From commentor Mental.Masala:
The most exciting thing to happen in my S.F. Bay Area garden is the result of my laziness and the unstoppable drive of plants to make seeds. The parsley plants in my raised beds have been exceptionally healthy and are flowering profusely. I also have some volunteer cilantro that quickly bolted and is also flowering. Both plants make wide platforms of tiny flowers, much like a Queen Anne’s Lace. The bees, flies, butterflies, dragonflies and other pollinators love the parsley and cilantro, especially the small native bees like the one in the photo. Once it warms up each day, the area around the flowers is abuzz with many species flying around and feeding.
After my last plea, I got an email from commentor Peter Cook:
I’m a longtime reader, occasional commenter, and all-around fan. I put up a post on my blog today about ripping out my front yard and replacing it with a big vegetable garden. I’m hoping you find it worthy of mention in the next Garden Chat…
Front yards are overrated. Sure, itâs good to have some grassy space to kick a ball or toss a disc with the kid, but otherwise lawn is a waste of square feet and resources, especially water. Rip out the grass, run a nice fence around it, and build some raised beds, though, and youâve got yourself a one-stop shop for food, physical activity, neighborly sharing, and epic curb appeal.
This garden takes up just about the entire former front yard of the new house, including the path to the front door from the driveway. We and any visitors have to walk through it every day, and I wouldnât have it any other way… It provided enough vegetables to get us through this entire last year without buying anything but a few guilty pleasures like artichokes. (I know they can be grown here, but itâs a two-year job and I havenât gotten around to it yet.) Between the freezer, which held vacuum-bagged greens of all descriptions plus a ton of pre-chopped mirepoix, pestos, salsas, and chutneys from our modest fruit haul and all of the various fermented thingsâkimchis, sauerkraut, shredded carrots with coriander, minced leeks with Thai chilies, pickled beetsâwhich sat in the basement and/or fridge, we were fully provisioned with enough plant food to inspire hundreds of excellent meals…
The garden is divided into three main zones. The first is the 28 raised beds that make up the bulk of it. Of these, two are now devoted to strawberries; initially it was just one but theyâre too good. I also transplanted a bunch of runners into the blueberry bed. That bed, plus the perimeter beds both inside and outside of the big fence, make up the second zone: fruit. Various currants, plus gooseberries and jostaberries (a currant-gooseberry hybrid) make up the underplantings, while above them I have espaliered plum, pear, and cherry trees. Hardy kiwis live in one little corner bed, and I have three kinds of native table grapes planted along the outside of the fence near the pergola; they made it close to the top last year and should begin to cover it (and fruit) this year. Thereâs a thornless blackberry patch outside the other corner, and a bed each of rhubarb and asparagus. The old garden in town had those two crops outside the fence and the deer ignored them; the deer here in the woods are hungrier, with less landscaping to eat, so they go after everything. I wish I had known that before I locked in this design, since the retrofitted fencing is not beautiful.
The third zone is the herb garden, between the stone walkway and the house. The only noteworthy plantings the previous owners added were in this area: savory, chives, lavender, thyme, and sage. I left all those right where they were and augmented them with more perennials: lovage, four kinds of mint, two oreganos, tarragon, anise hyssop, marjoram, wild garlic, and nasturtium (not a perennial, but they reseed themselves so same difference). I also planted sand cherries, beach plum, peaches, goji berry, elderberry, and a fig tree in this area, plus lots of day lilies which are both edible and beautiful. The beesânot ours, our neighborâsâlove this part. Watching them gangbang the savory and anise hyssop flowers at their peak is quite something…
Seriously, click over and read the whole thing; it includes lots of helpful technical advice, and more pics, including a layout plan to help you visualize things.
***********
Very inspirational reading for this much-less-ambitious front-yard gardener… well, growbags-on-the-asphalt-driveway-extension gardener, if I’m gonna be precise. At least I’ve finished transplanting all my mail-order tomato plants [note to self: ordering from five different companies is a bad idea, no matter how lavish it feels in February]. Lugged many 32gallon bags of fresh potting mix, slide-puzzled thirty-odd 10gal & 15gal rootpouches into wobbly rows in a configuration where all the plants get as much sunlight as possible and I can do most of the future tending & picking sitting down. Located all the bits to get the lightweight coiling hose and my favorite front-trigger nozzle hooked up to the one outside faucet around the back side of the house, and installed most of the tomato ladders. Some of the plants already have gumball-to-golfball-sized fruits swelling!
This afternoon, if I can finish getting those ladders into the bags without accidentally sheering off any tender vines, and then make a chart of where all the individual varieties from all the different companies ended up… well, then I can start the long process of tidying up the neglected flower-garden half of the front yard. It never ends!
What’s going on in your garden(s), this week?
NotMax
Figures that there’s something on the planet that likes cilantro.
Elizabelle
Go bees! Two very good posts. Peter’s garden sounds amazing.
OzarkHillbilly
@NotMax: Yeah, me.
raven
Spectacular! I always tease the princess that she has too many ideas but I’ll be sharing this with her. I mentioned last night that we went to a summer solstice party at an incredible house and grounds built built by a landscape architecture prof. The bonus was that the Athens Cowboy Choir performed down by the creek, Here’s The Streets of Laredo and Laura.
satby
I like cilantro too, but it always bolts too quickly for me. Thanks for making me feel like letting it go was a good thing Mental.Masala!
And I’m in awe of Peter Cook’s front yard, it looks great but I get tired just looking at the pictures!
Well done!
satby
I broke down at the farmer’s market Friday and bought a couple of tomato plants, and eggplant, and some Echinacea to plant into containers. Other than that, my gardening has been limited to weed fighting and I am losing. And I think the bunny family that is so adorable frolicking in my yard will probably eat all the bumper crop of red currents that I was expecting, since they started eating them before they even get ripe.
OzarkHillbilly
My gardening consists of weeding. Because of my lost winter, I am behind on everything and have no hope of catching up. Even so I have maters on the vine, a few sweet peppers starting to show, the beans have begun to climb the trellises, etc etc. But the big news from my homestead this week was decidedly not good: There was a mass murder Wed night, Thorsday morn. Then a couple mercy killings. The next night the killer returned to finish the job.
A weasel found a way into the chicken coop.
