The Bar 2014 Edition

[lucky420]

Good luck Joeln!

[FIGJAM]

From a Playa Porto near you.....................

[unjonharley]

So, I had a little gas,already.. What?

[FIGJAM]

"Have it your way???"

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink ... flesh.html

[Sunbeam56]

Sitting in my fave Mexican food restaurant... Grey Coyote has the hiccups... Mas margaritas!!!

[^Rhino!]

Rhino, you must be French? I've always appreciated being greeted more conventionally, at least at first.

Nope, I'm not French, though I do speak the language a little. I was just brought up in a weird town. Imagine living in a town that had more PhDs per square mile than most universities. You tend to founder at an early age unless you make rapid use of the public library to stay abreast of things. Luckily, I had Boy Scouts to even things up a bit, and I did a lot of camping as a result in both junior high and high school. Why not? It put me in good stead for BRC.

[Elorrum]

Rhino, you must be French? I've always appreciated being greeted more conventionally, at least at first.

Nope, I'm not French, though I do speak the language a little. I was just brought up in a weird town. Imagine living in a town that had more PhDs per square mile than most universities. You tend to founder at an early age unless you make rapid use of the public library to stay abreast of things. Luckily, I had Boy Scouts to even things up a bit, and I did a lot of camping as a result in both junior high and high school. Why not? It put me in good stead for BRC.

No, I don't get Jerry Lewis, not more than five minutes of the hyper goof.
I suppose if I grew up in France or a town as horrifically smart as the one you grew up in (not Cupertino, CA, in the 60's, like me) I'd understand, and welcome being shouted at in a Jerry Lewis voice, "Hey Lady" when I walked onto what I imagine is a predominately male worksite, where the men most likely would be the ones broken up by what seems to be an insensitive joke made at my expense. Maybe.

[lucky420]

Yeah, we don't like it. It's uncomfortable. We might smile at the time to hide our discomfort but I think most of us are really thinking "fuck you dick".

[lucky420]

Soooooooo

How's everybody?

[sadie]

Hello Bar People.
I'm feeling a little sore today. I filled up an 18 gallon tub with grass burrs out of my dang front yard yesterday. Sad part is for every plant full of sticker seed that went to the dumpster, there are probalby a thousand that have already begun to root.

I'd love to blame my lazy neighbor who's yard is usually around 3' tall, but I let it get out of hand. I was busy building stuff for a certain camping trip in the desert. - but the attack has begun. Any lawn whisperers out there?? I've been considering learning how to pour concrete....just pave over the whole yard

[Elorrum]

good practice, sadie, for the "pave the playa" project. I washed my tent on a dead dry lawn full of burs and I think three other kinds of stick into you dry things, trade off for playa dust, but I worry about being the unwitting "carrier" of nasty weeds.

Hey Lucky!
I'm thirsty tonight.
Is Fishy around? I'll make a big bowl of pago pago octopi.

[tatonka]

Hello Bar People.
I'm feeling a little sore today. I filled up an 18 gallon tub with grass burrs out of my dang front yard yesterday. Sad part is for every plant full of sticker seed that went to the dumpster, there are probalby a thousand that have already begun to root.

I'd love to blame my lazy neighbor who's yard is usually around 3' tall, but I let it get out of hand. I was busy building stuff for a certain camping trip in the desert. - but the attack has begun. Any lawn whisperers out there?? I've been considering learning how to pour concrete....just pave over the whole yard

My dream is to pave mine also , hate mowin the lawn

[theCryptofishist]

Hello Bar People.
I'm feeling a little sore today. I filled up an 18 gallon tub with grass burrs out of my dang front yard yesterday. Sad part is for every plant full of sticker seed that went to the dumpster, there are probalby a thousand that have already begun to root.

I'd love to blame my lazy neighbor who's yard is usually around 3' tall, but I let it get out of hand. I was busy building stuff for a certain camping trip in the desert. - but the attack has begun. Any lawn whisperers out there?? I've been considering learning how to pour concrete....just pave over the whole yard

The water company sent me something a few months back on how to take out a lawn (they'd give you a credit if you did). It involves putting several layers of cardboard down on it, and cutting a three inch trench all around it. Lawns are a pain in the ass, hard to grow, yet also invasive. And they use a lot of water and pesticide... Plant something native, if you can. I think that this is the last hurrah for lawns in California. If this is a ten-year drought.

[theCryptofishist]

Is Fishy around? I'll make a big bowl of pago pago octopi.

Bless you, thank you Elorrum.

[Aurelia]

Hello All !

Today I gave up and went to have blood work..dr. asked if something could have bitten me on the playa
it is an awful traveling thing and began with strep..now to my whole upper body.
wasn't there a kind of flu they were writing about right after the burn ?

xoA.

[theCryptofishist]

Are you talking about the playa lung thread?

