March Comes In Like A Lion

And other problems...

We have had some of the strongest winds here the past 2 days and it is forecast to last another.  Well "strongest" except for hurricanes and those don't last as long.  There have been gusts up to 62 mph, and it seems constant around 40+.  The wind howled so loudly around the house I could barely sleep, and I was very tired from staying up all night on the computer til 8 am the day before and only getting 5 hours sleep before I was SO hungry I couldn't lay in bed anymore.

I've mentioned before that I keep weird hours, but maybe not have explained in much detail.

I stayed up late Tuesday night and got 5 hours sleep.  I stayed up late Wed night in spite of having a dental appointment Thursday at 2 pm.   Partly, it was stress from the dental visit, but partly because I got emails from almost everyone I know and wanted to respond.  And I had just started an online chess game and kept getting replies from my opponent.

I also had about 100 pictures to process, a Dr Seuss poem to write, some software downloading problems, and Amazon seemed to have taken over my search engine choices (anything I searched online was sending me straight to Amazon's page).

I can't sleep worth a damn when I have stuff floating around in my head like that, and the only solution is to stay up until I solve most of the problems. 

So I did most of that stuff, and went to the dentist about as tired as possible.  That is generally good, as I have some problems with dental work.  I have a small jaw and holding it open while they do their work is hard.  Plus, let's just say I have to swallow a lot when my jaw is stretched wide and leave it at that. 

So I got home Thursday and the winds hit!  I needed sleep and got little.  The crashing sounds outside didn't help.  I was "IN" bed 12 hours, but maybe got 8 hours sleep.  Which, averaging the past several nights came out to about 4 hours per night for 4 nights each.

My local meat market was having some specials this week of exactly the stuff I wanted.  Del Monico Steak at $8 per lb, pork boston butt at $2, deli roast beef at $5/lb, and other stuff.  I HAD to get up to shop today to shop (Saturday is a madhouse there).  And I was out of fresh fruit.  I love fruit. 

I slept Thursday night til noon.  Got up and left the house at 1 pm.  But that would have put me at the meat market just when the local school lets out and a dozen students hit the store deli counter for subs.  So I stopped to get a haircut. 

I obviously don't worry about my appearance too much, LOL!

The cats aren't very critical and it is not like I'm trying to win a "handsome contest". 

Driving to the barber and the grocery stores was interesting.  The car kept rocking in the wind just sitting at a traffic light.  While actually driving, I kept getting hit with cross-winds and wanted to "change lanes" for me.  Local bridges were all closed.  One bridge, after having 3 tractor-trailers just plain knocked over. 

The dentist said none of my teeth are any good.  Which is really annoying because I don't eat candy and sweet stuff and brush twice a day.

Well, Dad have no teeth left by my age, so I guess I will not thank him for THOSE genes. 

The neighborhood have fence panels blown out all over the place and I've never seen THAT even when Hurricanes blew through.  None of mine though!  Friends tell me I "overbuild" things.  But I know those neighbor's fences and they are newer than mine and build by professionals.  I built my own. 

Companies use 1x4s and I use 2x4s.  They use nails and I use screws.  And that is why it is still standing!  My fence is 30 years old now, and not one board loose...

Next Project

My next project is to rebuild an old bench.

The wood was cheap pine when I bought it and rotted fast.  The metal frames are sound.  I will replace the pine with cedar.  That should last 15 years.

And I have a good place to put it facing my fence flowerbed, underneath a a small shady tree.

Again...

I'm pissed.  Another massacre at another school.  "Breaking News"...  It is becoming "not news".  Same old, same old.

The same helicopter pictures of surviving students running out of the school with their hands raised.  The same kind of angry young person killing others with the same kind of gun.  The same condemnations of the violence, the same regrets by the school leaders and the politicians.

I understand the news channels focussing on it.  It is what they have to do.  It's their job.  They report events.

I understand the school and local leaders decrying the event.  They really didn't think it would happen "HERE" in their good town.

I understand politicians speaking sadly of the event.  They really didn't think THEY would ever have to say the sad words about a school massacre.

I understand the shocked parents of the dead, wounded, and living struggling to get their children back home into the safety of their arms. 

  ...............................

What pisses me off is that I can hear extremists dusting off their prepared and often read speeches in favor of their positions about guns. 

Some will argue on today's talk shows that everyone should have a gun for protection, as if we want our children carrying guns.  That some teachers with guns in their desks would have stopped a deranged person from firing down a crowded hallway after the fire alarm was set off.  Yeah, just what you want; untrained people dedicated to calm education firing shots all around try to hit one student who looks like all the rest.  That it is "too soon" to talk about this newest tragedy...

Some will argue that all guns should be confiscated just to prevent this sort of thing.  As if we can find and destroy 300 million guns in the US.  That better security in schools would prevent this sort of thing.  That teachers need more anti-violence training.

I'm not sure what the solution is. 

A few things I do know.  This happens too often.  And as one commenter pointed out, there are also 90 gun deaths in the US on a typical day.  A politician pointed out than after gun laws of various sorts in Connecticut were tightened, gun deaths went down 40%.

I know that most of the guns used by students or former students in school massacres is often an AR-15 and they get them from home or friends.  Why does anyone need one in their home?

I know that more people are killed with their own guns then are ever used to successfully drive off an intruder.  That's a negative sum game.

I know that I'm comfortable around guns.  I was taught their purpose, their lethality, and how to use them.  I have hunted animals and killed them (and you eat what you kill). 

I know that you don't need an AR-15 or an AK-47 or any weapon like that to kill a deer.

  ................................

We can have guns for legitimate reasons.  I don't want to hunt deer with my Roman Gladius or a spear.  But you don't need an assault rifle for that either.  A single shot 12 gauge works just fine. 

And we don't need assault rifles to protect us from the Government.  If some dictator takes control, either the army will follow him or they won't and if they do, you can have your AK-47 and it won't do you any good!  They are trained to kill you.

Not that I expect they would, but you get my meaning.  They are trained and organized, you aren't.  If you and you and some para-military wannabees try to fight the army, you are all dead all to 0.

