeners, they left a wheel barrow full of tree trimmings, on the back lawn, last they were here. Well, first I had to move it, to the side porch. As, the landscapers mow that patch. I managed to get some of it in the dumpster, late Thursday night, before pick up on Friday. More went into the dumpster, last night, as there was a bit of space, before pick up this morning. I think the rest of it can go in today, or tomorrow. Always have to take a care to not overfill the dumpster.
We’ve had borage and comfrey, volunteer here. But none this year. I think I Master Gardeners finally eradicated it. I might start some in my plots, turn it under before it goes to seed. Improve the soil.
I watched the newest iteration of “Dracula,” last night. Not that bad, but, I’ve seen better adaptations. It pretty much stuck to the novel, except it included a bit of real history at the beginning. The Count’s fight against the Turks. The later bit takes place in Paris, instead of London. Harker still shows up at the castle. There are lively gargoyles, who are Dracula’s minions. But Dracula’s hair style, early on? Even wilder than the 1992 film.
https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/features/2091662-dracula-director-luc-besson-turning-horror-story-into-gothic-romance
Would I recommend it? Oh, I don’t know. There are better versions, out there. Lew
Chris,
“…I’d assumed people turned up to work, to sort of, you know, work.” Dang, you are sure into poking bears this week aren’t you? 😉 Yeah, I know you were joking. Having worked for a small business way back when, I concur with your opinion. There weren’t meetings. The owners would come up with an idea then implement it. If I had an idea that could make my job more efficient and save the company money, they were appreciative.
Yes, who can argue with what my gods may or may not have told me? There was one Christmas season during which a supervisor in my group, but not my boss, decided that we ALL had to help her make Christmas decorations, including religious ones. Even telling her that she wasn’t my boss and can’t require diddly from me didn’t slow her down. I finally told her that since her religion tells her to tell others what to do and believe, and she is practicing that during work hours, then I get to do MY ancestral thing during work hours. She agreed before asking, “And what does that entail?” Naturally, the reply was that my ancestors, when bothered by religious proselytizers, resolved the issue with their axes followed by burning the offenders’ villages and homes. She didn’t know how to reply. She did leave me alone after that.
A few years earlier, on Boxing Day, a coworker asked me how my Christmas had been, then quipped, “Ohm ,yeah, you don’t celebrate that.” Well, he had no clue what I did for Christmas. However, come May 1, he came to work laden with flowers from his gardens. I asked what the occasion was. “It’s May Day” was the reply. I quickly suggested how proud I was for his open mindedness in celebrating the Celtic holiday of Beltane. He was not amused. Not even close.
Seriously? Two inch tall grass was an issue? Around here they suggest that you cut it no shorter than three inches during the summer.
And thanks. When I “mowed” the front the other day, the areas in which grasses are going to seed were left alone. Most of these are dryland grasses. Either this will help them spread, or it will provide food for birds. It’s a win either way. I’ve got a bit more biodiversification to do in the front. Then it’s on to the back.
Leaphorn’s logic and Chee’s traditionalism mixed with logic make those books enjoyable for me. Yet, the way the two characters use logic is different.
Small business. War band. Rapid decisions required. Adaptability required. Of course, the way you’ve studied “Art of War”, that conclusion was inevitable. 🙂
There was a craft store in Toppenish. A few years ago, the Princess and I were there. They had a clearance sale on some items. The bison rough outs were on sale for a dollar apiece. I knew they were pine when I bought them. It’s just tougher pine than I expected, but it doesn’t splinter too badly. It’s slower work than with basswood, though.
The temperatures aren’t hideous, but they are above normal. But yes, the problem is the very low humidity and the incessant breezes and winds. I think you understand better now why I bristle when somebody from Seattle talks about how great the water levels are, how the ENTIRE state is above average for seasonal rainfall, yet those that live on this side of the mountains know better.
If we got 6.67 inches of rain May 1 through September 30, it would have been an extremely wet summer. But when it’s 6.67 inches because 3 of the 5 year’s wettest months have been dry bordering on arid? That is a horse of a different color.
Anyhoo…I noticed that the Kelpies photobombed some of your pictures this week. Either that, or some of the leaves and tomato vines, etc., looked surprisingly like Kelpies when dropped on the ground. 😉
Sorry, but I do have to differ with you on something. Muppets. They would be an improvement. They mostly seem to know their limitations.
Good job turning the useless TP into something of benefit. This event is more proof that one needs to keep a minimum 42 rolls of the good stuff on hand!
Ah. The Bakelite bowl is a useful tool in trench warfare! Way to improvise. Clint Eastwood’s character in “Heartbreak Ridge” would be proud of you. “Adapt and improvise” his character kept repeating. Good to see that you’re making progress on the Rodent Campaign.
I noted that Claire has cheap petrol compared with here. $5.29 per gallon in Spokane. More expensive in other locations on the east side of the mountains. I’ve heard that on Lew’s side of the mountains, it is even more expensive.
Perhaps some thunderstorms and “rain” later today and tonight. The wind is supposed to pick up too. My forecast is for another round of “four forties” Four drops of rain and forty mph winds. I’ll keep you informed.
DJSpo
Hi, Chris!
That truly is a whole bunch of words, and words can hardly express how much I appreciate you keeping it up (and funding it), week after week.
My, you do live on the edge when it comes to toilet paper. Important stuff, isn’t it? One doesn’t want to experience funny business where it is concerned.
New ideas can be good sometimes, though if we only knew, someone else has probably thought of them first. Like your LPG gas for the hot water system – good idea! That stand that you made was so excellent that I still remember it.
Could you just be using more gas?
I don’t think I could stand that much humidity! I’d feel like a goldfish in a bowl.
I used to dearly love to go to a circus, especially under a tent. That was before I understood how badly the animals were often treated. Clowns, however, have always made me nervous.
Could a rat really dig through wet concrete without getting stuck? That would be something to find a rat mounted like a statue. This has been a very challenging, grueling campaign.
I had to leave right in the middle of writing because a neighbor called my son to say that there was a big tree on our neighborhood road, that had fallen part way over the road and gotten hung up in another tree on the other side. The tree it was caught on was dead so there could be no waiting to take the two trees down; they were bound to soon fall all the way in this rain, and maybe one of us would be driving under them at that time. He’s still out there working on cutting them up (both trees are down, one on the road). I was directing traffic. There was none until a neighbor and his daughter drove up. It started raining on me, and since they were blocking anybody else from approaching, I walked home.
Isn’t it wonderful to have some extra soil to work with?
You have cleaned out your greenhouse; today we finished cleaning out the fig room upstairs. I also moved out the last of my sweet potatoes which were in that room. It’s a good feeling, eh?
More ferns for Fernglade! They do so outshine ours, but I am glad to have any at all. Yeesh! I don’t know if that one-foot thing is much of a flower; it’s kind of ugly. So alkanet is a weed? It’s very pretty. That looks just like a salvia I have, an annual. And thank you for the beautiful reds.
Pam
Hello Chris,
There has been rain overnight with more to come during the week. We may soon be relieved of water restrictions. Delightful as this all is, one thing I remember from heavy and abundant precipitation in past years is how badly damaged roads become and how long they take to be repaired! Furthermore how easily people on properties can be flooded in or out. I suppose this is familiar to you. Are you on a paved road? What about your driveway?
>remember the anodised aluminium cups from forty or fifty years ago? Shocking colours…
I remember the colours but not the kitchenware. I was quite fond of those shades though they wouldn’t really fit my décor!
Yes, I have noticed the strange dryness on dishwashed surfaces. It may have the same cachet as the smell of drycleaning fluid does for some folks.
Last time I ran the dishwasher I cautiously placed a Fowler jar on the top rack and it has come through intact. Lest you think wrongly of me, I do also wash by hand… removing cooked on milk is beyond me.
>You may laugh, but long ago I predicted that western civilisation will fail due to a lack of food preservation systems.
Not laughing.
Have you heard about this?
https://archive.li/QLKzD
I haven’t asked around but I suppose those in flood prone places would keep a deep pantry as a rule. There are all sorts of things wrong with current methods of food production, preservation and distribution. Especially warehousing supplies far from their point of consumption with just in time supply models. It is terrifying to contemplate.
Remember in “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin” how the characters only escaped starving by realising the nutritional value of snails? They probably did likewise with rodents although the author’s delicacy prevented his mentioning it. I don’t recall whether the pet pine marten came out of the war alive.
Next time you are in Lygon Street let us know whether there is anything new on the menus.
I found out my nursery has crushed blue metal dust which I assume is basalt. One employee knows about putting lime on the surface (or between layers if deeper) for stability the way you do – but the nursery does not sell the lime! So I must seek further. It was not the most rewarding topic to search online.
regards
kallianeira
Hi Pam,
Thanks, and that big word number sure did sneak up on us all. It’s a fun journey!
I refuse to participate in the proper number of toilet roll business, it being 42 and stuff – you were warned by my hurbis. 😉 And look what happened, far out! Things suddenly went bad, speedily. Pam, I do hope you’ve learned from my awful experience in this area?
Yeah, that’s so true, and it’s a disappointment to realise that the great new idea, is sadly not so new. Still, even having the thought in the first place proves that we are at least awake. That gas bottle stand has saved an awful lot of mad cash in rental fees. Even with the err, allegedly reduced cylinder volumes, it’s still heaps cheaper. I quite like welding up things, but rarely have the time to improve the skills. Sometimes for fun, I’ll check out beginners videos on utoob, and always come away from them have learned something.
> Could you just be using more gas?
That’s very possible, and the system may have failed somehow, somewhere. So at the moment, we are reducing the number of unknown variables. Picked up another bottle too, just in cases. 😉
It’s funny you mention that about the extreme humidity here, but I’m more bothered by very low humidity. Long ago we travelled to Peru and visited the Nazca lines, which were amazing, but the dry was something else, and I ended up with a cold. Should have breathed through my nose more in those days, but you know, one of the benefits of getting older, is the wisdom to know when to force your body to breathe through the nose. Dunno about you, but I’m a bit foggy about other stuff. 🙂
The big tent is pretty awesome looking, agreed, but the clowns scare me. I’m not so sure that they have performing animals, or clowns in this local mob. Oh, they have a lovely bunch of miniature fox terriers (remember Dame Scritchy?) Truly, the dog in the photo looks at the trainer with total adoration. Check this out: Silvers Circus – The Show. A bit different to the old days, huh?
The strangely preserved concrete stuck rat would surely leave mysteries for archaeologists of future species? The clever advanced critters would fill the void with plaster, and discover the form of a rat from the weird ancient era of the master Bonobo’s. What fun mysteries we’ll leave them with. That’ll mess with their heads.
Oh my! What a nightmare problem, and glad that both you and your son were OK during that necessary work with the trees. It’s dangerous on roads doing that road where you get idiots driving. I remember being in the volunteer fire brigade hauling bits of fallen trees off a very busy road, and being heckled by drivers for not going fast enough. My faith in humanity was reduced that day. Oh well. Hope you had a chance to dry off and get warm again?
Yup, the extra soil for projects is always appreciated! 🙂
Seems to be the season. How did the room survive the fig-lets? And yes, it is a good feeling to clean up such a space.
Respect to your ferns, but I recall you mentioning a while ago that you had an area in permanent shade which was full of moss. Ferns would enjoy that space, although might need some extra water from time to time. Moss is tougher than ferns. What variety of ferns grow in your area? A long walk through thick forest here will take a person down to the local creek, and it’s like stepping back to the realms of the dinosaurs, without the T-Rex’s trying to eat the careless visitor!
Cheers
Chris
Hello kallianeira,
First things, first. The other day I was trying to work in a Lygon street reference in a reply in relation to ragu pasta, and couldn’t figure out how to do that. Then you gave me a helping hand. Well done, and thanks! I used to live not too far from there, and could walk down to the area grab a coffee, cake, or meal. They used to have a Borders book shop which was open to 11pm, and that was a wonderful place to spend some time. My mother took my sisters and I to the Lygon Street festival in the 70’s, and it sure was an interesting place.
