This week the machinations of the tech bros was finally invasive enough on my consciousness, to bother me deeply. As an ungentlemanly as it may seem, I even err, cracked the sads on Friday. It was my one day off of the week, and the forces moved against me. Harassed from one end to the other for most of the day. I’ve some friends and acquaintances in the accounting profession, and they are reporting similar experiences. At the beginning of July there were some changes with an aspect of government reporting, and it’s been feral to administer for small business. Oh well.
As a canny and resourceful dude, after this week’s experience I’ve implemented some hard boundaries, which dare not be crossed! As someone who works six days per week, it is my observation that nobody is going to care more about my down time, than I do. So I have cracked it, and will henceforth switch my phone and emails off on such non-work days. Spare a thought for the hapless Sandra who on that supposed day off, also needed to talk to me about some work thing which was not urgent and scored an earful of whinge factor ten overdrive. Hmm. Some days you just don’t want re-experience.
Yup, the tech bros are not my mates, put it that way. To add further insult, whilst feeling somewhat out of sorts because of all this intrusive stuff, on Friday night a chunk of software, which had self installed onto this website, began blocking me from posting replies to comments. Memories of smiting the foolish mice who’d interrupted my sleep all night for three weeks recently,were flooding back fresh into my mind. The final sentence the rodents heard, resurfaced in the murky crawl spaces of the mind: I so hate this!
What had my life become?
The brain is a wonderful tool though, and mine processes on problems whilst sleeping. Saturday morning brought an entirely fresh perspective to the unasked for comment blocking software. Like Elmer Fudd, we went a huntin’! The software was tracked down and discovered, which was a good thing because the night before I had no idea what was going on. Once it’s hiding place was known, the quarry was flushed out and put to a timely end. It was a real pleasure to stop this latest mischief in it’s tracks.
I don’t see the upside of making life so unnecessarily difficult. It needn’t be this way, and with enough years under my belt, I can guarantee to younger readers of the blog, that long ago the day to day administrative activities of life were way simpler. The constant demands that bureaucrats and big companies pester us with, in isolation make a lot of sense. As a totality, the constant intrusion makes no sense whatsoever.
I’m not into it, and hope the tech bros run out of mad cash sooner, rather than later. The sensitive person hears rumours that they’re burning through a lot of borrowed funds, having possibly used up much of their own in a potential orgy of dream chasing. And when that latest money spigot runs dry possibly because you know, investors may want a return on their investment, it’s going to be a problem. Oh yeah, and people left holding the bits of paper that were once previously money, will be way more annoyed than my Friday experience!
There’s another rumour going around about that lot. Allegedly the tech bros are buying up second hand books, cutting the spines off, then feeding them into document reader machines. A whole lot of books apparently. They’ve had to stop scraping data from the interweb because they’ve already done that and not achieved their goals. Also plenty of clever people, perhaps those who’s creations got hoovered up, are working out how to poison the uploaded data. Plus look at the quantity of software generated content out there on the web now. It’s not healthy for the machines to consume their own product, which now I’ve typed that sentence out, all sounds a bit yuk really.
Reading is a true delight! In the comment section of this blog, there is a long standing tradition of the sneaky book recommendation. The other day I was snared in a top notch book recommend trap, only to be startled by the price. $50 for a paperback, delivered! Sadly a bit rich for my tastes.
The surprising book price piqued my curiosity. It was only a paperback, how could it have been so expensive? Turns out, it wasn’t the only one, and bizarrely my much loved Jack Vance complete collection of books, now costs twice as much as it did only a few years ago. And serious people tell me that the official inflation rate is 4%, except books now cost 100% more than they did only very recently. I’m sure the official number is reflective of what goes on in the real world, yeah maybe it does…
The thing I noticed about book prices was that a few years ago, I could get a paperback delivered from the UK for about $25 including airfreight. It was a pretty sweet deal and was the same price as the local sellers had. That situation makes absolutely no sense to me. How can airfreight be free? Anyway, fast forward to these more enlightened times, and the books still cost about the same as back, but now with about $25 of freight. Or, the freight is advertised as free and things cost around $50, which is kind of the same.
The ongoing dust up in the middle east is beginning to seriously bite down under. Australia is a big sparsely populated country, and moving items around costs a lot. Diesel and the pretty similar Jet Fuel, are what you need to move freight fast. And that stuff is going up in price. Probably why the book sellers finally had to charge realistic prices for freight.
I’ve long suspected that literacy rates will eventually return to their historical norms. Hint, it wasn’t all that widespread a skill to be able to read, let alone write. With books getting more expensive though, and people atrophying their skills by outsourcing their brains to dross producing software, we’re probably in the early stages of that reversion.
Most of the week was quite cloudy and often damp. The house batteries only reached full charge by Sunday, when the sun shone strongly.
There are meant to be two small mountains off to the west, and the thick low clouds obscured both of them. Anyway, on Sunday the sun finally shone and we headed down below to the forest edge so as to continue the clean up work. As usual, the area worked on was particularly messy with a few upside down loggers tree stumps. Other than one enormous exemplar, the rest were easy to roll down the hill into the bonfire. I left that monster for another year.
The heat radiating off the bonfire was quite intense. The dogs had been running around for hours, and by the time the photo was taken, Ruby in particular was happy to spend time cooking her head and relaxing by the fire.
The previous day due to all of the tech hassles, I was feeling a bit out of sorts, and decided to potter around at my own pace fixing things here and there which needed some attention.
The two water inlet pipes to the house water tanks, had flexible connections added in-line. When full, each tank weighs around 25,000kg / 55,000 pounds, which is quite a lot. The clay they both sit on, moves ever so slightly with the seasons, and the flexible connectors allow for a bit of shifting and repositioning if needed. You’d imagine it would have been a quick task, but it took a couple of hours to ensure the pipes sat at the same height and out-flowing water ends up in the filter basket.
With a few hours to spare that day, I decided to check out whether the blades on the scary old wood chipper required replacing. They’d been in use for about two years now, and my initial belief was that they were worn down.
I like that second hand machine. The old farm repair machine dude, who passed away a few years ago, convinced me to buy it over a much newer chipper. I was initially dubious, and the Tecumseh 8hp motor is as old as the hills. But then, bowing to greater experience, I acted on the advice. Since owning, I’ve replaced the tyres with solid tubes, chucked on a new fuel tank and replaced the blades a couple of years ago – but that’s it.
Surprisingly the replacement blades are readily available and quite affordable. I’d not expected that given how old the machine is. It takes a bit under an hour to open the guts of the cutter mechanism. And the blades were perfect. Another thing I’d not expected.
It’s a beast of a machine, and I’ve fed two inch thick hardwood sticks into the cutters, and it produces a really nice and useful mulch. The trick to why it works well, is that there is a heavy flywheel, two cutting blades and four lots of flails. The guts of the cutting mechanism, were also in far better condition than I’d expected.
Steel of that quality in home machines, is rare nowadays. It probably also assists longevity that at the end of every use, the motor is allowed to cool down and lanolin is sprayed into the cutting area. The oil cleans and protects the steel. Well worth looking after equipment, and I thoroughly clean all of them after use.
Almost forgot to mention, in the forest area we’re cleaning up, I discovered a wombat hole. At night the large marsupials roam among the fruit trees and garden beds.
Late winter, early spring is the lean time of year for all of the forest critters. We often receive the most wonderful donations of bread and scones. The chickens love the scones, and we spread those treats out over a couple of days. If there is too much to store in air tight containers in the fridge, we occasionally feed a bit to the local birds who appreciate the extra feed.
If any is ever left by night time, the rats and mice will attempt to eat the treats. Presumably rats also try to eat the mice. Owls will perch in the nearby trees, and they’re into equal opportunity and will eat rats, mice or possums.
Onto the flowers:
The temperature outside now at about 11am is 11’C (52’F). So far for this year there has been 822.0mm (32.4 inches) which is up from last weeks total of 810.6mm (31.9 inches)
Comments
39 responses to “No one knows”
Yo, Chris – Maybe it’s time for your friends in acquaintances to rise up, and revolt against all this nonsense. They’ll need a leader. Remember, it’s better to be the power behind the leader, then the leader. 🙂
Of course, you have waaay more obligations than me, but I switched off my phone a couple of years ago. For looong periods of time. Sometimes, weeks. I started doing it, when I moved in here. Often, I’d get calls from an Inmate, nattering about nothing of particular importance. My number is no longer published on the “phone list.” As an extra unexpected bonus, I’ve discovered my nuisance calls and texts have fallen to nil.
Why do people feel they have to be so connected? If they really looked at what comes in, they’d probably discover most of it is dross. And, some people are.
When you did in the bit of nonsense hardware, did it make funny noises? 🙂 There’s something satisfying in the crunch of wood lice, underfoot.
Used to be, someone had to sit there, turn the pages, and scan in a book. You still occasionally see this, of screen shots of pages, online. The give away is that sometimes, words are a bit lost in “the gutter.” That’s where the left and right pages join together.
But, now a lot of it is mechanized, as you described. But, one hand, is the loss of one copy of, say, “Gone with the Wind,” tragic? Say, 20th edition, 4th printing? On the other hand, a big tech bro bought a pretty pricey manuscript. Can’t see him pitching it into the reading machine. Although, one never knows … Judging from the description, it was carefully photographed, by hand.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_Leicester
Yup. It’s all in the shipping. Not only the shipping to you, but also the shipping to the seller. By the way, I got gas last week. $4.80 a US gallon of regular grade. Been worse. Been better.
A “typical cloudy week…” It’s getting so any week that has typical weather, is a marvel.
Smoked dog. Tastes like smoked chicken. 🙂
Yup. Keeping on top of the maintenance of the water system, is pretty important. Looking at lists of basic needs of humans, water comes in second. After oxygen, but before food.
Scary old wood chipper. They don’t make things like they used to. A saying whose origin is lost in the mists of time. The Egyptians, Greeks and Romans probably had versions of this saying.
So, rough estimate, how many wombats do you think you have on your place? Your magpies, from what you’ve said, are quit useful. Best keep them topped up.
Jade plants in bloom, are so pretty. I haven’t seen one in a long time. The daffodils are really pretty. We won’t see the likes, for months. Lew
Hi Pam,
And the dovecote would have been a nice touch of whimsy to Mr Bell’s farm, which had a lovely name too, but was only encountered once in the first book. Now, what was it again? It was Silver something or other from memory (always risky relying on the old brain alone don’t you reckon?) Did he mention the name?
Pam, I don’t eat the chickens here either, and their role is to produce manure and eggs. If they’re well behaved and avoid psychotic episodes, which heritage breeds seem to be able to mostly manage, they get to live out a pleasant retirement. The poop is as valuable as the eggs, and every day a different tree in the orchard enjoys a good feed.
But! The wild birds all poop too, and are actively encouraged and supported, except for the Sulphur Crested Cockatoos – we all hate them. Those massive vandals get sent packing and have no good reason for being here. All they bring is drama. It was a pleasure to set the dogs onto them the other day, and all the smaller resident birds rejoiced. 🙂
So nice to experience the green moss under your feet again at your place. 😉 Summer here may be super hot and dry, but right now, the rainfall received is tracking near the upper end of wet years, with four months left to go.
Respect! One must have style with their work gear, and patched clothing suggests deep care, but also usage. In your earlier years, no doubts you’d have heard the old timey saying: More hat than cows!
Pam, we had a long discussion here about the patches for the chaps (which were supplied with the purchase) and guessed they were meant to be glued on. Sewing would defeat the entire purpose of the safety gear. My best guess is that the patches are intended to be used to fix minor rips due to say an encounter with a black locust tree thorn. Ouch! And those things are super sharp, what the heck?
One of the upside down tree stumps scratched my arm on Sunday, and the timber was filthy. Blood was oozing, but I washed the cut with water from the drinks bottle, finished moving the stump onto the bonfire, and then headed way back up hill to clean the cut with ethanol. It pays to be careful with these things, and a few minutes of first aid, is better than recovery from sepsis (not something I’d experienced, but know of a few people who ended up in hospital from that).
See, problems are best nipped in the bud! An worthy goal which can all aspire to.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Thanks for the rise up suggestion, and I’ll take my lead from your background work with the Club. A nudge here, a poke there, and hope that things move in the right direction! 😉 My natural inclination is to be more of a minder, than the front-man. Less hassles that way.
Interesting, and thanks for mentioning that about switching the phone off. I get that. You know, when working around the property here, I can’t hear the phone if it rings or someone texts a message anyway. As a person who grew up without such devices and understands that they really aren’t necessary for day to day existence, it’s no real bother. However, for younger folks, it can be a bit weird losing access to their mobile devices. It could be signs of an addiction?
And I’m unsurprised by your reduction in nuisance calls. One of the things I have to organise for my business is the caller id thing – which as you’d imagine is a part of an official list, that being the Aussie way! Instead of displaying my phone number with the startling word “Unverified” to folks I contact, it’ll say the business name. An anti-scammer thing apparently, but word on the street is that it’s already been worked around, oh well. But I still probably have to activate that facility to remain within the goal posts of normality – and it requires a phone call to the nice telco. No wonder I’ve been putting this task off.
Exactly, life can operate just fine without connectivity all of the time, and in some ways, the lack of a safety net means that people develop what they used to describe as: ‘Street Smarts’.
It’s funny you mention that about the software death rattle noises. I was going to make a joke about inexplicable squeaking sounds, but instead reality is much weirder and less funny. The emanations are more like a persistent scratching at the door, with a pitiful moan: “Let me back in! I don’t think so. The monster has I’m guessing tried at least ten thousand times in the past few days that I’m aware of, maybe. Something has to explain the sudden spike in reader?. What was that famous line from Flying High with the Wind again, oh that’s right: Frankly my unwanted software, I don’t give a damn!”.
Hey, you brought that quote to mind! 🙂
Say, that’s a very rare manuscript, and glad it wasn’t fed into those hungry machines we mentioned. And also good to see that it is being loaned to exhibitions worldwide. Wealth has strings of obligations.
Exactly, you know I read people making apocalyptic predictions in relation to energy, but I’m not seeing them playing out. Is it getting expensive inline with depletion rates, absolutely, but neither is it the end. Maybe it’s because I grew up in a household which was far poorer than I’d ever realised at the time. We can all get by just fine on far less, but the question really is: whether people will be happy with that outcome? Dunno. Good food, friends, hobbies, is all OK with me.
Hehe! Yes, the weather is remarkably variable, and today was another lovely early spring day. Even spotted European honeybees flying around. Dunno. Wednesday is meant to be another significantly wet day. What is normal anyway? Beats me… So agreed, if it’s good, it is a marvel to be appreciated.
Lewis, you are so naughty with that dog comment, but highly amusing too! Very funny and thanks for the laughs.
So true about the water system, yup! Getting some sort of water system going, was one of the earliest activities we did here, and like the solar power system, and firewood for that matter, it’s been a case of install, observe, then modify or implement from what’s been learned. Every system here is like that, and it’s been one big journey.
