We have decided to grow our first garden this year partly because of this and mostly because it is extremely hard to find fresh fruit and vegetables where we live. The bagged lettuce and spinach from our local grocery store usually goes bad the day it is purchased, long before the expiration date.

    We have several little rabbits bouncing around our place. Recently, there has been a baby one, small enough to fit in your hand, coming by. It was a concern to me, since we would be growing rabbit friendly food. But the spinach remained untouched and grew to a healthy size. Then one day, the garden had been ravaged!

    That little guy won my heart. My pellet gun cannot kill him unless I eat him. Rabbit is not worth the work, unless you really enjoy the taste. There just isn’t enough meat on them. Yesterday, I drew out an idea I have to terrify the rabbits when they come by my garden. Once I have built it (if I ever do) I will share the design. It is still in the works. Below are some photos of the garden in the works. The weeds have been completely eradicated, since this evening.

    This garden has given me a new perspective on the parable of the wheat and the weeds. The weeds covered the whole garden, because the sheep manure had seeds from the grazing. Before the good plants showed their faces, I couldn’t weed the garden because I feared pulling up my growing food.

It says:

i fear calling because your mom might find out i’m from the future and assume I’m a bad influence on you.

    With all of this rain, lately, the mushrooms are popping up like crazy! Yesterday, I decided to go look for some Oyster Mushrooms and some Morels (hopeful). Both of these mushrooms are considered a delicacy to those who eat mushrooms. Of course, most mushrooms are poisonous so I brought my camera along to take pictures because there are so many odd and interesting looking types of fungus out there.

    In my search, I found some old Oyster Mushrooms and a bunch of crazy looking mushrooms, some poisonous, some uknown. Most of them I would not eat. Other things I came upon were some awesome flowers and an Owel. My first Owel sighting in years! Here are some photos.

I liked this photo so much I had to share it! I couldn’t share the others I liked since they are in flash. Womp!

    I got to give the electric ice auger my grandpa made out of an old car starter and washing machine parts. He was probably the first person to ever make one! Not sure about this one but he made one just like this about 20 years ago! Now I can drive my car out and sit on the ice, listen to music and catch some fish… well… little fish. Pictures below!

    On Sunday, after meeting we all went to watch the “Snirt” races. It is a place where the air is filled with smells of gasoline, exhaust and mud. It is car racing that is only done in the winter. They call it “Snirt” because it is a race track of Snow and dirt. It was started by one of the families that have been around this area for a long so that the kids could learn how to drive. It has turned into a small event every Sunday for anyone who wants to race, watch or ride along in a car. If you know me well enough, you know I was in one of those cars.

    The track was so muddy there were times when you could not see out of the car at all. Some cars didn’t have wipers. Instead they put to use the plastic dangling from what used to be their driver’s side window to use by hanging their head out when it was safe. There was a lot of crashing going on. Each hit was like being in a mild accident. At one point, Dave, my driver and I were in the lead only to be rear ended, spun out and side swiped by two cars… it felt like two cars anyway. We couldn’t see out of any window after all of the mud had splashed up on the car while spinning.

    In these races you strip the car of any luxury features, such as rear-view mirrors and ignition switches, to make the car lighter. Another needless feature: coolant. After each race M, number 7/8^ths, would cool his car down by putting snow on the engine and recharge the battery by using his tow truck. His car also lacked an alternator.

    Anyone who visits in the winter must come along for a ride. Helmets on of course.

    It seems like everyone wants to get out on a trip. The other day, I was with a big car group. There were three families in the car, besides me. They had all moved out of the state to nice warm places and moved back! The women all talked about how crazy they were for doing it. Then everyone turned their focus on me and called me crazy for never leaving. They said I’m young and full of vigor, that I should have moved somewhere warm since I could. They told me they were happy to have Rach and me in the Hall, despite the fact that we were crazy for staying in this frigid state.

    There is one less suit I can wear to meetings until I sew the button back on the pants. I sat down and it shot off inside my jacket like a bouncy ball in a box. What shock! One thing that has been getting me out and exercising is Geocaching. It involves GPS and hidden "treaure." Well, it is moreso the thrill of the hunt. It is like a worldwide hide and seek game where you hide containers with nearly worthless loot in them. It is a good way to get out and explore places you might not otherwise go. I have gone for a few hikes this winter to Geocache. At the begnining of the winter I went out into the middle of a lake and started a fire. It was great.

    In the picture on the left (click to enlarge) I was the only one who had been out there since it snowed. There were no tracks on the lake or trail when I went out. After assessing the lake, I determined where the center of the lake was, the best I could. There was a wealth of dry wood around, so I dragged out as much as I could and burned it all, had some coffee and a sandwich. Then after a while had some brandy. There must be some way of convincing Rach to join me on these types of expeditions.

    If anyone is up for winter camping let me know. KC and I are definitely going to give it a shot sometime soon it will be fun. We will fish, eat, have a fire, maybe have a few drinks and camp out like the olden days… except we will have high quality synthetic materials to keep us warm and probably use a lighter to start the fire… drive to the location in a heated car and sleep in the frozen woods for no reason but to have fun.

terribleWomen45.mp3 (this is for your listening)

    Terribly delightful… isn’t it?

    Wow, Tool really has some beautiful music. The Tool String Tribute album I have is amazing. I have not listened to the actual band in some time though.

UN-IMPORTANT MEMORIES THAT HAVE RECENTLY FLASHED

• Typing with I Seek You (ICQ) with friends.
• Seeing Tool, live, twice! Couple of the greatest shows ever.
• Seeing Primus, Colonel Claypools Bucket of Bernie Brains, two separate occasions. Awesome! Phantasm!
• Climbing very high towers, just for the view.

    On a more serious note, there is news to declare! It is probably best that you read it for yourself. Since these things disappear from the internet, I have copied the article. You may read it below:

The City of Solana Beach emergency crews were called to respond to a possible shark attack at approximately 7 a.m. this morning. Both Fire and Lifeguard Rescue Services arrived at Tide Park to assist a 66-year-old male victim, Dr. David Martin, who was pulled from the surf by fellow swimmers and transported to Fletcher Cove Park Lifeguard station for emergency treatment…

Could this be, yet another, result of the terror that the Terrible Women of South America have brought upon us?