Summer ending

It's the 31st of July.. That can only mean one thing.. My little brothers birthday.. AND.. the worst part of his birthday for me.. BTS.. Back To School sales on things that are needed to go to school.. I hated this time of year.. Everybody walking around saying "are you ready for school to start?? " my answer was always a shrug of the shoulders and a nod of the head while I was thinking NO.. My little nephew hates school and I mean HATES IT..  I can identify with him.. My dislike of school was likely the same.. I had a strong dislike of school more because of the kids I was in there with.. They found out my dad was a teacher and from day one they got on me.. Why??  My dad made sure we didn't get preferential treatment.. and when he became the principal I could only think things were going to go from suck to worse.. But enough about my fun days in school.. I identify with my nephew but what he doesn't know is that his cousin was the same way.. She would be at the house here after transferring down here and saying why do we have five days, why not four.. Or even three..  Yep school gets old really fast.. For my nephew I am not sure why he has a strong dislike for school.. I think it might just be the idea of being there.. He has had a summer filled with watching minecraft videos on YouTube... Almost all day every day he has been down here.. Hopefully when they have their back to school show and tell stories his won't only be mincraft .. minecraft... minecraft.. I hope he did something else when he was home..  The greatest difference between the kids now and my era was.. We started to school on the Thursday before Labour Day.. That was a nice break.. For the nephew he starts on the 13th.. OUCH..  But everyone start relatively about the same time..


They still haven't said when the next school bond issue will be on the ballot.. I was talking to someone the other day about this and I told them they will have to finagle the ballot in someway.. Word it the opposite.. A vote no means yes. A vote Yes means maybe.. And a vote for maybe is a vote for takeout pizza next Thursday..  What that has to do with the school bond issue... who knows..


Badge Henry

Whatchu watchin'

Wow what a weekend.. For no other reason than I wanted to watch some movies this past weekend.. I watched what I can only term a shitload of movies and other things.. First off on Friday nights and Saturday nights I will watch a movie followed by a comic standup.. Friday night kicked things off with a rerun.. or actually  a re  re re re re run.. I have seen this movie multiple times and still love it..

The Fifth Element.. I just can't get enough of this movie..

Followed that with a comic stand up routine..

Jim Norton does work in Blue and also very perverted comedy.. Some might be offended but then you have to realize.. IT'S COMEDY..

Saturday morning saw a matinee as it were of this movie.. A true gem..

Carry On Cowboy.. See if you can see where Mel Brooks got some ideas for his classic Blazing Saddles here... Really screwy humour but quite a fun little movie to watch..

Saturday night saw a turn in the more dramatic direction with

Veronika Decides To Die.. As the trailer points out it takes a near death experience for someone to enjoy life.. Everything about the movie was predictable but still worth watching..

The comic standup show was Dave Attell road work.. Again another comic that works blue and has a lot of cool observations about .. everything really..

Saturday night late night saw a bought of insomnia hit me and so a great way to get to the one oclock bed time is to watch a short documentary.. This one is World War II from Outer space.. Really an interesting show and a great way to get to the one in the morning time when I switch to Ultra Toxic Tv channel and watch a little Grind house, old b movie and the like..

The Verdict starring Paul Newman from 1982.. Sunday morning matinee..

Sunday night the weekend wrapped up with Dirty girl...   But not to worry, my insomnia is amazing.. I get three hours of sleep a night if I'm lucky.. That leaves a lot of time to fill in.. And this show:

Dance Academy is anything but filler.. It had been on my to watch list for a year now and now I wonder why I waited so long to try it.. About a girl who tries to get into the countries finest dance school, she gets in as a whim.. Shot entirely on location in the great city and country side of Sydney Australia...

Other shows still being watched are Friday Night Lights as season one wrapped up last night with the Dillon Panthers winning the title in the old Dallas stadium..  I Still think it quite a good show as they have the head coach acting like I think head coaches are which is selfish pricks..

Continues of Scandal started last night.. This season (4) I didn't bother to watch via torrent knowing it would be on Netflix eventually.. Also Hell On Wheels season 4, this show I did watch via torrent and have never seen it on the network it is on, and now will watch all of season 4 while torrenting season 5.. Warehouse 13 is still being watched as are the sitcoms Cheers, Frasier, Coach and Friends .. Yes I know I watched Friends from start to finish from the start of the year through early June.. I just really like that show..