There’s always the call to nostalgia element to contend with. And sometimes the good old days, weren’t always that good. But that scary old wood chipper is built like a tank and way over-engineered. Some of the 1990’s era stereo equipment I have is like that too. Whomever designed the things, decided to just indulge their whims, and somehow the manufacturer agreed to the make the things. This is certainly not how things are done nowadays, except there is light on the horizon, like that no-frills computer free Canadian tractor we talked about. And Toyota makes a no-frills Hilux Champ, which will never see either the Australian or US market!
Oh! Most nights there are about three wombats cruising the orchards in different spots. Speaking of such matters, I awoke early this morning – the Suzuki Dirt Rat had to be driven to the outer urban edge township (a half hour in one direction) for it’s annual service. But prior to leaving, and the coffee, my less than awake mind noted two large shapes in the orchard. Oh far out, the deer are back! Have they learned nothing? So, I yelled out the door at the big herbivores (the size of horses) to: “F@#$ off, or I’ll shoot ya!”, and to my relief, after a startled look towards the noise maker (i.e. me) they bolted back into the forest. Hmm.
And I noted that an owl or fox appears to have nabbed a big brush tailed possum last night – this morning I noticed remnants of the grey fur, and dude, it wasn’t because the marsupial was shorn, put it that way! After lunch I went to photograph it, and the fur was gone – probably into a birds nest, it’s super toasty and very soft fibre.
Thanks! The flowers are a real pleasure, and this winter, we’ve had a lot to choose from. Frost, yes. Snow, no. What is that icy white floaty stuff anyway?
Websites have to deal with the certificates too, and everything costs… Oh well.
That ‘oops something went wrong’ thing happens only with some big business websites I’m forced to use. What is weird is that it then forces you to try logging in a few times, but then eventually works. Consistently strange like that. Dunno.
Err, what do you mean by the term: magic mouse and keyboard? You’d be surprised at how we switch everything off at the wall socket. Oh! Just remembered, you guys don’t have switches on your wall sockets. Most devices draw electricity just doing nothing unless they are super basic, like a kettle with an on/off switch.
Man, glad we aren’t the ones to have to make such decisions in regards to the library catalogue software. Beyond our pay-grade, and thanks for that fine saying. 🙂
Oh my! I should say no more about that matter, and intriguingly I encounter the now retired guy who defended him living over in the more fashionable end of the range. I’ve said hello a few times to be sociable, and he seems like a nice bloke. Not sure I’ve got what it takes to work in that field of endeavour, but someone has to do it. Moving on… 😉
Yeah, the constant rude interruptions and demand for attention is a bit of an abuse of the commons. It wasn’t like this a quarter century ago.
🙂 Yes, points way up north. People do tend to head up there, east, north and west coast in order to thaw out. But truly, our winters are pretty mild.
I love Worcestershire Sauce. It’s good stuff, but could raise an epic stink.
With asparagus, once the spears are clearly dying back in autumn – they’ll turn yellow and fall over, we hack them back to a little bit above ground level. Maybe an inch, might be less, might be more. And yeah, in spring we chuck a good soil feed over the top. The plants don’t seem to mind. Word on the street, and I can’t confirm this, is that they eventually die because the root systems take over – everything. You can just hack the root systems back with a shovel, then add new soil, or soil feed – and away they go again. Man, people grow the white asparagus spears which just means they’ve seen no sunlight. And there’s that rock salt we chuck in every year too, presumably the plants need the sodium or chloride, but probably the sodium. It is indeed called a top dress. Yup!
Man, beans like really dodgy soil, so it’s possible – and hang with me here, and perhaps put this to a trial – your good regular feeding of the garden beds, might be creating plant growth which is so luscious, that the critters can’t help themselves. Dunno. But yes, physical barriers work well.
Is that $10 for four pounds, or $10 a pound? Hope you get the stores filled up.
I’d not known that the bay was a large meteorite impact site either. Yikes, the megatsunami sounded pretty awful, and you’d not want to even be on the same continent that day. You know that people use gargle earth to try and find impact sites?
Good luck with the pollination services.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – Yup, subtle influence rather than overt leadership. “Heavy is the head that wears the crown.” 🙂
Oh, yeah. I see plenty of articles on screen addiction. Always fun to watch someone scrambling around, looking for a misplaced dumb phone.
Caller I.D.. Here, if someone is on your devices phone list, your name shows up at the other end. A bit more laborious, but sometimes worth the time is doing a search for the incoming number. Often, the results will tip you off to a scam.
A call to your local Telco? Surely, you jest. 🙂 I’m sure it will involve a trip in. Stock up, with supplies, and paperwork. Maybe plan a stop at a good tucker oasis, along the way.
GWTW, is quit the epic movie. If you’ve never seen it, it’s worth a look. Lots of good quotes came out of that movie.
I see we’re pulling our last aircraft carrier, out of the Pacific. Sending it to the Middle East, I think. Just another reason for the Land of Stuff to make a move, now.
Our high yesterday was 73F (22.77C). Our overnight low was 54F (12.22C.) Our forecast high for today is 83F. I’ve noticed we haven’t been quit reaching those forecast highs, the last week or two.
Speaking of deer, I wonder if I’ll get a noise complaint. 🙂 When I took Dawg out for a walk, just before midnight, there was a deer on the back lawn. H went nuts. And, I let her. Boy, did that deer shoot into the woods.
Sadly, I also stepped on a snail, last night. I had my flashlight, but it was just about the color of the sidewalk. I moved it into the garden edge. Didn’t see it this morning, so maybe I didn’t damage it too badly.
The keyboard and mouse are called “magic” because they’re wireless. Except when charging. It sure cuts down on that tangle of wires, you used to see around computers.
I unplug stuff, when not in use. Or, in the case of my heaters, turn them off at the electrical box.
Now what would have been interesting, is if you had run into the guy’s accountant. 🙂 Might be a story there. Oh, there was a story, and they turned it into two movies.
I’ve started working my way through the series, “Stranger Things.” The library got all five seasons. I’d started to watch it, when it was released, and then, who knows why, the library couldn’t get the DVDs. Might have been during You Know What.
No Master Gardeners, this morning. I mentioned the fair, and forgot that they always set up a booth there. An attempt to rally more troops. I figure today, they’re either taking down their booth or … recovering from manning it.
So, how deep do you make the fresh dirt, for the asparagus bed? A couple of inches, or more? Inquiring minds want to know.
I cut down a couple of gallon vinegar bottles, squished them into an oblong shape and used those for the bean barriers. So, now the surviving beans are protected, and, I replanted the victims within barriers. I also planted a few Scarlett Runner beans, that I hadn’t gotten around to. Also in barriers.
Blueberries. $10 for four pounds. I think it’s less than the flats, but the maths are hard to tell. Especially since the flats were different sizes. I’d say, definitely more thrifty than the organic berries. A flat is about 10 pounds, more or less. 🙂
So … armed with q-tips, I went out to see if I could pollinate the pumpkins. By the way, I found another little green tennis ball. That makes two. Any-who, on close inspection, all I could find was male blossoms. And, wouldn’t you know, there were some European honey bees, working them over. So, I left well enough alone, at least for now. I also checked my tomatillos, as not much is developing there. But, again, bees at the blossoms. I do think I’ll hit both with some good soil and bone meal. It’s been a couple of weeks since I did that.
I’ve seen a few headlines about new discoveries of impact craters, due to Gargle earth. Unknown Mayan cities, deep in the jungle, etc.. The Chesapeake impact “may” have contributed to the end of the Eocene era. There was global cooling, called “The Grand Coupure.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eocene–Oligocene_extinction_event
The Chesapeake impact was a lot more limited than the dinosaur killer. From the Caribbean to northern New England. And as far inland as our Rocky Mountains. But there may have been other impacts, and, Antarctica and Australia, separated. Causing changes in ocean current. A perfect storm? Lew
Chris,
In the midst of doing indoor things, I am watching the telly. I normally don’t watch much when the Princess is away. However, we found something recently at the library: a 2 disc set of all 91 Peabody and Sherman episodes from the old Rocky and Bullwinkle Show. The changes made to history were entertaining. The puns are even worse than mine.
I never missed Rocky and Bullwinkle when I was little. So seeing Peabody and Sherman again made me realize something. My warped sense of humor was developed watching Peabody and Sherman, Fractured Fairy Tales, and Dudley Doo Right. And Peabody is very educational. For example, one of the episodes was about Custer. That episode explained that Custer’s Last Stand was actually a hut that sold hot dogs in the old American west.
Funny. Harry Pothead and death eaters. Chris and spare hours eaters. I’m glad you got that problem sorted out.
We had some cooler weather and the air is still much nicer. Another hot spell is upon us, although this is not as nasty as a few weeks ago. Shorter days, lower sun, etc. Low to mid 90s at the hottest. With the better air, I’m able to get outdoor work done again. And take the Dame for our regular 2 mile walks. No raindrops. Not 4, nor 3, nor 2, nor 1. Zippo.
Good catch. These wilder dog breeds really do demand that their humans be the boss. They will test the boundaries, of course, but are much happier with proper leadership.
My favorite part of teaching and tutoring was watching the light come on for a student. Tutoring especially was where I could see that happen. I always figured my job as a tutor was to work with the student, hope that things suddenly came together, and that eventually the student would no longer need my assistance. Yes, I was most successful as a tutor when I worked myself out of the job.
When stuck in a hole, quit digging. That’s how I always heard it. 😉
One young man won the first 3 heats of the Suicide Race this year. That meant that he had clinched the title before the final heat was raced Sunday afternoon and had earned the title “King of the Hill”. I saw two replays of the Sunday race, from slightly different views. In both videos, just as the first horse got to land having crossed the river, a fish jumped about 6 meters away.
Sorry that those books are so expensive. Man, I think I obtained the entire 14 book series for maybe $75 total.
Way back in the mists of time, my paternal grandparents spent their summers in the tiny town of Bigfork, Montana. Beautiful country there, which we visited once or twice each summer when they were there. We all went to dinner in Bigfork once, probably 1970, at what was supposed to be a good restaurant. However, the service was, er, slow. Granddad was disgusted and mentioned that our waitress was “too busy with that wannabe cowboy who thinks he’s a writer to wait on tables.”
Decades later, Peter Bowen wrote the Dupre books. I was chatting with a neighbor woman about books and mentioned Bowen. She said that she had known him once. I asked where? She said that when she was a waitress in a restaurant in Bigfork, Montana, in 1970, she was having an affair with Mr. Bowen.
DJSpo
Hi DJ,
You know man, I’ve heard the kids use the phrase: “The Wayback Machine”, and often wonder if they know of the origins of that phrase. That show was so demented, it made for perfect viewing, and who could forget Mr Peabody (ever calm and authoritative) with his pet anxious human, Sherman – no surname necessary. Yes, dad jokes galore was the rule, and have you discovered any particular choice episode?
Exactly, and in a world of ‘talk down to the kids’ in those days, Rocky and Bullwinkle (hashtag Bullsh#t, just sayin’…) and Friends was a bright light. Crazy stuff, but so much fun. I Liked the English series: ‘The Goodies’ too, because the humour was zany. Sad to see that Bill Oddie passed away recently, but then he lifted the stature of the Twitchers, which is a UK thing. Plenty of bird life here, nothing to see! 🙂 They were contemporaries of the Monty Python crew.
And yeah, Custer made the classic sausage substitution mistake at that stand. The customers were so outraged to discover textured vegetable protein, instead of a proper smoked pork and cheese filling, that they well, history tells the fatal outcome. Far out, if faced with that most awful of switches, I’d have joined in too. See, Peabody and Sherman knew how things rolled. 😉
I dunno DJ, I’m tackling each new drama as it arrives, but wonder if one day my efforts don’t get me drowned in the murky bureaucratic swamp. Please send a personal flotation device beforehand, although the request is admittedly a lot to ask of a person!
No rain, but cooler weather with shorter days suggests that the season is winding up in your part of the world. Dunno about you, but a person adapts to the really hot weather, and when the early tendrils of winter arrives, it can be quite the shock. Hope you get some rain soon, and I won’t mention that it is drizzling here tonight, and the forecast for tomorrow seems feral.
Dame Avalanche is I reckon about as close to a wild dog, that a person will ever experience without raising a dingo, coyote or wolf. The Kelpies aren’t too far behind, and they’ll test boundaries all of the time. Lately the two girls have begun a new habit. When they get bored, they’ll begin having mock fights, and this has to end. Now before a walk, they’ll get shown the lead, and any mischief and who ever started it gets leaded. Sounds like something Dirt Harry would do!
It’s a lovely moment when the light of comprehension flicks on. That’s the entire point of having mastery of a particular area, you’re inviting others to join and pass on the candle of knowledge. I also prefer having people around me who know what they’re doing, it’s less prone to major problems that way.
Sage advice with the stop digging. And the Editor high centred the four wheel drive low centre of gravity mower the other day. Being 400kg, we couldn’t move the thing, so dug out the rear wheels, then drove it backwards. The lesson? Well, remove some obstacles, then go backwards.
Anyone with the title ‘King of the Hill’ has clearly earned the right. Respect to the young bloke and his achievement.
It’s a bit of a bummer the pricey book situation, but what do you do? Probably only a moment in time, but it is also reflective of the: ‘tyranny of distance’. We’re a long way from anywhere, and manufacturing was thrown under the bus a two and some decades ago. I didn’t think that it was a good idea, and actually neither did my grandfather – who had some rather pointed things to say about that matter – but nobody asked my opinion, and he didn’t survive into retirement to do anything about it.
Oh no way! That’s a very cool chance encounter which may have spoiled your granddad’s dinner experience – he’d have been fine, maybe. 🙂 Dude, that part of your country is amazing, and Flathead Lake (an unfortunate name) is enormous and unexpected in such far northern central country. Amazing it’s not more arid.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Heavy is the head which wears the crown indeed. Yup, true words. If I may opine, the younger and less encumbered with responsibility folks under that umbra, would do well to be put to work. Keep ’em out of mischief is my thinking. And we’re of one mind here, better to be in a support role. The old timers had an adage which suggested that if: ‘a person puts’ their head up, it’s likely to be chopped off!’
It is interesting to see that phone scramble you mentioned playing out with people, yeah. You get to learn something about the person. For some reason, those devices just don’t seem to hold much interest for me.
Yeah, nah, that’s the case as well down here too. But this is an official list so anyone in the country getting my call sees the business name regardless of the contact settings. Probably not a bad idea to get onto that system thing otherwise new customers could get a less than genuine vibe – which is not ideal. Interestingly, the phone screen glows a hellish red colour when it’s a suspected spam caller. Sends a strong message that particular response!
You called it correctly, and no I’m not looking forward to making that particular telco call. I’d already been into the shop – a half drive away – and was instructed to call the business support number. Ook! A job for maybe Thursday. That day did include a Bahn Mi, the tasty lunch always improves an outing.
I’ve never seen the film, and thanks for the recommendation. The concluding quote is a classic. Scarlett was a complicated lady.
Oh poop! Things sure are escalating in the middle east where it is always hot. Hope the big ship stays out of harms way, it’s an enormous, well you know. I hardly believe that the land of stuff has to hurry, all it may need do now is wait. They have their own problems in that country.
