Kansas Sunflowers

We have native sunflowers growing here on our property, but I do not know the official name of them or exactly what variety they are. This summer, we're participating in the Great Sunflower Project to help track bees. It should bee fun.

They sent us a packet of Helianthus annuus seeds, (aka Lemon Queens). I was going to put them across a trellis from beans, but I was advised that sunflowers can push other plants aside. Now, I'm thinking of putting them back near our bee tree--though it would be interesting to put them on the faaaaaar end of the land to see if our bees would travel there for the sunflowers. (Of course, we have a bee/butterfly garden going and we're planting some other flowers, too, so I do not know that bees will be especially attracted to these sunflowers, anyway.) Who cares, it is just fun to have sunflowers!



I want to plant some GIANT ones, to complement my GIANT pumpkins.

You'd think all I ever thought about was gardening...well, maybe so these days, but as summer progresses, I'll shift to something else, like something cool, indoors.

My International Harvester!

Craig Morgan's song is ringing in my ears as I write this--or else it's from tractoring w/o ear protection. Here's a link to the song/video, especially of interest for most of it was filmed in Wichita (in front of the Orpheum)a year or two ago.

Yes, I have an ol' Farmall SuperC, and at last it's functional again. I am so happy to have it back on its feet--er--tires. I will be using it to mow the jungle here (some weeds literally 10 ft tall!) I swore I'd never let it get this bad, and I truly was ahead of the weeds before my equipment troubles. (I think I'll go shoot a "before" picture or two, for even I would not believe how bad it's gotten!) All will be well for next year, anyway, for I'm also gearing up for livestock which should keep the weeds under control.

Outside of that, the garden is greening. The corn is going in tonight, late as it may be--it will still be okay. 'Never did get my peas planted, but then, we're not really big pea eaters.



I am most looking forward to the melons, reminiscent of my childhood and our 200 acre cantaloupe patch, 40 acres of watermelon, 40 acres of cabbage, 5 acres of peppers, 1/2 acre of strawberries, etc. We had a building to process melons, sorting them, cleaning and boxing them for shipment. My job was to sort the good from fair melons on a conveyor belt. It was hard work, but I'm pretty good at picking a good melon today!

Here's a pic of me by the load of cabbage I was about to load from our dock to one of our transport trailers...yes, I did manual labor as a kid! Builds character!



And in closing, an exciting video of some crackerjack tractoring that could only be done with the Superb Super C!

The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

I was trusted with Dill's Atlantic Giant Pumpkin seeds last year, but I did not really plant them seriously and nothing happened. THIS YEAR I am balancing the pH of the soil, adding nutrients, plotting the location and watering closely--altogether planning for a G-I-A-N-T pumpkin! I trust that we will grow one that's much bigger than I could hope to carry, something over 300 lbs is my goal--the record is over 1,200 pounds!

8th Anniversary--YIKES

That was the sentiment today. I mean, what's one to do with bronze as a traditional gift? I could have had a bust made, I suppose. I could have given her a bronze medal (an insult, coming in third, if you ask me). Instead I went with pottery, the other traditional gift of the 8th year.

We went to ClayWorks in Newton and hand crafted something together to commemorate our collaborative effort and joys of the last 8 years. We made a friend, too, with a former art instructor from my college. All too cool.

Looking for a great place to eat in the Wichita region? I urge you to visit Aggie's in Hesston, not too far from Town and very-much worth the drive. That's where we supped.

I also made her a card. I really need to do that more often. I have fun and she likes my handmade efforts. The art work is lousy, but it's fun, anyway.

The Job

Ready for summer school--I mean, really ready! Over a week in advance. I have all my summer course materials prepared right down to the last point in the grade book. I'm teaching three sections, but I'm eager to stay on top of it, to be responsive and proactive. This will be my best summer school experience yet.

Next, I'm going to build a technical writing course online. It should be one of my better builds, for I've been working on it for a long while in my head, gathering resources, etc. I taught it at Kansas State University for five years, then created three (state approved) technical writing courses at Cowley. What I want for this one is more and more "reality" and less academia. I want to interview people in the field (maybe I'll make it an assignment). I used to edit texts for technical writing, and I've tried to keep up with what's new in them. I've found more scenarios, more real-world documents, and (thank goodness) a move to more multi-media. I still have yet to find one that embraces mobile communication well (text messages, twittering, etc) which I foresee as being very relevant to the Workplace of Tomorrow. At least I can coach them through principles that govern most all workplace communication, show/tell how it applies to all media, maybe (?) I have a good ethics package from my mentor at KSU that textbooks have never caught up with, and I look forward to implementing that, too.

For fall, I'm going to be teaching 24 credits again, but I'm going to continue seeking ways to be more efficient. It's not just the "work smart, not hard" maxim; it's also that teaching this many credits means over 100 students in composition, which in my classes means over 100,000 words! Ugh. I want to guide them to write better material in my own self interest--I have to read it all (and I do read every page of everything, right down to their journals).

