The Daily Peeve / Rant

[catherine]

Today I will rant about my own self centered laziness. During the pandemic I developed the bad habit of ordering common stuff from Amazon and having it delivered. OK I can excuse my actions then because it was Pandemic Time.

OK but that is over and I’ve been going into regular stores for a year and a half maybe two years.


Last week I was making a grocery store run to the big supermarket in the next town over and I needed bobby pins and toothpicks. It is a new store to me and I don’t know the layout. I looked in the aisles where I thought these things would reside. They were not there.
since I was running out of steam I came home and order them on Amazon along with other things in my cart. I’ve been making a weekly order on Amazon, setting it up to all ship on one day because you would think they would pack them all together, right? Saving gas, saving packing materials.


Well today I got a shipment that I ordered last week. Look at how they’re packed. Makes me sick when I think of the thousands hundreds of thousands know millions and billions of stupid empty boxes that have been shipped around.


My penance is that I *DO* break down these boxes and drive them to the recycling center in Hermann. But recycling is not as good as never getting it at all.

Attachment 4770

OMG, that is ridiculous, but to be honest, I prefer a big box to plastic bubble wrap and Jiffy bags. It still seems crazy, though. I always hate ordering small, inexpensive things through Amazon because I know that gas for the delivery truck to get way up here far exceeds the price of the cheap whatever-it-was I had to have.

You could use the boxes to help you expand your garden. I don't rototill (we don't have one), and I can't find people to do it. So I do the lasagna method of laying down cardboard, wetting it down, topping it with layers of organic matter/compost, topsoil, leaves/grass clippings. It takes time (I did it in July and won't plant in it until next May/June) but it's a good use for cardboard, and a pretty easy way to start a garden.

[iris lilies]

Catherine, we have a tillers and any new garden space is made using those tools.

I did consider your suggestion for an area that needs mulch and it’s hard to get mulched because I have to haul buckets of mulch there through a path not easy to access, but I don’t think I could stand the look of the cardboard.

[catherine]

Catherine, we have a tillers and any new garden space is made using those tools.

I did consider your suggestion for an area that needs mulch and it’s hard to get mulched because I have to haul buckets of mulch there through a path not easy to access, but I don’t think I could stand the look of the cardboard.

But you don't see the cardboard. It's under the topsoil/leaves/organic matter etc. . But if you have a tiller, you're set. I don't, and I don't want to buy one. We won't be creating many more gardens, and I'm fine with waiting a couple of seasons to use it.

[iris lilies]

But you don't see the cardboard. It's under the topsoil/leaves/organic matter etc. . But if you have a tiller, you're set. I don't, and I don't want to buy one. We won't be creating many more gardens, and I'm fine with waiting a couple of seasons to use it.

But where is the topsoil coming from the scenario? I don’t get it. We don’t have piles of quality topsoil sitting around here.

[catherine]

But where is the topsoil coming from the scenario? I don’t get it. We don’t have piles of quality topsoil sitting around here.

That's the rub. You have to buy it. My neighbors and DH/I always buy topsoil because our soil isn't that great. Clay on a lot of rock and filled with phosphorous from farmland run-off. So we've been adding topsoil to our raised beds, amending the soil we inherited and giving it a little help with a lot of organic material and purchased topsoil.

[frugal-one]

Rant of the day... having to call ANYWHERE... put on hold for long periods. If they say they will call you back .. it is dubious at best. Don't know how people who work get this done???

[iris lilies]

That's the rub. You have to buy it. My neighbors and DH/I always buy topsoil because our soil isn't that great. Clay on a lot of rock and filled with phosphorous from farmland run-off. So we've been adding topsoil to our raised beds, amending the soil we inherited and giving it a little help with a lot of organic material and purchased topsoil.

Oh no.

no no no we do not buy bags of topsoil. And this area is not big enough for a big load.

ok but maybe we need to change. We are now buying compost and at the moment, mulch. 30+ years ago we bought a big truckload of river bottom top soil to fill the big raised area of my flower garden. But since then, have not purchased top soil. I don’t think DH will go for it.

[pinkytoe]

My rant for the day - vagrants and their mess. Yesterday, I went to visit our local demonstration gardens located close to downtown. They are close to some railroad tracks and a creek, so apparently more and more "homeless" people wander in, defecate, do their drugs and leave their trash. Among the beautiful gardens were piles of fast food trash, underwear and other lovely disgusting things. This societal issue really needs to be taken seriously.

[Tradd]

Rant of the day... having to call ANYWHERE... put on hold for long periods. If they say they will call you back .. it is dubious at best. Don't know how people who work get this done???

Trying to call an ocean carrier or airline at work means you will be on hold for at least an hour. The worst part is their system will often hang up on you when you’ve been waiting for ages. Email isn’t any better. Might take 48 hours to get a response on something urgent.

[iris lilies]

My rant for the day - vagrants and their mess. Yesterday, I went to visit our local demonstration gardens located close to downtown. They are close to some railroad tracks and a creek, so apparently more and more "homeless" people wander in, defecate, do their drugs and leave their trash. Among the beautiful gardens were piles of fast food trash, underwear and other lovely disgusting things. This societal issue really needs to be taken seriously.

The “ unhoused” ( politically correct term) are uncaring about their environment. I saw it for decades in downtown St. Louis since the largest men’s home shelter was across the street from where I worked.