Sick

I didn't feel great this morning but started work. Made it through one hour, then had to give up. Throwing up, diarrhea, joint aches, headache, extreme fatigue, respiratory difficulty. It seemed like an allergic reaction. Made me wonder if I'm developing a reaction to peanut butter. That was the only thing I ate last night which was different from my usual diet. 

Of course, it could have been food contamination, food poisoning or a gastric virus.

Went back to bed, covered up and sweated. Got up a few hours later and went back to work for the last couple of hours. 

Feeling better than this morning but not by very much. At least well enough to function. 

No gym tonight, obviously. Not much else done around here, either. I did go to the store for a few things. Got more plastic sheeting, black this time. Anchored that down on more garden mounds. Going to compare results between black and clear for future reference. Some things I've read say clear plastic works better. However, that doesn't make much sense to me. Black retains heat and black keeps out any light, so it seems logical that black would work better. 

In any case, going to get lots of crop plants started in containers, can cut small holes in the plastic and insert the plants through the holes. Gradually, on or two plants at a time. On the up side, the plastic retains moisture so I won't have to water as much. I'm guessing it should help increase acidity. On the down side, it will retain heat. Fine in cool weather but in summer it may kill the roots. So it may be better to only keep the plastic on for a while and remove it before planting out. 

So, payday is tomorrow. I kept my spending under control and actually managed to roll over more than I had planned. Very happy about that. Though I do still have bills to pay, nothing is overdue. 

Only a little

Only got a little bit done tonight so far. I do have to admit that part of the reason I haven't been getting much done is because there are several TV shows on which I like. Looks like a lot of people have come around to the same tastes in entertainment which I have had for decades. 

I am getting a lot of laundry done. Including whites and blankets to pack away for summer.

Laid plastic sheeting down on two more mounds, anchored with staples. The grass still keeps coming up in some spots. Leave that in place for a while. Seems to be working on the tomato patch so far. 

The theory about the cannabis plant turned out to be right. If the plant looks weak and leggy, plant it deeper and it gives more room along the main stem for roots to develop, which happens very quickly. From how fast it responded I would guess that even before it develops more roots it starts absorbing nutrients through the stem. 

Been reading up on forcing flowering and growing from cuttings (in this case called "cloning", which is probably true of most or all plants). Once the plants reach sufficient size, I can take cuttings and force the larger plants to flower. In some places, plants are force flowered as early as two weeks old. Hmm. Not happening with these. Maybe I need to fertilize them more. 

Looks like I do need to get more seeds or a plant which is more indica dominant. Best bet in the long run may be to combine them. I'll go back to the dispensary next week. 

The cucumber seeds I planted a few days ago are coming up already. So, even though the first one died off there's hope to have some cucumbers by mid-summer. 

Now it's time to get watermelon seeds started this week.

Savings goal

Well, I've reigned myself in sufficiently. Right now it looks like if I don't spend too much I will meet my short-term savings goal of adding $200-300 to savings this pay period. Sounds good but I added nothing last pay period. Still not too bad, considering I bought the camera and shade fabric this pay period. 

For the immediate future, I don't have any major expenditures as expensive as those things. So I may be able to accelerate my savings in the next couple of months. I do need to get back to work on a couple of things but they can be accomplished gradually. 

Here's good news. Sacrificing and OT is beginning to show rewards. Between my regular bank account, retirement account (okay, mostly retirement account) and medical savings account, I currently have more in savings than I have ever had in my life.

Not without some drawbacks. If I had everything else in order, that wouldn't be the case. Getting closer to things being in order every day.

The shade fabric seems to be doing fairly well to keep the solarium cooler. However, it wasn't a very hot day. 

Progress at the gym. I am now up to the maximum on the pectoral fly machine. Not for a lot of reps, only one rep at a time. However, multiple sets. Not feeling bad about that. 260 lbs for chest muscles isn't exactly easy. It's also the most I've ever lifted (which was measured) with pec muscles.

Still not gaining much weight. That probably has a lot to do with my lack of energy. But I am losing around the middle and gaining to upper body. 

My cannabis plants are looking iffy. They grew rather leggy, started vining and flopped over. This evening I tried burying the stems further. Hoping they act a lot like tomato plants and form more roots if I do that. Many plants do. Long as they don't have a crown. Plants with a crown die if you bury the crown. 

Sheriff

So, I tried going to the sheriff's substation this evening to report the car break-in. The substation was closed. Leave it to NM. I went to the substation so it would avoid an officer having to come to my house when they may have other things going on. Couldn't avoid it, though. Had an officer come over.

I'm not concerned with or hopeful to get the car stereo back. The stereo was in the car when I bought the car for $550. However if the evidence of video and fingerprints help catch the thieves, good. My car and stereo are small issues but it's most likely that the same thieves are breaking in and doing a lot more damage to newer vehicles. I'm not even reporting it to my insurance. Probably result in about $30 paid out and then an increase in my premiums. 

So, the dog didn't crap in the solarium today. However, I saw where he has managed to get in the garden and crap there. Maybe not recently, couldn't tell. Chances are he got in when I had the gate open. Least he didn't knock over any tomato plants.

Started some more seeds this evening. Carnations, Asters and Nasturtium. 

Did some more cutting of nuisance trees behind the shed. The more often I cut them, the weaker they get. Eventually I'm hoping the roots expend so much energy trying to force new growth that they exhaust themselves and die off. 

I also trimmed the red grape vine. Found something surprising. I have two new grape vines growing which I didn't even plant! Cool! Where I had one very old grape vine, I now have the old one plus two young ones. Tons of baby grapes on the vine. The green grape vine took cold damage but had not yet flowered, so will form fruit later. That one bears fruit later every year, so not a big concern. 

