Won One Against AOL

When I had email from Verizon, they were happy to grant me 3 email addresses.  I used one for ME, one for The Mews and one for my forum discussions.  When Verizon dumped us onto AOL, AOL wanted only one email per user.  It was supossed to be "identical service", but of course it was not.  I figured out how to get 2, but not the forum one.  I figured that out today, LOL!

It's one per browser...  I had the main email set up on Safari and I discovered I could set up The Mews on Firefox without AOL noticing.

But I'm so stupid, I didn't think about trying Chrome until last night.  It sort of works, but it shows all my emails to me.  Took me all night to get that far.  I'll work on that in a couple days.  Right now, I'm pretty much damn worn out.  I'll take my paltry 1/2 victory and go with it for now.  LOL!  At least I can get gardening emails again...

Does everyone else have to struggle this much?  I feel so damn stupid sometimes. 

Holiday Lights 2

I got the house lights set better on the timer.  They come on at dusk and go off at dawn,  Took a few days of adjusting.  It was so cold the past few nights I had to wear gloves.  Picking out and removing tiny plastic  timer push-ins wearing gloves isn't easy.  But I finally got them right.

The Mews didn't like that I didn't let them outside much the past few days.  Sure they have fur, but it was only 12F when I got up.  I'm not going to let them out in that temperature.  The last time I let Laz out like that, he went up a tree, I fell off the ladder, and I haven't recovered from that yet.   

Seriously, some of the parts I injured then are getting worse lately.  I'm getting to an age where things never quite heal.  The compression knee brace helps on the left.  I walk kind of stiff-leeged these days.  But I think it is getting better.  Some problems heal with time and careful waling.  Stairs are annoying.

So, when I got up and Laz and Lori wanted to go out when it was just 12F, I just laughed at them. 

It was too cold in the house late Christmas Eve,  It actually got down to 8F at one point outside.  We haven't gotten that cold here in over 20 years.

I have 2 digital thermometers that also tell me the outside temp and they agreed about 8 all night.  The thermostat was set at 68F; it stayed at 62.  Even the direct (emergency) electrical heating didn't help.  OK, yeah 62 isn't exactly threatening, but I worried the heat pump was failing.  "Perfect" time of year for that, right?

When it got up to 20F outside, it worked better and slowly got to 72.  8F outside isn't exactly the world's coldest temp by a long shot,  but apparently it defeats my aging heat pump.  I bet it fails soon.  They always fail on the hottest or coldest days...  Calling the installers for a maintenance check tomorrow. They have been good about maintenance before.

Complaining that the heat "only kept the house at 62F" sounds pretty "high-faluting" (I grew up with routinely colder morning house temps as that as a kid in New England) but what I want to avoid is it suddenly being 32F.  The house is extremely insulated and holds warmth, but it loses heat eventually of course.  It's hard to cook wearing a heavy Winter coat and hoping repair people can arrive in a few days...  

Happily, the weather is warming.  Should allow the heat pump guys some days to fix serious other problems elsewhere and check mine out soon enough before it fails entirely.

Holiday Habits

I got the house lights lit.  Not a big deal, they have been there for 2 years.  But I had to get up on a step ladder to set the timer.   Well, I don't love ladders these days. 

Some of my neighbors do serious yard decorating.  Some have inflatable stuff on the lawn.  Some have fancy  moving lights.  I stay simple.  A line of blue lights along the  lower part of the house.  I'll decorate a fake tree in a day or two,  Just wrap a light string around it near a window so my neighbors can see it.

As they say, it is the thought that counts.

Some years, I do more effort than other years.  LOL!

Best tree a few years ago...:  

Remembering Skeeter

Today is Skeeter's Over The Bridge Day.  He was the first cat I ever chose on my own.  All the previous ones were rescues or "give-aways" as in "can you take an unwanted cat"?

Not that I didn't give love and care to the many grey tabby females who came my way.  I loved them and cared for them and gave them attention.  But Skeeter was the first one I had much choice about.  He was male (and I wasn't sure if that was good).  He was mostly orange (and that was different).  But even then, I didn't have much choice in the decision.

The little private pet store was being renovated.  There were workers with loud equipment and dust everywhere.  Alone in a small cage was this one little orange kitten, shaking in terror.  I had to save him.

I went in looking for a Siamese female (like my family had in my childhood).  I left with an orange male kitten trembling from the chaos.  And he terrified by white plastic bags all his life.  My guess is that "if you went into that white plastic bag, you never came back".  That was Halloween Day 1992.

He hid for 3 days.  I finally lured him out from the under-counter hidey-hole (that every kitten since has discovered) with some treats.  While he he desperately eating, I stroked him gently.  It may have been the first decent attention he ever received.

After that, there was no getting away from him.  He was at my feet all the hours I was at home.  When I returned home from work, he climbed up on me.  I still had a grey tabby female, but she was injured by a dog and was rather mean.  I was his sanctuary.  He slept under the blanket with me at night.

I didn't really understand at first, but I eventually figured out his desperate attention was his version of security.  I was his only "safe place".  I will never forget that sense of being so important to a cat.  It changed my life.

The grey tabby female (Tinkerbelle) and I got along fine, but I was mostly just food&shelter to her.  For Skeeter, I was life itself.

He got named "Skeeter" because he stayed around me like a mosquito.  Not to diminish all the happy grey tabbies who came before, but we just generally "shared space".  Skeeter occupied it desperately as if his life was on the line every day the first year.  

After a year, I finally understood he needed a friend for when I was away at work.  Tinkerbelle was kind of mean.  So exactly at Halloween Day again 1993, I went to the same pet store.  This time it was quiet.  There was a cage with 2 female kittens at the front.  I loved one friendly one, but was told it was being kept as a Honeymoon gift.  That left the unfriendly B&W one who kept .  I decided to take her.

It wasn't easy.  The owner had to literally pry her claws off the mesh cage.  She was not a happy kitty!  Like Skeeter, she hid in the hidey-hole for a couple of days.  She was happier to meet Skeeter.  It wasn't quite like Laz and Lori (50% maybe) but they got along.  And Skeeter had somekitty to spend the day with.  

Skeeter blossomed from scared lonely kitty to Protective Mancat.  He kept "mean old Tinkerbelle" away from her.  They often napped together, but mostly he guarded her.  I named her "LC"for "Little Cow" because of her colors.  

At least, they were good friends all their lives.  Sadly, Tinkerbelle was outside one day in 1999 and I (sadly) never saw her again.  So it was Skeeter and LC after that.

Skeeter remained very attached to me.  LC was attached to Skeeter.  He was my cat and LC was his.

When I retired in March 2006, it was the happiest day of Skeeter's life.  I was suddenly home all day.  Even approaching 14, he wanted very much to be near me all day.  I retired on the earliest day I could.  As much as he liked LC, I think 14-16 were the happiest 2 years of his life.  He adored my constant presence.

I know that seems self-glorifying, but he did.  He was around me all day.  I had to learn to shuffle my feet so that I wouldn't step on him.  He never forgot (I think) that I rescued him and gave him a good life.  

He sat on my lap anytime I sat down (and LC would sit next to him).

Skeeter is the reason I have the cat-blog.

He was sitting on my lap while I was reading another cat-blog, and I saw a button that said "start a blog".  That was August 2006.  I clicked it.  I'm not great at apps, so it took a couple days before I got it working. But Skeeter was on my lap the whole time.  I finally got a post up...

