NAFT... Not A Fucking Thing

That is what I pretty much did today, and it felt great, I got up late to a blistering hot day, watered the plants ate some raisin bran, drank some tea listened to some Jams and went back to bed for about 2 hours got up did some surfing then went outside and applied some paint remover to an old dresser I procured did some more watering, then headed over to Soup Town for bottle of vino came back home and finished watering and did a little surfing and blogging and now I shall play a few video games and head to bed, this must have been the least productive Sunday I have had in a very long time and ...it felt great

A long Day of Work

Today I ended up going in on a Saturday to get some work done for my Director because of someone having some problems and loosing their house, ok I and Dynamite Dave do our duties and did we sweat our asses off with the late warm temps, then as luck abandon me I run into Hawgdaddy and find myself working another two hours Haying..... now the last time I done this shit I was a young teenager full of energy and testrone and making 5 cents a bale and yeah I know I was getting scammed at times but still free food and it was work...but anyhow I found myself out in the field with Hawwgy, Dave W and Jeff W both Dave and jeff are good guys and altough jeff is in my department I hardly see him, Dave and I had some interesting conversations that I feel the need to keep between ourselves in order not to incriminate anyone. The dust in the nostrils, the blazing heat Damn that was about 25 years ago that I last Hayed however I was spared the misfortune of sitting in an hot fucking barn stacking the bales ..now I tell you there is nothing worse than sitting in a hot barn in the 80's t 90's full of dust and bales making it hard to breathe , as for tomorrow I think I shall go out berry picking in the woods

Ass Hole

Tonight while I was working out in the yard the people across the street a few houses down once again were shooting fireworks off and over my head again and into my yard, now I am one to love fireworks and do not like ruining any body's fun but to have these people shoot them off over your head and into your yard one too many times , especially when you have a 6 year old son and the neighbors have grandchildren.... so tonight I waled over and told them bluntly they needed to stop the bullshit, after the words fell from my mouth I realized the husband, wife and daughter were not playing with a full deck, and after returning home I felt like I was the guilty party, I was the one in the wrong, why is it when-ever you are dealing with those who are not on the same level as you and just seem to not have a clue and are "not quite there" you feel such guilt even though they are oblivious as to what is going around them or the state they live in?..... I sometimes contemplate such situations... Is it better to be aware of what's going on and feel such misery and sorrow or is it better to be ignorant and blind as to what the reality really is? it is at times that I do stop and question as to why I did return back here and hear JACC say as he always does' Dude I can't believe you ended up back there of all places, especially with all the places you have been and seen and places you lived....." as Mudhoney sings Misery Loves Company and That's Why I Love You...Wait A Minute ...I believe that was Green River....Well back to my point, I felt like shit afterwards for a while then the good old reality hit me as Hendrix blasted from my iPod Boombox that " ignorant is bliss " so now I feel better I don't feel guilty and now it's time to relax to some Eliades Ocho

Cactus Update I

Here are some photos of some of my seedlings that were transplanted about 2 months ago as well as new growth from this year in a cutting I planted last year although it is hard to see in photo this new growth is about 3 inches long and about 4 inches in diameter , note all this grew in in a little over a month time frame. I shall soon post a photo of my successful grafting of a much slower cactus species to the rootstock of a faster growing species, when I first did the graft the top part was smaller than a US dime and now it is larger than a US quarter, in other words about 2 years growth in two months! I shall soon try the same technique this weekend with the Organ Pipe Cactus (also a slow growing species) and see if I am successful. note...plastic ziplock bags contain new seedlings that are sprouting.

Lake Superior Agates

The other night I went to a nearby gravel pit ta check out the rock hounding action, unfortunately there were already some vultures circling around but many were checking out the crushed and washed rock (this is easy pickings but size is small) not me, I headed to the recently dug out area and after a bout three hours of work here is what I found, now note that most of the places I found these someone else already walked thru here and this is what they missed, including the large agate you see here in the right side(lower photo) some ass-clown actually stepped on this and I found it in their foot print! So not bad for a few hours of work.

Cruzing Lake Superior

Recently the Gabester and I took a cruise around the Duluth/Superior Harbor via the Vista King, Although this is basically your typical "tourist trap" gig, never the less it still is great to be able to just get our and relax and take a cruise, the weather was great, in the low 80's " until you get on the waters then the temps drop to about the upper 60's

the 1st photo is of grain elevator where grain is stored until it is loaded on a ship and sent off to another port or most likely foreign land, the next photo is of a ship being loaded with tacconite , these are roundish balls consisting of metal and a limestone/clay substance that make it easier to transport the iron to the mills for smelting .

