Chickens!

There aren't a lot of options for me when it comes to livestock. In fact, to comply with the letter of the law, I really can't have any traditional livestock. I could breed "pet" rabbits for food, but that's about it. However, there is enough wiggle room that I can safely keep chickens, as long as I don't annoy my immediate neighbors.

For years, I had some Rhode Island Reds. Then, one fateful night, I went to see Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. I wasn't home to secure the birds at sunset. A raccoon found his way through the weak point of my run and killed the last of my girls.

Winter was brutal and Spring was late and the we had an out-of-town wedding, so we held off ordering some chicks until late June. We recieved them last week and they are settling into their new home nicely.

Too much thyme

I have posted before about not having enough time. Generally speaking, I'm sure no one has enough. For the first time, I can say I have too much thyme.

Free wood!!!

This post could alternately be titled "Waste not, want not" or "Right place, right time." I recently discovered, unfortunately, that my deck stairs are about to fail catastrophically. Since I'm rebuilding them, I might as well upgrade them. My deck is in dire need of a resurfacing, and I am intending to use tropical hardwood.

Specifically, I'm planning on using garapa. It is cheaper than ipe but more durable than luan(phillipine mahogany). So, since I intend to use garapa for the deck, I might as well use it for the stair treads too.

So, I was at the specialty lumber store picking up my wood. It was the end of the day, so the guys were cleaning up. They happened to get a shipment today of 5/4"x4" decking. That came shipped on 3/4"x4" rough palattes made of mahogany. They started breaking it to fit in the dumpster. I asked if I could have it and the guy told me I could have all I wanted and, if interested, could come back once a month and get lots, lots more. So, for a little work with a hammer to pull some nails, I now have a couple stacks of mahogany which will become something some day. Even if the short stuff is firewood, it's still free!

Recreation: A fishing we will go...

One of the best parts about living in Rhode Island is the access to some of the best fishing in the world. In my opinion, it is (or should be) as much of a destination fishing spot as any other place. State fishing pride aside, I managed to get out fishing in a rented boat for some fluke (summer flounder) this past week. It was a fantastic outing with basically non-stop action of black sea bass and fluke. The black sea bass season is still closed until July 2nd, but it still kept the trip sporty instead of a slog. We managed an 18.25" fluke and a (my personal best) 26" fluke. Here are some photos:

Politics: Rhode Island's Doom

Rhode Island is interesting from a political science point of view. Historically, we were founded on freedom and liberty. We were the first State to declare independence from England*. It seems a natural fit that we would be a bastion of individual liberty. However, for better or worse, we were also the location of the birthplace of the American industrial revolution. This meant that we were also the place of tedious wage-slave labor. The work was easy, so the pay was low and the hours were long just to barely make a living. Then arose the idea of protecting the little guy from unsafe conditions through labor unions. Unions are not a bad idea. They give power to the powerless, which can be used to protect those powerless people. However, I'm going to throw in one other important historical factor. Prohibition.

 

Prohibition led to the rise of the mob. Need some liquor? The mob can help you. Need protection from the law to conceal your liquor use? Hey, the mob's got a guy for that. Need protection from the mob? The mob can do that too. Wait, what?

 

So, back to unions... Power to protect the little guy is great. Power to abuse the little guy or the big guy or anyone who gets in your way? Not so much. Combine the power of the unions with the power of the mob and you've got a problem. Sure, prohibition ended and the mob was rounded up. However, the culture of corruption and abuse of power remains.

 

The General Assembly in RI has ALL the official power. More specifically, the Speaker of the House and the Senate Majority Leader have the power. They usually are elected by less than 5000 people and often by only a few hundred people. In recent years, after 5-10 years in power, they get thrown in prison or are so disgraced that they have to step down. In almost every case they are Democrats. It's couldn't really be otherwise because we have had single-party rule for more than 75 years.

