Body Oddities

Why is it, do you think, that I can go out on my bike this morning for a good, steady 35 minute ride around town and come back feeling great, but 10 minutes of trying to cut the grass yesterday left me overheated and pouring sweat? I'm sweaty today, but it's not the same.

Time of day was the same, weather conditions (temp/humidity) were about the same. I got less sleep last night than the night before. Could it be that the cycling is a positive, uplifting experience, and the lawnmower was a negative, deflating experience? Don't think that would explain the excess heat and sweat, but it could certainly impact my state of mind. I think it's just as likely that pushing that damned mower made the difference, because that was much harder than a good fast ride on the bike.

Today is shaping up to be another hot and muggy one. We finally got some rain late in the afternoon yesterday, which was great. Cooled things off, but didn't do much for the humidity level. When I went to bed my sheets felt downright soggy, and it didn't improve overnight. According to local weather sites, the humidity has been 100% since I first checked early this morning. I'm trying something new with the windows today -- leaving them open for awhile to see if the humidity inside will decrease as the sun comes over the trees. Ceiling and floor fans  are all going, to try and evaporate some of it. 

I need to walk up to the nearby grocery store before it gets too hot, and then it's going to be an exciting day of laundry and housecleaning.  Whoopee!!

How sweet it is!

A cold front has swept down from the north and brought an end to our sizzling heat!  A temporary end, to be sure, but more welcome than I can even describe.  When I left work yesterday just before 3pm the temp on my car dash was under 80 for the first time in months.  The afternoon and evening got progressively cooler, all doors and windows flew open once I arrived home, no fans necessary through the night.

After a decent night's sleep, with the temp hovering around 70 this morning, I headed out early on my bike -- around town, this time, rather than on the Silver Comet.  It was wonderful!  Trails are great -- and the SC is one of the better ones I've seen -- but at heart I'm a road cyclist.  I love the feel of the open highway where I can fly on long straightaways, ridding my body of pent up energy and frustrations and stress and..... whatever needs to go.  Until now, I've been a bit squeamish around here, with the good old boys driving monster pickups and maybe even the little old ladies driving big sleds.  But it was early on a Saturday morning, and I knew traffic would be light on the streets I chose.  Actually, for the most part I was on residential streets right in town, but the first part skirted the edge of town.  All in all about 45 minutes, and it felt wonderful!

Freshly hand cultivated (have I ever mentioned how much I love the feel of dirt between my fingers?), plenty of compost and a bit of cottonseed meal, and it's headed towards being ready for fall planting. After the marigolds die and after I figure out where to put the other ornamentals.

Back home, after a little protein in my body, I headed out to the garden.  The sky was still grey, the temp cool.  Lovely.  I dug 4 or 5 or maybe more buckets of almost-finished compost out of my oldest pile and spread it here and there in the veggie beds, the blueberries and the dogwood.  There's plenty more in that big bin left for fall bed amendments and planting.

These guys are far too old and woody for my old teeth to enjoy eating, but after some cooking, I'm thinking they'll be pretty good as soup.  Wonder what would happen if I also put eggplant in the soup, since I have so much of that?

In the process, I opted to finally pull all the carrots out, but I left the green tops and flowers across the bare bed to keep cats out and to keep the birds happy.  I love that my garden always has birds popping in and out of the beds, getting seeds and/or bugs.  This morning, for the first time, I saw a pair of goldfinches fly from the wildflower bed after they noticed my presence on the back porch.  Lovely!

I've also noticed the presence of a surprising number of dead June Bugs on the cedar around the beds.  Enough, in fact, that I'm beginning to wonder if the nematodes got them.  June Bugs come from grubs in the soil.  Nematodes will attack the grubs with great relish.  I would have thought that it would be the grub that would die, but is it possible that the process was slow enough to allow the bugs to emerge, then die?  I don't know, but it's a thought.

All those carrots -- too big to eat comfortably -- are going into soup, since the day is cool enough for a little cooking.  Yum.

All this, and it's only 10 am.  What will the rest of this day bring?  I'm not sure -- but I think a shower would be in order at the top of the list.  And there are always errands to run.  This cool spell is supposed to last for a couple of more days -- we can only hope the weatherguessers are right on this one.

Sixteen Months Later....

It's been awhile since I posted garden photos, and I know you are all waiting with bated breath to see how it looks at this very moment.  OK. So humor me.  I want to show you how it looks right now.

As I've mentioned previously, it's been a seriously hot summer, starting in May, with an almost unbroken chain of 90+ degree days for May and June and now into July with no letup in sight until September.  Hot. Now, the summer muggies are here.  It's not quite as hot as it's been during the day, but the difference is negligible, the nights warmer, the air is thick with humidity and we've had several thunderstorms that brought much-needed rain. Now, while I may not enjoy the heat or the humidity or thunderstorms, the garden loves all of it.

The big picture.  Remember when I arrived in February of 2010 this was all a sea of green?  Well, in February it was actually brown, but you know what I mean. Lots of hard work went into this, most of which is chronicled on these pages somewhere, if anyone is curious.

