More rain

More rain, thunder and lightning last night. This time, it actually lasted several hours. Came down hard for a short while but mostly slowed down. 

Even with the weed problem, I'm not going to complain. It's decreasing fire danger and the local drama on that front. However, being New Mexico, of course the drama just kicks in on the opposite side. You don't hear any positive statements about it helping to cool things down, decrease fire danger or recharge water supplies. Honestly, there is a lot of flooding but they don't build things to withstand rains (for a place that always talks about their "monsoon season"). 

For me, it is helping to continue to improve the soil condition. I may have more weeds to deal with in the short term but the positives in the long term are much greater. 

Oppression

Let me describe a country to you. Read this to the end.
The people of the country are oppressed. There is a constant military presence from an occupying force. The citizens are openly told they are inferior to their oppressors on a constant basis.
Speaking out against your oppressors can get you imprisoned or put to death.
The citizens are told they have freedom, yet they are taxed mercilessly. Possessions are limited and only at the allowance of the occupiers. Travel is restricted and in many or most cases not allowed.
Food is limited. Malnutrition is common and some are known to starve to death.
Through all of this, the oppressed are told by their oppressors that they should be thankful and grateful to the oppressors.
With years of these conditions, a civilian militia arises to fight back against the oppressors. The citizens are not allowed a formal militia, so they use smuggled and homemade weapons. Children as young as 12 years old are willing members of the militia. They attack using guerrilla tactics by any means available to them. Their oppressors call them terrorists, crude and dishonorable. Yet the civilian militia fights on for the freedom of their country, even at the cost of their lives.

So, you think the country I am describing is Palestine, right? Dead wrong.
The country I just described is America and the conditions which led to the American Revolution.

I don't find much different in what the Palestinians are seeking from what Americans were seeking over 200 years ago. Representation. Free trade. Freedom of speech. Freedom of religion. Not having a constant military presence. Lower taxes. Safety. Enough food to eat. Freedom of travel. Self esteem. Political recognition.

In this case, they also want clean water, which they primarily lack. 

Something we should remember is that America did not win the American Revolution without help from other countries. We had help. Lots of it. From Spain, France, Russia, the Netherlands. 

I am fully expecting to see Palestine start receiving help in the very near future from many countries in the region. Turkey, Qatar, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, possibly Egypt and the UAE. Israel is not a popular country in that region. Then, if we stick our noses in any further to support Israel, I expect to see Russia and China step in on the side of Palestine. 

This may well be the beginning of Armageddon. It can be diverted but only if we are willing to do what needs to be done, which is reining in the actions of Israel. 

Lots of rain!

Had lots of rain this afternoon. Rained really hard with lots of lightning for a while. 

Road near my house had been blocked off for several weeks, allegedly to work on drainage for the area, which is notorious as being the most flood prone road in the entire county, has been on the news many times. Road re-opened yesterday and I rode down it on my bike. The road was no better and may have been worse than before they blocked it off. Then today they had a report on the evening news. The road over near Coors was completely submerged under several feet of water. I wrote a response to the report online and they actually said they're going to look into it! Nice! 

This doesn't affect me directly. I admit the drainage in my immediate neighborhood is much better than when I moved in. Been at least 2 years since I have seen what I referred to as "Lake Aaron Court". However, a mile down the road is so much worse and there is no rationale for the road being closed for weeks and nothing at all being done.

Hmm. Raining again as I write this. Sounds like it's raining hard. Took a look. Yep, really hard. Lots of lightning, too.

Got the grape cuttings planted today. Kind of excited to see if they grow! This isn't the normal time of year for starting grape cuttings but hoping they do sprout roots. It will take at least three years for them to grow and mature enough to produce grapes. 

Finishing this on the tablet. Lightning just flashed everything in the house and computer takes a while to restart.

I am hopeful for all the cuttings because the blueberry and Crape Myrtle cuttings are looking good so far. Especially the blueberry cuttings.  If I can get certain things to propagate well instead of having to buy plants, I'll be really happy and proud! Who knows? Could turn into an extra income someday.  If not, at least I hope to have lots of fruit and flowers. 

Next step

Took the next step in starting cuttings. Went and took a couple of cuttings from a Crape Myrtle along Unser. This one is purple. Thing I realized when I got close enough is that they tend to look purple from a distance but up close are basically a deep pink. That's okay. Maybe I can manage to grow it a really deep pink, so it looks more purple up close. This probably means the red ones are just a different deep shade of dark pink.

I was going to get a cutting from a red one, also but the bike died. I do keep the extra battery in the trunk of the bike, so wasn't stuck. I've only been taking short rides lately, so it wasn't much of a surprise. After that, I wasn't comfortable turning the bike engine off again, so just came home. Make sure both batteries are charged again and go back to get the red cuttings later this week. 

The cuttings I did take I soaked for a short while with honey and water, then planted in potting soil tonight. 

Took the grape vine cuttings out a few minutes ago from the freezer, trimmed them and stuck them directly into a honey and water solution.

The blueberry cuttings are looking good so far. I left one or two leaves on most of the branches to help the plants maintain energy. The leaves haven't shriveled yet, so I hope I'm doing something right. 

