(::: an apple a day, keeps the doctor away :::)

shattered myths
Friday, May 11, 2007

there are so many people who just don't realize the problems and fallacies of growing common fruit trees (hundreds , in their own backyards, and hoping to simply pick the fruits of their labor, that it's amazing. Although I quit carrying and selling all fruit trees, vegetables, most herbs etc, years ago, the calls pour-in every day of the work week. The bucolic notion which I once harbored — that producing my own fruit, harvesting and savoring it at my own leisure — is total bunk. I had no idea of the range of pest and disease infestations that fruit trees — the myriad apple, peach, cherry, plum, pear, nectarine etc — would be subject to and afflicted by. Rust, scab, blight, pox, fungus, leaf curl, scale, rot, and over a hundred more, require an almost year-round chemical spraying program, using various treatments to pre-empt and curtail the diseases. Insect/pest infestations — scale, mites, and all these — require another whole regimen of chemicals to control their insidious damage. It's not as simple as planting and harvesting, by any stretch of one's imagination. Fruit pathology is crucial to quality production of marketable fruit products. In the Mid-Atlantic Region, there are diagnostic keys to major tree fruit diseases in commercial orchards, of which there are three just south of the GC&N Complex. If you grow here, use this Index of Fruit Disease Photographs, Biology, and Monitoring Information. The large, commercial orchards use teams of (criminal, illegal Mexican) pruners, sprayers, inspectors, graders, pickers, packers, sellers etc etc etc, to get done what they need to survive and prosper. At least one of them, owning 800+ acres, has sold-out to residential developers for millions, due to the high overhead costs, and bailed-out for the money. I can't blame them, BTW. I will never do that; neither hire illegal, criminal Mexicans, nor sell-out to developers. Never. (NOTE: I apologize for last week's 'political rant', but I just couldn't help myself. After what I'd heard and read in the corrupt MSM, about whiny blacks, racism, etc, it was just too inviting to castigate those lib-dem, idiot-Niggas®, once more. I'll try to 'watch it' from now on; promise.)