The one thing one needs to know about weasels is this: They like to kill. They will kill, and then kill some more, and then kill again. Eating very little. Because they can. They are the ninja assassins of the animal world. With chickens they are especially fond of…. Never mind, Probably too early in the morning for most folks. Suffice it to say, when I opened the hatch to the coop a cloud of feathers came wafting out. When I opened the door I came upon a scene that not even Jack the Ripper could have conjured.
That first morning I could not figure out how it got in. Looked everywhere, high and low, nothing. The next morning I finally found what I think was the hole in my defenses. Still not 100% certain. I am going to order some more Rhode Island Reds, Silver Laced Wyandottes, and Barred Rocks, maybe some Delawares, later today for delivery in 2 weeks. In the meanwhile, I am going to clean out every nook and cranny of the coop so that nothing can can be missed, reinforce any perceived weak spots, and start over.
Death is a part of life too.
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: Damn
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: that’s sad. It’s bad enough when a predator kills for sustenance, but at least it’s nature being her cruel self. Just killing for the hell of it I thought was an exclusively human trait.
rikyrah
Good Morning ?, Everyone ?
satby
Good morning rikyrah!
OzarkHillbilly
@satby: There are a # of species that engage in that behavior. It too is a part of nature. I try not to think of it as a good or bad thing. It is just a thing I would prefer to avoid. Hence I have no intention of trapping and killing it. Right now my place is a smorgasbord of varmints for it to eat: Gophers, mice, chipmunks, squirrels, rabbits… So I’d like it to stick around and reduce their populations more than just a little. In a couple weeks I will take steps to deter his continued presence around here.
Mustang Bobby
@OzarkHillbilly: Damn, that’s sad.
My chili pepper vanda orchid is putting out some late spring/early summer blooms. I don’t know much about the cycles of orchids except that they are supposed to bloom maybe once or twice a year. This one is doing it once every three or four months.
OzarkHillbilly
@Mustang Bobby: Beautiful.
Amir Khalid
@satby:
i seem to remember that Jane Goodall’s people found out some depressing things about chimpanzees and the practice of warfare.
p.a.
Talk about bee-loved plants, my huge, 30+ year old Rose of Sharon died several years ago, its spot replaced by a central air unit, but last year I noticed its offspring just on my neighbors’ side of our fenceline. Unfortunately it took directly among the canes of their rose bush (he’s an indifferent gardener, she ‘never touches the stuff’) so the plant is safe, but a transplant is out. I’ll try some cuttings.
TheMightyTrowel
@p.a.: i have 2 very unkempt rose of sharons in my front garden. Next time there’s a sunny weekend I’m going to try to prune them back.
BillinGlendaleCA
@NotMax: We love cilantro.
karen marie
@OzarkHillbilly: I tried to keep ducks, many decades ago, in Connecticut, and had the same problem. We literally nailed shut the coop door every night, and they still managed to kill every duck three times running. I finally gave up.
Betty Cracker
@OzarkHillbilly: Damn, that sucks. I always worry about something getting past our defenses and wiping out the flock. It would be very upsetting.
OzarkHillbilly
@Betty Cracker: I was not overly emotionally attached to them, but I did feel a certain responsibility for their health and well being, thus I feel more than a little guilt at the terror they must have endured.
JPL
What an amazing post. Peter’s garden is amazing.
@OzarkHillbilly: Death and destruction sounds like a new theme for Trump. yuck
OzarkHillbilly
In an effort to beat the heat, I’m gonna head out and get busy on the weeding. Ya’ll play nice now.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: I can’t have an animal around me without getting emotionally attached. Sorry for you loss.
Botsplainer, Neoliberal Corporate Shill
Camping in Giant City State Park in Southern Illinois. Really nice campground. Yesterday, we went to see the stone wall that nobody can explain (I guess the mound builders constructed it). We also hiked the Little Grand Canyon and visited the tiny town of Makanda.
satby
@p.a.: they seed like crazy and grow pretty fast, so snag some seeds and you should be able to grow a few replacements.
ThresherK (GPad)
Spousal ThresherK bought a fuschia, and hung it on a pre-existing hook next to the big sliding deck door. I joked that we hard deck invaders leaving plants in our rental unit.
So about 5pm I’m going by the window and I see a hummingbird at the plant! This is our second summer here. I called her over but it zipped away first. I’m sure she’ll get rewarded for her efforts by seeing it soon.
satby
@ThresherK (GPad): get a hummingbird feeder! They’re really entertaining to watch; they’ll zoom between the fuchsia and the feeder and if they’re male, chase each other away.
ThresherK (GPad)
@satby: Oh, and if we think they’re fun to watch, I’m waiting for our two cats to notice.
aimai
@OzarkHillbilly: I am so sorry about the weasel, something I never thought I’d be typin gon a blog. But that sounds horrifying!
Betty Cracker
@Baud: I’m the same way! I fret over the chicken’s relationships with each other, FFS: “OMG, Dorito is bullying Fuzzbutt!” I’m clearly not cut out to be a farmer…
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
I hate that cruelty part of Nature, especially when it’s done just because they can.
aimai
@BillinGlendaleCA: Yes, I love cilantro too! It never occured to me that when it bolted the flowers might be good for attracting bees. Of course, my daughter is massively bug phobic so this has crimped my gardening quite a bit.
Gelfling545
I’m trying to water again today. We have not had much rain at all this spring and everything is so dry that the water is just running off the soil. 90degrees here today & an air quality alert -which we almost never have- so not much gardening will be done by me.
When I need cilantro I buy it fresh from my grocery store. I planted it one year and spent about 5 years after trying to pull it out of inappropriate spots including the asphalt driveway. Never again. And the stuff bolts in a minute so there’s no controlling it. It’s on my list of bully plants along with mint, English ivy, rose of Sharon, lamb’s ear & hollyhock all of which will sneak around your garden seeding -or suckering in the case of the ivy- everywhere. I’ve spent more time than I’d care to think of trying to eradicate all of the above.
MattF
OT. Interesting MoDo column today. No link because obvious reasons.
But still… She explains why she’s been relatively easy on Der Trump. The short explanation is that he conned her– in their private conversations, Trump was intelligent and reasonable– and told her what she wanted to hear. And there was the implicit flattery. So, she fell for it. And now, backsies. It’s not a pretty story, but I’ll give her a couple of points for telling it.
On topic, I hate cilantro.
debbie
@MattF:
Right. Let’s see how her columns change. I’m doubtful.
Betty Cracker
@MattF: Jesus, what an infuriating column. Trump has a decades-long record of public racism and misogyny. Even if Dowd was thick-headed enough to believe that didn’t reflect his true feelings until this week, did she not see the danger in whipping up racist, sexist and nihilist anger in the electorate to capture the nomination?
