small gardens & small government

I've got to start us off with Waylon Jennings' classic.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kxll2-th4Gc Deb and I went down to our cabin in the mountains for the Memorial weekend.  More exactly we went down to our tiny RV on the property next to the cabin.  The cabin floor is close to finished and thus the bed and all are stuffed in the bathroom awaiting warm weather and the final coat of shellac.  A 20' RV two adults and two dogs makes for close quarters, especially when it starts raining.  That said there is something quite wonderful about playing rummy 500 by lantern light with Deb.  It's way too easy in a marriage to get to plinking along in your little path and forget how nice it is to have a wife you love. I suggested to Deb that although the RV is getting on 40 years old we could probably get a pretty penny for it if we marketed it as a marital therapy tool.  (therapy dogs extra!)   Being a gardener I have sprinkled some seeds as the cabin h...

Hi all, just finished walking the dogs, Deb's off to work, and the cat is chasing a cat toy up and down the hall.  While walking the dogs I was put in a mood for James Taylor's Sweet Baby James.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXVg07t1HCE The line in the song "the Berkshires seemed dreamlike on account of that frosting" matched the mood of a gentle walk after the snow.  Green Mountain (the hill just to our west) looked like you could ski it, and the real mountains further to the west were well...dreamlike on account of that frosting.  It was brisk and sunny with all the promise of spring in the smell of the air.  Just snuck away for a moment to take the frost blankets off of the new cherry tree and concord grape.  I had taken the covers off the strawberry plants early this morning but the cherry and grape are shaded a bit so it seemed to make sense to wait till the sun warmed things up a bit. I'll put the tomatoes out in another hour to continue hardening...

While walking the dogs I thought about what the world would look like if our President had my schedule. 8:00 am make coffee 8:05 am drink coffee and read emails and various websites make note to ask how to unsubscribe from Reason magazine (how did they get my email?) 9:00 am walk dogs 9:30 am check investments online and try to get an answer about why gold isn't      $10,000/oz considering the debt and everything else. 10:00 go to gym try to get up to 7 miles on the bike and burn off 12 calories to make up for that whole pizza you ate last night (why did Melania just have one piece didn't she know I'd finish it?) hit steam room you deserve it! 11:00 play a bit of Civilization Call to Power (original version) as a reward for going to gym. (try to figure out how to sneak up on the Vikings - maybe check with DOD on thoughts) 12:00 weed garden. Call Michelle ask her if she had problems with that area where the arugula is planted also check with NSA see if th...

  It's Saturday the day before Mother's day so I'll start with a little eye candy for the ladies.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8nm_jvE_Xs   Jake is essentially the MSNBC (vs say Fox) version of the youtube movie I shared last time "Back to Eden" which emphasizes wood chip based gardening.  While the whole video is worth watching I especially liked his gardening philosophy which he touches on around the 10 minute mark.   Got to jump off topic (quelle surprise!) Jimmy Cliff has me boogieing to Let Your Yeah Be Yeah https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDp_7kSli0w   Jake's 'just start making mistakes' philosophy is akin to my own.  I can't tell you how many gardening books (Permaculture books are the worst) devote chapter after chapter to 'creating your plan'.  Yeah I would have killed a lot fewer plants and my fruit trees would have been planted years ago not to mention a quality watering system.  No doubt people with 5 year life plans ...

I came in when I heard the thunder but was intentionally not going to write.  Couldn't live up to that commitment when Pryor Baird & the Deacons started playing Little Red Wagon. I can't find a YouTube link so I'm substituting with  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEmvBdRLg4k  and I'll leave you to find this driving rhythm.  If you're thinking I've heard Little Red Wagon done by___.  Yeah everybody done it.  Some versions are so slow and deep delta bluesish that you gotta figure heroin was on the menu.  This is I think you'd call it more Chicago blues with a staccato driving beat. No matter what you call it my hands started slapping the desk and that led to slapping this keyboard. For some technical reason beyond my imagination the stereo has flipped past the rest of the CD and gone on to John Mayall Plays John Mayall.  It's John Mayall so I'm not going to argue.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3BK8-Mmn1s&list=PL94gOvpr5yt2BTHyFMsHR...

This link came my way and is too good to not share.  I think it adds to my recent blog "is the snow half over" hope you enjoy it! Please as always share your thoughts.  Doug A. http://theoatmeal.com/comics/believe