The Garden Enclosure

I finally got the tightening on the chicken wire right.  It wasn't easy.  With new things, sometimes you gotta do it wrong a few times before you get it right.  But I did.  Now I have the tops as tight as is possible.  The two other sides will be easy.  The chicken wire there will just hang.

And because I have the top complete, it means I don't have to worry about dragging wire across the beds so I can finish planting corn and beans and cukes.  A bit late for this year but I'll get some harvest.  Next year will be the real start under the enclosure.

My tomatoes are doing very well.  I have 8 heirloom tomato plants in cages, one hybrid Big Beef (for backup if diseases hit) and a cherry tomato for snacking.  The bell peppers are growing well.  And I have 2 whole beds now for Fall crops of Bok Choy, Leafy Celery, Radishes, Spinach, etc.  I'll plant some garlic in a back row for harvest next Summer.

The screen door to the enclosure still needs adjustment, but it is closable enough to keep varmints out.  The last remaining chicken wire is just going to be hung from the sides, and after all the exoerience of the top and other sides THAT will be a piece of cake.  It is SO good to be nearly done with this project.  I've had mostly better ones and this was about the worst.

Relining the pond will be simpler and I will be glad to get at that.

There is always SOMETHING.

I think that if I didn't have something to look forward to doing, I would just fold my cards and die.

But not today.

The hardest part of this projects has been the exteme physical work.  Not general hard work, but the specific work my body isn't used to.  Like pulling the chicken wire real tight by hand.  It didn't seem all that bad at the time, but my hands cramped up seriously afterwards.  I could barely prepare dinner later! 

I m sure that if I did the same work daily, it would be just fine.  But doing unusual things on an irregular basis is brutal.  It was so, bad that I couldn't hold a kitchen knife.  And since I was preparing a stir fry, there was a lot of knife-work.  I had to take 2 ibuprofen and smear my left hand with a muscle relaxing cream.  And even that took an hour to take effect. 

Nothing like hand cramps to make preparing dinner hard...

One Of Those Days

If you are of a "certain age", you begin to worry more when you forget things or lose track of things.  I know perfectly well that I have forgotten things or lost track of things all my life, but I WORRY about it more these days.  So the last 24 hours were annoying. 

First, I lost track of a kitchen timer over the weekend.  I use it as a sleep timer actually.  My hours are irregular, so its easier to just click up 9 hours of the timer than fuss with a real alarm clock.  So I hadn't been able to find it for days.  I looked around the bed.  I looked in all my pockets.  Because I have a waterbed, I had to dig down between the waterbed mattress and the frame (find cat toys that way all the time.  I even looked in the kitchen in case I had actually used it as a kitchen timer for real

Last night, I finally remembered where it was.  I hadn't found it because I hadn't gone outside, because it had been raining for 4 days.  I had used it to time the flowerbed watering before the rains came.  So it sat out there.  In the rain.  For 4 days!  I've disassembled it and set it to dry for a week, and I'll hope it works again someday. 

Second, I bought one of those small coiled hoses to water the container plants up on the deck.  The attachment points didn't match the ballisters so I decided to mount it to a piece of plywood and attach THAT to the ballisters.  But the only right-size piece I had was unfinished so I wanted to stain and varnish it today.

Now, rather than use a brush that needs to be cleaned afterwards, I like to use a soft cloth (held in a disposable latex glove) for work like that.  I have a box full of nice soft worn-out cotton undershirts that as just perfect for that (not a speck of lint left).  I just cut off a piece from one and use it once.  So I did that and went to get my can of varnish.  I haven't seen the piece of t-shirt since!

I spent 15 minutes this afternoon searching for that damn little piece of cloth this afternoon.  Not because the bit of cloth was valuable, but I really needed to know where I had lost it.  I know absolutely that I did cut it off the old t-shirt.  And I couldn't find it.  When I got to the point where I was checking completely illogical places like the M/W oven, I stopped.  I decided that if it was in the refrigerator or someplace like that, I really didn't WANT to know. 

So when I drove off on an errand at dusk, I completely LOST it!  Backing out of the garage, I slowed down to put on my regular prescription driving glasses.  I don't need them legally but it's close enough that I wear them voluntarily.  It was a deal between the optometrist and I.  He signed off on my eye test and I would wear the glasses voluntarily.

I also I also have prescription sunglasses for the same purpose.  As I stopped to put on the regular glasses, I heard (but did not see) the sunglasses slide of the dashboard.  So, I stopped at the end of the driveway to retrieve them. 

