During the past week or so, I’ve been reading the thoughts of the American economist: ‘John Kenneth Galbraith’. His book: ‘The Great Crash of 1929’, looked back at the events of the stock market crash from the safety of twenty five years afterwards. The words documented the rise and fall of one monster speculative bubble. It’s hard to believe, but that historical moment was almost a century ago, and I do wonder if in these more enlightened times of stock market highs, whether the lessons of the past have been forgotten. Always wise to check in on the past, to see what it has to say about the present.
The book brings to mind memories of my grandfather, the irascible and genuinely charming old bloke. He grew up on a farm in the town of Kyabram during the combined troubles of a very serious drought and of course The Great Depression. His grandmother raised him, under mysterious circumstances which were never revealed to yours truly, but one wonders. Some questions are best not asked in polite company, but even so I reckon there is some mystery in that story. In this instance, perhaps my preternatural curiosity is indicative that the charm which he so casually wielded, was not handed down in the genetic mix. Oh well, these things happen.
Anyway, back to 1929. Despite the early monster mania, towards the end of that year times got tough, and they sure ended up even harder in the following years. I faced 10% unemployment in 1992, but that’s just peanuts compared to the almost 33% unemployment rate in 1932. I survived the littler 90’s recession, thirty four years ago now, by stooping to do corporate debt collection work. It’s hard to imagine what the Great Depression would have been like, but I reckon if a third of the population was unemployed, I’m guessing that even a dirty debt chasing job wouldn’t be an option. Nobody would be lending any mad cash, to anyone, for any reason.
Crazy days, and it’s hard to ignore that the stock markets lately seem to be on an up, up and away trajectory. It is a truth universally acknowledged that gravity eventually brings most things back down to Earth. The tricky bit is that it’s hard to time the peak. The author / economist had something interesting to say about what actually pops a bubble, which is briefly reproduced here purely for educational purposes:
“for it is in the nature of a speculative boom that almost anything can collapse it. Any serious shock to confidence can cause sales by those speculators who have always hoped to get out before the final collapse, but after all possible gains from rising prices have been reaped. Their pessimism will infect simpler souls who had thought that the market might go up forever but who will now change their minds and sell. Soon there will be margin calls, and still others will be forced to sell. So the bubble breaks.”
Sounds like a truthful observation to me. And if you haven’t read the book yet, why not?
The funny thing about that big crash in 1929, was that no silver bullet was ever found. Turns out, like the fall of ancient Rome, there were probably, just as the cheeky song suggested: 99 problems.
There’s plenty of proverbial trouble looming on the horizon now. Earlier in the week, I paid a new record high price for fuel per litre:
An impressive achievement, and I’d imagine that some households are doing it super tough right now with their budgets. I’ve not read it mentioned anywhere, but a charmless act on my part would be to suggest that sales of petrol (ULP or Unleaded Non Ethanol Blend Petroleum) are subsidising the cost of Diesel (Dist or Distillate). It’s an unconfirmed theory, but very possible.
The entire train of thought, started the ol’ brain wondering that if a market crash occurred today, would there be any corporate debt collection work to keep the wolves at bay, food on the table and the rain off one’s head. And of course off Sandra’s head as well! Matrimonial harmony being a thing. The interweb is a wonderful place to source statistics, and here is what a mob called: ‘Trading Economics’, had to say about the growth in debt for the Private Sector over the past decade.
Phew! That’s a relief. With AU$1.45tn (trillion) dollars owed by the private sector (which presumably excludes government and households), there’s probably a lot of work right there in tracking down that lot and ensuring it gets paid, if that’s even physically possible. Well, we can put that fear into the trash, looks like even in a market crash, business in debt collection will be cracking.
It’s an impressive effort really given that serious economists down here suggest that we are already in an economic recession per capita due to sluggish growth. Maybe, it is the lack of charisma on my part which makes me wonder if all that mad cash has been borrowed and spent over the past decade, why has growth been so poor? Probably being hoarded. Here’s an interesting take on that story:
Fun fact: MØ is actually the stage name of a Danish singer from last decade. In this case however, M0 represents the physical and central bank cash reserve deposits held. It’s not hard to notice that during the health subject which dare not be named, there was what I’d describe as a distinct lack of trust on display. And it’s never really gone away, has it? Some of the borrowed mad cash is presumably hiding there in plain sight for all to see.
Households are also another factor in the mad cash story, but it’s actually difficult to find data on the growth in household debt over the past decade denominated in dollars. There’s probably a good reason for that. Turns out, that if the corporate world owes AU$1.45tn (trillion), the government just cracked the AU$1tn (trillion) a week or so ago, households alarmingly owe around AU$3.3tn (trillion) give or take a cool AU$100mn (million). Say, that’s a lot of debt, and working at collections could be an even more secure and lucrative industry in an economic downturn than I first thought…
There’s clearly some strange economic shenanigans going on, and few strike me as weirder than the ever expanding mad cash supply which the government more or less orchestrates. The statistic M3, pretty much includes all of the cash-like stuff in the economy. Check out this baby for growth:
A very impressive achievement indeedy, and alert readers will note that the trend almost matches the growth in corporate debt. I’ll bet the curve for household debt looks much the same, if I could find the data. It’s truly baffling to me that all of this paper mischief has continued for as long as it has, and yet produces such sluggish economic growth but increased prices. I don’t know what to make of it all, but I reckon I can guess what my charismatic grandfather would have called the muppets in charge. Oops! Without breaking the house rules, you know what he’d have said…
It’s been a warm and dry week, which has been perfect to commence the annual firewood harvesting and processing. Longer term readers will note that this task has traditionally been done in the warmer summer months of December to January. However, with the new firewood shed, the job can be done in an earlier month, when it’s cooler – which is a nice thing.
Two windfall trees were split and hauled.
Both trees were cut into discs months ago as part of the forest clean-up work. This week we drove the splitter down to the forest edge. It did what was needed to be done. Then the results were hauled back uphill and stored in the new firewood shed. Observant readers will be able to see the tree stump still in the ground just to the right of the black poly trailer. It’s horizontal, whilst trees are meant to be vertical. We’ll stump grind that up over the next few months.
Here is the other windfall tree (and that too has a stump on a funny angle):
The friendly family of magpie birds follow us around when we’re working, and they’ll happily pick over and consume the many insects discovered due to that activity. I for one particularly hope they got the scorpion that almost stung me.
Three trailer loads of crushed rock with lime were purchased and brought back to the property and placed on the path project. That’s a wrap, and the project can be declared: officially completed!
We had a bit of spare crushed rock with lime left over from the last trailer load. That’s when we remembered that the area next to the large water tank just further down the hill hadn’t been finished from last summer.
The rest of that area will be sorted out during the coming week.
We’re closely following the season this year, and it felt right to plant out the peas. The seeds looked rather shrivelled and sad, but after four hours in warm-ish water, they’ve sprung back to life:
Planting them out involved pressing my thumb into the soil, dropping a seed in, and then gently covering it over with loose soil. The garden bed they’re now in doesn’t get much, if any watering. For those whom are unaware, I believe that pressing the soil down underneath a seed, restores natural capillary action and will give the little plant access to some water early on in its life.
Amusingly, at the time I was thinking to myself of the crusty old farmers proverbial observation about dirt under the fingernails. There were a lot of pea seeds planted out!
We’ve started eating the radishes grown from seed in the greenhouse. They were only started a few weeks ago, and are delicious:
Salads are also enhanced by the many leafy greens, fresh boiled eggs, but I’m also a big fan of the Globe Artichokes.
The plants here are monsters at almost five feet tall. They’re of the thistle family but differ from all of those hardy weeds because in order to produce tasty chokes, they require super fertile soil. Skimp on soil feed, and they won’t taste good, or grow well.
The ten grape vines have begun to produce buds. Hopefully this year there aren’t issues with fungi, but time will tell.
We grow a lot of currants and other small berry producing shrubs like jostaberries and gooseberries. We didn’t get around to pruning them, and will have to do so next year. Hasn’t seemed to have impacted upon production.
At times this week, the air has literally buzzed with insects. It is one of the reasons we grow so many different varieties of flowers. The hum is audible, and one has to be careful pulling weeds:
Onto the flowers:
The temperature outside now at about 11am is 20’C (68’F). So far for this year there has been 1,012.0mm (39.8 inches) which is up from last weeks total of 1,009.6mm (39.7 inches)
Comments
40 responses to “High”
Yo, Chris – The mystery of the disappearing great-grandparents. 1918 flu epidemic? The timings just about right. A genealogist would probably make short work, of the mystery. What with all the information on the internet, even rank amateurs have a pretty easy time of it.
Economics. Can’t anyone SEE what’s on the horizon? Yes, where did all that mad cash go? I have seen a couple of articles, that some corporations are sitting on a lot of cash. Or, maybe some of it went to all that deferred maintenance, that’s been piling up. A lot to the 1%?
Oh, great. Now, scorpions. Go, magpies!
Red peas? Ours our green. In your pea planting picture, I see some red chard. Looks just like mine.
That is some radish. Off hand, do you remember the variety?
The red daisies, are a real knock-out. I don’t think we have any, here.
And, this from your part of the world.
https://www.npr.org/2026/08/02/nx-s1-5896064/breakfasts-around-the-world-in-australia-being-denied-vegemite-is-grounds-for-suing
You can’t deny convicts their Vegemite. I think that constitutes, cruel and unusual punishment. 🙂 Lew
Hi Lewis,
No luck there, but a good guess. The old fella was born in 1924, which is a few years after the Spanish flu and WWI. The Great Depression may have ruined his parents, thus the Grandparent taking over that role. But also the young couple may have had a falling out? Dunno. I get that about those genealogy folks, but don’t really want to fork over mad cash to find out. I’m not made of the stuff you know. 😉
Exactly. And hey, even back in 1929 before the collapse, serious people looked everywhere else other than reality. And oh wow, did they despise anyone who dared suggest that the foundations were somewhat dodgy. Have to laugh though, the words: ‘business fundamentals are sound’, were repeated loudly and often just prior to and early on in the 2008 debacle as it was way back then. History has a lot to say about such matters, and turns out everything old becomes new again.
Companies going into debt to buy their own stock, is probably a red flag at a wild guess based on what went on in the lead up to 1929.
It was a close call with the scorpion, and the Editor alerted me to the risk a second or two before the big stinger in the rear struck down hard through the thick leather riggers gloves. Pesky critters.
Yeah, the daisies do look red don’t they? And sadly I’ve utterly forgotten the name of the variety. The red chard has become quite weedy, and for that I’m eternally grateful. Makes life easier when the edible plants establish their own cycle, like that one. A few others have done so as well.
The radish variety is this one: Radish ‘Pink Lady Slipper’ (Organic). The seeds must be pretty good as the germination rate is in the high 95%+ range. Makes life easier. It’s one of the crops I’m going to have to produce my own seeds for, but that activity takes a lot of plants to do so. Oh well, no one said this stuff would be easy.
Having been raised on Vegemite, I can handle the stuff. 🙂 It’s best when slathered on warm toast over a layer of butter. Yum! And hey the info about the dogs could be useful future info – you never know. I doubt that the yeasts would make a decent tasting naughty drop though, but those incarcerated may not be as squeamish about such matters as myself.
Well of course, your experience when faced with the black yeasty ooze would differ from say, an indoctrinated person such as myself. What’s the old joke about the crayfish? It’s only the first one… 🙂
I know, your country has such a colourful election process that provides talking heads and spurned polly-tick-ans hours of endless chatter – and then nothing much changes. I’d call it a national sport, and it sure looks like that, yeah. Probably gives that lot a safe outlet with which to vent their collective spleens at new and unhappy circumstances. An attempt was made to raise such concerns after the last election down here, and it all got squashed down quickly as a big whopper nothing burger.
Hang on a second. What? I thought that tics and ticks are the same thing, but spelt differently. Grab the snorkel, let’s dive deep and see what the robots and unfiltered folks have to say about the matter. Well blow me down. Turns out a tic is something a person does involuntarily, and a tick has so many more layers of meaning, including the parasite to which I referred. Well that’s one mystery cleared up. Onto the next!
Speaking of mysteries, it was 73’F today and the sun felt squooshy hot. The UV has increased to Very High rating, and so it feels far hotter than the air temperature may suggest. Picked up a couple of loads of crushed rock with lime, and finished off the other area near to the biggerest water tank (now fully completed). In other news, an Echidna decided to make a special guest visit, which excited the dogs no end. And I did a run to the big box hardware place to pick up some supplies. Later in the day, the various benches we have scattered around the property were given a few coats of linseed oil (and also some hand tools). A busy day.
Yeah, the scenes of houses falling into the ocean at Long Beach were apparently from a week or two ago. Hmm. No doubts your east coast folks were in a state of hubris about the low numbers of hurricanes of late. Did you ever get to visit some of the older houses there like the Parsonage, Bembridge or Bixby Ranch house?
Almost forgot to mention. Last evening nearing on to midnight, I got to see two jet fighters having a practice dog fight. It was very cool, and from this far distance they were little spots of light zipping around and circling each other. You could see the exhaust flare up from time to time. Not your average 9 to 5 job that one.
Oh yeah, I also stopped off at the tradie tool store and picked up two longer, but thinner rock drill bits. I like where you are going with the winter rock breaking idea. And who knew that a freeze cycle could really split boulders?
🙂 Very good, and nice to hear that you were, and still are, entertained. Your library service is amazing. I watched a serious human produced utoob channel yesterday having a freak out about all of the arty-fish-al slop being made and uploaded. Fortunately, I’m not in that market, but I guess people have only so many free hours in their day. It’s a bit of a worry as writing, and presumably film making, song writing etc. are art forms which demand practice, and that takes effort.Asking a bot to do the heavy lifting is not the same at all.
Like you, I too listen to my body regarding salt needs, and it’s in a lot of stuff anyway, but my main intake would be from the bread I bake. Admittedly after a hot work day, I’ll have a rehydration solution just in case. Tops up the salt as a precaution. By the way, I learned recently that the indigenous folks have a salt bush, for every occasion and climate. I’ll have to keep an eye out for the local variety. I’m sure the stuff was traded long distance too.
Actually soy sauce doesn’t give me headaches, although it does have, I believe, a little bit of glutamic acid. Much depends upon the quantity, and I really like the taste and it’d go well in the dish you prepared.
That guy from the rock band Kiss had a rather long tongue too. A bit scary, but I guess that was the whole point of the act.
I’ve seen both Emu’s and Cassowary’s, although more Emu’s which comes from being way down south. Much of the wildlife here is grumpy, so why would the Moa birds have been any different? It’d be a safe bet that they’d have tasted like chicken. 😉 Probably why they’re now extinct.
