Happy Halloween

A lovely last day at the stand. Many well wishers dropping by for their last bag of tomatoes or winter squash. A few jerks in the middle of the day, wlaking off with a fistful of candy which was intended for the kids but oh well, they make it easy to flip them the bird and close early without much sense of guilt.

Cass is progressing as well as can be expected although it will be a while until we know for sure whether she'll walk again or not. She gets her cast put on tomorrow and the physical therapists have had some positive feedback about her muscles responding but the small puncture in her lung is still giving her trouble with congestion. She is young and hopefully resilient.

Wishing you all a fun and frightful Halloween.

Halloween business

Despite the stress of recent events, business has remained pretty good. There's no picking to do now so just selling pumpkins, apples and winter squash is pretty easy. Many people are coming in with very pleasant holiday spirits, although we've seen none of the tiny goblins or ghouls yet. Maybe I'll be lucky tomorrow. Lots of kids with their parents picking out pumpkins today, that was fun.

Wishing you all the finest and frightest of Halloweens.

another update

Cass got through surgery ok. She's being fitted for her cast tomorrow. She's had a little trouble with her breathing because she had a small puncture in one lung but it sounds like the docs have that handled too along with some minor trauma to her kidneys. So far so good on all accounts we've been told.

Accident Update

Cassie went in for surgery this afternoon and I've had no new news since but just prior she had some feeling return to her feet. She could identify which of her toes were being pulled on which is a good sign. You can imagine the tremendous moment of relief that produced although nothing is nearly done with yet.

Tragedy in the family

Last night my seventeen year old niece, Cassandra, was traveling with three other teens when their car slid off the road (no details yet as to cause, ice, fog, alcohol or whatever...) Apparently one of the other teens named Ladonna had an argument with her mom who then kicked all the kids out. In the middle of the night no less.

The doctors believe Cassandra may have broken her back as she has no sensation in her legs. They were waiting for several small stainless steel screws to be flown in from Portland before they could perform surgery (can you believe that? They didn't have a couple of tiny chrome screws in stock. What a yoink.) so the exact extent of damage is currently unknown.

The Problem with democracy?

I'm not the first one of us to think it either so don't get all high and mighty with me.
The answer is "stupid people can vote too"

This image is totally for real, I found it on a dollar in the store today. Someone who can't even spell "Oprah" thinks we should "vote" for her, whatever that means. Maybe we can get her passed as a ballot initiative? Now don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-Oprah or anything, but come on!

T minus four days and counting

I doubt the astronauts feel exactly as I do, but I am still pretty excited about the upcoming Halloween. Sort of like that feeling I had as a kid when I knew there were only 4 days of school left.

We're out of corn finally and the frost has killed just about everything else. All we have left to sell is pumpkins, corn shawcks, 16 cases of nearly ripe tomatoes and a mountain of winter squash. Should just last us out until All Hallow's Eve. We're talking about contacting one of the local "gleaners" groups to come pick up the huge pile of winter squash still in the field. And there's a local church that will come get a bunch of the leftover pumpkins for a carving contest.

Hoping you all have fun and safe spooking.

Bloggin' state of mind

Finally! 9.5 hours of sleep and a cup of coffee was all it took.

This Sunday will not be all about rest as there are still a few jobs to be done. With only a week left in the season we've got some roof action and other water-proofing jobs to do as well as a tiny bit more of harvest to finish up. So surprised to still be finding squash and cukes in the garden. Dad and I have been talking about getting some lettuce plants in the big greenhouse but that is too much labor for this Sunday.

The world here is turning to so many varied colors. I've got some wonderful pics of the butternut tree by our driveway. A vivid flame of green and yellow as it finishes the turn to autumn. I'll try to get that up here shortly along with some punkin pics I've been promising. Maybe I can even get the black cat to pose for us.

I've always loved this time of year, especially the Halloween celebration itself. What a whacky, wild holiday. Gruesome and macabre though it might be I've always felt it to be a celebration of life in the face of the oncoming darkness. A chance to defy terror and walk in those places humans usually fear to tread. Of course that's easier if you have a jack-o-lantern to protect you.

Mhmmmm, twice baked pizza for breakfast. Hope your day is just as crunchy, chewy and delicious. But don't burn your tongue!

Technology Vs. Tyranny

This article at TCS Daily got me thinking about the advances in technology which are making phones, cameras and other communication technology so small, light and cheap. As far as material and hardware goes a cameraphone is actually a relatively cheap piece of electronics. The battery being probably the most expensive single component. Most of the rest of the tech resides on between 2 and a half dozen chips and relatively simple circuit boards, albeit constructed using robotics due to the size.

If cheap, difficult to find (perhaps using ultrawide band transmission) cellphone or mesh network phones were introduced into the cultural train wreck that is North Korea Kim Jung Il might find his source of power suddenly evaporating. Heck you could afford to fly over and drop them on little parachutes.

End of the season homestretch

Work at the produce stand has been going on for so long and at such an intensity for the last little while that I am finding my social skills overtaxed. Some of my interactions with friends and customers have become stilted by the long season of routine and overuse. As a result my timing is off with people and so I'm probably not communicating as well or as smoothly as I was a few weeks back. Can you "pull" a social muscle?

But we finally got the fence up and that is a super nice improvement. Closing today was just a matter of locking the front gate and loading up the perishables to put in the fridge. I'll have a pic of the fence up shortly along with the current pumpkin display. Should look cool. Halloweeny even.

Hope life is treating you all as well occasionally tricking you.

My evil genius level

Thanks Rae Ann, that was fun.

I am 84% Evil Genius.

I am pure evil. I lie awake at night devising schemes of world domination, and I will not rest until all living souls bend to my will.

Take the
Evil Genius Test
@ FualiDotCom

Hypocrisy at 30,000 feet

This little article at TCS Daily goes to show that corruption and hypocrisy flows in the veins of many organizations, not just business and government.

Freaky Halloween vibes

As I was out cutting pumpkins in the fading twilight I felt a cold thrill race up my spine. The chill evening air combined with the faint and flickering shadows of semi-darkness. Surrounded all around with dying, fading, gray tendrils and bright orange/red blobs of amorphous jack-o-lantern spirit my imagination filmed the scene with moving vines and grainy, gray, spiny tendrils that throbbed and shifted with every hissing whisper of the autumn breeze.

Last night was full moon. The opening of the gate and what would've been in some ancient calendars the very upcoming holiday, All Hallow's Eve: the first full moon after the equinox marked a special time once upon this planet. Fifteen days for spirits to roam the world of the living? And if you survive the darkening of the moon, well I suppose some of those little purple and white chewy candies we used to get when I was a kid would be really cool.

I suppose nowadays kids mostly get those individually wrapped mini candy bars but in the early seventies you'd come home with a bag of the most gawd awful combination of candy that a dentist ever dreamt of.

If I don't make it back (before then! jeepers!) ,

Haaapy Halloween!

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?"