Planting Again!

Well, the best day of seed planting has occurred!  I planted the heirloom tomatoes and the hybrid sweet bell peppers 2 days ago.  If I could grow only 2 crops, those would be it.

Fortunately, I can grow a lot of other stuff.

For veggies, my list is nearly as long as the index list in a catalog.  I've even grown celery.

Right now, I have cabbage, broccoli. pay choy, brussels sprouts. lettuces of various types, tomatoes, bell peppers, and leeks.  Soon, I will have spinach, parsnips, beets. carrots, snow peas,  flat italian pole beans, squash, melons, pumpkins, radishes etc.

I have some blue potatoes this year.  I found them in the organic section of the grocery store, and they are sending out small shoots from the eyes.  4 blue potatoes will turn into 40 when planted in my containers.  And with luck, I will get 2 harvests by planting a few eyes in July.

I have been planting a LOT of annual flowers this year.  I spent 10 years on perennials and the short blooms are just not worth it.  So I've going back to annuals that bloom all Late Spring, Summer and Fall.  Salvias, Forget-Me-Nots, Carnations, Wave Petunias, Impatiens, Coleus, Cardinal Vines,

That needs a lot of indoors growing space.  Fortunately, I adapted a large storage rack to a light stand last year.  It is paying off now!

Each shelf has 4 fluorescent bulbs hanging below.  Each shelf has 2 daylight bulbs and 2 grow-light bulbs.  I really can't give the plants better lighting than that!

I keep the trays of seedlings close to the lights.  But the shelves are fixed in place.  So I do the adjustments by having wood stands of various heights.

Mesclun in a window box

Top view to show color.

Chinese cabbage.

Salvia, rudbecckia, and forget-me-nots...

Carnations and celery.

Rescued plants from last year.  Stokesia, clumping blue fescue, and catnip.

Bell peppers.  Lipstick is the best sweet bell pepper for me!

The heirloom tomatoes:  Aunt Gerties Gold, Brandywine, Prudens Purple, Cherokee Purple, Tennessee Britches, and hybrid suncherry.

An example of the stands I built to raise the trays as close to the lights as possible.  And to lower them as needed.  Best results are 1" away from the lights.  As they grow, they get put on lower stand.

Two stands before assembly.  They are just glued.

Here is a stand glued and with a weight on top.  The container is full of clean kitty litter.

After an hour, I can add a new glued stand.  They aren't attached, just stacked.

This is the seedling soil I used this year.  It wasn't perfect sterile soil, but it was "good enough" and it was on sale.

I've learned that the more expensive "seed starter soil" isn't required.  I got almost 100% germination with this stuff.  I DID have to pick out a few bits of bark and hand-crush some clumps of topsoil, but it was worth the cost.

BTW, when planting flats of 6 pack cels, I trowel lots of soil on top, scrape the excess away and tp down the cells with other 6 packs.  Then I plant the seeds, cover them with soil  using a flour sifter and tsmp them down again with a 6 pack.

That is all working great so far.

Planting Seeds

I planted flower and veggie seeds today.  I love doing that.  It signals the start of a new gardening season.  And I got to start using the light stand I adapted from storage shelves last April.

I bought 4 large bags of potting soil last week.  They were on sale, and I have storage space for the extra for next year.  A single bag almost filled up a large trash can.  The stuff isn't perfect.  It is designed for large containers and established houseplants.  There are bits bark and some clumps that have to be hand crushed into fine soil.  But it works with a little effort.  Really fine starting soil costs 3 times as much, so I am willing to put a little labor into improving it.

So, I pulled out my planting trays and the 6-cell-packs that fit them from last year.  They are clean, of course.  Each Fall, I fill up the basement laundry tub and add ammonia and soap to the water.  I let the trays and 6-cells soak overnight and rinse them a few times.  So today was my first major scheduled planting (10 weeks before last likely frost date).

The light stand is GREAT!  Each shelf has a combination of "daylight" and "plant-grow" fluorescent bulbs, and I made supports of various heights so that I can easily keep the growing seedlings close to the lights.  And I built the stand so that the shelves are all 2" lower than the shelf above (i.e. shelves are 10", 12", 14" and 16" apart). 

Today (week minus 10 to last frost date here), I planted mostly annuals; 35 salvia, 6 wave petunias, 12 perennial ruddbeckia, 35 impatiens, 12 forget-me-nots, and 11 leeks.

Why the odd numbers on some?  Because I want to water the trays from the bottom and that requires an open spot..  Six 6-packs fit in each tray.  I cut one cell out to leave an easy watering spot.  You don't want to water from above.

My schedule has nothing to plant in week -9.  But week -8 is the BIG ONE!  Tomatoes, peppers. 4 flowers, cole crops.  I can hardly wait!!!

Pictures later when the seedlings start to grow...

Planting Seeds

I planted flower and veggie seeds today.  I love doing that.  It signals the start of a new gardening season.  And I got to start using the light stand I adapted from storage shelves last April.

I bought 4 large bags of potting soil last week.  They were on sale, and I have storage space for the extra for next year.  A single bag almost filled up a large trash can.  The stuff isn't perfect.  It is designed for large containers and established houseplants.  There are bits bark and some clumps that have to be hand crushed into fine soil.  But it works with a little effort.  Really fine starting soil costs 3 times as much, so I am willing to put a little labor into improving it.

So, I pulled out my planting trays and the 6-cell-packs that fit them from last year.  They are clean, of course.  Each Fall, I fill up the basement laundry tub and add ammonia and soap to the water.  I let the trays and 6-cells soak overnight and rinse them a few times.  So today was my first major scheduled planting (10 weeks before last likely frost date).

The light stand is GREAT!  Each shelf has a combination of "daylight" and "plant-grow" fluorescent bulbs, and I made supports of various heights so that I can easily keep the growing seedlings close to the lights.  And I built the stand so that the shelves are all 2" lower than the shelf above (i.e. shelves are 10", 12", 14" and 16" apart). 

Today (week minus 10 to last frost date here), I planted mostly annuals; 35 salvia, 6 wave petunias, 12 perennial ruddbeckia, 35 impatiens, 12 forget-me-nots, and 11 leeks.

Why the odd numbers on some?  Because I want to water the trays from the bottom and that requires an open spot..  Six 6-packs fit in each tray.  I cut one cell out to leave an easy watering spot.  You don't want to water from above.

My schedule has nothing to plant in week -9.  But week -8 is the BIG ONE!  Tomatoes, peppers. 4 flowers, cole crops.  I can hardly wait!!!

Pictures later when the seedlings start to grow...

Football

I don't care much for football, per se.  I don't really think violent contact should be a part of skilled sports.  OK, boxing, wrestling, you have to contact or there isn't the sport at all.  If you like that the game is to beat the opponent unconscious, boxing is well-designed for that purpose.  But I don't consider that "sport".

"Sports" started to go wrong for me when pro basketball changed from a skilled shooting game to a "flying elbows cage fight" gradually in the 70s and 80s.  Football was no better; at least it STARTED with the idea of violence tackles and such.  So I watched College basketball for a while, until the violence was taught there.  I don't watch any of those these days.  I expect to see a video clip of some Middle School basketball coach exhorting his players to "throw those elbows around" and"trip that guy" any day now.

I played high school soccer in the mid 60s.  Like baseball, it isn't inherently a contact sport.  Yes, injuries can happen.  Mine was when an opponent and I reached the ball at the same time to kick it.  I got there just first.  HIS attempted kick landed in the top of my ankle.  It separated the joint.  My forward momentum made me land on that foot and popped the joint back into place.  I couldn't run for a month.  But at least it wasn't an intentional part of the game.  And I've never had any problems with the ankle since.

Speaking of high school soccer, when I joined the team, it was the first year it had been offered.  I played tennis, golf, and was on the long distance running team.  Most of us had general athletic backgrounds.  But the funny part was all the football players who got cut from the varsity team.  They thought they would just take over.  Not a single one made the soccer team. 

