The Cleaning Crew

No, it is not a movie or a TV show we are watching, neither is it the title of a book I’m reading or writing. It is about the cleaning crew that is getting our yard ready for summer, working hard to whip it into shape.

There are only two people in the cleaning crew: my wife and I.

It has been a grueling week. Actually, we didn’t start until Tuesday, which means it’s only been 4 days, but it seems like we’ve been working at it for weeks. I am tired, but tomorrow I still want to till my garden, because I didn’t get a chance last fall. It was too wet. I have about 20 bags filled with leaves that I wanted to till under last year, which never happened, so I will do that tomorrow, at least a few of the bags. It is better in the fall. The leaves have the winter months to break down. Now I have only one month until I plant the garden.

It took us two days to pick up the fallen willow branches and to burn them. This is the first time it took us not even two days to pick the branches and burn them, but the weather people were kind to us this week and the good warm and dry weather held for the whole week. Also, the wind was never strong. Can’t burn with a strong wind blowing. In the afternoon, I raked the grass with an attachment I have for the lawn-tractor. Yesterday, I cut the grass on about half the property. I cut it really short and bagged it, at the same time picking up the dry grass that I raked yesterday. I deposited some of the grass into the truck-box until it overflowed and the rest I bagged. I couldn’t go to the dump, because it is closed on Thursday.

First thing this morning, I drove to the dump to get rid of the grass. Then I cut the rest of the yard and in the afternoon I took a second trip to the dump. They compost the leaves and grass, which is a great thing.

I made a gruesome discovery. My little friend, the rabbit I’ve been feeding all winter, lay dead under one of the spruce trees. I have no idea what killed it. I didn’t want the little feller to have died for nothing, so I gave it to the two crows that have decided to move into our neighborhood.

They built a nest in one of the ash trees in our neighbor’s yard, but they live on our lot. They own it now. You can tell by the arrogant way they walk across the grass. So I figured I might as well stay on their good side and feed them.

As I do every year, in March I seed my peppers. That’s all I seed now in the house. The rest of the plants I buy. The pepper plants are growing nicely under a fluorescent light. I also have 2 tomato plants that are growing well. I used seeds that I saved in 2010. They are called ‘Health Kick’. They are a kind of Roma tomato but a hybrid. Good producers, but I haven’t been able to find them anymore in the Garden Centers. We’ll see if these two plants will produce anything. You can’t really use seeds from Hybrids. You never know what you get, because they revert back to one of their parent plants.

I used to seed more tomatoes, but now I buy the plants. I grow 6 Roma for our Salsa, 6 Super Fantastic, and 4 Cherry tomatoes. My wife loves them. I barely eat any. I’m happy with the Super Fantastic for my sandwiches. Nothing better than eating tomatoes ripened outside on the vine. They are just so sweet and tasty. You can’t buy them like that.

I made one mistake. I seeded my cucumbers in March—much too early. They sprouted within 3 days. I transplanted them once already into larger pots and they are growing profusely. In fact, two of them have tiny cucumbers on them. Well, perhaps I’ll harvest some cucumbers before I plant them into the garden. This particular cucumber is called F1 Socrates and is supposed to be quite prolific. We’ll see.

Yes, Springtime is a busy time and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m looking forward to my first fishing trip in May. The season opens in a couple of weeks. Hopefully, the weather stays favorable. No high winds and not too much rain. No fun for me fishing in the rain and when the waves are high. My stomach revolts. I’m ready with my new Shimano Sedona Fishing reel and the night crawler jigs I made. Those Walleyes are in for a good fight, in fact, they won’t stand a chance.

It's for the Birds

They are taking me to the Cleaners. I’m not talking about the government now or the bank that handles our investments. I’m talking about the birds, specifically the Juncos and the other sparrows. I think they like it so much here they will never leave. I have two feeders which I fill every day at least once. A couple of days ago I put new seeds into the feeders in the morning, then at midday, and then again in the evening for the next morning. Every time the feeders were completely empty. I also spread seeds on the ground, because the Juncos love to feed on the ground. This is getting expensive. And the Blackbirds and the Finches aren’t even here yet.

This year we have a pair of crows nesting in our neighbors ash trees, but the crows are spending their day on our lot. They act as if they own the place. They even go into the feeders and eat the sunflower seeds and take out the peanuts I put in for the #Bluejays. I did not know crows ate peanuts.