Your weather sounds to me as if the summer is winding down. We’ll be in the spring season – whatever that means – in two weeks. Truthfully though, there have already been days which could pass for that name.
You never know about noise complaints, and they seem simple to lodge, thus their force. If someone had to put their name to the whinge, things may be more considered on that front. Personally, I’d prefer the dog bark over marauding deer, any day. And I can shoot the deer here, but not if it’s escaped into the woods. See, we’re all operating under strict limitations.
That kind of sounds terminal for the hapless snail. It’d not be left to goo up the garden path or beds. Something would have munched upon the remains. Nature is rarely wasteful. I’m getting those import snails climbing the citrus trunks, and they’re not doing nothing. Every few days I flick the lot of them off and onto the ground. Not entirely sure what they’re up to. I’m surprised the small birds aren’t gobbling them up.
Hehe! Wonderful technology he says whilst looking at the wires strewn here and there about the desk. 🙂 But rechargeable items are not the same now as the sad things made many years ago.
You sent me on a rabbit hole, and mains wiring is a bit different down under to your country. Little networks of sockets in an area are wired up as a daisy chain format. I was reading that your lot tend to run a single socket to a single breaker. Interesting, but probably explained by the lower voltage and higher current used in your country.
If I’d run into the guys accountant, we’d talk shop! 🙂 There’s not a lot of cross over between the legal and accounting professions, although we’re both required to read legislation. Thanks for the prod, I’m still yet to watch the second in the series of movies, but will get there, eventually.
I’ve only heard good things said about the series: Stranger Things. I read a story about it which mentioned that apparently the actress Winona had to instruct the child actors (given the time period it was set in) as to how to cope without mobile devices and what people used to do back in the day. You’re probably right it was due to that. Are you enjoying the series?
Ha! Been there and done that with manning a booth at a festival. Fun, but hard work – and needed time out to recover, as probably do the master gardeners. Hope they got some folks interested in joining their group.
Ah, the soil feed chucked onto the asparagus beds is probably an inch thick. The plants are meant to be very heavy feeders, and so I bring the soil level back up to the top of the round raised garden beds.
Nice stuff with the bean protection. And $10 for four pounds of berries is a hard to beat price. Hope you went hard and completed the stocking up of the stores?
The Editor was saying something about those plants having male and female flowers, and I just stood back and let the insects do what they do. Yeah, probably easier to try different pumpkin seeds next summer so as to get a more locally adapted variety. They’d love the heat that DJ is getting those plants.
That nightshade family of plants tends to be a middling demands plant, but the feed can only help.
There is so much to go wrong, and imagine if the planet was hit by one of those super fast moving interstellar rocks they’ve only recently began to notice. Ouch! It’s amazing the planet has been as lucky as it has.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – DJ mentioned that little flash of energy, that light’s up a student who finally “gets it.” Same in the book biz, when you put the right book in a customer’s hands. A new alternative form of energy? Now if we could just harness it … 🙂
“The nail that sticks up gets pounded down.” A Japanese saying, but more about the homogenous of their society.
So, the red glow from the phone is sort of like looking into a portal of hell? 🙂
Miss Scarlett was … high maintenance? There is an interesting part, where it’s after the Civil War. Tara, the old plantation, is completely trashed. She finally pulls herself together, with the declaration, “I’ll never be hungry again!”
Speaking of movies, “Inbetween Man” is waiting for me, at the library. Probably pick it up, tomorrow. But, won’t get around to watching it, til I’m done with “Stranger Things.” Probably. Also, “Bambi’s Revenge” hit the on-order list. It’s on my hold list.
“Stranger Things,” is pretty good. Lots of mysteries, and monsters. I saw the first couple of seasons, when it first came out … ten years ago. Why I like movies and series, set say, 1990 and before. Not a lot of tech, cluttering up the stories. The fellow who wrote the book on traveling around America, was riffing about his first road trips. Clandestine ones at 16, and an American road trip when he was 18. And how it was all “free-range” children, back then.
I wonder if we’ve lost our night manager / maintenance guy? Someone is moving out. I can tell because the dumpster is overloaded. And, I saw an odd duck, sitting on the bench in the snail sanctuary. Playing a harmonica. A new tenant? A visitor? A new night manager? All will be made manifest, in time. I’m patient.
Several states here have laws, that you can shoot an intruder. But only if they’re in your house. So, general advice is, if you shoot someone on your porch, best drag them inside. 🙂 Sort of the same with your deer.
Well, here’s something tech related. I went to check out the price and availability of a book (“Taste of Country Cooking”), on E-Buy last night. Well, about half the listings, over the thumbnail picture had the declaration “This is an E-book,” or “Digital Book: No Physical Item Will Be Shipped.” I thought maybe the publishers were flogging their e-books, there. But looking at the sellers names … and feedback numbers (though it’s a new thing), it all looked a little dodgy, to me.
An inch of added soil, would not bring the level, to the top of the barrel. They started out that way, but there’s been a lot of subsidence, I guess. So stick with the inch, or top up the bed? What a quandary. 🙂
The seed for the pumpkins comes from that outfit down in the Willamette Valley. So, yes, locally adapted. Being in back, they don’t get as much sun as they probably should, but, did fine last year. Five or six pumpkins out of one barrel is just about right, for me. I noticed this morning, two blossoms are showing large swellings, at the base. So things ought to be ok. Maybe.
Our high yesterday was 82F (27.77C). Our overnight low was 57F (13.88C). Our forecast high for today is 80F. There’s a slight chance we’ll get some rain, Friday night / Saturday morning.
Giant meteor hits earth. The trope that launched hundreds (well, a couple of dozen) disaster flicks. We have been pretty lucky, all things considered. Lew
Hi, Chris!
Our internet has been out for 3 days, since we had a really scary storm. Oddly, the power did not go out. So, I’m writing on my little smarty phone and may poop out before I get too far.
This is a great post;I’ve read all through it. Those tech bros have been cruel to you no end. Do we think they care? What worries me most about those bros is that, when they go down, they will pull us all down with them, like Moby Dick. You know how those mobies are. You did a fine job, though, Elmer. It has not escaped me that you do all the work at this meeting place of ours.
I see that 1 Australian dollar is equal to $.71 American dollars (unless I got that backwards). I would like to know what an American dollar is REALLY worth. It ain’t what it used to be, though neither is this old grey mare.
There is no doubt that literacy rates will drop dramatically, especially if AI is eating our books.
You are so good at fixing things – not just things out in the ether, but physical things. You are the Elephant King!
Undoubtedly one of Fatso the Wombat’s descendents.
Thank you for all the gorgeous flowers. Mine look a little worn after the high winds with these storms. So do the fig trees.
Pam
Chris,
The Peabody and Sherman episodes sort of blur into one another. However, I’ve enjoyed a few more than others. Balboa, Marconi, Lawrence of Arabia, Bonnie Prince Charlie, Hans Oersted are some of my favorites. Topped by Isaac Newton and his brother Figby. Figby was an inventor, got into cookies. The Fig Newton.
Well, ya know, get rid of the meat and cheese, substitute vegetable protein on the sausage? Only thing I can say is Custer had it coming. 😉
We’re having issues with large corporations and bureaucrats causing us peasants and small businesses huge headaches. I tend to look at this as if it is a Grand Plot to force everybody into having to work for the billionaires or else be unemployed. Do I really think it is a Grand Plot? No, but holding that idea helps me to have some ideas what next travesty will be forced upon us. Sometimes I can even be unsurprised by what happens. It might help with being prepared also. At least knowing that changes will occur, and none for the better.
A personal flotation device? Ummm, if I may…you have a ton of small trees that you have to dispose of and can’t sell. Build a boat with them, or at least a raft. Then perhaps you can float through the upcoming bureaucratic swamp in style.
I can see the difference in the more shaded areas of the yards. Some of the grass is still green from being watered a week ago. Shorter days, slightly less arid, etc.
I can see it. The two Kelpies start getting testy with each other. Chris calmly grabs the lead, holds it in front of the unsuspecting canines and says, “Do you feel lucky, punks? Do you?” And if the testiness continues, Chris quips, “Go ahead, make my day.” while proceeding to connect one of the Kelpies to the lead.
I always liked having staff and coworkers who knew what they were doing and showed some smarts. When they did great work, I made sure they got credit for it. Telling staff what needed to be done, letting them figure out how to do it worked great for me.
Makes sense to me. Dig away the obstacle then back out of the jam, so to speak. I’ve done that a time or three.
Most of the Natives on the Washington coast speak one or another dialect of Salish. Ditto most of the bands from the Princess’s Rez, as well as the Spokane Tribe and the Kalispel Tribe. Then you cross into Montana, the Flathead Lake area, and there is another large group of Salish speakers. Similar culture to the interior Washington Salish, but with one huge difference allegedly. Back in time, these Montana Salish apparently placed rocks on the foreheads of newborns. The first whites through the area noticed that this nation had flat foreheads, so they were called Flathead Indians. The lake was named after the Natives.
However, this band of Salish denies that they practiced head flattening, stating that it was due to their identifier in Coastal Salish sign language. Whichever is true, the fact remains that the Bitterroot Salish band is commonly called Flatheads.
Petrol prices here just hit between $5.08 and $5.28 per gallon, depending on the brand. I’m sure the Princess will have stories about the prices when she returns from her current trip next week.
The smoke returned this morning. Then left. Then returned, then…You get the idea. It was breezy so the smoke came and went. Fortunately, it was nice out when the Dame and I went on our walk and when I was doing some work outdoors.
DJSpo
Hi Pam,
Lucky you were raised before this ‘ere big interweb thingee, and know how to cope with outages. Dunno, but it’s kind of like being stuck in a medical waiting room for some unknown period of our time – do we get bored, or can we wait them out?
Pam, respect for mastering the smarty phone monster, and making it work for you. The interwebsite is quite well set up for mobile devices, and a fair few people read the blog that way.
I know! The tech bros are possibly a bunch of trouble, and may run out of mad cash sooner or later. One can only hope so, but you spoke aloud my fear with that lot. That’s probably what will happen, you know it, I know it, and the rest is future details. My opinion is that the hardware has too short a lifespan and extraordinary ongoing costs for the capital invested – i.e. it’ll be super difficult to make a return on that investment. Kind of like going to uni and ending up with a behemoth of a student debt, and not ever making enough income to properly pay it off.
No, you’re spot on! One Aussie is about 70% of your dollar, at the moment. And that is a very good question, to which I don’t know the answer. One wonders whether there will get to a point where one chunk of stuff in the hand, is worth more than a wheelbarrow of promissory notes. Such things have happened historically, and continue to do so.
Aren’t those naughty machines hungry? You’d only hope that they’d skip some of the dodgy books I’d read over the years which had to be put down half way through – and never returned to.
😉 I’m wired to fixed things. It’s a pleasure to do so to, and bring some light into spaces. Plus when machines are required, it’d be nice if they worked! Not always the case I can assure you.
A lot of wombats out there, the marsupials, not the UK rock band, there’s only three members in that group. Rare.
Oh poop! Yeah the weather can be rough on plants, and occasional extreme winds do that here too. The February hail storm was like an industrial shredder ate my garden moment. Who knew such a thing could happen? Do you get large hail in your area?
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
Fine viewing! So one you mentioned was picked at random – Lawrence of Arabia – and there was even a holy hand grenade moment, turning the tide on a major battle. Oh how the actor Alec Guinness probably would have turned in his grave with belly laughs. So much fun! How competent is Mr Peabody? That’s good about the Fig Newtons, which you don’t see much these days.
Exactly, Custer clearly tried to reduce the army costs through dodgy rations with that sausage substitution racket. Sun Tzu may have mentioned that option and described it as a false economy. You wouldn’t see me fighting for that stuff. Nope. 😉
It’d be nice if it were a grand plot, because that suggests a lack of imbecility. Alas you hit the nail on the head, all we can but do is prepare thy selves and hope for the best. All these demands for information, and then they’re not careful enough to stop it from being pinched. If directors were made personally responsible for such customer losses, they’d never happen.
🙂 I like your style with that tree suggestion. I’m guessing the indigenous folks did exactly that up here, and carved canoes out of the really big trees. Of course that would also have required them to look after the forest. Someone long ago asked me why they didn’t just use the trees closer to the rivers, without realising the different timber species growing in such places were unsuitable for that purpose.
By the way, I spotted the local version of your club in the national news today: The delicate (and smoky) art of pyrography. Thought you’d appreciate the story behind it all too, possum is a really beautiful fur. I recall that when I spot the big Kuato marsupials munching away at fruit trees in the orchard. Lovely work, huh?
Yeah, that happens here too, and it’s a super dry year where the grass in the shady orchard dies back. Trees provide shade, but can’t be too thick or under watered, so it’s a delicate balance. How’s the dryland grasses going? Presumably they’ll bounce back when your rains eventually return?
What you saw how it rolled with the Kelpies and that idiocy? Dame Plum is the most resistant to change. She’s the boss dog, and admittedly Ruby is an idiot, but if it was an occasional bringing back into line, that’d be OK. But it’s escalating because they’re having fun, until it will go wrong, as it will.
My thoughts exactly with people working for you. Better if they know what they’re doing, and I too provide feedback, both good and bad, but never add emotional content to the bad – just tell it like it is. But for millennial’s and Gen Z, I do make a habit of delivering the bad news with a positive – negative – positive feedback technique, because that works with them.
Oops, forgot to mention that the Editor high centred the Japanese four wheel drive mower on a tree root! It was amazing how quickly the back wheels became bogged, but she knew to immediately stop and ask for assistance. The thing is 400kg!
Interesting, and I believe that the human skull is in plates so as to more easily (yikes!) get through the birth canal, and only sets hard after birth. So the rocks would actually impact the final head shape of a person for sure. Ah, such details are now lost to time, maybe… Strangely enough, some kids are apparently practising similar things with their skulls these days. Now what was it called again? Look maxxing, whatever that means. Sounds unpleasant.
Oh my goodness! How is it that you’re paying the same amount for a gallon of fuel as down here? US$5.27 this morning at the pump. Glad you’ve got a four cylinder beast huh? And I won’t touch the slightly cheaper 10% ethanol stuff.
Good to hear that you’re both dodging the smoke. I’m doing the same with the rain. Over an inch today, and it was already wet outside. Spent all day indoors on paid work anyway.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
It’s a lovely feeling to observe isn’t it? Your example is also guiding someone – in a certain direction, which would just fit nicely. No need to harness that energy, you already did! 😉 Funnily enough, when I read about woke this, and woke that, it’s not lost on me that people pushing that agenda want folks to stay asleep. Waking up a person’s ability to discern is a wonderful shared moment. Afterwards, hopefully, things are different and the brain matter gets put to some use. A dangerous idea to get people to think. Yup!
Elites tend to prefer a nice social hierarchy of underlings, thus the Japanese phrase. There’s a few local twists on that observation: “sticking your neck out” (taking a risk by speaking your mind – which I’ve done, sometimes works, other times is a big flop). Also one you don’t hear used much these days (neither is the previous example of the local idiom): “sticks their head up” too high – leading to it being cut down to size. A reference to trench fighting in WWI. The local troops developed periscope mirrors so as to see what was going on above ground level.
