I suppose you all will accuse me of taking a "selfie"..., that doesn't make me look old, fat and bald? Well..., I might have gained a pound or two this week..., an inch and a half of rain on Sunday..., half and inch on Monday..., and another half an inch on Tuesday..., kept me from working off any excess weight. The Garden wasn't the only thing that loved it..., The Driveway and The Pastures did too..., but The Driveway expressed it more than The Pastures. I finally ran out of gas..., and the weed eater ran out of string enough times that I was damn tired of restringing it and gave up for the day on Wednesday. I had other duties to keep me busy on Thursday..., but I almost finished it up on Friday..., but needed to save some strength to take on the neglected Garden that I mentioned and pictured last week.
After I got all the weed eating done I saddled up Charlie Horse and ran him through his paces out in The Round Pen. He seems to be taking it well though most of the "ground work" is geared toward gentling down a young colt and teaching it to respect and obey you so you can handle his feet so there are no farrier problems and you can get a saddle on him for further training. I had already done a couple years of hoof trimming on him..., and this year turned that duty over to a real farrier because my old back just won't take it any more. I have already had him saddled him up several times and have no trouble catching him or leading him around the property. I figure that the extra training won't hurt a thing and he is still pretty spooky so I will be moving on to "sacking" him to help in that respect..., and a few other lessons before I swing into the saddle myself.
I mentioned the rain earlier..., so a little Johnny Rivers ought to be appropriate for your Friday Nite Music Video...,
The Potato Garden needs a little weed whacker attention that I have been neglecting..., due to most of my attention being focused on Charlie Horse and the new Round Pen. Truth be known..., I haven't been pushing Charlie too hard..., I don't want him to get bored and fussy..., I have just been being a bit lazy. A couple of 80 degree days earlier in the week and a rainy day after that gave me an acceptable excuse..., to my way of thinking..., to be lazy.
The lack of attention to The Garden hasn't hurt the plants any..., there are already some of them that are flowering. That could be a good deal..., I don't have many spuds left from last years crop..., so I may be digging up a few in the not too distant future.
And I will be able to boil them up..., as well as the eggs I planned to hard boil for Egg Salad sandwiches..., now that I have installed the new propane tank regulator. Yeah..., I had the eggs in a pan of water ready to boil on the stove..., but my burner was just putting out a pitiful flame..., not enough to heat a cup of water, let along a pan of eggs..., and no flame at all if I tried to activate an additional burner. That was on Tuesday..., so no Egg Salad..., and I usually boil up extra potatoes so I can just microwave the extras for additional meals..., but I had no excess as fate would have it. I had to resort to microwaving baked potatoes..., something that I am not too fond of..., the microwave just doesn't ever seem to evenly cook a baked potato in my experience..., and cooking a Rib Steak in the big electric frying pan isn't much of a problem..., but washing the big SOB is like being assigned KP duty in the Army. That non-stick 10" skillet is just right for a Rib Steak..., and doesn't entail any extra duty on the cleaning end.
Well..., speaking of frustrations..., James McMurtry nails it in this one for your Friday Nite Music Video..., though he mispronounces Coeur d' Alene...,
Well..., earlier in the week I had the FNCI all mapped out..., with this picture and an explanation something like..., " Out of Sight..., Out of Mind..., can get Out of Hand here near the Rain Forest".
I was hoping that I could bullshit you into believing that I was hard at work all week and deserved all the beer breaks that I took..., but the heck with that..., I have more important news to entertain you.
I have been watching Craig's List for a Round Pen..., thinking that it would be a good thing to aid in the training of Charlie Horse..., that I have been neglecting of late. Nothing on The Peninsula has come up until this week..., and I thought maybe I could get out of purchasing it by insisting that the seller deliver it to Forks. Damn my luck !!! The seller said it could be arranged. My insanity knows no bounds..., I offered to drive over to the other side of The Peninsula and help dismantle and load the 60' Round Pen..., and the seller thought that was a great idea. Why the seller would want some idiot getting in the way made me a little suspicious..., but the deed was done.
It actually turned out to be a rather pleasant and learning experience. Many, many thanks to Vikki.