I've definitely realized it's much easier to start vines and bushes from cuttings than trees. 

Went to check and tie up the tomato plants outside some more tonight and was really happy to see the first tomatoes of the year forming! They're still very small but I was happy to see them. One problem I noted is that I need some different button drippers for the tomato plants. One of them is spraying way too much and decreasing pressure in the line, so not all of them are getting enough water. I manually watered them this evening. Hope to see them shoot up further in the next couple of days because of that. 

After a few years of experience and analysis, my ideas for the garden continues to evolve. At this point, the major ideas I am thinking of is largely leaning toward main crops of tomatoes, grapes (Thinking of making at least one whole row of seedless grape vines.) and blueberries. If I can get the cuttings to grow well, I will make another row of blueberries. Those and a few things daughter and I enjoy like spinach, green beans, watermelons, cantaloupe and carrots but mostly more expensive crops. Maybe I could sell them but most of these can be preserved. I keep hoping for a good strawberry crop but this year was a wash again. They're too temperature and salt sensitive. Still trying to expand the plum and apple crops and having some success. Plus pumpkins, of course. Just because I like growing them.

In any case, I still keep trying to expand the flowers growing, also. Even if I ever stop trying to grow crops, I want the flowers there for daughter, bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. And yes, for me. I do enjoy walking out and seeing a wide variety of colors. Sure a big difference from when I moved in and the first couple of years, when I kept trying to grow flowers for daughter but they kept failing every time. At this point, I have flowers coming up which I don't even recall planting!

Tame weekend

Daughter and I had a rather tame weekend. Got Chinese food, went to the hobby store for stickers for her, washed the car and motorcycle, took a short walk, had a pillow fight and watched the new shows on Disney, including the new Phineas and Ferb. 

That's okay because we'll be making up for lack of activity soon. Some planned activities coming up.

Like I mentioned, I wanted to start some plants from cuttings. So a little while ago I took some cuttings from the blueberry bushes and got them in a container. Also went across the street and took a few cuttings from the seedless grape vine. Those I placed in the freezer because I kept reading that they should be done after a hard freeze. I'll put them in soil tomorrow or the next day. The vines apparently go dormant after one freeze. 

Transplanted two tomato plants into larger final containers. One was the tomato plant started from a cutting. It's already nearly a ft tall. The other was one remaining that was started from seed. I have a few more that were fairly recently started from seed but looking really good. So, I had basically gone down (I thought) to zero tomato vines. Then went up to 4 purchased vines. Then it turned out two in the ground had survived, maybe three. Now I have two more viable vines, so up to at least eight, maybe nine vines. 

I've avoided using rooting hormone, not sure how it was produced. Then tried something new today. Processed honey. Did some reading and one person used a good scientific method which involved comparison to natural honey, rooting hormone, aspirin (in place of willow bark) and an untreated control. His results showed processed honey showed faster and more measurable results than anything else. Faster than rooting hormone by more than a week! (His test plant was basil.) I'll report back on my own results. 

Blueberry preserves

Started my first shot at making blueberry preserves this evening. Had bought a lot of blueberries while they were on sale for the lowest price I have ever seen. It's in the fridge right now. Came out a bit thin but I added some guar gum and see how it looks in the morning.

Happy to say both blueberry bushes are still alive which I have in containers. They're looking pretty healthy and bushing out. 

Going to be doing a lot of starting things from cuttings soon. Some from the blueberries. Learned the abandoned house across the street has a seedless green grape vine, so going to take some cuttings from that. It had never produced until this year that I've seen. Doing so now because of getting enough rain. Fruit is small but the vine has not been irrigated, trimmed or fertilized in years. Also planning on taking cuttings from red and purple crape myrtle trees along Unser Blvd which are in the center island. 

Learned a lot in the last few years and getting much better at growing things from cuttings now. The tomato vine I started from a cutting has really taken off and needs to go in a larger pot soon. That confirms tomatoes from cuttings grow much faster than seed, so I'll be doing a lot more propagation that way from now on. 

Pellet gun

Okay, I ordered an air soft pellet gun from Amazon to deal with the neighbor's dogs crapping in the yard. Lower velocity and safer than a standard pellet gun. Less expensive than buying locally. Even with shipping, the gun, plastic pellets and speed loader cost less than any showing in stock at Walmart.

I still want to get a high velocity pellet gun for other purposes, target shooting and home defense. They're safer than a regular gun but powerful enough for small game hunting, especially with some of the modern ammo produced for them. Also much quieter. 

Some people rely on the intimidation factor with weapons. In my case, I never pull a weapon unless I'm going to use it. If I'm going to use it, I have several criteria I prefer. Anyone facing me underestimates the weapon. Quiet, so it draws less attention. And not commonly viewed as a deadly weapon, meaning I would not face weapons charges in the case of defending myself/my daughter/my home. The lower intimidation factor means it should still have some intimidation quality but not brand me as a psycho. The lower velocity and need to charge the air chamber while still leaving ammo in it makes for it being safe while also low time to be ready to fire. In the event of accidental misfire, it is less likely to be fatal and life threatening. However, it can be very damaging and even fatal with properly focused use if completely necessary. Otherwise, a good serious warning to an attacker.

