october already!
 

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
86°(F) on my always shaded front porch; overnight low (same location,
same t'meter) was 75°(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

october already!
 

october already!
 

On 10/14/2017 6:13 AM, songbird wrote:
wrote:
songbird wrote:

i'm not sure where September went. too quickly
by for sure...

Yep, and October keeps on slip slip slipping into the future, too.

sure is, and with recent rains not much is getting
done outside that i'd want to finish. i hate being
stuck inside even if i have plenty to do.

family things have taken away the three nicest days
this week. i got one day in on the project. that's
it. grrr! :)

the hole i'm moving around as i excavate and renovate
had standing water at the bottom of it the other day.
which is a large change from solid clay/sand i could
break a finger trying to poke a hole in. rained again
last night and is due for the weekend. they've even
got us under flood watch. from drought to flood
forecast. 3 inches of rain will put the project on
hold again for some days. at least all this rain
does settle all that dirt i've moved.
Send some over here, after two hurricanes and 60 inches of rain a while
back we haven't had much rain lately.

at least i did get out yesterday and tried to find
the last of the dry beans that were ready to pick before
they start rotting. the lima beans are growing/flowering
again. i'm still hoping for another two weeks of frost
free weather. 39F is the lowest night forecast for the
next week (so far) for Sunday night. low 40s here or
there. hopefully that won't shut down the limas. we'll
see. they are the only thing producing now unless i
want green peppers. i don't. i have jars of roasted
red peppers i'm finishing off eating.
I would gladly give you some of our 91F days here in October for low 40s
with some rain.


Something et the Slenderette bean bush babies last night. Not a
cutworm; cutworm would have left the tops behind. I'm thinking
grasshopper or, maybe the furry soft-bodied thing that 's eating a
Delinel seedling top over in another bed ;-) Assuming it had walked a
good distance to get there, I left it undisturbed. 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, too, and letting the beast have
its way with these. I mean, everything has to eat. Only problem is
that, if this is _not_ a typically warm autumn, I'm running out of time
for the beans. Been a while since I had to make a fire before late
November but I remember some cold-ass halloweens, too. The weather
already has begun to cool: Right now {13 Oct.12:31 P (13:31)}, it's
86°(F) on my always shaded front porch; overnight low (same location,
same t'meter) was 75°(F).

yes, the critters gotta eat. deer found a radish
edible. knocked over the other one that was flowering
and making seeds. didn't eat it though. they've
sampled some of the ground cover i planted last year
and left it laying on the ground nearby. so perhaps
that deer won't bother it again. get that times a few
dozen deer and the plant will be challenged. we'll
see. we bought more poles to fix the back fence where
they are coming through and put up the front fence to
keep them from the small cedar trees we transplanted.
so that means less grass to mow out front. yay! ;)
but it also meant losing another day hauling wood
chips (found a local source for $8/yd - which is much
cheaper than $3/bag and the hassle of moving them and
all that plastic baggage). the guy will scoop 'em
right into the back end of the pickup truck in one
shot.

well anyways, hope the critter doesn't raid
everything. we had something eating the beets and
the potatoes. not the greens, but the roots. i am
guessing the groundhogs, no footprint evidence though,
they seem rather smart in that regards. ha...

so i'm awake early, what's for breakfast? :)

p.s. we've not had the heat on yet, but last week
we almost turned on the AC (which would probably
be a first for Oct).


songbird

I would gladly send you some Houston area heat if we could round it up
and point it. Fall garden is mostly in, wife takes care of that nowadays
and I get to pick the kumquats, they're starting to turn orange and I
need more kumquat jelly and preserves.

George, who can't sleep in, probably because I worked shift work for
sixteen years a long time ago. Nowadays my best friends are costly
doctors, I didn't intend to live this long.

october already!
 

George Shirley wrote:
songbird wrote:
....rains...
Send some over here, after two hurricanes and 60 inches of rain a while
back we haven't had much rain lately.

this is finally restoring the balance here,
but if i were to send it anywhere it would be
to California to put out the fires.

....
I would gladly give you some of our 91F days here in October for low 40s
with some rain.

no thanks! we've had enough of those already.
two more weeks of frost-free weather would be nice.