Marigolds, hurriedly seeded in a veggie bed because the holes in the concrete block weren't filled with soil yet.  I had the best intentions of transplanting the seedlings, but you know what they say about good intentions.  Note the big carrot greens and white flowers behind, and bits of the wildflower garden on the right.  Not to mention that big fat squash plant in the rear.

Echinecea and basil seem to do well enough together.  Another temporary home for flowers in the veggie bed.  That yellow crookneck squash is the only one of three remaining.  The other two, both patty-pan, succumbed to the dreaded squash vine borer a week or so ago.  This one was covered with squash bugs and had signs of the borer, too, but a good spraying with Eco Smart insect killer seems to have taken care of both.  It's thriving, at any rate.  The others were gone beyond salvation when I came home from work one day.

Tomatoes, eggplant, peppers and okra.  No ripe tomatoes yet, the peppers are disappointing so far.  But, I've had eggplant and okra with plenty more coming along.  When the tomatoes begin to ripen, I'll have more than I want.  But, I'm all prepared to make a bunch of home-made marinara sauce and freeze it in pint jars.  Already have a bunch of pesto in the freezer, in single-serving ice-cubes.  This summer's bounty will last awhile.

I have a veritable forest of baby redwoods sprouting from the humus around what I guess is my 'mother tree', a twig brought from Oregon that I hoped would grow.  They aren't large, but they seem to be quite vigorous.

So that's it, people.  Oh -- I also got a whole handful of blueberries today from the three bushes.  More are ripening every day, but that bird netting makes it almost as hard for me to get to them as it does the birds. Definitely need an improvement to this system for next year.

Day 2 of Filming Jayne Mansfield's Car

For those of you who are tired of hearing about this movie, I can tell you that this is probably the last entry, unless I rouse myself to watch the filming tomorrow night, which is doubtful. There's also an outdoor concert/dance scene to be filmed tonight behind the West, with Dwight Yoakum, but I don't see me walking over for that, either.  A couple of hours standing around waiting for some action to happen was quite enough for me, thank you very much.  But, I do have a bunch of photos to share.

Talking to people around me, I learned that one of yesterday's scenes was a bunch of hippies protesting the Vietnam war.  Kevin Bacon is one of the hippies, apparently.

I've been meaning to post an 'after' shot of the West Theater, with its new paint job.  Compare this to the original, below.

The 'real' West Theater

The streets were lined with cars of the era. Amazing they found so many!

The trusty steed that sat in front of the dime store next to my grandfather's barbershop.  I have clear memories of begging to be allowed to ride it!  Sometimes I got my wish, sometimes I didn't.

This is Hollywood's solution to handicap ramps at street crossings.  Very temporary, but from the street the curbs look quite real.

Spectators, cops and crew standing around waiting for some action to happen.  Much more of this than actual action!

More childhood memories.

Wonderful old police car.

On a side street in a big parking lot lie lots of big white trucks and lots of trailers.  This is where the real action takes place!  There were plenty of people standing around waiting to see a star arrive or depart, but I wasn't really interested in that. Someone in town said they saw Kevin Bacon this morning out walking his dog.

Same area where the trailers are.

This is where the concert scene will be filmed tonight.

It takes an amazing number of big white trucks to make a movie!

Check out the albums in this music shop!

Kevin Bacon cupcakes from Crickett's Cakes. They were actually very tasty.

Billy Bob and his family arrived in a golf cart after some cars had been set up on the street.

The entire scene consisted of cars driving down the street and people walking down the street.  They did this several times, then the crew and cameras went down to the other end of the street, to the left of this shot, and they did it again to get it from another direction.

Then Billy Bob and his family walked back to the other end,  posed for some pictures with local dignitaries, then hopped in his golf cart and left.  

Not surprisingly, the inside of Moore's has also been transformed.  I would imagine there will be scenes filmed in here (otherwise, why fix the inside up?)

Old movie posters at the West.

And -- souvenir t-shirts, which I finally broke down and bought.  It's not the kind of thing I tend to wear, but it's large enough to sleep in. These are available from the Cedarstream Company here in town, who made them, if you want one. 770-748-0608 or click on link.

So, after Billy Bob whisked away in his golf cart the crew began setting up for another scene, but it didn't seem as if it were going to happen anytime soon, so I decided enough was enough and walked back home.  I'm glad I went down for awhile, and I can say I was inside the bakery when I actually see the movie.  For whatever that's worth.

Another Update on Jayne Mansfield's Car Filming!

Update Thursday morning:  Here's a link to the local newspaper showing first day's filming photos.  Here's another with Billy Bob and some fans that also has a link to a video. On the same page with that video, look for another on the sidebar 'Cedartown goes '60s'.  I can't make a link to that one work, but it has great shots of various stores and good interviews.  Rain began in mid-afternoon and has continued all night with no let up in sight for awhile.  Not sure what that'll do to their schedule, but I plan to be down there this afternoon by 1pm to find out!