Well, we’d take the opposums, although they do seem a touch bitey, and maybe on second thoughts they’re safer in your part of the world. 🙂 And hey, that painting you mentioned wasn’t repatriated, so it’s not all easy going on that front…
By the way, the painting was pretty good, and the one he did of the dingo had an almost Thylacine pointy face. Agreed, the artist had some serious talent to produce that after what he had to work with and never having seen either animal.
It’s possible the dingo was an alpine dingo given it has thick fur, but I doubt the English made it that far inland in those days.
Unlike Jamestown, the First Fleet decided to up sticks and move to a more favourable locale than what was first encountered in Botany Bay – which was in a serious drought when they arrived. Welcome to the continent, it’s gonna be a tough experience, y’all better get used to it. Although your continent was no walk in the park either for the English.
Best wishes to Uncle Carl, and may he being doing OK.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – Do you have a Mormon church, nearby? They’re really into genealogy, for, theological reasons I won’t go into. But, a lot of their churches have genealogical libraries, and help on hand. They might ask for a small donation. There’s a Mormon church, down the road from me. Every once in awhile, there’s a reader board out front, with “Genealogical Library Open.”
Of course, your grand father’s parents would be listed, most likely, on his birth certificate. And, maybe even on his death certificate. Or even, in any newspaper obituary.
Well, as far as the business atmosphere, previous to the crash of 1929, I’d say it’s another case of “investment in previous belief.” Hmmm. Perhaps I should copyright that phrase. 🙂
I keep watching my red chard seed, to see when it turns brown. I may just have to cut some, and move it inside, to finish drying. The deer, I think, are ignoring the leaves, but nibbling on the seed. Although it might be birds. Nothing is very interested in my mammoth sunflowers, but, I noticed a couple of blue jays that seem to think they’re a morning snack.
I have laid out a plastic bag, and scissors, so when I go down to the garden, this morning, I remember to harvest the poppy seed pods. Last night, I picked most of the larger green tomatoes, which will go on a plate in the window. The last batch, ripened up, six or seven per day. Just about right to toss in whatever was for dinner.
Neither of the nurseries I use carry the pink Lady Slipper radish. But, the seed is available on E-buy.
You may remember I experimented with Vegemite. Traditionally, on lightly buttered toast. I thought it was pretty tasty. Probably a lot healthier than our plethora of highly salted snacks.
Many a prison drama rotates around …. pruno.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pruno
I think you could call politics, a major industry in the US. 🙂 Might be where a lot of that money went. I’m surprised it isn’t listed on the stock exchange.
Our high yesterday was 63F (17.22C). Our overnight low was 39F (3.88C). Our forecast high for today is 63F.
Go, Echidna. Yup, possums are our only native marsupials. I wonder if your possums drove their crankier relatives, onto a bit of floating land, and saw them off. 🙂
The Australia / New Zealand lecture I’m watching, at a bit about your quokka. Wow. Those are just too cute. Available in the US? Well, no. Although anything that cute, is probably available through the illegal wild animal trade.
Speaking of that series, I watched some episodes on the first fleets, and settlement patterns, at least on your east coast. The Blue Mountains, the Great West Road. The Bush as a concept. Most of this I’ve taken in before, in one book or another. “Fatal Shore,” etc.. But it’s nice to have a refresher.
Carl’s doing ok. He’s in a race to get his prostate surgery done, before his insurance lapses. I guess the surgery is done with a robot, with physician oversight.
My mate Scott also showed up for a short visit. He’s pretty homebound, what with the handicapped wife, and all. Lew
Hi, Chris!
There is a reason why the past is important to us. I mean, I think it is something inherent, there to guide us. That sounds simplistic, but some people don’t care about the past at all and that always astonishes me.
I have never read the book; I don’t know why. I have read other Great Depression books, mostly written by people about how they survived it. “Ten Hard Years” comes to mind. I used to try to follow the economic trends, and look for patterns, but now I mostly care about how we are weathering, or will weather, such times. Not that the predictions aren’t interesting.
The cost of our petrol has been fairly even for awhile. We do have those midterm elections in 2 weeks . . .
“makes me wonder if all that mad cash has been borrowed and spent over the past decade, why has growth been so poor? Probably being hoarded.” It can’t be hoarded as literal “cash”, though. Is there such a thing? Gold maybe, but that has always seemed foolish to me. I am talking about the Shadowy Ones, not us commoners.
You can’t squeeze blood out of a turnip . . .
There you go; not to worry. The M3 chart shows that all is well.
I’ll say it’s more pleasant to split and haul firewood, any kind of wood, in cooler weather! I didn’t know you had scorpions! Does a sting make one very sick? Mr. Magpie looks to be in charge.
Path Project: Completed – and stunning! Does crushed rock cost less than gravel? Though it is a sort of gravel, right?
I’ve never seen peas that color. What are they? I picked a nice mess of bush beans today, 7 weeks after planting them. The tiny radishes are up in the garlic bed and I have dug up and planted in a pot a small new volunteer petunia to bring in as my Christmas petunia, like last year. This morning when I drove into town about 8:30 ( so, not too early) the pastures along our neighborhood road were covered in frost. This was true all the way into town. It must have been very light as it was above freezing and no flowers were damaged, like the hundreds of marigolds that are blooming in my garden right now.
That radish is as big as a turnip! Good job! What kind of material is on the roof over those fine grape vines?
Thank you so much for all the flowers, especially the geranium as I am supposed to bring one in for the winter, which I forgot. I think the red daisies might be a chrisanthemum, excuse the pun.
From last week:
I use celery seed in my sweet pickle relish and in some Asian sauces.
Here I think “baby” carrots are merely the short-length variety of carrots, like I often grow with some suboptimal soil, and they are indeed scraped, I guess to make them seem more babylike. Carrots are cheap to buy for now . . .
How are you going to keep the fluffies off the tung oil while it dries?
Ah! Perhaps there is another wood stove with oven in your future . . .
Pam
Hi Pam,
I’m so with you, history has so much to teach us, and yet people look here, there, and everywhere trying to pretend that this time things will be different. It’s an option, I guess, but what does history have to say about possible outcomes in this particular circumstance? It’s an important question to ask. But, I’ve observed that an ability to annoy via preternatural curiosity, is a skill set that not all of our peers share, so a person can end up with the astonishment feeling you mentioned.
To be honest, the other books regarding the Great Depression probably hold the better information. The author has an amusing style, almost flamboyant in nature, but at the moment I’m working like a dog, so at times it can be a touch trying. Overall, it’s a good read, one of which I’ve read many times before. Sadly I never even thought to speculate in the first place, I could have made heaps more mad cash. 🙂
Well done, and best of luck for the coming elections. And enjoy those fuel costs. We’ve got a state election late next month, and the general vibe for the incumbents is not good. My expectations of our leaders is rather low, and at least they can deliver to that level. On a serious note, there really isn’t much any of them can do about resource depletion, pollution etc. My main hope is that they’re not too problematic. It’s not much to ask for, is it?
Like you, gold doesn’t interest me. Our gold is the plants and knowledge. 😉 Biological systems have the wonderful ability to reproduce themselves, and that’s a good thing. Started the chili plants today from seed. Dunno how it will work out, but something will happen, maybe! Actually next week is turning cooler, so this seed lot might be a waste of time. Still, you have to try.
M3 is scary. People talk about fears of killer robots, but that graph fills me with a greater sense of dread.
Yes, that is indeed the point. In cooler weather it is easier to do more physical work. The scorpions are just another nuisance. To be honest I’ve not conducted the test, but they sure look like it’s going to hurt, and all the other stuff causes considerable pain and hardship, so I don’t see that they’d be any easier. Hang on, let’s see what gargle barfs up… … Turns out that they’re not so bad: Victoria’s 13 scorpion species and why they are not as venomous as other predators. The Wood or forest scorpion are the one’s here. I’ll think more kindly of them now.
The magpies are always in charge, of the dogs at least. They allow Ollie to get close to them, but not the two smaller tricksy canine monsters. I like the birds, and they’ve proven to be very useful allies over the years.
Do you see that at your place with some critters being more on your side than others?
Thanks, and much depends upon what is meant by the term ‘gravel’. Dunno really. Turns out that can mean a lot of loose maybe small rocks, which swaps one word for another. I’d say, yeah, it’s gravel, just with more fines. Those are great because they set hard, like a rock. Are we going around in definition circles… 🙂
I’m not entirely sure what variety of peas they are. Could even be snow peas. But they grow fast, and we’ll all find out sooner or later. The seed bag had the label ‘peas’. Labelling is hard to get right sometimes. We’ve all been there, and probably will be again.
The radishes will shrug off the frost, and hope the petunias bring much Christmas cheer! Go the marigolds, and flowers are really lovely aren’t they? Your winter is approaching though.
Thanks, and I love my radishes. Yum! Very photogenic too, and thanks for noticing. The roof of the grape cage is 10mm x 10mm welded mesh. That’s a bit under half inch squares. It’s strong stuff, and like strawberries, everything enjoys grapes.
Do your geraniums left outdoors over winter, bounce back in the spring?
Yum! Sounds lovely with the celery seed and Asian sauces. We tend to use dill seeds, but same, same.
Down here, I believe that things are different and baby carrots to my eye look unnatural. Of course there would be actual baby carrots too. Thanks for the mental kick, and I probably should start growing some carrots.
Ha! Plastic mesh will keep the fluffies cordoned off the curing floorboards. There is a plan, and for sure, as you’re probably saying to yourself: It’ll be properly canine tested. I hope not, but oh well.
I’d like to think so about that wood stove and oven, yeah! Alas, no firm plans at the moment as there are too many other things going on.
Did you get any frost this morning?
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
There’s no temples for that mob anywhere near to here. There’s a local Seventh-day Adventist mob though, and their instance on strict doctrine might rub me up the wrong way. I mean, if the deity says work is scheduled for the day, I’d prefer not to end up in complicated theological arguments, and just get on with what needs doing. No disrespect to them. Time spend outdoors is not always fluffy optimal, and such moments remind me of the decade of riding a motorbike, in that some days, even if they’re the Sabbath, are better than others to be getting stuff done in the sun.
Instead of genealogy, there was another mob who used to provide personality testing in the city. Have you ever come across them? You’d be walking past going about your business, and they’d do the hard sell. I never took up the offer, mostly because I was worried that they’d tell me that I was anxious, then I’d start feeling nervous about that. Didn’t need the stress when I was otherwise chilled out. And what if I didn’t like the personality of the person doing the reading? More problems than answers…
But you’re right, that other mob would do a deep dive into past family records, but it could hardly be a service for free. There’d be a cost, of some sort, or another, I’d imagine. Even if it was ending up on a mailing list. And trying to extricate oneself from such things is an administrative nightmare these days.
Actually, plenty of people go and get their DNA tested, and that info is then publicly available! Yikes! Imagine being tracked down and contacted by my estranged family. They’d get upset when I told them to ‘naff off’ again.
The old bloke did eventually commission a genealogist to produce a book on the family and their experience in Australia. I was considered too young to be entrusted with a copy, which was a lovely leather bound with an embossed cover. Bizarrely, I was probably one of the more responsible ones who would have looked after the thing. A fine joke. It had a strange family name I’d not heard of before: Furze, which apparently was also the name of the very weedy plant: Gorse. Don’t want to ever see a gorse fire. Far out! Those are bad news. It sounds German to my ears, but who knows?
It’s a great phrase! And all very true. That’s the problem with getting out whilst the going is good, only a brave few can do so. Hang on, would it be a workable get rich quick scheme to copyright the phrase?
Good stuff, and hope you collect some of those chard seeds. They self seed here, and might do so at your place too. We hates the deer, or at least wish that they were elsewhere! Heard a loud cough / bark sound last night and thought it was a stag, but no two large bull kangaroos were having a punch on. They were big and I’m not stepping in there and putting an end to the fisticuffs.
Hope you get some sunflower kernels too. They’ll be great for your health when the days are short.
Whoa! I’ve never thought to harvest poppy seeds, and what a good idea. Did you get much?
Fresh tomatoes are a real treat, and I’ll bet it was a good salad? We’ve got most of the tomatoes off and running, but next week will be a bit cooler, so hope the ones outdoors are OK? Oh well…
Speaking of weather, the radar is showing rain right now, but I don’t think so. Turns out the Bogong Moths are having a monster come-back this year and are thick enough to reflect the weather radar: Bogong moths are playing havoc with BOM weather radars. Ignore the play thing, there’s heaps of text and photos.
People kept saying those moths were endangered, blah, blah, but they’ve been here more or less about the same each year. Folks need to get out more before crying doom.
The radish variety is worth it, and if you had them now, you’d have some plants by June.
Respect. Most people are horrified by Vegemite, without even having tasted the stuff. The English Marmite is pretty similar, but a bit more tart to my palate, although they’re both toothy spreads. Nobody has ever slammed it for being unhealthy.
Pruno! Hehe! The cheeky scamps, and what else do the incarcerated have to fill their days with? And good to see that there is an award ceremony for the stuff. The best could end up with a job in brewing. Think of it as vocational training.
It is an industry, yeah. And a national sport. We’re an apathetic bunch down here on that front, but will happily turf out non-performers. You know it’s true what they say too: oppositions don’t win, the government loses.
Stranger things have happened, but we do have toothy marsupials down here. The Quolls and Devils. Quolls used to be around here until the 1983 bushfires destroyed their habitat, and the forest is lesser for their loss.
Quokka’s are like a tiny kangaroo don’t you reckon? Lovely creatures.
🙂 We’re an urbanised folk, and thus the ‘bush’ has a greater sense of meaning. It’s actually pretty quiet up here, which I like. But there is a real urban / rural divide, and very few large inland cities. You’d probably call them towns.
Yes, death by your medical system is perhaps a risk. Hope Carl jumps through the hoops and gets sorted out before that window of opportunity closes.
Still, it’s good Scott made time for the Club and his friends. That’s what makes life good.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – Or, “Seventh Day Adventurers,” as Archie Bunker called them. 🙂 Their stronghold is Loma Linda, California, which, is one of the Blue Zones. Probably because they’re mostly vegetarians. They don’t drink or smoke, either. They even have their own line of foods, that you can occasionally see in the super markets. Socially cohesive, which is another aspect of Blue Zoners.
Ah, the personality test people. Your beloved fly boy, is (was?) a member of that cult. I see his latest movie, “Digger,” is mostly a washout, at the box office. But, from what I’ve read about it, I’m sure it will become a cult classic. Eventually. 🙂
I’ve toyed with the idea of getting one of those DNA tests. Although it would take a bit of research to figure out which company is the best. Some can be a bit bogus. And they vary in the amount of information provided. National Geographic, I think, has one.
I took a look down the rabbit hole … “Gorse” as a name, has British roots. Lancashire was mentioned … Middle English … and, maybe, if doing a deep dive, French. Normans?
