I have begun my yearly battle with the gout weed that's in my yard. Gout weed spreads by the roots and has taken up too much space in my yard. Moreover, it's bland looking - just green - and about knee high, which makes it difficult to see anything else even daylilies - at least until those flower, which is still more than a month away I think.
The gout weed battle is likely a losing one, as it'll probably come back in the places I've ripped it out of. Nevertheless, I can hopefully give the other plants near it more of a chance of doing well before the gout weed comes back.
I also transplanted a few ferns from the north side of the house to the south side, but still in a shady spot. They'll likely die back this year, but should come back next year without a problem.
Still have other plans for the yard including putting in some sitting areas and trying to get rid of some grass with the newspaper covering method.
June 3, 2007
June 2, 2007
Great game!
The Sens and Ducks will have something to live up to after I saw the semi final of the French rugby league - Super 14 - today. It was Toulouse-Clermont, and the home team took the lead by half time. But a great run for a try by one of the Clermont players got them close early in the second half.
Then they went ahead on a penalty, and sealed it with a drop kick during play to win 20-15. It was fitting result in the sense that Clermont had two tries while Toulouse never put the ball in the Clermont end; their points were all off penalty kicks.
Toulouse had its chance late in the game with Clermont up 17-15, when they were only a couple of meters from the Clermont end line. However, when playing the ball back from a scrum a Toulouse player pitched it back hitting a team-mate, which led to an open ball that a Clermont player was able to grab and punt down the field.
There were many "oh la la"s by the announcers as they watched the replay of that Toulouse error.
Then they went ahead on a penalty, and sealed it with a drop kick during play to win 20-15. It was fitting result in the sense that Clermont had two tries while Toulouse never put the ball in the Clermont end; their points were all off penalty kicks.
Toulouse had its chance late in the game with Clermont up 17-15, when they were only a couple of meters from the Clermont end line. However, when playing the ball back from a scrum a Toulouse player pitched it back hitting a team-mate, which led to an open ball that a Clermont player was able to grab and punt down the field.
There were many "oh la la"s by the announcers as they watched the replay of that Toulouse error.
June 1, 2007
Mother Nature is missing out
I planted some more things in the garden, and cut the boulevard grass today. As I was doing so, this thought came to mind: "Why isn't there a bug specifically eating dandelions?"
I think Mother Nature is missing out here by not having something - anything - eating dandelions. There's a great surplus of the plants - at least around my yard, so said bug - or mammal, or marsupial, I'm really pretty open here, would have no shortage of food.
So, I say forget genetically modifying wheat or corn or whatever. Let's genetically engineer a dandelion eater. That's what the world needs now.
Or my little bit of the world anyway.
I think Mother Nature is missing out here by not having something - anything - eating dandelions. There's a great surplus of the plants - at least around my yard, so said bug - or mammal, or marsupial, I'm really pretty open here, would have no shortage of food.
So, I say forget genetically modifying wheat or corn or whatever. Let's genetically engineer a dandelion eater. That's what the world needs now.
Or my little bit of the world anyway.
May 30, 2007
No practice swings
Well, it was just me out for Wednesday golf today. It was an overcast day, so rain was threatening - and the course was pretty wet. However, I got my 9 holes in without any precipitation falling on me.
When I was out a couple of weeks ago, I hit my last tee shot without taking a practice swing, and it went fine. So, I experimented with hitting the ball without any practice swings this week.
It went well. The ball went pretty straight, although not always that long. I think the heavy humidity might have had something to do with that. On 9, I hit my usually club (7 wood), and came up short of the green, so I took another shot - there was almost no one else on the course with me - with a different club (3 wood), and it landed right on the green.
Thus, I learned that if it's a humid day, I should be adding a club to compensate.
Overall, I shot a 51, which is higher than I'd like; want to be in the 40s this year, but that included a 2 stroke penalty for an OB ball. I think going out of bounds is a 2 stroke penalty, although I haven't memorized the phone book sized rules of golf book, so I could be wrong on that.
The OB wasn't a bad shot either. I was about 50-60 yards away from the green on the 2nd hole, and hit my 9 iron about twice as far as it needed to go. I couldn't see my ball on the other side of the green, so just took another shot.