The rain gods are smiling on your area, and this low pressure system is immense, and stalled. It’s foggy and drizzly here tonight, but your area looks set to cop a proper soaking. Happy days! 🙂
I hear you about that, the winter weather here likewise damages roads, and the state goobermint has announced that they’ll reduce expenditure on road repairs. A strange thing to do when they are facing the polls later in the year, but then the ALP probably does not need the support of the rural areas in order to maintain power. It’s the outer Melbourne urban areas which are their biggest risk.
Floods in the valley are rare, but may occur after a super cell storm. I’ve seen that twice now, and it’s a shock to the system. Ha! No paved road here, we have mud in winter, and dust in summer – either way cleaning the car is but a moment in time. 😉 What about your area, do you have dirt roads? The driveway here has compacted crushed rock with lime – which the local earthworks bloke did. It’s amazing how many truck loads of the stuff that job required.
Ah, here’s some photos of the variety of rocks used here (Kyneton is a town just north of this mountain range): Go down the page to the TOPPINGS heading. We use the Tuscan and Mount William toppings, but both have fines / lime in their mix and set well.
Hehe! The 70’s had some intense colours. 🙂
Nice one with the hand dish washing, and hey, like everyone, I’ve got my biases, but truly no stress at all and whatever works. There’s no one right way here, and dogmatism is perhaps for the err, dogmatic! Dogs are lovely creatures though, and clearly have gotten a bad rap there with that unfortunate inference.
No I hadn’t heard about that article, and a lot of things got shut down, this ‘ere blog was possibly shadowed banned and throttled for a while leading up to 2024, not for any reason I could figure out, other than perhaps the external links. It happens, and all you can do is hold your head up and be about your business. I’m not one for mass protests and have zero interest in their ability to achieve anything other than exercise for the participants.
You’d think so about the deep pantry, but I dunno about that. The cities have far less food resilience, put it that way. You know what though, during the Great Depression, city folks tended to stick to the cities. Only a brave few hit the roads for an uncertain reception in rural areas – and they were constantly moved on.
I’ve not seen the film, but am aware of the history and how the erstwhile allies ended up being not on friendly terms.
You may laugh, but I’ve been to third world countries where the menu states: Chicken with vegetables; Beef with vegetables; Pork with vegetables; and (everyone’s favourite unknown cheaper option) Meat with vegetables. Makes the sensitive person wonder what bush meat was in that meal?
Blue metal rock dust is awesome fertiliser, and good also for underneath plastic water tanks – but it will never set firm. See the rock products above which will set firm, although the Tuscan has more fines than the Mount William stuff.
Hope you get heaps more rain. 🙂
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
Man, I’m biased in that regard after walking away from the big end of town in 2008. It’s some funny observations there, which perhaps aren’t all that funny. My preference is for the small business mindset, which doesn’t fit well with massive endeavours, but is good enough for anything less than that – which most things are. Glad to read that you’ve seen it in action, and survived by your wits.
Ha! Thanks for the amusing story, which would have been challenging for you, as it would have made me feel likewise uncomfortable. Some folks can be rather dogmatic, yup – and no disrespect to dogs either, whom usually aren’t that way inclined. Anyway, it’d have bothered me too, because there is a nice balance with freedom of religion, and freedom from religion. Things are fairly chill in this country about those matters – mostly because of the off shore jail beginnings. But sometimes not always though, and I dislike such changes. Your axe reply was pretty funny and made a good point.
Christmas is not a big celebratory thing here, mostly because of like, it was just easier for my mental health not spending time with family. 🙂 Man, there’s a lot of judgement, like what you were observing. And if you really want to annoy such folks, ask if they’d consider doing less presents, and more donations at that time of year. Very funny about the Beltane quip. Nice one, and I’ve noticed Saturnalia turns up in various approved guises in places too.
Yes, the grass was an issue which had serious consequences. It baffled me that they were formerly happy with the look of the industrial waste dump instead, which was what confronted us originally. The backyard was equally barren.
You’re onto something with the dryland grasses and diverse species. have you observed any new life forms dropping in to check it out?
You’ve intrigued me, and I’ll see if I can nab a copy of the first book in the series.
Thanks, and when in small business a person must wear many hats and think quick on their feet. Not for everyone, that’s for sure. We spent the entire day trying to figure out how to work with each client and implement another big chunk of red tape. When the official line is that it’ll be easier, you know it won’t be.
I have a vague memory of your visit to the craft store, which if memory serves correctly – not always the case – may have since closed down. The grain on the Basswood is beautiful and flows through the timber. The interweb is handy for such images. 🙂
Well, I assume that nobody pipes water from west to east over and through the ranges? 🙂 An average for the state, is just a statistic. Local realities are something else. It’s like the rain yesterday, it ran along the freeway and mostly missed here. That happens when the wind blows from the west. But if you lived in the nearby township, you’d be saying what a shocker the wintry weather was there. Here, other than one brief splat (which caught me fixing the power wheelbarrow at the forest edge) it was mostly dry.
And sometimes in dry years, it’ll rain here, and nowhere else. That’s happened.
Hope you get some summer rainfall which has a chance to soak into the soil.
Yeah, anyhoo, I hear you! 🙂 No, Kelpies are dirty for the camera, but surprisingly aren’t extroverts. Their personalities were fixed at 12 weeks, although they’ve learned a lot over the years and smoothed off the rough edges. Mostly they’re calmer these days.
Hehe! You’re the second person who has taken issue with my overly kind descriptive: Muppets. Who doesn’t like Kermie the Frog and Miss Piggie?
What can I say, I’m a thrill seeker with the toilet paper, and acknowledge the correct number is 42, but like to live a bit on the edge. See what happened though with such recklessness? 🙂
DJ, I really enjoyed that Clint Eastwood film, there are plenty of lessons in there. Yes, adapt and improvise is the way of things here, and the rodents are not having their evil way with the facilities.
How is petrol cheaper here at US$4.79/gallon or AU$1.80/Litre? I sense a mystery there. Why would it be more expensive further west?
Fingers crossed you get 40mm of rain and 40 metres an hour of wind. See, there’s something in this whole metric biz! 😉 How did it go? Those are some high winds. Far out. This week here could be described as becalmed by a stalled low pressure system – near to where the high pressure system was also stalled a while back.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Yikes! The two blokes climbing the chemical tank in the photos yesterday are courageous beyond the ordinary. Glad to hear that the situation is now less dangerous, although the fire water would be probably very polluted. A few weeks ago I read about the efforts to get rid of the Fukushima water, and yup, life on a poisoned planet.
Actually tonight I watched an interesting utoob video from a guy who takes apart and tests various LiFePO4 batteries. He makes a thing about not taking cash for comment, and tonight he decided to see if he could get one of that chemistries battery cells to explode. Took a lot of effort and abuse, which was a good outcome to see. I’m going to think about putting in some roof ventilation in the battery room, just in case. Hydrogen gases tend to rise, so it would be good if like Elvis, they too left the building! 😉
See what I mean? Man, you can go back, but is it wisdom to do so? What a horror story of decline that mall was, and they’re sad places when trashed.
I used to have to visit a client and park in an almost abandoned mall (there was no other nearby parking). Nearby they’d set up a users injecting room, and far out, the things I saw around there. A lot of trouble, none of which ever involved me, thankfully. There was an aura of danger to that area. Walking past the empty shops to get out of the car park was mildly disturbed only by people randomly yelling and occasionally fighting. Crazy stuff. I’d not want to visit that near abandoned mall you mentioned at night.
That was some handy footwork avoiding the rain whilst out with H. Hope the good luck continues. Yesterday when working on the machine down at the forest edge, was the only time it rained – and I didn’t do the incantation either, so we can’t blame that! It’s raining again tonight, a real murky drizzle, the kind which would deaden the moors. We have something of a stalled low pressure system: Unusually persistent low pressure over southeastern mainland.
Oh that is some auspicious weather numerology! The odds of winning are not great, given everyone else in your area is subject to the same forecast. That’s a form of luck dispersal. Woe is us, another get rich quick scheme foiled. 🙂
Oh yeah, Memorial day, of course. Respect. Good to read of the adaption with the garden plot and also that the tomatoes were well received.
Speaking of beans, but a different form, the Editor may have suggested that this morning I was acting like a Bean-bot! There was a bit of disturbance in the usually unflappable fluffy force. We spent the entire day working out how to implement the latest bit of extra red tape, and how it would work out for every client. By 5pm, my brain hurt, although it faced less pressure. How other firms are doing this task is something I wonder about. Might ask around.
Cleaner and neater spaces, are usually less subject to awkward questions. Wonder why the gardeners left the prunings? Shame about dumping them, we either burn such wood off, or feed it into the scary old wood chipper – which I used the other day. The blades need a sharpen, but isn’t that always the case?
I like your thinking with possibly growing and turning those plants into the soil. That’s exactly what to do with them, and Alkanet just grows better here than Comfrey, which itself out performs Borage. Use whatcha got! 🙂 There was an experiment done on a large scale with comfrey, and if I recall correctly, the results were pretty good. I grow Alkanet in the orchards and gardens, and other plants do well around them. But the leaves are good fresh chicken feed in the winter months too.
The count sure has some crazy hair, but then there may be some outright envy there! 😉 I don’t recall any vampire romance in Bram Stokers version, despite the vampire ladies in the story, but what the heck, sounds cool.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – Yes, best vent the battery room. They make bombs, out of hydrogen, you know. 🙂
Abandoned and semi-abandoned malls can be pretty darned spooky. My memory was jogged. There were some Saturday Night Live sketches, back in their early days, about a dying shopping mall. The only shop in the mall that was doing well, was the one selling scotch tape to all the departing stores. So they could tape up “Going Out of Business” and “Final Sale” signs, in their windows.
Our high yesterday was 57F (13.88C). Our overnight low was 46F (7.77C). Our forecast high for today is 67F. Oddly, the next two days are forecast to have a high of 80F+. Then back to more temperate weather.
H and I managed to dodge the rain yesterday. It was intermittent, but quit hard at times. The gardens seemed to appreciate it. 🙂 Clear this morning, but we may get more rain this afternoon.
Actually, not everyone would see that line up of temperature numbers. I add the celsius values, myself. For your international readers. 🙂
I saw an interesting article about solar, mashed up with agriculture.
https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2026/05/19/agrivoltaics-solar-farming
Yes, I’m glad the problem of the excess tomato plants, has resolved. As, rationally, I knew it would. But I fretted over it, a bit. Neurosis is a terrible burden. 🙂 Thinking about the situation, last night, I suddenly realized I’ve become a sharecropper!
All that extra red tape? Some firms may just turn the whole mess over to an a I . Which probably won’t end well.
I saw an interesting article, yesterday, about a new book. It’s about the Armed Forces Editions. They were pocket sized paperback books, given to service men, during WWII. Over a thousand titles, over a million books.
https://www.npr.org/2026/05/25/nx-s1-5823711/soldiers-books-world-war-ii
I’ve read about these, before. But if our library gets the book, I’ll put it on hold. Just out of curiosity, I took a look at e buy, just to see if any were on offer. Yes. Most ran under $20. But there were surprises. H. G. Wells, “Island of Doctor Moreau” was listed for $67. “Dracula,” was listed for $162.80. Lovecraft’s “The Dunwich Horror,” was listed for $240. Of course, those are “on offer” prices, not actually sold prices.
In the book collector world, there are some completists, who want every edition (including foreign) of a particular favorite author. Others want all editions of a particular favorite title. You’d need the Armed Forces Editions, to be truly complete. Lew
Chris:
I guess I learned that I should just keep buying my same cheap toilet paper – and that I had better have 42 rolls on hand to satisfy any pixies lurking and looking for trouble. In fact, I have more than that, and hopefully it’s not 42 per person, as there are 3 of us here.
