Late December

I'm not really into Christmas.  Technically, I'm more into Soltice Day.  It a natural event.  I enjoy the idea that the days are getting longer, leading to Spring.

But I'm also a an emotional sap, someties.  I love Christmas Carols of all sorts.  And I have  aweird streak.  The more religious the better and the least religious better, too.

So when one I enjoyed in the past didn't play on the local 24/7 radio, I looked it up today.

Don't laugh too much, but it is 'Christmas Wrapping' by The Waitresses.  "what, you forgot cranberries too?"  I listened to it a dozen times in a row, just for the smiles.

And then I thought of another I hadn't heard.  'Christmas In Washington'.  I listened to that several times,

Why that led me to  Canon in D' by Pachelbel, I'm not sure.  I know, it it isn't considered "the finest piece of music ever written".  I don't even know know if it is in the Top 100 Classical Pieces.  But it is at the top of MY chart.

I even have a site of many versions (from classical to Rock) bookmarked (everything for standard viola to vox humana to music box versions) .  But after the week, it just blew me away.  It starts so slowly and builds...

I sat at the computer and cried...

Happy tears, of course, but it was a good release of a year's tension... 

And though it is "only" approaching 4 pm (I stayed up all last night on the computer)  I think it is time the feed The Mews and gather them all up fat and happy into the bedroom in an hour or two where we will sleep for 14 hours or so to "catch up"...

I get a little bit off-schedule from time to time, but The Mews don't seem to mind.

I think I'll go out first and collect a bit of wood for the New Year's fire and let it dry out indoors.    It won't be a big one,  more symbolic than anything, but it will be sufficient for thoughtful staring.   I may be ready for 2019.

I love you all for reading The Mews's blog and this one when it appears sometimes.  You don't need me to tell you of the pleasure of having cats around...

But, you know, I sometimes just marvel at the idea that there are sort of wild animals in my house, and that they seem to like me...

Xmas Holiday 2018

Most of these pictures are also on Mark's Mews, so these are more to mention the decoration details...

I put tension rods at the top and bottom inside of the front windows and just use clips to hold regular light strings.  And they are each on a timer.

I've collected many very nice ornaments over the years.

The bird nests may be my favorite.  The nests are real (collected, cleaned, and preserved after use).  The eggs are wood.  The apples are glass.  I've had both those kinds for decades.

The tree is brand new.  I liked that that it is pre-lighted and table-sized.  The better 7' one is just too much to handle sometimes.  And not pre-lighted.    

Mom sent me this wall-hanging 20-something years ago.  It makes a perfect under-tree mat.  Mom often sent me arty decorations.  She WAS "artsy-crafty".  But, sometimes her stories of their origins (made vs bought) varied from year to year, LOL!  Dear Mom...

And the wide view of the decorated room.  And, yes, that stocking is really my childhood one.  I note that the other side has a niece's name written on it though, so it got re-purposed for a while...  When I was a child, Santa would fill it with rare treats (for the 1950s).  A navel orange, a red delicious apple, a box of chocolate-covered cherries, a small jar of maraschino cherries,  and usually a couple of little toys (a top or a set of specialized cards for Go Fish or Crazy 8s, etc).  Ahhh, memories...

Some years, I don't decorate.  This year I did, and found an enjoyment in it.  Next year, I may drag out the Big Tree and really decorate it.  There are so many decorations that won't fit on a small tree.  I must have 100 glass icicles, for example.  My cardinals are too big for a small tree, and some are just too heavy for a small tree.

Here's a picture of the big tree from 2014, and even then I didn't decorate it fully...

One of the cardinals...

And a special decoration from Mom.  It was a house-warming present 32 years ago.  In case it isn't obvious, it's a mailbox (representing my first, and only, own house).

HAPPY WINTER HOLIDAYS TO ALL MY FRIENDS

The "BAD" Room

There is always some room where the junk goes, right?  For me it is the computer room. 

I'm changing things.  But things look at their worst before they get better.  I moved a bookcase that had been in place for 32 years.  And the cheap carpet I had installed there was awful.  It faded fast.

Proof:

The middle part is the carpet that was covered by the bookcase for 32 years.  The bottom part is how it looks today in spite of vaccuuming and even a few "steam" cleanings.  The top is all the awesome gross dust and grime that settled behind the bookcase all those years!

I am replacing the carpet of course.  And with linoleum.  It is the computer room, after all, and having a solid surface easy to roll a chair in makes sense.  I haven't decided on a color/pattern...

I could go with anything from jet black to solid blue too speckled.  Need to wash the walls and repaint too. 

But it was astonishing to see the difference in the original carpet and the current look!

I bet I end up with soothing greens.  What colors and floors are YOUR computer rooms?

The Bramble And Sapling Jungle, Part 3

So, my back working again, and ready to wreck it again if need be (that area WILL BE CLEARED) I went at it again 2 days ago.  There were some last saplings to be chainsawed and hauled out of the way.  There was most of the underbrush and brambles to be mowed and turned into mulch, and there were vines still attached to saplings.

I went after the vines first.  My habit of bad luck is that any vine attached to a sapling I cut down will fall on me as opposed to away from me.  So the fewer of them connecting saplings, the better.

Funny thought:  The vines don't show up to neighbors.  They might have seen me thrashing around at ground level and up over my head with a hedge trimmer and concluded I was completely nuts, LOL!

But then I went after the remaining saplings with the chainsaw.  MUCH more carefully this time.  Instead of leaning over to cut, I knealt carefully so as not to strain any back muscles.  And I dragged the cut saplings instead of lifting them. 

After that, I took out the DR brush mower and went over the entire area.  I was so pleased to see the results...  I also chainsawed the saplings into stemless trunks.  The trunks are worth saving for the fireplace.  The twigs and vine debris went into piles. 

I used the brush mower on the piles of stems and twigs and vines.  It was like mowing leaves into the lawn until there was only leaf-shreds left.  HURRAY!

From the deck...

Closer...

And in directions all around the former jungle...

I was so happy to uncover my bridge...

And discovered a hose stand that had been covered with vines.

There is still debris there that I may or may not remove (it might smother new underbrush).  But the important thing is that the entire area is clear.

I finished it.  And with only some slight muscle complaints.  I'll count that as a victory.  

The next step is to make sure the undergrowth does not return.  Trees shaded them out before; I will plant new trees.  But these will be smaller ones; Dogwoods, Sourwoods, a dwarf apple...  They will shade the space under them, but never grow tall enough to shade the garden.  I have 4 in a raised bed ready to transplant in January and will have pre-dug holes ready to receive them.  I just need to decide exactly where to put each.

And I can get at the pond again.  That will be in Spring when things warm up.  It is too cold to try and install a new pond liner now.  But I WILL get the pond and raceway set up and working again come Spring!  That will be SO nice...

The Bramble And Sapling Jungle, Part 2

Well, the DR Brush mower is pretty fearsome.  It basically says that if you use it carelessly, you could lose a foot.  The blade under that shroud is very heavy, fast, and sharp.  You can't cut a 1.5" sapling into mulch with a simple lawn mower!  A word to the wise is sufficient...  I was careful.

Here is what the half of the backyard looked like before...

The cleared portion on the right; uncleared on the left...

The view from the deck.

And that was after an intial test of the DR brush mower.  I could tell it would work well.  It is self-propelled and can push over and mulch saplings up to about 1.5" diameter.  At the same time, it is a large machine for an individual and turning it around takes some effort.  But it mowed down the brambles mercilessly!!!

I wish I could say all it took was guiding it around the brambles, but there are limitations.  There were old 12' tree strumps.  There were 3" diameter saplings.  There were rabbit holes where a tire would spin helplessly.  I did the open areas first, and when I had to force the tires out of rabbit holes, I did.  The reverse propelled gear helped.

