If You Ever Find Yourself in the Sh*t - Keep Going. - Skip's Home Studio.

If You Ever Find Yourself in the Sh*t - Keep Going.

Friday, 27. June 2008, 13:48:13

We had our first salad from our little garden last night. It was fresh, organic, and tasted wonderful. I urge everybody to grow something. It only takes a kitchen window sill and/or hanging baskets, if you do not have a garden. Then study the plant(s) closely as they grow to bear flowers, seeds, and/or fruits. You become responsible for that living being, giving the plant's existence and yours mutual recognition. It is a good education to respond with nature.

Talking to Plants.Nature versus Technology.

Comments

You have inspired me to try an herb garden again but I must wait till the summer is over for my space in the back yard. Maybe I will start small on my kitchen windowsill.

By PainterWoman, # 28. June 2008, 16:55:24

Hey Skip: You would have really liked my friend Ralph, he was a real friend of plants. I really miss his tomatos. I am multi-tasking this morning, to wit: I am doing my laundry. I manage to generate two loads every week and I do it on Sunday morning. Jesu Christi desculpa. How did your visiting go? Jolly or just dutiful? Sometimes I have to do things socially that I really don't want to, but being a hermit is not the answer either.
Tyler

By Captivevet, # 29. June 2008, 13:52:41

Hello Tyler: Who said a man can not multi-task? ha! ha!

I have been very busy in the garden at this time of year and it is taking a lot of time from my art projects. Visiting on top of that leaves me even less time for myself these days. No, being a hermit is not good because people need to interact with each other, or what would be the point of being?

Skip.

By Skip247, # 29. June 2008, 16:05:31

Yes, without other people, there would just be the voices in my head. Don't freak now...I am a Gemini, so I am never alone.

By Captivevet, # 29. June 2008, 17:24:44

I have never heard any voice in my head. I'm slightly jealous. I am also feeling slightly paranoid because they will not talk to me for some reason. (I wonder if it is something I said).

By Skip247, # 29. June 2008, 17:39:51

Who said I hear voices? I don't hear voices. Oh yes you do...
I used to drive my friend Hector crazy because he would think that I was talking to him, when I would just be thinking out loud to myself. A habit I got from years of being alone in a truck (freight lorry) cab. It was so loud in there that I couldn't hear myself think sometimes.

By Captivevet, # 29. June 2008, 17:46:46

It must happen to a lot of truckers.
What was the best thing and the worse thing, for you, about being a truck driver?

By Skip247, # 29. June 2008, 17:51:32

First off, I did it for the money, and over the years, I got pretty good at it. The best part was that if I was dealing with an "ass-hole", I knew that in thirty minutes or less, that person would be history. The worst part is that you lose your friends and family.

By Captivevet, # 29. June 2008, 17:59:07

I suppose it was the same for cattle drovers in their day. Losing people can never be easy, especially when you are not there with them.

By Skip247, # 29. June 2008, 18:03:44

One time I came home for a visit, and everybody I knew had moved to other places. One friend of mine I missed by just one day. All they could tell me was that he had moved to Phoenix. I never saw any of them again. For awhile there, I just didn't even bother to make any more friends because I couldn't stand the emotional cost.

By Captivevet, # 29. June 2008, 18:08:06

It goes to show just how transient this life really is. People come and people go. That is why it is best to be living right here and right now.

By Skip247, # 29. June 2008, 18:39:05

In my own case, although I try to make plans, life has other ideas sometimes. I guarantee you that I had no idea I would end up where I am right now and doing what I am doing now.

By Captivevet, # 29. June 2008, 18:46:46

Who does? I do not think that we can plan our lives at all because there are too many external variables that effect us. It is how we deal with those variables that make our lives, for better or worse.

By Skip247, # 29. June 2008, 18:52:25

I think that it is possible to have a "general plan", but you have to be prepared for those sudden changes in direction. A general who could iprovise on the spot was always more successful. Except for Rommel, the Germans just never got the hang of that.

By Captivevet, # 29. June 2008, 18:59:41

Hey Skip: Another day in the can, but not the crapper. I am feeling pretty good today actually. I have posted another chapter of the "never ending saga", if you are interested. I have a 3day holiday comming up. It is not a favorite day for you Brits, I guess. So I won't mention it. Anything going on?

By Captivevet, # 1. July 2008, 20:16:06

"No taxation without representation," eh? I'm with you all on that one.

I have had a real busy day and I am paying for it. On top of my usual garden chores and activities, I had to clear my 'step-daughter's' totally overgrown garden with a pair of shears! It took me almost 5 hours but I finished it. I am now sitting down with a cup of tea, etc.

Give me a couple of minutes to sort myself out here, then I can relax and read your next chapter.

By Skip247, # 1. July 2008, 20:44:16

A new word for your daughter: weedwhacker, gas or electric. Of course they are not surgical, they take out everything, and perhaps you were trying to avoid that?

On the 4th of July, this place goes nuts. I guarantee that the fire department will have a busy night. The only reason that the colonies won the war (French not withstanding), is that we ARE you, just a little wilder. That is saying something, because you guys can get pretty wild yourselves sometimes. Rugby is as uncivilized a game as I have ever seen!

!

By Captivevet, # 1. July 2008, 20:59:01

I saw frogs getting out of my way as I was cutting. They were hiding in the long grass because it was damp and cool near the ground. If I had been using any kind of motor it would have been a massacre.

And gridiron is civilized?

By Skip247, # 1. July 2008, 21:13:10

I wouldn't say that it was, but those rugby boys don't wear any armor.

By Captivevet, # 1. July 2008, 21:15:06

That is why so many of them end up with serious injuries that curtail their career. Besides, we never had armour when the Romans decided to help themselves and we kicked some butt before we were subdued.

