Friday, March 30, 2012
Free at Last!
In honor of my router finally arriving - at n address I moved from over a decade ago, I am writing this from the futon. I can see the old computer from here but I don't have to use it. I am not absolutely sure that I could use it now if I wanted to. I think it needs a "thing" to function in this brave new wireless world and I don't have one of these things or have any idea what they are really called. I do not think they are called "things" in the rest of the world. Pity, because I think it would be a marketing wonder.
Dogger does not seem as over-the-moon about this new set up as I am. I think its about damn impressive while Dogger is wondering if I am going to start spending a lot of time on her futon, I think she would like to arrange some sort of shared custody where I get to see the futon but she actually gets to use the futon.
To please Dogger, I am now in the kitchen with my pizza. I heated up the pizza while my new very best friend Rasheesh was walking me through the set up. A much different set up than was explained in the pre-printed set up instructions included with my router - instructions that said clearly "do not use the included CD" while in real life, I had to to use the included CD to set up the router. This caused no small amount of problems for Rasheedh and I. Initially, this almost caused a melt down. It would have been helpful to my new best friend Rasheesh, if this new and improved version was included in his instructions, poor blind Rasheesh was forced to use an even more blind and hysterical person for his guide.
But we got there.
Now what I want is all my stuff from other computer on to this computer. I want to be able to download my email without having to go use the other machine - I would also like my pictures and my Favorites. Thus far this part is a mystery.
But I'm cool with it. I am going to deal. I am going to probably plug my machine back in because I'm not sure it really wants to be unplugged - but I just checked at it says I have 5.30 hours on the battery, I can walk the fence line if I wanted to! I won't because its really dark out there and if I go outside I really need to take Dogger and I can't do both.
So I decided to go upstairs! and now my kindle is on the network! It can now download even faster!Oddly, the mouse does not like my bedspread. Tough life for Mr. Mouse, perhaps I'll let Small Cat use it as a cat toy...
Dogger does not seem as over-the-moon about this new set up as I am. I think its about damn impressive while Dogger is wondering if I am going to start spending a lot of time on her futon, I think she would like to arrange some sort of shared custody where I get to see the futon but she actually gets to use the futon.
To please Dogger, I am now in the kitchen with my pizza. I heated up the pizza while my new very best friend Rasheesh was walking me through the set up. A much different set up than was explained in the pre-printed set up instructions included with my router - instructions that said clearly "do not use the included CD" while in real life, I had to to use the included CD to set up the router. This caused no small amount of problems for Rasheedh and I. Initially, this almost caused a melt down. It would have been helpful to my new best friend Rasheesh, if this new and improved version was included in his instructions, poor blind Rasheesh was forced to use an even more blind and hysterical person for his guide.
But we got there.
Now what I want is all my stuff from other computer on to this computer. I want to be able to download my email without having to go use the other machine - I would also like my pictures and my Favorites. Thus far this part is a mystery.
But I'm cool with it. I am going to deal. I am going to probably plug my machine back in because I'm not sure it really wants to be unplugged - but I just checked at it says I have 5.30 hours on the battery, I can walk the fence line if I wanted to! I won't because its really dark out there and if I go outside I really need to take Dogger and I can't do both.
So I decided to go upstairs! and now my kindle is on the network! It can now download even faster!Oddly, the mouse does not like my bedspread. Tough life for Mr. Mouse, perhaps I'll let Small Cat use it as a cat toy...
Thursday, March 29, 2012
So there.
I am in perfect health. Know how I know this? Because the chest x-ray, blood draw, urine test and EKG told me. I'm going to spend the rest of the evening watching TV with my animals.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Customer Unservice
Everyone at Earthlink feels really bad about being such monumental fuck ups. Really, from Bombay to Georgia everyone totally feels bad that I still don't have a router.
Monday I got a call that told me the reason I didn't have a router was that somewhere in the mists of time I was not charged for a month of service. I believe that this was about the time I told them where to stick their $24.95 a month for dial up fee and get real with me, a customer since 1999. They got the picture and dropped my rate to $9.95.
Apparently, taking care of their long term clients pissed them off and so they created a mystery balance on my account that not one of the many operators I spoke with could see on their monitors. I asked the operator "A Balance?! You don't have my credit card number? no one thought to just charge it or even better, forgive it because of your mistake?" I allowed them to charge to just get this train moving. But, we're going to talk about this, because at this point, its not about what I owe them its about what they owe me.
I spoke with Rasheesh or "Jason" about this and he didn't seem to understand what I was talking about, which is a shock because I thought their schools were better than that. In addition to all the phone calls, I also emailed the company with my issue, and in due course I got a reply and they are very apologetic and promise my router in two business days - On Monday "Jason" promised me Wednesday, email guy says Thursday.
I wrote back.
Thank you for your reply, I spoke with a representative Monday evening and he told me that the reason that my router was not delivered was that here was a balance on my account, an old balance that was never mentioned by any of the many, many representatives I spoke with over the last month and for some reason never showed up on my monthly invoice and was never billed despite the fact that my credit card has been on file there for years! I allowed him to charge this to my card to get this arduous process moving.
I also spoke with the representative about some sort of upgrade to my account because this interminable wait, the representative seemed to agree with me on this point but suddenly developed an acute problem with English and we were not able to speak about this at any length, I feared a stroke. He put me on hold (again), perhaps to seek medical attention. I've been a customer for thirteen years and I think this request for an upgrade to my service is not out of line given the circumstances.
I have been a very loyal Earthlink client for years and would very much like to continue our relationship into the future, reguardless of the outcome, I will be writing about my experience on my blog, Twitter and Facebook.
Sincerely,
Diana
Doing what I said I would.
Edited to add:
In responce to my email I recieved this from Earthlink this morning.
Thank you for your prompt reply. As per your request the account has been upgraded from Dial up to Cable service and we also see a one-time payment of $24.95 on your account. Please be rest assure that the router will reach you in two business days. Please contact me directly if you have any issues with regards to the shipment of the router.
I answered with:
I upgraded my account myself when I upgraded from dial up to cable and am now paying for that upgrade. I want something from Earthlink in response to my having to wait and wait and wait for service. For example, I am paying for the lowest speed cable service and after all this time and patience on my part and the fact I am staying with Earthlink despite its increasingly shameful customer service, I think an upgrade to the speed of cable I am receiving - at no extra charge would be acceptable. I also now feel as though I was charged for being kept waiting.
Monday I got a call that told me the reason I didn't have a router was that somewhere in the mists of time I was not charged for a month of service. I believe that this was about the time I told them where to stick their $24.95 a month for dial up fee and get real with me, a customer since 1999. They got the picture and dropped my rate to $9.95.
Apparently, taking care of their long term clients pissed them off and so they created a mystery balance on my account that not one of the many operators I spoke with could see on their monitors. I asked the operator "A Balance?! You don't have my credit card number? no one thought to just charge it or even better, forgive it because of your mistake?" I allowed them to charge to just get this train moving. But, we're going to talk about this, because at this point, its not about what I owe them its about what they owe me.
I spoke with Rasheesh or "Jason" about this and he didn't seem to understand what I was talking about, which is a shock because I thought their schools were better than that. In addition to all the phone calls, I also emailed the company with my issue, and in due course I got a reply and they are very apologetic and promise my router in two business days - On Monday "Jason" promised me Wednesday, email guy says Thursday.
I wrote back.
Thank you for your reply, I spoke with a representative Monday evening and he told me that the reason that my router was not delivered was that here was a balance on my account, an old balance that was never mentioned by any of the many, many representatives I spoke with over the last month and for some reason never showed up on my monthly invoice and was never billed despite the fact that my credit card has been on file there for years! I allowed him to charge this to my card to get this arduous process moving.