Even Dowd isn’t that goddamn dumb. What happened is it finally dawned on her that her failure to call out a dangerous demagogue reflects poorly on her, so this is her post-hoc justification. She gets no credit from me.
Amir Khalid
@MattF:
I read that MoDo column. She gives Donald too much credit for having coherent policy positions, when his habit is to say whatever comes into his head regardless of whether it’s consistent with what he said yesterday. Then she ends her column with this:
Now? Trump’s behaviour has always cast serious doubt on whether heâs qualified to be president.
Baud
@MattF: Isn’t that precisely how the Village has been treating the GOP for years now? They ignore what Republicans say and do in public because they act differently at the cocktail parties and soirees that the Villagers love to be seen at.
JPL
@Baud: Yes! The current President receives a lot of criticism, because he doesn’t meet and greet the repubs enough. Obama would rather have dinner with his family, rather that McConnell.
I call that family values.
rikyrah
That garden up above is beautiful. I am in awe of all that they were able to plant.
rikyrah
@JPL:
And I love our President for treating the Villagers with the contempt that they deserve.
rikyrah
Happy Father’s Day to all the guys out there taking care of business.
Mike J
@JPL:
When he took office they had a cocktail party every week (Wednesday, I think?) with a standing invite for congress. Boehner told Obama he just could not be seen talking to him. Obama has bent over backwards to let Republicans speak to him.
WaterGirl
@ Peter Cook I clicked over to your blog. Wow. Amazing. Did you quit your day job to do all this gardening?
@Betty Cracker: You made me laugh. Laughing with you, not at you.
@Betty Cracker:
You’ve got that right. Ugh.
WaterGirl
Off to water for a bit before going to swim. I am getting very tired of these 90+ degree days. Hey, I harvested my first zucchini yesterday! Bad me, I forgot to take a photo before I ate it for dinner.
My swim has a new owner, and they have added a 10-noon lap swim on weekends before the rest of the pool opens at noon. I was the only one there yesterday. I must be the only one to read the fine print on their schedule – works for me, I love it when I’m the only one there. (besides the life guards)
P.S. @ Mental.Masala Those flowers are gorgeous! okay, I’m really going now.
ThresherK
@Betty Cracker: Somewhere in MoDo’s mind: “He may be a misogynist, but he’s never done that to me! He means those other, less worthy women.”
Betty Cracker
@ThresherK: Yep. She’s made a tidy sum and racked up tons of accolades in part by tearing down other women (see Clinton, Hillary R.).
raven
No one liked my cowboy choir?
satby
@Betty Cracker: She is that special kind of mean girl we all knew in H.S. who always stabbed other girls in the back to get in good with the jocks and in-crowd. And I would bet real money she gloats about how jealous people are when they complain about her columns. It would never occur to her that it’s not jealousy, it’s contempt.
satby
@raven: I thought MomSense complimented it.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@MattF:
She must have been in a coma during the birtherism.
Obviously she’s lying. She hates the Clintons so much she was reaching for any blunt instrument, no matter how grimy.
anyhoo, she’s been irrelevant for the past 10 years. I never ever see anyone retweet or repost her columns. Contrast that with K-Thug and Maddow who’s work are constantly in high circulation, even by those who don’t agree with them.
schrodinger's cat
Dropped Laptop Saga Day III : Question for Balloon Juice tech experts.
I figured out what is wrong with the WiFi connection. All the network adapters are enabled but the physical switch that turns the WiFi radio on doesn’t work. Can this be fixed? The laptop in question is Dell Latitude E6400.\
Thanks!
Peter
@WaterGirl: I swear it doesn’t take that much work. Though I am lucky enough to mostly work at home so I can take occasional breaks to go out and do something physical.
debbie
@raven:
I liked your description last night of the evening. Sounded very lovely.
Peter
Hey all,
Thanks for linking to my blog, and for all your compliments. One small correction: my last name isn’t Cook (not that it matters). The blog has an “About” page with a bio. And to answer the most common question on here, because of how I designed it it doesn’t take a massive amount of work to maintain. There’s a big push every spring to prep beds and get them planted, and then harvesting and processing for pantry and freezer makes for some busy weekends toward the end of summer, but otherwise there’s very little weeding thanks to my no-till approach and low maintenance pathways. In my old garden, I spent as much time weeding the paths as I did the beds. This one fixed all that. Anyone with questions, ask away.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@raven: I did!!! I bet that’s not a surprise to you.
Thank you for sharing it.
debbie
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
She’s always been very catty about other women, not just Clinton.
WaterGirl
@Peter: I always take people at their word until I have reason not to, but I have to confess that I’m giving you a little bit of side-eye at the moment. :-) Hard to believe that doesn’t take a ton of work! Maybe it doesn’t really feel like work because you love it?
WaterGirl
@debbie: Maureen Dowd has issues. Not that we don’t all have issues, but she displays hers most every week without even a tiny bit of self-awareness.
WaterGirl
@raven: I did! I listened to it while I read the garden chat. Still hoping for the video you mentioned last night. Hoping you get permission to share it.
Peter
@WaterGirl: There’s no question that I enjoy it. The bulk of the serious effort is concentrated in spring and late summer; the rest is pretty easy. And the food is its own reward.
debbie
@WaterGirl:
An Irish-American daughter jealous of her father’s attentions to her brothers, basically, but now there’s an edge of spite that wasn’t there before.
rikyrah
AAmom @AVD911
#FathersDay
Obama’s most unusual legacy? Being a good dad.
6:47 AM – 19 Jun 2016
MattF
Reply all:
I generally agree with all of you about MoDo, with one (major!) caveat. She was steadfast against the war in Iraq. She saw Colin Powell on the teevee and knew immediately that he was lying. And then wrote about it. I had the identical reaction at that time, and wondered why no one else seemed to see it. It’s a big deal for me, so I’m somewhat predisposed in her favor.
rikyrah
Dems plan rude awakeningâ for Trump in summer onslaught
Associated Press 3:38 p.m. EDT June 18, 2016
NEW ORLEANS â Donald Trumpâs unconventional campaign is about to feel the heat of political organization.
Hillary Clinton and her Democratic allies have invested at least $41 million in commercials in crucial states such as Ohio, Florida and Nevada over the next six weeks, a series of summer broadsides against her Republican opponent. Those messages will be echoed by hundreds of Clinton workers in those same states and amplified by President Barack Obama and other top Democrats.