Badge Henry

To be or not to be..

I have read  reasons to upgrade to Windows 10 and reasons not to and frankly the reasons not to make more sense than the reasons to do it.. Mostly I think it would be an unneeded risk..  To me had I been able to get windows 8 or 8.1 I would have been left with that feeling of why... Why did I think that was  a good idea.. The sites that say here is why always make it sound like getting the new OS is only the right idea.. From a couple sites, first the reasons to upgrade :  From PC : http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2487499,00.asp

Reason number one : 1. Speed Startup and more. If you never made the move to Windows 8 or 8.1, you've missed out on one of the best things to hit Windows operating systems in forever: Fast startup. 

Who wouldn't want a faster start up??  I love the idea of fast start up.. I love the idea of start up that doesn't take the turn it on today and start using it tomorrow around tea time..   Just joking there it actually does get going fairly quickly.. But on my moms laptop it runs windows 8 or 8.1 or whatever it is and while I can get used to it, it does take some getting used to.. It seems more sensitive to even the remotest of touch on the touch pad..   


2. The Start MenuThe loud voices in the tech community have long clamored for the return of the Start menu after its replacement by the Start screen in Windows 8. 

I miss the start menu on 8 (8.1) and some of the things I am used to finding easily are harder to find.. Not impossible.. I'm not a computer geek so this might be so easy, and some people love rubbing the nose of everyday barely able to get he things to work type of people.. But I say the thing that a computer should do with ease is turn on.. And then solve the worlds problems.. 

 3. CortanaIt's nice to be able to talk to your technology. 

NO IT IS NOT... Actually I talk to mine (YELL OBSCENITIES) at this computer all the time.. Who doesn't??  

 
4. Universal AppsIf you use Windows 7, you don't have an app store.

Universal apps.. I want mine to turn on and off.. Run the browser and take me to the site I want to go to.. NOW.. 

5. TouchJust about every screen in your life these days is a touch screen—your smartphone, your tablet, even your car navigation system.

When mom had that tablet for a couple days (a week.. ten days at the most) the touch screen thing was so cool.. I will however admit that Android Kit-Kat was so much easier to use than any windows OS.. Who would want clunky windows computer.. Oh year that's right.. It's cool to have a computer that will work great for a year and then suffer from "REPLACE ME NOW-itis" after that.. 

Now reasons NOT  to upgrade: From PC world (not the same magazine at all) :  http://www.pcworld.com/article/2950649/windows/9-reasons-not-to-upgrade-to-windows-10-yet.html

Number one, probably the most important : 
1. Your system can’t run it  

Specs have to be high end, not just ok.. High speed processor for all apps not just video playback.. 


5. Security updates for Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8 will be available for years

That's good to know.. 

9. You don’t need the pain of early adoption


I was skeptical   about windows seven but kept waiting to be blown away with their 64 bit technology.. And still I wait.. But truth is going from windows 98 to XP was nothing and from XP to 7 was still very little.. From windows 7 to Android was a huge step in the right direction.. From 7 to 8 (8.1) that was the biggest failure to me.. I never used Vista  they say it was very buggy.. Too bad I never used vista, I may have gotten away from computers altogether.. Better luck next disaster.. 

Badge Henry
 
 

Setting out

Here it is.. The start of the third chapter in growing shit.. Plants that is..

 Tomatoes by the gas meter are really sprawling out..

 Over there to the right next to the fence thing there is tomato, NOT WEEDS... Stunned me too.. 

 Pumpkin in the tree.. That is right, they are setting on in the tree as I was hoping they would..

 Multiple pumpkins setting on in the tree there.. That could be cool..

 ..or not, they could pull the tree over.. That might not be good, but I will try to keep those living..

 Above ^ and below \/ this one is setting on on a vive headed for the pine tree..

 The tomato with a pumpkin growing through it has tomatoes setting on.

 So much so that the tomato is rubbing on the pumpkin.. What does this mean for flavour??  I have no idea..

 These two pictures show the sprawl from this pumpkin heading still deliberate pace to the shed.. Redirect will happen but to where??