I also spoke with the representative about some sort of upgrade to my account because this interminable wait, the representative seemed to agree with me on this point but suddenly developed an acute problem with English and we were not able to speak about this at any length, I feared a stroke. He put me on hold (again), perhaps to seek medical attention. I've been a customer for thirteen years and I think this request for an upgrade to my service is not out of line given the circumstances.
I have been a very loyal Earthlink client for years and would very much like to continue our relationship into the future, reguardless of the outcome, I will be writing about my experience on my blog, Twitter and Facebook.
Sincerely,
Diana
Doing what I said I would.
Edited to add:
In responce to my email I recieved this from Earthlink this morning.
Thank you for your prompt reply. As per your request the account has been upgraded from Dial up to Cable service and we also see a one-time payment of $24.95 on your account. Please be rest assure that the router will reach you in two business days. Please contact me directly if you have any issues with regards to the shipment of the router.
I answered with:
I upgraded my account myself when I upgraded from dial up to cable and am now paying for that upgrade. I want something from Earthlink in response to my having to wait and wait and wait for service. For example, I am paying for the lowest speed cable service and after all this time and patience on my part and the fact I am staying with Earthlink despite its increasingly shameful customer service, I think an upgrade to the speed of cable I am receiving - at no extra charge would be acceptable. I also now feel as though I was charged for being kept waiting.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
I was tooling around the intertubes and I decided that I wanted my Picasa on my new machine. At some point I would also like to get the pictures from my old machine onto the new machine but a journey of a thousand miles blah, blah.
New Picasa. All kinds of new and interesting ways to mess with your pictures! I love messing with my pictures! For example...
I'm not going to abuse this at all... Really, I'm not, it doesn't work as all well with landscapes. But it is fun.
As much as I enjoyed showing off my water'o'lantern, this effect is also pretty cool.
Dogger, as if I took the picture in 1973. I don't know how useful this effect is but it was fun to play with.
Often I have said to myself, "You know what would be cool? If this could look like I took it with a Polaroid!"
This one is mostly un-messed with. I'm just so happy my azalea bloomed this year after taking last year off.
New Picasa. All kinds of new and interesting ways to mess with your pictures! I love messing with my pictures! For example...
I'm not going to abuse this at all... Really, I'm not, it doesn't work as all well with landscapes. But it is fun.
As much as I enjoyed showing off my water'o'lantern, this effect is also pretty cool.
Dogger, as if I took the picture in 1973. I don't know how useful this effect is but it was fun to play with.
Often I have said to myself, "You know what would be cool? If this could look like I took it with a Polaroid!"
This one is mostly un-messed with. I'm just so happy my azalea bloomed this year after taking last year off.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Chop, chop.
I have been hopeing to get the garden tilled - the longer you think about doing this more important it becomes, not being able to do it was really making me tense. I needed to get this done even more than I wanted to get it done.
I got it done. I snuck in Friday evening between rain storms and now the tilling is of my list. I can kind of see myself doing it again but it was important to get it done the first time.
Yes, there are remaining winter cover trapped under the trellis. I see it there as well. I also see a handful of tiny, growing pea plants too. Its about looking on the bright side.
And then in rained.
Saturday. Rain. It stopped and I raced outside and planted my last potatoes, I was just going to go get water to give them a little bath when it started to rain again. I thought I was quite awesome for being so timely in my planting schedule. I almost put my arm out patting myself on the back.
I did laundry and generally watched TV and did some laundry - and put away two weeks worth of laundry while I was at it. My arm still hurts from all the back patting going on. It was raining all this time. It rains all the time now, its like living in a significantly less hip Seattle, once it gets warmer is going to be like Guam, I can't comment on hipness quotient of Guam, Raleigh is probably cooler than Guam. Go us.
During a break in the torrential rain, I took Dogger on a pee break to go visit our newest spuds. I planted these next to the house where the plants were last year, I thought this was a good place. I thought wrong. Apparently we didn't get a lot of torrential rains. This year they looked like something Snape would have hexed Harry for producing in potions. I had to go bobbing for spuds and dump everything out. I was not happy about this. I had enough dirt to replant part of the group after I moved the planter to the back yard with the other all-ready-in-progress potatoes. I had to go out Sunday and get more dirt so I could replant the remaining spuds. I was not happy.
When I went out to get more dirt I found something else I really needed. I bought a scythe. I was tired of being made to feel defeated by my lawn and worse than that, being defeated by my backyard! If anyone told you that winter grass dies off once it gets warm - they are lying it doesn't die, it just gets stronger and deeper! In theory it should get pushed out by summer grass but I don't have summer grass, this stuff is doing to my yard what the teabaggers did to the GOP! I can't mow it because its a lot more butch than my mower and it knows it! Its even muscling out the weeds! Which would be a good thing except I also think its trying to get into the house and the last time I was out there in shorts I think it touched me and not in a good way.
Enter scythe. Also, see all eight of of my spud planters.
Doesn't the grass look discipline and under control and properly chastened? Isn't it nice to be able to see the planters? I think so.
I got it done. I snuck in Friday evening between rain storms and now the tilling is of my list. I can kind of see myself doing it again but it was important to get it done the first time.
Yes, there are remaining winter cover trapped under the trellis. I see it there as well. I also see a handful of tiny, growing pea plants too. Its about looking on the bright side.
And then in rained.
Saturday. Rain. It stopped and I raced outside and planted my last potatoes, I was just going to go get water to give them a little bath when it started to rain again. I thought I was quite awesome for being so timely in my planting schedule. I almost put my arm out patting myself on the back.
I did laundry and generally watched TV and did some laundry - and put away two weeks worth of laundry while I was at it. My arm still hurts from all the back patting going on. It was raining all this time. It rains all the time now, its like living in a significantly less hip Seattle, once it gets warmer is going to be like Guam, I can't comment on hipness quotient of Guam, Raleigh is probably cooler than Guam. Go us.
During a break in the torrential rain, I took Dogger on a pee break to go visit our newest spuds. I planted these next to the house where the plants were last year, I thought this was a good place. I thought wrong. Apparently we didn't get a lot of torrential rains. This year they looked like something Snape would have hexed Harry for producing in potions. I had to go bobbing for spuds and dump everything out. I was not happy about this. I had enough dirt to replant part of the group after I moved the planter to the back yard with the other all-ready-in-progress potatoes. I had to go out Sunday and get more dirt so I could replant the remaining spuds. I was not happy.
When I went out to get more dirt I found something else I really needed. I bought a scythe. I was tired of being made to feel defeated by my lawn and worse than that, being defeated by my backyard! If anyone told you that winter grass dies off once it gets warm - they are lying it doesn't die, it just gets stronger and deeper! In theory it should get pushed out by summer grass but I don't have summer grass, this stuff is doing to my yard what the teabaggers did to the GOP! I can't mow it because its a lot more butch than my mower and it knows it! Its even muscling out the weeds! Which would be a good thing except I also think its trying to get into the house and the last time I was out there in shorts I think it touched me and not in a good way.
Enter scythe. Also, see all eight of of my spud planters.
Doesn't the grass look discipline and under control and properly chastened? Isn't it nice to be able to see the planters? I think so.
Friday, March 23, 2012
Yay Friday!
Okay, 5001.
Today at work we had a potluck to celibrate Us. people asked why were having this potluck and we said it was for Self Appreciation day - because Staff Appreciation Day makes us want to kill ourselves. No one else really ares about us and those that do think we're idiots so we have to celebrate ourselves and today we celebrate ourselves with a lot of food.
And we celebrate ourselves with hot food when we finally remembered to turn on the power strip we had all the hot pots plugged into.
I ate all day. I ate healthy all day, well mostly, but even if you spend the day eating raw carrots and celery - which I did not, you end feeling like you swallowed a beach ball. In between helpings of spicy chicken and dip, meatballs and my own soup, I cleanesed my palet with home made gingerbread cupcakes and chocolate brownies.
