“ This is the beginning of a new day.
God has given me this day to use as I will.
I can waste it... or use it for good.
But what I do today is important because
I am exchanging a day of my life for it.
When tomorrow comes,
This day will be gone forever.
Leaving in its place
Something that I have traded for it.
I want it to be gain and not loss.
Good and not evil,
Success and not failure.
In order that I shall not regret
The price that I have paid for it."
Considering where he's been
mole is quite sleek and clean.
Nose sharp, an arrow head
with a keen sense of smell
guides him through the dark..
His token eyes are pinheads
in dense fur, so soft, so brown
it's almost black. His pink
hands, are scoop shape, five
long white claws, to scrape
and toil, tunnel through soil
in search of worms, he churns
it to a fine tilth. The mole
is muscular and fat, he must
have eaten many juicy worms
before he ran into our cat.
Nature's perfection is admirable. This little guy is so well developed for digging.
March 30, 2008
Black Sage in bloom.
The blooms from this plant, combined with the industry of honeybees makes among the
highest quality honey that resists solidifying.
March 29, 2008
The yellow fields of Nipomo
Our wild mustard is a plant that likes heavy rich soils that hold moisture.
Many fields in this area, if kept unsown with other plants might well become covered in
mustard such as this. This field is mowed every year, and the dry material compressed into
bales.
I don't know how they market it, I've never heard of mustard hay.
You can take a flower of this plant, it has a mustard taste and can be added to salads for
a different taste.
March 28, 2008
A nearby property had a brushpile burn get out of hand. The fire spread to the woodlands,
but the Fire Department responded quickly and put the fire out.
This little pumpshack is so picturesque, and right now with the burned area surrounding
it, it seems a bit forlorn.
Pull back a bit and we can see the creek below the shack.
With no rain the last month or so, the creek has now turned to a trickle.
Now I guess we're back to our dry season, with no rain from now until November or
December. Seven to nine months of no real rain.
You can see the black splotches of burned grasses. Fire can often be erratic, sparing some
areas, while devastating others. A low-intensity fire such as this can often just burn off
dead overgrowth, and leave healthy plants relatively undamaged.
March 27, 2008
A Tale of Three Fences
'A Fence should be Bull Strong,
Pig tight,
and horse high.' ~Old American Country Saying~
Fences can be a lot better than cars. No car can do it all;
either it can go really fast down the road, and do lousy on dirt, or if it is great on
dirt, it's not gonna get you to Bakersfield in ninety minutes.
But a fence can be made that fulfils all of the requirements of a good fence
for any reason. The only problem is when you are designing in for things you don't need a
fence for, it is putting money down for protection you don't need. So, go ahead and
put up the fence that works for you, but build it well.
Bull Strong
Now the fence below was built by a fellow who worked for the telephone
company (he was a lineman for the county), he seems to be building his fence bull strong.
He's stringing six or seven strands of barb-wire along this sturdy construction. When he's
done, the livestock in this fence will not be hurting this fence. But, he did not build it
really high, the livestock he is going to keep in here will not be jumping high, but they
do like to push on fences, so the barb wire will help reduce them pushing and leaning on
it, and the huge posts sunk nearly four feet deep will keep the fence from leaning when
something does run into it.
So we see that the County Lineman made a fence that is strong and will suit
his livestock. He obviously is not going to be keeping elk or pigs in here. So he chose to
save some money and only build the fence to fit his needs. Meanwhile, he has a fine
fence...Bull Strong.
Horse High
These people just down the road chose to go 'Horse High' for their fence.
You'll notice the bottom could be lifted up by a pig. But they are fencing deer out, not
keeping anything in.
Notice how the fencing material is on the left side of the post? That signifies the
outside of the fence. This fence is not designed to keep livestock in, it is designed to
keep animals out of this orchard. You generally design a fence so the fencing material
faces the animals you wish to confine or exclude. When the animals puts pressure on the
fencing material, you want the force of the pressure to be spread evenly over the fence on
the post, not pressed the other way where it might be held by only a few clips.
This is a very well-made 'high' fence, it is a good eight feet tall and will keep any
local deer out.
But I don't know why they worry about deer in a citrus grove, as far as I've ever seen,
deer don't seem to cause citrus any damage.
Pig Tight
These folks put up this attractive fence partly for looks, and partly
to keep their occasional livestock in. With a three foot high section of 'non-climb'
fencing tacked to the inside of this wooden fence, it could be both a pretty country
fence, and a practical fence for small livestock.
Unfortunately, this fence happens to be at a spot where people speed around the turn on
the dirt road, and twice a year it seems someone tears out a section of this fence.
March 26, 2008
A Hitch-Hiking Race
I gave some hitchhikers a ride into Nipomo. I got them part way to their eventual
destination, San Luis Obispo where they plan to 'hop a freight' up to Oakland.
