Random thoughts from the moose cave.

You can't bring the kitty in? Oh crud...I gotta go get the dogs. I forgot.

commonly known as 4/90 aircon.

let me get this straight...

you want me to let the alley cat inside to set up a cage match???

no.

I went googling on a whim, looking for my favorite high school teacher. pretty sure he's dead now. he was old and verra crusty back then. found this instead.

a kid I kinda remember from grade school. his mom was one of my sis's teachers.

(he's many years less than I...)

whodathunk he turned out like this?

http://www.e-margaux.com/en/story/rolf-potts/index.htm

still searching for details on Mr Fredin...(he taught English Comp)

the to kill a mockingbird thread got me thinking about him. (we read a hella lot of classics and then tore them apart) he reminds me quite of a lot of the Dys. his favorite saying was...

"that's not worth a cup of cold spit."

like I said, crusty. but brilliant.

i'm cold...

i know, how weird is that?

big storms rolled through about 3 am.

still booming a little. dark and blustery north wind.

the prairie is kinda crazy. bet it's hot again before dark...

In case you didn't see it, Rolf Potts has a website and the website has an email contact. Maybe he can give you some details of your friend.

http://rolfpotts.com/index.html

He also has a daily blog where you might be able to inquire about Mr. Fredin:

http://www.vagablogging.net/

Thanks for introducing him to us. He's quite an interesting fellow. I spent a couple hours on his website reading his interesting writings.

I seriously doubt mr Fredin ever considered me a friend.

I am pretty certain he was wise to some of my activities in his classroom and let them slide, however.

during the summers, he was a trail guide in Montana or Wyoming, I don't really remember the details.

he resembled a wiry old mountain goat.

but commanded respect wherever he went. cynical to a razor's edge. and always up for a heated discussion.

he was Matthew Brady in a school performance of Inherit the Wind.

blew me away...

All I knew about Mr. Fredin was that he guzzled coffee all day long from his thermos, and looked like he was about to kick-off any day now back in the mid 80's.

Didn't really know Rolf very well, but I knew his dad pretty good. I like this quote from Rolf: "... but if I crave excitement I can drive to Wichita."
http://wayneyang.wordpress.com/2006/06/14/rolf-potts-interview

I didn't think those words had ever been uttered.

he did like his coffee.

thanks.

Update on my car:

Had my neighborhood mechanic take a look at the car after describing to him what I wrote here. He wasn't able to duplicate the smells or noises after driving the car for about 15 minutes in city and highway traffic. The air conditioning seems to be working fine now. I have no explanation... He too checked all the belts, hoses and other things that go bump in the night under a car hood. He does want to keep an eye on the radiator and radiator pump, says the smell could be from leaking anti-freeze. I don't think so, it doesn't smell anything like what I smelled that day.

He did, however, discover that I have a broken rear axle and has special ordered parts which will be in next Friday. He says the broken rear axle also caused the newly replaced brake pads to be grounded down to nothing (this will be the third time they've been replaced in less than a year). He's given me the old pads each time he's replaced them so I know he's doing right by me.

I don't think that could be the source of the smell or grinding noises I heard since I was parked in the driveway or in a parking stall at the store when they occurred.

The mystery continues..

How's your garden doing? I sowed fertilizer on my veggies yesterday. The eggplants and cucumbers are blooming, the tomatoes are blooming, strawberries are forming and the corn is over a foot high now. The peas I planted were supposed to be a Texan variety developed for hot weather but I have a feeling they aren't going to do very well after the record heatwave we've had for the past 10 days.

it looks good.

some of the beans are laid over from the heavy rains.

the worms are leaving my broccoli alone.

my melons and tomatoes are growing like crazy in the soupy heat.

grass is my best crop...

and i've been eating my own leaf lettuce on my sammiches this week.

I have seen the face of mine enemy and now must find a way to conquer him.

he is baby hoppers. (lots) and will be warrior hoppers before his mission is complete.

how do I combat grasshoppers without poison???

help...

eek! Locusts!!!



source

how many and what kinda fish do I gotta grind up for an emulsion?

(and the guppies all swam away...)

and my cilantro is about dead center. (damn)

I bet you could eliminate the fish emulsion (I get it in a bottle at the garden center near the fertilizers). I use it as an organic fertilizer. Not sure what purpose it serves as a bug repellent other than odor perhaps.

bugs like feces, but dislike fish...

hmmmm.

I got 'em at the house too. in the fleurs.

(baby grapes still look good)

gonna go water at the farm and ponder it...

R-12 update.

there is currently a product on the market to replace the freon in your systems that were designed for the ultra expensive and black market traded R12.

it is marketed here as Freez-12 and is about $15 a can.

gonna try some for a cheapskate acquaintance, but my parts guy says it works ok.

Last guy I worked under had a big can of r-12. You had to be a close insider to even know he had it.

a guy that looks a lot like a younger me bought a pallet of it for $1.95 a can about 3 weeks before the laws took effect. (some 20 years ago)

was a pretty good investment, if I heard correctly.