It is the time of putting the garden to bed. You really need to get it done before spring comes, or at least the absolutely essential part needs to be done. But it really would be best to get out there in the rain and grey and cold and do it all now, not in the spring. But it's really hard. Because it's cold and it's grey, and it's wet, and no immediate good will come of it.
Thus have I tried these last ten days to get at least some of those essential chores done. There will be no tulips in the spring if I do not plant them in the fall, of course, and so that is the very highest of the priorities. I have managed 4.5 dozen tulip and daffodil bulbs and 4 dozen crocuses. It's not as easy as just digging a hole and dropping them in, unfortunately, because during the last part of the summer, I quit weeding (I take Ira Gershwin very seriously when he says, Summertime and the living is easy). Of course, the weeds didn't quit growing, so before bulbs can be planted, weeds have to be unplanted.
Also of high importance is the planting of garlic which is not of the highest importance because you can buy garlic easily in the summer when it ripens, but you can't buy a yardful of tulips anytime unless you plant them in the fall. In Idaho and Massachusetts, I planted bulbs about once in my lifetime (each place) and they came up every spring thence. But here, they may come back one or two years with actual flowers, but mostly it's just leaves the second year and then nothing. Perhaps the somethings eat them, but I think it more likely that they get too wet over the summer in our very wet yard. Fertilizing them does not seem to make any particular difference. I have adjusted, have gotten used to the idea that I need to procure 4-6 dozen bulbs, sometime around October 1 and get them in the ground sometime before November 1. And I planted a dozen garlic bulbs, which will provide a lot of garlic next fall, but probably not enough. But then there's the grocery store for a backup.
By now, however, there's a bunch of stuff that has gotten done: the bulbs; the raspberries are mostly cut back (although we were still getting about a cup of raspberries every few days up until the last two weeks from the everbearing berry plants. They don't seem to care that it rarely gets above 55 and that they see sun only rarely. The lilies and the hydrangeas are mostly cut back. The kitchen is full of seed pods from various plants, awaiting my collecting and bagging them for spring planting. The fruit trees need work, the forsythia needs work, the day lilies, crycosmia, shastas, lunarias all call to me as I go by, 'Please so kind as to make me shorter!' But they are yet tall.
Tomorrow, and tomorrow and tomorrow creeps in this petty pace, but not enough gets done. The list gets longer, the days get shorter. Oh, Garden! Just go to bed.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Friday, October 29, 2010
Government Strikes Back
After that nice Whatcome County officials' visitation on Monday, we were next visited, somewhat more indirectly but much more unpleasantly, by the state, in the form if its Department of Archeology and Historical Preservation.
The news came via Point Interface, which had been asked to broadcast the reply of the Department to a local entrepreneur who does something about consulting on coastlands and such. The entrepreneur had requested a little information about what, exactly, the DAHP (that's archeology etc., above) expected regarding digging into the ground in Point Roberts. Now, I think it's safe to say that most people here know that there has been, in years past, some fussiness about digging large holes in the ground, say for swimming pools, and in particular over in Maple Beach because of there being Indian remains in that area.
What I think most of us don't know and would have no reason to know is that the whole 4+square miles is a giant archeological site and that, strictly speaking/black-letter law, we aren't allowed to plant our garlic bulbs today without getting a permit from the state and buying an archeologist to stand by our side to make sure that no bones are appearing in the shoveled dirt. At least that's what the archeologist said, the one who works for the state and is responsible for this law. Not for its existence, but for its application. You can read the text of the email she sent to the entrepreneur here at the All Point Bulletin.
Now, in all fairness, she does say that they have never interfered with gardening, per se, although it appears to be covered by the law, but she does claim that so much as a post hole being dug anywhere on the Point requires both the permit and the archeologist, both of which come at a price. (Maybe this will discourage the radio station with its desire to put up five towers on Tyee?)
Yesterday, I was at the local grocery, parked between a County Planning and Development truck, and an SUV. The SUV's driver got out and strolled over to the County truck and inquired of the driver whether he knew anything about these requirements for archeologists and permits in Point Roberts. The Planning and Development guy replied, 'Oh, there are lots of state requirements, etc.," and effectively blew him off. But I'd guess that is just one of many inquiries coming government's way.