We wore them out fast.  They couldn't keep up with the constant play.  No huddles, no bench time, no alternating between offense and defense, hardly any padding, no helmets, no lackeys to run out and squirt water in their mouths.  After 2 weeks, they didn't get "cut" from the team, they just QUIT!

But I digress...

I watch football sometimes when my local team (The Washington Redskins) plays, when they are playing well.  I'm no diehard fan.  But when the local team is exciting, I may as well watch a good team.  Unfortunately, it has been years since they were any good.  But leads me to mention why I started writing this post.  The Superbowl game this year was pretty good (and not overly violent).  I checked in on it a few times and watched the last 5 minutes.

I decided I was rooting for the Giants to win the game. 

Why?  Because "we" beat them both games this year.  LOLOLOL!

Strange Weather

The next couple of days are routinely the coldest days of the year, usually down to the teens at night (F).


Tomorrow is expected to reach 64F and Feb 1st 69F!  That's not proof of global warming, of course, strange things can happen in any given year.  And this is a strangely warm Winter by any accounting.  Heck, 50 F would be unusual.  But the 10 day forecast says it will not drop TO freezing here and that approaches the normal high.

Don't get me wrong on this, I agree that global warming is occurring, and by human actions of burning fossil fuels.  What most people don't understand is that "global warming" really means that while the average global temperature is rising, weather can become more extreme in both directions.  I can have a warmer than average Winter this year and a colder and snowier than average Winter next year (as I did 2 Winters ago).  It means weather will fluctuate to extremes because a warmer planet means larger and greater weather changes.

On the other hand, I like to think (in humor) that I haven't had any serious snowfall here for 2 Winters because I bought a snowblower machine.  ;)

Garden Season is here!

1.  I ordered new seeds.  Not many because most of my seeds are recent (and refrigerated).  But some are only good for a year and some are 4 years old and needed to be replaced. 

Also, I started lettuces in a windowsill planter (inside).  I should get some mesclun harvest in a month.  YAY!

2.  Also, I turned on my seedling light stand yesterday.   Mostly for some perennial seedlings from last year I am trying to recover, but also some early "greens".

3.  The light stand works.  Each shelf has two 4' fluorescent grow-lights and two "daylight" bulbs,  I can't control the light outside, but at least I can give all the plants a good start inside.

Changed ISPs

It was a little bit of a fight.  I changed my cable and internet from Comcast to Verizon FiOS.  And my telephone from regular telephone to FiOS telephone.  Turned in my Comcast equipment today.  Know what?  They didn't even care.

This brings my total bill down to $140 from $210 per month.  And gives me free long distance domestic calling for free.  I think I'll call my Dad in Florida tomorrow. 

I'm not thrilled with the Verizon remote control.  Its fussy about aiming.  The old Comcast one worked anywhere in the room.  But the Verizon folks say it is a matter of pressing the buttons fast and not holding them down.  We'll see about that, but I'll admit I am getting better about that..

If you are getting a blank on the emails you try to send me, the new one is:

cavebear2118 AT verizon DOT net...
If its about the cats, it is:  marksmews2118 AT verizon DOT com.  You know to replace the words with the symbols, right?

I've emailed everyone who has contacted me in the past 2 years with the new address, so I hope that includes everyone I should tell.  I've updated my emails (with new fancier passwords) for all my existing commercial accounts.  I've copied the old emails into new folders.

If there is anything else I should do, a suggestion would be greatly appreciated.

They're BAACCKKK!

My crazy neighbors didn't leave after all.  There was the guy, his wife, his mother and some unrelated guy,

But it seems the bedroom furniture I saw being moved out was only the Mother's.  She was the sane one...The IDIOTS are still there.  In spite of the house being dark for about a week...  Curiously, I haven't seen the wife carrying the baby since early December...  Something is still odd.  But it is January and they are still here,

Sad start to the New Year...

Victory!

If you know the game of Risk, you know there are many nations to capture.  I have a sad fate of always coming in 2nd of 2-5 players.  And tonight I was down to 3 nations of (something like 70).  I nudged my way into NA, and got control of it while the others fought elsewhere.  Then I got SA!

If you know the game, you that means you get 2 continents with only 3 defense spots (Brazil. Alaska, and Greenland).

The 4 opponents worked together to kill me, but I survived.  I eliminated 3 (1surrenderred) and I was left with 1 opponent who had most of Asia, Africa,  and Europe.   And they were very good high-ranked players.

It took 2 hours to win the game.  I'm thrilled.  Risk is a hard game to win online.  The players are very skilled.  I win maybe 1 of 20 games.  I come in 2nd usually.  So a real win was SO GREAT!

The point is that we all have barriers, and I beat one of mine tonight. 

Cheers!

Politics

This was originally a political blog in 2008.  I got my college degree in Political Science and it remains an interest of mine.  I watch science, history, and nature shows most of the time, but when the political season comes around, I watch the political discussions and primary/caucus voting results all night.

The Iowa caucus voting is fascinating tonight.  In 2008, the Republican winner was clear 30 minutes after the voting ended. Tonight, it is not clear after 2.5 hours and maybe not until tomorrow!  And likely, it won't matter much.  It appears that there will be a virtual 3-way tie among Romney, Santorum, and Paul. 

They say "Iowa never chooses, but it winnows the field".  Maybe not this time.  The top 3 certainly go on when it is so close.  But the others can too.  Gingrich can because he has been running a "free media" campaign all along and South Carolina is a neighboring state.  Bachman and Perry can fight in South Carolina, too.  Huntsman has planted his flag in New Hampshire, where his views seem to match up well with New Hampshire voters.

After New Hampshire and South Carolina come Florida.  That state is so demographically diverse that anything could happen.  After Florida, primaries get spread out geographically and into other large states.

Here's my predictions:

1.  Huntsman makes a better than predicted showing in New Hampshire, but Romney wins big.  Huntsman withdraws.

2.  South Carolina gives Santorum a win, but Romney and Gingrich are "close".  Perry and Bachman withdraw.

3.  Florida?  Flip a coin!  Maybe the old folks in Florida vote "for a best chance against Obama" or the rest of the populations goes for Santorum as "the most Republican".  That's IF Santorum has any money to spend.  IF Santorum does well in Florida (as in, gets 33% of the vote), Gingrich withdraws and endorses Santorum.

4.  After that, it is between Romney and Santorum, with Ron Paul pulling a routine 10-15% of the vote on average in later primaries, with Romney getting 45-50% of the vote and Santorum getting 30% overall.  It will vary state to state.  Romney will do best on the coasts, Santorum will do best in the midwest and South.

5.  Southern voters will not be comfortable that Romney is a Mormon.

6.  Gingrich will push hard to be the Vice-Presidential nominee for either of them.  He will not be chosen.

7.  If Romney is the nominee, he will choose a western politician as Vice President.  If Santorum is the nominee, he will choose someone like Chris Christie of New Jersey or Bob McDonnell of Virginia for the "more moderate" but still very Republican reputation..  Geo-demographics still matter to Republicans.

8.  Barrack Obama will win the 2012 election.  Aside from the fact that it is difficult to unseat an incumbent president, there are particular reasons.  Mostly, all of the Republican candidates have VERY exploitable flaws. Romney flip-flops more than MOST politicians, Santorum is to the right of about 75% of voters,  and while I do have some agreement with Libertarians on some ideas, most people don't feel comfortable with the total package, so Ron Paul is just a protest vote.. 

And there is the job numbers.  The job growth has been positive for 22 months in a row.  Not as high as one would like, but compared to the negative numbers in the Bush administration, its a good thing. 

Its hard for the Republicans to attack Obama on wars, too, which is usually a strong advantage for them.  Obama got Bin Laden, Ghaddafi, and top Al Queda leaders killed.

