Category Archives: Fantasy

2025, Automotive, Family, Fantasy, Farming Update

Into The Concrete Weeds

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Todays Farming Update comes from Ben.

Well I didn’t start anything on fire this week so that’s a win.

The co-op was out on Wednesday to spray the oats for broad leaves and apply a fungicide. They used a drone! I wasn’t there to see it but they took some video and had it in their newsletter:


https://youtube.com/shorts/wgsNnr2c6fo?si=tQ4SKhqTutv07eX-

According to the newsletter, the drone carries a 10 gallon tank, meaning it can cover about 5 acres, and the spray pattern covers about 25 feet at a pass, so they did my 25 acres of oats in a couple hours.
I think that’s pretty cool! I don’t know if they were flying it manually, or were able to upload GPS field maps from their other machine passes earlier in the year, allowing it to fly, mostly, itself. I think this is such cool technology. It didn’t make tire tracks through the oats, and it didn’t leave ruts in the soft ground with the recent rains. Some of the big farmers are starting to buy their own spray drones. It’s another tool in the toolbox.

Me and one of my summer padawans cleaned out two corners of the machine shed, rearranged machinery and got the corn planter and the grain drill put away, and moved the haybine to a different spot. Just about every day I spend an hour or two in the shop, “organizing”. I’m still rearranging and sorting out things. I sure am glad I put that used AC unit in there. I just run the dehumidifier and it’s staying about 64 degrees. I love it. I’m happy to putz out there as much as I can.

I’m trying to do some of my home ‘honey-do’ projects, as well. A couple years ago, Kelly took all the landscape rock out of an area and we added compost large rocks for a walking path, and planted some grasses. That only survived one year, and the biggest problem was keeping the dogs and the chickens out of it. Daughter and I went to the local compost site and got half a pick up load of compost on Wednesday. Thursday afternoon was pretty warm, but I waited until this area was in the shade and then I dug out the old stuff. Padawan and I will unload the truck on Friday.

I ventured off into the weeds one day. I knew there was an old cement mixer out there, and there was supposed to be a second one that I couldn’t see at first. A tree had fallen in front of it. And I mean I hadn’t used either one in 25 years or more. For all I could remember, I let someone borrow it. But I found both of them.

I don’t remember using the sliver one, but it was fun to spin the handle and make the barrel turn. I remember playing with it often. The header photo is a plate on the side of it.

And the red one Dad got from a neighbor. I know we used that one. Whichever one I pick to use now, it will need a little grease… but the innertube on one tire is still holding air!

Might need a new tire, but the tube is good!

Heck, it doesn’t even need tires, I’ll be using it right by the shed.

One of the projects on the list is a concrete pad outside the shop walk in door, and a concrete pad for a garbage dumpster. Figured the summer padawans could learn about pouring concrete. I’ve done just enough to be dangerous. I found a concrete calculator online, which gave me a total of about 3 yards or about 170 bags at 60lb each. Wow, that’s a lot of bags to mix up even with an electric mixer. Checking some big box stores, a bag is $4 – $6 each. I sent an online message to a local concrete place just to see what the deal is with small batches. I’m in no hurry for this. Could be a month or two.

Also back in the tree’s was the old combine that Dad bought in the 1950’s and I parked in the tree’s in 1990 something. Time to haul that to scrap iron.

My brother and I both learned to drive a standard clutch in the 1967 Chevy pick-up truck following dad and this combine around the fields. Times were different back then. I’m guessing I was maybe 10 yrs old. I can picture it like yesterday though. He would have been pulling this with the 630 tractor (that I still have) and combining oats and would dump it into the truck. Today’s huge combines are bigger, fancier, self-propelled versions of this.

MONTGOMERY WARD IS SELLING FLYING CARS. WHAT COLOR IS YOURS AND WHAT OPTIONS DOES IT HAVE? GOT ANYTHING TO SAY ABOUT WARDS?

2025, books, Fantasy, Words

Last Lines

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The joy of occasionally re-reading a book is that you come across phrases or paragraphs that spark recognition, especially if you enjoyed them the first time around.