Speaking of Middle English, I watched a bit of the Great Courses, “The Inklings: C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Their Circle.” It’s pretty interesting, though, a lot of people came and went. Besides their meetings at the pub, and “rooms” at Oxford, they often took long country rambles, kicking around ideas as they went.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inklings
I did manage to cut a few chard seed branches, that had gone brown. I’ll put them in the window, for a few days. And, keep an eye on the plant for more browning of the seed branches. The poppy seed heads were dry, but the tiny seeds easily pour out, like pepper from a shaker. 🙂 I inserted the pods into the bag, before cutting the stem. When I gave the bag a shake, a lot of seeds were in evidence, on the bottom.
Oh, I’m leaving the sunflowers for the birds and squirrels. The Blue Jays particularly like them. They’re pretty fiddly to process, so, I buy mine. Now that they’re in the bins, at Winco, not all that expensive. I sprinkle some into just about all of whatever I’m making for dinner. Or, baking. Along with pumpkin seeds. I used to buy the last, on line, in bulk. But, now, with the Winco, it’s cost effective to just get them out of their bins.
Our high yesterday was 64F (17.77C). Our overnight low was 46F (7.77C). Our forecast high for today is 66F. It’s quit nice out, with a bit of a breeze.
That was an amusing article about the Bogong moths, screwing with the weather radar. 🙂 I wonder if the woman, closing the Olympics and singing the anthem, managed to hold onto the plot? As Prof. Mass has discussed, we have the same problem here, when it comes to migrating birds.
Well, as you know, I’ve sampled both Vegemite and Marmite. Can’t say I favor one over the other. An interesting taste experiment, and not “bad.” But, another one of those “there are so many other things, I’d rather eat.” 🙂 I also tried Nutella, and that stuff is beyond my understanding, as to it’s popularity. Save your money and just buy tinned chocolate frosting, for cakes. 🙂
One of the prison dramas I watched, pruno was mixed up in a plastic bag, and buried in the prison gardens, to “work.” It was effective. 🙂
Your Quolls may eventually come back. Your koala did. Can the Quolls be far behind?
When I took Dawg for a walk, there was a deer up on the road, next to the parkland. Dawg didn’t make a peep. Didn’t bark at all. But I did. 🙂
I watched more of the Australian DVDs, last night. The horrible convict history of Tasmania. The “settling” of New Zealand, which was quit different from that of Australia. And, the state of South Australia, and Adelaide. My, what a “progressive” state and city. Lew
Chris:
Gold does interest me. My husband’s favorite thing in the world was going out West to pan for gold. He’d meet a couple of friends out there and they’d have a wonderful time. He wouldn’t have cared too much of they couldn’t come, he would have gone by himself. It’s a better hobby than playing the stock market, I mean, gambling. But like you, I don’t care what games our betters are playing with it.
I went back over the bed of gold (ha!) potatoes that I had dug up in the summer and found about 9 more pounds (4Kg) of them, some very large ones. You just never know . . . I’m wondering if I can keep these till next St. Patrick’s Day and plant them. That’s only 5 months.
How nice – you are getting to know your forest friends better. I see that scorpions feed on insects, beetles, and ants, and I have issues with most of those, so I think maybe they really are a friend.
Sadly, I have to say that the wild critters here never seem to be on my side. I know some of these birds must be because I see them eating insects (see above), but none of them have been friendly since Lewis the Wren left, and I think he mostly liked me because I fed him. It’s a bit lonely . . .
That’s so funny – just generic peas. We’ll assume they are bound to be something edible.
First hard frost and my outdoor annual geraniums will be toast. However, I have perennial ones that will just go dormant. I think we have talked about geraniums before. My annual ones are Pelargonium, the perennial ones are actually Geraniums.
No, no frost this morning.
I found another use for the leaf blower inside. We have two of our original 1991 built-in baseboard electric heaters that still work. One is in the living room and one is in the dining room. The living room one is never used becuase the fireplace is in there. However, the dining room one is and every fall I take off its cover – it’s about 9ft (3m) long – and clean inside it. It’s a chore. Not any more! I blew the inside of it with the leaf blower, following along with the vaccuum, and it was done in a snap.
Pam
Chris:
I read the Bogong moth article. They have been making things a little difficult for the weather gurus.
Nature always has the last laugh.
Pam
Chris,
Chris,
From last week. Oak Creek Canyon was spectacular. Dad lived in Prescott, Arizona during some of the Great Depression and went through Oak Creek Canyon several times. Talked about it a lot. Neither the Princess nor I had ever been there before. It was worth the trip.
We did parallel a few parts of the old Route 66 on that trip. However, on a different trip to the area, we drove on the Interstate 40 very much parallel to Route 66 to Gallup, New Mexico. The trip back to Albuquerque from Gallup, we drove as much of Route 66 as we could. That was a lot of fun and at a much more leisurely pace than Interstate 40.
“No walrus was harmed in the creation of this product”. That’s funny!
Note: The Princess is very smart. She knows when to listen to me and my experience. She avoided getting stuck by pointy things, plant and other. On one trip there were signs “Beware of Rattlesnakes” at one place we stopped. She was a bit scared. I told her what to watch for and how to look at things so they might pop into view, as well aswhat to do (and not do) if she saw one. Then I pointed at a roadrunner and said, “As long as that bird is there, we’re fine.”
We really like the Albuquerque area, had thoughts of retiring to that area. Water shortages are already a huge issue there, so we just visit occasionally – I have cousins there.
Hooray for the completion of the path project. It looks good, too. It’s fun having followed your descriptions and photos of the work, thus seeing the project from start to finish, including the Moby Rocks broken into the smaller rocks for use on the pathway edges. It looks really good. That final addition of lime and crushed rock really shows it off as well as having a useful function.
This is a busy week. The Princess travelled to Toppenish for her normal week with her brother. One of my carving pals had 4 tendons repaired in her shoulder recently, can’t use her right (dominant) arm for 6 weeks. Cabin fever was setting in, so I carted her around on errands today. She said to “Stop in there!”. “There” was a tiny hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant. I had chili verde with beans and rice. It was very good. I hadn’t had a chili verde that good since leaving Las Cruces in 1986.
On Wednesday the fireplace guy is coming to clean the two natural gas fireplaces. Happens every two years. That’s in the morning. The afternoon has an appointment for basic oil change and stuff on the Subaru. This is the last of a package of 3 I had prepaid some time ago, so if nothing else crops up, it’s already paid for.
There was a flyer on my back gate at the alley today. It was from the local electric utility company. They have been out inspecting their overhead lines and any invasive trees/bushes. The flyer highlighted that, at their expense, they need to cut back some of my brush near the utility pole in one corner of my yard. They’ve done this before and probably don’t need in my yard to do the job. That area is on my list of things to prune before winter, but if they do it before I get there, I guess I won’t argue. 😉
There was a pile of decorative blocks near the house. In the front, a cat has been using part of a flowerbed as its personal latrine. I cleaned out that area, moved the blocks there. Then the cat will find another place, also probably in one of my flower beds. I know which cat it is. Avalanche has nearly caught it a few times in the back. I think she got in a good nip once, to judge from the caterwauling the cat did. The local pack of coyotes has been known to visit the neighborhood and thin out any unwary cats.
Anyhow, the Dame likes the area where the blocks had been in the back. She has been busy digging another big hole there. She may have plans to dig deeply there, then tunnel underneath the back patio and connect this new hole with her other hole, the one through which she and the Fluffy Collective communicate and perhaps visit. 😉 Or perhaps this new hole is her attempt to communicate with Sirius, the Dog Star. Who knows what thoughts lurk in the mind of a husky.
DJSpo
Hi Pam,
The weather bureau folks weren’t fooled by the moth migration, but plenty of everyday people looked at the radar and asked where the rain was! Those moths have always been here in more or less the same numbers despite suggestions that they’re critically endangered. What’s occurring with them in other parts of the country is a mystery. The moths used to be roasted and consumed. Nature sure is a trickster. 😉
The shiny metal has no pull upon my soul either, but you and I are in the minority on that matter, and biggerest banksters have been spending big on the stuff. The question as to why, probably needs to be asked. You can’t eat the stuff.
I hear you about that and in one of Gene Logsdon’s books he made an oblique reference that long ago his family swapped food for gold, although I can’t recall the actual details. And of course, buried Roman hoards are often dug up in old blimey. Turns out the stash came to naught.
🙂 It’s a more fun way of looking at our plants isn’t it? And well done, I discovered the same thing recently and missed heaps of potatoes in the harvest. What a fine weedy plant those tasty tubers are. Some varieties have grown here for years, and seem quite stable, but history does freak me out a little bit with experiences in other parts of the world. Oh well.
Do you re-plant tubers from the previous years crop?
You know, those tubers of yours might make it to St Pat’s day yeah. Just. 🙂 They’ll be fine, maybe. But now you’ve mentioned it, there is some mystical aspect to that date. Hmm.
I’d send you some of our scorpions, but I don’t reckon that they’d enjoy your serious winter freeze. The article made me think more kindly of them, and it’s been long remarked upon that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. I’m not keen though to test the strength of their stings though.
Poor little wrens don’t live long lives down here either, and that freak hail storm earlier in the year was not kind to the smaller birds. They’ve been on a breeding program of their own making lately, and are bouncing back to where they once were. Surely Lewis the wren at least sang for his supper?
I’d send you some King Parrots who are very friendly. This afternoon one was in the cherry blossoms sampling the nectar and dropping discarded flowers to the ground. A thoughtful gesture, and I took the brightly coloured bird aside and said: What are you idiots up to? To which it replied: We’re so pretty and charming!
Guess the bird has a point and few other thoughts. And there are a lot of cherry blossoms, but there are limits too…
What happened to Lewis the wren?
I truly have no idea what variety the peas are, and I guess that we’ll find out by around Chritsmas-ish. The potato vines have finally begun to push through the soil. There’s so much weeding to do at this time of year, and this morning I got up early (yes, awful!) and cleaned up the feral plants around the over wintered chilli’s and chitted seeds.
Pam, I get really confused as to which is which between pelargoniums and geraniums.
Hope your frost stays away for a bit longer. It’s meant to be 75’F tomorrow, and the warmth will depart on Sunday with an inch of rain. My brain will hurt at that point, but until then…
Pam, I do that as well with the hydronic heaters. What a tool it is, and nothing else will clean those channels. So glad to have mentioned that use, although we must keep quiet about this matter in polite company lest people have a major freak out. But oh yeah, it works for that purpose! 🙂 So happy to hear you gave it a go.
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
The Canyon was beyond good. But Prescott is a touch too dry for my tastes, although the elevation would help with keeping the summer months cool-er-ish. But what a massive variability in climate from one year to the next. That would bother me on a longer term basis. Did your dad work in the WPA during the Great Depression?
Well yeah, how much does anyone see on a freeway, or what you’d describe as an interstate? And here we tackle the philosophical question as to efficiency in travel in that: Is it all that it’s cracked up to be? And who is to know what’s on the back roads.
Please excuse my descent into the realms of Wile E Coyote and the Road Runner, but: Beep! Beep! Hope you and your lady made similar noises to the large and rather fast birds? Birds kill and eat snakes down here, so let’s just say that I encourage their continuing presence. How does the Roadrunner signify reptile absence?
Beep! Beep!
Sorry for that last outburst, the err, shrubbery ledgers are not yet balanced! 🙂 I don’t know what that means, maybe. 😉
And Albuquerque is even drier, yup. I’m unsurprised by the water shortages you mentioned.
Thanks so much for saying that, and the paths are a real treat to look at, and they’re very functional having been tested in many serious storms. It was the old timer hill station gardens which suggested them as a possible option for steep land. Before that idea surfaced, I really did ask a lot of people around the area as to what they’d do. Most folks weren’t doing anything, sorry to say.
See what I mean, you head out on a random odyssey to help a friend, and next you know you’re enjoying a fine meal. Admittedly I’m unsure what chili verde with beans and rice is as a lunch. Hang on a second… … Whoa! A very tasty looking dish, and the slow cooked pork shoulder chunks would lend some serious flavour. Yummo!
Hope the regular clean uncovers no issues with the heater. Take it from me, it’s nice to stay warm in the winter months. 🙂 I’ve not encountered such a servicing option arrangement before! No doubts they’ll want you back as a customer if you prepay that way. Hey, they might even hit you up for another three future services. And it’s usually around AU$400 every six months for a vehicle down here, that is if there’s nothing extra needed doing.
Your electricity company is very nice to do that. Down here, they just turn up and start trimming the vegetation on the road with no advanced notice. Of course, I’m not connected to that system, but it’s good they clean up lest there is a fire. It’s always interesting when that happens and the dogs are out. Like the baying of the fictional Baskerville hound!
Way back in the day, a person could request the wood chips from that work, but it’s all a bit weird now and who knows where the stuff ends up.
Plus they’re doing work you’d otherwise have done, and that’s called: Winning! 😉
The naughty cat, and it is a universal truth that taunting a Husky can lead to a bad ending! Turns out, dingoes feed upon feral cats (which are getting bigger in response): Research shows dingoes in WA’s Great Sandy Desert protect native wildlife by eating feral cats
Go the Dame with her tunnelling efforts. And maybehaps the big Husky is working on an espionage effort like they did in Hogan’s Heroes. I know narsink! 🙂 Dogs like digging, and the Kelpies are always on the hunt for rats and rabbits, who shall remain naughty in their sight, and may snuff it.
Spent all day doing work, and finished up pretty late, but it’s all good. Had a few challenges, and some wins which must all be celebrated with a sense of low-key-ness. Nobody wants to ever see their accountant excited…
Any more frost yet?
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Go Archie, the original cheeky scamp. What kind of name is Loma Linda? Did you know that the original name was ‘Bryn Mawr’, which certainly sounds of Celtic origin, or perhaps Welsh to my reading ears. I get the smoking ban, and have never felt the desire to do so, but coffee? Really? I’m no purist but bet I could make better veg food than that lot. A lot of people making veg meals get a bit strange about trying to produce a meat-like dish, but without the meat. It doesn’t work I reckon. Veg has to tell its own story, and prove its worth without aping flesh. But yeah, that lot are probably doing all the right stuff, but is it fun?
I can’t imagine that he’s had a falling out with that lot. He seemed err, rusted on as a supporter. And that really annoys me too. I’d been holding off to go and see that fly-boy film at the cinema, and it’s been pulled. Hmm. But I reckon you’re spot on, as time marches to its drum, it’ll prove to be a cult classic. There’s been a bit of talk in the media about how the professional critic class is hating on the film, but the less esteemed viewers in the population have given it good reviews. That’ polarity has certainly intrigued me, and hey, Fight Club took a while to take off too. No doubts your library system will get a copy soon, but will it make your hold list? That’s the real question!
