Random Stuff

 There is always some random stuff going on.  Some normal but some not.  So a list:

1.  I solved the wristwatch problem.  It's hard to find a wristwatch that is both simple and readable.  I bought one that had a large display that was  easily readable.  But of course it came with features I didn't want.  I don't need a wristwatch with alarm settings, hourly beepings, or countdown or uptime timers.  But every manufacturer assume that I do.

When I received it, every feature was functioning except the actual time.  So I set the time according to the instructions.  That wasn't too difficult.  But a "chronometer" function beeped every hour.  And an alarm went off at Noon every day for 60 seconds.  Drove me crazy.

It is a foreign product, as most small devices are today.  The instructions can be hard to understand sometimes.  The watch has 4 buttons (A to D).  The instructions tell you which order to press them to turn on and off various features.  I tried to follow them for 2 weeks with no success!

The features are tiny little abbreviations in a corner of the watch, and I couldn't even read them with my reading glasses.  It took a magnifying glass (the kind you can wear on your head so both hands are free) to see the letters. 

I know how to follow instructions.  These were like "press B 2 seconds then press C to access "chronometer" and make adjustments as purposed".  Yeah, that's a quote.  I could never get the hourly single beep or 60 second beeps to stop.

Finally, after trying again and failing, I just started pressing the 4 buttons randomly in anger.  And it worked!

The chronometer and alarm were both off.  I have been delighted with the watch since then.  It shows me the time and date in a relatively clear display, and that is all I wanted from it.  I hope it lasts the rest of my life (batteries to be replaced of course) so that I don't have to struggle with settings again.

2.  It has been unusually dry here for months.  Here it is not yet even Summer and the lawn grass is fading and the soil is hard.  We normally have 17" of rain for the year by now and it is just 8" and nearly nothing for 2 months..  I know, things are worse elsewhere, but this is my yard and my plants.  

So I decided to actually water the lawn.  I don't normally do that.  I'm organic, and I accept that grass goes dormant in Summer.  But it isn't even Summer yet.  The WEEDS are even dying.  

So I took out my old lawn sprinkler to at least save the new meadow bed.  It leaked like crazy!  I allowed it because I have a lot of established plants in there and 36 more to add very soon.  But I needed a new one.  I looked up some garden sites about recommendations.  No sites agreed about the best.  So they are probably sort of either all crummy or all good.  I ordered one.  It will arrive Saturday.  At least (being new) it will probably work well for a couple of years.  So many things are just built poorly these day.

3.  The cold nights (and odd tiredness) caused me to delay planting my heirloom tomatoes.  I had too many 40's nights in May and that stunts them.  And after no rain for nearly a month, I can't barely get a shovel in the soil.  So I soaked the soil for an hour.  Tomorrow I can dig good holes and add good organic fertilizer in the soil before I fill it back in around the transplants. 

4.  I mowed the daffodil bed.  They had all died back sufficiently.  And I will spread mostly P and K fertilizer around to feed the bulbs.  Then cover it with black mesh landscaping fabric to smother the grasses and weeds that tried to take over earlier this Spring.  By next Spring, there won't be a living weed or grass in the bed!

5.  Given the failure of the old oscillating lawn sprinkler and until a new one arrives in a few days, I will be setting out some buckets near special plants.  I have some with small holes in the bottom. That allows the water to drip out slowly and get down to shrub and tree roots.