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Here's a rave to balance my rants: Showy goldenrod (Solidago speciosa). This is our second year with this plant blooming in our garden, and it is such a pollinator magnet! Yesterday, I counted approximately 40 bumblebees on our one plant! I say "approximately" because the bees kept moving around, making it hard to get a precise headcount. It's such a wonderful plant.
That is awesome!! I love watching the bees on the pollinator plants! My fall pollinator plants are a New England Aster and a Montauk daisy (it's huge--I really need to cut it back). They are both nice to have when all the other summer flowers are fading and wilting.Quote:
Originally Posted by rosarugosa
Here is my rave--related to gardening. I hand-screened my compost yesterday because we had to migrate my bin from one side of the yard to the other. So bagged the finished stuff and put the rest back in the relocated bin. That compost is beautiful stuff. I think composting is pure magic.
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Very nice, Catherine! We are pretty lazy composters.
i love compost. Smells heavenly.Quote:
Originally Posted by catherine
in our current place we have to buy it although certainly DH has his own composting operation, but I don’t pay attention to it. I want fully rotted compost and his stuff was always not quite composing enough for me. It was slimy.
but oh man, I miss the days of living in the city of St. Louis, where I could go to the city’s composite and load up my truck with as much compost as I want for free.
A long time ago when I was still driving beater cars to work, I got in my car to go home at 5pm, and my crappy Nissan Sentra didn't start. The battery was dead. So I went back to the office, where I knew a couple of my colleagues were still working, and I asked Bart if he could help me jump my car. He declined, saying he didn't know how. This was amazing to me, because all the men in my life could jump a car as easily as brush their teeth.
Today my neighbor across the road is here. Three ash trees on the land between us need to come down due to the emerald ash borer. We've been talking about it for a couple of years. They own the property, and I figured they'd have a tree company come out. But no, my neighbor brought a friend and a cherry picker today, and they're at it themselves right now, felling three trees.
In the book I'm reading, the author talks about how the culture is leaving behind the multi-skilled people that usually live in more rural areas and villages. Since I've moved here I've marveled at the ingenuity and know-how of my rural neighbors. I guess there are people who are raised to be multi-skilled so that they don't have to pay people to do these things and they can remain self-reliant. In my more cosmopolitan neck of the woods where I grew up, parents were more likely to teach their kids how to make money so that they could afford to pay people like my neighbor.
In this regard, I have so much greater respect for my Vermonter neighbors than people like Bart and many of the people I have worked with my whole life. And I'm not just thinking about the "manly" skills--the same holds true for traditionally female skills. I wish that "home arts" was more of a thing these days. I think we've lost something when we're all "specialists" in one thing.
So my rave is basically just a shout out to the generalists, the multi-skilled, and the resourceful.
Agree with you Catherine. A friend taught all his sons to cook and now they all are familiar with the kitchen and equal partners with working wives. (something I learned from my mom and Home Ec). Another man we knew taught his daughter's all about cars and household repair. Gave them more independence.
Habitat for Humanity makes each homeowner take a class in home maintenance (as well as home finance) so they are able to handle many home issues.
Back when (Dark Ages) when my husband was hired by a Fortune 100 company, they hired for a lifetime. He spent no more than 3 years in any department learning all about their unique needs and with each move became more generalized. He ended up in a corporate planning and strategy group. Of course, it did not help with layoffs since his whole group was dismantled. Management did not want any input from strategy groups. Now they hire for specific positions and the general education is gone. Same thing happened in the scientific groups.
Real men know how to fell trees. Just sayin’Quote:
Originally Posted by catherine
DH took down the small grove behind our Hermann house with no heavy equipment, using physics.
I purposely stayed away the day he felled the 40’ tree, it scared the Bejesus outta me.
But yeah, the country boys who know how to do things are invaluable.
Well, then there's precious few real men in NJ, as far as I know.Quote:
Originally Posted by iris lilies
But, yeah, Vermont men (and women) know a lot about trees.