It's also cheaper for both the weapon and the ammo. 

I can also start teaching my daughter how to handle a weapon with this. She's afraid of real guns. This would be a good step in that direction without the scare factor. Or the noise. She still hates sudden loud noises. 

Neighbor's dogs

Trimming the front yard last night, I hit multiple piles of dry dog shit from neighbor's dogs which flew up in dust each time. Sure glad I was wearing glasses and a dust mask. 

I'm tired of the neighbors with their small dogs running rampant in the streets. I can't stop that. What I will do is stop them from crapping in my yard. Can't talk to the people allowing their dogs to run loose. They either behave like they don't understand English or they turn anything which involves personal responsibility into a Jerry Springer episode.

I'm going to buy a pellet gun. Possibly two, one pistol and one rifle. Then, when I see one of their dogs in my yard, it gets shot in the ass. If I don't see them, I'll get a remote driveway alarm or two which alarms inside the house. Not planning on getting anything which will do severe harm, just give them a sting they won't forget next time they come near my house. 

I expect one of two results. Since a pellet gun is quiet, the sound will garner no attention. So the first option is that they will not know anything happened. The second option is that they will confront me. In the second option, I will know they not only allowed the dog to run loose but actually stood and watched while their dog shit in my yard. In which case I will confront them with that knowledge. The reaction should be entertaining. 

Meanwhile, my own dogs are trying to compete with each other. Stink-wise. Every time I pick up their crap in the back yard, they compete with trying to out-stench each other. I'm thinking of mixing chlorophyll tablets in with their food.

This week continues to be slow for work. Lots of unhappy reviewers. That is, those of us who can maintain higher case counts. I just barely made a little more than my 70 case base count today. Hope this is just a seasonal slump. I haven't been picking up extra hours because I'm still recovering from my illness earlier this week. I still don't stay sick for long but I do give myself more leeway to recover now. 

Palestine

Not religion, common sense-
One of the predictions i wrote in 2001 was that the US would make itself a target for the Islamic world if we continued to give such vastly unbalanced support to Israel over Palestine.
Gaza has been described as "the largest prison in the world" for many years. The residents are not allowed to leave and enter without Israeli approval which is very rarely given. There has been conflict regarding illegal (by UN standards based on past treaties and promises from Israel) Israeli settlements. There have been constant restrictions on trade which keep the entire country in poverty for decades.
Basically the only access to drinkable water is by purchased bottled water, imported from outside. For the whole country. Because Israel will not allow them to build a sanitary water treatment facility.
Medication and medical supplies are in constant short supply and have remained so for many years. The same holds true for food.
Place yourself in this situation. Watch your child, your spouse, family members go hungry, lack medical care, drinking dirty water. For decades. How angry would you become? What steps would you take if you had the chance?
Something to remember is that Gaza has the political backing of Russia, China, Iran and multiple other Middle East countries. One of the biggest things that has held their military backing has been monetary, mostly oil trade. Now the US has decreased their oil dependence on the Middle East, while China has been increasing oil purchasing and monetary strength. Russia produces their own oil. How long until their political support transforms into military support? The combination of all those countries with technology, finance and military numbers is formidable if they join together.
I do not propose we switch sides and turn against Israel. However, it would be very wise if we offer more balanced political and social support to both sides in this conflict. Before it comes to our own doorstep. By then it will definitely be too late. 
Turn off Fox News, put your Bible down and open your ears and eyes.

Better

Feeling better this morning. Mind is more clear than last week or two.

My illness on Tue was from bringing the Candida under control again. It's hard to spot when it's going out of control because it's so gradual. Think I've noted now that the main symptoms are temperature intolerance, brain fog and complete exhaustion after eating. 

However, with two other gastric/autoimmune disorders, it can be really hard to tell.

It's difficult to keep up with the regimen to keep it under control. One of the main things is drinking apple cider vinegar, which reduces my appetite and stresses my kidneys. 

Oh, well. Just have to try and keep it under control one way or another. 

Sick

I took off work sick today. Woke up with various symptoms of illness, including being dizzy. Hoped it would pass before time for work but it didn't. So, called in sick and hoped it would go away after an hour or two. Laid down for a one hour nap at 8:30. Woke up at 1:45. I haven't done that for many years. 

I suspect it's another case of Candiasis. Haven't kept it well enough controlled. All the symptoms fit for last week or so. Then I went too far, too fast to bring it under control.

Still feel like crap but better than this morning.

Haven't felt like doing much. Only things I've accomplished today was washing dishes, one load of laundry and getting my hair cut. Lucky on the last one. My favorite hair stylist who used to work down the street is now working at Walmart. The place across the street closed down a few months ago. 