 The pumpkin patch proper and they have recovered from last weeks wind blowing.. Quite a lot actually..

 Last year I had something like 25 pumpkins set on with five making it to the finish line (carved).. They ranged from around a hundred pounds to ten maybe.. I'd like to have five again this year but I'd like them all to be rather huge.. One hundred pounds or greater..

The Earth box tomatoes, the Containers Choice variety, are getting big, sprawling out more.. i will have to cage these although there is no mention of having to do such a thing on the tags.. So far the tomatoes are around baseball sized.. Very nice.. They remind me of the Patio planter variety from around ten years ago..

The moby grape variety tomato down in the gas meter area has had one tomato ripen completely.. It was good.. With more on the way...

Badge Henry

Bizarre issue number one

No seriously, I won't be joining the channel, to get BTV2 to go spending a one time fee of $20.. Even on the first channel, BTV if they were to charge any amount of money to get it I would still say no.. I watch the channel about an hour a week and that is accomplished by watching five minutes here, and ten minutes there, through the week..  For those reading this, BTV2 is the sequel channel to the original on the roku streaming player.. BTV is Bizarre TV and it's a continuous streaming channel which means it has no VOD option and so for that reason a lot of people won't even try to watch the channel.. I got it when it first came on a  couple years ago.. They then offered a second channel but it never materialized as much more than a way to beg for more programming and then when they had a chance to show something it crapped out.. I'm not complaining, I was hoping it would show really weird shit, even more so than the main channel.. I like the main channel but it seems to be more for the really strange.. I like odd shit, trust me, Bizarre TV, Ultra Toxic tv, Zom-Bee tv.. Atomic tv... Plenty of shit to watch on a Friday night late night/early morning.. No doubt..


I just got done watching Sense8 on Netflix.. This is one of the best series they have on their lineup of original programming.. That and Orange is the New Black.. I hesitated watching the new season because they seem to take their time about getting a story line going.. Sense8 was the same way but by episode 8 it was really cooking good.. Same with OITNB.. They both are really worth the price of admission..  Sense8 has a fantastic sound track.. Great songs to really drive the story along.. The thing is the way it ended is it could have been just a miniseries.. I think it will be a continued story.. Orange will continue on.. Friday Night Lights is turning into a good series.. One of a very small handful that NBC has that was a hit.. Filmed by Peter Burg, he uses different camera angles and hand held cameras that can give you motion sickness if you let it.. But very interesting video works there.. Good story as well..

Finally there is this..:

The latest preview of David Gilmour latest offering Rattle That Lock..  For those who say it doesn't sound like Pink Floyd.. You are correct, this is David Gilmour, a more mature version of the man who played lead guitar for Pink Floyd.. I wasn't sure how much I cared for his On An Island album, but it is fine.. I really liked his first solo album, playing with his old bang mates Jokers Wylde then his second solo album About Face.. Truth is had he stayed as a solo artist when Roger Waters originally end the band I think he would have done fine but a lot of people might not have been.. They only did two more studio albums after Roger left..   I had wished Dave had done a better cross section of his own music on the live album/video that was released commemorating the tour.. Instead he played the On an Island in it's entirety.. Which was alright, I just wished he would have done other stuff.. But I am a fan of the odd and the Syd Barrett material that he does is right up there.. trouble is you can't hear the tortured soul, that was Syd, working on the song, it is very polished.. 


Badge Henry

Circus fun

I'm not into political crap very much, anyone can talk circles around me when it comes to political mumbo-jumbo  But last week Jeb said the American workers should work more hours and everyone took it to mean everyone with a job should work when they are awake.. Actually what I took it to mean was part time workers should work more hours and those without jobs should work.. I get that but some people are working what they want.. Part time works for them, some are parents and might have had the 40 hour work weeks but then decided to work less to be around the kids more.. I like that idea, that way you have more influence over the children than the daycare system, which can turn kids into brats without taking any blame.. So yeah, Jeb, I get some of your BS..

