Modern living

Saturday I found someone who had firewood which I have neglected collecting all summer. So I took N. and R. and a moving van up to Herndon to load up as much as we could. At home Anne was making bread and some rolls to take to the party at the church but discovered in the middle of the process that we were out of butter. So she improvised and took some cream that we had and whipped it to make butter. So the 10 of November 2007 found me cutting wood and my wife at home churning butter.

Garden circa 2007

A couple of my favorite things about Gardening this year. First of all I had help from the
progeny and spouse that was lacking in previous years. One of the things I like about gardening is that I learned to look at it as one of the earliest commandments: Go and tend this garden. There are lots of ways to apply this in your life but I believe that none of the possible applications is better than the first. There are lessons of sowing and reaping that come no better than from the first lesson.

Secondly I love that I caught this praying mantis hiding in my basil. As much as I hate the pests of humid climates like Virginia I love the natural predators that come to feast on them. Can we just agree to call them "preying" mantids? As for this one I wish her all the fecundity possible.

Side Note: Insect Picture of the Day will likely have larger versions of this photo soon. I am not sure how I will handle the fame.





Thirdly, this is why I hate the pests of Virginia. After three years of gardening this is the first pumpkin we have had survive the ravages of squash borers long enough to mature. THE. FIRST. ONE. I hate squash borers. We can't grow a decent pumpkin, cucumber, or even zucchini thanks to them. The joke in Utah is that the reason you lock your car doors is because otherwise the neighbors will leave a bag of zucchini in your car and I can barely manage three or four from one hill.


Fourth, the asparagus is still in its experimental stage in the garden. We have six clumps growing now and I expect to be able to harvest quite a bit next year. I have some doubts about how to proceed though. Do I harvest all I can get for a time and then leave it alone or do I let some stalks grow and harvest others all season? More research required.

Next up: a recap of gardening in 2006

Unctuous Self-righteousness

[Conversation at the editor's office]

"Frank glad you could make it in. This is showing some real progress."
"Thanks Gene, I think that suggestion to 'make it more punchy' was what I needed for, . .."
"I do have one concern with maintaining believability here Frank. It's about this charity event you have your heroine hosting."
"You don't think people will believe a celebrity surrounded by a world of undereducated film stars, group think and empty emotions would latch on to a story of a woman widowed by a cruel war?"
"No, there's no problem with that. It's a nice touch. The problem is that I don't think we're writing an absurdist dramedy here. You can't have her baring reporters from a fund raiser for 'Reporters without Borders.' Our target audience wants to suspend disbelief for a few hours, .. ."