Author Archives: Steve Mays
Last brush pile?
Reply
Not really the “last” brush pile, but the last one with which I’ll burden my buddy George for a while. He’s been letting me dump my brush at his place where he burns it for me.
But I’ve worked my way far enough down our hill that it’s getting to be chore to drag the brush up to the road where I can load it into the truck. So it’s time to start making some new piles down the hill and back in the woods. I don’ like doing that but nobody (but me) is ever gonna see these so it’s the best solution.
Why not burn them? I know it can be done safely but not by me. I’d rather have the pile and the critters like them.
“School is largely a service for the parents.”
“It doesn’t surprise me that kids do well without school. School is largely a service for the parents. I remember as a kid being really pissed off that so much of my youth was wasted sitting in rooms with my hands folded, with my mind anywhere but in school, learning nothing and being bored out of my mind. I thought of school as very lazy, unimaginative, typical of adults. It wasn’t really until grad school that school started working for me, on the terms I wanted it to.”
— Dave Winer
Trump interview
Fiskars Pruning Stik®
Before I tell you about the Fiskars Pruning Stik®, a little about me and tools. I’m not really a tool guy. I’ve got a hammer and pliers and some wrenches and stuff but you’ll not find me trying to fix the washing machine or changing the oil in my truck. But I have a fondness for outdoor power tools.
I’ve had a couple of chainsaws, a weed trimmer and last year I added a pole saw (all Stihl products). I can’t explain it but I enjoy going down into our woods and clearing brush and cutting cedar trees. Not sure how many more years I’ll be able to (safely) do this but for now, it’s something I enjoy.
The Stihl pole saw allows me to trim limbs that you couldn’t get to with the big chainsaw. But it weighs about 15 pounds and gets heavy fast. And we kept seeing dead limbs that were just out of reach of the pole saw.
Barb started researching “extendable tree pruners” and purchased the Pruning Stik® from Fiskars. I think it was about a hundred bucks quickly proved it’s worth. Extends to twelve feet and light enough you can safely stand on a ladder for a few extra feet. We’ve been going nuts with the thing. You wouldn’t think you could exert enough force (at the end of a long pole) to cut a good size limb, but it works like a charm.
I’ll still fire up the pole saw for the bigger jobs but the Pruning Stik is a must-have tool if you have a lot of trees.
“We are an opportunity for the virus”
“We are an opportunity for the virus. If you go on building up the population, it’s almost inevitable that something is going to say, jeez, there’s a lot of stuff to eat there. Let’s go get it.”
Fake Deaths
I’ve been telling myself the pandemic would become real to people in the U.S. once X number of deaths were recorded. When the number is too high to be ignored. I’m wrong about that. The number doesn’t matter if you don’t believe it. These are “fake deaths” in the minds of a whole bunch of people. Covid won’t be “real” until everyone knows someone (family or friend) brought down (death or serious illness) by the virus. If that doesn’t do it, I’m out of ideas.
Giving up on time
“He was used to the disappearance of large parts of his life. Sometimes, he passed out at ten o’clock in the morning, and when he woke up, it was nine o’clock in the morning — some other morning. At first, the time changes were disorienting, but over the course of a couple of years, he got used to it. He simply gave up on time — now life was daytime and nighttime, strung along like beads on a string, and the minute, hour, and date were irrelevant.”
— Wicked Prey (John Sandford)
Staying connected
Hugs and kisses (virtual) for the CenturyLink tech that found and fixed the problem with our DSL. Be a while before I take even so-so internet access for granted.
Time to grow up
“We live infinitesmally short lifespans on an insignificant speck of dust in space, with delusions of grandeur, when the best we can achieve, which is pretty good, is friendship, love and to a small extent, self-awareness. We’re going to get smart now, and learn to be the humble mortals that we are. Or we’re going to cease to exist. In other words, it’s time for the human race to grow up.”