End of the Garden Year 2015

I know, I was supposed to keep everyone up to date and appraised on how the garden was going this year. Life, of course got in the way every time I thought about sitting down and writing. So now, it's November and the gardening year is past done. I can at least give a look back and provide an overview of how the year went.

For the year overall, the higher than usual heat and lower rains made things difficult. It was a constant struggle to keep the garden from completely drying out and getting absolutely nothing. As it was, if I missed a day or two of watering, the plants started to wither and I would have to try and get them back to something resembling normal. The rains finally came in September, but it was really too late to do any good. And it was a good thing I decided to leave a portion of the garden 'fallow' as they did finally come out to paint the house. They were able to do what they needed to do without endangering the plants.

For specific plants and results I'll start with the seeds. Green beans did well again, I think they seem to be the most adaptable of the plants. We were able to get a fair amount, and it was a nice compliment to our meals. Peas? Again, we got some but not a lot. It may have been the weather, or some other factor that seems to limit the yield. It was enough to add variety to our meals. The carrots were somewhat of a disappointment. They never really got going and so it was a continuing struggle to just keep them from dying. Onions? They also never really got going. I'm not sure what the issue was with them, but I think we can try those again the next time around.

Now for the plants. Tomatoes did fairly well this year, considering they generally do not do well in this part of the country. We got a number of tomatoes to add to our salads. The peppers actually produced a couple, but due to the constant fight for moisture, the flavor was not the best. Lemon cucumbers were the best producers of the bunch, and it was an interesting change from traditional cucumbers. We were only able to get one decent sized spaghetti squash, with two other tiny ones. It is waiting right now for a final decision as the vine it was on died before it was really ready. It may ripen, or it may rot.

As a final bit, this year was a mixed bag. We didn't get as much as I hoped, but that was more due to the weather causing problems than anything else. However, it wasn't so bad that I want to give up on it completely. Some different plants next year, and maybe even changing the direction of the rows of seeds might make a difference. Who knows?

A Short Note for Veterans Day

    Yes, it's me.  I'm back.  No, I don't want to talk about the national beauty contest we call an election.  If you can't figure out why, read the previous sentence.  My garden?  I've got a garden year in review post working and should have that up in the next couple of days.  In the meantime, I will break my blogging silence and provide a short history on today's federal holiday:  Veterans Day.

     Veterans Day wasn't always known as that.  According to History.com (I'll pretend it's a little more reliable than Wikipedia.  Not that I have anything against that site), the day was originally known as Armistice Day.  It was first commemorated in 1919, the year after the end of the First World War (It was known as 'The Great War' then).  It was made a Federal Holiday in 1938.  In 1954, after lobbying by veterans organizations (from the Second World War and the Korean War) the name of the holiday changed from Armistice Day to Veterans Day, and is to commemorate veterans of all wars. 

     There are some other items about the history of the day I was not aware of (even though I apparently lived through some of it) – such as the Federal observation of Veterans Day being changed to the fourth Monday in October in order to ensure three day weekends and encourage tourism from 1971 to 1978, it certainly would have made a difference this year, with the holiday in the middle of the week.

     So, if you know someone who is a military veteran of a past (or even current) war, take a moment and remember their service.  It's a solemn remembrance of the sacrifices others have made so we can enjoy what we have today.

Going to my happy place

Well, even though there are any number of things I could talk about, and waste everyone's electrons on my opinions (and who really cares about my opinions at this point when it's so much after the fact?) about those things, I'd rather spend my time talking about my garden. It's probably better for my blood pressure and health at this point to talk about that rather than politics or government. Besides, my opinions on both would probably shock people, and I don't want to deal with that. So, it's off to the garden we go.

And how are things growing right now? I'll start with the seeds I planted. As far as the beans go, they seem to be growing really well right now. The peas and onions are not doing quite as well as far as their amount and rate of growth, but the peas are at the point where they are beginning to produce pods. I was able to pick three pods the other day. So it looks like I will be able to at least get some peas to eat the same day. The onions appear to be at least holding their own. We'll get at least a few, and we should be able to enjoy them. The weather (which has been hotter and drier than other years) seems to have negatively affected them, at least in the growth department. The carrots are spotty, as usual. One of these times, I'm going to get a better turn out from them, but not this year. Still, some fresh carrots will be good in the fall.