Around The Garden Center™.
I stopped by Freedom Armory, my favorite armorer, to pick-up my Remy 870 Tactical 20ga shotgun, which was being cleaned, and spotted a Henry Repeating Rifle, Lever-Action, "Big Boy", chambered in .357 Mag, and decided that I just had to have it. It shoots both .38 Special (range ammo) and .357 Mag (everyday ammo), tube fed, 10 rounds. Sweeeeeet! And, right out of the box, it was 99% accurate, at 50yds, with all rounds in the 10-ring. Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!
My super-fast home unit's (RAID 0+1) email — old reliable, Netscape v7.2 — was attacked/corrupted on Friday night, from *something*, and was truly a mess, by Saturday morning, before I left for work. My ISP, ModernTymes.net, set me up with Ipswitch Web Messaging, until I could delete the email client, and re-install it. That didn't work; it was still corrupted and dasmaged beyond repair. I then ran Norton Anti-Virus on the home unit's system, and it detected zip, so I uninstalled Netscape's v7.2 email client, and am now using Thunderbird v1.5.0.9 (Mozilla), with many 'themes and add-ons'. T-Bird is great, IMO, and is written and supported by the very same "Mozilla Folks", who do the Firefox and Thunderbird apps. And it automatically-migrated all my extensive mailing lists and user preferences, without the recent-corruption problems. I then uninstalled/deleted Netscape's v7.2 email client on my uber-fast, office RAID 0 machine, on Monday in favor of Thunderbird. I'm rapidly becoming a decicated Firefox-Thunderbird user, on all my home and office machines, and now (sadly) quickly-deleting my long-used (since Summer 1995) Netscape browser/email clients. I have these browsers on my home and office machines: Netscape v8.1, IE v7.0, Firefox v2.0 and Opera v9.1, and am using Thunderbird v1.5 as an email client, for all machines.
Last weekend (Saturday), retail sales 'traffic' was very, very heavy — since we were closed on Sunday, as per my website, Weather Channel 'crawl' hanging sign at the front gate — traffic was 'forced' into the Saturday business day, and I was glad I had scheduled GC&N Staff in, to help-out with sales, consultation, product loading and mulch/soil deliveries, along with Dad and I. I helped-out when/where I could, worked on landscape estimates which my Staff Landscape Designer, James, had given me to do, a day before. I also had numerous, completed jobs to be billed-out, and finished them, as well as the next week's schedule to be refined and posted. Except for my nagging back pain, it was a good day.
So far, we've not had any of the lethal Spring weather, which other regions of the country, have had, mercifully and thankfully. I'm very distressed and sad, when I daily read articles, like this one, which detail so many poor innocents being killed, injured and deprived of everything they've worked for, all their lives. Yikes; they're getting it again!
I slept-in on Sunday, 'til 10am, had a leisurely breakfast of french toast, poached eggs and fresh- Hollandaise Sauce, and (turkish-grind) Kona coffee, while doing maintenance — Ad-Aware and SpyBot-SD and Norton SystemWorks 2007 — on my condo's super-fast RAID 0+1 computer. I'd missed the maintenance regimen last Sunday, because we were open and I had to get to work, but now that we're *closed on Sundays*, I have the time to get it done. I did some food shopping and went down to the GC&N Complex, to post the week's work schedules, and get the appropriate job folders laid out for the LSCP Foreman, when he arrives at 6:30am. I'm loving having the Sunday off, and after 16yrs, I richly-deserve it. (((gloat)))
"Frost warnings" were posted for much of the Mid-Atlantic region, on Sunday evening, including York County (PA), and I had to chuckle at all the local folks who's planted tender annuals/bedding plants, just days before. They're scrambling to cover-up those (garbage, IMO) plants, to prevent damage/death by Monday morning. I don't sell that crap anymore; haven't for the last 15 of 17 years, IIRC, and I'm glad.
We're concentrating on landscape jobs, with dollar values in excess of $50,000, just to get them done, and billed-out, and I'm scheduling lesser-value lscp jobs in-between them. With one LSCP Installation Crew, instead of 3, and one LSCP Maintenance Crew, the work is going very, very slowly, this season. The loss of 2 seasoned Crew Chiefs, from 2006, is causing internal problems, as we have lots of labor, but are far short on supervisory personnel. Welcome to the world of "seasonal business". I've dealt with this problem, every Spring, for the past 17yrs.
Gas prices, at the pump, have increased another 4¢ this week: Unleaded Regular is now at $2.99/gal; Unleaded Plus is at $3.09/gal, and Unleaded Premium is now at $3.29/gal. I've lost track of Kerosene (K-1), but Diesel is now at $2.89/gal. With the "Summer Driving Season" just around the corner, it's going to get expensive, really quick. Down near the Maryland Line, prices are another 5-6¢/gallon, higher, as of Saturday.
I'm convinced that pets don't have a 'sense of time', in that they don't know when they're going to die, and they don't 'watch the clock'. I could be gone 5 minutes, from the condo, but my two cats think it's 5 hours, and they go nuts when I get back home; happy to see me return. Ha!
'Tis the Spring season for glorious asparagus! Glorious, glorious aspargus! I practically have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It only comes once a year, so I more than 'eat my fill'. As a kid, I hated the stuff; now as an adult, I can't get enough of it, when it's fresh. What's your excuse? I always make Fresh Hollandaise Sauce, BTW. Try it, and you'll never go back to those Knorr's Mixes, which aren't all that bad, IMO. They'll do in a 'pinch', if you don't have all the other ***fresh ingredients***, ready and waiting.
Hells bells, we could sure use all that rain out here, in The Mid-Atlantic Region, IMO. The Midwest's had enough; we'll take it!
I love early-morning, early-Spring temperatures in the upper-40°Fs and lower-50°Fs, while driving to work. The air smells crisp and clean, the birds are more vocally-active, and I really feel the air quality, as opposed to the 72°F temps at 6am, and 94°F temps by 12noon. By 1pm, I feel "dirty", from the hum-didity (ha!) and want a long, hot shower. I had one of those mornings, on Wednesday, and I quickly detoured into Jerry's Food Rite Market, in Red Lion (PA). I bought 1-lb of sweet, thin-shaved, low-sodium, Va Baked Honey Ham; ½ of tart, thin-shaved, Swiss Cheese and a fresh loaf of Arnold's Jewish Rye® bread (seeds, of course). I had a real craving for that "comfort food" sandwich. At 7:45am, I was one of 15 customers in the store. The Deli Lady was most accomodating, and prepared my order, perfectly. Hey, Jerry: your staff's almost as good as mine is! A container of Buttercrunch Lettuce, Hellman's® Real Mayo, and Grey Poupon® Dijon Mustard. I had a sandwich for breakfast, as soon as I got to work, and opened everything up, in my office. And a day-old Reuben Pannini, for lunch. Mmmmmmmmmm!
Thursday really sucked, from the minute I woke-up. Significant back and shoulder pain. Took a hot shower, and that helped the muscle pain. Uncomfortable 72°F temps at 7:30am, wuith the day's high of 82°F, and humid, hot and sticky air being pushed-up from the sub-tropiocal storm, of georgia's coast. Miserable. No air circulation in my office, with sweat dripping off my chin. Back and shoulder pain, continues. I felt guilty about turning-on the AC, since the rest of the building was well-ventilated with plenty of open doors and overhead, ceiling fans. Back and shoulder pain, continues. Dropped my 1GB FlashDrive on the way out of the building at 5pm, and had to re-create this "Journal" entry, and the three other website pages, which I put-up on my corporate website, each Friday. Back and shoulder pain, continues. It got better after getting home. I fed the condo cats, took a pain pill, had an adult beverage, and began to relax, finally. Major thunderstorms moved through, around 7pm, and temporarily knocked-out my 1.5 MBPS Cable Modem, and I shut it all down, re-booted and restored the service, around 7:30pm. "The Savage Nation" wasn't live; it was an "Encore Broadcast" (re-run). I sure hope Friday is a bit better.