The red phone scam alert screen looks positively evil. It’d be hard to look at the display and think to yourself: You know what? I’m gonna answer that call! 🙂 Doesn’t happen. Although some of my friends mess around with the callers for a laugh, and get hung up on for their efforts.
True, Miss Scarlet went through some hard times, and had the gumption to just get on with what needed doing. I noted her commitment to agricultural prowess after an earlier life of leisure. A fine lady to have your back in a knife fight, but in the realms of the heart, the lady was merely born out of time. That’s my take from reading the plot summary, which does miss a lot of narrative detail, so I could well be incorrect.
I heard that Stranger Things as it progresses along the storyline, is a bit scary. 🙂 Probably leave me with nightmares. Hope you enjoy the other local series? And I’m triggered by this talk of err, deer revenge! Oh my! Bambi looks positively angry and hell bent on revenge. OK, I’ll watch the trailer (and enjoyed the addition to the title of ‘the reckoning’)! That was good, yeah, fun stuff. There was even a moment of a bloke saying: “It’ll be safe”, sure it will be, if you think so, I’ll just head over here away from you Mr Hubris personified! If deer were like that around here, I wouldn’t leave the house at night, although angry bambi was inside the house in the film on several occasions. Did you end up watching it?
As a free range child myself, I’m kind of been left a bit overly responsible. Is that a good thing, a bad thing, or just a thing, or maybe something else altogether? Dunno, but yeah I get bored with the insertion of tech into stories in anything other than a background role. You may wonder why my tastes in sci-fi are now firmly rooted in the past? The story has to be central. Imagined tech makes for boring reading when its in your face all the time. Where is the humanity in that story?
The Editor finished watching the first season of ‘Vienna’ and has enjoyed it, and mentioned the lush settings. She took a while to warm to the characters.
A mystery guest! Presumably the individual can actually play the thing well given he’s out in public with it. If you were in a small English village I’d make bad jokes about the ‘harmonica killer’! 😉
Clearly the idea was at the back of your mind too, I like how your brain works. We had an incident down here which extended that situation a little bit, although the authoritas are quite jealous of their monopoly on violence. There is no such thing as Castle Law in some jurisdictions in this country: How far can you go when defending your home against an intruder in NSW? Your country is a bit more chill about such matters, but yeah unwise to do it on the street when they are running away. 🙂 Deer have less rights.
Oh what? Thanks for the heads up as I may not have noticed that about digital books.
I’d top up the bed, but not right to the lip because water will run off the raised garden bed. Ask me how I know this? 🙂 It seemed like a good idea at the time…
Agreed, things will be OK, maybe. Depends on how early your winter is, which it might not be. But if that is the case, when it arrives, it’ll be a shock.
Nice weather! Over an inch of rain fell today, but as I was indoors doing paid work, barely noticed.
Like earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, it’s not if, it really is when.
Cheers
Chris
Ook! for the tech bro interference.
Over here, harvest season is in full swing, with kilos of ripe tomatoes every day. Four years on this place, and the soil starts to give back. We have more birds every year, and the trees are reaching higher. Most fruit trees have given nothing, but a rare plum tree gave several dozen plums, and two apple trees start to bear. In a decade, there will be more fruit than we can handle.
We splurged and bought a second hand electrocute car – a well dented VW id.4, and have spent the summer trying it out. It seems to work great when charging in the daytime from the home solar array. Out and about, the cost to purchase electrons is similar to fossil fuels per km.
In our municipality, we produce thrice the amount of electricity compared to what we consume, in even amounts of solar, wind and hydroelectric.
The main disadvantage is that the car is full of sensors and stuff that can break and make life difficult in the future. Does not seem that robust to me. Not like the scary old wood-chipper with a flywheel and solid parts.
Let’s see how it all works out.
During the last two years, we have had 50% of normal rainfall,but it is much better here compared with the rest of Europe. Friends down in the Netherlands talk about the worst harvest in decades, and even trees are dying from the drought.
I hear that this is just the beginning of the climate chaos. Let’s see. There seems to be little interest in voluntary reducing burning of carbon.
I think that the artyfish story is oversold, and as you say, the results from scraping the web have not been overwhelmingly positive. Text processing is fine, and I actually made a grammar check software for Swedish language for my wife, based on a large language model from a local university. Finding unusual patterns and “correcting them” is the key strength of these tools. Or combining existing threads. Generating something new is not their strength. On the other hand, myself, I rarely generate anything new…
Peace,
Göran
Yo, Chris – Back in the day, say, the 1950s, you could get periscope mirrors in toy stores. I do believe hunters still use them. I never had one. I think you could even order them from comic books.
I wonder if I ever read “Gone With the Wind?” It’s a real doorstop of a book. Heck, the movie is almost four hours long. But, back in the day, those long movies had an intermission. The book and the movie were a real cultural event. The hunt for who was to play Scarlett, was a real … competition. Every actress in Hollywood was vying for the part. The politicking was fierce! 🙂
Oh, “Bambie: The Reconing,” just hit the “on order” list. But, it was released on DVD in May. So, probably not too long, before it arrives. I went back and took another look at the “on order” list, and, lo and behold, there was “Evil Dead Burn.” It will be released on DVD the end of September. So, it might arrive just in time for Halloween! 🙂 I noticed that the library is having another “system maintenance” shutdown, tonight. Does not bode well.
I’m glad The Editor like “Vienna Blood.” It also took me awhile to warm to the characters. I think it’s that Teutonic reserve. 🙂 Lush, yes. Good ol’ Austrian Art Nouveau. Hind sight is 20/20. I am also aware when I watch it, as to what will happen to all the Jewish characters families, eventually.
“Stranger Things” boils down to an alternative dimension. Where all is not sweetness and light. 🙂
I think Harmonica Man might have been there to help someone move. I ran into the maintenance guy, last night, and got the “skinny.” They did have to re-home there dog, due to noise. I guess they can keep the kid. 🙂 We do have two people moving out, and one woman is moving from my floor, down to one of the vacancies on the first floor. Our dumpster was emptied this morning, and is already filling up, fast.
“The Harmonica Killer.” Might be related to … “The Whistler!” Last year, one of the caregivers was freaked out, because several times, after dark, she could hear whistling, while on the way to her car.
I suppose “Castle Laws,” are a riff on “A man’s home is his castle.” Unless he doesn’t pay his property taxes. 🙂 We have “Stand Your Ground,” laws, in some states. Looks like our state is similar to your law. Usually goes to court. We’ve had a few cases, like that, in this county, say, in the last ten years. All defenders were judged justifiable. But, even so, there’s the court costs and general stress of going to trial. I noticed someone was moaning about young offenders who might get their lives, together. We get the same here. Relatives and friends moaning about how the offender was “getting his life together.” Cold comfort when they’re kicking in your front door.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand-your-ground_law
I noticed an interesting side bar article. “…’cruel’ aged care funding algorithm.”
The e-buy, e-book thing is something new. When I ordered the Brother Cadfael herbal, last week, I didn’t see any such things.
I hit the pumpkins with some bone meal and mushroom compost, yesterday. Gave them a good water. Last year, I actually planted them later by several weeks, than this batch. And still got 5 or 6 pumpkins. So, I think they’ll be fine. I’m just fretting. I noticed this morning, that I’m getting my first zucchini! Stealth zucchini. It’s already about 8″ long. It’s one of the green ones, so, easily hides among the leaves. I haven’t been able to fertilize my tomatillos, yet. They need some weeding, and … dumpster.
Our high yesterday was 79F (26.11C). Our overnight low was 54F (12.22C). Our forecast high for today is 81F. Smoke may be coming back our way.
You can add a Stephen King type pandemic, to that list. Either natural or man made. Not if, but when. Lew
Chris:
I don’t remember having a single outage when I was growing up. I guess the power company in Dallas, Texas actually preformed maintenance. There were a lot of trees there, too, and no underground lines. I learned about power outages in my present home of many years, Albemarle County, Virginia. Granted, a lot of it is actually a forest.
“One wonders whether there will get to a point where one chunk of stuff in the hand, is worth more than a wheelbarrow of promissory notes”: That has been my excuse for having all this stuff . . .
I had forgotten about the rock Wombats. Hopefully they don’t meet peak rock.
I don’t ever remember any large hail here. It is quite rare and has been very small.
Speaking of American money: I always pay cash in town. The checkout people – in the regular lines – now always run my bills through a device, I assume, to see if they are counterfeit. I guess the self-checkout machines that eat money automatically check it as it is put in. One wonders if there are actually any counterfeit bills going around.
Today I planted beets, lettuce, and more kale and I was almost eaten alive by mosquitos. During the long drought we had, there were no mosquitos. Wha la, rain! and now there are millions. I expect mostly because of the pond behind us. Do you have mosquitos?
My son, with some help from my daughter-in-law, has now done 6,000 air layers over the last 3 weeks on his fig trees. Each air layer, hopefully, means a fig tree to sell, some as soon as this fall.
Don’t forget, if Ollie has trouble walking on your wood floors as he ages, to lay down runways – no you don’t, Ollie! – of cheap yoga mats throughout the house. It made a world of difference to our dogs. I suppose if you used nonskid mats under nice rugs you could do that instead.
Pam
Chris,
There’s another reason why the ancients didn’t use the trees closer to the river. That would change the ecology of the river, take away necessary shade, change the character of the river. Not a good idea.
Oh my! That’s some superb work featured in that pyrography article. Exceptionally high quality. Thanks!
The dryland grasses are dry but not crunchy. There’s bits of green mixed in with the summer brown. I think it will be fine, just fine. If the bluegrass can revive, the dryland stuff will also.
Hmmm, in the Peabody and Sherman with Daniel Boone, they were in Kentucky. Mr. Peabody spilled some blue ink in the grass. You guessed it. He said that that was how Kentucky bluegrass got its origin.
Good luck with the Kelpies. If it gets beyond being innocent fun, then the two will never relate the same way again. There will always be a challenge and tension. Perhaps hose them down or dump a few gallons of water on them when they start the “game”?
The $5.29 per gallon is overpriced. That station typically runs higher priced. But 10% ethanol? Almost no choice about that, as finding petrol without ethanol is nearly impossible. And then add another dollar per gallon to the price.
Thursday looks to be hot. Good day to spend indoors, work on my pyrography project. Listen to some music.
DJSpo
Hi Pam,
As a younger person, my experience was also that we didn’t use that much electricity in the house, and the supply was never interrupted. Nowadays I use it for cooking. Youch! All forms of electrical heating require a lot of juice. And cooling in summer uses about a quarter of the energy that heating does, and there is heaps of sun, so why not use that energy? But if we step into the way back machine, cooking was done back in the day using gas piped into the home. Gas was seriously cheap, and plentiful, it being a by-product of the local Bass Strait off shore oilfields (now in terminal decline). So my thinking is that what we’re seeing is more people dependent on a finite electricity resource. Plus you have all of those data centres not too far from your place. Hungry for electrons, are they not? (said in best Yoda voice) 🙂 And electric car chargers are just the whole next level of constant demand too. Oh well.
On that note though, almost two months on from the winter solstice, and despite patchy cloud today, the power system recorded a very solid two hours of full sunlight. Yup. Much depends on stuff, is my thinking. But overall, households use far more electricity in these enlightened times, than was the case when we were younger – plus there are more households. Truly, it is amazing that the systems which keep us connected are as good as they are.
You live in a very beautiful part of the world. 🙂 Which looks a lot like around here.
My excuse too! And takes one to know one! Some things make absolutely no sense to me. So today as the winter season has progressed into whatever the heck it is now, a decision was made – Pick up a couple of spare sets of flannel sheets. They’re in clearance mode now, and if you could explain to me how a complete set of flannel cotton bedsheets costs $35 each? Beats me, but why not avail ourselves, for who knows what the future holds, and I’d rather be warm when the cold winter winds are blowing outdoors. You’d appreciate that nicety?
Well, one must never look at album sales, and perhaps ask the hard question: Can the rock band fill a venue? It was packed that night late last year to capacity, and what a show they put on. Booked another different band for later in the year. A fun night out is my thinking.
Pam, golf ball sized hail is so rare here, that I’d not appreciated it was even a remote possibility! Had I known, I could have chucked some blankets over the dirt rat and dirt mouse, which would have helped, but it’s only cosmetic issues. Gives them a sort of rough and tumble look to them. Not worth fixing.
Yeah, I hear stories of counterfeit mad cash too, and wonder how much of it is the authoritas wanting to get rid of the stuff. Dunno. The plastic notes used down here would be very difficult to reproduce. Anyway the worst of the lot are the goobermint, for today they may have passed one trillion in debt, and your lot are allegedly up to forty trillion – both are impressive efforts of cash creation. Guess they might get funny about any competition? 😉
Yes, those are super pesky insects. They’re rare here, mostly because I don’t have a pond, although one of the neighbours does. The above ground water tends to attract snakes so that’s the other bonus of not having a pond. You can’t control what your neighbours do though, and that can be an issue. Back in the day they used to recommend dropping DDT into the water! Yikes! Oh well, who knows what we’re doing these days on a similar scale of off-the-charts-nuts?
Well done to those two industrious young folks. Respect, and may they sell every last one of the trees. I love figs, but sad for you on that front. It happens.
Thanks for the suggestion, and it’s a goodie. He’s doing really well on all of the supplements too as an update. Almost puppy like, and I have to remind him that nobody likes a prancing pony, although that’s not strictly truthful. He’s a lovely dog.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Göran,
Always a pleasure to chat! 🙂
What can you do about the tech intrusion, other than set some limits, and hope that they’re careful with the personal data demanded from us all.
That’s really great to hear, and yes, agreed, good soil takes time to nourish and encourage. But it’ll pay a person back for their efforts – as you’re seeing! This talk of kilo’s of ripe tomatoes is very good, and hope that the poly tunnel soil proved to be most excellent. Over wintering the chickens in there was a great idea for the birds and the soil.
Well, fruit trees take time to produce. Very true. With a couple of hundred here, some take more than a decade. Others are biennial and produce well every second year. My thinking is to plant a lot, and hope for some production. And that’s exactly it, with a bit of care and attention, every year the trees will produce more for your household.
One error I’ve made originally, was planting a few of them too close together. It happens.
Hopefully you don’t have too many birds at your place because they can consume a lot of produce. 🙂 But also produce a lot of plant available manure / guano. A couple of the bird species live here all year around, and they fight off most interlopers, but not all. The day earlier this year when a flock of thirty Sulphur Crested Cockatoos turned up to raid the apple trees was a sobering moment. They’re large birds and had out numbered the locals. I fired a few shots into the forest to scare them away, but their co-ordination astounded me. Super intelligent. People have them as pets and they can be trained to speak.
Well done you, and why not use the electricity that you are generating in the summer months? The house chargers down here which plug into wall sockets are I believe 6A at 240V which is 1.44kW, slow charging but it would get there, eventually. Easily powered by your solar for over half of the year. And that’s my understanding too of the economics of the bigger fast chargers.