Still have problems getting motivated to clean house. I understand why. Because there is so much to do it's oppressive. I need to get the house organized and in condition that a couple of hours of cleaning means the whole house is clean. 

So, here's my plan. Tomorrow is gym night. Wednesday night I'll clean and organize for at least 2-3 hours non-stop. If I do that a few times the house will be in order in a week or two. 

One problem is lack of energy but also insomnia. I pretty much have to take my medication for sleep between 8 and 8:30 because it takes a long time to work on me. What works on most people in one hour takes 3 hours for me. Whoever said people need less sleep as they get older can kiss my ass.

Dang it!

Woke up this morning and it seemed like more light was coming through the back windows than I was expecting. Went and looked outside at the top of the solarium. The buckle holding one corner of the shade fabric had come loose and wind blew the fabric up onto the roof. 

It's raining and wet. So, I probably won't get it back into place unless it dries out later. Then I tink I'll just anchor it with a screw. 

Okay, it's coming on 10:30 and I've been lazy as heck so far today. Need to get up and start getting some things done.

Stopped raining. Forecast calls for more rain but before then I can probably get on the roof and get the shade fabric back in place. Maybe get the front irrigation zone working. 

Most of what I want to do today is inside the house. For some reason I have more problem getting motivated to do things inside the house than outside most of the time. 

I had planned to work on the bike this weekend but don;t want to do that in the rain. Need to get the tire valves replaced. One is shot and the other shows signs of dry rot. Pisses me off because I paid a lot of money for those to be replaced just two years ago. New tire valves do not wear out that fast at all. So either they installed used valves or they never did the work at all. Not sorry to say that shop is now out of business. Hmm. Can't imagine why. Sad thing is there is only one scooter repair shop left in town. Went there once and they couldn't fix this bike. They basically only work on things they sell or more expensive brands. It was because of that shop I wound up renting a trailer twice. Once to drop it off and another time to move it to another shop (the one no longer in business) who at least got it running. 

Oh, well. I think I can either replace the valve myself or take it to a tire repair shop. For major mechanical I have learned enough that I don't need a repair shop. 

F'ing hell! I went out to start working on things and it starts raining again! I got the shade fabric back in place, started working in the irrigation and then it starts to rain. I guess my karma today is to work inside. Too cold and wet to accomplish anything outside in any level of comfort. 

8 PM. Never did get a whole lot done today. I did get the front irrigation zone running. Still not enough pressure, so I'll have to dispose of the larger micro-sprinklers and get something smaller. 

Turns out someone broke into my car and stole the stereo. There wasn't anything else worth stealing. But the fools left fingerprints on a lot of items and were caught on two cameras. I had to go buy a USB drive, transfer the video to that and then write them to a disc to give to the police. I put everything they obviously touched in a bag and will deliver the disc and items to the police tomorrow evening. 

Dishes. Dinner. Grocery shopping. 

Tried to get the cable run for the ceiling fan in the office. Ran into a few complications. I have the circuit breakers labeled incorrectly and forgot about that. So, took a while to figure out which breaker controlled that cable which was live. Oops. Finally did that, got the switch box mounted and then.. Two cables coming from the ceiling?! Um, what? So, I have to figure out what the second cable goes to. I expect it runs to the light in the closet. The only other thing it could go to is one of the outlets.. Unless it doesn't go to anything at all, which would not surprise me in the least. 

Once again, the dog isn't happy. This morning I went out and he had crapped inside the solarium. I was not happy but tossed it out to show him it did not belong there and tossed oxygen cleanser where it had been. He learned nothing from it. Later in the day, he crapped in the exact same place again. Not only that but apparently forced himself to crap even again. I got pissed this time. Had just given him his dinner. Tossed his own shit directly at him. One piece hit the dge of his food bowl. I left it there. Maybe now he'll learn something.

Slept late

I woke up several times during the night. Think mostly because my blood sugar dropped. That's what it felt like. So, last time I turned off the alarm before it went off.

Slept until 10 AM. Not so great for the to-do list but I feel pretty good. 

Still having my first cup of coffee. Then I'll get to work on all my self-assigned tasks. 

It's fairly cloudy but calm today, so a good day for getting things done outside. Tomorrow is a middling chance of rain. May be able to get some things done outside but will mostly stick to indoor tasks. 

I'm just going to do as I've done before, save this as a draft, add to it through the day and post it this evening.

Short break. Got the first three of four sections of the solarium film down. Then got part of one section tightened and anchored again. I do have a few small holes in the film. More now because I have to displace the film to stretch it out. I was considering adding more screws but the problem doesn't seem to be poor anchoring, just weather actually stretching the film. 

I'm hoping the shade fabric (which will be placed on the top) will reduce that somewhat by interfering with wind shear. I'm also opening the top section, so more air pressure escapes that direction. Otherwise, the wind that enters blows the whole thing up like a balloon. 

When I get to the shade fabric, I want to install some grommets to be able to tie it down, rather than permanently attach it. Only place I have enough clean space to lay the whole thing out to install the grommets is on the roof. That will work. Lay it out, install the grommets and then attach the top first, then sides and bottom. 

Back to work.

3 PM. Only been an hour since my last break but had to stop for a few minutes and cool down. Not too hot today but fairly strenous work on a ladder with plastic film which reflects heat back at you gets warm pretty fast. 

Pulled the cover off the air conditioner but it's cool enough in here I don't need it right now. 

Need to spray more weed and grass killer this afternoon. Supposed to rain tomorrow. I've been heavily watering to get dormant grass and weed to grow, since the weed killer only works on actively growing plants. 