It's hard to imagine what inspired the state archeologist person to commit her views to print, since they are done in about the most irritating manner possible. If you've been feeling some irritation with government here during the anti-government election season, you could scarcely find a finer example of what's wrong with government regulation and of why so many people are so furious about it. Well, we live and learn. Both us and the archeologist, I'd guess.
The news came via Point Interface, which had been asked to broadcast the reply of the Department to a local entrepreneur who does something about consulting on coastlands and such. The entrepreneur had requested a little information about what, exactly, the DAHP (that's archeology etc., above) expected regarding digging into the ground in Point Roberts. Now, I think it's safe to say that most people here know that there has been, in years past, some fussiness about digging large holes in the ground, say for swimming pools, and in particular over in Maple Beach because of there being Indian remains in that area.
What I think most of us don't know and would have no reason to know is that the whole 4+square miles is a giant archeological site and that, strictly speaking/black-letter law, we aren't allowed to plant our garlic bulbs today without getting a permit from the state and buying an archeologist to stand by our side to make sure that no bones are appearing in the shoveled dirt. At least that's what the archeologist said, the one who works for the state and is responsible for this law. Not for its existence, but for its application. You can read the text of the email she sent to the entrepreneur here at the All Point Bulletin.
Now, in all fairness, she does say that they have never interfered with gardening, per se, although it appears to be covered by the law, but she does claim that so much as a post hole being dug anywhere on the Point requires both the permit and the archeologist, both of which come at a price. (Maybe this will discourage the radio station with its desire to put up five towers on Tyee?)
Yesterday, I was at the local grocery, parked between a County Planning and Development truck, and an SUV. The SUV's driver got out and strolled over to the County truck and inquired of the driver whether he knew anything about these requirements for archeologists and permits in Point Roberts. The Planning and Development guy replied, 'Oh, there are lots of state requirements, etc.," and effectively blew him off. But I'd guess that is just one of many inquiries coming government's way.
It's hard to imagine what inspired the state archeologist person to commit her views to print, since they are done in about the most irritating manner possible. If you've been feeling some irritation with government here during the anti-government election season, you could scarcely find a finer example of what's wrong with government regulation and of why so many people are so furious about it. Well, we live and learn. Both us and the archeologist, I'd guess.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Visitation
So, last night the suits came up from Bellingham to entertain us in dialogue as to what Point Roberts needs from them (but not so much what they need from Point Roberts). About thirty locals showed up for the experience, most of which was spent on the issues surrounding the missing dock at Lighthouse Park. That is, how the dock could be made to reappear. That was not so much dialogue as it was informational, but for those who missed the information, there were some dialogue attempts. One fellow was puzzled as to why everybody kept talking about a dock at Lighthouse Park when as far as he was concerned there was no dock to speak of there. In trying to straighten him out on this point, he drifted even farther away when one of the suits appeared to say that there had been no maintenance on this sorry excuse for a dock for the past fifteen years. Right to the end, I think, the fellow never got much clarification as to the problem and the solution.
The problem is that the dock was removed three years ago because it was beyond repair, and the solution is that the County will put up some money, and the County and Chairperson Reber will try to get the Port of Bellingham to put up some money, and then they all three entities, assuming we can consider Reber an entity in this sentence rather than a person, will try to get the State of Washington, via some relevant agency to give some money, and voila (with the missing accent added), a new dock will come into existence. And individuals are encouraged to write letters of support to everyone and to donate any money toward the project that they can find it in their hearts to donate.
The second hour was spent more on the dialogue part. A woman from the Voters' Association, or maybe the Taxpayers, Association (I wish they would unite just so that we can stop having to keep them straight), spoke of the many reasons why it would be a feature and not a bug to have a foot passenger ferry between here and Blaine. She was heavily infused with the "If you build it, they will come" vision of how things work. Unfortunately, that vision probably involves a capital commitment that would guarantee losing money for at least the first five years, and probably forever. The dialogue part was the suits saying, in various ways, "You go for it, Ma'am, but I wouldn't be looking for County dollars in these trying times of no County dollars." Reber was pleased that no one outright laughed at the proposal. The Taxpayers/Voters, whichever it is, will do more research on this issue.
