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Category: gardening

Sun. April 26, 2020 – another day going by at light speed

Forecast says clear, my gut says- intermittent rain, with cooler temps.

Yesterday we got spotty rain off and on all day.  I didn’t let that stop me from working in the gardens and yard.   Cut up some branches for the woodpile.  Took down a branch to let more light into the back yard, in the late afternoon.  Two of my beds don’t get much direct sun before noon, so I need as late in the day as I can get.

I reseeded where something had dug up my seeds.  And this time, I put metal mesh (hardware cloth) over the top of where the seeds are.  That should keep the squirrels out of it until the plants have a chance to sprout.  I also reseeded the radishes and turnips in the ‘window boxes’ on the fence, and I went ahead and planted a few corn kernels.   I’ll see how they do and if the squirrels eat them.

If the weather’s good today, I’ll try to do some work on the sprinklers, and maybe get the rope saw out and do some pruning on the live oak in the front yard.  Maybe.

I did get some small cleanup done in the driveway, which the wife took as an anniversary gift 🙂  I sold and delivered a pallet jack to my buddy, and put some stuff out for heavy trash.

I feel like I got a bunch done, even with a fairly late start to the day.  I hope today goes as well.

Dinner was live Maine lobsters, flown in as a gift from my  in-laws.  I had to cook it, but it was a nice dinner.  I used the pot from my propane turkey fryer, and I should have used the gas ring too.  It took forever to heat the water on my electric range, and my timing was thrown off by the time it took to get it back to a boil after the lobsters went in.  Tasted good, but they were a tiny bit overcooked.  A bit of steak from the freezer made the ‘turf’ part of our ‘surf n turf’.   Boiled potatoes and steamed asparagus rounded out the meal.  Damn strange slow motion disaster.

I broke my own isolation twice this week, both times for money.  Not JUST money, but money was involved.  I hope it doesn’t bite me in the @ss.

Stay in, stay safe.

 

nick

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Sat. April 25, 2020 – Saturday, in the park, I think it was the 4th of July….

Should be a nice day.  [72F sunny and blue sky @10am]

Yesterday was another beautiful day, but it did get HOT.  100F in the sun and in my driveway.  Caught me a bit by surprise as I was moving from shade to sun and there was a nice breeze.  Realized I was panting and went inside to cool down for a while.

I was busy doing yard work and cleaning and organizing.  I mowed the back yard.  I don’t want the lawn guys back there,  too much to see that isn’t there during normal times.  Plus, I don’t want the guys shedding virus and spitting all over the place.   So I mow, and blow, and yesterday I also did some edging.

In the garden, the cabbage seems to be doing well.  The broccoli is still alive, and growing, and the brussel sprouts are alive, but haven’t really changed size.   Last year’s pepper plants are heavy with sweet delicious peppers.  This year’s are growing well too.  The tomato plants still live, but haven’t flowered or set fruit.  Potato plants continue their vigorous growth, although there are fewer plants in each tower bag.  The onion sets seem to have taken hold and are growing.  There is attrition due to something, squirrels mostly.  I think I’ll be lucky to get ten whole onions in the fall.  No sprouts from any of my seeds yet.

The citrus trees all have fruit this year.  Every tree, which has never happened before.  I don’t know how many will make it to harvest, and I’m betting only a few oranges, but maybe I’ll get grapefruit and limes this year!  The peach tree is fully leafed in and the remaining apple tree is struggling to get leafed.  The trees in the store were covered in leaves weeks ago.

The blueberry sticks have all set fruit.   Maybe we’ll double our yield this year and get a full cup?  Kids have fun with them anyway.  The grapevines are growing.  The one is vigorous, the other died back to a foot from the ground.  No fruit from that one this year, maybe no new vines.  Haven’t had any of my grape nemesis caterpillars show so far, but I’m vigilant.

Take any opportunity you get to add to your long term and medium term food supply.  These processing plant shutdowns will likely continue, and we’ll probably see transportation issues or teamster type issues at cross docks and transfer agents.  Someone needs to unload the trucks, and that almost always means a guy on a forklift.  It’s not a hard job but it is demanding.  Essential workers are getting sick, and I expect that will get worse as the restrictions ease.

I’m glad to hear reports that stores have restocked, and that goods are available.  Take advantage of that so that NEXT time, you won’t be caught short.   Even if we’re on the downside of this, and I don’t think we are, TPTB are starting to talk about the second wave.  China has locked down even more people again, something like 11M so far.