Coming on 9 PM. Got the film finished, sprayed for weeds. Installed the shade fabric. The grommets didn't work out for various reasons. Instead I used nylon zip ties coupled with nylon strapping. That should hold it in place. I may add a few more straps for stability but that won't take much effort.

Rain or no rain I need to work on the irrigation zone for the front yard tomorrow. Otherwise not going to have many roses or flowers there this year. 

Tired and sore from being up and down ladders all day. Watching the rest of a movie, bath and bed.

Life moment

I had one of those little positive life moments this evening.

Anyone in a workout program has an occasional "moment". One moment is when you actually decide with conviction that you are going to get in shape/back in shape. Another moment comes when you realize it doesn't hurt nearly as much as you expected. (Or it hurts more than you expected. That one's not so good.) Then you have small moments where you see yourself increasing your lift stacks, distance, endurance, etc.

Eventually you reach a more crucial moment. The moment you realize you are lifting more than you have in years, decades or even your whole life. I've reached the more than I have in decades point and working toward more than my whole life. Not pushing myself at a pace that will result in injury. 

Tonight, I had a different kind of moment. The moment when you look in the mirror and realize you have come a long way toward where you want to be. At least for now. I have been gradually adding size to my arm, shoulders, lats and legs while losing from my waist. Been also gradually adding to my chest. However, building the chest is a fickle thing. Before now, I've done the common thing of working on my middle and lower chest. Now I started working on my upper chest. Looked in the mirror and was actually very surprised at just how much of a difference that is making! My chest definition is greatly enhanced from where it was in January. I will say my chest definition is better than it has ever been. Only a few more weeks and my chest size will be larger than it has ever been. 

So, basically I am really close to the loosely defined goals I started with in January. Not bad for around 14-15 weeks. Of course, that does mean I have to set further future goals. 

So, time to set the next goals. I've always had a fairly large chest and shoulders for my height. I currently wear a large size shirt. So my immediate goal is to gain enough size to my upper body to outgrow my large shirts. Most are fairly tight at this time already. Mostly fairly worn, so I need some new clothes, any way. I think if I focus my workouts I can reach that goal in a month or less.

Today was my birthday. Aside from a call from my daughter and the above, nothing special about it.

The shade fabric came today. I'll install it and tighten the film on the solarium this weekend. 

Staples and such

So, the garden staples arrived today. They are definitely 6" long, not presented inaccurately. They should hold rather well. The box of 500 of them was really heavy! I think my mail carrier hates me. 

In addition the new bike battery arrived the same day.

She definitely hates me. 

Started putting the staples to use this evening. Tacking down the edges of the plastic sheeting in the tomato patch. 

The dog keeps getting ticks even though I have sprayed him once a week. Sprayed him again this evening. Then took the garden sprayer, filled it with insecticide and sprayed the entire gallon in the back yard where the dog has access. Sprayed the sides of the house in barriers around doors and windows. Inside the house and same barrier to the rest of the house. Avoided areas where I may affect beneficial insects.

The drip emitters I got don't seem to be working very well. Guess I need to get pressure compensation emitters. Or just manually water the tomato plants for a couple of weeks and then get the plants in the ground. After they've recovered from frost damage.

Awesome kid

I was thinking today about just how awesome my daughter really is. Brought on by the desire to watch science shows this weekend. 

So, she is interested in science and for her age understands most scientific concepts quite well which are presented to her. 

She loves to read and very often has her head in a book.

Loves music and is in the school choir. Learning how to play the ocarina. 

Huge enthusiast of art. Draws and paints, has tons of art and craft supplies and has no problem combining different art forms.

Loves animals and has been learning about them on her own for years via books.

It may pain me to say it but I give huge amounts of credit to her mother for supporting daughter's development and learning. No small amount of credit goes to her stepfather, also. May sound at times like I am blind to these things but I'm not. 

I got back to the gym tonight. Only went once weeks before last and skipped all of last week. Unfortunately, learned my lesson tonight. No more Mondays. Damn campers all over the place. People sitting on the machines, texting, talking on phones or running their mouths with each other while doing nothing. Had to cut my workout short because I couldn't even get to a large number of machines which I normally use. For the whole time I was there. Surprisingly, I was up on my weight levels on several machines for longer sets. 

The new camera came today. Very happy with it! It does have a lower MP rating but it's faster and has a much stronger zoom at 26x. 

The dog did not get a walk today. Not for lack of time but just because I got sick of him whining. Big problem seems to be the more attention he gets, the more he feels he can be demanding of ever more attention. So, best thing is to back off until he settles down a bit. 

Down mood

I have no idea why but I'm in a fairly down mood. Maybe fighting something off. Still having a small amount of lower rib pain but not as much. 

Maybe just allergies. It is cottonwood season, after all.

Daughter and I didn't do much this weekend. Her choice. We watched a lot of "Brain Games" videos. Almost any scientific subject can spark a lot of conversation between us. I'm happy to see she continues to develop a strong logical mind. Enough incorrect or fantastic thinking to show she is still young and highly imaginative. 

I'm so proud of her! She made the Honor Roll! Crap. Like a dumbass, I did not giver her anything which I referred to as a reward. Have to do that the next time she comes over. I did give her the tablet computer, cover and clay sculpting tools this weekend. 

Weather has improved again. Can move the tomato plants back out this week. Over time, it appeared more of the plants took frost damage than I had thought. Hoping they will rebound, since it wasn't cold enough to affect the roots. Either way, I'm going to expand numbers with cuttings, long as there are enough healthy limbs on some of the plants. If not enough this week, I'll have to wait a few weeks. 

Ordering stuff

My normal pattern is to pay the bills first after getting paid. This time I am doing things a little different. I went ahead and ordered the new camera and the shade fabric for the solarium before paying the bills. I'll get around to paying bills tonight. 

