‘Shortbus’, ‘Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee’, T and D Cats of the World, zoysia woes, ‘Desperate Housewives, Season Three’ (posted from home)
(this post covers 9-20 September, 2007)
-----------------------------------------------------
Thursday, 20 September-
We felt much better this morning but we’ll have to change the work plan. We can’t just keep going as we had been—we just don’t have the stamina, especially now that it’s getting hotter. I continued digging the south side through the morning but then took a break after lunch and rode in to Starbucks for coffee and the Times. Labashi spent the afternoon prepping the northwest corner for planting—not digging but still a lot of work. She seems better able to work in the heat—probably because she does a lot more of it than I do!
That evening we watched the kickoff of ‘Survivor- China’.
------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, 19 September-
Today we bonked. We were trying to keep going to take advantage of the good weather but by mid-afternoon we were so exhausted we had to give up. We thought we’d just take the rest of the afternoon off and start again after supper but that just didn’t work. We can barely walk, much less dig. We finished ‘Desperate Housewives, Season Three’.
-------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, 18 September-
More digging today. Thank goodness for the nice weather and low humidity. This is a big hassle and we apparently underestimated what it’s going to take. We were hoping to get the west side done today but came up way short. The digging was going pretty well but now has bogged down as we hit an area with lots of clay, stones, and tree roots. Yikes!
-------------------------------------------------------
Monday, 17 September-
Today we started a not-so-fun project. The previous owner of our home had fallen for the zoysia-grass ads. You know—the ones in Parade Magazine which show the ‘miracle’ of zoysia grass (see http://www1.zoysiafarms.com/). The one detail they don’t mention is zoysia turns brown when night-time temperatures go consistently below 50 degrees. It looks like some vandal went wild on your lawn with Roundup. The zoysia people say the grass goes ‘dormant’ and ‘this is a natural process’. They don’t mention it’s very, very ugly. And spreads uncontrollably—even across the street into the neighbor’s yards.
About ten years ago Labashi hired a contractor to help her eliminate our zoysia grass and she and the contractor stripped all our grass and replanted anew. But about two years ago we saw the zoysia was back. So before we went away this summer Labashi used Roundup to kill an eight-foot swath the edge of our lawn. And now we’ve got to do something about it.
We spent the day digging. We first have to use a pitchfork, running it under the zoysia and lifting to peel back a two-inch-thick mass of roots. After kicking out the dirt from among the roots, we toss them aside to be wheel-barrowed away for later burning.
Then we dig in and overturn the soil, picking out stones and tree roots. What a hassle.
After an exhausting day, we watched three more ‘Desperate Housewives, Season Three’ episodes.
--------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, 16 September-
Today Labashi and I went to ‘T and D Cats of the World’, an oddly-named small- animal rescue facility near Penn’s Creek. We’ve visited several such facilities recently —one near Orlando, one in the Keys, one in Ontario— and always find something interesting. This one apparently started out specializing in cats and then grew. They have something on the order of 200 animals. We saw monkeys, black bears, tigers (including a Siberian!), wolf-dogs, deer, coatis, parrots, servals, cougars, leopards, lions, a fennec fox, emus, (and others!). And this is the first time we’ve seen a large number of the same animal. They have 19 cougars (and 19 servals)! Absolutely incredible! What a great place.
--------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, 15 September-
Today I took the KLR to Starbucks and then on to Lowe’s to buy a door strip to fix an occasional rain leak at the mud-room door. I see the strip will take some time to fit properly but I think it will do the job. The leak hasn’t really been causing any damage but has allowed a half-cup or so of water to pool on the concrete floor after a heavy rain coming from the east. Not exactly an emergency but I’d like to get it resolved.
-------------------------------------------------------
Friday, 14 September-
After spending the morning on the web, today’s major event was a jog at Rocky Ridge. With the cooler weather and a bit of a breeze, it went well and I made it under the 90- minute mark for the end-to-end course.
--------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, 13 September-
Not much going on today. I’ve been doing some trip planning on the web and mowed the lawn. That evening—more ‘Desperate Housewives’--- uh, the TV series.
--------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, 12 September-
Today I took the fishing boat to Lake Marburg to add some more break-in hours for the motor. The little Honda 20 has 8-1/2 hours of the ten-hour break-in on it and then I’ll give it it’s first oil change.
I did a silly thing today. I ran the boat out of gas. I didn’t want to use the old gas I had put in the tank back in June so I dumped that into the storage tank for my lawnmower. At the gas station I filled up the van but only put about a gallon into the boat’s tank, thinking I had only used about two gallons to put seven hours on the motor. I spent an hour and a half zooming around the lake and, sure enough, ran out of gas. That’s when it occurred to me that most of that other seven hours had been done at much lower throttle settings. Duhh!