....
I would gladly send you some Houston area heat if we could round it up
and point it. Fall garden is mostly in, wife takes care of that nowadays
and I get to pick the kumquats, they're starting to turn orange and I
need more kumquat jelly and preserves.

i've never had one, never tasted jelly or
preserves. wouldn't know what they even
looked like other than you just said orange.


George, who can't sleep in, probably because I worked shift work for
sixteen years a long time ago. Nowadays my best friends are costly
doctors, I didn't intend to live this long.

i'd like to sleep in until a bit later in
the morning now that it is dark enough out, but
i seem to have turned into a morning person by
accident. in the older days i'd more likely see
morning by being up all night. now i try to get
to sleep by midnight or thereabouts.

at least i did get the truck moved and the
tiles out of the ditch before they could get
washed into the bigger ditch.

wasn't raining for a while, but the drippy-
drops are back.


songbird

october already!
 

On 10/13/2017 9:19 PM, George Shirley wrote:
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
86°(F) on my always shaded front porch; overnight low (same location,
same t'meter) was 75°(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.
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

I quit smoking in the late 60's. I met Prof. Louis Fieser who was on
the surgeon generals committee that said smoking causes cancer. In the
20 minutes I spoke with him, he smoked 4 Lark cigarettes. He thought
the charcoal filter would protect him. He got lung cancer that same
year, 1965, but did not die until 12 years later at age we are at now.
Don't know if he quit smoking after his surgery.

They thought I had lung cancer 18 years ago but it was lesions caused by
a pulmonary embolism which was later removed. Got the zipper for that
surgery and scars from the exploratory lung surgery prior.

Lungs checked out again this year when they looked at them because of a
cough I developed. Damn cough was due to lisinopril blood pressure med
and went away with new med. I still went under exhaustive evaluations
with a couple of CT scans and a pulmonary function test. I was
completely cleared of any problems with lungs.

october already!
 

On 10/14/2017 12:02 PM, songbird wrote:
George Shirley wrote:
songbird wrote:
...rains...
Send some over here, after two hurricanes and 60 inches of rain a while
back we haven't had much rain lately.

this is finally restoring the balance here,
but if i were to send it anywhere it would be
to California to put out the fires.
With the governor they have I would prefer the state become it's own
country and leave the real Americans alone. I had relatives out there
but they all moved away as the left wing took over.

...
I would gladly give you some of our 91F days here in October for low 40s
with some rain.

no thanks! we've had enough of those already.
two more weeks of frost-free weather would be nice.

...
I would gladly send you some Houston area heat if we could round it up
and point it. Fall garden is mostly in, wife takes care of that nowadays
and I get to pick the kumquats, they're starting to turn orange and I
need more kumquat jelly and preserves.

i've never had one, never tasted jelly or
preserves. wouldn't know what they even
looked like other than you just said orange.
The fruit starts blooming early on and the fruit is ready to pick in the
fall when it turns a deep orange. I'm the only one in the family that
will eat them raw as they are quiet tangy, mostly do other things with
them. I worry about this crop as they tree shed it's fruit in January
2017 due to heavy freezes back to back. Just hope they get ripe this time.


George, who can't sleep in, probably because I worked shift work for
sixteen years a long time ago. Nowadays my best friends are costly
doctors, I didn't intend to live this long.

i'd like to sleep in until a bit later in
the morning now that it is dark enough out, but
i seem to have turned into a morning person by
accident. in the older days i'd more likely see
morning by being up all night. now i try to get
to sleep by midnight or thereabouts.

at least i did get the truck moved and the
tiles out of the ditch before they could get
washed into the bigger ditch.

wasn't raining for a while, but the drippy-
drops are back.


songbird

The dog let me sleep until 0615 this morning and I was grateful enough
to go ahead and feed her. She gets 1/3 of a cup of dog food each day and
she is positive I am starving her to death. Dogs will literally eat
until they fall over if allowed. I eat three small meals a day and still
have a pot belly. My pot belly is smaller than my wife's, she claims
it's bloat but, if you watched her eat you could see where the belly
comes from. She claims it's our big babies, yeah, one was 7lbs, 7 oz.
the other was 8 lbs, 8 oz. Now both the kids are in middle fifties and
weigh more than I do at 207. Both have good jobs and families and don't
bug us much so I'm happy. I left home at 17 to go in the Navy and my
kids got free rides to college, etc. so we moved overseas so they
wouldn't come over so much. G

George