I try to always breathe through my nose, which is not easy. Are there times when you shouldn’t? It’s such a good filter.
Of course I rememebr Dame Scritchy; what a sweetheart. Sorry, that circus did not appeal to me at all.
The fig room looks fine! There are still a few giant pots with grafts in there. Some are quite rare.
Let’s see, of native ferns we have Maidenhair, Lady Fern (maybe she was once a maiden . . .), Sensitive Fern, Wood Fern, and Christmas Fern. I think there are one or two more.
You know what? I have grown the best lettuce ever – in that stupid black plastic. The turnips are doing well, too, and even the peas, which should hate the heat it puts out. Maybe I’d better be nicer about it. One thing I must note, however, is that I watered everything – everything! – every day for several months, unless we had a sprinkle of rain, which was rare. I worried so much about the extra heat produced and the fact that water does not penetrate the stuff well at all.
Here is a video that my son sent me that I was quite enthralled by. What fine machinery, and how well the guys work together, like clockwork.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkaAA9QQ3Po
Pam
Chris,
One of the problems with bigger enterprises is that they want to become biggerrer. That means swallowing or putting out of business the smaller enterprises. I prefer the smaller and local entities. Bigerrerr doesn’t necessarily mean beterrer.
The initial wave of the storm, well, I was close to being right. Call it a twenty thirty. Twenty drops of rain and thirty mph winds. Maybe 0.01 inches. Then other waves moved in. As of Tuesday night, about 7mm in 24 hours, maybe a bit more. Maybe 27C and clear tomorrow, then perhaps more rain Thursday.
While not a drought breaker, this much rain has probably dropped the fire danger from moderate to low. Surprisingly, we’ve gotten more rain than the reported 0.25 inches at Sea-Tac, the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. That appears to have gotten Sea-Tac back to a mere 0.80 inches below normal rainfall for the calendar year. Yes, I was surprised to see that Sea-Tac was about 6.5% below normal before this storm system.
Oh, it was against policy on many levels what the other person was doing. But, a good employee, so I didn’t want to see her get in trouble. I’m glad I was able to come up with a means of making my point without having to go to our mutual Big Boss. I figured I was on firm footing since I had repeatedly said that I wasn’t interested.
Understood. There is family that is a chore to be with, or worse. Then there is “family by choice” which can be fun. However, the older I get and the better I know myself, the less I want to celebrate anything with more than the Princess and maybe one or two other people. Gets too loud and hectic otherwise.
Unfortunately, I haven’t noticed much in the way of new life forms in the biodiverse areas. This year has been disappointing regarding the number of bees. Similarly, significantly fewer birds than in the past. Fewer sparrows and no starlings as a start.
Hope you can find the first book. Finally being able to read the series in order has been fun. Hopefully you’ll get a chance to enjoy it.
When the official line is “it will be easier” means that more silly rules were instituted so that somebody can have another means of justifying their career existence.
Good memory. That is, indeed, the craft store I mentioned in the past. It closed about a year after I bought the Bison rough outs. Recently, one of the larger national craft store chains also closed. Everything. Several locally owned ones also have shut down. The slow descent.
Funny man! No water is piped over or through the Cascades from the west side to the dry east side. Rather, the mighty Columbia River flows from Canada, through much of the east side, then through the west side to the Pacific. So you might say that the dry east side pipes water to the west side? 😉
Even Dame Avalanche, known in obedience classes as the “Party Girl” is much calmer. She’s even learning to be calm, or at least almost calm, when around other dogs while on our walks. That is a huge change for her.
Kermit the Frog. Miss Piggie. The Cookie Monster. I always enjoyed Oscar the Grouch the most.
I like that you found your sense of adventure and behaved recklessly regarding the proper number of rolls of the proper TP. Could have been worse. It is said that Custer’s big mistake at the Little Bighorn was his recklessness. Cost him a lot more than having to burn a few rolls of inferior TP.
Or maybe you could have inadvertently bought a batch of that nasty “John Wayne TP”. That’s the stuff that’s rough and tough and don’t take no cr@& from anybody.
Ah, but will the rodents also adapt and improvise?
But, but, you are EAST of the line through Greenwich, England. I am west of that line. That means that you are east of me and I am west of you. Yet looking at time zones, your time zone is closer to mine if I travel west. So you are west of me and I am east of you. I’m starting to see why Rudyard Kipling decided that “east is east and west is west and never the twain shall meet.”
DJSpo
Hi Pam,
Oh my, that’s an entirely new perspective on the matter, and one to which I’d not considered. Yeah, is it 42 rolls per household, or per person in a household, 126 in your case? Now my brain hurts, and already things were looking grim this evening. After about half a day of paid work, I decided it was time to upgrade the business interweb site. It’s done, but after even more headaches. How people do this stuff for a living is beyond me…
It’s not easy to do is it? Middle distance running, or even walking uphill (you know what I mean) is challenging to clamp the mouth shut. Dunno, better closed than open is my thinking. That baker bloke on the stricken Titanic probably retained body warmth for those two hours in the freezing water, by doing that.
No worries at all, and the entertainment looked like fun, and the performers were putting in 100% (you could see that in the photos) but it’s not really my thing either. And the sadly missed Dame lead a good life, despite the dementia at the end turning her meaner than the junk yard dog. She was a little devil at 19 years of age, but sweet as pie before that sudden personality switch.
Well, being a gentleman, I’d never ask such questions of a lady! Hardly conducive to fun times, is it? But yeah, it does make a person wonder, and apparently there are 250 varieties of such ferns – some of which even grow in the forests here. All lovely ferns, and they create such a lush understory don’t you reckon?
Whoa! The black plastic would offer many benefits, such as warmer soil, retained moisture under the plastic, and way less plant competition. They use that method with strawberries in this corner of the planet, and who can argue with the weight of overwhelming opinion? Well done you with the best lettuce ever. I don’t have much experience with turnips, but long ago, prior to the humble potato, they were the starchy staple of choice. I find them to be a touch bitter, but that’s no big deal.
And yes, the water. The water! With limited supplies of that wet stuff, I can’t run such experiments such as what you’ve done, and can only look on with a sense of wonder.
Oh my gawds! What a set up of machines. From an objective perspective, for a commercial orchard in a warm to hot location, the trees are way too closely planted and would have require a whole bunch of water during the summer months. Oh well. The trees are not all that long lived. I’ve seen one of those conveyor mulchers in action at a landfill facility, and it blew my mind. Thanks!
It drizzled all day long here. Apparently the sun is meant to shine tomorrow, but we’ll see.
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
And ain’t that the truth? It was not lost on me that smaller competitors were bought out, absorbed, thinned, and the sharks just got biggerer and fatterer. I’d seen it first hand, and wanted nothing to do with that, thus part of the walking away. Everyone focuses on goobermint debt, but it’s oft forgotten that corporate and household is around the same-ish numbers.
See, you’ve now created a new weather invocation without much consideration, and look at what just happened? I tells ya Mr DJ, things can escalate over time when using such loose talk. Hmm. If my own experience is anything to go by, you won’t like a super cell storm of 100m in an hour. Be careful there. 🙂 Just to clarify the exact wording, your spell sounded an awful lot like: Yeah, what does that guy west of the ranges know? Trust me in this, experience gained second hand is cheaper at half the price!
I’m scared to challenge the weather gods nowadays unless absolutely there is no other choice. Exhibit a) It drizzled all day long here. Rather damp outside now, and even the dogs had had enough after only a few minutes running around. They enjoyed being towelled down though and alternating best spot in front of the wood heater. Also proving that canines, like people, have to take the good with the bad!
That was most thoughtful of you to consider the careless lady. It happens, and maybe sometimes people need to learn some boundaries – without getting sacked.
DJ, man, they used to send me loopy, so it was easier just not spending time with them, any of them. The funny thing is, last I heard, my sisters are still around but interstate, and the rest are mostly dead. The Editors mum died a few months after we got married so there aren’t many relatives on that side, and sometimes life just throws you curve balls. Nowadays I just enjoy life, knowing that things can go off the rails at a moments notice, and without warning. A lot of my friends were unsympathetic when we faced close death (which I was there to see) and everyone at the time was so young, so I understood their response. The thing is, they’re now all facing elderly parents, or recent losses of the same, and truly, mortality is hard to ignore once you’ve experienced it. Sadly, for some weird reason, loss has always hovered around my life, and maybe that’s just been my lot to experience? Dunno. I feel for your lady on that front with the continual loss of relatives. It’s hard, but always was it thus.
🙂 I like my quiet time nowadays too. It’s a thing of enjoyment and peace.
Bummer, but it does take a few years for populations to build up in a newly established space, and who even knows where they all come from? However, there is a lot of truth in the concept: Grow it, and they will come! You’ll see. Bee numbers are down here as well, even though a new neighbour now has a few hives.
I hope so too. I’ll have a look around and see if I can dig up a second hand copy. I’m actually keeping an eye out for bundle of the first couple of books, that being cheaper. Time will sort this out!
Yeah, if it has to be labelled easy, and the point is pressed repeatedly, it probably isn’t anything of the sort. Most of the feedback I’m hearing is negative. The goobers in authorita have a dream (I’m guessing) of one day enforcing ‘Standardised Business Reporting’. Send them the raw data, and receive a bill in return is possibly what they want. Heck, they might be aiming to just grab the data.
The loss of bricks and mortar retail is indeed a bad thing, and I do wonder why the property owners aren’t having to reduce the costs for the leases. Makes no sense to me.
Hehe! No drill could tunnel through those mountains, especially given some of them are active.
Without those Rocky Mountains of yours (and the country to the north), the interior of your continent would be vastly different. They’re impressive.
The Editor tells me that dog obedience classes are as much about the human, as they are the canine. Candidly, I’ve observed differences in the Editors overall vibe due to many years of this activity. It’s really fascinating, and dogs can teach us humans so much.
It’s funny, but Sesame Street wasn’t really shown on television down here way back in the day, but it’s hard not to have come across that character. And weren’t bins smaller in those days? 🙂
Yup, Custer met more than his match that day, and they were lost the moment the army was split apart. Looking at images of the hill, it’s almost indefensible, so they must have been hard put to it, to have chosen that place, whatever anyone else says about that day.
Isn’t the duke frozen? I’ll bet zombies don’t survive such conditions?
I have nothing but respect for the rodents, and their persistence is admirable.
Rudyard Kipling took an interesting perspective on the matter, and he’s right too.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
It’s not good about the batteries, and is a risk worth considering making some adaptations to reduce / avoid, although how that may happen is a little lost on me right now. It’s a balancing act too, because if there is too much hydrogen gas released, it won’t burn or explode, the proportion of oxygen has to in some sort of Goldilocks % zone for that to happen. So it’s not a simple problem to get around. 🙂 Hey, the stuff goes boom, so that use you mentioned, hardly surprises me.
Long ago we discussed a book which depicted photos of abandoned malls. Super spooky places. That’s a pretty funny take on the abandoned mall last man standing shop. Actually, in the place I mentioned, the last shop was a large supermarket chain, and it always seemed to have plenty of customers. Interesting, allegedly the site is now apartments, maybe. I haven’t been in that area for at least half a decade, but probably longer.
Some retail areas have lots of empty shops, and I can never quite understand why the rents on offer aren’t lowered so that a retailer – any – takes up the space. It’s kind of weird, because being empty, they’d bring in no revenue, and it’s not like their costs would evaporate. Waiting for a capital gain in prices when in that circumstance, is only for those with deep pockets.