They start filming tomorrow, go through Friday, so I thought I'd take a walk around town to see what it all looks like.  They're still painting signs and hanging signs and getting things ready, but the city has Main Street closed off in that area so we residents are free to wander around at will, talk to folks, see what's going on.  I saw the city manager, one city commissioner and the streets manager, all of whom I know.  The streets manager gave me a copy of the shooting schedule from the production company.  One of the workers told me that yes, we can watch the filming, said that one particular local store was going to be open and would have the best view of the action, and that whoever was in there when they start shooting will need to (!) stay in there while they shoot.  They won't be shooting constantly -- just for 20 minutes or so at a time. The street will be open except for the actual shooting time.

There's a lot of buzz downtown -- you can feel it in the air.  Here are my pics from the morning.

One tidbit that I picked up from the city commissioner.  That mechanical hobby-horse beneath the brown awning is the original one that sat in front of the dime store that was next to my grandfather's barber shop!  He said he'd ridden it plenty as a kid, and so did I.  Hard to see it here -- can't believe I didn't get a decent photo of it.

Main Street at West Avenue, a couple of weeks ago

The same scene, more or less, today.  They actually did remove those new traffic lights and standards and walk lights, and have worked on the crosswalks.

Moores, a couple of weeks ago.

Moore's today -- with more authentic Rexall colors.

What I thought was going to be a bar is actually a barber.

The far end of the 'set'.

This new local business hadn't had a chance to get signs on the windows, so the movie folks painted it for her, and kept the name.  This is one of the stores that are front-and-center at the intersection.

There was one just like this in my grandfather's barber shop.  Could be the same one.

Takes a lot of power to shoot a movie!

I won't be able to watch tomorrow, unless it's after work, but I can sure wander down there on Thursday and check out the action.  They'll be filming behind the West Theater on Thursday night and IN FRONT of it on Friday night, as well as daytime stuff inside and outside various shops.

From Main Street to Movie Set

Changes are really happening downtown, and with good reason: filming begins next week.  Last I heard they'd be re-striping the road on Saturday, then beginning Sunday Main Street will be closed intermittently all day every day through Thursday of next week.  Also last I heard, they plan to put the cars of the era on the street Tuesday night so everything will be ready for filming on Wednesday, although that may have changed.  I just took a brief stroll through downtown to check it out and take a few photos.

All of the old storefronts on the blocks around the intersection are being changed.  Fortunately or unfortunately, lots of them are empty.  Binderson Hardware, for example, doesn't exist and I believe the property to its right has a fresh coat of green paint, although I wouldn't swear to that.

All of the signs on the upper parts of the buildings are new -- such as this Jewelry sign.  I asked one of the workers if they were going to leave anything behind when they were finished, and he said they'd probably leave the signs, which is interesting.

Oh no!  A bar on Main Street!  You can't read the signs painted on the windows here, but they are turning it into a bar.  The citizens will turn over in their graves.  Polk County was dry until just a few short years ago, and alcohol is still seen as an instrument of the devil.  Do you think maybe that comes from the County's notorious bootlegging past?  I think the awning here is new, and a new paint job.

Moores is being transformed, too -- all new signs painted on the windows, new red trim, and work going on inside.  I was tempted to poke my head inside to see what they're doing, but didn't want to be run off.  Chicken.

Lots of new signs on the other side of the intersection.  The blue-striped awning is actually a deli/cafe with its name on the glass. I'm wondering what they're going to do with that.  The sidewalk tables are new.  The wide tan awning toward the end of the block is new, I think.  They were working on it one day when I drove past.

Another tid-bit of information I've gleaned from a little web-searching is that the movie has nothing to do with Jayne Mansfield or her death, despite the title.  It's a story of 'human relationships' that  Robert Duvall described as 'brilliant'.  One character, presumably his, is faced with an interesting dilemma when the wife who left him behind in Alabama sometime between WWI and WWII to marry an Englishman dies and wants to be buried back in Alabama.  Her old family meets up with her new English family, and things get interesting from there.  There are also three brothers involved somehow.  If you're curious, spend a little time with Google and you'll find more info.

That's it for today.  I'm going to try to get some photos next Thursday of some action.  They did say we'd be able to watch the filming if we want to, and I have a good zoom lens.  We'll see.

Nature Photography Day

Did you know that June 15 is Nature Photography Day? I didn't, either, until yesterday.  The GATC is asking for photos from members taken today.

I did my best with what I had to work with, but since I had to go outside before 7am this morning to take a few in the dim light, it's not as good as I would have liked.  By the time I got home tonight -- even now -- the skies are dark and thunder is rumbling.

Another gorgeous pink/apricot poppy in my back yard.  They come in a whole range of colors, but this was the best of today's bunch.  I'd have liked better focus and resolution -- but before 7am with a hand-held camera, this was as good as I could manage. I do love the colors!

The real nature story around these parts this evening has been the hail storms, accompanied by thunder and lightning and wind and rain.  This was the second of two that swept through, and there may be more yet to come.  Tore big holes in my baby limas!

Couldn't stop the motion while that hail was -- well -- hailing down.   This was ugly stuff, and lots of it.  But, assuming my roof survived all is well and the garden has gotten a really good watering.