By Skip247, # 1. July 2008, 21:22:53

I don't see any Romans around there now. Britain wasn't subdued, she was just fulminating!

By Captivevet, # 1. July 2008, 21:52:54

Holy smoke! Found another Gemini on my friend list. I tend to collect them! What is your sign, Skip? I am an Aquarian.

By solid copper, # 6. July 2008, 15:03:02

Apparently I am a Virgo.

By Skip247, # 6. July 2008, 15:11:41

Ah, knowledgeable man.

By solid copper, # 6. July 2008, 15:19:34

I do not know about that (so I can not be that knowledgeable).

By Skip247, # 6. July 2008, 15:23:32

That is ok. Astrology is pseudoscience. I knew you stayed away from that. Now if you stay away from the frogs...

By solid copper, # 6. July 2008, 15:38:02

Who let the frogs out?

By Skip247, # 6. July 2008, 16:25:05

I have gotten up off my "sick bed" to say hi! My head looks like a watermelon, and my ears are plugged up, which is messing with my sense of balance. Like being drunk without the good parts.

By Captivevet, # 6. July 2008, 17:03:55

Since my stroke I have that exact same feeling 24/7. It is not a good place for a man to be.

By Skip247, # 6. July 2008, 17:15:11

You don't strike me as a man that would just lay down and take it. How much function have you been able to rcover?

By Captivevet, # 6. July 2008, 17:33:07

It is a good thing that I am not a man who would just lay down because I had no aftercare at all since I was released from the hospital and so I have self-learnt myself to manage it. I can not say how much the garden has helped me get around again. I can get around with a stick. Things are still moving and it takes a lot of my concentration to function. But, on the whole, I am doing fine and just enjoying being here.

By Skip247, # 6. July 2008, 17:41:44

Your stick stay away from the frogs! You may stay near.

By solid copper, # 6. July 2008, 17:50:56

Like all life on Earth, frogs have their own place and right to be here. They keep down the slugs that can devastate a garden.

By Skip247, # 6. July 2008, 17:56:30

The chain of life is very intricate. Back in 1950s we almost lost all of the birds because some yahoo thought it would be a good idea to get rid of flies by dumping DDT all over every thing.
I think that your brain will slowly rewire itself to different circuits if you keep at it. I have seen it before.

By Captivevet, # 6. July 2008, 18:12:37

Yes, that is what I am working on. Nature really does know best, that is why I rely on it.

By Skip247, # 6. July 2008, 18:15:36

Do you think that you will ever go back to sea, or have you had enough?

By Captivevet, # 6. July 2008, 18:18:46

I want go back to sea in the future, or, if I am unable to, I aim to explore the Norfolk Broads' flora and fauna at water level in a sailing dinghy, because soon it will all be gone to the sea. Whichever way I aim to sail again.

By Skip247, # 6. July 2008, 18:28:04

Hah! You can take a Brit out of the ocean, but how do you take the ocean out of the Brit? Are the Norfolk Broads a tide estuary?

By Captivevet, # 6. July 2008, 18:30:53

Yes it is. They are already argueing about giving 25 square miles of it to be a floodplain (losing 4 villages in the process!) but the sea is breaking through anyway. Coastal erosion is a serious problem to people here. They have a kind of flood defence, but even the London Barrier is under threat - so this one has no chance.

By Skip247, # 6. July 2008, 18:39:22

The sea is relentless. The Mississippi estuary is also being eaten away.
My uncle just asked me to lunch, so I will talk later.

By Captivevet, # 6. July 2008, 18:42:05

I like my garden above all,as well. Sometimes I wonder if it(she) is not understanding me. My Yorkshire,aged 12,is buried along the stream.There stands a boundary stone from the age of the Knights Templar, 10 yards away.Every plant and fruit trees are growing happily all around.I guess you had a look at my photos and saw those things.(excuse my poor English,if you please.My mother tongue is French. I am not a froggy but a Belgian from Liège ) Have a pleasant day,Skip

By FIFINELEB, # 18. July 2008, 14:44:53

It was wonderful to read here about your garden. From the look of your photos it is a beautiful garden. I find that the more care and attention one gives to the Earth (garden) the more she rewards you. It becomes like a mutual understanding when you are working together.

There is nothing wrong with your English, it is easily understood (unlike my almost non-existent French!). I have been through Belgium a couple of times in the distant past and it is a beautiful country and the people very warm and welcoming.

By Skip247, # 18. July 2008, 15:05:04

Well it is Friday night, lets see what I can get into tonight!

By Captivevet, # 18. July 2008, 20:59:29

Get into the weekend! Have you had a good week in all?

By Skip247, # 18. July 2008, 21:01:17

Kind of a rollor coaster ride, but it ended well. The price of oil dropped 11 bucks, so that don't hurt. I don't know how things are where you are, but people here, are definately not driving as much. Michigan's declining revenues from the hiway fuel prove it. It has been going down for two years or more. My next car will be electric.

By Captivevet, # 18. July 2008, 21:05:09

Does your uncle always pay for you when you two go out to eat, Tyler?

By solid copper, # 18. July 2008, 21:09:36

Why would he? I work. Since I can't get a woman from around here to go out with me, I go out on the town with him. We have fun.

By Captivevet, # 18. July 2008, 21:16:17

I thought you had a hard time at the table with him complaining about the food he ordered. But I am glad that you always like your food. I almost always like what I order, too. My problem is others always want what I order, which really pisses me off.

By solid copper, # 18. July 2008, 21:22:25

Same here, although when the price of oil comes down the price at the pumps do not. I have said that we needed a recession to stop people spending and wasting resources.

Our domestic gas fuel is going up 70% this year, adding £1,000 to the annual cost.