It was, of course, originally called "Skeeter and LC".  I was kind of dumb then.  It didn't really occur to me at the time that Skeeter was getting older. 

On this day in 2008, I had to bring Skeeter to the vet to be euthanized.  His kidneys were failing and he was suddenly falling over against the wall.  I held him in my arms as the Good Vet gave him the final shot.

I will never forget the drive home with him.  Just 2 miles and I had to pull off the road many times.  Brought his body into the house for LC and Ayla to sniff for understanding.

It took LC a month to get on my lap for attention.  And she left a year later.

Ayla remained, so I got her a companion (Iza).  

I went back and read the last posts about Skeeter earlier today.  It was hard.  But there were so many wonderful comments about him.  And from so many who are no longer with us.

I originally had a hole in my heart I thought could not be filled.  I've learned holes can be filled with new love.

But there will always be a special soft spot in the walls of my heart for Skeeter, my first chosen one and so attached to me...

24 years and sometimes I still I see him around.

Wow!

 Now, THAT IS A HOLIDAY SHIRT! 

Problems Commenting On Blogs

I may have solved it.  To reduce possible retaliation, I will refer to the famous blogging site I currently use as "GB".  I'm being careful...  ;)

I have had increasing difficulties using GB the past year or 2.  Even trying to comment with my GB p@assword and accou@t name was less and less successful.  I recently got a clue that GB doesn't like me using some other brows@rs.  So I tried theirs.  So far as I can tell, I'm suddenly getting through to all sites.

I have always tried to avoid using a single c@mpany's services for everything.  They get control of too much informati@n.  

Since my bl@gg comments suddenly get through using the Chr@mme browser, I feel forced to stay with it for a while.  It is a matter of success vs priv@cy, and for bloggy comments, I will accept that.

So, if you are having troubles getting c@mments through to some "places you like", you might want to give chrr@me a try. 

I'm not paranoid, but some business are retaliatory...  LOL!

Answering Questions

I get many more questions on Mark's Mews, but sometimes I get some here.  And Megan asked a bunch!  She was on a roll...  And since they were posted on the blog (sometimes they are email), I'll answer them on the blog.

Comment:  "You'll laugh when I say it - your experience is exactly what Australia has all over the country! Our polls are always conducted on Saturdays and many of the polling stations are school assembly halls or church halls etc. Drive, park right outside, walk in, get your name checked off, vote, put the paper in the box and leave. Done in 10 minutes. And ... voting is compulsory, which I know is always of some amusement to Americans."

Answer:  I was pleased to read that Australia has my positive experience with voting.  It should be like that everywhere.  I do note that voting is compulsory.  That probably wouldn't work here, but I like the idea of getting more people to vote.  In invests them in the results.

Saturday is a good choice of days to vote.  As I understand it, Tuesday was chosen in the US for religious reasons (though practical ones).  The US was so rural once that it took a day to get to a place to vote.  So, since so many were church-goers, they needed Monday to travel in order to vote, so Tuesday it was!

Comment:  "I'm voting for no daylight savings where I am - it means that in summer, it can still be quite hot at 9pm or 10pm." 

Answer:  Many people want a single time system (and most seem to like Standard over Daylight Saving).  But there are good arguments for both or just one.  Most in favor of Standard mention schoolchildren or farmers.  Most in favor of Daylight Saving mention commuting conditions or being retired (and appreciating the later daylight).  For myself, early morning daylight is wasted daylight.  I haven't gotten up at 7 am in 16 years!  And around here schoolbus pickups would be in daylight even if Daylight Saving was year-round.

Comment:  "Could you not poison the invasive stuff?"

Answer:  The invasive vines are intermixed with my flowers in many places, so I can't just spray them (and I try to stay organic).  But also, this particular invasive wine is resistant to herbicides (waxy leaves) and have very deep roots which survive and regrow.  Among the flowers, I would have to cut them out or dig individually.  Among the solid areas of it, smothering them with black plastic for a year is really the only solution and I should do that!

Comment:  "I lurve the way you just slip into the conversation that you've been holding onto leftover timber for 30 bloody years, Mark! What a hoot!!!

Answer:  While I am not exactly a "hoarder" (the living areas are fine), I do keep stuff that seems potentially useful.  I have a weakness for identical glass jars (for refrigerator stuff), large plastic shelled nut containers (to keep cat kibble, distilled/rainwater water for the Venus Fly Traps, and goldfinch thistle seed in).  The black oil sunflower seeds for the rest of the birds are kept in a metal trash barrel.

So, when I built the 6' high fence

 

around the backyard (to keep large straying dogs away from The Mews and deer out) with 8' boards, I ended up with a lot of 18"-24" pieces.  My yard slopes.  It was a step-down fence, which meant every board had to be cut to exact height.  Which means the leftovers are all slightly different in length.

But since I had LOTS of those pieces, it seemed useful to keep them.  I have used some over the years for various projects.  All The Mews Memorials were built from some of the pieces, I have used some short ones vertically to anchor framed landscaping bed boards horizontally, and some have been part of 1"-4" platforms for my Spring seed-starting.

The small bits on top are double left-overs.  But I have plans for them.

But you have a point.  The first board I brought to the new house in 1986 was a 2"x12"x12' board I brought from the previous (rented) house.  It is still where I put it in the garage on Moving Day, LOL!  But every wood-worker has "stuff" they keep around.  It sometimes is useful.

Hope you all enjoyed all that.

But is it just me, or are you seeing reverse black/white text scatterred all over?  I have no idea why that happens sometimes...

  ------------

Dinner

TBT:   Sometimes I go all out...  

Home-made Spring Rolls, Onion Rings, and Fried Potatoes.  Diced steak with roasted red and green bell peppers.  Broccoli and tossed salad. Wine.  LOL!

The Mews wonder why I bother with all those "yucky" veggies...  Well, I don't ask them why they like mousies and kibbles so much.  😀

Voting

I love to vote.  And in fact, I love to go to the voting place on Election Day.  I voted by mail-in ballot in 2020 and afterwards it felt like I hadn't actually voted.  The process seems to be important to me...

I walk in and go straight to a table where a election official asks my name, address, and birthdate.  No line!  Prints out a small slip of paper which I sign and take to the next table.  

That person exams the printed slip of paper carefully (even though he clearly saw the clerk next to him produce it).  He asks if I want to vote by machine or paper (I choose machine) and he creates a longer slip of sturdier paper which will record my actual votes.  No line!

I go to the machine side of the room.  No line!  I am amazed some people want paper ballots (no line there either).  I hate filling in little circles with a pen, but some appear to prefer that.  Which is fine.  I like the touch screen machine; it is so easy.  

I have my sample ballot all filled out at home.  I research every choice a week ahead, right down to School Board and Judge of The Orphan's Court.  Referendums especially; some of them are written to be confusing, but a little internet work literally explains each one sentence by sentence.  And I check the sources of the explanations, too.  No political party or "cause" organization sites; Newspaper "fact-checker" and .edu sites are usually good.

So there I am comfortably seated at the touch screen.  First choice was Governor.  And it wouldn't accept my vote.  Huh?  Then I notice a box that says you must view all the candidate selections first".  Oh, because of 3rd/4th/5th/6th party candidates, it took 2 screens to show them all.  Talk about the election system trying to be as fair as possible!  So I do that, make my choice again, and move on through all the various elections.

After I have voted in all of them, I get a display showing all my choices.  I have to review them and confirm my choices (in case I made an error in one).  Another example of the Election Officials trying to be as fair as possible.

