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.

Stuff to do, and time to do it in....

Spring is springing, and it's becoming more apparent that I'm getting to the "headless chicken" phase. I've got a lot that needs to be done, a lot that I want to do, and I'm sure some things to do that I don't know about yet.

Supposedly it's all "priorities". I need to get the taxes done. I'm trying to whip my yard into some sort of shape. I've got a 4-day long camping trip to prepare for. I've got computer work to do at home. And, judging from the new "Blogger", I've got website work to do here, as well as at my alternate-ego sites.

And, I have to show up for work everyday too, since those idiots at the lottery keep giving all that money to other people.

Lost weekends and moron Homeownership

Saturday was the "lost" day - had been out drinking late the night before. So, I spent the day sorting through old billing statements and things to prepare for "tax time". I need to get that done soon. Friends call about oysters and beers for dinner, so off I went.

Sunday was a little different. Left the house at 11 a.m. to buy a $5 machete (with nylon sheath, no less). Two hours later, I get home with the machete and some other garden tools, a dining table and chairs (I need to assemble), 10 bags of bark nugget mulch, two rolls of landscaping fabric, 8 shrubs, and 50 lbs of "starter soil" for the shrubs.

I don't have anywhere prepared for said shrubbery and only recenlty came up with an idea of where to put them. They'll go in the front of the house where some other bushes and evergreens are already located. The evergreens are being moved to the back, side of the house to be used as a screen of the view of my neighbor's yard. So there's some holes to dig.

I unloaded the truck, went in and ate lunch and watched the race, and took a short nap (during the race, of course). Then, I cleaned out all the pine straw from out front. I went around to dig the new holes for the evergreens and began a mining expedition since the original gravel driveway used to be on that side of the house. I did get all three holes dug. I then went on a general big rock hunt. Rocks between the size of a fist, and the size of my head. I have quite the collection of these large rocks now. By then, it was getting dark, so I went inside and assembled the table and chairs.

Never did use the machete. *And* I never got around to having my Saturday night bonfire, either. Got home too late, and probably a little too drunk.

The end of an *almost* perfect weekend...

Though my definition of "perfect" could use a lot of help, I take what I can get. The ACC tournament started last Thursday. My team (the Wolfpack) was a #10 rank, of 12 teams.

Thursday night, I'm helping a friend with a garage door repair job, we finish up, and watch the second half of the game - which the Wolfpack proceeds to come from 5 points behind to beat Duke.

Friday night, we continue with the project, stop for the night, and watch the second half of the game - which the 'Pack proceeds to come from 14 points behind to beat Virginia.

Saturday afternoon - I lay waste to about 1000 square feet of weeds in my backyard by borrowing a tool from my buddy, and return it just in time to watch the Wolfpack defeat Virginia Tech.

Sunday afternoon - We meet our rivals - the Carolina Tarholes - for the championship game and lose by 9 points. Unfortunately, this also keeps us out of the NCAA tournament. So, during the coming weeks, I'll have a little more free time as I won't be watching much basketball.

On a lighter note, hah ha, Daylight-savings time kicked in this weekend, the weather was wonderful, and I've begung some of the yard-work I've been itching to do all winter. This home-ownership thing is a trip.

I've also discovered that when I get done with the computers at night, and leave the office, there's a metal chain on the light in the ceiling of that room. That comes into contact with the skin of my skull. That discharges the static build up by sliding out the chair and taking two steps on the damn carpet. Bzzt!

Needed to post something....

so I can remember it:

"I like to wander outside, stark naked, and fire my .44 magnum at various gongs I've mounted on a nearby hillside. I load up on mescaline and turn my amplifier up to 110 decibels for a taste of 'White Rabbit' while the sun comes up on the snow-peaks along the Continental Divide"

attributed to H. S. Thompson in the book "Jack - the great seducer" about the joys of living in Aspen, CO.

taken from "The Great Shark Hunt"

I've been reading "Jack - The Great Seducer" - about Nicholson....what a time to be in his shoes.

Just another sign we're getting older

This occurred to me whilst a friend was celebrating his 40th birthday. He's the last of the "crowd" to pass that milestone. Some of us saw that mark a while ago. This friend and his wife had recently finished a major addition/renovation to their house, so once in a while one of them would disappear with a small group of people for the "nickel tour" of the addition, which includes two separate two-car garages!

It was late in the evening when I noticed that when we were younger, small groups would disappear from a party to partake of whatever illicit substance was available at the time. Later on, after we'd outgrown the illegal substances, some of us would disappear outside to have a smoke. Some of that still goes on. I'm so glad I quit. And now, here we are at "over 40" and small groups of people disappear to see the house. I haven't decided if it's pitiful or " a good thing".

New food hangs around a bit

Took another step around the Asian rim, figuratively. A group of folks here at work enjoy Vietnamese food at least once a week. Much like when I tried Sushi for the first time, I finally broke down and went along for lunch. Had two Vietnamese Spring Rolls, which are wrapped in rice paper and have shrimp and pork in them (different than my usual Chinese "rolls") and then a Seafood "Pho" - a pork-based broth with rice noodles, some seasonings and various seafood. I identified shrimp, crab, clams/mussels, and squid or octopus. There were also some side items like mint leaves and some kind of onion?

So, two things come from this experience:
1. It's now nearly 3 hours later and I can still taste the onions or the mint leaf, I'm not sure which, but it comes back every time I burp.
2. I asked how to properly pronounce what I ordered and the one guy with us who is actually Vietnamese says "Pee nine" - that's the number on the menu ....*sigh*

So, that's Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Indian, and Vietnamese. I reckon Thai is next up.

The Dreams I *do* see....

Okay, so I'm walking through the city toward a small greenspace when a hackey sack comes flying over the fence in my direction. I return the toss, am amazed that I still have the capability to do so, and continue into the park. Before too long I am engaged in a typical round of hackey sack with a humanoid chameleon. Even in his "natural" state he looks very alien, but humanoid - not that these things register too deeply with me at the time. In the dream, I just accept it. The chameleon proceeds to explain to me the nature of the marketplace and how the needs and demands of the consumers can change from moment to moment, or day to day. Meanwhile, he is changing, and the surroundings are changing. From what I remember, it was a fairly thorough explanation, with advice on how to cope and even how to take advantage of the trends.

But then the damn alarm clock went off.

Naturally, while fixing breakfast and taking the shower, my mind was in different place this morning. I can understand the changing environment and the changing "chameleon" host that fit into the whole "changing" market place speach. Even hackey sack sort of fits. It can be a never ending game. While playing, it goes in fits and runs as you or your opponent/teammate either continue the passing, or miss or drop the sack and have to re-start. You can stop at any point and resume play at a later time or date. Marketplace - open for business/trade, close at the end of the day, you have busy times and slow.

What I don't get is .............................. why?

Or better yet.........what the f*&^?

Okay, so I've been considering going into business for myself. Or with a friend or two. And that business would depend on a market, like any other. Hopefully it will be something that can be run out of the garage, or maybe bloom into something that needs a store front. But that dream seemed a pretty deep and philosophical treatment of what seems to be a simple situation.

Or maybe it was just a weird dream.

In any case, I'm pretty sure that now I've written it down, it'll go away and leave me alone so I can get some work done.