Then there is Trump, yesterday stating that in fact (in his eyes) that John McCain was a war hero because he was a P.O.W. in Vietnam which is pure horseshit because he and all those who served in the armed services are heroes.. They put their ass on the line for America..  Well John got shot down and captured and Donald Trump said he would rather hero worship soldiers who didn't get captured.. I'm sure if John had his way he would have chosen to NOT get taken prisoner.. But he as well as others did get caught..  It's just the way war goes..  I saw the clip where Trump made the comment, and he was making light of the fact that John McCain was taken prisoner, and "I like those who didn't get captured".. Basically he was saying that those who didn't get captured were nameless and faceless, and that might be true but they are all lumped together when the VA funding is cut.. And Donald Trump is saying he will do more for the veterans than McCain has recently.. And my comment to that is if he does then that will be anti-republican party, they love getting the troops into wars but don't support them when they leave.. Cutting funding to VA hospitals and even shutting them down.. There should be more built and more modern hospitals.. There should be more parking spaces designated for or troops, injured or not, they should get preferential parking closer to the buildings.. Designate them by way of a sign designator (not a wheel chair but rather something like a star or something).. This morning on CBSN they were saying that the GOP wants Trump out of the party.. He has said he will run in a third party..  Hillary will be the next president that way.. Or whoever gets the Democratic nomination..


Badge Henry

Along came the nasty

Just when you get cocky about the plants.. Yep the weather has a way of humbling you.. Every year it happens and there is little to be done about it..

 First off.. There is a section of lawn (grass) that is on the west side of the house and it really isn't that big of a deal.. it grows every year without much fanfare.. Except it always bothers me that it nearly really doesn't grow at all.. It never gets above height.. Even if I leave it alone for a month it never grows really hardly at all.  lower the platform raise the platform... Scalp it.. Treat it nasty it really doesn't care..

 Yesterday I do something that I think is a good idea.. Hope it is.. The tiller has an edger blade of it, and I used it to cut into the grass.. A lot of the time that edger is used to get irrigation tubing set in wherever I need it..

 Trying to cut squares as in a aeretor.. Trying to make the grass get water rather than pool up. That is a fairly solid area there and without the grass growing there it might feel like bricks to walk on instead of now where it feels like grass growing on cinder blocks..

 Above and directly below: This is right in front of the deck, and every year like clockwork the corner area becomes worn by people walking in the same exact place.. In this case the people are me because I'm the only one that walks there.. I am trying to get the grass to grow fully there and the idea was to replant there and then I realized that it would take a while to do and with it being the main traffic area this would likely not work but rather be a terrific failure.. So rather than do that I am designating these spot watering heads to water there every day for at least ten minutes per day.. Friday was twice because of the 100 degree day that it was..  It seems to be working but DAMN.. It is so hard to remember those little things are there..

 The reseed under the clothesline.. As mentioned in a previous blog this was reseeded from an earlier failure.. It seems to be growing well.. Hopefully by the first of August I will have all these spot watering places done.. Hope to anyway..

 The pumpkin headed for the gas meter.. Still unstoppable it moves along at it's pace..

 Climb a tree?  Ok but I gotta get somewhere by September..

 The pumpkin will not hold a record breaker or even challenge.. The reason??  The leaves are being shreaded by hail and then wind..

 These are the roma tomatoes setting on in mass..

 Moby grape type of tomato.. Can't you taste them??

 Back to the pumpkins.. Still in sharing space mode.. I guess that's alright.. Like I have much coice right now..

 You see the blossoms?? They aren't supposed to be that visible.. But the wind has made seeing the under carriage that much easier..

 Hot day wilting under the heat of the sun..

 It seems the wind has done what I couldn't do.. Thin the herd a bit..

 The pumpkin patch proper..

 these were all blown over from the opposite direction..

 They look a little worse for ware but still ok..  I watered them solid for an hour today.. hopefully they will recover nicely..

A little more about the wind/weather last night.. The wind did blow, harder than I thought it would but it came as very little surprise.. This is the time of year shit happens to plants.. We can get smaller hail but very persistent, like a machine gun just ... Ripping the shit out of the plants..

The leaves are taking it in the shorts, from bugs, hail... RABBITS.. Maybe other animals I'm not sure.. But it will be interesting to see what we get this fall..

