close
 

I got the alley way plants in. Working on more plantings.

June 28, 2025

I got all of the Thyme and moss rose/Portaluca in the alleyway beds. One bed had a bit of soil from mulch break down. I had to add a bit of dirt to the other bed so the plants had a chance to grow. It is early days but I am hoping the low growing thyme ground cover will start filling in the beds. If this works I can expand the beds to cancel out the weeds and replace them with ground cover that will help improve the soil and cancel out weeds. Even if this experiment fails. The plants and mulch will improve the soil if they die back. The landscape cloth will inhibit weed growth to some extent and cutting down weeds and spraying them with 30% vinegar will inhibit weed growth.

Two big things I have noticed in the alley way is I have very little Morning glory this year. While it is pretty I really hate the plant because of how it spreads every where and is all most impossible to remove from a yard or garden bed. All I can say is cut back Morning glory, dig it up if possible and spray it with 30% vinegar and in a couple of years you might get it under control.  The second thing I noticed is other people along the alley are getting after the weeds.  I think it is the alley way is sort of out of sight, out of mind for many people. I like to think people are seeing me getting weeds under control a starting some beds has them thinking about using the space for more than parking a car or putting out a trash bin.

I started landscaping the area for the backyard water fountain/tub and OMG the soil is all hard pan clay. Nope I can’t plant anything there now. I’m pulling out the rock, laying out new/better landscape cloth and setting up large planters for planting. I want to set up more bird feeders and a with the fountain a more wildlife friendly area in the yard. I have added a couple of new landscape timbers to contain the rock in the area and the area is a bit shaded by my trees it gets enough sunlight for solar in summer and to grow plants that like partial shade. I’m trying to make it a space for summer and winter. I can sit and view  from my patio.

I hate to say it but Mom was right about putting my plants in pots/planters rather than in the ground.  I had a couple of planters that I added the moss rose and an Amaranth edible plant whose name escapes me. But the bloom looks like a flame. While the soil in the  front yard is not terrible. I  have found it best to try out new plants in pots you can move around so the plants find a happy place. I laid out the landscape cloth as the morning glory is coming back in the front yard and added mulch. Most people spread  mulch to thin. If you mulch plan for 4-6 inches deep to kill weeds and retain water. While a couple of inches of mulch might look pretty for a week or two. A thin layer of mulch won’t stop the weeds!  Which is the point of mulch.

The front yard solar fountain looks okay for the set up and I refilled the hummingbird feeders. I’m hoping the birds will see the water fountain, bird feeders in the front yard and congregate. I’m going to add a couple of Umbrellas to the front yard for shade. But I have to cut back some plants and do some yard work.

How are the portable swamp coolers working?  Now I have a couple of years of practice. So I added another gallon pitcher to fill the swamp coolers. One pitcher filled in the sink and I fill the swamp cooler with the other pitcher. I cool my house as much as possible at night. Swamp coolers still cool when the outside temps drop into the 50’s.  Swamp coolers just don’t cool the air as much. If I can cool my  house overnight into the low 60’s  by morning. I can shut all windows and not turn on my swamp coolers until 5–8 pm to cool my home when it reaches 75 degrees F. in my house. Is it a bit more work filling a portable Swamp cooler. Yep! is it worth it when your electric bill is $75.00 and not $250.00 +  for air conditioning.

People pay for convivence. It is more work to buy fire wood to heat your home rather than set your thermostat and pay a bill. It is more work to set up swamp coolers rather than some sort of HVAC system and set a home temp you like.  My swamp coolers use  about the same power as three 75 watt bulbs. My wood stove is off the electric grid.

What do you pay for heating and cooling?  Do  you find that is a good price?

BERJAYA Comments Off on I got the alley way plants in. Working on more plantings. | BERJAYA Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , | BERJAYA Permalink
BERJAYA Posted by Jamie

A little shopping, bone broth and fountains

June 23, 2025

Coffee are prices are going up and I used my stock piled coffee and had to buy a couple of cans. I got an okay price but it hurt. If you find a good price on coffee or chocolate I would stock up if you want those items on hand. I got all the critter food stocked up. I’m trying out a new chicken feed, but I bought 18% protein pellet feed by accident. I’m going to mix all the feed up and see how it works. I tried out a new a new scratch and the chickens don’t seem to know it is scratch as it isn’t yellow like the normal corn scratch.