Plants? The tomatoes seem to be holding their own, and given how what seems to be the conventional wisdom regarding growing tomatoes I'm very happy. We've got about 8-12 small tomatoes and they seem to be ripening. Again, not really enough to do much with, but enough we can enjoy them in a salad or something similar. The lemon cucumbers seem to be growing well, and they've started producing. I think I should have read up on them more. The consensus seems to be that they are very prolific in their fruit development, and I've got three plants. I guess I should be happy I didn't buy more than that. And finally the spaghetti squash. They seem to be quite content in spreading out. They appear to be attacking the lemon cucumbers, at least in this picture they seem to be. I've seen a few flowers, but no fruit yet.

With the dry weather, I've been going out on a fairly regular basis and watering the entire garden. This year, it's really been a requirement to water the garden, with the heat and lack of precipitation in order to prevent them from drying up and dying. It would be nice for some rain to come and help, but in the meantime I guess will continue on and see what comes.

Oh, no. The crazy man's at it again!

What do I mean by this? Well, specifically I mean that I've started up the garden again. I know, they are supposed to come and paint our house (it's a rental), but I've heard nothing, seen nothing, so as they say 'damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!'

I did play it a little cautious, as I decided to expand the area of the garden to allow for more items but at the same time I decided to leave the area closest to the house empty in case they do decide to show up and paint. Here is a picture of the current garden area after finishing planting, and one of the garden from two years ago (when I did this the last time) to show the difference.

I worked the ground up as follows: I tilled, then raked to remove the grass and moss. Then I went over it a second time with the tiller and again raked to complete the moss and grass removal (along with quite a few rocks. I think I found where they put all the rocks from when they built the house). I then went over it a final time with the tiller and raking to complete the rock removal (ha! I should know better. Growing up, I worked the same area for over 13 years and still came up with rocks). After that, I then put in the seeds and plants for this year. It ended up being a bit later than last time (by almost a month), but the soil was warmer, which I think will help in the long run.

What is on the agenda for this year's crops? It's going to be a mixed bag as usual. I've stuck to some of the standard vegetables (carrots, peas, green beans) for seeds. I've added some onions. They're 'super sweet' onions (not Walla-Wallas, and not Mayans as best I can tell) for some additional fun. And what about the plants? I've stuck to tomatoes and bell peppers. I'm hoping the additional space (both in the garden itself and between the plants) will allow the plants to do better than before. I'm cautiously optimistic about those. I've got some cucumbers (lemon? Never heard of them, but we'll see what happens) and spaghetti squash. The zucchini were gone by the time I got to buying plants, and the spaghetti squash will be helpful to me, as I can cook them and use them instead of pasta.

As with two years ago, I'll try and update you periodically so you can see how my garden grows. (wait, wasn't that a verse in a nursery rhyme?)

How I Learned to Stop Grumbling and Love Politics

Once again, I’ve decided I need to sit down and write something for this blog. I really can’t say why it takes so much effort sometimes to sit down and write. It’s not that I don’t have something to say, there are a lot of things I could comment on. Maybe it’s just the effort of trying to get my thoughts together to the point where they’re somewhat coherent. Anyway, I’ll hit a couple of big news stories and add my commentary. That should be fun, no?

I’ll hit the political side of things first. It appears the 2016 Presidential campaign season has begun in earnest. Major names officially declaring they’re running include (but certainly will not be limited to) Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Mike Huckabee, Carly Fiorina, Ted Cruz, and Ben Carson. If you’re curious about whether or not your favorite candidate is running, you can go to this site. 

My thoughts? It’s really early, so most of the candidates seem to be in a pack and not breaking free. Two of the more interesting choices so far are Rand Paul and Bernie Sanders. Why do I find Rand Paul interesting? To me, he’s attempting to claim the mantle his father had in the last two Presidential elections: that of the Libertarian who speaks to the individual freedoms this country was built on. It plays well to a certain percentage of the electorate, but doesn’t bode well for the general election. He’ll fire up the partisans, but not much else. I’ll be curious about his candidacy’s effect on Republicans. Sanders? To me, the interest centers on the fact he is a self-identified Democratic Socialist. Right now he appears to be playing the part of a Rand Paul for the Democrats, where he appeals to the partisans but that’s about it. Depending on how well he does, he could be the first identified Socialist since Eugene V. Debs ran in 1920 from prison to receive a significant portion of the vote. Personally, I think there are too many people who are still allergic to the term Socialist to vote for him. But I think it will be an interesting barometer of how our society views itself to see how many people agree with him to the point of voting for him. Again, I don't see him winning the nomination, but he could pull the Democrats farther to the left than usual.