I also ordered some landscaping staples. Completely disgusted by the price of them at local outlets. Harbor Freight used to carry them but not any more. Hard to believe how much stores charge for little pieces of bent metal. To get a decent price, I had to order 500 of them. Oh, well. Chances are I'll never have to order landscape staples for the rest of my life. But at least ordering that many they come out to $.06/each (including shipping). They're also longer than average. Average length is 4" and these are 6", so they should hold really well. 

I had already ordered extra batteries, a charger and a memory card for the camera a few weeks ago. (When I thought I would receive the correct camera the first time.)

I still expect that I can pay the bills and be able to put a decent amount in savings this pay period. 

Though I am happy milder weather is coming up, so the utility bills will decrease. One hope for the shade fabric (in conjunction with the insulation) is that it will be easier to keep the house comfortable with less effort and cost. 

Just sticking with the same pattern of saving posts as a draft and adding to it, rather than making multiple posts in one day. 

I was planning on getting to the gym tonight. Then this afternoon I started having pain to both sides of my lower chest or upper abdomen. Not sure of the cause but no medication has helped. Figured if I felt better after walking the dog, I would go ahead and go. I'm back from walking the dog and not feeling much different. Probably nothing big but going to skip it just in case. No urge to make anything worse. 

I think instead I'll stick around here and work on getting more of the irrigation system going and clean house a bit more before daughter comes over tomorrow. 

Will probably compromise by doing some weight lifting with the dumbbells tonight. 

Okay, it's after 7. Took a lot less effort so far to get the second irrigation zone up and running. However, I suspect there may be a pressure leak somewhere. I'm letting it run for a few hours. Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to locate any leaks better. If there is no pressure leak that means one style of new sprinkler isn't going to work in that zone. More likely to work in the front yard, which is smaller so has higher pressure. 

Installed the metal straps on the compost tumbler door to keep it from warping in the sun. Seems to work fairly well. I am already seeing faster results from using the tumbler as opposed to the compost pile. 2-3 more weeks and I think this batch will be useable. Now that the door will stay in place, I do need to open it up every day or two, tumble it and aerate the contents. I have air holes drilled in the sides but if it's not being tumbled the stuff on the bottom starts going into anearobic decomposition, which is not so good for the soil. Not really bad because once it gets mixed in the soil it will be aerated. 

Need to cook dinner, clean house a little and go to bed.

No frost

So, it looks like I was right. It got cold here last night. Into the 30's but no frost. One tomato plant appears like it may have taken some damage to the leaves but even if the leaves get some damage they will grow back as long as roots and stems are okay. No visible frost, including in the shadows. 

I am going to keep an eye on things. Daytime high is cooler today and now they are predicting lows in the 30's again. So frost may be possible tonight. 

Cut it close but one day until payday and I did not dip into my savings I had built up. Though I didn't move ahead, I expect to this next pay period. I did restrain myself because I have a few things I want to buy. Shade fabric for the solarium and a new camera. The right one this time. Call those two things birthday presents to myself.

I got some Milkweed seeds in the mail today which I had ordered. I really do not see the humor in it when a company sells seeds and instructions state the seeds must be stratified for several weeks before planting. They should do that before packaging them. I did label them and place most of them in the freezer. However, Milkweed grows in Texas, where it never freezes. So I also planted 6 test seeds and will see if those come up. If not, just wait a couple weeks and plant the ones from the freezer. 

Now after 7 PM. Had to skip the gym to move the plants into the solarium and close it back up. Then wrap the apple tree. Did my best with the plum tree but the branches go so many directions it's very difficult. Just had to focus on the branches with the most fruit. 

Odd but apparently part of the garden froze and part did not. Couple of tomato plants and the cucumber vine took heavy damage. Think the cucumber vine has had it. Have to get more started soon. 

Early to rise

IWoke up early this morning. Not a lot to do. I just managed to fall asleep early last night and woke early as a result.

Think I need to transplant the cannabis plants today. They've already grown 3 inches tall. There's a definite reason it's nicknamed "weed". I do know I've read that while it was once a useful crop (hemp, that is), it also grew wild and in many cases was considered a nuisance by farmers growing other crops where it invaded. If it grows that fast, I can see why. 

I have about 30 minutes before work. Going to save this as a draft and go transplant those now. Don't want them getting root-bound at $4 a seed. The 5th seed never did germinate. I'll leave it in place and see if anything changes but 4 plants is good. 

That didn't take long. They're transplanted into larger pots. From what I understand, the size of the pot they are in determines the size of the plant. I'll decide in a few weeks if I'll place these in larger containers than 1 gal. 

Was having problems figuring out logistics. Then realized I can force flower the plants one at a a time instead of all at once. I'll place one plant at a time in the office during the day and in my bedroom or a closet for 12 hours a day. To force flowering they need light and dark, 12/12. They need CO2, so I'll definitely use the closet and place a yeast culture in the closet, also. 

Okay, it's after 5 PM. I'm going with my gut on this. I am not going to wrap the trees and move all the tomato plants I so recently moved out. I do not believe it will freeze here tonight. It is currently 65 degrees. So, do I think it will drop by 33 degrees by morning? No. I have a good sense of these things. 

I will also say it is very windy and the trees would be hard to wrap by myself. With the tomatoes there is the question of which is the bigger danger? If I move the tomatoes they are more in range of the dog, who has already knocked several tomato planters over and killed at least one vine. Versus the chance the temperature will very suddenly drop as noted above. I find the dog to be a higher risk. Just playing the odds here. It could drop below 40 but if the temperature doesn't stay there the tomatoes will be fine. At around 40 degrees for a sustained period they will go dormant but don't die off. 

