Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Upgrade and Update

CHARACTER

There is a man here installing a storm door. His name is Don and he works with a local construction business belonging to a long-time friend. This old cabin never had a storm door in front and the old screen door was doing the job of keeping bugs out but it scraped the porch floor and wouldn't open wide any more. That's because the concrete porch floor has gone askew over the years due to numerous ground freezes and thaws. My husband has been wanting a storm door for several years because the inner main door boards have shrunk and cold air (and dust) seeps in.


The new door had to be special ordered in a custom size because the doorway opening is not of a "normal" size, being shorter and wider than regulation ones. The carpenter has to add wood, make the frame plumb, and, hopefully - by the end of the day it will fit snugly and open and close properly! You wouldn't believe the cost!! At least the new door was ordered in brown. BUT! the dog won't be able to look out any more because the openings don't go to the floor as before. No door like that was found to be available in a custom made size.

I intensely dislike change! Even if it is sensible and "necessary." This blog could have been titled "Character versus Function."



FUNCTION

Monday, August 16, 2010

Heritage Tomatoes




In 2004~~~~~~~~~A camping friend from Pittsburgh PA gave me a couple of these. She said her dad (he was 86) starts them and gives her some. He was from old country, Lithuania or Czechoslovakia. She brings them to the beach in SC in September every year. I saved some seeds in 2006 and brought them back to PA. I forgot all about them until April 2007 when we were getting ready to head to SC, so I just threw my saved seeds into an outdoor container. Well when we returned in July, the container was full of tall spindly ugly tomato plants. Missy tore all out and threw them away except for four. They grew and grew in July and August and thrived. When we were preparing to head to SC in September I brought only 6 ripe ones those four plants produced. There were plenty of green ones left. Too bad. Guess the slow start hindered their growth and they matured too late. Be sure that I have saved seeds to start some more in 2008.

They're a heritage tomato and very tasty and meaty with few seeds. Now I have saved seeds 2008 and 2009 and will in 2010 too.


 

................Descriptions:

Old Fashioned Red Oxheart Tomato
Red Oxheart is an old favorite. This is a large large, fleshy red tomato that matures mid season with smooth firm fruit. Tasty to eat. The Red Oxheart Tomato requires staking.
An old-fashioned favorite with heart-shaped pink fruit that weigh up to 1 pound. Very meaty flesh contains few seeds making this a favorite for slicing and for sandwiches. Good flavor and productivity keep gardeners growing this heirloom variety. Non-acidic too!

Hungarian Heart
Oxheart tomatoes have been popular for generations because of their excellently flavored, meaty, large tomatoes that provide lots of solid good eating with very few seeds. The fruit of Hungarian Heart follows suit, with large, pink heart-shaped tomatoes that become 1 lb. and are just luscious. As a bonus, these plants are not shy bearers, but rather quite productive for an oxheart type. Hungarian heirloom.

Bull's Heart
This is a very old Russian variety bearing large pink oxheart-type tomatoes with excellent, sweet flavor. Strong plants produce abundantly, with some fruit growing to 2lbs. and more.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

PARALLELISM



Surprisingly, on June 12, the day before Jimmy Dean died, I was playing his song, "Big, Bad, John." I remember this experience because it was my wedding anniversary and I was listening to music being played as sound background at a fish stand at the campground in SC.



On July 29, the day before Mitch Miller died, I was playing his songs, "Ja Da" and "The Yellow Rose of Texas" while checking out my web music playlist. Ask my husband for verification if you doubt the genuiness of my musical memories.


Wednesday, August 4, 2010

A Tangled Mind


Computer Creation by GMR 07/30/05
"Tangled Star"


Yes, that's a song and I listened to it just yesterday, but this is about my dreams of last night. First, a bit of background is essential here: I have WILD dreams - VIVID dreams - dreams that involve ALL of my senses. Often! Yes! I can hear all sounds and voices, see all sights including colors; I smell pleasant and distasteful odors, I taste salty, sour, bitter and sweet things. In these dreams I actively touch and feel all textures, and characteristics such as hot, cold, rough, smooth, and flexibility. I feel both physically and emotionally all experiences and encounters involved.

To go on.........Dreaming, dreaming, dreaming.........I was sitting on a concrete garage floor, preparing to bake a batch of cookies and gathering the ingredients together. The recipe called for crumbled graham crackers. (For cookies?? Well, remember it's a dream.) I searched all the shelves in the garage but couldn't find them but found bread crumbs. Not a good choice because they were seasoned with Italian spices. What to do? Aha! Just the right thing! Kitty litter! There it was. In the corner by the tires. I proceeded to scoop it out of the litter pan into my large square yellow plastic cookie mixing tub. (WHAT! Let me finish.) I hand picked all the clumps out and it was perfect.

New dream.........I was in a kitchen and didn't like the end of the wall cupboard because it was put together in two parts forming one triangle. The thickness of the left side board was thinner than the right side board. There was a strip of 4 inch wallpaper joining them together and it wasn't a smooth appearance. I proceeded to peel off the strip and when I finished, the boards came apart exposing ALL SORTS of pipes and wires and dark spaces above the cupboard. It was so very interesting that I just left it open for all visitors to examine and also enjoy.

Today, on a monthly 25 mile trip to Walmart, I saw a newly killed kitty lying in the road. (I haven't seen any other cat for quite a long while.) On the way home, I heard Perry Como singing "Dream On Little Dreamer" on the car radio. Triangle signs in the road warned of pipes and wires being installed by roadside utility workers. And....I followed a large truck which was tailing road painters putting down a new yellow line.

I don't believe in coincidences. KITTY - TRIANGLE - YELLOW - PIPES - WIRES - DREAM.

That's my kind of tangled mind or is it just complicated?