Police in general seem to be sinking fast, as you can find mention of incidents involving police and how they treat people almost daily. Baltimore seems to have been the focus this last week, with the Freddie Gray incident, indictment of six police officers, and the riots after the funeral. It’s an unfortunate situation when people feel the need to express their disappointment, rage, and frustration in that way. On the other side, no matter what the situation you treat people as humanely as possible. The appeal of ‘can’t we all get along’ does apply to both sides. At the same time, you cannot discount the grievances of the citizens, or the concerns of the authorities. We’re all part of the same society, and we need to strike a balance. And that is something that is sorely and sadly missing at this point.

There are other things I could probably read, think about, and comment, but those are the two biggest. For me personally? Since it’s spring I’m trying to get the house and yard set for the summer to include a re-start of the garden. It’s been difficult since we didn’t do anything last year while waiting for the painting that never happened and the garden area grew back over. Additionally, I'm trying to expand the space to allow for more plants. We’ll see how that goes. I’ll get a picture in later, once I’ve got it set.

Since you're on a Computer, Read about Operating Systems!

Once again, it takes me a while to post things on the blog. I guess part of it is I'm still trying to get things back to something resembling normal. Although I highly doubt what I used to know as normal will ever be my normal again. Of course, I could try and talk about politics again, but once I realized that popularity contest known as the Presidential election is now officially underway with Senator Cruz's announcement, my brain did an automatic 'check out'. So, I'll just talk about something I've been doing that's slightly less controversial. Computers and operating systems.

I have a number of older computers in the house. At least I judge them as older when you consider the operating systems found on them. As of January, I had one operating on Windows XP, three operating on Windows Vista, one operating on Windows 7, and one on Windows 8.1.

I'm the (un)official tech support for the house. When one family member has an issue with their machine, I get either a frantic phone call at work, or a 'dad, can you look at...?' when I'm at home. I'm not a 'techno geek' by any stretch of the imagination, but I would put my knowledge level at the 'knows just enough to be dangerous'.

My method of trouble shooting is encapsulated in the phrase (and I can't claim this as my original) 'Google is my friend.' I put the operating system and the error into the search, and more often than not I can find a fairly simple method of fixing it. It may involve going to the command prompt and putting some commands in, but it's not anything I would consider 'graduate' level.

I ran into a problem with one of the children's Vista machines. The recommended resolutions for the error listed were either playing with registry keys (moving into graduate level) or reinstalling the operating system. I just wasn't comfortable with the registry key instructions. Since I didn't have a spare system disk laying around, and I wasn't about to shell out the money required for said system disk, I stared looking into alternatives.

I would dare to say people are only familiar with the Windows family of operating systems for computers. Microsoft has made it so their systems are well known and fairly easy to use. They're not perfect (not by a long shot), and they do have a number of issues. One of the reasons Google works so well for finding out how to fix problems with Windows is because of the number of issues Windows has. I had been aware of 'the other side' of computer operating systems (known as Linux), and more specifically the distribution (OS) known as Ubuntu. I started looking at how easy Ubuntu or other Linux type systems would be to use and install. After some looking and asking around, I finally chose the Linux Mint system. You can read more about it here.

I have to admit, the system itself was easy to install, the hardware worked without any issues, and the installation even recognized a Windows operating system was on the computer and asked whether I wanted to install Mint alongside (dual boot – where you choose the operating system you go into every time you boot up the computer), or install over the Windows OS. For this situation, I needed to install over the Windows OS.

The next task I undertook was to update the Windows XP computer. Although I enjoyed XP, and thought it was one of the better Windows OS's, it is no longer supported by Microsoft. And considering the machine running it wouldn't have handled an upgrade to Windows 7 or 8 (I doubt it could even handle an upgrade to Vista) I decided to switch that one to Mint. It handled the switch OK, with one issue. The wireless network card was one of those that had proprietary drivers. Now what? I went back to Google. There was also a community I could look into as well. I found the necessary commands, and got that to work.