I topped off the mini-van’s tank and filled one of my gas cans before another spike in gas prices. Gas prices are up about a Quarter per gallon in the last couple of days in my area due to the Iran bombing. While I don’t suggest panic buying. Keep your gas tank topped off and try to keep the tank 1/2-3/4s full at all times. If you can afford it fill up gas cans as backup for your vehicle/gas generators in case of black/brown outs this summer. There is a bit of a heat wave in the Eastern US and the power companies are concerned they might not have enough power for cooling demands. Having a generator and a window or portable air conditioner, a small fridge or freezer in case of a power outage could make getting through a black/brown out more comfortable.

If you have the freezer space start freezing water in blocks or buy blocks of ice  and fill your freezers. Big blocks of ice will melt slower than ice cubes. A full freeze/fridge stays cool longer in a power outage when full of cold/frozen items. If your  fridge or freezer has empty space fill it up with water bottles. If you freeze water bottles only  have the bottles 2/3-3/4 full for  water expansion. Add pitchers of water to your fridge, for cold water to drink and help keep the fridge cool. Freeze Igloo ice packs for transfer to a cooler or a fridge. I know humidity is a problem but fans will help if they blow on you, plus they use less electricity compared to an air conditioner.  Use fans at night in windows to cool your home and during the day close windows and use blinds/thermal curtains to block the sun from heating up your home.  It gets about 60-65 degrees overnight in my area. So I can cool my house down at night. I’m not running  my Swamp/Evaporator coolers till 5-6 pm when my house temp hits 75 degrees F. I find I am comfortable  at that temp.

Acclimatize yourself to higher temps. Don’t go crazy but go outside in the morning for a walk. Sit in the shade in the evening and experience warmer temps. We Americans, tend to go from cool/cold air condition homes. To air conditioned cars, to air conditioned workplaces and never adapt to the heat of summer until the power goes out. People seem surprised that it gets hot in Summer.

I got some soup bones from a little store for a good price roasted them in the oven with some carrots, celery, onion and a garlic clove. Roasted the vegies and soup bones about 30 minutes in a 450 F. degree oven then add everything into a stock pot with a couple of gallons of water.  Simmer for 12 hours+ for bone broth.  I have made broth and stock in the past but Mom tried out a Collagen supplement and it did not work out well for her. Why buy a supplement when you can make real bone broth at home?  With the cool temps this week end, I fired up the oven and got out the stock pot and started some bone broth. I have one more cool day and I want to make some Challah bread and try anew French bread recipe.  The new Kitchen aid mixer needs a test.

I  got the front yard solar powered fountain set up.  It is odd that it is hard to find Terra cotta pots.  The pots did not get expensive they just got hard to find in my area.  In my area we have plastic plant pots or more expensive glazed pots. I used the 1/2inch tubing for the small tub in the front yard fountain and it worked okay. Though the tubing still has a little curl that will hopefully relax. I need to add a little more  water to the tub but over all I  think the little solar fountain should do okay.

The backyard fountain is a  bit more work. I got a terra cotta pot but I’m using some bricks and tubing to give the fountain some height.  I have to clean up the rock area and add landscape timbers to keep the decorative rock in place. I’ll place the solar water pump at the low area in the tub.  My hope is the pump will work in winter moving water.  One rule I have followed is everything outside of the house must be solar powered.  Not perfect as some solar lights are not brite, water fountains have been less than optimal but it energy costs are low.

My electric trike may become great, if gas prices spike. I have solar power battery banks and generators that can power the trike battery  bank. Now  I’m not saying your car is a bad thing.  But I think an electric bike or trike is an option if gas price spike.  Especially if you have solar power to use.  Even if you don’t use the battery on the E-trike. It still can be pedaled like any bike/trike and used for shopping. The battery just makes it easier.

