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George Shirley[_3_] · 14-10-2017, 02:19 AM posted to rec.gardens.edible

On 10/13/2017 5:52 PM, Frank wrote:
On 10/13/2017 4:28 PM, George Shirley wrote:
On 10/13/2017 2:14 PM, Frank wrote:
On 10/13/2017 2:28 PM, George Shirley wrote:
On 10/13/2017 1:05 PM, wrote:
songbird wrote:

Â* i'm not sure where September went.Â* too quickly
by for sure...
Â*Â*Â*Â*Yep, and October keeps on slip slip slipping into the future, too.
Something et the Slenderette bean bush babies last night.Â* Not a
cutworm; cutworm would have left the tops behind.Â* I'm thinking
grasshopper or, maybe the furry soft-bodied thing that 's eating a
Delinel seedling top over in another bed ;-)Â* Assuming it had walked a
good distance to get there, I left it undisturbed.Â* Got a photo,
though.
If I can identify the beast, I'll be more able to determine whether
just
to plan on re-planting the Delinels,Â* too, and letting the beast have
its way with these.Â* I mean, everything has to eat.Â* Only problem is
that, if this is _not_ a typically warm autumn, I'm running out of
time
for the beans.Â* Been a while since I had to make a fire before late
November but I remember some cold-ass halloweens, too.Â* The weather
already has begun to cool: Right now {13 Oct.12:31 P (13:31)}, it's
86Â°(F) on my always shaded front porch; overnight low (same location,
same t'meter) was 75Â°(F).

Here in Harris Cty, TX it is alarming if we get a freeze before
November and, sometimes, December, and, the occasional, "where the
heck did winter go?" We're getting a few mornings with 63F and by
noon it's over 90F. I don't miss cold weather but it does kill a few
bugs when it comes in. We're getting more mosquitoes than usual for
this time of year and we still have mosquito hawks thank goodness.

I lived for a short while in Virginia, Maryland, and Rhode Island as
a young sailor so I don't really care for: A: snow, B: ice storms,
C: cold north winds, going into the far Arctic seas aboard an old
WWII destroyer with only the boilers for heat. It would help kill
skeeters, etc. if we got at least a short frost. G

At our age, I don't think we can tolerate as much cold and heat as we
did when younger.Â* Warm climate is better but you need AC.Â* We seldom
get 90 degree days but at start of summer when my AC would not come
on I got a backup portable AC and with power losses I have a backup
generator.
When we were hit in Houston with hurricanes, heavy flooding, etc. I
was happy, live just a few miles from The Woodlands and, as usual, I
bought on high ground, have done that since we were married in 1960.
Here in this subdivision we never lost electricity, a little high
winds and 60 inches of rain, we never flooded either, and, as soon as
the rain stopped for a bit, the retention pond behind our home emptied
out quickly. So far, so good, we shall see when the next storms come by.

I don't like snow much either but at least don't have to shovel it
every week.Â* I remember my first trip to southern California watching
my brother in law cut grass in January.
I was eighteen years old when I first saw snow, almost got in trouble
because an Admiral was walking by and saw me playing in the snow
instead of checking into my squadron. At least he was a nice guy. My
wife just finished mowing the small lawn we have. The mower runs
faster than I can walk nowadays so I cook, clean house and wash
clothes. Sort of a turn about but we both like it. We will only stop
mowing every two weeks if we get a cold snap, otherwise, cut the
grass, toss in the composter, do it again in a couple of weeks. Our
spring and fall gardens are the same, still producing.

Speaking of mosquitoes, I hear they are the state bird in Alaska.
Who would have thought that?
I spent a few days in Alaska once, guy told me the skeeters carried
his wife off, thank goodness. G

I had a coworker from Maine who got transferred to one of our plants
on the Gulf and hated it.Â* Said he just ran from AC in house to AC in
car to AC at work.Â* Twice a year they left the house to the
exterminator to get all the bugs.
I know very few people who don't have AC in house and car and also
have fans in the house. If it gets higher than 100F in the house you
bring in more fans and crank up the AC. I just moved ours to 76F, was
at 80F, and I was baking bacon for my wife. Then when she needs bacon
she just heats it up. She loves the bacon on anything. Six lbs of top
bacon is now precooked and in the freezer. Saves time when you want it
and takes time for it to get that way. Cooking bacon makes the dog
dance too but she gets very little of it. That all being said, I grew
up in the forties and fifties in homes without AC. Came home from boot
camp and my folks had AC. Asked why, Dad said after you left we had
enough money for the AC, as if I ate that much. G He was sort of
shocked anyway, I left home at 5'6", weighed 160, came home at 5'8"
and weighed 145. Only got fat again when I married in 1960, now I'm
hanging around 206 and am at 5'6" again. Doc says it's because of the
couple of vertebrae, one missing, the other squashed. I think it's old
age myself.

I think we're going to have a late fall this year what with all the
strange weather, two hurricanes, etc. I'm sure glad I don't live in
Houston, it's not called the "Bayou City" for nothing, I don't
understand people who want to build homes on water and then gripe when
it gets washed away, particularly this close to the Gulf of Mexico.

I can't keep the weight off either and have also shrunk an inch.Â* I
thought a doctor, pulmonologist, cheated me weighing me with my shoes on
but measuring me with my shoes off.Â* Have a new family doctor I have yet
to meet but this month have an appointment with an AMD specialist,
dentist and cardiologist.Â* At our age, going to the doctor and having
tests run are our social life.

My brother lives in lower Delaware three miles from the ocean but wants
to move inland because of the hustle and bustle in summer.Â* Think he is
safe from being washed away.

The joke going around in Puerto Rico is that they believe after the
visits of hurricanes, Jose and Maria, they are due for a visit by the
baby Jesus. (Most should know this but Jose and Maria are Spanish for
Joseph and Mary).Â* My Puerto Rican neighbor told me this.Â* He likes
living off the island out of the hurricane path and prefers cold
weather.Â* Unfortunately they are moving to Flagstaff and he might not
like the 5+ feet of snow they get in the winter.
The destroyer I was on hit Puerto Rico about every other month, was a
good port to visit but way to many crooks and other stuff. I used to go
at least once to a little cafe just off the docks, made me think of the
Mexican cafe's back home and the food was good. I smoked back then but
didn't drink, the owner told me I had to go outside to smoke because it
made his food taste bad. I believed him too. Used to suck up a carton of
cigarettes every other day when I was sucking them up hard. My wife said
one day that every time she kissed me it was like smoking, which she
never did. That was in 1992 and I quit forever that day and never even
wanted another smoke. One grandson smokes but never in his house or
anyone else s house. May quit one day I hope. Never was much on booze of
any kind or any of those strange cigarettes either. G