Fun with Fungus

Fred ordered me a mushroom kit and it arrived today.
I am fascinated at literally this box of moldy horse sh*t the UPS man brought to us at the perfect time so we added the ?casings with water and boxed it back up to mature the fungus.
I can already taste the fresh mushrooms we will pick and know anything you grow always tastes better anyway.
I will report back once the fungus blooms? sprouts? hatches?

mary

A Poet's Epitaph

A poet's epitaph

Poor Poet
The epitaph said,
She had no money
Now she is dead.

Does it really matter,
After all,
How much we had,
How hard we fall?

The only things that matter,
So the poet said
Is how much we love
Before we’re dead.

Can we give and give until all is gone
And still have more to give?

Can we offer words that rhyme,
And still be allowed to stay
In the kingdom of Heaven?
The poet's Epitaph doesn't say.

Monday Crab

I could crab about work but thankful I can work at the same time.

Here's a little photo "Our" Hubble took.

The Crab Nebula.


Source: Hubblesite.org

It makes it all seem so small.....mary gerdt

Winter goes out slowly

Winter is going out like a lion.

Stiff south winds and cold air. Clear moonlit sky tonight.

The ground is frozen again.

Onions, artichokes and a few tomato plants being started this weekend.

That delightful odd weather last week gave way to this artic blast.

Garden memories

After last year's devsatating blight, we found this picture of some past year's bounty.

Such is gardening.

Healthcare What? passes

ok, so the good guys to half the populace of the u.s. won.
drink your champagne.
when you get gout, don't head out to the e.r.
things are still no better today.

so the good guys won and are the only smart ones
will they pull the plug on the dumb ones
can anybody tell me how the hell
they are going to fix the system
with a few thousand pages of bureaucracy
when that's what got us into this mess
to begin with.

when you remember the wins,
shun the losers
be proud.

the price tag appears
you wait in line
and you will ask out loud,

"How do I get to the beginning of the line"
The bureaucrat says, " there".
You say, "its too long."
"Reform", he will declare.

Spring sunset. Happy Equinox.

Happy Spring Equinox

Here is a spring 2010 sunset (early by VT standards)
Look closely to see the geese flying due North.

mary gerdt

Carolyn Wonderland Concert Video Ranch 3D

http://www.videoranch.com/

melded with

Carolyn Wonderland et al

carolynwonderland.com

and produced a fun and strange new experience.

It was a virtual concert and well worth trying out a trial of the 3 d experience.
Although it looked all male avatar wise, I was watching with my husband so it was not as crowded looking as it might have been.

Carolyn Wonderland never ceases to amaze us with her playing and range of voice.
You just need to hear Miss Understood to get hooked on the sound.

Here is the zen part.
This week has been rough in state government. We are suspended between tides of people needing help. Next thing, my tooth develops a nagging spur. I had been trying to wish it away until today. I had to leave early and was feeling stressed out about the hole inconvenience. I went to the dentist and was proud I got through the grinding. I walked in the door and Fred had loaded the concert avatar. We watched the concert and I typed along with chatters from across the globe. It was a global concert with fans from Japan, Germany, and Monkton Vermont. It was a great virtual concert and Carolyn and company played our favorites and then some.
It was a blast.

Maple Sugaring NW Monkton, Vermont

Maple Sugaring Photos.
I had a tall glass of sap tonight afraid at first but after awhile I got the hang of it. Rich in micronutrients I cannot pronounce and many cannot comprehend. That is the beauty of nature after all, it makes it looks so easy.
Sweet dreams!

A quart of maple sap. It takes 40 gallons of this to make a gallon of maple syrup

North on Roscoe Rd, NW Monkton, Vermont. Buckets hanging on the maple trees.

Mars enquiry

I had fun writing to the scientists planning Mars exploration.
The Dr. wrote back. Also note about hydrogen peroxide. A friend said it kills mold and the spores. Chlorox cannot even do that.
below is what they wrote me and my letter.


Hi Mary,


Thanks for your question! I asked the real Dr. C (Mars scientist, Dr.

Phil Christensen) and here is his response:

"There have been a number of different ideas on how to use ice on Mars to

create hydrogen and oxygen. This will likely be done at some point by

astronauts living on Mars, and the ice would be a good source of hydrogen

and oxygen that could be used in a variety of different ways. The first

astronauts to Mars might bring enough water, oxygen, and fuel to survive

and get home safely without having to rely on Martian water to survive,

but Mars water will certainly be used at some point."

Thanks for your interest in Mars exploration!
Cassie


> I was asking whether melted ice may be used on Mars to create hydrogen

> peroxide to be used as a fuel, all purpose cleaner and reservoir for water

> with

> the benefit of releasing oxygen for living areas without toxic chemicals

> and with sustainability.

>

> Aryanna

>

> earth name:

>

> Mary E. Gerdt

> alvarita1@aol.com

> traveloguefortheuniverse.blogspot.com

>

March Came in like a Lamb

March 2010 came in like a lamb in NW Monkton VT.
The sap is flowing as evidenced by our weary friends who tap our trees and boil down the sap to a pure ecstasy of a taste.
We got most of our seed order and the artichoke seeds went in the fridge to simulate season number one.
The days have been 40-50 degrees F, dry and 20's at night. It has felt warmer then a good part of last year. Maybe we are acclimated but we also are burning less fuel to stay warm. In NW Monkton Vermont, we do not ever look gift weather "in the mouth" so to speak. For you more literal people, it's been wonderful weather.
Hope it doesn't go out like a lion.
Mary Gerdt monkton vt

What's your sign?