I believe the reason the crows set up shop near our property is the fact that I fed them the mice I catch in the garden and in our garage. I always put them under the willows along with the old seeds that are still in the feeder when I refill them. Last year, I gave them at least one mouse pretty much every day.

I will not start a war with the crows. They are quite intelligent and, apparently, also quite vindictive when one of theirs gets injured or even killed by a human. I’ve heard and read stories about that. The last thing I need is a group of crows harassing me when I’m working in my garden. Maybe I’ll ask my neighbor to remove the nest. After all, that tree is on his property. That way I’m off the hook as far as the crows are concerned. I’ll still stay the ‘Good Guy’ in their book.

Will summer ever come? Last night it even snowed a little. My peppers are growing in their containers under the fluorescent light in the basement. It is too cold to put them into the sun-room the way I usually do at this time of year. I have 4 cucumber plants I seeded much too early. They are so tall already they are sending out feelers to attach to the fluorescent light. There is over a month to go before I can plant them into the garden. I might have cucumbers before then. I bought these seeds from the High Mowing Seed Company in the US. I only got 10 seeds. I have 6 left which I want to seed directly into the garden, but I thought I’ll get a head-start by seeding 4 into containers. Cucumbers do not transplant well, in my experience, but I have them in large peat-moss pots which I have to just bury completely into the ground. They should survive once I transplant them.

Speaking of the garden, because of the cold and rainy weather I haven’t been able to do anything yet. Last year, also because of the lousy weather, I didn’t get a chance to till under the 30 bags of leaves I collected. The leaves are great for added nutrients and it may be too late to till them into the soil now.

My wife bought me a special weeding tool for my birthday—unexpectedly. So now I’m ready for the garden and ready for the weeds. Let them try to take over my garden now! I am prepared with a new weapon.

Fishing seasons starts May 14 here in Manitoba. I noticed one change in the regulations that will actually affect me. I live near #Lockport and I go there to catch #Sauger and, if I’m lucky, Walleye. I have a spot where I have been lucky. I and a million other anglers who know about this ‘secret’ spot. The Conservation and Water Stewardship people who are making the rules have decided for whatever reason to create a Special Conservation Area for #pelicans and close it to all fishing and possession of fishing gear. My little spot is near that area and possibly part of this area. I haven’t checked it out yet.

Have these people been in Lockport and seen how many pelicans are crowding the place? The other day I saw a flock of more than 60 birds flying over our house. Do these people realize how many fish one pelican consumes in one day? There is also a clause in there about not being allowed to fish near a fish ladder to protect the fish. Well, I have great news. The pelicans won’t respect that part of the regulations. They’ll gobble up any fish that is near that fish ladder. I suspect there is some political reason behind this new regulation and it has nothing to do with the conservation of the pelicans.

And what about the #Status Indians? They are exempt from any regulations, limits, and restrictions and seasons. I guess they’ll be allowed to fish this protected area. Wonderful. Don’t anyone tell me we don’t have a two-tier system in our country. One for the people who have to buy a license and have to follow the rules and one for those who don’t need a license and need not follow any rules. That’s how conservation works in this book. You can't control anything unless everyone follows the rules. How difficult is that to understand?

Have a great weekend.

Just another day

We live near the city of Selkirk, which means we do our grocery shopping in Selkirk. We have a few stores to choose from. There is Safeway, Co-op (former Gainers), Extra Foods, and Wal-Mart. We barely shop at Safeway or Co-op, because they are too expensive, so we divide our buying between Wal-Mart and Extra Food. Before Wal-Mart we shopped exclusively at Extra Foods, but since Wal-Mart came to Selkirk, we buy our bulk of groceries there. Their prices are reasonable and the quality of vegetables and other items is excellent. We found that Extra-Foods is a bit more expensive than Wal-Mart in certain items.

Last week I was happy to discover that Extra-Foods carry the European type bread. I used to buy it at Super Store in Winnipeg, but they discontinued that particular bread a couple of years ago. So I was excited to find it at Extra-Foods. For how long that will be nobody knows.