By the time I got home I could barely put away my doggy bags to deal with the doggy. I was so over stuffed it took me a moment to wrest the lap-top's new home out its box. Its very awesome and since its neoprene I'm pretty sure in a pinch I can use it for SCUBA diving. Someday I might actually lean to SCUBA and in that case I will absolutely want to blog from the deep, and now I can. If the laptop doesn't care for swimming I bet I could zip Small Cat into and take him along instead. Although I think I would have an easier tome convincing the computer about the joys of being submersed because it does not punctuate arguments with blood shed and its hardly in a position to kill me in my sleep.
Dogger wouldn't be a good candidate but she could certainly man the support boat, she does after all have her own life vest and comes with webbed feet. She would make a great crew person.
Speaking of Dogger. I decided that after eating everything, that what I needed was a good long walk. My plan was to walk from one end of downtown to the other - to really walk my meal off. Dogger had a different idea. Dogger wanted to walk around in field downtown while scanning the sky's for incoming death from above. I think the real problem was she could hear someone using a microphone or a loud speaker and she doesn't like how it sounds. We would start heading in that direction and she would dig her heals in. I would go in a different direction but as soon as I started to veer towards downtown she starting humming We Shall Overcome and talking about she was "Going to Occupy This Sidewalk!" and I just gave up. Also, after years if experience with it, I've found that having passerbys witness you being outsmarted by your dog, does not make you feel like the you are on the right side of the leash.
Today at work we had a potluck to celibrate Us. people asked why were having this potluck and we said it was for Self Appreciation day - because Staff Appreciation Day makes us want to kill ourselves. No one else really ares about us and those that do think we're idiots so we have to celebrate ourselves and today we celebrate ourselves with a lot of food.
And we celebrate ourselves with hot food when we finally remembered to turn on the power strip we had all the hot pots plugged into.
I ate all day. I ate healthy all day, well mostly, but even if you spend the day eating raw carrots and celery - which I did not, you end feeling like you swallowed a beach ball. In between helpings of spicy chicken and dip, meatballs and my own soup, I cleanesed my palet with home made gingerbread cupcakes and chocolate brownies.
By the time I got home I could barely put away my doggy bags to deal with the doggy. I was so over stuffed it took me a moment to wrest the lap-top's new home out its box. Its very awesome and since its neoprene I'm pretty sure in a pinch I can use it for SCUBA diving. Someday I might actually lean to SCUBA and in that case I will absolutely want to blog from the deep, and now I can. If the laptop doesn't care for swimming I bet I could zip Small Cat into and take him along instead. Although I think I would have an easier tome convincing the computer about the joys of being submersed because it does not punctuate arguments with blood shed and its hardly in a position to kill me in my sleep.
Dogger wouldn't be a good candidate but she could certainly man the support boat, she does after all have her own life vest and comes with webbed feet. She would make a great crew person.
Speaking of Dogger. I decided that after eating everything, that what I needed was a good long walk. My plan was to walk from one end of downtown to the other - to really walk my meal off. Dogger had a different idea. Dogger wanted to walk around in field downtown while scanning the sky's for incoming death from above. I think the real problem was she could hear someone using a microphone or a loud speaker and she doesn't like how it sounds. We would start heading in that direction and she would dig her heals in. I would go in a different direction but as soon as I started to veer towards downtown she starting humming We Shall Overcome and talking about she was "Going to Occupy This Sidewalk!" and I just gave up. Also, after years if experience with it, I've found that having passerbys witness you being outsmarted by your dog, does not make you feel like the you are on the right side of the leash.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
As time goes by, 5000 posts later.
This is my 5000th post. Ta da.
This was my very first post on April 15, 2003
Welcome to my Blogg. This is not a diary. There will be no entries describing what I wore today, my weight at the given moment or what the weather is like. Unless its necessary to the plot- like gratuitous violence and nudity in a film with no plot and a bad script, but with a hotty actress and a trailer featuring explosions and fast cars.
Today I got an annoying forwarded email that bummed me and I had to ask for help from The Girl. Who then accused me of miss filing something that wasn't even in my office yet. Silent but Evil did some hole punching for me while Miss Thing talked on her cell phone. I love my job
I wrote this at my desk at work, I'm not sure why I was mad at The Girl or why asking her help was a problem, because The Girl was a friend, but Miss Thing was a bitch then and later to my horror, replaced The Girl as my supervisor. Miss Thing is still a bitch and I still really, really dislike her, but she's no longer my supervisor, so I dislike her mostly as a matter of muscle memory. Silent But Evil is still mentally unstable and given to long stretches of sick leave for unpublished reasons. She was very crazy then and is still very crazy. You've really never lived until someone has stared at your back for hours. You really can feel it, like very blunt knives or saftey scissers just touching you.
I know that at some point I changed the names of the above, as Miss Thing was originally called BitchWhoreSlut - but I was afraid she would find my blog and make my life (more) miserable at work so I changed hers and theirs but she remains a bitch.
I don't just talk about work, I had guest writers tackling dog and cat issues too. The Answer Dogs and Counterpoint Kitty were much loved contributors. Sad Now. Gootch, Modean and Tex are all gone now.
In reading old posts I see I haven't changed dramatically, I hated Shrub and his war and his stupid and his increasely crazed machinations of his administration - In hindsight, he seems so docile and respectful. Shrub never tried to take away my access to birth control, he wanted to own the contents of my uterus, but he never tried to take the keys to it away from me.
Anyway, Happier Thoughts! A Skycap Ate my Catby! Tex and I took at least two or three cross country flights together and he always did well, he did not love the layover's because he couldn't grasp why I didn't let him out of his case and I'm sure he really wanted to know where I stowed his litter box. I don't think Ace would be as good a travel companion.
Somewhere along the line I discovered gardening. And a meme was born. I believe hat the first garden was planted in 2008, I didn't compulsively blog this because I didn't yet have a digital camera and I couldn't post pictures as easily as I do now. Garden X was very small and narrow and not terribly productive or photogenic. I planted tomatoes, squash and zucchini, I know I got a couple of zucchini but I seem to remember the squash were non-starters. Little did I know that a few years later I would grow everything from tomatoes to watermelon to potatoes to mushrooms.
Pictures. Speaking of pictures. Go to the side panel and hit "Photoblogging" and spend some time with my pictures. For someone who fought digital cameras I have certainly learned to embrace them. I'm on my second digital camera and can see a new one in the next year or so. They are only "good" for about 10,000 pictures before they start to age out. I can make a camera age with a single trip to the beach. Some say "compulsive" I say "Practice makes perfect".
I'm going to go read my archives.
This was my very first post on April 15, 2003
Welcome to my Blogg. This is not a diary. There will be no entries describing what I wore today, my weight at the given moment or what the weather is like. Unless its necessary to the plot- like gratuitous violence and nudity in a film with no plot and a bad script, but with a hotty actress and a trailer featuring explosions and fast cars.
Today I got an annoying forwarded email that bummed me and I had to ask for help from The Girl. Who then accused me of miss filing something that wasn't even in my office yet. Silent but Evil did some hole punching for me while Miss Thing talked on her cell phone. I love my job
I wrote this at my desk at work, I'm not sure why I was mad at The Girl or why asking her help was a problem, because The Girl was a friend, but Miss Thing was a bitch then and later to my horror, replaced The Girl as my supervisor. Miss Thing is still a bitch and I still really, really dislike her, but she's no longer my supervisor, so I dislike her mostly as a matter of muscle memory. Silent But Evil is still mentally unstable and given to long stretches of sick leave for unpublished reasons. She was very crazy then and is still very crazy. You've really never lived until someone has stared at your back for hours. You really can feel it, like very blunt knives or saftey scissers just touching you.
