12 July 06
Not Exactly Doe Eyes
Those of you planning a trip to the Cretaceous have a new reason to be careful. A study of Tyrannosaurus rex visual geometry has concluded that the famous dinosaur species may have extremely acute vision, perhaps a lot better than the modern eagle. So be sure to have a long telephoto for your T. rex travel pix.
11 July 06
Wind
There’s a strong southerly breeze at the moment. When the wind’s out of the south, we get much cooler days. The wind will veer north by the weekend and we’ll be in triple digits again. A hot, drying wind that blows topsoil across counties into the Delta.
I don’t have much of a bike commute these days but it’s enough to notice when I have a strong head or tailwind. I notice the sunflowers I planted struggling against it; the squashes are big and heavy enough now to withstand this much but who knows how much else? I’m hoping the tomato cages are sturdy enough.
The mockingbird was singing furiously into it this evening while I filled my final raised bed with soil and compost.
Tom Montag of “The Middlewesterner” often writes haikus about the wind. It must be very much a part of his corner of the world and I find myself nodding in recognition. This, for instance, his lines for July 7 :
Add nothing
to nothing –
you’ve got
the wind.
10 July 06
Ratatouille and Tofu-Cilantro, Oh My!
The harvests from Pica’s garden are rolling on in to the kitchen. Often there is an additional fun step—after chopping the veggies, we put them outside in the solar cooker to stew. Yesterday was ratatouille, with eggplants and some of the innumerable squashes that are coming on in; and today was our favorite—tofu-cilantro. The tofu wasn’t from the garden (that would be an interesting project, growing one’s own soybeans and making tofu from them), but the cilantro and peppers were. Tomorrow we’re having salad greens. Tomatoes may be a couple of weeks out (they are now green on the vine) but we’re expecting no shortage.
9 July 06
Il Faut Cultiver le Jardin
The world cup’s over. Zidane’s ugly head-butt must have been provoked in extremis. Numenius guesses racial epithet. I’m sorry about it, more sorry than I am that France lost.
9 July 06
Antenna Birding
I have my portable antenna set up near the vegetable garden, tuned to 6 meters. Having figured out the guy cord system, I’m more inclined to leave it set up for a while. But this means it’s a good perching spot for birds, the antenna elements being up about 16 feet or so. Today we had a western kingbird on it. What will be next?
7 July 06
6 July 06
Google Earth Meets The Tour
Following the Tour de France has taken a second seat next to the World Cup, but as the latter is almost over, we will begin paying more attention. At this point, nobody has any idea who might win the Tour, the favorites all being out due to drug scandal or injury. Right now, the sprinters are having their time in the sun. Today I looked at the official Tour website to see when we’ll be hitting more decisive stages. There I found that they’ve produced a Tour de France overlay for Google Earth. I don’t remember if they did this last year—Google Earth didn’t run on my computer then. At left is a Google Earth image (click to enlarge) of the famous climb up L’Alpe d’Huez, which is on Tuesday 18 July.
5 July 06
Haricots Nains
Not content simply to intersperse my new dwarf string beans in and around the lettuces, I’ve dug another bed.
This is a small square one and will be getting afternoon shade from the tomatoes. It’s ideal, in other words, for taking up the lettuce slack so I can plant some more beans. The ones harvested very early by the French and wonderfully tasty in salade niçoise. Or on their own.
Digging in this heat is sort of nuts but at least it went quickly.
After working the bike race yesterday morning followed by Italy-Germany, it made for an interesting day.
The World Cup’s nearly over. It always takes a few days to recover from the intensity of the immersion…
4 July 06
Cat's Cradle
Pica’s sister once gave us a woven wood basket that we use for recycling newspapers. But Charlie loves to hop in it when we empty the newspapers!
3 July 06
The Horses are Back
There’s a paddock outside my window at work. It’s been emtpy for nearly a year. A delivery of contaminated sand led to a horrible injury (a horse stepped on a nail, got a bad infection, had to be put down).
The place has been thoroughly combed with metal detectors. There are now horses back in there, a gentle presence when I”m trying to think of a synonym for “part” that isn’t “component” which in my opinion is a word that should only be used in connection with cars.
I like having them back.