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GRAFFITI -- July 13, 2009 thru July 19, 2009 >> Link to the Current Week << Last Week << Mon   Tues   Wed   Thu   Fri   Sat   Sun >> Next Week Search this site : Welcome to Orb Graffiti, a place for me to write daily about life and computers. Contrary to popular belief, the two are not interchangeable.     About eMail - I publish email sometimes. If you send me an email and you want privacy or anonymity, please say so clearly at the beginning of your message.

MONDAY    Tues    Wed    Thu    Fri    Sat    Sun   
July 13, 2009

What's Up, Tiger Lily?

2157 - Long day, moderately fruitful. Well, especially at the end of the day, when I pulled two more Early Girls out of the tomato patch. A little ground Mediterranean salt, some freshly cracked black pepper, and some balsamic vinegar made those tomatoes into a lovely appetizer. Not much else to report. Monday night chores, and watering the flowers up front, as the rain continues to not fall, this month. After 15 inches of the stuff in May and June, we've had a bare tenth of an inch so far in July. Some was headed our way on Saturday, but split north and south of us. The ten day lie, errr, forecast, calls for no rain at all, until the tenth day. A ten day forecast is worth the electrons this is painted with. So I water.

Not the lawns. I'm letting those go brown - it's too expensive and wasteful, I'm afraid, as much work as I put into them. But the flowers and vegetables - those are all worth watering. And the tiger lilies started blooming today. We'll get three or four weeks of color out of those. And the gladiolas are doing wonderfully this year, too. The annuals are slowly coming around - the cool June gave them a slow start. Anyway, time to relax, now. Ciao!

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July 14, 2009

Watermelon

2221 - No one is more surprised than me! I truly expected to have the watermelon plants send out a few runners, grow like topsy for a few weeks, then croak. I didn't expect slow starters that kept going, and starting to set fruit nearly two months after going in the ground. Not that I'm complaining, mind you! Still, it can all still go horridly wrong before harvest time. It'll be interesting to watch them grow.

No tomatoes today. A couple were close, but I'm going to let them get even more ripe (more flavour) first. And we've got fruit starting to ripen on some of the other plants. I think I'm about two weeks away from first salsa! Yahoo! Still, I got enough bush beans out to be a side dish for Marcia, and nearly my whole supper. Balanced diet? Over the course of a week, perhaps. But all in one meal? Don't you think that's asking a bit much?

Today I spent getting some network infrastructure reporting to the syslog server. That part is working, but I have some more tuning to get the stuff we definitely don't want to see out of the loop (and cut the logsizes by half again). Time to unwind. I finished reading Old Guard Bolos while doing some late roasting this evening. Now time to crack back into James P. Hogan's Multiplex Man. Ciao!

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July 15, 2009

2238 - Long day. First salsa == happy Brian! Ciao!

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July 16, 2009

2033 - A busy and overly exciting day. Details must be withheld, I'm afraid. This evening, I baked cookies ... perhaps 10 dozen or so. They're for a picnic on Saturday. Chocolate chocolate chip. Yum. Guess what I had for dinner? Go on... Grin.

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Mon    Tues    Wed    Thu    FRIDAY    Sat    Sun   
July 17, 2009

2135 - A successful day working on the ticketing system, and implementing some new features to support new requirements. Huzzah, and it's Friday, too! A couple of tomatoes out of the garden, and that's it. Also, we've got fennel to cook with this weekend, because if we don't, it'll bolt. I also need to pull up the rest of the first set of cilantro, and get some more seed in. I'll probably try to second-crop fennel, too. Now, more Feynman. Ciao!

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July 18, 2009

No Post......

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July 19, 2009

1629 - Yesterday, the dance card was full. We took Molly to her annual physical/shots/pre-dental visit. What felt like an enlarged liver merited X-rays, which only confirmed largeness (bigitude? hugeosity?) and no bad looking shadows. So we wait for the blood work to come back and see if there's a problem or not. After that, we stopped back by the house, picked up Lucy, and took both mutts walking through the Old Town Bowie Antique Faire. Wasn't much, didn't take long, but the puppies were glad to be out and about.

Back home, we got ready and headed over to a departmental picnic put on by folks from my $FIRM. I brought the chocolate chocolate chip cookies that I baked 12 dozen of on Thursday night, plus lighter fluid and a flame-making device. Burgers, hot dogs, brats, all kinds of yummy food. Good company and a glorious day - low 80's and moderate humidity (v.unusual for mid-July) made the afternoon and early evening at Valley Mill Park quite lovely.

Today, I went shopping while Marcia went to church. Once back, I edged and mowed the brown fuzzy dirt in front, then started watering up there while I applied the same tools to the same situation out back. Then I harvested out all of the fennel, and those tomatoes, zucchini, and cucumbers that were ripe. I weeded the vegetable beds, turned over half the herb bed, and reseeded for a second crop of fennel and cilantro.

Afghanistan clearly isn't in a holding pattern - our Armed Services are putting themselves in harms way, fighting against the Taliban. There are losses, and that sucks. Operation Dagger will hopefully have its intended effect. Our condolences to the families and units of our fallen heroes.

• Cpl. Matthew R. Lembke, 22, of Tualatin, Oregon, died July 10 of wounds sustained on June 24 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.
• Lance Cpl. Pedro A. Barbozaflores, 27, of Glendale, California, died July 11 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.
• Master Sgt. Jerome D. Hatfield, 36, of Axton, Virginia, died July 11 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.
• Staff Sgt. Eric J. Lindstrom, 27, of Flagstaff, Arizona, died July 12 near Barge Matal, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his dismounted patrol using small arms and indirect fire.
• Chief Warrant Officer Rodney A. Jarvis, 34, of Akron, Ohio, died July 13 in Baghdad of injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident.
• Sgt. Michael W. Heede Jr., 22, of Delta, Pennsylvania, died July 13 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.
• Staff Sgt. David S. Spicer, 33, of Zanesfield, Ohio, died July 13 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.
• Sgt. 1st Class Jason J. Fabrizi, 29, of Seffner, Florida, died July 14 in Konar province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when his mounted patrol was attacked by enemy forces using rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire.
• Spc. Daniel P. Drevnick, 22, of Woodbury, Minnesota, died July 16 in Basra of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked their unit using indirect fire.
• Spc. James D. Wertish, 20, of Olivia, Minnesota, died July 16 in Basra of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked their unit using indirect fire.
• Spc. Carlos E. Wilcox IV, 27, of Cottage Grove, Minnesota, died July 16 in Basra of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked their unit using indirect fire.
• Capt. Thomas J. Gramith, 27, of Eagan, Minnesota, died July 17 in a F-15E crash near Ghazni Province, Afghanistan.
• Capt. Mark R. McDowell, 26, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, died July 17 in a F-15E crash near Ghazni Province, Afghanistan.

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Visit the rest of the DAYNOTES GANG, a collection of bright minds and sharp wits. Really, I don't know why they tolerate me <grin>. My personal inspiration for these pages is Dr. Jerry Pournelle. I am also indebted to Bob Thompson and Tom Syroid for their patience, guidance and feedback. Of course, I am sustained by and beholden to my lovely wife, Marcia. You can find her online too, at http://www.dutchgirl.net/. Thanks for dropping by.

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