Lughnasa Waning Harvest Moon
Up since 4:00 am. Why? Not sure. A lot of stuff to do today, a full day tomorrow. Maybe. Sleepy.
Could be the Vikings. I mean, we have expectations this year. Real ones. Now we have to see how they look.
Off to the grocery store.
Lughnasa Waning Harvest Moon
Just a few notes so I don’t forget.
Context for this coming session of the legislature:
1. 2010 Governor’s race.
2. Deficit will become larger and impact state budgeting more. Possibly drive tax increases.
3. 1&2 will make caucus politics chaotic.
4. Legacy $. Could produce a they got there’s already attitude for env. issues
5. Employment picking up on the range. Might take some pressure off the mining issue.
6. Unemployment generally remains high. Blue-Green Alliance has opportunity.
Lughnasa Waning Harvest Moon
Kate took her ailing sewing machine up to St. Cloud. She bought it there. On the way home she brought maid-rites, a taste of Iowa burger. Maid-rites have a crumbly hamburger instead of a patty, a little bit like sloppy joes without barbecue sauce. Kate had not been far from home for several days with this illness. She’s on the mend now.
The new plantings, shrubs and trees, need water these next few weeks, before it gets cold. Their roots will uncurl and extend into the soil, go deeper and wider. By next spring they should need no extra care. That’s part of the idea behind permaculture, a maintenance free or low maintenance landscape. Permaculture achieves this in several ways. Plant guilds, plants that complement each other planted together, and plants native to the eco-system are two primary strategies for achieving this goal. Productive plants, aided by plant guilds, and native to the region make them naturally disease resistant and adapted to the particular moisture and soil requirements of your site.
Even so, they still need to get established, just like all those college freshmen throughout the land, uprooted from home and having to become part of a new place.
All this meant really long hoses since we have now begun to plant beyond the range our irrigation system. Since these plants won’t require additional water in the future, it doesn’t make sense to provide new irrigation.
A few limbs and one tree also had to come down to make sure some of the new plants thrive.
I checked the bees today, too. Still little honey. I’ve provided the hive and the bees have worked all season, so I’m not unhappy. Even so, I hope next year I can get some honey. Don’t know right now what I need to do differently, if anything.
A good part of the afternoon I’ve spent reading Politics In Minnesota weekly reports, a subscription service focused on the ins and outs of Minnesota politics, especially at the state level. On Monday I’ll attend a Minnesota Environmental Partnership meeting that will try to assess the political context for environmental issues at the legislature next year. I’m reading ahead. The context is critical when considering electoral and legislative politics. Not so much when pushing issue campaigns, at least not in the early stages. To win, though, requires sensitivity to the political context in which the issue must be resolved.
Lughnasa Waning Harvest Moon
Alert: more dog stuff below.
These dogs. They have a sense of playfulness, athleticism and a joy in each others company. And we’re ruining that right now. We have them on leads because they jump the fence. They get tangled up in them and have no fun outside, inside they’re uncertain what all this means and they act unhappy. Inside, too, their energy, unreleased from vigorous play (and, it must be pointed out, fence jumping) gets expressed. This is two 75 pound + animals baring their teeth and jumping on each other.
We love it that our dogs have the run of the woods. They have a shed to hunt under and one to sleep under. They have woodpiles filled with critters that interest them. There is a plastic swimming pool they can jump in when its hot and water to drink when they’re thirsty. They organize themselves into a pack and enjoy each others company. Being on leads cramps all that.
Right now we’re sad because we can’t figure out how to give these big puppies the freedom they need while keeping them safe and us out of trouble with the law. A conundrum. This situation exceeds our doggy knowledge by a lot. We need help and we’re seeking it from the dog’s breeder, our vet and others who have coon hound experience.
Lughnasa Waning Harvest Moon
“There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval..” – George Santayana
Could have come from the mouth of a Mexica poet. I can’t find the poem but I keep coming back in my thought to their metaphysics which makes life the puzzle and death the pregnant, vital reality.
In another view life is a momentary interlude between a sleep and a sleep. This is a line from a poet who interested me a lot years back: Charles Algernon Swinburne. The line comes from his Atalanata in Calydon:
…In his heart is a blind desire,
In his eyes foreknowledge of death;
He weaves, and is clothed with derision;
Sows, and he shall not reap;
His life is a watch or a vision
Between a sleep and a sleep.