The temperatures here were not far off your maximum at 12’C / 54’F. It’s oddly warm here, but thick low clouds do act like a blanket over the wider area. I’m hoping for some sunshine tomorrow. It’s not too much to ask for, is it? 🙂 Drizzled on and off all day. Spent most of the time indoors doing paid work and also updating the business interwebsite which looks flashy now, or perhaps less poop than it did! 😉
The garden would love all that rain you’re having, and you’ll be able to watch the plants grow when it hits 80’F for those couple of days. Glad to hear that you both dodged the rain.
True, pattern recognition is not something that everyone can do. It’s a problem that, but what do you do? And the international readers appreciate your conversions. 🙂 That formula is burned into my consciousness, both forwards and backwards. They do say that practice makes perfect.
Far out! Mr Kings book is gripping. I’m at the point in the authors background story where an intervention was arranged. An ugly business that, but necessary, yes, very much so. They tell me that the hardest thing is to see yourself, as others see you. And also change is challenging, we’re not wired to do that easily. Interestingly too, I went back to re-read the section on the comic books and sci-fi and appreciated your additional take on that story.
In a funny side story, a friend of mine worked around the corner from my dad’s bookshop. Anyway, because my mate is nosy (we occasionally still speak after all these years), he dropped in to say hello. Like there’s a lot of people with my surname, but he hit the jackpot. So my dad briefly re-entered my life. Gave me a hardback copy of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which is still in its box today. Anywhoo, all he could do was talk about my sister who’d run off the rails. Didn’t seem to be much interested in me, so I walked away again. My friend really is nosy too. 🙂
A few years ago a bunch of friends had lunch at a burger joint in the city. We sat inside, and people arrived early, and being after them, one of the few seats around the table was next to a table top video game machine. It was switched off, and distractingly all I wanted to do was switch it on and see the pretty lights and maybe have a game for old times sake. Crazy stuff, and so I moved to a spare seat at the opposite end of the table, but I knew where it was. It knew me. Glad when we left the place. I doubt anyone else at the table noticed the thing.
The article on grazing under solar panels was pretty interesting. You may notice that the panels are pretty close to the ground – which makes them cheaper to maintain. However, mowing under them is not as easy as you’d imagine. You’d struggle getting a ride on under them, and here’s the other thing they don’t really mention, having mower blades flick rocks at glass at high speed, which is an expensive mistake.
One of the big issues with such arrangements is that in rural areas, the transmission infrastructure isn’t always great, and few farmers want to see massive pylons dotted through their land.
Sharecropping as a concept, scares the living daylights out of me. It’s a horror story, especially if debt is involved and the landlord takes half to two thirds of the produce.
Funny you mention that, but in another chunk of new red tape, we received an invite to purchase a subscription for software to automate the process. Have I become a sharecropper too? Those tech bros, the cheeky scamps.
Hope the book is a good read, and more importantly turns up on the library purchase list. The books would be in rough condition for that sort of asking price. I doubt many of the collection of pulp books in the bookshelves in the hallway will survive long after I’m gone. The pages are yellowed and the bindings are err, in used condition! They were read after all, that being the purpose of said publication. 🙂
Oh poop! I won’t mention the complete collection of the works of Jack Vance, the The Spatterlight Press Signature Series based on the Integral Edition that fans put together.
A spatterlight being, oh well, if you know, you know! And there are people who do know, which is a fun thing to know, if you know what I mean. Does that make sense? I’m not so sure, but you get the idea, maybe. Hehe!
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – Another explosion (or implosion) at a chemical plant. And this one in Longview, just 40 miles south of here.
https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/26/us/washington-paper-packing-plant-implosion
I wonder … I’ve been reading articles that i-ran hackers, have been getting into all. kinds of computer systems. Water systems and even gas stations. Though those are just the amount of gas stored in the underground tanks. The gages.
Abandoned shopping malls often figure in apocalyptic movies. Zombie, and otherwise. Even the movie “The Day After” had a shopping mall scene. The hero’s didn’t realize they were tromping over a snowed over shopping mall. Went crashing through the skylight. Didn’t end well for some of them.
The problem the Club is having, finding a new home. Empty spaces, but rents we can’t afford. Here, I think there’s some tax benefits, and write-offs. Depreciation. Makes no sense, I know.
Our high yesterday was 64F (17.77C). Our overnight low was 46F (7.77C). LOL. That’s a lot of “lucky” ‘7’s. Our forecast high for today is 80F.
The garden is looking pretty good. Nothing I planted has fallen over and died :-). The tomatillos have some blossoms, on them. What with this little heat bump, some strawberries ought to ripen. The chard is looking healthy, but not putting on much growth.
I’m watering the main garden, in the morning. From what I read, to discourage the wood lice. Late afternoons I water the barrels in back. Asparagus and pumpkins. I have to haul a watering can, for those. The lawn sprinklers a-l-m-o-s-t reach those barrels. But not quit enough.
I remember your nosy friend, stumbling across your Dad’s bookstore. And how poorly that went. I did have a thought though. Even though he had little to do with your raising, one wonders if reading, or a tendency toward it, is in part genetic? A predisposition. Through no effort of his own, he may at least have passed that on, to you.
Ah, the table top video game. There you go. That’s the pull of addiction. “Addiction involves the brain’s reward system, where substances or behaviors trigger excessive dopamine release, disrupting natural pleasure responses and leading to compulsive use. Over time, the brain adapts by reducing dopamine production, making it harder to feel pleasure from natural rewards and increasing reliance on the addictive substance or behavior.
University of Pennsylvania Wikipedia”
Also at work, is “intermittent reinforcement.”
“Intermittent reinforcement is a psychological principle where rewards are given unpredictably, making the behavior more persistent. It occurs when rewards are handed out inconsistently and occasionally, creating a powerful emotional bond and making it difficult to stop the behavior, even when it’s harmful.
reachlink.com catharticspacecounseling.com”
The tech bros know about such things, and deploy them in building their programs.
I can see where being on a riding lawnmower, could be dangerous around solar panels. Wouldn’t want to bash your head on a panel. 🙂
Spatterlight seems to be some sort of program, involving interactive fiction. Also, some sort of MacOS. Maybe they’re the same.
The Armed Services Editions on offer, on e-buy, looked to be in pretty good condition. I suppose some of them never made it overseas. But, yes, pulp paper breaks down, sooner or later. Usually, sooner. There are methods of de-acidification, but I don’t know much about it. Other than it’s probably expensive. Lew
Chris:
Well, you can’t blame Dame Scritchy for being cranky at age 133. Who wouldn’t be cranky?
We had a big downpour this afternoon. I can’t wait to check my rain bucket tomorrow. It was at 4 inches (10cm) yesterday; that’s from 6 days of rain.
Today I picked the very first cabbages I have ever grown. These were not grown in black plastic. Normally the cabbage caterpillars would have eaten them well before now, but they arrived late this season. They are, in fact, beginning to munch, so I had better pick the other six besides these two.
Have you ever seen Old Croc cheese in a store there? I was looking for a different cheddar to try and bought some, didn’t realize till I was cutting some that it is from Australia! Mama mia! It’s so-so, not as good as some others I’ve tried.
Pam
Chris,
Corporate and household debt? Both are extremely high in this country. Scary stuff.
Well, I guess that new weather incantation worked, sorta kinda. Unfortunately, rather than most of Easten Washington getting significant rain, well, less than 1/6 of Eastern Washington got ANY rain. Spokane and areas north appeared to get all of the rain that had been forecast for the entire east side. So in that sense, the new incantation worked by focusing the rain in Spokane and environs. Which also means that 5/6 of Eastern Washington got a big zero.
https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?WA
That’s the most recently released drought map for this state. Drought on this side of the state is a current reality. I’m hoping that my previous paragraph can act like an incantation again, perhaps provide a good rainfall Thursday night in the drought stricken areas, especially up in the Okanogan Highlands in the far north central part of the state. 😉
The “careless lady” and I had work history prior to that event. She had started as a receptionist after the GOOD clerical supervisor had retired. The replacement supervisor did absolutely no training of her clerical staff. Guess who did 70% of the training for the receptionists? Yup, I did. So I had trained the “careless lady.” We had mutual respect for one another as a result.
Thanks. And the Princess says, “Thank you.” Loss of loved ones is always hard. Your experience of having to deal with this a lot, well, you know our lives here. One gains a much different view of reality by this proximity to loss and death. It’s a part of life. Our society has lost that perspective, which leads to the society having lost the ability to properly grieve. Or move on in a healthy way. You have my respect having had to walk a road while losing multiple people close to you. And continuing on while remembering how to be a human being.
After the overnight rains ended, leaving us with a significant total in Spokane of 10mm to 12mm of rain, there were more birds around. Not as many as past years, but there were more of them this morning. Or at least they were more vocal.
Grab the data? Yeah, that is probably their goal. In this day and age, the authoritas think that data is knowledge and knowledge is power. Living on the land, you probably have a view similar to mine. Power is in that windstorm. Power is the rain. Power is in the earthquake, and the volcanic eruption. Because societies come and societies go, the knowledge and the data are merely fleeting things that truly cannot compete with the powers of nature.
Without those Rocky Mountains, Spokane weather would be similar to the weather in Billings, Montana or much of North Dakota. It would be desert here with nothing between us and the Arctic. Our current weather extremes are mild compared to the extremes of eastern Montana and the Dakotas. Nasty hot. Unbearably cold with high winds. Ugh.
Well, umm, yes. Now that you mention it, the bins WERE smaller when I was 55 years younger.
Indeed, Custer lost the moment he divided his regiment. Then he divided the group he was with also. Oh well. Do something stupid, win stupid prizes. Or something. These guys sum up my current attitude. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_Df3bvLK2Q&list=RDeiHWbU2oFP0&index=28
DJSpo
Hi Pam,
When you put it that way, the equivalent of 133 human years is a most impressive effort and therefore strange canine foibles must be forgiven. I hope not to live that long, for it would be a burden, and my usually pleasant demeanour would look, err, cranky! I’ve not before had a dog get to 19 years. Most live in our care to about 16 years. Dame Scritchy was an outlier. Interestingly, the oldest dog award goes to a local breed: Bluey (long-lived dog). An impressive achievement, and the dogs of that heeler breed which I’ve encountered, have lovely temperaments. Being chill, is good for one’s health.
Well done you with the rain! And hopefully you avoided the rain incantation so this was a natural occurrence? How’s the garden growing after the superb dose of moisture?
Double awesome! Cabbages are super hard to grow and get them to form a head. I’m impressed, and have admitted defeat and stuck with the lesser option of kale. 🙂 Congrats are deserved. Yah, move quickly lest those pesky cabbage moths do their worst.
No, I’ve never seen Old Croc cheese, but would give it a go to see what it’s all about. Thanks for the review, and looking at their website they have grades of cheddar, and I’d aim for the sharp variety. I’m not 100% certain, but that generally refers to proper ageing. Which variety did you end up with? I’ll bet it wasn’t orange! 🙂 Orange cheese freaks me out.
Another cloudy day here. Spent a few hours fixing things which had recently broken. Some repairs take five minutes, others two hours. So it goes, and I can never tell in advance how long any of this stuff will ever take. I swapped over inflatable tyres (tires in the US) for solid wheels on the electric cement mixer machine, and you’d think that would be a quick change over, but no. A few modifications had to be made, but eventually the job got done. And Pam, all this loose talk of toilet paper, and the plastic join on the toilet seat broke today. Like, how did that even happen? They don’t make stuff like they used to.
Cheers
Chris
Hello Chris!
>Lygon street reference you gave me a helping hand.
My pleasure. So would ragu ever be found there? Reports I have heard suggest it is very Italian oriented still.
>They used to have a Borders book shop which was open to 11pm, and that was a wonderful place to spend some time.
I don’t think there was one in Sydney till the late 90’s. I didn’t go there late at night as I recall (goth clubs were where one would spend that time) (oh no it was uncool to get there before midnight…) but the store was really helpful with ordering stock it didn’t hold on the shelves. There is a Cranes album I still remember getting that way.
