Rick Valley

Now if you are in the tropics, ants can make it difficult to pick, prune and keep leaves on the trees (Leaf Cutter Ants. Many species can sting the bejeepers out of you, as well. Some ants species have a soldier caste with big jaws and I have seen them used in place of sutures: apply the ant while holding the wound closed, and after the ant bites the wound closed, pinch off the body, leaving the head and jaws in place until the wound is healed.

I don't have a true perennial green that I like more than the collards, sprouting broccoli, Italian mustard and others that choke out the weeds here, and Mitsuba that rules the shade zones. Although it is the mildest tasting carrot family green I have ever eaten, I do like it. I also have a great French Parsley (flat leaf type) that is naturalizing, delicious, and biennial, so pretty close to perennial.  Most other perennial greens are a bit strong to my tastes

I am going to have a new trellis shading the big west-facing living-room window BEFORE SUMMER!!! The black locust posts are ready, (grew them myself) and I have some bamboos that will span E-W on cedar 2X6 "rafters" spanning S-N. The grapes have been in for years already: One is a Swenson's Red, which was my grape-breeding Phd. friend Lon Rombough's favorite, because it is so unique in flavor, and is NOT seedless: most all hardy seedless grapes have the same daddy: Tom. Not that I dislike them, they were mostly bred at Cornell and bear names form the Finger Lakes region of New York (and if you say Upstate? I'll reply WESTERN NY) So the small seeds in Swenson's Red are crunchy, and the seeds contain picnogynols, which are healthy for you. And you have to be real lucky at a farmer's market to find any. So: I will be able to see the grapes from where I am typing this, and the bird's are gonna entertain my housecat. The grapes will be on the trellis before summer, because the main vines were planted years ago, and are already bearing. (it took awhile to get the posts together, although most are from trees I planted in other locations.)

How about "How to meet Grandmas and old widows. Things every ol' geezer should grok?"
I've became a widower 15 years ago, and haven't gotten lucky yet. It's gotten a bit easier failing since my libido evaporated, but I don't like sleeping alone, even if I have a magic feline who loves to snuggle. (She's my "Familiar", in the magical sense). I'm currently pinning my hopes on being active in the Oregon Country Fair Elders group, but so far, making friends, sure, but no holding hands.

It is simple:
remember what George Clinton said: "To each his reach, and if I don't cop it ain't mine to hold", Then: consider that you are thinking about #1: developing good soil, and with billions of soil-dwelling helpers. Work with them, not against them. How can you accelerate soil formation if you can't add Your contribution as an animal? If you can't pee on it it's TOO TALL. (I've been injured on a ladder more than once: Gravity is not just a good idea: IT'S THE LAW!) Curiously enough, soil building helpers like it dark and reasonably moist. I have posted on this subject before, but I am not fully caffeinated and have no hope of finding it, better I just give another version: instead of importing heavy soil, get down and dirty, and trench into the subsoil, deepening the profile, aerating, and put BIG WOOD down first: a great way to recruit allies like termites, and remember to have a wheelbarrow load of finished mature compost (don't bother sifting it) on hand to inoculate each major layer as you work upward.  Do this in the footprint of the garden "bed to be" or in a tired ol' bed that needs a boost. Leave mature weeds with ripe seeds to mulch the mud in the chicken yard where they will perish without leaving descendants while they feed the chooks, if you're not not in a frikkin' city with humans who find chickens loud and obnoxious, not soothing and pleasant neighbors and allies. SO: build no higher than you can stack it all, watering during every Hooglecompost/raisedgarden bed-building event, and consciously make sure to have spots that have finished compost/topsoil all the way down to the soil line so you can have squash plants in season without any un-needed fallow season: the first crop will ensure you water well enough to accelerate the soil-forming process the more sensitive veggies need.  It's a good idea to have inoculated legumes in all the early annual polycultures to accelerate the transformation of cellulose into more available carbon. SO: less time hauling heavy dirt around about, and getting  yield asap while reaping other benefits like improving aeration, texture, nitrogen- well, you can add all the additions you can dream up, as you the designer becomes the recliner.

Oil wooden handles, metal parts and blades get an appropriate oiling (NB: here in the Maritime West the winter is RUST season, and rust prevention & stabilization are not just a good idea, dey de LAW! (especially as I learned today, after a another hot summer caused some asphalt shingles to fail and start leaks, A new priority was added to the list.... after I took a look at a tool that was not rusty two weeks ago!) I like to oil wooden handles by a wood stove (NOT TOO CLOSELY, RIGHT?) and make sure I don't leave 'em in the drying zone very long, like set 'em in the dry-the-boots range, and check 'em before eating dinner, so as not to lose track with a full, drowse-inducing belly.

All I can say is "Yeah, you right, ALL OF THAT!" Having myself experienced, in close succession, (but not much order at all, sorry!) : The death (at myside), of the love of my life, losing what I had planned as my final purpose/situation/job/and supportive community, (due to a would be "Queen Bee" anti- male/anti-monogamy disorganizer, while being manipulated and distracted through it all by my Babies Momma EX., the slow horrible cancer death of a beloved cat, and thankfully, at the end of the worst, crashing into the refuge of owning (by the willed gift of the love of my life) the half-acre lot w/fixer upper residence where I am now composing this post.  NB, I have managed to keep in contact with my son,  my second born,  despite his moving to an increasingly difficult distance (Portland! just a few counties away due to: I-5 traffic, "mega-Urbanimutation" and my increasing age-related mental and physical disabilities)

I can relate; around the same era I was experiencing that syndrome, and I found that warm saline solution and a bulb syringe did the trick. Around the same time I managed to eliminate some psychological stresses, and I began to feel like I might live to 60: I'm 73 now.

Apologies, I don't have a phone, suddenly, and I was placating the automotive gnomes- and got lucky. But I hadn't tracked which day was what, which is a bit scary- I didn't have a clue until I was back home and was gonna write down the @2-DO's and low and behold. I'm about to attack the highest mountain of stuff in the house and start packing it out and determine where to- I'm gonna be doing things weekly I think. I would Love  to (!?!Jesus Effin K-reist! my cat just got my left earlobe ready to receive an earring. @WTF ) I gotta staunch the blood... bottom line is making headway isn't always easy.  doing easy stuff can happen, and so far its been to enter a skeleton timeline for the morning or afternoon and do it, more or less. Now it feels like I`m on the edge of "can't recollect what the schedule is? So to make this hurt less, I'm nailing tomorrow's schedule: : wake pack for the day and hop on LTD bus with my senior pass with a cane and a daypack to the historic WOW Hall by 10:30. ( I will go a tad sooner and grab a Cafe Mam cuppa. en route, to set up chairs for the observance and help coalesce the memorial march ala New Orleans second line tradition. (Eugene has some connection with Mam folk in Guatemala, and they grow good coffee. I've spent some time with Mam folks, and a Mexicano I know has worked with them on getting organic certification. My favorite addiction and self reward (@ not more than 1 cup a day)

Frog made his living peddling the current "Frog's Joke Book",  full of old Vaudville-Style jokes, generally a small copy shop-style bifold and stapled, @1/4 thick, max. I admit I do not have a ready copy- perhaps this clean up will reveal one. I will bring any seasoned cane blanks I have ready, so some folks who want to do 'Norlins Style"
cane motions can take it with them- I might make that my Memorial contribution at the WOW Hall. I will post on this, and do a (blind or w/a prologue) if the Muse does not desert me.
As I'm "without a phone", EMail is my link to planetary knowledge. Or I can walk, bus or drive and do real time. Not having a phone has been a kick in the wrong direction, I gotta admit