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fall, at last
friday, november 2nd, 2007
just a scant week or two ago, it seemed like Fall would never get here. Summer weather was at a "redux", every 1-2 weeks, without end: seemingly-unending heat, drought, humidity re-occurring without any end-in-sight. In previous years, we were well inside the bounds of Fall weather, at this point-in-time, but for some strange, unknown reason this year, we were still in the throes of "Indian Summer", and November was fast closing-in upon us. The "Unending Drought From Hell" had come-to-stay, and wells, springs, creeks, streams, ponds etc, were drying-up, as never before seen since the early-60s, according to my local neighbors at the GC&N Complex. Then we got a reprieve on Thurs-Fri-Sat of last week: over 4¼" of rain, which refilled streams, creeks, wells, springs, ponds, reservoirs, lakes etc, and even put a few inches of badly-needed moisture back into the ground. Things are definitely looking-up, and I'm anxiously-waiting for the next rainy period, until the ground finally freezes, and we're on our way to Spring, through a long, cold, snowy Winter.
Around The Garden Center™
Thankfully, the Fall Rains came and gave us 2-3" of ground moisture, although we truly need 5-8" more, just to get "back to normal", and although it's a huge amount less than what this Mid-Atlantic Region needs, I'm quite happy to get what we've gotten, so far. No compaints so far.
My LSCP Crews took 2 rain-days-off — Thursday & Friday — since we'd gotten 3-4" of much-needed rainfall, and it was just too rainy, muddy and cold to get anything done. My GC&N Staff worked inside on the computers, re-pricing plant material for Spring '08, updating inventory, and doing what needed to be done, to get us through Fall-Winter, into Spring '08.
Jeff & Denise took me to Restaurant Sidney, on Friday evening, in nearby East Berlin (PA), and I had one of the best meals, ever. I heartily-recommend that you make reservations, go and enjoy the food/drink/atmosphere there, as it's unlike anything you've experienced in this region. I was home early, with 14oz prime rib 'leftovers' for Saturday and Sunday sandwiches. It poured all night long and into Saturday morning.
My Logitech Keyboard crapped-out, just before we went to Restaurant Sidney, on Friday evening, and the WinXp Pro start-screen hung for 65mins, until I rebooted-it. I grabbed an old "Dell QuietKey" board, from the basement's 'hardware collection', and it worked, until I could order a Logitech replacement board, which I did on Tuesday morning.
Driving to work on Saturday morning, in the pouring rain was delightful! For a change. Creeks and streams were already overflowing their banks, and my two multi-million/billion gallon retention ponds, were also overflowing; something which I haven't seen in many, many months. I drove around the Winterstown, Stewartstown and Felton areas, and saw many streams, brooks and creeks way-up over their banks, but so far, no road closures. The rain gauge lists 4¼", but it sure looks like we got more than that, with 3 days and nights of steady, heavy rain. No complaints. The skies cleared around 12noon, and vio´la: customers by the score! My "scheduled, Saturday sales helper" was AWOL, but Dad & I handled the unexpected retail traffic, just fine, thankyouverymuch. Heh. I sure wish I had the "option" of taking a scheduled day-off, anytime I wanted to, but I don't. Being the Owner/Operator of a business carries many responsibilities with it, and doesn't allow for too much latitude of laxness, as I knew when I started the multi-million-dollar operation, 17yrs ago. So be it: "it is what it is".
Fall weather has finally settled-in, as a result of the Thurs/Fri/Sat stormfront moving through: seasonal daytime 50°Fs and 60°Fs temps, nighttime frost warnings, and greatly-lowered humidity of >40%. I'm enjoying it, bigtime. It's a real pleasure to have the condo's windows wide-open, fresh air streaming through, a roaring fire in the fireplace in the evenings, heat on in the mornings at 6am when I'm up to feed the cats and get ready to leave for work, wearing a different one of my ten $94(ea) Pendleton Woolen Board Shirts everyday, dressing in "layers", switching-out Fall-to-Winter coats/shirts/hats etc, beginning to slowly "Winterize" portions of the GC&N Complex, getting ready to begin storing tens-of-thousands of potted nursery stock plants, winding-down the 3-miles of drip irrigation systems, blowing-out (the standing water from) the solid buried-underground drip irrigation lines, preparing/dosing all trees and shrubs with Holly-Tone® Fertilizer, getting Key-Employees' Winter work schedules ironed-out, all employees reviewed for Spring re-employment, and getting ready for a Winter which can be surprising in both its violence and moderation.
