75 bar falls 30.07 2mph E dew-point 59 sunrise 6:58 set 7:13 Lughnasa
Waning Gibbous Harvest Moon rise 9:58 set 1:37
Couldn’t get chipper this morning, so I spent some time moving logs, then went on to plant daffodils. After the nap Kate and I worked on transferring day lilies to a front bed. She wants them to block out weeds and they should do a good job. That took most of the afternoon. Tomorrow I can get the chipper so we’ll do that AM. After, I’ll plant more bulbs and more lilies.
63 bar rises 30.11 2mph NW dew-point 54 sunrise 6:58 set 7:13 Lughnasa
Waning Gibbous Harvest Moon rise 9:58 set 1:37
A crisp morning, tending toward a warm afternoon. Great for outdoor work. Have to split logs so I can use the chipper on them Monday. Then, plant bulbs and move hemerocallis. Plenty outside labor for the crew here at Vineland Place.
Check in later.
There are times when the judgment of the universe becomes inscrutable. At best. The complex interplay among our nature, our nurture and the actual facts muddies the whys of life. Always. It is no wonder that humans seek answers, we are pattern seekers, probers, wonderers, wanderers. Yet, there may be no answers.
I know a family, a small nuclear family. A man, a woman, a daughter. Since January the full weight of heaven has fallen on their home. The man, in his fifties, a government employee, a sailor, an astronomer, a fixer. The woman, also in her fifties, a quirky domestic with an honesty and unflinchingness that marks her as unusual. The daughter, bright, also quirky, a maker of angel wings. A student of costume. A lover of the
Renaissance. Finished college early with a degree in history.
In January the man had a spell, a stroke they thought at first. Some improvement. Another spell. An MRI. Neurological. Holes appeared. Demylenation, a stripping away of the insulating layer of the nerve fibers. At first, a guarded diagnosis. After a second and third episode. MS Multiple Sclerosis.
Various treatments, but none working very well. Then, again some improvement physically. With the realization though that work had come to an end and life as he knew had vanished over night. The man has become sad, angry, depressed. He hits the dog with his cane. The dog will go to a new home this week. He wakes up at 4 in the morning and wants to argue. Considers suicide. Has gone from a detail guy, a traveler and friend to an invalid and a miserable invalid.
70 bar falls 29.98 0mph S dew-point 58 sunrise 6:57 set 7:17
Waning Gibbous Harvest Moon rise 8:32 set 11:01
On Thursday nights I watch Supernatural on the CW. My lifelong fascination with gothic tales, especially ones involving demons makes this irresistible to me, even more so than Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which I also enjoy. I mention it here because it took a very interesting twist tonight. An angel appeared. This is not at all like touched by an angel, this is more like grabbed by an angel. Anyhow, the entry into the program of the divine element in the supernatural separates Supernatural from everything that’s gone before on TV. At least as far I can recall. Should be interesting.
When I went out on the deck tonight, the smell of the dead trees was everywhere. It’s not an unpleasant smell. Sort of a green tobacco drying odor. When it hit my nose though, I rethought my earlier comments. About not missing the trees. It feels important to me to do a ritual on Saturday, before we chip them. They lived with us and we with them for 14 years. They never asked anything of us and in return offered shade, their presence. Their passing should not go unnoticed.
64 bar steady 30.16 0mph NW dew-point 56 sunrise 6:56 set 7:17 Lughnasa
Waning Gibbous Harvest Moon rise 8:32 set 11:01
September will be a full out garden and landscaping month. I have bulbs coming from White Flower Farms, a tree to finish cutting up, then two trees to mulch. Then I’ll be working with Eco-Gardens to plant and install our new orchard and near kitchen window plantings.
Again, on the economy. Peace and calm. Fear kills.
73 bar steady 30.18 1mph N dew-point 47 sunrise 6:54 set 7:19 Lughnasa
Waning Gibbous Harvest Moon rise 8:02 set 9:41
Got this one down without hitting the house, the fence or the glass table on the deck. My merit badge is secure.
This work prepares the area for the orchard and fruit bushes. Lindsay and Paula came today. Lindsay’s plan fit our needs to a tee and moves us forward. I’ll give you a detailed version of it later, but it includes cherries, apples, pears, plums, currants, gooseberries, serviceberries and other fruiting shrubs. The orchard and the fruiting shrubs will extend from the kitchen bay window all the way to the edge of the woods.
