Bad Moon Rising

I sat in the front yard last night and gazed at the moon for about an hour.  Have you ever really gazed at something?

“No Problem”

Yes it is a problem.   Often, when I am a customer, I thank people for the service I have received from them.   As an example, I just got off the phone with someone at the bakery. They took my order and when it was completed, I very courteously said “Thank you”, to which the young lady replied “No problem”.   HERE’S MY POINT:   Why would I think this is a problem? She assured me it was no problem but I have no reason to think it was a problem in the first place.   They sell stuff and I called to buy some of the stuff. In my opinion, she should have been the one to say thank you for spending some of my money there. Then I could have been the one to say “You’re welcome”.  Saying “No Problem” is like telling someone their feet don’t stink.

“No Problem” is a new school thing. It has become an automatic reply by the younger generation or older people who put no thought into what they are saying. I can remember around 2000 when I was invited to a friends house.   He fed me lots of food and we sat around and had a great time.   One of his guests was leaving and my friend told him “Thanks for coming out” and the guest replied “No problem”. How insulting. Of course it was no problem for him to come out and eat my friends food. Do we really think he sacrificed to make it over to the buffet and wanted to let his host know that it wasn’t near as much of a problem as the host thought it might have been? It was no problem – whew! What a relief!

Say “Thank you”.   Say “You’re welcome”.   “No problem” means it IS a problem. It means they really have not put any thought into appreciating your business or your thoughtfulness.

Thank you for listening

Mitch Mitchell

Mitch Mitchell was Jimi Hendrix’s drummer from 1966 till Jimi’s death in 1970. Mitch’s style featured something different which has been described as jazz fusion or lead drumming.   This can best be heard in the live performances. Sometimes he is playing along with the “song” as you would expect in most rock and roll drum parts. Other times, he kind of drifts away from the expected percussion beats into his own “song” in the same way an eclectic lead guitarist like Hendrix may incorporate a face melter in the middle. He’s just going nuts and drumming away into what may seem like a drum solo, but the other instruments are playing their parts at the same time. If you’ve seen any films of performances, you will see that he used both traditional drumming grip and matched grip. Pay attention to the drumming. This cat is out there, pushing the limits of the drum skins and forcing the other musicians to keep up with him.  Mitch Mitchell, an important drummer in the history of rock and roll.

Here are some examples of Mitch’s lead drumming style:

• Bold As Love (Axis: Bold as Love)  Generally thru the entire recording, but you can hear it especially well between 4:00 and 6:00
• Hey Joe (Experience Hendrix: The Best of Jimi Hendrix)  After about 50 seconds into the song
• Voodoo Chile (Electric Ladyland) 4:30-7:00 and again 8:40-11:00
• Voodoo Child (Slight Return) (Electric Ladyland) leading up to 3:30 then pretty noticeable after that
• If 6 Was 9 (Axis: Bold as Love)   Around :40 for a few seconds. Same at 1:20.   Then after 1:45 especially at and after 3:55
• Watch a YouTube video of a live performance from 1969

Will I see you, in September?

Today is September first.   Here’s whats going on:

• I finally found a landscape designer who is willing to work with me on the west corner of my house (garage and driveway area).  We are going to find a solution to the current retaining wall failure there and put in a new driveway.   This will be a three year project.  I should hear something by middle of October.
  

• The back patio stones are really dirty and I’ve never been able to successfully clean them.   I’m trying Wet & Forget.  I applied it around July 1 and again on August 18.  It says that it may take six months to a year for it to work.  I know thats a long time, but if I start to see any action in the next few months, I will continue with this.   It is reasonably priced and easy to apply.  My goal is to have it noticeably cleaner Spring 2016
  

• The Deco-seal around the pool was replace on Aug. 5.  It looks really nice.

• Chinese Maple tree is looking a little depressed.   I have a plan of action for that.  Wilt Stop and 4-8-5 fertilizer.