So then I was faced with saplings too large for the brush mower to push over and chop up.  I stopped.  I have to say that I sure liked the battery-powered hedge trimmer.  It cut the wild vines very well.  I still got stuck on a lot of falling brambles, but I found and old leather hunting jacket in a closet (I'm a bit of a "saver" and that was immune to bramble thorns.  It was so old I couldn't zip it closed (it was about 6" too small at the waist, LOL!) but as a cover, it worked well.

After hedge-trimming as many vines as I could from ground level to as high as I could reach, I went after the larger saplings with my electric chain saw.  I deliberately cut them about a foot high so that I knew where they were ( I wanted to know where they are for complete removal later).

That was several weeks ago.  Because after bending around awkwardly to chainsaw the saplings and haul them out of the vines and put them in piles for cutting the pieces to fit my hauling trailer (to bring them to a County place that makes free mulch)...

I woke up the next morning and couldn't stand up.  Yes, I mentioned that in a previous post and I'm just catching up.  I had 2 weeks of pain and used up 2 tubes of muscle relief ointment (Aspercreme, not that smelly type that athletes use to advertise their need for something).

A few days ago, I woke up and all was well with my back.  So, naturally, I went back at the yard work.  And more about THAT tomorrow...

The Bramble And Sapling Jungle, Part 1

IIRC, it was Disney's 'Sleeping Beauty' that had a briar jungle raised around her sleeping place by the evil Queen Maleficent.  Her briar jungle had nothing on mine (in my eyes).

 After I removed some junk trees that had finally grown tall enough to shade my vegetable garden 6 years ago, the increased sunlight below them allowed shade-supressed wild blackberry, wild non-fruiting grape vines, green-briars, and English Ivy grew rampant.  Junk tree seeds found a good spot to grow.

When I moved here 32 years ago, it was like that.  It took me 5 years to clear the area.  I dug out a 10' circle 2' deep and installed a pond liner.  I dug a 40' long raceway downslope to the pond and installed a liner and a submersible pump to push water to the top for waterflow over rocks I placed in the raceway.  The sounds of the splashing water were always soothing.  I bought a bench to sit on to enjoy the pond and raceway.  I built a nice little bridge across the raceway for convenience and planted hostas along both sides and planted astilbes all around the pond.

Somewhere over the years, I kind of ignored it for a while.  Fall leaves filled it and were hard to net out among the lily plants and sweet flag.  A fallen branch poked a hole in the liner about 6" from the bottom and the pond drained.  I tried to patch the hole, but could never get it properly sealed.  Then one hot Summer day, I realized there were tens of thousands of mosquito larvae growing in that 6" of water.  I poked more holes in it deliberately to drain it completely, intending to replace the liner and get the waterflow working again.

That didn't happen.  The pond liner replacement was always on my "to do" list but other things came first.

Two years ago, I decided to try to reclaim that portion of the back yard.  Loppers on 8' high 1" thich wild blackberries does not work.  They ALWAYS fell on me and getting those things loose is awkward and sometimes painful.

I decided to hire someone to clear the area.  Individuals said it was too much work; companies said it was too little work  One guy agreed to do the work.  He didn't show up.  When I called him, he was in a hospital with a broken leg and that he was retiring from yardwork.  I expressed my sympathies to him about the leg, but it left me no choice.

I was going to have to do it myself!

I bought a DR Brush/Sapling mower.  After delays (the shipper lost it) then (after they found it 3 weeks later) discussions about how it could be delivered (they wanted a commercial dock to deliver it to and I had to arrange a 3rd party delivery), I finally received it.

The Brush/Sapling mower works great.  But that is for tomorrow...

A Surprize Today

I garden.  I garden a lot.  I've been gardening almost all my life.  My Dad gardened using "modern" synthetical fertilizers and chemicals.    His soil was hard as rock and his hybrid veggies tasted funny.  His garden struggled to survive.  Every year, he had to roto-till the soil to loosen it enough to pland seeds.

Grampa was a gardener.  He was an organic gardener.  He grew Winter cover crops that died back in Spring.  He used natural fertilizers.  To plant seeds, he merely dragged a grub hoe along the row in the soft soil.  He planted heirloom seeds.  His crops were lush and tasty.

When I got my first chance to garden, I followed Grampas practices mostly.  I subscribed to Organic Gardening magazine.  Organic Gardening magazine was rather dull.  The writer's were straight-forward folks concerned with getting good crops.  They would say things like "Don't fertilize your crops, improve the soil; good crops come from good soil" and "Grow earthworms" and "You should be able to push a finger all the way into your soil.

But the magazine was failing in the 80s, the old writers were dying off and they chagned their approach.  They hired Mike McGrath as editor, paid more attention to new crop varieties, and began to promote "organic living" as a lifestyle.  Which was not all bad, but I wasn't really interested in the newest organic clothes, installing bamboo floors, or cooking.  Well, OK, I was interested in cooking, but I had a cooking magazine for that.

Mike McGrath was editor-in-chief of Organic Gardening magazine from 1990 through 1997.   He brought a less-serious approach to the magazine.  In fact, he turned the Letters section into his own personal stand-up humor show.  My recollection is that Organic Gardening magazine tried to become "hip.  I didn't like the change and switched to National Gardening magazine.

Mr. McGrath returned as the the host of the nationally syndicated public radio show “You Bet Your Garden” since 1998 and WTOP radio Garden Editor since 1999.  WTOP is a local news/weather/traffic station in Washington, DC, where I live.  On Saturdays, he has a few-minute spot each hour with gardening advice..  "You Bet Your Garden" is not on any local stations here.

Trust me, this IS actually getting to a point eventually, I PROMISE...

I used to listen to WTOP weekdays during the morning and afternoon commute for traffic and weather information.  I only discovered his Saturday episodes by accident.  And remembering his tendency for joking about letters from subscibers, I was unsure about his advice.  And I was justified in that.  His radio spots usually took listener comments and made fun of them, always pointing out why they were wrong. 

BUT, he did give good advice on the timing of gardenwork and he was organic, so I listened.  Then I discovered the WTOP website and found all his spots each week were on a single theme and readable at any time.

I often disagreed with his advice.  I learned why this week (more about that below).

His Nov 2nd theme was composting and he said there were some things to never add to your compost (food scraps, wood ashes, junk mail, and lawn clippings) and that he would explain about that the next week.  In the Nov 9th article, he didn't!  And because I add 3 of the 4 items to my compost, I was curious.

So I emailed him.  He is experienced, but so am I.  I didn't want to challenge him, so I focussed on the food scraps (wood ashes are perfectly fine in slight amounts and lawn clippings from organic lawn are fine, too but there can be problems).

I pointed out that he had not explained about the "forbidden" compost items as promised and that I really wanted to know why not food scraps.  I included a few pictures of my compost bins and explained that I used food scraps successfully.

To my utter surprise, he replied!  And this is where it gets interesting...

He asked where I was located and added "Beautiful Compost Bin".  So I said MD and sent a couple other pictures explaining some of the details of the construction.  He replied again and asked for a more specific location.

After a couple more email exchanges, he stopped replying and I expected that was the end of it.  Well,  OK, he's busy and has radio spots to create, and exchanging some positive emails was reasonably exciting.  But that wasn't the half of it!

The sound bites on WTOP are actually written beforehand and posted on the WTOP website Fridays under a "Garden Plot" menu item.  The spoken radio spots are broadcast (usually) at :51 minutes on the hour Saturday.

When I casually looked at it Friday (yesterday), I WAS THE ENTIRE TOPIC OF HIS POST! 