As usual for me when I'm sick, my mind has been in overdrive on various analytical issues. One big issue for me of late has been the movement of Republican Conservatives against more Liberal views. This has turned into a huge social conflict. While I consider my self Moderate, many of the views of Liberals make a lot more sense than Conservatives, so my views in current terms lean toward strongly Liberal. However, that is only because of the increase political movement of Conservatives. It's been going on for several years and I was really hoping some sanity would come to the fore. Mostly, that has not happened. So, I've been gradually going on the offensive. Now I'm tired of the BS and am pulling out the stops.

Here's one thing I wrote today:

 
Ideas once/currently considered Liberal:


Equal pay
Equal access to education
Equal employment opportunities
The right of women and minorities to vote
The American Care Act (Obamacare)
Welfare
Food stamps
Unemployment insurance
Social Security
All forms of retirement pensions
Separation of church and state (including education)
Marriage equality (racial in the past and currently same gender)
Educational grants
Student loans
Workplace safety
Miranda Rights
Right to legal representation in criminal charges
All forms of contraception
Emancipation of slaves
Ending segregation
Free speech


Ideas once/currently considered Conservative:


Prisons for the poor
Segregation
Compulsory sterilization of developmentally disabled
Permanent mental incarceration (including if a man just said his wife was crazy)
Frontal craniotomies and electroshock therapy without consent
Mandatory prayer in schools and governmental functions
Medical care based on income
Education based on income
Legal representation based on income
Elimination of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid
Slavery
Marriage limitations (historically racial but currently under DOMA)
Employer rights over individual rights (historically against OSHA)
Religion over personal rights
Recognizing corporations as individuals
Suppression of female and minority vote
Unequal pay based on gender, race, culture
Creationism presented as science
Censorship
McCarthyism
Compulsory military service for poor and criminals


Which one represents freedom to you?

Weed identification

Finally took the time to identify the weeds giving me grief at this point. Siverleaf Nightshade and Purslane. 

The Nightshade is the one which occupied a huge area when I moved in. It's actually in much, much better control than it once was. It's also the one which indicates where I need to apply acid because it doesn't grow where there is a decent soil acidity. So, when it starts popping up, I know I need to apply acid to a certain area. Other than that, several weed killers will kill it. Better than pulling because if one bit of root remains behind, it grows back. 

Purslane is more of a problem. Not poisonous and I've read it's edible. However, it crowds other plants and hogs nutrients. It also grows prolifically where crops grow. Tilling or cultivating this weed has been dubbed "Purslane multiplication" because it will grow back from even a 1 cm piece of root in the soil. Not to mention it spread seeds and can throw it's seeds quite some distance. 

Any way, spent some time this evening pulling many lbs of weeds to clear the area around the flower beds, which had gotten seriously overgrown. 

Had to pull up a lot of Cosmos, also. Some were crowding the small apple tree and had blocked off one path in the garden. Cosmos can be quite invasive, themselves. Not a problem where you want lots of flowers but where you want anything else to grow, best to pull them when they're small. If you pull them before they flower, they add a lot to the compost pile but do have to dry and be run through the shredder. 

Started tying the tomato plants to the posts this evening. Most of these plants don't grow very tall but are supposed to be prolific. Have to wait and see. 

Feeling a little better this evening than this morning. Been taking shots of diluted apple cider vinegar all day and will continue that all this week. One problem is the combination of conditions. Ulcerative colitis makes the intestines more permeable for toxins to enter the bloodstream. 

Getting onto 10 PM and I'm getting to bed. Watch something on Netflix and get some sleep. 

Fatigue

Having a lot of fatigue again. Not sure what that's about. Having a definite impact on my motivation lately. Picking up an extra hour of work this morning but not so much into it emotionally.

I have a lot of things that need to be done. However, mentally I keep trying to find ways around them. Having short term memory lapses again, too.

Not sure what this is all about. Maybe Candida has reared it's head again. I'll try upping the controls for that and see if it helps. If that's it, it hasn't reached the level it was at earlier this year. 

Blah day

I'm not feeling so great today. Something to do with digestion. Not really sure what. Not describing symptoms here. Worst part is no energy.

However, daughter has wanted to be kind of lazy, too. Suggested things to do all weekend and she has mostly declined all of it in favor of staying home. 

Currently have a pork roast in the rotisserie. Have that for lunch or dinner, depending on how long it takes. Promised daughter I would take her to McDonald's this weekend because of a toy in the Happy Meal she wants.  

Going to talk myself into getting some housework done.

So slow!

The garden is growing so slow this year!! It's frustrating!

Finally getting more flowers. One indicator of the problem this year if that the Gladiolus is still blooming new flowers. Which means the temperature really has been abnormally low in the garden this year. Normally Gladiolus has bloomed and dropped the blooms by now. Not complaining about that. There do seem to be more of them than previous years, so the existing ones have formed new bulbs which have matured.

Marigolds are finally blooming. They always bloom late. I think I'll start Marigold seeds around January indoors for next year and see if I can advance their bloom date. Same thing with the Cosmos. They usually produce tons of flowers but late in the summer into fall.

The tomato vines are finally getting bigger. Should be big enough to produce something soon. 

Several watermelon and cantaloupe vines coming up. Not big enough to produce anything but getting there.

