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...

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