The little things in life can be huge, and the big things really small. Walked around Wil farm last week, a quarter moon guiding my path, barefoot, middle of the night. Admiring my kingdom... looking at my big bird, looking up. Small blue heron, 3 pieces of heavy gauge pipe, a pipe bender, and a lot of digging on the base, but yes, it finally is up and about, 18 feet tall. Keep your eyes on it when you come in. Vaguely in the background you can see a pair of steam rollers asfalt laying equipment and what else you need to lay a new road deck on highway 19. "My" driveway has been repaved from the bridge up to my house, nice job MoDot. Friday night two road worker people stop by and ask if they can park their gear for the weekend on my place. Sure I say, pick a spot. Well, they did and parked all their gear next to the fence row, but on the neighbors' field, oepsiedasie. Bet those steamrollers are great for weedcontrol. But anyway, walking around I got a splinter in my foot, went in the house pulled it out, and it broke off and for 5 days I limped around. I rooted with needles, pliers, saltbaths, hot tubs and massages, but it was stuck, couldn't see it but felt it. Tonight all of a sudden, it came out of its own free will, it was half inch long, thick as a toothpick. The relief! The relief!
Winter is coming and I need to get some wood for the stove, time to get the truck road ready: transmission fluid, air in the tires, a battery and a can of invisability paint so the popo won't notice this metal contraption without plates. I though about earplugs so they won't hear the missing muffler. Farm wise, I had a week off from work and got it cleaned up quite a bit, planted some wheat, and after all this beautiful weather, we finally got some rain so hopefully it will come up the next week. It is always a work in progress, and next year it will always be better ( and it is), but got some nice peppers in the tunnel, eggplants, and the tomatoes are kicking in, turnips in the field, and daikon. Daikon, anyone got a recipe for that? They are huge white radishes, a pound a piece, and then some beans, and good cabbages and brussels sprouts. Need to seed other stuff in the tunnel, but don't want to tear something out that is actively growing either, dilemma's dilemma's, By the way, do you call plants that grow eggplants eggplantplants? Got chickens coming tomorrow, 54 four week buff orfingtons, that are currently residing in Gail's house. The smell is so overbearing that Gail pretty much has to abandon her place or, good call, send them my way. Talking about places, helped Pablo and Kayla move a little bit to 4608 Quincy Avenue, South Saint Louis. Oh to be young and get your own place. The couches had to go through the window, they will have to be cut up before they can go out again without help. Kayla's dad brought the washer and dryer over. Oh to be young again. Blek and Dekker have finally figured out why people like chicken, they do too. Can't wait to see them run into that electric fence. So life is good. And Papa hasn't called lately again either. My kingdom has a couple of big trees that were downed a few months ago, so the crucial heat is just an afterthought.
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I remember as a kid how my grandpa would play the lottery. Every Sunday night there was the 7 ball drawing live on TV, I think it was right before the weekly sports review. Grandpa would pull out his cigar box and write his seven numbers down. Than he would check off his numbers. And guess what he never won anything, or maybe he did, depends how you look at it. My analogy is that I cashed in my 401 k and am now playing in the stock market. Every day it goes down I feel I won.
This ya here weather is something, I don't really have a favorite season, it all has its' charms, but the last week of September, first week of October is perfect. And I mean Perfect, 80.3 degrees, bright blue sky, leaves turning, warm in the evening, just chilly enough at night to pull the covers a little higher. Did get the stove hooked up the other night, Vincent assessed the situation and was thoroughly underimpressed with angulation of pipe, anchoring of said pipe and waftage in the house. Will monitor. After the major strawberry battle of the bulge the last couple of weeks I have finally arrived in a little slower mode. Yesterday I had both tractors broke down in the field, but it was a minor glitch. Something about fuel levels and batteries I think. So due to this butifoel weather I had to re-install the drip-tape I had prematurely jacked out. It is quite a haul if you try to move those main lines when the water is flowing, think of a fire hose full of water, but luckily it leaked so it didn't take too long. Got the hole fixed too. Got me some wheat planted, covercrops to the rescue, and drilled some Austrian winter peas. Maybe too late, but if it doesn't come up now it may just come up in the spring. There were all kinds of rotation plans and thoughts on what goes where, but in the end it is just a throw of the dice. Will monitor too. Getting the sides on the high tunnel back in place, the cherry tomatoes are getting a second wind, and are turning red again, and there are plenty of them, have to get the side panels up on the tunnel too. There is plenty of eggplant that can go a little longer, a pile of peppers and maybe those big green tomatoes will turn to a nice reddish mushy contraption yet. The kale is finally succumbing to whatever beetle is having a hay day with it, as evidenced by all the beetle turds and disappearing leaves. Found I can grow great chard, but who the hell but me likes chard? Got the walk-in cooler put together with some serious input from Karen. The last couple of panels are a little off as was the last bit of wine. But there is now a gleaming 8 by 8 by 15 box of aluminium prominently displayed on a concrete slab that needs a roof over it yet. Well the dogs went to the vet to get fixed. "But really I am not broken Pieter". But yes, really Dekker, no homping of your sister. Projects galore, on with it! |
AuthorPieter Los, born in Scotland, raised in the Netherlands, lost in the USA. . Archives
May 2015
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