Quote for the Day 2/15/2009 & Random Snippets

Dorcas: We don't really have that many expenses, except for food and snowboarding. (Sidewise look at Shane here. Dorcas does not snowboard.)

Shane and Dorcas were home for the weekend, after six weeks into their assignment with Choice Books of CO. They came for a choice books meeting.

Shane does enjoy the snowboarding, and they both enjoy the mountains. They do not particularly enjoy being the new kids on the block, especially in a place where new kids on the block circulate in and out of the population with greater- than-average frequency. I think they are also formulating a private list of things to remember in case they ever need to look out for other VS-ers.

Shane reports that the way to do snowboarding on the cheap is to get two-for-one lift tickets, digging them out of filling station trash cans if necessary, and stock up on Ramen noodles. Then you go to Starbucks and get a cup of hot water and go back to your hotel room to fix your Ramen noodle meal.

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Heidi Kuepfer and John (Jon?) Overholt are engaged. This is to be the "Third John" among Lorne and Grace's sons-in-law. The other two have Brenneman and Yoder as surnames. I'm afraid Frieda (younger sister) will not know whether to run for cover or take special notice if she ever encounters an eligible young man named John.

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My mother went to church today for the first time since last fall.

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Several weeks ago we acquired a dog which Grant named Max. I thought we should name him Gene-O after the man who owned him previously, especially after Hiromi reported that the dog has a face like his former owner. I don't know the man. The dog has Black Lab coloring, except for his underside (including the inside of his legs), where the color is white, spotted with gray. The dog is part German Shorthair, and his head shape and lean body reflect this parentage.

Grant is training him as a hunting dog. He reports that he learns quickly and is following instructions to fetch and to find his toy. Max is also finding and retrieving, one by one, the dead possums Grant threw out back as they were dispatched earlier. Sigh.

I do not praise Max for collecting various items from the barnyard for exhibition on the front porch. Aged cowpies and dried weed stalks to trip over are not my idea of appropriate entrance displays.

I do praise Max profusely for not jumping up to plant his paws on my going-away dresses. Another thing I like about him is that he barks when strangers come--sometimes at least. I always thought that was a great way for a farm dog to make himself useful. When we first got him, I wondered what would happen the next time Steven came and sneaked through the open garage (where Max lives) into the house via the side door close to Grant's room. I could imagine that a black shape woofing out of the dark might give even laid-back Steven a start. I like Steven, but the thought still gave me some pleasure.

Hiromi laughs at Max for approaching the combine near the shed with what appears to be a warning bark--as though, if there's anything hiding in its bowels, it better not come out and surprise him.

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I'm plotting my vegetable and cutflower gardens for next summer--literally, using my GardenMaster CD, with its accompanying database on planting dates and spacing of plants. I regret only that it does not include information on flowers, so all that data has to be entered manually.

The maps are ready, but I still need to place some of my seed orders. Each year I wonder whether there isn't a way to make this process less arduous. One thing I do know is that if I had no frugal instincts and money was plentiful, some of the decisions would be easier. I'd order plants in lots of 50 or 275, which are nearly the same price, instead of starting plants from seed. I'd order everything from the one wholesale supplier that carries almost everything I need, but the minimum prices there are a dollar higher than the other major wholesaler charges. The cheaper wholesaler offers the minimum order for a reasonable price, which is still a dollar more than the typical retail price, but the seed count from the retailer is 50 and the wholesaler is 1,000. See what I mean? Frugality interferes. When we're talking about several hundred dollars in seed costs alone, prudence is in order.

I'm thinking of doing some retailing myself, selling extra seeds and plants of those I grow. I know from experience that plants to grow for cutflowers are very scarce in the typical garden center trade. For landscaping, compactness is often considered a plant virtue, but for cutflowers, long stems are needed.

The Department of Homeland Security requires everyone who sells plants to apply for a plant seller's lisence. I did so the other day.

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Tomorrow, at Hiromi's workplace, another employee meeting is on the schedule. At the meeting, everyone will learn whether they will continue to work four days a week, or whether they will be cut back to three days. There may be some variation among different departments.

Cutting back to less than three days would jeopardize the partial unemployment compensation the workers are eligible for now.

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I hear that Norma is coming back next year to teach at the high school. Yaaaaaayyyyyyyy! We'll be back to a three-person staff, and I can think again of teaching with a life outside of school besides.