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I am currently eating a medley of Cinnamon toast crunch and Nestle Quick chocolate puff balls, and the flavour is…different. not in a bad way, but something my taste buds are having difficulty trying to parse. You see, I didn’t have enough of the Nestle puffs to make a decent breakfast, and so I opened a new box of CTC. Do I toss the unfulfilling quantity of puffs and start a new with the CTC, or just dump them both in, and give it a whirl? Yeah,cso cheapo me dumped them together and now my tongue is lost in left field of flavour town.

Making their own dam on the back lane to keep themselves out of harms way. Which is nice!

We ventured back here yesterday for a three hour rip through the last six or so rows of garlic in patch two. This time we used a tractor and a specially built plough to lift the bulbs mechanically, and then all we had to do was walk in afterwards and pick them up from where they lay. It still took us three hours because that was a tonne of garlic y’all. Couple thousand bulbs at least. Needless to say that both my back, and my hamstrings don’t feel so hot today. Rough night’s sleep also. Fetch my Voltaren! Stat!

So now I’m on water duty refilling the children’s dam so they can splash around with their odd little plastic toys. Plus they get to muck about with rocks, and get lots of fresh air all together. Cousins for the early Friday morning win!

I’m going to head home to begin my next report, so it’s good to get out early, walk the dog, and be active before I camp out in front of my computer for the rest of the day. I believe we have two more birthday parties this weekend. So more driving and festivities to attend on both Saturday, and on Sunday too. The dog is excited at least, even if I’m less enthused.

But to end on a high note, my interaction with the garlic patches has officially come to an end this year. Next up will be onions, sweet corn, apples, peaches and tomatoes, as well as peppers. There’s enough to make a variety of salsas if you were so inclined!

Speaking of which, I found a bunch of sealed jars of peach jam, and salsa from 2015 in a kitchen upper cupboard, and woof! Was that stuff ripe once opened. I poured it out into a green bin bag outside because the jams were pretty nasty. Smelled like old dirty feet. Salsa wasn’t too bad due to the acidity of the vinegar. But we can recycle at least ten glass jars, and I saved the pressure cooker resealable jars & tops. Made more room to organize the tupper ware, and get more minor items off the kitchen counter. I tossed some old kiddie drinking containers that were mouldy and beyond salvage. I’ve had a productive week with house organization. The purge lives on!

I rounded up a whole lot of busted household tech to go to the waste centre next week. Cleaning closets, and the basement for the next influx of “stuff & things“. I also cleared a couple bags of clothes too. I am on a roll. I can see the shelves once again in the laundry room too. If I could just get around to the paint cans under the basement stairs I would be nearly finished with the biggest offenders. I know we have a tonne of previous tenant junk in the attic that was just left behind, which I’ve never touched. Maybe that could be passed along with the house if we ever sell, or pass away. Too hot right now to be up in the rafters looking to move old carpets and shit. I’m sure there will always be something that bothers me in the house. Can’t get to everything, all at once. A slow steady drip has served me well thus far.

Also the results are never as stellar as I tell myself they will be once I actually follow through and remove an irritant object(s) from the house. I know in the long run it is better for us all, I just wish it felt more fulfilling to see the end result. Well, I guess it does feel good to see, and know it’s done, but I could do with a game-ified leveling up gold shimmer and new heightened stats or something. I don’t really know.

Any who, happy Friday. Ciao Bella!

Trying to do good deeds but the rains they follow me and pour all over the farm fields when I only have so much time to devote to farm work. One good thing is that these last few rains have been only four days apart so no need to water here for another four day stretch! And that’s a good thing.

Radar said rain at noon, then it was eleven, and by the time we got away from the house at 9:30 am it was already starting to drizzle, and drip-drop pretty consistently. All good for the farm vegetation. Makes pulling the garlic that much easier. Makes the deeper rooted weeds come up a whole lot easier too. Now we’re talking my love language, reduction of obstacles to achieve success. Booyah!