I am also continuing to incorporate more multi-media, more LMS-support, less paper, and more grammar/punctuation/mechanics. I've gotten to a comfortable place with documentation, delivering it in a palatable way that gives the students a good toe-dip. I've been building up a good rhetoric-driven approach, been very audience-centered for some time. It can always improve.

Then the bastards keep changing books on us, and I have to find a way to build content that is not text/page-specific, for that causes me HOURS of recalibrating.

All-in-all, I am very content with where I'm at on-the-job. Now if only I earned enough money! I'm still looking into moonlighting for other schools, since my school cannot allow me to have more than 24 credit hours. *sigh*

Latest Edition

SHE shall some day have me wrapped around her finger? That's what I am told. I tremble.

Honestly, I am all wuzzy on this one, not sure how to be a dad to a baby girl. I hope it will come to me eventually. I'm used to rough housing with boys, to telling stories with the guys, to being...manly. I don't know how I will adapt to her majesty. YIKES.

Anyway, she is cute, and she is lively, and I'm (honestly, under all my crusty exterior) very happy to have this latest edition, this new challenge, under our roof. She is beautiful and delightful to be around.

My lil' Ellison Dee.

Regimen

Maybe a better word is "routine."

I want to get into one this summer. I want to write, then work, then be off for the family -- daily. I hope to clear this with all parties involved, so that I might work outside when it's cool, then be free to fish, play, nap, etc for the remainder of the day, every day! Is that too much to shoot for? I know I have a GREAT DEAL TO DO regarding work, but then, I also have a great responsibility at home, especially with the new baby to be released this Friday. And, I have a good amount of duties stacked up just keeping the grounds and garden and house all in order. Still, I'd like to get back into the swing of writing (like I did in Ulysses, 1-2000 words daily). I'd like to work with my circadian rhythm and my "smart time" and coordinate all that with the optimum weather patterns per day...is that too much to ask? (Of course, some where in there, I'll need my power nap, too!)

Kids and pets and plants and (I have finally come to agree) people -- we all work better when things are in a rhythm, a cycle, a predictable pace.

Thaaaat's it...I'll call it a "rhythm," for that does not sound constricting at all...it sounds fun!

I'm already hearing that Johnny Cash lyric, "C'mon and get rhythm..."

Hey, get rhythm when you get the blues
Come on, get rhythm when you get the blues
Get a rock 'n' roll feelin' in your bones
Put taps on your toes and get gone
Get rhythm when you get the blues

A Little shoeshine boy never gets low down
But he's got the dirtiest job in town
Bendin' low at the peoples' feet
On the windy corner of the dirty street
Well, I asked him while he shined my shoes
How'd he keep from gettin' the blues
He grinned as he raised his little head
Popped a shoeshine rag and then he said

Get rhythm when you get the blues
Come on, get rhythm when you get the blues
A jumpy rhythm makes you feel so fine
It'll shake all the trouble from your worried mind
Get rhythm when you get the blues

Get rhythm when you get the blues
Come on , get rhythm when you get the blues
Get a rock 'n' roll feelin' in your bones
Put taps on your toes and get gone
Get rhythm when you get the blues

Well, I sat down to listen to the shoeshine boy
And I thought I was gonna jump for joy
Slapped on the shoe polish left and right
He took a shoeshine rag and he held it tight
He stopped once to wipe the sweat away
I said you're a mighty little boy to be-a workin' that way
He said I like it with a big wide grin
Kept on a poppin' and he said again

Get rhythm when you get the blues
Come on, get rhythm when you get the blues
It only costs a dime, just a nickel a shoe
Does a million dollars worth of good for you
Get rhythm when you get the blues

Two Shats to the Wind

Confession: I've been a Star Trek fan since the original series. I've been to the Trek museum in Vegas. I have gear (not so much) and I collected some space junk (very little). I can, of course, do the Vulcan "Live Long and Prosper." ...and yesterday, in spite of my workload, I did go to the new movie.

The Blogosphere has been buzzing about Chris Pine vs Bill Shatner for a long while, since the cast was first announced. Could he live up to the role? Could he fill the captain's seat? How could anyone have the bravado, the smirk, the style of Shat? I had low expectations, and I was wowed. This new kid in the 'verse is okay. He doesn't really have to live up to the role of the original James T. Kirk because the two JTK's have alternate realities, but that's for viewers to wrestle with. For my money, Pine is a diamond in the rough, and in this role, he rocks (to mix metaphors and cliche's about as much as possible).

I have thoughts of the film and issues to settle, but I do not want to blow the movie for anyone who may accidentally stumble across my blog. I can only, then, babble at random w/o spoiling anything.