They were in a rush to make it to SLO before it got too late. First, they were in a
'hitchhiking race' with some friends who had left with them in the morning from Santa
Barbara. Secondly, the fright train pulls out in the evening, and they wanted to be on it
then.
Here we see Mike and Denise disembarking from the 'Lompoc-Nipomo Shuttle'.
March 25, 2008
Life is changed, but not taken
~Corvus Corax~
'Mille Anni Passi Sunt '
Oh dragul meu me misuie focul iubirii
Ceea ce am fost, esti tu acum
O mie de ani au trecut
Ceea ce sint vei fii tu
O mie de ani au trecut
Quod fuimus estes
Quod sumus fos erites
Mille anni passi sunt
Viata va fi schimbata si nu lunata
Simt si acum buzele tale pegitul meu
Dragul meu, tu mai facut nemuritoare
Te vreau toata
Quod fuimus estes
Translation from Romanian;
(provided by Saidhi Art)
Oh my beloved, I yearn for you,
What I have been, you are now
What I am now you will be
One thousand years have passed
Life is changed but not taken
I can still feel your lips on my neck
My beloved, you have made me immortal
I want you entirely.
Corvus
Corax is one of those bands in Europe who has been merging the instruments of 'Olden
Tymes' with some modern instruments, and generally 'Rocking Up' the tunes they create.
The video above is one of their fine tunes set to fragments of the film 'Merlin'. It was a
well done composition of audio and video.
The original Romanian lyrics are actually a paean to 'Vampire
Love', and not at all fitting to the Merlin video. But heck, the tune and the plaintive
singing match the movements on the video, and seem to set the stage for the
Medieval/Renaissance theme, so it is beautiful to me.
March 24, 2008
'Sunday Morning Sidewalk'
~Johnny Cash~
On a Sunday morning sidewalk,
I'm wishing, Lord, that I was stoned.
'Cause there's something in a Sunday
That makes a body feel alone.
And there's nothing short a' dying
That's half as lonesome as the sound
Of the sleeping city sidewalk
And Sunday morning coming down.
In the park I saw a daddy
With a laughing little girl that he was swinging.
And I stopped beside a Sunday school
And listened to the songs they were singing.
Then I headed down the street,
And somewhere far away a lonely bell was ringing,
And it echoed through the canyon
Like the disappearing dreams of yesterday.
Lompoc recently added in a Promenade running for several miles on the
bluffs above the Santa Ynez River which runs along the East end of town.
In this view, you can see the bluff to the left. It runs down to the river at a very steep
grade some thirty feet or so. When we were kids we used to ride our bikes and motorcycles
up and down the steep bluffs, inspired by legends such as Evil Kneevil.
This Promenade seems a very fine addition to the town. It opens the edges of the river up
to strolling families and dogs. One can now travel several miles of the river, with
beautiful views all about. Of course, we always did that before, just then we had to beat
our way through brush, or take the meandering paths that looped in endless mazes through
the willows and Cottonwoods.
A few months ago, I spoke to a friend, a very practical
businessman. I spoke of my vision of a series of paths such as this extending throughout
California, especially north and south. A visiting family might be able to land at LAX,
take a bus some miles to Santa Monica where they'd be able to rent bicycles for their
several weeks vacation in California. They'd be able to meander through California on
trails such as these, stopping at approved campsites, and farmers' homes that might be
opened to travelers as a Bed and Breakfast.
Sure, there'd be troubles and complications, landowners uneasy about people
riding across their land, Ne'er Do Well's camping out and robbing travelers, etc. But much
could be done using tactics such as tax forgiveness, easy permit approval for projects to
benefit the travelers, loans for infrastructure to support sanitary and other facilities,
etc.
But he countered with the realities of the maintenance of the infrastructure of
such a partaking. The costs would be horrendous, and the resulting income from increased
tourism is likely to be small indeed. I suppose that's why he's a successful businessman,
and I'm a dreamer in the wilderness.
Indeed, as my friend forecast, the vandals have already struck. Not in a huge way, it is
relatively small, but the unthinking actions of a few people in tearing along the roadway
shoulder on their off-road motorcycles on this curve is tearing up the base at the sides
of the roadway, and throwing it into the roadway wholesale. This section of road cannot
now be traveled by the bikini-clad girls on roller blades like they have in Venice. And I
think if he realized that his thoughtlessness resulted in a dearth of 'bikini-beauties on
wheels' in Lompoc this summer, he'd have not so rashly torn up the road shoulders. By the
way, there are signs posted warning against motorized vehicles on this path which is for
walking and bicycling (and roller blading).
This is a view looking down into the river.
This river used to have one of the largest salmon runs on
the West Coast two hundred years ago. But the dams that have sprung up on the river in the
last 150 years has resulted in the salmon disappearing from this river. The river
has always been the lifeblood of Lompoc. But now the blood does not flow in summer. Winter
is now the only time we can run our feet through our own water.
March 23, 2008
Easter Sunday
John 11:25-26
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life.
