Thursday « Kenny Smith | A remarkable thing happens …

Thursday

photo / Thursday — Comments Off
15
Aug 24

Up in the trees

I probably should have spent my day doing things other than what I did, but you can’t fix that now, can you? You can only blame past-you for mistakes like that. And that guy has no recollection of the problem and, seldom, any remorse anyhow. So there’s no use in that, whatsoever.

I didn’t even do, today, the things I need to do for tomorrow or this weekend until late this evening. It’s been one of those days. But, hey, past-you tells yourself when he is present-you, sometimes you deserve a day like this.

And we all know what those days are like. We all know, even as those days are unique to each of us, what that means.

Anyway, this is coming down tomorrow. The soon-to-be erstwhile pest control company is coming out to take care of this. Mostly because I don’t want to risk it, and we still have this company and it’s their fault, really.

If you read around online, the suggestions for dealing with great big nests like this are to attack in the early morning or evening, be sure of your escape route, and wear a lot of layers.

Oh, I thought up a whole plan for this, but the more I thought about it, “boiling soapy water and run like crazy” didn’t seem like much of a strategy. There’s always close air support, but to drop something on this nest is to also hit the house, so the pest control company gets one last chance to impress here, even as their efforts and attentive eye lead to this basketball-sized condo of 2,000+ stingers.

Speaking of up in the trees, we are coming to the end of the peach harvesting season here at Smith Orchard. This also means we are desperately trying to give more peaches away. I’ve eaten a lot. We’ve eaten some more. We froze still more. Joe the Elder’s wife has been over a couple of times to collect some for them. Then, because she is a delightfully sweet person, she makes us a cobbler. With our peaches. The ones we are trying to foist onto others.

This evening, I took some of the peaches which are turning over for them to share with the deer that live in the woods behind them. In addition to the deer sneaking over whenever they want and eating freely from the tree, they’re now getting about two baskets worth of locally harvested fruit.

Joe the Younger’s family will get some peaches tomorrow. We’ve packed up sacks full for other people as well.

I’ll still have about two baskets to deal with.

But, look, I’m actually picking them off the tree.

This, I maintain, is a positive step. I am not playing catch up, and just picking up the ripe one from the ground. I can be assertive. I took that photo, such as it is, thinking it was the last peach on the tree.

It was not.

There are still quite a few more to go. Peaches can be quite overwhelming.

So you really need to stop by. (They are quite tasty.)

I’m taking a day off the site tomorrow. All will be explained Monday. See you then, and have a great weekend.

photo / Thursday — Comments Off
8
Aug 24

Nature’s candy in my hand

A friend came over for a visit today. While she was distracted, I put two bags of peaches in her car. A basket’s worth of peaches, right there in the front seat. So this status update isn’t exactly accurate.

We only have five baskets of peaches in the kitchen right now. And I had a giant smoothie. We’ll still have a week or more of peaches to bring in. And a lot of these have to be given away. So, again, come and get some peaches.

By the weekend, we will be hurling them at the neighbors.

Elsewhere, we’re getting rain from the former hurricane in the Gulf. The temperatures have dipped a bit, into the 70s, and it’s been a good day to stay inside and catch up on things.

There are many things on which I am behind. But I am now trimming things off the To Do list, and deleting emails from the inbox. I’m calling it productive.

ANd now I have to go get some more peaches off the ground.

adventures / photo / site / Thursday / triathlon / video — Comments Off
1
Aug 24

New stuff in the routine

At the beginning of each month I do a lot of important and boring things. I create a few new subdirectories for the site. I delete a bunch of stuff from the desktop of my computer. I update a document that holds a lot of standard code shortcuts that I use.

And so on. It is all terribly exciting.

One other interesting thing that I do is update the images on the front page. The rotating photos now feature a small piece of something we saw in California this spring. Head on over to the front page to check those out. It’ll take you 54 seconds for the rotation to carry you through. We’ll be right here when you get back.

My joking complaint about triathlons is that they start too early. We need hobbies, I say, that cost less and don’t start at dawn; if they don’t require too much running, more the better.

So, last night, because the story of this day began last night, as so many of them do, my lovely bride told me that she’d signed up for a super sprint triathlon she found a half hour away. And would I like to go? Also, the race started at 6:30 in the p.m.

Since that was my complaint, it seemed only fair that I should go in support.

Super sprints are short, but I had a long swim the day before, and I haven’t run in a while, so it’s just support, and that’s probably for the better. I’ve done one super sprint, thinking, at the finish line, that I am not able to get everything going in the right direction in those short distances.

Which is a shame, since they are shorter, and I am slow.

But I am a great observer of races. I am well practiced in this area. And, of all of the races we’ve done, I don’t recall having seen one with a flyover.

She’s out there, somewhere. She’s the one swimmer among much of the thrashing. It was just a 500 meter swim, and even then, the water was shallow enough that some of the dudes just stood up in the last 50 or so and waded in.

They all looked gross. This little pond is fed by this, South Branch Rancocas Creek. And it isn’t as nice as you might imagine here. There was a fine black particulate. The Millpond mildew. Something thinner than rubber, and thicker than dust, clung to everything. Whatever was contracted from this event will be given a name in due time.

The bike leg, she said, was nice. Good pavement, fast roads.

The run was one big loop. Neither that, nor the bike ride, would wipe away that stuff that latched on to everyone in the water.

When we left, because it was an early evening tri, we timed the sunset just right. I liked it. Almost didn’t take it. But I did, and I’m glad for it.

We celebrated with Chick-fil-A. The triathlon, not that last photo.

photo / Thursday — Comments Off
25
Jul 24

Stares blankly at screen

This is my third try at this. They’ve all lead me around the block and back to this point, with a single conclusion.

I’ve got nothing today.

Zip. Nada.

Zero. Zilch.

Try back again tomorrow. Tomorrow I’ll certainly have something.

adventures / photo / Thursday — Comments Off
18
Jul 24

Flower photos and plant peektures

Up dimly lit and early this morning. Everything went according to plan, despite the cats’ best efforts to get in the way of things. Just one of the cats, actually. You’ve got a 50-50 shot at guessing, and I don’t think you’ll need a hint or odds. If you’ve been paying attention you can guess which one.

You’ll be right.

We had breakfast at a local diner. It was fine. Some diners are better than others, I’ve learned. This one was OK. The cheese in the omelette was the best part, though the paper place mat told me they have all-you-can-eat chicken pot pie on Wednesday evenings. I don’t know how much chicken pot pie I can eat, but I might find out one of these days.

Being up early meant I got to enjoy a nap today. That means I’ll be up all night.

Let’s have a look at a few more of the flowers in the backyard.

This is a scarlet beebalm, or a crimson pincushion, or a wild bergamot. I’ve no idea, they all seem to look the same.

I didn’t notice it last year, I think it might be a weed — so the bergamot, maybe. My horticulture teacher in high school would tell you that weeds are only weeds if you don’t want them. Whatever is undesirable is a weed. If I say the beautiful roses are undesirable and the pokeweed is what I want, I’ll eventually never have to think about weeding
again. (I never think about it now.) That teacher is a preacher now.

Look at this hibiscus go!