just a dry fish with anxiety

[the_siobhan]

Somebody sent me another petition to get rid of daylight savings time. I'm sure there's a new one every year.

I guess that means the clock change is coming up again? I have no idea when it starts and I'm never prepared for it. If I was rich enough to be properly eccentric, I'd just ignore it.

***

I saw a video once about debunking bigfoot sightings. In one part they showed how a bear's footprint in the snow would melt out under direct sunlight to become a huge bigfoot-sized pawprint even while the surrounding snow was unaffected.

I was thinking about it yesterday when I was looking at the very human-looking footprints that go across my backyard to my back window. When they hit the shade of trees where they pass onto the railroad tracks they shrank into normal-sized coyote prints.

There is something else smaller roaming around back there too, it climbed down into the drainage pit and back out again. Could be a raccoon? I also saw a possum back there a couple of days ago so maybe foraging under the rocks. (Also three raccoons had a brawl on the back deck last night, I had to get out of bed to go open the window and shout at them to get them stop. Assholes. I'm even more convinced that Lord Brock is deaf, he didn't even twitch at the racket.)

***

I put a row of pots under the grow lamps in the kitchen, I have arugula growing like gangbusters, basil, parsley and cilantro that's looking pretty encouraging, chives and thyme that might just make it and rosemary that is threatening to die. I also have a whole bunch of spider plant babies and whenever it goes above zero outside I stick a few pots in the library out front.

Next weekend I'll start my tomato and pepper seeds.

This is how I make it through the dark winters when I really want to do is just sit in the dark and drink wine. I used to think I didn't have SAD because my brain always felt so much worse in the summer. Turns out I was just struggling to breath during the smog months.

I always have this vague plan that I'll work on interior stuff when the weather is cold but I never do. I can barely force myself to do regular housework I have such a bad case of don't wanna.

It will all resolve when it's warm enough to go stick my hands in the dirt.

***

There's some show on I keep getting ads for called The Empire Strips Back. It's being advertised as a burlesque show, but I'm guessing it's just a musical where the storm-troopers wear silver bikinis.

I also made the mistake of looking at a website for renting cottages in the province so now I'm getting non-stop ads for them. I swear it's not safe to go on the internet any more, and not because of the axe-murderers.

Comments

[redbird]

And some people, including Senator Markey, want permanent daylight saving time. Me, I just want us to stop changing the clocks, because those twice-a-year changes are bad for people.

[the_siobhan]

Same. Pick a time and stick to it.

[gatheringrivers]

Saaaaaame

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> Somebody sent me another petition to get rid of daylight savings time. I'm sure there's a new one every year. <<

The last one I saw wasn't to get rid of daylight savings time, but to get rid of standard time, leaving us with the horrible daylight savings parameter forever: an hour less daylight in the evening. >_< Do not want.

>> I saw a video once about debunking bigfoot sightings. <<

I've noticed that cryptozoology is one place the freaks fled to after mundanes invaded science fiction fandom. I like cryptids, although my interest is more the "extinct or alive" branch.

>>I put a row of pots under the grow lamps in the kitchen,<<

Go you!

I have a seed-starting kit that I need to set up. But today I tried a new technique: winter sowing in water jugs. I have a lot of fruit tree seeds sprouting in my fridge so I put some in jugs to see if they'll grow that way. I have more ideas to try too.

>>There's some show on I keep getting ads for called The Empire Strips Back. It's being advertised as a burlesque show, but I'm guessing it's just a musical where the storm-troopers wear silver bikinis.<<

*laugh*

Re: Thoughts

[the_siobhan]

I'm indifferent to which time they settle on, I just want them to stop messing with my sleep. Although when I think about it I'd probably get more use out of evening light - I'm not really a morning person.

Cryptids are fascinating - I think my angle of interest is how every culture seems to have something that is an unexplained animal or almost-human.

I'm intrigued by your fruit seeds. I'd love to have a lemon tree in my yard but I don't think the climate would support it. Maybe something I could put in a big pot and drag inside for the winter.

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>I'm indifferent to which time they settle on, I just want them to stop messing with my sleep. <<

I do hate the change, but I'd rather have half a year of evenings than none.

>>Although when I think about it I'd probably get more use out of evening light - I'm not really a morning person.<<

Exactly. Most people work or attend school during the day, so the only benefit of morning light is not having to leave home in the dark during deep winter. But the time they have to do things at home, like yardwork or playing outside, is limited by the evening light.

>>Cryptids are fascinating - I think my angle of interest is how every culture seems to have something that is an unexplained animal or almost-human.<<

That matches my observations. Also a handful of cryptids have been matched to actual species. Compare the drop bear to thylacoleo.

>>I'm intrigued by your fruit seeds.<<

I have apples and pears sprouting. I'm not sure if the crabapples have sprouted yet.