It was >30°F when I left for work on Monday and Tuesday, and a heavy frost coated just about everything, everywhere, on both days. The remaining 75% of the still-green trees in the forests and landscapes, will begin to change very rapidly now, beyond what damage the "Unending Drought From Hell" did, for the past 3 mos. I welcome the leaf-drop, as we can them begin putting-away thousands of potted trees/shrubs/perennials away, in the 6 massive GHs, for storage. If the dying leaves were included in the storage component, there would be disease and insect infestation included with the stored plant materials, which would be a huge mistake, on my part. I won't do something as stupid as that, so we'll eait on the 'leaf-drop' scenario, to be completed.
With oil prices now topping $96/bbl, gas prices at the pump have risen 9-13¢, this week. Unleaded Regular is now at $2.99/gal, Unleaded Plus is up to $3.09/gal, and Unleaded Premium is now at $3.29/gal. Again, I don't track diesel or kerosene (K2), so I'll not mention those price increases here. Actually no biggie, really, from last week's rises, but look for those prices to rise substantially, over the Winter Months. Most US refineries are well-underway in switching from "Summer driving fuels' to "Winter home heating fuels", and many other worthless, costly Peoples' Republik of Kalifornikkkate's myriad, idiotic, dumbass mix of fuels, for that screwed-up state, IMO. That idiocy, plus the fact that America's not built a new refinery in the past 20+yrs, or substantially-upgraded the existing refineries, are just two of the many reasons why we're paying higher prices. And those reasons, plus we've been legally-restricted by the left-wing enviro-wackos, from exploring/drilling in ANWR and in the plentifull off-shore oil/gas fields. Don't get me started... you don't want to hear "the truth". If you did, you'd have a heart attack or stroke, IMO.
Daylight Savings Time — another worthless, US Gov't ploy — began on Sunday, Nov 4th, a full-week later than usual (should have started Oct 28th), which did ZERO to save a thin-dime's worth of oil.
Yes, after reading this article about "Vampire Electronics", I unplugged every cellphone charger, applicance w/ a clock (Sony BetaMax 900 and Sony VHS), and many other small applicances, which I'd never thought about before. I don't leave toasters, food processors, coffee pots, hair dryers, shavers, etc etc etc, ever plugged-in, BTW. They're always unplugged, withe the exception of my bedside alarm clock. That was just a few days ago, and I'll keep track of my average monthly electric (Met-Ed Co) service and costs, and report back to you, after 1-2-3-4mos, to see what's changed on the later invoices. Fortunately, I have a month-over-month, year-over-year cost chart, on each invoice (I knew they'd come-in handy, someday!), as provided by the MT-Ed Co's Billing Dept, so it'll be fairly-easy to track the obvious +/- dollar changes. "Film at 11..." Heh.
A few months ago, I'd downloaded/installed an app, called "Desktop Sidebar", which effectively-mimics MS-Vista's GUI (Graphical User Interface), and it so-intrigued me, that I went ahead and began the process, leading to daily usage. My 19" Dell Flat-Panel LCD Monitors — one at home, three at work — just don't have the surface area to accomodate the Vista-like sidebars/graphics, but I can turn it on/off, at-will, and enjoy it when I want to. I'm looking at the Dell/Samsung 22" Widescreen Monitors, right now. Perhaps the Dell/Samsung 24-30+" Widescreen Monitors? Who knows? Maybe they'll more-fittingly accomodate the "Desktop Sidebar" app, and it won't look so out-of-place, in a 19" world. Maybe.
I had a lot of back pain (sciatica) on Tuesday afternoon/evening, so I slept-in on Wednesday morning, and spent the time with a heating pad, after taking a "pain pill" on Tuesday evening. I woke-up at 6am, to feed the cats — and overslept until 7:30am — when I heard two of my employees' LSCP Maintenance Crew working on cleaning-up the front of my condo's spent perennials and ornamental grasses, raking the cuttings-off, and making the place look presentable for the coming Winter months, as they do every Fall.