Yeah..., Vikki rented the trailer and after I helped her dismantle and load the Round Pen on the trailer..., she made sure the load was secured and towed it nearly three hours to The Ranch. These are just the last five panel pile. We spread two other five panel piles around the area where I planned to situate Pen.
Charlie Horse was nearly as thankful for Vikki's efforts as I was..., and we tried to entice her to stick around for a few beers..., she insisted that she had other chores and duties to attend to back at her place..., darn it.
I would have much rather sat on The Front Porch sipping beer with Vickki and Charlie..., but with plenty of daylight left..., I figured it might be a good idea to attempt to assemble the Pen..., before I forgot the technique that Vikki had taught me..., and luckily..., Jamie and Steve arrived and witnessed the struggle..., and lended some much need help before I hurt myself.
Charlie Horse offered his help in the construction..., in the supervisory role..., as usual.
Charlie says he will be proud to call the Round Pen his own.
..., and says he will guard the gate if necessary to make sure no one else tries use it.
I don't know how many times I have used this one on Facebook back in the day for your Friday Nite Music Video..., but I never get tired of it..., and hope you don't either..., this video is a new one for me...,
I did a little tree trimming on my property this week..., instead of helping the neighbors like I did a month ago. Some of the limbs were drooping a little too low for my liking..., so I fired up the power saw and got a good load of limbs to load up the old Tundra. The sad part is that I got a little to close to the barb wire fence with the chain on the saw..., luckily that happened after the heavy work was done. It was super sharp before that happened..., in fact it had impressed the neighbors when I put it to use for them. The saw had belonged to my brother before he passed away..., and he was very good at sharpening saw chains. He used a file guide for precision sharpening and had the process tuned right in. My neighbor Dave had been a life long logging contractor before he retired and I saw him eyeballing the saw..., and he asked what model of Stihl saw it was. I had to admit to him that I didn't know..., and had even had trouble figuring out how to open the gas and oil caps on a saw that was 25 years newer than the last model that I had worked with. I am not sure just why I didn't tell him that I wasn't the one who had fine tuned the chain that was on it. And I am not looking forward to touching up that chain myself after it tried to eat up that barb wire. I am pretty sure that super fine cutting is a thing of the past now.
I still have plenty of room for limb deposits over the bank..., and I will probably be making more deposts of apple tree limbs in the future. The trees are so loaded with apples this year that they are shedding tiny green apples already. I delivered a 22 lb. cat food sack nearly full the the little nuggets to my friends who feed them to the deer behind their place.
Other than that there isn't much to report on The Ranch..., so I will get on with the Friday Nite Music Video. The hits on the blog have been a little low lately..., just 40 some hits in the last 24 hours..., and 11 of those hits were on the piece about The Clearwater Log Drive..., and my dear old Dad's participation in it..., titled "The Drive"..., here's a link to the story...,
In the last 24 hours there were only three hits from the USA..., but 16 from Singapore, 7 from Vietnam, 6 from Brazil, and one and two hits from other assorted foreign countries..., so I hope those foreign folks like this song about another log drive up in Canada...,
Lyrics
In the melting snows of Ontario Where the wind'll make you shiver It was the month of May up in Georgian Bay Near the mouth of the Musquash River
Where the bears prowl and the coyotes howl And you can hear the osprey scream Back in '99 we were cutting pine And sending it down the stream
Young Sandy Gray came to Go Home Bay All the way from P.E.I. Where the weather's rough and it makes you tough No man's afraid to die
Sandy came a smilin', Thirty Thousand Islands Was the place to claim his glory Now Sandy's gone but his name lives on This is Sandy's story
Young Sandy Gray lives on today In the echoes of a mighty yell Listen close and you'll hear a ghost In this story that I tell, boys This story that I tell
Now Sandy Gray was boss of the men who'd toss The trees onto the shore They'd come and go till they'd built a floe 100, 000 logs or more
And he'd ride 'em down toward Severn Sound To cut 'em up in the mills for timber And the ships would haul spring summer and fall Till the ice came in December
One Sabbath Day big Sandy Gray Came into camp with a Peavey on his shoulder With a thunder crack he dropped his axe And the room got a little bit colder
Said, "Come on all you, we got work to do We gotta give 'er all we can give 'er There's a jam of logs at the little jog Near the mouth of the Musquash River"
With no time to pray on the Lord's day They were hoping for God's forgiveness But the jam was high in a troubled sky And they set out about their business
They poked with poles and ran with the rolls And tried to stay on their feet Every trick they tried, one man cried This logjam's got us beat!"