>The rain gods are smiling on your area
Happy days indeed! The rain has also kept the frost away which would normally have struck by now. Plants are having a nicer time than last year by far.
There are dirt roads hereabouts but I do not have to use them. I am very much based in town. My driveway is another matter and became rather boggy the year I moved in… it might be too steep for the desired surface. I need to consult. There is forensic evidence that blue metal had been laid of which little is left. But the nursery has a very limited selection of products compared to your supplier. The only other thing available was a granite road base – totally the wrong colour, size and acidity.
> dogmatism is perhaps for the err, dogmatic! Dogs are lovely creatures though, and clearly have gotten a bad rap there with that unfortunate inference.
A coincidental synonymy. I think they are from another galaxy or dimension.
https://www.etymonline.com/word/dog
> You know what though, during the Great Depression, city folks tended to stick to the cities. Only a brave few hit the roads for an uncertain reception in rural areas – and they were constantly moved on.
Or starved to death. Even in the ’50s when my father was roaming about doing underpaid casual work he encountered hobo(s) so desperate they would eat the entire loaf of bread my father and his companion had for their dinner in their roadside camp.
> You may laugh, but I’ve been to third world countries where the menu states: : (everyone’s favourite unknown cheaper option) Meat with vegetables. Makes the sensitive person wonder what bush meat was in that meal?
My friend who spent time in the land of stuff mentioned ordering “water fowl” from a menu and being served invertebrates she likened to giant fleas.
> Hope you get heaps more rain.
That has been happening during the week. I won’t grumble that the battery hasn’t fully charged for several days. It also hasn’t gone flat.
kallianeira
Hi DJ,
Same, same, here with the debt story. The media fixates on the goobermint debt to GDP ratio, but households and business aren’t much better. What I take away from that story, is that the reality is much worse than is generally acknowledged. That cheeky scamp Faust, had it right.
Ook, or is Ugg, more appropriate in this instance? We mess around with such powerful forces at our peril. However, they can do you a solid too, like with the Spokane rainfall. No bad thing at this time of year. And I’m not sure I get why a mob in Nebraska is monitoring your state for drought conditions?
Here’s hoping that some good rain falls over that north central part of your state. And a person may have to be there for the challenge to work properly. 😉
Ah, that’s a whole different story with the ‘careless lady’, and the sensitive person would appreciate that she learned something out of the experience. Man, other folks have troubles with people who disagree with opinions and in some ways this difference is hyped up as a bad thing. What would be a bad thing, is if we all thought the same stuff- which is one of the dirty little secret desires of the authoritas. It won’t work, but they’re idiots about such matters. Not my problem. I have respect for people whom I disagree with.
Oh, thank you so much for relaying those words. 🙂 Agreed, the whole matter of mortality is swept under the carpet whilst being institutionalised for crass economic motives. It’s not a pretty story. Exactly, we lack the skills to grieve properly, and nobody wants to talk about it after three days, let alone three years! When you see someone die in front of you, it’s a raw experience, then you know.
Thanks, and loss came early. My dad walked out when I was around two years, and a dude grows up young. There weren’t too many single parent households in the 70’s. It was only when I was older and got to see friends and girlfriends families up close, that I even knew how odd all of the circumstances were. Before that realisation, it all seemed normal, or that’s what you tell yourself! Those experiences made me, and I got through alright – with some help to process it all as a young bloke. The help was good, but financially ruinous! Books were cheaper, and I read widely on the subject. Oh well, overall a good thing. 🙂 And good grace is always worthy.
The birds suffer during dry times, and all year around there is a nice secure high up reservoir of water for the birds to drink and bathe in. Dunno why they take a dump in there, but they do. Could do better, those avians! Good to hear that you’re seeing more around after the rain.
Man, that’s so true. A goobermint mob roped in the entire profession (and a whole bunch of other trades too) recently, something to do with fears of mad cash laundry. Anywhoo, we watched a webinar from them, and all they seemed to be doing was collecting data. The thought that the data may have to be used was a secondary consideration. Data is cheap, information is valuable, there being a difference – as you noted. Anyway, the real world data centres being constructed are either going to probably send them all broke, break the grid, or some other black swan smoosh – but it makes little sense to me that reaching for the data stars stuff. Far out!
I know, but Montana and Dakota are really beautiful too in an arid way. A harsh environment.
🙂 Bins are crazy big nowadays, and with the diesel issues, there’s loose talk about stopping the multiple truck runs for the different waste streams. I don’t get involved with that service, and managing waste isn’t that hard. They’ll probably all end up in landfill, but one side benefit of brokedom, is that there is less waste. You’d imagine the environmentalists would be rejoicing for this outcome!
Thanks, and I’d not heard of Redbone before, and they’re cool. 🙂 The lead singer has a great voice. The Yolngu folks up north have been producing some music which is getting airplay on the national youth music broadcaster. Here’s one from last year which has an 80’s vibe, but is sung in language and is apparently an ancient songline. A very catchy melody too: Bawuypawuy – Drifting Clouds
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
It’s hard to know the reality, although certainly they’d be motivated to undertake such nefarious actions. Other than the modem, nothing else here is directly connected to the interweb. Even the phones have to go through the router before linking to the modem.
You know, some folks have components in their solar power systems connected up to the interweb, and it’s handy for remote monitoring, but if hackers got in and reprogrammed the battery charging profile, boom, or the things might be switched off too!
That’s a pretty serious incident at that paper plant and my thoughts go out to the affected families. None of this stuff is easy, and there’s lots to go wrong, even when conditions are optimal. Like those Germun (!) containers in Antarctica now stuck on the iceberg. I’ve had some stuff go seriously wrong here, but I’ve learned from the experience and then implemented further safeguards.
I’ve not seen the 2004 film, but checked out the scene. Frank copped it bad, but took a hit for the team. Those big mall atrium’s seem like a good idea, until someone falls to the ground. Frank, are you alright? Just dropped in to do a little shopping! Gallows humour is appropriate at such times.
The whole empty commercial tenancy story makes no sense to me, because a loss is loss, any which way it’s spun. Losses can only be absorbed when there is either other income to offset against, or capital becomes diminished. Eventually if property taxes aren’t paid, the biggie landlord takes over and collects the hard way.
Hehe! Funny how that happens with plants, the falling over and stuff! Strawberries are early, mostly because they don’t have the sugars and instead rely on aromas. Hope your berries do well, and those plants are something of a mystery to me. It could be stubbornness though and not wanting to re-purchase new plants every year.
Chard will appreciate warmer weather, and they can do pretty well at 100’F, and I’ll be very interested to hear how your lot go in July or August.
Close, but no cigar for the sprinkler on the barrels. There are areas here which likewise have to be watered by hand using watering cans – like the fern gully. I’m told that the load bearing exercise is good for maintaining bone density and muscle mass. After walking up and down the hill with several 20L / 44 pound loads of water, yeah, stuff that for an idea!
How are you finding the wood lice are responding to the new watering regime?
A love of books has to come from somewhere. Man, other than my dad, I was the odd one out being a bookworm and also loved the libraries for their vast collection of text. He wasn’t around to hand on the habit. Although, the habit is there across two generations, and so yours is a good theory. How did you compare on that front to the rest of your family?
I’ve encountered adults who are functionally illiterate and some of those, are quite well paid. They can read and write, the efforts are however, dribble. The other day I read an article on the use of art-fish-al text producers and their use in universities. The inference was that successful cheaters will gain qualifications, without being able to do much of anything, other than improvise the next cheat, but in their jobs. Dunno. Could be a very serious societal problem. I’ve not used those programs, err, there’s enough splodge out there already. Rumour has it, one of the more popular bot-things is now having to charge users.
Ah, the tech bros strike again! That video game was a background annoyance, and fortunately they’re quite rare nowadays. As a young bloke, I had to face the social reality of the more English than the English school. I’d begun there from several disadvantaged points, and had to quit the games and claw my way, somewhere within that zone. The irony was that by 2005, my large group of friends disappeared into those massive multi-player online games. They had zero empathy as to why I refused to join them. It’s funny seeing yourself reflected in other people’s activities. It’s not pretty. Moving on and letting go was hard, and starting all over again. Presumably you had to change your social patterns afterwards?
Back to the tech bros. Over-reach is a thing. You read it here first! 😉
Exactly! I have not done that with the head on solar panel and/or frame trick, but can see how it would happen. The sheep would not be at risk.
🙂 No. And no. Hehe! The Skybreak Spatterlight Cugel is the greatest anti-hero!
Probably easier resource and energy wise to re-print the books on low acid paper.
Spent the day fixing stuff. Put the solid tires on the electric cement mixer machine. A fiddly job requiring a bit of ikea-hacking skills. 🙂 Dismantled a solar panel stand in the paddock which is no longer in use. I’m wary of the cemetery of failed projects. And even did a couple of hours paid work this morning, being my day off work. It happens.
Cheers
Chris
Hi kallianeira,
Thanks for the lovely comment, but the dreaded mid-week hiatus has whacked me over the head. We’ll speak tomorrow, but until then, hope you get some sunshine.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – Every other year, we would take the two week family vacation, to Hardin, Montana. My dad had three brothers, there. It’s the closest little town to the Custer Battlefield. As there’s not much to do in Hardin, there was always the mandatory trip out to the battlefield museum.
Like pumpkins, cheddar cheese should always be orange. 🙂 Here’s something odd. Besides the two pound brick of the cheese that won’t melt, we often get a one pound package of cheddar., in our commodities box. Tasty, and it melts. But, it seems to go moldy, very fast. A couple of times, I haven’t used it up, before it turned. I’m trying to use it up, faster. So far, so good.
Here, losses can offset mad tax bills. Part of it might be an American characteristic. ANYTHING to reduce taxes is a good thing. We’ve been touchy about taxes, ever since that unpleasantness, circa 1776. 🙂
Do people never work against their own best interests?
We have lift off! A couple of the Mammoth Sunflower seeds, broke ground. I wonder if someone will pull them up, as in the last two years? Can the pumpkins be far behind? Since changing my watering pattern, I’ve seen hardly any wood lice, at night, at all. They may all be feasting, under the potato traps. I need to change them, again.
I got the last of the prunings, out of the wheel barrow and into the dumpster. Swept up the mess and returned the wheel barrow to the Master Gardener’s room.
Our high yesterday was 75F (23.88C). Didn’t make the forecast 80F. Perhaps, because there was a pleasant breeze, blowing all day. Our overnight low was 50F (10C). Our forecast high for today is 84F.
My Mom was very much a reader, and read to us. I think I knew how to read before I went to school. We had a small, branch library, in our neighborhood. There were at least weekly trips. Dad also read, but stuck with what interested him. “Men’s” magazines and westerns, mostly. Newspapers.
It seems like if you don’t get on the bandwagon, whatever a particular bandwagon is (video games, social media, streaming services, etc.), people take it as an affront. And indictment of their choices. Which I think is just silly, but there you go.
Re: Spatterlight. I see Cugel, much like Ash in the “Evil Dead” movie, mispronounced a spell. Beyond that, my eyes glazed over. 🙂 Which is not an indictment of your reading choices. 🙂 But maybe of mine.
It was a popcorn night. I watched “Dust Bunny.” I thought it was an interesting, adult fantasy. Worth a bowl of popcorn, but, probably not going to become a cult movie or classic. Ms. Weaver did a nice turn. The apartment building, and apartment where most of the action took place, was a very interesting set.
I’m sure the solar panel stand will eventually be recycled into something useful. You have a knack for that. Kudos. Lew
Chris:
My goodness – 29 years and 3 months. Surely that’s not possible? I am sure that I remember at least one other of of that breed reaching a record age.
It was a perfectly natural rain occurance, at least on my part. I try not to ask for things that I cannot control, which is pretty much everything. And the garden is doing really well, if you don’t count rodents and, so far, they are just eating green tomatoes, but they are trying hard to eat ALL the green tomatoes. I picked as much lettuce as I can store in the fridge because, after a week of no sun, the sun came out today and was blasting them and I could see them bolting before my eyes. Also picked more cabbages.