Murderous, muslim-islamic-arab Terrorists, Here In America.
I heard the news story come over the wires, on Tuesday afternoon, as a former employee, Simi, came back to visit, with his 2nd child, 2-yr-old, Dane. He'd been stationed at Ft Dix, before being sent to Iraq, two years ago, and was finally discharged. I showed him my arsenal of Class III Weapons, in my dbl-door Cannon Gunsafe, and he was awe-struck, at what I have. I remembered that he was stationed at Ft Dix (NJ), and showed him the articles on my office computer. He called his US Army buddies at Dix, and found that they were in "total lockdown"; at DEFCON 1.
Subhuman, murderous, pigshit-slurping, dirtbag, lowlife muslim-islamic-arab filth/garbage/shit/trash/crap/junk assholes — Eljvir, 23, Shain, 26, and Dritan, 28, and said the three operate businesses known as Qadr Inc., Colonial Roofing and National Roofing. The other three men charged are Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer, 22, of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, a US citizen subhuman, piece-of-shit, born in Jordan who is employed as a taxicab driver in Philadelphia; Serdar Tatar, 23, of Philadelphia, born in Turkey, whose last known employment was at a 7-Eleven; and Agron Abdullahu, 24, of Buena Vista Township, born in the former Yugoslavia and employed at a Shop-Rite Supermarket — all need quick trial and killing, IMO. I'd be happy/glad/gleeful/giddy to HEADSHOOT all the subhuman, murderous muslim-islamic subhhuman filth! Happy to kill those terrorists! I want all muslim-islamic-arab terrorists, DEAD! And I volunteer to KILL THEM!
The Circuit City Employee, who ID'd those 6 subhuman muslim-islamic-arab terrorists, deserves The Congressional Medal of Freedom, Mr Bush, dammit! He probably saved dozens, if not hundreds of US Soldiers, contractors and civilians, from death. F*ck the treasonous, incompetent asshole, Georgie Tenet; give it to the CC Employee.
The treasonous, hate-America, hate-US Military, left-wing wacko US media (MSM), are ignoring the "muslim-islamic" facts, and burying the story on the back pages, since they're more concerned about the false threat of COs. Are we living in a "parallel universe", or what? "Not all religions are equal; some are more equal than others", according to the MSM? I rail against that bullshit, crap and criminality, dammit!m The MSM has been given the "gift of freedom", and now uses that gift for evil purposes: to undermine — aka treason, sedition and sabotage — the USA, and help destroy Our Freedoms. I, for one, won't be silenced, dammit. And I have "plenty to back me up". Count on it, traitors! Dammit!