I initially cringed seeing "Mark in Waldorf", because he tends to tell people what they are doing WRONG.  But not THIS time!  He showed pictures of my compost bins, adding "who built some of the most perfect compost bins I have ever seen".  I was drop-dead stunned...

Granted, he defended his position on wood ashes, lawn clippings, and even food scraps.  But he credited me with knowing what I was doing, and added something that made me reconsider my opinion of his posts.

He ended his post with:

"My weekend shots of advice are geared to impart the knowledge to accomplish success in 50 seconds".

And 

"Bottom line: My goal here is to get as many listeners as possible to shred and use their fall leaves. Spent coffee grounds are the single best addition. Everything else introduces the risk of compost failure, and I want first-timers to achieve compost success.  So shred those leaves! (And, hire Mark to build your bins.)"

And I finally understood what he was getting at.  He is trying to help beginners and casual gardeners to achieve some success in the easiest ways to encourage them to continue gardening and learn more.   His goal isn't to try to teach ME how to compost; I know how to do that.  His goal is to get some people started at it easily, and to help newcomers who are having problems how to do it better. 

Sometimes you can to help people start by making things simple, but workable.  I get that now, and my opinion of him is improved.  Sometimes, you have to understand intent in order to understand what other people are doing or saying, and that isn't always easy or obvious.

Mike wasn't telling ME not to use food scraps, wood ashes, and grass clippings.

He was discouraging beginners from just making a garbage pile of kitchen waste, dumping buckets of burned pressure-treated wood pallets (with all the toxins in the ashes), and putting chemically-treated synthetically-fertilized lawn-clippings into their new compost bins and being disappointed when nothing happens because the pH, toxins, and lawn-weed killers kill off all the microbes that make a compost pile work.

He knows *I* know that food scraps do properly decompose, clean wood ashes from normal trees are OK in small amounts and that grass clippings from my organic lawn are safe to use in my compost. 

And I will be sure to listen to his radio spots later today, LOL!

In Memorium

Stanley Martin Lieber (aka Stan Lee) died November 12th at age 95...

I just read the sad news.

I was 11 in 1961.  In the newstand, a tiny little corner on the block of the main street of the town I had been moved to as my Dad followed promotions as a civilian working for the Army, I used to scrape together a quarter to buy used Ace Double books.  One day the owner said "Hey I got some comic books, you can get TWO for a quarter.  Not funny comics like Bugs Bunny.  "Adventure Comics".  I looked at one.

It was the original Fantastic Four.  #1.  It was new and crisp in my hand.  No one else wanted it.  I held $300,000 in my hand not knowing it.  To me, it was 12 cents, half my weekly allowance.

I was hooked.  A whole bunch of regular people, adults even, not like Superman who bored me being invulnerable.  They argued, they had problems, they sometimes didn't want to have POWERS... 

Two for a quarter!  That was a whole hamburger and fries then.  And I was a very hungry 11 year old.  I bought it.  And I bought the next one, and the next.  I was in a whole new real actual world where there were people I admired.  Not Supermen, just people struggling. 

I kept all those comics for years and added more.  And there were more.  Spiderman became my idol as I grew up.  He had problems just like I did.  High school, bullies, understanding girls. 

And one day, I noticed letters in the back of the comics and the same guy whose name was on the front talked to us who read them.  I was one of the "true believers" he spoke to.  His name was Stan "The Man" Lee and he had some friends who helped draw the books.

I wrote to him, but never got a letter published.  That didn't matter.  I knew he read them, and that was enough.  I followed FF and Spidey and Thor (back when Thor was Don Blake and smacked his cane on a wall in a cave).  What matterred was that they were PEOPLE who had powers, not powerful beings with a secret identity.  Like me, you know...  Spidey was really Peter Parker (high school nerd), not Peter Parker hidden alias of Spidey. 

The Thing was just a guy changed, not The Thing hiding as Ben Grimm.  Etc.  Other characters were included, all with some problems in their lives.  By the time I went to college, I had a steamer trunk full of the "comics" master-minded by Stan Lee.  And drawn by geniuses like Kirby and Romita. 

I had no space at my college dorm for the steamer trunk, and other expenses to fill my days.  When I got my first apartment, Mom told me I needed to take the steamer trunk of "junk" or she would throw it out.  No, she didn't throw them away, I took it.

At 25, I still loved re-reading them.  But I was also utterly poor and was eating hamburger-helper diluted with more hamburger-helper.  I went to sell them. 

None were in great condition.  The comic book store guy didn't even want them.  He showed me a dozen FF #1s in good condition (which mine weren't), selling for $1 each.  But another guy was trying to open his own store and offerred me a nickle per issue regardless of condition.  500 comics times 5 cents was $25.  It paid my rent for the month and some food.  I never asked Dad for money after college.

Worst deal I ever made in a way, but rent is rent and food is food.  I sure wish I had them back, though.

Stan Lee, et al, brightened my life before high school and after.  His and other Marvel characters gave me the thought that a little luck and a lot of struggle could make you a good person, and that was worth trying for.  One could do worse for heroes...  And I knew who started them, Stan Lee.

And after decades, the movies started.  Pretty good ones.  I even loved the FF movies most people panned.  Didn't matter, they were my heroes.  Most movies ruin origins, and I hate that.  But it didn't matter.  I loved them all.  They were both memories and dreams. 

In my life with "comics", there was Marvel and there was DC.  DC was for high school grads and drop-outs; Marvel was for college level.  Superman fought idiots,  The FF fought Dr Doom.  DC characters had teen sidekicks; Spidey fought The Sandman.  And was who he was because he let the person who killed his Uncle go loose and struggled with that all the time after.  Not to mention Gwen Stacey.  DC characters always started each day without much of a history, like a sitcom.  Marvel characters carried their history with them every day. 

They were damn near "real".  Or at least human.

I loved the way Stan Lee showed up in all the movies.  No one important, just a cameo as some passer-by in life.  I'll miss that.

It's getting hard to type...

“Excelsior” and "Nuff Said", and Thank You Mr. Stanley Martin Lieber.

Ouch, Ouch, Ouch!

Yeah, "OUCH"!  I'm a fairly active person, but not an exerciser.   I have too much actual work to do to waster energy and time exercising.  And I do that somewhat regularly (bad weather intrudes sometimes for a few days).  And with yardwork and home projects sometimes comes stiff muscles, cramps, etc.  Getting older doesn't help much either.

I'm used to it.  If I have to grip something hard for a lengthy time (shovel handle, chain saw, rototiller, I know I can expect some hand stiffness hours later.  Lifting stuff and bending causes muscle cramps on my sides sometimes.  And I get leg cramps lying in bed irregularly.

And, as I get older, I have to get up at night more often (calls of nature).

But I didn't expect to get out of bed Saturday night and almost fall over from sudden lower back muscle pain.  I'm used to feeling a bit stiff when I get out of bed, but the usual solution is to just stretch.  And I'm agile enough to clasp my hands behind my back, lean forward and raise my clasped hands toward my head.  A few "popping" sensations and all is well.  I suppose a chiropractor would know what I'm doing.

Until Saturday night!  I put my feet on the floor and stood up and almost immediately fell forward.  Fortunately, I had my hands on a chair.  But my lower back muscled refused to let me straighten up. 

And it HURT!  I managed to hold onto things to do my business, but I could barely stand erect and only with some pain.  Same thing each time that night.  In the morning, same thing, but after forcing myself to walk around a bit, the pain reduced to a mild stiffness though I was aware of discomfort all day.  An Ibuprofen, and some Aspercreme on the lower back muscles helped.  By the end of the day, I was walking relatively normally.

Same Sunday night and Monday day.  Same Monday night and Tuesday day.    By the end of Tuesday, I was walking normally, but I can still feel it now even as I type.