Its hard for the Republicans to attack President Obama on the financial economy too.  The stock market is strong,  It was up 5% this past year.  The money lent to the US auto industry has been paid back in full  (and at a profit by some accounts) and Ford, and General Motors are thriving US companies again! 

The Obamacare legislation is harder to judge.  Mostly because it hasn't gone fully into effect yet. But the earliest results seem to show it is both reducing costs and improving health services.

We will have to see what the eventual Replican nominee proposes to do as President in the general election campaign.   He/She may have some great ideas they have been keeping under their hat during the Republican nomination process. 


So, for those reasons, it is probably going to be very difficult for a Republican nominee to replace President Obama this year in the general election.

The next 10 months will be great!

New Year's Fire

I hope you are ready for a LOT of pictures, LOL!

Well, I like a fire each New Year's Eve, and managed one again.  Mostly paper, cardboard, and flimsy boxes that clementines came in.  But you use what you have.

First, I had to clear out the area in front of the fireplace.  The basement is really my woodworking shop, and I cant have those machines heated by a fire.  There was my tablesaw there too, but I moved it before I thought to take a picture.  And it was really awkward to maneuver it out of the way even on its mobile base, so I wasn't going to put it back just for the sake of a photo!

Before...

After...

Stuff I had to move...



I had various "stuff to burn":

Wood scraps...

Packing paper, Clementine tangerine boxes, cardboard... BTW, that wood box was built for me by my dad.  Its really for kindling storage.  I liked it so much I built one like it for a friend.  Good ideas should be passed forwards.

Then I set up the fire.  As I said, it wasn't a "proper" fire, just accumulated burnable stuff from 2011, so it really did look trashy.  But fire makes all look the same afterwards.

 The set up...

The initial lighting...  Of course I lit a sheet of newspaper in there first to establish the draft (and make sure the damper was open).

The  initial burn...

 The first good burning...


The funny part was the "old oak board".  It was left over since when I had oak floors installed about 15 years ago.  It got left out on the patio and deteriorated before I brought it inside again.  So I decided it was time to use it up.

The tradition is "yule logs".  Yule logs were long and were slowly pushed into the main fire as they burned.  I think there used to be some importance as to how long they lasted.  Like years of good luck, or something like that.  Well, I guess this was a "yule board" and it only lasted an hour.  So I hope the "good luck gods" will take that into account.  :)


Once I had some good embers and heat, I introduced old Mr Oak Board into the fireplace.  You can see it fed slowly into the small fireplace fire here...

The start...

Slowly...

Fed...

In...

 As the tip burns!

Almost gone...

It burns nicely. 

 Oak is great in a fireplace!

The last bit of it!

 

I even swept up loose bark and tossed that in...

And the finale about 1 am New Year's Day! That gray spot above the ashes?  That's actually where the soot on the back of the fireplace was burned off.  Looks strange though, like "the ghost of the fire".

BTW, I used to have such hot fires that my grate has sagged.  You can see the curve in that last photo.  I think I should turn it over and have another hot fire to sag it back to "straight".  LOL!

Immersion Blender

I mentioned my immersion blender on a friend's website, so I thought I would say what I like doing with mine...

Soup:  I like to make navy bean soup, and using the immersion blender briefly among the beans thickens it nicely.

Beef Stew:  Add and extra potato in chunks.  Pressing the immersion blender (IB) on those extra potato chunks 30 minutes before done thickens it nicely too.

Italian Dressing:  I make Italian dressing from dry mix envelopes.  You are supposed to "shake the contents".  Using the IB works better and the contents never separate!

1 cup blender attachment:  You want a great marinade/rub?  Add 3 cloves of peeled garlic, a 1/2" slice of peeled ginger, 1/4" slice of onion, and a dash of soy sauce.  Run it though the small blender attachment!  It is small enough not to just spray the contents against the inside walls.  The paste liquid flavor is absorbed into the meat wonderfully.  4 hours for chicken, 6 hours for pork, 8 hours for beef.

Cocktail Sauce?  1/4 c ketchup, 1 tblsp minced horseradish, 1 tblsp lemon juice, dash of hot sauce.  Blend 10 seconds.

Tartar Sauce?  1/4 c mayonaise, 1 tblsp pickle relish, 1 tsp lemon juice.


Gravy lumpy?  Use the IB to blend!

Want spaghetti sauce from canned diced tomatoes fast?  Use the IB on it and heat it in a nonstick skillet about 10 minutes!  But stir frequently.

I'm sure there are more uses, those are just the ones I use...

YAY!

Friends, among all the mediocre and even failing customer support staff, there sometimes appears a bright shining star.  One such person was granted to me this morning.

Jesus De Leon, of Verizon, is that person, and I applaud and salute him.  He fixed my email problem when the previous 5 Verizon agents could not.  For the first time since I switched from Comcast to Verizon, my email WORKS!  It took 2 days, 16 hours, and 5 Agents, but Mr. De Leon knew everything right. 

If you ever need Verizon internet email help, ask for him!

So my new email address is "cavebear2118 AT verizon DOT net".

Switching From Comcast ISP To Verizon ISP

Last week, I decided to finally rid myself of Comcast Internet and Cable TV service.  I did not have their internet telephone service because (1) they could not keep my current telephone number and (2) they did not have a good quality rating for it anyway.  I used Verizon for telephone, with a "foreign exchange" (allowed me "local" calls to my friends in the Washington DC area).  The combined services were costing me $210 per month. 

Verizon kept sending me ads for all 3 services at $99 per month.  Of course, I wanted better TV than the basic, but I estimated (from the bill of a friend) that the total cost would drop to about $140 per month.  And with faster internet speed, less or no TV picture freezing (brief, but frequent on Comcast), no modem rental fee, no charge to service failed equipment (Comcast charges for any visit unless you pay a monthly support fee), etc, etc, etc.

So I arranged for Verizon FiOS service.  It was installed Dec 23rd.  I've got some gripes.  The Verizon TV remote control needs to be aimed dead on to register; the Comcast remote could be aimed anywhere in the general direction of the set top box.  I think I can fix that by raising the set top box to a higher shelf and angling it upwards a bit with rubber doorstop wedges.  The Comcast TV listings were easy to read and navigate; The Verizon TV listings are more like navigating a website.  And while the Comcast HD channels were a "bit" randomly numbered, they HAPPENED to have clumped MY favorite channels closely together.  On Verizon, the channels are logically grouped by topic, but my favorite channels are now far apart.  I'll get used to that once I memorize the new channel numbers.

Sounds OK, right?  Not!  So far, I have spent 16 hours in 2 days fighting to get my new email addresses working.  OK, Christmas weekend might not seem the best time, but it seemed to me the best.  Everyone is busy with Christmas stuff!  But I think only the least able Verizon agents were online too.

My Mac Mail was easy to set up with my Comcast service years ago.  Straightforward, no problems.  I got instructions, they worked, I had functional email.  I didn't even have any problem with Comcast when I switched from Windows to Apple.

But, oh boy, am I having problems NOW with Verizon email!  Verizon has many customer support options; telephone, virtual agent, live chat with real agents, user forums, and a downloadable diagnostic program.  The telephone que was 45 minutes, so I tried the live chat (online streaming service).  That was "not available).  So I tried the virtual agent.  My problem was beyond its programming, but it DID offer to connect me to Live Chat (not available according to its own link).  SURPRISE!  Virtual Agent can get me to Live Chat even when Live Chat thinks it is "not available". 

Sadly, I had to pull that little maneuver several times Saturday...

Saturday, into Sunday morning, I contacted Live Chat Agents 4 times.  Here is the problem I was trying to solve (and to anyone who has read this far, type "artichoke" into the comments, so that I'll know).

The agents were Kumar, Carlos, Moad, and Salvador.  I think I went all over the world!  Maybe I need a Li and an Umlak to complete the continents.  I may, yet...

