NuTruk!

 

Hooray! Look what landed in our driveway! A new truck for Bob (and Rita) to drive and enjoy. No, it is not brand new, but it's the newest vehicle (2014) we've ever gotten- even newer than our beloved Red Rover (2010? I think?) Anyway, we're pleased as punch... and relieved.

Do you know how hard it is to find a good used truck?!?! With an eight foot bed? (practically unheard of in this day and age!! They're all those weird stumpy long cab, short bed fiascos. We NEED the long bed- think sculpture and hay bales and gravel...) Believe me, used trucks fall into two categories: really old, decrepit- (suitable for "total restoration), with 200,000 miles or really new and costing major $$$.

So I think- WE think- we got lucky, especially as (what were the chances?!?!?) this crazy truck was located in our town. We were even able to have our mechanic check it out. He loved the truck; he was very impressed and said, "Except for needing two front tires and wind shield wipers, it's a great truck". That made us happy and reasonably certain we wouldn't regret buying it.

All we need is a new "Bernie" sticker for that naked bumper! We took a field trip and looked at a pretty much identical truck out in Willimantic last week. It was good to have a comparison in cost/mileage/color/year but there was no comparison. That truck handled oddly and even made a loud clunking noise when we tried it (universal joint?) But the dealership sales man (who looked like a character out of Twin Peaks) and the greasy young sales "closer"keep emailing and asking "what's it gonna take to get that Ford into your driveway?" I informed them we bought another one...

Anyway, between the new car and the new truck we should be happily motoring for years. And as was "helpfully" pointed out by a friend, accelerating the Climate Crisis.

How Dry I Am

 

Well that's an unattractive picture to start out with! We are in the midst of a drought, which I think snuck up on us. Two weeks ago, our gardens looked pretty great... and then wowser! Everything is shriveled, crackling and dying. 

Bob and I were merrily watering away, keeping plants happy until one morning while I washed dishes and Bob watered the vegetable garden, our water pressure dropped rather alarmingly. We realized that with no rain at all in the forecast and how luxuriously we'd been watering the various containers and shrubs and vegetables all while doing laundry and taking showers the well's water level had probably fallen to new lows. You get the picture: suddenly we realized that we'd better be frugal for a few weeks. 

Things I've never seen wilt are wilting, like the Eupatorium above. We've been saving rinse water from doing dishes and Bob's been schlepping bucketfuls of water from our stream (also low) but it's no substitute for lavish watering or a day of rain. Forget the lawn: it crunches under foot. That I can live with as it's only temporarily dormant. But I feel awful about all those tender little seedlings that we started indoors- only to consign them to the eternal flames of hell. Gotta love Climate Change, right? at least we're not on fire. Yet.

So I just did an even stupider thing. The deer who are usually pretty well-behaved around her, actually consumed some of my daylily buds yesterday. (Ironically, of course, the daylilies were among the few plants that didn't seem to mind the heat and dryness.) So I announced my intention to spray the shade area with our homemade deer spray. I gloved up as it does smell pretty rank and proceeded to a through dousing of all likely deer delicacies- rhododendrons, daylilies, hosta, impatiens; I hit them all.

(The Long Border in better days. Notice green lawn.) When I came back into the house, Bob helpfully points out that I hadn't taken the deer spray after all, but the container marked Poison Ivy Killer. (I should learn to read.) Hahahahahaha!! So I went back out and re-sprayed with deer repellent, thinking maybe it'll dilute the poison ivy spray.  It's actually a mix of salt and vinegar and takes a few applications to actually kill the poison ivy but with my luck, it will kill all my plants in one shot as they're already weakened by the dry weather. 

So... Goodbye Garden 2022!!

House-aversary!

 

Hard to believe, but we moved into the architectural gem 12 full years ago! We are starting our 13th year of occupation of the Bauhaus Chicken Coop. And what a dozen years it's been! For one thing, there was a "good"  three feet of snow on the ground at the time of our closing (*1) and moving was a long, strange trip.  But despite the arduous (at times) journey, we made it and we made this place our home.

And I must say, despite a crazy world and COVID and all sorts of bizarre-o things neither Bob nor myself could have predicted, we mostly stayed (sorta) sane and are happy. Looking at this picture that I snapped this morning, I'm seeing so many of the projects that we tackled- and accomplished. My studio (to the right in the photo), the terrace (well, blocked by the picnic table) and the chimney we constructed to allow installation of the wood stove. And that's just the visible projects! We've got extensive gardens, fences galore, two (!!) horses, and a new giant screen (*2) TV!!

Yes, that's Rachel Maddow interviewing a former New York District attorney- in our bedroom. Those two rectangle to right and left are our bedroom windows so you can see just how large this sucker is. Bob and I keep reciting, "They're so big! They're life-size!" I guess the TV will provide company and excitement in the cold, dark days of winter ahead. (*3)

And congratulations to us! Bob and me! on 12 full years of home ownership and house occupation.

(*1) And this year? It was 55 degrees the last couple of days, absolutely no snow and Bob just harvested Swiss chard and Tatsoi from our garden?!?!?!?!? How's that for a bit of personal Climate Change observation?

(*2) Hell! It's gianter than I even thought... like BIG! Kinda scary, but fun!

(*3) Hahhahaha! Lest anyone thing we just took the TV out of the box, threw it up on the wall, turned it on, synced it with our "devices" and began watching... no. We started yesterday afternoon; Bob successfully wall-mounted the monster and then we encountered "issues". Like logging into Google accounts we rarely use, password conundrums and the like. I begged off after realizing that my brain had stopped working (*4) I was beginning to moan in a pitiful fashion. This morning, fortified by bagels and coffee and a tea chaser, we (somehow) managed to log on and watch TV. Success was ours!

(*4) I attempted to help Bob after a particularly strenuous riding lesson in which my instructor confused me so badly about turning left and right that I was almost punch drunk. My poor horse thinks I'm stupid and I'm surprised my instructor didn't throw her hands in the air and leave. She did threaten to spray paint a large L and R on poor Neko's shoulders... You gotta love it when someone's in the middle of the ring yelling, "Where are you GOING??!?!?" and you honestly thought you'd gone the right way... alas!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Here I am, shilling for generic beans on my birthday but NOT in violation of any ethics clauses! You always suspected that Ivanka and I had plenty of things in common...
So, yes, it is my 64th birthday and thanks to Climate Change, it's almost impossible to consider doing anything besides hunkering down in the bedroom bunker with the air conditioning at full tilt. And thanks to COVID 19, I wouldn't want to venture out to a plague-infested restaurant anyway. Better to stay put in these times of strife!

Here's our un-retouched proof of the climate crisis: no wonder I'm melting!! Over 100 degrees and it's not even afternoon. I still recall Mommy telling the story of how Daddy tried to take her out to dinner while she/they were "expecting" me. Mommy told of how I was late (I didn't want to come out into this cruel world- I must have known how shoddily artists were treated!) and her ankles were so swollen she couldn't get her nice, strappy sandals on. She was pretty miserable; such a happy memory!
So happy birthday to me! Not all is awful as I've already had many nice wishes for best returns of the day and there's an evil, store bought birthday cake with, yes!, FROSTING!!

 And Bob's creating a magical garden gate for me and I bought a bunch of marked-down plants at a nursery the other day, and I've been to see the ponies recently so I can't complain.

(Yes, my lower leg should be further back but probably no one but me and my riding instructor would notice that!) That's Candy the Quarter Pony. See? I even get pony rides for my birthday. Now onto that cake and ice cream and party hats...