For the first time in 17yrs, we're winding-up the season, 3-5 weeks early, mainly because the work has "dried-up", thanks to "The Unending Drought From Hell". Although the heavy rains came last week, and the air/ground temps have dropped, most people have now delayed their landscape projects until Spring '08 — and I've already moved them onto that future schedule — so we'll be starting to ready the tens-of-thousands of containerized nursery stock material, for Winter storage in the 6 massive greenhouses. That process alone will take 5-6 people, a solid 2-3 weeks to complete. The heeled-in, B&B (balled & burlapped) trees, are okay where they're at, and will only require some additional mulch or woodchips, to offer protection against the cold Winter weather. My Horticulturalist and GH Guy, are already cutting-back the perennials, and will soon be cleaning-up the main display gardens, and moving the container plant material into the GHs. I just heard on local WSBA-910AM, that we're in for much colder weather and snow flurries, next week. The snow/ice storms in The Rockies are moving into The Great Plains and The Midwest, and will begin moving east, shortly. Yikes!
After losing Pickle 2 years ago, on August 17th, I've decided to "partner" with Olivia's House, here in York (PA), to help local children cope with the grief of loss, of both pets and family. I am pledged to donate $500 to them, in the form of 5 x $100 Landscaping Gift Certificates, for their March '08 "Live Auction". I donate $10,000-plus each year — and in many cases, over $20,000-$40,000 — to schools, churches, universities, libraries, civic groups, Scouting, gardening clubs, governments etc etc etc in the York Area. In many cases, I do it anonymously, or in the name of a Family Member, as I'm not looking for thanks or public recognition, but rather to better that institution, the community and leave a small legacy of myself, behind.
Murderous, Left-Coast Wildfires™.
It's official: it's arson. A criminal, illegal alien — Gorgonio Nava — set one of them, and he needs to be summarily-executed, without any trial. Headshoot the criminal illegal alien filth! Kill the SOB! I'm sure the subhuman, lowlife liberal-demokkkRAT filth, will *wet their bunched-up panties*, and *soil themselves* with random and massive 'brown spots', all over their Depends®!
SoCal Authorities, investigating a destructive Southern California wildfire set by an arsonist, asked for the public's help Friday in finding a pickup truck seen in the area where the fire started. Officials released a picture of a white Ford F-150 and said they wanted to talk to the driver, but stopped short of calling the person a suspect. Find him and kill him, if he's guilty. IMO.
"Six illegal aliens" were arrested today by US Border Patrol agents at Qualcomm Stadium, after a report that they were stealing food and water meant for evacuees? Shoot the theiving scum, IMO! KILL THEM!
And, officials blamed a wildfire that consumed more than 38,000 acres and destroyed 21 homes last week on a boy playing with matches, and said they would ask a prosecutor to consider the case. Sorry — no, I'm not — the piece-of-shit punk deserves life-in-prison, but if I had my way, he'd be headshot dead, and never reproduce/breed, never-ever to do such destruction/death, ever again. IMO. Age is no damned excuse! He needs death.
Treasonous, Seditious US Congress™.
The corrupt, criminal, verminous US Congress is complicit in treason, sedition and sabotage, IMO. Fully 85% of them need hanging, for treason, in a time of war IMO. If I could pull the trigger, pull the lever, push the button or slide the syringe-of-death, into their treasonous veins, I would! In a fucking heartbeat!
Like their fellow/fellow-ette traitors/seditionsts/saboteurs in the corrupt, criminal US Congress, who last week tried and failed to pass the DREAM (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors), aka "Nightmare", Amnesty Act, which failed to get the vote: it got 52 votes; eight short of the 60 votes, needed. US Sen dirtbag, liar, traitor, seditionist, saboteur Harry "Dingy" Reid (TRAITOR-NV) failed, once again. Reid truly needs hanging, IMO. Once again: if I could pull the trigger, pull the lever, push the button or slide the syringe-of-death, into his treasonous veins, I would!
Now, the corrupt, criminal House of Reps — 73% of whom who deserve summary-execution/hanging — has again passed a "revised children's health proposal (SCHIP)", last Thursday, but not by the two-thirds margin that supporters will need if President Bush vetoes the measure as promised. The 265-142 vote was a victory for Bush and his allies, who urged House Republicans to reject Democrats' claims that changes to the legislation had met their chief concerns. If the same vote occurs on a veto override attempt, Bush will prevail, as he did earlier this month when he vetoed a similar bill. The ignorant pig-f*cking Pelosi whorebag-skank-filth, said, "...the legislation "has the support of the American people." No, it doesn't, you dumbassed verminous, slut-filth, treasonous whore skank bitch, who is another traitor/seditionist/saboteur, and who needs hanging, IMO!