Trump has made few preparations for contending with that sort of well-oiled political machine. His campaign has no advertising plans and is just now hiring employees in important states. Republican leaders are far from in agreement on how best to talk to voters about the polarizing billionaire, or if they will at all. And Trump is running out of time: Early voting starts in Iowa in just 3 1 / 2months.
âItâs political malpractice,â said Mitch Stewart, Obamaâs 2012 battleground states director and a Clinton backer. âHeâs in for a rude awakening. This isnât a national vote contest where you can be on cable news every day and dominate coverage. This is literally going state by state and coming up with a plan in each.â
Oldgold
The gardens featured in these posts are wonderful. They make my pea patch look pretty damn shabby. Oh well, they give me something to aspire to – next year.
rikyrah
Dems step up Grassley attacks
06/19/16 06:00 AM EDT
Democrats are increasingly laying a hammer to Sen. Chuck Grassley as they seek to unseat the Iowa Republican.
Grassleyâs Senate seat is widely handicapped as likely to stay in the GOP column, but Democrats believe the rise of Donald Trump and the fight over the Supreme Court are providing the perfect storm for taking out the six-term GOP incumbent.
rikyrah
Ryan: I have to support Trump
06/19/16 09:02 AM EDT
House Speaker Paul Ryan says itâs his responsibility to support Donald Trump, even if the presumptive Republican nomineeâs bombast occasionally makes him uncomfortable.
Ryan told Chuck Todd of NBCâs âMeet the Pressâ that he feels an obligation as the leader of the House Republicans to back Trump, warts and all. To do otherwise, he said, would divide the party and ultimately lead to a third consecutive Democratic victory in Novemberâs presidential election.
MattF
@rikyrah: Ryan is also chair of the Republican convention, so unendorsing Der Trump would create a huge mess. Which is not to say he shouldn’t do the right thing, but one can see why it’s so hard for him.
Oldgold
@rikyrah:
Those things and this: Grassley is showing his age – badly. That expressed, Patty Judge’s political ineptitude probably saves the Old Fool.
Ben Cisco
@schrodinger’s cat: If the physical switch is inoperative, the wires connecting it to the main board may be loose/disconnected. They could probably be re-soldered, but that presumes that the board itself isn’t damaged. A really competent technician could probably address this for you without it costing too much…
redshirt
This is probably an excuse, but one of the reasons I don’t garden in a big way is I don’t want to have to go to war with the forest around me, which I feel I’d have to do eventually.
I’ve already found out how frustrating it can be to simply have bird feeders. I don’t want to bring all the deer (and their ticks) to my yard.
Miss Bianca
@OzarkHillbilly: Weasel slaughter, oh no!
I would love to have chickens, but my Siberian Husky loves to kill, as well. (she’s already done in one of my friend’s chickens. Fortunately, the friend, a fox-hunting colleague, was cool about it. I was mortified to have forgotten that chicks were being housed in the greenhouse, and the door was open.) She is on permanent vermin patrol around the house.
In gardening news not much to report save that the spinach/mustard mix is going gangbusters and the worm bin is cranking out rich castings like nobody’s business.
redshirt
@Ben Cisco: Agreed. It’s gonna cost a fair amount of money if you don’t already have a service contract. Mainly for the tech’s time.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
damn, very sorry to hear that
schrodinger's cat
@Ben Cisco: Do you think I can attempt to undertake this on my own. I have upgraded another laptop before by adding more memory and putting in a new harddrive. I haven’t soldered anything since electronics lab which I took as an undergrad.
schrodinger's cat
@Ben Cisco: Also. can I fix this problem without opening the laptop?
jeffreyw
@schrodinger’s cat: You might try a USB wifi dongle as a work around until a tech can crack the case. They make some very small ones if you use it in an area with good signal.
Steeplejack
@schrodinger’s cat:
If the on/off switch is physically broken, the easiest fixâfor your general problem, not the switchâis to get a USB wi-fi adapter. They start at about $9 and go up to $25-30. This Edimax EW7811 is an Amazon bestseller at $8.95. You can get it tomorrowâor even today, depending on your location. This LB1 adapter is $19 and gets pretty good reviews.
To see other options, search for âUSB wi-fi adapters.â Read the reviews and see which factors might apply to you (e.g., laptop travels a lot or stays at home, typical signal strength from router, etc.). If your laptop mostly stays at home and is physically close to the router, a wired connection is the better way to go.
I haven’t used these specific adapters. I did use an older-generation USB adapter on a desktop computer several years ago, and it worked fine. Much less trouble than hunting down (and paying) the (elusive) competent technician.
Note: This is one of many computer categories where a product sometimes get a bad review because the reviewer, to be blunt, doesnât know what heâs doing. Factor that in.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Ben Cisco: I agree with the diagnosis.
I have an E6400 as well. It’s a good machine, but a bit heavy.
Something that may work, if taking it somewhere is a problem, is to try a USB WiFi dongle. I think it should work independent of the WiFi switch. I have one of these on a different laptop and it works fine. $20.
Cheers,
Scott.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@jeffreyw: GMTA. :-)
Cheers,
Scott.
Ultraviolet Thunder
No gardening today. Yesterday I tackled out of control Baltic ivy and euonymous vines that were taking over the shrubbery. Cut 2 and a half bags full and it hardly looks touched. Pulled vines out of the furiously blooming prickly pear cactus patch and got myself painfully poked. Pulled a lot of tree seedlings and a few weeds. Swept the paving, cut dead branches from trees and nearly fainted from the heat.
Today I’m hurting. Bad. Like 600mg Ibuprofen bad. This ground cover and evergreen thing is supposed to be low maintenance but a couple of times a year I have to knock myself out maintaining control.
schrodinger's cat
@Steeplejack: I have a Belkin USB WiFi adapter, it does not detect any WiFi signal.
SiubhanDuinne
@raven:
Lovely! Streets of Laredo always makes me cry (in that good music-cry way). Thanks for posting this.
trollhattan
Tomatoes are producing like gangbusters, which is unheard of before spring has ended. Put them in early and it got hot, unlike every other time I took the risk. Climate schmimate.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Ultraviolet Thunder: I’ve got a bunch of ivy climbing all over part of our backyard fence. I hate ivy. :-( Even when I manage to get rid of it for a while, birds seem to “reseed” it eventually. And, naturally, if I wait too long, then poison ivy ends up in it, also too.
