#Screened Topsoil Kitchener | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

angerissue · 4 years ago

Text

ID: UNKNOWN.

@mynameisanakin

It was midday in the Catskills, around the time of year when the days were beginning to shorten and darken, and the temperature was beginning to chill. From his glances outside and the occasional wanderings into the hills for some fresh air, he could see the maple trees blushing with a garish shade of candy apple red, the colours vibrant against the unchanging fir and pine. But attractive as the imagery was, when Bruce was indoors and preoccupied, as he was now, it didn't remain at the forefront of his mind, as if it was somehow immune to permanence. His focus was more immediate and didn’t care about the outdoors.

Cloud-bidden sunlight filtered through the windows, mingling with the fluorescence as he wandered down the hall and towards the kitchenette, a clipboard tucked under his wing and the desire for tea on his mind. Over the past few hours of work, his eyes had grown sore and a bit dry; a bit nearsighted from their fixation on the monitors in the laboratory, a problem that even his eyeglasses wouldn’t thwart. He almost forgot what that was like, to suffer the effects of prolonged screen time. Not that it was ever a bad idea to remind himself every now and again; to retain that connection instead of dismissing it.

(He wasn’t sure it would return again, if he did that.)

Regardless, after a good fifteen minutes or so, he would be back in business again and return to the lab. Not that he hadn’t brought some of his work along with him in the interim, because it felt odd, leaving his work unattended if he was enthralled in it to his current extent. Then again, he would be kidding himself to say this project was different from the rest. Piecemeal modifications to the quinjet’s power source were one project in an excessively long lineup of others. Yes — the efficacy of upgrading the quinjet was questionable. It may not have been practical, to invest in a vehicle that lacked proper permissions in the air and could only be used sparingly; with its cloaking, whenever he felt it necessary to slip from one location to another without using the Hulk.

But it remained a pet project nonetheless. The same went for his research into better performance textiles, mass-scale water purification units, and the applications of the Hulk's plasma — an interesting venture, because its ability to heal deep wounds and transport medicine in the bloodstream had shown promising results in mice, almost to the point of unnerving him with its potential. The only hiccups came whenever he contacted his sources, at which time he requested that they solely provide him with the "frail and ailing" specimens. It had always been an uncomfortable conversation; perhaps it was only Bruce's imagination, but he suspected that some of these men and women, while they were indeed fully aware of his qualifications in the sciences, believed he was gathering up sick mice to observe for kicks. He must have seemed like a sadist. It wouldn't have been difficult for them to believe, given he'd conceived of an AI that fit that bill. And he’d heard the murmurings over the years. Whether the infamous Doctor Banner was merely posturing as an unlucky scientist, and truthfully had ulterior motives for all his supposed blunders. The conspiracy theories had been less prominent and discussed since the snap was reversed, his name included in the list of those behind it, but they were still around.

In truth, he merely believed if the mice were on the verge of succumbing anyhow, they could only improve. Nothing he did could worsen their odds further; add more preventable deaths to his conscience.

But those experiments had been put on hold in favour of the quinjet modifications, part of which were attached to the clipboard that he lowered onto the kitchen island. There was only one remaining mouse in the observatory; a white-furred knockout he had affectionately named Eddie, who no longer lived in the lab, but off in the corner of the living room in a small cage. If he turned his head, he would see it next to the sofa.

Sometimes, Eddie joined him in the lab, seemingly at peace even on the big guy’s shoulder, or in his hand.

And Eddie wasn't a rarity in that sense. It seemed that most animals didn't mind the monster's presence. There was something about that state; he was never quite sure whether his presence alone was calming to animals somehow, or whether there was some attribute in his behaviour that was missing in an ordinary man's. Predictability, perhaps. Whatever the reason, when he wandered into the trees and crossed paths with deer, they seldom skittered away from him. They often approached him to say hello. The warblers and white-bellied thrushes never flew away in anticipation of an incident. Generally, the wildlife lacked fear. The doctor could tell this with certainty, because he could hear... Everything. The natural world's impression of him had been an odd lesson to learn, when he first learned it, but it ultimately made him feel better. Unnatural as he was, he felt anything but in these circumstances. It almost made him wonder if the concept of natural; unnatural, was a wholly human construct. A way of labelling, quantifying, and classifying things that were unfamiliar to them, but in the end, could still fit into the world like a missing puzzle piece. In that sense, perhaps nothing was ever really unnatural.