So lets discuss guns.  They work as designed.  A projectile comes out the front and it either hits something or not.  Most gun deaths seem to be self-inflicted.  You don't need an AK-47 for that.  I have no particular objection to suicide, but a 22 pistol will work just fine.  What are you going to do in a suicide?  Shoot yourself 30 times?

If you want to kill yourself, drink a quart of vodka real fast, wrap a plastic bag around your head and lay in the bathtub.  It's less messy.

So why do we have so many guns, and to what purpose?  Surely not for us to have some teenager take it and go shoot everyone (most of whom they don't even know). 

To protect ourselves from intruders?  Very few homes are intruded, and usually the intruder is not trying to kill you.  Waving a kitchen knife around is probably as good as a gun.  Faced with a gun, an intruder may shoot more for fear of his own life.  They can back away from a knife.  I had a college roommate who subdued 2 burglers with a baseball bat and THEY had pistols.

We need to rethink our gun-ownership.  Have a hunting gun is JUST fine!  Go shoot a deer.  We have too many of them as it is.  But these crazy military semi and truly automatic killing weapons have to go away. 

Start with making them illegal for private ownership.  Then offer half the value for ones turned in, no questions asked.  As the number goes down, fewer angry young students will have access.

Fewer angry young students, fewer school massacres. 

I could type all night.  As Arlo Guthrie said "I'm not tired...  or proud".  But I've said enough.

Oh Bother!

I was innocently eating dinner last night, and suddenly detected a lump in my mouth.  I won't go into details, but I found a tooth crown that had come loose.  I'm glad my tongue found it before my teeth did! 

I washed it off carefully, then put it in a shotglass of mouthwash to keep it overnight.  My dentist had an opening at 3 pm today, so off I went.  I was admitted promptly at 3 pm (be still my beating heart).   First thing they did was sterilize it of course (mouthwash or not - they were kind about that and admired my intent).  Then they examined the tooth for damage and it looking OK, they tried a test re-fit.

It fit so well, they actually had trouble getting it back off.  So they took it away and drilled off the old epoxy.  The dentist Himself came in and showed it to me.  The gold crown was so old it actually had a hole worn through the top.  Well, I had several crowns 40 years ago, so it lasted pretty well.

And I learned something about crowns.  I always thought gold crowns lasted the longest, but was wrong.  Porcelain lasts longest, followed by silver, followed by gold.  And the gold content is low.  But gold wears at about the same rate as tooth enamel, so the bite stays the same.  Silver is close and can easily be ground down to match the bite. 

Porcelain doesn't wear down.  You would think that would be perfect, but it means that the crown top becomes a high spot over decades and makes your jaw adjust and some annoying stuff like that.  It is mostly for cosmetic reasons.  Well, I seriously doubt anyone other than a dentist will ever see that back molar.

The old crown was replaced, but it is temporary (like a year or 3).  It still has that tiny hole in the top, and that will lead to caries someday.  But "tis enough, will serve"...

But it also meant he looked at my other teeth.  I knew there were 2 other teeth that had sharp tops, which meant damage.  I'd been avoiding it. 

But you have to get such things fixed eventually.  As the dentist said, "you can have them fixed now while I can still put a crown on them, or you can wait until they have to be removed entirely".  So I have an appointment in 2 weeks to start getting those 2 teeth crowned, and then the old (now temporary) one from today replaced over a series of visits. 

I hate dental visits.  Well, no one likes them, but mine are worse than average.  I have a small jaw (apparently genetic) and can't open it as far as most people can.  My cats can open theirs more than I can!  A kitten probably can...  I have the jaw of a 12 year old!  In general, I have great genes - other than my teeth.  I seem to owe that to Dad.  At my age, he had almost no tooth unfilled, uncrowned, and 2 partial bridges.  At least I'm not at that point yet.  Hurray for fluoridation and novocaine (and nitrous oxide on occasion during a root canal).

My jaw is so small, my wisdom teeth never even emerged, and even then my teeth are too crowded.  In my 20s, a dentist said I should have 4 teeth extracted; a left upper and lower; a right upper and lower, make proper room for the rest.  At the time, that seemed horrible!  He said it would be painful afterwards for days.  But now I wish I had had that done.  Nothing like hindsight...

As it turned out, I had to have 2 teeth extracted 4 years ago.  One planned because it had simply fallen apart, and one unplanned because the roots were entangled  in the first.  Fortunately, it didn't bother me.  But the thing that amazed me was that the procedure wasn't the least bit painful (as the old dentist suggested it would be).  It was however utterly boring (no pun intended).  Drilling, spitting, holding my head to resist pulls, etc.  Never hurt in the least during or after!

On the other hand, I have a limited number of teeth, so I would like to keep them as long as possible.  Anything good for 20 years is probably OK.

So I'm going on a journey of dental work, which should last until flu season is over.  Then to a doctor to start getting regular exams and a series of physical and virtual exams that my insurance rep says is covered these days as "preventative medicine".  I plan to get every "virtual" test they will allow, and possible some not covered. 

On sad fact is that I've never been to any one doctor for more than a few years, so my medical history is almost non-existent.  But I went through my age-old medical file today and discovered some valuable information. 

Things like a 1988 letter from Mom (in response to my questions) detailing some family and personal history, some old doctor visit bills - a few of which mentioned some blood test results - etc.  I'll make copies to bring to my new doctor (I chose a geriatric internist over a GP).

But the important thing is that I'm getting back on track for regular medical care after decades of assuming I was immortal.  I've treated my cats and maintained my car better than I have myself.

Time to get myself into the maintenance loop...

Seed Vial Tray

Some years ago, I built a quick little tray to hold vials of seeds in the basement refrigerator.  The seeds last a lot longer in the fridge, and the vials keep them from getting dried out or damp. Te vials are specimen containers I once found real cheap online!  I'm good at looking at things functionally, rather than just by intended purpose, LOL!

But the original had holes that were both tight and a bit too close together.  So I decided to make a new one.