Grapes are maturing. The red grapes are turning red. Still small but bigger than previous years. Should be good for grape juice and such. I think next year I'll keep the vine more restricted than this year. I actually saw new flowers on the red grape vine this week. Another indication of low temperatures because they will only flower in a certain low temperature range. Green grapes are getting bigger. 

I noticed this morning that the hummingbirds are eating the grapes. Not going to prevent that. Lots of grapes and they mostly go after the red grapes, which are far greater in number. Although, I only see them fluttering around the grape vines, so it may be they are eating the tiny flies (guessing fruit flies) that abound there. 

I did just read that hummingbirds are attracted to grape jelly, though. I may try putting some out in a dish and see what happens. 

All of the temperature issue may be causing the garden to mature late this year but in general is a good thing. This has been an abnormally cool and humid summer here. Then my back yard has been noticeably cooler than the general area. Which means in a normal summer it will remain better temperature controlled and maintain a better average temperature for growing and just be more comfortable. 

I have lots of green and increasing color in the yard but haven't been posting pictures because I have such a weed problem plus have some maintenance issues I have not yet addressed. Makes it less attractive. Trying to get to that. Mostly been focusing on things which reduce repetitive work, like weeding. Once the bush green beans are done, I'm going to bomb that area with grass and weed killer with a short half-life to try and bring things under better control. 

The temporary dental filling is working pretty well. Think it should last until my dental appointment. I was glad to see Walgreen's has their own house brand now, which is only $3. It also does not leave the nasty taste in my mouth which the name brand stuff does.  

More poison

I had to ramp up the weed killer seriously and insect killer somewhat. Too many weeds covering large areas. Too much grass where there shouldn't be. Grass growing through weed fabric and 2" of mulch. 

So, I went and got some weed and grass killer which is a lot more powerful than what I was using. The old weed killer was more biodegradeable and could take 2-3 weeks to kill to the root. The new one shows results in as little as 3 hours. 

Lots of ants, couple of huge ant piles. That indicates lots of aphids. Squash bugs have killed one pumpkin vine and damaged another one. So, I got some poison granules and spread them mostly around pumpkin plants and directly on ant piles. 

Got some temporary dental material to fill a cavity until my dental appointment. 

I also put in for two days off. If both days are approved, going to try installing some insulation the day before the dental appointment. 

Got dishes done but leaving other stuff to morning.

Dental appointment

Finally able to make a dental appointment. Have to schedule it way out, more than a month. I could have it sooner but I want the appointment for a Fri, so my mouth has the weekend to heal before work. 

Couple of down sides to that. One is that I have a cavity that's starting to give me trouble. I'll have to get some temporary filling material for it to hold me until then. Do that tonight. Not too bad yet. The other is that I probably won't be a lot of fun for daughter that weekend. On the other hand, I will be much more pleasant once I get my teeth pulled and get some dentures. 

Scheduling that far out does give me a chance to conserve some money. Maybe pick up some extra hours before then. I want to get as many teeth pulled as possible in one trip. If all goes well, I should be able to get the money together for dentures within one month after that. 

An added expense to plan for is that I should buy another tub of protein powder in advance. If I have a lot of teeth pulled at once, I won't be eating much actual food for a few days. 

Already chosen where I want to get dentures from. Picked them out because dentures is all they do. It is a chain and I have read some very bad reviews for other locations but no bad reviews for this location. Most of the bad complaints are from Eastern states. I do know this location has been here several years, so that's not the reason for lack of bad reviews. I've been considering this place for a couple of years now (but haven't had the money). 

It would be really nice if I can afford new teeth before the holidays.

Crazy weeds

So, the down side of all the rain lately is that the weeds have been growing insanely! Had to go pull weeds for over an hour tonight. I had missed some bindweed which had been small but it jumped out and went right to seed while we were out of town. Luckily, I got to it while seeds were still attached to the vines. 

Made one mistake, kind of. Made the reservation for a hotel for daughter and I for a few weeks from now for two nights to go sightseeing. Made the reservation through Kayak. What I didn't know was that they would take the money out of the account right away. Glad I had enough money for that and to make it to payday. 

Haven't been terribly energetic this week. Rainy weather and recovering from the trip. Have a lot of cleaning and need to trim the front yard tomorrow. Nothing exciting. 

Crazy Rain

Had some crazy rain last evening. It rather suddenly started raining around 6 PM and got so heavy I could barely see the trees in the back yard!

The dogs are too dumb to get under anything, so I let them in. Put down towels for them to lie down on. However, they never laid down. Or sat down. Or calmed down. I let them wander from room to room for a bit. Then it got annoying. They were running from room to room and would not calm down. Finally the rain slowed down, so I just put them back outside.

Now I have to mop the entire house.

Oh, well. Hope that helped leach the soil in the garden of some of the salt and toxins. 

Bush green beans are coming up very nicely now. The pole beans I planted last week are poking through. Cucumber vines are maturing late, as usual. Can't blame salt this time, since they're all in potting soil. Now I understand why they're often grown in greenhouses. Not to mention cucumber beetles. 

