A Recycling Program That Only Recycles Working Things, or "Cash for Ice Cubes."

I tried to recycle an old chest freezer today. It doesn't work and we wanted to get rid of it. Sadly, leaving things in the back yard to return to the earth has gone out of vogue. She Who Must Be Obeyed came across a website that promised to take old refrigerators and freezers and recycle them for you. They would pick them up and give you $50 to boot! One little thing in the requirements was bothersome to me. The appliance had to be in running condition. I thought that it must be a misprint. No one is so stupid as to trade in a perfectly good appliance for one that is going to cost them more. I called and it wasn't a typo. Only bureaucrats can envision programs like this. Only a person who isn't in the habit of paying much in taxes would come up with a scheme that takes money out of someone's pocket and put it in the pocket of another. The "Cash for Clunkers" program was a stupid piece of legislation if ever there was one.

"On August 26 the DoT reported that the program resulted in 690,114
dealer transactions submitted requesting a total of $2.877 billion in
rebates.^[1][11] At the end of the program Toyota accounted for 19.4 % of sales, followed by General Motors with 17.6 %, Ford with 14.4 %, Honda with 13.0 %, and Nissan with 8.7%.^[1][12]
It led to a gain in market share for Japanese and Korean manufacturers
at the expense of American car makers, with only Ford not taking a
significant hit.^[13] Meanwhile, Japan's own program excluded U.S. cars.^[14] The Department of Transportation also reported that the average fuel efficiency
of trade-ins was 15.8 mpg (miles per gallon), compared to 24.9 mpg for
the new cars purchased to replace them, translating to a 58% fuel
efficiency improvement.^[1]

A study published after the program by researchers at the University of Delaware
concluded that for each vehicle trade, the program had a net cost of
approximately $2,000, with total costs outweighing all benefits by $1.4
billion.^[15][16] Another study by researchers at the University of Michigan
found that the program improved the average fuel economy of all
vehicles purchased by 0.6 mpg in July 2009 and by 0.7 mpg in August
2009.^[17] " - from Wikipedia Car Allowance Rebate System.

Why am I quoting an article about Cash for Clunkers? It's just my joyful little way of pointing out that government programs that benefit Corporations are probably not a good deal for people in general.

I have a feeling that two parties were hurt in this "Cash for Ice-Cubes" scheme. The taxpayer was obviously hurt, and the sap who thought they were getting a great deal spent money they probably hadn't planned on spending, and didn't need to spend. Who benefited? Well, all those legislators and bureaucrats who feel bad about drawing a check for doing nothing got to feel good about doing something - anything, and manufacturers got to sell more crap people didn't really need. Whenever business and government get together on something, put your hand over your wallet right fast!

If we hadn't been moving, that freezer might have been re-purposed as a cold smoker. Now I have to find a place to bring it for disposal/recycling.

It's Amazing What Can Be Ignored In Two Weeks!

It has been over two weeks since I last saw my darling wife. It has been lonely, frustrating and less than productive at times. It's not that I haven't been doing things, it's just that, over all, less is getting done. I feel like I'm doing more, but without her here to help, and, quite honestly, to do, less gets done. In fact, the list of things I haven't gotten done seems to be overwhelming.

Much of this is my fault. I am a late night person and have been since I worked second shift when we lived in Chicago. I seem to not be able to go to bed before midnight except on rare occasions. Essentially, I reach a point of exhaustion and then collapse into a comatose state. It isn't easy to get work done around the house when you are in that comatose state!

The Blame Game set aside, I was able to do a fair job cleaning the downstairs, meals and shopping were done, though Eldest would complain that I wasn't fastidious and quick enough. I cleaned out the refrigerator which desperately needed to be cleaned. The yard was mowed, except for a small spot I forgot about. All of the appointments were kept, and we were on time for them. I think where I really fell down on the job was in keeping the house tidy.

And tonight is the night she comes back. She Who Must Be Obeyed returns tonight, and I am not ready. Rather the house is not ready. I am so ready for her to return, I am sure I will jump for joy when I see her. Not because I want help cleaning the house. I miss her. I love her. I am incomplete without her.

The Brutal Honesty Of Perspective Accepted.

I was running an errand for She Who Must Be Obeyed today, and as I was waiting in reception, I could hear the dulcet tones of Mick Jagger over the speakers in the office. I was tapping out the rhythm on the counter as I waited. It was taking the receptionist a long while to complete our request. As I was grooving to the Rolling Stones, I turned around to face the reception area, and my eyes fell on an older gentleman who also seemed to be grooving on the tune. His feet were tapping to the music. A broad smile crossed my face as I realized that The Rolling Stones were to me what Perry Como or Frank Sinatra was to my mother. Taking that thought a little further I realized that another way of looking at it is that Katy Perry is to my daughter what the Rolling Stones are to me.