I made the new one with holes 1/4" farther apart.  That may not seem like much, but it made a lot of difference.  And I knew because I drilled a couple of holes in scrap wood to check. 

I decided this one should have looser holes.  But since the vials wouldn't stand upright in loose holes, I made both a top and bottom.  To make sure the holes on each matched, and to save time, I screwed the top and bottom together, drew a grid on the top, and drilled right through both pieces at once.

I LOVE my drill-press!

The pencil line on the board in back allowed me to line that up the grid lines on the pieces without having to "eyeball them each time.  The drill bit you see there is called a "forstner bit".  They drill large holes with flat bottoms.   My set goes from 1/4" to 2 1/2".  The thing you see stuck in the drill where the bit goes is the  "chuck key" that tightens the bit .  I keep it clamped lightly in there so I can't lose it.

Here is the fully drilled top and bottom.  The solid piece of plywood behind them is the real bottom.  That piece is so the vials don't fall through the drilled holes.

I spread wood glue between the holes of the drilled bottom and the solid piece.  You can never have too many clamps.  If you need a gift for a woodworker, clamps are usually a safe bet!  

All those drilled holes created a lot of sawdust shavings.  I dump that stuff in the woods.  I don't compost it because of all the chemicals in plywood.  The trees don't mind a bit...

Then I needed to support the top 1 1/2" over the bottom.  I had cut sides from leftover plywood.  But I was going crazy because the kept coming out slightly tapered!  I kept checking the fence and the blade and they were perfectly square.  But I had actually cut them first, and didn't remember that, before that, I had changed the miter gauge a degree off "0" for another project and neglected to set it back to ).  Argh!  But I fixed that and the sides came out perfect. 

I glued the sides to the bottom upside down deliberately so that the glue squeeze-out didn't attach the pieces to the assembly stand.  Don't laugh.  Better woodworkers than me have done that...

I used scrap wood and shims to raise the bottom to even with the sides, then glued and clamped it.

Then I turned the whole thing over and repeated that to attach the top.  There was a slight difference in height in the center of the sides.  It made no functional difference, and no one would ever see it but me.  But I would, so I used a block plane to shave it down and a finishing sander to smooth it.  Putting it on my utterly flat table saw showed not the slightest wobbly in any direction.

Here is the finished try next to the old one.  A nice difference.

You can't really see it, but all of the vials are numbered.  I keep a list of the vial numbers and contents.  In fact, for safety, I keep 3.  One is with the seed tray, one is with the box of index cards listing the planting dates, planting depths, and growing notes, and one is in a permanent notebook.  Losing track of which seeds are in which vials would be a DISASTER!!!

And I got it done just in time.  Planting indoors starts next week...

So now I'm ready to build wood frames for the 2 bathroom mirrors. 

And I need to buy a trailer-load of compost for the garden beds.  My trash barrel of starter soil from last year is all used up.  Fortunately, the weather is going to be decent Saturday. 

Stocks

I'm pissed!  Last week, before the stock market crashed, I was thinking I should get out and ride on the gains.  I looked at my stocks and decided to move them to safe money market accounts and CDs

But I wasn't sure how that would hit me taxwise, so I tried to find out out.  I don't know enough about that.  so I researched how exchanging my index funds would work.  The stock index fund I invest in was not clear about it, so I went internet researching.  I wasn't sure.

I was 2 days away from getting out before the recent crunch.  Cost me about $40,000.

Yeah, it will probably recover slowly over the next year.  But I wanted to just get out anyway.   Not timing the market, just wanted to leave entirely into safe investments for my old age.

2 days too late is 2 days too late.  I guess I'll hold.

My Medical Insurance

You all know what it is like talking to you medical insurance company right?  Bad.

Wrong.  I just spent 90 minutes talking to mine and it was WONDERFUL.  Sharaya explained everything to me, told me about the things they covered and how to get fancy virtual tests covered and all that. 

I now have a primary care doctor (and I can change that easily if I want after a visit).  I can get a back specialist directly after one visit to my new primary care doctor and she says I can get virtual tests done with a simple co-pay in the network (and apparently all such specialists are covered) and my primary doctor will actually pay attention to those. 

She said that is the way their coverage is going; high-tech...  United health Care.

I haven't tested it yet, but she was so positive I nearly fell off my chair.  I will call one of the doctors she emailed me today about my back and a annual physical.

But she was so great I had to post this first...

Bad Back

Mom used to say (in her last 10 years - 74 to 84 years) that "growing old isn't for sissies".  She had to stop playing golf at 75,  couldn't write letters at 76 or so, couldn't type letters after 78, and sufferred from Parkinson's Disease after that.

Dad felt the same way, but he was healthy to 90 and faded quickly over 2 years.  I like his pattern better...

OK, I'm "only" 67, but I'm beginning to understand what she meant.  It isn't so much that you are going to die someday (we all will), but the accumulation of small and large problems is hard to accept and get used to.  And the minor problems of middle age just get worse.

I've always been "annoyingly healthy" (no colds, no flu, no broken bones, no migraines, etc).  But as a single person determined to tackle hard work alone, strained muscles are a routine of my life.  Sometimes, I push my body a bit too far.  I usually get over it in a day or two, but sometimes not.  I threw a rock at a squirrel 30 years ago and strained my right rotator cuff.  Couldn't lift my arm above my head for months.  But it healed.

I stepped on a rock wrong once and limped for a week.  It healed.  Whenever I strain a mucle, it heals.  I'm just used to that happening.  I do something, it heals.  I don't bruise.  Cuts heal in a day.  You get used to that happening.

I think partly that it is because I age slower than most people.  I matured  slowly in high school behind the other guys.  Some of the athletic types were shaving at 14.  I didn't have to until college.  When they looked 30 in college, I looked 16.  I resented it then, but I like it now.

But time is catching up to me.  I first noticed that, when I twisted around doing work, I would sometimes get a muscle cramp in my side.  Then both.   I have always had a slight back problem, but it got worse over the decades.  I get muscle cramps in my legs while laying in bed.

The males of my paternal side live to old age in relative health (85+).  The males on the maternal side do not (65+).  I suppose I will average that.