By the way I was checking the compost tumbler thing and a week or so ago I added water to help get the latest batch of compost to get done.. Big mistake.. It is really nasty heavy and yesterday I opened it and it smells like someone cleaned a carp in there.. Really nasty stinky stuff.. And wet and clumpy it reminds me of road apples.. You know ... horse shit..  I added leaves from a tree that was dead for a while, trying to dry it out.. The date it will be emptied will be the 30th of July.. Yummy..

Badge Henry..

Addendum

When things move as fast as they do in the world of pumpkins taking over the world, you can't wait a week to report on them...

 Ok in the picture above we have the sprawl that is occurring with the pumpkins.. Heading for the lawn and actually there now.. This happened since yesterday..

 Above ... This is a share moment.. Forced share as it turns out.. The pumpkin from above has moved into the tomatoes cage, moved in and shot though to the other side.. I saw a leaf sticking up out of the tomato cage and thought that sure is a big leaf on that tomato..  

Turns out it is the pumpkin.. Is there a way to fix it??  Cutting it would fix it but I won't do that.. Now the question pops into the mind.. Will the pumpkin cross pollinate with the tomato... My feeling is ARE YOU KIDDING.. They are literally in the same bed together.. How's this tomato going to taste.. Moreover will the pumpkin be a different variety that has never been invented.. This could be an interesting accident... 

Hail magnets are damaged?? These hail magnets (defined by me a hail magnet is anything nice that will eventually attract hail, a new car, these lights.. PLANTS IN A GARDEN.. ) These lights (hail magnets) could be deemed broken  or useless but they still work a little. We got hail a week or so ago.. pea sized as it was.. The big stuff is waiting for the pumpkins and tomatoes to set on.. 

Finally this area here was tilled yesterday after mowing the grass.. People might say to me but isn't it too late to grow anything for this season??  Could be too late for a green crop, however this isn't  a green crop.. This is something different entirely.. What I am hoping to grow, or achieve here is.. Well this might seem out there and bizarre but hang in there.. I am hoping to get ...  SALTED TOOTSIE ROLLS.. Now I know you are thinking just what the hell is a salted tootsie roll.. Most of the time.. well all the time a salted tootsie roll is a cat turd in a patch litter box, and the same holds true out side.. So .. Now you know.. 

Fadge Henry 

Whatcha watchin'

What I'm watching right now.. Well the summer brings a new set of programs, last year was ... I can't remember what I watched while sweating to the oldies as it were.. But this year is likely like last summer..  Late night is a tv show from NBC of all places..

Friday Night Lights.. That football tv show version.. I was gonna wait until September to watch this show but.. Started a few nights back, actually around the 4th of July..

Warehouse 13, I had season one on DVD but decided to watch from the start pretty much for the same reason as Fringe and Damages.. I had seen season one of Damages on dvd and saw a few of the seasons of Fringe but felt watching the whole of those shows again would be a good idea.. Same here.. I like the people in it..

In the movies department: This wasn't a horrible movie, Pretty Ugly People.. Interesting yet predictable movie plot...

Speaking of extremely predictable, 6 Guns was that major league.. But still a good movie to watch, it just felt like i had seen it before..

Danger 5 is... what can I say about this short series that nobody would get.. Let's face it, this was a show that had Friday/Saturday night return from the bar blitzed out of your mind not wanting anything remotely deep or for that matter making any sense what so ever.. This is the show for you.. It defies description.. And it is available on YouTube...

Orange Is The New Black.. This show has always been fun to watch and this season is just as fun if not more so.. This season has been evolving into a funnier than shit season.. That crazy eyes gal is the highlight this year..

Sense8 is the show.. Truth is this show has moved along slowly but is really picking up speed as we get closer to the end of season 1.. Not usually the kind of show I usually watch but there is something about this one..

Badge Henry

That's not at all what I had in mind.. BUT WOW..

Remember Invasion of the Body Snatchers??  The pumpkins are, from day to day, getting bigger and bigger and this is just the plants alone.. Blossoms are yet to show, these plants are AMAZING.. Huge is what the plants were last year.. This year they are beyond description.. A single leaf  can be over three feet in diameter.. And where they are heading is anyone's guess at the moment.. I'm trying to train then to go where I'd rather they go..