The problem was that, while I could set up email accounts at the Verizon site, and set up the same on my Mac Mail, they wouldn't connect.  At first, I could send emails from my new Verizon address via Mac Mail, but not receive emails from the Verizon server.

The first Verizon Live Chat agent fixed that.  I could send emails.  But then I couldn't receive them.  I discovered he had reset my primary user name from "cavebear2118" to "vze1983ol" and THAT godwful ugly thing was my new email name (as in "vze1982ol@verizon.net").  He also deleted one of my new Verizon email sub-accounts (marksmews) AND even (in his hapless inept attempts at fixing my problem while he controlled my screen, changed my PRINTER connections (as if that had anything to do with the problem.  But afterwards, I couldn't RECEIVE any emails to my new Verizon accounts.

So after an hour of struggling, I went to Live Chat again (only game in town Xmas Eve). THAT agent got me able to RECEIVE emails to the new account, but I discovered afterwards that I couldn't SEND!

I am not a really patient person, but I AM persistent!  The next Verizon Live Chat agent assured me he understood the problem and could fix it.  He got me back to sending emails, but after he signed off, I found I couldn't send them again.

I should mention that setting up email accounts involves specific incoming and outgoing addresses and port numbers, SSL (secure socket layer -whatever those are) choices, user names, STMPs, etc; few of which I know much about (but can enter in the right places upon instructions.  I know how to find those places when asked, but I don't know what they mean.

The 3rd Live Chat agent brought me back to where the 1st one had me, but stated that the Verizon setting were right, my Mac Mail settings were right, so it had to be a Mac problem.  I let him go after only 30 minutes because my Mac Mail works just GREAT with my Comcast email addresses and there is no difference between Comcast and Verizon in that regard.

The 4th Verizon agent smiled when I explained my problem and said he knew exactly what I needed to do to fix the problem because he was familiar with it.  He gave me specific settings to enter and specific ports and where to "allow SSL with authentication".  He sure seemed to know what he was doing!  I was grateful.  But then afterwards, I discovered I STILL couldn't both send AND receive emails (as usual so far). 

I gave up for the night...

I tried again today.  This time, the agent apologised for the problems the previous agents had caused and gave me very different and very specific instructions.  Even told me how to change my primary email address from that awful "vze1982ol" to "cavebear2118".  He explained I was a POP3 on the Verizon FiOS (not the standard POP the other agents had assumed), and gave me specifv port numbers to use in several places.  He included a link to the "24/7 restart" site.  I was thrilled!!!

The link was down...  ROTFLMAO! 

Basically. all YOU will see is that my email address will change (eventually) but not yet.  Iam debating whether to attack this again tonight (it is 12:40 am here).  I'm alert at late night...  Thinking, thinking, thinking...

Well, well, what the hell, I'll go "once more into the breach, dear friends"...

My Crazy Neighbors

Hey, DIFFERENT vehicles are showing up at the house late tonight.  Does that mean there will REALLY be new neighbors?  I can only hope.

Games

Don't you hate it when you THINK you have deleted a post you started?  LOL!

I THINK I am too nervous about changing internet companies tomorrow.  I don't know how that is going to mess up my email...

http://micom.net/oops/

My Crazy Neighbors

They aren't quite going away yet.  Its very odd.

But t still seems they are leaving.  The woman never shows up with the baby anymore, and there are boxes thrown out the door,  It is getting even more odd.  There was a police car in front of their house for an hour last night.  Just watching...  Then it just drove away.

Odder and odder...

Cars with some of them show up daily, but leave after 15 minutes.  Several times a day.  I can't figure out what they are doing.  More weirdly, they fill a bucket of creek water and bring it inside.

A wild guess would be that their water is turned off and they need outside water to flush the toilets.  But then why return?

Mysteries abound.

On a completely other subject, I got my backgammon rating up from 1420 to 1675 today,  It was just a matter of game discipline.  "Don't hit them, don't hit them, don't hit them".  It really works.  Now I have to decide whether to try to take the rating above 1700.  I am sure there is a new lesson to learn after 1700.  Maybe WHEN to hit.  But I love the game.

Christmas Cards

Well, I botched it this year.  First, most of the cards we send from here are to cats.  So I design a new cat card each year.  44 cat cards and 9 family cards this year.  I seem to be running out of family but not friends of my cats.

So I use the computer to make address and return labels (neat stuff from Avery).   Partly because I can't write script anymore, and partly because even my printing is getting worse, I pre-printed the cats names on the cards.

So I printed all the cards for the cats, intending to make different cards for friends and family. 

Oops.  In the process of "doing" the cards, I forgot the family cards and use the cat cards.  So, family, sorry that the cards seemed more cat-oriented than usual.  Well, just consider that any card I send that involves the cats is important to me and let it go at that.  I meant well.

The other half of this is that we forgot to make a list of the cards we sent.  So now that we are receiving them, we can't tell if we sent one to you or not except on the Huffington list..  If you sent one and didn't receive one, it is entirely my fault.  We will make up for that next year because I will keep all the addressed envelopes we get and add it to our spreadsheet.

Feeling lame this year,

Mark

My Crazy Neighbors

I THINK they have moved out!!!  I happened to look out the window late Friday afternoon and saw THIS...

That is bedroom furniture packed up in the pickup truck.  I couldn't tell what was packed in the other vehicle, but it's full of some stuff.

I can't be sure yet if it is ALL of them moving.  There is FIG (Fat Idiot Guy), his wife SDA (Stupid Dumb Ass), his mother, and an apparently unrelated male.  So it might be only some of them.  But I seem to recall them moving in about this time of year (it's a rental), so it would make sense for them all to be leaving.  They don't seem like people who make their landlords happy.

I haven't seen a single car in the driveway since, so it looks promising...  On the other hand, a hauling trailer is still on the front lawn.  Since FIG built it himself (on top of a flat boat trailer) just this Summer, I don't think he would leave it behind.  But they didn't use it to haul any furniture, so maybe there is something wrong with it and he abandoned it.

I'll be watching for cleaning or maintenance trucks showing up soon!

Now, I've mentioned all the yelling screaming fights.  Outdoors.  Late at night.

But there were other odd things they did.

Let me count the OTHER ways...

FIG standing at the mailbox sorting through it.  Some he would just toss back in the mailbox (presumably not stuff for him).  But also tossed an occasional piece into the drainage easement.  I'm guessing it was misdelivered mail and he just wouldn't bother to deliver it next door.  I get those from time to time myself.  I deliver them to the correct address.

There is an advertising "newspaper" that lands on all our driveways each Friday.  I pick it up and it goes directly into the recycling bin.  FIG shoves them aside of the driveway until they collect for months.

Last Spring, they removed a window screen so that they could move some odd pieces of furniture through the far bedroom window.  That's fine.  But the removed window screen is STILL sitting against the front of the house 8 months later.

They mowed a strip of lawn one day.  The mower died.  It sat there for WEEKS!

Their back yard is covered with "pink stuff".  I think they are ripping out the insulation from somewhere in the house.  But I dare not go look at what it really is.

The Mom there is in denial.  In the last screaming fight late at night last week, she claimed it was about a cell phone.  Rather strange since the wife was screaming about an evident affair the husband was having.  I'll put it as delicately as I can.  She was screaming "Why are you F,ing her, Why are you F,ing her, Why are you F.ing" her over and over and over at the top of her lungs at 4 a.m.   I have no idea who "her" is or whether it is true. and I don't want to know.  SDA is as crazy as FIG as far as I can tell.

And THAT didn't seem to be about a cell phone...

Thats when I finally went out and screamed at them to just move away.  I felt bad about it afterwards, but there are limits.

I like my house and yard.  Living in one place for 25 years matters.  But I'm getting more concerned about the neighborhood.  The neighbor on one side started building a garage then stopped halfway for several years.  I've read that is a clear sign of marital problems, and they moved away suddenly this summer.