I eat only European type bread, to be more specific the German type bread. I’ve never cared for the bread sold in the stores here. It is too soft and has no taste. Same goes for the buns. I like my bread solid. Also, it is much tastier. When we were in Germany last year I was in heaven for three weeks. The bread and the buns! Oh my Gosh! I couldn’t get enough of them. I’m also quite fond of Salami (it is called Bagged Summer Sausage here).

Here is a sample of what I eat for lunch:

Mozzarella cheese, carrots, pickles, and radishes.

Bread (clockwise): ‘Hirtenbrot’ with Sockeye Salmon, Dark Rye bread with Salami, ‘Hirtenbrot’ with slices of barbecued pork loin.  Hmm, delicious.

I had a glass of wine with this plate. Sometimes I drink a can of alcohol-free beer. Yes, I like alcohol-free beer but I won’t say no to one with more alcohol. Not for lunch, though, especially when I drive somewhere. At my age, I can’t afford to lose my license.

Yesterday we got a new Provincial government in Manitoba. The NDP is out. They did enough damage. The Conservative Party got the majority votes by the people who voted. I think many people expected the Liberals to get more votes or even become the new Provincial government. They figured the Provincial Liberals would ride on the coat tails of our Federal Government, but it didn’t happen and I am glad. The Liberals were so disorganized and it would have been the most stupid move to give them the reigns over our Province. They couldn’t even manage their own party. Besides, it is enough to have our Federal Liberal Government screw up this country and plunge it into darkness and deep debt just to please the world and our minority ethnic groups. So now I hope the Conservatives deliver what they promised. Perhaps we can finally ban hunting with spotlights at night; a dangerous practice and one that gives the animals no chance at all. It is time it stops! The NDP had no intentions of doing that. That’s why no hunter voted for them. We’ve had enough.

Last week I bottled a batch of ‘Malbec’ wine. Even after filtering it, it was still quite heavy and after drinking a glass my wife and I had purple teeth and there was residue in the glass. So today I am going to open all the bottles (27 of them) and filter it again. In addition I will add a little bit of water, hoping that will make it more drinkable. It did taste fine, though.

Yesterday I did my taxes. I used U-File on line and it took longer than expected, because they did a few changes again with the program. Apparently, you can use a new way to do the taxes by using ‘Automatic Fill’, which means you go to the site of Revenue Canada who has all your information already on file and they fill everything out for you. It proves again that we are more and more being monitored and controlled by our government, especially Revenue Canada. Big Brother is already here. Next thing you know, we won’t have to fill out any forms at all anymore. The government will just take the money you owe from your bank account. Drain it if necessary. They don’t care. And then they take that money and give it to a foreign country to keep people alive who will thank us by sending us their terrorists.

Anyway, that is all for today. Here is a picture of a Christmas Cactus in bloom.

#Happy Birthday to me...

It is my birthday today. Hurray. Another year older.

I have to confess something. I am living with a deep, dark secret. Sure, it says on my birth certificate that I was born on this day, but that is a lie. My actual birthday is on April 4th.

That’s right. You are reading this correctly. I was born on April 4th, which makes me 12 days older than it says on my birth certificate. I have lived with this lie for my entire life and only my close family and a couple of friends ever knew about that.

How could this horrible thing happen? I am glad you are asking yourself this question (or maybe not.) Apparently, when my birth certificate was written they put in the wrong date. I know, the answer sounds too easy, perhaps a bit too glib, but that’s what my parents told me happened and they never realized the mistake until it was too late to correct it.

One consolation—it isn’t my fault. After all, I was a baby when I was born, unable to speak or even to read. Even if I could have read or spoken, I didn’t know the language. There are so many other things to learn after you are born, I didn’t worry about my papers being in order. I trusted my parents with that. The only thing I did well was scream and probably some gurgling sounds. My parents didn’t speak baby language, even though they had ample opportunity to learn it while they waited for me to be born. So what could I do? Nothing, it seems. Now I have to live with this thing.

 Now that you all know this, it must suddenly become clear to you why I looked my age 12 days already. That would explain the discrepancy in my appearance. Of course, that would be if you could see me. Perhaps it is a good thing you can’t, because today I am already 12 days older than my papers say. That is the devastating, brutal truth. I am a fraud, pretending to be younger than I am in reality.