I’ve been reading the Gamache series by Louise Penny recently (my other book club had the first one on it’s list earlier this year) and I’m liking them just as much as the first time around.  Yesterday I came across section in The Cruelest Month.  The characters are taking part in a séance when they are frightened by an interruption:

A window pane rattled and a horrible face appeared at the glass.  The circle gasped and recoiled.   “For Christ’s sake, Dorothy, I know you’re in there,” screamed the voice.  It wasn’t what Clara had imagined would be the last words she’d hear on earth.  She’s always thought they’d be, “What were you thinking?”

This paragraph made me laugh out loud – again.  I know there are folks that like to find out the last words of famous and a quick internet search finds a lot of hits.  The only one that I can ever seem to remember is attributed to Oscar Wilde.  “This wallpaper is killing me.  Either it goes or I go.”   I’m not sure this is accurate but because it’s the kind of thing that Oscar Wilde would have said, I’ve always remembered it.  I also remember another quote attributed to him – “Life is uncertain.  Eat dessert first.”

I’m pretty sure my last words will be “Will there be donuts?”

Anyone’s last words that you remember?  That you’d like attributed to you?

 

2025, Fantasy, Movies, News

Val Kilmer – RIP

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The sad news showed up late Tuesday that Val Kilmer has passed away.  He was just 65 and it was apparently pneumonia that got him in the end, although he did have quite a horrific battle with throat cancer 8-10 years back.

He had a fairly prolific career although I have heard many stories about him being notoriously hard to work with.  I can’t say that he was anywhere close to a favorite – I’ve really only seen a handful of his films, almost all of them from early in his career. 

Two of his early works I’ve seen repeatedly are Real Genius and Willow.  In Real Genius he plays a top of the charts college genius – kind of hard to tell the plot without some serious spoilers.  The movie is not even remotely realistic but it’s fun and the good guys win without guns, fistfights or even any blood. 

Willow is an amazing fantasy with witchcraft, brownies, trolls, fairies and an epic battle.  Spoiler alert – the good guys win.  In addition to Val Kilmer playing a charming rogue, the movie is graced with an incredible performance by Warwick Davis.  Here is my favorite scene (although I love lots of scenes in this film). This is as Willow (Davis) is leaving his village on his quest.

Kaya gives Willow a Braided Bush

Given my track record, the next couple of weeks will probably see me tracking down some more of his movies that I haven’t seen.  Hopefully I won’t be disappointed.

Any Val Kilmer movies that you particularly like?  Particularly dislike?

2025, books, Fantasy, Kids, Uncategorized

Blond Book Party

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Stopped by the library Saturday morning to return one item and pick up another.  At the return slot, I waited between two little blond girls, excitedly putting books onto the conveyer belt that takes them into the library. 

As I entered the library, a little blond girl was leaving with her mom and a massive pile of books.  Inside, there was another little blond toddler; she was helping her dad swipe books at the check-out station. 

After I grabbed my book and was heading out, two families came toward the library, each from opposite directions.  Each family had two little blond girls who seemed excited to be going to the library.

It was clearly a little blond party.  I was going to feel out of place until I remembered that when I was that age, I was blond as well – a little towhead in fact.

What kind of party would you like to attend at your local library? 

2025, Business, Fantasy, Food, TV

Avocado Tumble

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Sitcoms have never been my favorite form of entertainment.  A few exceptions over the years, but for the most part they seem silly and overblown to me.  Truly, what person on the planet would actually do this:

Then every now and then…

I was meeting a friend at Whole Foods for lunch (they have a great salad bar and hot bar along with tables and chairs, so it’s a great place for two folks with food restrictions to have a fun meal together).  My friend texted me that she was running about five minutes late so I decided to hang out in the produce section near the front door while I waited. 