But yeah, you’ve hit an issue which bothers me as well. Is all of the added on electronic extras really necessary? It’s a tough question, and I’ll point out that the Suzuki Jimny is available in a Lite no frills model, but there was no stock when I purchased the vehicle, and a six month wait didn’t work out. Hmm. I’ve heard suggestions that the no-frills models have much lower margins for the manufacturers, but you’d probably know more about that matter.
Exactly, we’ll find out how it all works in the long run. And that scary old wood chipper is a very robust and powerful machine. It’s an MTD 8hp model and very easy to maintain.
What? 50% of the annual rainfall? Whoa! I’d not appreciated that the drought had been that severe. Glad to hear that things are sort-of OK in your more northerly location. And sadly, those words of yours have also been my observation. For all of the worries, how much change are people really willing to accept with their lives?
To be honest, economics combined with resource depletion will sort out the entire mess – but I do not believe that people will be happy with the consequences. Oh well.
Yeah exactly, the arty-fish-al programs are a tool like anything else. They are good for some things, like the pattern recognition example you mentioned, and not for other things, like complex and prolonged problem solving.
Thanks for the laughs. Yes, how many original ideas do any of us really ever have? 🙂 It’s an interesting question.
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
Yeah, exactly, and thanks for that thought had not occurred to me, but it is true. Weirdly, people are super focused on removing exotic trees from rivers and creeks in this corner of the country. Willows are particularly hated species. Anyway, those trees do provide a lot of shade, which keeps the water cool. Mass fish deaths have been occurring, which is partly temperature related, and partly low oxygen levels.
The thing is, the European mindset behind the river side clearing is about making sure that water flows to where ever it is meant to be going. I’ve read early accounts that the rivers and creeks were choked up with vegetation, much like what your beavers do. This creates chains of pooled water, even in dry years. But in wet years, the water builds up and floods – bringing moisture and fertility to the land. A lot of silt gets moved in a flood. That lot got cleared out of the creeks and rivers, and now they flow.
But serious people wonder why the land is drying out and becoming less fertile. I dunno what to say, nature brings both the good and the bad, and we mess with it because our civilisation is a bit naive.
Thought you’d like the article. The artist is a master of the craft. Impressive stuff.
Agreed, the grasses recover when the conditions are right to do so. Hardy plants. And yeah I grow a mix of bluegrass and ryegrass here as well, plus all of the native and other exotic ground covers.
🙂 Go Mr Peabody, and that’s genuinely funny.
Thanks, and that’s my thoughts as well. Nip the fighting in the bud and put an end to the mischief. I now carry the lead with me on walks, and when either of them play-up, they lose their freedom. Yelling at them was doing nothing other than giving me aggravation. Much easier to restrict their silliness until they learn self control, which they appear to be doing.
Ah! Interesting about the ethanol. Weirdly the 10% ethanol stuff is usually about AU$0.02/Litre cheaper (so less than ten cents per gallon). A lot of corn grows in your country, so that stuff is where your ethanol comes from. It’s derived from sugar cane down under, and that only grows in one location. Mind you, nature has plenty of minerals to produce sugars – Hydrogen from water. Oxygen from the atmosphere. And carbon from the soils. Easier to produce that stuff than more complicated things like proteins, just sayin… Just one more reason to look after one’s soils.
Oh poop! Hope it wasn’t too hot? And the music vibes were chill.
It rained here again today, and the ground in the shady orchard is like walking on a wet sponge. It’s unpleasant. Did half a day of work, then knocked off and had a late splash up lunch in a nearby pub. Enjoyed a late afternoon food coma haze! 🙂
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
It’s funny you mention that about buying such things from magazines, and I won’t mention the Sea Monkeys! You kicked off a vague fleeting memory of periscopes from those days, and if I recall correctly the advertising probably wouldn’t get published these days! When I was a young bloke, there used to be a shop in the big smoke which promoted itself as a ‘Magic Shop’. The window displays were so colourful and full of zany stuff, like fake mustaches, costumes, probably periscopes. It really captured the attention of my young mind.
Gone now, but here is a brief article on the place: The unofficial history of Bernard’s Magic Shop in Melbourne. There is a podcast (ignore that), but also the text version. Some of the images produced by an interweb search brought up some smiles and fun memories. It was on Elizabeth Street in the city of Melbourne to be more precise.
A four film would most definitely require an intermission for a toilet break, and to stretch the legs at least. More civilised times, but then the Saturday afternoon matinee back in the 1970’s used to have an intermission as well. Admittedly that was between one feature and the next. But yes, you raise a most intriguing point, competition for coveted roles in that industry, is probably pretty fierce, and maybe even, a bit nasty. Best if we weren’t involved, or at least safely out of harms way! As an introvert, working in that industry would distress me. 🙂
This loose talk of Bambi was a bit triggering! As in I was getting an itchy finger. Deer are not welcome here, which kind of rhymes. Of course that Bambi with the pointy alien like teeth (did you notice the similar film shots to the 1980 film) would be a force of nature to encounter. Again, best if we were elsewhere (Man, I’m starting to sound like a broken record!)
Oh poop! The library catalogue system might be good, or not. Has the system returned back to life? Hopefully all of your hold-list was not lost in the upgrade.
Yes, the Teutonic Reserve is legendary, and I will point out that the Editor’s dad claimed that he was born in that country. Explains a thing or two about him, and would he push the button. My gut feeling says absolutely yes. He was a bit odd that bloke. The Editor also is uncomfortable with that aspect of the show, but historically it did happen, so why pretend that wasn’t going on? It’s valuable to remember, but not indulge, there being a mid-point. However, knowing when to run, is the same sort of problem as picking the top of a market in that it is an almost impossible ask.
It’s funny but I’ve got friends who have definite opinions on either side of the middle east story, and may annoy both. They usually want me to pick sides and get all riled up like they are, but ain’t my monkey, not my circus. Usually I’m quite firm, but blunt with both sides, sometimes even delivering some home truths, which tends to lower the emotional content. Economics and resource depletion will sort the entire mess out, but it will get very ugly over there. Oh well. Water is probably the biggest issue facing the lot.
Hehe! Yes, you casually mentioned that Dame Plum enjoys being upside down, because she enjoys looking at the world that way. Don’t they have an upside down world in that series? 🙂 The dog would like that, maybe…
Good stuff, and at least the bloke knew how to keep himself entertained whilst hurrying up and waiting for the move to begin.
That’s no good about the dog, but complaints can spiral out of control, and kids will be kids – they make heaps of noise. That’s life. Yes, and you know what I mean, it’s easier to complain about the dog.
Out of curiosity, did anyone else hear ‘The Whistler’? Hallucinations are a thing for some folks. And what I want to know, is was the person any good at it? Hearing people whistling out of tune, is like torture. Far out.
Actually, I believe that castle laws date back to 17th century England. And yeah, being harassed by official paperwork is no excuse for a violent response in the eyes of a court. So you’re not wrong about the property taxes bit.
The facts kind of suggest that if a person is doing a home invasion, their life may not be under control. It’s not normal behaviour, put it that way.
Actually, a few years ago we had a case of an old bloke way out on his property being allegedly harassed by a council official, and things got nasty. I’m always careful with people, you never know what kind of response they’ll have.
Oh yeah, the demands for costs to be covered for aged care, far exceeds societies ability to pay for the same. Often families don’t want to sell the parents home to pay for the care, but it’d be nice if there was a touch of honesty in that conversation. If people have genuine needs, they usually get looked after down under. Full disclosure: neither the Editor or I received any dead relatives assets – as I’ve mentioned before. But yeah the application of tech to the entire story, is probably not a humane approach.
Good stuff with the pumpkin feeding. They’ll love it, and yeah they grow exponentially depending on the overnight warmth – I believe. Ha! Have you run out of space in the dumpster again? Oh yeah, the move-out-ees. Right. It happens.
We’re starting to think about how to set out all the garden beds this year. Should start that work in about a fortnights time.
And yeah, that’ll happen. It always does, except it comes on the back of multiple failed harvests and bad nutrition. Fortunately there is so much astounding food waste, there’s heaps of fat. For now.
Did a shady day of work today. Had a late lunch, went to a local pub – it being wet, cold and stuff. It was a nice outing. Had a food coma afterwards.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – That was quit an article about Bernard’s Magic Shop. My, back in the day, people even “dressed” to go to a magic shop! 🙂 The thing I found interesting about the article, was that it touched on the era of “free range children.” I did the same thing the author mentioned. Met a cousin downtown, and ran wild, all day. I think there was a magic shop, downtown. But I don’t remember ever going into it. We were more interested in the window of a little import shop. It had shrunken heads, in the window! In past, I think every large city had a magic shop.
I checked the library catalog, this morning, and everything seems intact. I finished watching the first season of “Stranger Things,” last night, and wanted to put the second season on hold. Oh, my. One copy and 18 holds! BUT … I scrolled down the list and there were Blu-Ray copies, sitting on the shelf in other branches.
I watched some of the DVD extras, of “Stranger Things.” Some of the actors and directors made some interesting points, as to its popularity. It covers a lot of genres. Horror, suspense, mystery, even a bit of romance. And, they talked about how it appeals to all age groups. There’s the gaggle of 11-12 year old kids, hormonal teenagers, and adults with their adult problems.
The Upside Down is not a place for dogs, or any other living creature, from this plane. It’s dark and scary, with monsters that will eat you, for your blood. Even the air is pretty toxic. It’s a trashed mirror image of our world.
There’s a guy from the Club, who I think is from Austria. At least, he’s got children there, and visits frequently. He’s an odd duck, with some odd political ideas.
Even before the war, Tehran has had terrible water problems. There was talk of entirely moving the capital. And the Goobers were encouraging people to move … somewhere else. By the way, a few year ago I read a book called “Reading Lolita in Tehran.” A good read. And, another thing I added to the library hold list the other day, was a movie, of said book.
I don’t run in circles where the topic of the Middle East comes up. Luckily. So, I really don’t have to have a “position.”
Harmonica Man had sheet music, in his lap. But, the thought did cross my mind, that in a lot of old prison movies, someone is always playing a harmonica. My Dad played a harmonica, from time to time.
I heard the Whistler, a time or two. I could never quit figure out where the tunes were coming from. Not out of tune, but no identifiable piece of music. I’m just waiting for someone to complain about some noise. I’ve got my response keyed up. “You know, hallucinating sounds is often a sign that you’re going to have a stroke.” 🙂
Speaking of being harassed by official paperwork, here to for, when it came time to renew my yearly truck registration, they sent me a statement, I sent them a check, and then I got “tabs” to put on my license plate. Well … the other day I got an e-mail. In the first place, how did they get my email? In the second, I thought it might be a scam. But, a little research and I discovered it isn’t. Now, I apply for the renewal on-line, and they send me the tabs. Oh, and if I use my credit card, there’s a 3% fee. I’ll do it this year, but next, I’ll go down to the courthouse … and give them a check. 🙂
The dumpster was emptied, yesterday morning, and by 4:30, it was full to overflowing … again. It’s so irritating, and I feel like something must be done. Little Mary Sunshine could ride heard on these people, but she isn’t here, half the time. They could rent another dumpster, and charge it to the moving out party. I’ll weed tonight, leave it in 5 gallon buckets, and dump it early tomorrow morning, after the dumpster is emptied, again.
And then there’s all the bright lights fiddling with “gain of function,” because, isn’t it cool, and they can. Or, bio weapons. There’s pretty good evidence that different goober-mints are messing about with those
Our high yesterday was 84F (28.88C). Our overnight low was 54F (12.22C). Our forecast high for today is 87F. We still may get rain, late tomorrow night, into Saturday morning. Maybe. Only a 30% chance. Lew
Chris:
We had gas for cooking, also; very nice to cook with. I lived in Texas – pretty cheap petroleum there. You are so right, Yoda. I hate thinking about all of those data centers up northeast of me. I am assuming that they use the same power company.
A very nice day for your solar. We have so many (including the cars you mentioned!) more electric gadgets these days.
You and I are so lucky to live with such natural beauty. It makes one happy just to look out any window.
Boy, do I appreciate the nicety of flannel sheets. I use one as a blanket on my bed in summer and, of course, use them in winter. Over the years I have stocked up on so many that I have a nice supply. I used to always have one on the living room couch as a dog cover. I could only manage $35 here at a second-hand shop.
There’s an interesting thought: Authoritas once again trying to discourage people from using cash. And the Nosy Parkers do love to know what everyone is spending “money” on, and how much.
Last time I was in town, I left my sturdy, ancient hedge/grass shears to be sharpened at the tiny hardware store (started in 1893) near downtown. It’s so delightful to shop there, though not for the claustraphic. I had gotten most of the rust off, but no matter how hard I tried, I could not get them sharp. I didn’t ask how much it would cost. I hope not as much as a new pair, though they wouldn’t be as good as these.
I am so happy that Ollie feels like a prancing pony. He is indeed the loveliest of dogs. His mother would be proud.
Pam
Hi Pam,
That was my experience as well with cooking with gas, it’s just nicer to use than electricity. The fancy electric induction cookers can be difficult to fine tune the heat.
Admittedly, the first one of those we trialled in the kitchen (weaning oneself off gas takes a bit of trial and error) was a Tefal bench-top machine and it’d jump from 800W to 1,200W with no in-between setting. One was on the cooler side, the other too hot which would burn the food even in a heavy carbon steel frypan (skillet in US parlance). Still, it was a good proof of concept test. When it eventually broke, we nabbed a Breville bench-top induction cooker,which had a 1,000W setting. Much nicer to use, but cost about $40 more – definitely worth the extra mad cash. These things take a bit of adjustment to learn to use properly. Oh well.
Pam, you used the past tense with the first sentence, and I’m curious as to what energy do you use to cook with nowadays? We still have the gas (as an emergency), but truly it’s not as cheap as it once was. A 19 pound LPG swap over bottle costs about AU$38 now or US$27. And two decades ago, the gas bill for heating and cooking when in the big smoke, rarely got past AU$35 a month. Admittedly we were OK with a cool house, even in winter. The neighbours over heated their houses, and the four layers of brick between us and them, radiated the excess heat. Kind of cheating, but as the old timers used to say: Waste not, want not.
Nowadays I’m grateful for all of the excess firewood.
Yeah, those big industrial facilities eat a lot of electricity and water. It happens. There are heaps of them in the big smoke too. Not my monkey.
🙂 It was another nice day for solar today. The two huge raspberry beds needed pruning of the second year canes, and thinning of the rest. Also the roses finally admitted that it was winter and so they scored a serious prune. All that thorny and spiky material was burned off. Tomorrow the plan is to feed the soil in those four garden beds, although the plants already were growing in some delightful looking black loam. Lovely stuff, moist but not too sodden – which is amazing given all of the rain of late.
Ruby and Dame Plum dug a rabbit out of its burrow, and were well pleased with themselves. Of course Ruby was an idiot, again, and Dame Plum had to lift the average so to speak. I’m not saying that Ruby’s floppy ears have anything to do with this outcome, but one wonders… 🙂 Mind you, the dogs’ alright, and perhaps lives in the shadow of her more accomplished sister. Ruby is the warmer personality though, Dame Plum can be a bit aloof, so they each bring special and unique gifts to the table.
