Well the new place is starting to feel like “ours”, and it only cost a small fortune to get there. I exaggerate a bit, but when the wife and I zip out to Walmart to get “a couple things” if we get out for less than $100 we feel like we won.
Mayonnaise, curtains, a popcorn popper… these are just a few of the things we didn’t have when we moved because they belonged to someone else at the old place. And of course the whole nesting thing costs money (and it doesn’t help when one of you is a tech-a-holic.) Yes, I do need to be able to hook the laptop up to the new 32″ HDTV. For, uh, research purposes.
I have not forgotten how far behind I’ve gotten with the hydroponic/indoor garden updates. I went through the pictures the other day and they weren’t as complete as I’d remembered, but there’s still a heck of a lot more than I could cram into even a few posts so it will be a good “What I’ve Been Slacking On” update.
At the moment I’ve just got two soil-growing tomatoes in the closet with some respectably CFL output, but they’re not as healthy as I’d like. I have a small HPS on the way so I hope to do a DIY post MacGyvering that thing into use. (It’s not a plant growing design, so it’ll need adapted.)
I think I mentioned a few month back that I’d bought this natty pickup to help with the move and picking up garden supplies and so forth. Well we’re into the snowy season here and without any cold frames, hoop covers or (*drool*) greenhouses that means I’ve got no outdoor growing and thus the truck has reached the end of its usefulness until spring, except as basic transportation.
To make a long story slightly less long, we’re now selling the truck and looking for a car that’s better suited to winter driving than our beloved Honda, in the “we drive it in winter because morons who can’t drive in snow might hit it and we’d cry if the Honda got bent” sense. I’m paranoid enough about our Honda I’m tempted to get a car cover for it to protect against the elements, but I’m concerned people might think it’s valuable if it’s covered up and mess with it. Kind of a gamble either way.
And of course all this is set with the double-edged backdrop of the holidays. I like the holidays, don’t get me wrong. I like the family get-togethers and that stuff, but the whole commercial, crowded, panicked last-minute freak-out aspect of the holidays makes me want to start waving a claw hammer at every idiot that gets near me.
Christmas is December 25th, every year, like clockwork. It only sneaks up on people bad at math. If you forgot to get a widget for your cousin Ernie, hauling your ‘tocks down the road at 20+ over the speed limit in your be-wreathed Combat-Shopper edition SUV while texting on your ridiculous phone is not the best way to solve that problem.
Some of us are just not in that big a hurry and would instead prefer to get to the mall alive. And you know what else? You may not notice from the cockpit of your assault vehicle but you don’t get there any quicker than I do with my 75hp and 30+ mpg. They’re called traffic lights and they’re timed to keep us from going too fast.
Just freakin’ relax a bit.
Try enjoying the holidays instead of turning them into a competition.
Just one thing. Can we please have legislation banning Christmas music on the Musak system until at least the 15th? I mean honestly, we really don’t need that many renditions of “Little Drummer Boy” and I think more than a little of the holiday tension comes from the fact that the people working in those stores are pushed to the breaking point by hearing the same seven Christmas songs over and over.
Sorry, rant over.
Merry Christmas! ;p
The Encyclopedia Hydroponica 
Glade you are settled in and I look forward to seeing your plant set up with the hps. I run a 400w mh for overwintering plants and starting seeds in the basement. They are definitely the best way to go.
I am not sure what you would call Christmas now that it has transformed into this consumer crazed event. We have pretty much given up on Christmas a few years ago. This year we are completely throwing in the towel and renting a cabin on a lake. It will be a week of peace and quiet!
Exactly. When I was a boy I remember the stores and malls going all-out for the holidays but not this craven exhibition of consumerism. And people were complaining about the same sort of thing back then.
“Thanksgiving is barely past and they’re already putting up the Christmas decorations?”
Now they put them up when they take down the Halloween stuff.
We’re so sick of it all we don’t have a tree, decorations, or anything. It’s not about having some ornamental shrub hacked off and trussed up in the house anyway.
We too feel like we have won if we spend less than $100 at wal-mart. The silly thing is that I spend probably 25% of my time at wal-mart dealing with their beer orders.
Can’t wait for the updates!