the barn

THE BARN

the metal building next to my rainwater tanks is what we call
the barn
the previous owner had horses and other animals
they had two stalls for them
which i have converted to storage for my tools
and
as a storage for my gardening supplies
and
an area for storage of fencing materials
and
another area is for parking my riding lawn tractor and
trailer

then there is the tack room
thats what thy called it so we just kept the name
its where i have my rainwater filtering system
my water pump for it
and
my brains for my solar system

then there is the storage area
that is about 20 ft x 20 ft
inside there is a big source of discontent in our marriage
the conflict of my wife shes filing system and my filing system
the add system vs the ocd system
the add system im afraid overtime has won

this spring break has been marked as the time when we will
clean it out of all materials
add shelving and replace all materials in clear labeled containers
in an organized system

one problem has been that when i cleared the first bit of stuff
none was good enough to go back inside the barn
4 truck loads of stuff was
recycled
trashed
goodwilled but even they wont take some of it

now it appears to be maybe 2 more truck loads that will be
permanently removed

as my wife she was digging through she has found these treasures
simple but meaningful

an old gold knocker that was on our first house with our name on it

the charger for the electric wine bottle opener that use to give me
great  pleasure when i slipped it over a bottle of wine
pushed a button
then the thing went down into the cork pulled it out
then a button was reversed and it spit it out
my most favorite wine opener ever
how in the heck did that charger end up in the barn
i used that thing until it ran out of juice then it sat for months
unused

then she found my old black book
no its not what you think
we were just talking about that with a nursing student
what we used before we had phones and computers
the black book had all the formulas and things i needed to know
and could have ready access to when needed
there it was
my own handwriting seems i took my time and wrote where
i could read it later
why did it end up out there

theres more to be done in the barn
but it all came to a screeching halt
when my wife she
at least thats what she claimed
said she heard a slithering behind some boxes

not sure what slithering sounds like
she wont go back in without me and our snake hunting cats

ok i know there were a bunch of snake skins in there
i reassured her that if they were snakes it would only be
a chicken snake

sorry she said i ant gonnna go back in there

so i guess its possible that our sons when time comes years
from now to go through our things when we are gone
will get stuck sorting all those things themselves
heck half of whats left is theirs anyway

so the barn
progress was made
not sure if the job will get done though
but
she has agreed to not put things back in there under
her filing system again

we will see
im not hopeful

the organicgreen doctor

its dyin

ITS DYIN
the internet and cell phones are killing it off
the art of writing
but
is that true

if you sit and just watch those teenagers and young
folks
they are always writing something on their phones
and texting it to each other
some say that the amount of writing done by teenagers is
10 x more than it use to be
i would say that number is much higher than that
some teens do 100s of text a day

that counts as writing

now they may not use the proper caps and punctuation
and spelling

heck i never do that when i write
i notice that over time when i have to write an official letter
or communication and have to use proper writing
i think what a pain all that is
my thoughts get communicated without using all that stuff
not following the rules

my english professor from college as i have written about
before
said its ok to not use proper language and writing rules
as long as you understand what the rules are

Yes, I know what the proper English words are to use.
i also know the correct use of punctuation when i write
do you

how r u lol  2day c u l8r

so the young folks they know the rules
we can teach them the proper rules
its up to them to use them

i dont think things will be changing in the future
they are writing more than before
heck theyve even created a new language
with lol lmao bff etc

so lets not worry about those kids not writing and reading
more
with the internet and texting and youtube they are more
creative than before


heck it may even wearing off on us

r u rdy 2

the organicgreen doctor

malcolm

MALCOLM
if you are an organic gardener in texas especially
central texas
if someone say malcolm
you know whom they are talking about

malcolm beck
the god of organic gardening in texas

i have one of his books he cowrote with the dirt doctor
howard garrett called
texas organic vegetable gardening
a book that will survive the test of time

i use the book frequently during the garden seasons
to make sure im doing things right


malcolm beck howard garrett and john dromgoole are
the gurus of organic gardening
with malcolm beck being the god

ive listened to him several times at seminars on organic
gardening
a quiet now elderly unassuming man
with so much knowledge and original thinking when it
comes to organic gardening

ive also been to his original gardenville nursery site
in san antonio and have seen all of his gardens some
experimental

he has since sold the gardenville chain
i sometimes get my organic soils and compost from them
since they are close by
but
sometimes he and his wife frequent the old store
my rainwater brother likes to go there
and
especially when she or he is there
to talk to them about gardening

once when they was there
she had this bag of okra from malcolms garden
its a heirloom red german okra

she gave him a pod or two
he gave me a pod or two
and
i planted them last year

the pods have deeper ridges than say clemson spineless okra
but is a thicker pod
that taste as good if not better than the clemson
and just looks better when cut
almost like a star

so this pod of malcolm becks red german okra
is one of my proud seed possessions

yes i will plant it this year
and
yes i have passed the seeds on to others

thanks malcolm beck for the seeds
and all you have done for organic gardening

the organicgreen doctor