Fortunately I had the electric trolling motor along so it was a simple matter of putting the motor down and using it instead. The electric motor supposedly will last for an hour and a half at full throttle and I figured I was about to find out if that’s true. But a half-hour later I made it back to the launch ramp. That would be a good thing to test (when I have the gas motor working!).
That evening we watched three more episodes of ‘Desperate Housewives’. Funny!
--------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, 11 September-
This morning I had an appointment with the periodontist for the next step with my dental implant—uncovering the implant and prepping for the permanent cap (will this ever be over?). Afterwards I spent a few hours at the local Borders bookstore browsing. Book prices have gotten so high that I don’t really consider buying books any more but I did notice that they don’t seem to be as high as book prices in Canada—and that’s before adding on Canada’s high taxes. That evening we watched ‘Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee’, an HBO movie with Aidan Quinn, Adam Beach, August Schellenberg, Anna Paquin, Wes Studi, and Gordon Tootoosis. Well worth a look. I see RT says it doesn’t have enough reviews to rate this film. I’d give it a 65 overall and something like a 75 for fans of Native American history films.
--------------------------------------------------------
Monday, 10 September-
I had some business with our bank to attend to so took care of that this morning and then spent a few hours at our regional library. After seeing many small libraries in our travels (most of them surprisingly good) I wondered how this one matches up. I was glad to see they have computers and have just recently added wireless. I spent most of my time browsing through the local and PA history area and found some very interesting books I need to borrow. But overall the collection is a little haphazard. They have some decent books but compared to libraries we saw in even the smallest towns in Manitoba this summer and small-town libraries in Florida we saw last winter, our local one is behind the times.
That evening we started Season Three of ‘Desperate Housewives’, one of our guilty pleasures.
---------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, 9 September-
I spent the morning updating the blog and working on the web. Later that afternoon Labashi and I joined my brother and his wife for dinner at Olive Garden.
My brother trailed our shared fishing boat to the restaurant so I could take custody.
That evening Labashi and I watched ‘Shortbus’ by John Cameron Mitchell. I see RottenTomatoes gives it a mid-50’s number. I’m not sure I’d go that high. The premise bothers me. Usually we are seeing someone’s ‘vision’, some story they want to tell. In this case the producers recruited actors for a movie which would include graphic sex. Once they found the ‘right’ people, they developed a story. The whole thing just seems too contrived.
========== end of 20 September post =======
(this post covers 9-20 September, 2007)
-----------------------------------------------------
Thursday, 20 September-
We felt much better this morning but we’ll have to change the work plan. We can’t just keep going as we had been—we just don’t have the stamina, especially now that it’s getting hotter. I continued digging the south side through the morning but then took a break after lunch and rode in to Starbucks for coffee and the Times. Labashi spent the afternoon prepping the northwest corner for planting—not digging but still a lot of work. She seems better able to work in the heat—probably because she does a lot more of it than I do!
That evening we watched the kickoff of ‘Survivor- China’.
------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, 19 September-
Today we bonked. We were trying to keep going to take advantage of the good weather but by mid-afternoon we were so exhausted we had to give up. We thought we’d just take the rest of the afternoon off and start again after supper but that just didn’t work. We can barely walk, much less dig. We finished ‘Desperate Housewives, Season Three’.
-------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, 18 September-
More digging today. Thank goodness for the nice weather and low humidity. This is a big hassle and we apparently underestimated what it’s going to take. We were hoping to get the west side done today but came up way short. The digging was going pretty well but now has bogged down as we hit an area with lots of clay, stones, and tree roots. Yikes!
-------------------------------------------------------
Monday, 17 September-
Today we started a not-so-fun project. The previous owner of our home had fallen for the zoysia-grass ads. You know—the ones in Parade Magazine which show the ‘miracle’ of zoysia grass (see http://www1.zoysiafarms.com/). The one detail they don’t mention is zoysia turns brown when night-time temperatures go consistently below 50 degrees. It looks like some vandal went wild on your lawn with Roundup. The zoysia people say the grass goes ‘dormant’ and ‘this is a natural process’. They don’t mention it’s very, very ugly. And spreads uncontrollably—even across the street into the neighbor’s yards.
About ten years ago Labashi hired a contractor to help her eliminate our zoysia grass and she and the contractor stripped all our grass and replanted anew. But about two years ago we saw the zoysia was back. So before we went away this summer Labashi used Roundup to kill an eight-foot swath the edge of our lawn. And now we’ve got to do something about it.
We spent the day digging. We first have to use a pitchfork, running it under the zoysia and lifting to peel back a two-inch-thick mass of roots. After kicking out the dirt from among the roots, we toss them aside to be wheel-barrowed away for later burning.
