Pumpkin carving tools and ideas

OK! That was quick. I love this library called the Internet. Here's an early find on the search for what the good tools might look like.
A dry wall saw might be a little course, but it's quite possible that a decent old fashioned hardware store might yield some tools appropriate for the job in a better quality than some of the over priced low quality kits I've seen.

Paul's people mural and parrots of Telegraph Hill

Paul's posted some images of the parrots of Telegraph Hill and the surrounding area.
The first in the series is the wall mural below. I love everything about this mural.

There is a fellow that tends to the birds there. I had missed seeing a film about the parrots and this homeless man, earlier this year. Has anyone seen it?

Clicking on the image below will take you to the first series of images on Paul's site.

Jack-O-lantern 2006

The girls had some fun tonight carving out our pumpkins. We often aren't able to grow our own, but this year was a breeze with all the heat we had. I can only imagine what it might have been like if we had all the water they might have used to grow bigger.

Halloween pumpkin jack-O-lantern with Bonnie and Manon


Bonnie's in the hard light of day


Bonnie's and Manon's in the hard light of day


Manon's in the dark


Both in the dark

sick, fall gardening and Manon at thirteen

I feel like a bag of dirt today, but the gardens are tilled and the garlic is in. I only planted one 12 meter double row though as that's all the seed I had left. I grow it to use, but if I don't designate the best of the crop for seed it gets made into sauce. ehh
I really have to defend myself better around here!

Lots of yard clean up got done yesterday too. The flower beds are in pretty good shape and what's left can wait until spring. The soil in the new garden is pretty sad. I had hoped to get the chicken coup mucked out and tilled into the new one, but that looks dicey now that I'm fighting some respiratory thang. I have to remain grateful to have the garlic in before the big white sleep.

Last spring I tilled the daylights out of the new garden to get started and then quickly planted it before the weeds took off. I didn't lift a finger for the planting, but it is a team effort regardless. Once the produce was off, I invested about ten hours of weeding out the quack grass and got a big third of the space cleaned up well. Yesterday I ran the tiller through the rest of it to break it up a bit. The soil in some places is very shallow and what's underneath appears to be hard pan and gravel.

Fortunately it's been a barn yard for the last seventy years or so and that ensured that it was at least fertile this year. The various crops grew about as well as could be expected this year. The extremely dry conditions meant that we had to water often. I don't remember when we've ever done that before, but it paid off in fruit that was enjoying the heat.

We had some company this summer and one of the prizes left behind was some blackberry jelly that Mum made and brought with her. I was going to give a jar to the city family members, but this morning I succumbed and cracked the last jar open for my breakfast. What a glorious jelly that berry makes. The picking is always plentiful, but the spines and terrain to get to the fruit makes it a labour of love. They are wicked vines, even for hardened gatherers like Mum. Sunshine in a jar.

Snow warnings all across the south of Manitoba this morning make me glad to have a little fire in the stove this morning. I'll fix the dog run line this today then sit in the warm shop and stay quiet as I try and stay upright with this cold infection still building. Do I dare take an easy run? Maybe just a brisk walk will suffice to assist the drainage.

Manon is thirteen now and the tension is building. I expect I was every bit as difficult to live with. It's going to be a painful process to see her through her teens. Maybe it will always be difficult. Knowing how much alike we are has always brought with it the thoughts that her teen years would be challenging. I'm always surprised how much denial goes on around us. I hope by having always embraced the bad news early in the process that honesty will pay some dividends. So much of our parenting has been focused on ensuring that the consequences of the children's actions are associated with their responsibility for those actions.

Irrespective of the skill set in hand, the game is afoot.

Is it enough in life to not tell a lie, or is it that we are obliged to speak to the truth as we see it? Is that conundrum in the same league as the phrase that goes something like, if I'm not part of the answer I'm
part of the problem?

I invested more energy outside this weekend that was likely wise, but so much remains to be done I could hardly do less. I feel a bit like a squirrel preparing for winter though. The snow storm warning in the air is a wonderful booster. The scrap wood pile got cleaned up and the stove lengths got re stacked so they will be easier to attend to if and when we get a snow that sticks.

I loaded the truck to the hilt and made a run to the dump with lots of metal bits dug out of the ground and hauled away. I mostly worked by myself, but dirty Phil (has no smeller organ and always needs a shower!) lent a hand for a while. I built a bonfire and raked up all the nasty wood chips that make mowing a hazard and burnt it all. The smell of burning leaves in the fall is a classic that I never tire of. My allergies complain, but one can't have everything one wants all the time now can one?

Today I'm limiting my only outdoor chore, besides the critters, to retying the dog run line. That's it, that's all, that's everything.

Echinacea is weird stuff. I took a maximum dose of the stuff as I felt this cold coming on and it stalled it in it's tracks. The bad news is that I think the onset has been lighter, yes, but the bug has just gone deeper, or so it seems. I was surprised to see coloured phlegm from the top of my chest, but today it feels like it's growing and making my chest feel tight and a bit uncomfortable. Sheesh! I hope this thing doesn't get too carried away. I'll continue with the echinacea through this cold, but I don't know if I'm convinced the merits are for the best over all.

Chicken foot pull / Gibson L6-S (1978

When a guy marries a science major, you can expect at least a few unique parenting skills. Here is a short video clip from this afternoon's adventures in butchering chickens. There are no blood or guts in the clip, only a chicken foot.

Lessons in tendons - #732

Today was the day that the young cocks that didn't make the grade for next year's genetics went to augmenting the food supply. They are always small birds because they are for our back yard flock of layers. They mostly come from old dual purpose heritage breeds. I lost a bunch of birds to a dog this year, but managed to almost duplicate the twenty odd years of genetics from a friend's flock, so I'm back in the groove waiting to hatch more in the spring.

We plucked and cleaned eleven today, but tossed one that had an odd growth on it's breast. I'm always happy to have these guys simply because the flavour is so good. They make a great excuse to make a really hearty chicken soup or stew. It will be a few days before I feel like eating chicken though. It's a smelly job to put them away.



On a lighter note, a young friend brought me a toy to play with last night. I don't know why I don't have an electric. I have such a gas playing them when I get the chance.

Grey Tiger Salamader

A friend dropped his little find off for a visit tonight.

Grey Tiger Salamader - Ambystoma tigrinum diaboli