 I didn't include this in the last entry.. Stairway to Heaven: The vine that I had grow up some strings from the rose area by the back door, I decided not to cut it down to see if it would restart from where it was at the end of last season or restart from the ground in which case the remnants of the vine from last year would be a way for it to grow on.. It did start where it left off.. That was well and good but I had and still have nowhere for it to grow, so it has these grabbers that are trying to grab anything.. The power line is almost in it's ability to grasp.. Who knows what that will mean.

 The gas meter tomato area.. This seems like a huge mess but if you would have seen the tomatoes from a month ago you would have thought they would never get this big..  I knew they might grow.. The area that was set for them to grow was big enough, but I planted them sort of smaller area but they still were a foot and a half away from each other.. Not anymore though..

 There goes the neighborhood.. They really are this close together..

 Then there is the pumpkins.. They really are cool to watch grow although if there is an asshole amongst the plants it really is any pumpkin plant.. They grow in any area you don't think they will and are obnoxious as hell doing it..

 But the unforseen consequences of this growth is a natural barrier, shutting off another entry/exit for anyone.. It is growing as well towards the other two entry ways.. There are (were) five entry ways of which the gas meter area was one.. Now there are three.. That will likely be down to zero by labor day at the rate things are going.. I will try to train them to go towards the yard.. Try to anyway..

 The lone tomato in a sea of pumpkin.. This tomato plant was a long way from the pumpkin, but that distance disappeared in a very short amount of time.. This should be interesting as with the other pumpkin growing towards the gas meter planter, this one was growing to take over the tomato plant.. I turned it to go more back away.. There are two others headed for the grass area.. This causes a quandary of sorts.. Do I still try to water the grass there knowing it can't be mowed.. It's a lawn wrecker for sure no matter what I do..

 This end of the pumpkin plant is ten feet or so away from closing the main entry into the yard.. I might let it just continue until it gets there then try to direct it in another direction, likely towards the yard and shed and hope it doesn't tear the shed up..

 The pumpkin patch proper.. This has four plants in it, and they are headed towards.. Well they are headed in the direction of the bar.. What are they alcoholics??  Maybe.. Actually they are headed for the village offices.. Brains, the crave BRAINS.. Well they really are headed in the wrong direction if that is what they are after..  Only joking.. sort of.. Anyway they really are growing at a more deliberate pace than the others are.. Picking their direction carefully.. I can't have them growing towards the ally, they will get run over.. i am trying to curve the ones heading out that way, there is a ton of room if they go the opposite direction..   Hopefully they will get the gist and go where I am trying to get them to go..

 The Pink Caspien tomato plant growing gangly or ganglyly..  The monster of tomato plants it will devour... nothing..

 The containers choice variety, in the Earth box planter.. As written about last week and why they were planted this way.. They have no cages and are the only variety to not have a cage.. for now..

I heard a commercial on the tv yesterday about a planter like this.. Not called an Earth box but something like the perfect planter.. You really only need to add water twice a week, and really that's only if you need to.. This Earth Box is pretty much set to where you only really have to fill it full once a week.. But I do it twice a week to play it safe.. I have never purposefully run the water out.. That sounds like the least smartest thing to do..

Now as far as the watering pattern of the rest of the plants here.. The pumpkins and tomatoes out int the Ally/gas meter/pumpkin planter areas they are all on the same irrigation system.. The original idea was/is to water an hour a every Monday and Thursday with the grass wicking or covering helping to keep the moister there, wicking as they need it.. This is the plan for July/August as the fruits set on and hoping that will work to keep the pumpkins growing but not rot on the vine.. Every year before I would water three times a day for 15 minutes each time.. Now it will be considerably less or it seems like a lot less watering only twice a week.. I guess we'll see.. It's not set in stone..

Badge Henry


(P.S.  I mighta spoke too soon on the pumpkins not having any setting on.. I went to reset one that was heading for the ally and think I saw a pumpkin setting on.. The reason I'm more than a little amazed is that there were no blossoms that I could see. Maybe this is a blossom that is about to open.. It is getting to that point in the season when they could blossom and then set on.. Midway through July (if you can believe that shit)..  I am never sure when they set on, seems like magic when they do set on.. Anyway, it looks like one might be there but likely it is the first blossom seeing as how there were no blossoms up til now..  )