Responsibility

Cultural Relativism and those who preach it have gotten themselves a new A**hole after this article from Lee Harris at TCS Daily. Good writing, exactly what I would've liked to say to some people who don't have brains enough to recognise where to point their finger.

Momentary update

Bizy!
GPID let the water out a week early, those bastards! If I have time and energy I'll write a diatribe later, or is it a monologue? whatever.
Punkin season has commenced and melons are almost done for the year. Dad and Bro are working on some side projects so we're a little short handed but everything is coalescing smoothly despite that. 2 weeks of corn production or less left. Oh, the dread and anticipation! Will really suck to lose that business but will be so nice to have the extra smidgen of time and energy.

Hope the world is sending you bundles of happiness and bouquets of wonder.

Last day of summer

I noticed an immediate sensation in my eyes, mind and belly coming home. Today was the last day of summer and though I knew the equinox was coming I didn't realize that it was tomorrow until I checked at Stardate. But my body certainly felt the creaking turn of seasons as I drove home in my dusty green truck.

I'll be eating the last watermelon of summer this evening, striving to relish it with all the earnest regret for all those summer things I failed to appreciate enough this last season. Fireworks on the fourth of July, slightly burnt hot dogs from the barbecue grill, crickets singing in the balmy summer evening breeze. Hot, hot days with sweat stinging my eyes and a cold river crying out for a swim. Thunderstorms and the smell of fresh mowed lawn.

Wishing you a fine and feral evening to grasp at one last summer's pleasure.

Rain on the pumpkins

Some showers blew through last night and settled all the dust.

The last field of cantaloupe and honeydew reached their peak a couple of days ago. Everything I sampled last evening was lacking in sugar and flavor so melons are just about done for the year. These rains will wipe out most of the summer squash by bringing on serious infestations of powdery mildew. For a short while the cukes will do better and then they too will succumb. That just leaves corn, tomatoes, apples, pumpkins and baking squash as our final set of crops. Corn and tomatoes will run out around the middle of October and the world will hear a great sigh go up from southern Oregon.

Have a good day at work and play.

Hot Damn!

I just found Rudy Rucker's blog! If you like Sci-Fi at all and you haven't read any Rudy Rucker, do yourself a favor and get some today. Who needs hallucinogens when you've got Rudy? His writings are some of the most bizarre, twisted, wonderful bits of charming craziness I have ever come across. Plus his science is really good. Some of the stuff he describes like Imopolex sound down right doable. Especially tweaked in a delightful manner is his "Bopper" series.

Theories and thought

Lubos recently had an analysis of certain theories regarding the collapse of the twin towers which I found very interesting. Now Jonah Goldberg weighs in with some very revealing thinking about the nature of reasonable discourse and belief.

Plight of the pharmacist

Lady goes into the drugstore, walks up to the pharmacist and says

"I need to get some cyanide"

"What?!" says the pharmacist "I can't sell you cyanide, I'd lose my license. All sorts of bad things could happen. What do you need cyanide for anyways?"

The lady pulls a picture from her purse and shows it to the pharmacist. It is of her husband and the pharmacist's wife in a motel together.

The pharmacist looks up and says

"Well, why didn't you tell me you had a prescription?"

Reserving judgement

Some recent communiques with friends has gotten me thinking about the subject of reserving judgement. I'll use some recent events to illustrate my thinking.

The FDA has approved a viral spray to control bacteria on meat. CNN and several other sources have been in a tizzy over this with an assortment of biased statements and some sound bites from carefully selected on the street interviews. Of course they don't show anyone of understanding who thinks its a good idea, just people who display the correct amount of revulsion. At the same time there has been an outbreak of e.coli on certain packaged spinach products. This is getting only a cursory mention from the same news feed that spends 3-4 minutes on the viral spray.

"Aha!" the suspicious mind says "it's a conspiracy to promote this new viral spray product" regardless of the fact that the spray is intended for use on meat and the e.coli on the spinach certainly came from animal sources such as animal manure used to fertilize the spinach fields (suddenly I'm very glad I use green plant-based manures and synthetic fertilizers on our farm)

It is reprehensible to me that these consumers and media types so quickly passed judgement on the viral spray. I mean, come on, how ignorant can you be? There are thousands of viruses which cannot infect humans. Almost any plant matter you might consume will certainly contain at least a few of these. How is that any different than the spray approved by the FDA which only kills bacteria, not people?