Went to Walmart. Picked up 12 more strawberry plants in addition to the 6 I had. I'm fairly determined to turn my luck around with strawberries this year. I have planted strawberries every year (as far as I can recall) and have not had one single full size strawberry yet. However, I am trying a new variety this year. And keeping them in either the office or the solarium. One benefit to that is that in late fall I can keep them indoors, where they won't freeze. Which means they will go dormant but not die off and will be good for next year. 

Static

So, my savings will remain static this pay period. That's okay. At least I'm not eating into my savings. Try to move forward the coming pay period, yet still buy a new camera and shade fabric for the solarium.

Because of the wind, I did buy some nylon strapping, 100 yards of it. Maybe adding strapping will help keep the wind from having quite as much impact. Worth a try.

Oh, yeah. Need a spare battery for the bike, too. I like having a spare because the bike has left me stuck a couple of times from dead battery. My habit of keeping a charged spare on board has saved me almost every time. Then again, I think it was almost always the same battery. Not buying that brand again, ever. 

I just saved this as a draft to add over the day, so time posted isn't accurate. It's now after 7 PM.

Dragging ass. Think just allergies but still have some small amount of chest (pleural) pain. Not feeling actually sick, just really tired all over. I'll take something for allergies but not taking steps to increase my energy because then I'll have trouble getting to sleep. 

So, I got really happy. The garden is doing really well. Tomato plants are growing nicely, got them moved out to the tomato patch. It's starting to look like my black thumb is finally turning green. Everything I plant seems to be coming up without having to over-plant drastically. Checked the apple and plum tree at lunch. The apple tree already has dozens of tiny apples forming. The plum tree has many dozens, maybe hundreds of tiny plums visible. (I do expect both of them to abort most of the fruit, which is normal.) 

So, of course the weather forecast is calling for a possible freeze in the south valley tomorrow night. So I will have to move the tomatoes in the solarium and wrap the trees before tomorrow night. I hate the damn weather here. 

At least the grape vines have been forming leaves but haven't flowered yet. 

Got the nylon strapping today. First thing I did with it was make a new collar for the dog. His neck has gotten too thick for the old invisible fence collar. Don't want it digging into his neck. 

I'm getting to bed early tonight.

Sick..and then not?

Very strange thing. Earlier today I felt like I was getting sick with a respiratory infection. That or I breathed too many fumes from acid this weekend. (That wasn't likely. If that had been the case I would have known shortly after it happened.)

My throat and my left lung ached and burned, especially when I took a deep breath. I deferred going to the gym because of it. 

That lasted a good part of the day into the evening. Now it seems to have gone away. Strange but not complaining by any means.

Made a run to Home Depot and Dollar Tree. Had to get parts and batteries for the irrigation system. Some parts are expected, though I do have to replace more than I anticipated. Dog damage. I did buy fairly large bags of the most often replaced parts. Shouldn't have to buy any more of those this year and hopefully at least half of next year. But they are the cheapest parts of the whole system. The chewed up sprinklers are a much bigger deal. 

Home Depot was out of stock of the most common sprinkler I use. As usual, that section is a complete mess and they probably have no idea what is out of stock. Every year. 

Got out during lunch today and tied some of the tallest tomato plants to their cages. 

Been reading conflicting information about when I can transplant the tomatoes in. Some sources say as soon as one day after spraying. Other sources say 3 days, a week or 30 days. I think what I will do is transplant one test plant after a few days. I think it shouldn't really take too long, with the heat and plastic sheeting. That should speed up the breakdown of the chemical. Some of them are growing so fast I want to get them in the ground quickly to give their roots more space. I think they should start flowering soon. 

Brief update

So, the dog appears to have learned his lesson. I did leave potting soil in his bowl all night and I did not feed him any dinner. He was hungry for one night but no harm came to him. He had plenty of water. This morning, I went out and confirmed no more damage was done. Then fed him extra for his morning feeding. He didn't appear sorry yesterday but he did this morning.

Then again, I'm not sure dogs ever feel sorry rather than just intimidated.

So, I'm at 4 out of 5 cannabis seeds. The 5th one hasn't germinated. One of the 4 may not be usable. It appears deformed. Instead of growing upward, it's vining across the soil right from the point it exits the soil. Maybe something about the way light reaches it? Have to wait and watch. Otherwise, they're each an inch tall already. So they are going to grow quickly. Going to wind up transplanting them soon. 

All the work outside made my allergies so bad that I'm blowing old blood out of my sinuses this morning. 

Meanwhile, only a couple of days of different types of lifting at home is already showing increased muscle mass to my arms. Happily, because I'm just expanding muscle I have already strengthened, there's no pain involved. The bicep machine at the gym is good for building strength but isolates movement to focus on the intermediate bicep. The exercises I'm doing at home focus on the lateral and medial bicep, leading to expansion of the muscles from side to side. Intermediate is what we use most but medial and lateral are important for less used movements and for muscle definition. 

Hmm. I probably need to do that for my triceps, too. 

Short break from irrigation system

I'm taking a short break from working on the irrigation system. The dogs actually did even more damage than I had thought. I have to buy more parts to replace the pieces they chewed up.

However, for the moment I have one zone up and running for the tomatoes.

The dog still doesn't learn. He turned over one of the tomato plants and destroyed it. I cannot even find the plant itself. Ate the potting soil. Obviously the invisible fence was not turned up high enough and I did not have enough cayenne in that pot. So, not the fence is turned up higher. Plus I found out about the plant after I had given him breakfast. But okay. He wants to eat potting soil? That's what he gets to eat. I put potting soil in his food bowl. That is all he gets until tomorrow morning. No walk today. Let's see if he learns anything.