GOPer-RINO Lowlifes, Dirtbags & Idiots™.
As compared to the treasonous, seditionist saboteurs of the liberal-demokkkRAT party's subhuman filth offerings for POTUS in 2008, these GOPer-RINO Clowns were laughable. US Rep Duncan Hunter, being the only exception, IMO. The rest of them, are a steaming pile of fetid dogshit.
"Top LA Cop demoted in wake of rally controversy", was the CNN-commie-socialist-hate-America-hate-US Military, headline. LA's turd-sucking, PC-asshole-licker BRATTON, needs due trial, conviction, sentencing, and immediate imprisonment; no appeals, IMO. Bratton's a lowlife POS.
"Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and his former (whorebag slutfilth, liberal-garbage bitch) wife donated money to Planned Parenthood, an abortion provider, old tax records show." He's a NYC liberal-demokkkRAT, piece-of-lowlife-shit, and richly-deserves liberal-demokkkRAT, Lee Harvey Oswald, to "visit him", if LHO were alive, IMO. Giuliani's a ***baby murderer***, IMO.



Things Which Make Your Head Explode™.
Our brave, heroic US Military families are grossly-underpaid, under-supported by the best medical benefits we owe them, dammit! I donate to any organization, which supports them, and I help-out any and all local US Military Families, in my region, when I find them. (((Crisp salute)))
The White House has threatened to veto a bill passed by the corrupt, liberal-demokkkRAT-controlled, US House of Representatives, last Thursday, that expands hate-crime laws to include attacks based on sexual orientation or gender. Homo-sodomite-faggots get extra protection, under this so-called new law? That's a clear violation of The 14th Amendment to The US Constitution. And the SCOTUS will rule, accordingly, IMO. The homo-sodomite-faggots will slither back under their child-molesting, fudge-packing, dirtbag, salami-hiding, perverted, deviant, slimy, rocks. May they all die painfully, and rot in hell, IMO.
Vive le France, Sarkozy!