I know that at some point I changed the names of the above, as Miss Thing was originally called BitchWhoreSlut - but I was afraid she would find my blog and make my life (more) miserable at work so I changed hers and theirs but she remains a bitch.
I don't just talk about work, I had guest writers tackling dog and cat issues too. The Answer Dogs and Counterpoint Kitty were much loved contributors. Sad Now. Gootch, Modean and Tex are all gone now.
In reading old posts I see I haven't changed dramatically, I hated Shrub and his war and his stupid and his increasely crazed machinations of his administration - In hindsight, he seems so docile and respectful. Shrub never tried to take away my access to birth control, he wanted to own the contents of my uterus, but he never tried to take the keys to it away from me.
Anyway, Happier Thoughts! A Skycap Ate my Catby! Tex and I took at least two or three cross country flights together and he always did well, he did not love the layover's because he couldn't grasp why I didn't let him out of his case and I'm sure he really wanted to know where I stowed his litter box. I don't think Ace would be as good a travel companion.
Somewhere along the line I discovered gardening. And a meme was born. I believe hat the first garden was planted in 2008, I didn't compulsively blog this because I didn't yet have a digital camera and I couldn't post pictures as easily as I do now. Garden X was very small and narrow and not terribly productive or photogenic. I planted tomatoes, squash and zucchini, I know I got a couple of zucchini but I seem to remember the squash were non-starters. Little did I know that a few years later I would grow everything from tomatoes to watermelon to potatoes to mushrooms.
Pictures. Speaking of pictures. Go to the side panel and hit "Photoblogging" and spend some time with my pictures. For someone who fought digital cameras I have certainly learned to embrace them. I'm on my second digital camera and can see a new one in the next year or so. They are only "good" for about 10,000 pictures before they start to age out. I can make a camera age with a single trip to the beach. Some say "compulsive" I say "Practice makes perfect".
I'm going to go read my archives.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Healthy
Potato bin number 4 went in today. All blues. This weekend I'm predicting we'll see bins five and six, with Guadalupe's that are currently benched so as to mature their eyes so they will get a little head start. When these are planted I will encounter space issues, as the very best, most sunny-for-the-most-hours-per-day is along my fence-line I share with the hipsters. I have one space left there.
One potato will go to the side of the house where the potato bins were last year - also a very sunny location. I'm going to have to plant these spuds deep because my remaining bins are not as deep as they could be, wide as all hell but maybe a few inches shorter than ideal. Everyone else will appreciate that the bin is much prettier that last years' cut in half pickle barrel.
Size may not matter, the rule is that the growing spuds must be covered and they must have space to expand. The more space the more spuds. Last year I grew two varieties in two bins, this year I am growing four is six bins. We have Yukon gold, all blue, reds and guadalupe's. The reds are early season, the yuks and guadalupe's mid and the blues very end. So end that the last batch might end up needing to be harvested by Broskey and Alphagal.
I wasdigging in studying the spuds progress and lo and behold we do have shoots and leaves! Tiny and undeveloped but working hard. I was getting concerned because last year I went with a school of potato growing that said "don't bury them! leave them on the surface and cover them as they grow!", I was able to watch even the earliest growth and it was comforting. The idea being that you will get more come harvest this way and while its kind of like mounding, its easier.. This year I used this method with two of the bins and went with the school that says "bury them under six inches of dirt! you'll get more come harvest this way!" with the others. The idea being that mounding is a pain. The problem being you have to wait for results, this is not comforting. The textbook method of spud planting it to plant them in a 6-10 inch ditch and add dirt as need, ultimately, you have mound of dirt, its important to keep adding dirt as to keep the baby potatoes covered. An uncovered potato turns green and becomes toxic. I planted one in the actual earth and have heard nothing from it so far.
When I wasn't peering at piles of dirt, I took Dogger to the Vet for her annual. The vet said she feels as good as she looks. Good coat, good ears, clean teeth, good heart beat and lungs and her diet is working. I put her on diet food lat year and she's lost eight pounds. Now I need to settle on a maintenance serving for her so that she still doesn't gain she also doesn't lose. She also came up completely worm free, heart and otherwise. She is also now street legal as to parvo too.
She was a champ. There was a couple there in the next room with a teeny puppy who was suddenly very ill. The vet took the puppy away and you could hear it screaming from the backroom. It turns out the puppy as young as it is, is a bit of a drama queen about getting his rectal temp taken - to which his dog mommy replied to the vet "Well, he is kind of a baby". I felt so bad for them, and the vet they had possessed the bedside manor of a snake "Yeah. Little guys like him go from just fine to circling the drain really fast" if it was me she has said that to I would first ripped my dog from her arms and then decked her. Sensitivity is key and she was emotionally tone deaf. which is why that vet is never going to touch Dogger, ever.
One potato will go to the side of the house where the potato bins were last year - also a very sunny location. I'm going to have to plant these spuds deep because my remaining bins are not as deep as they could be, wide as all hell but maybe a few inches shorter than ideal. Everyone else will appreciate that the bin is much prettier that last years' cut in half pickle barrel.
Size may not matter, the rule is that the growing spuds must be covered and they must have space to expand. The more space the more spuds. Last year I grew two varieties in two bins, this year I am growing four is six bins. We have Yukon gold, all blue, reds and guadalupe's. The reds are early season, the yuks and guadalupe's mid and the blues very end. So end that the last batch might end up needing to be harvested by Broskey and Alphagal.
I was
When I wasn't peering at piles of dirt, I took Dogger to the Vet for her annual. The vet said she feels as good as she looks. Good coat, good ears, clean teeth, good heart beat and lungs and her diet is working. I put her on diet food lat year and she's lost eight pounds. Now I need to settle on a maintenance serving for her so that she still doesn't gain she also doesn't lose. She also came up completely worm free, heart and otherwise. She is also now street legal as to parvo too.
She was a champ. There was a couple there in the next room with a teeny puppy who was suddenly very ill. The vet took the puppy away and you could hear it screaming from the backroom. It turns out the puppy as young as it is, is a bit of a drama queen about getting his rectal temp taken - to which his dog mommy replied to the vet "Well, he is kind of a baby". I felt so bad for them, and the vet they had possessed the bedside manor of a snake "Yeah. Little guys like him go from just fine to circling the drain really fast" if it was me she has said that to I would first ripped my dog from her arms and then decked her. Sensitivity is key and she was emotionally tone deaf. which is why that vet is never going to touch Dogger, ever.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
This weekend while I was mulling over my blueberry choices at the nursery, I saw a potted shrub I needed.
Its called a Harry Lauder's Walking Stick Tree and it a is quite . I saw it first on an HGTV landscaping show and thought it looked interesting but I'd never seen on in real life. I would have said tree now but for the price tag - $135 for a small potted shrub! And I think I would really need two of them. Feeling sad about not getting my cool tree I came home and did some research.
It turns out they are not necessarily potted plants, they are in fact actual trees that grow to between eight and fifteen feet tall. Okay, short trees but not really any sort of potted plant that any pot in my budget could handle, unless you strictly train it to be potted plant, which they are apparently suited for it if regularly pruned.The above tree needs pruning, they look better when they are trained more vertically. But then you are entering bonsai land and that is very pricey real-estate, and I might be better off sticking to potted flowers.
They do grow leaves that hide their best feature, a nice, modest plant
It spends most of the year kind of fat and shrubby. Not very attractive, it could be anything really. But wait for spring!
It sheds that false modesty and lets its freak flag fly! It grows penisi! In other shots they look a little like grapes or currents but they always look like penis. I had no idea! Can you imagine the neighbors?! It might be a better back yard tree.
Speaking of thins that are growing in my back yard, I found signs of sprouting potatoes! Teeny, tiny sprouts but sprouts! Yay for spring!