Surprisingly, as I thought more about this, the more I realized that the music of these very divergent styles have something in common (Ok. Maybe not Perry Como, but mom really liked him!). If you've ever read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, you might recall the author's discussion of an aspect of Art that he referred to as "Quality." It was the distinguishing thing between art and not art. As I recall, it was a very confusing thing to a 17 year old boy. I prefer to call it "lasting power." If music is revered over a couple of generations, it has lasting power. For me, it is Mel Torme, Tony Bennett and a lot of the Big Bands. It is music that transcends "pop culture," or maybe it just translates well between generations. Will Katy Perry be well known 30 years from now, in 50 years? Who knows! I have the feeling that she just might be one of the few in a generation that is remembered. After all, Firework is a great piece of pop music.

Mail Call For The Organizationally Challenged.

This is the mail from four days of delivery. Monday was Labor Day, hence no delivery just to commemorate how hard public employees work for so little pay and stingy benefits </sarcasm>. Before I spiral out of control down that particular line of thought, I will jerk myself back to the task at hand, which is sorting mail. To the left is the unsorted pile of mail that I have to sort through to determine if it is: 1) worth looking at. 2) worth opening. 3) worth sending to SWMBO in Minnesota, or 4) worth burning. Before my Darling left me, the mail would take care of itself. I don't know how that happened, and she didn't leave any helpful clues to eliminate the Mystery of the Disappearing Mail. I suspect gnomes or elves played a part. Elves aren't near as nice as the story books make them out to be. I tried leaving it out on the counter, hence the four day build up, but it didn't self-sort, nor did the postfairy come and work her magic. Next, I tried the entropy method and threw it all up in the air. I don't think I clearly understand entropy. I tried the Youngest's method of staring at things, trying to bend them to my will - no luck. Eventually I resorted to that time honored yet somewhat less fun method of just getting on with it. As the photo to the right shows, and much to my amazement and dissatisfaction, it worked. Go figure!

I sorted the mail into 5 piles (I love piles!) One was for recycling, catalogs, bills and correspondence, township newspaper, and College propaganda. The propaganda went to Eldest, catalogs and newspaper are currently still on the counter (honesty!), the recycling is where it should be and the good stuff is with the catalogs. Does anyone really expect this lifelong issue to resolve overnight?

It was very therapeutic to get this done, and I felt much better for it. At least I did until the Destructive Duo came home from school and detritus was flung far and wide over the house.

The Unfortunate Gap Between What I Wish And What Is.

When we agreed to provide a car to Eldest, I thought that school year mornings would calm down. After all, there would be no rush to get ready for a bus that waits for no one. All of that stress would melt away into the aether. Why is there such a large gap between what we think will happen and reality? Eldest woke up late and ran about imitating a headless chicken, Youngest was the emotional equivalent of Jack the Ripper this morning, and who suffered for it? It wasn't me. I hide like a coward in my happy place, located somewhere inside me. The solar light, some two feet off of the driveway, certainly paid the price for these two stressed out, emotional wrecks. It is currently flatter than a pancake, and utterly un-saveable, lying in state in the garage. Thankfully, the tufts of decorative grasses managed to leap out of the way, or were just missed by the missile in reverse that Eldest was piloting.

I assume what I am experiencing, without the buffer of my Darling, is the female malady known as, "that time of month." It is the only way to explain the odd behavior coming out of my normally delightful children. I don't like it! Nope! Not one bit. My action plan is as follows: Hide in the basement or the pole barn for the next three or four days. Seriously, I can't do better than that. Reasoning doesn't work when they are in this state of mind (out of mind?) and direct confrontation would put me in the hospital. I'm just going to take a 12-pack of Yuenglings and a family size bag of Doritos out to the pole barn and I'll be fine.

The Homestead Wannabe Moves To Minnesota

Well, in due time we will move. As it stands, we are in the middle of the first week of living apart as a family. "She Who Must Be Obeyed" is living in an apartment in a small town in Minnesota, while the girls and I hold the fort here in New Jersey. As I calculate it, based on a move date of July 5th, 2013, it will have been 305 days since SWMBO left the building. That move date is a sliding figure of course. What this means is that the girls and I have been left without supervision for four full days! The critical things are getting done, as well as important things. School papers are being signed and returned and doctor appointments are being kept. It is the less important things that I always have trouble with.