Too many people seem to think that “low maintenance ground cover” means that it will automatically stop at some boundary. It almost never does…
Rest easy.
Cheers,
Scott.
Shelley
Im one of those people who feels cilantro tastes soapy. But I think how its prepared has a lot to do with it. When it first became real popular, it seemed cooks just dumped loads of it into any dish. But the other day I had a Mexican dish where it was beautifully incorporated, instead of hitting yo over the head.
The Lodger
@schrodinger’s cat: If you’re uncertain of your soldering skills, I’d advise against DIY on any equipment you really need. If your laptop is out of warranty, is there a good local repair shop in your neighborhood? We have one who has saver our bacon any number of times.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@OzarkHillbilly:
Weasels. Yeah, no. I think fisher cats are in the weasel family, and their favorite food is porcupine. They kill, just to kill too. You will see no pictures on One Green Planet or some of those other websites of cute interspecies friendships between anything in the weasel family and anything they would kill.
delk
Seems like every year there is an article about some home owners getting in trouble over front yard gardens.
Oh and Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers out there.
Steeplejack
@schrodinger’s cat:
Possibly stupid question:
Assuming that the Belkin is attached to the computer, have you run the network setup program for it? Typically you have only one wi-fi device in operation at a time, so the Belkin should have been deactivated when the internal wi-fi adapter was in use. Now you need to run the setup routine to tell the computer (and network) to use the Belkin. (And also the internal wi-fi adapter should be deactivated in the network setup, if itâs still showing up.)
ETA: And do you know that the Belkin adapter works?
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@schrodinger’s cat: Bummer.
It’s not hard to remove the back on the E6400 to see what’s going on with it, but it looks like getting to the switch is a bit involved. Here’s a video.
Was the USB dongle controlled by the switch in the past? Is there a “keyboard shortcut” to toggle the WiFi (I don’t have my E6400 handy).
Good luck.
Cheers,
Scott.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Shelley:
My local banh mi lady’s doctor daughter said some of us produce an enzyme, which I have, which interprets something in cilantro as soap. She’s Vietnamese (obvs) and tasted the soapy taste one day and asked her dishwasher to re-clean all of her utensils and cutting boards. It wasn’t soap, and it’s only happened once to her.
chopper
thanks to our early warm up this year my tomatoes are going gangbusters. five feet high and rising. which is good for Seattle.
schrodinger's cat
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: @Steeplejack: The Belkin USB dongle works. I am using it right now with my Dell desktop. When I connect it to the laptop it doesn’t detect any Wifi networks.
trollhattan
@Shelley:
Key ingredient in salsa and pico de gallo. Mexican food uses the stuff liberally. Thai and Vietnamese seem to as well.
trollhattan
@schrodinger’s cat:
Is the USB port functioning?
schrodinger's cat
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: I have not had to use the USB dongle with the laptop. I use it on my old desktop.
schrodinger's cat
@trollhattan: Yes, I think so. I will confirm.
schrodinger's cat
@Shelley: Cilantro tastes qutie different when cooked. When used as a garnish, use it in moderation and use only the tender leaves on top. I make s cilantro pesto (or chutney) with coconut, which is delicious.
Eric U.
@Amir Khalid: I think the press has always been complicit in Trump’s business. They have fluffed him from the first time I ever heard of him decades ago. He uses that to entice people to do business with him, and then he screws them out of their money. Hopefully the exposure he’s getting during this election season ruins him.
ThresherK (GPad)
@debbie: Ayup. And more than just Hillz, Warren, Tabby (sic autocorrect!) Giffords, or any other Dem female. if Dowd’s capable of understanding someone below her station’s discontent with anything I haven’t seen it.
Does she take on things like sexual violence, or TRAP laws and Planned Parenthood? A fear of mine is that some day she’ll wake up in a fog and say, “People complain I don’t write about issues, huh? I’ll show them!”
Miss Bianca
Cat people! (wait, that came out wrong)
Cat fanciers! Any tips for quick and dirty kitty meds dispensing? I have to dose one of the Office Kitties with ringworm meds for a month (!!), which will give her plenty of time to learn to scratch and bite. Any tips on kitten wrangling for meds administration? I can scruff her with one hand and administer the syringe with the other, but that leaves no third hand for prying that stubborn little mouth open. Help!
Steeplejack
@schrodinger’s cat:
Forgive me if I’m pointing out the bleedingly obvious, but I want to be clear: you don’t just plug the Belkin dongle into a USB port on your laptop and it “works.” You have to go into the network settings on your laptop and (a) tell it to use the dongle to connect to the network and (b) configure the connection (and typically enter the network password). And you need to tell the laptop not to use the previous network connection (if it’s still showing up as active).
the Conster, la Citoyenne
OT, but it’s too pathetic not to share:
jeffreyw
@schrodinger’s cat: Go into network setting and see if the dongle is recognized, you will need to disable the built in card and enable the dongle, also you will need to re-enter any password to connect to your wifi network.
moonbat
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: Annie Dillard wrote a great essay about the fierceness of weasels and how she admired it But her chicken coop had probably not just been cleaned out when she did…
Peter
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: @Shelley: Do you have the same experience with coriander (cilantro seeds used as a spice)? If not, it’s a beautiful plant to let flower and go to seed. A small patch can yield a year’s worth of coriander for the spice drawer.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Peter:
I planted coriander once in some big tubs off a huge brick patio and let it go to seed, and it wanted to seed itself in every crack between every brick for years. So, I learned the hard way that it’s easier to just buy coriander seeds.
Your garden is stunning, and there’s nothing more satisfying than harvesting your own food. Since I’ve moved to a duplex with a deck and a little side yard, I’ve only planted a few flowers for cutting. I’m lucky to live walking distance to a farm stand that sells only the best locally grown organic fruits and vegetables, so I’m off the hook on summer weekends.
raven
@WaterGirl: I embedded it this morning.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Shelley: It’s a taste receptor genetic thing. I’m in that group also, though I’m working on increasing my tolerance.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@moonbat-
That was beautiful. Thank you! “our eyes locked and someone threw away the key”. I’ll have to go find Pilgrim at Tinker Creek now – started it and never finished.
Ben Cisco
@schrodinger’s cat: We’re talking very small circuits here, and a solder burn in the wrong place could brick the unit altogether, so no.
Also, the unit would have to not only be opened but basically disassembled in order to do this.
