| Rain at last |
[Aug. 27th, 2008|07:39 pm] |
It's been a few weeks since we've gotten any rain, and it came in torrents today. Fay went through the Triad today. When I drove home today, there still were signs up on my road saying "High Water." Evidently the water was going across the road for a while during the day; the pond drainage system worked perfectly. The pond actually overflowed and water was draining from both the pipe in the center and over the bank.
My driveway, however, got pummeled, and the water dug a wide swath out of the part near the road. I'm going to have to shovel all of the gravel and pebbles back out of the ditch this weekend.
Still, I'd rather have buttloads of rain than a continuation of the drought. |
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| JACKPOT |
[Aug. 14th, 2008|08:15 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  satisfied | ] |
First watermelon from the field:
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| party, etc. |
[Aug. 9th, 2008|10:48 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | home | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | content | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Olympics | ] |
The pig-picking party turned out quite well. There was some pressure to have the pig 1) cooked correctly and 2) ready in time for the festivities. La Caja China did an excellent job; I'd highly recommend it. Here's an article about it for the curious:
http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=2008_4519020
Some current and ex-GEICOans came down to check out my place, so it was also a reunion of sorts. Nev took some pictures of the Caja in action, but I haven't seen them yet.
In melon news, here are two articles I've recently found regarding two things I often rail about: seedless watermelons and fruit salads consisting of hard, unripe melons.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D05E5D71739F936A1575BC0A9659C8B63&scp=1&sq=seeds%20of%20a%20summer%20revolt&st=cse
http://www.chow.com/grinder/6014
My garden is finally producing in earnest. I've gotten a bunch of tomatoes and peppers and I finally have a ripe pie pumpkin:
I also have two watermelons that are nearly ripe. They've actually given me the least trouble of anything I've planted. I'm planning to till a much bigger area next year and plant a bunch more pumpkins and watermelons - one of those giant pumpkins that people enter into contests would be awesome!
I visited the the home of a friend whose husband got his first two beehives this year. He gave me a contact of someone who would sell me a few hives next spring. It's amazing how close you can get to the hives without the bees bothering you, even now when they're extra vigilant in guarding their honey.
In other news, I've read a few books recently - Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck and Little Dorrit by Dickens. It's been a while since I've read any classical literature, so I may try to tackle some nice Silver Latin to shake some of the rust off.
Well, that's it for now. I'm taking a week of vacation at the end of August, but I haven't decided where I'm going yet. Since I haven't made it to the beach this year, I may try to check out a NC beach. |
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| more garden pics |
[Jul. 12th, 2008|09:07 pm] |
I will eventually get around to posting some pictures of Quebec. Since it pretty much rained or was cloudy the whole time, a lot of my pictures didn't turn out so well.
In the meantime, here's a few pictures of the garden.
A recently discovered blackberry patch! They're wild with some pretty nasty thorns, but it's worth putting on a set of work gloves and risking my forearms for some nice berries.
The pumpkin blossoms first started appearing back in late June. It's amazing how many honeybees were coming to pollinate them. Early in the morning, I can hear their buzzing, which is pretty neat.
The first bounty of the season - some nice anaheim peppers.
The tomatoes are finally in full gear. in the corner are some pumpkins growing. The sand supposedly helps prevent slugs from attacking the fruit while it is still soft and vulnerable.
The bees did a great job pollinating and I have a lot of fruit on the vine. The pumpkins are growing like crazy. It's amazing how quickly they have grown.
In between the pumpkin plants are the tomatoes and peppers. Lesson learned for next year - give pumpkins a wide berth!