But Sandy Gray was not afraid And he let out a mighty yell "I'll be damned, we'll break this jam Or it's breakfast in hell, boys Breakfast in hell!"
Now every one of the men did the work of ten And Sandy scrambled up to the top He is working like a dog heaving 30 foot logs And it looked like he'd never stop
They struggled on, these men so strong Till the jam began to sway Then they dove for cover to the banks of the river All except for Sandy Gray
Now with thoughts of death they held their breath As they saw their friend go down They all knew in a second or two He'd be crushed or frozen or drowned
They saw him fall and they heard him call Just once and then it was over Young Sandy Gray gave his life that day Near the mouth of the Musquash River
But Sandy Gray was not afraid And he let out a mighty yell "I'll be damned, we'll break this jam Or it's breakfast in hell, boys Breakfast in hell!"
East of Giant's Tomb there's plenty of room There's no fences and no walls And if you listen close you'll hear a ghost Down by Sandy Gray Falls
Through the tops of the trees you'll hear in the breeze The echoes of a mighty yell "I'll be damned, we'll break this jam Or it's breakfast in hell"
And Sandy Gray lives on today And he let out a mighty yell "I'll be damned, we'll break this jam Or it's breakfast in hell, boys Breakfast in hell!"
We got a little rain yesterday..., not as much as the week before. The Little Pond and The Pastures could use a little more..., but the Fire Weed flowers are already barely holding up their own weight. The Little Pond once had blue water in it..., at least in the pictures that were developed by Seattle Film Works for my old 35mm camera. I guess the film developers thought that pond water ought to be blue. I do wish there would have been enough rain to overflow the pond and skim off the green alge that has settle on it..., but that won't make it blue..., nothing but Photo Shop could do that..., maybe.
The Potato Garden has been loving the weather with hot sunny days interspersed with some decent rainfall and a couple doses of well water from the sprinkler..., just for comparisons sake..., here is the shot from two weeks ago below...,
4th of July tomorrow..., I have several memories of The 4th's past..., but the best one was 1972 just before I got drafted and inducted into the Army on July 12th. Joe Henson and I drove my new Ford Pinto to Spokane to pick up a couple of gals that Joe got to know when he was going to college in Astoria, OR.., and we were supposed to hook up with other friends and classmates at Yellowstone National Park. We covered a lot of miles and made it to West Yellowstone, MT pretty late in the evening and hit a rock and roll bar before we continued on to The Park and ended up sleeping in the car. The next day we spent exploring The Park and checking every campground looking for our buddies. We finally settled in a campground ourselves for the night. The next day we were headed out via West Yellowstone again..., and ran into our friends there..., and found out that they had been in the same bar we had hit on our way in..., and they had stay at a motel in West Yellowstone. Jerry Moore, Jerry Johnstun, Don Judd, Mike Green and Robert Brown if I remember correctly..., were crammed into Jerry Moore's Chevy Nova..., and they shot bottle rockets they picked up in MT at us as we cruised down the freeway to Boise, ID..., where we camped out in Jerry's brother's back yard. The next day we cruised around the city park before we headed north and home..., which brings us to the Friday Nite Music Video from that era...,
Yeah..., this section of The Barnyard Fence could use a little wire stretching to tighten her up..., but Charlie Horse seems to respect it as is. Not so with the other three pasture sections that we wired off..., before the elk showed not just disrespect..., but outright distain for. At that time I just fenced off the driveway and let the three horses roam the whole Homestead. I can still corral Charlie Horse in The Barnyard and leave the driveway gate open when I expect company..., or UPS.
