Baldur

Baldur picked his first tomato of 2014 this past Friday!
Huzzah!
This is quite early in the season for Rhode Island, certainly the earliest I've heard of.
It was rather small for a 'Big Boy', perhaps about 8oz. but delicious nonetheless.
We have since picked tomato number 2 off the same plant.

The secret to my success? Arrogance.
Baldur set 4 tomato plants into the garden in early April. This is a good 6 weeks earlier than recommended in this area.
Frost is still a possibility until sometime in May.

Last year we had a very snowy and cold Winter that suddenly turned into a very warm Spring in late March.
The gamble was that it could happen again. It did

Those 4 tomato plants are leaps and bounds ahead of my neighbor's tomatoes.

Baldur

We have a number of small white eggplants already growing. One will be ready to harvest next week.
No sign of fruit on the purple variety yet.

There are a few new residents at Boughbreak this Spring.
Shortly after the flock of Mallards returned from down South we notice a Canada Goose among them. Then there were two.
I believe them to be nesting across the road at the edge of the larger pond.
They certainly make a mess.

Now twice we have had a youngish racoon knocking over things on our deck in the middle of the night.
Baldur turns on the outside light and talks to him/her through the screen door.
The racoon looks at me, and then goes back about its business.
Surprisingly this gets no reaction from our cats.
I thought for certain they would be clawing at the door to get out.

Baldur

It's time to wish a magical birthday to mdawrcn!

Baldur

What a gardening Summer this has become at Boughbreak.
My tomato plants are larger than they've ever grown here.
This is most likely because of the copious amount of alpaca manure that has been added to the soil in the past 2 years.
A friend around the corner has a small flock of alpacii. He brings me tractor loads of manure over the Winter and early Spring.
Baldur lets it age for year before forking it into the garden soil, As a result it is only this season that its benefits have become obvious.

The alpaca is an odd creature. They appear quite cuddly, but that is just an assumption we humans make.
These animals do not relish physical contact. Each will stand in his/her solitary space without nuzzling each other. They do not enjoy being touched.

mdawrcn

Thanks so much Baldur for the birthday wishes and your stories are always so interesting.

Baldur

and now it's time to wish polenta a Happy Birthday!

Lizzi

For your viewing pleasure...
https://www.flickr.com/photos/75571860@N06/11357133124/

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Belated birthday wishes, polenta.

indigo

http://imgur.com/gallery/KIBAN

For all you tree huggers out there. Even if you're not, take a look at these fabulous pictures!

Baldur

Wonderful stuff Lizzi and indigo. Keep those cards and letters coming in.

Baldur

Baldur now has a fairly aizeable board on Pinterest. Some of you must be familiar with that site by now.
Imagine it as an endless online scrapbook.
Just a few moments ago I opened what may be the first ThinkDraw board there
..and here it is

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/483292603736371306/

Baldur

That last was just one image from my board, here hopefully is a better link:

http://www.pinterest.com/baldurbear/thinkdraw-images/

Baldur

This is much too quiet.
OK here are 10 things you might not know about Baldur.

1. My first cat was named Aja (pronounced 'Asia')

2. My first apartment was in a 100 year old building. It had a very large kitchen but very few cabinets. When the neighbouring building underwent renovations I took all of the 100 year old cabinetry they discarded and installed it in my own kitchen. When everything was gived a new coat of paint you'd never have guess it wasn't there all along.

3 I really truly hate anything made of plastic

4. Less than 1/10 of 1% of the objects I own are the colour blue.

5.I am an unabashed Anglophile

6. ...yet I have never seen an episode of Downton Abbey

7.Dinnertime is very important an trumps everything else.

...to be continued after Dinner

Baldur

#7 an + d = and

Baldur

8. Baldur loves ramen noodles, but discards the nasty little flavour packets.
I season them with soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, red pepper flakes and the smallest pinch of brown sugar

9. Baldur reads a lot of books, currently on deck is a biography of Sarah Bernhardt.

10. People wrongly assume that I am a witch.

Baldur

#2 gived - d + n = given

Baldur

#2 guess + ed = guessed

Lizzi

Thanks for the tip on ramen noodles. And why don't people realize that men cannot be witches? Wicca, from which it was derived, was the common name for 'woman', as Baldur, of course, knows. Before paternity was understood, all women were believed to be magical, as they alone could produce another human being. The church took care of demoting them by defaming them with false accusations. I hope I have not bored you.

Normal

I expect that men CAN be witches, just as Puffs can be generically referred to as "kleenex." You are quite right about the church, and the patriarchal religions before them. If not previously read by her, Lizzi might enjoy
WHEN GOD WAS A WOMAN by Merlin Stone and THE CHALICE AND THE BLADE by Riane Eisler, 2 of my old favorites. Some may have been misled by Baldur's satyr-like qualities.

Baldur

I recall a witch (male) friend's comment about my home (Boughbreak) after he had visited several times.
John asked, 'How did you make the inside of your home larger than the outside?'
Baldur replied, 'It's the same dimensions inside AND out.'
John then said 'No, it clearly is not.'

He would pace out the distances inconclusively but remains insistent that witchery is afoot.