I don’t think AI is a gamechanger. I do think some people will take advantage of it. The people that  will do best will be people that adapt to new paradigm. Those that take advantage of AI creatively and make some thing new. The new Luddites will be the White collar workers replaced by AI. If you work with your hands making stuff. Like a plumber, welder. construction, a carpenter. You have golden job after the illegals that drive down wages are deported.

If you want American blue collar workers to have higher wages. Deport illegals and punish the people that hire illegals. You want lower rent and lower cost of homes?  Deport illegals that live in those homes. If you remove 20-30 million illegals from the USA. You will free up housing, jobs and eliminate illegals in schools that your taxes pay for.  A simple solution if anyone the government will do it.

BERJAYA 2 Comments | BERJAYA Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , | BERJAYA Permalink
BERJAYA Posted by Jamie

Solar fountains and helping Mom

June 20, 2025

I got two fountains from Amazon for $20.00.  I set up the first fountain in the front yard but it needs some adjustments in the 24 gallon tub I’m using as the water source. I’m using a terracotta pot to center the fountain as the hole in the bottom of the pot fits the the little sprayer head perfectly.  One problem was the hose to feed the the sprayer head did not fit the little pipe connection on both sides. Easy fix with a visit to Lowes for some 1/2 inch tubing.  Now I can place the pump at the bottom of the “tub” then run the hose up the the hole in the terra cotta pot and attach the sprayer portion of the fountain.

I tried the flat disk solar fountains but the disk moved around the tub and would spray water outside the tub so the pump would run out of water to pump and eventually stop working.  The new fountains have an external solar panel and with centering the spraying centered via the terra cotta pot, the tub/pump does not run out of water as often.  The base of the terra cotta pot gives the little birds a spot for bird bath in shallow water while having deeper water around the pot for future water plant maybe even some fish.

This weekend we have some very cool weather so I went out to do some work at Mom’s place.  Mom has wanted to put a small deck/patio sitting area on the backside of her house for a long time but she doesn’t have the money to build a deck/patio. She does have some pallets collected so we made a little mini deck using some of the pallets. The area is gravel so digging in postholes is almost impossible. So we leveled the area added a couple of large pallets, leveled the pallets. I had some left over landscape cloth to place under the pallets for weed blocker. The pallets are a little weathered but we can add some cedar fence boards on top of the pallets to add strength and give the area a more finished look  without spending a fortune. I found a great sale on a large 10 foot cantilever umbrella for $40.00 so the “deck” will be  shaded and since the  umbrella is hand cranked Mom can easily bring down the umbrella in windy weather. I  picked up a couple of umbrella stand weights (26 pounds each) to anchor the umbrella stand but I think adding a couple of 70 pound tube sand would  be a good idea. If needed we can strap down the umbrella pole to a fence post to stand up to the winds at her place. There is a solid fence and a tree close to the deck area that also helps block the wind.

I added a some mulch/wood chips along the edges of the deck. Just to pretty it up and give Mom a nice walking area around it.  The woodchips Mom got in the Spring have dried out and is 5 times easier to work with and spread around.  We spread much more wood chips in areas in 30 minutes than we did  working with the wet chips in an hour before we gave up. I got two 18 gallon tubs full of the chips for my place.

I did give Mom a bit of a lecture about using the tools around the yard!  A tool not used is a tool wasted and only collects dust. Now Mom is bit special as she is sometime so afraid of breaking the tool she won’t use it. Now I don’t recommend just going crazy and ignoring hazards but an unused tool is worse than a broken tool since what is the point of buying something you are afraid to use it.