Unfortunately given the amount that has just fallen the ground will be far too mucky to work in. Yes, I work in a first world pace of my own making. This is unpaid labour at the family farm, so I help out, but I’m no hero. I’m not going full tilt in these temperatures for funsies. I don’t believe I would go full tilt even if being paid to work. I’d likely try to find a sustainable level of output, and do that for as long as possible in-between back aches, leg cramps, and muscle soreness.

The storm seems to have lowered the current temperature by a few degrees, it’s not much but it’s better than it was. Still not down into the low twenties yet where you could comfortably turn off the AC and have your windows & doors open to a cool breeze. This has been a very intensely warm early summer so far. By God has it been continuously hot for a while now with hardly any breaks.

The fields still have standing pools of water in them, so I think our time here is drawing to a close, at least for the morning. Maybe later this afternoon we can traverse these fields, and garlic patches. We do have to get it up and out of the ground before too much longer though. Can’t have 18,000 garlic bulbs left to rot.

I usually late to the game here as far as television programming is concerned, but I saw The Pitt, Murder Bot, Andor Season Two, and a few other items right as they came out. So I’m not that far behind the wave, but I do have to say I like the first season of Shrinking a good deal. I binge watched it over Monday & Tuesday this week. I did a lot of the cleaning & purging in the house while my wife, children, and dog were away, so I had the time and the television to myself for long stretches.

My problem is that some “great shows” are just too long. I want an exceptional 2 or 3 seasons and that’s it. Enough to become invested in, but not forget what’s happened from season to season. Ten to twelve episodes seasons, about forty two minutes long per episode, with likeable characters. Think Ted Lasso, rather than deeply problematic people cheating on one another, of fueling blood soaked revenge stories. I want heart, character growth, and relatable events. A single shed tear wouldn’t go amiss here either.

Although Murder Bot had some physical violence in it, it was still a sweet story at its core. Plus I really liked the Martha Wells book series, so I was ready for the murder portion, and the sarcasm. Well crafted. Waiting for seasons two & three! Excited.

Looks like we’re at Wednesday, middle of the week. Hump day even. I have more laundry on the go. I uncovered enough cardboard to fill another large blue bin, so I’m ready to empty that one day after recycling has all ready gone out for the week. Which sucks. I didn’t think of the cardboard hoard we had stashed away until I was cleaning in the basement, then it turned out we had far more than I was anticipating. Ready to go out now, so no harm no foul. Wish I’d have thought of it on Monday instead of late on Tuesday evening. No matter. Can’t change that now.

I have managed to clear some space on the laundry room shelves. Which is pretty nice. All I keep thinking about is how awful it’s going to be for our kids to have to empty this place out once we pass. Hopefully not for decades into the future, but still. I like to have ownership of what gets tossed.  At some point even “the good stuff” I keep will be little more than an added headache for my kids when they get into their 50’s and 60’s. But I don’t have it in me to get rid of everything I have spent my life collecting, curating, and crafting.

I keep coming back to this because my parents recently moved — again. I think for the 23rd of 24th time or perhaps more than that now. But they continue to lug around boxes, and cases of things. Stuff they rarely ever unpack. By their seventies they need kitchen wares, a suitcase of clothes each, a handful of knick knacks , and a shelf full of books, and a tv, and only the most essential physical media items they can’t live without. It shouldn’t be a 53 footer full to the rafters with every considerable item under the sun. International travel is out for them (health reasons, and no chance of getting travel insurance) so you can ditch the Hawaii wear, and anything related to the tropics. My dad has early vascular dementia so he won’t need power tools and any major equipment anymore. Besides DVD’s and dog stuff they should be able to fit in a cube van quite comfortably at this point. Bed & mattress should be the largest item they own. No need for a ten seater dining room table, and a kitchen table, and all that jazz. Pare it down while it’s still your choice.vsell items if you can to fund a new skimmer, lighter television. That’s my advice.

Every time I look in my closet I think of items I never wear, and should donate to friends or strangers who would actually benefit from it. I do not know if I will ever return to an office again. For client meetings, certainly. But not to go work day in, and day out. I need a suitable set of clothes for an occasional wedding, and for funerals. I gave up on the corporate ladder climbing rat race more than a decade ago. I don’t know much of anything that could get me to go back to commuting four hours a day, and working seventy hours a week, plus weekends once more.