The third world is starting to really see their first wave sweeping through.  It’s gonna be a tsunami soon.   FWIW, we have been getting a LOT of food from those third world nations.  That’s where all the ‘out of season’ fruit and veg comes from.  (And the Imperial Valley in Cali which relies on the same sort of labor.)  I expect that will get disrupted soon, and the extent, if the wuflu is unchecked, could mean no laborers to pick the crops, no way to get them here, and we’re back to thinking that citrus at Christmas is a Big Deal ™.  I remember as a kid when getting a case of oranges or grapefruit at Christmas was a nice corporate gift, and my dad was happy to get a single orange as his Christmas gift when he was a kid.

The bottom line is that this thing is still spreading, and growing, and there is no effective treatment.   People are still dying, and we’re discovering that maybe the survivors are not escaping unscathed either.  You don’t want to get it.   In the US, I expect that we’ll see localized outbreaks that grow rapidly, and then recede, and it will be going on for a long time, as the hotspots move around.   We are about to experimentally determine the amount of economic contact vs public health isolation that the country is willing to accept.  Like any other human endeavor, that process is going to be messy, but we’ll also figure it out.

Keep in mind that if there were no more infections starting today, we’ll still have more than 760K cases that will need to resolve, and the totals would  continue to rise for the next month at least.  If even 5% of those cases die, that’s an additional 37K added to the 50K so far.  IF no new cases were added.  New cases will continue to be added for some time though.

So, stay in, stay safe.

nick

 

Oh, and today marks my 15th year as a married man.  Short time compared to some of you, but something I never spent much time thinking about when I was younger.  I married well, and I can only hope she feels the same 🙂

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Wed. April 22, 2020 – never really got the point of ‘hump day’…

Warm?  Sunny?  Humid?  or rain.  No one knows.

Yesterday was another gorgeous day, although it did get a bit hot by the late afternoon.

I finished cleaning up the worst of the leftover rat shite and the shelves will be ready for use today.  I also cleaned up an area under my workbench, which was storing cr@p that doesn’t need to be in the garage, and had been walked on by the rats.  I’ll be able to organize that area now too.  Bulk medical will go there in sealed bins.  And maybe my gub support infrastructure and my non-prepping hobby messy stuff can go there.

I’ve still got some food on the garage shelves that I need to get out, then when everything is mostly in one place, I can see what to put back into that area, and what to leave nearer the kitchen.

I added more dirt to the potato towers.  Surveyed the new plantings, and I’ll have to replant some and cover with wire mesh.  Otherwise, the squirrels find the seeds to be a tasty treat.  It’s been long enough that if the radishes in the window boxes were going to sprout they would have, so I’ll reseed those as well.  I’ll give the beets and turnips a bit more time, since I can’t really replace them with anything at this late date.  I might have to do a bit more tree trimming to get enough sun where it needs to hit, I’ve been watching the beds throughout the day and some aren’t quite getting enough sun.

I spent part of the afternoon changing out a camera that just wouldn’t stay in a high rez stream.  I’ve got more of that style and make, so I got one out and replaced it.   I then took the bad one and decided to take out the IR filter so it would give good pics at night, when I have IR floods on.  I wanted to test on the bad one before doing it to the backyard cam.  Unlike most cams, the IR filter was glued to the CCD chip.  Alcohol didn’t break the bond, nor did acetone, but naptha eventually did.   I threw the cam into place just to see the result.  I am now getting good image in the back yard, which is dark under visible light.  Unfortunately, they’ve tuned the color to compensate for the IR filter, and without it, daylight looks strange.  I don’t think there will be enough adjustment to make it look good.  If not, I’ll find another cam to put there that looks good in the day and night.  Sometimes, trying to go cheap, with existing stuff, just doesn’t make sense.

I hated not seeing the back yard at night.  My monitor is mounted on an arm, and lives just above my PC’s center screen.  If I hear something or glance up, I can see all around the house.  Once you get used to that ability, you REALLY miss it if it’s not there.

Dinner was chicken mole’ from a(n old) can with additional can of costco chicken added, served as enchiladas with cheese.  Refried beans from a can (2018), and a corn salad, and brown rice rounded out the meal.   The enchiladas were really tasty, and a nice change of pace for Taco Tuesday.

I think we’ve got a long road ahead of us, and things are going to get a lot worse before they get better.  Spicy time is coming.  Get prepped.

Stay in, stay safe.

 

nick

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Tues. April 21, 2020 – holy cow, this is kicking the hornet’s nest

Cool, warm, sunny, humid, and  probably all in the same day.