No I bought up some plants  for around the house but I focused on plants for the Alley Way  to start replacing the bad weeds with some ground cover and  plants that do well with heat and low water. One plant is Thyme but not the herb most people grow. It is a low growing plant and can be used as thyme but is not of the quality of herb Thyme. This low growing thyme is supposed to do well in SW Idaho as a ground cover that can take some damage and do well in poor soil.  I got some Moss rose/Portaluca, this is a succulent that can reseed itself and spread even if it dies back in winter.  I got some English Lavender that is supposed to hardy to -20 degrees F. to add some more color and height interest. Though I’ll add the lavender at the edges so it does not get driven over. I will keep adding the woodchips I get from Mom and decorative wood mulch to improve the soil and start replacing the weeds.  A good landscape cloth, a lot of mulch using 30% vinegar can make a heck of difference when getting rid of weeds. It’s not fast but you aren’t killing the soil as you try and fix the weed problem. Weeds are Mama Nature’s paramedics. If you have weeds you don’t have a weed problem. You have a bad soil problem. Fix the soil!

BERJAYA Comments Off on Solar fountains and helping Mom | BERJAYA Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , | BERJAYA Permalink
BERJAYA Posted by Jamie

Golly it’s been awhile… Protests?

June 12, 2025

A few more 95 F.+ days but the swamp coolers are doing a great job keeping my house comfy.  I set up Mom’s AC units but her portable starts whining after about an hour of running. I took over my old portable and that is working good for her. I have her portable AC in my shop and I’ll check it out to see if I can correct the whining issue. I’m hoping a little 3 in 1 oil and some electric contact cleaner along with a deep clean will correct the noise issue. 

I cleaned Mom’s wood stove. Took a wire brush to the chimney cap and found a lot of soot  where the  pipe T’s into the chimney.  I am buying new pipe for the inside the house pipe connections to make them all tight, square and plumb. The old pipes are all  “catawampus” with multiple screw holes to make the pipes sort of fit.  I think the biggest reason for Mom’s  stove smoking is the indoor pipes don’t draft well because of air gaps in the pipes. It’ll cost a few bucks but I can clean up the pipe run and make cleaning her woodstove pipe super easy in the future. Plus it will make her wood stove much safer to use this winter. 

I got most of the painting done in my large bathroom. I did most of the big open walls first and need to back  and get the detail work finished up around the edges. The paint is sort of a “dusty” peach color and I really like how it is turning out. The paint looks good with the flooring and the off white trim color I want to use to finish up the bathroom. I find I do a better job on the detail work when I’m rested and don’t get  impatient. 

I finally got 4 eggs in one day from my hens. I think I was under feeding them just a little bit as there was some leftovers in the chicken feeder but the hens are a little picky about the new feed I have added and really like all new stuff but don’t eat the pellets as well. I have added new higher protein pellets and will buy a 12% protein scratch this weekend.  The  birds seem to handle the heat okay after I added a fan and spray down the chicken run so the could wallow in the cool dirt. I added some burlap to the south facing part of the run to add some shade and I can soak the burlap so the birds get cooling via a little breeze through the burlap.  I have a little mister fan set up but so far the hens seem to be okay. 

I order a couple of new solar fountains for the yards. I’m adding a couple of terracotta pots to keep the fountains in the middle of water tubs so the water does not spray out of the tubs. Moving water is critical  if you don’t want a mosquito breeding ground. I found some screen material in the shop for the water barrels. Adding screen material to your water barrels keeps away insect breeding areas.  I have found a few ants getting close to my house. I just sprinkle a little DE powder and the ants stop being around the house. DE is a totally pet safe insecticide. As it kills insects via cutting the exoskeleton, non toxic. 

Nampa  ID is supposed to have a “No Kings” protest this week end about 6 blocks from my house. While I don’t expect to much to happen. I’m prepping my water hoses/high pressure wands and protective equipment around the house. I don’t expect to much trouble but some idiot with lighter could reek a bit of havoc. Just another test of my preps… 

Remember these jerkoff protesters want to disrupt your day. They don’t want to  win “Hearts and Minds” they want chaos. Get your shopping done early. Stay at home and be safe. Be ready to record the idiots if/when they get stupid. Have data saved if there is a trial. Have it on your phone but Download it to a PC/USB stick after any confrontation. Do not trust the “Cloud” for data storage.

BERJAYA Comments Off on Golly it’s been awhile… Protests? | BERJAYA Uncategorized | Tagged: , | BERJAYA Permalink
BERJAYA Posted by Jamie

Design a site like this with WordPress.com
Get started