On the bottom is a watermelon plant that is getting ready to produce fruit. If I get some nice heirloom watermelons from it this year, I will be stoked. |
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| Ucalegon (but it could have been worse) |
[Jun. 20th, 2008|05:09 pm] |
I've been waiting for years to use "ucalegon" in context, and today is the day. I had just changed the oil in the Ranger and was driving to make sure there wasn't any problems. As I drove past a house right down the road, I noticed the shed next to the house was on fire and no one seemed to have noticed. I banged on the door for a minute until some teenagers came out, saw, the shed, and started freaking. The fire was too big to put out with a hose, so I made sure they called the fire department, and got out of their way. I drove by again about ten minutes later, and I couldn't get too close because of all the fire trucks, but the house seemed unharmed.
so that's the excitement for the day out here in Gibsonville. I'm glad no one got hurt and the damage was limited to the shed. |
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| spring, part 2 |
[Jun. 8th, 2008|03:49 pm] |
tomato plant in a container (I think it's a cherokee purple).
the beginnings of my compost pile. I have yet to build a bin, but I have started collecting grass clippings and kitchen scraps in the meantime.
some baby apples on the established apple tree in my backyard.
The apple tree has had a hard life. It's been attacked by a multitude of pests over the years. I tried to save it this year by applying liquid and powdered sevin. After killing whatever insects were currently in the tree, I mixed some quick-dry cement and patched two big holes in the tree that insects had been entering through. So far, it seems to have worked.
In addition, it was not pruned well, so there are crossing branches all over the tree. I may do some serious work on it in the fall, depending on how healthy it is looking.
some basil is finally starting to grow in earnest. |
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| spring, part 1 |
[Jun. 8th, 2008|12:52 am] |
So I finally got my laptop fixed to the point where I can transfer pictures from my camera to it. I took a few pictures of my fruit trees:
Montmorency (sour) cherry tree
Gala apple
Peach tree - should fruit in the next year or two
Fig (notice the shape of the leaves)
All of the plum trees died. I am a little disappointed, obviously. They did not seem all that robust when I got them, and, in retrospect, they were most likely DOA. But 13/17 is not too bad (especially since I only ordered two plum trees in the first place and got four dead ones instead), and the remaining trees require plenty of attention anyway. I did decide to use the plum tree holes to try an experiment and plant two pineapple tops today.
And a few pictures of the garden-in-progress:
Watermelon (I think this one is the Moon and Stars cultivar)
I took some very blurry pictures of the tomatoes and peppers. I may take some replacement ones tomorrow if I remember.
The grapevine - before I pruned it yet again. It's growing like crazy, and I'm trying to keep it pruned so that most of the vine's energy will go towards growing grapes. I put some of the grape leaves I cut off in the jars of pickles I made this afternoon - they supposedly help keep the spears crisp. The Pickle Crisp I put in the jars should help too...
Some grapes-to-be, up close and personal.
It's hot as balls here, and it has been all week. tomorrow is supposed to be just as bad. I need to get up early so that I can do what I need to do before it's oppressively hot. |
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| ROE on an orchard |
[Mar. 30th, 2008|04:32 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Gville | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | accomplished | ] |
I got a great workout this weekend without going to the gym. I ordered 11 fruit trees from an online orchard, and they finally came on Friday. Upon opening the package, however, I counted 14 trees - I got four Damson plum seedlings instead of one, and a McIntosh tree I don't remember ordering.
The final tree tally is:
4 Blue Damson plum
1 Smyrna quince
1 mulberry
2 Montmorency (sour) cherry
1 Dwarf North Star (sour) cherry
1 Compact Stella (sweet) cherry
1 crab-apple (a good pollinator)
1 each Fuji, Gala, McIntosh apple
Along with the two figs (which may be dead) and the peach tree I already planted, that's 17.
I'm not quite sure what's going on with those fig trees. They're fairly small and may be budding, but I'm getting a little worried now.
Anyway, back to the workout. Since the soil in the pasture is very clayey, I bought some topsoil and compost for each tree, along with mulch. So the first job was to carry 42 forty-pound bags across about an acre and a half. Then, for each tree, I had to dig the hole, plant it, cover with mulch, then lug an almost-full bucket of water from the pump by my house to the hole to water the plant. I got seven trees planted on Friday before it got too dark. When I got up on Saturday morning, it was pouring out, but those trees needed to be planted, so I finished up the last seven while getting rained on for three hours.
For the next two months, I'll have to get up early every day to water each tree daily until they get established, and then I can relax a bit.