Yesterday was another gorgeous day, once the sun came out.  I was able to get some stuff in the driveway dried out, between the breeze, sun, and slightly lower humidity.  I’m hoping for more of the same today.

Citrus continues to grow, added about 3 inches of dirt to the potato towers, and I think my other planting is still ok.  Damn tree rats dig in the garden, but I think the mounds I built were undisturbed.

I did some moving and cleaning in the garage, and brought another 3 flats of cans out of the dark and into the light…. and then scrubbed them.   Thoroughly.  Something is eating the poison block in my rat bait, after it sat there for a month unmolested.   I’ll have to put some extra bait out and refresh the block.  I really don’t want any rats at this point.  Too much food out.

Which brings up the conundrum, do I take an opportunity to restock?  Or do we just get a bit more hardcore and start with powdered milk, liquid eggs, and mostly canned for fruit and veg?  For that matter, I’d like to get more meat in the freezer, despite the increase in prices.  And by more meat, I’d like about 30 or 40 pounds.  I’d really like more, but don’t even have the room for that much.  I normally have 6 dozen eggs in the garage fridge, 10 pounds of ham, anything I haven’t broken down and frozen yet, 6 pounds of shredded cheese, a bit of beer and wine, soda, bread  etc.  and most of that is gone.   Looking in the freezer, I’m short chicken and steaks too.

Does it make a difference if I can get it delivered or curbside, and don’t have to go into the store?  Yes, I think it does from an isolation and disease risk point of view.  But it certainly costs more and selection is limited.

Both my wife and I have work obligations outside the house this week.  My main customer has a bunch of issues that need to be resolved in person.  My wife has to make a site visit for a project.  If we’re breaking isolation anyway, shouldn’t we restock too?  Or should we just minimize our exposure, do the job and get home?

It all depends on how you judge the current risk of infection, the long term outlook for the economy, availability of product, inflation, deflation, and other variables too.  Simply staying home and getting hard core on eating preps is the easiest and least risky choice.  UNLESS things are going to be worse in 2-3 months.  Re-stocking buys another couple of months beyond that point.

Decisions.  Risk.  Reward.

Dinner was spaghetti noodles, frozen meatballs, the last of the leftover ribeye roast, and surprise! leftover birthday cake from the bottom of the freezer for dessert.

Stay in, stay safe.

 

nick

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Sun. April 19, 2020 – no bunny this week

Cool and wet.

Yesterday caught  me off guard.  It was much cooler than I expected.  Rain threatened all day and it was weird greenish-yellow-y light, like tornado weather.  Not something I wanted to be out in.  It finally did rain pretty steady in the late afternoon.  Nice ‘get everything wet’ but don’t wash away the garden soil rain.

I got up earlier than I have been, but found myself suddenly very tired after breakfast.  So tired I went back to bed for a few hours.  Which I try to not do, because that would start something bad.  But I guess I needed the sleep, because I felt a lot better when I got up for the second time.    It did mean that I got nothing real done though.

I did spend a while longer cooking and baking than I usually do.  I tried some soft and springy dinner rolls, that youtube made look easy.  They were edible, and even tasty, but not what I was hoping for.  Dinner was pan fried chicken and I cooked it for just about 5 minutes too long.  Oh well, I did learn from it, so next time should be better.   FWIW the chicken was frozen years ago, and was fine, just a bit overdone.

One thing I did get started with was cleaning the garage fridge.  It’s been a while.  A long while.  I got as far as the door and the glass shelf.  Lots of work needed on the rest later today.

Stay in, stay safe,

 

nick

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Sat. April 18, 2020 – ah the weekend, finally some time at home with the family…

 

Warm and damp, chance of rain. [I was WRONG, 68F!]

Yesterday was ominous and oppressive all day. Sweaty.

I did get a bunch of stuff done outside but I was definitely hot and wet doing it.

I cut the grass. I planted all that I could, based on the TX A&M ag extension guide for our region. That amounted to acorn squash, watermelon, zucchini, and cucumbers. This year I put the zukes and cukes in separate beds. No mutant giant bitter weird cross breeds this year. I didn’t have the right kind of peas, and I missed my chance for beans. I can still do a bit of salad greens in the window boxes, and maybe replant the radishes which haven’t sprouted. Other than that, I’m done planting until September.

Texas is going to try to reopen over the next few weeks. Schools will remain closed through the end of our normal year. Don’t know what that will mean for our swim team and our pool. A lot of smaller community based orgs are going to have a real hard time raising money and paying the bills. Hopefully we won’t have an increase in rate of infection. Texas has been managing so far, and Houston isn’t predicted to ever exceed our ICU capacity. This is mainly because they’ve kicked everyone else out, and built new temporary capacity.