My point is that I think I've hit the point where things start to go downhill.  Monday, I woke up after doing no particularly heavy work the day before, and I COULD NOT STAND UPRIGHT.  That was a shock.  I expected that I had just slept in a bad position all night.  But even after a hot shower, it didn't go away, and I limped around all day.  The pain was slightly behind the left hip.  Not the joint, the muscle.

I took a double dose of Ibuprofen, which helped.  Standing erect (once I stretched enough) was sort of OK,   Bending over was troublesome; bending back up was harder.  I discovered doing leg squats was the easiest.

I have Ibuprofen because I had one attack of gout in the 90s and aspirin was contra-indicated for that.  The Ibuprofen instructions say 1 pill per 4-6 hours, but the doctor then said 2 were just fine (unless there are problems) and I follow that.  I'm drug-resistant, so I need stronger doses.

And interestingly, the "bad" knee I've had for 10 years has been just fine lately.  When one problem arrives, another one goes away.  And I haven't had leg muscle cramps in weeks.  Maybe that's because I've been eating a banana each day or because I just haven't been able to work hard in the yard.

So here is the situation.  My back is not getting better.  But I'm NOT going to the doctor office while the flu is widespread.  Maybe I've never caught the flu, and I got the annual shot (started doing that only when Dad came to live with me, but decided not to stop), but it seems the current flu shot has only a 30% effectiveness and if I catch a bad case, there isn't anyone here to help.  So I will wait to heal the back.

At least I've learned to adjust to it somewhat.  If I stand erect most of the day, it lessens.  I even did some woodworking today.

So I'm expecting it to just heal naturally and not notice it suddenly in a few more days.

Meanwhile, it is annoying.  The birdfeeder and suet basket were empty this morning.  I dragged out the 8'ladder to refill it.  It sure didn't feel great!  But I managed it.  Life doesn't stop just because my back hurts.  The birds need the food.

I expect that, in a few days, I will feel back to normal.   But not today, and not tomorrow.

When I'm 77, this may be more of a problem.

Upstairs PLant Rack

The plants on the upstairs plant rack are doing well.  The ivy are growing all around the single light and thriving with the southern sunlight.

This spider plant was just one little surviving baby when I pinned it into the soil about this time last year.  It sure liked the fresh soil.  And I water my plants with aquarium water, so they get some mild natural fertilizer each time.  

I have some vague plan to attach an iron rod to the ceiling studs and hang plants from it where the sun will hit them.  I'll need to make or find a water catch tray below them though.

Light Stand

I have to have the light stand ready for seedlings in 3 weeks, so why not do it now?

I took everything off, organized stuff into piles. And kept everything not "plant-starting" or "plant-growing" off.  Most of the plants there were cuttings I rooted in December.  Waxy Hoyas,...

Some failed to root, but most did.  I took out the failed ones and combined the rooting ones into 6-packs.  That saved some space.  And I had some planters half-filled. so I planted more seeds to fill them.

When all was done, I had this...

Celery plants.  For the leaves in salads.  I love the slightly strong taste of them.  I snip a couple from each plant and they keep growing new leaves.

I discovered another new Petunia growing and flowering in a Waxy Hoya cel and separated it for transplanting.  BTW, a 1" putty knife works great for that.

I read that you can grow scallinon-like greens from the top of an onion.   So far, it is working...

I love the taste of endive lettuce.  These are floppy now, but will be sending up heartier leaves soon that I can cut and they will regrow.

The single Snake Plant I chopped up into pieces and repotted...  The pieces are all doing well.  There is some slight new growth.  The interesting question is what to do with 12 Snake Plants.  I'm thinking a row of them in a new-built wood frame on the deck rails come Summer.

Basement Cleaning

Here is a real "Before and After"!

At the end of the growing season, I've accumulated a lot of stuff "out-of-place".  Well, I get busy, you know?  So it was needing some work to get ready for the new planting season.  And amazingly, the new planting season starts in 3 weeks!

So, I had to get to work.  The clutter was bad. 

Even my light stand was clutterred!  It's the old rule of "any horizontal surface gets covered"...

After 2 days work, I had it down to this...

And to show I didn't just move stuff "out of sight", here is the other previously clutterred space...

That old refrigerator is my "root cellar".  I keep bulk veggies in it at 40-45F.  And my seeds are in the tray there too.

Next, I need to clear out and get my light stand ready to stat seedlings...

Freshwater Aquarium

I have had one type of aquarium or another since college when I built a 2 gallon aquarium from plastic sheets I found in the trash in my college dorm (and bought plastic cement to hold it together - a serious expense at the time)

My first REAL job was in the fish department at a department store in 1971.  I had the aquarium I built and needed a few fish for it.  I visited the nearest department store, and was angry that the tanks were dirty and had dead fish in them.  I complained to the person at the cash register (in those days, each department had its own cash register).

The person was the Department Manager.  A real slob, reflecting how he maintained the fish tanks.  He offerred me a job.  I took it (minimum wage was better than no wage, and I hated asking my parents for "spending money" while they were paying college tuition and board).

In a week, I had all the dead  fish removed (and accounted for, for inventory-reporting), tanks cleaned, and asked what to do next.  The Department Manager guy didn't care, but the part-time Assistant Manager was impressed.


It was a chain operation.  Back then, discount stores were called "department" stores because each "department" was a separate business renting space in it.  I bet you never knew THAT!

So the Regional Manager came along once a month (he had dozens of "fish departments" to oversee).  The assistant manager told him what I had been doing (that the department manager had not) and the Manager was fired, the Assistant went to Manager and I got nothing...  Huh?

So I upped my game.  There was one tall display case in the storage room, and I cleaned it up, set it at the entrance to the department, and set up breeding tanks.  One month it would be cherry barbs, another, fancy guppies, another, Siamese Fighting Fish.

I even found a 2 gallon brandy-snifter in the glasswares department and snuck it away to create a self-contained live plant and guppy "tank" that required no feeding of the fish or water changes (other than adding some distilled water occasionally).