I am changing tactics again. Instead of tilling, I'm going to leave the existing mounds in place, solarize them for a few months and add compost to the tops before planting next year. I think tilling just brings salt back to the surface. 

Daughter and I need to harvest carrots this weekend. Do what I can about grass and weeds next week and plant the late summer crops after that. Maybe this way I can have a fall crop of carrots and spinach. 

Hummingbirds!

Finally! We have a whole family of hummingbirds that have taken up residence! I went outside a little while ago and counted four of them inside of one minute! Not bad, since not all of the flowers have bloomed this year yet! 

That last is still amazingly slow this year. However, it is looking like we will have more flowers than ever, even if they do bloom late this year. 

Not doing a lot this evening. Not enough sleep last night. Had to get things around the house back in order, then get up early to return the rental car. I had been worried about getting back on time to start work but made it in time and 20 minutes to spare. 

Then started my day learning I had a new supervisor. Guess I'm burning them out! That's the third supervisor I've had in under one year. But at least this one keeps the same hours I do. 

Getting to bed early tonight and not picking up any extra hours for a few days. Not sure there will be any available. Today was really slow. I just barely made my 70 cases. Probably just the time of season.

Home

While I enjoyed the trip, it's good to be home again.

I had checked everything before leaving but was still very happy to see the dogs did not escape into the garden and destroy anything. They were happy to see me. I gave them some treats. They may not understand why but I was so happy they had not destroyed everything in my absence it didn't matter. 

It definitely did rain while I was gone and there's lots of grass growing everywhere. Have to drag out the trimmer this week. 

The house smelled musty when I got home. Then I walked outside again and realized it's not just the house. The entire area smells. The city is working (yet again) on the sewage lines in this area and the whole area smells slightly like an open sewer. Welcome back to Albuquerque. Hard adjusting to the odor of this place again after being somewhere that has lots of rain, lots of grass and trees and flowers..

Managed to get the inside of the house smelling decent again, in spite of the outdoor aroma. 

Woke up early to return the rental car. Turns out a little too early. Thought the rental place opens at 7, turns out it's 7:30. Going to be a long day. 

There are high chances of rain all week this week. No complaints from me!! I'm sure the locals are dying from the humidity once again. They don't know how to handle being not mummified. 

What I don't get is how they can keep claiming that the area is behind on average rainfall every single year. When an area is "behind on average rainfall" every year, it is not a drought, it is the average rainfall for that area! Somebody is fudging numbers. Probably thinking that will make them eligible for more federal money. However, the feds take a look at hard data, not sensationalistic claims. It would take mere minutes to run an average of rainfall for an area and determine that what is experienced is not drought but mismanagement. Once again, New Mexico suffers from New Mexico and tries to lay itself out as a victim. In this one, in a multi-year effort.

Sunflowers have gotten much taller and my "rainforest" corner looks like a rainforest again. Damn tomatoes are going to disappoint me this year. 

Actually rained so much that the strawberry plants which I had been battling to keep hydrated drowned while I was gone. Go figure. 

Still hoping for lots of cucumbers, pumpkins and melons, though. The apple tree looks good. Bush green beans are coming up nicely. 

Colorado Springs

Haven't written for a few days because daughter and I have been in Colorado Springs for the past 5 days. I avoid posting the information online while I'm out of town, plus have a number of security measures in place at home, both active and passive.

Any way, we had a lot of fun while we were there. Saw Garden of the Gods, Manitou Cliff Dwellings, part of Pike's Peak, Santa's Workshop, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo and Red Rocks Open Space. 

Had a Clark Griswold moment. Talked for several days about how wonderful 7 Falls is and how much she would love it. We drove to get there, bought a picnic lunch, got lost on the way but found our way. Then drove up to the gates and found them locked. Immediately on the other side of the gates, it looked like a huge bomb had gone off. Seems not long after I was there last year, the place was hit with a flood which completely destroyed the road and several of the structures in the park. 

On top of that, Royal Gorge is still closed because of a fire last May which did extensive damage. 

Oh, well. We got to ride two skyrides, one at the zoo and one at Santa's Workshop. She also got to swim every night. 

Wound up being a little bit of a waste to spend the money on the hotel with the water slide. In two nights, she only went down the slide once. I know part of that was because of the line and the chaotic behavior of large groups of teenagers at the pool. There was no control of either group by the adults with them. (I was waiting for some of the teenage girls to start stripping because they stopped just short of doing just that.) However, the other pool was freezing cold. 

She picked up several rocks plus we bought a few. When we could not go to 7 Falls, we stopped and had a picnic at the state park just outside the gates, went exploring a bit and she made her own walking stick. 

I think it rained every day we were gone, starting on the drive up there. Not badly enough to have big impact on our activities. Rained pretty hard coming home, making the drive longer. She still did great on the ride and enjoyed it. 

Long day

Today was a seriously long day. Started off with massive network problems. Then, when that was resolved, it progressed to completely brain dead callers. I'm guessing over 80 percent of my cases today went to medical director review. Not a dang thing I could do about it. I give people every chance to provide the correct indications. Always getting busted for leading. Today, I think I could have completely given most of these callers the answers and they would still have gotten them wrong. 