I HOPE I merely over-exerted myself cutting down 3-4" junk saplings and hauling them out to open space for cutting up some other day, and that it is temporary and will go away soon.  But I recall my Dad had back problems younger than my current age and did some daily exercises. 

I sure hope this isn't permanent.  I'm scheduling an annual physical and will be sure to add this to the list of complaints.

But in the meantime, I have things I need to get done before Winter sets in.

OUCH!

Pre-Frog

My tadpoles have legs!  But they still have tails too, so they aren't ready to hop onto the surface (according to everything I read).  But I will put  small piece of wood in the tank for them to use when they are ready.

There were originally 7 tiny tadpoles.  I used pond water in the tank (to seem natural to them) and added plants and algae, and algae wafers.  Changed the water once a month (good for my bettas so assume good for tadpoles).

There are only 5 left.  Don't know what happened to the 2.  At least I never saw bodies.  Fed them ground spinach to help.

There is a small bubbler tube in the tank.  Barely moves the water, but I think it adds enough oxygen by changing the surface.  Not enough water movement to bother them AFAICT.

But they have been slow in developing.  I'm sure they should have been full-grown frogs by now in the pond.

But there is the dilemma.  Would any of them survived among the already full-grown frogs in the 5' diameter pond?  Frogs are cannibalistic.  I've probally kept them alive longer than they normally would, but mayb one would have grown to frogdom.

And what do I do with them now?  None of these are prepared to hibernate over Winter at so undeveloped a stage of growth.  I have an unused 20 gallon long aquarium I could keep them in over Winter, but what would I feed them?  Petsmart doesn't sell frog food last I checked (and I asked).

How did my Summer curiosity about watching a few chosen tadpoles develop turn into an ethical problem about the lives of a few wanna-be not-quite-yet frogs?

DR Brush Mower

I had brambles and wild blackberries and wild grape vines taking over 1/2 the backyard.  I tried lopping them down, I tried a hedge trimmer, I yanked and pulled.  Nothing was getting me anywhere.  The stuff grew as fast as I could cut.    And most of what I cut had thorns which managed to grab at me.  Some days, I looked like I had been attacked to a pack of rabid weasels.

So I bought a DR Brush Mower.  It wasn't an easy decision.  Those things aren't cheap.  And they come with serious warnings about possibly injury.  So I watched videos of people using them (happily and unhappily).  I read about them.

I admit that when I saw people just chopping and mulching shrubs and 1.5" saplings with the self-propelled kinds, I gave in. 

The delivery was all messed up (it got lost in Baltimore for 2 weeks), but it did arrive.  I uncrated it with some difficulty but got it freed.  I read the instruction manual 3x. 

It is a funny thing.  There are large heavily-treaded wheels on the back and pipes like thick sled runners in the front.  The engine could power a motorcycle.  The blade is a sharpened rod of metal 1/2" thick.  My riding mower blade is turned by rubber belts; this thing is all metal gears.  There are 3 forward speeds and 1 reverse by levers at the handle.

I got it started up in the garage and drove it around back.  I gave it a brief try into the edges of the brambles and it reduced them to mulch.  It doesn't cut and ground level like a lawn mower; it just pushes stuff over flat and grinds it up.

There are some limits.  It doesn't handle raised areas or stumps of saplings larger than 1.5 inches.  But OMG, does it chop up anything it can propel itself onto and over!  My first run-though was exciting; I left a path of mulch as I went.  The reverse gear is really valuable.  The brushmower gets into places where there are brambles left above, but just reversing pulls it back out.  Its not easy to turn around in tight places, but powered backing out helps.

It can't do much about grapevines and greenbriars hanging up in trees.  I've learned to use a hedge trimmer to cut through the wild grape vines and my electric chain saw to cut saplings over 1.5" at ground level first.  But using the brushmower to clear paths through the brambles gave me access to them.

Spent the first 2 days with the brushmower, cutting paths through the bramble and shrubs and small saplings.  Yesterday and today, I used the cordless hedgetrimmer to cut vines and small briars to get me access to the larger saplings.  I used the electric chainsaw to cut larger saplings. 

I was worn out, and rather minorly injured all over.  Even cutting as many vines as I could with the hedgetrimmer, there were still some out of reach creating odd tensions on the tree.  So everytime I used the chainsaw, expecting the 3" diameter tree to fall in a certain direction, it fell on me!

And malevolently!  The tree would fall, pushing of my hat, and then looping briars around my head.  This is AWFUL work!  But it is my fault I allowed things to get to such a state and I want to personally clear every last inch my self.  Matter of pride and obsession...

Here are "before" pictures...

And here are the first "after" pictures (before today's work which I haven't taken pictures of yet)...

More "after" pics soon.  But I can see some ground again.  I can see the back fence again. 

Post-Election Day

Well, you can't have everything you want on Election Day!  I suppose it came out pretty well well Progressives like me.  Possibly the best hint of that is that President Trump is royally annoyed.  But I'll stick to the election results...

Locally, there are no surprises in Maryland.  It is a rather solidly Democratic State.  Most every incumbent won, the 2 reasonably sensible referendums passed, and the local Board Of Education candidates were actually all pretty decent choices (sometimes there are whackos).  Gov Larry Hogan is a Republican and won re-election, but that is because he is rather Centrist and has done a good job of being bipartisan.  One has to respect a good Centrist if you want to get things done with support from all over.  His Democratic opponent was also good, but had less experience.

Nationally, I was pleased.  It was pretty clear that the Democrats wouldn't get control of the US Senate.  Far more Democrats were up for election in States that Trump won in 2016, so even random voting would have kept the Republicans in charge there.

The US House went Democratic as expected.  They needed to gain 23 seats; they have gotten 30 and it seems they will get about 4 more after some final votes are counted.  Most experienced professional political types guessed 30-40 and 34 seems likeliest.

That will have a profound effect on Trump (although he denies it and at the same time threatens The House with "investigations").  He is worried.  He always accuses others of what he has done himself, and threatens others with what he fears most himself. 

The House can start investigations of corrupt Trump officials, investigate his previously-hidden tax returns, and can impeach him if enough evidence is found.  Though I should mention (because it is often confused) that impeachment is merely an indictment; any actual trial would be held by the Senate.

Democrats gained about 8 State Governors, which was good.  I particularly cheered the ousting of the Wisconsin Governor, Scott Walker.  He was a real mess.  Among other things, he used an obscure emergency State Law designed to help cities with failed local mayors and/or situations beyond their control to appoint sycophants as City Managers with dictatorial powers. 

But the additional Democratic Governors will be in office during the 2020 post-census redistricting (an adjustment of voting districts due to population changes).  The Republican Governors have had a bad habit of arranging voting districts into weird shapes to arrange elections to their advantage. 

That is called "Gerrymandering".  It isn't a new idea.  The original example is from Governor Gerry in the 1800s in Massachusetts.  Gerry arranged a voting district so weird that it spread across the State in a very strange shape to gather all his opponents into one voting district he was sure to lose while winning all the others.  A local newspaper dubbed it "the Gerrymander" because it resembled a salamander.


Some of that gerrymandering will be undone.  It matters because it violates fair voting.  It has gotten so bad that, in some States, voters can choose one political party by 60% and still only get 1/3 of the House of Representative members. That is obviously not "democracy".

I will mention that the Senate is designed to be unfair like that (because Senators were originally to represent the State, not the populace).  California has 40 million residents and 2 Senators (like every State), and Wyoming has only 565,000 and 2 Senators.  So Wyoming has 80x the influence in the Senate per person as California.  Republicans control most of the lower-population States. 

That is why the Republicans can elect Presidents with a minority of the total vote.  6 of the last 7 Presidential elections have had the majority of voters choosing the Democratic candidate but only 2 Democrats were Presidents.