He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;
and whoever lives and believes in me will never die."
Tao Teh Ching Chapter 38 True virtue is itself virtuous, and does not need to try to appear virtuous.
The common man may try to show the semblance of virtue,
but this showing is in itself a revealing of the lack of virtue.
Those of high virtue never accomplish any act out of need for show, or ulterior motive.
The 'seemingly virtuous' will make a big show of the virtuous acts they perform.
A virtuous person will act according to what is right regardless of the situation at all
times.
A common person will act according to the results he expects from the action,
if the results are not to his benefit he will not do them.
A low person will act and expect response from others,
if he does not secure his riches he will use force to extract it.
When the Tao is lost in a person or land one must resort to righteousness to rule society.
When righteousness is lost one has to use morality.
When morality has been abandoned there is only ritual to conduct society.
But ritual is only the outer clothing of true belief; this is nearing chaos.
There's something about the Middle Ages that transcends some of the
modern religious rituals.
The German band QNTAL has made a most excellent video with medieval themes.
The song is transcendent.
March 22, 2008
Oh, I wish I had some talent
~Loreena McKennitt~
'The Mystics Dream'
A clouded dream on an earthly night
Hangs upon the crescent moon
A voiceless song in an ageless light
Sings at the coming dawn
Birds in flight are calling there
where the heart moves the stones
there that my heart is longing for
All for, for the love of you
A painting hangs on an ivy wall
Nestled in the emerald moss
The eyes declare a truce of trust
then it draws me far away
deep in the desert twilight
Sand melts in pools of the sky
darkness lays her crimson cloak
lamps will call, call me home
Yeah sure, I can stack tons of stone into terraces, I can
grow cactus like nobody's business, but I can't sing, and I can't dance......but my, I
sure do love watching those who can do so.
And one such is the incomparable Loreena McKennitt, the Celtic Songstress who so
lovingly lays out ballads both old and new.
A breathtakingly clear voice is her trademark, and the compositions she
herself composes are classics, and will be listened to a hundred years from now.
~William Butler Yeats~
'The Two Trees'
Beloved, gaze in thine own heart
The holy tree is growing there;
From joy the holy branches start
And all the trembling flowers they bear.
The changing colours of its fruit
Have dowered the stars with merry light;
The surety of its hidden root
Has planted quiet in the night;
The shaking of its leafy head
Has given the waves their melody.
And made my lips and music wed,
Murmuring a wizard song for thee,
There the Loves a circle go,
The flaming circle of our days,
Gyring, spiring to and fro
In those great ignorant leafy ways;
Remembering all that shaken hair
And how the winged sandals dart
Thine eyes grow full of tender care;
Beloved, gaze in thine own heart.
She will also take old verse and rhyme and weave her own melody into the words, making a
beautiful composition. This she did with the Yeats poem 'The Two Trees.
Cé Hé Mise Le Ulaingt
Gaze no more in the bitter glass
The demons, with their subtle guile,
Lift up before us when they pass,
Or only gaze a little while;
For there a fatal image grows
That the stormy night receives,
Roots half hidden under snows,
Broken boughs and blackened leaves.
For all things turn to bareness
In the dim glass the demons hold,
The glass of outer weariness,
Made when God slept in times of old.
There, through the broken branches, go
The ravens of unresting thought;
Flying, crying, to and fro,
Cruel claw and hungry throat,
Or else they stand and sniff the wind,
And shake their ragged wings: alas!
Thy tender eyes grow all unkind:
Gaze no more in the bitter glass.
Beloved, gaze in thine own heart,
The holy tree is growing there;
From joy the holy branches start,
And all the trembling flowers they bear.
Remembering all that shaken hair
And how the winged sandals dart,
Thine eyes grow full of tender care;
Beloved, gaze in thine own heart.
Another fine example of her ability to merge old and new is her beautiful rendition of the
Alfred Noyes poem, 'The Highwayman'
'The Highwayman'
~Alfred Noyes~
The wind was a torrent of darkness
upon the gusty trees,
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
The road was a ribbon of moonlight looping the purple moor,
And the highwayman came riding
Riding riding
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn door.
He'd a French cocked hat on his forehead, and a bunch of lace at his chin;
He'd a coat of the claret velvet, and breeches of fine doe-skin.
They fitted with never a wrinkle; his boots were up to his thigh!
And he rode with a jeweled twinkle
His rapier hilt a-twinkle
His pistol butts a-twinkle, under the jeweled sky.
Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn-yard,
He tapped with his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and barred,
He whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord's black-eyed daughter
Bess, the landlord's daughter
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.
Dark in the dark old inn-yard a stable-wicket creaked
Where Tim, the ostler listened--his face was white and peaked
His eyes were hollows of madness, his hair like mouldy hay,
But he loved the landlord's daughter
The landlord's black-eyed daughter;
Dumb as a dog he listened, and he heard the robber say:
"One kiss, my bonny sweetheart; I'm after a prize tonight,
But I shall be back with the yellow gold before the morning light.
