water skiing elephant , need i say more.

3-13-2012- the day of the great arm wrestling tournament

       

        it was just the other day in the doctors office the doctor had just came into the examining room and asked me if i wanted to arm wrestle. he is new to me but not to the world as he does look like he had been around a little. definitely had the edges wore off and was greatly undersized compared to me who was the only other person in the room. to my further amazement he tells me he is going to win. im beginning to think do i really want a doctor who is just plan down right stupid to try me like that , but figured it all to be a hoax and laughed at his remarks in a positive you really don't want to go there doc look. 

      i proceeded to tell him that i had arm wrestled professionally at seaworld at geauga lake in aurora , ohio in about 1977. he started asking me about how to do it and what the technique was all about. i mentioned to him , it was all about the jump after you start. you need to anticipate the start to get the jump on the other guy hopefully sending him into a downward spiral. and that it is possible to comeback and win with sheer strength but you need to try and avoid getting down at all. 

      the first guy i was up against was huge , since i was over 220 lbs, i was considered heavyweight. xxl . is the term but it also put me in there with the really huge guys weighing 350 400 pounds. a chunka chunk. twice the arms of myself and i am a fairly large person and at the time was working in a feed mill slinging sacks of grain for a living. would be nothing to tote around 20 tons of feed per day . stack it and load on customer trucks . also in the bars around my hometown i had never been beaten at arm wrestling , winning some drinking money at the bars with my arm. i felt as if i stood a chance. this first guy wiped up the floor with me. it was over so fast i just stood there and shook my head. 

        the second guy got up and since it was double elimination i had to lose twice. i wasn't about to and this time i had a better idea what to do. and since this wasn't his first competition he knew better to as he lost once before also. he was a formidable opponent . as after we started it see sawed back and forth , as both of us had determination to win. he had just about pinned me and i got my second wind and started bringing it back to the crowds approval . this spurred me on.  as well as the news photographer was getting his tv camera out and was taking closeups of the action getting in my face as i strained to take him over the top. there was no down hill slide either as he was giving up ever so reluctantly . but the crowd cheered me on and somewhere i dug up enough energy to put him away. and the crowd cheered at his demise. life was good.

         well the producer of the event said it was going to be a couple of hours till i wrestled again having won. so if i wanted to i could check out things on the grounds. well i never saw a killer whale , so i went and watched shamu as he did his stunts and just wondered all over sea world being amazed at every corner by aquariums , and happenings. i was in need of some relaxation as everything including going back wrestling were starting to overwhelm me. i decided to lean up against a fence much like in the first picture. it was in the shade and i never quite looked at what was on the other side of the fence. i didn't till it sent its appendage out seeking me and wrapped itself around my foot and tugged. i looked down and there was this grey thing wrapped around my foot . i about lost it high stepping out of there and looking back to see what it was as it disappeared under  the fence. thinking it was some kind of snake or something. 

        when i looked back over the fence , i could see clearly who the aggressor was . it was a baby elephant. it was as cute as it could be . would have loved to take it home but im sure it wouldn't fit in vw seat , and my girlfriend was already jealous of the attention i was spending on this gentle giant. i would scratch his head and he showered his attention back to me. soon some guy came around the corner and says in rough tone. remember he is a wild animal. and disappears as quickly as he appeared. after awhile the elephant wandered off as my mind did too, wondering what his purpose was there. 

       well it didn't take to much wondering as i went on to the next show and was sitting there and heard an announcement for bertha the skiing elephant. and sure enough but who would appear on a set of water pontoons to look like skis but bertha the baby elephant as she whizzed by me at my vantage point along  side the lake. she looked scared and apprehensive about whole water skiing thing as she did circles and such. it only lasted about 10 minutes but was glad to see her make it back to shore . i could only imagine how unbelievably horrible it would be for a baby elephant to slip off the skis in front of a crowd. imagine it would scare her being in the water. but then again i hear elephants can swim , and aren't afraid of water unless a crocodile is there. 

        this all served to take my mind off the next match as again i was up against the first guy . the same one who had beat me so pitifully the first time. what a draw. oh well eventually if i was going to win would have to beat him or the guy that beats him also, so might as well get with it. 

       slap a diaper  on this guy and he would remind you of one of those sumo wrestlers from japan. this time around he was huffing and puffing , in an apparent attempt to psyche me out . it worked as i stood there wondering if he was going to blow up when the match started.  again it was over before i knew it. well so ended my professional career as a arm wrestler.

         and this doctor is going to beat me he says. i kinda think he is prescribing himself way to much testosterone, and it is beginning to get him in trouble. don't know as to who is treating who here sometimes. but would hope that it was just an attempt at humor to offset the seriousness of the situation. then again, maybe the old fart is feeling his oats.  

