Tuesday, 9 October 2018
A sunny day turned reading plans into work reality. I had rearranged today’s work in order to stay to home because we were expecting a cable telly repairperson in the afternoon to replace our suddenly plotzed DVR box. I had briefly pondered if it were a sign to give up cable telly and just watch shows online. I could not find the energy to figure out a new thing so had resignedly waited the two days for a repair appointment.
Ilwaco
I planted the Conca D’Or lily bulb into the fire station garden while Allan photographed a couple of Ilwaco houses that are further along with Halloween prep than we are. (We have not begun.)
I wonder if she had just gotten back from a demonstration we had not heard about?
Allan helped by deadheading at the fire station.
We dug out annoying plants from two of the city planters kitty corner from the boatyard.
I once had a garden running partway along the north fence as well as the full length of the east fence. Only the east garden remains because a pipe laying project about fifteen years ago put paid to the north garden.
A teucrium (?) of great vigor had completely filled up one of the planters, and in another, a golden oregano had repeatedly been crispy by watering days.
We had a bag of potting soil that had an unfortunate large vein of sawdust in it.
I should have dumped the whole bag of potting soil into the wheelbarrow and mixed it up.
We took the teucrium (?) and golden oregano down to the port and planted it in curbside beds where a reasonably vigorous plant is welcome.
While waiting for the cable repair, we worked across the street from our house at the J’s.
Looking at that photo, I think that I will remove those blue fescue. They are well past their prime.
The only irksome thing about waiting for the cable repair was the several automated phone calls from the company wanting to be assured that we had not changed our mind about the two hour window for the appointment.
The situation reminded me of how people say “First World Problems” about things like cable tv or mobile phone woes. This excellent essay explains why the phrase is problematic—and inspired me to read the novel Open City by Teju Cole.
In case you don’t click the link, here is part of what Cole wrote about “First World Problems”: “I don’t like this expression “First World problems.” It is false and it is condescending. Yes, Nigerians struggle with floods or infant mortality. But these same Nigerians also deal with mundane and seemingly luxurious hassles. Connectivity issues on your BlackBerry, cost of car repair, how to sync your iPad, what brand of noodles to buy: Third World problems. All the silly stuff of life doesn’t disappear just because you’re black and live in a poorer country. People in the richer nations need a more robust sense of the lives being lived in the darker nations. Here’s a First World problem: the inability to see that others are as fully complex and as keen on technology and pleasure as you are.”
Here is another essay on the same topic.
And The Guardian eloquently weighed in right here.
Right after another automated call let me know that the repair would take place in a half an hour, two cable guys arrive, one a trainee, both efficient and pleasant. The new DVR box is smaller and yet also so subtly grumbly at all times that much later, while reading at midnight, I thought we had a dripping leak somewhere. It was just the disk making a faint racket, the sort of racket that most people would say only bothers me (but Googling proved it does bother other people with sensitivity to noise). Every appliance we have had to replace this year, (refrigerator, washing machine, and now the DVR) is noisier than the old one we had before. I wish the engineers would realize that quietness is a worthy goal.
I failed, by punching the wrong menu number, to correctly take the survey in yet another phone call right after the appointment was over, so I missed my chance to give the guys a good review.
But I digress. In one of Marion Cran’s books, she mentions being told that her books were “discursive”. The kindest part of the definition is “rambling, digressive, meandering, wandering, maundering, diffuse.”
After the repair, we had time to garden for two more hours at
The Shelburne Hotel.
I went into the north side garden by the pub windows to dig out the utterly silly echinops, AKA blue globe thistle plants there. From the original clump I planted in the sun years ago, these had been moved all over in my ten year absence. They won’t bloom in this deeply shady bed.
I like the short, narrow bladed, and very controllable round-handled shovel when I am working by the old windows.
Meanwhile, Allan had checked the plants on the second floor decks and balconies.
He then sheared down the Persicaria ‘Firetail’ that had been planted under the rhododendron at the south end of the property.
My former spouse and former co-gardener stopped by for a chat.
In the mail today arrived three books by Marion Cran.
Garden Talks has transcripts of her 1920s gardening radio show. She is said to be the first gardening broadcaster. The little book is Garden Wisdom, excerpts from her various books. Gardens of Character is her second to last gardening memoir. I set aside the final memoir, Hagar’s Garden, and sat down straightaway to read halfway through Gardens of Character (with a break for dinner and This is Us).
Love the dahlia planter and as always, The Shelburne Hotel garden looks beautiful. I, too, had recent issues with a repair person. I *thought* my washer went out. (Thank God, it’s okay, but I thought it had a problem.) Called Kevin the ONLY repair guy here. Kevin says he’ll see me Tuesday. Stayed home all Tuesday. No show. I call again & stay polite. He says I’m on his short list. He’ll see me before next Monday, Mon, Tues, and Wed go by. No call, no show. Laundry to the ceiling and stinky dog blankets piling up. I go to a Master Gardener event on Thursday and tell the MG president “My repairman didn’t come. Who do you use to repair your washer?” She asks me who I called. I said “Kevin”. She says, “Oh, I’m on his 2 year waiting list.” She bought a new washer as he never came. (Thought this was funny in a sad way.)
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That IS funny in a sad way. I am glad your washer fixed itself! Or maybe you figured out how to make it better.
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Oh, the dahlias! I am aching for color right now as snow starts falling and autumn leaves are blown away by our mighty winds. (I just learned I live in the wind tunnel of Montana, with winds that regularly knock over the massive semis passing through on the freeway.) I might buy a bouquet at Albertsons to cheer me.
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We currently have been waiting several months for a builder who has promised to come to repair our roof so it is an international (and probably a third wold) problem too.
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Oh dear! I feel lucky I only had to wait a day to get my telly fixed. (Of course, the company wants us to continue to pay the monthly exorbitant cable bill.)
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Just started getting my halloween stuff sorted, but yay…at least the lights are done.
I hear you about noisy appliances. I got rid of a wall clock years ago because I could hear it tick. As I age, perhaps I should have kept it? Probably couldn’t hear it now.
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I find that ticking is the one noise that doesn’t usually bother me. But then, I run two sound machines at night to sleep (“pink noise”), so I do not hear the ticking.
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