My State (Maryland) is wonderful about election fairness and accuracy.  We have no "hanging chads" here.  

When I confirm my choices, the machine prints out the results and returns it to me on the paper I initially inserted.  I take that to the last station, where I scan it in.  It confirms my choices have all been successfully registered.  The person there gives me an "I voted" sticker.

I was in and out in 10 minutes!

But I want to say it wasn't always like that.  When I moved here in 1986, my County Government was majority Republican.  Even back then, they didn't really much like or trust voters.  My 1st couple elections, they forced all voters in my town (of about 30,000) to vote at one high school.  The line was hideous and it took 4 hours!

And they liked it that way.  They recognized that more and more people from the Washington DC suburbs were moving to the County and they weren't mostly Republicans.  They (we) were escaping the high cost of housing, higher local taxes, etc.

My own town basically exists as a bedroom community of people who commuted to jobs in and around Washington DC.   If you saw a map of the town, you would see a semi-circle with the flat edge against the County line.  Everyone wanted to be close as possible to work but in "one County further away", LOL!

The result was that, after 10 years, my County became Democratic-majority voters and Democratic-governed!  The voting situation changed almost immediately.  Instead of 1 voting place in 1 high school (in my town), they set up a dozen smaller ones.  And with more voting booths.  The voting line went from 4 hours, to 30 minutes, to 10, and now 0.

I am not especially  dedicated to Maryland.  There are many other fine places to live.  I'm here because my parents lived in Maryland (Dad's job sent him here) and I simply went to the State University (and stayed around).  But I'm glad I did.

Equally, I am sure that some States have good voting systems too.  But some don't.  If every State's voting system was like Maryland's (or at least my County's), voting would be a lot more easy, fair, and accurate.  And that would be A Good Thing!

Keep in mind that I am not praising the elections results (though Maryland is a solidly Democratic State) so much as I am praising the voting process it has established.  We did after all, elect a Republic Governor for 2 terms (sensible moderate and rational guy).

But mostly, I wanted to say what a wonderful voting experience I had today, and why...

New Yardstuff, Part 2

So I had these empty spaces where the old trees and junk shrubs were cut down and the roots grinded out... 

I planted a crepe myrtle nearest the house (because it will be 8' tall).  I'm going to plant a 6" rooted cutting from a variegated Eononymous shrub and keep it topped at 4'.  I'm still debating whether to replant new Golden Rain trees at the front sides of the driveway.  Given that I seem to be layering by height towards the house, I might go with ground covers or small 'Knockout' roses (no aroma, but they drop the dead flowers and don't attract Japanese Beetles).  

I think I will root a few cuttings of my 1 remaining (of 3 original) Burning Bushes to go where the Beech Tree once stood.  The Burning Bush originally growing near that spot has been overwhelmed by a wild rose I want to keep.  

That one was a nice accident.  One was growing in the backyard when I moved here and I didn't know what it was.  Nice smell, pretty (but small) flowers.  Then, after it was graded out during some landscaping work, I saw a picture of it in a gardening article and regretted allowing it to be killed.  It was called a "Hawthorne Blush' or 'Hawthorne Rose' or something like that.

Second chances are rare.  But apparently, the Hawthorn Rose had gotten seeded next to the Burning Bush and grew along side vigorously.  I'll save the Rose and plant a new Burning Bush!

But my lawn is not easy to mow.  A riding mower is not the most agile of equipment.  I have too many curved edgings.  I think it is time to change that.  My neighbors across the street have nice curved high stacks of inter-locking paver bricks, so I don't want to copy them.

And I tend to be rather geometric.  In the yard, straight angles are easy to mow.  So what I'm thinking of is pulling up all the (rather useless) curved plastic edging and replacing it with rectangular wood frames.  But for the sake of visual interest, I thought of nailing various height scraps of wood to the outer side of the frames.

I have pieces to use.  When I built the step-down fence 30 years ago, I was left with about 100 odd-sized bits of pressure-treated board.  I saved them in the garage.  Now I have a use for them!  I LOVE reusing stuff!  I will cut the pieces to 4"-8" random-length pieces and nail them to the basic wood frames around all the shrubs in the front yard.  The small air-gun nails are weak, but will hold the pieces in place while 2 lines of exterior wood adhesive permanently affix them.

Have to make the shrub-frames first of course, but that is relatively easy.  And last about as long as I will.  And pressure-treated wood won't bother the shrubs.   I'll post pictures when I get that done.   

Next post, adding topsoil to level the lawn from the root grinding and planting grass to cover it...

New Yardstuff, Part 1

I am thrilled with the warm November weather here.  It is unusually nice.   It has been in the low to  mid 70s for days again, dry, and sunny.  Perfect for outdoor work.  

I roto-tilled the areas in the front yard where the tree stumps and roots were grinded out  a few days ago so that I could add topsoil, level the area and replant grass.  I filled fourteen 35#  kitty litter tubs (about 5 gallons each) twice and 4 more to complete the raking.

Those were about 1/2 stump mulch and 1/2 dirt.  I used it to completely fill one 4'x4'x4' compost bin in alternating layers with shredded mowed and bagged fallen leaves, and grass and kitchen waste from the old bin.  I was worried there wasn't enough "green" stuff to feed the worms and microbes, but it seems to have been enough.

I stuck in a kitchen thermometer probe (can't find my long compost bin thermometer at the moment) and left it there for an hour.  It went up from 70F outside temperature to 114F in the bin, so it is heating up well by microbial decomposition.  I did not expect it to start to heat up so soon!  😀. In a few weeks, it may get up to  140F and that it perfect.  

Thinking that it could use more greens for long-tern heating, I cast my eye on the wild english ivy growing in the far back yard.  Well, I had the collection bag on the self-propelled battery-powered mower, so off I went at it.  

I should mention that the ivy (English and Poison) are invaders from my backyard neighbor who simply ignores the back 10' of his yard.  I fight them (the plants) constantly.  Also, a previous side neighbor planted Some Damn Invasive Vine (which I keep forgetting the name of) which has gotten into my flowerbeds and raised garden paths.

So, it occurs to me I have a self-perpetuating source of green material for the compost bins!  If I have a fast-growing weed I want to eliminate, I might as well get some benefit from it.  I emptied a few trash barrels of old dried grass and leaves, so I can refill them until I have enough to fill the 1st bin with.  If life gives you lemons...

Having the mower in the far back, I also mowed around my 2 year-old specimen trees.  I want to build 4'x4' frames around them from old pallet wood, cover the inside with packing paper from Amazon shipments and fill it with mulch.  That should stop the underbrush vines from growing up the saplings until they get large enough to shade them out on their own.  

And by that time, the pallet frames and mulch should rot away. leaving the trees to grow naturally.  As the leader of the 'A Team' TV show used to say, "I love it when a plan comes together".

The next project is to get the DR brush mower working again.  I have a backyard of wild blackberries and undergrowth to remove.  But I left old gas in it for 2 years and it won't start now.  

The good neighbor guy across the street looked at it and suggested where I could spray "starter fluid" into the gas injector system.  I'll get at that soon.  And if I can't fix it, there are local mechanics who can.

But that's a future post...