The third photo is of the Fitgers Complex, at onetime this entire building was a brewery, now it is filled with tourist shops, restaurants and a micro-brewery, unfortunately you also see the landscape being taken up by St. Mary's and S.t Luke's Hospital Complexes, I thought churches and religious institutions were suppose ta be to help people and NOT FOR PROFIT? Well these fuckers sure practicing heresy, I wonder how many a tourist would be offended as to the destruction of property by these mega profit makers crying "eminent domain" and down comes your business or your house to make room for yet another parking ramp. ...

Anyhow the cruise was a nice time and the sound of a dinner cruise or pizza cruise sounds like something I may have to chec out in the near future.

Saturday July 19th I

Ok this post was a bit late...

The 1st photo is my salad mix harvested from my gardens comprising of... lettuce mix, amaranth leaves from a mix of strains, dill, nasturtium leaves, violet petals, radish flowers and seed pods, kale leaves, Egyptian walking onion stems and peppercini peppers I sprinkled rye cracker and cheese on top with chopped up pepperoni .

the following four photos are some of my many "bread seed" poppies I have in my collection,

The last two photos are of a way to grow tomatoes as well as a way to save space, I came across this great invention several years ago in some garden magazine, now since then you found some inventor who started selling panted " growing bags" for everything from flowers and strawberries to tomato plants, although the grow bags are more " cosmetic " and pleasing to the eye than a bucket, however I still prefer this method as I can get the buckets for free and grow other crops on top as pictured here,,, I have Dill, Amaranth, Basil, and a Cabbage plant, in previous years I have successfully grown Zucchini Squash, Cucumbers, Broccoli, Beans, Carrots, as well as various flowers and vines.

Saturday July 19th 2008 Part II

1st photo is of one of my varieties of wild Petunias from South America that grew from some seeds that fell to the ground from Last year,

The 2nd photo is of squash/pumpkins,cukes, and melons that are not enjoying the cold nights at all and are now just starting to take off, now these were started indoors in pots, I have some others I planted from direct seed in the ground without the black mulch and are three times this size.

3rd photo is of my Peppercini Peppers that are ready for harvesting again, nothe the orange one that is over ripe that will serve as seed for future plantings.

4th photo is of the maiz patch of black seeded popcorn with varigated leaves. This Year the varigation is not as distinct as last year.

5th photo is a better shot of the leaves of the maiz, note the poppies and a few stray "wormwood" plants keeping the maiz company.

6th photo it's time to trim the Thyme again.

7th photo is of Tagetes Lucida and that too is due for some trimming.

Garden Update July 19 08 Part III

The first Photo is of my Sword bean, a variety of japanese Morning Glory, Chocolate Runner Bean, and Achora vine . Normally these would be two to three times the size they are now.

The Second photo is the flower of my " Wild Greek Pea" Notice what such beautiful colors these peas have when you compare them to your typical garden pea, so not only do you get peas for soup but also a beautiful ornamental, they are enjoying the cool nights and not so hot days this season.

The Third Photo is of a Black Runner Bean flowering another grea garden crop that makes a beautiful ornamental as well as great for attracting humming birds and bees.

Here is a photo of some of my "bread seed" poppies I planted the wrong mix this year and only have three varieties growing out of my collecion of about 15 I really miss the whites and violets, as you can see most have already bloomed I have a photo of a beautiful graden of reds and pinks but I misplaced my digital camera so I had to use the video camera for this post.

Here are some fresh photos of some of what I planted this year, however many of my plantings are very slow this year due to first a wec cold pring and the moth of July has not been very hot as previous years especially at night as the temps have been dipping down into the very low 60's as well as many nights in the 50's, now this is great if you are growing peas, broccoli,cabbage etc, but for squash,pumpkins,melons beans especially the pole varities and maiz then warm nights are very important. However the Rain Gods have been generous this month by dratmatically cutting down on my watering this past month,

Guess Righ tAnd Win A Prize....

While was catching up on the latest news around the world this morning I seen this news post about some dumbass who was drinking and driving caused an accident here is the link to the story with more details but what caught my attention was something else in the picture that to most people would be glossed over and inconspicuous but to the trained eye this stuck out like someone dressed in hot pink crossing the street. Can you guess what caught my eye?....if you guess right you can win a prize.

