sb country n news-squirrels 9 togd 7

SB COUNTRY N NEWS-SQUIRRELS 9 TOGD 7

my wife she laughed real hard when i sent her the score
she texted me
this is like that caddyshack movie
isnt it

i didnt think that was real funny
ok
so i chuckled some

i texted her back
i guess im going to have to rewatch that movie
now what did he use against those gophers
i dont golf

so for about a week the new structures i wrote about
in this blog titled
sb country n news-squirrels 6 togd 2
seemed to work
then
zip
the veggies were all weedeated down to the ground
at least thats what it looked like

my goal
i decided to be persistant
until i get a good crop of veggies
for these kindergartners to eat
now
they have replanted the stuff themselves more than once
plus i replanted stuff when they werent looking

they just take it in stride
look at it
say
humpf
and
just move on to playing in the dirt making things
out of rocks and sticks and leaves etc
and
having a good time

my goal is
to light a little fire of interest in gardening
and
to get them eating healthy food ie veggies

i seem to be fighting these varmints in the garden
the general feeling among garden folks ive talked to
is its the drought here
there isnt much fresh stuff to eat right now
around the school
except for whats in our garden

varmints are
squirrels
gophers
mice
voles which are mice like varmints that also dig tunnels

i thought my cages i made would stop all them
well
something ate everything we planted

as i was working i just happened to look back at the bed
with the lettuce
there was this little bird sitting ie perched on the wire
opening in the chicken wire
with a piece of lettuce in its mouth
that explains a lot i thought to myself

thats not a snake its a gourd called a snake gourd

so
i decided to do what i should have done in the first place
use 1/2 inch hardware cloth instead of chicken wire

so i used this bed as a test bed
i dug all the dirt out of the bed to insure that the hardware cloth
was all intact underneath the frame
this keeps the voles and gophers from digging from
underneath
it was intact
in fact i could see where they were digging around
under the bed but couldnt break through the wire
so
then
i took off the chicken wire around the pvc frame
replaced it with hardware cloth
then
replanted a test plant
a sweet pea vine

my theory is
now none of these varmints can get inside this thing
no gophers no voles no mice or rats no squirrels
and
no little birds

so at 48 hours the little pea vine is reaching up towards
the sky looking for sunshine

heres hoping the score goes to
9-8

if this works
i will redo all the frames
and
replant

so when the kids return in january
everything will be growing real good
they wont believe the story when i tell them
oh
yes they will

fire update


this is the thomas fire
that reddest western edge is the one that we are worried about
it sits above montecito where ellen and oprah live
and
is moving ever so slowly
westward across the mountains and foothills
that stretches just above santa barbara

as it moves
if the winds change to blow from the north
the fire will move downward on top of santa barbara
which it is expected to do over the next two days

where we rented when we first moved here is in the
voluntary evacuation zone just above the foothill road
which is the dividing line for the evacuation zones

its expected they will have to evacuate the area soon
then
where we live will be changed to a voluntary evacuation zone
which for us is going to be the
we are out of here zone

the organicgreen doctor

sweet home alabama

SWEET HOME ALABAMA

except for a twist of fate
my wife she and i would have moved to alabama
specifically near fair hope and gulf shores alabama
when i finished my resdiency

i owed the federal government three years in an undeserved area
since they helped finance my medical education

one of the approved sites was near gulf shores
a place we had been going to for several years for our vacations

our friends greg and susan first introduced us to the area
we fell in love with it

the person who was working at the federal site decided
that they wanted to stay another tour there
if they hadnt made that decision
we likely would be living there today
and
we would have voted in the alabama senatorial election yesterday

there is a time in politics
when folks have to do whats right
and
throw their politics aside

thats what happened yesterday
when moore lost the election

these two groups stepped up to do what was right
for our country

the people of color especially black alabamians
republicans like senator richard shelby who refused to vote for the nominee
but instead like 20,000+ decided to write in another candidate
which was really a vote against moore

how embarrassing it would have been to have him moore
as your senator

alabama should be proud
like they are for their football teams
that they did what was right

it was time for alabama to make that next step
to rid some of the shackles of their past

history will always look down on them with praise
for standing up to do what was right

its almost as if there has been some clearing of the air
so that most in politics will reach a civil point
where maybe there will be some working together to get
done what needs to be done
like
chips
healthcare
tax reform
less national debt
less racial discord
more civility
immigration reform
things that matter to all of us
no matter what are political beliefs are
granted its all being forced on the politicians

thank you alabama
sweet home alabama

the organicgreen doctor

our friend susan

OUR FRIEND SUSAN

a few years ago this thing above showed up at our house
it was from susan
she and her husband were best friends forever type of friends
she was always giving us stuff
that maybe others wouldnt like but she just knew we would
we always did

this sound thingamajig thing
when the wind blows it around
or
if you bag into the wire thing it made this sound
almost like an african drum might make

it was a gourd painted with chickens on it with
this long spring coiled wire hanging out the bottom

once when a wind storm came through
not long after we received this thingamajig
i kept hearing this sound
like drums in the distance
i finally located it
it was susans gift to us

we thought enough of this thingamajig to allow it
to make the cut when we culled things to carry with us
to california
this one did

in fact when we read that she died
i went out
banged that thing
making it make those twanging drum sounds
as a honor sound to susan and her life

her husband greg died 5 years ago in the final stages of
huntingtons
here are two blogs i wrote about him
myfriend gf
my friend greg
i tried to read them at his memorial service
but couldnt do it

now susan was what i would call an energizing bunny
she couldnt sit still very long
usually when we visited we always had to take some long
hike with her or go somewhere to see something

an avid walker she prepped for a half marathon walk run
building up her stamina to do the walk
during the walk she got real real short of breath
enough that she ended up in the emergency room

sadly a chest xray showed almost total whiteout of her lungs
followup testing showed she had metastatic cancer

it slowed her down
but not by much
when her energy level got better
off she went to another adventure

after her diagnosis
she extracted a lot from the last months she had left
europe trips visits with friends including us ship tours
wine tours
heck you name it she did it

our last visit with her was last summer
we spent a good three days with her
ok she made me work on this spinning monument thing in her
front yard that wouldnt spin right

we probably had one of best visits we have had with her
i think all three knew that would be our last

although she was mostly bedridden on her recent birthday
she took the time to talk with us
it seemed to perk her up some
we got to hear that laugh of hers
im sure she was smiling

she received our recent christmas card of my wife she and i
at our anniversary meal at a restaurant on the beach
her and greg loved the beach
she kept it by her bed on a shelf
it was there when she died

now she and greg knew he would die from huntingtons
so they got all their legal stuff done early on
then lived the good life
both of them

we all thought with susans genetics she would live
to be 100
but thats not the way it worked out

now she had gone through the terminal disease thing
with greg
she knew how to do it
so
she when the time came signed up for hospice
she never looked back

the end was peaceful
the way she would have wanted it
she died at home not in some hospital

we miss greg
we really miss susan

ill think of her
every time i bump my head on that thingamajig
making that distinctive sound
we will hear her voice her laugh each time it twangs

rip
susan

the organicgreen doctor