Daylight Saving Time

I am SO  not looking forward to the end of Daylight Saving Time next Sunday.  I was a Morning Dove when younger, but I'm a Night Owl now.  These days I get up later.  I spent 35 years getting up at 5 am to get ready to commute to work (45-60 minutes away) and I grew to hate it.  After I retired 16 years ago, I expected to sleep late for a few months to "catch up".  I haven't caught up yet!  Getting up at 10 am is routine now.  😁

So Daylight Saving Time means I have an extra hour in my day outside when there aren't as many of them as for earlier-risers.  Standard time means that by the time I shower, dress, and eat lunch (while reading the newspaper), it's Noon.  Having it get dark at 6 pm is bad enough.  Come Sunday, it will be 5 pm.  

5 hours of daytime...  I can barely get an outdoor project started before it starts to get dark.  It is actually worse than that.  The huge old trees on the west side of the yard (in my neighbor's yard, so I can't do anything about them) make it darker even before sunset.  

When I was still working, Standard Time meant that, for Dec/Jan/Feb, I left home in the dark and returned in the dark.  I could only do outside stuff on weekends.  Not that there was a lot to do outside in Winter, but you  might be surprised.  Winter is the best pruning season and I have a lot of specimen trees and shrubs.  There is compost in the bins to be turned over for faster breakdown.  It is a good time to attack weeds in the flowerbeds.  There are tools to be cleaned and sharpened.  And even doing work inside feels different; when it is dark outside, it feels harder to do useful work inside.  I feel like I am awake in the middle of the night doing work.  I need all the lights on (I do thank the inventor of LED bulbs for making that MUCH cheaper).

There was some discussion (here in the US) about just making Daylight Saving Time "Standard Time".  I supported that very much, but nothing seems to have come of it.  The Senate passed a bill supporting that (effective next year), but I don't think the House did.  

I understand the reasons why Daylight Saving Time exists.  I also understand the reasons why some objected to it and want the current bi-annual change to continue.  And I know some people want Standard time to be in effect year-round.

But I sure would like it if we decided to make Daylight Saving Time become "Standard Time"!

Halloween

 I almost carved a pumpkin this year.  I even bought good one (cheap - $3.99).  And I found 2 nice cat designs online.

The 1st looked a bit complicated.  I would have cut off one of the legs or something.  And it might have been interpreted negatively.  I mean, who would approach a door where the pumpkin is "mooning" you?

So I thought maybe the 2nd would be better.  Lots of small cuts rather than a big one, more immediately-identifiable from a distance, and much more friendly-looking.

I only considered it because there are new (but trick-or-treating age) kids next door and across the street.  I haven't had a trick-or-treater knock on my door (or seen any out visiting other houses) for 15 years.  But then it occurred to me that I didn't have any suitable treats (loose unpackaged Sweet-Tarts that I keep in a jar didn't seem appropriate).

So I decided not to bother.  I usually just keep the house dark on Halloween these days anyway.  So I decided not to bother carving a pumpkin.

Then, just before dark, I realized I had some candy safe to hand out.  I have Lindor truffles in mil-chocolate hazelnut, white chocolate, and extra dark chocolate.  

And I do  have a couple of costumes I could wear.  One is a wizard outfit I made 2 decades ago.  Black cloth, sleeves draping at the wrist, iron-on shapes of moon/sun/stars/comets, etc.  But it is kind of awkward to wear.  I also have a kind of cowboy outfit.  Boots, vest, gambler-style hat.  But I also used to collect T-shirts.  Weird ones!  I used to wear them to the office on Casual Friday.  One is covered with tarantulas.  I decided that was easiest to wear and appropriate to the holiday.

So there I was.  House lights on, uncarved pumpkin at the front door, Lindor milk chocolate/hazelnut for kids and extra dark chocolate for the adults, dressed in tarantulas.

Not one trick-or-treater showed up!  Again...  

Do any of you still get trick-or-treaters?  Or is the holiday dead now (for door-to-door visits)?

[Edited to add:  "Mark's Mew's is temporarily offline.  Google has locked it for "violating community standards".  I have no idea why (what can be offensive about a cat blog?) but I have asked for a "review" and hope to hear from them soon.  It is very distressing.]

The Deck Garden

I've shown pics of my deck garden in the past.  I grow various lettuces, celery, and pak choy.  Most of them are "cut and come again".  But eventually, they wear out and die, so I have to plant again.

So I planted all again a few weeks ago.  They are doing great.  They grow fast in warm weather and don't mind cool temperatures when they are mature.  I will have to take them inside (under lights when the first hard frost is predicted) but the current Weather Channel forecast says that will be a couple more weeks.

The late "first hard freeze" is amazing.  It used to be in late October, but in the past decade it has gotten later by 2 weeks on average.  And this year will be a week later than average.  My trees and shrubs are finding the change difficult to adjust to (my newer plantings are from what was a zone further south years ago).

But my deck garden loves it.  They don't know the date of course and have no knowledge of previous years; all they know is that the temperature suits them.  They are growing quickly.

The lettuces et al were like this 2 weeks ago...

Now they are this:

The celery doesn't make true stalks here. but it is the stronger-tasting leaves I like anyway.

The lettuces are thriving.

The pak choy leaves are for wrapping contents in my Spring Rolls.  The leaves add some flavor, but mostly the prevent the contents from poking holes in the wrapper.

I am looking forward to a new batch of "cut and come again".  

Mowing The Leaves

So, yesterday, I was ready to mow the leaves to add to the compost bin.  It went easily, though I thought the mower would shred the leaves more than it did.  It acted more like a vacuum cleaner that a shredder.   I expected some bulk but not so much.  But to avoid carrying the collection bag to the compost bin every 5 minutes, I brought out a big trash barrel to collect it in and drag that to the compost bin.  

A path of mowing from the barrel and back filled the bag.  The barrel held 3 bags.  So I would bring the barrel to the bin, dump it, and spread it evenly (about 6").  Then added kitchen waste from the other bin on top.  Then added 4 buckets of the grinded tree roots on that.

Repeat, repeat, repeat.  Literally, 3 layers of each!  I filled the 2nd bin to the top.  At 4'x4'x4", it should heat up nicely even over Winter.  

The 1st bin (where I had been dumping kitchen scraps for 2 years) was almost emptied.  There is some stuff left, but because of tree roots, I have to get the last 6" loose with my mini electric tiller.

So, all in all, it turned out great!  It has been a while since I collected enough plant material to fill either bin.  I'll check to see if the temperature is rising in a couple weeks (it takes a while to get going).  I might have usable compost by Summer.

Laughable But Awful Instructions

I "love" 😖 the instructions that come with some equipment.  I have an battery self-propelled Ryobi mower (which I actually do love).  Nice quiet walk-behind and the batteries last pretty long.  Well, some of the lawn was covered deeply in leaves.  I usually just use the riding mower to shred them into the lawn, but I am redoing my compost bin and wanted to add the leaves to it.  

Between the 2 mowers, it looked like the electric one was easiest to attach a collection bag to, so last night I got the parts out of the shed and opened the manual.  There is a metal rod frame and a mesh cover.  The cover has some plastic attachments like slit plastic tubing to hold the bag to the frame.  The instctions were fairly simple.  

Basically, just turn the cover upside down, slide in the frame upside down, and slip the plastic attachments over the frame.   Yeah right!  If the manual was alive, it would have cackled evilly as I read that.  

It took 45 minutes of frustrating effort to do that one simple thing.  I finally had to use a screwdriver as a wedge to pry the attachment open, a plier to squeeze the tubing partly onto the frame, and that was just the first inch!  I needed a clamp to hold that in place while I did the next inch.  There were about 24" in 5 pieces.