There were some close calls in some important elections.  Some Democrats who lost came closer than any in a couple decades (see gerrymandering, above) even in places where Trump won in 2016.  Some elections are still in doubt and will be decided in recounts or by yet-uncounted absentee ballots.  And some of the losing Democratic candidates did so well as first-timers that they will surely be more experienced and campaigning next time.

The next couple of years with Trump in office with a Democratic House Of Representatives should be very interesting.

Aside from all that, voter experiences vary by location.  Gerrymandering aside, there are other ways voters can be suppressed.  There are tricks the party in local power can affect things.  The Republicans did their best to make sure the groups of people they expected to vote against them could be discouraged.

In places where they wouldn't get much support, they reduced the voting locations, made them hard to find, even moved them out of cities to where there was no public transportation service, demanded exact name matches on several ID forms (even I have several legal versions of my name because I misspelled my middle name and heaven help you if you have a non-standard english name or a hyphenated one), challenged anyone with a Post Office Box delivery.

In some places, voters stood in line for 6 hours because their voting place "inconveniently" had too few ballots to fill out.  I stood in line for 3 hours once myself.  But here in (Democratic) Maryland, there are voting stations all over the place. 

So I walked into mine Tuesday, went straight to the check-in table (no line), then straight to the ballot reception table (no line), and then to the private voting stall (no line).  I filled out my ballot (paper so that it can be recounted if necessary and hard to hack) and brought it to the scanner (no line).

I was in and out in 10 minutes!  That's how it should be.  And how it could be if SOME PEOPLE (Republicans) weren't actively trying to prevent unfavored people from voting. 

Election Day

Today is Election Day in the US.

Vote!

I HOPE you will vote in favor of Democrats to counteract the Trumpian Madness, but the important thing is that you vote.

Voting itself is more important than the choice you make.  The more of us who vote, the more it reflects how "We The People" want our nation to go.  The more of us who vote, the more we all agree about the outcome.

Ask neighbors if they want a ride to the polls, regardless of how they will vote.  Email friends to remind them to vote.  Call older relatives in other States to remind them to vote.  A 70% turnout means more than a 50% turnout.  The more people who vote means we get a better idea what the country really wants. 

If you don't vote, don't complain afterwards...

Local Elections

All votes on Election Day are not about Presidents, Senators, and Representatives.  Sometimes it is about local judges, Board Of Education members, and ballot referendums.

It is very hard to find out much about Board Of Education member candidates, for example.  But there is a source.  Do a search for League of Women Voters and your State "League of women voters Maryland" for example.  They don't make endorsements.  But they do invite resumes in a structured set of categories.  You can learn a lot from the candidates there.

Some resumes include code phrases.  If you don't like extremely religious people, home schoolers, or conspiracy theorists, you can often detect that in their resumes.  So it gives you people to cross off the list.  Equally, if the resumes mention years of public school experience, analytic professional work, and education from legitimate colleges and universities, you know they have a good background.

The League of Women Voters also provide a very good but neutral review of ballot referendums.  They give the arguments for both sides briefly. 

If you want to know about the local issues, they are the right place to go.

I have my sample ballot all marked up to the lowest level of choices.

Elections

I follow some political TV (MSNBC mostly).  I love Chris Hayes and Rachel Maddow.  I get pretty worked up about elections, so fact-based analysis is good.

I am very glad the campaigns are about done and everything will be resolved in 3 days.  It all may go well, it may go horribly (from my personal POV), but at least it will be over for 2 years.  I EXPECT to be pleased with the election results, but then I thought Hillary Clinton was sure to win in 2016, so you never know.

I'll be honest.  I think Donald Trump is a lying wanna-be autocrat with no agenda other than to gain enough power to make him and his family rich (because he is far less wealthy than he pretends to be).

But what really scares me is his ability to lie routinely and in spite of corrections by fact-checkers who have no political affiliations.  He riles up people with outrageous claims.  One fascinating thing is that traditionally conservative Republicans are against him.  When George Will and Micheal Gerson are arguing against a Republican President, that President is doing something very seriously wrong.

Trump can't be allowed to run free.  The nation needs a check on his desire to become an autocrat.  The Senate looks to stay Republican.  But The House looks to go very "hugely" (to use a favorite Trump term) Democratic.  And he is desperate to avoid that.  The House has subpoena powers to investigate the financial corruption of many of Trump's Cabinet Members.  And many of them have taken advantage of their positions to enjoy a lifestyle of "the rich and famous".

They deserve to be investigated and removed from office.  I object to their goals of reducing environmental protections, clean air and clean water, allowing industry to pollute, etc, but also it angers me that they have some odd sense on entitlement to use taxpayer money for personal use.

True public servants don't do that.

I'm going complete Democratic Party ticket on Tuesday.  That's just my decision.  I have voted for some Republicans in the past, but not this time.  I'm voting for anyone against Trump.  I don't like the idea of voting a straight ticket, but Trump has to be stopped.

After Some Thought...

Well, not posting in order to try to escape some bad habits has been interesting.  I would say it worked about half-well.  The successful part was finding the sites that kept me up all night for no really good reason  But, as I sit here, I have a glass of wine at and and a pack of cigs.

Apparently, I am still stuck with wine and cigs when I'm on the computer for any longer than it takes to check email.  Old habits die hard, and sometimes don't die at all.

But less is better.  There is a difference between a pack of cigs and 2 glasses of wine vs 4 packs and a bottle.  The less is because I've stopped visiting a discussion board that kept me worked up all night and a game site that has been failing for a couple years.

The discussion board is an atheist site.  I'm an atheist, for anyone who didn't know.  I spent a lot of time there over the past 2 years.  I enjoyed the discussions and arguments, and there sharp people there on both sides.  But I realized that I wasn't changing anyone's opinion.  The other atheists just agreed with me, and the theists (ranging from creationists to philosophical believers) were as unlikely to be convinced to change their views as I was.  So there doesn't seem to be much point in debating there.

The game site was a wonderful discovery some years ago.  I joined because there were free classical games (Risk, Hearts, Backgammon, Scrabble, etc) and I enjoyed that.  Then I discovered that, by joining the site for a modest fee, I could play more dedicated gamers and earn a rating.  That interested me. 

But the site is losing paying members (who normally feel a duty to complete a game) and the free players just leave the instant they aren't winning.  I just received an email notice that my annual membership is up for renewal.  I think I'll give it one more year, but I suspect that will be the last.  Which is a shame, because I really worked for all those rating points.  Still, nothing lasts forever.

I've been busy while I was away.  Not staying up all night meant I slept better and was more active in the daytime.  I'll post about that soon, by project. 

I've decided I enjoy posting about things I actually do myself that mean something around the house and yard than arguing with intractable people about topics that will never be resolved or playing games that don't mean much.

My life is Not Going Right

Have you ever felt that too many things are just mostly not going right?  That you thought it was all OK, and then suddenly you wanted to screaming out into the night looking for a clue about how it should be going? 

I shouldn't be at 68, but I am.  Maybe I have lived alone for too long and it is finally catching up to me.  But I can't imagine living with another person 24/7.

Maybe I''ve just lived just lived in the same house too long.  But I can't find anything wrong with the house.  It is actually easy to live in, a nice circular arrangement of kitchen, living room and TV room with 1 and a half baths and 3 bedrooms at the other.  The yard is a 1/2 acre and that's not bad. 

Maybe politics is getting under my skin.  Sometimes it seems to me that we are collectively going crazy.  The world is getting crazier.  Nations are becoming more partisan and controlled by crazy people.  Evil people are learning to control the world again.  I used to think the United Nations could solve some things.  I don't think that now. 