The basement citruses, who have been outside for awhile now, have come back to life and for some reason some are blooming. I think they are supposed to bloom in winter? That’s what they have been doing.
We are supposed to be getting solid wheels for our Gorilla carts. The ones they have are the kind with air and they wear out quickly on this terrain. Good for you to have already done that.
I think that, finally, at last, after months of sharing the house with them, all the stinkbugs are either dead or have been sent outside to await the squash plants (their favorite). There was one last big finale, where I found one in my oatmeal. I don’t know if he was cooked in it or if he fell in once it was served, but I didn’t smell any stinky bug smell in it, so I fished his body out and ate the oatmeal.
Thankfully, I have never had that happen with a toilet seat, though the one in the upstairs bathroom is 35 years old. The downstairs toilet is only 5 years old because it was replaced when that while bathroom was made handicapped friendly in 2021. Hope someone wasn’t sitting on it . . .
Pam
It is a cream-colored cheese and says “Old Croc Sharp Cheddar Cheese”. I prefer well-aged cheeses myself, though I don’t mind orange ones since that was all I grew up with, except for maybe a bit of “Swiss” or Parmesan.
Chris,
Thanks for the song. I enjoyed it.
The drought data is in Nebraska because last year department of goobermint efficiency “consolidated” a lot of weather research in to the Nebraska facility. Family in Omak confirms the severe nature of the drought. Even the mountains are parched. Family was even out in the mountains this morning.
Keeping it short tonight. “THEY say we might be in for a monster storm. Huge. Epic proportions. Tornadoes 150km south of here. 120 km per hr winds here. Golf ball size hail. 25mm of rain in an hour. And so forth. So I’m getting prepped for loss of power…candles and whatnot.
It was 34C today. Clouds boiling in from the east which is never good. Outdoors feels weird like this could be anything from huge to meh. No electric tense feel yet.
More tomorrow.
DJSpo
Hi DJ,
Thanks for dropping by and taking the time to say: ‘hello’! 🙂
The cynical mind suggests that benefits flow to those wearing the right colours at any one point in time, and that possibly is the case. Mind you, it’s difficult to be in the right place, at the right time. Few are those who make such achievements.
Welcome to my occasionally hubris filled world, and hope that your area avoids the worst of that storm. The details are known to me, and man, your description reads like a horror show. How did it turn out?
You can get that electric feel, yeah! Stay safe, and hope it was all a flash in the pan.
We were defeated by a Moby rock today. It happens.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Pam,
Ooo, now you mention it, there was another long lived Bluey, or was it a Kelpie. Hang on, let’s find out… … It’s outrageous, some interloper tried to take the title – with allegedly dodgy certification – Rochester’s Bluey reclaims title of world’s oldest dog after Guinness World Records reviews Bobi’s credentials
The other we mentioned a long while ago, lived on a dairy farm but missed the record by that much. World’s oldest dog? Australian kelpie Maggie dies after 30 years on a dairy farm. Must be something in the water down this way!
🙂 Pam that is so wise, and respect, control is an allusion. All we can but do is muddle on through. Oh my! I’ve never seen rodents eat green tomatoes before, and you know my thoughts on those twitchy nosed pests. Sadly Mr Baby is now doubly and quadruply missed. Is it too early to make the suggestion? Without Dame Plum and Ruby foraging through the garden beds, rats would have the upper hand.
Brassica’s are beyond my comprehension, mostly because the summer weather here does not favour their cooler climate, no moth, wants. I’m truly impressed that your cabbage produced heads, and that achievement is outside my skills.
The sun shone here today as well, despite the forecast suggesting it wouldn’t peak from behind the clouds. It was nice to get some sun, but it wasn’t enough after several crazy thick cloudy days in a row, and the generator is chugging along tonight putting some charge back into the batteries. Such is the winter solar danger zone! Just checked the state of charge, which is now back up to 72%. Feels good!
Citrus bloom here most of the year, but the fruit ripens in winter. Your trees are making up for lost time now that they are enjoying the sunshine and fresh air. They’d have not enjoyed your winter glacial conditions outdoors! 🙂
I’ve nothing but good things to say about solid tires, and you won’t regret the purchase with the gorilla cart upgrade. What you mentioned happens to me as well, which is why I’m getting rid of all of those small tire and tube combinations. I’ve no idea how long the solid ones will last… … Fun fact: They’re generally made of polyurethane, and so would get the longest life if kept out of the sunshine and rain. The small synthetic rubber tires and tubes send me loopy due to the low quality. My expectations are higher than they can deliver. A good idea to store under cover, if possible?
Pam, you sounded like Dirty Harry there with the stink bug! Go ahead critter, make my day! Most insects are meant to be edible, but are they tasty? It’s outrageous the critter chose to sample the oatmeal. The mice were onto the boxes of oats here, as well as the dog and chicken food, plus the rice, peanuts. You name it, they were feral. After two calmer weeks, with no signs of activity, we put the stores back into the dry goods shelving today. Fingers crossed! And same to you with the bugs.
Your toilet seat is probably better made! I’ve never seen a plastic one crack either. Fortunately we have a spare which came with the replacement ceramic pan a few years ago. 🙂 For the record, the seat was OK, the plastic attachments at the rear broke, so no chance of falling though. Falling off, was entirely possible.
Me too, vintage cheddar cheeses are nice. Orange varieties, it’d help if a person had grown up with those. 😉
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Just checked out the climate records for Hardin and it can vary between 112’F and -47’F. My mind now hurts thinking of your two week vacation, presumably in the hottest parts of the summer months? The cold nights you’d have experienced too would have left you with whiplash. At least there was the museum to visit. No shortage of housing there. I’m not at all certain that I’d cope with such temperature extremes.
Sure about the orange, but that belief does depend upon the country of residence. 😉 I’d not heard of orange cheese until we began discussing the subject. It’s an interesting problem you’ve raised there, and occasionally we get a block of cheese which goes mouldy rapidly. I was always told that with a semi-hard cheese like cheddar, the mould can be cut off the block. It’s still wasteful. At a guess, that cheese is more alive than usual, or perhaps not enough preservatives were added during production (or there was contamination afterwards). Juggling the amount of preservatives to add is a bit art and science. Too much either way is bad, but the present methods of production are going to be hard to maintain in the future.
Not always, but many folks maximise their self interest. The Tea Party was a good band, but they were not from your country, Canadian instead, so not from Boston. And fun fact: Their biggest hit down here was: ‘Heavens Coming Down’. Years ago I spotted a tour poster with the trio where some cheeky wag had drawn talking balloons from each musician saying the word: Pensive. 🙂 The 90’s were intense, as was 1776 which may have been more so.
Nice one with the sunflower seeds! And may they rule your gardens and lure every pollinating insect in the area. Speaking of lift off, I see Rivers latest big toy, had a biggerer explosion. Fingers crossed your plants aren’t pulled from the ground again. Some people… Pumpkins need warm soil to germinate, but then in your country you have a much wider variety of vegetables than can be sourced down here.
Good to hear that the wood lice are being knocked back. This is impressive. Do you ever get to see your land sharks at work when digging in kitchen scraps?
Managing the dumpster at your place would be like herding cats, and well done getting the last of the prunings in there. Has the swap table ever come back into action?
Lovely weather! 🙂 Despite winter conditions here, the sun shone from between the clouds. Despite the dose of energy, I had to run the generator for the first time this year. The batteries began today at 32% and climbed to 60% full. The coming forecast does not seem favourable to solar power production. Oh well.
We’d decided to tackle a very large rock which is hovering over the courtyard. It’s very dense and solid material, and also defeated our best efforts (given the available time). Plan B (you knew there’d be one!) is to shore up the underside of the large rock, with a rock wall. The activities were quite challenging, still now we know what kind of rock it is that we’re dealing with. It survived that 5.9 earthquake, although you have mentioned the theory regarding all rocks eventually settling at lower elevations.
Interesting! And I too was a very early reader, and kept the family’s library card. Late fees were for other folks. 😉 Your mother did you a solid by reading aloud to you and your siblings. It’s a gift to pick up the language early, and we never stop learning doing that activity, do we?
It seems silly to me as well. Who cares if people hold different beliefs and opinions, as long as they’re harmless (the people and beliefs).
Hehe! It’s true, and I’d not thought of Ash ripping off Cugel, but yes! I’d had a thought a while back regarding Mr Vance and his impressive catalogue. Most of his protagonists have personality types along the lines of INTJ, INFJ, or more rarely, the extroverted versions. Given the introverted lot make up around 4% of the population, it’s no wonder Mr Vance’s works were not more widely acclaimed. And yet, the people who love them, really love them. 🙂 The Editor used to wonder what the heck I was reading, and dipped her toes into the water, and is now hooked. It happens. She loves Mr King’s writings as well. We often mystify people by reading books together in public. That’ll mess with their heads, yeah!
Ms Weaver has a strong stage presence. The film has an interesting and more importantly, original plot.
Hehe! Cleaned up the rest of that area this morning, where the solar panel stand was dismantled. Other than fresh soil, nobody would know what was once there. The recovered steel will be useful. We’re figuring out the materials storage area at the moment. It’s not as simple a concept as you’d imagine.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – Well, this will give you the fantods. 🙂 I think I mentioned, the auction moved into town. They have a Thursday night auction, and I check out the pictures. Always a few “real” antiques mixed in. Well, the last batch, there must have been 25 clown figurines, divided into lots. I placed a few absentee bids, for you …
I was wrong! Mostly. Happens. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before, but I did a search for “What’s the advantage of letting a commercial building sit empty?” There were many articles. This one looked pretty good.
https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2025-5-22-whats-with-the-vacant-storefronts-8-reasons-for-empty-commercial-spaces
We hit the road, the afternoon of the last day of school. As soon as Dad got home from work. So, early June. Hardin was warm, but still pretty green. I agree with you, I wouldn’t like that weather, either. Not that much different from where my friends live in Idaho.
Besides cheese going bad, I’ve had some problems with the rice I get out of the bulk bins, at Winco. A couple of times, it’s smelled “off” down toward the end. I’ll either have to use it faster, or, make smaller batches. I usually make 2 cups rice to four cups water.
So was The Tea Party on tour, in 1776? 🙂
I see the sunflowers have at least one sprout, in each of the three hills I planted. As with those, I soaked the pumpkin seeds, overnight. Still no joy. The nematodes are microscopic. So, I can’t see them in action. We’ve been having a bit of wind, and I see some other people’s tomato cages, have tipped over. Also, someone’s Jerry-rigged pea supports. They blew over the side of the raised bed, and are on the sidewalk. For a second time. I’m not going to use tomato cages, this year. When mine get a bit taller, I’ll lash them to a t-post. Yes, dumpster management is a hassle, at least here at the Institution. What I want to ask the Master Gardeners, is why they have a small wood chipper, that they didn’t use?
Our high yesterday was 81F (27.22C). Our overnight low was 52F (11.11C). Our forecast high for today is 63F. It’s actually been quit pleasant, as there’s a good wind ripping. Gusts, 10-20mph. I see the forecast high for next Tuesday, is 90F. Speaking of weather, there’s a new movie coming out, called “Pressure.” Brendan Fraser plays General Eisenhower. It’s about how weather played a part in deciding the date of D-Day. Here’s a good review.
https://www.npr.org/2026/05/27/nx-s1-5801425/pressure-movie-nws-weather-film-andrew-scott-brendan-fraser-trump
So, your Moby rock is hovering in thin air? Maybe it’s a UFO. Or, whatever they’re calling them these days. That needed to be rebranded?
Reading together in public? How twisted!
🙂 Apparently, people would much rather you chat with each other, via your dumb phones.