Its called a Harry Lauder's Walking Stick Tree and it a is quite . I saw it first on an HGTV landscaping show and thought it looked interesting but I'd never seen on in real life. I would have said tree now but for the price tag - $135 for a small potted shrub! And I think I would really need two of them. Feeling sad about not getting my cool tree I came home and did some research.
It turns out they are not necessarily potted plants, they are in fact actual trees that grow to between eight and fifteen feet tall. Okay, short trees but not really any sort of potted plant that any pot in my budget could handle, unless you strictly train it to be potted plant, which they are apparently suited for it if regularly pruned.The above tree needs pruning, they look better when they are trained more vertically. But then you are entering bonsai land and that is very pricey real-estate, and I might be better off sticking to potted flowers.
They do grow leaves that hide their best feature, a nice, modest plant
It spends most of the year kind of fat and shrubby. Not very attractive, it could be anything really. But wait for spring!
It sheds that false modesty and lets its freak flag fly! It grows penisi! In other shots they look a little like grapes or currents but they always look like penis. I had no idea! Can you imagine the neighbors?! It might be a better back yard tree.
Speaking of thins that are growing in my back yard, I found signs of sprouting potatoes! Teeny, tiny sprouts but sprouts! Yay for spring!
Monday, March 19, 2012
Hard work is good for you.
So how was your weekend? Mine was busy. I did stuff, I did outdoorsy, hands getting dirty stuff. And i went to a parade, a very long parade that I had to leave early so I could do stuff. And I had been there for three hours and there wasn't an end in sight and I was tired and my feet hurt. Next year I vote for flat bed trucks for all entries. There was no one in charge and no one to tell the participants to KEEP IT MOVING.
If you have to perform and entire one act play to get your point across, you are missing the point. Also if you tell me you are a Tae Quan Do school, I believe you, you do not need to show me. The same with the endless Irish dance schools - Question, is it to teach them to dance or to turn them in to Christmas decorations? It was hard to tell, the last time I saw so much emphasis placed on costuming above ability was years ago watching tiny students at a ice skating school competition fall down on the ice at the rink at the mall. They gave points for style if not execution.
And then I left.
I went to the city dirt store and loaded up on new dirt for the garden, I couldn't get much because I can only lift so much without tearing my arms out, but I got enough to put a little new blood into the garden. I was planning to till but it won't stop raining and while tilling in the damp is good, tilling in the wet is not. I was able to weed wack the winter cover again and added that to the soil.
In honor of St. Patrick's Day I made some fabulous Irish Beef and Ale stew. Beef, carrots, onions, celery, garlic and ale. Lots of ale. So good! I was kind of work to put it all together but after two and a half hours on the stove, it was all worth it and it made enough I'll be enjoying for days, I might even freeze some.
Sunday, I turned my eye to the front yard. The raspberries and I had come to a parting of the ways. As much as I enjoyed their pretty greenness, I enjoyed their berries more and the plants weren't being productive. It had been a year, I can take a hint. Anyway, this year I thought about blueberries - like raspberries, I can buy them in season for pennies, but I can buy just about everything I grow for almost nothing at the store and its not the point! I want to grow them so I do. I first went to a Very Nice Nursery and did some berry shoppign but they wanted too much and I left with some herbs instead. I was going to go to Sam's and re-buy the berries I bought and then didn't plant and then killed but I remembeed the Farmers Market and went there first.
I got the same berry bushes for half the price! of the nursery and a thousand times the quality of Sam's! I bought two varieties. No I don't know what varieties, its not important. One comes ripe in the middle of June and the other in the middle of July. Berries are important.
While I was digging around in the dirt with those, I planted my herbs and re-potted Fern, she had been a good rooommate, but it was time for us to part ways and for her to go back from where she came from. Outside.
If you have to perform and entire one act play to get your point across, you are missing the point. Also if you tell me you are a Tae Quan Do school, I believe you, you do not need to show me. The same with the endless Irish dance schools - Question, is it to teach them to dance or to turn them in to Christmas decorations? It was hard to tell, the last time I saw so much emphasis placed on costuming above ability was years ago watching tiny students at a ice skating school competition fall down on the ice at the rink at the mall. They gave points for style if not execution.
And then I left.
I went to the city dirt store and loaded up on new dirt for the garden, I couldn't get much because I can only lift so much without tearing my arms out, but I got enough to put a little new blood into the garden. I was planning to till but it won't stop raining and while tilling in the damp is good, tilling in the wet is not. I was able to weed wack the winter cover again and added that to the soil.
In honor of St. Patrick's Day I made some fabulous Irish Beef and Ale stew. Beef, carrots, onions, celery, garlic and ale. Lots of ale. So good! I was kind of work to put it all together but after two and a half hours on the stove, it was all worth it and it made enough I'll be enjoying for days, I might even freeze some.
Sunday, I turned my eye to the front yard. The raspberries and I had come to a parting of the ways. As much as I enjoyed their pretty greenness, I enjoyed their berries more and the plants weren't being productive. It had been a year, I can take a hint. Anyway, this year I thought about blueberries - like raspberries, I can buy them in season for pennies, but I can buy just about everything I grow for almost nothing at the store and its not the point! I want to grow them so I do. I first went to a Very Nice Nursery and did some berry shoppign but they wanted too much and I left with some herbs instead. I was going to go to Sam's and re-buy the berries I bought and then didn't plant and then killed but I remembeed the Farmers Market and went there first.
I got the same berry bushes for half the price! of the nursery and a thousand times the quality of Sam's! I bought two varieties. No I don't know what varieties, its not important. One comes ripe in the middle of June and the other in the middle of July. Berries are important.
While I was digging around in the dirt with those, I planted my herbs and re-potted Fern, she had been a good rooommate, but it was time for us to part ways and for her to go back from where she came from. Outside.
Friday, March 16, 2012
The 21 Century looked bigger from a distance.
Good Morning Boys and Girls! Does this look significantly more awesome than it does on a usual basies?
This is coming not from its the usual Dianaverse HQ but from a new location, all the way down the hall! In a different room! Attached to an entirely different kind of modem! I am nearly falling over with shock myself so I will give you time to adjust.
Feeling back to normal? I don't! Mostly because I'm squatting on the floor to do this and my knees hurt and I can't feel my ankles. Small sacrifice. This is also the longest period of time I have used the laptop keyboard - and let me just tell you the ability to adapt and change is what keeps us young and trust me I am feeling younger every minute. Prior to this break through the only thing I was able to use this computer to do was play solitaire and feel bitterness.
Here is an example of learning and changing, the crouching on the floor was not working so I solved the problem by finding something to sit on, this caused the machine to be too low so I put it on a booster seat to raise it up. Are either of these ideal solutions? No they are not, are they better than being thwarted by my dial up connection and my ancient desk top? Oh so much! Will I have to go back later on this evening to use that unfortunate creature? why yes, yes I will.
Is there anything on this computer? No, no there isn't. Google Chrome and Office - nice and all but not everything I need to do what I need to get done. Which is to say Facebook isn't on here and neither is Fark or Twitter or my email. I can add them one at a time but what would be ideal is to move over all my stuff from the desk top and I don't know how to do that. I think kits time to send up the Broskey Signal.
It would also be really rocking if the router would show up on schedule and Rashesh promised it would, so that my phone could be freed from the tyranny of data usage and I could leave it on and even better, update my aps! I think my Kindle would also dig on it too
This is coming not from its the usual Dianaverse HQ but from a new location, all the way down the hall! In a different room! Attached to an entirely different kind of modem! I am nearly falling over with shock myself so I will give you time to adjust.
Feeling back to normal? I don't! Mostly because I'm squatting on the floor to do this and my knees hurt and I can't feel my ankles. Small sacrifice. This is also the longest period of time I have used the laptop keyboard - and let me just tell you the ability to adapt and change is what keeps us young and trust me I am feeling younger every minute. Prior to this break through the only thing I was able to use this computer to do was play solitaire and feel bitterness.