Ben Cisco
@jeffreyw: @Steeplejack: These are both correct, and would most likely be the permanent solution to your problem.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@schrodinger’s cat:
Very unlikely that this is repairable. I can solder a 200 micron joint and I have never successfully repaired a SMD computer board. Just too small. Leave that to the wave soldering machines and the robots. Sorry.
moonbat
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: You won’t be sorry (re: Pilgrim). A beautiful book!
trollhattan
@the Conster, la Citoyenne:
Oh, that’s precious. Should we snag a Rasmussen poll to decide who’s president?
Deliver us from morans.
germy
Saw this at McSweeneys:
ThresherK (GPad)
@Miss Bianca: My BestCatEver was always catching colds and I had to often give her nose drops. I swear she could close her nostrils individually at will, like a dolphin’s blowhole. But clipping her nails was a joy, like playtime for her.
Sorry, no advice. Some cats are easier than others to be healthstaff to.
Iowa Old Lady
I see Trump is heading for the UK late this week. I wonder if he’ll be able to offer insights on Brexit and maybe comfort those mourning Jo Cox.
Meanwhile, at home, the Rs contemplate how to accomplish Trexit.
And early voting starts here in just over 3 months.
germy
@Ultraviolet Thunder:
And so it begins…
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@trollhattan:
Polls taken by a unicorn farting rainbow sprinkled cupcakes and wearing a “Bernie is magical” t-shirt. More and more I become convinced that the Bernie dead enders are on the spectrum – they’re exhibiting all the symptoms of every kid I know who suffers from that disorder, like getting “stuck” on a thing. It’s hard to come up with another explanation for completely delusional and disordered thinking at this point in the face of all the metrics of the primaries, and either Bernie is a grown up babyman with the same problem, or he’s a clinical narcissist in denial with active delusions of grandeur exploiting, and enjoying, this kind of delusion. It’s not the behavior of mentally healthy adults. It’s a cult now.
schrodinger's cat
Success at last! It works! I had to install the drivers for Belkin and reboot the computer. Thanks so much for all your help in trouble shooting.
Steeplejack, Ben Cisco and IMNSWIWTBY.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@schrodinger’s cat: Woot!
Cheers,
Scott.
J R in WV
@OzarkHillbilly:
Many years ago a neighbor/farmer was making organic pasta with whole wheat flour and his farm-raised outdoor all day chickens, when he had a weasel attack. He wound up putting a cot in the coop and spending the night out there, with a floodlight and an open choke shotgun.
He blew several holes in the coop and killed several hens, but he got the weasel. He was the cowboy of the chicken coop~!!
Think a live trap with a chicklet in it might work? Cause in a neighborhood blasting away with a shotgun might be dangerous. Where he was, in a hollow, there was nothing in range of the chicken barn to damage… it was a splendid purpose built thing.
Baud
@germy:
“I supported Baud!”
Steeplejack (phone)
@schrodinger’s cat:
Congratulations! You can still do some soldering, if you want. Just not on the computer.
WaterGirl
@Miss Bianca: Pill pockets for kitties. Mine like the chicken flavored ones. My vet carries them and so do all the pet stores.
Miss Bianca
@moonbat: That is one amazing piece of writing. I wonder if I could find “Pilgrim” as an audiobook…it’s one of those books I’ve always meant to read and I have a feeling it would make an exceptional read-aloud…
@WaterGirl: thx! I’m going in armed with a towel, some pill pockets, and a bit of chicken skin for afters…
germy
@WaterGirl: I think she said she was using a syringe for liquid medicine.
All cats are different. When I had to administer liquid meds, I would use my left hand to cup over her head and open her jaws (gently) and then squirt the meds in. Then let her go. I don’t think she ever completely forgave me.
ThresherK
@germy: “My water is hand-drawn and locally sourced!”
Jack the Second
The post mentions caterpillar problems– have you tried Btk (Bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki)? It is a highly selective pesticide which primarily targets caterpillars and other worm-like pests. It is bee-safe and mammal-safe.
I’m trying it out this year after caterpillars stripped a couple of my young fruit trees last year; so far it seems to be effective at controlling the caterpillar population. New caterpillars occasionally show up (it washes off in the rain, and there is a large caterpillar-reservoir in the adjacent woodlots), but it has stopped their progress stripping trees — last year it was 1 tree a day, and while they got one before I found somewhere that sold Btk, they haven’t stripped a tree since.
germy
@ThresherK: “I’m having trouble getting Balloon-Juice to load!”
The Lodger
@schrodinger’s cat: Mazel tov!
Mike J
WaterGirl
@Miss Bianca: @germy: Reading comprehension fail! so sorry.
germy
@Mike J: He’s so young. I thought republicans didn’t believe in early retirement. Don’t they want to raise the retirement age to 73?
The Thin Black Duke
@Mike J: What?!? Naw, Uncle Thomas gotta be fucking with us. But still, talk about winning a karmic lottery ticket…
Iowa Old Lady
@Mike J: Woo hoo!
ETA: That article says he likes to spend summers in his RV.
J R in WV
@debbie:
Yes indeed, murder on a mass scale. Once, at least 20 years ago, while we were building the big new house up the hollow behind the now gone farmhouse (shack), I was walking between, mid winter, really cold below zero snow, with young airedale mix rescue dog, when she caught a weasel !!
She shook it so hard I was sure it was dead from broken spine, and tossed it into the air as they will with their toys. Once she missed the catch, and it took off when it hit the ground, disappearing into a snow bank in the creek rocks where this all took place. Annie worked those rocks for an hour trying to raise that weasel again, but it was into a tunnel in the rocks.
Never saw it again.
Also saw a mink in deep winter once in another nearby hollow when going to visit neighbors, it stared at us, dumfounded to see humans where we were. Then it disappeared over the creek bank. It was beautiful, compared to the weasel. Deep chocolate fur, really thick.
Things are too close to suburban now to see these wild things very often. It was different when we moved out here. Now we’re 20 minutes from Walmart, before we were an hour+ to the nearest town.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Mike J: It’s the Examiner, so use a critical eye…
Cheers,
Scott.
germy
@Iowa Old Lady:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/earl-ofari-hutchinson/clarence-thomas-continues_b_10116202.html
moonbat
@Mike J: Does the FSM love us this much?
germy
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:
.
You’re right.
So far that’s the only news source I see reporting it…
The Lodger
@Mike J: My guess is, PBO read that and told Michelle, “Damn. We’ll never get out of DC now.”