[sadie]

The water company sent me something a few months back on how to take out a lawn (they'd give you a credit if you did). It involves putting several layers of cardboard down on it, and cutting a three inch trench all around it. Lawns are a pain in the ass, hard to grow, yet also invasive. And they use a lot of water and pesticide... Plant something native, if you can. I think that this is the last hurrah for lawns in California. If this is a ten-year drought.

Yeah, you guys are under some extremely strict water restrictions out there. Here, we are allowed to water one day a week - during specific hours, and I never remember when my day is.

I have found some decently priced pavers, and saw a mold that uses Quikrete and "looks like natural stone" that intrests me...but couldn't do the whole yard with either one. Every square foot I can cover up would help. I added a big bed three or four years ago and planted native drought resistant plants - so far so good...everything seems to be thriving and I neglect it regularly. I have started looking at Xeriscaping too, but can always find an excuse not to actually implement the plan...

[Elorrum]

Sadie, I'll help you spread out rock or pavers in November if you like. That quick-crete mold is sort of cool, but price the concrete and time vs. just buying a paver that already looks like that. I thought they were sort of expensive. They can be customized though if you have collected some "special" rocks and that would be nice.

I've noticed three folks so far on this board, complaining of post playa strep, and cough. Many of us get stressed a bit, sleep is off, exertion is up, sharing germs in close contact with more people than we are normally around, less hand washing, long drive home etc. good battleground for illness.

[sadie]

Sadie, I'll help you spread out rock or pavers in November if you like. That quick-crete mold is sort of cool, but price the concrete and time vs. just buying a paver that already looks like that. I thought they were sort of expensive. They can be customized though if you have collected some "special" rocks and that would be nice.

Cool! If nothing else, you could help me visualize. I have a medium sized pile of bricks that are begging to be used somewhere, but I"m not sure where I want them yet. Good point on the mold - price is a little better per sq ft, but add in the time and effort...not so much.

[FIGJAM]

Lay down weed mat and cover with crushed rock in the color of your choice.

Cheap and easy.

[AntiM]

Our city ordinance requires a green lawn, unless you go get a permit for xeriscaping. No paving over, can't even put in a gravel pad without a permit. We can have a brown lawn in autumn, and the yard water will be shut off in a couple weeks. My outside faucets have no water from October to April. Always an exciting day when the water comes back on and I get geysers if the pipes or fixtures cracked over the winter. For some reason, this house doesn't have a master valve for the yard water, they have to turn off the whole neighborhood if we have to do repair work.

I did do weed mats and loose rocks in my back garden. Stuff grows up through it anyway, just not as much or not as fast. I haven't gone back there in a couple weeks, I don't want to look at my failures as a gardener.

[GreyCoyote]

Its interesting how the lawn game varies by region. Here, I am fighting to get a day dry enough so I can mow. Hopefully it will be today!

You should have seen my lawn when I got back from TTITD. it hadnt been mowed in more than 3 weeks. My cat was having jungle dreams while stalking the dog.

[Joeln]

And I've been getting it both ways here in Colorado.
Sloppy wet lawn one month and dry crap the next.
We have had watering restrictions on & off the last 10 years...

[sadie]

I looked into the crushed rock option to expand my driveway.
It is a single-wide and I was having to ghetto park my car off
to the side. But then the car went to hail.... I still may do that
for the far side of the driveway, but in my mind it would look trailer
parky or KOA Kampgroundy on the near side...

I did discover that a vinegar/salt/soap mix kills weeds! Yay
vinegar.

Edited to add: my apologies if I offended any of you that may
live in a trailer park, a KOA Kampground, or a ghetto...

[Elorrum]

Edited to add: my apologies if I offended any of you that may
live in a trailer park, a KOA Kampground, or a ghetto...

No offense taken. Mugs up!!!

[Aurelia]

Mugs up indeed !

but I have been experiencing a muscular weakness , not a playa lung,
which followed the initial strep throat, easily dosed away.
I am an adrenaline junkie .
Hardly strictly Bluegrass is this weekend with 3 days of great music free in GGpark
Usually I plant myself in front of the sound
last year, early, I found "burners" cooking bacon on the sidelines.
maybe I should stay home

xoA.

[Madgirl]

Hey all...been pretty absent lately. Too much stuff going on and not enough time in the day.

Joeln - good luck with the job application! I know positions at New Belgium are incredibly competitive but it would be such a great place to work...keeping my fingers crossed for you.

aserendipity - there was some discussion about West Nile virus being a threat, it's transmitted by mosquitos so you'd more likely have picked it up in Gerlach than on the playa itself. It can cause all kinds of nasty symptoms so that might be something to consider.

[Aurelia]

Thank You , madgirl, I couldn't remember ..they are asking me about possibles
and all I know is that the gorgeous people I met were all getting strep throat
but that is easy with meds

so what is this new Belgium ?

xoA.

[forty_eight]

^



good luck with the interview, joeln!

[AntiM]

There are a few people in Utah with bad upper respiratory stuff still going on. One is an older gentleman, so we are worried about him. I coughed for a while but that has cleared up; my late summer allergies were awful this year. There seems to be a local crud, so it is difficult to sort out.