Author Archives: Joel

Keeping me company while I took laundry off the line… He’s not always so dignified. Last Sunday at a get-together on SurvivalDave’s deck he met two ladies he doesn’t see often – and we’ve never met a female human he … Continue reading →

When I picked the fruit in August I had a lot of trouble with the tall vertical branches in the middle, so I determined that before winter I’d prune them off. I hesitated, of course, because that’s a pretty major … Continue reading →

Tobie had his dinner and immediately began harassing me for his evening walkie. No problem; beautiful day, can’t wait. We got to the top of the climb on the beaten path between the Lair and Ian’s Cave. The moon was … Continue reading →

We’re all on wells, we all built our own electrical and plumbing systems, we’re all on solar power which doesn’t always work even in the desert, none of us knew what we were doing, we all get dry water tanks … Continue reading →

Where are those crying in laughter emojis?

From Commenter Eric, I don’t quite know where… That’s pretty impressive for November.

We don’t usually go into the teens overnight before December. Everything is working fine, the Lair is insulated against far worse now but I was surprised to get this kind of weather so early in the season. It must be … Continue reading →

The snow finally slackened off around 10:30 and I went outside to clean off the solar panels on the ground mount. Turned out I could’ve stayed indoors… That’s not supposed to happen. Here’s what the roof-mounted panels were like at … Continue reading →

ED NOTE: I wrote this yesterday morning but somehow didn’t post it, and didn’t notice that I hadn’t posted it till just now. The last chapter in my latest water hassle. A couple of cool wet days. Night before last … Continue reading →

It’s really snowing out… It wasn’t supposed to amount to anything – in fact it was forecast to have stopped by now. But I think even Mike would acknowledge that this is at least snowfall. Two pieces of semi-related good … Continue reading →

Unfortunately it’s a little late. I came into the kitchen this morning, looked at the water pressure, and… Empty tank. Yesterday there was nearly a thousand gallons in there. Lying in bed last night it occurred to me that there … Continue reading →

At the back of my sink is a big goofy-looking water pressure gauge, a gift from Big Brother several years ago, which can tell me when the water tank at the top of the ridge is not filling. And this … Continue reading →

Get a load of this… Advertise up to 200 MILLION EMAILS WITH THE LOWEST PRICE! Immediate BOOM OF SALES! TALK TO US: WhatsApp: +55 32 98509 4054 You can advertise all over the world, or you can choose the countries … Continue reading →

I have Isle of Dogs on DVD, just re-watched it this evening, and it’s worth anybody’s time.

Just as I began chainsawing all my new yard juniper into stovewood, I ran into a problem I had hoped would hold off a bit: My single chain went “burn through the wood” dull. Unfortunately it’s a smaller size than … Continue reading →

Safest bet was that I didn’t clean it. And it had accumulated quite a bit of soot… …and so it was definitely time to give the stovepipe a good pre-winter scrub. I used to be much more diligent about cleaning … Continue reading →

Night before last we got a hard frost… Then last night we got a hard freeze. But that’s because the clouds cleared out overnight. Gloomy as hell yesterday, almost half an inch of rain. It’s substantially warmer today than yesterday … Continue reading →

From a 2017 newspaper article: “Today marks the 35th anniversary of the death of Sir Douglas Bader and I couldn’t let it pass without this story about the RAF hero. He was giving a talk at an upmarket girl’s school … Continue reading →

It was supposed to be raining this morning… …and despite there not being a cloud in the sky I rushed around getting our chores done because with the blasting wind and plummeting temperature I was reasonably sure the weatherman wasn’t … Continue reading →

Went into S&L’s place to feed their cat. There was something in her bowl. Looked more closely, and… …she had deposited this well-chewed mouse in her bowl, presumably so it would be impossible for her meal tickets to miss. Wise … Continue reading →