When I finally got one section done, I had to use a rubber mallet to really complete the attachment tubing firmly.  I used some BAD WORDS...

I did get better at it on the other sections.  As with most one-time jobs, I was pretty good at it by the time I was done.  If the mesh cover was 1/8th" larger, it would have been so much easier.  I suppose Ryobi saves $1 per cover not adding that 1/8"...  And of course my time and effort is not an expense to them.

I'm sorry I didn't take pictures, but it wouldn't really have shown much of the trouble it was to attach.  Nor would it have been possible most of the time, since I needed both hands to hold everything in place while doing the work.

On the other hand, it was a fine tight attachment when completed, and I won't have to do it again.  I hope the cover lasts as long as the mower.  All that was needed was to attach the collection bag.  But it was dark by then so I decided to tackle that this morning (dreading some complicated troublesome attachment procedure).

So, this morning I took the collection bag and manual to the shed to see how bad that might be.  It went right on as simple as you please!  Lift the back cover of the mower, set the bottom front of the bag on a little ledge on the mower, lift the back slightly, and two 1" rods on the bag frame slip into 2 metal slots on the mower.  

That part was very nicely-designed!  And I will compliment the design for another reason.  There is a carrying hand on the bag frame.  It is placed perfectly.  When I lifted the filled bag off the mower, the bag tilted back slightly as to not spill any of the contents.  Someone had to have done some testing on that!

Tomorrow:  Using the mower on the leaves and getting them to the compost bin...

Yard

The bad news is that I had to have some landscaping cut down earlier this month.  Dead trees, dead shrubs, etc.  There was a dead tree too large for me to handle and remove, so I decided to have some other problems removed at the same time.  Used to look like this...

Those are all gone now...  Drought and windstorms.

The good news is that I can re-landscape the front yard.  Sometimes, it is good to have changes.  Choosing new things to plant will be fun.  They will be more heat and drought tolerant.  I also plan to reduce the lawn area.  I have a mulching mower, so lawn-clippings just stay on the soil a decay.  But grass wants what grass is - itself, so I don't fertilize it madly like some people do.  I give it a "bit" of organic slow-release nitrogen (corn gluten) every couple of years.  Well, some nitrogen escapes over time and the grass needs some replacement.

The mulching mower also shreds the fallen tree leaves.  That adds some bulk to the soil.  When I moved here 36 years ago, the soil would crack open like a dried-up river bed.  After all those years of leaving the grass and leaf clippings in place, the soil is softer, more fertile, and the grass doesn't even go dormant in the Summer.

But a large clear lawn is not my goal.  Sure, I want what there is to be healthy, but I don't need so much of it.  Every few years, I tend to add more islands of flowerbeds and a few shrubs (framed to make mowing easier).  I have to build 3 new ones now where the dead shrubs used to be.

Ideally, the entire front yards would go from "framed islands" to the whole thing with paths.  But I'm getting older gradually (is there any other way?) and maintenance becomes harder.  Well, wherever there are framed beds, I don't have to mow there.  And if I keep paper covered with mulch deep enough in the frames, I don't have to weed there either.  

So I guess I am planning how to make my future (less active) life easier.  Eventually, I won't even need a riding mower.  The self-propelled electric one will do all that it required.  My next car will be all-electric too.  Eventually, I will just have a landscaped yard with paths among the trees, islands, and shrubs.  

Flashback Friday

I use Flashback Friday to show old events on Mark's Mews.  So why not here as well?

I had built 2 landscaping boxes on either side of the front steps. Back in 2009, I had Caladiums on the left and fancy Hostas on the right.  They were gorgeous.  

OK, that year.  Neighbors commented on them.  Then the deer found them...  Hostas are deer-candy.  I have moved most to the backyard where the deer don't try to enter.  They didn't like the Caladiums so much, but Caladiums aren't hardy here.  If you don't dig them up and store the bulbs properly, they are gone.  I didn't get around to that.  I might buy more next Spring for planting elsewhere.

So I converted the Caladium bed to Snow-On-The-Mountain.  I got some from my parents in New Hampshire and deer don't eat them.  They multiplied rapidly and that was good.

But some sprouts went all green and took over.  I'm still fighting to pull those up and get the bed all the variegated type.  But the green ones are hard to kill.  I think I'll have to just dig up the variegated ones and pot them, pulling out any green sprouts.  Then smother the bed over Winter and try to replant next Spring.

I'll put paper over the bed (that stuff used for packing in shipping boxes).  I have a lot of it.  I'll poke holes in it and set the variegated pots in those.  Should give them a better chance to re-establish.

I have 3 dozen Nandina shrubs growing and need to decide where to plant them.  Saved the seeds 3 years ago and they are a foot tall now.  They takes months to germinate.  Deer won't touch them, which is good, and they are evergreen with bright red berries in Winter.  

Mine stay about 4' tall and 3' wide.  I think the edge of the drainage easement would be a good place.  They have strong deep roots (I tried to dig one up once) and would resist occasional drainage flooding.  And since they are evergreen, they make a good yard border.

A lot of Nandina and Hollies would be interesting...

 

Bad Internet Information

 No, this isn't about politics, science non-facts, or social media trolls.  It is about "just plain wrong".

I was watching a political debate from 2 candidates from Pennsylvania the other night and for some odd reason, it occurred to me that I couldn't recall what city was the capital of that State.  I knew it wasn't either of the 2 largest cities.  State capitals are usually not the largest cities.  

That sort of memory-blank bothers me.  Not that I think I'm losing my mind, just that when not recalling basic facts annoys me.  I tried to think likely cities.  I considered Altoona.  When I finally checked, it was Harrisburg.  LOL!

I mention that to mention this.  While looking up the capital of Pennsylvania, I found a site called "World Atlas".  Which one might assume is generally accurate and managed by knowledgeable individuals.  I'll mention that it seems to be a non-US site.  It said the capital of Pennsylvania was Philadelphia.  I checked around other sites and found that wrong.

It also said some 18th century Pennsylvania resident (David Rittenhouse) "discovered" Venus.  OK, that really made me laugh.  Venus was known to the Ancients and some previous astronomers had observed it though telescopes for a couple of centuries.

So I considered that the site might be a humor site like The Onion.  But most of what was there was accurate, lacking any hint of humor or sarcasm.  My best guess is that they were serious about what they wrote.  So, it was like they said the Capital of Russia was Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad).

Looking up "David Rittenhouse", I discovered that he was actually only researching the orbit of Venus by examining its transit across the Sun.  

Where did these "World Atlas" people get their information?  I can only laugh (and shake my head in amazement) at such bad information.  Even legitimate-sounding sites can be astonishingly wrong.  

But I also want to mention (thinking about Venus) what Carl Sagan once said about thoughts on Venus.  And I paraphrase:

1.  Venus has an opaque atmosphere.  You can't see through it with a telescope.  So what did some scientists conclude in the 1800s?

2.  The atmosphere is all clouds.  What makes clouds?  Water.  Venus must be very wet.

3.  If Venus is very wet, it was be mostly swampy.  What grows in swamps?  Ferns.

4.   What eats ferns?  Dinosaurs.  Therefore, Venus must have dinosaurs.

5.  From not seeing anything at all, they concluded there were dinosaurs on Venus!

We now know, from probes and better equipment, that Venus is a desert and the atmosphere is made up of mostly noxious chemicals that would prevent any life as we know it.  Even relatively modern people can think in bizarrely illogical ways.