I guess I could bore you with more stories about How the Garden Grows..., or Weed Eating the Driveway..., or Cleaning the Water Troughs..., but it bores me to repeat myself too.
Got a phone call from an Aaron Newman over in Idaho the other day and we talked about music and Josh Ritter in particular. I don't recall just how I got turned on to Ritter's music and discovered that he was born and grew up through high school in Moscow, ID. It must have been my Pandora music channel..., he fits right in with my favorite artists that I follow and like there. The singer/songwriter artists that aren't always great commercial figures..., Tom Russell, Jackson Browne, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Seger, Jimmy Buffett, Bob Dylan, and Robert Earl Keen. It was his lyric writing that really attracted me to him..., lines like this from "Wolves"...,a song off his fourth album, "The Animal Years" (2006)...,
At times in the frozen nights I go roaming In the bed she used to share with me I wake in the fields with the cold and the lonesome The moon's the only face that I see But I still remember that time when we were dancing We were dancing to a song that I'd heard Your face was simple and your hands were naked I was singing without knowing the words
..., or these from the song "To the Dogs or Whoever" off his fifth album "The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter" (2007)...,
Deep in the belly of a whale I found her Down with the deep blue jail around her Running her hands through the ribs of the dark Florence and Calamity and Joan of Arc
..., and these from "Empty Hearts" off the same album...,
I'm inside with my friends We build fires and pretend That the night could just bend on forever While outside in the frost Are the wolves and the lost And we sing "To the Dogs or Whoever"
..., and these from "Right Moves" off the same album...,
I said how is it that you come back to me? You don't need the stories of my scars or in the stars to tell you nothing's free I traded all the innocence I ever had for hesitation I said won't you tell me where you been? You put a finger to my lips and then you kissed me once and once again The crickets all leapt up and met the moon with a standing ovation
Am I making all the right moves Am I singing you the right blues Is there a chance that I could call you Just to see how you are doing?
Yeah..., I have known girls who were part Florence Nightangale, part Calamity Jane an part Joan of Arc..., and yeah..., I have know girls who's kisses made the crickets leap up and meet the moon with a standing ovation. And I have to admit that I have know the loss of love and felt the ambiguous feelings expressed in the lyrics of the song "New Lover" off his seventh album "The Beast in Its Tracks" (2013)..., that was written after the break up of his first marriage...,
I can't pretend that all is well, it's like I'm haunted by a ghost There are times I cannot speak your name for the catchin' in my throat, There are things I will not sing for the sting of sour notes.
I feel like a miser, I feel low and mean For accusing you of stealin' what I offered you for free. Still it baffles the belief sometimes what thieves we lovers be.
I don't know who you're with these days, might be with someone new And if you are, I hope he treats you like a lover ought to do. But whoever makes you happy, it don't really matter who I've got a new lover now, I hope you've got a lover too.
Praise the water under bridges, the time they say will heal Praise the fonder, that still grows on the absent heart and fields Praise be to this pain, these days it's all I seem to feel.
Perhaps the fault was mine Perhaps I just ignored who you're always gonna be, Instead of who I took you for. I've been treated worse it's true, still I expected more.
But I will not chase your shadow as you go from room to room, Droppin' handkerchiefs and daggers, smokin' guns and other clues For what someone did with someone and who did what to who. I've got a new lover now, I hope you've got a lover too.
I've got a new lover now, I know that she's not mine, I only want to hold her, I don't need to read her mind, And she only looks like you when she's in a certain light.
I got a new lover now, she knows just what I need. When I wake up in the night, she can read me back my dreams, And she loves them, though she never needs to tell me what they mean.
I hope you've got a lover now, hope you've got somebody who Can give you what you need like I couldn't seem to do. But if you're sad and you are lonesome and you've got nobody true, I'd be lying if I said that didn't make me happy too. I'd be lying if I said that didn't make me happy too.