>> I'd love to have a lemon tree in my yard but I don't think the climate would support it. Maybe something I could put in a big pot and drag inside for the winter.<<

There are somewhat hardier lemons, and also some fascinating techniques for growing citrus outside their normal range, like growing them in trenches (Russia) or stone walls (windswept areas). Many citrus cultivars are designed to grow in pots, including lemons. Here's a list of hardier citrus.

Re: Thoughts

[the_siobhan]

OK sold, I am definitely getting a potted lemon tree. It can live on the back steps in the summer and in front of the kitchen door in the winter. (I can't open the kitchen door if there is snow, I discovered this winter.)

Oooo, and there are olives on that page...

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> OK sold, I am definitely getting a potted lemon tree. It can live on the back steps in the summer and in front of the kitchen door in the winter.<<

Awesome! :D

>> (I can't open the kitchen door if there is snow, I discovered this winter.) <<

That sucks.

>> Oooo, and there are olives on that page... <<

Olives, figs, pomegranates -- if you have room to bring things indoors in cold weather, you can grow all kinds of warmland trees. It's easier with a porch or sunroom but that's not required. Check pollination requirements; some are self-fertile but others aren't, and some need help with pollination.

Re: Thoughts

[the_siobhan]

Now I have dreams about building a greenhouse.

That might be a project for future me.

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

You could try an indoor version first.

For a small outdoor projects, coldframes are very useful.

Here are some bigger outdoor greenhouses. These are worth considering if you are handy or know someone who is. Salvaged materials can make for very cheap construction.

There are ?greenhouse kits of varying quality. If you go that route, I recommend looking up the actual manual, not just going by the brief discription on the box. And take careful note of the weight, both for lifting the box(es) and for anchoring against winds.

Another option that can produce excellent results but typically costs a lot more, is buying a prebuilt greenhouse to have delivered. There are companies that build garden sheds, garages, etc. and they often have at least one greenhouse model. I've seen several, some better than others. This is a typical example with a range of styles.

If you like citrus, these are ideas worth exploring. People have grown whole miniature orchards in greenhouses, and many tropical fruit plants have dwarf versions.

[greylock]

There's some show on I keep getting ads for called The Empire Strips Back

OMG! I remember that! Well, the ads for it. It was years ago (pre-COVID?). I recall there was an Imperial Guard (the red dudes from Return of the Jedi) all business up top and bikini briefs below.

If I was rich enough to be properly eccentric, I'd just ignore it.

We don't have it in my state, but I work to it anyway.

=This is how I make it through the dark winters when I really want to do is just sit in the dark and drink wine.

It's not a BAD PLAN.

have arugula growing like gangbusters, basil, parsley and cilantro that's looking pretty encouraging, chives and thyme that might just make it and rosemary that is threatening to die.

I put some thyme in the garden in spring.... it's just there. Coriander (what you call cilantro) can't grow here, it bolts.
Maybe with the rosemary, get the biggest pot you can, and water it more than you thing you need?

[flemmings]

Second weekend in March. I'm for all year daylight savings precisely because it gives you light in the evenings. Also because I lived in a country without, and those 'light at 4:30' mornings were a pain.

Mind, if you live far enough north you'd probably want standard. Remember a December in Amsterdam when it didn't get light til 9 a.m.

[the_siobhan]

Ah, now I know. Thank you.

I've read people defending it by saying, some people want to get up earlier so they can experience the light! And I'm like, They can do that! They don't have to wake me up for it!

[flemmings]

Ohh, and the energetic oldsters in Japan going for their group morning walks at 6 a.m. and cheerfully calling out to each other as they did so. Thirty years later the memory still burns.

[gatheringrivers]

uBlock Origin? :)

[galadhir]

The footsteps sound terrifying! I'm glad you managed to figure out that it was only a coyote. Did you know that people who get SAD in the winter often get it in the summer too? I do :) https://health.clevelandclinic.org/summer-depression

[the_siobhan]

I know people who have a reverse SAD where they get depressed in summer, I didn't know you can get both.

[evening_tsar]

Disapointed: I thought you were going to find Bigfoot in your backyard!

I hate looking up anything this days, as Big Tech will always assume that means I want to spend money on said thing.

[the_siobhan]

I watched some tiktok personality explain how the algorithm works, he has to post every single day or his followers just won't see his updates - not just because of the sheer volume of other content, but because the algorithm will stop promoting him as a "popular" poster.

I feel like that mindset has infected every single thing. Yes, I joined your mailing list because I want to know if you are ever having a sale. But if you send me emails Every Single Day, I will block you and then nobody's happy.

[(Anonymous)]

There seems something very punitive, vindictive even, in that. "You skipped a day, you no longer exist!"



I wonder though just how often Porter Airlines think I fly anywhere. . .

[miss_squiddy]

The Empire Strips Back is touring here at the moment. I know a bunch of people who have been and they've all said it was a good night out.