Bill_G, retired, affluence of effluent, and errata

#701

And how did I get home exactly on time?

Confuzzled.

Slim Cognito · #702

#703

I love your stories and art!

#704

Tiredretiredlawyer wrote: ↑Thu May 16, 2024 11:06 am I love your stories and art!

And I love that you love them. Thank you so much. The conversations in my head are continuous and ongoing. Sometimes they spill onto the page as letters and punctuation, and sometimes they are pictures. Some of it is worth sharing. Some of it not. And like my coincidences, I never really know where they will lead me.

#705

Well ... my free all expenses paid whirlwind trip to Tillamook County just went bust.

The new/used power supply for a dead Cisco router finally arrived this morning, and unfortunately proved the router is now a doorstop. The rural counties around here tend to have a whole lotta no money. That means they use equipment well past their useful lifetimes. Of course ... they have no spares. That would require staff, and the public seems disinclined to have another FTE on the county payroll. So, they call upon me to chant incantations, burn some smudge, and wave my hands in hopes of performing a Lazarus on this inanimate object cast from rock and minerals.

That was not to be.

My Google Fu and eBay's free shipping could not fix this machine.

I guess I'll go mow the lawn now.

#706

Well, I lawned the mow and gardened the till yesterday. I'm a month behind, but I'll have the veggie beds planted through the weekend. I wasn't sure if I was going to have a garden or not this year. The want-to just wasn't there. Then I thought about missing my fresh dinners later in the Summer. I do love those. So, I made the effort. I'm going to move things around, but there will be fresh vegetables on my dinner table this year after all. Go me!

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It's a nice day out. Time to rake out the veggie bed and plan what gets planted where.

Maybenaut · #707

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#708

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#709

Another fine weather day here. I've got some chores around the house, and I should go grocery shopping. I chased down all the seeds I needed yesterday afternoon. Ace Hardware had Ferry Morris seeds that I like, and some sand I need. Al's Nursery had tomato and cuke starts I wanted (probably the last of the season), and they carry Ed Hume seed that I love too (especially the French Filet Beans).

I got two extra cuke starts to plant out front for the kids. The neighborhood has always had children, including ours, and in this latest generation is a family with five kids - 3 girls (#1, 2 and 5) and 2 boys (#3 and 4) - two doors down from us. Her Mom moved back from AZ after retirement, and bought the house two doors further down to be close to the grands. Great neighbors.

His parents still farm a half hour from here. Trips to the farm are common as is having fresh food on their table. Their kids actually eat vegetables! Wonder of wonders! At some point years ago I gave them cucumbers from my garden that they claimed were better than their Grampas. I think it was because mine were five minutes fresh, and Grampa is a commercial farmer that harvests, washes, waxes, and refridgerates his cukes for sale at local markets. The fresh they got from him is 2, 3, 4 days old, and chilled. That makes a difference in flavor.

So, I started planting cukes in the front beds near the sidewalk for the kids to pick anytime they wanted. And they did. When Her Mom moved in, I gave Mom the starts to place in her garden. She's got a brown thumb. The results were "unexciting". I've kept a spot reserved for the kid's cucumbers since then. I've grown toms there some years. Once I planted three corn seeds for the cukes to climb. That kind of worked. The soil was too loose, and the corn wanted to lay over. I had them guyed with string to stay upright. That just gave the cukes something else to climb.

I didn't plant out front last year, and I almost to didn't plant anything this year until I got motivated this week. I'm keeping it simple this year since it's late May now. Just cucumbers.

#710

I got a lot accomplished yesterday despite the weather. We had beautiful bright blue skies with a chill east wind that meant you needed a jacket in shade, but not in sunshine. It also meant nothing you wore was going to be right for longer than five minutes. By lunchtime roiling black clouds blew in from the south. Very threatening, and I heard a couple boom-booms that sent the cat wanting back indoors. I have not quite convinced myself I need a cat door. Yet.

Planting rows were decided, marked, fertilized, seeded, tamped, and watered even as light sprinkles made more noise on the shed roof than actually getting something wet. Just the basics this year - toms, herbs, cukes, beans, and a row of lettuces. I'm a little excited about the Ferry Morse green beans. Years and years ago I bought some obscure Ferry Morse pole beans seeds from Home Depot, and they were positively the best beans I've ever grown. Prolific, tender, and delicious. But, that package was long gone. I have no idea which bean var it was until maybe yesterday.

All I recall is they were medium sized black calico seeds. Most green beans are pure white or a solid muddy red. There are lots of beans in this world. Most of them are terrible green beans with tough shells and lots of strings. Usually the mottled seeds are grown for ornamental bushes that yield soup beans, baked beans, chili beans, and the like. Pot, water, beans, heat, boil, and then proceed from there. So, it was a gamble the first time I planted them. Were they even going to be edible? And it turns out they were fantastic. Loved 'em.

May have found them again. Ferry Morse calls the var Tendergreen. Distinctly calico. Black splattered with orange brown. No white. They're pretty. Each seed has a different pattern. I never found a fully black seed. There's always at least a spot of brown. Ferry Morse is a bit stingy with their seed. There was barely two dozen seeds in a single $3.29 pack. That doesn't complete one of my rows, but I do tend to overplant. Fingers are crossed this is what we got way back then.

All that gardening got me wanting a veggie dinner in anticipation of about 60 days from now. I settled on spaghetti with a fresh marinara / puttanesca, and a salad. I sauted a trinity of green bell pepper, carrot, and white onion. Then I used up the last of my frozen chopped romas. Added a can of store bought diced maters. Added some fresh celery leaves, basil, and oregano. Garlic. Black pepper. Chili powder. Red wine. There was quite a bit in the pot. So, invited bro #3 over for dinner. He was here a couple weeks ago when our sister visited, but he and I never really got a chance to gab. This made up for that.

