Chapter 2 - The Empire Strikes Back

The Marigold - Our national flag and pest control device.

In this allegory I just so happen to be the Empire and the cows an insufferable rebel force. The war between them and PR is at a standstill - does that mean we are at peace? no, I don't think so. More-so that it is in both our interests to maintain the equilibrium. However, if it came to either party's attention that their interests could be reasonably improved by another conflict, there would be no desire for peace (beyond the cost of war) to prevent it - Both sides are content enough with their realm not to start any trouble in the least it seems.

We are now both enmeshed in the domestic struggle to set up a sovereign equilibrium within our territories. I've opted for despotic rule - My loyal and severely unaware subjects only requiring water, sunlight and annual compost in exchange for a tireless effort to convert those ingredients into compounds I might derive energy from, thus enforcing my rule*. They seem to be a self-ruling band of gypsies and also quite dirty, as they pay no attention to where they shit or whether or not they step in it.

Unfortunately the barbaric bovine empire surrounds our borders, so we must appear strong so as not to encourage them to test the fences.

The decisive weapon was one of defense believe it or not - a 4-tiered barbed wire fence was successful.

Part of this strength will be in our foreign policy - We hope to trade promissory notes (denominated in our own currency of course) for their surplus manure - a product that we will need. Time is on our side in this trade, as the cows will be butchered (a prospect which they are delightfully unaware of) before the notes can be redeemed (of course there'll be an estate clause so ownership cannot be passed on to surviving offspring).

Our Kingdom

After Some Planting

And here's a bridge that I thought was nice -

Anyway - Have made some design progress while I was away so it will be a good week for content- Tomorrow will be an excruciating look at changing the throttle cable in a 1997 GMC Safari PR Van with a spare clutch cable the guy at the Brooklyn Vespa shop found 'in the back somewhere'.

Also - While I know there are no expectations with respect to the consistency of these posts - I have to apologize for the unannounced hiatus. Best to all -

*Some of you may think I've gone a bit crazy after reading this metaphor and say something like, "Man, he's been out in the woods too long, I mean he's talking about vegetal rule", and you'd be right, but I just got back from a week in New York City, so what then?

Raised Beds

Where's my christmas truce?

When I've heard about World War I, more often than not I've heard about the trench warfare technique (A very efficient soldier massacring type of warfare where there were hundreds of miles of trenches with an average of 1 soldier every 4 inches. 300,000 died in the battle of Verdun with no change in either party's position). This has become such an ubiquitous part of not only institutional but pop culture education that its dynamics need not  explanation but - Two opposing sides would face off and, due to the machine gun technology prevailing at the time, any attempt to advance would expose the soft essential parts of the soldiers to the comparatively hard and sharp hail of supersonic bits of metal lobbed from the opposing side. This resulted in a lot of holes in people on the battlefield. I was also told that after some successive waves of the afforementioned fighting, that medics were allowed to go out under a flag of peace to patch the holes. One of these types of events was the Christmas Truce.

Well, I went to salvage what I could from the previous garden and a peculiar thing happened. Although cows tend to be rather docile or at least submissive creatures, as I tapped the proverbial morphine drip for a wounded kale plant (trampled by the foul bovine), the leader of the cows confronted me. I wish I had my camera. The cow came up to me as if it had reached some type of Ayn Rand type individual enlightenment* and was staring me down (and not with the usual disinterested cow type of look). His 20-30 cronies stood behind with a similar stare. This was her garden now and I was meant to know. I picked up the shovel and made it look as if I was going to hit her in the face and she didn't blink. My now obvious bluff only strengthened her resolve. I was forced to flee. 

I will try again. 

After that, I made two raised beds using some very old half-rotted timbers and charcoal soil - 

I'm considering a project reliance field day some Saturday in July - will keep you posted. 

*As if she had become awakened to the fact that she has been led around by my kind her entire life and now realizes the totality of her potential existence - me being the first obstacle in her excersizing it. 

Cuttlefish + Silver =

Did you know that the dried out carcass of a cuttlefish can be used to cast molten silver?!*

After the murder of my garden and some prolonged bouts of rain I found myself with a friend and we decided to make a key-ring for the new chariot of PR - a GMC Safari Van which I finally got on the road after a 7-hour adventure with the Rhode Island Department of Motor Vehicles. (pics to follow - as far as accounting goes, I decided not to count its $700 cost toward the PR dwelling, but I am thinking that it will most likely turn out to be PR $1000 hermit crab inspired mobile house). We started with a ring that she had made and given me - 

Fitting for PR

And cut a cuttlefish in half, impressed a seashell in it and placed the key in the mold -

And cut a bowl and a hole out of the top half to pour the silver in -

And then melted it with fire -

Close-up-

I think this is called throwing good after bad - we melted these silver objects down to make a key handle. 

And after some cutting and polishing - the most unnecessary key-ring in history -

Back to work this week - 

*The afforementioned knowledge was relayed and, with much patience, taught to me by master jeweler and metal-smith Tamra Mottl of Mottl Industry (with umlaut over the O).  Some examples of her work can be found here - Very talented custom jeweler. I know some of you are looking to get married soon, she makes beautiful and unique wedding rings - http://www.pawtucketopenstudios.com/dir_spring2007/artistpages/mottl.html

Murder!

- O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth, That I am meek and gentle with these butchers! Thou art the ruins of the noblest garden that ever was in the tide of times. Woe to the hoof that shed this costly blood! -

There was an attack on the garden last night. The tactics: surgical. The scale: comprehensive. The corn and other plants large enough to be appealing were nibbled to the earth, those too small to be seen by the dumb eye of that foul creature were trampled with an accuracy that made it seem intentional.