Bruce opened the kitchen cupboard. Then, fingers curling around the brassy handle, he carefully pulled the maple tea box from its resting spot, placing it on the counter and carding through the multicoloured packets for jasmine tea. The tea box was one of the few earthier items in the more clinical vicinity. A stark contrast, and definitely a conversation piece that could warrant questions, or at least unexpressed intrigue and curiosity, from newcomers.

Said newcomers would find it hard to believe, but the box had been a housewarming gift from Tony. Bruce theorized that he'd bartered for it from some small-time vendor or nabbed it from a pawn shop; it didn’t have the meticulous, almost machined finish that someone would expect from a mass-produced piece; there were flaws, but they were not the typical quality control issues of that production type. And when he saw the engraved name on the underside of the lid (which he presumed was the maker) and searched for it online, he received very few answers. Sometimes, he considered whether Tony himself had carved the tea box, which could feasibly correlate with his more slower-paced lifestyle as of late; one that was less inundated by bleeding-edge tech. Yet Bruce never asked him. One answer could’ve led to five more questions, or worse yet, he could’ve fallen into another one of Tony Stark’s infamous rabbit holes and had trouble digging his way out again. It wouldn’t have been the worst of rabbit holes; woodworking, but the guy had a wife and a kid. Bruce couldn’t have deprived Tony of his time with them; hard-earned time at that, even if the man himself said it was supposedly fine. Bruce didn’t trust his own judgement, but he didn’t trust Tony’s most of the time, either.

However, discussion of the tea box was nonexistent at the observatory. There were seldom newcomers to ask about it.

But he preferred the solitude. With interactions came problems. Quandaries to solve that wouldn't have manifested otherwise, like worms deep in the earth, invisible until someone rooted through the topsoil and disturbed them, throwing everything out of balance. And frankly, it had been ages since the hardest decision he needed to make was determining the kind of tea he wanted to brew. Since one of his decisions didn’t precede a potentially devastating domino effect, because in the company of others, his actions tended to have that outcome. It had taken him far too long to accept that this was unsustainable.

Nothing justified putting innocent people in harm’s way so he could chum around with his teammates.

Not to mention he sorely missed the calmer, easier days that came before all this; before the accident and the team and the culling. He wanted to restore them in the next few years, and beyond. He wanted to remember what they were like. He wanted to flex this old muscle, after allowing it to atrophy for so long, especially because with that atrophy, he had gradually noticed a kind of emptiness forming inside of him, like he didn’t know his truest ideals or intentions anymore; like he was being moulded by the others until he lost his own identity.

Forging a direction of his own was... Paramount to him.

Not that his years with the Avengers didn't bear validation and silver linings of their own, but the moments were often interspersed among more arduous circumstances, which he’d rather have avoided. A positive event derived from a negative event could never be considered a net gain, because they cancelled each other out. And this was what happened with the Avengers, at an uncomfortably frequent rate... The Sokovia relief efforts were a humanitarian, positive venture, but those efforts only happened because of the genocidal Ultron intelligence that had levelled the entire city. Among others. Bruce still bore the consequences from these antithetical happenings. Much as he tried to dismiss them, they still pricked at him every now and then. The fear he would never undo the public’s distrust of him. The omnipresent sense of never being able to make up for lost time, despite doing so now. This... Identity disorder that had proliferated in his mind like a cancer.

That part, in particular, still felt like a bad dream. Something he couldn’t believe was real, nor could ever be real. He had discounted Tony’s input and suggestions about it when he first heard them, and there were still moments when he couldn't accept the man's diagnosis, because it just seemed so outlandish. He'd done plenty of research himself into so-called split personalities. Bundle theories; ego theories. But nothing seemed remotely plausible or realistic. What happened to him in Johannesburg, at the New Avengers' compound, and less than a year ago in this same observatory; it was like something out of a movie... Pseudo scientific... Alien possession. Implanted memories. Dopplegangers. Perhaps Wanda had put something real in his brain, for all her intangible abilities. Perhaps it would show up as a shadow in an MRI. Perhaps the shadow would move.