Oh, and I didn't hit any of the greens. Well, not on my first shot anyway.
When I was out a couple of weeks ago, I hit my last tee shot without taking a practice swing, and it went fine. So, I experimented with hitting the ball without any practice swings this week.
It went well. The ball went pretty straight, although not always that long. I think the heavy humidity might have had something to do with that. On 9, I hit my usually club (7 wood), and came up short of the green, so I took another shot - there was almost no one else on the course with me - with a different club (3 wood), and it landed right on the green.
Thus, I learned that if it's a humid day, I should be adding a club to compensate.
Overall, I shot a 51, which is higher than I'd like; want to be in the 40s this year, but that included a 2 stroke penalty for an OB ball. I think going out of bounds is a 2 stroke penalty, although I haven't memorized the phone book sized rules of golf book, so I could be wrong on that.
The OB wasn't a bad shot either. I was about 50-60 yards away from the green on the 2nd hole, and hit my 9 iron about twice as far as it needed to go. I couldn't see my ball on the other side of the green, so just took another shot.
Oh, and I didn't hit any of the greens. Well, not on my first shot anyway.
May 15, 2007
Quote of the day
To use a computer analogy, we are running twenty-first-century software on hardware last upgraded 50,000 years ago or more. This may explain quite a lot of what we see in the news.
Ronald Wright, in A Short History of Progress.
Ronald Wright, in A Short History of Progress.
May 12, 2007
TO FC
For those of you outside of Canada, and perhaps several of you in Canada, Toronto now has a team in the MLS - Major League Soccer: Toronto FC. The league is run like other North American sports leagues in that people have to buy in rather be promoted from a lower league, so there's no relegation and a draft rewarding the bad teams for being bad. So, it's not perfect.
But it is nice that a relatively high level soccer team now exists in Canada. However, in their first four games, TFC had not scored a goal. Thus, I think it's fair to say that they wanted to get one today when they played Chicago in Toronto.
And the sun was shining on the club, as they won 3-1. The goals were good ones. All crosses into the box that were well handled, although I thought Goldthwaite who scored the second one, which broke a 1-1 deadlock and was the winner, was taking too long to get a shot off, but when he did fire it, the ball went under legs of a defender who'd come across to try and block the attempt at goal.
So, TFC has their first goals in club history, and their first win. Hopefully, it will be the first of many.
But it is nice that a relatively high level soccer team now exists in Canada. However, in their first four games, TFC had not scored a goal. Thus, I think it's fair to say that they wanted to get one today when they played Chicago in Toronto.
And the sun was shining on the club, as they won 3-1. The goals were good ones. All crosses into the box that were well handled, although I thought Goldthwaite who scored the second one, which broke a 1-1 deadlock and was the winner, was taking too long to get a shot off, but when he did fire it, the ball went under legs of a defender who'd come across to try and block the attempt at goal.
So, TFC has their first goals in club history, and their first win. Hopefully, it will be the first of many.
May 9, 2007
Birdie boy
Well I got on the board in my second time out on the Canoe Club links. I birdied number 8, drove it within three feet, which was good as Shy and Ron also drove on.
We all missed number 5, and Shy got a really favourable bounce to get on the 6th green; indeed, he had a good chance for a bird there, but missed and made par.
We all missed number 9 too.
So, the season standings are : Ron 3, Shy 2, Evan 1, and Gus 1, although the money standings are : Ron $3, Evan $2, Shy $2, and Gus $1.
My score for the day was 47. Hit a couple of trees solidly, and off one I bounced into the fairway bunker of the previous hole. Oops. Putted pretty well.
Good day out all 'round, and the temperature was 31 and sunny. My arms are definitely redder tonight than they were this morning.
We all missed number 5, and Shy got a really favourable bounce to get on the 6th green; indeed, he had a good chance for a bird there, but missed and made par.
We all missed number 9 too.
So, the season standings are : Ron 3, Shy 2, Evan 1, and Gus 1, although the money standings are : Ron $3, Evan $2, Shy $2, and Gus $1.
My score for the day was 47. Hit a couple of trees solidly, and off one I bounced into the fairway bunker of the previous hole. Oops. Putted pretty well.
Good day out all 'round, and the temperature was 31 and sunny. My arms are definitely redder tonight than they were this morning.
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