The male neighbor on the OTHER side of me had an affair with the lady next door to him.  When they were found out, the male neighbor wife left him and the lady next door to THEM killed herself.   Wow!  He seldom stays in the house.  The fence gate is BUSTED wide open!  I think he drove his motorcycle through it one angry morning.  There is a riding lawn mower that just stays outside in the rain in spite of there being a large storage shed in the back yard.

I told the policeman I talked to last week that I have never seen anything like this in the 25 years I lived here.  He said that neighborhoods sometimes fall apart...   

I got the impression that he expects to visit this neighborhood a lot more often than he has in the past.  Not a good sign...

But FIG and friends moved out, so that may be good.  You know what else they did?  They backed their cars onto my rain-soaked lawn and left gouges in it.  I had JUST gotten grass to grow near the street and they ruined it!

 ..........

But it gets better.  Some older guy came by their house tonite, turned off all the outside lights they left on, and left the place dark as a stygian pit!  I think it was the landlord.  This may be my best day in months...  I THINK they are really gone!

Fun With The old Watch

I have a very old digital watch.  My Dad bought this digital watch for me when I was about 16.  It didn't cost much, but it has simple time/date controls and it keeps perfect time.  I have it on a simple velcro watchstrap (I'm not into BLING).

It keeps near-perfect time  and it suits me well, so for 44 years, all I've had to do is get the battery replaced every couple years.  I've spent more money on batteries than the watch cost.  More on velcro straps, too.   

It's fun bringing it to the local jeweler,  The same old guy is there every time, and every time he mentions that he hasn't seen a watch like that in 30 years.  I think he means it, just that he forgets he saw MINE a couple years before.  But I get to tell the story of the watch, and it seems to please him.  I wonder who is pleasing who, sometimes, but he seems sincere. 

Someday, the watch is just going to die.  I hope it lasts as long as I do, at least.  I'd hate to have to get used to a new one.  It is strange sometimes, looking at that watch.  Like looking at the strange light bulb way up in the ceiling of a warehouse that has been lit for longer than anyone can remember. 

If you'll forgive a similar memory, there was an odd Santa Claus head bulb in our old Christmas tree lights when I was young.  Dad remembered it from when HE was young. One year, it finally didn't light.  I missed that bulb, but I know that Dad missed it more.  It was something he trusted to keep going on.

Like I do my watch...

My Crazy Neighbors

There are apparently 2 couples and a Mother in the rental house across the street.  The problem is FIG (Fat Idiot Guy) and his wife SDA (Stupid Dumb Ass).   She screams at him outside and always late at night, that he is (let's just say "having an affair").  The language is much more graphic...  He uses the baby(?)  and his car as a weapon.  He tries to drive off and she stands in front of the car screaming.  She pounds on the hood of the car and he bumps the car forward a few feet at a time to push her away.  Eventually she gives up and screams at him until he peels out of sight through the neighborhood. 

I had to call the cops once because he took their phone and she said he beat her and took the baby and she asked for help calling the police.  But she seems as nuts as he is...

I hate the term "trailer trash", but boy do they fit the stereotype.

They are all entirely crazy. 

The older woman is FIG's mother and the guy next door seems to be her "ex".  They all have screaming ranting raging arguments at night, about once a week in good weather, less often in Fall/Winter.  Meaning that FIG screams raging at his mother, too.  I can't even tell you what he calls her sometimes.  Not the ex, he seems resigned to the situation and preturnaturally calm about it.

After the 5th or 6th MAJOR event, I finally went out and yelled at them that I wished they would move away.  I wasn't polite about it and used "bad words".  And I didn't feel pleased with myself afterwards.  And when the police showed up (as is becoming a routine), I yelled about the neighbors. 

I got "talked to" by the cops for "yelling"...  That's somewhere between irony and ludicrousness.

The Ex is no gem either.  He did some suspicious deal to get a designated wetland across the street rezoned for a house.  He even bragged to me about it once .  So I can't think much of him either.  I should investigate that deal one day.  Might be a local political scandal in there somewhere.

All that was a week ago.  And there were cop cars in front of their house again this past night.  I HOPE that FIG broke a no-visit zone, but thats just a guess.  There MIGHT be a crime ring there.  Couple months ago, the cops were there about some thefts involving FIGs car.  Sadly, they didn't haul his ass away.

I've lived here 25 years and never seen anything like this before.  I look out the window every day hoping to see a moving van appear.  But it never does show up.

I should move...

Fun Yard Work, And A Little Nature Philosophy

As much as I regret the coming of Winter, and the end of the growing season, there is one activity I positively enjoy.  I refer to taking care of the leaves that fall on the lawn.  I have a heavily treed yard.  There are huge oaks, tulip poplars, sweet gums, and maples on half the back yard.  They are mostly upwind of the back and front.  So the grass gets carpeted fully every Fall.

I don't mean that I enjoy raking leaves.  I do that only to the extent required to get them out of corners and off the decks into the yard itself.

Then I mow!!!  I love shredding the leaves into small bits that nestle in between the grass leaves and decompose to improve the lawn soil.  I used to use a standard push mower, now I have a riding mower, which is easier to use.  I just keep driving back and forth over the leaves shredding them more and more each time.  With a little practice, you can keep the flung bits in rows for efficient remowing and re-re-mowing.  After a few repeated patterns, the leaves are "gone", the grass seems clean, and the lawn has effectively been mulched.

When I chose this lot 25 years ago, I tested the soil in the areas that would become lawn.  Its easy,  You take a 6" soil plug, put it in a large clear jug, fill it half up with water and then shake the hell out of it.  The gravel and mineral grit settles out first, the sand 2nd, the clay next, then the humus/loam, and finally fine silt.  After several days, you can read the composition of the soil in the layers that form.  The lot I chose had great trees, was large, and had great soil.

So imagine my shock when the house was built and I discovered the builder had cleared off the top foot of soil.  I was left with gravel, sand, and clay.  So, over the years, I kept shredding the leaves onto the top.  Today, I have 6" of loamy soil mixed with some clay.  A lot better than I started with (after the builder scraped the good soil off).

The trees don't suffer.  They depend on their fallen leaves decomposing around them to be taken up again in Spring.  But tree leaves tend to blow away.  So shredding them on the spot saves the nutrients from the leaves for the trees.  The lawn soil gets a little softer each year so that the rain soaks in better, and more air reaches the tree roots.  Tree roots actually need air.

The grass benefits too.  Aside from leaving the grass clippings on the lawn (there is no better grass fertilizer than grass clippings), the shredded leaves provide more.  That passes through the grass and eventually goes deeper into the tree root zone.  And, BTW, grass clippings do not cause thatch; spreading grass roots at the surface cause thatch.  That's why I have a fescue lawn.  Fescue does not spread by root runners.  And even grasses that spread by root runners don't cause thatch unless they are watered shallowly so that the roots all stay on the surface.  If you have thatch, you are watering too little, too often.

So yesterday was my big leaf-shredding day.  My neighbors sometimes look at me like I'm crazy, driving all around the yard with the riding mower in weird patterns.  I'm mowing leaves, not grass, so I go where the leaves are.  They rake up their leaves carefully and put them in bags to be hauled away.  Then they buy synthetic fertilizers several times a year to feed their lawns (with stuff that provides only the major 3 nutrients and none of the minor ones (like us eating meat and no vegetables).

There is also an aesthetic pleasure to the process.  It is amazing to watch the shredded and re-shredded leaves "disappear" into the lawn...

It's not perfect; I'm burning gasoline to do it.  But nothing is perfect.  If I did it as perfectly as I could locally, I would use a non-motor reel-type push mower.  But those are lousy at dealing with large leaves.  I used one at a Grandfathers place and it just bulldozed the leaves into piles in front of it.  I had to rake them up and (guess what?) they got bagged and hauled away.