What must people think of me now? Will they wonder if I am actually the person I say I am? Are they wondering if I hide any other secrets? If I were interrogated, would they force me to confess that I prefer Vanilla ice-cream to Strawberry ice-cream as I have proclaimed? How about my name? Is it really Herbert? Was I really ever 5’9” tall only a few years ago? If I was, why does the ruler say I am 5’7”? Why is my hair curly and dark (well, it was a number of years ago) when pictures of me as a child portray me with blond, straight hair? Those are serious questions begging for answers.

Fortunately, the mistake was made only with the day but not the month or, Heaven forbids, the year. If that were the case my mind might be in turmoil. I might even have to see a Psychiatrist or Psychologist. Not that I think much of either profession. I don’t really know what they actually do and I don’t ever want to find out. All I know is they make pretty good money and I wish I were one. In my opinion, people who go see them need their head examined.

There is one thing I worry about. Since I am actually 12 days older there might be a problem some day. What if I die, let’s say after the 4th of April on my 120th birthday. According to the records, I would be only 119 years old and yet I am in reality already 120. I might lose out on some kind of record. This scenario doesn’t really bother me, but it is of some concern. I know, you don’t give a crap about that, but it is easy to talk when your records are normal. Mine aren’t. Mistakes were made.

Every negative side has a positive side. In a way I am having two birthdays, one real one and one fake one. I have the opportunity to chose when I want to celebrate and I do. I celebrate when it is most convenient. Heck, I could celebrate any day from the 4th of April until the 16th.

Anyway, now that my secret is out I hope you keep it to yourself. I’m telling this in confidence only to my closest friends of which you are one. Don’t disappoint me.

On this note I wish everyone who reads this a wonderful day, even though it is raining here where I am and it is difficult to be cheerful on days like this. Next week the sun is supposed to make an appearance again and everything will be just peachy.

It’s my birthday. I’m happy.

Counting visitors to my blog

I just installed a new counter. I used to have one that worked really well. It was great. You could check who visited you and from where, but that site has apparently changed hands and my counter didn't show up anymore. Then a few weeks ago I got a hit counter from a different site and that one stopped working a few days ago. When I visited the site this morning and I wanted to re-install the counter I was shunted to some kind of advertising site. It is crazy. You can't visit any sites without being flooded with ads. Out of principal, I would never buy from these people. And sometimes you even get viruses or spyware. I'm constantly running adware to extract these invaders into my computer. I started the habit now of deleting my history every time I shut down my browser. It seems to work--sort of. There is always some stuff that manages to slip through. It is so annoying.

I got a different counter now. I hope it will work for a long time, because now I had to start again from Zero.

Why are there so many malicious people out there who want nothing but to create trouble and chaos? It is enough that we have to deal with those religious morons like ISIL who do nothing but commit atrocious crimes, murdering innocent people in the name of some ridiculous belief.  I wish there were a way to rid the world of all the criminals, Psychopaths, Fanatics, and the damned freeloaders who want to live off hardworking people's efforts.

Food for Thought

We had a rabbit for supper last night. It was delicious. Some people say rabbit tastes like chicken, but that is not so. Rabbit meat has a taste of its own. Rabbits breed like, well—like rabbits. If you have a pair in no time you have more. That’s why I don’t understand why rabbits are so expensive to buy, if you can find them in a store.

When I grew up in Germany we didn’t have much to eat. It was after the war and food was scarce. We were lucky in a way, because we lived in a small village. We raised rabbits for food. We also had a couple of goats for milk and butter and cheese. We didn’t own any land anymore, so the only way to feed the rabbits was to go and cut grass in the ditches. That’s what we fed them—grass. Hay in the winter. You couldn’t buy any fancy rabbit food.

The same went for our two goats. It was my job to take them down the road and let them feed on grass in the ditch.

That brings me to a new topic. It got me thinking of our Indigenous People, the ones who live on Reservations. They complain about the price of food and the little money they have and the poor conditions they live in.

Why don’t they raise rabbits and why don’t they have goats? It would create work for them and perhaps keep the young people from being bored. They’d need to built cages for the rabbits, they would have to go out and harvest grass to feed the rabbits. The cages need to be cleaned periodically. I know about that, because we did it. The goats eat pretty much anything. They supply milk and the milk is healthy, even for people with allergies. They would have butter and cheese. Of course, it would mean some work. You get nothing from doing nothing. They would not lose their welfare checks, because it would not be considered an income, but it would surly safe them money.

