- Part 10

podcasts and technical issues

I travel almost daily to north Georgia and the roundtrip is about 2 hours and tho NPR often has topics of interest, what I really enjoy is listening to the podcasts I have downloaded. In the early days I burned the podcasts onto cd's which I played in the truck's cd player, then I acquired a Sansa Clip mp3 player and played the podcasts back over a portable battery powered speaker positioned close to my ear. One of my tech savvy sons gave me a Go Groove x2 - a bluetooth device which plugs Read more [...]

my dog Trudy

We had a Scottie, Angus, who died from melanoma at age 11. We missed him and decided our next dog would not be pedigreed, we would find a Heinz 57 perhaps less susceptible to inbreeding diseases and, anyhow, we are not into status dogs, or cars. So Trudy it was, a year old female terrier hound mix who had been tried and rejected at (at least) 2 homes and sidled up to us at the Atlanta Pet Rescue and promptly rolled onto her back - utter submissiveness and desperate to be adopted. After 2 days Read more [...]

free ranging chicken

Our rooster and 10 hens have access to 3 paddocks. 2 of the hens regularly fly over the 6' fence to the greener grass on the other side. Recently I have allowed all of them to go wandering around the yard beyond the paddocks. And they love it. Initially they focused on the area below the deck where seed from the bird feeders had fallen and because it is surrounded by Rose of Sharon hibiscus which provides excellent cover. Then last week I shepherded the rooster and a hen to the compost heap Read more [...]

2 good books, water sustainability, okra & butterfly season

I never used to read science fiction. But technology and sustainability hold my attention and I read good futuristic books on these topics. "Ghost Fleet" a technothriller on the next world war portends problems with technology and is well researched with extensive footnotes. Now I have completed my interactive Python programming course with Rice University via Coursera, I have begun my next read, the Water Knife about a water starved west beset with dust clouds and violence. Both are excellent Read more [...]

3 sisters, a new brush, problem = solution, food from the garden

3 sisters 3 sisters refers to the practice of growing corn, climbing beans and squash closely together with the corn providing scaffolding for the beans, the beans providing nitrogen fixing and their hairy stems dissuading insects, and the squash shading out weeds and enabling water retention by the soil. My 3 sisters appear to be doing ok, though I now realize some fine tuning is needed for next year. You can see the beans wrapping round the stalks. But is the corn handy scaffolding, Read more [...]

what’s growing

An unending bonanza of tomatoes. The small one are more intensively flavored with black cherry (the round dark ones) leading the way. So far very little pest pressure, My recollection is the stink bugs and other tomato lovers proliferate toward the end of the season. Basil are growing strongly and in the pic below you can see watermelon vines spreading in all directions and burgundy okra which have some weeks to go. I again planted my peppers late (the first batch were freeze Read more [...]

when things go wrong

When I last mowed the grass/growth in the main chicken paddock, I left the center unmowed because the clover was in bloom and pollinators were busy. So on Tuesday I fired up the lawn tractor (see prior posts on various repairs including welding of deck) and as I did the first outer loop happened to notice a clutch of eggs in a hollow at the base of a pine tree. Three hens participated and since no one was on patrol I assume convenience and the summer heat contributed to the decision - why Read more [...]

a walk round the yard

The week of rains around July 4 really helped me out. My rainwater tanks with capacity of 6,000 gals were empty and I was planning to pump from a disused well, when the rains arrived. Solid drenching rains and my tanks are full. The Rose of Sharon hibiscus is in flower again - it must produce prolific pollen since all types of insects visit it, though the most industrious as usual are the bumblebee. I was sorry to read that raised temps are adversely affecting them. Between Read more [...]

catch me if I let you

A senior credit manager once told me: "Catch me once, shame on you, catch me twice, shame on me." Which may be fine in the world of relationships but for the consumer in this information filled internet world the maxim should be: "Catch me once, shame on me!" Last week 2 incidents when I was almost caught and by "caught" I mean taken advantage of. Ever since I rebuilt my Troy Bilt chipper shredder engine (model # 47330) in August 2013- see post on seized engine repair it has performed Read more [...]

simple lunch

It being Father's Day I was permitted to prepare lunch for the two of us. A rare event - usually I gather the produce and wash the dishes. I kept it simple. I like onions and garlic and have a lot growing. I also gathered large chard and collard leaves. I chopped the onions into 0.5" segments including the green stems and also peeled and chopped the garlic. The mound went into a pan, with olive oil to gently saute. The chard and collard I hand washed keeping a sharp lookout Read more [...]