But in the end, however real the problem was (and there was, indeed, a problem; his loss of time and consciousness could attest to this), Hulk hadn't made an appearance since then.

Bruce almost believed, or wanted to believe, these were isolated events. And Hulk wouldn’t appear again.

He suspected that being alone would help with it.

Perhaps his former teammates knew that he needed time alone. Perhaps it's why an unspoken understanding between them had arisen once he'd settled down, here in the Catskills — an understanding that, while they would continue to call each other acquaintances, they wouldn’t bother each other unless utterly necessary, because their paths had wholly diverged now. Because they had attained some new form of equilibrium with each other, unlike the kind that existed when they were all working together.

And perhaps, some part of Bruce feared that if he updated his teammates on all his recent ventures, it would inspire Tony to return to his own work (however improbable the idea was, since his family life had long been a priority for him). Bruce wasn't sure he wanted the competition. He was finally in a place where he could catch up to, and eventually even surpass, Tony's own milestones in the field, and this would become a lot more difficult if Tony was still chugging away. A selfish notion indeed, but it didn't adversely affect Tony in any manner, so while he did feel the occasional pang of guilt about it, he could ultimately shrug it off.

He poured some water into the electric kettle and plugged it into the backsplash. As he waited for it to warm up, problems and solutions for his current project passed in and out of his thoughts. His mind was never quiet, even now during his self-imposed break, and he couldn't help but cast occasional glances at his clipboard, as if it could record all his ruminations without contact.

Soon, the kettle was whistling. Bruce grabbed a mug from the cupboard and began steeping his tea, electing to stand at the counter rather than taking a seat — at least for now. The mug that he chose was made from white ceramic, and it bore a custom print job with a child's drawing on the front — a colourful crayon scribble of Captain America, which was one in a four-piece set that contained artwork of Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, and the Hulk; what the general public deemed the "big four" of the original Avengers. Multiples of this mug set, which was undoubtedly created by an enthusiastic child who loved superheroes, and a supportive parent who indulged the (perhaps misguided) adulation, had been in a fanmail package for Steve months earlier. Steve had originally offered Bruce a mug with the Hulk on it, but he'd turned it down on the chance that if someone found their way into the observatory and caught a glimpse of that mug, and only that mug, they could draw unwanted conclusions. He wouldn't have that. Rather than retracting the offer, Steve made it bigger and offered him all four mugs. Thus, he owned the entire set — Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, and Hulk.

(The Hulk mug received less use than the others, as evident from its comparative lack of tea stains.)

And at last, Bruce took a seat at the island.

He didn’t think about tea much when he was greener. Drinking it wasn’t something he could humour unless he wanted to make himself uncomfortable. But he couldn't deny the pleasure his ordinary self derived from tea — it was nice to wrap his fingers around a warm mug when they were stiff and sore from tapping at a keyboard. It was nice to let his elbows rest on a tabletop and give his shoulders a break, after they had spent hours propping his hands up for touch and gestural commands. He relished the sensations more the longer he abstained from them, the sensation of eating most of all. His transformed self simply couldn't do this without suffering ill effects; he wasn't designed to ingest things. While he could, theoretically, take a sip without swallowing and chew without swallowing, it lacked the fulfillment of the rest of the process, least physiologically. It was like chewing gum, but much more agitating. If stopping before swallowing were that simple, he imagined people would eat all sorts of things and not suffer the consequences, no matter how harmful. Wouldn't that be nice. As it stood, it wasn't possible.

Thus in a sense, the opportunities when he could eat or drink had become something of a treat for him. It was something that only happened if he slowed down a little, and yanked himself away from his work long enough — and spent some time as a frailer version of himself.

Both of these criteria were rarities.

Blowing across the top of the mug to cool it down, he took a swig of tea. Then he glanced down at his clipboard, the graph paper covered with iterations of a new device, both sketches and measurements. He inspected one set of measurements, then he flipped his pencil and scrubbed away a line of writing before thumbing the shreds from the rubber tip.