While a bunch of vegetarians are puking out their guts from their "organic" spinach I'll be gladly munching on my virally protected hot dog, thank you very much.

And as Lubos likes to say, "that's the memo"

The plight of the farmer

A lawyer was going fishing one day and he needed some worms. So he turned into a farmer's place and asked the old fella if he could help him out.

The farmer told him to come back in a couple of hours and he'd have some worms for him.

The lawyer returned a couple of hours later and found the farmer out back of his barn with a shovel and a can of worms, still digging.

The lawyer asked the farmer how much he owed him.

"Well, at first I looked in back of the chicken pen and I could only find a few there. Then I looked in the lawn and there were only a few there too. I dug near that old apple tree and found a few and down past last years turnip patch there was a couple more. Finally found a good couple dozen hear near the cowshed."

By this time the lawyer was thinking "Oh man, I'm gonna have to pay him an arm and a leg just for a couple of worms"

"I tell you what, I was goin' fishin' myself later" the farmer said after taking off his hat and mopping his forehead "If you split 'em with me I'll call it even."

So Slooooow Thursday

The new bridge is being moved into place sometimes this week and so the nearby freeway access has been cut off for a few days. Our business is suffering by about 40% until that clears up. A nasty bit of loss and no idea when the DOT will finally get the whole thing done. Personally I think the delays are to heighten tension for the film crew from Discovery Channel. This is the largest bridge ever moved into place like this so one of the DC's shows was supposed to be here for it, I think the one called "Big Movers" or something.

The pumpkins are finally turning orange! I'm totally jazzed with the upcoming fall season we have some of the best pumpkins and winter/baking squash ever. Many pumpkins are larger than 5 gallon buckets and probably in excess of 50 pounds. Also some of the freaky new varieties I've been breeding are looking super cool.

Hope life is giving you plenty to laugh at.

9/11 ruminations

I wanted to take the time to write something sublime and profound today but found myself inundated with the flotsam and jetsam of the media's attempt to do the same. Much like politicians it seems as if the media might be trying to take advantage of this memorial. But let me not be unfair to them all. They are human too and many of them see themselves just as I do, a stalwart American. Sure they are selling lots of ad time, but they are also commemorating those we lost and those who were lucky. I'm sure many of them, both politician and journalist, are still as full of rage and hurt albeit turned to a simmer by time.

I did find one article which summed up a particular feeling I had almost forgotten, you can read it here and with that I will wish my fellow Americans strength, courage and clear vision to pursue the freedom for which our nation stands.

God bless you all.

Sunday work, Sunday leisure

Slept in until 6:31 today. A helicopter woke me with it's percussive announcement. "Thwopping" its way to a crescendo as I blearily eyed it from the door of my barn.

Dad went to retrieve the tractor from Bro's house. I did the dishes for mom so her back wouldn't hurt her today, helped her unload the groceries when she got home.

Went to give dad a ride to his truck at Bro's next. Checked out the bridge moving operation on my way by. People scrambling like a shoveled up ant-hill. Sign says the bridge will be closed from Sept. 12-16 which means 4-5 days of very slow business for us. Right at the peak of harvest and no way the DOT will ever make it up to me. Once more progress grinds the little Guy beneath its wheel.

Enough self-pity. It might not be such a bad slow-down and I'm sure I'll take advantage of the moderation.

When I got back I picked a case of mixed cukes (lemons, picklers and slicers) and another of summer squash. Not a lot of zucchini but the yellow crookneck was super.
Had lunch and took a nap to help fight off an incipient head cold. The several antihistamines I had taken weren't doing much but making me drowsy but I'm feeling much better now.

After my nap I climbed to picking apples. Harvest bucket slung across one shoulder, perched upon a precarious orchard latter I stretched out my arm and fetched down a golden bounty of yellow delicious apples. The late summer sun shown into my eyes, dazzling me with a rich orangish light, probably altered by the small amount smoke remaining in the air due to recent wildfires. I found a subtle peace permeating my mind as I worked in silence. 3 over-large cases (30+ pounds each) rapidly accumulated at the bottom of my latter. In a bit I'll go out and attempt the same with Italian prunes. Probably won't go as fast but should be at least as pleasant.

