karl.tsakos.us/blog

Tonight, when I got home from my brother’s house, I decided to eat a snack in the back yard where it was cooler than in the house. I was treated to one, no, make that five of those things that remind you how big a place the world is.

I had left the windows mostly closed when I went out earlier today since the weather channel had warned of rain and I was going to be out until evening. It had been another hot day, although not as bad as earlier in the week. When I got back this evening, I opened a bunch of windows. Still, it takes a while for a house to cool down so I decided to enjoy a bowl of cereal in the backyard while it did so. (As a side note, I almost never eat cereal in the morning. For some reason, I enjoy it more as an evening snack.)

As I sat in the yard and looked up at the sky I saw several things. Some minor clouds that just lurked on the horizon leaving me with clear skies overhead. Stars twinkling through the hot atmosphere. Airplanes going in every direction. And, something else; little stars that silently moved in a straight line at a constant speed from horizon to horizon.

If you had never seen these objects before, you might assume they were very high flying airplanes, up so high you couldn’t hear them. But they moved to straight and steadily to be planes.

If you thought about it, you would have realized they all were flying over the same path. Three of them from south to north and two from north to south. (That should have been a give away clue.) They were in fact, satellites. Man made satellites to be exact.

I’ve seen them for years while growing up. It was in Cape Cod on summer evenings where my family and I first realized what they were. We would sit out on the beach or the porch of my grandmother’s house talking into the evening and gazing at the sky. Our two favorite things to spot were satellites and meteors. Both always seemed abundant on warm summer evenings.

So, not only do they remind me what a big place the world is when I think about how many miles above my head they are and how fast they are moving. Both large numbers and yet small compared to the space and the stars above and around them. This time, I’m also reminded of time. My recanting of when I first saw them and thought about what they were was also years ago. So now I’m also getting a sense of time when I look at them.

I guess I always did think about time in a way when I looked at satellites. No matter how recently a satellite is launched into space, I will always think of footage of NASA from the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s. Don’t know why, it just happens. Well, that and footage of the Hubble Space Telescope being launched from the space shuttle in the ’80s.

Anyhow, it was a nice thing to sit in the yard and enjoy watching the silent light show above me.

Okay, this entry will require reader feedback. I made a video tour of my garden; unscripted and unplanned. I just went through and discussed what I have. It’s rough to say the least.

Leave some comments on wether I should do more like this on the garden or not.

Well, here goes:

Gardener’s Update for June 16, 2010 from Karl Tsakos on Vimeo.

A quick tour of my vegetable garden.

Here we go again. Software problems and all that. I wrote a very nice blog entry earlier this evening but I lost it trying to make some software work for me. More on that in a second.

So, the summer is almost here. The nights are getting warmer and it won’t be long before the boys are back. Well, skip that last part about the boys being back and let me continue my original thought. I finally found myself with the time to sit in my backyard, gazing upon my garden and enjoying a Pernod (avec de l’eau).

I recently quit my job of 15 years and you would think I would have nothing but time on my hands. Couldn’t be further from the truth. I’m no fool. I made sure to have some other work lined up before I left. Even though it’s not full time, I’ve upped my hours. Still, it’s nice to finally have a job I enjoy going to again. Between work and some family issues that recently came up, my time hasn’t been mine nearly as much as I would have liked it to be. Well, it seems that my circumstances are changing and I may now have an opportunity to do some of the things I want to do.

As I sat and wrote the original entry, it was clear to me that the thing I want to do tomorrow is to weed the garden and add some support for some of the plants. It begging for my assistance.

As for the blog, I guess my circumstances explain much of my silence over the past few months. But, you can also see that I have decided to make my entries a little more interesting. The first thing I’ve done is add video. I hope to post more in the near future. For instance, the next, long overdue, gardener’s update will most likely be in video form. I’ll also try to write more entries. It may be easier with this new fangled device I’m typing on. Yep, I broke down and bought an iPad. Typing on it is as easy as with a physical keyboard, so I may do some more writing in the backyard. Oh yeah, that’s where I had the software problem. Downloaded a free app and couldn’t figure out how to post the blog entry I wrote. Lost it while trying to resolve the issue.

Well, that’s all I’ve got to say for now. More to come.

A very happy New Year to all.

I started my year reviving a tradition I forgot to do last year. I don’t remember why, I think it’s because the weather was crappy or something. Anyhow, the tradition is to go for a New Year’s Day hike. Normally I would select some place lofty, most likely in the Hudson highlands. This year was a little different.

First, it snowed New Year’s Eve. I was pretty certain there would be no good parking spots near any of the usual trail heads. At least, not spots I could get out of once I got in them.

Second, I’m lazy. To be clear, I am not lazy when it comes to the hiking itself. That would just be silly. I am however lazy when it comes to driving an hour to go hiking.

The fact is, staying local for a hike (or several small hikes to me more accurate) paid off. I saw more wild life in a suburban area, in one day, than I have seen one all my other day hikes combined. I hiked in a couple nature preserves and an amusement park located in the midst of residential neighborhoods. No, not where houses are packed together, but still.

The first hike was in the Marshland Conservancy in Rye, about six miles from where I live. Here I started my hike by seeing a large woodpecker banging his head on what sounded like a very hard tree. I then passed through a heard of about 10 deer. While I say I passed through the heard, it was spread out and many were trying to hide behind the trees. As I continued my hike I saw a large assortment of small seed eating birds and large water foul. The only birds I didn’t see where the turkeys I know live in the park. I did however see their tracks in the snow.