Man, apparently they sell your genetic data, and who knows what happens to that. I dunno, maybe I worry about such things. Could all be a storm in a tea cup as the old timers would say.
Oh my! Lancashire is in some ways, the Detroit of the UK. Ouch. Far out. In the last half century the population has dropped there by a factor of a bit over 3x. On the other hand it would have the benefit of being somewhat quieter for those small islands. I wonder if during the clearances, my lot headed south for factory work? Wouldn’t surprise me, and they left during the 1850 gold rush era.
Yeah, the English language is peppered with French words.
The Inklings get together’s would have been both fun and serious events. What a treat it would have been to be a fly on the wall during one of their more memorable sessions. You’d be able to feel the energy don’t you reckon? I love getting together with friends and talking ideas and equal parts rubbish, it’s convivial and entertaining.
Hope you get some chard seed, and I’m sure the ones you and the birds missed, will set seed. A fine plant that one. I’ve not tried that with the poppies, but it’s a great idea. An intriguing plant to grow, and it’s a bit wild here. The leaves unfortunately look a bit like other broad leaf weeds, so that’s a problem.
We planted the herb Colts foot years ago, and now it grows in random spots in the garden beds. Another interesting plant.
That’s very thoughtful of you with the sunflower kernels. And they are pretty cheap to buy in bulk, I hear you about that. Go Winco! We head to some Indian supermarkets (replete with Hindi music) in one of the outer urban suburbs. They sell such products in bulk, which is a good thing.
75’F here today, and it felt toasty. The breeze at night is good isn’ t it? Blows the heat away and just stirs the air the right amount. Stirred, not shaken. 🙂
Did paid work today and started early, and finished late. Feel pretty good about it, although at moments it was challenging. Lots of complexities these days, and it wasn’t like that a decade or two ago.
The show must go on! And one would think that such moth encounter incidents separate out the professionals from the understudy. It can get worse, with what has been politely described as: ‘wardrobe malfunctions’! And yeah, I thought of your migrating birds too which the Professor had written about in the past. That was the first time I’d heard of such a non-weather radar issue.
They’re pretty similar spreads, although I could easily blind taste test the difference. Easy. I’ve never been into the whole Nutella thing either, but used to have flat mates who’d eat the stuff with a spoon from the jar. Nope, no interest. That baffled me, and one would imagine the hazelnut content would be hard to have kept up over the years, maybe? Dunno.
Turns out the decline is only a fiction of my mind, and such suggestions are strenuously denied. It may be that I don’t like the palm oil involved.
Hey, that’s some crafty stuff there hiding pruno in the garden. You’d hope the plastic bag was sturdy.
Hopefully the quolls make a come back. One thing for sure, is that the once-we-were-domestic cats, will only get bigger. In a few millennia, they might be huge.
That may well be your pesky deer, the one who samples the garden produce. It happens. And hope the big herbivore took you both seriously.
Oh yeah, we’ve been to some pretty gruesome historic convict sites in Tasmania. The west coast in winter would have been horrific, and of course nobody would want to escape from there with cannibal convict: Alexander Pearce. Not a person to go venturing into the bush with.
Bizarrely I don’t know much about the settlement of New Zealand, but things are very different there in some respects culturally. And yes, the city of churches as they say, can pivot between puritanism and adventurism – a natty nod to our earlier discussion!
Cheers
Chris
Hi all,
In breaking skippy news: Port Lincoln fishermen rescue kangaroo found 3km out to sea.
That’s about 2 miles offshore, and a lot of sharks around there.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – Loma Linda is Spanish, for “beautiful hill.” Apparently, a group of L.A. businessmen and physicians, bought a chunk of land there, and opened a health resort. A town grew up around it. A rare case of “truth in advertising,” unlike Erik the Red naming Greenland, to attract settlers. 🙂
When we moved to Vancouver, a family across the street from us, the father was a Loma Linda foods salesman. So, we got to sample their fare, from time to time. I don’t know. I tend to judge veg food, on its own merits. Rather than a comparison with what it’s standing in for. Tasty is tasty. Or, not.
I most often hear, “Tempest in a tea pot.” Now where did that come from? Cicero?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempest_in_a_teapot
Bryn Mawr is also the name of a toffee nosed women’s college, on our east coast. One of the “Seven Sisters.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Sisters_(colleges)
I’ll probably put “Digger,” on my library hold list, if on offer. Given the subject matter. After all, I did watch fly boys “War of the Worlds.” Without giving to much away, from what I read, there’s a surprise shift in the point of view, midway through the film. Which probably put the critics off their feed.
It’s pretty interesting how the Inklings, were all so different, yet managed to civilly coalesce around a love of literature and the written word. And, their common experience of the horrors of WWI. But beyond that, they were a real mixed bag. Scholarship boys to titled landed gentry. Pretty evenly divided between Catholics and high church. With one or two who took the more esoteric route, which Mr. Greer would be quit familiar with. 🙂
I know what you mean by poppy being mistaken for a weed. When it first started coming up, the caregiver who helps take care of that plot, and me, were puzzling over its identity. Yank up, or leave? But, the Master Gardeners confirmed that it was a poppy. So, it didn’t get pulled.
That deer I saw, yesterday. Odd that it was out around high noon. And, I thought it looked a bit scrawny. Might have deer wasting disease. It sure gets enough tucker.
Hindi music does have a lot of bounce and zip to it. I’ve watched a few Bollywood movies. Makes you want to get up out of your chair, and dance in the aisles. 🙂
Our high yesterday was 64F (17.77C). Our overnight low was 37F (2.77C). Our forecast high for today is 70F. Heavy fog, this morning, but burning off.
New Zealand was visited, early on, by whalers. Even before the convicts started arriving in Australia. Some even stayed on, between whaling seasons. Then the missionaries showed up. Add the Maori into the mix, and things got interesting.
Last night I watched some more of the travelogue and history. It kicked off with … the gold rush. All those towns you’ve touched on, northwest, of you. Oh, my. The Victorian architecture is just stunning. Public buildings and houses.
You know how I like “all things miniature.” Well, you may or not be aware of this fascinating diorama.
https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/items/400938
The Eureka Rebellion was also covered, in detail. LOL. The government ended up looking pretty bad, when the dust settled.
Then it was onto the slightly smaller, New Zealand gold rush. Once again, all that money sloshing around, stimulated a building boom. Interesting that they have a black limestone, and white. Which were liberally mixed, to create almost fantasy types of building.
The next episode explored the New Zealand glaciers and fjords. Some really pretty country, there.
And the last episode I watched, was opening the land beyond the blue mountains, to the sheep industry. A tip of the hat (and a sweeping bow), to the CWA. 🙂
Boy, Skippy got lucky. Whatever possessed … well, only the kangaroo knows. That was an amusing article, especially, the bit at the end. Maybe, Skippy and his mates had been hitting the pruno, there was a dare, and things got out of hand. As happens with adolescents. Lew
Chris:
I see. You can fool some of the people some of the time . . . I’m being silly. I wonder if this kind of thing happens in war? Critically endangered moths, eh? I wonder who’s making money off that one. My aren’t we cynical this evening.
I’ve never had any home grown potatoes stay in decent enough shape through the winter to be plantable the next spring (or that weren’t eaten, having had smaller crops), but I have hopes for this lot. Ah – that’s one reason why I like to plant on St. Pat’s.
I’ll pass on the scorpions; I have enough biting and stinging things. This year it was caterpillars. Butterflies with a vengeance.
Lewis the Wren had an incredible voice and did indeed sing for his supper. He would sit on the back porch rail and, for such a small bird, he had one of the loudest voices in the forest. Always beautiful, though.
Well, Lewis either aged out of this world or somebody ate him. That’s usually the way it goes. He did leave a son named Peanut, but that’s about all he’s worth.
Thank you, but I’ll defintely pass on the King Parrots. I have heard too much of their antics. My grandmother would have said “Pretty is, as pretty does.” I don’t actually know what that means, but I think it means vanity will get you nowhere.
As for geraniums, try this 2:45 video. The ones I bring inside (which I did today) are the second kind she mentions, pelargoniums, but no-one in my country calls them anything but “geranium”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCCvfLksZz4
I might say “Pshaw!” to hiding our secret of indoor leafblowers. More people could save time with that trick.
You know what I suddenly realized the other day? Shrinkflation has changed the way I cook. I was making salmon patties. The recipe called for two 7.5 ounce cans. Cans of salmon now come in 5 ounce cans. I had to do some maths!
Pam
Chris:
If only that kangaroo could talk!
Pam
Chris,
Prescott gets almost identical annual rainfall as Spokane, on average. The rains come at different times of the year for the two locations. Sedona, in Oak Creek Canyon, gets about the same and is markedly warmer than Prescott. That said, the amount of rainfall – about 16.5 to 17 inches per year – is very dry compared with what you are used to.
Dad was a tiny tot when the Great Depression started. Granddad ran a sporting goods store for awhile, but it went out of business due to the economy. Then he raised parakeets and canaries. Then the gummint changed some laws – grandad’s bird business was suddenly “big business” due to the number of birds he sold, so that he was badly taxed. The local five and dime stores, selling a few birds in comparison, was not taxed high for their small bird business. So the family bird business went under.
The move to Prescott followed, living in tents on the property of an old tuberculosis sanitarium grounds. Two winters that way. Granddad had been in boot camp for World War 1. They were undergoing gasmask training with real chlorine gas. Grandad’s mask was defective so he got gassed. In Prescott, he got a job tending the coal powered boiler for the local high school. His lungs were giving him fits at that time, so uncle would help out before and after school. He would’ve been about 15 at the time. Dad was 10 or 11. So, no WPA jobs for our family back then.
Our latest jaunt to Albuquerque, about 18 months ago, we took back roads from Salt Lake City to Shiprock, New Mexico. We wanted to use the northern route to Albuquerque form there, all backroads, but snow and wind were forecast. Huge snow squalls were visible to the east of us, so we followed the back roads to Gallup, then on to Albuquerque on the freeway. The weather was nicer on the trip home, so we followed the northern back road route to Shiprock, then the same route north to Salt Lake City as we had taken south. Driving the two lane roads rather than the interstates is more enjoyable by far. Lower speed, less traffic, better scenery that you can actually enjoy. That said, the interstates (90 and 15) that we travelled in Montana are very scenic.
Beep beep! The roadrunner and rattlesnakes. Roadrunners eat rattlesnakes. I always figured that the snakes would be in “hiding mode” when a roadrunner was nearby, be less likely to be interfering with humans. Plus a roadrunner in watching/hunting mode might be able to give us some warning about rattlesnakes if we observe the bird properly. Beep beep!
I’m uncertain about whether the shrubbery ledgers are ever balanced. Methinks that uncertainty was also documented by Heisenberg in one of his Variations on the Uncertainty Principle?
The Rio Grande River goes through Albuquerque southward through Las Cruces and El Paso, eventually entering the Gulf of Mexico. However, large portions of it were dry this year. A decade long drought has hit the area. Snowfall has been meager in the mountains that feed the Rio Grande in New Mexico and Colorado. The annual late summer monsoon rains haven’t amounted to much for several years either. The Colorado River is facing similar problems for the same reason, as is the San Juan River which flows through Shiprock.
Fireplaces have been cleaned and are in great operating order. Didn’t take him long. All went well with the Subaru also. I will, however, need new tires for it next year. The Honda the Princess drives will need new tires the next time it goes in for servicing.
Thanks for the cat versus dingo article. That was an interesting and enjoyable read. Those feral cats are big enough to give a dingo or two a good fight!
The Dame has her new digging effort moving away from the patio now. It’s creeping closer to the house. Maybe she’ll try to tunnel underneath the house?
Dinner tonight was a bean chili I made in the pressure cooker. Two cups of soaked pinto beans, 3 Anaheim chilis, diced, and two jalapenos, diced. Very tasty, right in the upper quarter of my heat tolerance, thus too hot for the Princess. If she were here, I wouldn’t have added the chilis at all. Plenty left over for later meals this week.
There was some frost over the weekend. It looks to be too warm for another frost for at least another week. Some cloudy nights, also, with maybe another trickle of barely measurable rainfall Thursday night, with maybe a trickle of rain/snow mix Tuesday. Regular frost should enter the forecast in a week according to the extended forecasts.
DJSpo
Hi Pam,
The marsupial was a champion to have survived that long in the water, and was dog paddling for its very life. I noticed that there was no hesitation coming towards the boat, I guess the kangaroo knew it was that, or the end. And there are a lot of sharks in that area, oh my. The blokes conversation was pretty funny too, and it’s definitely not something that you’d see every day.
I liked that lyric. 🙂 Makes you wonder, but I’ve heard that radar and GPS jamming is a thing. I’d have to suggest that the moths fly in areas where people aren’t around, as I’ve not noticed any decline in their population over the past couple of decades. It’s a big country which is sparsely populated. The moths are probably having a hard time in the cities. Dunno. When I’m in the city it’s hard not to notice the lack of birds and insects compared to up in the bush, although nobody seems to comment upon the matter. I don’t really raise that issue with people living there because they start to get defensive and argumentative.
If people are asking mad cash for research, then it ain’t cynical if it’s true! 😉
Interesting about the potatoes, although I’d thought that your winters were freezing, but dry which would make storage a bit easier, maybe? Trying to keep them in good enough condition to replant in spring, is a challenge which I’d not yet figured out. The ones planted a few weeks ago had those long stems which are called ‘eyes’ for some reason which is unknown to me. They don’t look like eyes… Legs, maybe…
Ah ha! Makes a lot of sense, and we’d certainly want to have the winter greens in by that holy day too.
The nasty caterpillars. What have they been up to? Do you get those ones that look like a barfed up elongated hair ball? Some of those furry pre-butterflies pack a skin rash on contact.
🙂 Thanks for the story. I mostly enjoy the interactions with the wildlife too, and the magpies will also kick up a good melody when they put their minds to it. Other birds are mournful like the Pied Currawongs, and their calls remind me of camping up in the bush as a young bloke, which is something I no longer feel the need to do.
Very good, and I’ll pass on your note to the King Parrots, who will surely be disappointed. Pam, I’ve seen them on the fig trees…
I’ve heard that saying as well, and it makes little sense to me either. Oh! It’s a southern saying and the Hillbilly slang website suggested that: If you hear this one, you’re likely gettin’ a life lesson, not a compliment. It’s a gentle reminder that good looks don’t make up for bad manners. Nicely put. Yes, I’ve met some attractive people who have very dark souls, which I cannot overlook. Life is a bit short for that sort of trouble.
Ah, pelargoniums wouldn’t enjoy your winter at all, so I see why you bring them indoors and had not realised the differences. Pam, just to muddy the waters, both types survive outdoors in the winter here. I know! It’s confusing…
Leaf blowers work really well for that purpose, and I’m surprised that more people aren’t onto our secret. You sounded dubious, at first! 🙂 The machines just work, although indoors I’d only use a battery or mains powered device. Makes a proper spring cleaning, a cinch.