Baud
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: That makes sense then. It’s bullshit to try to goose turnout.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Mike J:
Proving without a doubt that he was Scalia’s sock puppet.
Peter
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: It’s an assertive volunteer for sure. I just let it come back wherever it wants to and work around it. I’m also addicted to fresh green coriander; it’s a magic hybrid of the leaf and the spice.
The Lodger
@The Lodger: If it was the Examiner,then he probably won’t hear about it till the sick humor section of the daily news briefing.
J R in WV
@schrodinger’s cat:
My techie neighbor doesn’t like Dell, he says they use non-standard parts (like wifi devices) so that local repair shops have trouble fixing them. That said, a good local shop may be able to repair/replace the wifi device. I forget where you are now, but there are geeks with little shops most everywhere I’ve ever been lately.
Or you may be able to send it to Dell, but that would put you without for at least weeks. Locally I would expect either success or failure in a week or so. DO you have an ethernet cable plug? We have a laptop with failed wifi, and I just use a cable to the router. 50 feet long is long enough for our upstairs. Cost like $9,95 or so.
p.a.
Quick tip for gardening and home security (zones 4/5 at least): plant firethorn bushes by ground level windows that you won’t need to access from outside. Small white blossoms sweat bees love, pretty red berries that birds ( in my area at least) seem relatively indifferent to. Great cover to hang feeders in. You will curse me at pruning time and when retrieving feeders.
Mike J
@The Lodger: Yeah, I looked at the source and almost didn’t post. But then I figured it’s like having a lottery ticket. You know the great outcome probably won’t happen, but everybody likes to daydream about changing the world.
p.a.
@Mike J: SOB will probably stick around if Hils wins.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Peter:
“assertive volunteer” is a nice name for those things I usually refer to as “that f**king PITA plant”. Getting rid of the front yard is genius though – I wish I had all the time back I’ve wasted pulling grass out of the places I didn’t want it to grow, and trying to get it to grow in the places I did. Then mowing it all, of course. Lawns and trees are way overrated.
trollhattan
@Mike J:
Could our dream of dreams come true–the holy twofer?
Silent Cal misses himself some Nino. Probably the noogies and swirlies.
Iowa Old Lady
Mr IOL just told me we have to switch from Windows 7 to Windows 10 in the next week or two. How bad is this going to be?
J R in WV
@Miss Bianca:
Roll the kitten up in a towel, then do your dirty business while she’s trapped. Let her go after to fight her way out. It may take 4 hands, they’re good at squirmy~!!
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Iowa Old Lady: I’ve only done it on one of ~ 5 PCs. It was painless on that machine (a newish Dell business laptop that was running 8.1 Pro). I’m dreading it on the others (running 7 Pro and Home), but will take the plunge soonish.
Good luck to us all!
Cheers,
Scott.
Mike J
@Iowa Old Lady: Completely painless for me, still 95% looks like 7, better internals. Only downside is if you have older peripherals.
Iowa Old Lady
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: @Mike J: That sounds promising. Thanks,
Ruckus
@OzarkHillbilly:
Wrote about this here before.
When I was between situations and living at my friends house the next door neighbors had chickens. 7 or 8 and a nice coop. One day I saw a hawk inside the coop looking for his take out for dinner. He grabbed a pretty good sized chicken with his claws and was trying to figure out how to get out the door with his booty. He couldn’t build up any speed inside and had to put his around 6 ft wingspan vertical to get out the door, with no airspeed. To get out he had to drop his pray and he could make it, So he did and sat on the fence waiting for one of the chickens to venture outside. They weren’t that stupid so he finally took off looking for better hunting.
J R in WV
@Mike J:
Yeah, I have (had) a great high-def scanner from Canon that I used to do family photos. No more, no Linux drivers, and I have no windows machines. I guess I need to get one, there are things I want to do that no one has done in Linux, yet.
eclare
For all of you gardeners out there, any ideas for what to use to kill an approx one inch diameter root that has taken hold in my flower bed? I know I could put some stump killer on it, but is there a non-chemical way to go? Yes, I was lazy, and I let whatever weed/tree it is get too big. I have whacked it down to about five inches.
debbie
@Mike J:
Broken heart syndrome?
debbie
@J R in WV:
Let your dog know the weasel’s now wearing a store manager uniform.
debbie
@J R in WV:
That will work for exactly one day! What about the next 29?
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@eclare:
Drill a hole down into it with an electric drill, and fill the hole with salt – the kind that needs a salt grinder. I used to use boiling salty water to kill most weeds that grow in cracks and rocky places.
eclare
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: Good idea, used to use boiling water to kill ant hills. Now that I think about it, haven’t seen an ant hill in a while.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@J R in WV: What’s the model of the scanner? There are third party scanner drivers for Winders (and OS X) if the OS doesn’t support it out of the box.
One can get amazingly cheap PCs these days that are often junky and loaded up with lots of crapware, but might be more than good enough for running a scanner. Used Macs are worth considering too, if your hardware’s supported.
Good luck.
Cheers,
Scott.
(Who had an old Lide that stopped being supported by OSX so he got a newer Lide scanner replacement, so that’s an option too.)
satby
@Ultraviolet Thunder: Next dose try Aleve or the generic of it. Lasts 12 hours and really cuts the inflammation down. Massive improvement in my shoulder range of motion since I started taking it. I almost forget I have rotator cuff problems.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: Who sees that you don’t have the scanner anymore, but still… ;-)
Cheers,
Scott.
(Who is willing to spend some money to save some time, in most cases.)
Peter
@eclare: Spraying vinegar into which you’ve dissolved a bit of epsom salt and dish soap onto a freshly cut stump works well too. That’s what I use on my gravel and stone pathways and it works a treat.
Peter
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: This blog needs a “like” button.
eclare
@Peter: Thanks!
satby
@Peter: Good to know, thanks!
Ultraviolet Thunder
@satby:
I use that for joint problems but for overall aches IB is effective and gives me fewer stomach problems than Aleve. I’ll be OK tomorrow.
What I need is a gardener…
WaterGirl
@Iowa Old Lady: Why do you have to switch?
mohagan
@OzarkHillbilly: In defense of weasels, they aren’t serial killers because they had messed up childhoods. It’s instinct, and for a very good reason. I googled weasels and found this:
“1. Theyâre Killing Machines
They might have cute little faces, but weasels are also bloodthirsty. Itâs a matter of necessity: they have super-fast metabolisms and need to kill and eat about half their body weight every day. As a result, theyâve become fearsome hunters. The weasel corners and grabs its prey, wraps its muscular body around the animal to immobilize it and then delivers a single killing bite to the back of the head, puncturing the skull or spinal cord. You know what other animal kills like that? The jaguar.
