A Plethora of Incidentals

There is light cloud, lots of blue sky and no threat of rain. I’ve no agenda today; I will pass time gently and have at least one good, long dog walk. It’s very easy to maintain this place when I don’t have to water the garden and do all the other things the yard demands. Perhaps that’s Fall and Winter’s consolation: Lots of free time.

I’ll watch the destruction next door. I find it very interesting. (And I'll gloat a little about my emerging lawn.)

Tuesday began at the dog salon. Sheba got a haircut and while she was groomed, I met Jay for breakfast. He’s going away for a month and I’ll be looking after his mail.

I usually have a clump of hair left on her cheeks giving Sheba a terrier look. But because her facial hair was the hardest to keep clean and it is filled with burrs and seeds, I had her nose and face clipped. Now she really looks like a Poodle—a broad-beamed Poodle. 

When I got back home the bulldozer was back at work clearing the lot next door. More trees were coming down and I learned that they are pushed over to expose the trees’ roots. I’m guessing the clearing will continue today.

I walked into the lot next door and found the pit dug to test the soil for their septic field (while the bulldozer operator was at lunch). Their field is going to be right beside my lot and field. That probably means the trees there will be coming down and if that leaves single trees exposed on my lot, I’ll be talking to them about also bringing them down. Single spires are dangerous.

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While I was having a spa yesterday, Fred went into my laundry hamper and fetched a wool sock. He took it and dumped it in Sheba’s water dish and then started running around with it.

Darrell came by with a grow light that I put on a timer so that my two marijuana plants can finish blooming in my shed under the light. They are also being constantly fanned. Consequently, I am reading about how to grow and harvest them. 

The plants are covered in little blooms. But each one is actually a tight cluster of blossoms that grow into little towers (colas), especially at the top of the plant. Soon stigmas—thread-like parts of the flower—will emerge and so will the bracts. Bracts are tiny leaves surrounding the female reproductive organ and they are covered in a translucent material called a calyx.

The leaves of the flower, the stigmas, bracts and the calyx are all covered with trichomes—mushroom like glands that secrete aromatic oils called terpenes and cannabinoids (THC and CBD). It’s these oils that are the highly desired active ingredients of the plant.

It’s been amazing growing my few tomatoes and the marijuana. It’s given me a taste for practical gardening and next year, with my new fenced raised beds, I’ll have a field day. 

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Yesterday I was questioning why the abuse of the Catholic clergy didn’t morph into the #MeToo movement. Why was Harvey Weinstein the catalyst and not any number of Cardinals and Bishops, I wondered. How stupid can I be? The victims of the clergy were hiding their sexuality; they could not report the crimes against them without further damaging their careers.