So why is planting an orchard like investing in a company? The money and work I've put in upfront (and the comparatively minor time on maintaining the trees in the future) can be viewed as my investment capital. The many, many years of fruit that the trees will produce for me and future owners of my land are the return on the initial equity.
Gardening in general is an analogous pursuit, and there are also other benefits to using one's hands and getting dirty. As an actuary, almost all of the products of my labor are abstract and indirect; my labor spent gardening (hopefully) allows me to see tangible results and fulfills the same masculine sense of accomplishment that I get from fixing my car by myself or doing home maintenance repairs.
I'll post some pictures once I get a chance to take some. It's still raining today, so I don't think they'll come out well. |
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| oops |
[Mar. 13th, 2008|09:56 pm] |
So I won't be getting any bee colonies this year.
Take a look at this and then vote:
http://www.guilfordbeekeepers.org/bg_2008.pdf
So I was busy a few of the previous weeks, and I had the bright idea to catch the last 2 hour lesson. Spend two hours learning about bees, get a queen to start things up, and off I go, right?
I finally go tonight, get to the agricultural exchange nice and early, and start talking to a guy who asks if I'm ready for the final exam... Shite! So the $20 pays for 6 two-hour lessons, and I missed the first five. I say, f*** it, and roll out.
In retrospect, it makes more sense to have 12 hours of bee-related instruction.
Well, I have a lot more to post, but feel free to assess my reading comprehension skills in the meantime. |
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| random notes |
[Jan. 13th, 2008|07:26 pm] |
Anthony Bourdain is all over the place nowadays. However, his notoriety is justified, as he coined, or at least made widely popular, perhaps the best neologism of 2007:
http://www.chow.com/grinder/4256
So, how is life after exams? Pretty fucking great! I got a tenant for my rental house, so that's one fewer thing to worry about. I've started back on some books I've been putting off for quite some time. Melville's _Confidence Man_, which I had started back when I started this blog, but have put down multiple times due to its tediousness. Also, Wharton's _Age of Innocence_, Shirley Corriher's _Cookwise_, and some poems of Catullus.
In other news, I started lifting again a few weeks ago, after a long hiatus due to both the pressures of work and studying and pure laziness. It feels good to hit the gym again, and it'll hopefully become a habit now that I have fewer distractions. I also take my bike out everyone once in a while, although serious rides will have to wait until spring.
Other than that, I'm slowly updating the house. Next up is some storm doors and an inspection of the insulation.
There's an Amish market about half an hour from here, up in the real boonies:
http://www.yodersmart.com/
It looks like a fun day trip, since it's also near the Colonial NC Scenic Byway, which starts a few miles north of me in Monticello (NC), and ends up in historic Hillsborough, which I had the pleasure of visiting at Thanksgiving. |
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| gah |
[Jan. 9th, 2008|11:06 pm] |
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Wow, it's way past time for an update. Check back this weekend. |
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| So |
[Nov. 25th, 2007|04:34 pm] |
Like I was saying, it's been a very nice weekend. I went biking twice. It's getting pretty cold now, though, so I'm not sure how longer I'll be able to do that without some semblance of proper attire.
Once again this year, I was invited to a few coworkers' houses for Thanksgiving. I decided to go to Devon's, since I've heard a fair amount about her family and now I had an opportunity to meet them in person.
The one part of the Thanksgiving meal that I really look forward to is the stuffing. It's fun to poke at the jellied cranberry if it's served, but the rest of the sides are superfluous. Even when cooked properly, turkey is only reasonably gratifying, but good stuffing is sublime and only comes along once or twice a year. I'm happy to say that I had some quality stuffing this year.
It's actually been quite a while now, but I bought a new (used) car - a black Ford Ranger XLT, manual transmission, V6, 2WD. I'm definitely enjoying the pickup lifestyle. It's a street pickup, I admit, but the gas mileage is pretty good. I'm averaging 22-25 mpg.
