Nature Makes Her Own Rules

This evening I went up on the roof to unclog my gutters before it (hopefully) rains. Today it was around 90 degrees F, but for the past week it was over 100 degrees in the shade.

I climbed up past my chimney and as I looked over at it, I saw 9 maple seedlings and 3 pine seedlings thriving in the little holes and cracks in the brick masonry. I wish I had taken a picture before I plucked the little guys from their foothold.

I thought about how we must water our potted patio tomatoes every day, lest they shrivel up and die, yet these young plants thrive in minute gaps in intensely hot bricks, exposed to scorching sun without rain for at least two weeks.

Go figure.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Veeam reinstallation problem - VeeamBackup

Over the past several weeks, I have been working with on learning Veeam backup solutions. Veeam's approach is a bit different and their nomenclature is much different from other backup products, perhaps owing to their European roots. They also have a confusing licensing structure. Combine the nomenclature differences, the licensing complexities and the myriad of applications it takes to run the product and it creates, to me, a steep learning curve. That said, Veeam is an effective and affordable Enterprise-grade product. I had installed Veeam Backup and Replication on a test server several months ago. After working with it for a while, I abandoned the project ("Squirrel!!!"). I came back to it a couple weeks ago and began my effort by downloading and installing the latest version. When the installation of Veeam Backup and Replication (VBR) neared completion, I got an error. It was a popup on the screen which said " Failed to create database VeeamBackup. Create ...
Read more

How To Change a Commercial Door Lock in 9 Easy Steps

Image
The reason that I created The-Asterisk blog is that so much in life is not quite as it is purported to be. Everything seems to have those little asterisks which let you know that YMMV (your mileage may vary.) Most of my blogging centers around politics, which is a target-rich environment for asterisks, but from time to time I discover things in my personal life which I think would be of value to others. Today, I was preparing a commercial suite for a tenant to move in on the first. Because we are splitting the suite, I needed to replace two passage door levers (they aren't door knobs anymore) with latches which have locks and  keys. I also needed to replace a worn out lever on the back door of the suite. I recently had purchased three locksets from a local locksmith company. You don't normally find commercial door hardware at Lowes or Home Depot. The sizing or backset is different between commercial and residential levers. For the rest of this blog, I am going to call these...
Read more

Replacing the headlamp in your 2009 Toyota Highlander Hybrid

Image
Having broken through the 100,000 mile barrier several months ago, it was inevitable that things would start needing to be replaced on my 2009 Toyota Highlander. My last state inspection and oil change in May prompted a replacement of the 12v battery (no, not the hybrid battery, that would be disastrous...) Yesterday, while backing out of the driveway, I noticed in the reflection from the windows in the front of my home, that I had a burned out headlamp. The last time that I had replaced a headlamp (in my Isuzu Trooper), the experience had caused me to question the intelligence of Japanese engineering. So, I headed down to Pep Boys where a helpful parts desk lady showed me which bulb I needed and took me over to the rack where they were displayed. The proper lamp is the 9003. I purchased a pair of 9003/HB2 lamps which cost me around $25. These lamps are up to 30% brighter than OEM and since one had already burned out, it only made sense to replace both of them at the same time. I w...
Read more