Here is an example of learning and changing, the crouching on the floor was not working so I solved the problem by finding something to sit on, this caused the machine to be too low so I put it on a booster seat to raise it up. Are either of these ideal solutions? No they are not, are they better than being thwarted by my dial up connection and my ancient desk top? Oh so much! Will I have to go back later on this evening to use that unfortunate creature? why yes, yes I will.
Is there anything on this computer? No, no there isn't. Google Chrome and Office - nice and all but not everything I need to do what I need to get done. Which is to say Facebook isn't on here and neither is Fark or Twitter or my email. I can add them one at a time but what would be ideal is to move over all my stuff from the desk top and I don't know how to do that. I think kits time to send up the Broskey Signal.
It would also be really rocking if the router would show up on schedule and Rashesh promised it would, so that my phone could be freed from the tyranny of data usage and I could leave it on and even better, update my aps! I think my Kindle would also dig on it too
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Take 2
The sound you are hearing is my tantrum. The "cable is bad and needs to be re-strung" . This is going to require ANOTHER appointment. We are discovering this at 10:35 pm.
Edited to ad - A few minutes later I am notified by the tech that it may be an error on his part and we try again. This time we have success. On the down side, the cable is still very old and probably should have been replaced as a matter of course. If this is to happen, it will happen on my dime at some point in the future. But, for the time being, if I want to plug the lap top into the modem, I can and I will have access. Upside, access downside, pretty much what I have now but in a different room. I have not yet received my router.
Edited to ad - A few minutes later I am notified by the tech that it may be an error on his part and we try again. This time we have success. On the down side, the cable is still very old and probably should have been replaced as a matter of course. If this is to happen, it will happen on my dime at some point in the future. But, for the time being, if I want to plug the lap top into the modem, I can and I will have access. Upside, access downside, pretty much what I have now but in a different room. I have not yet received my router.
Farming
I celebrated the time change this weekend by drilling holes in my plastic planters! I would have drilled additional holes in my wooden planters except that the base of those are half inch thick slabs of solid hard wood that made my drill cry.
I also planted more potatoes. Today I planted even more. Like my ancestors of yore, I am a potato farmer. I'm not done yet, I'm due another variety any day now.Thus far I have planted 1) Yukon golds x2 2/29, 2) All Blue x1 3/10 3)All Blue x1, Red x1 3/12 . I'm including those deets so that I can stop having to remember all that.
I would not have gone with the reds except they are the earliest of the early varieties and my others are either late or middle season and 65 days is a close to instant gratification that you can achieve with potatoes.
In order to make my life easier I un-winterized my backyard water faucet and plugged in my new cheap hose - that I thought was so cheap that it didn't even come with a washer but it did, it fell out on my kitchen table. Because that's where hoses belong. On our kitchen tables.
I also planted some left over spuds in the same area I planted the pumpkins last year. If you order expensive seed potatoes you get very few of them, if you shop around online and order less expensive seed potatoes you get a lot of them and this forces you to think out side the bin. And this is good.
Last year I had two bins of potatoes this year I'm going to have possibly seven. And then my peppers and tomatoes and beans and peas. it could be a lot worse, I'm reading about a guy who farmed tilapia fish in his backyard in Brooklyn!, and he's making a good case for them. Its a good thing I go on vacation every year because I could get really crazy with the back yard farm thing. It is also a good thing my backyard is so small because I would love to be able to raise my own chickens and bees and goats and now I know about tilapia. Its a good thing a tenth of an acre can support so little. And zoning! thank gawd for zoning. Because I would go nuts.
In a perfect world I would have a huge place where I could have a Christmas tree farm for the winter and a corn maze in the autumn and probably pumpkins for sale in the fall and watermelons in season and a large pond for summer fishing and and winter time ice skating and probably a pick-your-own-apples orchard for picking your own and selling apple pies, and of course bees for honey and rental hives and goats! I would also keep goats to rent out as green lawn care and to produce the milk I would learn to make cheese and soap from. Clearly, in my fantasy world I I have a lot of money and am a very fast learner and I am extraordinary talented and I have 30 hours a day to get things done.
I think everyone should be very happy I have no money, am a slow learner and am not talented and prefer to spend a lot of time in front of the TV.
I also planted more potatoes. Today I planted even more. Like my ancestors of yore, I am a potato farmer. I'm not done yet, I'm due another variety any day now.Thus far I have planted 1) Yukon golds x2 2/29, 2) All Blue x1 3/10 3)All Blue x1, Red x1 3/12 . I'm including those deets so that I can stop having to remember all that.
I would not have gone with the reds except they are the earliest of the early varieties and my others are either late or middle season and 65 days is a close to instant gratification that you can achieve with potatoes.
In order to make my life easier I un-winterized my backyard water faucet and plugged in my new cheap hose - that I thought was so cheap that it didn't even come with a washer but it did, it fell out on my kitchen table. Because that's where hoses belong. On our kitchen tables.
I also planted some left over spuds in the same area I planted the pumpkins last year. If you order expensive seed potatoes you get very few of them, if you shop around online and order less expensive seed potatoes you get a lot of them and this forces you to think out side the bin. And this is good.
Last year I had two bins of potatoes this year I'm going to have possibly seven. And then my peppers and tomatoes and beans and peas. it could be a lot worse, I'm reading about a guy who farmed tilapia fish in his backyard in Brooklyn!, and he's making a good case for them. Its a good thing I go on vacation every year because I could get really crazy with the back yard farm thing. It is also a good thing my backyard is so small because I would love to be able to raise my own chickens and bees and goats and now I know about tilapia. Its a good thing a tenth of an acre can support so little. And zoning! thank gawd for zoning. Because I would go nuts.
In a perfect world I would have a huge place where I could have a Christmas tree farm for the winter and a corn maze in the autumn and probably pumpkins for sale in the fall and watermelons in season and a large pond for summer fishing and and winter time ice skating and probably a pick-your-own-apples orchard for picking your own and selling apple pies, and of course bees for honey and rental hives and goats! I would also keep goats to rent out as green lawn care and to produce the milk I would learn to make cheese and soap from. Clearly, in my fantasy world I I have a lot of money and am a very fast learner and I am extraordinary talented and I have 30 hours a day to get things done.
I think everyone should be very happy I have no money, am a slow learner and am not talented and prefer to spend a lot of time in front of the TV.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Happiness is little things
I decided to run my errands after dinner instead of during lunch. I spend so much time at Sams, I don't have to flash my card anymore.
To avoid yet another visit to Sam's and in hopes of not having to darken Walmarts door either, I headed out to Poverty Barn because you never know what you are going to find during a through search. I was there for the feral cats special kibble and hopefully, my protean bars.
I got lucky with the kibble and I found a Low Duty hose for the backyard. I was shocked to find something marketed as Low Duty - its like trying to sell something labeled Extra Small Condom, I just thought everything today was sold as Super Heavy Duty Xtra Large . It turns out that for less than $8 you can get a hose that as long as you don't expect it to work the whole season without going on disability, you can get a bargain. I decided that with the potato crop being the way it is going to be and where it is going to be, it would be helpful to have a hose that will more or less reach them. I was not looking forward to spending the season hauling buckets of water back and forth, So, $7.50 hose.
And no protean bars. I was going to go down the road to my Wally World when I noticed that there was a Wally World next door to the Poverty Barn! Hassuh! I marched myself into the store and went looking for my bars, all Wally worlds are created the same right? Wrong. If you Wally isn't a Super Wally, your Wally is a merely Adequate Wally. Adequate Wally's don't carry my bars. I left.
I had resigned myself to blowing another lunch hour running errands when I decided to suck it up and buy my bars retail. I went into a Food Lion and found my bars - less than Wally! I had thought about maybe looking for my diet tea but I didn't want to jinx myself, once I got home I checked my existing supply of said tea, and happily I can stave off another Wally related visit until Thursday! Yay for two whole days with no Sam's Club in them!
