The House(s) of Fran_mart

I felt that I was spinning my wheels a bit this afternoon so it seemed sensible to clear things for the morrow by doing my clean up a day early.  As usual I covered Captains Flat Rd from Widgiewa Rd down to Briars-Sharrow Rd (about 500 linear metres). To a small extent I had already made a start a few days ago when a friend asked for old aluminium cans for use in an art work.  I took about 15 undamaged ones to her. Here are a few thoughts about today's collection. The first image is to illustrate the point that not using plastic shopping bags doesn't necessarily make you environmentally aware.  This bag was undamaged so has joined our collection at home.  I wasn't able to peel much of these balloon remnants off the sign. It is sort of like the old bushwalking adage: if you can carry a full can or bottle into the bush, surely you can carry the empty one out.  Why can't these folk come and take the balloons away after the party? I am always interested to not

And you'd better believe the stuff I have in mind is not sweet smelling! It is traditional to dump on Microsoft for being totally uncaring about customers wishes and needs but forcing people to do things the way Microsoft (or least some recessive geek or nerd employed by them) feels they would like to do it.  I do not step away from that, but merely use this post to say that Apple are no better. This is merely a further proof that competence is inversely related to the size of an enterprise.  I had originally formed this view when working with some very big companies to assist them to provide information to the Government.  The bureaucratic processes of obfuscation, jobsworthiness and sycophancy inside those companies were exactly the same as in the Public Service. Part 1 To the case in point.  I got Frances an iPod for Christmas so that she could listen to nice music when working in the garden.  It semed that it was a tad more complicated to set the device up than we had th

A task that needed to be done today was weeding the potato patch.  Frances is very good at weeding but sometimes the weeds send their A+ team and a bit of bloke theory needs to be applied.  Thus it was my turn and after two barrow loads of grass and various Cruciferous weeds had taken up a commanding position on our long-rot compost pile this is what the patch looked like. Since 2 of the 3 rows of plants seemed to have lost all above ground material I decided to wield a fork in their general direction.  This generated quite a few spuds.  A positive of gardening is that one can get a bit up close and personal with some elements of nature.  I was surprised to find a mole cricket  ( Gryllotalpa sp. ) and  popped it in a bucket  for a photo-op.  This meant it didn't bite me!  Casting an eye at the raspberries showed a grasshopper contemplating eating a leaf and  ....  .. some mini-bees doing good in the matter of fertilisingraspberry flowers for the Autumn crop.  Bac

Please note the commas in that title.  It should be read as meaning that the post is about ANPS visiting (Gibraltar) Falls and going into Punchbowl Swamp.  No-one face-planted in a montane bog!  This is as close as anyone got to that situation: If you've got wellies, use 'em! Staying with the wet side of things, we did start off with a short, pre-morning-tea stroll to look at the Falls which, as far as we could work out, are the only significant falls in the ACT.  (Don't panic: there will some flower pix soon.) This is from the Creek leading into the Falls. A view of about half the height of the Falls. A snazzy bit of detail. To the plants.  These are the nuts of Leptospermum myrtifolium which was very evident in the swamp. A flower of same: there weren't many blossoms around. Closely related Baeckea utilis . Once we got to the main part of Punchbowl Swamp some patches of water - mainly in tyre tracks left by hoons - were evident.  A particula