Hoping your day is full of rich, vibrant light.

Temporal displacement

Sheeesh!
I lost a day yesterday. That last entry should've read Wednesday. Whoa! who knows what happened with me. Even on a slow day I'm tired and confused.

Dad and I just got through picking cukes, squash, tomatoes and cantaloupe. Will pick more tomatoes and melons in the morning, it just got too dark. Thank god for the procession of the seasons.

Wishing you a delightful time finding things you like.

Slow, strange Tuesday

Dad had a little trouble with keeping down his blood pressure this morning. Started getting a little light headed when he was setting the rack this morning so he went back home and his bp was 180/105 which is whicked high. Took an extra half of bp pill and laid down for a while. His bp finally came down around 1pm after another nap. Turns out he'd been eating quite a bit of salt the last couple days as we were living off quick and easy foods while we crunched down under the work load.

So that was an odd and worrisome start to the day. Business was dreadful slow today, which was kinda ok with me. I read quite a bit of David Brin's "Sundiver" while waiting between customers. If you like sci-fi but haven't read any Brin, do yourself a super favor. His "uplift" series is a most brain-delicious piece of mind candy. Hmmm... mindcandy, that reminds me of a couple of links I need to add. Anyone ever try Zonerings? That is a very cool bit of mathematical graphics software.


Anyhow, only 17 days left until the equinox or so. Gotta start laying out a few designs of purpose to prepare for the Halloween season before that rolls around. Too late to do anymore designer pumpkins but still have lots of other chores to get out of the way.

Sending you peaceful nights of vibrant slumber and vigorous days of tranquil activity.

Lazy Sunday

Taking it pretty easy today. Gotta go move a sprinkler in about 20 minutes but not much else pressing. Will work on some equipment this evening and pick cukes, squash, etc. when it cools off. Mostly just letting myself drift between tasks and recover my physical balance.

20 days until the equinox. Will be nice having a night longer than the day. It is much easier to get enough rest after the end of September. The equinox is important to farmers, witches and warlocks. Everyone else can pretty much afford to ignore it.

Pumpkins have begun to ripen so we'll have plenty of those for the first day of October. Hope Bro' gets the fence done before then or storing them will be a problem. Only a few of my pumpkin forms took. Many fell off or broke while I was trying to remove the mold. Will make some handles and modify the molds in other ways next year, assuming I'm still doing this next year.

Hoping your day has been easy and kind.

Unusually slow holiday Saturday

We were down about 25 percent from last year. Usually this is one of our busiest days. I think mom is right, we are finally seeing the impact of the elevated gas prices. All the traffic past our stand has slowed down.

Still it was a very busy day. Quite a few more 1 or 2 dollar corn purchases, which often take as much time and energy as a 5 dollar purchase of several items. Thus more work with less pay. So I am tired and sore from all that lifting and bending. Already took a naproxen and a melatonin so some deep, painless sleep should be upon me within the next hour or two. I rarely take naproxen because of the slight increase in heart attack risk but today it seemed worth the risk.

Oh yeah, saw a lovely white and black osprey flashing in the sun as I first drove into the field this morning.

Wishing you all a sweet and mellow summer evening.

Labor-day weekend Friday

Whew! What a busy day.
Picked half again as much as our usual load of corn today. Sold it all before 4pm, had to call dad and have him come pick about 12 dozen more to finish the day. Had about 2 dozen left over.

Picked in the second watermelon field this morning. Was a little bit bothersome with the bright golden/green morning sun in my eyes but I'm pretty sure everything I picked was fully ripe.

Some people just don't get it. Had a fella come in and look at our corn price "Three for a dollar!" he exclaimed "you can get it 5 for a dollar at Albertsons."

I didn't even bother trying to explain. We hand pick our corn 3 or 4 times a day and that idiot thinks he can get the same at Albertsons? 2 week old super-sweet santiam surplus corn is what he's buying. Frankly, I neither want nor need his business. I'm barely able to stay ahead of the demand for this corn as it is.

Hoping your Labor day weekend is restfull and sweet.