The next time the Regional Manager came by, he announced they were closing the department.  But he offerred me the Manager job at one of their better departments in Cherry Hill New Jersey.  20% above minimum wage.

A 20% wage increase would have been great.  But I was still in college and had hopes for a better future.  I declined the offer.  You never know what changes such choices make.  For all I know, my career could have gone into retail sales and store management with company stocks and wealth.  But I stayed in college.

I mention all this because I still keep fish.  Watching them swim around endlessly is soothing.  It gives me something to be responsible for (as if the cats and house and yard weren't enough).  But you know what I mean.  It adds structure to the day.  And Ayla loves watching them move around.

So When I found a algea-like slime couting the bottom of the aqurium last year, I took the whole thing apart (moved the fish to a 10 gallon aquarium temporarily).   I cleaned the plastic plants.  I scooped out all the gravel.  I scrubbed the tank with a pad and then filled it with water out on the deck and added bleach to kill anything in it. 

Then I rinsed the tank several times, stirring up the gravel as I went.  Then I set it all up again and moved the fish back in.

That lasted 3 months.  The slime returned.

I repeated the process.

In December the slime returned.  It shouldn't have, so I did so research.  I learned my problem was "blue-green" algae.  And that the name was false.  It is a "cyano-bacteria", and bacteria is not "algae".  Bleach doesn't kill it. 

I found help at Petco.  There was a woman with a dog (a customer, I assumed) talking to a woman with a Petco uniform.  The usual fish expert was not there.  So I asked uniformed woman if the expert was there.  He wasn't, but she offerred to help.

I was doubtful.  Be sure to understand it was because she wasn't the fish expert that I doubted she could help.  I know about helping customers (spent 5 years in stores doing whatever I could to help), but expertise was needed here.  She had no idea what cyanobacteria was. 

But she was willing to help.  Unfortunately, I know how THAT goes.  The helpful clerk pulls bottles off the shelf and reads them to see if they mention the problem.  I appreciate the willingness to help, but I had done that already and with more experience.

But guess what?  The "customer with the dog" was actually the Regional Manager and knew EXACTLY what I was talking about!  She handed her dog (on a leash) to the clerk, and said I needed "Chemi-Clean" and walked directly to the spot on the shelf where it was stocked.

The spot on the shelf was empty...   But she said they had just gotten the weekly shipment of supplies in.  She went to the back and returned with a container of The Right Stuff!

$20!  Well, compared to cleaning the aquarium again, that was a bargain.  It is harmless to fish and plants.  You keep the water circulating without charcoal filters at high power (extra air bubblers) for 48 hours and then replace 20% of the water.  The cyano-bacteria is supposedly dead.  And the container has 10 doses in it (endless shelf-life apparently).

A week later, the aquarium looks clean.  Without the plants in the aquarium, I see I have more fish than I realized!  Some I knew of, of course (red-tailed shark, 2 corydoris catfish, 1 algae eater), but 11 serpae tetra and 3 tiger barbs.  I thought I had only 6 tetras.  I guess they hide well.

And, in the picture above, you see a small 10 gallon tank at the bottom.  That's where the 6 new tiger barbs are staying for a week while I make sure they don't bring home a disease.  The screen and brick on the top of that tank is to make sure the cats don't get too pawy at them.

The cloudy stuff in the center are air bubbles from a long strip bubbler...

I haven't added the plastic plants back in yet, but they seem clean.  BTW, that brown block above is a piece of petrified wood. 

I'll add them back soon.  But I'm thinking I should add some live plants.  That can wait, but it is on my list...BTW, that brown block

Starter Soil

I mix my own.  I use up a large trash barrel each year.  It works great for me!

Start with a sifter.  I made one 2'x2' of 2"x4" boards covered on the bottom with 1/4" hardware cloth (wire mesh). 

My formula is:
4 parts finished compost
2 parts peat moss
1 part vermiculite
1/2 part perlite

I have a large plastic bin that fits under the sifter.  I add scoops of each item into the sifter and rub it around (wearing heavy leather gloves).  When it is mostly gone and just unsiftable lumps left, I add the sifted material to the trash barrel and the unsifted material to a small bucket

After a 2nd load into the barrel, I stir it all around

Repeat, repeat, repeat...

When I'm done, I have a whole barrel of sifted starter soil and 1 bucket of peat clumps.  I pound that as best I can with a 4"x4"x4' post and toss it into the compost bin.

I re-use planting 6-pack cels, but I soak them in a mild bleach solution in the basement laundry tub and rinse them 3 times.  I have great germination, so no problem there. 

I also cut one one cell out of a 11"x22" flat for ease of watering.  There is always SOME plant I can get by with having 5 of, LOL!

So, this week's project is making more starter soil.

Gardening Organization

I love this time of year almost as much as the first harvest.  Planning is in my blood!

The catalogs arrive daily, but that doesn't matter.  Most are junky scammy ones.  I would mention names but I don't feel like getting arguements about them.  I'll just say that if you keep getting catalogs from places you never order from, those are probably them.  LOL!

The catalogs I like are Johnny's, Territorial, Victory, Selected Seeds, and Brent&Becky's.  Burpee's is good too, but I never end up ordering from them these days.

I have a SYSTEM for keeping seeds and deciding when to plant them inside and out.  My seeds are kept refrigerated in medical specimen vials I found cheap years ago.  They last years longer that way.  I number the vials on top and on the sides.

The tray was easy.  I drilled holes the size of the vial bottoms in a piece of plywood and glued another piece under it.  I'm going to build a better one with a 2nd board 1/2 way up (the current bottom holes are tight to hold the vials upright).  But the main point is that the seeds are all in one tray, sealed and refrigerated (in a basement refrigerator also used as a root cellar for potatoes and carrots and such).