So I'm thinking of things I need to do around the house. The major items are:
1) Install new windows
2) Install new storm doors
3) Organize both garages (more of an ongoing project)
4) Finish weatherproofing
5) Survey / plan orchard and gardens for next year
6) Scrub / seal deck
There are plenty of smaller projects to be done. Now that my exams are over for at least the next 8 months, I am more focused on getting these things done. There are other more long-term ideas, like an outside tandoori/pizza oven, and maybe a hot tub in the spot for it outside.
I'm reading Anna Karenina. I need to get back to Hard Times at some point, and also Melville's Confidence Man, which I abandoned halfway through more than a year ago. After those, who knows? Maybe something more recent, like Pynchon's latest novel, Against the Day.
Well, that's it for now. Back to work tomorrow, unfortunately. |
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| Happy Thanksgiving! |
[Nov. 22nd, 2007|09:10 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | home | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | content | ] |
I've been rather lax in my updates recently, but I promise there will be one this weekend. Today was an absolutely beautiful day. I love Autumn. |
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| freedom? |
[Nov. 1st, 2007|07:39 pm] |
I was feeling good coming out of the exam, but I realized I made a lot of errors. I will have to wait until tomorrow to come up with an estimate of my score. The exam was pretty easy, and I think the passmark will be 70% this time, so I hope I didn't make too many mistakes... |
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| Wow |
[Oct. 21st, 2007|09:52 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | home | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  stressed | ] |
Less than two weeks now. It's really going to be close this time. For some unknown reason, I glossed over 3 articles repeatedly and I just finally noticed and read through them today. I also haven't gone through any old exams yet, although I always wait until the end for that (and only look at the problems, not try to take them within the 4 hour time limit like a lot of people do). At this point, it's all about doing problems and memorizing flashcards. The roughly 70% passmark means there's little room for error.
In other news, the extreme drought we've had this year continues. We're supposedly going to get some rain this week, but I've heard that before, and I'll believe it when I see it. |
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| crunch time |
[Sep. 28th, 2007|07:10 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  tired | ] |
Exam 9 is a month away, and I can tell it's going to be real close this time. I having more difficulty than usual getting my arms around the material. I feel like I am using my study time very inefficiently (not counting all those hours I slept in Cal Ripken back in the day, of course). I've read through everything twice now, but my comprehension of some of the material, especially retro and experience rating, is small.
Anyway, enough whining - time to hunker down and study. |
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| sad news |
[Aug. 21st, 2007|08:33 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  sad | ] |
I was out of town this weekend, and when I got back, I noticed the cats hadn't eaten anything. I took them to the vet on Monday, and got the bad news - they had gotten into something poisonous (I still haven't figured out what). I was hoping it wasn't too serious, but they both didn't survive. I'm still in shock about it all.
Avete atque valete, Robie and Murdock. We had many good times, and you will both be missed. |
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| one more month |
[Aug. 4th, 2007|09:38 pm] |
Of blistering heat. The 10-day forecast is a streak of 90+ degree days with no rain in sight. I hope everyone who whined about winter last year is enjoying the insufferable weather. My parents didn't have A/C until I was in high school, so I know how to deal, but I still can't wait for fall.
It's hardcore exam season again, and the pressure's on to go ahead and get it done with already. Less than 3 months to game time now...
Being too impatient to wait until my own watermelon plants bear fruit, I bought a watermelon last week. Unfortunately, I didn't notice it was a seedless watermelon. Do people not remember what a real watermelon is supposed to taste like? While it, in appearance, resembled a watermelon, it was a miserable simulacrum of the real thing - thoroughly devoid of taste. Was it really worth sacrificing the quiddity of watermelon just to avoid seeds that, at least in my opinion, are one of the joys of eating watermelon?
well, that's it for now. |
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| Vignettes from Eaglesfield Road |
[Jul. 4th, 2007|06:27 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | garage | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | hot | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Gershwin | ] |
Robie stuck in a tree:
Rescue mission:
Big ass tree that fell in the middle of my driveway that I had to chainsaw today:
Big ass basil plant:
Roma tomato plant with a few near-ripe tomatoes:
Beefsteak tomato plant (with a few near-ripe tomatoes):
Grapevine's progress:
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brillat_savarin's journal
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