Maybe if my book(s) got optioned for a TV mini series or an anthology movie by multiple directors I could snag an office to be on site to help answer questions, and see how the sausage gets made. But beyond that, I don’t see much beyond a threat of destitution and poverty leading me back into that lifestyle ever again.

But look at me, rambling and being introspective. Damn you Shrinking!

So yesterday I jumped right out of the gates as the girls left, to go find one additional bag of trash to go out to the curb for garbage day. I did a big one by filling a colossal construction bag full of old curtains I was keeping (of my mother’s from the 90’s), a broken chest, two busted back packs, and ripped gift bags, shredded gift tissue packing paper, and some old Christmas cards from about five years ago or more. Plus some random litter from the main floor to round out the bag. Which was a terrific start.

I cleaned various metal scraps from out of the shed, and the garage which was gone before I finished shutting the garage, and then the shed too. Some industrious fellow swung by in an Aztec and swooped it all up. Nice. I get more space, they get my junk, we are all happy.

Then I turned my eye towards a basement closet with two massive bags of clothes. Some of which was size 6, and 7 so nobody here can wear those, immediately expelled from the premises. Then I had to sort for larger 7/8 items for the fall and winter. I kept anything that was an 8/9 or above, provided it wasn’t ripped, torn, perma-dirty with stains, or not to my kids taste. Though, that is evolving as they grow, so I might need to take a keener eye to what they gravitate towards, and that which they avoid. Might need to recalibrate! Potentially. Either way, I mulled it all over and kept one much smaller, albeit overflowing bag of clothes for the youngest. The rest I drove to the donation boxes first thing this morning.

I took a detour to the inlaws and their neighbours to walk the trash & recycling down to the curb for them. Now that I have eaten I will go try some garlic removal for a short while.

I did some last minute edits on my report, and sent that off this morning as well. All in all a successful hour has gone by already. I might need to nap later today. I’m off to the garlic patch to try to finish the last row, and a bit before the sun peaks overhead. Ciao Bella!

**UPDATE:  I managed to get down to the garlic patch for 8:30 am, and it was already nearing 30°C on its way to feeling more like forty with the humidex added in on top. I started from the bottom, and did 60% of two rows side by side. Same variety of garlic so it didn’t really matter that I crossed multiple rows. The ground has begun to dry out after the last 1.5″ of rainfall we had on Sunday morning. So I did the lower lying stuff that I could pull up more easily. I left the top 40% of each row for my brother in-law to do himself later on today when he goes down to rota-till his old strawberry patch. As you can see from the photo, the weeds outshine the garlic by about 36 inches over and above. A tad prickly! The mosquitoes seem to love being in there as well. I left my bug spray in the other vehicle, so my 90 minutes of pulling was unpleasant. I did not go swim afterwards, I showered instead.

***UPDATE TWO:  in keeping with my desire to get rid of busted crap and replacing it with already purchased items, still in the box, but currently in storage. I am going to tackle our plates & bowls shortage. The set we got for our wedding has seen a number of breaks over the last fifteen years. So now I will open up, wash, and rotate in a new set of four, and rotate out my old bachelor sets,band out those back in the basement kitchen as part of our emergency reserve, along with all the bottled water, safety kits, and long term dry goods storage. It won’t be a readily noticeable improvement, but I’ll know about it, and will be pleased. Moving on!

Without needing to call anybody, nor ask about town, you can usually bet that within two to three hours of carting your old scrap metal bits down to the curb, some industrious person will pull up and take care of it for you. I am now so much closer to emptying out both the shed, and the garage of all of the left over bits of junk from our former tenant. Only taken ten years, but I am down to just the last few bits & pieces. Paint cans and old tech is all I have left at this point. If I can muster the strength then I’ll get rid of an ancient computer, monitor, my busted karaoke machine, and the old water softener. I’d be willing to bet we have some crud in the laundry room I could see taken away too if I was so inclined.

