My next step in the War on Beetles (and other bugs) is to plant marigolds and petunias around my vegetable garden and nasturtium along the fence near my apple trees. It’s not a quick and easy fix, but what’s the point of growing your own food if you can’t do it without chemicals?
Technorati Tags: gardens, organic gardening, pest control
Thinking that I must have just missed some important plot element, I tried watching The Bourne Supremacy again. No, I didn’t miss anything. It’s still stupid. The craziest part is that The Bourne Ultimatum was even worse.
I switched over to the SciFi Channel to watch Casper van Dien in Meltdown: Days of Destruction. Believe it or not, this was actually an improvement.
Technorati Tags: matt damon, julia stiles, casper van dien, the bourne supremacy, meltdown days of destruction, movies
Flea Beetles, that is. So many of them that they are devouring almost entire plants overnight. They really love the bok choy and cilantro, but they are also getting into the zuchini, bush beans, some peppers, and the cucumbers. They are almost completely ignoring the beets and carrots. I don’t want to use chemical pesticides on my food, so I applied a liberal coat of diatomaceous earth yesterday. The CSU extension web site says it’s “one of the more effective repellents.” I’ll let you know how that turns out.
Update June 28th, 2008: After one day there isn’t a beetle to be found on any plants. Hopefully it will stay that way after the next watering.
Update June 29th, 2008: Grrr. I watered the garden this morning, washing the d.e. off all the leaves. The beetles were back within eight hours. Unless I can find a beetle-repelling companion plant, I think I won’t be planting bok choy again.
Technorati Tags: flea beetles, diatomaceous earth, pesticides, insecticides, gardening, organic
HaloScan has a page with brief instructions for installing into a WordPress blog. Here’s a little more detail. I haven’t messed with different templates, so I’m not sure if all templates are alike enough for these instructions to work. If this doesn’t make sense to you, or if you can’t get it to work, you should probably just contact HaloScan for help.
1. Create a HaloScan account.
2. Make a backup of your WordPress blog files.
3. Open your Theme Editor in WordPress and select the Header file.
4. Immediately after the < head ...> tag, insert the first block of HaloScan code. Make sure that you replace “HALOSCANUSERNAME” with your actual HaloScan username. Update the file!
5. Select the Main Index Template file and insert the second block of HaloScan code immediately after this code:
< ? php the_content('Read the rest of this entry »'); ? >
< /div>
6. Find this code just a few lines down:
| < ?php edit_post_link('Edit', '', ' | '); ? > < ?php comments_popup_link('No Comments »', '1 Comment »', '% Comments »'); ?>
and comment it out like this:
< !-- Commented out for Haloscan | < ?php edit_post_link('Edit', '', ' | '); ? > < ?php comments_popup_link('No Comments »', '1 Comment »', '% Comments »'); ? > –>
(Remove the spaces after the < signs and before the > signs.)
Update the file!
7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 for the Archive and Search Results files.
8. Select the Single Post file and insert the second block of HaloScan code immediately before the line that reads < p class="postmetadata alt">. Update the file!
9. Select the Comments file and locate this code: < p class="nocomments" >Comments are closed.< /p>. Comment it out like this: < !-- Disabled because haloscan is installed. < p class="nocomments" >Comments are closed.< /p > –>. (Remove the spaces after the < signs and before the > signs just like in step 6.) Update the file!
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Is that too much to ask? Really? There are qualified men out there, so why doesn’t the American electorate possess sufficient gray matter to support them?
Technorati Tags: elections, politics, obama, clinton, mccain, ron paul
Skopje police say that reporter Vlado Taneski committed suicide in his jail cell. “He was found with his head in a bucket of water.”
Riiiiiiiiight. Sounds more like he was blackmailing the police chief with photos of his weekend trany trysts.
There are many beautiful sounding instruments in the world–the violin, cello, hang drum, flute, etc–but the guitar and the piano are almost certainly among the most versatile and beautiful of them all. A great player can make them sing in a language just barely beyond your memory, like something you knew as a child before you learned to speak the words of mere men.
Cheryl Amelang is a master pianist. I have had her latest CD, Refuge, for over six months, meaning to write a review, but the words escaped me. For the most part, they still do. I lack the vocubulary to describe Cheryl’s technical skills, and can barely even tell you how I feel about her playing. While enjoying this music, I sometimes have the impression that I am listening to something natural and organic. It ebbs and flows, swirls and eddies, rises and falls in tides of half-familiar hymns and prayers. I want to say, “Yes! That music, that’s what I’ve been trying to say.” But I still can’t tell you the words. Like praying in tongues, you feel the meaning pouring out, and still have no idea what it is. There are liner notes with the original lyrics to match the tunes, but those aren’t the words I hear.
To tell you the truth, I really don’t know what else to say, except that you have to sit back, close your eyes, and listen for yourself.
Other completely different things:
Technorati Tags: cheryl amelang, music, refuge
Approaching the last leg of Day 7, I’m a little hungry, but really, really cranky. I have about zero patience for stupidity today. Especially my own.
Everyone and everything is God’s.
In whom else should I put my trust?
(Don’t let me be shamed!)
(Don’t let my enemies triumph!)
Teach me your ways.
Forgive me when I stray.
Seven Samurai (aka Shichinin no Samurai) is the Japanese version of The Magnificent Seven. Vice versa actually. Samurai was made six years earlier.
A remote village in 16th century Japan has been under the thumb of bandits for several years. When the bandits promise to return after the barley harvest, the villagers determine to fight back by hiring seven down on their luck samurai. The story and acting was good. Yoshio Tsuchiya and Takashi Shimura were great. The character and subplot involving Rikichi’s wife could have used a little more attention. The battle scenes were sometimes very confusing. (Maybe that was on purpose. I’ve heard combat can be that way.)
What I found most interesting was a glimpse into how the Japanese see their own past and how almost no attempt was made to glamorize the characters or setting. There were no knights in shining armor, no super-human martial acrobatics, and very little selfless heroism. This was a story about real people in a dirty world and in bad situation.
Worth watching.
Technorati Tags: seven samurai, shichinin no samurai, takashi shimura, toshio tsuchiya, japan
Not to toot my own horn or anything, but…
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145 As a 1930s husband, I am |
On another note…About to start Day 7. Still fasting and praying.