Irony?

245 years ago yesterday, the Stamp Act was passed.

They say that those who forget history are doomed to repeat it…

Not Happy

Today was not a happy day.

I was not happy about the health care bill passing.

I was not happy to see that I must have spilled bleach on my favorite pair of jeans.

I was not happy to see that I must have spilled it on one of my favorite sweat jackets, too.

I was not happy about the weather.

I am not happy about the fact that my antivirus software seems to think that my blog is some kind of threat to the world…  I can’t find anything about what ‘type 760’ means.  After I got my page opened, I check all my links for all the postings that come up on  the main page and they are all fine.  The only ones that give me a problem are the ones that link back to older entries.  Feh.  I’ll try and figure it out tomorrow.

 

I’m going to talk about something that is not not happy.

Did you know that there is a world-wide seed repository?

There is and it’s located in Norway, 810 miles from the North Pole – it’s called the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.  It’s supposed to provide insurance against the loss of plant genetics in the case of any kind of catastrophe. 

 

I guess there is some controversy behind the facility and it’s real purpose, but I think it’s a great idea – but I was very surprised to learn that it existed.  It’s really interesting to read about the construction of the facility and the precautions taken to protect the valuable contents.

Hoops

Every year I always get my garden going a lot later than I hope.  This year is going to be different – I’m going to be ahead of the game!

This past week I put together a small mini-hoop house in one of my garden beds.  My plan is to start some seeds this coming week, and when the plants get big enough, keep them out in the hoop house until it’s safe to plant them in the ground.

 

Easy peasy - I kept it really simple…  I used some scraps of PEX tubing I had leftover from installing my radiant heat system, some pieces of rebar and some zip ties.   I pounded the rebar into the ground and just slipped the PEX over them.  By using the zip ties for the brace on the top, it’s going to be really easy to take down and apart when it’s not needed anymore.  I have leftover heavy weight plastic from another project, so my only cost was for the rebar (10 x .87).

I have all the seeds I want to plant except for two… I know where I want to order them from, but I am waiting to see if I can can a free shipping deal first.

The other project I want to get done this week will then be getting a fence around the garden area to keep out the Stupid-Evil-Garden-Eating rabbits out this year.  The most inexpensive thing I could find was plastic garden fencing, so that’s what I’m going to have to use.  It won’t be the prettiest thing, but hopefully it will do the job    I’m hoping the weather will cooperate this week…

This ‘n That Thursday

• Six!  It’s official – all of my chickens are laying eggs now… today was the first time I collected six eggs in the nesting box. 

 

• Has anyone heard any of the speak that Blogger will not be supporting some blogs as of March 26th?  I saw a few blurbs mentioning it here, here and here, but I have no idea if any of what they say applies to me.  Not that my blog is anything earth-shattering, but it’s mine and I’d really hate to lose it.  It’s fun going back and seeing how things have changed over the couple of years since I started.  Being uncertain of what’s going to happen, I made a blog over at WordPress and copied everything there – as a kind of backup.  I haven’t done anything to make it pretty over there, but I don’t really plan on using that site for anything except as a backup.  At least for now.  Maybe someday when I am bored, I’ll work on that site – but I don’t really expect any traffic over there, so I’m not too worried about it.  Unless something happens to my Blogger account…

 

• What if you were the last person on earth?  What would you do?  Realistically.  Wow 

 

• I got my Census questionnaire  in the mail yesterday - a week after I got my notice from the Census Bureau telling me that they will be sending me a Census questionnaire.  What a waste of taxpayer dollars.  I guess if you don’t want someone knocking on your door, you’d better send it in…

 

• This weekend is the first Maple Weekend!  There is nothing better on pancakes or French toast than real maple syrup.  Not to mention maple candy – YUM!  Support the local Maple producers and visit a farm or two this weekend or next… the weather is supposed to be good Saturday  

 

• And speaking of trees, did you know that thirsty trees make noise?  I’ve heard of plants screaming before, but never this 

Wordless Wednesday