Dinner was kielbasa sausage from the freezer, one large turnip from the last run, cubed and boiled, and 5 potatoes cubed and fried in my cast iron fryer pan.  Daughter 2 loves the fried potatoes.  “Best dinner of the virus lockdown.”   I’m glad she likes it.

I’d love for this to be over, but it’s not. It is still expanding and growing. The second wave is starting to spread through asia and china, and the third world is starting to show some real issues.

Stay home, stay safe,

nick

 

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Fri. April 17, 2020 – another week gone by

Still cooler, but possibility of rain.

Yesterday was another gorgeous day.  Blue sky, high wispy clouds, cool breeze, and very moderate temps.

I bundled up the last of my tree pruning and got that out for trash pickup.  Watered the gardens.  Added dirt to the potato towers (which are going nuts).  Moved some minor stuff around.  Not nearly as productive as I should have been.

One reason was I spent some time on the phone with an old friend and mentor.  He’s in LA and doing fine, ready to wait this thing out.  I found out that one other friend had passed away last year and another work acquaintance too.  Getting old isn’t any easier if you beat the hell out of yourself when you were younger, and especially if you KEEP beating the hell out of yourself as you get older.

This might be a good time to take up some stretching and light exercise, if you haven’t been doing either of those.   Old and flexible and strong beats the snot out of old and frail and stiff.

Plan for today is more of the same.

Dinner was pork chops cut from a bulk pork roast and seasoned and vac sealed before freezing.  Canned BBQ beans, and canned peas.  I tried sauteing some cuttings from my broccoli, but they were bitter and tough.  Oh well.  Ice cream with the last of the cherry pie filling on top for dessert.

Stay in, stay safe.

n

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Thur. April 16. 2020 – spring can’t last much longer

Cool and sunny.  I hope.

Yesterday was another gorgeous day.  Sunny, cool (don’t think it got about 70 in the shade) with a nice breeze.  Perfect weather to wash the cars.  And the bins full of spoiled food.  And for working outside.

Spoke to my neighbor whose son is on the HPD.  He says they’re mostly letting the smaller stuff go.  I assumed that, but now it’s confirmed.  They are one of the smaller forces, per capita, and they can’t really afford to have guys out.  They are wearing masks now and gloves.  His son strips off in the garage before entering the house.  Son’s wife is a medical pro at a woman’s hospital in town so she leaves her stuff in the garage too.  Welcome to life with covid, hafta have a decon chamber at home if you’re in the wrong job.

More of the same stuff to do today as yesterday.  I’d like to get through another pallet of stuff, and maybe condense some of the remaining, as well as get some planting done.  It was on my list for yesterday but I never got to it.  My options are limited for root veg, so I’ll probably go with peas and squashes after all.

Garage shelves need cleaning and sterilizing too.  Then I need to decide what goes into the garage for now.  I’ll be looking for ways to expand the food storage in the garage and looking to see if I can get an A/C unit poked through one of the walls.  Need to call the generator guy too.

Jeez, I better get something done.

Dinner was leftovers.  Food is a weapon.

Stay in, stay safe.

 

nick

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Wed. April 15, 2020 – Tax day. Hah, fooled ya! H/T to wuflu…

Sunny, windy and cool.

Yesterday was just like Monday, possibly even nicer as it was just a bit cooler.  I’m hoping for more of the same today.

I did some more yard work, added dirt to the potato towers, pruned the grape vine that didn’t recover from this winter, sprinkled fertilizer on the raised beds and potted plants, and bundled more of the crepe murdered branches.  Watered everything.

I then went into the driveway to move more food from bins under the tarp to my new shelves.  Oh lordy.  I knew one bin was a loss, full of moldy boxes.  I was NOT prepared for the bin full of rusty cans, sewage, and huge maggoty looking things.*  About 150 cans destroyed.  Burst, rusted thru, totally rusted, and all missing paper labels.  One can of spam, one jar of peanut butter, one jar of spaghetti sauce, and one bottle of oil are about all that was salvageable and I’m not really sure I even want to wash them…  About $200 worth of food, maybe more.  The ‘moldy’ bin had a dozen pouches of meat, possibly recoverable, but just thrown out, one case of Kraft mac n cheese, a couple dozen freeze dried side dishes, and a bunch of hamburger helper.  All rotten and damp and moldy.  Not a cheap bin to lose.   Those black bins suck for long term storage in changing conditions.  Call it another $200 lost.

