Working. Working. Working.
Jane’s doing some in-house fixup…tuiting round-to-its—we’re both so tired we can’t see straight, but writing on this very critical short-schedule book is going extremely well. We may gain a few pounds on the project, as we eat anything that’s available and just get back to work, but we are at least making progress. The garden is a mess, it’s been way too hot, and we can’t get out and see to things, but at least the book is progressing.
Please make sure that what you eat isn’t detrimental to your immune system. Lots of veggies, lean meats, in-season fruit will do wonders for you.
I’ll still bring out my work gloves……
One still wishes Tristen were around to “wish away” the pine cones. 😀
Knocking off for a half hour or so if the writing has you stymied and puttering around the garden may jump start the creative flow again. If you are making good progress on the book and don’t want to interrupt, then by all means, keep going. Just remember to feed the fish occasionally 😀
That being said, may I borrow your chain saw? The monster ficus in the hedge is trying to grow back in, and I just whaled on it with the pruning saw and hatchet for an hour, trimming out the large stumps I could reach. I would girdle it, but it is several stems that have intergrown, and I can’t damage enough of that cambium layer to kill it off.
Paint the cambium layer of the stumps with Roundup concentrate.
I just met the owner of the house I share the hedge with (rental, not around frequently). He said he would douse the stump with Roundup.
“Douse” is the wrong word. Glyphosate is rapidly, but not immediately deactivates in soil. What should be done is paint the cut edges with concentrate, not “Ready to Use”..
Lol—you can get a pretty tough little chain saw that’s electric and light-weight. You just have to attack a BIG tree by lopping limbs gradually to get AT the trunk, and then attack it pretty well the way you’d go at a roast turkey with a good sharp pocket knife. You can’t really cut through, but you can ding it from multiple sides and ultimately get the thing done. I think our chain saw blade is only about a foot, maybe a little more, but it works.
While I love seeing that graph move towards the right, don’t over do it!!!!
mmm, when the schedule tells you you’ve got 1/3 of the usual time to get a book in, that requires eating, drinking, sleeping with it non-stop. Can be done. But OMG. So many things need doing. But that deadline can’t bend, not on this one.
Interesting article (for after Convergence?):
http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2015/04/your-cat-is-trying-to-talk-to-you.html
Highlights:
Purring: Stick around.
Slow blink: You’re nice.
Meow: Please do that thing you did last time I meowed like this. (Cat/owner unique; cats almost don’t meow to each other.)
It is really true that cats don’t routinely meow to each other. They may get in the hall and yodel, but they don’t converse with each other.
Just a quick note…of all the cats to come up to me and ask to be petted… Sophie now does it routinely. In fact, she just walked into the room and is sitting beside my chair staring up at me… gotta go…. 🙂
Our cats (when they aren’t looking stink eye at each other) sometimes get a wild hair and go tearing up and down the hall and through the living room. This increases the chance one of them will invade the other’s personal space, if only by accident, and then the growling and swatting will begin. Junior the cantankerous found a spot in the bedroom where I accidentally spilled a few lavender buds, and you would have thought it was grade-A catnip; he’s weird (or possibly British). If he claims that space, fair enough. It’s not in a traffic pattern or blocking anything like a water dish or litterbox, so should be safe as a parking spot.
Our two younger cats, the Foxtrot brothers, like to head butt Mousie Tongue, who is a year older and whom they both agree is the dominant cat (both of the Foxtrots, who are huge ginger cats, would like to be the dominant cat but also would be damned if they let their brother be the dominant one, so slender slight Mousie it is by default and some sly manipulation on his part). The head butt seems to be a gesture of affection. Mousie will be sitting or standing around, a Foxtrot will enter the room/hop up on the bed and veer over to give Mousie a firm bump and then continue on its way.
Ah yes, the ‘head-butt of approval.’
I can just picture the two of you looking wistfully out at a twilit garden…