And there was a little information about a small advance on getting a lighthouse for Lighthouse Park. And there was considerable discouragement about a Bond Issue for Point Roberts which would raise large funds and would then be paid back by the income stream from the gas tax. (Better to lease those funds, I say. Abu Dhabi might still be interested, but Chicago, it appears, is now suffering from having people rip up the Abu Dhabi-leased parking meters. The equivalent here, I suppose, would be angry constituents ripping up the gas pumps. Not that!!)
And then we closed on the perennial whimper about Pt. Roberts becoming its own little municipality with its own little City Hall and its own little taxing authority. The suits looked very dimly on this, largely based on the interesting information that municipalities' funding base is almost exclusively business fees. They used to get money from the state, but no longer. So, looking at the business base in Point Roberts, their advice was, "Not Enough Business..not now, maybe not ever."
And then we all went home suitably entertained. Oh, also, the current gas tax revenues will go to some walking path shoulders on Benson and somewhere else, as I vaguely recall, to be worked on in the spring at the same time that Tyee is re-asphalted.
The problem is that the dock was removed three years ago because it was beyond repair, and the solution is that the County will put up some money, and the County and Chairperson Reber will try to get the Port of Bellingham to put up some money, and then they all three entities, assuming we can consider Reber an entity in this sentence rather than a person, will try to get the State of Washington, via some relevant agency to give some money, and voila (with the missing accent added), a new dock will come into existence. And individuals are encouraged to write letters of support to everyone and to donate any money toward the project that they can find it in their hearts to donate.
The second hour was spent more on the dialogue part. A woman from the Voters' Association, or maybe the Taxpayers, Association (I wish they would unite just so that we can stop having to keep them straight), spoke of the many reasons why it would be a feature and not a bug to have a foot passenger ferry between here and Blaine. She was heavily infused with the "If you build it, they will come" vision of how things work. Unfortunately, that vision probably involves a capital commitment that would guarantee losing money for at least the first five years, and probably forever. The dialogue part was the suits saying, in various ways, "You go for it, Ma'am, but I wouldn't be looking for County dollars in these trying times of no County dollars." Reber was pleased that no one outright laughed at the proposal. The Taxpayers/Voters, whichever it is, will do more research on this issue.
And there was a little information about a small advance on getting a lighthouse for Lighthouse Park. And there was considerable discouragement about a Bond Issue for Point Roberts which would raise large funds and would then be paid back by the income stream from the gas tax. (Better to lease those funds, I say. Abu Dhabi might still be interested, but Chicago, it appears, is now suffering from having people rip up the Abu Dhabi-leased parking meters. The equivalent here, I suppose, would be angry constituents ripping up the gas pumps. Not that!!)
And then we closed on the perennial whimper about Pt. Roberts becoming its own little municipality with its own little City Hall and its own little taxing authority. The suits looked very dimly on this, largely based on the interesting information that municipalities' funding base is almost exclusively business fees. They used to get money from the state, but no longer. So, looking at the business base in Point Roberts, their advice was, "Not Enough Business..not now, maybe not ever."
And then we all went home suitably entertained. Oh, also, the current gas tax revenues will go to some walking path shoulders on Benson and somewhere else, as I vaguely recall, to be worked on in the spring at the same time that Tyee is re-asphalted.
Monday, October 25, 2010
All Together Now
Beyond civic duties, you could participate in doing some kind of active good, which might lead you to becoming a member of the church or the Food Bank group, or the Prep group, the last of which is dedicated to getting us through a disaster. In fact, if we had a real disaster. we might require the services of the food bank and the church as well. PAWS membership would enable you to help out with unexpected dog and cat needs: lostness, foundness, illness, maternityness, and orphanhood, especially.