I did move two bins worth of dry goods to the shelves and got rid of a whole pallet under the tarps.  Two, possibly three bins left for tomorrow.  It’s worth mentioning that these bins were stacked three high, and were under tarps and in the shade the whole time.  I don’t think any water got into them directly, I think the changing temps and humid air “pumped” moist air in where it later condensed and couldn’t get back out.  The same bins at my secondary location where the temps were indoor temps with some A/C in the summer and no real cold in the winter were fine, and kept the food dry and safe.  The ones full of cans were the worst in my driveway.  I think the thermal mass of the cans is just that much higher and makes the problem worse.

Dinner was Taco Tuesday.   Fixin’s from the fridge.  Meat from pouches with best by of 2016.  The pouches were pre-seasoned “taco crumbles” hamburger, and pork carnitas chunks from Brazil.  Delicious and unchanged from new.  Dessert was Easter candy.

Some encouraging reports from ERs around the country, but that’s probably because the current restrictions are working.  Keep the faith, stay sane.

Stay in and stay safe.

 

nick

 

*I picked up the cans and threw them in the trash but have no idea what to do with the 2 inches of black water in the bin.  The stench is incredible, and I sure don’t want that in my driveway or yard.  I poured half a gallon of bleach in the bin and left it for today.  I might pour it in the gutter in the street, and then wash my truck to move the stink along.  I’d pour it into the sewer directly if I could do it without a dozen neighbors watching.

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Tues. April 14, 2020 – shiny keys

Should be a nice day.  [65F and sunny]

Yesterday was cool, bordering on chilly in the morning, rising to very nice in the afternoon and evening.  Sunny, a bit gusty, but very nice day.

So I worked outside.  Re-potted two trees.  Re-potted the last of the new pepper plants.  Added soil to both of the big trash bag potato towers.  They seem to be growing well.  Watered the gardens and potted plants.  Moved some grass from the kids’ sandbox to bare spots in the front yard.  Don’t know if that will ‘take’ but willing to try for the little effort it took.  Cleaned the pond filter box and changed the media.  Pond looks nice with a bunch of lily pads and one (remaining) goldfish.  The goldfish that went walkabout got his final resting place today too.  He’d been in the fridge while I waited to see if the kids were going to need a full funeral for this one.  Nope.  So under the other fish’s marker he went.  Moved a bunch of saplings in pots out of the raised bed to get ready for whatever I can still plant.  I’m thinking root veg.  Carrots did well, so did turnips, and they store well, and freaking squashes and beans do not.

The cabbages are doing well.  The broccoli is spindly and weak.  The collards are still alive but not really growing.  On the other hand, I’ve got budding fruit on the orange and grapefruit trees.  That’s a first for the grapefruit since the year I planted it.  The lemon and limes look ok too.  The peach is finally almost leafed out, and the pecan tree is too.  The blueberries continue to ripen, what few there are.  Still, they are fun for the kids.

Nothing in the window boxes from the radishes, turnips, and beets yet.  Planted the onion starts and they look good, and planted some lettuce.  Never had any luck with lettuce, so we’ll see how it does.  Ate one golf ball sized tomato with dinner, one left in the fridge.  That would be typically all I get before the heat stops tomato production.  Harvested a couple more sweet peppers off the old plants.

I’ve got material to build another 12 ft of window box for the fence, and some still needs new dirt and seeds.  We’re supposed to have some clear days so I’ll be in the driveway working on that.

Meanwhile, the fridge in the garage is emptying out.  It has more empty shelves right now than in the last 10 years.  I guess I should clean it…  Freezer is still full, and the chest freezer too.  Kitchen fridge is starting to empty, freezer is still full.  Weird seeing the stocks dwindle way past the point I usually fill things back up.  I haven’t had this few eggs on hand in years.  I may move some other stuff to the fridge to extend shelf life.  Or depending on conditions, I might make a store run.  Sure don’t want to.

Dinner was frozen fish fillets, buttered, seasoned and baked, with asparagus chopped and saute’d in butter with onions and a splash of soy sauce, canned corn, and warmed up hawaiian rolls.   Yum.  I had my leftover personal pie under ice cream, and the kids ate Easter candy.

I slept late and woke more rested than I have in many days.  I hope that continues.

Stay in, stay safe.

 

nick

 

(oh, I noticed that my keyboard is both filthy, and I’ve worn the satin finish off the keys to the underlying shiny plastic.  They’ll be even shinier when I clean the freaking thing.)

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