Or maybe it is just domestic politics.  I used to think things were getting better there, but they seem to be getting worse too.  I used to hope about elections; now I just dread them.  Everytime the political commentators say we have hit the bottom, the bottom gets deeper.

Well, maybe the yard has gotten out of my control.  I was 36 when I moved here and felt I could tackle any problem.  32 years seems like yesterday in one sense, but ages ago in another.  I can't do what I used to do.

Or maybe it is just the same old same old furniture.  I've lived like a college guy in his first apartment with hand-me-downs.  And the furniture does mean something to me being old family stuff.  But I don't want "House Beautiful" either.  I live a relaxed style.  My parents once asked us kids what we wanted from their house when they moved to a Florida rowhouse.  I waited for my siblings to choose and then named some furniture after they chose what they wanted.  Dad kept bugging me to chose "something".  I didn't expect them to be alive when the time came to "claim the stuff". 

I didn't want what I had "claimed".  It was a fancy walnut dining table with chairs, china cabinet, lowboy, etc.  That's not me.  And I'm introspective to understand "why".  When I was a child, I wasn't allowed to do any rough stuff on the "fancy furniture".  Maybe if I bought fancy furniture on my own it would be different, but who knows? 

Rosewood seems interesting, but I would be afraid to live with the stuff.

The garden is frustrating.  Not enough sunlight.  I could poison a few trees to make enough sunlight get through, but I can't get myself to do that.  I found a spot where the sun shines brightest,  and planted 3 tomato plants there in July.  And I got more heirloom tomatoes from there in the past 2 weeks than I got in the regular garden all Summer.  All at once of course.  I picked 7 tomatoes today.  I can't eat 7 tomatoes today.

I understand this doesn't match the problems some people have.  But they are MY problems

But together, it means I'm not in the right place, I'm not happy here,  I want a different house (all one level) and I'm on emotional tear here.   I don't like my life.  I need to make some serious changes. 

And I think I am "losing it".  I'm going altogether nuts.  I want to move, but I'm afraid to because I have so much "stuff".  I'm afraid of losing my good city water.  I'm afraid of losing my Verizon cable service.    But I also want to get a good garden and escape this traffic jam of a city. 

When I moved here 32 years ago, it was on the outskirts of residential places, there were no trees round, and life was great.  Now it is a traffic jam morning to evening, I get no sun for gardening, and light pollution is so bad I haven't seen the stars at night for years. 

I'm being stupid.  But also real for me.   

2005 Toyota Highlander Car

I wanna new car,
Without scratches and dents,
One that looks like it should,
That costs only pence.

I wanna new car.
Electric would be good. 
That could haul a small trailer
And a small boat too.

I wanna a new car,
13 years is quite long
Its starting to die,
And it won't be long.

I wanna new car,
Black was never right.
You can't see that car,
In the dead of night.

I wanna new car,
Another SUV.
The height gets me up
Over headlights, you see.

I wanna a new car,
For the pride, ya'll.
But it has to fit the garage,

And the door's kinna small.

I wanna new car,
Without tech-stuff, ya know.
I don't call when driving,
And I know where I am.

I wanna new car,
One that keeps me alive,
And keeps me protected
In front or behind.

I wanna new car,
Hydrogen's good
But there ain't that stuff
In the neighborhood.

I wanna new car,
But maybe keep what I've got.
Get it detailed and painted,
Let mechanics fix it up.

I wanna a new car,
I could buy one you see.
But this one could last,
Another 10 years and three.

The Brett Kavanaugh Confirmation

I write tonight not to condemn Brett Kavanaugh.  That has been done to death, as have supportive statements.  That part is over; Brett Kananaugh is now a Supreme Court Justice and will probably be one the rest of my life.

My comment today is about the failure of the process of deciding who gets confirmed to the Supreme Court and how.  And it is about fairness.  And partisanship. 

Partly, it is about how politics have become more partisan over the past decades.  It has happened before, of course.  Early in US history, political arguments were intensely personal and slanderous (worse than today) where political parties owned newspapers and the editorials and editorial cartoons were uncontrolled and facts were not even thought relevant. 

A political cartoon today might exaggerate a person's appearance (Obama's long face, Trump's hair), but older ones had them actually portrayed as animals.  And in 1852 Representative Preston Brooks (D-SC) used a walking cane to attack Senator Charles Sumner (R-MA), nearly killing him while others looked on.  Things got calmer later.

But we are returning to irrational anger.  It is a different kind of anger.  Today the political parties attack the reputation, honesty, and factual memory of others at any opportunity.  They attack when they don't even seem to believe what they say themselves.  When presented with facts disproving their arguments, they say "Oh well, that is just politics".

No, it isn't!  Politics is "the art of the possible".  It is the skill of reaching an agreement with someone you don't completely agree with to get something you both think more important than what you each give.  It is the idea that people you disagree with have honorable things that matter to them, just as you have things you consider honorable yourself.

It can be theoretical trades.  One Senator wants higher taxes on imported goods to support a national manufacturing base and another Senator wants higher minimum wages so that struggling workers can afford their rent and decent food.

Or it can be more practical.  One House Member sees a need in his/her District for a bridge to connect manufacturing to highways and another sees a need for road improvements between 2 large cities.

Or both sides want to change some social laws and agree to meet in the middle for things to be changed in the future as society changes.

But that isn't what is happening today.  Today, what happens is that both sides say they want 100%  and the other side gets 0% and they fight to the death about it as if the slightest degree of negotiation is fatal.

Because it is.  The US has not been so polarized since just before the Civil War.  When I was young, there were Liberal Republicans and Conservative Repulicans.  There were Liberal Democrats and Conservative Democrats.  Each Party had to first find some degree of agreement within themselves before they could nominate some Presidential candidate.

The result was that the candidates were either close to "centrist" or had to be close.  US politics, as a Social Democracy worked well that way. 

Nixon ruined that by enticing all the conservative democrats his way, Goldwater exemplified that, and the Democrats responded by slowing absorbing the Progressive Republicans (like me). 

And here we are now.  Civil Wars occur when a people are geographically split, ideologically split, religiously split, or politically split.  We are reaching all 4 of those.

What to do?  Get our elected leaders back toward the center.  Choose centrists in every election. Or at least the least extreme candidate.  Politicians don't elect themselves, it takes we voters to put them in office.

In Maryland, Governor Larry Hogan is a Republican.  I normally vote Democrat by default because the Republican candidates seem too extreme usually.  I disagree with some things he has done.  But he is closer to the center than his Democratic opponent. 

I will put my vote toward the more centrist candidate.  I have to start somewhere.  I'm not choosing a Party, I'm choosing a candidate.

Look at your own State's candidates.  Choose center.  Put people in office who can actually work together.  Because those are the leaders of our future.  That House Member you elect next month may be the President in 30 years,

Matching Paint, 2

So I went to Lowe's because Home Depot said they had the same (Duron Aztec Rouge) paint color in Valspar.  Well, of course Lowe's had no idea what I was talking about.  According to their computer, they had no such color.

It was maddening!

But I had info with me...  And all I wanted was a color card.  Lowe's sells Valspar paint.  I had the closest Valspar color name with me.  They couldn't find it!  Not the color sample card or even the color.  And Valspar had it on their website.  But Lowe's couldn't find it in any of their colr sample cards.

I showed the paint guy  the formula for the paint, but he didn't understand it, which was frustrating.  Paint color is defined in 3 numbers.  Hue, Saturation, and Lightness.  All paint companies understand that.  That is HOW they define their colors.  If *I* worked in paints, I would make sure to understand that.

My original color was Hue, Saturation, and Lightness 4, 46, 84.  I found that Valspar "Hearts Afire" was only one number different.  But they couldn't even find that in their own line of paint.