To avoid yet another visit to Sam's and in hopes of not having to darken Walmarts door either, I headed out to Poverty Barn because you never know what you are going to find during a through search. I was there for the feral cats special kibble and hopefully, my protean bars.
I got lucky with the kibble and I found a Low Duty hose for the backyard. I was shocked to find something marketed as Low Duty - its like trying to sell something labeled Extra Small Condom, I just thought everything today was sold as Super Heavy Duty Xtra Large . It turns out that for less than $8 you can get a hose that as long as you don't expect it to work the whole season without going on disability, you can get a bargain. I decided that with the potato crop being the way it is going to be and where it is going to be, it would be helpful to have a hose that will more or less reach them. I was not looking forward to spending the season hauling buckets of water back and forth, So, $7.50 hose.
And no protean bars. I was going to go down the road to my Wally World when I noticed that there was a Wally World next door to the Poverty Barn! Hassuh! I marched myself into the store and went looking for my bars, all Wally worlds are created the same right? Wrong. If you Wally isn't a Super Wally, your Wally is a merely Adequate Wally. Adequate Wally's don't carry my bars. I left.
I had resigned myself to blowing another lunch hour running errands when I decided to suck it up and buy my bars retail. I went into a Food Lion and found my bars - less than Wally! I had thought about maybe looking for my diet tea but I didn't want to jinx myself, once I got home I checked my existing supply of said tea, and happily I can stave off another Wally related visit until Thursday! Yay for two whole days with no Sam's Club in them!
Monday, March 12, 2012
Lost in Translation
Well, that was anti-climactic. By this time I was supposed to be coming to you on my fab new computer, drunk off the wonders of wifi. I'm not sure if you can tell,. but this is dial up form my ancient desk top.
Sigh
It turns out the person I spoke with a week ago in Bangalore wasn't sufficiently schooled as to what she was supposed to get across to me and failed to discuss the router and how that was going to happen and then when she spoke with the cable people they took from the conversation that I wanted to sign up for cable not wifi. The guy came ready to install a cable box and give me some remotes. I was a little livid and I kicked him out of the house. I went on to have a short, loud conversation with Bombay detailing the level of my disappointment with their customer service.
Suffice to say I was very disappointed. Wednesday night the cable guy is coming back to install whatever they install and sometime this week my router will arrive. I've been assured that this is "easy" to hook up... and they promise they will "talk me through it", but because I've talked to them in the past, I have serious doubts that this is going to end well. I'm pretty sure I'm going to end up electrocuting myself and burning down the house.
I did other things Saturday, I planted more potatoes, got my blueberries planted - too late I fear, did laundry, made a simply fabulous home-made chicken noodle soup and then followed that up with an outstanding chicken pot pie. I have a way with shredded chicken.
Did you know that you can't get chicken bones at the grocery butcher? I had to make my own, I bought a small whole chicken, chopped it up, baked it, shredded the meat and added it to my soup pot. To it I added chicken thighs ( baked) some finely chopped portobellos, bouquet garnish (fancy for chopped carrots/celery/onions) and fresh herbs.
I've made it before, but this time I got fancy and strained the broth through cheese cloth and really worked at picking out the bones from the meat. The broth is darker than I had planned but the mushrooms made it that way. Perhaps next time I'll add them later. Its still fab.
Does anyone know what I can do with left over shredded chicken?
Sigh
It turns out the person I spoke with a week ago in Bangalore wasn't sufficiently schooled as to what she was supposed to get across to me and failed to discuss the router and how that was going to happen and then when she spoke with the cable people they took from the conversation that I wanted to sign up for cable not wifi. The guy came ready to install a cable box and give me some remotes. I was a little livid and I kicked him out of the house. I went on to have a short, loud conversation with Bombay detailing the level of my disappointment with their customer service.
Suffice to say I was very disappointed. Wednesday night the cable guy is coming back to install whatever they install and sometime this week my router will arrive. I've been assured that this is "easy" to hook up... and they promise they will "talk me through it", but because I've talked to them in the past, I have serious doubts that this is going to end well. I'm pretty sure I'm going to end up electrocuting myself and burning down the house.
I did other things Saturday, I planted more potatoes, got my blueberries planted - too late I fear, did laundry, made a simply fabulous home-made chicken noodle soup and then followed that up with an outstanding chicken pot pie. I have a way with shredded chicken.
Did you know that you can't get chicken bones at the grocery butcher? I had to make my own, I bought a small whole chicken, chopped it up, baked it, shredded the meat and added it to my soup pot. To it I added chicken thighs ( baked) some finely chopped portobellos, bouquet garnish (fancy for chopped carrots/celery/onions) and fresh herbs.
I've made it before, but this time I got fancy and strained the broth through cheese cloth and really worked at picking out the bones from the meat. The broth is darker than I had planned but the mushrooms made it that way. Perhaps next time I'll add them later. Its still fab.
Does anyone know what I can do with left over shredded chicken?
Friday, March 9, 2012
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Death to the desk top
My wretched computer won't let me post. Long entry short : I walked into the precinct meeting the vice chair and walked out the secretary.
There is an older guy named Brad
Who had better not need me to vote for him, ever because he is a douche bag. The new vice chair seems lovely but I've never seen her at a meeting before. Bless her heart.
We did make quorum for the first time in ever, because the convention is in Charlotte. News flash: people like us don't get sent to the big show. This is a completely thankless task.
I'm tired now and I don't know if its because I had a long day or because I'm pouting.
Conjoined Twins
I went to Home Depot on Sunday afternoon to pick up some metal cleats to hold down my trellis and I brought my cleats home riding in two stuck together redwood planters. They were $4.93 because they were sealed together and "they had tried real hard to get them apart". I was asked at the checkout if I had been able to get them apart.
I took them home and brought them inside, after work Monday I hauled them with some difficulty down stairs and planted them in front of the dehumidifier. I came a couple of hours later and tried to pry them apart with my hands. No go. I then grabbed a paint scraper and went around the edges . Presto! I had two separate planters.
I thought about the other stuck together planters I did not buy Sunday afternoon. I thought how much I wanted them and how really sad it would be for someone else to buy them and end up with siamese planters and how sad and unfulfilled the planters would be! They Needed Me! I hurried back to Home Depot to rescue them from an uncertain life and the possiblity they could end up kindling! and to all of our great joy they were still there! Still stuck together, still $4.93 each .
The lady who checked me out asked if I realized I was going to buy two planters and if I knew they were stuck together. She told me that they had the planters since last year and they had been stacked and stuck ever since and that these were the very last ones. After I paid for them, I told her I had bought another set over the weekend and I how easily I got them apart. That's when she told me they had sold for $25 a piece before a stack of them got left out in the rain.
I took these new planters home and carried them downstairs and put them in front of the dehumidifier, but before I turned it on, I tried the same paint scraper trick just to see if it would work. It was even easier the second time around.
I can't believe that at Home Depot "trying real hard to get them apart" did not include "use simple tools" . Why am I not some sort of evil overload? Because clearly I could be. I probably should be. What a wonderful world it would be.
On the downside they aren't small and they aren't light , actually quite big and quite heavy and long term storage might be an issue but 1) I got one over on Home Depot and 2) they were cheaper than the smaller plastic tubs I buy at Big Lots.
I took them home and brought them inside, after work Monday I hauled them with some difficulty down stairs and planted them in front of the dehumidifier. I came a couple of hours later and tried to pry them apart with my hands. No go. I then grabbed a paint scraper and went around the edges . Presto! I had two separate planters.