Greyhound

While online tonight and doing a bit of programming for Radio Clandestino I was listening to some other stations there was this ad for Greyhound Bus, and coincidentally This very company was started and founded not too far north of here in the city of Hibbing on the " Iron Range" and it brings back memories of ridding the bus, I once traveled to Auburn, California with my grandparents the summer before going into the 6Th grade, as my grandfather and grandmother on my mother's side were poor and lower income background they could not afford to fly, it was my first real taste of adventure and travel, oh sure I had been to Thunder Bay ,Canada, and Wisconsin but this was a real trip across country and to tell you the truth is was better than flying as you see oh so much more, we were going to visit my aunt, (grandmother's sister) uncle, and cousins I didn't know, since then I experienced traveling to Minnesota from Seattle and back again, this was a very Sukey trip but never the less interesting, as well as took some to Minneapolis and back to Cloquet, with the cost of airfare these days I think perhaps Greyhound will pick up more customers again , for those where time and immediate gratification are not a concern, which leads me to my point, after seeing the ad it makes me want to go hop a bus to some destination I have never been to, stay a night or two then come home, just for the experience, something to do, since the ex is taking my boy to C.D. Juarez for a moth to visit family, maybe I will take a few days off and go for a ride.....

Oh Canada Oh Canada

The Gabester and I along with Grams just returned from a short jaunt up over the border to the Great North West Eh, first along the way was a stop at the Pioneer Village, an nice little " village" museum with some great antiques, and a fairly knowledgeable tour guide, then it was off to check into our motel room at the Best Western Norwester. After getting the room and unpacking it was time for a little rest, some grub then off to do a little sightseeing, we traveled to the entryway of Fort William about a twenty minute drive from where we were staying, since they were closed we then took a spin and checked out a little of the town, and picked up a A& W Root Beer on the way back to our room, we took a nice walk along the trails on the grounds went inside for a relaxing swim and jacuzzi,

July 7th

After a night's rest we had a nice breakfast on site, packed our cooler for the day and headed off in search of the amethyst mines, the mine we visited was about an hour away (including road construction which added about 15- twenty minutes to the trip) We chose Panorama due to being highly recommended, they charge $3.00 per person for the tour and to enter and if you want to pick some amethyst it costs $3.00 per pound, however don't expect to walk out with finding some prize pieces, although I did find a piece of the "blood" amethyst (these you have to buy from the shop at a premium price) as it seems the stuff the " tourists dig" are the tailing's they dump after they pick through the primo material, never the less it is fun times especially for kids, and the scenic beauty alone is worth the drive to this mine. You can also buy pieces already marked laying out on large tables but once again the quality isn't quite what you would find in a museum or gift shop but still make great pieces. I would like to return in the future but to take some time along the way to the mine to do some fishing in some of the breathtaking lakes (part of the problem when going with older family, in a hurry to get there and leave for the next place) Well the Gabster was really hungry and so was Grams Grams, and the only place to stop along the way was a truck stop, personally I didn't want to stop as my experience with such places always has been greasy food that don't really impress ....and to live up to my personal views of truck stop food this place lived up to the reputation, I ordered a taco salad which made me wish I had a hard shell taco from Taco Hell at the very moment but not one to want to ruin the fun I just sat back smiled and pretended to enjoy my food, the service was slow, the waitress got the drinks mixed up, and was stressing big time I actually felt sorry for her as she was the only one working, having a hard day and lost of customers and many seemed to have the " attitude" which made her job even harder, my mother asked her where her mustard was for her order with a bit of a snip tidy tone as she didn't think the girl was getting it , and the girl " mam your mustard is right here in the bowl " now my mother felt like an ass and this was when my thoughts of the girl changed and seen just how much she was stressing . After the grease pit we were off to Kakabeka Falls claiming to be the World's Second Largest Natural Waterfall, however I do agree the falls are breathtaking and the roar of the water hitting the rocks and the mist rising up creating mini rainbows and then drifting on you if you stand in the right position, the mist creating it's own mini ecosystem, Here the Gabster scored a telescope he enjoyed scoping out the park. We took a leisurely drive back on the back roads checking out the beautiful farms and scenery.

