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Post by 12540dumont on Sept 19, 2017 9:56:53 GMT -5
Really, this is the truth. On Labor Day my sister slipped in her apartment and broke her hip. She passed on Monday. She was 61. Tomorrow is now just a distant dream. Sorry I missed your birthday Steev.
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Post by prairiegardens on Sept 19, 2017 20:23:40 GMT -5
As far as the dmv. It sucks. I just had to get my license renewed. Had to wait 2 hours. The part that really pisses me off about it is that around here they contract it out to an independent business. So when you renew your plates you pay for the license fee plus the plate if you get a new one. Then they charge $5 bc they are an independent business. What the hell! I'm required to do this. It's not like I can go the the court house and avoid the fee. It's crap. I know a guy at work that get all of the new crispy ones that he can. You know the ones straight of the press that are a pain to separate. That's what he pays his property tax with. I kinda feel sorry for the poor guy that has to count out a couple hundred of those. I might start doing that at the dmv though. Or maybe I should pay in pennies. Property assessments in the province tripled this year across the board, with the accompanying rise in taxes. It's awfully tempting to do something like this, if pennies are out then nickels. Governments are really out of control. dammit! Tried 5 times to delete this post and it won't go away. So sorry about your sister, 12540dumont. It's always a shock to lose someone close. |
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Post by steev on Sept 19, 2017 20:51:36 GMT -5
Clearly, if they think your property has risen that much in value, perhaps everyone should offer to sell it to them at that new assessment; given such a trend, surely they'll jump at the chance to get on the upward-bound gravy train, or stop sucking eggs.
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Post by steev on Sept 22, 2017 0:10:42 GMT -5
OMG! I really am far more driven than I've recently been: I've got no help, so maintenance of my clients is a burden; want to get to the saw-dustery before they close on Friday; Saturday, got to get to the rabbitry ~10AM (when they open,to load up their waste); want to get out to Walnut Creek for lunch with my sweetheart (late for her birthday, which happens to be the same day as my sis-in-law's Mom and twin brother's date. Small world and not that many dates from which to pick.
Personally, I share Bill Clinton's birthday, and many characteristics, although I have seniority; clearly, he took what I did further.
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Post by richardw on Sept 24, 2017 13:33:38 GMT -5
I know a guy at work that get all of the new crispy ones that he can. You know the ones straight of the press that are a pain to separate. That's what he pays his property tax with. I kinda feel sorry for the poor guy that has to count out a couple hundred of those. I might start doing that at the dmv though. Or maybe I should pay in pennies.
kazedwards I take it you fella's havent got the plastic notes that we have here. |
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Post by steev on Sept 24, 2017 22:28:44 GMT -5
Plastic notes? WTF!
On a more realistic basis, I put newsprint shrouds on promising bunches of grapes (as I've posted, I don't like to do that, as they won't color properly. but the birds are starting to work them heavily, so lame grapes are better than no grapes).
The paper wasps have abandoned their nests, spending all their time huddled in the tool-shed on the door; I've no idea what triggered that change of behavior; our distant cousins can be hard to understand.
Saw two garter snakes this weekend; first snakes I've seen this year.
The neighbor's stock-pond is ~40' square; evidence of uncommon water in the ground; in a normal year, it'd be NMT 20' square, this time of year.
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Post by richardw on Sept 25, 2017 13:16:02 GMT -5
Yes plastic notes, they are bloody horrible too as they dont want to stay folded, a few days ago i had a couple of 20's in my pocket and they manage to flick themselves out, luckily i noticed and back tracked, there they were sitting on the ground. Maybe its got something to do with that so called neoliberal trickle down  , if only rich bastards would walk about with tracksuit pants packets loaded up with 100$notes en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_dollar |
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Post by steev on Sept 30, 2017 0:59:23 GMT -5
I've no idea what plastic notes are about; I realize the corporatocracy would prefer us all to do on-line exchange, but I'm not comfortable with that. USA currency is still linen (not paper), and that's fine with me. No way I'll go to on-line banking or computerized bill-pay. How many hacks do there have to be before people figure out that this stuff is vulnerable to hackers world-wide? I'm not saying anything except that world-wide is a pretty damned big pool from which to pull thieving bastards.