The Historical Society and The Friends of the Library are a little harder to classify, because they seem sort of civic, but also sort of do-good, with a dollope of hobby on the side. If they have legal status, they are surely not-for-profit, anyway.
And then there are the activities groups, which might also be described as 'interest groups,' if the phrase had not been entirely taken over by politics. The Garden Club, the Beekeepers, the Rose Society, the church choir, the Sustainability Group (which may or may not overlap with the inventors group), the community garden participants (which might overlap with the sustainability people), the book clubs, the knitting group, the horse association, somebody's poker group, and the quilting group. Doubtless more, but these are the ones I know about. Really, quite a lot for a place with only 1500 permanent residents.
It is, of course, the quilting group that I belong to, and it has managed a continuous existence now for about fourteen or fifteen years. At its peak, it has about 14 members, but this number waxes and wanes with the seasons. It is a group with a strong presence on the Point. Over the years, we have made and donated a lot of quilts for community events or projects, or places. Our quilts can be seen in the Community Center, the Library, and the Aydon Wellness Clinic. At the Lutheran Church, there are four of our quilts on the walls of the great hall, "The Four Seasons of Point Roberts." Last week, the church raffled off another of our quilts in order to raise money for a generator to help save us in a disaster. The quilters aren't the only people I know on the Point, but they are all good friends in the truest sense of the words. Couldn't get along without them.
Maybe all this group joining is a function of the age of Point Roberts residents. It is largely composed of older people, of retirees, who come here and need to find some kind of niche to begin their new life. Back in Los Angeles, or wherever, they already had a life whose boxes were already filled and one would hardly be looking for yet more boxes to fill. And maybe it has something to do with the isolation that is such an essential quality of Point Roberts. Whatever the cause, it is another good feature of the Point. Here we are, like the pieces of a quilt, all separate, all different, and all together.
Friday, October 22, 2010
At Last: Separateness
On Tuesday, I observed that not only in Point Roberts but also in Bellingham, road workers were out painting yellow lines down the middle of all our roads. They'd been getting fainter and fainter and we might have thought, reasonably, that the County no longer had enough money to buy paint to paint us into separate directions, given its budget difficulties. Or we might have thought, less reasonably, that the County had figured out that we were all smart enough or not-British enough to know which half of the road we were supposed to be driving on (although knowing your half obviously isn't quite enough on a more than 2-lane road). Or something else.
But what actually explained this lack of yellow lines and now this presence of yellow lines is that the national shortage of yellow-line street paint which began last spring has, at last, been reversed.
"Dow Construction Chemicals, one of the largest producers of the compounds that go into pavement-marking products, experienced plant breakdowns in April and May, according to the contractors group. Along with Dow's reduced production, shortages of other chemicals and rising demand from roadway projects in Asia have contributed to the problem. Industry experts also say the shortage has been heightened because of demand from street projects funded through American Recovery and Reinvestment Act stimulus money."
(Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/08/12/20100812phoenix-road-paint.html#ixzz138mPD3YU).
Actually, if you Google "national shortage yellow street line paint" you will find the shortage cited even earlier than April of 2010, but whenever it began, at least seven months later, it has ended. You might think that the free market and capitalism and supply and demand and all that would have permitted a more rapid recovery, but then you might have thought that big banks would have good and legal processes for mortgages and foreclosures of same. I find myself, day after day, being astonished to discover things that I would have thought were obviously true to be absolutely NOT true. I'm not sure that I can bear getting any older if the learning proceeds at this pace.
In any case, rejoice at those yellow lines. Or stay on your own side, at least.
But what actually explained this lack of yellow lines and now this presence of yellow lines is that the national shortage of yellow-line street paint which began last spring has, at last, been reversed.
"Dow Construction Chemicals, one of the largest producers of the compounds that go into pavement-marking products, experienced plant breakdowns in April and May, according to the contractors group. Along with Dow's reduced production, shortages of other chemicals and rising demand from roadway projects in Asia have contributed to the problem. Industry experts also say the shortage has been heightened because of demand from street projects funded through American Recovery and Reinvestment Act stimulus money."
(Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/08/12/20100812phoenix-road-paint.html#ixzz138mPD3YU).
Actually, if you Google "national shortage yellow street line paint" you will find the shortage cited even earlier than April of 2010, but whenever it began, at least seven months later, it has ended. You might think that the free market and capitalism and supply and demand and all that would have permitted a more rapid recovery, but then you might have thought that big banks would have good and legal processes for mortgages and foreclosures of same. I find myself, day after day, being astonished to discover things that I would have thought were obviously true to be absolutely NOT true. I'm not sure that I can bear getting any older if the learning proceeds at this pace.
In any case, rejoice at those yellow lines. Or stay on your own side, at least.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Down in the Big City
I was down in Bellingham yesterday, checking out what people more in touch with the modern world were experiencing. Lots of stuff happening to them. Mostly, I was at Trader Joe's and in various medical offices, but even there and on my way to those theres, lots of stuff to notice.
At one place, they had a newspaper and I was amazed at how awkward it was to read something so big and floppy. Surely that would be much better on the I-Pad, and the office had wi-fi, so why not just get it in an easier format? But I stuck with it, in all its size, and discovered (amazing!) that the airlines find it too costly as well as ineffective to haul U.S. Air Marshals around in first class seats and would like to require them to fly in the cattle section of the aircraft. I think no comment is needed there, except to note that I would never have known about this if I had not chanced upon this newspaper in the big city.
Later in my travels, I found another piece of news that reminded me about Point Roberts. Last year, the fine city of Chicago sold the revenue for the next 75 years from its parking meters to a brokerage bank..Morgan Stanley? JP Morgan?...which in turn sold the revenue stream to Abu Dhabi. So, now, if Chicago wants to make parking free during some city event, Abu Dhabi has to say they're OK with losing those parking revenues, which they might understandably be not willing to say. And now NYC is considering selling/leasing long-term their parking meter revenues.
I just had not grasped how thoroughly privatization had taken hold. I know about all the military stuff, but I assumed cities, counties, states were privatizing only actual services, like garbage collection, prisons and schools. This parking meter revenue sale though was something different: like banks selling and securitizing mortgages, cities were now selling revenue streams in order to fill their budget gaps.
Chicago got over a billion dollars for their parking meter quarters. NYC is thinking five billion dollars. So what kind of revenue streams does Point Roberts have that we could be thinking about selling, leasing, securitizing, slicing and dicing, and then insuring to hedge the down side? First thought that comes to my mind is the penny per gallon on the gas tax. Since we have almost $400,000 now, in ten years it would be $4 million, no? And with two-thirds of that amount, we could have a ferry to go back and forth to Bellingham or Blaine (a small ferry, and it would have to largely be paying its own way since we would have sold our revenues in advance).
The City Manager is going to be up in Point Roberts on Monday night to meet with us. Maybe we need to get somebody there from Abu Dhabi to discuss leasing our revenue stream? And if that doesn't work out, we could maybe sell library fines? This kind of thinking is what comes from going to the big city, I'm afraid.
At one place, they had a newspaper and I was amazed at how awkward it was to read something so big and floppy. Surely that would be much better on the I-Pad, and the office had wi-fi, so why not just get it in an easier format? But I stuck with it, in all its size, and discovered (amazing!) that the airlines find it too costly as well as ineffective to haul U.S. Air Marshals around in first class seats and would like to require them to fly in the cattle section of the aircraft. I think no comment is needed there, except to note that I would never have known about this if I had not chanced upon this newspaper in the big city.
Later in my travels, I found another piece of news that reminded me about Point Roberts. Last year, the fine city of Chicago sold the revenue for the next 75 years from its parking meters to a brokerage bank..Morgan Stanley? JP Morgan?...which in turn sold the revenue stream to Abu Dhabi. So, now, if Chicago wants to make parking free during some city event, Abu Dhabi has to say they're OK with losing those parking revenues, which they might understandably be not willing to say. And now NYC is considering selling/leasing long-term their parking meter revenues.