Couldn't find them.  OK, they got under the front seat.  I felt around under there.  No sunglasses.  I checked on the top of the front seat, the sides, and underneath again.  No sunglasses.  So I turned of the car to search more thoroughly.  I checked above, below, around the front passenger seat.  No luck.  The little compartment between the seats was open, so I checked around in there.  No luck. 

I felt around the back floor.  Now admittedly, I have a cluttered car.  I'm the only one ever in it these days, so I stack the back floor with the containers of useful car stuff (its an SUV so there is no trunk for stuff like that).  And I've had battery problems so I even have an extra battery in the back.

I removed all the containers from the back floor and felt around VERY carefully.  No luck.  OK, weird stuff happens on the bounce, so I felt carefully up into the seat springs.  No luck.  At that point, I was out of places to look and some slight concern that I had imagined hearing the sunglasses slide of the dashboard.  And lest you suspect the obvious, I had carefully checked the dashboard, the glasses-holder above the rear-view mirror and all my pockets; everywhere glasses OUGHT to be.

I was reluctant to drive, because I just KNEW they would slide underfoot and get crushed.  But I had to give up.  I drove off to do my errand.  Upon returning home, I of course had to open the drivers door in order to get out.  The drivers door has an open pocket for maps and "stuff".  I looked at the door pocket with an "oh damn" feeling,  closed my eyes, and reached in.

There they were.  Sunglasses found...

Why didn't I look there while searching the car so carefully, you ask?   Because the open car door was BEHIND me!  ARGGH!!!  You don't look where you can't see...

Now the only current mystery left is where that damned little piece of cloth is...  I can't WAIT to come across THAT someday. 

A Mystery Computer Reception

OK, this is going to be a bit weird, so please forgive any confusion in advance.

30 minutes ago, a short story flashed onto my screen in Word.  I do not know why or how.  I do not recognize the story, I have not used Word recently, and I cannot find any email with any such attachment.  It appears to be a short story about Ayla from Clan Of The Cave Bear about her days before the books began.

I certainly did not write it myself any time because it uses letters I cannot create "Çocukdünya". it is not in my writing style , It mentions "Iza" who is a character later in the COTCB book, and an original name for Ayla (Nefeyli) that has never crossed my mind.  A Google search for Nefeyli, Iza, and Grub (another character in the received short story) yields nothing.  I am baffled.  But interested...  

If you are the person who somehow sent it to me, or know anything about this short story or author, please contact me more directly at cavebear2118 AT verizon DOT net, post on my blog, or do anything you please to contact me further.

For now, I don't care how or why it suddenly popped up on my screen, I just want to more about the story's origin and why I received it.  And anything you want to tell.  I've saved the story adding a note to the top that it is not mine so that I won't get too confused seeing it again years from now and wondering about the origin of it.

But, whoever you are, I really do want to hear from you again...

Mark 

Update:  Never mind, mystery solved.  It was an attachment I did not see in an April email .  Why it suddenly opened now I don't know, but everything is OK.

Mark

Online Cat Food Ordering

OK, I'm annoyed.  I got an ad from PetCo about their online great prices and selection.  So I checked them out. 

Of the cat food I order, their prices were $5 higher per case over the place from which I've been I have been ordering (which I won't name here as this is not an ad for them) and they had fewer of the stuff my cats like.  OK, every company has their price-points and offerrings.

But when I tried their "contact us" site to ask them about that, I hit a wall.  To send my email, I had to undergo CAPTCHA werds.  And they were BAD ones.  I tried twice and "no go".  I clicked through a dozen looking for ones I could see the characters of.  "no go"  I made my best guess several times and "no go".

I couldn't even TELL them about their high prices, and I was trying to be HELPFUL and INFORMATIVE.  They probably assume "no complaints, no problems".   Well that's because I couldn't even get through to them past the worst CAPTCHA characters I ever saw.

Sometimes you just can't help some people even when you want to...

Hey PetCo, you contact me if you want information feedback.  And I promise no CAPTCHA challenges from MY end...

Mark

That Garden Enclosure

I don't want to mention much about it until it is done,  but I had to correct an error.  The existing chicken wire is black vinyl-coated.  Because of a silly mistake in thinking of the length of the sides, I was two 50' rolls short of complete coverage. 

So I ordered more.  Wrong type.  Non-vinyl-coated and gray.  I envisioned it.  Alternate strips of black and gray...  Functionally irrelevent.  But it would have bothered me for 20 years.   So I ordered 2 rolls of the black vinyl-coated chicken wire today.  Should arrive in several days

Better to pay to make something right in a week than be annoyed for 20 years...  I'll find a use for the gray chicken wire elsewhere eventually.