The weaselâs bloodlust is instinctual and triggered by movement. Even on a full belly, a weasel will kill anything that moves and looks like prey. And to the tenacious weasel, pretty much everything looks like prey. Tiny weasels have been seen killing and carrying off animals twice, four times, and even 10 times their size.
2. They Save Their Leftovers
When prey is plentiful, a frenzied weasel will often kill much more than it can eat. This is no problem; the leftovers will keep. Weasels evolved in cold climates, and learned to use this to their advantage. They dig little underground caches near their den entrances and keep them stocked with leftovers. In the winter, when itâs too cold to go outside, a weasel can just go to the fridge and pull out yesterdayâs vole or that extra mouse from last week.
Like any refrigerator, the caches can occasionally get out of control. Scientists found one cache in Greenland stuffed with the carcasses of almost 150 lemmings.”
… so both instincts are at work in the chicken coop. All that prey in a small confined area that can’t escape leads to a massacre.
This is not to say I discount the loss your chickens. You have all my sympathy. What a horrible thing to discover! Just thinking it might be a little less horrible if you can understand why weasels act the way they do.
mohagan
@satby: Please see my comment to OzarkHillbilly (#179). Weasels don’t kill “just for the hell of it”. It’s horrible in a hen house, but their instinct to kill indiscriminately can be explained.
J R in WV
@Ruckus:
You have to feel sorry for the yard-birds, but a little for the hawk too. She had figured out where to go for a big lunch, but then couldn’t get the carry-out service to work right!!
While our chickens were free-range birds, most of them roosted in a big cedar tree outside the kitchen of the farm house. Owls started picking chickens, you could tell because there was a trail of feathers from the roost in the top of the tree, across the bottom to where the owl landed with the yard-bird. Lots of feathers there.
But the actual bird was gone. I don’t know if owls share or not, it seemed like a lot of weight for even a big barred owl to me. Plus a lot to eat in one night’s setting.
Iowa Old Lady
@WaterGirl: I’m not sure. Microsoft is ceasing to support Windows 7 maybe? Windows 10 is free now but won’t be after a while? I don’t know.
ETA: The internets tell me the free upgrade ends soon.
jeffreyw
@Iowa Old Lady: I’ve had pretty good luck with the Win10 install on 7 out of 10 PCs, two Gigabyte Brix PCs needed a BIOS update before it would take, I retired an old Acer Revo nettop PC with a 1st Gen atom processor because it just would not upgrade despite MS telling me it was ready for it. (The Acer was still good with the original Win 7 OS but I just had nowhere to put it.) The 7 “no problemo” upgrades were a mix of Win7 home and 8.1 pro machines. I used a Boot capable USB installer for about half the machines, and just let MS download it overnight for the others, The USB installs required a lot of updating after the fact because I was too impatient to click “go online now to check for updates” option.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@WaterGirl: The “free upgrade” to Win10 ends July 29. Win7-SP1 is kinda-sorta not supported anymore but kinda is until January 14, 2020.
It’s important to be running a supported OS (one that gets updates). Win7-SP1 is kinda nearing its end of life so one should have upgrade plans and understand the implications.
Cheers,
Scott.
Iowa Old Lady
@jeffreyw: Most of that is gibberish to me, but Mr IOL repairs computers as a hobby, so he can manage the technical stuff. I was more concerned about ease of use.
I see no point to change, so we held on to XP for a long as we could and then went to 7. That was easy enough, I found.
jeffreyw
@Iowa Old Lady: Oh! Nevermind! lol
redshirt
I’m saying no to Windows 10.
Ben Cisco
@schrodinger’s cat: Good on you! Glad it worked.
Ruckus
@J R in WV:
If the hawk had gotten out the door he would have had no problem carrying off this chicken. He couldn’t walk with it, couldn’t get up enough air speed with it, he was trapped by his own hunger. The chicken seemed fine in the end.
Had a golden retriever as a kid and a mallard duck. You might be able to see the problem. The dog, about the third stupidest dog ever, had no training whatsoever but would take the duck by the neck and bring him up on the back porch, and wait for a release. Never harmed the duck, didn’t even ruffle the feathers, her mouth was so soft. But she wasn’t letting him go. She did let go the skunks she’d retrieve once she got them to the back porch and they sprayed her. The skunks didn’t know to stay out of the yard and she had no capability to learn not to retrieve them, so this was a not all that rare occurrence.
Aleta
Does any other animal, besides us, gather around to watch one of its species fight or kill another? Do chimps watch fights ?
Aleta
I once saw an eagle and a gull fighting over the water. You’d think an eagle would win, but apparently their disadvantage is that if they get into the water, they can’t fly out of it, or swim. This eagle did go down, the gull flew off, and then the eagle ROWED itself to a nearby rock island.
WaterGirl
@Iowa Old Lady: The free upgrade that they are forcing on people? That’s some marketing. Ugh.
WaterGirl
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: I am furious with Microsoft for their taking control of systems and upgrading the OS without informed consent. Microsoft did this to one of my clients – a doctor’s office! – in the middle of the day. Just when I thought it wasn’t possible to hate Microsoft more than I already did…
But yeah, I agree with you that people need to run a supported OS. But when Microsoft has only put out two decent operating systems in the past 15 years – Windows XP and Windows 7 – they shouldn’t be surprised when people don’t want to move on to whatever the most recent crappy OS is.
/rant
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@WaterGirl: I’m an old OS/2 fan, so I understand your anger at MS. ;-)
They “upgraded” my Dad’s PC without him realizing it. They are indeed being underhanded in parts of this campaign, trying desperately to get people into the newer OS to show how “successful” it is. They should have been smarter about it – they deserve the heat they’re getting.
They claim that if it has been less than a month, you can go back to your previous OS. I haven’t tried it myself…
Cheers,
Scott.
Miss Bianca
@J R in WV: I did the towel wrap thing, gave her some of the drain-off from soft canned kitten food, and then while she was lapping it up angled the syringe into the corner of her mouth (apparently that’s the magic spot, rather than straight-on), quick squirt, and done. hoping it will be that painless tomorrow!