I'm not exactly blaming them.  I dread to think about some things we currently think to be accurate and logical will seem bizarre to our descendents.  Well, at least I won't be around then to experience the embarrassment!

But, still, that "World Atlas" stuff really cracked me up!

Edited to add:  I just noticed the Weather Channel's "10 Day Forecast" includes 14 days!  ROTFL...

Camo Pants, Finally

 So there I was, in an office.  It was a 90 day temporary position.  We kept records of which office had what furniture and equipment.  Sounds stupid, but it was a law at the time.  But I was good at it.  After 2 weeks, the Boss asked if I wanted to stay.  Well, it was a 20% increase in pay and no holiday work.  DAMN HELL YES!

I "dressed for success".  3 piece navy pinstripe suits, fancy ties, even a pocket watch.  As the Boss told me "dress for the job you want next".  He liked me and I liked him (he could dictate a letter on the fly with a moment's notice on the oddest things).  Funny thing about him was that he was "merely" an ensign in WWII but boss of Officers from then.  I loved it.  And I think he saw the same attitude in me.

I got promoted.  But I have a flaw.  I ask troublesome questions and I'm not very hierarchical.  They say "you have to go along to get along".  I don't.  So there eventually came a point where I wasn't going to be promoted ever again.  I mean, I argued with the CEO and CFO, and that is never a big career move. 

But I really liked my job, so that was OK.  And realizing that, I decided I didn't have to "dress for success" anymore.   The first thing to go was the shiny leather shoes.  My feet hurt all the time.  I was one of the first office workers to wear "sensible shoes".  Second to go was the navy&tan outfit.  I always hated that combination.

So, following some heroes of mine, I became "The Man In Black".  Well, it was distinguishing and also identified me as a "techie".  And it is hard to mismatch "black".  I was clever user at computers, but never really a "techie".  The black clothes helped the image.  Sad as it may seem, Management reacts to the way you  dress.  And they don't argue with "techies" much.  Tech stuff is out of their realm.  

So I retired the first day I could.  I hated the hour-long commute.  And I was away from The Mews 12 hours a day.  Basically, I was involved at work and commuting 12 hours each workday.  Had to make dinner and do household chores, play with the cats and go to bed in 4 hours.

Retirement was an "escape".  Every promotion I got, half the gain went into stocks.  My needs are cheap.  The retirement annuity itself was sufficient; the stocks were gravy.

And THAT  is when I went into camo pants.  You knew I would get there eventually, right?

Utterly non-office dress.  Completely the opposite of office wear.  A rebellion against the years of "dressing for success" to suggest to bosses that I was worthy of promotions (regardless of merit as so many others got promoted).  I was free.

So "camo pants man" I became.  And I do like the look.  I was a bow-deer-hunting guy in my teens and 20s and always appreciated it then.  And I returned to that after retirement.  I don't mean for a moment to suggest I was in camo as some sort of "military" wanna-be, just that I liked the idea of slipping into the woods and not being noticed much (even if it is just my own backyard).

So, next week, I will have many brand-spanking-new camos of several colors (with hats to match, LOL).  And nice solid black or green shirts to wear with them.  

That's my "camo pants" story...  If you read this stuff to the end, you deserve a graphic badge:

Department Stores Actually

Camo actually comes next time.  I have to provide the backup story first...

My first real job was at a department store.  I had a small aquarium and wanted some additional fish.  The pet department at the store had a lot of community-oriented fish.  But I was offended at seeing so many dead fish in the tanks and complained about that to the guy at the desk (I'm a talented complainer about inhumane conditions, apparently).  

Turned out he was the Department Manager and asked if I wanted a job.  Being a broke college student (broker than a bad French poet), I accepted.  I spent 3 months getting the aquaria cleaned.  By that time, he got fired for incompetence, and the Assistant Manager (and I) took over.  She quit a few months later and I was left in charge by default.  

Ruined my college efforts; but real money in my pocket was too hard to resist.  I really fixed up the place.  I set up displays of breeding tanks of Bettas and Gouramis.  I set up a display (using a 2 gallon brandy snifter I stole from housewares) to show that guppies and live plants could form a self-sustaining system (back in 1972).  

Sales doubled.  The Regional Manager (department stores were then called "departments" because each sales "department" was actually a company that just rented space from the store - I have no ideas how it works today).  I got praise.  I got bonuses.  But after a year, the company decided to shut down in Maryland.  The Regional Manager offerred me the management of their top department.  But it was in New Jersey, and I was still trying to get my college degree.  I declined.  I sometimes wonder how different my life would have been had I accepted.

So the store offerred me a job as a security guard at the loading dock.  BORING AS HELL!  My job was just to make sure truckers didn't steal stuff back into their trucks.  One day, the Manager of the auto after-market department (spark plugs, anti-freeze, oil) asked the loading dock Manager if he knew anyone who could become his Assistant Manager.  

I jumped up and raised my hand, explaining my experience.  He decided I was a better choice than an advertizement, so I got the job.  I excelled there too.  Then the whole store went bust!  I went through a couple other department stores.  I was even in charge of 1/4th of one before I realized there was no future in it.  In charge of 1/4th the store meant I got 10 cents above minimum wage.  And had to work all holidays.  I got tired of that.

A friend suggested I take the US Civil Service Exam.  I did, and scored 100 in all 5 sections.  Got me a job at an Agency I had never heard of.  Turns out I was really good at office work.  And the pay was better.

I eventually became the Voice Telecommunications Manager and retired happily the first day I was eligible.

I'll explain about the camo pants next post (really)...

Clothes Alterations

OK, so I was at a local dry cleaner's shop to have some new-bought pants shortened.  There is the line to pick up or bring clothes to be dry-cleaned and there is a seperate desk for alterations.  I stand at the alterations desk a few minutes and people in the dry-cleaning line are staring.  

I get the message and ask a clerk if the line is for both.  It is.  Not anywhere else I've ever been, but it is here.    

So I leave the box at the alterations desk and stand in line politely.  8 people in line and giving or picking up dry-cleaning is not a fast operation.  *sigh*.  A guy enters the alterations area and paws at my box.  I run up and explain my request.  He tells me the price (which was fine), but I have to go stand in the line.  OK, I'm retired; no problem with some time.

15 minutes later, I get service.  The clerk says (about alterations) "well, you just should have said so".  ARGGHHH!  But she processes my order.  I'm a new customer (obviously, I wouldn't go there a 2nd time) and she needs information about me.  My phone number is a problem; it is not a smartphone and they want to text me when the alterations are complete.  I say "just call me" but that is apparently not part of their process.  She finally figures out how to make the computer tell them to "just call me".

I'm annoyed.  The alterations cost as much as the pants.  I'm used to that.  I'm not "normal" (family of short-legged people).  From the waist down, I should be 5' 2".  From the waist up, I should be 5' 10". So, I'm 5' 7".   I researched that once...  So my inseam is 25".  No one sells anything less than 30".  I'm used to that, but it still aggravates me.  😩

Why  was I having 8 pairs of pants to shorten, you ask?  Because sometimes I buy stuff and forget about them.  My favorite pants are "woodland camo".  I spent too many years wearing the standard men's office wear of beige pants and a medium blue shirt, navy blazer and tie.  So, being retired, I think "camo" is nice.  

And mine are so old and faded they just looked "smudgy greenish".   So I bought 4 new ones (even a blue camo and a desert camo!).  After they arrived, I discovered I had done the same thing a year ago, setting them in a box for alterations.  So I had 8 camo pants to get shortened.