Global Warming Bullshit™.
Have you seen this video: "BBC: The Great Global Warming Swindle"? It was banned from leftist, hate-filled, dirtbag lowlife scumbags, Google.com's and YouTube.com's websites, by the mentally-ill dirtbag, subhuman, left-wing, global warming idiot wackos, but I've preserved it, for posterity, aka you, me and *ours*. Watch, be informed and download it for others to see. It's on my corporate server, and will stay there, BTW.
Global warming is an entirely natural phenomenon and its effects can even be beneficial, according to two leading researchers.
Have you taken "The Global Warming Quiz"? It's a simple 10 questions, right here. I got 9 or 10, on my first try; missed the one on temperature measurement methods. How did you do?
Gosh; another video which completely-refutes and destroys the shit-for-brains, mentally-ill asshole, AlGorBore's crap PowerPoint slideshit-show, "An Inconvenient Idiocy". Watch it, and be informed about Gore's lies and bullshit.
This is an approximately, 1,500yr climate-cycle — proven beyond a reasonable doubt — and has ZERO, NOTHING. NADA, ZIP to do with Mankind's CO®2 emissions, which are 0.032% — essentially NOTHING! — to do with anything, statistically-speaking.
Basic References:
Lawrence
Solomon's "The Deniers" (a series of articles on the view of scientists
who have been labelled "Global Warming Deniers"):
Other References:
Some People Just Need Killing™
Charge, arrest, try, convict, sentence and execute/kill/hang en masse´ the subhuman, lowlife dirtbag liberal-demokkkRAT filth traitors, seditioniosts and saboteurs, wrongly-called "United for Peace and Justice Coalition", a hard-left marxist, commie, socialist collections of lowlife garbage, subhuman filth, trash, scum, junk and crap, who need complete and total eradication from the face-of-the-earth, IMO. Headshoot them all, IMO. They're "The Enemy Within™".
The murderous, verminous subhuman piece-of-camelass-fucking-asshole shitscumbag, Jamal al-Badawi, needs killing, IMO! Find the al Queerda shitfilth, CIA, and KILL HIM!
Lisa Montgomery, a filthy, ugly skank-bitch, mentally-ill, whorebag murderess, NEEDS KILLING, IMO! Kill the murderous bitch!
Paul David Addis, 35, the subhuman piece-of-shit, accused of setting the "Burning Man" garbage/trash/junk/crap on fire four days early, has been arrested for allegedly planning to set Grace Cathedral ablaze. He needs summary-killing, IMO. Headshoot the scumbag filth.
The cowardly, shit-for-brains, liberal, shit-scumbag, so-called US Supreme Court — I spit upon them for their cowardice and liberalism, BTW — has blocked the execution of Mississippi death row inmate, admitted murderer Earl Wesley Berry, less than an hour before he was scheduled to die. Berry admitted kidnapping Mary Bounds outside the First Baptist Church on a cold November day in 1987, and beating her to death before dumping her body in the woods. Berry needs summary-killing, ASAP, IMO!
No, IMO all sex offenders should be executed/killed, and not just "locked down" for halloween Night, to merely-protect the kiddies out "trick or treating". Society should be made safe 24x7x365, and that means killing all sex offenders.
IMO, it's just too damned bad that the hate-America, socialist, commie, lowlife, alcoholic filth, drug-addicted, fat, bloated, should-have-been-assassinated in the 80s scumbag, criminal, corrupt, disgraced, intern-murdering asshole, US Sen Teddie "Chappaquiddick Swimmer" Kennedy (TRAITOR-MA) didn't die upon the OR table, during this carotid artery surgery, last month. The nation would be sooooo much better-off, if he was dead. IMO. Kennedy's garbage/shit/whitetrash/scum/filth/criminal/junk, and he richly-deserves DEATH, IMO.
Last Night's Garbage.
"Each day, the United States throws away enough trash to fill 63,000 garbage trucks." —The Cass County Solid Waste Management District. It all began on July 16, 2007, when one man decided he'd had enough. "You can't walk down a single street in New York City without the sight and smell of trash, rubbish, yesterday's news, and last night's garbage," he may have said to himself. "Everyone tosses things away: the fashionable, the leisure class, the chronically thirsty. What we need is the documentarist, a troubadour, perhaps, who can help me regard what I waste and reconsider what I discard in a whole new light. I will never look at last night's garbage in the same way.
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