But I also had a Pittsburgh paint name of the litterally same color with me.  One number different in a different category.  Lowe's could find THAT!  They mixed a quart of paint for me.

I probably don't even care much if there is a slight color mismatch.  Its a black-out bedroom and the color hasn't faded much after 25 year but maybe some.  Better a close match than bare plaster patch, right?

But this experience of color matching is really reinforced my conviction that even the "experts" in retail sales haven't the slightest idea of what they are really doing.  They just learn "the system" and are good little employees.

Matching Paint

I have an odd color in my bedroom.  It doesn't bother me because I'm usually in the dark there.  And it is 25 years old.  The paint can is long gone.

But a few years ago, I had some electrical work dome and ended up plasterig some holes.  I sanded them down just fine, but I didn't have any paint left.

So there the patches sit mocking me in the whiteness of the plaster...  I mock back by turning out the lights... 

But there comes a time to fix all things and I decided to prime and paint the plaster patches.  I assumed that, because I knew the name of the paint, a match would be easy to get.  Silly me!  I looked up the color name "Aztec Rouge" and went to the DIY store to get a match.  And they had no idea what I was talking about.

They have some really cool equipment there.  They can match any piece of color I bring in.  But they only match colors by formulas in their books.  If I gave them a pice of my wall, they could match the color because their machine tells them to take a white base and add an ounce of this and 3.5 ounces of that.  Voila!  Which IS pretty impressive. 

But I didn't have a piece of wall to give them.  What I DID have was the exact hue, saturation and lightness numbers (which define a color).  Because I found that no-longer-existing paint color on the internet.  The exact numbers are 4, 46, 84 if you understand that stuff.  I do because a former art-major girlfriend didn't and I learned enough to help her pass her "you make it" color-wheel chart (and she probably doesn't understand it to this day, but I hope she has a great life).

So I cave the hue, saturation and lightness numbers to the DIY paint department, and they had no idea what to do with them.  In fact, they said the numbers meant nothing.

And I was sure they were defining the color.  But when several professional paint clerks say they mean nothing, there isn't much to discuss.  So I went home and did some research.

Don't be shocked that I was right.  I'm used to it.  At a paint color-matching site, I found my exact color, and changing the numbers changed the color slightly,  so the numbers did mean something; the paint clerks just didn't understand them. 

The old paint no longer exists.  But I found one with only one number different by "1".  I doubt I could tell the difference, and the paint I found is slightly paler than the original and that should match the old paint better anyway.  But the the nearest store that sells it is 20 miles away.

That should be my worst problem, LOL!  At least I solved it. At least now I can get them to match it.  In Pittsburgh paints, the color is called 'Cranapple' and their book tells them how to make THAT! 

Lawn and Flower Stuff

I mentioned previously deciding to overseed my lawn and improve it a bit.  That involved aerating the lawn and mowing the grass short, then raking all the clippings up for removal, roughing up the bare soil so seeds would have better contact, and planning to broadcast good quality fescue seed (shade and sun blend since my lawn varies in sunlight) before a few days of forecast sunny days.

Unfortunately, the sun never showed up (always a few days in the future).  Well, I think it managed to rain nearly every day this month (and not much from Hurricane Florence).  I have always been told to seed in dry weather so the seeds fall through the existing grass and reach the ground, and because the seeds might rot in wet weather.

But I was running out of the right temperatures, so I checked on the internet.  To my surprise, some sites (apparently not connected to sellers) actually recommended overseeding in mild rainy periods.  They said that wild grass naturally germinates in mild rainy times and it avoids having to water the lawn 2x a day.

Well, as I said, it is getting cooler, and germination rates go down (and emergence slows down) when it is cooler.

And forgive me, they said what I wanted to hear, LOL!  That's not something I usually pay attention to, but I'm running out of time.  The forecast is for drizzly weather for the next week at least (never pay attention to weather forecasts more than 5 days out).

So, today was dry.  I mowed the lawn short again, re-roughed the bare spots, and spread my grass seed according to the spreader setting recommended by the seed company.  And ran out of seed halfway!

So off to the DIY big-box stores I went.  Walmart was only selling little bags at high prices.  I went to Home Depot looking for big bags of separate Sun and Shade varieties of fescue.  Some bags didn't specify of were seed and fertilizer combos.  Earlier this month, they might have had each, but I finally found a good sun/shade blend.  Naturally, that was the only grass seed without a price label!

I found a clerk and he searched the racks for the pricing label for about 5 minutes without success.  Finally he pulled out a digital gadget and scanned the barcode and got the price in 10 seconds.

What IS it with some people?  He knew he had the scanner.  Does he hate customers and enjoys passive/aggressive punishment of them?  Did he resent me disturbing his rest against the shelves?  Does he hate digital gadgets?

But the price was "OK" and off I went.

I was also looking for a lot of pansies to plant for Fall color.  They only had single plants in individual 2" pots for $3 each.  I wanted about 50.  But not for $150!  But they did have a really unusual Mum that caught my eye.

Most mums are fluffy-flowered and red, orange, or yellow.  This one had vivid red petals with a bright yellow center.  It was called "Red Daisy".  It was only available in a 2 gallon pot for $11.  I usually buy smaller plants, as they grow well for me and I'm patient.  I just looked it up.  It gets BIG!  3' tall and 5' wide.  The label didn't mention that.  But it lives about 10 years and I bet dividing it every few years helps it live longer.  Well, I was planning to re-arrange the flowerbed anyway (many old plants dying off - even most "perennials" aren't "forever") and this will nearly force some changes.  I am planning to go with larger individual flowers interspersed with annuals.


So I went to the Lowe's next to them for Pansies.  They had the same $3 pots,  BUT they also had 12-cel packs in same color per pack for $10.  I bought 2 packs of yellow, and 1 each of purple, blue, and bronze.  And 2 of the blooming pansies in one purple pack are nearly BLACK!  I've never seen that before.  Those will go in a special pot on the deck.

I got the new grass seed spread after I returned home.  Now I just have to wait to see what grows in the rain.  The bare spots will be proof of success or failure.  If grass seed doesn't germinate and grow well in a week of drizzle, well, at least I tried!

Almost Delivered

The DR brand self-propelled brush mower arrived at the nearest delivery depot they use today.  Its a Fedex depot.  I chose that because DR ships stuff freight and the options were (since a freight truck can't back up into my driveway and get out in my dead end residential street):  I offload a 250 pound crate from the truck (yeah, right) at no charge or the truckers uses the tailgate to lower the crate to ground level and pushes it off (on the street) for $99.  I considered that, as the mower is probably mostly assembled and it would mean I mostly had to break the crate apart (we are not talking cardboard boxes here).

For no charge, I could have it delivered to a depot and pick it up or arrange redelivery into my garage.  Well, it was a Fedex depot, and they deliver stuff in trucks that can manage residential driveways.  And I could pick it up for free if I drove there and they would load it on my hauling trailer.

So I called Fedex about residential delivery.  I should have called them before I ordered the brush mower.  The depot is out of my delivery area.  They can have it redelivered by a contract company though.

But the Fedex person asked a question I did not expect.  "Do you have permission from the shipper to have a 3rd party pick it up and deliver it to you"?  I had to admit I did not specifically have such permission.  So they are emailing the shipper to receive that permission.

When you get a question you did not expect, it can be hard to think of follow-up questions on the spot.  So I said, yes please email the shipper.

Afterwards, it occurred to me I should have asked why permission was needed.  After all, the shipper had completed the delivery (to the Fedex depot).  Why would they be involved in any further movement of the crate? 

In my working career, I was very good at asking follow-up questions to surprises like that.  These days, not so much.  It might be age, experience with the subject matter at work, less frequency of experiencing surprise questions these days, etc.