Yes, compartmentalization is the thing these days.Quote:
Originally Posted by sweetana3
House building skills was a BIG social divide in my old neighborhood of
Victorian houses. Some of it was generational, some not. We unkindly called the other tribe “checkbook rehabbers” but of course they were strong employers of DH so…good for us!
There were several men in our age group who could build and repair anything in their house, tho perhaps their carpentry skills weren’t up to par. But we had a number of GREAT carpenters as well.
I have to say these were generally heterosexual men. The gay men of which we had many weren’t so great as a group with old house fixit skills with one exception I can think of. Of course with home decor they were steller, so shoot me if I am generalizing but I’m confident gay friends would agree with me.
And then our neighborhood became more posh and the youngsters with big jobs moved in and they can’t fix anything. They are accustomed to a compartmentalized world. They are the Big Check rehabbers.
I still shake my head at the lack of confidence I ran into with a few of these folks when gardening. They needed instruction, handholding.
for God’s sake, scratch up some dirt, throw in some seeds and water them It’s not that difficult.
For the last several weeks I have been getting bombarded with ads for Halloween decor. I had resisted every one. I decorated for Halloween on Saturday and was happy with what was left after the big declutter back in July.
Last night my husband and oldest commented on how little decor there was on the mantle. They said I needed more. Today I caved and ordered some stuff from Amazon. I then decided to cancel it and go to Michael's and get some stuff in person.
In the end, I didn't stop at Michael's and won't be buying any decor. I am going to resist.
Good for you, Klunick!
I ended up putting my Fall garland back on the mantle to fill in the gaps. Of course, my husband never even noticed the change. Grrr!!Quote:
Originally Posted by KayLR
It sounds really pretty, Klunick! This morning I awoke to find a 14 foot Christmas tree in the barn. Husband had cut off the top of a taller tree while working in the woods. I said it would not last until christmas, we have 10 foot ceilings, and it was blocking the door to the woodyard. So he is feeling grumpy with me this morning.
Lost Hoopla when moved to TX. On recent trip a person at the airport told me how to get it from a large library not in my area. I LOVE Hoopla! I am psyched! The previous time at the airport I was told how to get a free gym membership. Flying tomorrow (hopefully)… would be unbelievable if I learned another cost saving measure!
Free gym membership?? Do tell.Quote:
Originally Posted by frugal-one
I did end up getting two things from Michael's yesterday. Everything was 50% off. Spent $20 instead of the $50 I was planning on spending on Amazon a couple days ago. Got two ceramic ghosts which will last for years so I am ok with the purchase.Quote:
Originally Posted by Klunick
Senior community center/medical charity foundation sponsoring free workout center (fitness instructors, classes and numerous workout machines). It is open to every senior even if they do not belong to the medical facility next door. I’ve never seen anything like it anywhere.Quote:
Originally Posted by KayLR
Kroger had a 2 day sale that included our favorite ground coffee. Instead of regular price of $8.49 it was $3.99 with no limit. We added 20 to our stash over two stores. The price recently was raised so we expected a sale. Thankfully, our flavor was well stocked.
At the same time there was a Key Lime Pie marked down 50%. We are going to try to freeze 2 pieces.
And, if we spent $100 we got $10 off. So husband found a pair of pants he had his eye on for awhile and knew they were a good price. Receipt said we saved 40% on our total bill.
Next Kroger we hit we got a 46% off all our carefully chosen purchases.
I guess Covid turned us into grocery store treasure hunters. Note: we are still very, very careful with our selections and do not buy much processed food.
That is so cool, Sweetana. Very inspiring, we need to get into the swing of grocery frugality because we sure haven't been.
Coffee has gone up due to weather causing smaller harvests the last two years. I've stocked up on my tea.