Oh, well. I made it through, got my base 70, not much more but glad I got minimum. 

Lots of things to do tonight but taking a short break first.

I planted some Cosmos and Saffron seeds out in front of the house. Late in the season but hope they take. Cosmos will bloom until first frost, so they have a good chance. The Saffron seeds were free. Looked up what the flowers look like and they're very low to the ground. Think I may plant other things behind or around them. Like more Cosmos. 

Very obviously, Cosmos have become one of my favorite flowers. Just by virtue of the fact that they actually grow here, if nothing else. Plus they keep blooming and don't need any attention. Those and sunflowers. They may only bloom once but the bloom last most of the summer. It also impresses people just how large my sunflowers grow. 

Limited time

Have some special things to accomplish later in the week, so limited time for getting mundane stuff done this week. Making for a busy couple of days.

Had to pull weeds this evening. I have most of the weeds under control but grass is still a problem. 

Watermelon a, pumpkin and cantaloupe are coming up. Hope they can survive the grass growing around them. 

I have had a couple of small cucumbers so far. Since the main thing I grow them for is pickles, the size is okay. I do hope to have a few larger ones later. 

I planted a couple more containers this evening, two with pole green beans and two with red potatoes. May be still too hot for potatoes to start but it is beginning to cool down and I think they should grow eventually. 

Several tomato seedlings coming up. Still hoping they'll have time to produce this year. Two plants seem to be doing okay, coming up from cuttings. 

Not sure what the deal is but a lot of the sunflowers are falling over this year. We've had some wind but not really enough to cause that. Maybe the roots aren't growing deep enough but last year they stood up and it rained/remained more damp than this year. Maybe it's because they started late and tried to grow their full size, so became top heavy. Just strange. Most of them are okay. 

Have to get some sleep tonight. 

Adjustments (updated)

Been making some adjustments to decrease work load slightly. 

Made and automatic dog watering system and automatic dog feeder. 

Since the tomatoes and cucumbers are in containers, I changed the irrigation for them to button drippers. 

Something I didn't expect is that the recycling bin is going to help get the house in order. I have a number of magazines which I have saved for some time but with the electronic versions of those magazines accessible much more easily, I can get rid of them. However, I do not like the idea of loading the landfills, so recycling is a much better option.

The house is slowly getting in order and easier to keep clean. That is, slowly for now but highly accelerated from the past. 

Daughter and I didn't do much this weekend. She was in more of a mood to stay in and play computer games. I notice she's a lot like me, doing things on the computer while watching TV at the same time is becoming a habit for her which she fell into quite easily. Just another sign she has an expansive attention span and can pay attention to multiple inputs at once. 

However, I don't want that to become too much of a habit. I do want her to get out with me and get some activity. Been too hot to do much outside and actually enjoy it but temperatures are coming down while humidity is increasing. Rain is not a deterrent to either of us (in warm weather) but does sometimes shut some activities down. 

I just saw a wonderful thing. The church my older brother was very active in is having a blood drive in his name. Apparently, this is the third annual blood drive in his name. I did not hear about the first two. So, it is the Richard Meyers Memorial Blood Drive.

One of his sons just came back from Costa Rica, where he was on a missionary trip. This is his second or third one. My brother was obviously a great role model for his kids. 

I hope I am as positive a role model for my daughter. Need to get my energy back and try to do better than I have been doing. 

Yeesh, I'm slow

I have come to the realization that I am painfully slow at construction work. Still not finished with daughter's drawer set. Finished 4 out of 6. Made a number of mistakes along the way. Correcting them is the main thing that took time.

Though I also had an episode of absolute exhaustion this afternoon, so laid down for a 15 minute rest.. Woke up an hour later. 

Oh, well. Even if it's happening slowly, at least it's progressing. Can probably finish it this coming week. 

Have to get up in the morning and clean house.

Lazy morning

I've been lazy this morning. Haven't gotten anything done yet. Part of that is because I don't feel so hot. Felt like this all week. Blech.

However, going to get to work shortly and get things done. Starting with daughter's room.

I went to karaoke last night for a little while. I think I'm going to go to a smaller place. In general, karaoke doesn't feel the same here as it did in Texas. That's not a surprise. People here are not nearly as supportive of each other here as there. I noted the same thing in Colorado, which was more supportive than here. There was more of a community vibe. 

That's still something I cannot stand here. In New Mexico, they talk a lot about community. Really? These people build fences around their fucking walls! Walk down the street and (if it's not a planned housing community which prohibits it), you find the fence on one property adjacent to the fence on the next property. My neighbors have two fence lines in front of their house. 

I even wrote to the tourism department to criticize their ad campaign, "New Mexico True". It is intensely obvious they have not test marketed this campaign outside of the state. The ad campaign says, "We know how to spell chile." People from outside the state will take this as being a racist statement. Otherwise, it really has no meaning. "We like our cars low to the ground." Okay, except for some car fanatics, it again comes across as racist because low riders are mostly a race-specific phenomenon. "We know what it means to be local." Most people from outside the state are going to hear this as meaning outsiders are not welcome. 