Then we dig in and overturn the soil, picking out stones and tree roots. What a hassle.
After an exhausting day, we watched three more ‘Desperate Housewives, Season Three’ episodes.
--------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, 16 September-
Today Labashi and I went to ‘T and D Cats of the World’, an oddly-named small- animal rescue facility near Penn’s Creek. We’ve visited several such facilities recently —one near Orlando, one in the Keys, one in Ontario— and always find something interesting. This one apparently started out specializing in cats and then grew. They have something on the order of 200 animals. We saw monkeys, black bears, tigers (including a Siberian!), wolf-dogs, deer, coatis, parrots, servals, cougars, leopards, lions, a fennec fox, emus, (and others!). And this is the first time we’ve seen a large number of the same animal. They have 19 cougars (and 19 servals)! Absolutely incredible! What a great place.
--------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, 15 September-
Today I took the KLR to Starbucks and then on to Lowe’s to buy a door strip to fix an occasional rain leak at the mud-room door. I see the strip will take some time to fit properly but I think it will do the job. The leak hasn’t really been causing any damage but has allowed a half-cup or so of water to pool on the concrete floor after a heavy rain coming from the east. Not exactly an emergency but I’d like to get it resolved.
-------------------------------------------------------
Friday, 14 September-
After spending the morning on the web, today’s major event was a jog at Rocky Ridge. With the cooler weather and a bit of a breeze, it went well and I made it under the 90- minute mark for the end-to-end course.
--------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, 13 September-
Not much going on today. I’ve been doing some trip planning on the web and mowed the lawn. That evening—more ‘Desperate Housewives’--- uh, the TV series.
--------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, 12 September-
Today I took the fishing boat to Lake Marburg to add some more break-in hours for the motor. The little Honda 20 has 8-1/2 hours of the ten-hour break-in on it and then I’ll give it it’s first oil change.
I did a silly thing today. I ran the boat out of gas. I didn’t want to use the old gas I had put in the tank back in June so I dumped that into the storage tank for my lawnmower. At the gas station I filled up the van but only put about a gallon into the boat’s tank, thinking I had only used about two gallons to put seven hours on the motor. I spent an hour and a half zooming around the lake and, sure enough, ran out of gas. That’s when it occurred to me that most of that other seven hours had been done at much lower throttle settings. Duhh!
Fortunately I had the electric trolling motor along so it was a simple matter of putting the motor down and using it instead. The electric motor supposedly will last for an hour and a half at full throttle and I figured I was about to find out if that’s true. But a half-hour later I made it back to the launch ramp. That would be a good thing to test (when I have the gas motor working!).
That evening we watched three more episodes of ‘Desperate Housewives’. Funny!
--------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, 11 September-
This morning I had an appointment with the periodontist for the next step with my dental implant—uncovering the implant and prepping for the permanent cap (will this ever be over?). Afterwards I spent a few hours at the local Borders bookstore browsing. Book prices have gotten so high that I don’t really consider buying books any more but I did notice that they don’t seem to be as high as book prices in Canada—and that’s before adding on Canada’s high taxes. That evening we watched ‘Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee’, an HBO movie with Aidan Quinn, Adam Beach, August Schellenberg, Anna Paquin, Wes Studi, and Gordon Tootoosis. Well worth a look. I see RT says it doesn’t have enough reviews to rate this film. I’d give it a 65 overall and something like a 75 for fans of Native American history films.
--------------------------------------------------------
Monday, 10 September-
I had some business with our bank to attend to so took care of that this morning and then spent a few hours at our regional library. After seeing many small libraries in our travels (most of them surprisingly good) I wondered how this one matches up. I was glad to see they have computers and have just recently added wireless. I spent most of my time browsing through the local and PA history area and found some very interesting books I need to borrow. But overall the collection is a little haphazard. They have some decent books but compared to libraries we saw in even the smallest towns in Manitoba this summer and small-town libraries in Florida we saw last winter, our local one is behind the times.
That evening we started Season Three of ‘Desperate Housewives’, one of our guilty pleasures.
---------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, 9 September-
I spent the morning updating the blog and working on the web. Later that afternoon Labashi and I joined my brother and his wife for dinner at Olive Garden.
My brother trailed our shared fishing boat to the restaurant so I could take custody.
That evening Labashi and I watched ‘Shortbus’ by John Cameron Mitchell. I see RottenTomatoes gives it a mid-50’s number. I’m not sure I’d go that high. The premise bothers me. Usually we are seeing someone’s ‘vision’, some story they want to tell. In this case the producers recruited actors for a movie which would include graphic sex. Once they found the ‘right’ people, they developed a story. The whole thing just seems too contrived.
========== end of 20 September post =======
posted by Bezabor&Labashi | 20:06
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home