Reworking certain components of the quinjet, in a sense, reminded him of the time he designed the observatory. And he missed the design process, frankly, because it gave him a substantial sense of control in comparison to his accommodations at the Avengers facilities, where he could adjust his spaces but not overhaul them entirely; after all, the locations were not his own. Back when he designed the observatory, he could choose doors that locked on his own command, and ones that were tall enough to accommodate both his guises. He could choose the ratio of open space to smaller, more amniotic rooms. So while he didn't build the place, his input on the floor plans made it feel more like home than anything else.

The entrance faced south and opened up into the main floor, which held the kitchen and living area. The latter space was dressed with a few sofas and a coffee table, and boasted large, open windows that easily permitted the morning sun. If one ventured further into the floor and passed through a closed door, they'd find the laboratories, and living quarters which consisted of his own room and a guest ensuite (it was still unfurnished, given the circumstances), or they could take one of two staircases. The first was a nautilus shell of a metal staircase that spiraled up into the dome, the room fitted with a massive telescope that passed through the paneled ceiling. The second was a straight staircase that led into the basement. The clutter of unused equipment against the pallid walls was evident the moment someone ventured down there — as were the control panels for the power source, which manifested as a sizable column of green light wrapped in thick glass. It originated in the floor of the basement and continued upward, stopping at the ceiling.

It was a proof-of-concept work, but unlike the towering arc reactor back at the Stark Industries headquarters in LA, which eventually gave way to the miniaturized version used in Tony's armour, this was not a publicity stunt for the doctor, but a means to an end. It was purposed as a self-sustaining, cyclical energy source that allowed Banner to work off the grid and operate the lights, appliances, and other power hogs without reliance on external sources.

And there were many of these power hogs. The refrigerator, dishwasher, and laundry unit on the main floor were the least of it — the two laboratories in the deepest part of this floor were outfitted with machinery and computers that never took a snooze, because in most cases, neither did he. (It felt somewhat... Gratuitous to sleep, when the monster didn't need to sleep at all.) The first and larger lab contained the bulk of these devices, being the place for heavy-duty conceptualization and fabrication, like a production line of sorts. It wasn't unusual for novel tech to be scattered throughout the vicinity, sitting pretty on desks and carts in readiness for completion. The second lab was smaller; more old-fashioned, and had less computers, containing the typical assortment of beakers, graduated cylinders, and other apparatus for chemical and biological experimentation instead. Fume hoods, eyewashing stations, and sinks in case of chemical spills were also present, but he never needed to use them. Not for the lack of incidents, but because it had become less of a hassle to hastily undress and, as Tony had consistently put it, "Hulk out" and allow his body to deal with the issue with utmost certainty of negating it, rather than spraying himself with water and hoping for the best.

(His condition could heal wounds; injuries, but not scar tissue. It was the reason he still hadn’t lost the chip of a scar beneath his eye, which he incurred so long ago that his memories of the incident were shrouded. It was odd, knowing something so small wasn't a match for his healing capabilities, while more... Grievous injuries never left a scratch on him.)

If he wasn’t already “Hulked out”, which was the norm.

Nonetheless, the chemistry lab could still be used for engineering in a pinch, if he referred to one of the few computers therein. The observatory ran on a single closed network, so the files were accessible from anywhere within its walls. It was difficult to access this network even if someone did manage to sneak into the building, however; he had made sure of it. Secluding himself from the rest of the world was only one way to ensure his privacy, and it was part of a bigger equation. Therefore, even the doors, not only to the labs but the living quarters and the generator room, were chronically locked and required a biometric scan to open, and it was of a certain kind that only someone with his condition could provide.

So if someone entered the building, they could wander around the kitchen; the living room, and find their way to the first bathroom, but everything else was behind those locked doors. This was for the better, because Bruce valued his privacy, and because guests might be uneasy if they realized the building ran on radioactive isotopes. Not unlike a neutered bomb.

He remained at the island for a few minutes. Uneventful, for the most part, save for the ideas and questions that were tumble-drying in his brain, wearing down both ends of his pencil.

Uneventful.

Then he saw the tea in his mug twitch.