Yet if they press me sharply, and harry me through the day,
Then look for me by moonlight,
Watch for me by moonlight,
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way."
He stood upright in the stirrups; he scarce could reach her hand,
But she loosened her hair in the casement! His face burnt like a brand
As the sweet black waves of perfume came tumbling o'er his breast,
Then he kissed its waves in the moonlight
(O sweet black waves in the moonlight!),
And he tugged at his reins in the moonlight, and galloped away to the west.
He did not come in the dawning; he did not come at noon.
And out of the tawny sunset, before the rise of the moon,
When the road was a gypsy's ribbon over the purple moor,
The redcoat troops came marching
Marching marching
King George's men came marching, up to the old inn-door.
They said no word to the landlord; they drank his ale instead,
But they gagged his daughter and bound her to the foot of her narrow bed.
Two of them knelt at her casement, with muskets by their side;
There was Death at every window,
And Hell at one dark window,
For Bess could see, through her casement, the road that he would ride.
They had bound her up at attention, with many a sniggering jest!
They had tied a rifle beside her, with the barrel beneath her breast!
"Now keep good watch!" and they kissed her. She heard the dead man say,
"Look for me by moonlight,
Watch for me by moonlight,
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though Hell should bar the way."
She twisted her hands behind her, but all the knots held good!
She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood!
They stretched and strained in the darkness, and the hours crawled by like years,
Till, on the stroke of midnight,
Cold on the stroke of midnight,
The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!
The tip of one finger touched it, she strove no more for the rest;
Up, she stood up at attention, with the barrel beneath her breast.
She would not risk their hearing, she would not strive again,
For the road lay bare in the moonlight,
Blank and bare in the moonlight,
And the blood in her veins, in the moonlight, throbbed to her love's refrain.
Tlot tlot, tlot tlot! Had they heard it? The horse-hooves, ringing clear;
Tlot tlot, tlot tlot, in the distance! Were they deaf that they did not hear?
Down the ribbon of moonlight, over the brow of the hill,
The highwayman came riding
Riding riding
The redcoats looked to their priming! She stood up straight and still.
Tlot tlot, in the frosty silence! Tlot tlot, in the echoing night!
Nearer he came and nearer! Her face was like a light!
Her eyes grew wide for a moment, she drew one last deep breath,
Then her finger moved in the moonlight
Her musket shattered the moonlight
Shattered her breast in the moonlight and warned him with her death.
He turned, he spurred to the West; he did not know who stood
Bowed, with her head o'er the casement, drenched in her own red blood!
Not till the dawn did he hear it, and his face grew grey to hear
How Bess, the landlord's daughter,
The landlord's black-eyed daughter,
Had watched for her love in the moonlight, and died in the darkness there.
Back, he spurred like a madman, shrieking a curse to the sky,
With the white road smoking behind him and his rapier brandished high!
Blood-red were his spurs in the golden noon, wine-red was his velvet coat
When they shot him down in the highway,
Down like a dog in the highway,
And he lay in his blood in the highway, with the bunch of lace at his throat.
And still on a winter's night, they say, when the wind is in the trees,
When the moon is a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
When the road is a gypsy's ribbon looping the purple moor,
The highwayman comes riding
Riding riding
The highwayman comes riding, up to the old inn-door.
Over the cobbles he clatters and clangs in the dark inn-yard,
He taps with his whip on the shutters, but all is locked and barred,
He whistles a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord's black-eyed daughter
Bess, the landlord's daughter
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair
March 21, 2008
'Lynnwood', 'CPI', and 'Three Strikes'
Here's a nice plant called Opuntia ficus-indica. This is the variety we
call 'Lynnwood'.
They are a fast growing, high yielding and prolific type of edible cactus.
But it is a bit spinier than some of our others we consider to be of a much higher grade.
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How is it that with the cost of fuel rising so high, the
'Core' inflation rate is still pegged pretty low. Here's an explaination that is silly,
but is the 'official' version...
The new Consumer
Price Index shows noticeable increases in the cost of food and energy. So why doesn't
that necessarily mean we're experiencing inflation? Philip Brewer at Wise Bread explains the difference
between the CPI and the "core" CPI (which doesn't include food and energy prices), and why the core is
a valuable tool in the Federal Reserve's efforts to predict inflation. The new core
doesn't indicate inflation, Brewer writes. But the CPI contains sour news for us common
folks: Rising food and energy prices cause our standard of living to decline.
'Mr. Neutron' made a posting about the CPI at the page listed above, and he
came up with a very common-sense appraisal as to how to determine the real CPI. Printed
below is his list of items that would give the real American Cost of living...
I've been thinking about this more than a little over the past 5 years. I've
come to the conclusion that we need an open-source (trite, over-hused, hyped word, but
descriptive) basket of goods. Then I could see what inflation is doing to me and my
money, even if the Feds don't care to consider it. I don't buy a lot of things with
chips in them, which the Fed has loaded their basket up with, in order to take advantage
of Moore's law.