The next place I went was the boardwalk at Playland amusement park, also in Rye. There were many people out enjoying the day and strolling on the boardwalk. There was also a young child who I didn’t see, but who kept shouting, “Happy New Year,” at the top of his lungs. Well, he did far a little while and then I think his parents regained control. Other than dogs, there wasn’t much wild life to be seen by the beach. However, out at the end of the pier (1. a structure leading out from the shore into a body of water), overlooking the beach, there sat a lone seagull on a wooden pier (2. a solid support designed to sustain vertical pressure) cleaning itself and attempting to keep its beak warm. I assume that’s what it was doing since it kept tucking it under it’s winds.

Finally, I finished my day at the Read Sanctuary. This is a bird sanctuary located at the end of the parking lot for Playland. During the summer, you need a special parking permit to get to the sanctuary. But, when the Playland is closed for the season, you can just drive through it’s massive lot unimpeded. While the sanctuary is home to many birds of all sorts as well as a magnificent stand of bamboo, today’s main attraction had to be the hawk sitting atop a low tree eating a squirrel. It is rare to see such a bird up close, especially when it is dining. I was told by some other people that they saw a bald eagle there. I didn’t know whether they meant that day or once. Either way, I think they were just bragging.

You can see photos of my adventures on my website, in the photo section.

Enjoy, and have a happy and prosperous New Year!

One of the most common locations for me to drive is the on ramp to route 287. I go that way during my commute to work every week day. Some evenings and every weekend I go to Rockland county, also getting on 287 at that entrance.

For the past week, there has been a pair of mattresses by the side of the road there. A box spring off to the left just before the entry ramp and the mattress off on the shoulder to the right. It boggles my mind that someone could lose a mattress set while driving. If it did fly off the car, one would hope they would be aware of it. And for the two of them to sit for a week unclaimed and the town not clearing them just amazes me.

This morning on my way to Rockland, I was pleased to see the mattresses were gone. Not a sign of them remained. However, exactly at the same location on the road where the mattresses were, just at the beginning of the entrance ramp, was a pair of shoes. Just sitting there between the two lanes. Like the mattresses, they looked to be in perfectly good condition. Just sitting there in the middle of the road.

How does a thing like this happen? Losing something strapped to the roof of the car is one thing. After all, it’s already on the outside of the car. But, something that is normally found inside the car, and more usually on the feet of the occupants should never wind up in between two lanes of traffic.

All I know is I can hardly wait to see what appears there next. It’s like some sort of bizarre Advent Calendar in the road greeting me every day.

You’re saying I have a blog?

No, this doesn’t sound familiar. Please continue.

Okay, let me get this straight, I have this thing “on line” where I write down whatever comes to mind and then people read it. Doesn’t sound very realistic.

Okay, if you say they do.

What about gardening?

Oh, yes, I did have a lot to say about that. But of course, now there isn’t much happening in the garden at this time of year. Sure, there’s some kale and leeks. The garlic I though was dead sprouted late fall. We’ll see what it has to say next spring. But, that’s about it. Nothing else is really happening in the garden. Oh, of course my compost pile is coming along nicely.

Talk about something else?

I suppose I could do that. But what?

Well, I’m sure I’ll think of something.

As any gardener knows, this year the tomato blight is out of control. As my Mother has told me, all tomato plants get blight, so be prepared. Unfortunately, this year is one of the worst for it. The weather has been cool and rainy for most of the summer, the dreaded blight’s favorite conditions.

New Jersey, which gains much revenue from their tomato harvest, has been very hard hit. Apparently, they have had to sacrifice the majority of their crops. Conventional wisdom is once the plant has it, get rid of the plant. I am trying to buck conventional wisdom. Being the inexperienced gardener I am, I have excuses to experiment blindly.

For one thing I refuse to give up on my plants. Instead of removing any plants showing leaves that dry over night, I am removing the offending branches. As a result, my plants have most of their foliage about two feet above the ground. That’s a good thing as the blight can be transfered to the leaves from soil that splashes on the plants in the rain.

My method of preventative maintenance likewise bucks convention. I have never been a fan of chemicals (they’re scary) and don’t like the idea of spraying my food with any. After some research on the Internet, I came up with the plan of spraying the plants weekly or after a rain with a solution of one part milk and seven parts water. Milk is a sort of fungicide. In addition, tomato plants can always benefit from calcium, so it the runoff is also beneficial.

I have no idea if this will work, but I have my fingers crossed.

I’m still waiting for a tomato to ripen. I have several large tomatoes right on the brink of ripening. At the moment it’s a race of time. I’ve already lost two tomatoes to the blight. I know because they were far from ripening and were going bad from the stem. Stupid blight.

All I want is to make a salad of heirloom tomatoes with some olive oil on them. Of all the plants I planted this year, this is the one real goal I had. The tomatoes are it. Everything else was just for the sake of seeing what would grow. Turns out, most things. That’s not to say I haven’t enjoyed my harvested plants thus far. I have thoroughly. I have enjoyed everything from the prepping the garden beds, to selecting the plants, to starting them from seed and watching them grow. The joy of eating what I’ve grown has been a pleasure.

It’s just that I really want to eat my own, home grown tomatoes. That’s not too much to ask. Is it?