He looked to the mug, intent on confirming the occurrence, suspecting he may have hallucinated somehow. No, he wasn't. It happened again. There. And then, something trembled in the soles of his feet.

Soon, it snowballed into a low-grade rumbling.

He tried to pick apart the reason. There were no trains this far out; nobody would dare budget an endeavour like building a railroad in these plateaus, nor was the area prone to tremors and earthquakes; he had ensured this when he was initially scouting the location.

The lights began to flicker.

With it, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.

Something was burning. It was a rubbery smell, like raw cable set aflame, mixed with the metallic tinge of static electricity. The tremors in the building were growing, small bits of dust and debris falling onto his shoulders and into his tea from the ceiling. And then, down in the basement, Bruce heard something fall to the floor with a deafening clatter.

His nerves kicked into gear. It was the kind of painful, adrenaline-fueled pulse that came from a sudden surprise.

He abandoned his drink, leaving the kitchenette and hurrying down the stairs to the basement, fluorescent lights running overhead like road markings. As he descended and reached the bottom of the steps, which opened into the basement's storage area for unused lab equipment and furniture (both were abundant, insinuating their owner was a bit of a pack rat and preemptive planner), his direction turned to the generator room. He needed to discern what was happening, and potentially shut off the power if there was a leak. Plutonium was polite if it was stable, but not in other situations. Potentially this one.

When he opened the door and entered the room, he stopped in his tracks. The siren kicking in over the PA system was the least of his worries; that much was expected and normal, if not slightly disconcerting, with the memories of a certain accident at Culver University that it conjured up. But the issue was worse than he'd anticipated, and as it sunk in, his throat seemed to plunge down into his stomach like an elevator in freefall.

The cell was pulsing. The green light became dimmer, then more vivid and brighter, oscillating between the two intensities. This effect became quicker and quicker until it escalated into a strobing effect, cell alternating between a dim glow and a blinding brightness like the chromatophores of a squid. And it was creaking; moaning — as if under duress; as if pressure was building within the glass and prone to bursting free any moment.

He’d never seen this before. Theories stirred and began racing in his worried brain, the first of which... Something must have been overloading it. Somehow. Experience told Banner he must have missed some important factor when he was first designing it; some misplaced detail that would only manifest over the long term. There wasn't a possibility of cross-contamination; there wasn't a possibility for anything except his own errors; nobody else was involved in this. But whatever the case, he needed to shut it down immediately.

But he couldn’t walk forward. Some part of him, however small, told him it wasn’t safe anymore.

Intuition, perhaps.

If he contemplated it more, he may have wondered if Hulk was stopping him from proceeding. If Hulk was calling him stupid. Reckless.

Again.

He was smart to wait. Before him, the chamber cracked, a hairline fracture creeping down the glass in incremental movements. This was all it took. The building heaved, and with a rising shriek that sounded eerily akin to the arrival of a nuclear bomb, the entire chamber exploded, blinding light erupting and shards of thick glass snapping and spraying out into the room like bullets. High pressure followed suit, knocking the wind from his lungs and causing him to lose his balance, gusting him back as he flew into the concrete wall and collided with a dull crack. He collapsed into a heap on the floor, ears ringing from the explosion.

And with a domino reaction of popping glass from above, and an electrical shudder, the lights went out.

Quiet. Still. Dark.

Heart pounding, loud in the blood barrier of his brain, Bruce staggered to his feet in the darkness, wincing as a sharp pain lanced through his lower back and threatened to lock the muscles. Glass crackled and crunched underfoot as he steadied himself, his skin stinging from newfound cuts. His breaths were strained and hurt his throat with every exhale. The inside of his nose felt wet. He smelled blood. He didn’t know what to do; shock had washed over him.

Can’t see... Can’t see. Oh god.

A few moments later, the backup generator kicked in. The room was bathed in a dim, eerie yellow, incandescence winning over the earlier fluorescence. Shadows blotted in the corners of the room and occluded the furniture, as if the recent darkness couldn't recede entirely. A chalky dust floated in the air, irritating the doctor's eyes and tickling his nose and throat. He sucked in a shallow, tense breath, and coughed from the dust that filtered down into his throat and lungs, lifting his elbow up to his mouth to muffle the sound. In concurrence, the air around him whorled in a puff of microscopic debris as, mind buzzing with adrenaline and unable to focus on anything except the damage before him, he tried to assess how bad it was.