So I enjoyed the grand once-a year leaf shredding.

Cousin Bobby

My cousin Bobby, about the same age as me, drowned at about age 12.  I cant remember the exact time anymore.  I remember Mom sitting on the edge of the bed trying to explain what happened,  He had cramps swimming in a quarry hole with other kids and drowned.

We visited my Grandparents, where he lived, the next summer.  I still expected to see him again.  Stupid, of course, but I did.  And he wasn't there.   He had polio at a younger age.  He pulled himself around by his arms and he was real strong.  He recovered, and could run around as well as I could.  But one day, suddenly, he was gone.

While we were visiting, I saw a telescope Bobby enjoyed using.   I asked for it.  The adults didn't understand.  I didn't want the telescope for itself, I wanted it because it was something he had handled and enjoyed.  I wanted it BECAUSE he had used it.  That made a connection to me for my lost cousin.

The adults just thought I wanted the  telescope for itself...  As if I just wanted a gift.  They never understood.  And I was too young to explain it right...

I wanted a remembrance, something Bobby had touched and used.  I wasn't given it.  Instead, I got a new telescope as a Christmas present that year.  None of the adults understood what I meant by my request.  They thought I wanted a "thing". 

All I wanted was something to remind me of Bobby.  And no matter how I tried to explain, I never got anything he used. 

I am that way still about lost loved ones.  Just any little thing is fine...  Something tangible to remember them by is all I ask.  I've been luckier lately.  I have Grampa's carved whale, Dad's wooden-built tool chest (he's still alive), Mom's corn-on-the-cob plates and the imitation Tiffany Lamp she loved...

These things are treasures to me...

A Childhood Friend

I got to thinking about Ronnie tonight.  He was a childhood friend who had muscular dystrophy.  When I first met him at 9 years, he was fine.  Then we kids noticed that he was walking around on his toes.

Then he started to fall over.  That is a scary thing for kids.  You know, when things don't work right...

I don't remember perfectly now, but I think he was a couple years older than me.  His problems grew until he couldn't leave the house anymore.  I used to visit him and we would play Monopoly.  He enjoyed that.  He had a bed with a lifting device eventually.  It allowed his mother to change his sheets and clothes.

I don't understand the details of MS, but there came a day when he didn't understand Monopoly anymore.  So I moved the pieces around the board  and made up stories about his piece having fun on the board .  Toward the end, he couldn't even move the hotels, so I did it for him.  He was pretty much "out of it" by that point.

Then we moved away.  I wrote him some letters at 14 years old.  One day I got a letter back.  His Mom said he had died.  That was a terrible shock.  My cousin Bobby had drowned 2 years before, now Ronnie was dead.  I didn't understand death then very well. Kids were protected from that stuff when I was young. 

No purpose to this, just a remembrance from many years ago...  I think it was about this time of year.

Remembering you, Ronnie Richards...

The Lord of the Rings

I happened to watch LotR, Fellowship of the Ring tonite.  I think it is the best of the 3 movies.    I never liked the one where Frodo and Sam are slogging through the swamps and fighting Shelob.  Quite frankly, that was dull.  Essential to the story, but it didn't develop the story much.  And I never quite thought the ending was right.  Dramatic, yes, but I always thought Frodo should have been able to throw the Ring into the fires of Mt Doom himself.

He had already managed to release or offer the Ring several times.  He handed it to Gandalf at home where it was tossed in the fireplace, placed it on the table at the Council of Elrond, offered it to Galadriel, and held it out for taking by Aragorn just before the Fellowship split up. 

And I'm one who gets annoyed by story changes.  Frodo DIDN'T go over the cliff in the books when Gollum fell clutching the ring, for example.  And it wasn't Arwen who saved him from the Black Riders over the river, it was Glorfindel. 

But that's not why I am mentioning all of this.

I wish I could read the books for the first time again.  Watching the movie, I knew what the characters were going to say too many times in precise quotes.  I wish I did not have that memory.  It may sound stupid, but I really wish I could read the story anew. 

Sone day, there will be a forgetfulness pill, where you take a pill, watch a movie (or read a book) and you will forget it entirely.  And enjoy the watching or reading brand new...

PS, my other prediction is that someone will produce a perpetual kittenhood shot.  Cats will stay kittens until old age and suddenly die at the usual 16 years old.  Who doesn't want utterly cute kittens?

I Miss JFK

I remember where I was when I heard he died.  In a classroom, staring at the public announcement speaker at the top of the wall behind the teacher.  7th grade Social Studies class, I think, but that wasn't important.  The PA Speaker was light brown wood, about a 12" cube, dark brown cloth covering the grill.  The announcement from the Principal, that President Kennedy had been killed in Dallas Texas and that school would be closing for the day.  That students who took buses were to go to the assigned pickup points and wait with teachers.  That students who walked or rode bikes and had a parent at home (pretty routine in those days) should go directly home.  That those who did not should go directly to the cafeteria to wait for a parent to pick them up.  And then just stunned silence. 

I sometimes wonder what he would have been like in a 2nd term, then retired to "senior statesman" status for another 30 years.  Would the Vietnam War have developed as it did?  Would he have influenced the Civil Rights years?  Would he have become a great person in his elder years?  We'll never know, of course.

I wonder what he would think about our current political situation.  Could he have imagined that both parties would cease having conservative, moderate, and liberal factions?  Yes, there used to be Conservative Democrats and Liberal Republicans...

There used to be only 3 TV networks, too.  NBC, CBS, and ABC.  All that was on TV for several days was news about his death, the aftermath (Jack Ruby killing Lee Harvey Oswald), and the funeral.

I miss him.  A glowing candle, snuffed too soon, dimming the room for us all...

Occupy Wall Street

I haven't followed the OWS movement city-by-city, or day-by-day.  And as a Vietnam War college protestor, I have a certain sympathy for their actions.  Peaceful assembly is is protected Constitutional right.

But I saw something on TV yesterday that angered me.  I do not know which city it occurred in, I could Google it, but it is irrelevant.  The problem is that it happened somewhere in the US, not where it happened. 

In some city, peaceful protesters were blocking a street.  They weren't digging holes in the street, they weren't threatening to throw rocks or bottles at passing cars or at surrounding buildings, and they weren't threatening the police.  They were sitting quietly in a street. 

Yes, that disturbed commuters.  As a Washington DC worker for 30 years, I have sufferred that many times, and it is truly annoying. 

The role of the police in those situations is to remove the offending people from the street to permit traffic to move again and guide the protestors to places where they can express their views without unreasonably disaccomodating other citizens. 

The police were entirely capable (protected by their armor and the non-resistance of the protestors) of simply removing the protestors blocking the road.  This is what disturbs me.  They didn't DO that.  Instead of just removing the offending protestors, they pepper-sprayed them first, several times!  Not just once, but back and forth along the line several times.  And THEN they removed them.  I watched that on TV.  I saw the repeated, and unneccesary chemical attack on people how would would have peacefully allowed themselves to be arrested.

Something is wrong there.  If they were going to remove the non-violent protestors anyway, why torture them first with pepper spray?  And it wasn't a small shot to subdue anyone.  It was from a fire-extinguisher-sized cannister back and forth along the line of quietly sitting protestors several times.

Where have we gone so wrong, that a few people sitting in a street, who could be easily removed by police without resistance, OUGHT to be sprayed repeatedly by pepper spray.

For no practical reason!  Most of the handcuffed pepper-sprayed protestors cooperatively walked away with the police.  They didn't even make it hard by going limp and having to be dragged away. WHY did they have to be pepper-sprayed?  I keep searching for any tactical reason, and I can't find one.

Part of the irony is that the protestors were protesting the loss of police jobs (along with  teachers and fire-fighters) in their community.

There is something imbalanced here, and I don't like it.   Every day, I am coming down in support on the OWS people. 