It’s beautiful isn’t it? The bathroom here looks out over the far horizon and is a real pleasure to spend time in. Sometimes I’m surprised by how the city looks to me, and nobody there seems to notice. Oh well.
Thought you might enjoy the story of thick cotton flannel sheet sets, and how is it even possible to buy a set for $35? Admittedly we’re at the end of the season. But aren’t they toasty warm? 🙂 Respect for thinking ahead and nabbing a decent supply. And yeah the dog couches have fitted sheets protecting them here too.
Are you coming around to the idea of another cat and/or dog?
But of course, it is possibly one of their agendas to track and earn a fraction on every single transaction. How else can we have nothing and be happy – as was predicted? I’d rather live outside such a monstrous system, but that’s me.
Hope your local store fixes up the hedge trimmer, and the blades on them can be sharpened for sure. The rust, well, it depends on how deep the steel worm has consumed the metal. But! Steel was tougher back in the day. If I may suggest an action for the future. Grab a can of lanolin spray, and when you’ve finished using the trimmer, spray the cutting blades before storing the machine away. The lanolin oil will both clean and protect the steel. Other oils may also work a treat.
Sometimes when blade edges need a bit of extra authority, I use the electric grinder, but that machine takes a lot of metal off, and has to be used in quick bursts lest it over heats the edge and ruins the steel tempering. It’s complicated, but I reckon you’ll be amazed with the improvement in your hedge trimmer.
🙂 Ollie was super happy in the sun today helping the Kelpies flush out rabbits and us clean up the raspberry and rose beds. Poor Dame Plum got a rose thorn up her foot, and I had to pull it out of the pad. It happens. Ended up with a few in my hand as well, despite thick leather riggers gloves. The downsides of roses…
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
It is a truth universally acknowledged that standards of deportment and personal presentation, were generally higher when I was a younger bloke. Heck, businesses had, and enforced, dress standards. It wasn’t just for a visit to the magic shop. 🙂 I was required to attend a workplace wearing a suit, jacket and tie. It is very possible that folks not all that younger than I, probably wouldn’t know how to err, tie a tie.
Hey, I did the same with friends. We’d head into the city and just explore the place. It didn’t seem like a particularly risky activity, although seedy activities were going on for sure. Were shrunken heads really a thing? And they’d have attracted my attention as well. Was that in the Ye Olde Curiosity Shop in Seattle? And you sent me on a deep dive into the ancient practice of headhunting – hope none of us are ever involved in that activity!
Ah, can your player use Blue-Ray discs? I’ve never seen, nor used one. Is the quality good? I noticed on Mr Greer’s website this week that someone linked to a DVD store in the big smoke. Who knew it was still operating today?
That series you mentioned seems to be well appreciated, and probably for all those reasons. People want to be scared by clearly fictional horror. There’s some catharsis and escape in that option, at a wild guess.
Oh, well, Dame Plum might not enjoy the fictional world you just described. But then it does make me wonder what the heck she is doing spending so much time upside down. In dog school she sometimes does that when the ground is very cold and/or wet. A drop can morph into a flop and roll routine, the cheeky canine.
Actually, she did pretty well today. The three dogs working as a pack dug open a rabbit burrow. Ruby pulled the rabbit out and ran off with the poor creature into the courtyard, and then just kind of dropped it of her own accord. Presumably she was hoping to play chasey. The dog is an idiot, but with a pleasant disposition. The bunny was then injured and awkwardly ran off. I had to get Dame Plum to track down where it went and do what needed doing. Fortunately the critter hadn’t gotten far.
The roses had finally lost most of their leaves, and so we gave them all a massive prune. The adjacent row of plants are the raspberries and they were cut to about a foot high. All the second year canes were removed. Then the bed was thinned by removing about half of the remaining plants. The plan is to feed the four beds (two roses + two raspberries) tomorrow. The season is getting under way!
It’s a big job given the rows are about fifty to sixty feet long. All of the canes and rose prunings were burnt off. Actually we also removed some supports for beans in that area, and planted a couple of dozen raspberry canes instead. It’s a good crop here, and fills a similar role to your blueberries. Except the raspberries are turned into a very tasty jam. Yum! The finest if I may say so.
I can confirm that the Austrian bloke at your Club is not the Editor’s dad, he’s dead! A relative, maybe? Can’t be ruled out. 😉 But he was a nuisance of the worst sort, and some of the things he said to me over the years were deeply inappropriate. A very strange person, and he refused to come to the wedding because him and my mother are two people who should never meet, again. It happened once, that was interesting. I walked away from the lot of them, that’s all the option you’ve really got sometimes. There are probably lots of lovely people in that country, I just haven’t met them.
Yeah, that was the weird thing about it all. Water failures, hyper inflation, then we gave them a common enemy to rally around. Seems like a bad move to me, but nobody asked my opinion, and who knows what mischief they were plotting. The fog of war is thick in that part of the world, and they have a lot of oil. Anyway, I never had the interest in travelling to that part of the world, none. A lot of hassles there, on all fronts. I’ll be interested to hear what you have to say about the book.
The thing I took away about the Editor’s dad was that he lived through a time of trauma. Leaving one’s country of birth under a cloud. Barely escaping the German recruiters as a young teenager. Getting caught up by the red army. Fleeing into west Germany as a refugee. Leaving Canada under a cloud. There’s a lot to unpack and he never got any help for all that, never made peace with his survival luck, and spread his trauma around to his final days. Some folks carry a heavy load, and my gut feeling says that the author of that book does too, and it’s not a space I’d want to inhabit. Dunno, maybe I’m being a bit harsh, but that area the author comes from breeds trouble.
What other musical instrument can fit easily into one’s pocket? It was the working man’s instrument.
Ooo, the Whistler man is an eerie story, although have you checked your blood pressure lately? 😉 Is it really a sign of an impending stroke? I’ve had the occasional injury over the years when the ears begin ringing and the cold sweats kick in. That’s not good and is a time to sit down and take stock of the unfolding situation. Probably a rapid blood pressure change in response to the injury, maybe.
That’s a very good question. How did they get your email address? Probably easier to head in and pay the thing, yeah. I worry about email notifications because sometimes they can disappear. Bizarrely, earlier tonight I was wondering where an expected email had gone. Turns out it was shifted into the spam folder by some bot at the server level. I run local email so this should not be! Grrr! Had to get in to the back end of this interwebsite and lower the thresholds. There was a whole bunch of stuff in the spam folder, and the mail program never let me know anything was there. Gawds I hate this stuff. Anyway, at least I got the email, it was for tickets of all things. Far out.
Does your dumpster get emptied every day? An impressive feat, and possibly expensive. Oh well, economics and resource depletion will eventually sort out the rubbish situation.
I doubt any of us really know what sort of stupid activity goes on at that level. Lab leaks have actually been a problem over the years. There was quite a famous one in the late 70’s in the UK, which we’ve discussed before. Another thing we should be glad we’re not involved with!
Nice weather. It was cool and sunny today, with only the mildest of breezes. Maybe, 54’F at a guess.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – I had jobs, over the years, that required a dress shirt and tie. But no suit coat. LOL, I’m sure there are U-Tub videos on how to tie a tie.
I read an article, somewhere along the way, that a lot of shrunken heads out there, are bogus. Reproductions. But, given the time period I saw them, they were, perhaps real. It was an odd import shop, in Portland. Mostly Scottish things. Tartans and such. A bagpipe or two. We never went in.
Oddly, I lived in Seattle for a few years, and never made it to the Old Curiosity Shop. Sometimes, you live in a place, and just don’t get around to the “tourist” stuff. I lived in Orange County, California, for a few years and never went to Dizzy Land. I found the beach, and missions a lot more interesting.
Speaking of “seedy activities,” I watched the first episode of “Mr. Inbetween,” last night. Oh, dear. No subtitles. And some of the accents were pretty thick. But, I got the gist of it, and will continue to watch episodes. That world, or subculture: best to steer clear.
Yes, my player does both regular and Blu-ray Discs. I was careful to make sure I got such a player. As, sometimes (as in season 2 of “Stranger Things,”) the library only has the Blu-Ray copy. I can’t say I notice much difference in the quality. Usually, Blu-Ray has more DVD “extras.” Making of, etc..
One of the fellows at the Club, makes frequent trips to a DVD store, up in Olympia. I don’t know if they carry any new stuff, but I think it’s all used. They also carry a lot of vinyl. Old and new. “Rainy Day Records,” Olympia, if you’re curious.
Speaking of dogs, H hasn’t eaten or drank, last night or this morning. Although when I took her out for her walk, she was her usual perky self. And, did both of her business.
Yes, roses need a hard winter pruning. My mother used to cut them down to maybe, 6-8″, and then mulch them up a bit.
Our dumpster is emptied Mon, Wed, and Fri., early morning. It was full to overflowing, all last week. I generally prefer to work in the garden, as it cools off in the evening. But, given the dumpster situation, I got out there this morning. I figure everyone who has been holding their garbage since Wednesday, will hit it hard. I weeded around the tomatillos, mixed up some good soil with bone meal, and gave them a good water. I also cut back all the potato vines, as they were pretty much dead. I’ll dig them next week. That bed also needed to be weeded out, and, a few potatoes made an appearance. I’ll give them a taste, sometime over the weekend.
The beans I replanted, broke ground today. The barriers seem to be working, on the ones that weren’t mowed down by the wood lice.
I saw an article, recently, on families and “no contact” orders.
https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/10/health/no-contact-family-wellness
I hear stories, all the time at the Club, about how damaging families can be. And, occasionally advise to run as far and as fast away from those people, as they possibly can. Hard boundaries and distance.
As I remember, the book “Reading Lolita in Tehran,” was pretty interesting. The author was, as I remember, the daughter of a long ago mayor of Tehran. And, she was a college professor. After the revolution, women were banned from teaching in schools. And young girls and women denied education beyond the basics. So, she started a clandestine reading group. Which was very risky. They all could have faced execution or prison. She eventually left, and moved to the West. I’m looking forward to seeing the movie. Looks like the DVD will be out the end of September.
Every once in awhile, something ends up in my spam folder, that shouldn’t be there. Even the occasional e-mail from my friends in Idaho. Who knows why.
I got on line to order my truck tabs, last night. The website was “Down for Maintenance, until 6PM.” 🙁 It was 6:10. It was up and running. So, lots of pages, all that needed to be carefully read. But, I think all went well, and I should get them in the mail, in a few days.
The Marburg virus got out of a lab in Germany, in 1967. Infected monkeys. Pretty much the same thing happened at Ft. Detrick, Maryland, awhile ago. The building that happened in, is still closed up and off limits. Seems like there’s been several “biohazard incidents,” there.
Our high yesterday was 90F (32.22C). Our overnight low was 57F (13.88C). Our forecast high for today is 84F. Possible rain is still in the forecast for late tonight / early tomorrow morning. It was 30% chance, but they’ve bumped it up to 40%. I’ll have to keep an eye on the radar, when I take H out for her midnight stroll. Might be earlier. Lew
Chris:
We’ve had our stove since 1992. My son has had to replace heating elements here and there, and maybe a fuse (?). That’s all I can think of. It came “free” when we bought the log house kit, also a refrigerator and dishwasher. The fridge was replaced 15 years ago and the dishwasher 25 years ago. However, I only used the dishwasher for a few months, then retired it and started storing potatoes (I still do) in it. I am wary of induction cookers; not sure why. And I know I don’t like glass-covered cooktop burners. My mother had one and I used it quite a bit.
I had gas stoves in Dallas, growing up, and later when we had an apartment and then our own house. Pretty easy to understand with all the natural gas Texas produces. I have had electric since I moved to Virginia, except when I had a propane BBQ grill, which I loved. Eventually, the gas was removed and I burned wood in it. That worked really well and was free.
You probably have the best soil in those mountains and you deserve it. I’ve never seen anybody work so hard on improving soil. I wondered when your roses might get pruned, since they never stop blooming (must be that good soil . . . ).
Did they – or Dame Plum, most likely – catch the rabbit? I think Ruby’s ears are a sign of faulty genetics, though she seems quite healthy doesn’t she? I remember a study of fur foxes in captivity and how coat color was tied to intelligence.
My upstairs bathroom is the best view, too!
Nobody seems up for another pet yet. It may be mostly because all anyone around here does is work, which is like you, but also no-one leaves the property unless it is really necessary. Besides, this summer has been rough weatherwise and everybody feels kind of drained. All work and no play makes Jack and Jill dull?
Do you spray with lanolin oil after every use, or just when putting them away for the winter? I have never seen lanolin oil here, but it may be under another name. I’ll try to remember to ask when I go to pick up the shears. Thanks!
Poor Dame Plum. I’d put jujube bushes up against rose bushes any day; they’re really wicked. Their bed is between two garden beds and I occasionally back into them. Ook! I almost jump to Texas!
Pam
Chris,
It’s amazing how much cooler the water is in rivers and streams when there are trees shading the water. I’ve never understood the mentality to clear away trees and brush and associated wet areas.
A little secret about the recent fires. In the Kaiser Canyon, the fire burned along stretches of Highway 155. There’s a creek that parallels the roadway for several miles east of Disautel Pass. Beaver have made dams at places, widening the water and creating wetlands. These areas didn’t burn. Stopped the fire dead in its tracks, forcing it around.
The local fire that started northwest of here jumped the Spokane River and burned a lot of mixed trees and grasses before rushing downhill toward a certain area of the Little Spokane River. Between beaver dams and natural terrain features, the Little Spokane and wetlands have a 3 mile long stretch that is very wide. Wide enough, in fact, that even with winds the fire couldn’t jump across. Moving water, wet and marshy areas, some springs, apparently. Yes, the beavers and natural terrain can help reduce the impact of the fires in localized areas.
There is more corn grown in this country than they know what to do with. Petrol engines do pretty well with the 10% ethanol mix. Some engines are designed for that. A year or two back, there was a lot of talk that the incoming gummint (the one now in power) was going to change that mix to 15% or even 20% ethanol. Small engines such as Big Bertha or lawn mowers would have been seriously impacted. Many automobiles, too, would have had some issues. That idea got nixed.
Thursday ended up not what I had planned. It was the one-year anniversary of the passing of a very old friend’s wife. I’ve known the friend since I was 7 and he was 19, one of my dad’s first physics students in Spokane. He and I talked for nearly 3 hours. Meanwhile, Killian’s human has been going through a very nasty patch at the job and also needed to chat and de-stress. It was an emotional day.
Somehow, I was able to listen to some music and get an hour of burning done on the current project. Relaxing music, mostly. Also, Young Neighbor had returned from vacation, so we visited for a few minutes. She got another share of the veggies she is learning to grow, including this year’s first zucchini. Naturally, the only zucchini plants producing fruit are the ones she planted from seed. The ones I planted are a total bust.
