HI,
Tomorrow’s the anniversary of the Erie Canal (1825), it’s Austria’s National Day, the gun fight at the OK Corral (1881) and it is the Islamic feast of the sacrafice-Eid-al-Adha. Birth anniversaries include French revolutionary war hero Georges Danton (1759), renowned gospel singer Mahalia Jackson (1911) and composer Domenic Scarlatti (1685).
Back in the late 1940’s and early 50’s the government had a surplus of parachutes and Idaho had a surplus of beavers in certain parts of the state and wanted to move them to remote areas of the state. And so the the game commission came up with a novel solution, they devised a Beaver Drop. 🙂
A lot of the subscription services are blaming the new chip embedded credit cards for sharp decline in membership. Places like Netflix, dating sites, etc. That is a common occurrence when credit cards are renewed with a new expiration date. But there are so many cards being re-issued because of the chip technology, it’s a lot more than normal.
Hewlett-Packard, Dell,Lenovo are teaming with Microsoft to launch a $70M ad campaign encouraging PC and laptop users to buy newer versions. The laptop and PC segment has been falling steadily over the last number of years as people switch to smart phone and notebooks for their computing needs.
It’s a busy time of year for North Hills Community Outreach. They are having their yearly coat drive through the end of October. Coats donated need to be serviceable, no broken zippers, ripped or torn coats can be accepted. For the first time they have partnered with Dutch Girls Cleaners on McKnight Road. Dutch Girls is offering to clean any coat donated in need of cleaning. They are more interested in functional coats like ski jackets, more than fashionable long coats. Most needed are adult XL and XXL. Last year they collected 2,000 coats and jackets that helped 345 families. They are also collecting non perishable foods for Thanksgiving Dinners, anything you might find at a Thanksgiving dinner is needed. Like canned cranberries, vegetables, powdered potatoes, etc They helped 800 families in need last year and the drive lasts through November 13. Provided meals to 800 meals last year to families in need. Also, so they don’t get bored, they are running a toy drive. 🙂 November 11 through December 11. They are looking for unwrapped toys for tots through high school age. More info at their website or by calling 412-487-6316. You can also use that phone number to register to receive a coat, Thanksgiving dinner or toys.
Penn Forest Cemetery has new staff members. Penn Forest is that green cemetery in Penn Hills, they’ve hired goats to keep the weeds at bay. They will cordon off areas of the cemetery and let the goats do their thing. And get this, they’ve hired a director of security for the goats, a donkey will travel with the goats to keep predators at bay. 🙂 And as an added benefit, both landscapers and security guard will leave behind complimentary fertilizer. 🙂
There’s an interesting Government Accounting Office website that highlights art the government owns and where it is. You can do a search by location or by artist. Kind of an interesting site to browse.
Over the years, putting the gardens in the Courtyard to bed for the winter has been quite the chore and I’m getting pretty efficient at this task. 🙂 I remember digging the elephant ears’ tubers out in the mud right before a hard frost. There was the year da boiz broke my hand and Dee & Taymar had to help me cut down the Arondo donex and it was bitter cold. Then there was getting rid of all that vegetation. The elephant ears and grasses are to much for my little Courtyard to be able to compost. The city wouldn’t take it. I ended up using my good friend Jeff that owns Peppi’s and would put limited amount of vegetation in his dumpster. I’m not particularly comfortable putting vegetation in the garbage stream. Last year, I talked about hooking up with those great people at the Western PA Conservancy, I know them. I sponsor a garden at the corner of Brighton Road and California Avenue. I knew at this time of year, they were dismantling most of their gardens and I’ve seen their pick up trucks loaded with plants they’ve taken out of the various gardens and knew they had to have a big composting program somewhere. So I called my contact and inquired if I could put my vegetation in their composting pile. The answer was yes. I had the vegetation in the back of my pick up, he offered to transfer it to his truck and then take me up to show where their composting was right up Brighton Road.The last few days I’ve been dismantling the gardens and piling it in the truck. In one fell swoop I was able to get rid of the vegetation. Here’s before:
Here’s the Courtyard stripped and inspected by da kidz:
And here’s the tubers ready for their sleep in the basement over the winter:
Generally I replant the elephant ears later April, if you would like some, just bring a tub (with a lid) and visit me before later April. I always have a tub extra after planting them. And I put tubers in cardboard boxes with a sign Free Elephant Ears. They are usually gone the same day. When my nephew Michael and myself cut the silver birch down a couple of weeks ago, we cut the l tree into fireplace sized logs with a sign Free Firewood, they were gone in two days. I will probably cut the Maiden Hair Grasses in half this spring (that’s the grasses on the far side of the water feature. If you want some of them, just let me know.
Here’s a pic of the Maiden Hair:
That’s it for today, enjoy your weekend,
ed
