stubbed toes and mud pies

[flowerbug]

i tried something this morning and i'm pretty sure after about 20 seconds of getting into it i should have stopped.

using an old tube of caulk to fill in the bottom of the door to the shed where the black ants have eaten into it.

first thing that should have made me stop. dripping coming out of the tube of caulk. i thought it might have been water that'd gotten on it by accident when i set it down. nope. it was the caulk itself.

start squeezing it out and it is really runny. ok, well keep going perhaps it will firm up when it dries? high humidity? no, that won't be a problem with drying time... etc...

at the worst in a few more hours i go out there with some rags and wipe off what will come off and call it good enough. i can't put it back up with goop dripping off the bottom.

lesson for the day, don't be a bonehead...

 

[flowerbug]

couldn't wait too long as a chance of incoming rains and i sure didn't want to be out there cleaning it up and putting the door back on in the rain (if it happens). so it's all back together now and the cruddy caulk is wiped off and in the trash.

 

[digitS']

If you only have to redo something once -

- No Mistake was Made!

My cardboard box air diverter for the AC was replaced shortly after noon by a clear plastic job that was designed for a wall vent. To have one long enough, I ended up with one too wide. Maybe a better word choice is "of excessive width" rather that "too wide." It works. Hiding behind the computer screen to block a chilling wind will no longer be necessary. It is now 2PM and 95°f outdoors with 72° in the living room (35°C & 22°C). We may live to struggle through another day.

 

[flowerbug]

If you only have to redo something once -

- No Mistake was Made!

My cardboard box air diverter for the AC was replaced shortly after noon by a clear plastic job that was designed for a wall vent. To have one long enough, I ended up with one too wide. Maybe a better word choice is "of excessive width" rather that "too wide." It works. Hiding behind the computer screen to block a chilling wind will no longer be necessary. It is now 2PM and 95°f outdoors with 72° in the living room (35°C & 22°C). We may live to struggle through another day.

the hum-a-ditty (humidity) was really high earlier so we ran the AC for a while so Mom wouldn't have trouble breathing and then i bumped it up a few. it came on again a while ago and i'm laying here in the middle of summer hiding under my blankets and trying to get my feet warm so i just bumped it up a few more degrees. it's just not right to be cold in the summer IMO. also it makes it nearly impossible to acclimate to the heat when the AC is on. i don't get as much done outside that is for sure.

 

[flowerbug]

the garlic harvest curing.

water flows back to more normal... yay!

 

[flowerbug]

last year's garlic that i had in storage that i forgot about. large cloves leftovers from planting.

Red Lucifer in full bloom. last year the deer ate almost every flower.

Butterfly Weed is such a striking shade of orange which is not a common color of flowers.

 

[flowerbug]

in re-reading Dune at the end of the book are the appendixes. one of them is on ecology. for a book written in the early '60s it still applies today to this planet - in some places. it's a very good summary of the important things to consider, and of course it is fit to the book about a different planet, but all of the principles are similar or can be adapted. it is always about energy flows and cycles within cycles. not many lines in nature are straight. diversity, redundancy, ... at the time i first read it i was very glad to read of a complicated designed biological system which could sustain itself and improve upon an arid climate. here where i am now is not arid in that extreme, but all of the things used there can be applied here. adapt, learn, practice, observe and keep having fun as you can.

this is a fairly abandoned site in the desert in Jordan. it was designed to demonstrate some basics of permaculture and how certain techniques can give results in even the harshest of climates. it is still there, plants are still alive... deserts can be improved with thought and efforts.

29°35'50.5"N 35°36'09.8"E · 29.597361, 35.602722

www.google.com

 

[flowerbug]

another day off. i could get spoiled by this...

 

[ninnymary]

Beautiful pics Flowerbug. Is that your garlic drying?

I made the mistake of not reading on how to harvest garlic. I hosed off the dirt and left it in the sun for a few days to dry. Well it started getting moldy and soft. I was able to save half of it.

Mary

 

[digitS']

Gosh Mary!

I hosed off the dirt

I hose off the garlic but then just hang them to dry in the carport.

No rain for July and less than 20% humidity every Summer afternoon must have some advantages!

Steve