This film has adequate bad guy-age. Not since that Borg queen have I been so wary of a villain, and like all great antagonists, his backstory justifies his badness, for we can empathize with his motives and actions. The non-Terran culture of the Romulans was conveyed well in the otherworldly interior of their ship. (The facial tats may have been a bit hokey, like some urban street culture bad guy punks, but what are you to do? Long black coats and big boots are only so foreboding.)

Star Trek had ample brain (and reason) twisting, totally flying in the face of time continuum theories--but that's all I can say about that, right now.

I was impressed with the stellar warfare, for in the Void it was largely void of those cinematic impossibilities in the vacuum of space (fire, explosions); they made up for it with an awesome soundtrack. Next time I see it, I'll attend to that even more.

The new cast, all the major figures from the original series, are good. Chekov was funny, but otherwise not that impressive. Scotty and Bones were excellent casting choices, but the very best was Spock, played by Zachary Quinto (Sylar from Heroes).



All that aside, I still have a better casting decision for Captain James T. Kirk, a guy who I always associated with the Captain, my Captain, my dad! He was always my hero, was always a leader, and had that same swashbuckling bravado (even on a farm) as Kirk, himself!

Well-grounded

I come in from shoveling, hoeing, raking, digging--gardening! My hands are like stumps and I find it hard to even grasp the facet handle to scrub up. I find the dirt has made its way into every crack, callous, cuticle. Dust to dust. As I wash it away, I mourn the loss of this crusty exterior that has been me for the afternoon. I have been a warrior against the weeds. I have been the cultivator, the creator. As I come clean, absolved of my imaginings, I am again what I am, just a bag of water, just another guy.

Morning comes and creaks, my every bone and joint arguing in favor of stasis, but I must move. I must go about becoming. I must make myself by day by words, but when evening comes again, when I pick up my shovel, I will be one with the earth and One to reckon with, at least for a while.

Meanwhile, I relish the dirt remaining beneath my nails. As I sit in this cultured environ, void of all remnant of our earthy life, tickling a keyboard to tease from it some semblance of thought, I am happy to note that dirt, humble and dark, hiding under my talons.

Talking to Myself

I've been working up a piece of science fiction in which the lead character is visited by a familiar face--his own. It is a version of himself about 20 years his senior, who has found a way back through time to visit him(self) and give some advice/insight. (Or so it seems on the surface--but I'm not going to spoil it here....that'd be the whole story you'd want to read, sometime.) Here, I'm just mentioning that as a springboard to this entry...

If I could go back and talk to myself at different intervals, would I choose to do so? Knowing it might result in me changing direction and ending up with a different life than I now lead, I'd have to say NO I would not. I might like to visit my younger self and just watch, or maybe provide some encouragement, but I would not say, "Hey, don't drink the water here--really!"

If, however, I could end up with the fantastic wife, family, job and life I now have, I might just revisit my past with a few bits of advice...

1976 No matter what, if your peers think debate and cross country and vocal are "for fags," you go right ahead and do them. If it's what you'd like to participate in, then don't let anyone dissuade you.

1980 So your farm's going under. That will only open new doors. Do not look at it as the end of the world, and don't feel obligated to stick around after high school--get on with your life.

1987 Love your grandparents more. They are a vanishing commodity. Get their life stories now, this year. Record them.

1990 You are not going to believe how great this job change is going to be for you! Get in that truck and roll with confidence. The town you are about to move to his hicks-ville, but they will love you and you will love living there!

1992 Dope! Don't even think of getting rid of that Ranchero that was your grandfather's. Especially not in trade for a good car stereo. That thing is crap. In a few years, there's going to be Synch, CD's in cars, I-Pods...hold on to that truck. Oh, and what's with the silly hair?

1997 Watch out who your friends, neighbors and housemates may be. Enjoy Pathfinders. "For the Dogs." This is a pivotal year--soak it up.

1999 Good Grief--you are faaaar to obsessed with your work. It is NOT your mission. It is NOT your life's blood. It's a job...J-O-B. There are more important things in life, like fishing with Wayne, reading books with the club, maybe even (blasphemy) saving some money.

2001 May--you lucky fellow! Getting hitched to your soul mate and best friend. Spend more time with your father. He means well, he has a lot to say and offer, and he will be gone before you know it.

2003 Fatherhood looks good on you--realize what all it is, and live it to the max. MAJOR changes are afoot for you, but they are part of a storm you must weather to see the other side. Keep your chin up, knowing that it is always darkest just before the dawn. Believe it or not, you will survive even this!

2005 Again, you lucky dog. Landing on your feet. Fecal matter is now congealing. If only you were smart enough to have been saving money from your second job...

2006 You are about to find your dream home. Put on an adult diaper and get giddy!

2008 Are you NUTS? Blending households? Actually, even this will work out for the best. Crazy as it seems and hard as it is at times, giving up privacy and control--it is the best for all parties involved. You have done the right thing...now get some sleep.

This was challenging. I think I'll work on one that might reflect a Future me coming to visit the 2009 me--wonder what he'd say of my current situations?