It took us longer than anticipated to get the garden beds into place last spring. I think both of us were a little let down, but they are in have been productive since we planted them. Even after our vacation at the end of August we came back to a backyard filled with growing fruit and greens when we expected that we’d return to desiccated plants in dry garden beds.

This year our biggest producer was beans. Tess planted a third of a bed with bush and climbing beans and they’ve been producing big, tasty fruit since before we left in August. She just got back from school and the two of us went outside for a moment to pick some for dinner. There’s still quite a bit left on the plants that will get bigger as long as there isn’t a hard frost before we pick them.

The other plant that did really well is the arugula. It started to bolt last week but we’ve still been picking greens from it and making slightly more bitter salads since. It was tasty while it lasted, but I imagine that we’ll be tilling it under sooner than later. Maybe Tess wants to collect some seeds.

We’ve also planted some cold tolerant plants (collard, more beats, and kale) in some of the unused bed space and the sprouts are just now showing themselves.

Neat toilet I’ll never use. Suppose you can’t blame me for the potty envy however, it has fish living in the tank!

Just read this on the Whatever. It has to be the best pie ever created.

This morning, like most every morning, I headed on over to the local caffeine distribution center and sipped my brew amongst the regulars to who also frequent the establishment. Today was a special day because one of the fellowship-of-the-brew produced his latest project for general review and appreciation.

Here in “rural” America there are found a number of problematic challenges that may be cause for ire in more urban environments. One of these is the destruction caused to yards, crops and lands by gophers and other burrowing rodents and the like. It’s almost universally impossible to trap these buggers and even if you’re lucky enough to mitigate one (in a totally humane manner) there are many more waiting beneath your soil ready and willing to enjoy your rooting vegetables from the bottom up. Besides you have to take even a live one somewhere and your neighbor might not appreciate the relocation of your garden pest.

Chris must have been drinking much milk from the Mothers’ of Invention. Today he produced version 1 of his gopher gun which loads a .410 shotgun shell at the end of a trigger mechanism. The trigger mechanism is particularly interesting as one of the many problems with these devices is that the gophers sense the tension on the trigger and avoid the device entirely. This one will go off pretty darn easy. Encase the gun in a short bit of iron pipe, locate over last night’s whole and enjoy another cup of coffee; you’ve got a safe solution which will ensure constant carrot growth.

Really enjoyed his “Old Man’s War” series and now I’m groovin’ on his blog and videos. His story is interesting as well since he’s self made. If you read any of the Acknowledments in you’ll see that there are plenty of people who make the novels work, but only after he’s done all the work of building the story.

The past two weekends Tess and I have had an electrician helping us replace faulty wiring in our humble home. It’s a project that we’ve put off because it would either require me to disconnect the house from the main power supply or pay someone lots of money to accomplish. We’ve chosen to pay in this case, but only after first realizing that a couple of books, good intentions, and a multimeter would probably only get me shockingly over my head. After paying close attention to the work that’s been done I am now quite glad we’ve gone down this route.

First, we lack the experience with these complex systems to evaluate the quality of existing work. I know enough about AC wiring to diagnose and repair small faults. It doesn’t take a genius to note a blown light bulb or a faulty switch. It does, however, take experience to understand when the past owner of your abode bundled three circuits into one thereby creating an excess of current in the line which happens to be baking the insulation of the wire to the copper therein. Eeekk! I wouldn’t have known better.

I started the demolition work necessary to clear the garage of its broken collection of junk, peg board, and bad wiring today. This is something I have all the experience I need to accomplish. Hammer in hand I’ve clawed out the pegboard, the many broken and bent nails, the tangle of 20 amp wire that has resided in the southern third of this building seemingly since the dawn of time. Along with this, I’ve vacuumed up an insect zoo of incredible scale.

The truck is headed to the mechanic tonight for a replacement cylinder head. When I get it back I’m going to start hauling the pile of crap to the dump and sorting through years of accumulated “stuff” in an effort to reduce our tonnage. This will be followed by continued improvements to the shop and office space as time and money allow.

I can’t wait to hang the wall that will separate the office space from the shop space.