I never could understand why they don’t have gardens. A garden is great to have. It doesn’t cost much to put in seeds. It would keep them busy also with weeding and watering and picking vegetables, especially the young people and they would learn a lot and get plenty of experience how to take care for themselves when they grow up. Everything at a low cost and it is healthy to boot. I have a garden and it is fun and the vegetables taste much better than the bought stuff.

Or how about raising sheep? Or just keeping a few chickens for eggs and food? I’m sure there are many other things they could do to be busy and to raise their standard of living and keep the young people out of trouble. It would also give them confidence in their abilities.

Fixing their houses and painting them would also help.

Just thinking.

#Free Stuff

Sometimes I am baffled. I tried to sell a Home Theater System for twenty bucks. It is used, but not that old. We bought a new one a couple of years back, because this one doesn't have Blue Ray. There is nothing wrong with it. The whole thing is like new. 5 Speakers and 1 sub-woofer. Remote and manual included. I put it on Kijiji. I didn't get one call, not even an inquiry.

I want to get rid of it, but I don't want to take it to the dump. It would be such a shame, because it isn't broken. So yesterday I put it back on for FREE, hoping to get at least one call. Well, within in minutes of it going live I got the first call. I told the lady I'll keep it for her. No sooner did I put down the phone somebody else called. After that the phone didn't stop ringing and I also got a bunch of emails asking if it is still available. I took it off the market right away.

As I said, I'm baffled. People don't have twenty bucks or even ten, but when it's free they suddenly want it.


It snowed again last night. This morning everything was white, but the snow melted and it is almost gone now. What an April we are having! I guess, if it were warmer this would all be coming down as rain. So that way we are lucky. Can't keep the car clean with weather like this. The streets are always wet.

The birds are coming in huge flocks to the feeder; mostly sparrows, though. The ones this morning were quite small and I'm not quite sure if all of them were sparrows. I have a feeling they are just passing through. There must have been at least three dozen in the feeders, in he shrubs, and on the ground. Lucky for them, I filled both feeders last night.

#Gasoline Pricing

I am not a happy guy today. Yesterday, I filled up my truck. It was quite empty. I drove by a Domo Gas bar and saw the price of gas advertised at 83.9 cents, but I didn't fill up there, because I get my gas at the #Co-op. I'm a loyal customer. When I got there the price was 91.9 cents per liter. I filled up anyway. For $ 67.00.  Since I'm a member I get a rebate at the end of the year.

Well, when I drove by the same Co-op gas station a couple of hours later the price had dropped to 83.9 cents. That really pissed me off. Why don't all the garages drop their price at the same time? And why not early in the morning instead of doing it in the middle of the afternoon? I could have saved six bucks. Also, I think they should have some kind of 'Price-Drop' warranty. Next time I won't be a loyal customer and get my gas where I get the best deal.

How can they justify these huge fluctuations in the price anyway?

I wish I had an Electric Car, but I don't have an extension cord long enough to reach from my house to where I'm driving. The batteries they use don't last very long. The designers and builders of electric cars still have a long way to go before they have one that will replace the gasoline driven vehicles. And, they need to be much cheaper to buy.

Solar energy is free and and we would not be held hostage by the oil companies any longer, but as long as the oil companies and certain other interests call the shots there will never be any electric cars. They'll see to that. Not until all the oil wells have run dry.

Good night. I hope I can sleep.

#The Revenant

Last night we watched the movie 'The Revenant'.

Wow! What a movie. So different from the stuff we usually watch on TV these days. No cops and robbers; no martial arts; no zombies, either. And no stupid jokes. This movie was deadly serious. I'm sure glad I'm not an actor, especially one starring in a demanding movie like this one. I was getting cold just watching it. It makes one realize how violent humans are, how violent the history of humans is. There is very little that is nice and comforting in this movie.

I can only recommend this movie, but don't watch it if violent movies disturb you. The Revenant shows the stark reality of human nature and strips away the thin civilized veneer we wear and hide behind.

Go, watch it.

Obversations in the Mall

Last week I was sitting again from 10:00 AM until 5:00 PM in one of the Malls trying to sell raffle tickets for my hunting and fishing club.