Politicians, Traitors, Seditionists & Saboteurs™.
As much as I despise and piss-on the 'empty suit', lowlife, socialist (commie-lite) dirtbag, sambo, liberal-demokkkRAT plantation, porch-monkey, Nigga®, US Sen Barack Hussein Osama-Obama, Jr, doesn't deserve "hate mail, calls and other 'threatening materials'", IMO, and was placed into SS protection, as a result, at US Taxpayers' expense. He should pay that cost; not us. He deserves to be exposed for what a piece-of-lowlife, empty-suit, racist-shitbag, he truly is, as are they all, soundly-defeated and sent back to 3rd shift at the 7-11, in obscurity, and rot in hell. But not threatened. The truth about him is damaging enough, and should quickly-disqualify him, as a POTUS Candidate. He's corrupted, fraudulent, criminal pigshit, IMO.
Lowlife, dirtbag, homo-sodomite-faggot, disgraced, piece-of-shit, US Sen Lindsey Graham (FAGGOT-NC), tells you and I — American Bigots — to "shut-up", according to this article, at a speech in front of La Raza, a group that openly collaborates with MEChA, RADICAL- RACIST Chicano extremist political organizations that actively seek the removal of all "White Europeans", from the western US. The turd-polisher Graham, a filthy, subhuman homo-sodomite-faggot, needs due-charging, trial, conviction, sentencing and quick execution, IMO, ASAP. Graham's a traitor, a seditionist and saboteur, and he needs hanging, IMO.
Although the criminal, corrupt, lowlife commie-socialist bitch, Hitlery Rotten Klintoon should be duly/legally-charged, arrested, tried, convicted, sentenced and executed as a traitor, seditionist and saboteur against America, in a Time of War, IMO, she should not be subjected to random death threats. She should be subject to due-legal prosecution, IMO. Nor should the subhuman, empty-suit dirtbag lowlife sambo, Barack Hussein Osama-Obama, Jr, be subjected to death threats, and require US Taxpayer-funded SS Protection. Both of the liberal-demokkkRATs will self-destruct, IMO, in their own time. They both are lowlife, subhuman commie-socialist-fascist filth, IMO, and are traitors, guilty of sedition and sabotage, and need hanging, IMO.
Traitors, Seditionists and saboteurs: US Rep Maurice Hinchey (Nazi-NY), US Rep Peter DeFazio (NAZI-OR), US Rep Bob Filner (NAZI-CA), US Rep Alcee Hastings (NAZI-FL), US Rep Marcy Kaptur (NAZI-OH), US Rep Barbara Lee (NAZI-CA), US Rep Jim McDermott (NAZI-WA), US Rep James Moran (NAZI-VA), US Rep Major Owens (NAZI-NY), US Rep Bernie Sanders (NAZI-VT), US Rep Janice Schakowsky (NAZI-IL), US Rep Louise Slaughter (NAZI-NY), US Rep Hilda Solis (NAZI-CA), US Rep Pete Stark (NAZI-CA), US Rep Maxine Waters (NAZI-CA), US Rep Diane Watson,(NAZI-CA), US Rep Lynn Woolsey (NAZI-CA). These subhumans support the HR 3022: MORA (Media Ownership Reform Act), and need "permanent removal from American Society", IMO. The Enemies of Freedom™ & The Enemy Within™, are active. Kill all the laaaaaaawyers, IMO. That's a good start!



Lowlife, Subhuman Filth™.
Syphilis has risen sharply among gay and bisexual men homo-sodomite-faggots in the United States this decade, driving up the country’s rate for the disease and placing these men at higher risk for AIDS, and hopefully, death, IMO.
The failed, divorced, lowlife "parents" of a punk, dirtbag, lowlife, idiot, scumbag, New Jersey hiker mindless asshole, who died of thirst abject stupidity and the inability to take a drink of his bottle of H2O, during a survival course, sued the school and its guides last Friday, claiming negligence in a risky expedition in the hot Utah desert. Shit-for-brains, asswipe, moron, idiot, cretin, scumsucking, piece-of-shit, Dave Buschow, 29, failed himself in not drinking enough H2O; his instructors didn't fail him. His liberal-demokkkRAT "parent" failed him, in not instilling simple, common sense into the homo-sodomite-faggot boy, as evidenced by their failed marriage and failed rearing of the punk kid, IMO. Rot in hell, dumb-asshole.
Yes, IMO, Starbucks is piss, shit, crap, junk and leftist-commie-socialist garbage. Anyone who'd spend $4.00+ for a cup of coffee, is mentally-ill, and deserves this kind of abuse, IMO. Starbucks is $6/cup pisswater, IMO.
Are you ready for the pandemic flu outbreak? The US Gov't "wants to help you get prepared, for it." Ha.



Global Warming™ Bullshit & Lies™.
If you want ***The Truth About Global Warming***, watch this 1hr:16min film by the BBC — The Great Global Warming Swindle — about what's really happening. The leftist, verminous cowards at YouTube, have banned the film. I have it on DVD, and will upload it to my corporate server, for all to see, when Google drops it, due to pressure from the wacko, leftist, subhuman, fascist, socialist, commie, enviro-filth. I won't allow this truth to die or disappear. Watch all these videos, dammit.
The United States, the world's top belcher of greenhouse gas emissions, is "the biggest culprit" of climate change, the corrupt, criminal, leftist-wacko, commie-socialist, homo-sodomite-faggot, dirtbag-WWF (World Wildlife Foundation) said last Thursday, urging Washington to take swift action against global warming. F*ck the WWF, IMO!