The goal of a tourism campaign is to attract people with money to spend and possibly to attract outside investors to the state. It shouldn't be a feel-good message for the people already living there. When you advertise racism and that outsiders are not welcome, you fail on all counts.

This state cannot afford to keep going this way. It has been documented that the state population has decreased in recent years, while every other state has increased population. A recent study has also backed up what I have been saying for years. The job market has shrunk considerably since 2008/2009. Even as the rest of the country is in recovery, NM continues to bleed jobs. With people and jobs leaving and the economy relying so strongly on federal money, there is no money within the state to create jobs. It falls on outside investors. 

Because so much of this falls on cultural norms, there is no hope for New Mexico at this point. This state is going to have to collapse in economy and population before it recovers. Then it will stand a chance of recovery with imported money and people. The only other hope is for the younger generations but the younger generations have learned their attitudes from the older generations and primarily continue the same anachronistic "traditions". 

By the way, those "traditions" are never based on complete fact. They talk about doing things the same way as 300 years ago. Yeah, kind of leaving out the short life span, slavery, servitude and capital punishment for disobeying a superior. Also leaving out the lack of electricity, plumbing and communications. Among other things.

The "local" attitude leaves out the fact that so much of the economy relies on federal money and jobs. That most building materials, food and technology come from out of state. If this state tried to survive on what is produced locally, it would be completely empty, except for isolated farms and ranches. 
 

Better

Got the bottom drawer in daughter's room adjusted. Now, with that one better adjusted, the rest will all be easier to get right. I may still do one more adjustment before proceeding. Have to check this one closer first. However, I was able to get the next supports in place for the second drawer (which means part of the supports for two more drawers and measurements set). 

Didn't get that much done because I had some other things to do. Minor shopping, trimming the grape vines.. Besides, I am planning on getting the rest of the drawers actually completed on Friday. Plus installing an extra shelf in the pantry and getting much of the house organized. 

May sound crazy but I started more tomato seeds this evening. They are fully intended to remain in containers. Then I can easily move them into the solarium later in the year. Several of these I am starting directly in larger pots than I usually start seeds in, to avoid later root shock when they're big enough to put in larger containers. This lets them develop a larger and sturdier root system to begin with. 

I am actively seeking out some marijuana seeds. Plus petitioning the medical marijuana program to include ulcerative colitis as a covered condition. I only want to grow two small plants for myself. (Two in case anything happens to one.) I have been reading on the subject and many people state that occasional and very small amounts show tremendous improvement in the condition. There is medical research going on for this use in the UK and shows very promising results based on solid science. The science behind it shows that it treats not just the symptoms but the actual condition. This concurs with claims of people who use it, who state not only improvement but in some cases complete remission. 

Several states with medical marijuana programs include this condition in the program. Not here, even though they cover a nearly synonymous condition, Crohn's Disease. 

If I could obtain a few seeds, I could grow a couple of plants, dry and store the leaves and probably have enough supply to last me for several years. I am a serious lightweight on that subject. Someone gave me a couple of grams like 8 years ago and I just smoked the last of it earlier this year. It was completely benign by that time. Though I would have to weigh whatever I stored and keep it low enough for misdemeanor charges and destroy anything beyond that. And keep hoping it becomes legal by some means. However, I'm willing to take the risk of a fine if it could mean improving this condition. All the sources I have read say the standard treatments can have side effects as bad or worse than the condition. The medications increase fatigue (which is chronic with the condition, made worse with medication), increased risk of infection (which are frequent due to open sores in the intestinal tract), headache, diarrhea (really?!), nausea, loss of appetite (for a condition which decreases absorption, great), vomiting, rash and fever. Those side effects don't sound so appealing. There is also the potential for pancreatitis but rare. Other medications can cause kidney damage. Those are the two most common and effective medications currently on the market. Some others have fewer and less drastic side effects but are less effective. One of the two most effective also means taking two enemas or more per day. Think I'll pass (sic) on that. 

Infection

I did try getting to sleep early last night.. and failed. Could not get to sleep. Felt both hot and cold at once, could not get comfortable at all. I eventually covered myself with multiple blankets (but with the air conditioner and fan running). Finally fell asleep and woke up a couple hours later, soaked in sweat. That explained the fatigue and foggy brain. 

Was still feeling about the same today but seems to be letting up a little bit. Even told my supervisor I was going to be slow today. She was okay with that, since she knows what's slow for me is fast for some other people. I still had 85 cases today, even though it was a rather slow day to begin with. 

I'm guessing either a low level virus or something stemming from my digestive tract. No overt pain, just fatigue and minor muscle/joint aches. Hope it's gone tomorrow. 

I do feel well enough to get some more work done in daughter's room tonight. Plus get a few more tomato seeds started. 

Temperature here is supposed to start dropping over the next week but will remain in the 80's for some time. No complaints here. 

Sometime this week, I have to redesign one section of the irrigation system for the container tomatoes, cucumbers and the dog water. Want to have everything working in advance for a while before vacation. That way, if there are any problems, they can be addressed. I know from lots of experience these things don't always become apparent right away.