Those were the first three CDs that I got. The first two I chose to get songs I had heard on Pandora..., and the third one was his most recent release that I chose for that reason. Ritter produced albums in 2015 and 2017 that I didn't pick up..., but I got 2019's "Fever Breaks" for a couple of reasons. Jason Isbell produced it and he and his band The 400 Unit lended support as well. I had purchased tickets to see both artists together at an outdoor venue in Missoula, MT..., where Julie's sister and brother in law lived. Julie and I ended up not making it to the gig due to Julie's medical problems..., but that album is a keeper..., with lines like "Losing Battles"...,
It's always been in my nature to be the beast Blame the maker but stay with me
Fell into a den of thieves Got lost in the caves of virtue Born again and lost belief Without a friend till the day I met you
Now I'm trying to mend my ways I had enough of pain and bad will Good enough for you someday Till then, it's a losing battle
After Julie passed away on New Years Eve 2024..., Josh Ritter helped me through that loss with this song off his twelfth album "Heaven, or Someplace as Nice". Julie and I stretched a lot of wire here on The Ranch as you can see in the picture above..., and I am still "Stretching Wire"...,
You can see him in the blizzard Where night is day and day is night Where every footstep disappears Just as soon as he goes by He likes his life this way Moving slow from post to post You might think that he's a ghost But no, he's stretching wire
He's always moving forward Never turning back around Always moving in a straight line To wherever he is now Nothing up above him But the buzzards in the sky And in the ground the girl who loved him So, he's stretching wire
He hears the whippers in the willow He feeds the rattlesnakes by hand Tumbleweeds while he is sleeping Roll by quiet as they can He's not afraid of morning Or the sorrow that it brings He'll stretch the wire till it sings He's stretching wire"
Josh Ritter has put out thirteen studio albums..., plus a few live albums among other musical endeavors. You can read a pretty good summary of his career and life history on Wikipedia..., here's a link...,
He also has a personal website with tour dates and items for sale. I noticed that he recently had sold out shows two months ago back "home"..., "Had an incredible time in Bozeman and Missoula - thank you for joining me! Excited for our three SOLD OUT shows this weekend in Spokane, Boise, and Hailey!" and he is scheduled for a July 4th free show in Boise, ID.
Charlie Horse and his Bird Herd. They are a pretty dedicated crew..., as long as he is grazing..., but if he takes a little break and snoozes..., they desert him pretty quickly. It has been nearly two weeks now since our last significant rainfall..., the pastures are still green but it is starting to brown up in spots..., and likely to be a lot browner if the forecast for the next ten days stays dry..., and who knows how long after that.
The Hill Dirt in the Potato Garden is pretty much used up now. I will be stringing out the hoses to add a little water in the near future. There are a couple more 80 degree days in the forecast and several more in the 70 degree range. Even the dandelions are hiding their heads in the heat of the day. Those days will be getting shorter after the Summer Solstice this weekend..., but it will be a couple of months at least before those shorter days result in lower temperatures..., especially if those calls for a super charged El Niño pan out.
Back in the days before I left Idaho in 1987..., and starting sometime in the early 70's..., a bunch of us Old Hippies used to celebrate the Summer Solstice in style every summer..., with all night parties with kegs of beer..., and other assorted and varied substances..., and even live music on an occasion or two. We always chose the weekend closest to the actual date..., and it was a special occasion when the date fell on a weekend. The math tells me it has been close to 40 years now since I have celebrated that longest day..., but some of those special memories of special people..., that have survived those daze..., make it seem like it was yesterday...,
Which brings us to the Friday Nite Music Video..., Blackberry Smoke and "Like It Was Yesterday".