Some People Just Need Killing™.
Thank you, Indiana, for making my week! A subhuman, piece-of-lowlife-filth, convicted of killing a 77-year-old man during a 1984 burglary was executed by lethal injection early Friday. David Leon Woods, 42, needed killing, and should rot in hell, for eternity IMO. Bravo, Indiana!
Subhuman, lowlife, murderous dirtbag filth, Philip Workman, 53, has prepared to die three times before, but he's "afraid of the pain, unlike the police officer he murdered, who suffered terribly, before he died? Workman should be grossly-tortured and killed slowly, as he did to his victim. Too f*cking bad he wasn't killed, many years ago, instead of wasting US Taxpayers' monies. He's dogshit, and since his conviction in 1982 for killing a Memphis police officer in a botched armed robbery at a Wendy's restaurant, he's wasted so much O2. I'd have headshot the subhuman many, many, many years ago, and saved the US Taxpayers a ton of money, in keeping that piece-of shit, and his corrupt, liberal laaaaaaaawyers, alive. I opt to execute them all, IMO, as they all richly-deserve it. Now, the subhuman's finally dead. Rot in hell, Workman!
Lowlife, slutbag, skank, alcoholic, dirtbag filth, Paris Hilton, needds daily/nightly raping with a broomstick/toilet plunger handle, while in prison for 45 days, for violating her probation terms. IMO, she should be raped with a wood stick, and killed, thus relieving American Society of her sickening presence. Kill the subhuman bitch, GP (general population) Inmates! Please!
C'mon lib-dem subhuman filth: paint a 'death target' on my back, and see what happens to you! ABSOLUTE, IMMEDIATE F*CKING DESTRUCTION! Just f*ck with me and mine, and I'll kill you all I'll take appropriate action, against you all Any f*cking questions, criminal, corrupt, liberal-demokkkRAT traitors, seditionists and saboteurs! You truly need killing "eradication", IMO, death-worshipping leftists. Your fascist, death-based agenda of wide-open borders, unlimited illegal aliens, corrupting America's "Way Of Life", baby-slaughter-on-demand, silencing of Conservatives' 1st Amendment, courtesy of the multi-millions of bribe dollars, from subhuman, verminous commie-socialist bug, George Soros, who truly needs killing 'wasting'. The fact that US Congressmen/women are working to destroy Conservative Talk Show Hosts, rather than take-on, destroy and protect American from the muslim-islamofascist-arab filth threat, which is paramount, IMO.
HR 3302. "To be cursed by the devil, is truly blessed." LOL! The traitorous, seditionist, sabotage-loving, subhuman, filth/garbage/shit/trash/scum/scum-of-the-earth/dirtbags, are living on borrowed time. I swear to God, that I will stand, shoulder-to-shoulder, with Fellow Conservative Patriots. If I can't live as a Free Man, I'd rather die as a Free Man.



History of the Button.
I'd like to begin by saying thanks for the snooze button. Since 1956, it has enabled generations of sleepyheads to wake slowly into the day. I'd also like to acknowledge the button that served on the first point-and-click camera. "You press the button, I do the rest." Oh, and let's not forget the buttons laboring on the front lines of every arcade across this land. Fire! Snap! They've taken maniacal pressing over the years and I salute them for it. There's so much more and I'm running out of time! Thanks, quickly, to the remote control buttons, the crosswalk buttons (whether they work or not), and Apple's first onscreen "buttons." Hooray! Last but not least, there's the actor-buttons: the button that scored a starring role on "Lost," the entire cast from Willy Wonka's "Wonkavator," and the buzzer-style warhorses from game shows like "Jeopardy!" To all the world of buttons, I say thanks. Life as we all know it, wouldn't exist without you.

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