The power source was gone. It had taken some of the walls with it, opening up the generator room into the rest of the lackluster basement. He looked up and noticed vein-like cracks throughout the ceiling, congregating into a massive hole where the power source had once inserted. A sickly yellow light poured in from upstairs, slivers of light bleeding in from the surrounding cracks. Instruments and tables from the lab upstairs had fallen through the floor, which were now strewn before him, the furniture and other apparatuses dented and mangled beyond repair from their impact with the floor. Metal trays were bent in half. Carts were relieved of their equipment as they lay dead on their backs, wheels still rolling in their casters. He saw his work, some pieces near completion and others in the beginning stages, destroyed. He didn’t know how far the damage extended past this.

Breathe.

He did, and then he gave another muffled cough, cheeks puffing. The entire place smelled like pig iron and ozone. He looked to the center of the incident, where the power source had been reduced to a smoking pile of dust, broken glass, and metal. At its peak, he saw a shape.

Breathe, Banner.

It was a man. Or, it looked like one. Bruce wouldn’t assume he was ordinary simply because he looked so; he’d been on the receiving end of that phenomenon too often himself.

And this man came from... Nowhere. Materialized, from thin air. There’s no way he could’ve snuck into the lab.

He stared at them, eyes intent. Words didn’t come; they were stuck behind his teeth. He wasn’t sure what he would tell them, anyhow. Every inch of him was on edge, and at the same time, too stunned to muster any kind of reaction; worst of all, this wasn't a simple case of misinterpretation and overreaction on his part. Whatever this person had intended, and whatever justifications and explanations they could give, they had just destroyed what felt like a part of himself, ripping months and months of his work apart like inconsequential sheets of tissue paper and rendering it useless; useless; as if he needed any more problems; what would it take for people to leave him alone and stop dragging him down?

He did what the public asked of him; he stepped out of the spotlight. Graciously. He never wanted it in the first place, not the way it was given to him. He never wanted to be known; half-known, at least, for the notoriety of the Hulk’s temper tantrums; those events were the direct antithesis of his lifelong plans and goals, and he was done with stitching up the wounds it kept opening up. Severing his connection to violence, and keeping his distance from it, he’d become so certain over the years, was imperative for progress. But once again, as it always happened in the past, violence had found him instead. Even here.

Courtesy of his new and egregious... House guest.

His jaw set. He could feel his fists coiling up, trimmed nails digging into the meat of his palms.

(Tch. If you’re gonna chew them out, then chew them out, dummy. Don’t make me do it for you.)

Bruce's anger was enough to pull him from his stupor. He stumbled towards the man, steps unsteady but intentional. His voice was hoarse, uneven; close to catching in the dryness of his throat, and it was coloured by pain and disbelief from what occurred, but it remained full of the accusation and animosity he wanted to convey. The intent to single them out. Pass off the blame to them. No amount of shock would quell that, nor would the unknown nature of the newcomer; their unknown capabilities. It simply wasn't a factor when it came to the intentions that ailed him. He needed to get their attention.

He needed them to understand what they’ve done.

“Hey!”

Perhaps they would already know it, with the wreckage scattered around them. But he was almost hoping that wasn’t the case. Much as he couldn’t admit it, he wanted the honours all to himself... To yell; to accost them; to blame someone else, because he seldom had the chance, and it was clear as day who the guilty person was in this situation; maybe it was him, but probably not; he wouldn't accept it because if that were the case, a stranger wouldn't have landed in the middle of the room with smoke trailing from their clothes.

They did this. They did this.

His vision flickered.

And if words didn’t get through to them, some part of him had always found pleasure in the alternative.

#( in control. )#( verse ) rayleigh scattering.#mynameisanakin #mynameisanakin 1 #coming in hot with bruce's continuous semi-denial of his did #and eddie wasn't a thing before i wrote this but... eddie.#bruce could use a tiny animal friend.#i should probably make a new verse for this because #uhh there's a lot. lol.#i'll figure out a name eventually.#anyways - let me know if you need anything changed here!