I forgot to put out the garbage on my first garbage day post-SWMBO. Of course it wasn't just any old garbage. This was a garbage can full of chicken carcass and guts from the chicken dumpling soup I made for the little woman's farewell dinner. Consequently, the garage smells a bit like an over ripe landfill. The girls bravely make their way through the stench both morning and afternoon. I think it may be from convenience rather than bravery. I'm pretty sure they were calculating the number of steps from the garage door as opposed to the front door.

There are now three, soon to be four, days of mail waiting to be sorted. I hate sorting mail. Truth be told, I am a bit of a hoarder, and it just feels wrong to throw out all that crap that someone took so much time to prepare for me. Youngest and I have been very good about getting the newspaper everyday. At least my Darling (SWMBO) doesn't have to fret about piles of newspaper awaiting her bi-weekly return!

I guess no mention of mail is complete without mentioning flat files (things piled aimlessly on any flat spot in the house). Mail is the greatest generator of flat files that I know of, besides books, magazines, papers, electronics and well... stuff. We have been amazingly conservative in our creation of flat files in the absence of our Guide. I have to take my "Atta boys" where I can find them!

The Voles Must Go!

Just a short and depressing update to my last post. The Voles found my Swedish Fingerling potatoes. I harvested less than a pound from my original ten plants. I probably should have gotten at least four pounds per plant. They have also found my beets, and even damaged a pepper plant to the point that it probably won't survive. I am beginning to think that maybe poison is the way to go. I'll just tell the neighbor what I'm planning on doing and they can either ask me not to, or they can keep kitty away from my yard for a couple of weeks. Something has to be done. Once the voles are gone from the garden, then I can work on keeping them from coming back by using hardware cloth and such.

I hate mieces to pieces!

Not Everything Always Goes The Way You Expect It To!

Well, I may have wanted to add some garden space for herbs and curcubits, but that didn't happen for several reasons. First, I was just plain lazy and didn't get to it soon enough. Second, I didn't want to spend the money on the fencing and stuff like that. Last, we found out that we lost our employment, and that we would more than likely be moving to a new part of the country. My wife is the bread winner of the family, and her line of work doesn't lend itself to staying in one area. She is an executive, and there just aren't that many positions in her industry in any one area of the country. Happily, I know she will get a new position within a year (by faith). It could be within an hour and a half of our current home, or it could be 1000 miles away. Either way, we plan on staying here for one year to allow my eldest daughter to graduate from high school. My youngest daughter is not happy about that - at all. But we can't break the family apart for three years. I guess she'll be getting a horse as a bribe!

I took the Master Gardener's Course through the Burlington County Extension and am currently volunteering at a donation garden. I also help out on the Help Line to answer questions gardeners have about various things. It is a good program, but I jokingly refer to myself as being a member of the Soil Test Kit sales staff. A typical call goes something like this:

Client #1: "My cucumbers are looking kind of sick and the blossoms fall off before they set fruit."

Master Gardener: "Have you done a soil test?"

Client #2: "My flowers are all wilty looking!"

Master Gardener: "Have you done a soil test?"

Don't get me wrong. A soil test is very important in understanding what is going on. All kinds of things can cause plants to have issues. You want to eliminate the most obvious first. Soil nutrient depletion causes many of the problems you find in plants as well as soil pH. Soil pH can effect the availability of nutrients in the soil. The composition of the soil is very important as well. There is a great benefit in knowing everything you can about your soil. It just sounds funny to me to always ask that one question. I'm just a goof ball I guess.

The raspberry canes did go in, but I waited far too long to plant them. Five of the six canes I bought managed to spring back to life. One of them began growing and then, for some reason, it just died back. Still, five canes should be plenty to start with. I won't get raspberries this year, but I should next year, if we are still here in the Summer time. If we were staying here long term, I would probably add some blackberries to the garden as well.