I'm 61.  I can't spend months outside in a tent.  I sure wish I was 20 again, when I COULD do that...

It Is Time to Say This.

Given the Penn State University scandal, I have to say my own bad experience.

I got over it (I thought), and it never SEEMED to bother me too much, but I've been thinking about it lately.   It always seemed a bit weird.  I can only hope someone out there can corroborate my strange experience,

The first year I attended  The University of MD, I took Physical  Education class.  We played tennis, football, etc.  I have good memories of that football.  I was a small guy lined up against very bigger guys.  I crashed at them as hard as I could.  One of the big guys even said afterwards, I was the hardest hitting little guy he ever met.  I did what I could. So I was pleased with the physical education class,

The next is going to sound weird.  Part of the Pys Ed class involved swimming and diving,  The  teacher/coach ordered us not to wear bathing suits.  Because "the lint in the bathing suits was a problem".  OK, I would know that was wrong today.  I didn't then.  An adult guy told us to do it and we did.  All the other guys went along.  I did too because they did.

We swam and dove naked for 2 weeks in the pool.  There was no inappropriate touching, but it was still wrong.  I am angrier today about it than I was then.  I wish now that I had gone to the Dean of the College.  And I am starting to understand that it bothers me more to this day than it did then.  It was all more wrong than I could understand at the time.  I feel guilty that I didn't say anything at the time.  I know now that that was dumb.

I/we weren't molested directly.  But being watched naked for a couple weeks had an effect on me,

And it may not be an accident that I suddenly have hiccups....  This has begun to bother me many days and nights.

I had to finally tell about it to try to get it out of my mind.

Who should I talk to?

Veterans Day, Part 2

I feel that I never do right by Veterans Day.  I can't really; I did not serve in time of war, nor in the military at all.  I don't mean that I couldn't have eaten lousy food, slept in mud, or hiked through rain.  I've done that.

What I mean is that I am not a loyal group person, and that I just will not follow blind orders.  I would not have been the person you needed to trust in battle.  That doesn't mean I'm a pacifist.  I would kill a real enemy without any serious compunction.  I might actually make a good guerilla fighter.

So I would like to spent a few minutes honoring those who did serve, in war or not.  You did what I could not.  You learned to work together as a team preparing or actually engaging in terrible situations.  You learned to follow orders.  More importantly, you learned to follow orders yet act individually when circumstances required it.  That is a great part of our military; follow orders but also be trained and able to act on your own.

I was born in 1950.  Too young for WWII or Korea, too unwilling to volunteer to fight in Vietnam, and too old for military training after that.  I took my chances in 1969 (1970?).  When the draft lottery was announced, I dropped my college deferment.  I would have gone.  My number was 256, and I was passed by.  I was not exactly saddened by that.  I did not consider the Vietnam War to be the same as WWII.

I grew up hearing of the then-recent WWII.  I had family members who fought, and luckily, none of them died.  I respected then greatly.  I respected all WWII military greatly.  Family history says one uncle dropped a bomb down a Japanese destroyer smokestack and sank it.  Other family members were in other fields of war, or spend the war building ships. 

It is partly for reasons like that that I minored in history in college.  I studied wartimes.  I watch wartime documentaries.  The bravery of soldiers matters.  I am not one of them.  But I have done the best I could to try to understand.

If the respect or thanks of a civilian matters, I offer it.  If you refuse it because I did not participate, I understand.

I cannot salute you, as a civilian.  But there seems to be a Roman Empire gesture that civilians could use respectfully (there is some disagreement on this) to their soldiers.  Right arm held out, hand angled down.  If that is correct, I offer it.

Please accept my gratitude for defending your country whenever called upon.

Veterans Day

Michael Jackson

I'm tired of hearing about Michael Jackson, his strange life, his spiral into near-lunacy, the charges of child molestation, his death, and FINALLY the last gasp of the trial of his doctor.  I'm glad it's over.

I am not big into "celebrity".

But I recognize talent.  Michael Jackson was probably the most multi-talented entertainer I have ever seen.  He could dance better than Fred Astaire and Elvis Presley combined, he could sing with a breathless passion, and he produced songs (so far as I know) of an originality slightly beyond the Beatles or Bob Dylan.  The Moonwalk, Billy Jean, and Thriller amaze me to this day almost 30 years later.  But that WAS almost 30 years ago.

I regret the curse of great riches that happens to some people.  As it did Michael Jackson.  Some people can handle money, some can't.  Jackson couldn't.  I wish he could have stayed "merely wealthy".  At some level of income that would have have made his life great but not overpowering.

I couldn't like him in his last 20 years.  He just became too weird.  He "lost touch".  We will probably never really know what drove him down his own personal rabbit hole, and I regret it happened, as I would regret it happened to the poor and average among us.  But it happened. 

I an reminded of a question in a Philosophy class.  "Your very good tennis partner is accused and acquitted of child porn.  What do you do?"

My answer was "play tennis, but not allow him to babysit the kids".  I gave reasons, of course; it was an essay question. But that was the the core of the answer.

In the same way, I admire Billy Jean and Thriller, etc, but I am vaguely glad that he is gone...  And with the trial of his "doctor" over and done, I hope to never hear his name again on TV.

Computer Scare

I have a confession.  I am hard on inanimate objects when I get angry.  I have punched holes in walls, in hollow doors, and I have been known to throw things.  There are reasons why some people live alone...

Don't worry, I never take out anger on people or pets.  I also play online computer games with other people.  That's not really a good combination.

I thought I had ruined my computer last night.  I was playing Risk and had won 3 games in a row, and reached a level where I was playing a real expert.  I had him on the ropes when suddenly I couldn't make any moves.  After 3 turns of complete frustration, I threw the wireless mouse at the wall.  It broke apart quite satisfactorily...

I had an older wired mouse to replace it.  I still couldn't make any moves.  The keyboard went next, then the wineglass (which had only ginger ale).  So I shut off the computer.  I spent the next hour on my hands and knees carefully collecting bits of glass in a small wastebasket so the cats wouldn't step on them.  That was penance... 

This morning, I set about reconstructing the computer...  The wireless mouse went back together well, the keyboard  was plugged in...  Nothing.  I tried an older keyboard.  The only problem with it was a "B" key, so it should have at least worked otherwise.  I tried an older wired mouse that would only scroll up.  That didn't work either.  I checked the monitor for power, it had it.  Rebooting my Mac-Mini, I could hear the power-up sound.  The monitor would come on with the "no signal" graphic normal at start up.  I was baffled.  I tried every combination I could think of.

I worried about what scheduled blog posts said that I meant to edit.  I worried about emails I wasn't receiving.  I worried about what I was missing on the CB... 

I was so annoyed that I ate dinner early because I didn't have anything else to do.

I kept going at it all night.  I am not skilled at computers, but I am analytical and persistent.

 -->

 -->

 -->

The monitor connection to the computer had come loose...

All is well.  The wireless mouse still works, the keyboard still works, the computer still works.  Meanwhile, I feel pretty stupid...  Throwing things at walls never accomplishes anything useful.

Unhappy Halloween

This may sound strange.  I don't like Halloween.  I used to.  I used to carve pumpkins and stay by the front door to give out candy and admire costumes.

But about 6 years ago, no kids came to the door (or my neighbor's) and after a couple years of that, I just stopped trying.  I don't eat candy, so I had to throw it away after the holiday.  I started just ignoring Halloween.

To avoid an odd single trick-or-treater disturbing the evening meal, I started just blacking out the windows and turning the room lights off to signal I wasn't participating.

Until THIS year!  I read in the local newspaper that sex offenders in many places were REQUIRED to do what I was doing.  Turn out the lights, not give out candy...  Oh GREAT, if I DON'T give out candy and participate, I will be viewed as a sex offender by some neighbor, and you know how rumors spread...

I batted that back and forth all day in my head, and I hate to say that I caved!