I just had not grasped how thoroughly privatization had taken hold. I know about all the military stuff, but I assumed cities, counties, states were privatizing only actual services, like garbage collection, prisons and schools. This parking meter revenue sale though was something different: like banks selling and securitizing mortgages, cities were now selling revenue streams in order to fill their budget gaps.
Chicago got over a billion dollars for their parking meter quarters. NYC is thinking five billion dollars. So what kind of revenue streams does Point Roberts have that we could be thinking about selling, leasing, securitizing, slicing and dicing, and then insuring to hedge the down side? First thought that comes to my mind is the penny per gallon on the gas tax. Since we have almost $400,000 now, in ten years it would be $4 million, no? And with two-thirds of that amount, we could have a ferry to go back and forth to Bellingham or Blaine (a small ferry, and it would have to largely be paying its own way since we would have sold our revenues in advance).
The City Manager is going to be up in Point Roberts on Monday night to meet with us. Maybe we need to get somebody there from Abu Dhabi to discuss leasing our revenue stream? And if that doesn't work out, we could maybe sell library fines? This kind of thinking is what comes from going to the big city, I'm afraid.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Half an Apple, Better than None?
According to the news, it's a good apple crop this year, although less so in Washington State. In fact, the crop here is likely to come in lower than predictions due to apples being small. Which, apparently, is a result of colder weather and rain in September. Also, it was pretty cold during spring bloom.
Here in Point Roberts, it has been considerably worse than just less than predicted, although I doubt that anyone of any importance was doing any predicting about our crop. Our crop is, I am pretty sure, entirely a matter of personal apple trees for, more or less, personal use. The original Icelandic settlers here planted lots of apple trees; so many that there must have been some for commercial use. But the orchard tenders have moved on to other worlds and now there are just lots of untended apple trees in largely vacant lots with absentee owners of some sort.
In any case, and for whatever reason, there are lots of apple trees all around. Ed and I have four apple trees (one of which is multi-grafted and has four different varieties, which might mean we have seven apple crops that can can fail). Of the seven, this year's Transparent crop was small in quantity, but the right size. The Jonagolds were right in quantity, but very small in individual volume. The Red Delicious, which are ripening now, are tiny in number and small in size. The Golden Delicious are not only small in number and size, but also seem to have some kind of internal brown fleck problem. The Pippins, also ripening this month, are small in size but about average in quantity. And the other two, whose varietal name I do not know: well, one doesn't ripen until late November and never has much, and the other, which is an early russeted apple of some sort, set not one single fruit this year. (The pippins in the picture at left are about 2 inches high, each, and with flaws.)
So, we are pretty much reduced to buying apples. "What a revolting development this is!" as William Bendix used to say on The Life Of Riley, which was a very popular radio show in the Neolithic Era when I was growing up.
Worse yet, we are going to be pretty much, which is to say entirely reduced to buying apple juice. For the first year since our friends George and Rose bartered a quilt for an apple press, we will not be invited to make apple juice with them (bring your own apples if you've got them), because nobody has any apples to bring. Not only global warming but also no fresh apple juice. Revolting doesn't even begin to cover the situation.
Here in Point Roberts, it has been considerably worse than just less than predicted, although I doubt that anyone of any importance was doing any predicting about our crop. Our crop is, I am pretty sure, entirely a matter of personal apple trees for, more or less, personal use. The original Icelandic settlers here planted lots of apple trees; so many that there must have been some for commercial use. But the orchard tenders have moved on to other worlds and now there are just lots of untended apple trees in largely vacant lots with absentee owners of some sort.
So, we are pretty much reduced to buying apples. "What a revolting development this is!" as William Bendix used to say on The Life Of Riley, which was a very popular radio show in the Neolithic Era when I was growing up.
Worse yet, we are going to be pretty much, which is to say entirely reduced to buying apple juice. For the first year since our friends George and Rose bartered a quilt for an apple press, we will not be invited to make apple juice with them (bring your own apples if you've got them), because nobody has any apples to bring. Not only global warming but also no fresh apple juice. Revolting doesn't even begin to cover the situation.
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