For when the purge bug hits, it strikes deep, hard & fast. Right down into the marrow of you. My heart beats faster, and I feel so alive. So very productive! Make room for what’s to come. If I have the time I will sort clothes and take a bunch to the textile donation boxes. My closet, and the basement still houses quite a bit of clothing that nobody has worn in a long time. The house will never get bigger I tell myself, but it can start to feel a bit roomier if you take the time to let it. If you are willing to make the effort! I am that man. I do. And I will.

These are the Chronicles of my week ahead. The goal — to fill at least one garbage bag with junk to go out with the trash, and to reclaim as much closet space as I am able. Either by donation to the CP people whom come and retrieve bags from the porch, or by taking items to the drop off bins located all over town.

I don’t wish to live with nothing but the minimum viable amount of “stuff”, but I am comfortable getting rid of “things” with no value add to our daily lives. I always start with my own closet, shop, and spaces. I would not purge more of my children’s things, than I would do for myself. It’s not a case of one pair or pants and a shirt from me, and six garbage bags of kids items. I’m not that kind of asshole. Plus a slower, and more measured approach means lifestyle change, versus a life altering event, and it’s associated trauma. This is a good thing to happen. It nurtures growth, exploration, and expansion of what means something to us, instead of doggedly hanging on to things just because he got them at some point, but no longer have any use for it, beyond “but, it’s mine!”.

Life is too short to get bogged down with things, stuff, and physical entanglements that can hold you back. We have more than a suitcases worth each, so it’s not about depriving anybody of anything. But keeping just the good stuff, and letting go of the rest. For peace of mind.

If I remember to document my journey, be sure to follow along won’t you? Take care out there. Ciao Bella!

Started earlier but still got bit by the sun. So much left to do in the second field, but we are down to 1.5 rows left to unearth in field one. Glad for yesterday’s rain, as they mostly pull up ok. Still using my forks though because the Italian Soft Neck gets real slick, and the stem will slide right off the bulb with even the slightest resistance. With 8 varieties of garlic to pull, we have our work cut out for us.

Welp! With a massive isosceles sweat triangle down my entire back, pit stains, and chest sweat, and stinging eyes I find it’s time for a swim, and then home to my day job tasks for today. I also have a grocery delivery to attend to. I also need to get ready for tomorrow’s garbage & recycling pick up. I do need to cut the grass at some point too. Maybe if I skip garlic, I can do my lawn instead? Depends on the inlaws, and their desire to run through the garlic as fast as humanly possible. I don’t wish to see it moulds, and rot in the ground, but I also don’t want to spend every morning doing garlic, with the heat, sweat, big bites, and blazing sunshine.

It’s a real sweet treat to be able to collapse into the pool afterwards, of that there are no lies detected! 10 stars, would recommend to anyone. The heater has been off for a few days so it’s a very refreshing dip at that. Well worth the effort of pulling garlic for a couple hours each morning.

We are so close to finishing the first field, you really can taste it. The garlic that is. Gets into you. Pores and all. Sweat, breath you name it — Garlic. Ever present. You know when you are working with garlic. Better than hot peppers, by far, because you can still touch your eyes and face if you have too without giving yourself chemical burns. You can pee freely without having to scrub your hands for twenty minutes first. You only misjudge that once. Believe you me.

It’s taking so long because I have to pull the weeds in order to find the garlic stalks. If it had of been weeded properly then we could just fly up the rows. It’s a little different when you have five foot tall thistles hiding your rows from you, and crowding out the bulbs. My back is sore, and my legs ache. I dread to think of the state of the second field. Whatever weed mitigation they’ve used hasn’t worked, like – at all. Next year before they plant they should take a propane torch to the soil and burn it all away then plant the garlic in November.

Well we are back to a very hot Monday. I’m ready to eat some lunch. I have some cleaning up to do around here. Laundry, and floors, dishes and the kitchen in general. Everything needs a good cleaning up. If my wife does abscond with the kids & dog then I can really get after it over the next couple of days. Garbage bag(s) in hand, and Purge! Purge! Purge!