The local grocery store got in a shipment of Hatch chilis. This is a variety of New Mexico chilies grown in the area around the town of Hatch, New Mexico. They can range from mild to delightfully hot, to a bit too hot for most people. I’ve been preparing them in various ways all week. I gave some to Young Neighbor with some preparation ideas. Tomorrow will be the end of the ones I bought. I’ll remove the seeds, drape them over some pork ribs, cook them in the pressure cooker. That should feed me for several meals.
I’m saving some of the seeds and hope to get some growing next year. I ate a lot of Hatch chilis the year I lived in New Mexico.
Killian’s human and I ran errands together this morning. Then we had lunch. She also enjoys the same Mexican eatery that the Princess and I like. However, rather than going to the original which is part of the same company’s grocery store, we went to one of their other venues, which they call DeLeon’s Taco Bar. The menu is slightly different than the lunch counter at the grocery, but still excellent. I had enchiladas, of course. One of the options was chicken enchiladas with green, red and white sauces, the colors of the Mexican flag. Most excellent, each sauce having its own flavor and heat character.
It DID get hot this week. After two days here at about 36C, today was supposed to be hotter. And the air quality went to nasty Thursday afternoon and overnight. So today was, um, interesting outdoors. Very hazy, questionable air quality, some clouds rolled in also. It still hit 38C with 12% humidity. Dry lightning might occur over the eastern part of the state tonight. Saturday into Sunday is supposed to bring another windy event with dry lightning even creeping west of the mountains. Not what we need right now.
I should be able to get back to the project over the weekend.
DJSpo
@ Pam,
On one of our trips to New Mexico, the Princess and I spent several days in Las Cruces. I had to show her the giant roadrunner west of the city. She wanted totake pictures of me. There are a lot of bushes there, most of which were home to various kinds of local spiders and other creepy crawly things.
Anyhow, the Princess kept asking me to back up closer to a certain bush. I tells ya, the spider webs right at that spot were big enough to capture an elephant! I tossed the rental car keys to her. When she asked why I had done that, I replied, “If whatever built that giant web in there pokes my back side, I’ll probably jump all the way to El Paso. You’ll need to drive there and find me.”
So I nearly jumped to Texas once myself, although Las Cruces was shorter jump than from where you are.
Hi Pam,
Ah, many thanks for the explanation as to cooking. It’s a good device to have lasted 34 years, with a few repairs along the way. Not many machines have such rugged design and longevity. Hey, the scary old cooker, no? 🙂 Almost two decades for a refrigerator is pretty good too, but use of the stainless steel potato storage device is very clever. We’ve been wondering how to store those tubers as well. Last summer we sun dried the sugar cane mulch they were packed in, but somehow the straw still sucked in some moisture from the atmosphere I guess. Oh well, next year not having your option, I might trial packing the tubers in a sealed container, but with no straw material. Dunno, it’s a mystery, but I can well appreciate why early spring was the traditional lean time. Oh my!
Got the two rose and other two raspberry beds fertilised today. All the pruned material we burned off yesterday was mixed back into the trailer load of compost + all the other goodies added. Spotted the earliest apricot blossoms today and am rather nervous of a late frost now. Oh well, this plant production stuff is a chancy venture.
I’ve used what I reckon your stove top cooker type may be as a young bloke in a rental house which was bizarrely owned by the state electricity company at the time. Dunno about your impressions, but it took a while to get hot, but once it was hot! Far out. Cooked up a storm. I’ve never used the glass top cookers you mentioned, but am rather impressed by the bench top induction cookers we use now. Anywhoo, it’s either them, or bottled gas. Truly I miss the old wood stove and oven, a lovely way to cook and the heat was far gentler than most people would imagine.
The same was true down here as well. The off shore oil wells in Bass Strait (now sadly in terminal decline) once produced an abundance of natural gas, and it was cheap. Hehe! Thanks for the story, and yes, when living near to forests, firewood is a very affordable energy source. Of course, it is not a simple energy source and requires a lot of equipment and knowledge to be able to use the stuff properly.
Shhh! Pam, don’t tell anyone! Oh my goodness. But yeah, ain’t it the truth? When I think back on the two decades of coffee ground waste – which was free but required another AU$60 a fortnight of additional minerals, well no wonder other folks don’t use that resource. Sandra randomly purchased a pH meter a week or two ago, and I’ve been wondering around the property shoving it into the dirt and just observing. The results have been pleasing to see. Still, the rain keeps arriving in force, and leaching of soil minerals is a thing. But between you and I, I’d rather consume food grown from well mineralised soils. Did more of that work today, it never stops, until the easy to obtain minerals become too expensive. Not sure what will happen then, it probably won’t be good. Oh well.
How’s that groundhog of yours going? After a long work day today we all had a nap (including the three wiped out dogs). Upon awaking I noticed a luscious looking wallaby in the sunny orchard mooching on the grass. Took a photo then told the marsupial to get lost. Not to worry, like the Terminator, it’ll be back. They know not to turn up during the daylight hours, but good feed is in short supply right now so boundaries are being pushed.
Ruby nabbed the rabbit, but Dame Plum did what needed doing. It’s in the worm farm now. Agreed Ruby’s ears should be pricked up naturally as befits a wild dog. Mind you, she has rat cunning. Tonight both Ollie and Dame Plum hovered over Ruby. Somehow she’d managed to sit on both of their rawhide chews whilst enjoying her own, and they were both wary of Ruby.
A bathroom is a wonderful place of privacy with which to contemplate the world, or in our cases, look to the far horizons and dream. 🙂
Yeah, I know. Look, I promise to you that once your systems become hardier and more appropriate to the local conditions, things will get easier. But then, the years go on and we have less work in us. However, that is what keeping one step ahead looks like. Our lives adjust to the needs. But it is also a real joy to feed the soils and reap the produce.
I wonder that question too, and work six days per week. However, my joys these days are simple ones. And maybe that’s part of it all, I really don’t know. But I too wonder about what you mentioned.
Absolutely, I spray lanolin after every use. When the cutting steel comes into contact with plant material, it leaves gums / sugars on the metal. Those are acidic, and cause the rust. You should see what clumped grass does to the steel cutting decks of mowers. Always best cleaned off with water after use or face expensive repairs. The lanolin material is called Woolwax or Fluid Film in your country.
Hehe! Yes, those are spiky bushes, and a real shame it’s just slightly too cold for them to grow here. On the sunnier northern side of the range, they produce an abundance. Quite tasty too.
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
The clearing away of the vegetation from rivers and creeks is an inappropriate cultural application of prior knowledge. Presumably it has its origins in Britain, which as a land rarely gets that hot, and has never experienced extreme UV radiation. Some of the productive plants here, require late afternoon shade – the suns’ energy is that strong. The stream side clearing thing looks a lot like people pursuing an abstract notion about how they think the world works. Evaporation and solar heating is a thing in warmer climates. Pity the poor platypus which has to eek out an existence when humans are mucking around with the quality of the critters summer water supply. Beavers would face the same issues.
That’s so great to hear about the little Spokane river and wetlands. Who’d have thunk it? Absolutely, chains of moisture in an environment are how things used to work down here as well. Interestingly, with the 1983 bushfires, the earlier fire (not the big one a week or two later) – which was much lower intensity just brushed through here. However, the big one was stopped in its tracks from this part of the mountain range at least, by a monster sized field of canola. Yup. Most of these really big fires are simply a matter of poor land management sorry to say. It needn’t be this way, but there are too many vested interests in how things are now, for change to occur. That will happen though, eventually when such weird controls are loosened.
That’s my understanding as well with ethanol in that most newish petrol fuel injected engines will be fine with 10% (unless they require the high octane blends) – although mechanics do still clean the injectors at service time, or they should do so. It’s the smaller carburettor engines, like all the stuff I use, and Big Bertha, that don’t appreciate the sticky stuff. The tolerances in carby jets are pretty tight, and it doesn’t take too much much gunk to foul the passageways. Will it run at 10%, yes, but will need cleaning especially if with four stroke machines, they’re not run dry. Two stroke machines have to be left wet, and that’s a problem for ethanol blend fuels. A 20% blend in my opinion, would only worsen the sticky situation.
Look, if I had no choice with the ethanol blends – which is not the case at the moment – I’d chuck some ‘ethanol shield’ into the fuel tank at the appropriate mix. But that’s me, if I don’t have to pull the carby apart and clean it so a machine will simply work, that’s a win in my books! 😉 Hey, I already add ‘Stabil’ fuel stabiliser to the tank, and that stuff does work and saves heaps of hassles. Fuel goes off really quickly nowadays.
Man, some days are like that and it’s never what you say, but all about being there and lending an ear. Living with troubles is part of the human condition, and none of us escape its grasp. I’m of an age where many of my friends parents are passing away. It’s pretty hard on them all, and especially they mostly got on well with them from what I hear. I dunno and can’t relate to that, but can appreciate the experience and grief of loss, which is all our long time travelling companion.
Hope Killian’s boss’s job troubles smooth over.
Nice one recharging your batteries with some good music and enjoyable activity.
Oh poop! Go on, did you give young neighbour the better chunk of soil so as to produce an encouraging result? I’d have done that. 😉 Nothing quite like cooking up home grown produce is there.
On that note, we fertilised the two rose garden beds, as well as the two large raspberry beds today. Feels good to have that sorted out. I’ll probably get onto the grape vines next. The dogs ran around all day long, and are pooped out fast asleep tonight.
Oh super yummo with the Hatch chili, and you sent me on a rabbit hole. What a score, and I’m impressed with your slow cooker innovation. The pork would be infused with the flavour and heat of the chili. Some of the photos on the interweb of the variety were really something else. I get the impression from the garden that chili plants are far hardier than their tomato cousins.
I’ll bet you ate a lot of them that year, and was the smell from the street vendors memorable? I noted some sellers roast them up in portable cookers at street stalls.
Very well done with the enchilada choice! And hey, you are an inspiration to us all, for enchiladas were made for dinner this evening. Of course they were a veg variety, not that anyone would notice. Both Dame Plum and Ollie demanded a chunk, and were not refused. 😉
I’ve seen that with the coloured sauces too, quite tasty as well.
Ook! Hope the air quality improves and that the dry lightning does not eventuate. Some years are just bad news. Won’t mention that it was 14’C and sunny today, a bit brisk really, but good for outdoors hard work. Spotted the first apricot blossoms today. And an owl hunting a possum tonight.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Things were more formal back in the day, and suits were not cheap. You’ve got me wondering too as whether the jacket was optional. Mostly suits down here back in the day were sold as a pants and jacket combination. Thanks for the laughs regarding the tie, you’re probably right.
Forgeries, reproductions, have always been with us, and hey you brought the strange Victorian era trade of grave robbing to my attention a few years ago. I reckon given the time, the ones you saw were probably the real deal. People were less squeamish in my youth, and no doubts that’d be your experience as well. I reckon the further removed society gets from food production, the stranger the comprehension of that activity. There is a lot of death on a farm, although it is usually done speedily and with care. Cruelty is a rare thing in that trade from what I’ve seen. It creates a more matter-of-fact approach to the situation.
A Scottish shop? I’ve not encountered one of those, although nearby in a town at the foot of the eastern part of the range there is a traditional Scottish butcher. Candidly, like you, I too have not checked it out, although the Editor did.
Are the missions historic sites now? I visited one of those in Peru, and it was a really interesting place with a colourful history. They’d have nice beaches in that part of the world with an ideal climate for getting into the water.
It’s an interesting insight into a dark sub culture, yup. You’ll know what I mean when you said a while back: A little bit of this, and a little bit of that. Surprisingly, given the risks and work involved, it’s not a flash life.
Presumably the Blu-ray has a lot more capacity. Glad your new player machine is working out fine, unlike the one before it.
Indeed I was curious about the record shop, and it looks great. The stores opening hours were deeply comprehensible, put it that way. What a fun place.
How’s H feeling today? Hope it is a temporary glitch. Sometimes dogs go-off their feed, then get hungry again.
That’s good to hear about rose pruning. You know, I’m a beginner with that art, but can learn. The book Claire recommended on the subject really is superb and easy to follow. The two long rose beds scored a good feed today, as did the other two adjacent raspberry beds. The next one to be fed I reckon will be the grape enclosure. The plan is to seriously lime that ground, last year there was a bit of fungal action going on in there, and those fun-guy critters won’t like that one bit.
Oh poop, are you saying that the dumpster can sometimes kick up a big stink? The plants will enjoy the soil feed for sure. Oh, I’d not cut the potato vines back but simply let them wither away. Dunno about your experience, but I found lifting the tubers after a run of dry weather makes them keep longer, but have hardly made a rigorous scientific study of that process. Not really my thing doing that anyway, I more of a: does this process work?
The Editor randomly purchased a pH meter a few weeks back, and today out of curiosity I began poking it in the ground all over the place to see what the results are. Most of the garden soils were around the 6 mark, except for the asparagus beds which were around the neutral 7 mark. I’m a bit dubious about the accuracy of the meter, but it is indicative and I do add a lot of agricultural lime to the normally acidic forest soils here. Oh by the way, added 2.2 pounds of sea salt to the three large raised asparagus beds today.
Those naughty wood lice. May you smite them, roughly!
Yeah, thanks for the article. Reconciliation all depends upon whether all parties are willing to do so, and everyone loves a redemption tale. My lot were just bad eggs, and would reel a person in, and then turn on you. My mum did that to the Editor who was initially dubious as to my advice to stay away. Oh well, it was a hard way to learn. I haven’t seen my dad in I dunno, maybe 38 years. Last I saw him, he was more interested in talking about my sister who’d run off the rails, and we just didn’t connect. The conversation was frankly weird. I dunno man, sometimes you get an unusual hand of cards to play – this outcome wouldn’t be my natural choice. Far out.
Hope the film is good. Probably wouldn’t have been made there, would it? 😉
The whole spam thing was just another unasked-for
tech bros intrusion. Surely this software would have been tested prior to being distributed? I’d rather put up with a hundred spam emails, than lose something due to a false spam positive. The cost-benefit is just not there, and it bothers me that a bot is reading all of these missives.
Good luck, and well done navigating the brave new world. The local mob simply send me a bill to pay. Hey, I have to keep track of bills now too, in case some rando bot decides incorrectly that an emailed bill is spam.
Oh double poop! Yes, those are incidents you’d not want to be involved in as well. Those 90% fatality rate things are bad news, and we’d like to imagine we’d be in the 10%, but really? The chances are not good.
You wonder why flying is not for I: Wife recounts horror as husband sucked out of Ryanair plane window
OK, it’s getting pretty warm. How did the garden respond to the bout of heat? 57’F and sunny today, which was quite nice.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – Some of the jobs I had required a … hmmm, let’s just say, a dressy shirt. And as far as the pants went, “dress pants,” usually meant anything but jeans.
I guess people were less squeamish, back in the day. What came to my mind, was a pioneer museum in Salt Lake City. They had naturally preserved mummies, of pioneers, in glass cases. This was in the 1950s. I did a bit of poking around, and couldn’t find any mention of them. Somewhere along the way, someone must have given them a decent burial.
Here’s an article on the California Missions. They were each about a days travel, apart. I see there’s a small picture of Mission Capistrano, where I used to hang out.