Materials storage areas, are always a challenge. So many odd shaped bits and pieces. Often with no relationship to one another.
I forgot to mention, day before yesterday, I was blissfully taking my afternoon nap, when the fire alarm went off. It happened, again. Someone was barbecuing and opened the door to the community room, and the smoke was sucked into the building. I could smell barbecue, and didn’t even bother to leave my apartment. Luckily, the maintenance guy was around, and apparently knew how to shut off the alarms. The fire department showed up, anyway. The frosting on the cake? It was Little Mary Sunshine, who was (wo)maning the barbecue. 🙂
Well, a surprise, sort of. The local food box showed up this morning. Is it the last one? The nice couple that delivers it, are in the dark as much as we are. So, what treasures were on offer?
A dozen eggs. 6 poppy seed bagels. I see they’re from Winco’s in-store bakery. 10 or so of those sandwiches, that I usually toss. 1 lb. of butter “product”. An individual slice of carrot cake. A 11 oz, all meat frozen pizza (sausage, beef, pork & chicken. I might keep that. Tart it up a bit.) 4 oz. of turkey pepperoni. A large orange. A jar of peanut butter. A box of Mac & cheese. A 1lb, 9oz bag of “Fruity Dino Bits” cereal. A quart of shelf stable milk. A 1 lb. package of spaghetti pasta. A packet of beef and pasta. Just add beef, milk and water. Tins: one each of chicken & rice soup, pork and beans, refried beans and mixed veg. Two tins each of tuna and sliced pears. Not a bad batch.
And, lastly, a new Arthurian find.
https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/28/style/medieval-king-arthur-manuscript-auction-scli-intl
I wonder if it will go to an institution, where it can be studied, or if it will disappear into private hands? That green binding? Arsenic? 🙂 Lew
Chris:
Yeah, it was Maggie. I remember that now.
It’s not too early to make the suggestion, but I wouldn’t get a feline just because I need a mouser. Most of the cats I have had (a lot of cats!) were entirely disinterested in rodents.
Our neighbor has a kelpie. She must be really getting up there (so is he). She is still well able to walk up and down these hills with him most days.
Pam
Pam
Chris,
That was an interesting storm. First, let’s just say that when the richest man in the world was in charge of the Department Of Goobermint inEfficiency, he also centralized all of the severe storm forecasting to Norman, Oklahoma. So, our storm was a big one, but not at all near the levels suggested by the forecasts.
Much of the area that was supposed to be massacred by tornadoes had wind and dust and no rain. No tornadoes. There were about 10,000 lightning strikes in Oregon and Washington east of the Cascades. No serious fires, surprisingly. A few places had 70 mph winds. There were a lot of fallen trees and limbs. Boundary County in Idaho has most of its power out until repairs can be made.
Most areas that DID get rain got about 6mm. However, the official weather station at the Spokane airport actually got the horrendous hail and 19mm of rainfall. One or two other locations were similar. We probably had about the 6mm here. Omak and the severe drought areas of the Okanogan Highlands received about 6mm also, give or take. Not enough to break that drought, but nothing to ignore.
A tree about a kilometer from here got hit by lightning. The fire department put out the fire. A tree on our normal walk route had a large branch snapped. That’s it for my neighborhood. Although, the 3 hours of lightning was spectacular. I had moved all of my garden containers under cover just in case. Moved them back this morning. That proved to be unnecessary, but I got a good workout.
Oh, I heard two things that can make for good band names. One is “Sycophants Galore”. The other, is “Digital Wendigo”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendigo
What, another Moby Rock? Did you harpoon it with explosives that turned it into smaller rocks of useful size? 😉 It must be noted at this point that I mentioned the latest Moby Rock to the Princess. I also mentioned that the Editor won’t let you use explosives. The Princess quickly said, “Good Woman! We must protect our men from their own devices.”
I’ve been through eastern Montana into the Dakotas several times. I always enjoyed it. It’s moderately similar to some parts of Eastern Washington. I’ve always enjoyed the dramatically different but beautiful scenery in arid and semi-arid climates. It’s that -40C temperature with 60 mph winds that is unnerving in places such as Billings and Hardin.
The birdbath has been out in the yard for a month now. Annual occurrence.
I heard of Redbone a few years ago but forgot about them. Found them again recently and have been enjoying their music.
DJSpo
Hi Pam,
I’d forgotten the story as well, and you have to admit, Maggie is a wonderful name for a Kelpie? The dog had such a lovely face full of life. I doubt I’d want much publicity at the equivalent human years of 120! I won’t make that, no way.
Thanks, and I was hedging around the subject, given the rodent situation. Sometimes the presence can be enough to deter at least a few rats or mice, but like foxes watching chickens, the twitchy nosed critters know your business better than you do! I’m in awe of them, and their speedy antics.
I’ll defer to your experience with cats and their skills. The same is true of dogs, Ollie can scare off large critters such as deer, but he’d be useless against rabbits or rodents. Ruby is just OK with rabbits, although what she lacks in skill, she makes up for with enthusiasm, which helps, a bit. Dame Plum is the best of the lot, although ignores the larger critters as being a bit scary. Hang on a second, does this mean that there is no such thing as a canine who ticks all of the boxes?
Hmm. There was Sir Scruffy, and what he lacked in speed, he made up for with intelligence. Rats and rabbits were very rare here when that dog was on duty. And he teamed up with Sir Poopy and guided the pair for they hunted as pack. Alas, I’ve not seen the scrufters type since, so I hear you, they’re not all gifted, yeah.
🙂 Go the Kelpie! And Ollie is crunchy these days, but I force him, and myself, to walk up and down the hill. Keeps him limber. When he needs a break, he pulls the ‘interesting sniff over here’ number five trick.
Did you get any sunshine today? A bit of sun, and a touch of rain here this afternoon.
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
Ah, I forget that the US has a very loosely attached form of federalism. Things are different down here, and states manage some things, and the federal bunch look after the rest. We have a single national Bureau of Meteorology, and whilst they have their faults, it seems to more or less work. Replicating the same weather and climate services across 52 states would certainly – from the local experience here – suggest that there’d be a heap of overlap.
On the other hand, the new err, folks in your country, may have to broaden their knowledge, learn and apply it to wider geographical areas – or end up being yelled at, a lot! 🙂
Localised storms are notoriously difficult to predict, and few people recall the over zealous forecasts. What they tend to remember are the times when the weather services missed a whopper, or failed to communicate the severity. Then the knives come out.
Man, I remember the lead up to the Black Saturday bushfires of 2009. 173 people died that day, and it was awful, 45.6’C, high winds and low humidity. A revolting day. In the days leading up to the disaster, the media was full of advanced notice that this day was going to be a shocker. But on the day and long afterwards, I’d heard people make the claim that ‘we had no warning’, and it wasn’t reported widely, but a few folks got pretty angry with the fire services, of which I was volunteering in. No amount of resources could have stopped the fire that day. Selective memory is a bummer, but far better the claim is made that things will be bad, and they turn out more or less OK.
I’ve had super cell storms hit here, minor tornadoes, and that freakin’ awful hail storm a few months ago. The possibilities were shown in the forecast, but we experienced the reality of those events. Nowadays, I pour over, like you, various sources for forecasts, and make up my own mind and live with the consequences.
In some ways man, it’s sort of like a person’s health. Who cares what the medical industry can and can’t do? Nobody, but nobody, will care more about your own health, than you do. And I’ve seen misdiagnosed people die in front of me – the trust the people had was unshakable, up until the worst happened. I’m not so trusting, but also admit that I can be wrong.
It’s great news that most of the areas scored 6mm, and hope no aircraft suffered from hail damage – which would probably be a write off for them.
Trees coming down is a thing around here too, and so I tend to keep the chainsaw fuelled up and ready for action. In urban areas it can be surprising how few people have access to a chainsaw, but I get the reasons for that. The lightning show would have been quite fun. I too enjoy a good thunderstorm. 🙂 Thor is sending a strong message!
Better to be safe than sorry with the plants.
The Wendingo is always there, waiting, never satisfied. Truly, of all the weirdness these days, the urea restrictions will bite the hardest, then the diesel. It is a good band name.
Yes, another Moby Rock. What has my life come to? 🙂 With enough effort, we could reduce the size of this monster. There are however many things to do, and it will be easier to shore up this almost six foot tall chunk of granite. Ha! Your lady is correct, for if I could blow the beast up, I would. Perhaps the universe is trying to tell me something?
Yikes! My summer softened self is quailing in fright at the thought of such freezing weather. I’d enjoy the scenery though! 😉
Nice one and the birds will enjoy the water during very hot days. As will Dame Avalanche enjoy her form of television.
I was very impressed with them, and the lead singer had a early 70’s kind of metal vibe to his voice. Very cool.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Arrrrgggghhhhhhh!!! I’d not sleep well if those creepy things were in the house, just peering and pretending to be inanimate. Yeah, right they are. Dark night, sliver of moon, figurines head out to play. Jump off the shelf, splat onto the floor. Crawl up the hallway. Screech, plastic feet scrape along wooden floors. Knives and balloons readied. Evil deeds get done. The clown figurine empire, struck back!
No thank you, and here I must insist and recognise that whilst your intentions are no good, man I’d not want those err, things, in the house. 😉 Thanks for the laughs!
Whoa! My brain is now blown by the article you linked to. All of those reasons sound spot on the money, and I’d missed every one of them. Number eight is the niche the Club would do well to get into, maybe? Have you had any news on that front? Commercial fit-outs and make-goods are never cheap or easy. Either usually involves a good chunk of sweat equity, but that does lessen the attack on the treasury.
Far out! Maybe work was less intense in those earlier days, but the last thing I’d be thinking of doing after a day of work, was heading off on a long interstate drive. It’d be a personal challenge at first, then later a nightmare. Your memory of the experience did bring to mind an old friend from way back, who would choose to go on a long drive at night. Hmm, mostly he enjoyed the activity of driving, although I recall his parents used to foot the fuel and other bills. I just said no in those days, but then was working full time and studying at night was tiring. My mate was a bit more loose with work, and didn’t study that I recall, or at least to the same degree.
Wise to head there in June before the serious heat kicked in. I’ve not experienced such cold weather as the extremes the statistics describe in that part of your country. Still, the scenery there is awesome.
Oh poop! I’ve no experience with off rice, and probably would avoid that. What else do you do? Use the stuff, or lose it? We lost a bit of rice to the mice. They chewed into a bag, and we had to ditch some.
Hang on a sec… … Jumping into the wayback machine with Mr. Peabody and Sherman, suggests that the band could have been active around the year 1776. Temporal anomalies are a thing, and their other big song: ‘A certain slant of light’, performed acoustically due to a lack of electricity, was not well understood at the time, but became inspiration for the twilight’s last gleaming bit. The lost royalties due to out of copyright and stuff, must have been a real bummer for the band. This get rich quick biz is really hard man! Hehe! Being Canadian, particularly in those days, meant do the gig and a quick exit into the wayback machine was necessary. See, there’s all sorts of strange stuff going on in this world. Personally, I believe the world would be a more interesting place with a Loch Ness monster. 😉
That’s great news with the sunflowers, and may they grow to be six feet tall, or more. You might have to wait for warmer weather with the pumpkin seeds. Oh! I’d not realised that your nematodes were that small. I’m with you, sturdier supports for climbing vines such as peas and beans are time and resources well spent.
Dumb question for you: Is the small wood chipper electric, or gasoline powered?
You’re still having lovely weather. Not too hot, and not too cold, but just right! It’ll be interesting to see if the 90’F day kicks off those pumpkin seeds.
Brendan Fraser looked the real deal in the photos. Thanks for the review, and the break in the storm, was a top notch decent break in the war.
Now you mention it, I’d not checked for aliens in or near to that Moby rock. Hmm. Is this an act of oversight? Did I see depictions of aliens in the news the other day? The folks in your goobermint sure are keeping us all entertained.