And then it happened.  A woman took a corner a little too tightly with her cart and rammed into the lovingly stacked display of avocados. They didn’t all come tumbling down (like they would have on tv) but it was still a waterfall of green as them fell.  She was mortified and sank to her knees, trying to corral the wayward fruits.  Three Whole Foods employees appeared out of nowhere and they had the avocados re-stacked in less than a minute.  It was very impressive.  The photo above is after everything was back in order. 

Although I never video tape anything, I did have a small wish that I could have gotten the fall and the re-assembly on film. 

Maybe I should give sit-coms more leeway!

If we were casting for sitcom roles today, who would you like to be cast as?

2025, Business, Fantasy, Gatherings, Nature, Uncategorized

Warm Floors

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At the sibling gathering (while I was visiting Nonny in St. Louis earlier this month), someone must have mentioned something about heated floors.  I made a note on my post-it note app, assuming (ha ha ha ha) that the words “heated floor” would trigger my memory for what I thought might be a blog piece.  Again, ha ha ha ha.

About 25 years ago, I had a site inspection scheduled to San Francisco and Napa.  The morning of the trip, the client called to cancel due to his wife’s illness but he told me to go ahead, see what I needed to see and take good notes and pictures.  No problem on my part.

The plan for the group was to do a day of wineries and a lovely lunch.  However the group was too big to be at any one winery at once (most of the Napa wineries are actually pretty small) so we needed to split up the group.  Group A and Group B went to different wineries in the morning, had lunch together at a place that could hold them all and then the groups would flip and do the wineries for the afternoon.  Easy peasy, right? 

In one long day, I visited 11 wineries to find the four that would work well for the group.  Each owner met me, toured me around and… offered me samples.  There didn’t feel like a gracious way to turn down the wine.  Even though I never finished an entire glass, by the end of the day, I was a bit tipsy.  Add to that the weather was chillier than had been forecasted and my coat was not up to the job.  By the time we got to the hotel, Meadowood Resort, all I wanted was to have a bit of room service and collapse in a warm bed.  

With all that liquid refreshment, I ended up having to visit the bathroom in the middle of the night.  It was chilly as I walked across the bedroom and then…. oh my stars… the bathroom floor was warm.  The first and last time I’ve personally ever come across heated floor tiles.  And of all the times I could truly appreciate them, there they were!  When I finally left and headed back to bed, I slept like a baby.

If this wasn’t what I was thinking about when somebody at the sibling gathering mentioned heated floors, then I’m completely in the dark.

If money weren’t an issue, what home improvement would you like to make?

2025, Fantasy, Food, Gatherings, Movies

Hello – My Name is Inigo Montoya

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Right before Christmas I discovered that there were two Princess Bride cookbooks.  Who knew?  You all know me well enough to know that I couldn’t stay away from this.  The first one came to the library yesterday… I was outside the library door when they opened.

It’s a fabulous book… lots and lots of glossy stills from the movie and a lot of chat about the filming, in front of and behind the camera.  Even without the recipes it’s a fun read.

The recipes themselves are nothing out of the ordinary but the NAMES of the recipes are a hoot.  Here are a few:

  • Hash You Wish
  • Buttercup Buttermilk Scones
  • Chips of Insanity
  • Mostly Dead
  • Bonetti’s Defense
  • Anybody Want a Peanut
  • Bread Pirate Roberts

Normally I like to make one or two recipes from a cookbook like this… just for fun.  I’m thinking the Bread Pirate Roberts and the Chips of Insanity are on my list.

Maybe we should have a Princess Bride theme party.  The Lightning Sand pudding cookie cups look fun too!

Have you ever been to a fun theme party?

2025, Fantasy, Kids, Nature, Travel, work

Where in the World is YA?

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The photos above were taken from YA’s hotel room in Banff. 

It’s still a little bizarre that YA now works in the same travel division as I did for 33 years, albeit in a different department.  She designs website and mobile apps for group travel; when a client purchases a mobile app, she accompanies the group to provide onsite support for the app.  She seems to enjoy it.

I know people who have retired from the industry and many of them have really missed the travel.  I would even call it grieving in a couple of cases.  I wondered if I would feel the same, but I have not.  I’ve always felt extraordinarily lucky to have had my job and visited so many fabulous places; I even fantasized about making a life in many of those places.  My favorite destination was almost always the last place I’d visited. 