I’ve read that people who lead a “life of crime,” actually work harder than just going out and getting a legitimate job. The promised life of leisure, seldom materializes.
Right after I wrote you, H decided to bother with eating. 🙂
The potato vines were well withered, so I took them away. 🙂
Early on I discovered that I had to take a look at my spam file, before dumping it. Which sort of defeats the purpose. I think when my Idaho friends e-mails end up there, is when she uses another device that isn’t the device she uses for her e-mail address.
After a few rough rides and reading too much about airplane crashes, I swore off flying, decades ago. LOL, if I ever get sent on an author tour, it’s going to be in the contract that I travel by train, only.
Our high yesterday was 79F (26.11C). Our overnight low was 59F (15C). Our forecast high for today is 75F. I don’t think we go any rain, last night. It looks a bit damp out there, but it was pretty foggy this morning. Prof. Mass has an interesting post, and I hope he’s wrong. About the end of summer. Some of my veg has a long way to go!
I picked a batch of cherry tomatoes, last night. I think I’m going to try freezing them, this year, instead of drying. I’ll see how that goes. Might do the same with some zucchini. Lew
@ DJSpo:
That’s so funny, DJSpo, though I don’t remember any giant desert spider webs (there were tarantulas and scorpions instead).
Ever backed into a prickly pear? I have.
Pam
Chris:
The potatoes I harvested this summer are in large plastics boxes with the lids ajar and no packing material. I have no idea how to store them. A few are in the dishwasher, along with store ones that I had stocked up on.
That’s a nice bit of work you got done with the raspberries and roses and compost. I tell you what, plant production is for nuts – maybe.
The groundhog is around somewhere; every now and then I see him, always outside the garden. There is still a pair of chipmunks in the garden, but no squirrels. The munkies names are George and Gracie, quite a comedy act. Did I mention that most of my tomatoes have split due to so much rain after so much dryness? George and Gracie are welcome to them. And they have “catfacing”. I couldn’t figure out why they looked like Dr. Frankenstein creations this year.
https://gardenbetty.com/tomato-catfacing/
“Somehow she’d managed to sit on both of their rawhide chews whilst enjoying her own.” “Somehow” – yeah, sure. There’s a lot to be said for rat cunning.
Thanks for actual product names for the lanolin stuff. I have them on my note to pick up the shears.
Last night my son and I were talking over some ongoing projects. I told him: “We’ll get ‘er done!” Then I remembered where I’d heard that – Damo! I think he picked it up on a trip to the U.S.
Pam
@ Pam,
There may have been a bit of poetic license when my wife was trying to take pictures. 😉 But tarantulas and scorpions? Yes. I remember every time it rained, paved surfaces, especially Interstate 25, would be covered wall to wall with tarantulas.
Then there were the cockroaches. They were HUGE. On campus after dark, the sidewalk would skitter in front of me when I was walking. I think those things were big enough to carry off cats or at least unsuspecting little dogs. 😉
I avoided backing into prickly pear. I had been in deserts enough by then to know that pretty much anything you touch was sharp or would bite or inflict pain somehow. Did you know that yucca leaves are stiff and sharp even on the edges? Near Grand Junction, CO I made it a point to, er, point that out to the Princess.
I may have mentioned to Chris the chap I shared an office with. On a bicycle ride just after Labor Day, we found a stand of ripe prickly pear. I out with my handy pocketknife and very carefully peeled one. It was good. The other chap? Broke it open, getting spines in his fingers. Then tried to eat the fruit out of the skin. Spines in his cheeks and tongue. Backing into the plant might have been preferable.
DJSpo
Hi Pam,
I’ll try your method for storing potatoes, although the lid will have to be sealed in order to prevent rodents doing what they naturally do. It’d be nice to have a proper root cellar, or stone storage shed in a shady spot, but that job is a long way off into the future. All I’ve learned in the last year or two, is that packing material is a bad idea. Oh well. I’ve no idea either, and the ground and soil really is too warm here over the winter months for a traditional root cellar. Dunno, a mystery! 🙂
Hope you enjoy the photos of the long raspberry and rose garden beds. We dumped a whole lot of rocks up there today. They’ll help stabilise the downhill edges of the raspberry beds. It was a day of pottering around, and I replaced a broken shovel handle. Had to jump onto utoob to see how other folks removed the original broken timber. A fat drill bit was used to rip up the old hardwood handle. Who knew? Makes me wonder what they did in the old days. It was super stuck until hit by high speed cobalt enriched drill bits. Actually, I fixed up the new handle so that the break in the new wood was not repeated.
Greetings to George and Gracie, and hope they remain well behaved and avoid consuming the most choicest of persimmons.
Thanks for the fascinating link, and I’ve not seen that tomato atrocity before. But then, like the delightful young lady suggested, grow smaller tomatoes. The climate here is unsuitable for large beef steak tomatoes, so I stick with the cherries and mid-sized fruits. And have avoided that horrid looking outcome by sheer naivety.
Ruby lacks Dame Plum’s smarts, but more than makes up for the lack with rat cunning. Fun side story, at the agricultural show in April, the bloke who breeds and trains Kelpie working dogs suggested that they have the emotional manipulation of a five year old. I’m not exactly sure what he meant, but the flavour of the comment was apparent.
No worries! I don’t usually mention product names, but in that instance thought it’d be a good idea. The two stroke hedge trimmer machine had some good use this afternoon, and before storing it away, the blades were coated with lanolin spray. The old timers used to do the same thing, but with a combo of sand and used motor oil. We live in more enlightened times…
Damo is a lovely bloke who I met once. He lives over on the other western side of this continent nowadays. It’s a big country, and I don’t travel far from home nowadays. It’s a good phrase, yeah!
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Man, have to laugh about employment dress codes but on the very first day of my adult job at the tender edge of seventeen, I was met by a really lovely lady only slightly older than myself. She wore a one piece item of clothing which to me looked as if it wouldn’t have been out of place on the serving side of a cafeteria. All drill cotton, very plain and stuff. There are moments in life when saying nothing, actually is the wisest path. So I shut my mouth and just rolled with the unfolding alien events of a new workplace, and learned later that the lady had wanted to implement a basic uniform for female staff based on her own tastes. And we got along just fine, but if I’d said something… Ook!
And my own fashion faux pas on that most auspicious of days, was wearing black leather shoes, white jeans and a dark jacket. I was dressed for a night club, but was soundly told off on my very first day of adult employment. Oh the indignity! And get this man, I lamely claimed that the pants were at the dry cleaners. I’m shamed for that response, but they do say that the brain is not fully formed until the age of 25, or something around that time.
Agreed, dress pants does in fact mean exactly that. I’m most comfortable, in my overalls.
Hehe! Yeah, in these enlightened times people do tend to be more squeamish. I dunno whether I mentioned it, but late last year during the cannibal chicken episode where some of the older birds ganged up on the two new young hens, that I had to despatch four chickens prior to having lunch with friends? Anyway, it was an unpleasant and thankless task which left me feeling slightly rattled for the day, but the chicken burger for lunch went down a treat. They say that compartmentalisation, is a thing. But if people treated say their chickens as pets, the event would have been seriously traumatic. I don’t name the birds and give them a great life with an honourable retirement, but if they mess around…
That happens with the mummified corpses and when in Peru we visited a few exhibitions where someone had retrieved an ancient sacrificial mummy from one of the more remote Andean peaks. I never knew what to think about that, and probably if it was my rule, I’d have left them there. The people went on that final journey for good and valid reasons, and who are we to interfere?
The mission is a fascinating place, and has the air of the mysterious ruin, and working place of worship about it. I can appreciate your interest in the site. There were missions down here as well, although none were as grand. I’d have loved to have seen the remnants of the orchards, although presumably little of that remains today.
Exactly! The very nature of that occupation tends to compromise a person due to the inherent risk. And the higher ups know that and use it as leverage and to squeeze their foot soldiers. Hardly a lavish lifestyle. A year or so back the Editor and I were enjoying a sausage roll from a bakery and watched as a dodgy van and an unkempt bloke loaded what may have been err, alternative ciggies into a possibly compromised shop. I’d wondered if the bloke knew what his life would look like?
Thanks for the explanation as to the potato vines. Yup, that’s the sign to dig the tasty tubers from the ground. They’re like paper, aren’t they?
Had a pottering day today as there were so many little things which needed attending to. A shovel needed it’s handle replaced, and I had to jump onto utoob to see how the old broken shaft was removed. Turns out, you use a drill to loosen it all up. Worked a treat! But then I also learned that the handle end may have to be slightly cut so that it sits properly in the tapered steel of the shovel blade receptacle. Man, there’s a lot to know with even basic things. I reckon one day I’ll make one of those stools which use a persons weight to clamp down on a chunk of timber so that tool handles can be carved out of a block of wood. But right now, I’m busy!
Cleaned up the grass growing around the citrus trees today. It’s truly weird to have mown the citrus enclosure, and then cleaned up around the trees – in late winter. Hmm.
Very good, and that’s great news about H eating. I always worry about chickens and dogs when they go off their feed.
Yeah, the spam filtering system doesn’t work. That’s my take away from this latest tech bro unasked for chunk of oversight. And it mildly bothers me that the bots are reading, then grading the emails before making the awful decision: To spam, or not to spam, that is the story!
🙂 Respect, and train travel is not without it’s risks, but is a far more civilised and leisurely affair. I’ve always enjoyed over night train journeys, but paid a bit extra for a sleeper cabin. Standards must be maintained ol’ chap! Mind you on Indian railways, it was pretty basic conditions. Fun though.
I’m with your Professor, the growing season for you is winding up. Sorry to say that. Your area is pretty similar to here, and the plants will continue to grow next month, but begin slowing the month afterwards. The pumpkins will be fine, maybe. 🙂 They grow exponentially, so that’s my thinking, but you’ll find out one way or another. Look, some years like earlier this one, you can bring the tomatoes indoors on a tray in a warm room, and they’ll ripen. I ate fresh tomatoes up until early June when they started having fermented overtones. There’s only so much sunlight to go around.
I’d do a test with the tomatoes, which you can have done in a few days. It’s not the freezing that’s the problem, it’s the thawing the plant cells pop. Isn’t John Wayne frozen? I heard a joke years ago about people having that done to their bodies: Have you ever had a cold shower? Well multiply that by a million times!
Sorry to leave you with that dodgy mental image, but better run and get some writing done! Which rhymes. 😉
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – Been nagging at me all week. “You Don’t Know.” Song title, I think. You linked to it once. I think. 🙂
Most jobs, the dress code is covered in an employees manual. Or, during orientation. Well, live and learn. The one time I worked in a chain restaurant, the dress code was … odd. Only three months, and it was one of the rare jobs, where at the end of a shift, I said I wouldn’t be back, tomorrow. Anywho. Waiters had to wear black slacks, white dress shirt and “butter yellow tie.” The poor waitresses! White blouse with butter yellow scarf. So far, so good. But the rest? Very short skirt with “flounce” underneath. Black fishnet stockings. Almost knee high boots with stiletto heels. And this was a “family” restaurant? One of those places that called the restaurant, a “store.”
The Peruvian mummies are pretty interesting, poor things. National Geographic has had several articles on them. I think the distance of time, makes a difference. A thousand year old mummy is one thing. A hundred year old pioneer, is another. The two I remember most vividly was a young lass, still dressed in her best calico and bonnet. Wouldn’t have looked out of place on the set of “Little House on the Prairie.” The other was the spitting image of the cartoon character, Yosemite Sam. right down to the handlebar mustache and chaps. Had a protruding gold tooth.
When I’d drop by the mission, it was sort of to decompress from this thing called Southern California. It was usually so quiet. No one around. Have a good think, without a lot of distraction.
I finished “Mr. Inbetween,” season one, last night. My, he does get himself into situations. I’ll order in season two, once I whittle down my hold list, a bit. 🙂
Recently, there have been to real snafus in Hollywood, sort of related to tech screwups. In the first place, there’s a new Nick Cage movie, that hasn’t been released yet. Well, the director dropped off an electronic copy, to the big streaming service. The one beginning with “N.” Well, they either lost it, or, it was stolen. Eagle eyes are watching to see if it pops up on pirate streaming sites. Lawyers are going to get rich, off of this one.
In another incident. The River has trailers, for upcoming movies it will flog. There’s a new Jason Statham movie, that hasn’t even been released to theaters, yet. Well, instead of running the trailer, by mistake, the whole movie was run on their site. And, before it was pulled down, it was released into the wild. It’s popping up all over the place, world-wide.
“Shaving Horse.” I had to look a bit, to find the right name. Sounds like a useful bit of kit.
“To Spam, or not to spam, that is the question.” 🙂 Little Willie Wigglesword, or “Spamalot?” My vote goes to the Python crew.
If I ever take a train again, I’ll spring for a sleeper car. Some are getting pretty lavish, though the prices can sometimes be not so bad.
Cyronics. There’s been rumors that Walt Dizzy, is a popsicle, deep in Sleeping Beaty’s castle. You can splash out, and go whole body. Or, the economy model, just your head.
Yes, frozen tomatoes texture can be off, when thawed. But, for soups, stews or casseroles, not so bad. Wouldn’t want to try them in a salad.
Since it was a bit cooler, I made a batch of banana cupcakes, last night. And, I tried an experiment I had been thinking off. I buried a frozen strawberry, in the dough, of four of them. It worked out, pretty well. The muffin was baked, all the way through. But, I usually mix in some sunflower and pumpkin seeds. They soften up, when baked. Usually. But didn’t, probably because of lower temperatures, close to the frozen strawberry. A bit crunchier than I liked. I’ll leave them out, if I try that, again.
I mentioned I picked all the ripe cherry tomatoes, night before last. Glad I did.Because … when I walked H, yesterday morning I noticed that a deer had nipped all the branch tips, off one of my plants! Didn’t touch any of the other tomato plants. Just the one.
I ran into the maintenance guy, and, besides the two apartments and shuffling around, there are two other tenants who are gone, and might not be coming back. Either in hospital or rehabilitation.
We have a kerfuffle (among many) going on over here, now. FLOCK cameras that read license plates.
https://www.npr.org/2026/08/21/nx-s1-5939851/flock-cameras-police-block-surveillance-vandalize
They’ve got them over in Centralia, and there’s been quit a few … lively, city council meetings. I don’t know how that all turned out.
I wanted to go to the Club, yesterday. Do my weekly progress check. 🙂 Luckily, I noticed that there was to be another of those spasms of civic who-who. The HUB city classic car show. They completely block a good section of Tower Avenue. Where I used to have my store.
After being open, a couple of times, and not making a dime. I didn’t even bother to open on those Saturdays. Not a person darkened my door, other than looking for a bathroom. (It’s broken.) Oh, I think restaurants and taverns with food do a good business, but forget anyone else. Any-who …
So, I took a slightly different route to the Club, to avoid the nonsense. They got the blinds up, in the front windows. Quit a big job. And, there are plans being drawn up for the counter area. There is one meeting room, already in existence. But, the walls don’t go all the way to the ceiling. Today, some of the fellows are going to extend those walls, to the ceiling, and do a bit of sound proofing. So, things are moving along. Lew