• There is one (out of five planted 15 years ago) Italian Cypress tree that has survived, but it is now infected with bagworms and turning brown.  Spinosad spray and watering.
• Cleanup the driveway on the east corner.   Re-locate the trash cans and gas cans on the other side of the corner.  This will prevent them from being seen from the front yard.  (Not a permanent solution)
• I need a temporary fix on the south corner front facing area, by the garage window.  This will come out when a new driveway goes in.
• My friend Bo is getting all the stone and bricks stacked up behind the shop out of my way.  Some of it is unusable mortar chunks and that I will bury in a hole in the back.  This will allow the grass to grow and I can trim it and keep it nice.
• I think most of my time in September will be spent cleaning the garage.  It’s really not in bad shape but there’s some things to be thrown away and areas to be organized.

Rain is good for the sol

It rained for several hours last night.  The back yard can certainly use it

Week 4 Pattern

Sunday, Aug. 16, 2015

Cleaning House

I did the week 2 mowing today and if you look closely you can see the flag starting to develop.  You may not be able to see it, but you will have to click on the photo to have any chance at all.  It was very hot today.

The Horror of it All

There is nothing so horrible in nature as to see a beautiful theory murdered by an ugly gang of facts

– Benjamin Franklin

High Tide and Green Grass

This picture was taken on Aug. 2, 2015.   Theres no British flag present yet, but you can’t see ruts from the previous mowing.  I will keep mowing and taking pictures and we will see what happens.  The very dark green patch of grass in the lower left corner was planted June 27, 2015.  The area next to it (and most of the lighter patches) planted on July 25th.

My Yard, My Canvas

I am an artist.  Not in the usual sense.  I can’t paint or draw, but I believe I am still an artist, because my artistic endeavors come from my heart and I sometimes approach things in a unique way.   Case in point – my yard.   I went out and looked at my yard early in the year.  It looked similar to this photo that was taken July 4, 2014.

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Not too bad, but you can see that there is too much shade causing lots of bare spots in the grass.  So I made the decision I had been thinking about for quite a while.  Remove the 12 Bradford Pear trees lining my parkway so that the sun can get in and get the grass to grow.   I did that in April.  The photo below taken in April of this year shows the trees removed and many bare spots still in the grass.

So, this is my canvas.  This is where I will start my art project.   First up is to get some grass.  Easier said than done.   Would have been nice to sod the entire front yard with St. Augustine but my wallet overrode that decision.  So I spotted it in.  Three pallets of St. Augustine were delivered on June 26th and laid down the next day.  I put these directly over the spaces the Bradford Pears had occupied a few months earlier.  After a month or so of watering they are looking pretty good.   Only one other area was sodded and it too is looking good.   The bare spots you see above have now been seeded with Bermuda, but the seed isn’t taking too well.  Im going to put some topsoil down and wait it out.

Now the artistic part.   Do you know how to mow your yard?  Of course you don’t.  Listen to me and I will give you the secret.  Mowing is usually done one of two ways.   Perimeter or back and forth.  Mowing around the edges from the outside in is Perimeter Mowing.  Back and forth is just that.  Going up and down the yard until everything is cut.  Most guys use a combination of the two.  A couple of strips around the perimeter and then back and forth inside that.   I use my own patented design.  The British Flag Mowing Method ®.  The British Flag Mowing Method is like combining Perimeter and Back and Forth on steroids.  Its a four week process to complete the entire cycle.   Heres the gist:

Can you see whats about to happen?   After my lawn was invaded by the British, I began to mow:

The blue lines are against three sidewalks I will align the mowing with on Week 1.  I mow the entire front yard parallel to the main horizontal stripe in the flag.  I don’t mow the parkways along with this, its just too hard because the sidewalk is not perfectly smooth with the grass.

Weeks 2 and 3 I have no guides to use, I just have to eyeball the X lines in the flag and it has worked out pretty good.

Week 4 I use the sidewalk leaving my front door and mow the entire yard in this back and forth motion.  The result?

What looks like chaos here is actually a very nice pattern that combines the previous 4 mowings and keeps the grass from laying over a certain way, being cut evenly and completely disguising the mowing direction from the occasional viewer.  This will be the envy of the most discerning golf course superintendent.  It’s not overly complicated, you just have to remember which week you are on.  Lather, rinse, repeat.  As soon as I can get a drone, or convince Google to do another satellite photo of my house, I will post an update to show you the results.

One more note.  The care and creativity a man puts into his yard is a good indicator of his creativity in the bedroom.   Drive by my place and see what you think 😉