Flyer's diary

the pimento plant was one of the smallest i had last year only producing about 4-5 peppers. and i believe all the seeds i have are from a single large one. peppers can generally self-pollinate and these must have been since they came off my own plant, but hybrid peppers are out there. from what i have gathered, hybrid seeds will not produce hybrid peppers but rather they will produce plants with the characteristics of either one parent or the other.
 
Interesting. Looking forward to seeing this year's crop.
 
i was sawing wood in the garage for the past few days and when i went to weigh myself this morning i was thrown for a loop seeing 162.0 lbs even after trying a reset. then i turned the scale over and there was a tiny wood chip stuck to one of the feet. sure enough, that was enough to throw off the accuracy. be very suspicious of anomalous reading on a digital scale...!

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#2...!
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oh oh... it didn't appear that more than one or two seeds were going to sprout so i planted 20 more a few days ago.

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looks like i should have been more patient... :)
now i wish i had a real garden...!
 
the parrots have been circling the neighborhood the past few weeks at sunset. the evening "call to the flock" can be quite a racket...


when i moved here 30 years ago, i could count them...!
 
Impressive parrot video! I suppose they are invasive, and maybe a problem?
be very suspicious of anomalous reading on a digital scale...!
That is true, I have discovered that I can lose 5 lbs by just putting a small corner of my bathmat under the edge of mine!
 
those were most of the Amazon flock. there is a smaller flock of Red Headed Conures, but i haven't seen them in a while. their daily patterns change occasionally, but off and on, they have been here for a few decades. it is storied that the flocks started with escaped or set loose pets. hard to say they are not native now, though once in a great while (fortunately) some fruit tree owner flips out and tries to shoot at them. palm nuts are fairly plentiful around town and they'd go to waste anyway.

there used to be three Macaws around town. years ago i saw two of them flying together, but that was the last time i saw them and i don't think anyone has spotted them in quite some time now.

that little porch i was taking the video from holds my bird bath. i keep hoping the parrots will find it, though with their mass, they might topple it over. Amazons are stocky little guys and with all due respect, with their short stubby wings, not very graceful fliers. i'm not sure they can even glide well or at all...!
 
having breakfast (this afternoon), for some reason i started wondering... is there any real corn in corn flakes...?

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at $0.99 each it was a treat ... can't wait until August when ears will be a fraction of the cost...!
 
never a big fan, but looks like her days are numbered... RIP Auntie J.

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i wonder if my brand of butter is next...? :(

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i thought for sure i'd see a bump considering my recent diet.... i feel like i've been eating too much, but then i have a few projects that are getting me off my butt for most of the day. i guess things can balance out at any level...

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i really have been out walking less, too. occasionally i have somewhere to go, like yesterday... but most places i used to walk to are still shut down. apparently masks are mandatory in California starting today, even outdoors... except for people exercising. its going to be sad if i have to explain to anyone that walking is exercise. most people do their best to avoid me anyway.
 
i've been on a chili kick recently. i suppose everyone will have to judge whether or not it's on your diet, but it definitely beats anything out of a can taste-wise and likely health-wise. here is my version (today)..

quick market trip this morning and some better-use-today ground beef was on sale so i couldn't pass that up. interesting thing about ground beef i learned recently... this was store-bought and very often when you break up the meat, you find red on the outside & a grayish color on the inside. up until now i've thought the meat dept may have been doing something to artificially color the outside for sale.

fun fact... red meat needs oxygen to stay red. anyone else not know that? ...i didn't.

anyway here are all the fixin's... a few add-ins of my own... med white onion, ... a bit of Rosemary and a few peppers from the garden... and some canned chili peppers that i needed to use up. Roma tomatoes were on sale today and they are meaty... nothing wrong with that.

before prep....

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~15 minutes later (drain the beans)....

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have a big pot ready, but start by browning the beef....

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drain the fat and throw the browned meat in the pot. i used to eventually return it to the pan, but i figure why waste any of the mix, so i throw that on top of the meat in the pot and add about a half cup of beef stock just to keep things moist.

onions and peppers into the frying pan to saute a bit...
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throw the canned chilies and tomatoes just to heat things up a little...
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now throw everything else into the pot.... simmer for about 15 minutes...
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i started this whole project at about 11:45....
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12:30 ... breakfast...!
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for less than an hour's work... easily 6-7 meals.
 
sort of disappointed my pepper seedlings don't seem to be setting any speed records for growth...

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haven't seen the sun in a few days, though.
the lower than cool spring is transitioning into a cool summer so far.
 
apparently having a little taste from New Zealand today...

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@ twice the price of Gala's, i was curious enough to try one.
...it's an apple. i'm not sure i would call it twice as good... :)

INVU
 
584 new COVID-19 cases in the county yesterday... 20% more than the last high 3 days before that. even if i wasn't over 65 and taking an immunosuppressant medication i still wouldn't find this funny. not really worried about the virus itself... maybe a little, but the hospitals are going to be swamped within the month if things do not turn around ...and nobody is expecting this failed federal leadership to do anything differently.

people are going to start dying for need of simple emergency room procedures because there will either be major delays in getting help or there might not even be an available bed to get them to. this could easily get terrifying. the stress on hospital workers at all levels is unimaginable.
 
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