Memorial Day (Observed)

I had elders who fought in the World Wars...  They survived.  Others did not.

And I do not forget that THIS day is for the ones who did not...

Those who did not come home changed our history.  On the battlefields to be sure.  But also in our current world.  Some of those who did not come home would have had children, but they did not.  Some of those children who never were might have grown to become doctors who cured diseases, engineered better buildings,  made inspirational art,  developed new varieties of plants to feed the hungry, or just been that good neighbor you needed when times were hard.

We will never know.  Their loss may ripple through history.  What next genious, what next innovative doctor, was never born through the untimely death of some soldier?  So when we remember those who gave their lives to protect us, we must also consider what bravery, focus, skill, and dedication was also lost to our present.

Shed Door

My shed door has a small garage style door.  It came off the track yesterday! 

Its not one of the things I've ever worked on before, so it took some examination.  The track is attached firmly to the front of the shed.  So that hadn't moved.  The back of the door support has a triangle of flat metal pieces hanging from the ceiling of the shed.  But THEY weren't loose.  Bafflement...

OK, the door hangs from wheels in the track with axles going into the door to hold it into the track.  While the one that came loose seemed to have the axle come out, I couldn't see why.  The door has worked for 9 years and I found nothing loose. 

Dang, I hate it when the problem isn't obvious.  Well, I reconstructed (in my mind) the way it SHOULD have looked if it was working properly.  And saw that the axle holding the track wheel was nearly out of the door.  So, to get it working, the axle has to be firmly in the door.  OK, that's a start.

So the track is too far away from the door.  Why?  Nothing loose.  Can't see why it came out.  But I can see how it is SUPPOSED to be.  Can't make the door wider, so the door TRACK has to be closer.  Nothing's loose, so an adjustment is needed.

It only took 2 hours...  Well, seriously, I had to figure out how the whole thing was put together and how adjustments could be made.  It was the back braces.  One was set wrong.  The back braces have to match the front ones AND the door, and the back ones were over 2" wider.

I found the one bolt that had to be removed and set into another set of brace holes.  Was that easy?  Of course not!  All the other bolts in the track were short aluminum ones that easily fit in and out of the holes in the braces.  Not THAT one of course.  It was steel and it was long, and it was rusted.  The original installers must have run out of the proper short aluminum ones and found this one on the floor of the truck.  It was even slightly oversized so they had to screw it into the holes (making threads as they went like with sheet metal screws).

And of course it wasn't easy to get at.  I had to break the rust loose (how did it rust inside a dry shed?) with a wrench and a hammer.  Then turn the nut off the bolt tiny turns at a time.  THEN unscrew the bolt out in tiny turns of a wrench for all 2".

So at least then I could change the hole connections on the 3 flat metal strips acting as the braces.  IE, make the triangle smaller and the track moves closer to the door.  I did that.  Then the track wasn't square to the door, so I had to do the same on the other back side.  That went easily.  Then it took another adjustment to the original side. 

The door slides beautifully now.  Well, it MOSTLY did before, but I think it was only pulling the track close until it finally popped loose and I was just assuming it was the weight of the door that took some effort in raising it.

NOW it works as intended...  Nearly weightless.

* SIGH *  Like I didn't have anything better to do on a nice 70ish day with a list of other PLANNED projects...

Soil

OK, this isn't about the garden enclosure I said I wouldn't mention until it was completed...

But while digging the post holes for the screen door for the (*coff, coff*) thing, I noticed something interesting.  The soil in that area when I moved here was clay and gravel at the surface and lower,

In the holes I've dug, there is 4" of topsoil at the top now in the most neglected area. 

4"!  In nature, it takes a 1,000 years to make an inch.  I got 4" in just 28 years just by sowing grass and leaving the mowed clippings on the surface.  And some very mild organic fertilizer...  And fertilizer doesn't create soil.

What if I have another 28 years?

Milestones

We all have milestones in our lives.  The years depend on your culture, but they are generally when you first walk, get your first adult kiss, can drive a car, etc.  I've been through those a LONG time ago.

Today I'm 65.  I get accorded "senior status".

Whoppee...It means I get $2 off my haircuts at my usual place.

I suppose it means I'm supposed to start considering my own mortality.  But not...  Things change.  When my grandfathers were 65, they WERE old.  They looked it.  65 WAS old in their day.  They were weather-beaten, tired and wrinkled, face hanging loose under the jaws, etc.  They had harder lives.  My Dad was less "old" at 65.  He was far healthier and active.  But he still looked "older".