For my final trick, I decided to put two machines into a dual-boot configuration. One Vista machine (the one I work on) and the Windows 7 machine (which is the wife's. I don't think the eldest would let me touch the Windows 8 machine). I had to do some looking into some higher level tasks to prepare them (unallocating some hard drive space in particular), but there were no problems. Both computers boot up and run Linux faster than Windows, but Windows still runs with no new issues from having Linux installed.

To me, the operating system is simply a tool for people to use. If you're using your computer to access the internet, do email, and maybe some simple writing and work tasks, then in my opinion Linux Mint (and most other Linux distributions) is a viable alternative to Windows operating systems. It doesn't require a lot of RAM or hard drive space to run the OS itself, and perhaps most importantly, it's free for download and installation. If you have a lot of games, or do a lot of gaming, then it gets a bit more difficult but there are software packages that allow you to run Windows games. Not much else, but at least you can install your Windows games and play those. Not that this was a review, but if you ask me, having choices is always better.

My goodness, it has been a long time

     I looked at how long it had been since I posted here, and it’s been almost a year. Thankfully I don’t rely on my writing to provide income, or I would have starved long before this. Anyway, the many months that went by had a lot of things going on for me and my family. Work, school, and just daily life seemed to consume the days and weeks. There were times I considered writing something, and even began to put some ideas down, but I just couldn’t seem to finalize them. Politics? I feel like I’ve gotten to the point where I can’t write something without shocking friends and family with my views, so for now I’m going to follow the maxim of ‘if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.’

     I can’t say I did no writing at all during this time. I participated with two of my daughters this last November in the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). I was able to write over 50,000 words and I have at least a (very) rough draft of a novel. I’m trying to sit down now and edit it as best I can to try and clean up some of the inconsistencies I know exist in the text. Hopefully I can do that sooner rather than later. What will I do with said novel? I’m not sure. No one other than me has read it so far, and so I’m not sure if it would have any mass appeal, or be worthy of attempting to publish it. That’s something for the future.

     Unfortunately, we didn’t have a garden this last year, as the house we rent was supposed to be painted (in the end they didn’t paint, so we will see what happens this year). We were able to purchase fresh vegetables, so we were able to continue canning. We even added some new items to our repertoire, pickles and turkey broth (yes, the last one was done with the remains of our turkey carcass from Thanksgiving). When you look at it, there are so many things you can home process/can that help you eat healthier.

     Health? That seems to have been one of the more interesting things this year. In the eye department, I decided to go back to wearing contacts. I quit wearing them due to my military career, and now that I’m done with the military, I finally went back to them. I found I prefer the clear peripheral vision they provide and they seem to make my vision clearer than glasses.

     I’ve also continued my post-heart attack recovery and life changes, but I seemed to hit a ‘plateau’ after a while. I couldn’t seem to improve my energy level, and there were also other ‘symptoms’ that seemed to indicate I had something else going on. However, I continued in true male fashion of ignoring what was going on. That worked so well for me before, didn’t it? Finally, I had some blood work done for a cardiology appointment. The day AFTER Thanksgiving, I received an email notice the blood test results were in (isn’t technology wonderful?). I go to the account I have set up for such things, and start perusing the results. Cholesterol? Better, but not where the doctor wants it. I figured that would be the case, so I wasn’t surprised.

     I start looking through the other tests out of curiosity. I finally got to blood sugar. The result? 235. Excuse me? Where did this come from? So I had to wait until Monday to talk to my regular doctor (who didn’t order the test) and say, ‘I saw this result in these blood tests, can we talk about this?’ I go in to the doctor, talk about the test and my other symptoms, do another couple tests (the dreaded A1C included) and go home with a diagnosis of diabetes. The next day, those new tests come back to include an A1C over 11 (normal is 4.5 to 6, with diabetes being over 6.5). The doctor labeled it ‘significant’ and ‘without control’ (anyone know the difference between with and without control? I have some ideas, but I’m not sure). So, what now? I get to poke myself daily, take horse pills (metformin), and hopefully keep more bad things from happening to me. I got to take one medication off my list for cardiac, so number of meds stayed the same. My Lipitor was increased (no surprise) so we’ll see how we’re doing a little farther down the road.


     I’m going to try and be better about posting things on a somewhat regular basis, and maybe I’ll even take the gag off and rant and rave about politics. Not until after Lent, though. I don’t need to add to my confessions voluntarily.