Looks like another weird weather day. I had blue skies out the window a bit ago. Now I'm looking at overcast gloom. There's some chores to do. Gotta get ready for Wednesday when I visit that secure site by myself to look at something I built years ago. The forecast for that day is rain. I doubt it will be a deluge. We've had wet, cool May's and June's before. Just dress for it. Need to remember to bring a rope in case I have to haul the dead off the roof. Fingers crossed it's just a power supply or a broken wire. I have both.

#711

The Rhythm of Life as revealed by my neighbors. I know it's Friday by the garbage trucks roaming the streets gorging themselves on all the things people no longer want. Clankity clank clunk clunk clank. I know it's Tuesday by the street sweeper hunting the curbs and weaving around the parked cars. Swishy swish swishy swish swishy swish. And I know it's Thursday by the layered drone of all the two stroke trimmers and four stroke mowers. RRRrrrrRRRrrr ruh ruh ruh raaaAAHH

One by one, as my neighbors age, they hire landscapers to keep their yards tidy. As their green flocks grew, they must have agreed upon Thursday for our neighborhood to receive their professional treatment. From 8am until noonish, the cry of the lawnmower bird rings through the trees. Their mating call elicits responses from eligible suitors. The volley of calls continues until the sun reaches its highest point, and suddenly it's quiet. The landscaper flock migrate to new feeding grounds. They will return in a week predictable as the tide.

#712

It rained on Tuesday (2+") so all the lawn care folks were out in force yesterday. I can't complain though... my yard guy was one of them. I will say, though, that the commercial cutters can mow so much faster with their large machines that the noise doesn't last as long as the homeowners with their mowers.

Volkonski · #713

MN-Skeptic wrote: ↑Thu May 23, 2024 2:06 pm It rained on Tuesday (2+") so all the lawn care folks were out in force yesterday. I can't complain though... my yard guy was one of them. I will say, though, that the commercial cutters can mow so much faster with their large machines that the noise doesn't last as long as the homeowners with their mowers.

True. I wish more of our neighbors used lawn services.

#714

This is the longest stop I've ever experienced.

I've stopped for a drink.
I've stopped for a bite to eat.
I've stopped in traffic.
I've stopped in my tracks.
I've stopped for the firetruck.
I've stopped up, stopped in, and stopped by.
I've stopped smoking, and then I've stopped stopping.
I've stopped eating when I'm full.
I've stopped drinking when I've had enough.
I've stopped sleeping when I'm rested.
I've stopped trying when it's no use.
I've stopped worrying when it's all better.
I've stopped crying when I'm worn out.

But this is my first dead wife, and that doesn't stop.
It's the longest stop.

Uninformed · #715

Your pain is palpable, Bill.

jemcanada2 · #716

#717

#718

#719

Uninformed wrote: ↑Thu May 23, 2024 2:43 pm Your pain is palpable, Bill.

Thank you. This is a good creative space for me. She's always been my muse. I expected something, but I was wholly unprepared for the nothingness that followed her death. Every so often a spark of an idea turns into a blaze of thoughts impossible to resist. I am absolutely their prisoner. Out pours drawings, concepts, phrases, paragraphs, words, screams. These are the undertows that drown the hapless. I have to hold a breath, and let it take me. It's not new. It's always interesting. Occasionally I even churn out something beautiful.

I kinda like that poem about stopping. It's untitled right now. It just popped out whole cloth. I heard it (in my head) as a rhyme. Totally worked. But the fingers couldn't make the words. Poof. They were gone. The fingers had their own version. And that's what got posted. Yeah. I know. Nobody likes hearing about someone elses House of Mirrors in their head. I guarantee everyone that reads this will have a wee voice that has an opinion about what was just read. And you can't get it to stop.

I can't either!

But, Cheers!

Slim Cognito · #720

It's hard. So very hard. It's been seven months, but it's getting better. Surrounding myself with friends, performing at the nursing homes and street fairs have been a huge help. For me the trick is stay busy busy busy until you're so exhausted you crash into bed at night.

#721

Test post from phone.

#722

Pictures will have to go to a laptop to massage the filesize down to 512kb. My phone won't get smaller than a couple mb per image.

#723

On Android, I use an app called Photo Resizer, love it.

#724

Well, let's take a look....

Shazam Shazam!

Thank you!

#725

My next test is to run by Champoeg to check cell coverage at the park. I need to find out now if other arrangements need to be made before I find out on the day of the O3K picnic. Today would be a good day to do it. The M Day travels are done. Traffic on that road should be minimal. I may even be able to roll through the park without paying the day use fee.
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Ziply Fiber is supposed to be here today to finish setting up my new internet service. We shall see. I have the noon to 5pm slot. They were supposed to be here a week ago during the AM slot. No show. No texts. No calls. When I called to inquire, they apologized (of course) and wanted to bump me to the following day. I already had plans. The next available was today. That gave me time to get the new cable into my house.

They are two-stepping the process. They sent out crews a few weeks ago to get the cables trenched in from the cribs in the street to our houses. Texas plates on their trucks. Clearly a contractor group was hired to get the physicality done. Nice enough young men, but I did not want them poking holes in my house. I had them coil up the fiber at the foundation, and I'll get it into the house. Got that accomplished yesterday with a service entry box and everything. Their box will mount on the wall near an outlet. Wifi from their box should cover the house well. If not, I can pull some CAT5/6 from there to anywhere.

Onward!