So, I've been working on what should go into the list of goods whose prices I can
compile myself on (probably) a quarterly basis (attempting to avoid sales around holidays:
Thanksgiving, Christmas, 4th of July, Halloween, NYE, Superbowl, Easter (eggs &
chicken afterwards), etc)
1# 98% lean ground beef
1# 90%? lean ground beef
1# skinless, boneless chicken ***
doz. regular AA eggs
5# of granulated sugar
5# of white flour
1# of butter (brand issues - what about margarine?)
salt
loaf of bread - by weight (balloon bread vs. better bread?)
peanut butter (generic)
10# bag of potatos
# rice (10lb or 5lb bag, white, regular)
campbell's tomato soup/ounce (small can)
campbell's cream of mushroom soup/ounce (small can)
frozen corn/ounce (small bag)
frozen carrots/ounce (small bag)
frozen peas/ounce (small bag)
canned peas/ounce (small can)
canned corn/ounce (small can)
canned peaches/ounce (small can)
canned pears/ounce (small can)
whole kosher dill pickles/ounce (med jar)
bottled water (brand issues? distilled would include a measure of energy cost)
1# coffee (brand issues?)
cheapest generic 6pack of cola (includes cost of aluminium for recycling)
chocolate (perhaps hershey? but that's a single brand - bad)
kool-aid?
vinegar
baking soda
bleach
detergent
bar of soap
shampoo
(Fresh veggies - out due to seasonal and sale price fluctuations)
T-shirt (define better? white wife-beater?)
Jeans
bicycle tube (26")
gal of unleaded gas
transmmission oil
taxi rate (2-3 services @ random, keep the lowest for next time) flag drop & per mile
bus fare
housing (very hard to guage, different locations == different pricing)
vehicles (same as housing)
propane cynlinder
heating oil
cord of hardwood (slippery definitions here)
house air filter (size? efficiency?)
wet-dry vac rental cost
broom?
mop?
box of screws (define better)
gallon of white latex paint
8' 2x4 pine
4'x8' sheet of drywall
1' copper pipe (diameter?)
10' 1" sch40 PVC pipe
shingles
insulation
caulking
wood glue
aluminum recycling offered at what price a #?
ream of paper (define this better)
paperback novel
movie ticket, weekend, evening
CD/media? music (dying - so not a good long-term measure?, digital downloads)
DVDs? (also dying, blu-ray in the next 10 years)
sewage rate? (how to measure?)
water rates?
electrical rates? (how to measure on preferential pricing plans)
natural gas?
college tuition (full time semester)
medical costs (how do you measure those long-term?)
Wow Mr. Neutron, it looks like you been peering into our shopping
basket.
You did leave beer and whiskey out, although you did include the needed soda pop.
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Three Strikes Laws.... made good sense a decade ago, but
does it really do what we want?
My father, a retired cop and total 'Law and Order Guy' told me when 'Three Strikes' was
being debated and voted on that he did not agree with it. I was a bit shocked, my dad
against sending more lawbreakers to prison? His perspective was that some offenders
who'd usually just give up and take a years' time, would now decide it was worth it trying
to shoot their way out, since it no longer mattered what they did, they were going to get
twenty-five years with no 'good-time' permissible. He looked upon it from a cops angle,
that is, his buddies might be the ones getting shot at by a guy who'd be getting six
months in County for shoplifting, but now worry they are going in for a 'quarter' for the
same offense. If they shoot someone and get caught...same time served. If they shoot
someone, they might get away.
Cactus just starting to grow out well. It's a nice early spring.
March 19, 2008
California Poppies
The California Poppies are just starting to really come out well now.
It seems a bit early for them, but just a bit.
Overall, it seems like an early spring for us, I just hope and pray we don't get a cold
snap now that everything is growing out like springtime now.
It's interesting how the succession of wildflowers goes. As the weeks roll
on, the predominant flowers will change, and we'll have different and new colors on the
slopes and hillsides.
Also, different years will give us varying amounts of different flowers. One
year might be great for the poppies, but bad for the annual lupines.
Nature just goes on and on in the great mystery.
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A fellow named Michael Santos is a Federal Prisoner who has a blog chronicling his time
in prison. I encourage you to visit his latest blog, wherein he recounts his first trip outside of
prison in over twenty years.
He is a member of a group called TOAD which is a program that encourages
prisoners to speak to kids about drugs, and the unwise choices they made that landed them
in prison.
March 18, 2008
Green times in Rivenrock
The side canyon.
These photos were taken six weeks ago during the heavy rains.
Winter rains bring out such nice color.
March 17, 2008
Green is nice.
Our front yard
The winter rains can make for some nice green grass.
Further down our front yard
"It's
Not Easy Bein' Green"
~Joe Rapposo~
It's not that easy bein' green;
Having to spend each day the color of the leaves.