Remember this one from Monty Python?
Oh, I’m a lumberjack, and I’m okay, I sleep all night and I work all day.
CHORUS: He’s a lumberjack, and he’s okay, He sleeps all night and he works all day.
I cut down trees, I eat my lunch, I go to the lava-try.
On Wednesdays I go shoppin’ And have buttered scones for tea.
Mounties: He cuts down trees, he eats his lunch, He goes to the lava-try. On Wednesdays ‘e goes shoppin’ And has buttered scones for tea.
57 bar rises 30.17 2mph NNE dew-point 51 sunrise 6:54 set 7:19 Lughnasa
Waning Gibbous Harvest Moon rise 8:02 set 9:41
Enough ranting. The fiscal world will go about its business; Kate and I made our decisions and have commitments that make sense to us. In the political realm Obama has gone from looking like the candidate for change to staging a disappearing act in the media. Will the economy help him re-emerge? Don’t know. Neither candidate seem compelling on financial matters. Obama’s good luck is that he’s a Democrat with a tanking economy run by Republicans. Sometimes luck is all that matters. Napoleon famously wanted to know if his officers had good luck. He promoted those who did.
Another episode in Lumberjack: The Home Reality Show today. The second acacia has to come down and I have to drop it in a narrow space. I’m feeling confident. I’ll let you know how it goes down.
After years in urban ministry, economic development, affordable housing and responsbility for urban congregations spread throughout the metro area I thought I knew Minneapolis.
Not so. When I drove over to ecological gardens, Paula’s home at 4105 Washburn Avenue I discovered north Minneapolis, the one that includes Shingle Creek, the Humboldt Greenway, Victory Memorial Drive. This is a quiet leafy chunk of the city that seems somehow separate, another urban entity, neither suburb nor city.
Delightful. I love to drive around in the city, on city streets, to places I’ve never been. That chance came to me today and I had a great time.
Back home in time for the nap, but no sleep. A family I know has a terrible weight on them right now and I couldn’t get it off my mind. What can I do. What will they do.
So I got up and moved old wire fencing Continue reading Chop Wood, Carry Fencing
59 bar steady 29.98 2mh NE dew-point 53 sunrise 6:48 set 7:29 Lughnasa
Waxing Gibbous Harvest Moon rise 6:15 set 3:35
9AM Sun/Shade
OK. All the sun/shade photographs have been printed and I will take them over to Ecological Gardens today. Just looking at them myself, it is obvious that we have vegetable growing possibilities in the front yard, to the east. That will affect the plan.
I will do candidate research on the targeted campaigns for the Sierra Club Northstar post-endorsement political activity today. This consists of compiling information about the candidates and their stands on enviornmental issues. Should be fun.
This weekend I have to design my Made in America tour. I have a list of objects, but I have to do some research.
Also, the hemerocallis have begun to call to me. Move us! Move us! That has to happen soon. An order for fall bulbs goes in today, too. This will replace the daffodils I dug up to plant under the lily and iris plus add some new tulips,
Fall planting has a ritual feeling to me by now since this will be my 17th straight year.
9 AM Sun/Shade
68 bar falls 30.06 0mph NNE dew-point 38 sunrise 6:45 set 7:34 Lughnasa
First Quarter of the Harvest Moon rise 4:49 set 12:17
Corn, Bleeding Heart, Impatiens, Beets and Beans at 3pm
This morning I got up, ate breakfast and went straight outside. Posting in the morning has begun to interfere with other projects. Even so, I like to do it. The posting gives a start to the day. Just too long a start sometimes.
Till noon I cleaned up old wire fencing so we can recycle it on Saturday. At noon I began the sun/shade survey for our ecological gardens project. Instead of shading in a map I decided to use the digital camera and print contact sheets of prints shot at 9AM, noon, 3pm, 6pm. I stand in the same location for each shot. It takes about 20 images to cover the whole yard.
After the nap I went out into the wide world to collect meds and some ink for my Canon color printer. This is the first time I have purchased ink for this printer, in fact it’s the first time I’ve purchased ink for any printer other than my HP L4 since 1991. The cost of color ink impressed me. High. Ouch.
About a year ago right now Kate and I attended a conference in Iowa City, Iowa. Focused on climate change and the issues involved, I came away convinced I needed to get involved in some direct way. I made a list of things to do at the conference, but as the year has gone by I realize I have gotten a much better handle on personal action. Continue reading Change and Changes