I've had an easier life.  As best I can tell, MY 65 is the Grampa's 45 and Dad's 55, and I might even be better off than that.  You probably recall how some guys matured early in high school.  They were the athletes, the school presidents and that sort of thing.  I wasn't one of them.

It was really irritating at the time, but I am enjoying the benefits now!   Nothing is perfect; my hair thinned out at 30 (paternal mom genes).  If you are a guy and want to know the future of your head hair, just look at your Mom's Dad, LOL! 

But otherwise, I'm the beneficiary of modern medicine and healthy food, and don't look 65 (in the terms of my ancestors).  I slipped in after good child medical care and before fast-food.  I ran (was allowed to run) wild as a child and was exposed to all the good dirt that I could get into.  If there was any microbe in the State that I didn't lick of fingers, it wasn't from lack of trying!  My immune system is outstanding.  I haven't caught the flu since I was 12 and only then because my younger brother caught it at school.  And it bothered me mildly for 2 days.  My younger more protected brother was in bed for a week.  And he is sometimes sickly to this day.

But I wasn't.  It shows.  You can't find a blue vein on my body.  I noticed a tiny wrinkle on my neck while shaving last week, but I had to look for it carefully. 

So why do I mention all this?  Because sometimes I can be really annoying LOL.  But more because I love the fact that many of us my age are literally in "middle-age at 65" and have so many years left to us.  My grandads were old at my age.  More accurately, OUR grandads were old at OUR age, and we are not.  WE are going to live to 90 in generally decent health.  And mental health matters too.  I have continued to learn all my life and learned to do new things that are challenging.  My mind might outlast my body decades from now. 

And THAT's what I am celebrating today!

Physical and mental health for decades to come... 

Mark, 65, and only 2rds through life!

Awkward But Slightly Humorous

Some of you may recall that several years ago I had these really insane neighbors across the street.  A Mother and Son, and a Wife, with baby.  The couple were obsessive late-night screamers, always fighting.  The Mother was utterly inept at resolving the issues (why she lived with them, I do not know).  The baby was often the hostage. 

They would start their screaming episodes at about 2-3 am in the Summer and wake me up.  The guy would take the baby into the car, the woman would would go out yelling, he would take of in the car, and she would spend the next hour laying in the street screaming.  Or she would take the baby and sit out on the street screaming first.    We got tired of calling the police...

They even had their friends park their cars on my lawn when they threw parties.  

The woman would even stand in front of the car and scream until the guy PUSHED her with the car.  I always assumed that EVENTUALLY they would both be arrested and child-care would take control of the baby, but that never happened.  

I had some lapses when I went yelling at them to just STOP!   LEAVE!  Move OUT!  (it was a rental)

One of the happiest days of my life was when I saw them packing up and leaving.

But guess who lived in the McMansion next door to them?  The guy's dad.  Really! 

So guess who has moved in with Dad this year?  The Crazy Guy!  Its been a bit awkward.  I'm perfectly fine with the Dad and have been for years.  We used to help each other on minor projects.  But with Crazy Son (without Wife and Child there - I assume she escaped him) the past few months,  it hasn't been the same.  Crazy Son has always been out there on the front lawn anytime I could talk to the Dad.

So I drove out last night on an errand, and a dog ran in front of the car.  I wasn't moving forward, so waited to see where the dog went.  Couldn't see it anywhere around the car, so I couldn't move.  I saw The Crazy Guy in the street, so I called out all friendly (and pretending I didn't recognize him), "Hey there's a dog near the car and I don't want to move so I don't hurt it".  Can you see where it is?"  So he came forward, calling his dog.

And since I had my car door open, the dog came over and acted friendly, so I scritched its head and talked nice to it.  Told it that was a Good Dog!  Crazy Guy saw I was being nice to his loose dog, so he came and got it and had to thank me for being careful.

I mentioned that dogs are friendly and all that and I was being careful with it being around the car.

I could tell it was KILLING him to have to be polite to me because I was being considerate of his dog, LOL!  GOOD!  I enjoyed every second.  I pretended not to know who he was.  I have a long memory for Crazy People, but sometimes it is good not to officially recognize them when you don't HAVE to.  I'm not sure the Crazy Guy knows I know who he is (and I'll keep it that way if I can).

I'm completely willing to let the past be the past.  He isn't a screamer NOW, and that's all that matters to me.  But he sure had a tortured look as I was caring about his dog and I'm still enjoying THAT!  He knows who I am...