11 notes · View notes

strange-n-unbluusual · 5 years ago

Text

Pink! Ch. 4: The Late Date

*Beetlejuice/Original Female Character. Adult situations. 18+ only.*

Summary: After six breather years away, Beetlejuice returns to find the house on the hill overrun by coeds. Lydia allows him to stay, but has rules. Things get more interesting when Beck, one of the housemates, reveals she can see him. Following a sordid affair, Beetlejuice finds himself lingering around Beck more and more. But will her affection last? And why does it seem to bother Lydia so much?

Chapter 1: The Setup

Chapter 2: The Buzzkill Date

Chapter 3: The Ex Lover

This one is a doozy! 18+ only!!

DMs are always open for thoughts, feedback and suggestions. Ty. On AO3 as CopperContessa_13

They weren’t kidding around when they named the place Winter River.

By late November, it was uncommon for the town to go more than a day without being graced by at least another inch of snow. Constantly clearing her car was annoying, but Beck enjoyed the white stuff otherwise.

She smiled when she saw a bright light peeking through her curtains one morning. When she opened her curtains, she saw the sun was reflecting off a fresh layer of snow that had fallen during the night. About six inches lay untouched on the roof outside her window, the rays making it shine like glitter. Some fluffy flakes still floated lazily down from the sky.

Just beyond the roof, she could see the people moving around in the town. The snow there wasn’t quite as untouched as her immediate view, but the scene was still so picturesque.

The plow trucks had already come, easily moving the puffy snow off the roadway. Most driveways were cleared, too, but tire tracks tattled on who’d woken up too late to shovel before work. Focusing on one street in particular, she noticed a man started to clear his neighbor’s driveway after finishing his own.

Children, no doubt on break from school, were already preparing barricades for snowball fights and running down the streets with sleds in hand. During Winter River's first snow this year, Beck asked Lydia if any kids ever came to sled at the house’s hill. Lydia said she’d let them if they tried, but that they hardly got visitors these days.

Something about a bad experience with a Girl Scout and a census taker? Whatever.

Inspired by the scene, Beck dragged her art desk in front of the window. Warmness tickled her feet as she walked past an air vent. Settling in her chair, she turned to a fresh page in her sketchbook and grabbed a piece of charcoal.

It had taken a couple of days for tensions to ease, but they did. Beck and Lydia maintained their distance, but it was more out of respect than compulsion. Lydia had noticeably stayed over at her girlfriend’s house more since the big fight. When Mariah was over, though, they were considerate and quiet. That didn’t go unnoticed by Beck who, consequently, decided it was in poor taste to pointedly use Lydia’s towels to clean up after she and Beetlejuice finished screwing around.

Having the house to herself really did help Beck cleanse any petty energy that remained in her brain. Nice mornings like this, especially, made her worries feel small.

Being alone on Thanksgiving break wasn’t sad or stressful for her. With school in Connecticut and home in New Mexico, she realized early on that a trip home for such a short break just wasn’t worth it. Plus, it wasn’t like she felt alone.

Her parents kept tabs on her through text messages. She had lengthy streaks with both of her sisters on Snapchat. The ghosts were still around, too. Adam and Barbara, whose presence around the place was a bit more common now, would sometimes make idle conversation. And, of course, there was also Beetlejuice who was… a lot.

As if his snarky observations weren’t grating enough when she pretended to not hear them…

Beck didn’t know someone could be so endearing and insufferable at the same time. She’d learned to finish her work at the campus library because, geezus, Beetlejuice was an unstoppable force at home. It didn’t matter if it was noon or midnight, he was always at the door when she got home. She always found the act endearing until he opened his mouth. From the moment she came in through the door, he'd follow her around like a very talkative shadow. Beetlejuice had a surprising amount to say about his day, considering he never left the house.

Books she read, movies she watched, websites she browsed. You name it. Beetlejuice had a very staunch opinion on all of it. Don't even get him started on what he thought of her housemates. Kendra will never be “punk,” Ash’s poetry is shit, Cici’s weird nipples make her boobs look like googly eyes and Lillian is a shallow bitch. Beck had heard it all.