When I think it could be nicer being red, or yellow or gold-
or something much more colorful like that.
It's not easy bein' green.
It seems you blend in with so many other ordinary things.
And people tend to pass you over 'cause you're not standing out like flashy sparkles in
the water- or stars in the sky.
But green's the color of Spring.
And green can be cool and friendly-like.
And green can be big like an ocean, or important like a mountain, or tall like a tree.
When green is all there is to be
It could make you wonder why, but why wonder why? Wonder,
I am green and it'll do fine, it's beautiful!
And I think it's what I want to be.
Yes, Green is nice.
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What do the terms 'Organic, natural and sustainable' mean?
Find out at 'Healthier Living'.
March 16, 2008
Morro Bay
I took a little trip to Morro Bay, and thought I'd show some of this
pretty coastal town.
March 15, 2008
Dollar-Cost-Averaging Your Personal Soil Bank
We like to till our weeds and crop residue into the ground. This returns the
nutrients and carbon back into the soil where they belong and will help us through the
years.
You should really look at your soil as a bank. Now, your soil bank had a
certain amount of assets when you took it over. And there is the addition of more
nutrients being made available as the native rock particles are broken down and
'decompose'. This is much like the simple accumulation of interest in a savings
account.
You can speed the 'interest' your soil accrues by switching to a high
yielding account. In this case, the additional humic acid released as my existing weeds
are tilled into the ground will speed 'etching' of the rock surfaces and encourage natural
chemical exchanges of elements and nutrients.
It is in this way that we are able to continually improve our soil without
having to bring in huge amounts of outside amendments. And we keep the balance in our soil
bank account high.
This is a set of terraces about ten days before the day I write this.
You can see the weeds have grown heavy in this area, and are now being tilled into the
soil with this Barreto Roto tiller.
This is the same area ten days later. You'll see the flat portions of
the terrace have had the weeds on them and on the vertical surfaces tilled in, helping to
enrich the soil.
In this way I am in some fashion 'harvesting' the upslope for the weeds I take from it and
put into the 'flat' of the terrace. The weeds from all parts of the terrace will help to
fertilize the flat section.
The same area the next day.
With terraces it is important to keep the slope of the
'flats' running into the hillside.
This concentrates runoff into a 'pool' or 'reservoir' behind the ridge of the
terrace-flat.
This not only reduces water-borne erosion, it also concentrates the 'fines'
of the mix into the lower area at the base of each upslope. Over a period of years you can
indeed build up some nice soil in this area. Each time you till and replant, you must also
rake the soil back out to this slope. This redistribution of the soil
through the terrace will benefit all the terrace plantings.
Terraces must be managed with some skill and attention. If they are
neglected, they can easily become ruined.
March 14, 2008
Biodiversity
Yucca, lemon, pine, plum and oak...
all on a tiny little cactus farm in California.
March 13, 2008
Ain't that a peach!
(well, plum actually)
'Dreadlock Holiday'
~10 cc's~
I heard a dark voice beside me say
"Would you like something harder"
She said "I've got it; you want it
My harvest is the best.
And if you try it you'll like it,
And wallow in a Dreadlock Holiday"
And I say
"Don't like Jamaica, oh no
I love her"
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Dreadlock Holiday
Yeah, it's a bit of a strange funky video, but what a great song!
And we have to remember this was done in the seventies.
Like many areas in California, Los Osos has had large
murals sprouting up all over.
Most of the murals in Los Osos seem to display the local areas' natural beauty.
This mural shows some aspects of the local Chumash culture.
The initial interaction/meeting of the Chumash and the Spanish in Los Osos/Morro Bay is
portrayed in this gas station mural.
The 'Elfin Forest' is shown on the side of this building.
March 10, 2008
Los Osos
This one is very nice with its deep blue colors.
Note the juniper planted to blend in with the painting.
This area has many 'chimneys' sticking up all around.
It can make maritime operations hazardous.
Los Osos means 'The Bears'. It got its name from the huge number of grizzly bears in the
area when the first Spanish explorers got to this area. Evidently, the bears had
congregated in this area shortly before for the annual salmon spawning.
Some of the rivers in this coast used to have very large numbers of salmon migrating up
the rivers and creeks to spawn.
Old breeds are interesting, and worth keeping around for their great
genes that might still be needed to add into the gene pool at some time in the future.
Speaking of old breeds, the Aurochs is the ancestor of today's cattle.
A fine article can be found at ArchaeoAstronomy.
It's springtime now.
I've been seeing lizards here and there the last few weeks.
I saw my first snake of the season the other day.
All the reptiles are starting to come from their slumber.
The yellowjackets are out and searching for nesting sites and meat.
The hawks are overhead calling to one another in that age-old mating ritual.
And I start to look at the hillside,
the terraces are grown over with native vegetation,
just all ready to be tilled in.