Lyrics
Have you ever seen the moon this big and this bright? Look like I could reach up there and touch it tonight Girl that I love holdin' onto me I can't think of anywhere I'd rather be
I wanna feel like we got it made Before tomorrow comes and takes it away Lord, help me remember it like it was yesterday Yeah
Now we got to turn loose every now and again Got to run wild like we're livin' in sin Set it and forget it like the other half do Scratch it in the sand just for me and you
I wanna feel like we got it made Before tomorrow comes and takes it away Lord, help me remember it like it was yesterday Yeah, yeah
I don't know where all the time goes But I can see it with my eyes closed I hope the clock is movin' slow tonight We got to get it while the getting's alright
Well, I guess we signed up to spend most of our lives Ekin' out a livin', just barely gettin' by You can't take it with you, well, that's what they say We'll all be empty-handed come judgement day
I wanna feel like we got it made Before tomorrow comes and takes it away Lord, help me remember it like it was yesterday Yeah
Like it was yesterday Oh, yeah Like it was yesterday Alright Like it was yesterday Mm, oh yeah
The Potato Garden was in need of some "hilling up" of the plants..., and I had full intentions of taking care of that on Sunday. The weather forecast was for some significant rainfall on Monday and Tuesday..., and I didn't want to wait for several days after that to do it..., but even some of the best laid plans can sometimes be laid aside.
My neighbor on the north side had bought the property to our east side..., and it included this "hazard tree" just across the road from our driveway entrance. That's a big pine tree..., and as you can see..., they don't seem to like this climate and exhibit some unusual growth patterns. In years past some of those big "branches" have decided to cut loose on their own..., one just missed the house..., and another had nearly blocked the whole Prairie's End Drive road..., and access to our driveway. At the current time there was a big "limb" just hanging on and threatening to fall on some unfortunate sole under it. I had visions of buying a box of double ought buck 12 gauge shotgun shells and trying to blow it off it's hanging perch before it fell on it's own..., but neighbor Dave Soha and his two sons in law and a very skilled and daring tree climber had other visions..., and when I visioned their efforts over my lap dog computer and coffee cup out my front window. it made me think maybe I could lend a little supervision to the effort.
I left the dogs in the house and wondered down in my sweats, unlaced tenny shoes, with my coffee cup in hand. Having plenty of supervisory experience on his resume..., Charley Horse came along to the edge of the fence..., but soon took up a position further back under the apple tree after a couple of the "branches" were cut off by the tree climber. I wish I could have got his name and shook his hand for a job well done..., but when I decided that I needed to change into my work cloths and boots and get my power saw and the old Tundra to help out..., he had disappeared. I could see that the clean up would be a lot easier if we got rid of the little limbs..., and my cut bank above the county road on our south side of the property can always use a little organic material to mix in with the horse manure that doesn't get used for Garden Compost. I hauled..., metaphorically..., four "three log" loads of limbs. Needlessly to say..., the Potato Plants did not get hilled up on Sunday.
We got the forecasted rain on Monday..., about 1.5 inches and just a bit more on Tuesday. It was still too soggy to get any work done on Wednesday..., but I put away a good deal of hilling dirt on Thursday. There is still some dirt at the back end of the rows and I will no doubt be trucking that a ways in the wheelbarrow for one more hilling episode in the near future. The weather forecast is for 82 tomorrow and 85 on Sunday..., and 75 on Monday. A bit cooler after that..., but no rain in the forecast for the foreseeable future. If it wasn't for the Damn Daisies I might be able to just sit in the shade on the Front Porch with a Cold Beer in hand for a couple days..., and check on these flowers every once in a while.
Yeah..., I guess you could say that I am still crazy after all these years..., here's Cody Jinks for your Friday Nite Music Video...,
My nephew, Bert Spence was thoughful enough to send me pictures of my Grandniece and Grandnephew. That is Hailey Kay on the left and Reid on the right. This is Hailey Kay's first year of T-Ball..., and Reid's second year. I have to say that I think Reid's batting stance this year is an improvement over last year. Those medals hanging from their necks are for runner up to the Champs this year.
I don't know if this was Hailey Kay's first hit..., but the expression on her face makes me think..., maybe.
She looks like she is ready to play defense too.
Reid looks like he is ready too, concentrating on the game and not letting anything distract him.