I still have to pick up trash which blew into the yard and move the tomato plants. Also need to go to Dollar Tree and get new batteries for the drip timers. 

Took apart the section of fence with chicken wire which I brought down for the new fence. Some parts will be good replacement parts for tomato staking which the dogs also destroyed. Other parts just have to be burned. 

I'm just going to save this as a draft and add to it later before posting.

Almost 5 PM. I transplanted more tomatoes into larger containers. Laid down plastic sheeting in the tomato beds, moved the containers to weigh the plastic down and watered all of them. 

The dog keeps getting right in my way and/or nudging my hand. It seems less like an apology than a demand for attention. I'll pet him but he is not getting a walk or dog food tonight. All the new potting soil is moved on the opposite side of the garden fence from him, along with the tomato plants. I would be nicer about things if he stopped doing the precise things which get him in trouble. I am also turning the invisible fence up to the maximum setting tonight and spreading the cables to cover more area. This battle ends today.

Got a bit more done. Straightening up, washing dishes and sheets, putting away laundry, sweeping and mopping.

So exciting.. 

Shoulders

Off to a slightly slow start this morning. Think I should get some things done today, though.

Since starting to work out again, my shoulders have been bothering me once more. Not as much as they did a few years ago but it is fairly constant and annoying. Last night I started doing some non-weight extreme stretching exercises for my shoulders. This morning I have slightly more pain but it is familiar pain. The pain of stretched ligaments from exercise. That is a temporary pain, goes away after repeating the same exercises for a while. 

I have no limit on range of motion or strength. The pain does limit my workout because if I stress the ligament or joint too much I will be in serious pain the next day. However, I can attain a decent weight set and do more repetitions at lower than maximum weight. So it slows but does not stop my progress.

Here is the thing which rather pisses me off. My shoulder problem results in back pain. The exact same back pain which I experienced (though less intense) in the Army many years ago. On numerous occasions they noted significant swelling to one side of my back where the pain was. Problem? Most of the pain was in my back, not my shoulder. But I did have numbness and tingling down my arm. If I had known more about anatomy back then I could have figured out the problem. Yet numerous military doctors including a neurosurgeon could not figure it out in 2.5 years! The closest came from the Master Sergeant who was once a chiropractor. I also now know they never did the one study which would have explained everything. An electromyelogram. Which definitely existed at the time because my mother had several of them in the 1970's. I'll say they tried. CT scan, MRI and bone scans. They just never tried the right test. The swelling and my dominant arm being weaker than the other side should have been the deciding factors. The swelling in the area they noted has nothing to do with the spine.

Oh, well. The same idiots never figured out the fact that I did not have COPD but reactive airway disease. Nor did they figure out that I have Celiac disorder and ulcerative colitis. So they were batting 1000. Failed on all counts.

Just as well. If they had figured those things out, they probably would have given me a medical discharge. Which was offered to me and I refused.

I also started doing some extra lifting at home with dumbbells. Lower weights and more targeted exercises to build certain areas better. 

Looks like it's going to be cloudy all day today. That's not bad but it slows warming outside. Still 51 degrees. I prefer somewhere in the 60's-low 70's range but will get out there in a few minutes. After a little more coffee.

Some things done

I got some things done today. Not as much as I had planned on but then I never get as much done as I plan.

Cut back the nuisance trees behind and next to the shed, applied heavy amounts of glyphosate, including the entire trunks. 

Sprayed acid and ammonia mixture to the whole garden twice. I think this is finally going to achieve the results I wanted. The whole garden is now turning black and it seems to be reaching the roots. 

Tomorrow I'm going to apply clear plastic sheeting to the tomato patch, get part of the irrigation system going and move the tomato plants out into full sun. In a couple of weeks any glyphosate should be inactive enough to put them in the soil through holes in the plastic sheeting. 

The dog came back. I didn't punish him but I did install new cable and put the collar for the invisible fence back on him. It should also keep him away from the tomato plants until I move them. Then the garden fence will do the job. 

Got some shopping done and a little bit done inside the house.

Been dragging ass all day. Seems to be related to my gut. Took some medicine for it but it takes time to work. Hope I feel better tomorrow. 

Ordered parts for the irrigation system. The place I order parts from has some micro-sprinklers with up to a 32 ft pattern, which is double the ones I've been using. So I would need fewer of them. So I ordered two different styles to test and compare. 

Good news. My cannabis seeds are germinating. There was no guarantee that they would. (Rather sucks for seeds that cost $4 each!) But of 5 seeds, I see germination with 4 of them, so far. Since I just planted them Monday evening, that's just 5 days. Everything I read said they could take two weeks to sprout. Supposed to take 8-10 weeks to mature. I may have to hang tarps in the office to force them to flower. Otherwise, they won't bloom until autumn. If I force them to flower, if any of them produce seeds I can have two crops this year. 

Up early

Managed to get to sleep last night. Now I'm up early, as planned. I am waiting for the temperature to rise a few degrees. 43 degrees out right now.

Yes, in a few weeks I'll be wishing it would drop that low. But I still am not a big fan of being cold.

Probably would be fine if I put on a long sleeve shirt and go out to spray the garden again. After I finish my coffee.

I just went out to feed the dog and it seems he got out of the yard..again. Looked around the immediate neighborhood and didn't see him. If he got picked up again I'm going to be pissed. If he wanders back on his own, I have to reinforce the gate he got through. 

Full toxic

Up until now I have tried at some level to maintain some level of organic approach to the garden. I have pulled and burned and tilled and solarized and mulched and applied weed fabric and used light applications of acid and used sparing applications of weed killer. The results have been frustrating, to say the least.

