Hard News: Together Alone
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Damn, I wish we had set up a greenhouse at the end of last year. It was on the list of nice-to-do's but we were just finishing remodelling the house to accommodate my wife's 90yo mother and funding was a bit tight. Now of course it looks like an essential investment rather than a luxury. Too bad.
The freezer which was adequate for two of us is under a bit of stress for three.
We live a short distance from Moore Wilson's in Porirua and most of the route involves a reasonably new cycleway so that will be my main exercise I think. -
You can get little ones online. Good enough to get seedlings established, then plant out in the garden. Mine is actually a carport, which I decided to put clear roofing on because who the hell wastes building space on a car? I'm running out of shelf space though.
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Rob Stowell, in reply to
I'd have to say that despite the darkness covid is bringing to the world, there's a shared sentiment that when this is over, we can rebuild the world as a better place. This is a giant reset. We all know that we're living through one of history's bigger bits.
Lovely to read you all :) And thanks, Alfie. Been thinking about this a lot, and I'm half optimistic. How can we keep this in mind, and return to a world altered in kinder, more thoughtful ways? That's worth pondering. (My pessimistic side says there is likely to be a dreadful toll in the developing world - better to be lucky than good, they say :( And that authoritarians might just cement their nasty grip) Finding ourselves watching al jazeera more and more for a bigger (less anglo-centric) picture.
But. We have a glorious place to self-isolate, small farm in Lyttelton harbour - definitely can't complain. Extra family home, lots to do - it would be perfect but for this 'work from home' thing! -
Good to see PA winding a bit more up again. I just finished yesterday running around having a look at why the TS RSS/Atom feeds were breaking (updated libcurl issue). So while I was at it and because I was blocked on a unittest, I did a health check through all of the attached blogs. There are quite a few that look like they're waking up.
Just have to figure out the systematic issue about how to collect some of the feedburner RSS like RealClimate. Feedburner neither serve a atom or RSS feed any more. Might have to annoy google with writing a flexible scraper.
Anyone have any suggestions for someone else with an existing solution?
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Hilary Stace, in reply to
We got a little Vegepod earlier this year after being impressed with the neighbours' large one which we were watering while they were away. It was delivered as a dreaded flat pack but with instructions in NZ English, and after filling it with some bags of stuff and seedlings, it has been very prolific. The most successful vegetable gardening I have ever done, in a small space. But not much use telling people about this at this time, sorry.
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Trevor Nicholls, in reply to
We have a reasonable garden already which is still giving us enough vegetables for each day's dinner, but at this time of year I am usually sowing mustard or lupin to put in the compost bin when I empty it at the end of winter. Which is still what I will end up doing while muttering about how short-sighted I was :-)
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JLM, in reply to
Hmmm - beach walks, small forest - wonder if it's the same as my local. Blackberries perchance? We could wave at a safe distance. Our local tai chi matriarch is threatening to lead respectfully distanced sessions on the beach but I don't think that will pass the regulations somehow.
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Late to the party I see, oh well.
I'm spending my lockdown (thank goodness for autocorrect, does anyone else keep accidentally typing lickdown?!) feeling tired and behind and wondering why exactly I put up my hand to work my uncommitted hours (and the rest of them) on the response, when I could be enjoying just working half time and hanging out with my family and pottering in the garden.
I mean, I know why, just feeling a little wistful about what it could have looked like. -
Well, fancy seeing you here! Interesting that at least some of my remaining neutrons still steer me to PA in times of need... Splendid timing.
Key preparation in our household has been two days of building a bike track around our house, including a "berm" and a "gap" (we would have called these a "corner" and a "ramp" respectively in 1979.) Ten-year-olds ready to go, and I am praying that their brake cables hold..
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Neutrons!
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Kia ora, Good to be back, for I had drifted away, to less interesting places, over the past year or two. I have sort of inundated my social media with my proudest horticultural achievement but if I could be permitted one more posting: a large bunch of bananas (Cavendish Dwarf variety) harvested from our garden yesterday, They should get us through a few muffins and banana bread in the next four weeks.
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Oops..apologies if you have to crane your neck. I thought I chose the right photo size.
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Ian Dalziel, in reply to
Reminds me of this ‘cheery’ movie ending…
If ya wanna see how it might all end up in Australia
On the Beach 1959
Ya gotta watch those ‘psychos’ and their social distancing lapses!Plus the cheesiest ’Waltzing Matilda’ version ever!
<edit> Not helping?
try this - The last ever Goon Show! -
Moz,
let the baby chickens out into the tomato bed yesterday. Since then I've got a cheap IP camera so now a bunch of friends and family are watching the wee cheepers in real time. Sadly you mob will have to live with delayed digging.
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Robert Harvey, in reply to
Gosh it's great that this blog has been revived, thanks Russell. And in line with Ian's reference to 'Music Helps', and also the theme of being kind, I submit a tune that boomers may remember, from 1954.
"Be Kind To Your Web-Footed Friends", aka "Crazy Mixed Up Song". -
Glenn Pearce, in reply to
I’ve posted this elsewhere but I know there’s a few muso’s follow PA might appreciate it
My daughter and her band The Dawns were so excited to release their first single “Oblivious” last week but it’s been obviously overshadowed by COVID events.
They also had a couple of gigs lined up that were cancelled like everyone :-)The song is about a boy, “Oblivious” to their attentions
The are all girls and only 14 years old but they can play a bit
Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/album/1BVBqK02TKKC3apxitEbFt
iTunes
https://music.apple.com/nz/album/oblivious-single/1501011914
Live Video
** They had to change the band name to The Dawns since that video
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Ian Dalziel, in reply to
They had to change the band name to The Dawns since that video
Understandable, Swiss lawyers aside, you wouldn't want to cross pollinate with Atomic Flower's fanbase!
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Glenn Pearce, in reply to
Yes, I think that was the impetus behind the change. Not easy coming up with unique name without resorting to the names of obscure medical procedures
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Moz, in reply to
Not easy coming up with unique name
There are quite a few band name generators online... "Chicks Dig Tomatoes" works...
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Neil,
Meth prices have skyrocketed.
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Went out for a walk today, more people walking in the neighbourhood than usual, people carefully keeping distance, walking into the street - but absolutely everyone said "hi!" and smiled
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Moz,
Neil, I was thinking of all the burglars who are now faced with most houses being occupied all the time. And they can't exactly drive round looking for targets if the streets are empty. What are they supposed to do?
A quick snap of rush hour in Wiley Park, Sydney. I think the traffic is lighter than usual but it's definitely not Auckland's empty streets.
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