short odd thoughts

While I was at work overnight it rained.

It was the kind of rain you can hear inside a walmart.  It thundered a lot before it decided to pour in the pre-dawn hours.  And the rain would come in spurts as though it was teasing anyone who had a late night / early morning errand.

"Raining really really hard ....

slack off a minute to tease out some people ....

Now DRENCH the world!

Ok they ran back in.

Slack off a little longer.  Coax more fools outside ....

And gadish!"

... etc etc

I amused myself for a good half hour with imagining mother nature laughing her fool head off with this trick.

Yeah ... easily entertained.

low hanging fruit

some mulberry trees

Guilty

Also the grape vines that were already here are bearing fruit (much like my one vine in St. Louis, but I will take these three over that one.)

The boys say hi!

Squire - Khain - Bone

tin foil hat

I almost started this post saying that I am not a criminal.  And then I thought about the lady (Lois Lerner - had to look up her name) from the IRS that did that and then pled the fifth.  It seemed a cop-out.

I should have nothing to fear from the government.  I have never done anything illegal.  I haven't even gotten a traffic ticket.  But after I hear so much about small farmers being harassed about raw milk, monsanto law suits etc, I am really worried that someone might come after me once I start selling what I produce here.  I left facebook for awhile because I didn't want anyone tracking me on it.  The blog was probably something I didn't associate with a wide audience so I didn't think about anyone tracking it.

Who "anyone" is, I don't know, the "Government".  Some Men in Black looking suits that start looking for a way to shut down what you are doing because you didn't color inside the lines.

I like being connected to the internet, I like knowing what is going on in the world.  I listen to talk (politics) radio because I don't get to watch my cable news channels (and I bounce between CNN, MSNBC, and FOX).  I am a news junky.  I want to know about the riots in Turkey after the police brutally cracked down on a peaceful demonstration against cutting down trees.  I want to know what my tax dollars are paying for, whether it is to help the tornado victims in Oklahoma or to pay the IRS to harass conservative groups.  I want to know if my information is being collected in the biggest thumbdrive known to man for possible further investigation in case I ever become radicalized (not likely).

But frankly this stuff is getting out of hand in my opinion.  This is actually beginning to scare me.  I am almost to the point of unplugging from the news for awhile and hoping it all goes away.  But it won't.  It never does.  The best I can do is keep my own little corner of the world the best I can.  I hope that once we get the house sold in St. Louis to get more involved in the community here.  Fight the good fight to keep our privacy and rights (no violence).

For now, I am just trying to get my garden to grow.

something witty

The vinegar and salt weed killer works, but it clogs the sprayer I had bought.  I think if I dissolve the salt in some hot water first it should work out better.  But the plants in the little gravel patio out back are dieing satisfactorily.  (that sounds weird)

Rob has come down for the weekend (yay!).  He is getting pizza and we are going to watch the Belmont.  I hope Oxbow wins even if people don't think he can.

Not much else going on.  Need to keep the garden watered and hope something comes up.

replanting

Well with the garden failure I replanted just straight seeds.  Will see how well they fair.  I think a tomato survived from the original planting.

Going to miss up some vinegar, water, and some salt  (1/2 vinegar, 1/2 water, 1 cup of salt per gallon) to kill some weeds on the driveway.  I hope this works.  Would be nice to have something this cheap to kill weeds that won't kill other critters.

The selling of the house in St. Louis is not looking promising.  Not sure what to do.

two steps forward....

I thought we made good progress with Dad doing some work around the house.  He put up another light in the basement, got the truck AC running again, brought the generator and chipper .... but now the lawn tractor has shot craps.  I think the battery has finally given up.  I charged it this morning and this afternoon when I tried it .. nadda.  I mean it made a pathetic try to turn over but I think the battery is dead.  So off to spend more money on a new battery.

So glad I got this job for extra income.

busy week

Mom and Dad stopped by (surprised me cause my old phone was acting up and wouldn't get signal).  They were a week early.  Uncle Paul was sick so they had come up early to see him, but he got better which is good.

I didn't get as much done around the house as I thought I was going to - some because of the weather, but mostly because I wasn't feeling great.  That and Squire had issues with his anal glands again (yuck I know).  That was solved with a trip to the vet.  I guess it is back to expensive food (you get what you pay for ... Should have seen the face Dr. Chip made when I told her it was Diamond dog food I had them on.  Apparently it is as bad as Ol' Roy).

The rest of the week I just felt like I was trying to catch up.  On sleep, on meals, on laundry, etc.  Thankfully Mom took care of most of the meals.

I was thinking about mowing the grass today because it is so nice out but listening to my tired body seems like a wiser decision.  Over the weekend I was fairly congested and just run down.  Tomorrow looks to be dry enough for mowing and I will be off that night too.

Dad brought up the generator he fixed, which is awesome in case the electricity goes out.  He also brought the chipper shredder and a wheel barrow.  Now I can get to making mulch and such.  You know, in all that extra time I have.....

Ah well, spend some time building up some capital at work and then I can invest it in the farm and get it rolling.  Hopefully I can then at least cut back on hours and work here more.