It sure was hot down here today, although you’ll laugh at the air temperature of 79’F! But it’s the UV out in the sunshine which was pushing around 8 or 9 in early afternoon. One head squooshy day to be digging a trench with the mattock. Connected up the drainage pipe from the new wood shed to two overflow water tanks. There’s a rain a-coming on Saturday and Sunday. Might get up to two inches. And to think that the place was only just starting to dry out nicely. Oh well.
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
The Prescott climate description mentioned something about a North American monsoon, which presumably would occur in the summer months. That’d certainly be different to your part of the world. Honestly I don’t know how trees grow in areas which receive annual rainfall of 17 inches, but I have little experience with pines which can be beyond hardy plants, and the leaves are extreme temperature true survivors.
Some years here it feels like living in a rainforest, yet others are so dry (say 24 inches) that you’d imagine that it’d be an open woodland / savannah. The forecast is suggesting another 2 inches rain max on Saturday and Sunday. A strange year for climate, that’s for sure.
Today was the warmest it had been for a while. 26’C and quite toasty. It’d have been much hotter in the big smoke… With the forecast rain over the weekend, I decided to connect up the drainage pipes on the wood shed water tank to two other overflow water tanks down the hill a bit. It’s probably not ideal for the water stored in them to get stagnant. They weren’t previously connected up to a roof catchment. And last year the storage wasn’t required at all, still, the climate is subject to change, and without warning. And better to have the water and not need it, than need it and not have it.
Of course the 90mm uPVC pipe crossed part of a paddock and had to be buried – which required a trench to be dug. It sure felt hot today. 🙂
Oh my, from what I understand, the flow of mad cash during the Great Depression seized up. No wonder the sporting goods business went under, people would have wanted to buy stuff, but there’d be no money with which to do so. And yeah, the bird business is subject to forces bigger than us. The things I hear about the poultry industry… Best not to be involved me thinks.
Far out. That’s so not good about the chlorine gas. And to think that they used Phosgene as well. Fritz unleashed a genie from the bottle, and there were consequences. It’s amazing that your grandfathers lungs survived the experience, given what it does to the delicate tissue. But he’d have paid for that moment for the rest of his days sorry to say.
The ancient decayed mountain at Shiprock, New Mexico is pretty outstanding looking, but that’s serious dry elevated country. I’m however, unsurprised that you encountered an impending snow storm on the journey. Again, something best to not be involved with, despite the interesting back roads. The freeway here heading north duplicated the old highway, and most of the road is still there, and I’m with you, those are nicer journeys. People seem to be in a hurry.
I’d certainly like to see Montana, the images look amazing, and hint at the temperature extremes. 🙂
You did a double, double beep! Well done, and I’m not worthy to keep up with such mastery. 🙂 Good thinking, people forget that birds eat snakes. The Kookaburras here can do a similar trick, although they bash the snakes head against a rock before turning the reptile into a meal. Best if the slithery super deadly critters worried about being eaten, than us having to worry about being bitten.
Those rattlesnakes would have been around, but also they’d have been wary, which is the opposite of aggressive. Interesting. Did you get to see a the big birds running?
I’d thought about a witty reply to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, but then I swimming in uncertain waters my philosophical dare I even say it, position, is informed by a certain feline, namely Schrödinger’s cat. 😉 Touché! See, we’re even drawing on the French language again!
Youch! The Grande, is perhaps not what it once was. Dunno about your country, but down here, water sets the upper limit for the population. And that distant city over in the far west of this continent has something like six desalination plants running. That’s some expensive water, which is not an option inland.
The mechanical deities were smiling upon you both today. Not always the case I can assert. Well, tires wear out, and I’m of the mindset which suggests that one’s lady’s vehicle probably requires the best shoes. Yup, makes for a more harmonious household. But in the end they are consumables and I tend to replace the lot, mostly because with small and lighter vehicles, they wear fairly evenly. It always surprises me that people miss the concept that bigger and heavier vehicles burn through the consumables at a faster rate.
Dingoes are tough, like your coyotes, and they fill a similar role. Did you notice the neck strength of the dog which can be seen in the photo? Glad you enjoyed the article. Good to see that they’re eating the feral cats too, but that will produce larger cats as a response in an evolutionary arms race. One day, pumas, lynxes and mountain lions will roam this continent. Dingoes can work together to take down deer, or a big bull kangaroo.
Hopefully the Dame stays away from the house foundations. I’ve heard that they get easily upset… 🙂
Yum! A tidy dinner, and go the chilli! Nice to feel the burn of some serious heat. By the way, those plants are waking from their winter slumber. Doing a veg pasta mix tonight, but I tend to eat chilli and/or spicy foods at lunchtime only. A dash of pepper is all that will be chucked into the meal this evening. Oh, linguine. That’s thinking ahead too with the left overs, and they’ll only get better, until that peaks and rapidly declines.
Rain/snow mix already for Tuesday. Far out, seemed like it was only a few weeks ago when you were in the upper 30’C range…
Hot again tomorrow, but not really hot, except I’m still a bit winter soft. I’ll bet sleet will be a bit of a shock for you though, although the Dame will be prancing around in the warm-ish (for her) conditions.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Man, I was trying to find images on the interweb of the beautiful hill, to see what it was all about, and mostly it looked like an urban area. Admittedly the word: ‘orderly’, kept bouncing into the mind. Erik the Red was clearly a bit of a character and probably shouldn’t have been taken at face value. But life on Greenland would be tough. It’s surprising that life there is harsher than say, Iceland, which isn’t all that far away. When some of those big glaciers slip into the ocean, that’s going to be a bad day.
Exactly, veg food needs to stand on its own merits which it can do just fine. I’m with you, taste must be our guide here. Still that lot have probably got enough stuff going on that the blue zone thing is inevitable. But life is a compromise in some ways at every step, and I dunno, moderation is a thing, but it’s hard to reach and maintain.
My, but those Romans sure had sharp tongues. 🙂 Truly, after the freak hail storm incantation debacle, I’d dare not utter such casual challenging words regarding seemingly light-weight tempests. This stuff can backfire.
That one was a Quaker institution. Interesting, and despite the winsome looks of the Pleiades, I’d have to admit to a lack of competency at balancing multiple and competing needs – after a while I’d want some quiet time to contemplate the question as to whether it was all worth it! On that note too, a general education is a wonderful thing for those whom can afford it and the time, but vocational tends to direct a person into a particular role in society. Could easily be done by apprenticeship for less cost too, and leave degrees to the well heeled, or those talented enough to earn a scholarship place.
Yeah, I’ll have to track down a copy of the film too. Sometimes the churn at the cinema can be a bit wearying. I’d forgotten that you’d watched that film with fly-boy. Apologies, I’d presumed the worst and was clearly wrong. Maybe I took the fly-boy film banter a little bit too far back in the day.
Just read the plot, and it’s dark and blurs the line, so I see what you mean. It’s an interesting way to recount a narrative with a play within a film. Intriguing. Yes, definitely it will be a cult classic.
It’s only in these more enlightened times, that we’ve decided that our friends and companions must share every view and thought. Some countries, hashtag err, the small cod one, is taking that literally. Plenty of my friends and acquaintances have vastly different outlooks and perspectives on the world, and I’m cool with that. Having a closed mind in some ways makes a person’s life easier in that they don’t have to contemplate, or admit to errors of judgement. It happens.
Poppies really do look like a broad-leaf weed when they err, pop out of the ground. I might try what you did with collecting the seeds, although they seem rather robust plants.
Oh, that’s not good about being out at high noon. Generally when wombats are sighted at such times, they’re not feeling all that great. Mind you, I’ve seen deer roaming around in the afternoons often enough. They probably like to sleep in… That wasting disease for deer is no good. The ones here are rather robust and healthy looking, sorry to say.
Ah, it’s all an excuse for a musical! 🙂 In India, Hindi music is heard all over the place, but then we do similar things in the west, like music in supermarkets, restaurants etc.
Hey, the whalers and sealers had apparently set up along the coastline down here too before official settlement. The English almost lost that fight. It was close.
In the big smoke there are plenty of inner suburbs with beautiful old Victorian era buildings, and I too love them. I’ve done my best to restore a few over the years. Some of the older public buildings are very nice. The gold rush era produced a lot of wealth. The diorama was fun, and that’s kind of how it looks now in those areas, but without all of the people. Plenty of the sites are just out in the bush, which can occasionally be a problem.
Eureka used to be a symbol of independence, but is largely forgotten nowadays, probably because that is encouraged. That lot lost, but then the goobermint backed down. The earnings for alluvial mining were declining, so something had to give. People still go fossicking in the areas, and find nuggets.
The funny thing about the Blue Mountains, is when the explorers had gotten to the other side, they discovered that the cattle had made across before them. That lot make the best cakes, so good.
It was a bit hot here today. 79’F and I dug a trench for a pipe which connects up two water tank systems. When the higher level water tank next to the new wood shed gets full, it then sends water down the hill to two lower level tanks. A lot of work, but it was a pleasure to have gotten it done, but the heat…
There’s some rain in the forecast for Saturday and Sunday, which seems bizarre because it is still 64’F outdoors and it’s late. They reckon a couple of inches might fall. The place was just starting to dry out a bit.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – Something was nagging at the back of my mind. I thought, perhaps, our Prez. Nixon was born in Loma Linda. But, a look down the rabbit hole … He was born in Yorba Linda, which is about 30 miles, as the crow flies, from Loma Linda. It was founded as a largely Quaker community.
Agreed. In “these trying times,” trades make a lot more sense. Some people stand pro or con, on trade unions. But, at least, most of them have some kind of apprenticeship programs. One of our representatives, who is in a very tight race, supports apprenticeship programs. And really gets out there and stumps for them.
“War of the Worlds” is a pretty good movie. I’ve watched it, twice. Although the small child, who screams through the whole thing, was rather trying. 🙂
Well, with some of my friends, there are just certain topics that don’t come up, for discussion. It works, both ways.
I took a look down the rabbit hole, and, as far as poppies go, “…cold stratification improves germination rates.” So, they’ll go into the freezer, for a couple of days.
My tour of Australia and New Zealand, continues. 🙂 Last night, it covered the drovers, and the great cattle drives. And, then it was on to a half hour tour, of Melbourne. 🙂 I see you were the capital of Australia, for awhile, at Federation. Exterriors and interiors of fine old Victorian buildings were shown. The remaining posh Victorian shopping arcades … though they missed the laneways. Your tram system. Examples of “Federation Style” houses. Your China Town. Your very fine art museum and library.
Then there was an episode on Christ Church, New Zealand, and the Canterbury Area. An attempt to be “more English, than the English.” Pretty town, and, the devastating earthquake was covered.
What I found interesting about the Eureka Revolt, is that when the government put the leaders on trial, they thought they had an ace in the hole. First in the docket, was a black American, who had followed the lure of gold from our rush, to yours. Well, when the jury, after very short deliberation acquitted him, they knew it was a lost cause. 🙂 I see the leader of the revolt, ended up in your parliament. Somewhere, there’s a statue of him, in wig and robes. 🙂
Our high yesterday was 70F (21.11C). Our overnight low was 39F (3.88C). Our forecast high for today is 62F. The forecast nigh lows, for the next few days are 33, 30, 34 and 35F. I doubt we’ll see frost, in town. Rain, over the weekend.
On my way to the Club, I dropped off my ballot at our courthouse, swung by the library, and got gas. $5.60 per regular US gallon. Down by about 20 cents, from the last time.
Visited with friends at the Club, Dawg got her people fix, and it was onto the yuppie discount store. The usual. Bananas and almond milk. And, finally, the yogurt dipped, pumpkin spice pretzels, are in! Yummers.
It was full dark, when I got home. And, then I misplaced my dog! I was juggling two bags of groceries, book bag, leash when I made my usual entrance through the back door. Checked the mail, and took the elevator up to my apartment. Set down my groceries, and discovered … no dog! So, the hunt was on.
I checked the elevator again, hallways on the third, second and first floors. Library, community room, laundry room and services coordinators office waiting room. No dog. Elevator, again. And, then went out the back door. There she was, waiting patiently for me to find her. 🙂 I guess she knows which side her kibble is buttered on. Lew
Chris:
I don’t know if there are less insects in the city here. Whenever the topic of bugs comes up, there are just as many complaints from townies as from us rural folks. Maybe it’s a relative thing.
Our winters are usually freezing, but wet. Last winter was a dry one, however. You and your leggy potatoes! I think that’s beyond chitted.
I would say that “a barfed up elongated hair ball” neatly describes one or two caterpillar species here.
You don’t need to camp in the bush. That’s the way you live. Which reminds me that I am now collecting rocks with at least one flat side for a possible small patio for building way in the future. All of a sudden, it’s peak one-flat-sided rocks. And when I do find any – rocks are heavy! I was wishing so much I had a power wheel barrow. Are they 4-wheel drive? I have to search some rough terrain (though I look where diggy machines have been working first).
I could tell from your photos that you had both kinds of geraniums in the winter, besides the roses and other flowers that would be dead as a doornail here. You lucky duck.
79F is hot to me, too, but, then, I’m coldblooded (or is it the opposite if one is always hot?). We’ve had perfect and all-sunny fall weather for over a week; so nice to be working outside.
Have you ever had 25-Minute-Toast? My parents used to just love that, and me, too. It is just sandwich bread slices cooked (not toasted at a high temperature), on the rack – no tray, in the oven on low heat for 25 minutes. Bertie Wooster was having potted meat sandwiches and buttered toast for tea and I couldn’t stand it, and had to make some gluten free 25-Minute-Toast. It doesn’t achieve the light, crispy, crunchy texture of a wheat flour toast, but I manfully crashed my way through it anyway. I didn’t know what potted meat was and had to look it up. A little dubious, I think.
Pam
@ DJSpo:
One of our neighbors has a Welsh flag hanging at the entrance to their driveway. I recognized it right away since I like to read about Wales. I finally had a chance to ask her why they put it up and she said it is because of her Welsh heritage. I already knew that a bit as her name is spelled “Gwyn”, which she tells me is actually a masculine spelling.
Her husband has a flag up for a professional football team, but darned if I can remember which, football not being as interesting as Wales.
Pam
@ Pam,
Cool! I really like the Welsh flag. A friend gave me a Welsh flag magnet that is on the refrigerator. A flag with a dragon on it is fantastic.
Both the Princess and I are football fans. I agree with you though. Wales is more interesting.
DJSpo
Chris,
Yes, North American monsoon. That’s a feature of the desert Southwest, normally starting sometime in June and lasting into early October, at least in Las Cruces. Thunderstorms and rain as a result. The region depends on the monsoonal flow for roughly 2/3 of its annual rainfall. Mountainous areas not included, as they can get a lot of snowfall in the winters. The past decade has had scant snowfall and diminished monsoon rains.
