This morning started out quite foggy. The barn I photographed the other day was almost lost.
Category: Uncategorized
A thought for today
Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought. – John F. Kennedy, 35th US president (1917-1963)
Main Street, Dresden Ontario Canada
A view of the main drag in our little home town, Dresden Ontario. The northern part of it is called St. George Street, and the southern part is called North Street (why, I have not yet learned).
This photo, taken on a kind of gloomy and quiet Sunday, belies the traffic we see during tomato harvest season, or on any busy weekday. Cars, tractors, transports, can clutter the street then. I like the cool mural, and the clock tower in the middle distance graces the municipal building. the clock chime still works and keeps good time; we can hear it on a calm evening at very close to the time our mantel clock chimes.
Dresden is less busy these days than during its heyday in the 1800s and the early 1900s. Like so many small towns in farming country in Canada and in the States, it’s trying to stay relevant, trying to keep people from migrating to and shopping in larger towns and cities. I think it’s doing perhaps not as well as some towns, better than others. Our grocery store is busy and almost vibrant. There is a good butcher a the edge of town. there are two attorneys, a good photographer, a Tim’s (of course), Bella’s (a very good place for lunch), a marvellous small Carnegie Library with extraordinarily helpful, personable staff, the ConAgra canning plant, the Esso station where brothers Dennis and Francis dispense gasoline and conversation, Burns Restaurant, Uncle Tom’s Cabin Historic Site, and much more.
Dresden is a human-scaled town. You can comfortably walk from anywhere to anywhere in town. People walk in the streets and drivers move over, hockey goals are set up in the streets, people wave at one another. We love living in our small town.
Stella at ease
When I sit down after getting home from work, Stella almost always asks for permission to get on the couch. Permission is almost always granted. If denied, she rarely pursues the issue.
Sunset
It seems that the entire universe is talking about Rob Ford, offering their opinion, blogging their outrage. So I will . . .
. . . say I am embarrassed and that I hope parents use him as an example of how to not conduct oneself. And that is all I care to say here.
This lovely sunset greeted me when I walked out to my car at the end of my work day. I zoomed in to the scene in another photo yet decided I liked this one more, liked the road angling through the image. Scenes like this are reason to give thanks to be alive.
Country barn
I drive past this barn several days weekly. Every time I pass it I think, I need to photograph it. Today, I fnally did.
I love seeing these wooden barns, they are a link to the past. There are fewer and fewer around now.
Tree, Lambton Line
This tree was trimmed away from the hydro line and pole. Its an interesting, artistic shape caught my eyen on the way to work today so I had to capture it.
Soil test result
Last night I completed the nitrogen (N), potassium (P), and phosphorus (K) tests on the soil sample. Basically what you do with this Lee Valley Tools test kit is you collect a soil sample, add water, agitate, and let sit until the soil precipitates out. Then you add water to one small container for each of the three elements, add a pre-measured amount of a test powder, agitate, let rest, and finally compare the colour of the resulting solution to colour-coded charts.
The first results suggested deficiencies in all three elements, which was surprising since we have good growth in the lawn. There was turfgrass at the sampled spot until a few weeks ago, when Faye remved it in preparation for our expansion of the vegetable garden. I agitated the samples again and for a longer time to better mix the testing solutions and water samples in the comparators. This time, while the nitrogen test still showed a deficiency, the P and K tests indicated that there is sufficient to surplus levels of these in our soil.
Now to learn how to best add nitrogen to our soil!
Solitary pea
Faye found and photographed this growing in our garden. It is much too late in the season to expect anything from it other then the pleasure of seeing it. One of lifes little treasures and enjoyable moments.
We bought an inexpensive soil test kit from Lee Valley Tools because we were curious about our garden’s soil compositon. I took a sample from a spot in the to be garden expansion. Sofar I have tested the ph, which is right just under 7.0. The NPK tests involve testing water from a soil/water mix, and the soil has not yet precipitated out so it will wait until tomorrow. I strongly doubt there are any elements significantly lacking yet it will be good to learn how we could fine tune ojr soil, if we need to.
previouslytexan 