Damn, "they" want a trans-arctic cable so "money" can move milliseconds faster; is my attitude bad if I say "Fuck 'em!". The money managers neither sow nor reap; they just shift "money" around, like rodents in a cage; push the shavings here; push them there. That's not work, and it deserves far less compensation than it's been getting. These parasites have sucked enough blood out of the common good to buy political clout; they need to be flushed out of the common gut by a strong purgative.
The fear of such cleansing may well be why police departments in the USA are being militarized with military hardware (surplus; fine); are we really going into "control and subjugate" as opposed to "serve and protect"?
I realize this isn't plant breeding, but it's my stuff; I don't think one can really carve out any important factor (nor, really, any minor factor) from our greater reality, without grasping the resulting effects, which are, so often, unintended, but answerable, when SHTF.
Granted, as a Zoologist (lame), I tend to look to the larger ecosystem, but I don't exclude ourselves from it; we are incredibly major actors in ALL environments; our influence will increasingly dictate the crops we can grow, given our effect on climate. Am I optimistic? Not so much, given that so many of us are so fucking self-serving and short-sighted.
There may be benefits to being aged, but not having to deal with the results of our own stupidity must be one of the best.
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Post by walt on Sept 30, 2017 13:28:03 GMT -5
As a zoologist, you know that many species are going extinct due to habitat destruction. And we gardeners, and other people too, may go extinct as our habitat is bought or stolen out from under us. But the 1% will live on, maybe.
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Post by steev on Oct 1, 2017 19:45:17 GMT -5
The 1% will perish when they've destroyed the hosts on which they are parasites.
Birds are really working the grapes; the Service-tree is looking productive, although none of the fruit is larger than a prune; at least I'll get to find out whether it's more than a specimen tree.
Got a rip in the ball of a finger, very inconvenient; checked my bandages (cheap and old), which were useless, the adhesive being shot; faked it with a scrap of TP and electrical tape (duct tape's little brother); mission accomplished.
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Post by philagardener on Oct 2, 2017 19:00:43 GMT -5
Sorry about the finger - those injuries can be painful. The problem for me is I keep banging the hurt finger on things!
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Post by steev on Oct 3, 2017 2:29:16 GMT -5
It's not the pain that bugs me (doesn't hurt so much), it's the blood; while I'm pleased it still comes out red and eventually stops leaking, it's a mess, hence my need of a bandage.
Whenever I've got an owie, my sweetheart wants to know if it hurts; mostly I say "no", because it doesn't; she seems to think I'm being all "John Wayne" and stoic, but I'm just being honest; it doesn't hurt; I begin to wonder whether that disappoints her.
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Post by walt on Oct 3, 2017 14:37:53 GMT -5
I was about 35 when I first noticed that cuts didn't hurt like they used to. In my 40s, I worked in a heater/air conditioner factory, and often would get cut on the rough edges of sheet metal. At least once a week I'd hear someone yell "Walter, get a bandage!" That was the first I'd know I had another cut.
I really don't miss the pain. But the pain had been useful in letting me know about cuts.
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Post by steev on Oct 5, 2017 0:17:01 GMT -5
Again, it's not about pain, but I'm becoming sensitized to any little ding, since it so often means my loose, thin, old integument has been compromised and will make a small mess, if I don't attend to it; just a feature of my "Golden (drippy red) Years".
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Post by steev on Oct 6, 2017 1:08:15 GMT -5
Speaking of pain, I've put $800+ into my Toyota p'up the last two weeks, as various issues have surfaced, and now I'm looking at ~$2K to replace a blown cat converter (the after-market ones rarely last a year, so better to go new); can't work/earn without a p'up ( I so look forward to not working for income; the prospect of working for free on the farm beckons enticingly { yes, yes, I'm coming }; now, I'm not bitching about what life deals me; I know I've gotta play the cards I'm dealt, not those I'd like. What bites my ass is this: whenever you see pictures of Isis, or whoever, tooling around the desert, they always seem to be in old Toyota p'ups; how do they do that? Can we get some of their mechanics here? I mean, we give them a job (and maybe a nominal pre-paid Costco card); they're gonna convert; everybody wins!
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, if only rich bastards would walk about with tracksuit pants packets loaded up with 100$notes
