disenfranchized no more

Finally got my ballot in the mail yesterday after having been dis'd from the last 2 voting cycles. Just gotta review the initiatives and candidates and then I'll vote. One thing's for sure: every Oregonian should join me in writing in Patrick Deardon for State Treasurer. He knows how to use Excel and we can all be sure he hasn't been bought by a special-interest-group.

As for the big 2 candidates, you could split a penny on the difference between them. I'd vote for Bob Barr if I thought he had a chance in heck of winning. But that'd just give one less vote to the opponent of the candidate I dislike most.

It's 34 degrees and fogggggy at the farm this morning. Apple picking is the job for today; precarious monkey action on a 12 foot aluminum ladder.

Everyone be well or happy or, preferably, both.

This is freakin hilarious

Look, I love cats. But this page is freakin' hilarious: BlenderDefender.

redirect warnings

Been seeing a lot of malicious redirects exploiting the recently described security hole in internet servers. I click on a link to Lifehacker, Make or some other webzine or service and will get an odd looking page, poorly formatted, which is clearly not the page I'm looking for. It's a good idea for everyone to be alert for this right now.

Signs of the times

Been working on (painting) new signs for the produce stand. Apples, new hours and next I'll refurb the big baking squash sign. Mom's been working with the dryer and dad made corn bundles. Other than that it's been a pretty easy Sunday. Some bright sunshine, a few passing clouds.

Fall has begun transforming the landscape colors, so pretty.

The tomatoes in the greenhouse are holding their own against mildew and dampness. A couple more days and they should be safe as dryness spreads. Especially if I can give dad the spare time to fix-up the fan he bought in White City.

Few more Sunday evening tasks to do, y'all be happy.

Now! is when you have a gas boycott

According to Reuter's gasoline has just taken its biggest drop ever. So I am reminded of a previous post scorning the ever present chain-email letter encouraging a gas boycott ( link here ) and I would like to point out that logistically speaking, NOW would be a really good time for all of us to start working together to dramatically reduce our usage. Not for global warming reasons, simply to put serious downward pressure on the pricing structure.

So everyone use your cell phones more, arrange mutual trips with neighbors in to town and buy large amounts of storable food to reduce additional trips. Carpool, for god's sake it's the 21st century you can find someone on the net to carpool with you.

Anyways, gotta go sleep now.

cantaloupe gone

Ol' Jack Frost ate his fill of my melons last night. Pretty much everything else too except the tomatoes we covered. 600+ glorious tomato plants under clear plastic, gorgeous. Gotta set my alarm for 3am to check and see if we need to turn on the burners in the greenhouse; another cold night.

Dad and I were scramble busy this afternoon pinning the rest of the plastic down for the greenhouse. What we had up was good enough for one night but we had to put a bunch more slats and staples on if it was to survive wind and rain. Plus we were up at 3:30am to put water on the corn (a frost preventer of limited success) and that just eats a lot of one's sleep.

So it's been a long, busy, tiring day with another likely tomorrow. I'm gonna shuffle off to clean up and go to bed.

Y'all be well.

Greenhouse up

Thank goodness. Heater is in place too. 500,000 b.t.u.s of thermal power. Only have to keep the frost off. I also took the time to hook up the sprinklers over on Pete's ground so we can wet down the corn if frost thinks of taking hold there. Hopefully temps will stay high enough otherwise we get up at like 3 or 4 am, sneak over there and turn the water on.

Gotta go. Sleepy-sleep time.

Y'all be happy.

Greenhouse tomatoes

Today dad and I will finish covering the late tomatoes with a plastic greenhouse. 660 plants in three 300 foot rows.

Yesterday our good friend Gary stopped by in the afternoon and the three of us finished building the rafters. Then, while I was picking corn, dad and Gary covered the first third. So that only leaves the last 200 feet to cover.

Now our tomatoes will be protected from the frost and we can keep selling them, maybe all the way until thanksgiving.

Wishing y'all a hopeful and prosperous day.

Rain Uncertainty

The rain is mostly past now. 2 days of it and you'd think that would've given me time to write at least 1 or 2 more blog entries but no, still busy.

The first morning of rain was sort of intense, loaded with smoke and ash from recent forest fires it made a mess of everything. Yesterday's heavier showers washed most of that away and this morning the air was clear and sweet smelling. Those fresh Oregon mornings always take me back to my childhood at Yew Creek road which the county misspelled "Ewe Creek", bunch a numbskulls. It was called Yew Creek because of the Yew trees growing in the creek basin. Here's hoping that the rains have diminished the fires along with restoring the air and my memories.

The uncertainty is exactly how much damage was caused by the rain. The early tomatoes especially the large ones will be heavily damaged and the grapes will too. Cantaloupe were extremely dry before this so they might not have split too bad and we may see some good harvest tomorrow morning. If I can keep them picked off a little on the pre-ripe side we can probably avoid rot too.

Tomorrow will be morning harvesting of cants, squash, and cukes. Then pumpkins and squash in the afternoon. My good buddy Alice will stop by for a visit and some fresh veggies a little after lunch, or so she is planning. It's always a blast to see my classmates.

Getting tired, gotta go snooze it. Y'all be well and smart.

They call it a bailout

To paraphrase Boromir, "This is no bailout, this is a tomb!"

A recent study has shown that the vast majority of failed mortgages are in the hands of speculators and risk taking real estate dealers.

The media and congress keep insisting this isn't a bailout, it is an investment opportunity. But if the assets remain worthless even this "new and improved" bailout bill will end up having little or no effect with the exception of weakening the dollar and causing the turmoil on Wall Street to stretch on and on. According to Bloomberg we lost over a trillion dollars in a single day ("Hey Joe, where'd we leave that box with a trillion dollars in it?") Is anyone stupid enough to believe 700 billion will last even one day in such a climate?

Seeing the Senate try to foist this off on the American people again is like finding a five year old playing with cat feces: revolting.