Banff is a gorgeous place and I’ve been there twice, both at this time of year, when there is snow and the air is clear and brisk.  Seeing YA’s photos did give me a momentary pang but it was replaced with a great feeling of gratitude that she is getting to have some of these experiences – experiences that certainly enriched my life.

Any place you think would be nice to visit in January?

2024, 2025, Fantasy, Games, Kids, sports, Uncategorized

It’s a Hobby

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When YA was seven, she wanted to be a “horse girl” for Halloween.  Took me a bit by surprise because she hadn’t shown any particular horsey interest up to that point.  We had fun putting the costume together.  Nonny bought the cowboy boots, I got her a hat and a stick horse.  The jeans and shirt she already had.  I still have that stick horse in a corner of my bedroom.

Imagine my surprise last week (while I was wasting time on my phone while Nonny did her morning exercises) when I stumbled on a website for Hobby Horse Championships.

This is a real thing.  It’s called “hobby horsing” and if you look it up on Wikipedia there is a note at the top, in italics, that says “Not to be confused with Hobby Horse polo”.  That made me snort coffee up my nose.  HHing was apparently born in Finland and started to make waves in 2017.  Most participants are young girls, between the age of 12-18.  Classic horse-loving demographic.  These days there are quite a few national competitions (most in Europe) and the largest gathering of 2024 was at the end of August in Finland.  The United States’ games were the beginning of August.

I doubt YA will be interested in this; her infatuation with horses ended after a couple of summer horse camps when she was in Girl Scouts.  But you never know.

YA’s stick horse needs a name.  What do you think?

2025, animals, Family, Fantasy, holidays, Movies

Our Holiday Movie

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All autumn I was dreading “the Christmas movie”. On Christmas morning, YA and I have almost always opened stockings and then gone to the movies. We did skip a couple of years due to COVID and one year we just couldn’t find anything at theatres that we liked so we streamed a movie and watched it from the comfort of the sofa.

I knew from YA comments that she wanted to see Wicked. And you all know from my rant last summer that I was not that interested. The thought of seeing a 2½ hour movie (that is just Part I) of a musical that I’m not crazy about just didn’t seem like a fun way to spend a morning, much less a holiday morning. So when I saw a poster at Southdale for Red One, I thought we might find a compromise.

Two weeks before Christmas we went to see Wicked at the Riverview. I always like the Riverview, even if I’m not that wild about what’s showing and that’s exactly how it turned out. We had a nice enough time, I didn’t have to close my eyes over anything gory. Since I’ve gone on and on about Wicked already, I won’t get into it here – suffice it to say it was a good decision not to see this as our Christmas Day movie.

Red One turned out to be at the end of it’s run before Christmas Day (how does this make sense that a Christmas movie stops showing a couple of days before Christmas?) so we decided to see our holiday movie on Solstice this year.

The movie lived up to my expectations. Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans are the main stars. Johnson can’t act his way out of a paper bag but his charm is that he knows this and doesn’t try. A bit refreshing actually. I only know Chris Evans as Captain America, but he gave a creditable performance as the guy who gets transformed by Christmas spirit.

It’s almost impossible to do spoilers for a movie like this… if you don’t know where it’s going, then you’ve never seen a Christmas movie. Here are a few things I thought were particularly fun:

  • • The reindeer are all female.
    • Johnson is the commander of E.L.F., the groups that “guards” Santa. He explains this to Evans at one point saying that as far as Evans is concerned, it stands for Extremely Large and Formidable.
    • Toy stores are the portals to the North Pole transit system, which reaches all over the world.
    • Santa is a smallish, muscular guy who works out a lot and loves cookies, except for macaroons.
  • And, of course, there is a massive polar bear named Garcia on the E.L.F. team.

By the time we got home from the theatre, YA had discovered that Red One is already out on Prime Video. I’ve watched it twice more since then!

Do you have a favorite holiday movie?