That is a very inefficient way to do laundry.

What’s with that commercial with the girl who wanders around her clotheslines and picks one pair of underwear then goes back into her room and drops it in the drawer, and then wanders out and puts one dress on the line? What kind of maniac hangs and puts away their laundry one item at a time? Apparently Ortho Tri-Cyclen Lo causes laundry-related dementia. That sounds like a vexing side effect.

Can you tell I’ve been watching a lot of Hulu? I’m working on a big design project, so I’ve had TV shows running in the corner of my screen all day.

I had an excellent visit with our extension agent today! We walked the pasture and identified harmless and problem weeds, pulling the ones she didn’t recognize so we could identify them with the books she brought along.

Then we went paged through Weeds of the Great Plains (which I will be ordering this week), an excellent resource with full page pictures of weed in the environment, plus details of them pulled, botanical illustrations, and macros of special features. Each weed has leaf and flower ID features, growth habits, forage value, poison information, historical/traditional medicine value, etc. (BTW, if you want this book, order it form the Nebraska Department of Agriculture ($25), not Amazon ($50 used). I learned which weeds I should probably spray because they’re super-invasive, which ones I’m required to spray because they’re considered noxious weeds by the State of Kansas, and then we encountered a few mystery weeds she’s going to bring back with her. One of them was very X-Files-like and has taken over a patch near the woods at the northeast corner of the property.

One of the things I really liked about the book, versus trying to ID weeds online (aside from the convenience factor), is that for many (though not all, sadly) of the poisonous weeds, they include info on how much is poisonous. So you know that it’s a pound, or as little as .25% of body weight, or whatever.

She also lent me her copy of the 1970 Sheepman’s Production Handbook, which not only has great information (some of it is a little dated, but lots of stuff–poisonous plants, for instance) just doesn’t change. There’s a 2002 edition I’d love to see, but I can’t swing the $75 price tag just now.

She thought my grass stand was pretty strong, and recommended fertilization and weed control over reseeding. I also need to prune out all the random little trees popping up everywhere. It’s supposed to rain tomorrow, so I’m going to go out to pull what I can. I’d like to avoid spraying as much as possible, though on the Sericea lespedeza, I think I’ll be required to spray. There was very little and it was immature–I would never have recognized it, since the pictures I’ve seen showed mature, bushy specimens, and these were just single upright seedlings–and they hayed around it wherever they encountered it. But you know it’s a hated weed, because she started shaking her head from 20 yards away. Happily, only two of the patches they left actually had it (the others were just western ragweed–I’m guessing you can’t always tell from up on the tractor, and better safe than sorry–or there might have just been other woody weeds they wanted to avoid).

She’s also going to send me Forestry Department info on the best trees for the area.  We want to do some planting for windbreaks and birdies and shade.

I finished my second attempt at a good 4 ounce pattern. It was a weird little vest, too small to be pattern-worthy. I didn’t expect success, because I was using worsted yarn, which I knew meant inadequate yardage, but I needed to see it to believe it. If I were still all petite and dainty, it would have totally worked out. When I try it on, I can tell it would work, were I not plump.

But alas, I am plump, and therefor feel obligated to design patterns that will fit me. I wish I could lose 20 pounds so I could blow off everyone who can’t shop in the Target juniors department (I still can, but it can be a challenge).

Speaking of, I’m sick of being chubby.

I’m also sick of hearing myself complain about it.

One Reply to “That is a very inefficient way to do laundry.”

  1. Oh I love birth control commercials! I think they may even top feminine hygiene product commercials. Not sure if you were looking for any advice regarding your current chubby state, but as someone who has been there (and back and there again) I recommend Michael Pollan’s Food Rules as a quick little read that really gives you perspective on what we put into our bodies, without being too preachy and without trying to convince us we should go the rest of our lives without chocolate cake.

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