      

back again - time for a much needed visit.

Just When You Thought I Had Quit Writing?

a look out the lane today thubarb on the right and raspberries on the left

     Again I was taking a break can’t say it was well deserved instead I was trying to focus on my priorities it is now mid-summer being July 11^th, my day fraught with news,  some good and some bad from the doctor regarding my newfound pain down my leg . The vein doctor seems to think it is nerve related and has nothing to do with the aneurism they found doing the MRI. Bad news is more testing to find the true scope of the aneurism and make sure it is within the size range they expect it to be. Still I have no idea what is causing all the pain in my leg. It I holding me back as my pain has increased three fold from last year. Only through use of steroids am I finding any relief in the pain. I have a tendency to believe it is in my hip. Through this all I have still managed to get a grasp on doing the things around the house that needs done.

 

tomato tower consisting of three tomato plants in a cage with an inner cage of compost i water into and the nutrient rich water and soaks the tomato plants , and this is mulched on the outside by straw.

      I have managed to plant a garden and again I am using the tomato towers and the potato towers I experimented with last year. Also I am mulching my pepper plants and I have some cabbage and squash planted along with some pumpkins, some of which were volunteers. I have also established a beautiful bed of rhubarb which will be more than ready for harvest in the springtime. That will actually be the third year for the plants. I have green beans planted and will need to erect panels for them to run up. I have done something a little different with my garden this year and just tilled the area under where I am going to put the plants. Added more compost and hilled the area up. I left considerable space between the rows to accommodate the riding lawn mower and use the rider to basically weed between the rows. What is happening is that turf as in grass is re-establishing itself and this prevents weeds from growing and also slows the dehydration of the surrounding soils. It also prevents runoff and does not substantially compete with the plants I am growing as long as I mulch with straw in the direct area surrounding the plant.

 

i mow between the rows with riding lawn mower eliminating the need to weed between the rows or cultivate with the roto-tiller , the straw serves as a suitable mulch eliminating weeds and reducing the need for water also. it will not eliminate all weeds but does drastically reduce them .

   The straw because of its color reflects light back at the plant and keeps the side closest to the ground weed free and moist while allowing air to reach the soil and prevents or decomposition of straw mulch. I have also used the straw around the rhubarb, and along with the raised bed of highly organic material has allowed the rhubarb to grow without restraint and is of good size as compared to when I planted it. I doubt it would have done as well without the straw and by eliminating the competition from the weeds by using the straw, that too have also enhanced its performance. The straw also has helped with weed pulling as the weeds root systems are considerably weaker and by watering prior to weeding operations it allows you to easily pull weeds that otherwise would be troublesome including dock , which usually has a terrible root system . the mulch needs to be applied thick enough to block the suns rays. An provide an even mat over the area you are trying to cover. But economics tells you at 6 dollars a bale it isn’t advantageous to get overly crazy about placing straw throughout your garden.

 

these are sunflowers with squash mixed in . they are planted close but will shade the weeds eliminating any need to remove any. these will be mainly used for bee and bird feed.  

      Tonight I managed to force myself to pick about a quart of red raspberries which are now ripe as well black berries should soon be ripening over the hill. The red raspberries are doing really well including the new ones I just planted in my new bed. I am thinking about tagging the blackberries around the farm that have the biggest berries and moving those canes into a new bed later this fall. I have learned that when transplanting canes, it is belter to leave as much length in the cane and trimming should be only as is necessary to facilitate planting. New canes should also be supported by a wire trellis. This as something I dint do and I have noticed that when the fruit is bore on the canes they have a tendency to droop making picking much harder. Next year I plan on having all my canes supported. This I will do with electric fence wire and steel fence posts I have saves from when I ran electric fence for the cows. Time to re-purpose some of the stuff out of the barn and be able to enhance production of berry vines.

 

my duck tribe headed to the pond for supper. 

 

log cabin pavilion i am working on , will have a roof covering it and looks down on the pond. 

 

the big green leafy stuff is rhubabrb . we wont take off any this year , but next year we plan on taking half the stalks here which should be a good size amount of rhubarb. 

    All in all things are going great here on the farm and i have made some changes in my personal life that allows me more time to do things better. a lot of this i will go into more detail as i go along . Enjoy the pics .