Here's our tiller, partway down a terrace, tilling the thistles and grasses
under. These will sit for another week or two, and then be tilled in again, and I will
start the springtime planting.
This tilling of the weeds will kill most of them outright, and with just a
little mulch placed over the top, we'll have fairly good weed control until the winter
comes.
Last year I made up a little 'roto-tilling' video.
A good roto-tiller can help you get your ground in condition. But you don't
want to overdo it and egg-beat your soil. You just want to chop up and churn into the soil
the plants growing on the surface, and the amendments you add. The idea is to mix these
items together some, and add air to the soil, then back off and let it all 'rebalance'
again. After a week or two an additional tilling can help speed decomposition of the plant
material. Then a week or so after that it should be ready to plant.
Doing it this way has many advantages. You don't have to weed as much. You
weed as you till the weeds in. Just make sure you get them before they flower and set
seeds. They will add their fertility back to the soil, so you don't waste nutrients.
And when you till twice before planting, you will kill many weeds as they start to sprout
and grow. I like to follow with a light raking a week after the last tilling, and right
before planting. This will again kill many young weed seedlings but without bringing more
deeply-buried seeds to the surface to sprout again.
If you learn the growing characteristics of your local weather, soils and
plants, you can use the seasons to help you in many ways. But you have to have the timing
right, and be ready to do the work right when the conditions are right. In this case in
the photo above, I could have gotten the tilling done a week or so earlier before the
grasses started putting out their seeds. But I think I got them young enough that they'll
not mature in the ground and sprout another year. The old rule-of-thumb is that flowering
cover crops are best to till in when ten percent of the plants have started flowering.
They have the nutrients being consolidated into the developing seeds, yet they will not be
mature enough to sprout.
This mixing and blending of materials will result in a huge explosion
of micro-organisms in the soil. This will start the process of release and use of the
nutrients in both the old humus, the newly tilled in plant materials, the explosions and
deaths of many successive generations of microbial creatures and algae and mosses as well
as the acidic etching on the pulverized rock particles in the soil from the released humic
acids, releasing a huge amount of the things that the plant roots can take up and use for
your newly planted crops.
Yeah, this is all part of understanding the soil, so that you can help it
grow more rich, friable and fertile through the years.
You can go to my article 'Small World' to get a full picture of how I visualize the soil
jungle.
March 02, 2008
Taxi-Harry Chapin
River Song Trilogy Part II (Bea's Song)-Cowboy Junkies
"With each passing year that I sit here
that horizon seems to inch just that much nearer,
and all that appears on it seems as clear as spit."
~Cowboy Junkies~
A Classic-
From a man who gave so much,
and doubtless had so much more to give.
~Harry Chapin~
'Taxi'
It was raining hard in 'Frisco,
I needed one more fare to make my night.
A lady up ahead waved to flag me down,
She got in at the light.
"Oh, where you going to, my lady blue,
It's a shame you ruined your gown in the rain."
She just looked out the window, and said
"Sixteen Parkside Lane."
Something about her was familiar
I could swear I'd seen her face before,
But she said, "I'm sure you're mistaken"
And she didn't say anything more.
It took a while, but she looked in the mirror,
And she glanced at the license for my name.
A smile seemed to come to her slowly,
It was a sad smile, just the same.
And she said, "How are you Harry?"
I said, "How are you Sue?
Through the too many miles
and the too little smiles
I still remember you."
It was somewhere in a fairy tale,
I used to take her home in my car.
We learned about love in the back of a Dodge,
The lesson hadn't gone too far.
You see, she was gonna be an actress,
And I was gonna learn to fly.
She took off to find the footlights,
And I took off to find the sky.
Oh, I've got something inside me,
To drive a princess blind.
There's a wild man, wizard,
He's hiding in me, illuminating my mind.
Oh, I've got something inside me,
It's not what my life's about,
Cause I've been letting my outside tide me,
Over 'till my time, runs out.
Baby's so high that she's skying,
Yes she's flying, afraid to fall.
I'll tell you why baby's crying,
Cause she's dying, aren't we all.
There was not much more for us to talk about,
Whatever we had once was gone.
So I turned my cab into the driveway,
Past the gate and the fine trimmed lawns.
And she said we must get together,
But I knew it'd never be arranged.
And she handed me twenty dollars,
For a two fifty fare, she said
"Harry, keep the change."
Well another man might have been angry,
And another man might have been hurt,
But another man never would have let her go...
I stashed the bill in my shirt.
And she walked away in silence,
It's strange, how you never know,
But we'd both gotten what we'd asked for,
Such a long, long time ago.
You see, she was gonna be an actress
And I was gonna learn to fly.
She took off to find the footlights,
And I took off for the sky.
And here, she's acting happy,
Inside her handsome home.
And me, I'm flying in my taxi,
Taking tips, and getting stoned,
I go flying so high, when I'm stoned.
'Sequel'
~Harry Chapin~
Because every good story deserves a better ending
I got into town a little early.
Had eight hours to kill before the show.