I keep a list of the vial contents using Excel (for easy columns).  A part of it looks like this:

	SEEDLIST 2018
	VEGETABLES
VIAL	CROP	TYPE	ACQ YR
101	PAC CHOI	CHING-CHIANG	18
102	TOMATO	SWEET MILLION	17
103	TOMATO	SUPERNATURAL (ROOTSTOCK)	18
104	TOMATO	BRANDYWINE	17
105	TOMATO	PINEAPPLE	17
106	TOMATO	CHEROKEE PURPLE	16
107	TOMATO	STRIPED GERMAN	13
108	TOMATO	MOSKVITCH	13
109	TOMATO	GARDEN TREASURE	16
110	TOMATO	GARDEN GEM	16
111	CORN	ALLURE	16
112	CORN	ALLURE	16
113	CORN	ALLURE	16
114
115	LETTUCE	ROMAINE, RED MARSHALL	17
116	LETTUCE	NEVADA	17

I also keep index cards for each week of planting or transplanting, with notes...

The number in the upper right is the weeks before or after the average last frost date (April 15th here, but I round it to weekends for simplification.  A few days doesn't matter.  And, as you can see, I change the weeks sometimes.  I also have a set of cards counting backwards from the average FIRST frost date for Fall plantings.

I keep all the empty seed packets.  Sometimes there is good information, but it also tells me where I got the seeds from. 

Ancestry

I mentioned "not finding English DNA" in my recent test.  A friend pointed out that there IS no specific English DNA.  The English haven't been "English" long enough for that.  As Americans and Australians haven't.

Aw man, I should have realized that...  So I'm, 43% German and French because that's where the "English" came from.  And the 38% Scot and Welsh is the interesting part.  The minor parts Iberian and Middle East are probably from when the Moslems came across North Africa and conquored Spain and my Southern French ancestors inter-married. 

The Balkan part is still really interesting, though.

Random Stuff

It's cold here (for my area).  12F (-11C) twice this week, and another week of that to come.  That is close to record lows here and even then, it is usually just a night or tho.  Extended cold like that is very unusual.

Trump made a joke about "Global Warming" being (therefore) obviously a hoax.  Does he remember that this day last year, it reached 70F here?  Probably not.  I think "last week" is a vague concept to him.

I watched a retrospective of 2017 on MSNBC yesterday.  2017 was more depressing than I realized! 

I am beginning to hate the hawk that took up residence in my neighborhood.  My birdfeeder is becoming a deadly attraction to the birds.  Yeah, yeah, "nature", etc, etc...  But I want my small birds more than I want a hawk around.  I've seen it pick off 2 male cardinals, and it's not like I'm staring out the window all day.  I had 12 male cardinals around last Christmas.  The most I counted the past few days was 4.  I'm researching anti-raptor netting. 

New food thing I discovered!  Raw large deshelled shrimp tossed with garlic and cherry tomatoes, and olive oil.  Raw broccoli florets tossed with olive oil and lemon zest.    Set on a baking pan at 400F for 15 minutes.  Served with fried potato wedges with minced  shallots and garlic...

The neighbors have those new star shower lights.  Nice fir the first hour.  Then boring.  I like my stationary strings better. 

The garden catalogs are arriving.  Time to take out my seed tray and see what I need for the new season.  I want to buy a few grafted heirloom tomatoes to see if they are worth it, but companies that self them a few at a time have bad ratings and the good places sell them 100 at a time.  So I'll try grafting my own again.

Saw the movie 'Interstellar' last night.  It made no sense at the end.  I understood what they tried to do, but "FAIL"...

Am still trying to design a mailbox notifier.  Something that let's me know when the mailbox has been opened.  I could buy one, but that's not the point.  I want to figure one out myself. 

Can't seem to win at Scrabble online.  I win until my opponent suddenly gets a 7 letter 50 point bonus near the end. 

Waiting for Spring...

Holiday Lighting Outtakes

Apparently, I can't take pictures of lights at all...

Ancestry

I got one of those DNA testing kits in November and sent the cheek swab off.   I learned the results today.

Before I mention the results, let me say I only did it on a lark to see if something really odd showed up.  My mother's side of the family is French, through Quebecois Canada for a couple centuries at least.  Her dad's side was from Southern France and her Mom's was Parisian (family lore).   No formal genealogy, but I had great-Aunts who only spoke Canadian French, so that seems solid.

Dad's side of the family is claimed English and German.  His dad's side supposedly was traced back to England in the 1600s (by last name only), but all I can find is back to the mid-1700s in the US.  His moms's side was Pennsylvannia Dutch (German), records fading out in the mid 1800s (looking back though time).  The family name seems to have come from a Norman word for "pantry server" (dispenser).  That would have been a castle position of English kitchen-workers, possibly a high point in the lineage of general serfs.  (I think that meant the equivalent of controlling the office supply cabinet).

Dad and then I did some research a decade ago, and all that seemed solid.  So, I thought maybe some Canadian Indian (not all that uncommon in Canada, all those French Trappers wandering the wilds).  And possibly Dad's English ancestors included some Norman French (Vikings who settled in NW France) and/or even direct Vikings who settled in England.  It's not like my ancestors seemed to be world travelers.  Indeed, our family history seemed to be a rather boring line of farmers and small-time merchants.

And I look so much like Dad that his friends used to wave at me as they drove by while I was mowing the lawn as a young adult, thinking I was him.  And Dad was similarly like HIS dad.  No concerns there.  

I should also mention that I am self-taught knowledgeable in evolution and genetics.  I know basically how DNA works.  I also know that (like in cats and dogs) a variety of genetic mixing makes for a healthy individual.  And I haven't caught the flu since I was 12, never catch a cold, and I am a cash cow to my health insurance company. 

So I expected DNA ethnicity results something like 45%+ English, 45%+ French, and perhaps 1 or 2% of American Indian and/or Scandinavian.  Guess what MyHeritage.com says I'm NOT?  ENGLISH!  Not a drop...

I had to laugh out loud! They say I am 43.2% French/German/Netherlands, 36.7% Irish/Scottish/Welsh, 13.5% Balkan, 5.0% Iberian (Spanish/Portuguese), and 1.6% Middle Eastern!

If I understand this correctly, it means my ancestry is 43% non-Norman French and German, 37% pre-Anglo-Saxon native groups (Celts), some wandering Balkan traders who inter-married in either France/Germany/England, some poor lost Spaniard, and maybe some Arab.

