First Snow Of The Month
Written by: adekun on 31 January, 2007 10:36 pm - Filed under: blog — 2 Comments »
The last broccoli was cut yesterday as I didn’t want to run the risk of it flowering. Out of the six I planted, only three came good. One lost everything above the waist in a typhoon, another turned out to be a cabbage and the other grew yellow flowers instead of a head. There was a little snow this morning and if it warms up a little, I will dig up the rest of the potatoes. If the number of weeds that have spawned over the past month is a decent guide, spring is not that far away.
Power Station On The Blink
Written by: adekun on 30 January, 2007 12:28 pm - Filed under: blog — No Comments »
On the local news this evening there was a report about a power station outage. There wasn’t much detail, but it was due to a water leak. What surprised me was that the nuclear plant mentioned was only a short drive away. Interested, having spent an extended stint in the UK energy industry (the later part focusing on renewables), I had a search about. Although difficult to see the detail, this map gives an idea of the system in the Chugoku region.
The red/white facing chevrons are nuclear
The blue rectangles are +10MW hydro
Red/white and blue/white bends are thermal
Torrential Rain
Written by: adekun on 27 January, 2007 10:32 am - Filed under: blog — 3 Comments »
Yesterday began what has been the heaviest rain since October. It has been the first real test of the mizo (trenches) and I am pleased to see they performed better than expected. What instigated the digging, was the flooding of the Onion Stronghold. The photo was taken early on, already the rain was collecting around the asparagus.
During the night there were frequent bursts of kami nari (lit. God heard – thunder), so we sandwiched Kento between ourselves in case he became frightened. Instead of tears I got an earful of giggles.
Chevil
Written by: adekun on 25 January, 2007 3:44 pm - Filed under: herbs — No Comments »
One day I got a bit carried away weeding. I didn’t realise until a few days later. I had hoped to use Chervil in a few French dishes.
In place of it, I’ve been using young carrot tops in Miso soup. Still, it is missed and hopefully I will be less clumsy next time.
Compost
Written by: adekun on 3:10 pm - Filed under: garden — No Comments »
I’m am still trying to learn the dark art of compost. I think I need some nitrogen. Trying to improve my chances I made a compost bin c. 80cm3.
Craptop Update
Written by: adekun on 8:40 am - Filed under: blog — 2 Comments »
As mentioned before, I said I would continue to press Dell’s Technical Support department. My replacement hard disk came unformatted without the integral MediaDirect program. I requested the CD’s I needed to restore the system to what it was sold with. Today I got a response. My transferred warranty doesn’t cover the missing CD’s. These are usually included with the system sold in Asia. However, I have the option of completing an online form, to receive a quote. Posts on a few forums mention invoices to be three figures US.
The system I bought was probably amongst the earliest batches shipped in the UK. I paid extra for the NVIDIA 7800 Go graphics card, top spec a year ago. I am dumbfounded as to why that the latest drivers on the Dell site are still those released 18-Jan-06. None of the standard NVIDIA drivers are compatible. I discovered during my first rebuild, the card is underclocked to 250 MHz rather than the usual 400 MHz – to keep the temperature down. That wasn’t in the sales literature.
Shiitake
Written by: adekun on 6:54 am - Filed under: food — No Comments »
One of the most popular of gourmet mushrooms. The first Shiitake were said to have been cultivated over a thousand years ago.
Normally the fungus will fruit in the spring and in the autumn. It can be forced by submersion in cold water for 24-48 hours.
All being well, the log should fruit about a week after the soak. Forcing it too often will stress the mycelium.
It can be done every two months, the spawn should recover after the flush.
My adventure started with the purchase of an inoculated log for about
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