I worry about rumors.  I'm an aging (61) single guy; the modern version of aging females considered witches in the older days.  So I rushed out to buy candy, kept all the house lights on, ate dinner early, and waited for trick-or-treaters.  None came.  Well, the cats were happy, they HATE the doorbell!

And you know what I noticed at prime trick-or-treating time?  Half the houses on my street were dark!  Either I live in a very BAD neighborhood, or THEY weren't worried about appearances...   So a good lesson about appearances. 

Now WHAT do I do with a year's supply of Hershey Hugs...?

Happy Halloween!

Mulch

So I was shoveling the mulch out of the trailer.  Here are pictures...

First step. shoveling the mulch away from the back so I can remove the back of the trailer...

Half done...

3/4...

 The pile off the trailer...

The mosquitos got too fierce.  I had to stop. The only good thing about the skeeters this time of year is that they are slow.  Still, I got 8 bites.  It was that they were around my face that made it hard.

Really, it was harder than it looks...  It was close to like chopping ice off the driveway...

A Neat Trick

My most immediate outdoors project is emptying the trailerload of mulch.  And I made good progress at it today (about 2/3 emptied - pictures another time).  Unfortunately, the mulch is packed down by rain and weight and it has to be broken loose in chunks even using a mulching fork.  That was a bit of work.

So I took a breather every 15 minutes and walked around the yard a bit, which is semi-forest and lots of field weeds.  Guess what, those triangular sticky-seed plants are in full seed!  I can never remember the name of the plant and I never remember what it looks like, but if they grow where you live, you know the seeds.  By the time I was done with the mulch for the day, my pants were coated with 100s of them.  I HATE picking those stupid seeds off.  I even considered just trashing the pants (they ARE old).

But I had a thought.  I have a hand vac with a rotating brush head.  Spreading the pants out flat on the floor, I tried the vac.  It worked beautifully.  In about 3 minutes, they were completely cleaned of sticky-seeds!!!

Give it a try.  Just remember not to empty the collection bag outside where the seeds will sprout...  LOL!

Sometimes I am REALLY Dense

Recently, I posted about my frustrations in trying to repair the drip irrigation hoses.  I had 4 of them mounted to a 4 gang valve on a 12" post.  Two winters ago, the heavy snow broke the drip hoses off the couplings at the gang valve.  I became obsessed trying to find an internal connection (like a stent, I suppose) to reattach the hoses to the couplings.  I wasn't having any luck, because I needed 7/16" tubing and couldn't find that size anywhere.

One person, seybernetx, suggested standard garden hose repair kits.  I dismissed the idea because, well, it wasn't a standard garden hose.  Have you ever dismissed an idea because it didn't fit the way you were thinking of a problem?  Yeah, me too!

Well, I was walking past the broken drip hoses today, and the old LIGHT BULB OVER THE HEAD lit up!  A hose is a hose is a hose...  WHY was I caring about the existing brass hose couplings?  A standard hose repair kit would work just fine.  I had simply assumed the drip hoses were some odd size that wouldn't work with standard hose repair kits!

Dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb!!!

The hard part is that I am usually quite resourceful about fixing things, using odd unrelated objects to make repairs... I guess this is one of the top 10 list of THINGS I FLUBBED!  I even had one of the right size repair kits sitting around.  It worked just fine.  I just need 3 more from the hardware store tomorrow.

Thank you, seybernetx.  And my cats say "hello" to your cats...

Outdoor Fall Projects

Well, it is raining again today.  It must be the rainiest Sept/Oct I have experienced.  And that has exploded the mosquito population.  Even with deet on my arms and neck, they swarm around my face.  They are pretty desperate.  Probably because there are so many of them and so few victims outside in suburbia.  Really, when I was young, all kids were outside from dawn to dusk except during school.  Now, hardly a kid is outside.

And with more pets being cats, and kept indoors, less pets for the skeeters to feed on.  I am considering getting my hunting garb mosquito netting headgear out...  That may seem extreme, but when the skeeters are biting your face, its not!

I haven't been doing too much outside the past week.  The inside of the house needed a lot of cleaning and organizing.  And I have that trail-load of mulch to empty...

Project 1 - Empty the trailer of mulch.
Project 2 - Deadhead all the perennial flowers of flowerstems and hang them up for the finches to eat the seeds.
Project 3 - Deepen the drainage ditch from the patio and install real perforated drainage pipe to the downslope area.
Project 4 - Clean the patio of silt and debris.
Project 5 - Protect the patio from rain from the deck above.  My idea is to put plastic on the deck and then cover it with outdoor carpet.  I plan to rebuild the 20 year old deck in a year or two, so it is a temporary measure.  The deck has given its expected lifetime.
Project 6 - Kill the ivy that has taken over the ridge in the backyard.  Too awkward to mow, but I cant till it down and spread the soil until the ivy is all dead.  The vines wrap around the tiller tines.

THAT should keep me busy for awhile!  And I'll try for pictures...

Crazy Neighbors

Well, I stayed up all night playing Risk and Hearts online, and I heard a familiar scream out the window.  The neighbors across the street were at it again.  Usually the Fat Idiot Guy (FIG) is ranting and screaming at the woman. 

Ofentimes, this results in him peeling the car backwards out of the driveway, then peeling rubber down the street out of the neigborhood.  She sometimes runs in front of the car.  He USED to STOP.

Its gotten worse lately and I have been very worried about her safety.  And recently, there has been a child involved in the fight.  FIG suddenly likes to take the infant with him in the car.  Driving away recklessly.

This morning, FIG took off again. with infant, and the woman stood there screaming.  I have intervened before with threats of "calling the cops".  I have spoken to the renters there (there are at least 2 couples, I think).  Its hard to tell. 

But this time I asked the woman (18? 21?) if she needed help.  She asked my to call the police.  I did.

They were there in 5 minutes.  Two County and two State cars.  I explained that I had called on her behalf, and backed off so they could talk to her.  One cop stayed aside , and I gave him a brief background on the problems of the past year.

He talked to the woman for about 20 minutes, giving her advice and explaining the limitations (FIG IS the child's father, so it isn't kidnapping).  I lent her my cordless phone to call friends for a safe haven.  I was amazed the phone worked outside like that, but it did. 

After overhearing that she needed to file legal papers at the County Courthouse10 miles away (and knowing she had no car), I offerred to drive her there if her friends/family couldn't.  I'll bring a book if asked to drive.  Paperwork takes time.

But I just couldn't continue to hear her screaming in mental agony every week.  Yes, maybe I should have acted more forcibly before.  But it is difficult to know the dynamics of bad relationships.  I have acted before in other places and been told  (rather forcibly) to "BUTT OUT".  But I guess I judged this one correctly.

I did not know before this that there was physical violence involved.  It was all yelling and screaming before.  But she had blood on her nose (interestingly, she was not aware of that).  That shows how bad things can get behind closed doors. 

I'm glad I called the police, I think she is going to get some legal help and it is now "on the record".

On the other hand, this FIG is a real looney tunes type.  If someone bangs on my door, I will answer through the computer room window.  That's safe.  If it's the woman, I will drive her to a safe house or legal place of her choice.  If its the FIG, well, I have a real Gladius propped by the front door and another at the top of the stairs for self-protection.  He IS the kind of person who would beat down a door and attack. 

Sorry to bother you all with this, but I have to write sometimes to get things straight and put disturbing events in print.  Some good news.  A car pulled into the driveway a few minutes ago.  It wasn't FIG.  It was her dad. (Well, I went out and asked)  He came by to help her pack some things and bring her home for some shelter for a while.  I offerred any help I could give.

*SIGH*

BTW, the cats didn't know the earthquake was coming, but they DID know the neighbor screams were going to start before I did.  They went all poofed and UTB about 3 seconds before I heard the first yells.  Good for them.


(Very Tired) Mark