Lughnasa Waning Harvest Moon
Paula Westmoreland came today for a walk through on the next to last phase of their work here. This time we added a woodland edge to the woods visible from our kitchen table. We also added shrubs and trees between ourselves and the Olsons, our line of site neighbors to the east. It’s beginning to look like they will require watering. Bummer.
The ten bales of hay I bought on Labor Day are now out of the truck. Two of them will go as mulch for the new plantings in the prairie toward the Olsons. 8 will facilitate my attempt to recreate the compost pile. It has been dismantled and spread out into a nice nest for two large sized puppies who will go nameless.
Kate’s home for the third straight day with what might be H1N1. Whatever it is, it’s kicked her butt and it takes some doing to accomplish that.
Garden work is the order of the weekend. That plus some more decluttering–the project that keeps on giving.
Lughnasa Waning Harvest Moon
OH, boy. We let Vega and Rigel out this morning and Brad, the neighbor who returned Rigel yesterday, gave us a call about 15 minutes later, “I think they’re out again.”
Sure enough. I drove over to Brad’s, got both of them in the red car and drove home. They are not, it turns out, digging under the fence. They jump over it! This creates a really big problem. We have an acre plus of fenced yard, most of it filled with trees. We can’t watch our dogs on this sized property which is why we have de fence.
This could be a deal breaker for keeping Rigel and Vega. We’re investigating several options, but the bottom line for us is that they have to have access to the whole backyard. If not, they can’t be dogs in the way both they and we like, that is, free roaming, able to do what dogs do within the borders of our fence. It’s a pretty generous space.
They are, however, coon hounds as well as irish wolfhounds. Both have a strong prey instinct, but the coon hounds also have the instinct to follow and tree the prey. Jumping tall buildings, or fences in this case, in pursuit of prey apparently comes with the breed. We didn’t know this until now. It just didn’t occur to us. We focused on Wolfhoundness and neglected to consider the coon hound. Our bad.
This saga is not over, but it is at a very frustrating impasse right now.
They are sweet, kind, lovable dogs just doing what comes naturally. Not their fault. If we keep them, we have to find a solution that lets them roam our yard and not the neighborhood. Aaaarrrrgggghhhhh!
Lughnasa Waning Harvest Moon
Kate’s decided to have surgery. A scheduler will call tomorrow or Monday to set up a date, probably mid-to-late October. She’ll have 2 days in the hospital and 4-6 weeks of basic rest for recovery. The surgeon believes this will alleviate up to 80% of her current lower back symptoms. The neck will remain for now.
Kate used our dehydrator last night, drying roma tomatoes. We’re experimenting right now, seeing what we like dried. All part of the grow it, store it, eat it plan.
Rigel minutes after her return home.
Vega and Rigel, happy to be together again
Vega has a swimming pool, but she likes the watering bowl, too.
Lughnasa Waning Harvest Moon
Found this on the Economist website and thought it’s common sense made it worth sharing:
“maenad2 wrote:
September 3, 2009 14:13
There are three kinds of medical problems you may have while on holiday.
The first is a simple need for cheap stuff, such as antibiotics for an obvious infection. You pay for this yourself – either by buying an (expensive) policy which covers EVERYTHING, or by paying the costs directly.
The second is a mid-level problem, such as a broken wrist. Insurance to cover an accident like this is not expensive, but equally, you can risk not getting it: you don’t have to mortgage your home to pay medical costs if you have to.
The third is a serious problem, such as damaging your spine. In this case the insurance pays for itself, but these cases are very uncommon. Insurance companies very seldom have to pay out for major accidents.
There is no point in buying the first type of insurance, because it costs as much as it is likely to pay. The second type is your call – if you are willing to risk a $5000 medical bill because you know you are a careful tourist, it can be a good idea to not pay for this insurance.
Everyone should have the third type of insurance. Insurance with a $5000 deductable can be as little as $10 a month. It won’t cover you if you break your leg, but it will cover you if you break your spine.
Unfortunately, many shoestring travellers don’t understand this. They either give their hard-earned cash to insurers, or they go without altogether – like poor old George.” (George had a fall in India, became a quadriplegic. W/o insurance his tab for the hospital is $28,000 plus another $55,000 to get him back to Australia.)
The Humane society just called. A guy from nearby had Rigel and had just today taken her over there. He’s bringing her back with him right now.
All’s well that ends well.