July 8th

We awoke and went to Joe's for Breakfast, now the service was slow, and the food was not too impressive for all the hype they get in the publications , then it's off to Fort William it is....the day is beautiful and we arrive and ar fortunate there are not too many people here at this time, we are warned the mosquito's are quite a problem and it is advised to use bug spray, I tend to avoid the stuff myself but Granny and Gabester use some, the Fort was very impressive and it was my third time there although it was almost 30 years ago since I was last there. unfortunately I didn't get a chance to upload my pictures from my video camera and didn't buy another chip so I only got 3/4 way through the Fort and ran out of space and had to use Granny's camera to finish, I was taken back by their garden...or lack of one......I was told by an attractive sexy worker that the rains in June were heavy and they had to replant their garden as everything rotted and or washed away, good thing this in modern times or they would have been doing a lot of gathering,fishing and hunting.... The homemade bread was a nice treat and to roll out and make loaves out of 40 pounds of dough at one time is quite a feat, as we just happen to be there when the bread was taken out from mixing and thrown on the table to be made into individual loaves ...The Gabster enjoyed a ride in the wagon by the Horses as well as the baby piglets. Gabester really Enjoyed the Canoe ride where we got in a " voyager" size canoe that would be used on Lake Superior for several men and their packs and furs, with several other tourists and two " guides" however the wind had dramatically picked up and this made our trip quite the experience, as almost all other compares were not experienced in paddling a canoe and thus the Curran's washed us into the shallow waters along the island, our guide in the back tried to get out and lodge us free but the wind and currants were too much for him to manage alone so the Splinkster hops out and help push, we manage to lodge it free and start to hop in and paddle but a good breeze sends us back into the shallows we hop out and start pushing again and this time another man volunteers and helps us push and walk the canoe around the tip of the island and into deep waters now we are with the current sending us down to where we need to go and we hop in and paddle over to our dock, Now I personally hated their slogan" Romance, Conflict, Adventure" Romance and Adventure I find appealing but the Conflict part just leave out, after all that's why people go on vacation to relax and escape, However the "Conflict" part made me reevaluate my feelings on this slogan and appreciate it, as I faced Conflict....... getting the flipping canoe unlodged and back to the dock safely with my son and the other passengers aboard, and after the job as done and we were standing back on dry land I had a true Fort William experience that my son and I as well as the others will never forget, as for our " Voyagers" I can only imagine how they were heckled in camp especially since they stated they never had that happen to them before.......well first time for everyone,. One last stop and the Anishnawbe Camp for another nibble of the fresh Whitefish being smoked over the fire then off to home. Our last stop in Canada was at Thunder Oak Cheese Farm to pick up some fresh cheese.

Nights In White Satin

This is a song that always gave me a shiver down the spine when I was younger, now that I'm older it gives me a shiver but in a different way...however now at my elder age I understand what the Moody Blues were saying...well I think I do....although it feels wonderful to take that long lost trip down memory lane to a different time different place ,different dimension..........what a different world we lived in....but just like Bach, and Mozart, and Pink Floyd or the Doors this Song as well as so many others from this band shall live on forever in musical History....

Dangerous Drug Off The Streets

After the mix up during delivery the receiver finally was apprehended and the evil " Devils Weed" was properly dealt with, as Dubya would say" Mission Accomplished!" and " Job Well Done" Yes a wonderful spending of our money to rid the earth of such a " deadly" drug THIS MORE important than a meth lab or crack dealer..... "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QetPB_oS4KI What a Wonderful World

Wallyworld or Worstbuy?...

Today after spending countless hours uploading Cd's to my computer and then sync to my iPod Classic I made the journey to Wallyworld in Hermantown(aka the heart of republikkkanzz)to pick up some natural charcoal I don't burn the briquettes ( if you knew what sort of toxic sludge they make those things out of you wouldn't buy em either) I was also looking for a cord for my video camera to upload my pics from the sim card since I "misplaced" my cord. they had a multi adapter for $24. something, I didn't need a multi adapter so I just waited to go over to Worstbuy (bestbuy) and to my disgust all they have is the very same multi adapter, but for $52. something.... YES $52.SOME CHANGE + Tax These blood sucking fuckers wanna charge me over DOUBLE than Wally World, I walk out in disgust and end up back at Wally World, and score my adapter kit for $26 something with the tax, while at Wally World I took in the usual "freak show" entertainment, yeah this place really brings in the real freaks of the world, and best part YOU don't have to pay for the entertainment like at a carnival or fair which reminds me of a blog from a blogger who just vanished....... but had some interesting points, and reading his blogs reminds me of JACC's taunts and questions as how I can live where I do with all I have experienced and seen..... maybe it's a curse, maybe its a cosmic experiment, part of an anthropological research experience......but never the less it has been a long strange trip......

Vote For Sale

I can understand this happening in Wisconsin,Chicago,Florida or even Texas but here in Minnesota? I hope this ass-clown gets the full extent of the law and receives a felony which will prevent him from voting at all. Wheter it was a joke or not selling ones vote for cash should result in jail time and being banned from ever voting.

The Garden

Well unfortunatly yours truly lost many a picture that were not burned to disk before both my memory stick and hard drive fried, so now I must start from scratch and will have some new pictures soon to post, I even lost all my photos and video I shot and uploaded on " how to graft a cactus" as I have had 50/50 success so far in my grafting trials, however I shall soon post the results of those projects and will soon partake on experiementing with some other varieties.

the aliens are comming the aliens are comming

well after a long week of going thru emails and spam filters, reviewing countless music artists I come across an e mail sent to me at this personally I think this guy got an early view of the new Indiana Jones movie and is suffering movie delerium