I picked up a favorite chocolate treat from the bulk bins while shopping today and the price per pound was rather steep from what I can recall. On the way home, NR had a feature on the coco bean shortages due to weather issues. They mentioned some things about Halloween chocolate shortages that I didn't catch. First coffee, then chocolate, what next! The small amount of silver in my safety deposit box could be useful some day for bartering.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tradd
On this beautiful sunny fall day it is grape harvest time down the block from me. Workers are out picking grapes. These are wine grapes.
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Rave for KOA Campgrounds! Just got back from a cross-country trip and found the KOA campgrounds have some nice cabins and even inexpensive tent sites (sleeping in the car) when one is looking for just a simple overnight stay.
Glad to hear you had a wonderful time! Thanks for posting about KOA Campgrounds. Didn’t know they had cabins!Quote:
Originally Posted by happystuff
I could research, but is KOA a membership program?
You can sign up for a "premium" type membership... I think it is $39.00/year and saves 10% each time. However, there is a military discount that is about the same, so that is what I use.Quote:
Originally Posted by KayLR
I rode my bike down to the park and dropped off my voting ballot in their official collection box. A process I hope doesn't get taken away by Trump.
Utilized early voting today too. Crazy number of provisions (19) to vote for or against. Glad I looked online ahead. Some were worded arbitrarily.
Got a fabulous compliment from a customer today. He’s been an importer for about 30 years. He said I’m the most informed customs broker he’s ever dealt with. I put a lot of effort in keeping myself well informed so that was wonderful to hear.
Nice! Very nice!Quote:
Originally Posted by Tradd
Good job, Tradd, especially in this current environment!
Always so nice to hear positive feedback, tradd. Good job!
Congrats on the positive feedback - it certainly makes one's day!
Yes, it certainly does!
The new guy (aka Forrest Gump mentioned in the rant thread) is working out so far. Trying to find time to train him is a problem as I'm constantly putting out fires. He will be taking over a lot of other coworker's workload eventually. His first three days were when other coworker was gone. Every time I sit down with new guy, phone rings with issues I have to deal with. I spend a lot of time on the phone these days as it's easier to explain all the tariff stuff verbally. 20 minutes on the phone can save days of back and forth emails. I'm not some broken Gen Z who has crippling phone anxiety and loses it at the mere thought of a phone call. I always follow up with an email.
There are times to use the phone, and times to use email. I used to tell my staff “if you can’t solve it within two email messages,, pick up the damn phone and talk to the person.”Quote:
Originally Posted by Tradd
i’m finding email to be a bigger problem though in retirement because everyone I communicate with via email is in my hobby and garden groups and they don’t read email every day, so that’s a PITA. Email is great for delivering information to the recipient, especially detailed information. It’s not great for conflict resolution, cajoling and convincing, inquiring, etc— Human interactions that need more nuance.
In all fairness to Forrest, though, maybe you could put a DND message saying to call back in 20 min or leave a message for a callback. Then you could at least give him some uninterrupted time.
My little town is so great! There’s so much here to do for guests. One of our friends came for the day and we didn’t have time to hit most of the tourist highlights, we hit only one of them and went out to lunch and then she had to go home.
Wevhave a brand new establishment in our little downtown and it is a “cat café.” The first cat was adopted out of there this weekend. It is a collaboration of a local businessman and our town’s cat rescue group.
I do not understand how it will be a money making operation that will pay the rent, or even break even, but it might be OK for a while because it’s being run by a local businessman who is very successful with his own relatively large business.
Another Rave, this one a brag:
I received a request from the premier lily breeder in my region asking for one of my species bulbs. My lily has been a showstopper at a couple of shows.
While I have little to do with how great this lily is genetically, at least I have cultivated it to reach its full potential. So I dug up a few of the bulbs and mailed them to him today.
When I say “my Lily “ I mean this is a species lily created by Mother Nature, I’m not the hybridizer. But since species do vary in how vigorous each plant is, this bulb seems to be quite vigorous.
Congrats, il. Do you have a picture of the lily in bloom?
Congrats, IL. Great to hear.