I see a family of Welsh or Scots (not Irish - no red hair in our family) living under Anglo-Saxon, then Norman viking rule in England, leaving Great Britain in the 1700s on paternal side.  And some French moving to Canada in the 1700s on the maternal side and moving to the New England US to work in the textile mills around 1920.  Somewhere around 1930, Dad's grandparents moved from  Ohio to New Hampshire

I think this is GREAT!  Maybe the most "interesting" $69 I ever spent.  ASSUMING that the DNA tests are actually accurate...  I may try to learn more about that.

I have to add a disclaimer though.  Humans have about 30,000 genes and the ancestry tests choose which ones they think most useful in determining ethnicity.  And I know from my own interest in the subject that some genes persist from VERY long times ago.

For example, I may have a gene string that randomly persisted from some Middle East ancestor 10,000 years ago.  My ancestors may have lost some critical gene string that shows English ancestry. 

But I'll bet not.  It seems I'm not genetically English at all.  WOW!  I'm going to repeat the test with a different company and see if the results differ (after checking the internet to see if they do independent lab work.

Have any of you had this kind of test done?  Did you think the results agreed with family history?  Did you get surprises?

Holiday Decorating

I don't often decorate for holidays.  In fact, I don't usually pay much attention to them these days.  I don't have visitors, family is scattered, and former friends have gone their separate ways.

But sometimes,  I make an effort.  I used to get real trees to decorate, but that was a lot of effort.  Then I bought a very realistic artificial tree, but that was even more work than a real one (real ones at least come with branches in the right places).  Re-boxing the artificial tree was awkward.

So last year, I bought a 3' artificial tree on post-holiday clearance ($5).  How much trouble could a 3' tree be?  You pull it out of the box, the branches are on hinges and fall nicely into place, and you plug it in.  Right?

Wrong.  Somehow I missed seeing the "unlit" description on the box.  The DISPLAY model was beautifully lit, had realistic-looking needles, and was at least 2' wide at the bottom.  Out of the box, I saw no lights and it was a mass of wire branches you had to bend into shape.  The "needles" were flat shreds of green plastic. 

Well, at least it was cheap enough to just throw away after this one use.  Because I sure won't ever use it again!  But it IS this year's tree.  Next year, I will use the fancy 6' realistic artificial tree.  It's a little easier to set up actually, and sturdier.  In fact, the branches hold heavy decorations better.  It's the packing away back into the box that is harder and I even figured out how to do that easier sliding the 3 sections into large garbage bags to close up the hinged branches tightly.

But here is a picture of the existing one...

I am NOT impressed!

Pictures

The ivy cuttings...

The spider plant that was a few dying leaves pinned with a tent peg in March...

The snake plant pot I need to divide, but can't pull the rootball out of...

Ah, the "Comfort Station"...  I never used to drink cocktails until Dad moved in with me  in 2012.  He loved Martinis.  I could never stand such pure stuff.  But I found fruit-based drinks to accompany him.  

My favorite is a "Gin Buck".  Sling glass with 4 ice cubes.  1 oz gin, 1/2 oz of lemon juice, fill with ginger ale.  2nd is what I call a "Peach Comfort".  Sling glass, 4 ice cubes, 1 oz Southern Comfort and 1/2 oz Peach liquer, filled with ginger ale.  3rd is what I call a Cavebear Sling.  Same glass and ice, 1 oz of gin and 1/2 oz of Pomerganate juice.  Tart.  I drink them all with a straw.  Purists would wince.  I like it because I drink it slower.  I can't just "sip"...

There is bourbon and vodka in the back for odd variations, but I seldom go there.  Vodka is just for getting drunk and that's not my interest.  Bourbon is for visitors who like it. 

And I have 2 glasses of Zinfandel wine with dinner.  The White wine is for spicy chinese dinners.  And I eat dinner slowly, so the wine goes slowly.  I'm retired, who cares?  LOL!

Catching Up

It is supposed to snow tonight.  At first, the forecast was for 1-3", then 2-4", then 4-8".  So Winter starts...

I spent the past 2 weeks getting the yard ready for Winter while the temperatures were till in the 50s.  Mostly small stuff like pulling out the dead tomato and pepper and corn plants.  Harvesting the last of the carrots and celery (leaves only here). 

But a few major things.  I have 2 toolsheds.  One is 25 years old and a tree fell on it about 5 years ago.  Poked a few holes in the roof.  Which didn't matter much since I didn't put anything under the leaks.  But I replaced the shelves and wanted to use them, so I slipped new shingles over the holes.  That didn't work. 

The roof needs replacing, but I didn't have the time.  So I screwed on a piece of 2'x8' plywood over the holes and caulked around the edges.  That will work until Spring when I can replace the entire roof. 

Two toolsheds may seem a lot (both 8'x12'), but I have a lot of equipment and a dislike of having to move 4 things to get at one).

I put a bag over the new metal hose reel.  The manufacturers say the powder coating should last many years, but I think protecting it in Winter will make it last longer, so why not?

I had black plastic sheeting covering the 30' round bulb bed all Summer to kill weeds and keep the bulbs dry (bulbs like dry soil).  It was pretty much used up and brittle, but I spread it out off to the side and cut it into pieces.  I folded those up 3x to make some weed and grass smothering over winter in the flowerbeds.  Come Spring, I should have no weeds to fight with when I want to plant annual flowers.

I also used some to cover the garden paths.  They are paver squares on gravel, but weeds even grow in THAT, but they won't do well covered for 4 months.  With luck, the paths won't have weeds to fight with in April.

I also pruned briars to the ground.  They thrive here with the least bit of inattention and I was very inattentive this year.  I can only do so much.  Cutting them back will cause the roots to diminish (not being fed by the leaves) and digging them out next year will be easier. 

I filled the trailer with plant debris too tough to compost (thorns seem to survive forever), and planned to bring them to the County Brush Composting site (where they can get huge piles that even decompose thorns) last Saturday (the only day they operate November though March) but I stayed up too late and is is going to snow tomorrow.  Figures...