Selling tickets is a waiting game—waiting for somebody to stop and buy one. It reminded me very much of the times when I sit in my deer-stand waiting for a deer to come by. Both activities can be quite boring. From my deer-stand I don’t see much most of the time, perhaps a coyote or two and the odd bird. The highlight is the moment when I see a deer and get a chance to shoot at it. Should I be successful then that’s it. The wait is over. Time to pack up.

Not so in the Mall. I get a thrill every time somebody stops and buys a ticket. But that’s not where it ends. Contrary to my deer-stand, where not much happens the majority of time, the Mall is a busy place.

Shoppers as well as non-shoppers walk by my desk (deer-stand) all day long. And I watch them. As I watch, my thoughts take me back to a different time and place—to the time when I was young.

We took pride in our appearance. We wore nice, clean clothes. We polished our shoes. We had descent hair styles. (Forget about the way the Rolling Stones and some of the other bands in those days looked!). I am disappointed how our youth and some older people walk around. Ill-fitting clothing, holes in their pants; some don’t even look clean. Purple, blue, and green hair; unkempt hair and ridicules hairstyles. Even though it is still winter outside, some walk around in flip-flops on their feet; some were sneakers without socks; some sneakers are filthy with laces untied. Shirts not tucked in; mismatched colors, and more.

However, I have to admit that my disappointed and judgmental feelings disappeared when one of them stopped for a little chat and actually bought a raffle ticket.

I guess, these are just different times and as long as we all get along it doesn’t really matter how we look and what we wear, as long as it isn’t a bomb strapped around our bodies (Sorry, couldn’t help myself. Had to sneak that one in). Perhaps young people are more tolerant than us old fogies and that is a good thing.

There is hope after all.

#Snow, Snow, go away, come again another Day—like in November

Will this winter ever end? Most of the snow was gone—for the second time. This afternoon it began snowing, very gently at first, with barely visible flakes. Now the flakes have grown and they are coming down. Everything is already covered up again in a white blanket. And this is supposed to go on until tomorrow with high winds tomorrow. It’s a good thing I still have gasoline in the snow blower.

I know this is April 1, but this is not an April-fool’s joke. I wish it were.

I’ve been sort of busy already planning my garden. All the seeds in my containers, mostly peppers, have sprouted and I’ve moved them onto a shelf under a fluorescent light. I’m keeping the light close to the plants, because I don’t want them to become leggy. If they do become leggy, it is not a tragedy. Peppers are like tomato plants. You can bury the whole stem in the soil and let only the part with the leaves stick out. The buried part of the stem will develop roots.

I didn’t know that until only a few years ago. Every site tells you to plant them to the level they are in the pot when you buy them (or grow them yourself). In fact I read on one of the sites that you cannot bury the plants deeper than to that level. That is false. Because most of my home-grown pepper plants have always been leggy, I buried the stem deep and never had problems with that.

Keeping the light close to the plants so they don’t stretch toward the light and keeping them cool helps to stunt them. Also, either using a fan to blow air across them or just blowing across the plants a few times a day causes them to grow thicker stems. It simulates the wind outside.

Having a garden is a lot of work. You have to water the plants and you have to pick the weeds that always make an appearance, but it is also fun. Nothing better than picking your own sweet tomatoes, beets, beans, and peppers. Lettuce grown in the garden is pesticide-free and I don’t have to worry about maybe eating some kind of bacteria that will make me ill.

It also provides plenty of entertainment. You have to fight off the rabbits, deer, voles, mice, and other rodents. Birds also like to help themselves to certain vegetables.

Ants make their home n the garden to milk the aphids that invade your peppers. You become innovative and cunning, trying to fight off the unwelcome intruders into your paradise. There are hardly dull moments. But a garden also offers you pleasing things like watching the bees and small insects flitting from bloom to bloom for the nectar, in turn pollinating your plants. There are beautiful butterflies and their caterpillars. Sure, the caterpillars nibble on some of the plants, but that’s okay. I plant enough for them.

So all we need now is for it to stop snowing and for the snow to melt again. We need plenty of sunshine to dry the soil so I can get into my garden. I’m already looking forward to that. After all, the calendar says it is springtime. 

 Is it?