 

Party aside, the real issue with our current political environment is that people who vote, do it for the wrong reason. It's rare that someone votes FOR a person. Usually, the are voting AGAINST the other person. And when they do vote FOR a person, they are usually doing it because of their physical appearance (e.g. Obama's skin color, Hillary's gender, John Kerry's hair, etc.) or some other triviality. Probably half (if not more) don't even know the first thing about their selected candidate, which brings up the worst offense of all... Voting for the letter next to someone's name. People blindly do what they are "supposed to do." If Hillary wins in 2016, it will be because of her gender and the letter next to her name. Otherwise, she probably wouldn't even vote for herself, given how horrible she is.

 

Every election season, I have some hope that things will change in Rhode Island. Every election season I am disappointed. Now that a number of candidates have declared their intention to run for President, it is the start of the new election season. Hence, the new hope rises again. This could be the year. How do Cubs fans do this every year? It's hard enough to do every four years.

* - I was told this all my life, however, there is some debate on the internet over which State was actually first and what it means to "declare" independence. However, our declaration was taken seriously, which is why RI was immediately occupied and suppressed before we could join the Revolutionary War.

Amazon: My first let-down

Well, it had to happen eventually. A great company can only get so big before service starts to suffer. I just sent the following review for packaging feedback on Amazon.

"This was my first and last purchase from Prime Pantry. I was wondering how a mix of canned goods and dry good would be packed without damage. The answer is that they wouldn't. The dry goods were neatly packed and stacked with heavy cardboard separating it from the cans. The cans were just thrown in haphazardly. 8 of 10 cans of tomatoes, 3 of 4 cans of beans and 1 can of Rotel were dented so severely, I will likely have to refrigerate them."

Fishing: Getting ready for squid

The change of seasons is finally upon us. Meteorological Spring started March 1st. The Spring Equinox was on the 20th. For most people, Spring begins when the weather turns and you can open the windows and the crocuses bloom. We finally have a near-term warming trend which looks like it will hold or improve for the next few weeks at least. For me, this means a lot of things. It means the Spring flowers will bloom and that I need to start my tomatoes and that I can get out in the garden and hoe down the overwintered weeds. It means that I finally don't have a weather related excuse why I can't clean the garage out. Outside projects like filling a couple holes in the driveway and repainting the shed doors and replacing the window trim on the house are all on the horizon. Most importantly (to this post anyway), it is the start of the saltwater fishing season.

I'm not a big freshwater fisherman. A lot of people go nuts over trout, but I've never even caught one. It's one of the first fish you can catch and keep in the Spring, but the idea of waking up at 3 a.m. to stake out a spot on opening day doesn't sound all that appealing. For me, the start of the season is when the squid arrive. They come in sometime between mid-March and early-June every year in anything from small pods to massive ones. Living here, I always wanted to go out squid jigging in the Spring. I would hear stories and see the results of people who would fill a 5 gallon bucket in an hour back in the 80s and early 90s. For some reason, I could never get my fishing act in gear until the main part of the run was over.

Two years ago, I was on the ball, prepped and ready to go with jigs and a rod and bucket in my trunk at all times. I checked the forums, went out early, stayed out late, lost sleep, and obsessively read fishing reports. All of this was for nothing though because 2013 was the Spring-squid-run-that-wasn't. So, last year, I was a little hopeful, but mostly reserved because I didn't think I would ever see a bucket full of squid. However, my reserved hope was more than enough because it was a banner year for squid. In fact, it was probably the best year for squid from shore in a decade or two.

So now, as we approach the start of the new saltwater fishing season, the question remains. Will this be another banner year? It makes some sense. If there were more squid, then there would be more squid eggs. If there are more squid eggs, there should be even more squid. Further, if the weather has been bad enough (it was) to keep the commercial squid vessels in port, then there should be more squid to make it inshore. Lastly, if the weather breaks hard so that it goes from frigid to warm and stays that way, the squid should move en-masse like they did last year. So, all in all, I am hopeful that this will be another good year for squid. Only time will tell though. Fortunately, with the change in weather, that time is near.