I almost have to laugh at the (imagined) view of a professional tailor shortening blue camo pants to a 25" inseam.  "What is the Navy coming to, to have such weirdly-shaped people" he must wonder.  Well, my choice of clothes may be a bit weird, but it is my own.  I am retired and single; I don't have to answer to anyone.  And the cats don't care.  😄

They (the dry-cleaners, not the cats) will call me in about a week.

Which leads me to my next annoyance (closet-hangers), but that's the next post...

A Minor Computer Win

1.  I bought a color toner printer 2 years ago.  I don't print often, so the old color ink-jet printer cartridges dried up before being used up.  And at $50 for a whole set of cartridges was annoying.  I read that toner lasts forever, so I bought one.

It has been difficult to use.  Apparently, it is intended for multiple user office use.  I did not know that at the time.  It has many functions and setting designed for office use and you almost have to be an IT person to understand them.  Just getting it to merely print seemed like an insult to it.

I succeeded (sometimes, after struggling), but never knew why.  A few days ago, I wanted to print out my vaccine record (flu, covid and others) from a govt website.  I could NOT make the darn printer print.  I searched all over the commands and settings, to no avail.  

But I noticed one setting that said "network".  I unclicked it.  IMMEDIATELY, it printed out my document. Glory and Hallelujah,  all I had to be was just "myself and no other users".   Two years fighting with it and one click solved it all!

2.  I have a really nice keyboard (dasKeyboard).  The letters seem slightly embossed.  I wear out certain letters on standard keyboards fast, so I appreciate that.  But it uses 2 ports and I struggle with that.  I have an added multiport connector

Not this one, but one like it...  Even that didn't allow all my cables.  But it works for devices not used all at the same time.  So I unplugged the 2 port keyboard from the direct computer connection and moved it to the multi-port.  Obviously, it worked.  And I even (somehow) have a free port.  I haven't figured out the "why" of that yet.

But Yay!  😎

Two problems solved in one day.  Now, if I could get Safari autofill to work, I would be thrilled...

Yardwork And Pains

A couple of weeks ago, I had a tree service remove some dead or troublesome growths and grind the stumps and some roots.  I had them leave the grindings in place so I could add them to my compost bins.

The posts on the back are counterweights to make lifting the tops effortless.  I have since added latches on the front to thwart raccoons and ropes on the sides to pull the tops back down.  The boards on the front are in slots for removal to get at the material more easily.  The backs and sides are framed with 1/4" wire mesh.  It is my own design, and I am insufferably pleased with it.  Mike McGarth (a former editor of Organic Gardening magazine) saw the pictures and declared it "the best compost bins I have ever seen". 

That's not the point of this post, though (I just thought I should explain the picture).  And it was time to move the contents from one bin to the other for aeration and mixing.

Yesterday, I finally got around to shoveling the stump and root grindings into buckets.  Those Tidy Cat 35# litter tubs are sturdy and useful!  I have about 2 dozen of them.  I tried using the shop vac to pick the grinding up, but they clogged the hose.  So, it was rake and shovel work.

I filled most of the buckets.  I dumped the grindings, saved dry grass clippings (from a trash barrel), and kitchen waste (from one bin) to the other in 4" layers.  The one bin of kitchen scraps was filled with roots from the neighbor's "junk" trees.  Wow, I was feeding the very trees that shade my garden!  Really annoying; I'll have to find a sneaky way to kill those things...

The new, better, mix should produce compost faster and I'm happy about that.  

But even that isn't the point of this post.

I took out my small electric tiller and mixed the remaining stump sawdust with the soil.  You can't grow grass in pure wood grindings; they pull all the nitrogen from the soil while decaying.   The tiller is easy to use.  I have to stop every so often to remove wound up roots and grass, but that is easier than dragging out the big gas-powered one for small areas.  

The point is that I spent 4 hours holding tools.  I knew I was going to pay for that later (and I did).  I get finger-clenches from gripping things too long.  It's both painful and awkward.  Try preparing dinner sometime when you can't hold a knife!  Makes typing darn near impossible, too.  And the constant hand tremors (DDT exposure as a teen) don't make things any easier.  It makes my "hunt&peck" typing "huntier&peckier", LOL!  In fact, I tried to post this last night and couldn't.

Mom had finger-clenches too, but from Parkinson's in her 80s.  She acted as if it was more "cosmetic" that painful at the time, but I know better now.  I don't think I have that (yet), but the effect is the same.  Muscle ointments like Aspercreme and gels with ladocaine help but they take a while and cease working after a couple hours.

But at least I did get the grinded stuff removed, the areas tilled and raked level, and ready for grass seed.  Yeah, is is a bit late for seeding, but I have the seeds and they won't last forever (already a year old) so I might as well try.  I'll give them a dusting of slow-release nitorogen fertilizerGrass is tough stuff when it germinates, and the forecast doesn't suggest a frost in the next 2 weeks.  I might cover the spots with clear plastic for protection from cold nights (and birds).

Darn, those finger-clenches are troublesome.  And later come the leg and rib muscle cramps in bed.  Sometimes it feels like the muscles will pull off the bones!  I have to get up (not easy while the legs are cramping) and walk around the house 15-30 minutes until it stops.

I'm not comparing that to more serious medical/bodily problems.  Things could be a lot worse! I am relatively lucky about bodily ills.  But sufficient to the day are the pains of the day and I hate mine.

But I will still keep doing yardwork and other things that cause problems afterward for as long as I am able.  And I suppose that is the point of this post.

Thank you for reading this to the end...  😁

Meadow And Pollinator Beds

 You may recall that I decided to establish a 30'x15' Meadow Garden and a separate 10' diameter Pollinator Garden in the back yard several years ago.  Both have failed.  I got great results at first from broadcasting seed mixes on the newly-tilled soil.  The annuals did well.  But the perennials never got established.

The 2nd year, scattering thistle seeds in one and saved marigold seeds in the other produced a flush of flowers in each, but those were also annuals.  Nothing grew the next season.

I was disappointed, of course.  It is my fault.  I always try to do things too quickly.  I should have covered the beds for a season after tilling to smother all weeds before I planted anything.  I am impatient sometimes.

This past Spring, I ordered a selection of potted assorted self-sowing meadow flowers from Prairie Moon Nursery.  They are a quality nursery and no blame to them.  I planted them according to instructions but saw no flowers this year.  But I had labels for each in front of each transplant.

A slight aside, I planted seeds of Maltese Cross and Butterfly Weed (a dryland type of Milkweed) elsewhere 2 years ago (where I had smothered the weeds for a year) and this year, most bloomed.  So sometimes it takes a couple of years for some perennials.

With that in mind, I mowed the Meadow Bed just above label height.  I crawled through the bed carefully on hands and knees, searching for labels.  I found 32 of 38 labels and marked each with a landscaping flag.

I'll find the other 6 when the frost kills the weeds and they decay over Winter.  Then, I'll put a 10"x10" slotted holed cardboard (I have cardboard from some stuff I order regularly) around each plant to keep the weeds away.  That should give them a good chance to grow.  Most of the meadow plants grow 3-4' so (once established), they can shade out the grass.  Well, that's why there are flower-filled meadows in some places rather than just grass.

And knowing where the flowers are will allow me to cover much of the spaces between them with that 2' wide brown paper often used as packing material by shippers.  I save it and must have about 1,000' folded and stashed.