I think we got about 19.5 inches of rain one year. That was so wet that I thought I was growing webs between my fingers and toes. If we got even 24 inches in a year I wouldn’t know what to do. Seriously. Spokane and its 16 inches or so per annum is the wettest place I’ve lived.
Surprisingly, Fairbanks, Alaska actually gets only about 11.5 inches of rainfall equivalent per year. Much of this comes as snow for 7 months. The village of Tok, Alaska, about 200 miles east of Fairbanks on the Alaska Highway just got its first major snowfall of the season. 10 inches.
It’s trying to rain. Lasted a half hour. Officially another half millimeter, although they are forecasting more rain after midnight, maybe an additional 2mm to 6mm. That would be nice.
Nice idea getting a water change in those seldom tapped water tanks. The next one of those dry 24 inch years you’ll be happy for those tanks. I’m laughing as I type “dry” in the same sentence as “24 inch”. 😉
Digging at 26C would make me hot too. I get hot walking Avalanche at that temperature if I’m wearing long pants and a shirt with long sleeves.
You got it right. Granddad had lung difficulties off and on for most of his life as a result of that faulty gas mask. He kept as active as he could, though, until he lost his eyesight due to wet macular degeneration.
I experienced one or two of those snow squalls when I visited Albuquerque when living in Las Cruces. Those are brutal. Snow falling sideways and turning things into a whiteout. Discretion being the better part of valor, I decided avoiding those and remaining on the heavier travelled routes was a good idea.
And yes, the Shiprock area is a good example of the high desert. Seriously dry and elevated. It gets so dry there that you have to have a swallow of water in order to spit. Gotta prime the pump! 🙂
Montana can be fiercely hot. Montana can be bitterly cold. It can snow almost any day of the year. On a clear day, the sky seems huge. The scenery has everything from high desert to larger rivers (Missouri River starts in Montana) and a lot of tall mountains.
Actually, I didn’t live IN Las Cruces. I was in the next little town to the north, Dona Ana. I often drove from there to campus. South on Interstate 25 then merge westbound onto Interstate 10. Where the two merged there was a large median. I often saw a roadrunner in that median. Sometimes it was running.
Schroedinger’s cat? Now you see it, now you don’t, sort of the Lewis Carroll Cheshire Cat of Physics. Only, now it’s living, now it’s not. Who knows if that cat is alive in the box? The Shadow knows!
Albuquerque has another water problem in addition to the shrinking Rio Grande. Its aquifer has been contaminated from agricultural runoff. Albuquerque has been using desalination plants for quite some time.
Oh yeah, I noticed the neck strength. Dingoes look TOUGH. And extremely strong for their size. A pack of those critters could take down almost anything.
Ah, you have noticed Spokane weather. Hot last week, cold this week. Winter can go from having Arctic air sitting on us, temperatures into my comfort zone of -23C, then in comes the air mass from the south Pacific and the next day we are +5C. Could be worse. Rapid City, South Dakota once was -29C then the weird heat hit that the Rocky Mountain areas can experience. Within about 45 minutes the temperature had climbed to +10C.
Today was a fun day. Young Neighbor had the day off. Her son’s school had no classes today, so the three of us ventured out to an outdoor store. Unfortunately, they were out of what we were looking for. We then drove through part of the area that had been burned by one of the local fires last summer. We found ourselves at a local pizza joint that I know has good food. So we ordered a pizza and the adults also ordered Greek salads. Very tasty.
DJSpo
Hi Pam,
🙂 I’d not thought of the insect dearth problem in those terms. Thanks for the insight! I don’t complain of insects as I know they’re all doing hard work out in the garden and orchards. This place jumps with life, and tonight – being warm – the crickets are cricketing and frogs are frogging. All very summery sounding.
Ah, right, you have both types of winter too: freezing and wet. 🙂 Yeah, I recall you mentioning how thick and prolonged the snow was last winter and the word ‘glacial’ may even have been used. Looks like Monday and Tuesday mornings might get down to 37’F… Ook! Oh well, I’ll wait and see what actually happens. Might not be too bad, maybe.
Being warm-ish today with a UV rating of 9 (Very High) we got up early and installed a layer of edge rocks on one of the long raspberry beds. Then the whole area, roses and raspberries alike was weeded. By 2pm, it was very hot in the sun. The shields on the house were pulled down (and worked a treat) and the portable A/C machine used the plentiful sunlight.
Then just before the sun went down, I’d recalled that the rabbits, being naughty in my sight (thanks for that phrase from the Monty Python folks) had been nibbling on the bark of an unprotected citrus tree. So I wrapped some steel woven mesh around the trunk whilst being watched by kangaroos and a wombat. I’m sure they wonder why I bother, as probably do your forest critters. What are them funny humans up to now? The cheeky scamps.
There are similar hairy caterpillars here and I avoid them, if noticed early enough – which as you’d note is sometimes not always the case.
Pam, I’m so sorry for having introduced this rock subject to you, but the project will be good. And I tell you assuredly, this peak rocks business is very real. I’ll share a little secret, if the rock has a rounded edge, you can create a cup in the dirt with which to hold it in place… So less than flat sided rocks have a use too.
And yeah, all three of the power wheelbarrows are four wheel drive. AND! They have electric ones nowadays which may suit your situation better.
Thank you, and I once heard a similar anecdote about this area from an English gardener. Winters are cold and can get near to freezing – as do Spring, Summer and Autumn for that matter, but with a touch of good luck, some of the on-the-cusp plants survive the extremes, maybe.
I’d say it’s the opposite! 🙂 And is also a reason I enjoy life up in the mountains better than in the hot city. It is lovely to spend time outdoors.
Hehe! Having visited some third world food markets, I’m also highly dubious of the term: potted meat. It could be anything up to and including badger and then some. I’ve not bought bread for almost two decades as it’s all freshly made and baked here using high protein bread wheat and spelt flour. Given your gluten sensitivity, what’s the stuff made of?
I’m real sorry to say it, but food ain’t food these days. Although that’s merely my opinion.
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
Looking at the topography and epic sized mountain ranges, it’s a real narrow band where the moisture laden summer air can travel in your country. The winds would be directed by the geography especially with the lot in Colorado.
For your interest, when the Indian Ocean warms way up to the north west of this continent, the summer winds produce a similar stormy monsoon way down here in the south east. It’s been my experience that the rainfall from that direction can be plentiful, and then non existent. Nature is a fickle beast, and much depends upon winds and ocean evaporation.
The current warm spell has been due to a near stationary high over the Tasman sea between this continent and New Zealand. The winds turn in an anti-clockwise direction in that instance, and pull warm air from the centre of the continent. So it’s hot. As the weather system moves east, it’ll then bring rain from that sea, which is expected tomorrow and particularly Sunday.
And a warming climate produces less snow, and I’ve barely seen the stuff in the past two years.
Hehe! Very funny, and they’ve got procedures to get rid of those webs you know! 🙂 It’s gonna hurt! Yeah, it’s funny what a person gets used to. Not to freak you out or anything, but the year following on from the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires, in January 2010, ten inches of rain fell in five days – and truthfully it was a deeply troubling experience. Did you know that your soils would be a whole bunch richer than over on the western side of the Cascades due to the lower rainfall? I’m unsurprised that so much growing gets done in places like Yakima.
Fairbanks looks pretty dry according to the climate data – and holy carp, it’s located in a bowl so all that cold air would settle over the city. Yikes! And the summer months can get hot. I guess one benefit is that evaporation rates would be low, so what water it has, would be slow to disappear. Funnily enough I read a while ago that Greenland was having a drought – and had to do a double take upon encountering the news.
The rainfall will make a big difference to the summer warmed soil in your part of the world, and hope you avoid frosts for a while.
Hopefully on Sunday I’ll get to test out the new water pipe arrangement. Agreed, it’s really weird that 24 inches of rain can produce really dry conditions, but trust me, it does. Ah, right, I see. Your UV ratings, like the suns energy at ground level maxes out at around 7 during the summer solstice. Hold onto your hat, it can get beyond 12 up to 14 here at the same time of the year.
It’s the hole in the ozone layer, lower industrial pollution, and we’re also physically closer to the sun in summer because of the wobbly orbit of the planet. Already, the UV was 9 here today, and it felt crazy out there. In summer a bit after lunchtime, the sunlight gets this weird bleached white colour, and that’s hard to out in. Incidentally, your maximum, is our average annual UV rating: Average solar ultraviolet (UV) Index. Life and activity slows down, the further north you go on this continent.
I’ve seen tourists baffled by how intense the summer sun feels, and was once inclined to offer some unsolicited advice to a few pasty English folk to retreat to the shade. Did they listen? No. 🙂
Just heard a clap of thunder. Yikes!
Far out, your granddad did it tough.
I’ll take your word for that and have never experienced a white-out blizzard. Lewis has mentioned stories of people using cord between a house and the outhouse or barn so that they didn’t end up lost. Gives me an attack of the vapours thinking about that possibility.
Haha! Yes, the dry air sucks the moisture from your very body. The Nazca lines in Peru were like that. Left me with a cold, which was presumably my soft humid-preferring respiratory system.
Not good for the road runner, and I often see kangaroos who’ve been hit and killed by cars and trucks on the freeway.
You’ve got a solid point, but have we asked the cat’s opinion? The feline may suggest that we are but a figment of the imagination, or demand a feed.
Oh no, presumably the desalination plants filter out the contaminants? Some of the aquifers in this country are salty, so it can be a mixed bag.
Dingoes have been known to attack humans. Tourists sometimes under estimate the big dogs.
Oh my, Dakota is the whole next level of temperature extremes. Man, I truly wonder what a stable climate would look like, and whether it would work for our species. Dunno. The rain hit hard, and passed just as quickly. We get tropical downpours during the warmer months.
Sounds like a lovely day, and good pizza is a gift from the food deities. 🙂
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Well, well, well. Turns out, Yorba Linda has a fairly stable climate with very little in the way of seasonal temperature fluctuations. Wonder if Loma Linda is similarly blessed? Probably. Interestingly too, the low annual rainfall and access to river water would make for some pretty excellent growing conditions. We’re talking superb, if the folks don’t burn through all of the soil minerals. Hmm. No wonder folks in that part of the world have long life spans.
The Nixon library looked very lush and tropical, and I was amazed to see images of the fairly standard bog-stock home he’d been raised in.
The communities in both places, if you were on the-in, so to speak, would probably be quite supportive. The lack of coffee, not sure how I’d feel about that. Guess that there’s upsides and downsides to everything, don’t you reckon? Wonder if the Loma folks have a Club?
Good to hear and apprenticeships are the past, and the future. The representative is onto something. I was watching a utoob video tonight on the sub prime vehicle loan story in your country, and wondered what would happen if too many vehicles were repossessed in your country, new loans weren’t provided, and car sales crashed. How people would get around, was the least of the dramas in that story. Far out, what a mess. And they’ve got innovative products such as the 84 monther.
Lewis, they tell me that noise cancelling headphones are a thing to protect your ears (and mind!), but would you miss out on the film dialogue? Probably. That random piano machine would have sent me loopy, and you were stoic. Any new folks in yet?
I get that about not talking to people about certain topics, but occasionally have completely slipped up. Oh my Gawds! There was that one time I mentioned the potatoes at a dinner party, and honestly the emotional reaction was off the charts. I don’t talk about that any more. 🙂 Hey, the discussion was in context too, I wasn’t baiting the people, but talk about getting a surprise response. Far out. Oh well. But I am prepared for such situations now with a defusing retort.
Now I think about it, I’ve been caught in some tricky discussions over the past few years, but navigate them sort of alright. People seem a bit on edge… I try to exude a cool tool calmness.
That is the thing though about the both-ways. Plenty of people test the waters with discussions, and a dude has to remain alert. Once or twice I’ve been known to observe: Ah, I see that you have an open mind! It’s been my observation that most folks believe that they do in fact have that trait, except for those other people… Sure they do. 🙂
That makes sense about the poppy seeds, and they’d get that outdoors here during the winter, and probably even more so in your part of the world.
It was another warm day here, and so we err, shock, gasp, got up early. Placed a whole bunch of rocks on the edge of one of the terraced garden beds, and that should slow erosion, which was pretty gradual anyway. I’ve been impressed at how well the clods have worked over the years. Then the two rose garden beds were all weeded. By 1:30pm I was done. Man, I’m still not heat adapted yet, and the UV pushed 9 (Very High) today. Even pulled down the sun shields on the house and kicked off the portable A/C machine. No shortage of sunshine today for the electricity! Funny to think that most days I’ve no idea what to do with the excess.
The state Parliament building is very regal looking, and Canberra is such a remote place to locate the capital city. The politicians preferred Melbourne whilst that city was being designed and built. The laneways are very nice, as are some of the Victorian arcades. You’d love the state library, it used to be the museum, and it retains a lovely old world feel.
I know what you mean about Christchurch. Man, we visited there once, well before the earthquake and was highly impressed with the architecture and general vibe. Thought it was a safe place too. How wrong we all were. They had that liquefied mud thing which you’d mentioned as part of the bigger landslides in your part of the world. Not good, and that was a bad quake.
Hehe! The gentleman was probably articulate and spoke of values unknown to the English. Yeah, how funny is that. This guy is an interesting leader, let’s reel him into the system, he’d be less trouble that way.
Nice weather, but those nights… Brr! Mind you, we might see that on Monday and Tuesday morning. I hope not. Spotted a King Parrot sitting high up in an Apricot tree munching on fruit this afternoon. The bird had the temerity to tweet at me, then kept on munching. I guess the tree has to be thinned…
Nice to hear that you’re doing your civic duty. Very good, and we do the same down here – at risk of a fine for not doing so. 🙂 Yes, you’re all free to do what we tell you to. (which I saw drawn on a wall in the city long ago).
Good to hear gas prices have come down, and that also happened here this week. Dunno why, and these movements are a real mystery. Last I checked, we’re not voting in your mid terms. They do say that our goobermints are feeling nervous about the state of their jobs. It happens. Best not to let that lot get too cozy and comfortable, as a general rule.
Go the spiced pretzels. Could make an interesting swap for popcorn with a movie?
That’s a really scary moment, but good to read that H understands and just stayed put. Man, life is hectic and there’s a lot of things going on. Sometimes I’d say that there’s too much going on. But that’s the whole point of keeping us all distracted.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – The opening line to Prez. Nixon’s autobiography is, “I was born in the house my father built.” Which was much made fun of, when the book was released. 🙂
Here, in this sort-of rural county, fathers or grandfathers built their own houses. It’s always remarked on, with a sort of wistful nostalgia. Just try that now!