We are moving the teeter totter to the cottage along with some kids chairs. We got the old pirate ship water table over to my 3 year old nephew. So progress whilst slow, is moving forward. Onwards and upwards comrades!

It’s coming down by the bucket load here, for a change. Outdoor work is suspended for the moment. Plants – watered. And then some. Now we have to decide whether it is better to sit and wait out the rains here, or go somewhere else to kill time. I do have paid work to do at some point today. A good three or so hours worth to make my Sunday productive. I’ll have to check the radar to see if this is going to be an all day thing, or just a lost morning in the garlic patches.

It was yet another hot one today. I got through two full rows before I needed to call it a day. Took a dip in the pool to cool off, going to have some lunch, then I’ll be back into my office to work on my latest report. It’s a varied life, and a good one at that. Pitch fork comes in handy on the soft soil after the rains finally came down to the farm fields. Still has a tonne of bugs, and the weed mitigations failed — again. Spend more time fighting the weeds than pulling up & cleaning off the garlic bulbs. Going to do some outdoor drying this year, on a mesh bed trailer. See if the increased air flow does us any favours. Until tomorrow, when we do it all again. Early morning farm run, swim, then paid day job. Happy Saturday!

Oh how sweet it is to be loved by you, by you! Friday is here, the weather is sunny and warm, but not excessively so. We had a pretty good cloud burst rain yesterday that dropped an inch and a half of water in the farm for the first time in quite a while. My grass is still somewhat green, while lots of patches up north are straw coloured already. Which is odd because we had two, if not more rain showers while we were away last week, but it must not have been enough to revive the grass above Peterborough. It has been exceptionally hot as of late, so I don’t blame our yards for folding early, and calling it quits about a month ahead of schedule. Just don’t drop any cigarettes, or matches anywhere otherwise we will all have a pretty major fire to concern ourselves with. Be safe. Have more water on hand than you would usually think you’d need to tend to your camp/bon fires. They’ll take off on you in these conditions. Ask me how I know.

Garlic harvesting season is upon us, and my wife, and my eldest daughter are both dutifully digging up bulbs (if they can get them out of the ground that is). Weeks of drying might have left the patch as a hard packed cement block. Plus yesterday’s rains might have turned the top most layer into a quagmire. Double whammy! Sticky, slippery, and tough all in one weed filled tract of land. Fun times.

I think my week of notoriety has passed, as I am back to semi-regular numbers now. Not a bad thing. It takes quite some doing to get to 3,000 views (nearly) 11 to 15 views at a time, with an occasional count up into the thirties if I write something catchy, or more entertaining than usual. It’s a long slow climb, but we will get there eventually. If I sell one more penny worth of ads served I’ll get paid fifteen whole cents, the absolute minimum viable amount. Well that’s what it was when I signed up, but it’s probably a different number by now. Ha. Luckily I am diversified, and not looking to the ad dollars to keep us afloat! I think I’d have to frame a cheque worth fifteen cents, just because it is so ridiculous. I once got paid seventy two cents by Amazon for the one and only book sale I’ve made in the UK.

Speaking of which I have about 50 downloads for both books here, and more for the audio version of one specific story I did. Accent was muddled, and all over the place, but it was fun to try. Not to mention my reading of One Fish, Two Fish gets fairly regular downloads too. Which is nice, gotta do things for the little ones too you know.

Besides blog posts I haven’t had much desire to write anything creative in a really long time. I was trying with the idea of going back to a setting for a short I liked, only to realize I wrote that on June 1st, 2022! Here I thought I did that maybe last year. I’ve been slacking! Seems I have been out of practice for a really long time. Oh well. It comes in spits, and spurts. I’m sure I’ll catch the writing bug again. I do like short stories a great deal. I like interconnected shorts even more. Give it time.

I haven’t touched my resin model kit, nor my illustrated children’s book in a really long time either. I haven’t sculpted much since I started my Hell Boy months, and months ago. I scroll YouTube a lot. I should just do my own stuff instead. Like building in the revitalized wood shop. Or artistic things in my studio/office space. Instead I watch machining videos from Australia, and watch other people clean, and organize their shop spaces. It’s infrastructure week!