I'll get there tomorrow if the snow fails or next Saturday.  Between 7:30 am to noon, I can get a free load of mulch in return for the debris.  I'll spread it over the bulb bed to keep down the weeds.  Actually, I think it will take 3 loads to make a 3" thick layer, but I can manage that even in cold weather.

I have 2 large pots of Snake Plants.  I took one rootball out and divided it into pieces.  The plants grow thick tangled roots and are not easily separatable, so I just cut them apart with an old serrated Ginsu knife and put the best pieces in eight 6" pots with new potting soil.  They are slow-growing and have energy reserves in the thick roots, so I won't know if they are growing until I see new leaves probably in a few months.

Meanwhile, I have another pot of them in a wide shallow ceramic bowl that I can't pull the plants out of.  I'll try soaking the pot in a large bucket for a few days, but I expect I'll have to break the pot to get at the roots.  I have a very useful plastic container 2'x3' and that will help.

I took some variegated ivy that were in small 6-pack cells all Summer and grew long stems while I wasn't paying attention.  I cut the stems of one into short sections to make more, and I set the others into 4" pots in new soil.  I may end up with a dozen ivy plants.  I'm thinking of hanging a pipe from the ceiling and supported a 6' planter box of them from it to make a "waterfall" of them.  Watering could could get drippy, so I'll need a shallow box below them.  I don't know of a product like that, so I'll have to build one.

The 6 cuttings of my original Waxy Hoya plant all seem to be rooting well, and I'll need to find a place for them too. 

Between the Waxy Hoyas, the Snake Plants, and the Ivies, I need a lot more light.  In Spring to Fall, some can be out on the deck, but Winter is a problem.  I think I need to make another light stand designed for tall and hanging plants.  Well, that will give me something to design and build over Winter.

And that doesn't count de-clutterring the basement.  With the old toolshed secure from rain (I hope, and am waiting to see), I can move a lot of stuff in there.

With more basement space free, I can get at the regular Winter project of making new starter/potting soil.  I like making my own.  It's cheaper, but I also get to make it right.  new fertilizer, and a good blend of peat moss (that I sift into powder myself), vermiculite, sifted compost, and fine sand.   It works for me and I fill a large trash barrel with it.  Which is the amount I use up each Spring.



I sure won't be bored before Spring!

Daffodils 2

So I had daffodils in some tubs and meant to replant them last Spring after they bloomed.  But didn't.  I got busy with other stuff.

I tipped the bins over last week and picked the bulbs out of the soil,  Wow, those bulbs loved the rich soil!  Most had multiplied into 4.  Well, I have this new island around a tree and boulder in the front yard.  About 40'x20'.  I tried planting Astilbe there, but the deer just kept pulling them up (couldn't eat them, but kept trying).  Well, I know they sure can't eat daffodils (toxic to most mammals). 

The bed was covered with large saucer magnolia leaves.  I raked them just off the bed so that I could use my little electric tiller (which is great for small areas) to kill the weeds.  I have a large tiller, but it isn't good in small areas.

I planted those recovered 100 bulbs in the front island. 

I am now utterly worn out.  I have put away all my planting tools.  I am done for the season...

And actually, this was several days ago.  I am really done.  I've pushed myself to my limit, getting inside before sunset and sitting in a chair exhausted.  I get muscle cramps from all the digging and bending.  I've been getting my hands clenching up, cramps in my legs, stitches in my sides.

I AM DONE FOR THE YEAR!

But oh next Spring is going to look SO wonderful...  It will all have been worth it. 

Daffodils

I wasn't just working on the hose reel platform this week.  I was planting daffodils too.  And a LOT of them.

The original plantings looked like this...

One quarter daffodils...  I decided to complete the circle this fall (avoiding where I had planted tulips and hyacinths in vole-proof metal cages) 2 years ago.  I ordered 500 daffodil bulbs and they arrived 3 weeks ago.  I looked at them all and said "OMG, WHAT was I thinking"?  How could I ever plant so many?

It took 2 hours per day for 4 days.  First, I thank technology for drill augers!


Attached to an electric drill, you can get fast holes  for bulbs to go into.  They even cut some small roots and lift out small rocks.  It takes some work, but works better than those cylinder push-down bulb-planters in rough soil.

I kept track of where I planted bulbs from day to day by surrounding the planted area with bright yellow nylon marine rope and leaving the closest row of bulbs unburied.

And I had to do some exploratory digging.  I had covered the tulip and hyacinth cages with cardboard cut to size and pinned with tent pegs.  And the whole are was covered with black plastic sheeting to smother the weeds and keep the bulbs dry (which they like).

But even then, I was surprised to discover that some of the cardboard markers rotted and some were loosened when a windstorm came through right after I removed the plastic.  Sad timing.  But the tent pegs were still there and I spend a whole afternoon finding them.  Which allowed me to replicate where the cardboard covers had been,

The recreated covers looked like this...

I planted all the new daffodil bulbs around the cardboard covers the other 3/4 on the bed.

Almost.  I came short a 6'x5' section at the end.  Home Depot had 40 bulb bags on clearance.  Most were blends and I didn't want THAT!  But I found ONE bag of one kind (King Alfred) and JUST barely filled up that last area.

Bed Complete!

But I had some in some tubs that needed a permanent space.  That's tomorrow...

Hose Reel 6

So the post is in and solid.  The metal bars are assuring it stays upright and level.  Time to attach the hose reel...

The hose reel has 4 front screw holes and 4 back ones.  I used 1 1/2" x 3/8" lag screws in pre-drilled holes.  I put rubber hose washers on the bottom and fender washers (large washers with small holes) above those and drove the galvanized lag screws down tight.  THOSE aren't going to come loose!

The hose reel turns to the left...

To the right...

And rolls up the hose...

It's a bit ugly because it is coldish outside and the hose isn't as limp as it will be in Summer.  But as a test of the system, it is good.

After testing the "reeling", I used it to water the newly-planted daffodils.  The hose came off the reel beautifully from any angle.

Tomorrow, planting daffodils...