Back in our countries early history, a potential candidate for public office, who could claim to have been “born in a log cabin,” had a leg up with the voters. President Lincoln, wasn’t the only one.
Now a-days, it seems like the ploy to showing your “of the earth,” bonafides, is wearing a cowboy hat, in your “elect me” material. Flannel shirts are very much in evidence. I have a rule of thumb: “Never vote for a guy in a cowboy hat.” Because … “All hat, and no cows.” 🙂
So, where did Prez. Nixon end up?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Casa_Pacifica
I’d say he did all right for himself. 🙂 The article mentions “San Onofre State Park,” (beach), where I spent a lot of time. I could see the “Western White House,” from the beach. The park also had a small nuclear reactor. To get to the parking lot, you passed within meters of the containment wall. Probably good I never wanted to have kids. 🙂
Coffee? Well, if you never had it, you probably wouldn’t miss it. 🙂 I don’t know about a Club, but Loma Linda sure had a lot of meetings.
https://findrecovery.com/aa_meetings/ca/loma-linda/
There are a lot of religious organizations around, now, whose basic premise is that you can “pray away your addictions.” In my totally, unscientific observation, doesn’t often turn out, well. Fine for some, I suppose. They often lift our “Twelve Steps,” and apply it to their programs. Whatever works.
I’ve read a few articles, here and there, about the sub prime vehicle market. Clearly, a bubble. One among many.
I haven’t seen any new folk, about. There are four or five apartments, that need a lesser or greater amount of work. I’ve seen a few deliveries of new appliances. I haven’t heard any construction noises, either below or beside me.
People are in love, with their own voices. Mostly. So, if I meet someone new, I just shut up and let them prattle on. Sooner or later, you pick up clues, as to their political leanings. Their view of the world. Of course, if pressed on my own opinions on some things, I can always fall back on, “I was raised not to discuss religion or politics. Or how much money people make.” 🙂 One of the guys at the Club was showing off his new Tesla truck. Looks like Darth Vader, on wheels.
Must be the season. I’ve also been going to bed, earlier, and getting up earlier. When I star nodding off over a book, or movie, it’s time to hang it up.
I worked in the garden, a bit, early evening. I pulled out two of my three tomatoes, which, mostly due to deer are a lost cause. I have left one, as it backs up against a fence of bird netting, and managed to get a couple of handfuls of green and red cherry tomatoes. The green ones are on a plate in the window. The red one, well, half went into dinner. I also found three small strawberries. A pleasant mouthful. Did some weeding.
I slaughtered and processed the two pumpkins I got from Winco. I got 4 cups of pulp out of them. Now, safely in the freezer. And I’m covered for pumpkin pie, for Thanksgiving. Since I’m so poor at making pie pastry, I’ve decided to do a graham cracker crust, instead. A lot less stress. And, mess.
Well, at least after the disaster, Christ Church got a new library out of the deal. Not Brutalist architecture, but definitely modern looking. My taste runs more to the “classic,” but, whatever works.
I took a break from the lectures last night, and started season two of “Return to Paradise,” which is a mystery series set in a small beach town. I see it’s filmed in New South Wales. A pretty good series, and I see there will be a season three.
Our high yesterday was 61F (16.11C). Our overnight low was 30F (-1.11C). Our forecast high for today is 61F. I didn’t see any frost about, this morning. Nothing in the garden seems “nipped.”
Popcorn vs pretzels. As I ration the pretzels, they don’t get me near as far into a movie as the popcorn does. I have stuff to watch, but nothing I consider “popcorn worthy.” 🙂
I wasn’t too wound up over my search for dog. Although if I hadn’t found her outside, then I would have gotten wound up. Maybe. One thing I’ve discovered, late in life, is that everything I’ve ever loved, has gone away. One way or another, the same will apply to Dawg.
When I was searching the building for her, I didn’t call her. I figured the last thing I needed, was old ladies, pouring into the halls to “help.” 🙂 I also think, that if she’s got her collar and leach on, and I drop it, she tends to stay in one spot. I don’t know where she picked that up, but that’s what she does. Though I wouldn’t want to put it to a test. Lew
@ DJSpo:
Well, now – there is room for everybody’s passion. Do you and the Princess support the same team?
Pam
Chris:
The shields and the AC were used? Wasn’t it just around freezing?
The forest critters have gotten a lot of laughs over the years from watching my efforts at manufacturing critter-proof schemes. In fact, sometimes they are laughing so hard that they forget to maraude. Some of my ramshackle construction projects actually do work because any animal that tries to get through them might actually come to some bodily harm, just by coincidence.
“Cups in the dirt” is going to have to be exactly my method. I have the mottliest rocks . . .
The thing about electric tools, at least the bigger ones, seems to be that they are more expensive than gas/petrol powered ones. I tried all summer to find an electric push mower that I could afford, but I never did.
Okay then – I’m hotblooded; but, really, I do not have a temper.
Gluten free bread can be made of any flour that does not have gluten! Most often it is brown rice flour. I think I have tried every alternative flour out there, but still can’t make a decent sandwich loaf. Yeast and GF seem to be incompatible. I can do muffins and biscuits and crackers, but can’t seem to make flatbreads either. I’ll count pamcakes as bread; I can make those (I am leaving the spelling error just made). The saddest thing is that I made our bread for years and had a sourdough starter that was actually years-old as well – until I figured out the gluten problem.
Your food is food and most of my food is food.
Here’s one for the books: Today I put some boxes of matches in my shooping cart at the grocery store. When they came up to the cashier on the conveyer belt, he asked me for my ID. I exclaimed: “What? For matches?!” Apparently the State of Virginia (unless this is now federal law), in their infinite wisdom, considers matches – which they could be – a deadly weapon. But come on – are we all little babies? When my sons were growing up, they were able to buy the ingredients at a hardware store for making fireworks (and worse). Have things become so impossible?
Pam
Chris,
You got it. The mountain ranges rule. The Cascades/Sierra Nevada are big enough to form a big blockage for the moisture. Then the Rockies, dang, they are biggerer yet! And that weird curve they have in Canada adds to the weirdness. The saving grace is that that curve helps shelter this area from the worst of the Arctic blasts that come south. East of the Rockies can get just as cold as Fairbanks. Witness temperature extremes in the Dakotas.
You mentioned the winds. They can dictate a lot, can’t they? The recent heatwave with some fires in the greater Los Angeles area was caused by their Santa Ana winds. They bring hot air west over the mountains from the desert. That’s the desert that can hit 115F each year, 120F on occasion.
Snow? Ugh. Last winter we had I think a mere 20 inches or something, less than half the expected average. Who knows what the current El Nino will drop? Usually less to much less than average, but there was one large El Nino that produced about average snowfall. I tend to look outside and grab a shovel or fire up Big Bertha if there’s a snow event.
The climate change, however. I haven’t had to wear my ultra cold weather mukluks or parka for over a decade now. I’m sure not getting rid of that gear. The moment I do is when I’ll need it.
I think maybe I’ve mentioned one late fall archery hunting trip? The one that had 11 inches of rain in 24 hours? The next day had snow flurries and the day after that we awoke to -14C temperatures. It was fun and totally unforgettable.
University of Alaska campus was on the highest hill in Fairbanks. Let’s just say that I couldn’t tell any difference in winter temperatures there and in the bowl where we lived. At a certain point cold is cold. That entire region gets darned frigid.
And the area, despite the lack of rainfall, is WET. I think the permafrost contributes to that. At places the permafrost is near the surface, at others it is deeper. It was really trippy driving the highway south to Denali or east to Delta. The trees might be normal height evergreens. Then ahead they would be short and stunted – that’s where the permafrost was near the surface. That’s also where the roadway had buckled over the winter, thanks to the permafrost doing weird things. Had to slow way down in the places where the permafrost was near to the surface.
Yes! We got a very good soaking overnight. Grand total was about 6.75mm here. Very nice. Supposed to frost hard tonight, get to maybe -2C, the coolest night yet. In other words, finally normal late October weather.
Of course, in 2020, we had a freak snowstorm about this time of October. Dumped 9 inches, an October record. It was gone in a day or three, but that amount was unexpected.
Exactly, the southern hemisphere where people walk all upside down has its summer closer to the sun with an additional factor thrown in with the Earth’s tilt. So, yeah, you bake and your
UV readings can go offscale.
Granddad was tough. And from the generation that didn’t whine about their plight, just accepted it and got on with adapting and doing what needed doing. At least those who grew up on farms. To hear the stories, grandmother didn’t flinch at the Depression either, just figured out how to keep the family fed somehow.
Yes, I’ve heard stories about ropes set up from the house to the outhouse, from the outhouse to the barn, from the house to the barn. Just because there’s a blizzard doesn’t mean that the cows don’t need to be milked and fed.
Oh, the roadrunner was quite safe. The median at the intersection of freeways was large, large enough for the bird to forage and run. Several acres, actually. I never saw it cross into the freeways.
Or perhaps the cat is reclining on a Chesterfield sofa that keeps appearing and then disappearing near Arthur Dent’s cave on prehistoric Earth. I was always mildly disappointed in something Douglas Adams didn’t do. In “Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency”, there was that sofa that got stuck in a stairwell. I still think that Adams should have mentioned that it was a CHESTERFIELD sofa.
I’ve heard that dingoes will attack humans. I saw it happen in “Quigley Down Under”, so it must be true. 😉 Seriously, I’d read about that before. Coyotes to me are very similar in mentality to dingoes. I wouldn’t trust them. Some animals you just don’t turn your back on.
DJSpo
Hi Pam,
Oh yes, apparently now Wednesday morning as well will be 37’F, which should make it three days in a row. Given yesterday was super warm, today was super stormy, Sunday stormierer… My head hurts thinking about this stuff. I’ve nick named the portable A/C machine: Mr Swamp Cooler. And I saw a house with even nicer shields today. Very impressive.
Hey, that’s good game theory, your strategy with the confused forest critters! You’re out-psyching them at their own game. Surely, they’d look at the ramshackle construction and say to themselves: There’s no way it could be this simple. It’s gotta be a trap of the most cunning sort. I’m outta here!
Some of the rocks used here are a bit dodgy too, but what goes beneath the dirt, rarely gets seen. Even the most disreputable of rocks have a nice face, and being in control of the process, the other bits get buried. See, I’m out psyching the rocks here, and recommend this strategy.
Agreed. You’d think that the electric tools would be cheaper, but no. What they are, is easier to use with less things to go wrong. And Sthil does not produce an electric saw which can do the things the fifteen year old 72cc one does. Not even close, but admittedly the gap is closing.
Good to hear, and I prefer the company of calmer people, although admit that everyone can go through a rough patch. Life is rarely smooth. Far out, ain’t that the truth. There is an element of simple good grace with remaining calm, and I note that it is very much lacking in our leaders these days. That lot set a bad example.
Mind you, once or twice over the years people have really pushed me, and dare I recount the firewood story again. It reflects very poorly upon myself, but I can learn from the experience and as you noted the other day, not get fooled again. I’m sure you’d have met folks who as the say: just rubbed you up the wrong way. Oh well.
Pam, I reckon bread wheat flour is so called, because it produces nice bread. Other flours, do other things. You never really know if a product you encounter will cause a sensitivity. And a commercial dishwashing solution produced eczema on my hands, when no other product does so. Dunno how it happens, but it does and the experiment is as they’d say: repeatable.
That’s lovely too: pamcakes. 🙂 Sadly, wheat is a different plant than what it was a century ago.
No way! Wow. That’s probably taking safety precautions a bit too far in my opinion. Well, I never.
And oh yeah, as a kid I used to be able by firecrackers at the local milk bar. Those were the days, although they are admittedly rather dangerous items.
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
The Cascades are big, the Rockies are even biggerer, and there are clearly plenty of other less notable ranges in your country which are still huge enough to exert their influence on the local weather. The winds have to navigate a maze, and some are inclined to not go places, or lose their zest along the way – like how you’d experience the Pacific Ocean moisture. I reckon you could grade those winds: Could do better, and easily distracted by the westerly half of the state. 🙂
Man, I’ve read about those Santa Ana winds and wouldn’t want to experience them, and it’s already dry in that coastal city.
It’s hard to know what each new season will bring, and you could end up getting used to a less snowy winter, and then bam: An extreme dump of snow arrives. It is possible that as times goes on, less people in your part of the world will have machines like Big Bertha, and that’ll be OK, until it isn’t OK. Always a risk, and no machine is ever free to own, maintenance and running costs being a thing.
Thanks for mentioning the mukluks, as I’d wondered how people kept their feet warm and dry in extreme Arctic conditions. Pretty clever, with the shoe in shoe arrangement. Yes, I’ll bet yours are fine, and you may need them one day. A great example of appropriate clothing for the conditions.
Sheep being a thing down here, Ugg boots (sheepskin with suede on the outside and the fluff on the inside) fill the winter foot warmth niche. Super nice, but probably couldn’t handle -20’C with wind! Brrrrrr!
Yeah, you’ve mentioned that storm, and the days sound epic. Did you keep your spirits up? I seem to recall that your lot even managed to get a fire going, which is impressive. Getting damp timber to burn is difficult, and takes skill.
Agreed, cold is cold, and life in Alaska is outside my ken. I’ll take your word for that. Permafrost would baffle me, and far out, makes you wonder why more naive gold miners heading into the Yukon didn’t end up in monster trouble. Frost heaving is something I’ve never seen, but can appreciate the power of water having seen the frosts a month or so back split a boulder.
Yay for the rain for you! The plants will love it, but they might not enjoy this loose talk of hard frost! Brr! And I’ll bet you’re glad that the heater has been serviced and declared ready to go?
It’s not often discussed in the official media, but yeah, we’re walking around using our hands a lot of the time. Life is rarely simple when you’re upside down. 😉 Sadly, being upside down and physically closer to the local star during summer is not as fun an experience. Kind of doubles the complexities.
Yeah, that generation were made of tough stuff, and just got on with life through many major social difficulties. I guess the times does make the person, although not all can rise to the occasion.
Ook, going to the out house toilet in a blizzard would be bad enough, but then I guess the cows would be at least warm. You’re absolutely right though, what needed doing, had to be done.
Go the road runner, and sadly sometimes the big marsupials aren’t as thoughtful. The big strip of green between the in-going and out-going lanes of a freeway can be a bit of a temptation for the herbivores during the lean summer months.
Hehe! He could even have had Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect mysteriously arriving on the Chesterfield, then heading down the staircase never to be seen again.
How have I missed this film? Poor education is no excuse for err, poor education – which sounds kind of odd, but makes a weird sort of sense. Yes, today’s lesson is dingoes are OK, but if they don’t know a person, treat with respect and caution. That more generally applies to all dogs don’t you reckon?