Searching for a sign

Who am I and why?

Am I bold because when I was born,

Mars was shining in the sky?

Did Mars pull my DNA?

or

push my cranium water?

The horoscope says I am

Aries by birth,

Are the words in the paper

true reflection?

do they have worth?

What's your sign?

Herrad's award

I am honored to be among the bloggers awarded by friend Herrad. I call it Herrad's list. Enjoy perusing her delightful selection of beautiful blogs. Her daily art selection and fresh prose shows her humor, grace and gumption.

check it out!

http://accessdenied-livingwithms.blogspot.com/2010/03/beautiful-blogger-award.html

Mars Dream

Mars dream becoming incremental reality.
At least my name,
Meine Name
is going to Mars
hieraus

do you dare?

marsparticipate.jpl.nasa.gov

Also below is a re run from an earlier post I had. Available at my archived website. I wrote about 2 years ago or so.
2 solar years=teanny weeny micromilliseconds in light years.

Mars, The Red Planet

is now more desirable because they just found

Water

and now the real estate futures marketeers are studying how to lay out the subdivisions and lakes and infrastructures of the yet to be exploited

red planet

What is an expected mystery?

What is the meaning of water on Mars? It becomes clearer when you know for sure. But then, I've always known for sure that Mars must have water, a sister planet to Earth our present house.

Isn't it great the Nasa equipment on Mars didn't break down? Not like the stuff we buy on Earth. I wish it would start when we want it to and there's always something breaking down.


This is the last day of July and that puts me into a blissful August panic. The beans would come soon and then everything will start ripening and the animals, bugs and diseases will try to eat some of our bounty. I was fortunate to weed the beans last weekend although it forced me to hit the pillow early that night.

Don't hold your breath waiting for the real estate guide to mars.

But think about how in your lifetime perhaps there will be such a website and people will travel to the red planet and vacation by some of the pooled water under a solar canopy and fish for exotic species and good old fashioned ice cream made from synthetic proteins and maple syrup from Vermont.

A few things just can't be replicated.

May you discover an expected mystery of your dreams.
mary (the martian by zodiac sign)

addendum 03.07.2010 earth calendar. martian name is Aryanna

Moth Memories

This large moth liked the greenhouse weeds

Happy Friday night

Take in some good music

levonhelm.com

carolynwonderland.com

guyforsyth.com

thanks herrad for friday night music, here's some links above from this side of the pond.

I wondered

I wondered, if I whispered,
would anybody hear?
If I said a tiny prayer,

underneath my breath,

would that erase the fears?

If I started low and tiny, would it ever sound a roar?

If I started with a single note,

Would a symphony explode?

I wondered if the cries of lonely, lost and souls astray,

Are they ever heard by someone
Or something

Or does it merely die away?

That time of year

The maple sap is running and a friend taps our trees and brings us wonderful syrup.
Also time for town meeting which I am boycotting, believeing the future will be all inclusive, one man or woman,one vote, opinion cast every day instead of one day deceptively thinking one could actually make a difference, in that room of people? I will not pay any more attention to this soon to be antiquated process. You heard it here first.

And time for the annual seed order.
I ordered in time to beat the ordering deadline for  fedcoseeds.com 
my favorite supplier.
They have the best maine seed potatos and great seed.
I also ordered sweet potatoes from New Hope nursery (first try), and all goliath collection from Totally tomatoes. I am hoping for some disease resistance. We are all still a little sick about the late blight epidemic last year. Luckily we are still eating potatoes which our favorite are the blue!
We'll start the onions and artichikes by the end of the month.
Got a glimpse of the sun today.
Springs birds starting.
It's that time of year.

Herman

Herman Kuethe,

Larger than life
my memories of him clear as the sky patches today,
where it is town meeting day in Vermont,
and locally in the sleepy hamlet of monkton, vermont.
Deceptively innocent.
(herman? you ask)
No Herman is (i hate the word was, he will always be, to me) a truly innocent man.
i meant it more locally but cannot be more specific than that.

He would have been 111 today,
born in 1899.
That was the game I always played
with him
since I can remember on
March 2nd.

One of the first things I remember is riding home up the little hill
on his shouders, holding his strong head
and hands
the ones that carried caskets for the funeral home
and polished the hearse
and mowed the lawns
and his with the old carbon neutral type mower.
I don't remember going there but believe
someone was looking for me when Herman brought me home.

Herman would sit, smoke his pipe, and contemplate on the porch
under the shade of that wonderful box elder. Those were those 100 degree days in Southern Illinois. I would sit and stare at him for hours, escaping my own big family, I found meditative solace in the wrinkled, weathered face, huge nose, big blue eyes, deep voice so rare (say something, i would think), the vibrations of his laughter through his big chest.

He loved me I knew, and never had to blat it out or even hint verbally.
he did not have to say it.
i knew anyway.

Happy Birthday Herman.
Love,
Mary