Okay, the organic approach is in the wind this year. This year, I am going full toxic on the weeds and unwanted grass. I am applying seriously heavy amounts of glyphosate and sulfuric acid, ammonia and Epsom Salt. 

Going to couple that with solarizing. I'm going to get the irrigation system up and running this weekend. I transplanted most of the tomato plants into large containers last night. I applied a lot of glyphosate this evening and acid last evening. Going to move the tomato plants out into the garden, place clear plastic sheeting underneath and leave things like that for a few weeks. I think the combination of chemicals and solarizing should have the desired effect. After everything under the plastic seems dead, I'll plant the tomatoes in the ground. 

The dog pissed me off. After I transplanted the tomato plants, he turned several of them over to eat the potting soil. I managed to save most of the ones he damaged.. I think. One or two still look iffy. I dusted the top of the soil in the planters, so if he sticks his face in them again he'll get a snout full of cayenne pepper. I'm guessing he won;t get far and won't do it again. 

Kind of looks like I may eat into my savings this week. That's okay because my next check I have virtually no bills to pay, so I can catch up and ahead then.

My vacation time was approved this week. One week in late June and one week in late July. Going to fix up the car before then, so I can use the car on at least one road trip instead of renting. 

I still have a problem with insomnia to some degree. Tonight I'm going to force myself to sleep at a decent hour to get some things done tomorrow. I was going to karaoke tonight but for various reasons everyone in the group dropped out for tonight, so I'm just skipping it. Going to take more cannabis than usual and get to bed. 

New glasses

Went and picked up my new glasses this evening. The ones from the optical shop. Took 18 days, 19 if you count the day I ordered them. Going to take a little while to get used to bifocals again but they should help with work. I can see the TV better!

Still another day of excessive wind. So, no spraying or spreading of acid this evening. 

The wind has done some damage to the solarium. Have to get out and tighten the film this week. Need to order some shade fabric, also. 

Daughter won't be here this weekend, so I have a lot to do. The solarium, working on the car, the bike and the garden. I am going to take time off for karaoke on Fri night and going to the gym sometime this weekend. Late in the day, so I don't exhaust my energy. 

Still waiting for a refund from the person who sold me the wrong camera. I am getting angry now. I have no doubt this person sold the wrong camera on purpose. Now it has been a week since the camera was delivered to him and no refund yet. 

Time for clothes

There is a little bit of a downside to building muscle. My upper body is gaining enough size that some of my shirts are getting kind of tight. It's okay for stretchy cloth like T-shirts. For less elastic fabric, it gets uncomfortable pretty fast. So, going to be time very soon for some new shirts.

Oh, well. Definitely not going to complain. It's a sign that I'm getting in better shape again. Very visible in the mirror now. Feeling better, gaining some energy. That's completely a good thing. 

Good progress on the ski machine. I only went a half mile to warm up but barely felt it. 

Newest strain of cannabis is a bust. It actually suppresses my appetite. 

Some people may frown on me playing around, trying different strains. I think of it like any medicine. If you have the option to try different medications for a problem, wouldn't you? Most people have tried different NSAID's and think nothing of it.

Have to put off some of the work in the garden. Wind has been too strong to spray acid. Very bad idea in this wind. 

Blueberry cuttings aren't doing badly. If all the cuttings form roots, I'll be up to 11 blueberry plants. Of course, it will be years before most of them bear any fruit. That's okay. Blueberry crop will increase gradually over several years. 

At the same time, apple and plum crop should also be increasing. 

Unproductive day

Today was slow for work. I made 77 cases but that was because my last caller (who is a regular) had 7 cases. Otherwise, I would have ended with 70 or 71. 

Not a whole lot done after work. Drove to the dispensary, got a new strain plus some seeds. Seeds are  for $20, more expensive that finished product. However, plants can be grown from cuttings, so if these germinate, it can quickly turn into a lot more plants. Plus I may be able to grow some until they produce more seeds for the future. On the upside, this was my third purchase, so I got a free joint, which is huge by my standards. That alone will probably last 1-2 weeks for me. Kind of offset the price of the seeds.

Slight detour and went to Lowe's on the way home. Got some potting soil and some strawberry plants. 

Got the well pump hole plugged and it's now up and running for the season. That does not in any way mean the irrigation system is ready. That's going to take some work, with the damage one of the dogs did. I need a lot of new micro-sprinklers because that was obviously his favorite chew toy. He didn't even crap on those. 

Took some cuttings from the green grape vine. My luck following instructions to take cuttings from dormant plants has not worked at all. Hoping spring cuttings work better. If I can get a few grape vines started, I may plant one on each side of the garden gate. Flowers may be pretty but they also attract lots of bees and wasps, which you would have to walk through when walking through the gate. I think grapes are a better option in that respect.

Think I need to add some fairly rigid metal straps to the door for the compost tumbler. It warps and curls in the sun. 

I'm getting to bed early tonight. For some reason I'm tired.

Part of it may be the steak I ate this weekend. Guess steak is mostly off the menu. I had slight stomach pain all weekend after eating the steak. I had some understanding red meat is not good for ulcerative colitis but this was the most dramatic illustration of that which I've had. 

Productive few hours

Okay, got the stumps cut down further, drilled holes in some of them and applied Epsom Salt and sulfuric acid. 

Installed the hinges and latch for the compost tumbler. So now I can actually tumble it! Kind of a handy function for a compost tumbler.

Transplanted the largest three tomato plants into larger containers with cages. I'll have to work on the rest of the larger plants this week. 

Cooked dinner, grilled chicken and having a chicken fajita salad. 

Got the dishes done. That was no small task.