I thought about the other stuck together planters I did not buy Sunday afternoon. I thought how much I wanted them and how really sad it would be for someone else to buy them and end up with siamese planters and how sad and unfulfilled the planters would be! They Needed Me! I hurried back to Home Depot to rescue them from an uncertain life and the possiblity they could end up kindling! and to all of our great joy they were still there! Still stuck together, still $4.93 each .
The lady who checked me out asked if I realized I was going to buy two planters and if I knew they were stuck together. She told me that they had the planters since last year and they had been stacked and stuck ever since and that these were the very last ones. After I paid for them, I told her I had bought another set over the weekend and I how easily I got them apart. That's when she told me they had sold for $25 a piece before a stack of them got left out in the rain.
I took these new planters home and carried them downstairs and put them in front of the dehumidifier, but before I turned it on, I tried the same paint scraper trick just to see if it would work. It was even easier the second time around.
I can't believe that at Home Depot "trying real hard to get them apart" did not include "use simple tools" . Why am I not some sort of evil overload? Because clearly I could be. I probably should be. What a wonderful world it would be.
On the downside they aren't small and they aren't light , actually quite big and quite heavy and long term storage might be an issue but 1) I got one over on Home Depot and 2) they were cheaper than the smaller plastic tubs I buy at Big Lots.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Housework
My plan for the weekend going in was to till up the garden, get the trellis up and maybe get the peas in. And then it rained. And rained. and rained. It just pretty much rained the whole time. So instead of spending Saturday piously being an urban farmer, I bought a computer.
A laptop. And even before I did that, I called up my ISP and signed myself up for cable. No more dial up for me! I am pretty certain I was the last dial up client they had. Starting next week I'll be able to play with the computer anywhere I want and I can leave my phone on all the time - not that it will matter, now that I don't have dial up any longer my phone won't be busy any longer. Also, wifi. My phone thanks me, my Kindle thanks me. I can now play with the computer anywhere I want. It will probably live in the office, but it can take day trips now to the kitchen.
I don't have any of this fun things yet though. So, I'm thinking garden. On Sunday it finally stopped raining and while tilling is still out of the question, I was able to get my trellis in and plant my peas. I will till everything up but not until next weekend, and yes, I will have to be careful but tilling isn't rocket science and as long as I stay away from the trellis, it shouldn't be a problem. I was very happy with the soil when I was getting in the peas, I found many, many worms and the soil was gorgeous. I hope that this year I'll do more with my peas than just plant them like I did last year. Last year with my late planting, I got a single pea, which was quite lovely but I learned from that and this year I planted a lot earlier than I did last year,I am hopeful I'll get more than a single plant. Peas like cool weather and by the time I got them in the ground last year it was too late and too warm. Its cold and wet now, go peas!
A laptop. And even before I did that, I called up my ISP and signed myself up for cable. No more dial up for me! I am pretty certain I was the last dial up client they had. Starting next week I'll be able to play with the computer anywhere I want and I can leave my phone on all the time - not that it will matter, now that I don't have dial up any longer my phone won't be busy any longer. Also, wifi. My phone thanks me, my Kindle thanks me. I can now play with the computer anywhere I want. It will probably live in the office, but it can take day trips now to the kitchen.
I don't have any of this fun things yet though. So, I'm thinking garden. On Sunday it finally stopped raining and while tilling is still out of the question, I was able to get my trellis in and plant my peas. I will till everything up but not until next weekend, and yes, I will have to be careful but tilling isn't rocket science and as long as I stay away from the trellis, it shouldn't be a problem. I was very happy with the soil when I was getting in the peas, I found many, many worms and the soil was gorgeous. I hope that this year I'll do more with my peas than just plant them like I did last year. Last year with my late planting, I got a single pea, which was quite lovely but I learned from that and this year I planted a lot earlier than I did last year,I am hopeful I'll get more than a single plant. Peas like cool weather and by the time I got them in the ground last year it was too late and too warm. Its cold and wet now, go peas!
Friday, March 2, 2012
I would have written a new entry today but instead I hooked up my new DVD player and exsisited for a moment in a world where my HD Tv would actually act like it but sadly, to make it do what it was born to do, I would have to pay my satilight company a lot of money and so the TV and I will just have to be happy that it has the potnetial to be all it can be.
Anyway, I can watch DVDs again.
So. Instead of writting, today we have images
Daisy and I took a walk downtown and I took my camera.
Anyway, I can watch DVDs again.
So. Instead of writting, today we have images
Daisy and I took a walk downtown and I took my camera.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Garden Update 1 2012
Usually when I come home from work my goal is to do as little as possible. Today I failed in that. I took Dogger fort a walk, that she cut short after she saw an ambulance - no sirens no lights, just driving. Apperenlty she has never sen an ambulance that wasn't lit up like a Christmas tree and wailing and she found this off putting. We had to go home.
Instead of walking, I decided that today was the right day to plant my yukon golds. I think if I was hipper I would refer to them soley as my "yuuks" and fully expect you to know what I was talking about. Last year I had such succsess with my container grown potaotes that I decided to do it again, but this year I'll have three different varietys and some of them are going to live in the backyard along with the barrels around the side of the house - unless having them in the backyard prooves to be a pain in the ass or they don't seem to be be all they can be, and then I'll just pick them up and move the whole lot of them to the side of the house.
All except one of them. I decided to be all out there and I planted one of them in the same area I planted the watermelons last year. I'm going to plant them there again this year but I don't think it will be a problem having them share the space. They have different growing habits and I don't think it should be a problem.
This year I went about the planting a little diffrently. Last year I only lightly covered the potaotes and then as they grew I covered them with more dirt. This year I saw some reference to what I did last year, mounding, but this artical said that I should plant my seed potaotes six inches down instead of leaving them on the surface and then mounding as they grow, the mounding is supposed to lead to a better harvest by giving them more room to produce spuds above the ground as well as in the earth. Last year I worried that my naked spuds were going to get taken by wandering critters, or get cold. This year I think they are better protected from all the elements.
The other potaoe is the one I;m going to have to worry on. I'm not sure the ground is going to be soft enough for the plant to do its thing but I'm going to do my mound thing and just build it up as we go. You have to keep the potaotes covered up because if the they get in the sun they turn green and the green is poisonous. That is to be avoided.
And then I made dog cookies and emptied and filled the dishwasher and ran a load. And then I put the bike back in the car. That is a lot of work, goal not met.
Instead of walking, I decided that today was the right day to plant my yukon golds. I think if I was hipper I would refer to them soley as my "yuuks" and fully expect you to know what I was talking about. Last year I had such succsess with my container grown potaotes that I decided to do it again, but this year I'll have three different varietys and some of them are going to live in the backyard along with the barrels around the side of the house - unless having them in the backyard prooves to be a pain in the ass or they don't seem to be be all they can be, and then I'll just pick them up and move the whole lot of them to the side of the house.
All except one of them. I decided to be all out there and I planted one of them in the same area I planted the watermelons last year. I'm going to plant them there again this year but I don't think it will be a problem having them share the space. They have different growing habits and I don't think it should be a problem.
This year I went about the planting a little diffrently. Last year I only lightly covered the potaotes and then as they grew I covered them with more dirt. This year I saw some reference to what I did last year, mounding, but this artical said that I should plant my seed potaotes six inches down instead of leaving them on the surface and then mounding as they grow, the mounding is supposed to lead to a better harvest by giving them more room to produce spuds above the ground as well as in the earth. Last year I worried that my naked spuds were going to get taken by wandering critters, or get cold. This year I think they are better protected from all the elements.
The other potaoe is the one I;m going to have to worry on. I'm not sure the ground is going to be soft enough for the plant to do its thing but I'm going to do my mound thing and just build it up as we go. You have to keep the potaotes covered up because if the they get in the sun they turn green and the green is poisonous. That is to be avoided.
And then I made dog cookies and emptied and filled the dishwasher and ran a load. And then I put the bike back in the car. That is a lot of work, goal not met.
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