Ha! That’s funny, but I do see couples and families sitting down to read their separate devices. We may be like that, but with cooler tech! By the way, some folks can see our activities as a personal challenge, although if I know the other person that’s cool. You may have noticed the chatty part of my personality?
That’s how it is rolling with the material storage area. There’s no clear vision, but presumably in time clarity will form from the murk?
Oh my gawds! I’ll bet you woke with a jolt having that thing blaring? Hehe! That’s kind of funny, and there’s irony in there, as you’d have also noticed. 🙂
You never know, and budget and expenditure cuts are a real thing. Fingers crossed that the service continues. Gourmet pizza may be in your future? Good to hear that it has heaps of toppings too. The just add milk and water product sounds intriguing. Sounds like a decent haul to me as well. How are the donations for the pantry going?
Whoa! What an item, but alas my pockets aren’t so deep. A green velvet cover too, and you’re probably right about the arsenic colouring. I too noticed the bloke in the images handled the metal edges of the cover… The illustrations were fun. Did you spot the young lady pulling her hair as Merlin shape shifted into a stag? Alas the owner was not disclosed, but someone with a name beginning with the letter A, who seems to be in rather a lot of trouble, sprang to mind – just a random bit of guesswork there.
Went into the big smoke for lunch with friends, and had a blast. A good catch up, and as usual we talked a lot about all sorts of things and compared life twenty years ago to that of today. It was an interesting discussion.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – You could line up all the little clown figures, around the house, facing out. It would probably spook the rats and mice. 🙂 There are a few good clowns, out there. I think most of the figurines are of Emmett Kelly. Or, maybe the comedian Red Skelton. He had a clown schtick. There’s a paragraph in the Kelly bio about the Hartford circus fire. He was there.
https://w.wiki/QCUa
But clowns also give me the heebie jeebies. Probably due to the killer clown, John Wayne Gacy. Interesting. He might have been a bit of inspiration for King’s “It.” Gacy was arrested in 1978, and King wrote his book much later. Something interesting I’ve noticed about serial killers and mass murderers. A lot of them are named John Wayne. And there seem to be an inordinate number of Eagle Scouts, among the lot. 🙂
Well, nothing for sure as to a new home for the Club. It’s very tentative at this point, but we may end up with some space from the Starvation Army. Or, Salvos as you call them, down there. My commute to the Club would be about twice as far. But, I might finally get a look at their gardens. One of their folks met with our board, the other day. My, I may join just for one of those spiffy uniforms. 🙂
Dad was what I’d call a “restless driver.” We’d leave Portland on Friday afternoon, and arrive in western Nebraska, on Sunday afternoon. Once we go to a destination, he was always antsy to get onto the next stop.
Rather than the WayBack Machine, perhaps the Tardis? More room for the band, their equipment, roadies and groupies. 🙂
Speaking of that unpleasantness in 1776, last night I finished watching “Lucy Worsley Investigates the American Revolution.” I don’t know if you’re familiar with Worsley.
https://w.wiki/3q6R
She’s a great presenter, and makes history accessible. I didn’t realize she had so many documentaries. Our library has some, but there are others I’d like to see. No worries. U-Tub has most of them.
Looking into that, I made another discovery. She did a two act with Prof. Annie Gray, a food historian. Turns out she has many, many documentaries on the same source. I’m as happy as a hog in slop. 🙂
Something interesting. Ms. Worsley displayed two brass pennies, issued after the Revolution. A British one, and an American one. Which was the first currency issued by the new government. Designed by Franklin, natch. The motto was: “Mind Your Business.” 🙂 Meaning has changed a bit. Franklin was referring to one’s business interests, or occupation.
Well, Mr. Greer is always referring to the “re-enchantment of the world.” We may see a Loch Ness monster, yet.
When I took Dawg out for her morning walk, and watered the garden, I noticed there are two seedlings peeping out of two of the pumpkin hills. Go, pumpkins! The Master Gardener’s wood chipper is probably electric. Over the past couple of years, they’ve been adding different battery powered garden tools. They’re always careful to make sure their recharging set up is simpatico with whatever tool they’re adding. I don’t pay much attention, as I use hand tools.
It was cool, with a breeze, this morning. Lots of fluffy white clouds. Prof. Mass has a post about all the weather action, east of the mountains. Our high yesterday was 61F (16.11C). Our overnight low was 43F (6.11C). Our forecast high for today is 67F.
Nope. No clarity from the murk. 🙂
No, I didn’t notice the woman pulling her hair out. I couldn’t get past Merlin becoming a stag.
I read an interesting article about your national capitol, Brisbane. And learned a new bit of Australian slang. “daggy.” Which I hope can be used in polite company, and family friendly venues. 🙂
https://www.cnn.com/travel/australia-canberra-why-visit-intl-hnk
I did a bit of research. It’s got a good public library system, and plenty of new and used bookstores. I think I could be happy, there. 🙂 Lew
Chris:
“When he needs a break, he pulls the ‘interesting sniff over here’ number five trick.” Ollie is such a dear.
100% sun here today!
Advice needed: I can’t remember all the things you have written about sharpening chainsaws, in this case a 3 foot bar (.9m). Can you please tell me a few tips? My son is having a lot of trouble sharpening that particular bar.
Pam
Hi Pam,
It was cold here today, but sunny and Ollie was a bit crunchy, so I got the wood heater going for him early (it felt cold to me as well), and that perked him right up. The big dog enjoyed some pleasant walks today, and basked in the winter sun. He’s now snuggled under a woollen jumper and seems to be happy.
Go the sun! And may your plants jump from the ground.
Saw chains are a complicated things. You mostly cut softwood species? I’d check to make sure whether the bar is worn out. If the chain sits in the bar groove and wiggles, the bar gap is too wide and needs to be closed, or it’s rubbish. Also the sprocket head need lubricating (there is a tiny hole for this purpose). Check for hot spots on the bar too. Is the machine running at full spec revs less 1,000rpm (my Stihl 381 spec is 12,000rpm, but I tune it for 11,000 – there is no extra power or torque in the last 1,000 revs and why run the motor too hot)?
You’d use full chisel chains, or hexa (I use semi chisel which has a rounded edge)? The full chisel has a square edge and the very point of that edge has to be razor sharp. The tooth can be sharp, whilst if the raker sits up too high (the separate sticky uppy bit in front of the cutting tooth) the chain wont cut and the raker has to be filed down (on an angle not flat). There are gauges for that as the height difference between the top of the raker and the cutting edge on the tooth determines the size of the chip pulled out of the timber. If your son is seeing fine dusty looking particles, file the rakers down on an angle but only a bit. The proper gauge makes the job easier, but the result it provides is merely indicative as to what it should sort of be. Beware dogmatic people with this stuff! 😉
There is a lot to consider, and one major issue is that not all manufacturers chains are of equal quality. You do get what you pay for and I’ve tested that, and now pay AU$56 a chain for Stihl stuff, but other brands are pretty good too like Oregon or Carlton – your son has to find out what works for him.
Is he using the right sized file for the chain? Does he know the specifications of the chain? I can help with that if needed.
Hope that is enough to start off with, happy to talk about this subject until the cows come home – as the old timers used to say. The timber here is crazy dense and the saw has to be in tip top condition so I’ve had to go on a monster journey to work out every little detail, and even then, I get things not wrong, but not optimal. It’s really hard this stuff.
Cheers and better get writing!
Chris
Hi Lewis,
The rats and mice are not easily fooled. Agreed, mine was a sweeping generalisation, and Emmett Kelly, despite the odd flaw here and there (who does not have such things?) was a great. And yes, he dodged the fire in the big tent that day, and got back on the horse and went back for more. Some folks are born to entertain, and ours is but to enjoy the moments.
Gacy is a monster, and the world is a brighter place for his light being extinguished. I’d not heard of the bloke, and far out, he murdered a lot, that we know about. Such folks leave a trail of misery in their wake. I can certainly see how Pennywise had the fear factor, but clowns hide their faces behind a persona, and there is something surreal about that. That may be so, but they do seem to spring out of the woodwork. There’s been a few of them down under, and allegedly one lived not too far from here, was a pilot, apparently. I remember the weirdness with some neighbours of the blokes.
Fingers crossed that the new digs for the Club get sorted out in time. And you’ve mentioned the garden before, and if the moons align, it might just work out that way. 🙂 Pah! Those uniforms wouldn’t come cheap.
Oh my! Spare us all from the clutches of the restless driver. Man, I feel your discomfiture, even given the years. That would have sent me loopy.
Very good, yes the Tardis has probably more space, and who knows what goes on in such multi-dimensional telephone boxes?
Mrs Worsley has such a lovely smile, almost as if she knows where the cream and best home made jams are stored for the scones and high tea. Absolute respect for the education too. Very impressive. I loved the story of the piano teacher, and it’s so true that some teachers are just there for students.
utoob has it’s benefits and the occasional bright spot in this ‘ere information superhighway, one of which was discovering how we’d destroyed the heating elements in the coffee machine boiler by submersing it in water (they sit on the outside of the boiler). Oh well, it all seemed like such a good thing to do at the time. An expensive replacement part is on order…
Thanks for the fun visuals of the happy hog!
Such loose wording can produce all manner of unfortunate consequences. Thanks for the gentle reminder to be more clear in future.
Big foot would be fun too. 😉 Although maybe in your forests, I’d not be comfortable to know such monsters are roaming the eucalyptus forests down here. 6,000 pound wombats would scare me silly.
Go the pumpkins! And told ya the warmer weather would kick the seeds off to do their thang!
Ah! Electric wood chippers can bring a maximum of 2.5hp to bear upon sticks, prunings etc. That isn’t much more than a kitchen blender motor. My scary old machine has a 8.5hp motor, and that one is a baby, but still lethal as. The master gardeners may not have been able to feed the prunings into the machine? Dunno. Much depends upon whether anybody has sharpened the blades recently?
Oh poop about the lack of clarity, and to think this year’s word of the year was: better! 😉
Ooooo, I better get writing, I’m so late tonight. Like really late.
Merlin could probably do other things, like control the weather. I’ll bet he didn’t have to worry about mispronounced syllables and epic hail storms! 🙂 The change to the stag was perhaps easier? The young lady really was pulling her pony tail! Sometimes I get the impression the early clerics were having a bit of fun.
Daggy is fine, and it’s cool to be daggy. I like Brisbane too. It has a nicer climate than in this freezing mountainous part of the continent.
It’s a lovely city.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – Britain does turn out some women presenters who are, well, just fun. Besides Lucy Worsley, can we forget Ruth Goodman, of “farm” fame? Prof. Mary Beard is a hoot. Her specialty is the Roman Empire.
Oh, no! Are you temporarily coffee-less? Well, if the syntax of tonight’s blog post, totally disintegrates, we’ll know the cause. 🙂 You could always make “cowboy coffee.”
https://www.ourcoffeecorner.com/cowboy-coffee-what-it-is-how-to-make-it-and-why-it-still-works/
You don’t drink it, you chew it. 🙂 It puts hair on your chest! Lead in your pencil!
Our high yesterday was 64F (17.77C). Our overnight low was 39F (3.88C). Our forecast high for today is 72F. Daily highs are creeping up there.
I started watching season two of “True Blood.” So, satisfying. 🙂 I’m also watching episodes of season two of “Fallout.” It’s a post apocalyptic series. You might like it. Lots of exploding heads. 🙂
I finished the Larry McMurtry biography, and am dipping in and out of “Lost Worlds: How Humans Tried, Failed, Succeeded, and Built Our World.” (Wyman, 2026). It’s pretty interesting. The rise of civilization is often presented as a straight line. The author feels it’s a more meandering route. With plenty of false starts and meandering pathways, and dead ends. Lew
Chris:
Wow! Thank you so much – that’s a lot to ponder about chainsaws.
Pam