I'm tired. Get more stuff done tomorrow. Not going to the gym. Tomorrow is the first Monday of the month. Free pizza night in a mostly Mexican neighborhood. Last month on the same day, the Walmart directly across the street had to lock down and evacuate because of someone with a gun. There was no statement of connection but it would not surprise me if a conflict started at the gym and moved to Walmart. 

In any case, this weekend has been a holiday weekend, the first weekend of the month, a full moon and a blood moon all at once. I'm not superstitious but place a lot of weight on the impressions of others and their resulting behavior. Been bad enough just driving in the city or walking in a store. Luckily, not that many people shopping, so I could avoid people who were acting like idiots by taking different directions around them. Most of the time.

Going to be a busy week or two. Lots of things to get done.

Going to the dispensary this week. See what kind of cuttings they have for growing at home. Did some reading to gain a bit of understanding. The thing I do not like so much about what I am using is a strong case (after using) of "couch lock". It makes me tired and lazy. In the early 80's, some that I used to use would make me far less tired and would make me laugh a lot. This has not had that effect. Turns out the kind which probably makes me laugh is "Sativa" dominant. What I am currently using is "Indica" dominant. Going to try the "Sativa" and see if it's worth it. If not much difference, that's okay. Both have CBD in them.

Easter Sunday

Had a good Easter with daughter. Set up the egg hunt part last night and part this morning. We made it official. I knew she had figured out there was no Easter Bunny but we agreed it's fun to pretend. 

I filled the fake eggs with one of her favorite candies. Last night, we painted the eggs by hand instead of dying them. Her idea. It was fun!

Her mother wanted me to drop her off early this afternoon for activities at the step-grandmother's house. 

Once I dropped her off, I went to Harbor Freight. Still no luck finding a well pump which was returned and they don't sell the gauge through the parts department. I emailed to find out. Picked up a few tools. Admittedly not all of which were really needed but been waiting to get some of them for a long time. Like a solar powered fountain pump. It was on sale plus I had a coupon for 1/4 off. So, I basically got it for around half price. Got some large hole drill bits, spade type, for the tree stumps. The larger the hole, the more of whatever compound you can insert to kill the stumps. 

Stopped at Home Depot to get more parts for the compost tumbler and look for something to plug the hole for the gauge in the well pump. Could not find a bolt which would fit. Then had an idea. Finally found a pipe nipple which will mount in the hole and a cap which will plug the nipple. They didn't have a male plug that size. That's okay, long as I can get it working without leaking all over the place. 

Got chicken breasts to make fajitas for dinner.

Picked up another 5 gal bag in a box of battery acid for the garden. I ran through the entire 5 gals from last year. Or will be through it this week and need more. 

Okay, no more Walking Dead this season. Guess I'm getting out and dealing with some tree stumps now that it's getting cooler.

Mild day

Daughter didn't feel like doing a lot today. She has a sinus infection. Turned down going to "Explora" with her mother yesterday. I think it's clearing up. Got her some sinus medicine today which seemed to help a bit.

She did help me wash the dog today. 

I moved all the tomato plants from in the house to outside today. They're getting too big for inside the house and I need to room to get more things started. Couple of the tomato plants are over a foot tall and I need to put them in larger containers. I'll pull some of the broccoli tomorrow and transplant tomatoes into those pots. From the looks of it, we should have tomatoes by late May at this rate. 

Fixed the compost tumbler stand. Much more stable now. 

We had steaks for dinner. First actual steak I've eaten in years. (And I can't do that often, since red meat isn't good for my gut.) They were good. Oddly, daughter likes her steak rare now. Watched a few shows and she read in her room for a while.

Oh, I also fixed the chain saw. While I can afford a new one and will need a new one in the future, I'd rather not spend the money before it's completely necessary. The problem was only one bolt for the cover that fell back into the case and had to be retrieved. If it does it again, I'll hot glue it in place. 

Darn!

Darn! I was kind of hoping my paycheck was going to go in the bank this morning due to the holiday weekend. It didn't. The banks will probably be open tomorrow.

That's okay. No pain involved, it was arbitrary. Picking daughter up tonight and expect we will do some grocery shopping and go out to eat. That will throw my amount rolling over to less than my goal.. for a few hours and not by much. But that goal will be realized this coming pay period. 

It's also a technicality because I still have money in the medical savings account. Some of that should have been spent on one purchase but I used the main account by accident. So, I actually will have reached that goal but the money was displaced. 

Now that I've reached a few major goals it's time to look at more consistent goals. Now that my income is back up, I'm setting a goal of putting aside at least $200 every paycheck. Except during vacation. Now that warmer weather is here, I can probably lay aside more than that every check. I'll shoot for $300 each check, though some of that is to offset winter bills and lower income part of the year, so some of that may be used during winter. 

I have to get out and tighten the plastic sheeting on the solarium. Heat, wind and snow have stretched it so it's loose. I checked, no signs of ripping or tearing. But it flaps in the wind really bad. Need to add more lateral supports to the main structure, too. Not much money, just a lot of work.

Experimental evening

I slowed down a bit for tonight. Needed to do some laundry and dishes before daughter comes over tomorrow. 

Then I got in an experimental mood. 

First I brewed a mild cannabis mixture. Water, cannabis, menthol, nicotine and CDB oil. It's meant to be a much milder vaping mixture when I want the anti-inflammatory and/or anxiolytic effects but no desire for the full effects. Tried it and it works as planned. Calming and pain relieving but not disorienting. I will admit it makes me type slightly slower.

I also am currently trying my first attempt at hot fudge ice cream topping from scratch. Regular fudge recipe but extra butter and cooked at lower temperature. 

The tablet computer for daughter came in today. Can't do anything with it yet because it has to charge for 8 hours before use. Maybe she and I can figure it out over the weekend.