First I thought about heading up north of the bay
Then I knew where I had to go.
I thought about taking a limousine
Or at least a fancy car.
But I ended up taking a taxi
'Cause that's how I got this far.
You see, ten years ago it was the front seat
Drivin' stoned and feelin' no pain.
Now here I am straight and sittin' in the back
Hitting Sixteen Parkside Lane.
The driveway was the same as I remembered
And a butler came and answered the door.
He just shook his head when I asked for her
And said "She doesn't live here anymore."
But he offered to give me the address
That they were forwarding her letters to.
I just took it and returned to the cabbie
And said "I got one more fare for you."
And so we rolled back into the city
Up to a five story old brownstone
I rang the bell that had her name on the mailbox.
The buzzer said somebody's home.
And the look on her face as she opened the door
Was like an old joke told by a friend.
It'd taken ten more years but she'd found her smile
And I watched the corners start to bend.
And she said, "How are you Harry?
Haven't we played this scene before?"
I said "It's so good to see you, Sue
Had to play it out just once more."
Play it out just once more.
She said I've heard you flying high on my radio
I answered "It's not all it seems"
That's when she laughed and she said, "It's better sometimes
When we don't get to touch our dreams."
That's when I asked her where was that actress
She said "That was somebody else"
And then I asked her why she looked so happy now
She said "I finally like myself, at last I like myself."
So we talked all through that afternoon
Talking about where we'd been
We talked of the tiny difference
Between ending and starting to begin.
We talked because talking tells you things
Like what you really are thinking about.
But sometimes you can't find what you're feeling
Till all the words run out.
So I asked her to come to the concert.
She said "No, I work at night."
I said, "We've gotten too damn good at leaving, Sue"
She said, "Harry, you're right."
Don't ask me if I made love to her
Or which one of us started to cry
Don't ask me why she wouldn't take the money that I left
If I answered at all I'd lie.
So I thought about her as I sang that night
And how the circle keeps rolling around.
How I act as I'm facing the footlights
And how she's flying with both feet on the ground.
I guess it's a sequel to our story
From the journey 'tween heaven and hell
With half the time thinking of what might have been
and half thinkin' just as well.
I guess only time will tell.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
'Bea's Song'
~Cowboy Junkies~
Speed River at my feet running low and flat...
I'm sitting here burning daylight,
thinking about the past,
and that distance out there
where the earth meets the sky.
The slightest move and this river mud
pulls me further down,
John's at my side, but he's sitting on firmer ground.
John says I look at the moon and the stars
these days more often than I look into his eyes,
and I can't disagree, so I don't say nothing.
I just stare on past his face at Venus rising,
like a shining speck of hope hanging over the horizon.
With each passing year that I sit here
that horizon seems to inch just that much nearer,
and all that appears on it seems as clear as spit.
But if there's one thing in my life
that these years have taught,
it's that you can always see it coming
but you can never stop it.
Speed River at my feet running low and flat...
I'm sitting here burning daylight,
thinking about the past,
and that distance out there
where the earth meets the sky.
The slightest move and this river mud
pulls me further down.
John's at my side,
but he's not noticing that I'm drowning.
March 01, 2008
New Rivenrock Gardens Edible Cactus Brochure
We've been using little tri-fold brochures for marketing for
the last five years or so. They give a quick identification of our company, our product,
and how the cactus leaves we sell can be easily handled and prepared.
We've gone through several revisions of the brochure through the years, I
think they keep getting better and convey the needed information well.
We send these out in the early summer when we have our best leaves coming off
the plants in the greatest quantities. All new customers also get a brochure so they
learn a bit about us and our cactus when they first order from us.
This latest incarnation of the brochure was perfected by my nephew Jason Brink.
He did a great job, and we're happy to be able to show the finished product
off to you all.
This is the outside of the brochure.
And this is the inside
Clicking either image will bring up a full size .pdf file if you should
choose to print out your own copy.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Bush, mangled sentences withstanding
President Bush seems to be a smart enough fellow once he's
way from the microphones. It is the camera and the mic that causes him to become a
tongue-tied stammering fellow.
But when he travels with Bob Geldof, things come across a lot better.... Geldof
and Bush: Diary from the road
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Rising
food prices are bringing about desperate conditions world-wide.
The USA spends less on food as a percentage of family income than practically any other
country. This is due to the efficient systems we have from the growing, to processing and
transportation, as well as the overall strength of our economy. In many countries the
average person spends half their money just buying food.
World grain costs have almost doubled in the last few years. For Americans
this means a small increase in the family budget, but for the people who spent half their
money on food, it means they must now spend almost all their money on food, leaving
nothing for other needs. It has not been often talked about, but there have been
food riots in several countries in the last year.
Yet sadly, the same rising prices, which make it so hard for the poor in
other countries to keep themselves healthy, have caused the USA to reduce the shipments of
grains and other emergency foods to those same countries due to the rising costs.
