Another Day down - and more numbers

Bear with me as I try to get back into the swing of things Intarweb-related.

However, today, July 14 serves as an annual reminder to me of the path I could have wandered down - along with many a lost soul. Luckily, I saw the light.

But them were some fun times.

Unusual times

Though I haven't seen any stories about it yet, I just realized:

A little after midnight last night, most 12 hour clocks would show:

12:34

But if they showed seconds, and the date - they may have shown:

12:34:56 7/8/9

Edit: One of my attorneys points out that in "Universal time" the above would have been "00:34:56" and thus upsets the flow of time and space. However, shortly after lunch today it will be 12:34:56 7/8/9 - woo hoo! something to look forward to today.

Arthur Clarke died today...and the CNN writer said the damnedest thing...

In the article, the writer refers to "2001 A Space Odyssey " as a "was a frightening prophecy of artificial intelligence run amok." What the hell? Did the idiot not watch the movie or read the story? Sure, HAL did some bad things - but "2001" was, imho, a story of Human's first contact with a truly alien race - and some of the stupid things the group "He" will do to maintain the upper hand in this "first contact". Yet, the lone "Man" will behave honorably.

Yeah, I'm still here and Happy New Year

Believe it or not, I am still out here, workin the Range. Just most days I don't feel up to pushing electrons around after a long day at work. And, looking back, I think I've had errands or jobs to do every evening since sometime back in October.

But the Holidays are over, and outdoor work is a ways away, so maybe I can get back to writing in this thing and that other thing.

Of course, I've got at least a dozen other hobbies/jobs/want-to-do's that are all indoor-oriented and are not related to the computer, directly.

ciao, bella

The grass has gotten greener..

ayuh! That grass I put down over Labor Day weekend is sprouting pretty well, now. Around 3 or 4 inches tall. There are weeds in the backyard, as well, but the majority is Fescue grass I put down. And it's handling the watering restrictions fairly well. 20 - 30 min one night a week.

I must have slipped off the edge of the Intarweb

Wow...last post was near the beginning of summer..and now this post is near the end of summer. I'll describe the typical evening around the Ranch:

1. Get home from work around 5 pm
2. Sit and settle for 1/2 hour to 45 minutes - drink of water and a light snack
3. Work on some yard-related task until dark, or 8pm, whichever comes first.
4. Some TV and dinner.
5. In Bed by 9:30 - the weekdays start at 5 am.

There has been some time away on the weekends when I do visit my parents and take care of their yard.
I have worked on other things, like finishing wiring the garage and adding a window-unit air-conditioner to the garage. But that's basically how it's been up until Labor Day weekend.
I finished adding topsoil to the backyard, put down grass seed and covered it with wheat straw.
This past week I've been getting home from work and wondering what to do with myself. That and fighting an idiotic networking problem with the machines at the Ranch.

But I thought I should drop by and blow the dust out of this site. Hope I didn't make too much of a mess.

Another Month Down

And what a rush it was, sort of. You understand how when you are looking forward to a series of events, say a few days off from work, time seems to slow to a crawl. That describes April.

Started with the first mowing of the yard - followed by the head-cold or allergy of the Spring, as usual. Though I can't blame it on mowing the yard - I had the same illness a year ago while I was in Hungary. But recovered much more quickly. This year I was just getting better when I had to cook my famous barbecue chicken for my brother's birthday. That added a week to the phlegm.
Started a grass growing experiment out back of the house, just to see what happens. My dirt is mostly orange clay/sand. I got a load of topsoil for $10, spread it out, and planted seed to see what happens. Here it is a few weeks later, and that area is mostly green fescue. It remains to see how level it will be.

We had a wicked cold snap over the Easter weekend, which took out a lot of my azalea blooms, and a couple of the nandinas I had in pots. And, when I got home one day after Easter, there were my mail-order roses. So, some planting was commenced. I planted all three of my mail-order roses, and a white one I found at Lowe's. I planted all but two of the nandinas, and both of my "Wolfpack" red azaleas. Now it's all "wait and see".

I had sort of hoped to the the azalea bed tilled and planted this year. At least started on planting. But as time went on, and mowing the yard becomes more necessary, I may put off the "planting portion" of the azalea bed build. I'll still get it tilled, and filled, and re-tilled. Ready for next year. Then I'll have to move plants around again.

One of the constraints on my time was the upcoming "few days off" to be spent at MerleFest. Four wonderful days of camping and listening to good music. The last weekend of April. We went last year, and I found out that that was the 19th annual, which made this year's the 20th annual. You'd think it would have been a little more special.

But I did get to see Earl Scruggs play both "The Ballad of Jed Clampett" *and* "Foggy Mountain Breakdown"....so it was pretty darn good after all. There's more to that whole adventure, I'm just not in a place to sum it up right now. My blood alcohol level is a bit low. And I'm at work.