I have had quite a harvest of strawberries and blueberries so far, and peas came in very nicely as well. Most things are growing very well in the garden. I think the peppers are having the hardest time. I do hope they grow. For the first time in three years, I think I will have some beets to harvest. The leaves are getting big, and I see signs that the roots are swelling. Before this, the greens were very stunted and the roots were the size of small marbles if they grew at all. The tomatoes are looking fine this year. The Beefsteaks are doing tremendously, and the Belgian Pinks and Rutgers look healthy as well. The Beefsteaks even have fruit on them. I had a good harvest of asparagus this year, and the fronds look very healthy. Next year should be a great harvest! The zucchini's are looking good as are the cucumbers. I planted both Lakota and Butternut squash as Winter varieties. Everything is doing very well. No sign of the dreaded Powdery Mildew! Spinach actually grew for me this year! I've never had a harvest before. It always went from tiny leaves to seed heads almost over night. The radishes grew well. The French Breakfast variety were my favorites. I had a a purple variety from Burpee, but it wasn't much good for much other than making Radish Top Soup, which was very delicious! I've had good harvests of lettuce and the Stringless Green Beans are looking great. I hope the Royal Burgundy beans do as well.

One of the things that is really growing well this year are my two different potato varieties. I am growing Kenebecs again this year and also Swedish Fingerling potatoes. My boxes, that I built last year, probably won't serve another year. The termites hit them pretty hard last year. The two garbage cans seem to be working very well again this year, and the black felt bags I bought from the co-op seem to be working just fine! I am hoping for at least 50 pounds of potatoes this year, but I would be happier with 100 to 150 pounds!

Things that aren't growing so well are my onions, of which quite a few have bolted. The garlic have not sent up scapes yet, so I am not sure what is going on there. I hope I don't have puny little heads like I did for the last two years. The tops look very yellow and sickly. The cabbages all look like green Swiss cheese! I have those dag-nab moths! The broccoli did ok, but the heads were small and the caterpillars were many. The bed that had the cabbages, broccoli and would have had the carrots and Swiss chard was almost a complete loss. When I decide to give up on the cabbages, I will be covering the whole bed with black plastic to bake out the crab grass and other weeds. I'll probably use PREEM on the asparagus bed next spring. I'll have to check and make sure that it's ok for use on asparagus. Another thing that didn't do well, yet again, was the rhubarb. I've never really had trouble growing it before.



It's been a bad year for trees. We didn't get enough cold weather this Winter for the apple trees to set blossoms. The Dutchess of Oldenburg did bear fruit. One apple is growing on that tree! The cherries didn't set fruit at all. They had plenty of flowers, but no fruit. Deer ate all of the fruit off of the peach trees. I had been diligently spraying the trees with Liquid Fence, but let it go one week. The deer feasted. I am unhappy. Last, something is munching on one of my almond trees. It is nearly bare. I need to go get an organic pesticide to take care of it. I don't want the tree to die. the almonds didn't flower again this year. I'm very sad about that too!

Getting Ready For 2012

Seed catalogs are beginning to arrive, though not as many as I thought I would be getting. Maybe it's still too early, or maybe they have heard that I am not a very good gardener. Perhaps I just need to visit more websites and sign up for free catalogs! I've always heard that seed catalogs in the mail are a sure sign that Spring is just around the corner, though I suspect that like saying Christmas is upon us when the decorations in department stores go up in early October. It is time to start planning my next foray into the garden, and I want to make sure I don't wast treasure or effort this year. Well, maybe I want to limit waste. I don't think a mere mortal can actually achieve the goal of eliminating wasted time and treasure.

One of the more confusing aspects, for me, is how to plan the next year's garden. Crop rotation is simple enough, but when you add in consideration for succession, that adds a far greater amount of complexity. I think I will create an "if/then" chart, or more accurately an "if/then not" chart. It should help me figure out which plants should not follow directly after last year's plantings.

First, I want to add some gardens this year. I would like to increase the amount of space I have for herbs and spices. The spiral is a nice looking little thing, but I over planted it last year. Now I am faced with having to transplant the rosemary and the lavender. I will have to move the lemon grass, if that even comes back. I hope it does, but it is far too large a plant for that little herb spiral. I want to add some cumin to the garden, and some fennel and dill weed. I haven't decided yet what to do about the horse radish. I want to grow it, but I don't want it in my raised beds. I may try that in containers. I am also planning a large garden behind the pole barn for corn and sunflowers, but It may not get enough sun back there. It would be smarter for me to do a daylight study there first. I am also planning on adding a garden next to my raised beds for winter squash, sweet potatoes and watermelon. This wouldn't be a raised bed, but rather following the Back To Eden approach. It's a kind of lasagna gardening method.

Second, I need to find room for raspberry canes. I'm not quite sure where to put them in the yard. They will probably end up in the enclosure with the squash and watermelons. I know I have to keep the deer away from them. Those vermin will eat darned near anything that grows. I swear they would happily munch on poison ivy.