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Nixon is a fascinating person, and like all of us, he has several part’s smarts, some dumb blind spots, and occasional lapses of judgement. If he’d stopped the intrigue, and simply offered the voters a reason to vote in his favour, history would be kinder. But he didn’t do that, did he? Oh well. Interesting that he grew up a Quaker in a modest-ish house. Nothing wrong with building your own house, and take it from me, it’s not as hard to build your own house as people would have you think it to be. It’s just that a lot of forces push people in other directions, than that one hands-on option. Sad.
Well, you can still do it down here. I travelled today through an area which had burned during the big fires of January, and noted many destroyed houses and people living in caravans on site. I’d definitely rebuild this place myself, and have some ideas as to how to make the process easier, better and quicker.
I’ve heard that log-cabin story. It’s all very different nowadays, and plenty of candidates are career politicians. You know, it’s my belief that they’d benefit from hard work and more humble beginnings than many of that lot do seem to have nowadays. Decades ago, there was a more diverse variety of people in Parliament.
Exactly, there is much truth in the saying: ‘all hat and no cows’. It’s the same thing as: ‘I don’t see anyone ’round here with dirt under their fingernails.’ Of course we live in a time where experts may not necessarily have learned things the hard way by having to rise up the ladder in the real world.
Whoa! The interior period images of La Casa, are so 70’s it hurts. I’ll bet they had fun fitting that place out, and the palms are a nice touch.
You made a solid point there with the meetings. Official dogma is one thing, reality another. Oh well, everyone has their kryptonite.
There is some unusual beliefs in that religious space, and it may work for some yeah on that front, but I have reservations too. I’ve not heard that deities operate like a vending machine – ask and ye be granted, although allegedly the underworld works on that basis. Look, it’s probably not going to work, so I’m with you.
The words ‘sub prime’ simply don’t engender a feeling of confidence, to me at least. The cheeky scamps look like they have built in a higher failure rate with these new bonds, but a line is still a line, and could get crossed. I heard plenty of rumblings leading up to 2008, and people seemed to look elsewhere.
Interesting. Oh well, the apartments will get taken up sooner or later, and the present situation affords you extra quiet – which is nice.
Are people buying those trucks? Guess fuel is expensive. Never seen one on the roads down here.
🙂 Know thyself! And know when to take a quick kip.
Man, the deer used to nibble at the potato vines too… Grrr! It’s hard to rationalise with a herbivore, that’s today’s wisdom. Yum! Hey, at least you scored some tomatoes, and they’ll ripen up just fine once inside. I’m jealous of the ripe strawberries, and those plants are hard to grow sustainably.
Very good, and the pumpkins being naughty in my sight, shall snuff it – or at least be pulped. Saves a lot of trouble doing that and freezing the results. We’re cooking up corn in batches now and freezing the results. A chunk gets hacked off the icy block of kernels and the rest gets stored in the freezer again.
I’ve not followed the reconstruction of that city, but had friends from that country, and they were a bit err, suggesting that lots of funds ended up down there. But I mean, it was a massive disaster.
There’s some nice coastal towns up along that coast. A really lovely climate. Went to uni with a bloke who bought a caravan park up that way because he liked surfing. His parents came to a bad end, and he inherited everything at a young age. He was an interesting person and I only knew him because he went to the same grammar school and he’d chosen part time night classes as well. Property prices are very ‘spensive in that part of the world. As per the UK, clearly small town living is a highly dangerous activity!
We could coin a new phrase for lesser films: Pretzel worthy! 🙂
I know, re-trace steps and lost dog may become un-lost.
Oh, by the way, water is trickling into the two overflow tanks today. I’d accidentally not tightened one of the connections, and some was dripping out. Then there was an o-ring hassle. One would suggest that the sealing technology is good, when it works. That’s been proven you know!
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – On the Grand Tour of Australia and New Zealand, there’s a grand, epic painting of the opening of your first parliament. Sun streaming through windows, lighting up the Duke of Cornwall and York (later, King George V), addressing the multitudes. Lined up behind him are the newly minted parliamentarians. Our tour guide reels off, not their names, but a good sampling of their occupations. Butcher, baker, candlestick maker … you get the idea. Not a titled bloke, or, very few, in the bunch. 🙂
Just out of curiosity, I’ll have to ask Little Mary Sunshine, our building manager, how long the wait list is, to get into this place. These days. When I applied, I was in the low 20s, on the list. Took me about a year to get in.
The deer took a nibble or two, off my potato plants, but, apparently found tastier fair, elsewhere. One of the pumpkins I processed, well, you asked about saving the seeds? Most of the seeds on the interior had sprouted. Wouldn’t want to save those, but the pulp was just fine.
Thinking more about Thanksgiving, I usually put mushrooms in my dressing / stuffing. I think I’ll use one of the packets of chanterelle mushrooms. Or, maybe half, as there’s usually enough stuffing bread cubes, for two batches.
I considered getting a pint of vanilla ice cream, to go on the pumpkin pie. But that way lays madness! 🙂 I’ve managed to kick ice cream, again. But based on previous splurges, pints become quarts in short order. I’ll stick with plane, non-fat yogurt. Someone said, “Know thyself.” Who said that? Ah, “Ancient Greek philosophers.” Inscribed on the temple of Apollo, in Delphi.
Last Monday, I was showing one of the Master Gardeners, where I had planted the Camas bulbs. One of them was uncovered. But didn’t appear to be sampled. Naughty squirrel? I see rabbits back there, from time to time. I checked it this morning, and all seems in order.
It seems like a lot of the Australian and New Zealand mystery series I watch are set in small coastal towns. Well, they are picturesque! And the inhabitants all seem to be quirky, and rather laid back.
“Re-trace steps … lost dog … unlost.” Sounds like something a sensei would say. Grasshopper. 🙂
Might not want to send your water overflow tanks, into space. 🙂 Those faulty O-rings will get you, every time.
Our high yesterday was 59F (15C). Our overnight low was 32F (-0-C), for quit awhile. At least, down in the valley, at the airport. Didn’t seem to get us, up here in the heights. I might make a notation on my calendar, as to that. Our forecast high for today is 59F. Right now, it’s sunny, with a scrim of white clouds. But, looking at the radar, there’s a lot of rain action, north of us. The forecast is for rain here, early in the am.
I watched a really interesting documentary, last night. A two parter, narrated by Sir David Attenborough. “Plants Behaving Badly.” One part was “Sex and Lies,” which was all about orchids. Charles Darwin was fascinated with orchids, and some of the early studies, were by him. It ends with a trip to Writylington School, where they teach orchid propagation, to youngsters.
https://www.writhlington.org.uk/news-and-activities/orchid-project.htm
The second part was “Murder and Mayhem.” All about carnivorous plants. Which I’ve always found fascinating, and happen to have two. At different points, it mentioned Australian carnivorous plants, but didn’t go into much detail. So, down the rabbit hole I went! 🙂
You have all three kinds of carnivorous plants, mostly in the sundew family. So, I then limited my search to Victoria. And found something you may find interesting and entertaining.
https://www.triffidpark.com.au
Apparently, they don’t offer much walk in trade. Unlike the specialist fern nursery you (and us) visited.
Both families of plants are just fascinating, and I wonder how they developed into such great varieties, with very narrow niches for growing conditions and pollinators. Orchids, that attract one type of bee. A carnivorous pitcher plants that has a symbiotic relationship with one species of termite.
Of course, one might say, that all this specialization, leaves a lot of them trembling on the edge of extinction. Lew
Hi Lewis,
I’ve seen that painting, and it’s very good. And my point exactly. Up until about the 70’s that trend was the case, but now no longer, with one party which is the exception to that rule. A few professional polly-tick-ans is probably no big deal, and they’d be able to provide solid guidance for newcomers. A majority of that lot though, would be a big drama for society.
Yeah, I remember your nervous wait as the housing list was whittled down. Going back to something like the former digs sounds like an unpleasant option. The stock whip cracking kid would be a tiresome experience.
Whoa! Lewis, I’ve never seen that happen with pumpkin seeds at your time of year. Funnily enough apples held in cool store, then purchased and chucked into the refrigerator do that same trick as the seeds will be sprouting when the fruit is cut open. Nice thinking processing then freezing the pulp too, and it’s the little things like that which make cooking easier. I mean, there’s only so many hours to spend in the kitchen.
Did you end up tracking down a chook for the Thanksgiving roast? The stuffing is what adds the metaphorical spice to the dish don’t you reckon? Although chicken is a very tasty meat on its own. Any plans for some roast potatoes to bake along with the bird? I’d not heard of the bread cube versus bread crumb matter before you’d mentioned it. Might be one of those UK versus US things like which side of the car the steering wheel should be on – and note the preference for electric steering wheels on cars today, just sayin…
Speaking of which, yesterday we drove across the state to have a delightful lunch with friends who’d moved bush. A lovely day. I was thinking about those car trips you had as a kid though, and yeah felt a bit knocked around this morning. Six hours in a vehicle is about my normal fortnightly allowance set aside for that activity, but in one day! 🙂 Decided to have a restful Sunday in which to recover. Not a bad idea anyway since it has rained from dawn to dusk. The predicted two inches has landed! Needless to say, it is wet out there.
Employing the maths side of my brain leaves me feeling somewhat confused, but! Some rough back of the envelope calculations suggests that a quart of ice cream is an awful lot! And plain non fat yoghurt ain’t all that bad of a substitution. 🙂 It’s good advice isn’t it that ancient saying! A year or two ago lunch with friends was at a burger joint and right next to me was a table top arcade game machine. Oooo, wonder what it is? Should I switch it on and find out. Nope. Moved chairs as far away as possible. A very distracting device, and like you mentioned, best not to begin. Strangely nobody else seemed bothered by the allure.
Rabbits are tricksy beasts, and may have sampled the bulb only to find it not to their liking. Many bulbs are quite toxic, and a few like tulips get eaten by our friends the rats. H may surprise you one day, although plenty of critters put up a fight.
There’s some quirky folks living up in the bush, yeah. A few cheeky souls may even include my good self in that list, and sadly they’d be wrong. Nothing to see here. Generally speaking, the further anyone moves from the core of power and control, the stranger things can become. The author Douglas Adams put the situation in its bluntest form with the description for humanity: Mostly harmless. Life in the bush was meant to come with costs, and benefits, one of which is being more laid back. I’d like to think that was true, yeah.
Very good! And dude, I’m really happy to hear that H has a sensei-ible disposition and knew you well enough to just wait.
😉 Everyone would be most upset due to the faulty o-rings, but did the engineers, manufacturers and designers put their own lives on the line in that instance? I don’t think so, and what a fine incentive it would be to get things right, if they had to do just that. The correct word in this instance is: incentivised, note the brooding feelings of heavy obligation with that word.
Oh poop, that’s some cold weather, which you seem to have dodged, for now. It’s coming for ya. And there are suggestions of 37’F for the next three mornings. Youch! And as to rain, this thing is known… Hope you and H dodged the falling wet stuff on your walks.
Those kids are getting some decent hands on experience with plants. High end stuff too. Did you notice how they were required to do the work, before, after and during lunch breaks? I’d have signed up for something like that. Man, those carnivorous plants – the sundew family, and the orchids are all over the place here. Seriously, whatever we’re doing with the land, is producing good outcomes for those plants. I like the sundews particularly because they feast upon the hated ants plus other bugs.
Good to see that those enterprising folks know their sci-fi history, and who doesn’t love a plant which eats critters? Well, it’d be hard to manage a small specialised nursery like that, and deal with the general public. I get that, and they’d be a two hour drive away, which is perhaps too far for myself anyway. The fern nursery operates on a different basis, and I’m guessing that they raise about half of the plants for sale, maybe, and the rest are extracted from the bush as a by-product of logging.
You’d imagine that plants have a level of adaptability which may surprise us all? Even so, in my lifetime I’ve observed bird species learning to eat something which was in abundance, then having a population boom. The long beaked corella (Cacatua tenuirostris) comes to mind. I’ve also watched as the once pesky Portuguese millipede has receded into a background nuisance. Life is tough, it’ll outlive our species that’s for sure.
Cheers and better get writing!
Chris
Yo, Chris – I usually make my pumpkin pie, the night before. Get it out of the way, and it gets a day to “mellow” in the fridge. I haven’t gotten serious about tracking down a bird. Over a month til “the day,” so, plenty of time. I figure, week after this I’ll start beating the brush.
I do my stuffing outside the bird. I’ve developed a method where it ends up tasting as if it were actually “stuffed.” Here, you can get a more crumb like stuffing mix. Sometimes, even corn mix. But, I prefer the cubes, and, they come with a seasoning pack, in the package. Mostly sage.
That is a long day trip. Well, you may have seen land you haven’t seen before, or, at least not in a long while.
Might have been a squirrel, who investigated the camas bulb. It’s a fairly good year, for their population. As, the acorn crop is pretty good. But, their numbers are nothing as when I moved in. There have been a few cats, about. I think someone might have dumped a couple, on our side street. Sweet, but Dawg won’t tolerate them.
I saw a squirrel, yesterday, that had a funny gait. It had lost most of its tail. I wonder how? Dawg, respecting its handicap, didn’t even bark at it. 🙂
We went to the Club, last night. I managed to get home, without misplacing my dog. 🙂
Our high yesterday was 57F (13.88C). The overnight low was 46F (7.77C.) Our forecast high for today is 55F. I took H out for her nightly walk, just a little earlier than usual. Good I did. Felt a few raindrops. And, by bedtime, it was coming down. We’re heading down to the Club, to visit with Carl. Looking at the radar, we might have a break in the rain, coming up. Maybe.
They haven’t started working on the apartment, under me. I’ll be glad when they get a new tenant. Unless they’re crazy, or, noisy. It was quit chilly in my apartment, yesterday. No rising heat. I’ve got mostly wood floors, and, they were cold. I even had to kick on a little heat.
Here’s a list of the carnivorous plants of Australia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnivorous_plants_of_Australia
As you can see, the sundews (Drosera) lead the pack, with 117 species. I see the pitcher plant (Cephalotus), has but one lone member … but, it’s a knock out.
I had a laugh, when I read the Triffid Park site. Obviously, they’ve dealt with the public for a long time. They don’t suffer fools, gladly, and clearly, they’ve run across a lot of fools. 🙂
I watched some more episodes of the Australian travelogue. “The Red Center,” which was all about your vast deserts. Australia and New Zealand, in WWI and WWII. And, a historic look at Sydney, mostly as to its industry’s, working class and labor unions. Immigration, after WWII. Somewhere in there, they talked about Australia’s pies. Which our guide quit likes. But he was a bit horrified by Adelaide’s “Sinker.” 🙂 Somehow or another, he missed Anzac biscuits. I also watched a couple more episodes, about the Inklings. Lew
I got the name of the pie, wrong. It’s called a “floater.” Lew