The news around The Ranch is..., it is hard to tell what is growing faster..., the Weeds or the Potatoes. The Daisies and the Dandilions are starting to flower..., and those Buttercup things have never stopped. I am not sure just which one takes more effort to keep control of..., but at least The Garden is ever so much smaller in acreage. I hilled up the spuds again..., and after a couple of rain showers they are about ready for another dose. I put the brush cutter blade on the weed eater and took care of some of the woody brush type things that were trying to make headway in the pastures..., while I was waiting on the arrival of a new string trimmer head. My day long, feeble attempt to fashion a replacement "bump feeder plunger" on the original head resulted in the usual utter performance failure that my long history of mechanical exploits documents. And on Friday I took delivery of the new head..., from Amazon. I guess the original equipment folks were standing firm on their shipping cost of $20 for their $19 model that wore out in one season. This new baby has a metal head on the bump feeder that does not rotate with the cutter head..., so I am hoping that is a better design feature for use on the gravel driveway. I didn't test it out today due to one of those rain showers I mentioned earlier. I didn't want to muddy up the new equipment..., and didn't want to have to admit to another failure on my part if things didn't go as hoped for 😀
I guess we have to go with John Fogerty and "Centerfield" again for your Friday Nite Music Video...,
The Potato Garden is looking good. We got a nice little shower earlier in the week and the sunshine has been working it's magic since then.
Charlie Horse thought it was about time to hill those puppies up a little..., and so did I..., 😀
So..., I got busy on Wednesday and moved a little dirt. It looks like a lot of hill dirt left..., but at this point the base of the hill get expanded since that dirt rolls down hill..., making for a lot more dirt to raise the hills even a little.
The potato plants aren't the only thing looking good in The Garden..., and the flowering plants don't hold a candle to the weeds that are popping up. The damn daisies are sprouting up..., but not flowering yet..., but I will be picking wheelbarrows full of flowers soon if I don't get more of those green sprouts pulled along with the yellow buttercup looking things that are trying to take control. I spend a lot of time on my hands and knees pulling those and other assorted weeds. Charlie Horse tries to help me..., but Logan thinks Charlie has other ideas and thinks he needs to protect me from Charlie's advances.
I missed a day pulling weeds on Tuesday to make a Costco/Walmart run to Port Angeles. I was out of dog food..., and since I don't have big dogs that require a ton of feed in the half ton Tacoma on a regular basis anymore..., I can't comment on the inflationary impact of that on the budget. Back in those days the inflation gauge consisted of dog food and beer prices. These days it is beer and rib steak. Walmart still has my beer price at $20 a case..., and I was patting myself on that back after seeing that the Forks price had increased to $27 a case a couple of weeks ago. I see on my weekly run today that my my savings were a bit over rated..., as the price was back down to $23 a case. But I felt a little better when I saw that even though the price of Half and Half had jumped up about four bits a half gallon at Costco..., it was still about $2.50 cheaper than Forks. I was surprised that several of the name brand gas stations in PA had breeched the $6 a gallon price..., and even Costco was $5.65..., about the average in Forks. And those Rib Steaks are both $18.99 a pound today..., though last week they were on sale in Forks for $14.99. Oh..., and don't go to Costco on Tuesday..., that must be Old Folks Day..., I was appalled at first..., until I realized that I fit right in 😀
Speaking of inflation..., I nearly went postal right in the Post Office today..., when I opened the Direct TV bill. I had a couple of reasons for opening it there..., I pretty much have to pay a couple of bills the day I get them at the Post Office and take my checkbook and stamps..., because I only go once a week. If I miss a bill by a week and then take it home and wait another week to get the bills mailed off..., it will pretty likely be late and incur a late fee. The other reason was I always get an email notification from Direct TV..., trying to induce me to start using an automatic payment plan..., and this email said the bill was going to be $206 dollars !!! It is usually "just" $140. I had racked my brain for most of this week to try to remember how the hell I had watched that may pay per views..., or if I had accidentally subscribed to some "extra" service to increase my bill that much. Well..., the reason I would have gone postal if I had been carrying a gun..., was..., that was just how much my bill was going to be from now on..., because my two year promise of the low rate had expired and this was the new rate !!! I haven't read the fine print of the contract..., but I am thinking that I can't just cancel now without incurring some sort of penalty for doing so..., 😢
I guess I should have posted this one from James McMurtry for the Friday Nite Music Video last week..., a little closer to the Memorial Day Weekend..., though back in the day it used to be observed on May 30th. I really like this one from the point of view of a young kid...,
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