All posts by Cognitive Dissonance

Spring Has Sprung

Spring Has Sprung

By

Cognitive Dissonance

 

My apologies for being absent for the last week or so, but we have a lot going on at the moment. As you can see from the picture above, things are finally greening up here on top of the mountain. While we may by just a dozen or so miles north of the North Carolina border, living at an elevation of 3,000 feet means we experience a climate similar to locales several hundred miles further north and much nearer to sea level.

Mrs. Cog has been busy with her crafts while juggling the planting of early lettuce, cabbage and kale. While our weather has turned decidedly warmer of late, with daytime highs in the 60’s and low 70’s and lows in the mid 40’s to low 50’s, Mother Nature can still throw us a curve ball with one last killing frost. Continue reading Spring Has Sprung

First Impression

First Impression

By

Cognitive Dissonance

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"You never get a second chance to make a first impression!"

 The earliest attribution for this quote is a 1966 advertising slogan in an ad for Botany Suits.

 

We have a new neighbor…which is a big deal around here, since we have so few neighbors to begin with. As we like to say, we live at the end of a dirt road off of a dirt road off of a paved road out in the middle of nowhere. Our two dirt roads, each a mile long, are home to six houses, three of which are not presently occupied. Make that two, now that we have new neighbors.

Actually they have not moved in yet, having closed the purchase earlier this past week. They told the realtor there was much to do to the place before they moved in. While I am pleased the house will once again be a home to someone, rather than just another vacant box, I am also a little sad with the prospect. For the last 2½ years I have been the resident caretaker of the house and land and have come to know it well inside and out. Continue reading First Impression

Fear, Pain and First Till

Fear, Pain and First Till

By

Cognitive Dissonance

 

Because I have been struggling with back issues for several months, even though Mother Nature has been cooperating with a week or so of beautiful late March weather and temperatures, my body has been consistently saying no to heavy garden work.

Until today!

Actually my body still said no, but my mind decided to override the veto and haul out the tiller anyway just to see where my pain threshold resided. Remembering an old lesson about pain, fear and perception, I fired up the machine and commenced to tear and claw at the land. Continue reading Fear, Pain and First Till