But anyway, now I'm waiting for a company to give me permission to have a 3rd party pick up my crate at a depot and deliver it into the garage.  I expect they will grant such permission as a routine matter.

I could drive 40 miles to the Fedex depot and pick it up at any time.  But towing a heavy crate on a 5'x8' trailer is not the safest thing in the world.  And I really hate driving long distances.  40 miles with a trailer is "long" to me.

Everything will get resolved successfully eventually.  I can't WAIT to cut down that 1/8th acre of blackberries, plant some specimen trees and get that part of my back yard back!

Movies

I'm not a great movie-watcher.  Mostly sci-fi.  But I've watched some good movies.  One was 'True Grit'  (some movies are just unique) and today I found a remake offerred from 2010 free TV.  I had some doubts.  The Texas Ranger seemed sexist.  I mean, when I first switched to the movie, he seemed a bit "stalkish".  So I went elsewhere, but I went back.  I mostly never like remakes.  And I hardly ever remember names.

So, the girl character was right, Rooster Cogburn was right, the Texas Ranger was mostly right (Glenn Campbell seemed more honorable in the original) but got better as the movie went along.

The bad guys were good as actors (and bad guys are seldom good actors). 

In fact what impressed me was that all the characters were as good or better than the originals.  I think even the bad guys did a good job of being bad.   If there was an award for "best remake", I would suggest the 2010 version of 'True Grit'.

Watch it if you get the chance...

Odds and Ends

1.  I had to dispatch another groundhog a few days ago.  I've gotten in the habit of finding their burrows, stuffing the carcass into the opening, and covering the opening with the dirt from around the burrow.  Well, this last one made a weird entrance that was just under soil level.  I covered the carass and tamped down the soil.  I do that because I figure new varmints MUST sometimes intersect old burrows and the existence of a dead groundhog ought to discourage the new ones.

I noticed some movement around the burrow the next day, and realized there were 3 vultures standing on my toolshed!  I went out (and they flew away) and discovered just a slight exposure of the groundhog from pecking at the soil. 

I've seen nature shows that state that vultures find dead food only by sight.  They are wrong.  The burrow was not visible at all due to thick overhanging overgrowth.  They can smell as well as see.  After I covered the carcass with 4" more dirt, they came back the next day.  So then I covered it with heavy boards.  They haven't been back.

2.  I lost power today.  No storm, no lightning, it just went off for an hour.  That was a surprise.  The bigger surprise was that my computer went off.  I have a backup battery for it, but it didn't activate.  I did some chores by dim daylight (cleaned litterboxes, collected trash, prepared veggies and chicken for dinner, and listened to a battery backed-up radio.  I have buried electrical cables here, so outages are rare.  Which means I forget how much I depend on electricity.

I had to laugh at myself when I tried to open the garage door (electric opener), walked into rooms and flipped light switches, etc.  I've read that leaving too many electrical things on after a power failure can throw circuit breakers when the power returns from sudden demand, so I went around and turned off everything I could expect for a couple lights to let me know when the power returned.

3.  It has been raining for so long that my tomatoes and beans are dying.  I picked all the ripe tomatoes and most are cracked open from all the water and fungal diseases are rampant.  Fortunately, I have 3 tomato plants that are under the rainshadow of the overhanging roof.  I means that in dry times, I have to water them more, but in rain, they do better.  And they are all looking healthy and loaded with fruits.

4.  The mosquitos are breeding like crazy.  The ground is so wet, the larvae are surviving in places one would never expect.  Even when I drain planting pot saucers carefully each day, there is enough moisture left (and new rain) to keep them alive.  I even found some growing in a slight depression in a tree branch (I drilled a hole through the depression on advice from a garden site).

5.  The constant rain is depressing.  I stepped out on the deck yesterday just as the sun broke through briefly (must have been the one hole in the clouds for hundreds of square miles) and got a bit silly.  I pretended I was burned by the strange light in the sky.  As if I was Gollum tied with an Elven rope).  But seriously, everytime it isn't actually raining, I let the Mews out so they don't go stir-crazy.  They have been stuck inside so much for weeks, I'm cleaning the litterboxes 2 and even 3 times a day.  Which tells me how much of their "business" they do outside...

6.  I may have gotten the mower running again, but it isn't a happy engine.  I mentioned fishing some debris out of the gas tank.  It makes funny noises when it does start, so I suspect some debris has been sucked into the fuel tube.  I've looked, but the fuel line is cleverly hidden from DIYers like me.  I can't even figure out how to get at it.  I've lived here 30 years.  The first mower lasted 10 years.  This one is 20 years old.  It might be a good time to just buy a new one.  New ones cut better and more levelly and use less gas.  I might buy a "zero-turn mower".  And maybe I just want a new one.

7.  Speaking of "new ones", my Toyota Highlander is 13 years old.  Things are starting to go wrong.  It only has 28,500 miles on it (I don't drive much).  But age matters too.  Last year, I brought it in for regular maintenance.  They did the work, but suggested I replace the timing belt, all engine belts, and the waterpump.  IIRC, they suggested a cost of about $1,000.

I declined at the time, but they planted a seed of concern in my mind.  Now I worry about the timing belt breaking.  That means the car just STOPS and there isn't anything you can do about it.  You can only have it towed somewhere to have a lot of work done.

Well, I've been thinking it was time to replace the car.  I've been hoping to wait for a decent electric vehicle that could tow a small utility trailer (or even a fuel cell vehicle), but I don't think I can wait much longer.  

Because I called the dealer and asked about the cost of the timing belt and the other work.  Over $2,300!  I'll call a non-dealer repair shop and get an estimate, but it probably won't be much different.

Which leaves me in a slight dilemma.  I don't want a new car with all sorts of internet connections built in (privacy concerns plus I just wouldn't use them - but tell me why I might want them) and I don't like to buy used cars (someone traded it in for a reason). 

I am considering a new Toyota Highlander (for familiarity) or a Subaru Forester.  Both have top Consumer Reports ratings and I am used to SUVs.  Since I drive so little, gas mileage isn't a concern.  I also have some idea of buying a renovated car from my younger days plus a small electric-only vehicle for local errands. 

Oddly enough, a renovated Pontiac Bonneville Convertible or Eagle Vision (my 2 favorite cars I've owned) and a small electric wouldn't cost much more than a new Highlander (and there is a shop in town that specializes in services old cars). 

8.  I mentioned the house is 30 years old.  It needs work.  I redid the roof and siding a few years ago, but the inside is OLD.  30 year old cheap carpeting is literally something to sneeze at.  I'm almost afraid to vacuum it lest it just falls apart.  I'm fine with most of the house.  I don't need any walls removed, kitchen renovations, etc.  But my furniture is like that of a college grad in his first apartment with old hand-me-down mismatched stuff from the parents and leftovers from previous roommates.  I have windows that can't be opened, and plaster-patches left over from electric work 3 years ago.  It is bwyond DIY work for me.  I need to change all that and get a general contractor in here. 

9.  Time for a new Will, too.  What I arranged in the 90s doesn't match what I need today.  Different family needs, different charities, and my assets have changed too (the stock market I poured savings into in 2009 has been very very good to me). 

10.  The house is a mess.  I used to clean weekly before Dad moved here in 2012, I cleaned more often when he was here (to avoid listening to his beloved Fox News), but I've been lax since he left.  There may be some cobwebs in the tall corner of the staircase from his time here.  I need to spend some time catching up. 

11.  I have 2 toolsheds.  I built one 25 years ago.  The other was built by a professional 10 years ago.  Mine leaks.  If it ever stops raining before Winter, I will replace it.  Properly, this time.

Enough for now.