The Pollinator bed has nothing useful growing in it.  I mowed it as short as possible yesterday and will transplant the Butterfly Weed and Maltese Cross in a couple of weeks when they go dormant.  I'll add a few pollinator-friendly annuals next Spring.  Maybe get a few different perennial pollinator-friendly seedlings too.  Some good ones are just difficult to start as seeds.  So I will leave the seed-starting to the professionals and pay for actual plants.  Once established, they are basically self-sowing.

I am determined to make both beds succeed!

Feeling A Bit Off Today

Sometimes, I am not happy.  Yeah, who isn't sometimes?   But "unhappy" doesn't mean "miserable" either.  Maybe unsatisfied is the better term. 

I don't watch the "usual" TV shows.  No sitcoms for a couple decades (the sad exploits of the characters came to depress me and they are start back at square one the next episode, having learned nothing).  Never watched a reality show or a dramatic soap.  Shows about aliens or weird places on Earth (that always turn out to be fake) make me annoyed.

So, I watch 6 kinds of shows (which seem like a lot, but they aren't...  Sports occasionally; the local teams.  I don't watch sports for the sport (I don't even watch the Superbowl), but I have a relatively meaningless interest in a couple of college and professional teams.  I actually have no idea why.  Serious science and history; they often explain new findings or dramatize actual historical events in new ways.  Political commentary like MSNBC and CNN and Bill Maher for discussion of real news events.  Actual animated comedy shows; not cartoons (though I used to) but well-drawn plot-oriented animation with a good touch of satire and sarcasm.  Stuff like Futurama, Archer, Cowboy Beebop, Full Metal Alchemist, etc.  I enjoy absurd humor.  And a couple really strange animated shows that I've found over the years.

Bear with me...

One of the last category was 'Samurai Jack'  (created by Genndy Tartakovsky ).  The plot is that a shape-shifting  evil wizard (Aku) takes over an ) Earth. world after defeating samurais.  One samurai's son almost defeats him but is cast into the future where the son can have no affect on his world-conquering plans.  So the son lives in a future utterly and completely controlled by Aku.

That world has all sorts of weird creatures on it, all dominated (some good, some evil) by Aku.  He helps the downtrodden while seeking a way to get back to the past and destroy Aku.  It went on for about 5 seasons, so I'm not going to bore you about episodes.  

But he makes friends along the way.  In the final season (with a gap of 10 years).  His friends collect to fight Aku (and lose).  Aku cannot be defeated in the present (Jack's future).

The series ended with Jack finally back in his original time accompanied by a female ninja.  She (a daughter of Aku) had spent several episodes trying to kill him.  I should mention that while Jack destroyed a whole lot of robots, he never actually killed a single living being until the female ninja and her sisters cornered him.  His shock at realizing he had killed living beings was intense.  One survived.

But she saw a butterfly alight on Jack's finger and it triggerred a memory of her childhood (enough to change her mind about her father Aku teaching her that Jack was evil).  

Jack's happiness is short-lived.  During the wedding, the female ninja fades away.  She was of the future and couldn't be Aku's daughter since he Jack had finally killed him in the past.  He finds a horse in the woods like one he had seen in dreams.  They go off-screen.  End.

I found the ending entirely satisfactory (how many TV shows actually have "endings" after all?) though many viewers were upset.   They wanted a longer fight with Aku.  They wanted a happier ending.  That wasn't the point.  

Genndy Tartakovsky isn't into "happy endings".  He was examining loyalty, struggling, and persistence. 

Genndy Tartakovsky is a minimalist animator (or at least directed his team to be).  His trees were simple and all the same.  His landscapes were sparse (nearly "road-runnish").  His characters were drawn in a simplified manner and if there was a group of them they were pretty much identical.  He wasn't concerned with the artistry so much as the message.  "Help other beings and they will help you".

Which gets me to the subject I really want to discuss. (and you thought I was done, LOL!)..

Two years ago, I stumbled across a new animation series.  It is called 'Primal'.  It was a newer Genndy Tartakovsky project.  I stumbled across it at the start.  I immediately recognized the artwork as his (from Samurai Jack).  I knew nothing about the show.

The series is scientifically absurd.  A caveman and a smallish type of T Rex bond and they struggle against unlikely huge snakes and bats and supernatural creatures.  I have to explain the bond though.

The caveman's name is Spear (for the weapon he used) and the half-sized T Rex type (something like "valapator").  Spear and Fang never spoke in the first year.  They both yelled a lot.  That in itself was interesting.  Spear's family was eaten by actual T Rexs.  Spear he sought revenge, and found Fang.  But  real T Rex ate her young and Spear attacked it as did Fang.  They drove it off.

Most absurdly, they formed a bond.  I know, "yeah right".  But I am OK with "the temporary suspension of reality".  He screams, she roars...  But somehow she understands that he helped her.

The first season, they just go around together struggling to survive among oversize bad critters.  The point was that they somehow got along.  And, again, never a word was said by either.  Yet you could understand what was going on.  It was extremely violent fighting "the nasties" but the occasional tough to the head and sleeping together showed the bond.

The 2nd season, things got more complicated.  Spear (presented as a bulky over-the-top Conan type) rescues a more advanced woman from a Viking-like culture.  He finally understands a word she says to mean her name.  Mira (could be Meera).  

She is determined to return to her home and somehow a ship is built (I forget some details).  They sail away.  At some point, he repeats her name.  I saw that coming and was annoyed.  Spear isn't supposed to speak.  On the other hand, it is the only word he ever says (though he repeats her name in later episodes).

Season 2 is mostly about Spear and Fang accompanying Mira, Fang having a clutch of 3 eggs and some weird evil female ship captain/queen mostly being a pirate with a city-sized ship.  She controls the ship by having the crew's children in prison.  There is also one huge guy who can destroy nearly anything and anyone.  

Spear is almost unstoppable.  Fang is of course violent and eats warriors for breakfast (literally).  But the huge guy defeats them.  He is controlled because the evil captain has his daughter.

They all defeat her and go on.  But there are signs that Spear and Fang are "wearing out".  But they find Mira's home island.  She is thrilled, but sad remembering the loss of her tribe.  Suddenly, she discovered that many survived.  They are welcomed into the new hillside village.

In an empty room he is offerred for sleeping, Spear blows charcoal over his hand.  And then (staring) draws the story of his life.   His parents, and children, the T Rex that ate them and Fang;s young  (Spear and Fang killed it earlier), meeting Fang, meeting Mira.  And a final blown hanprint with fingers closed.

Of course, it can't be easy.  A demon-enhanced old enemy appears.  The demon shoots fire.  It injures Fang badly and then spews fire on Spear.  Spear launches enough of an attack to cause The Master Demon (no explanation of that) to pull it down.

Fang is OK, but Spear is horribly burned.  The newest episode (Season Finale) showed Spear burnt and disfigured.  The Shaman treats him but leaves (which suggests no hope).  Mira kind of forces sex with him.

In the last scene, there are several of Fang's type of dinosaurs.  Mira is there, looking a bit older.  I girl cteen looking a lot like Spear and Mira combined is riding one of Fang's grown-up babies.

My conclusion is that Spear died, but that life goes on.  There seem to be debates on Reddit, but I'm not going to go there.

What saddens me (to get back to the original point).  I suspect the series is ended with Spear's death.  And that wouldn't be the worst thing.  It was an ending...

So a favorite show ended this week.  I feel sad about that.