He never had anything bad to say about Lydia, of course.

After his conscious stream of thought ruined the emotional climax of a series she’d been binging, Beck decided she’d had enough. She was about to tell him off when a thought finally occurred to her: he only talks so much because it's been so long since he’s been heard.

It was a cathartic moment.

It was also cathartic when she learned he got really quiet after blowing a load or two.

They had yet to bang outright. He told her that they couldn't. Something about Netherworld bureaucracy barring him from having sex with a mortal without being summoned. Wary of unleashing a demon for the sake of a 30 second bone sesh (give or take, she imagined), Beck decided she was fine with just hand and tongue stuff.

Speaking of bedroom calisthenics, it was weird he wasn’t curled up next to her that morning.

Beck looked up from her drawing pad to glimpse at the town again, but was distracted by something new on the roof.

She adjusted her posture just enough to make out the beady eyes of a snowman sitting outside her window. The snow used to make it was dirty looking, brown and grey. Its eyes and mouth were made up of tiny pebbles. A black and white striped scarf hung loosely from its neck. A gust of wind blew the knit fabric against the (several?) flimsy twigs being used for arms.

“Hey, sugar tits! Coffee’s on!” Beetlejuice announced while kicking the door to her room open.

Beck flinched, causing the charcoal she was holding to make a thick line on the paper. She frowned at the mistake, but decided not to make a big deal out of it. She could probably pass it off as a tree branch or something. Oh well.

Turning to face him, she was relieved to see him holding two mugs. Caffeine was just what she needed.

“You don’t have anything to do with that cute snowman on the roof, do you, Lawrence?” she asked while grabbing a cup.

“Cute? He’s not cute,” Beetlejuice scoffed. “Look at him peeping into your room! That dirty pervert.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve let that slide.”

He grinned and pulled her to his side with his free arm. She tried her best to ignore the gesture, opting to clutch her hot mug with both hands instead of embracing him back. Messing around was one thing, but she still wasn’t sure what to do when he made affectionate little gestures like these.

Still, there were worse ways to start a morning.

Beck took a sip of the coffee. Her face twisted into disgust.

“Something wrong, babes?”

“W-what did you use to make this?”

“Dirt and water,” He said taking a gulp of the stuff. “Why do you think the snowman is so dirty? I spent the morning digging through the garden to make this.”

Trying to contain her repulsion, Beck calmly walked over to her dresser and set the mug down.

“What? Is this not how you’re supposed to do it?” he asked. “Lydia said it was made with plants.”

“Yeah! A coffee plant. Which is definitely not topsoil.”

“Well I got it from the garden, didn’t I?!”

Beck took a deep breath.

“You are… something,” she said.

“I don’t get your deal. It tastes the same to me,” he shrugged.

“Stop drinking that!”

Beetlejuice stared her down as he chugged the rest. He patted his tummy and made a satisfied “ah” noise. Beck rolled her eyes but cracked a smile.

Jokes on him, she thought. She wouldn’t touch him again until he used some mouthwash.

You can’t have a weak stomach when you’re with someone like him, Beck had learned. If it wasn’t clear from the moss on his face and the dust that wafted off of him when he moved, they guy had an affinity for filth. What was more frustrating than the dirty clothes and greasy hair, though, was that she knew he could do something about it with a wave of his hand. Fucker didn’t even need to shower! He just liked being that way!

Beck liked her men dirty, though.

“I was just trying to do something nice for you,” he grumbled.

“Hon, I know, but it’s gross” Beck laughed.

She slightly regretted using the pet name when she saw him visibly perk up at its use.

“Let me get changed and I’ll make a real breakfast,” she quickly added.

“Are you gonna make pancakes?!” he gasped, lighting up further.

“If you want, I guess.”

“Fuck yeah!”

⁂

Later in the day, they’d decided to turn on a movie. One of Beetlejuice’s favorites— The Exorcist. He was so enamored with the screen he didn’t even see her slip away. He was re-alerted of her presence at the sound of heels clicking on the kitchen’s wood floor. He whipped his head around, desperate to get a view of her from the living room.

Beck was wearing tall brown boots and very tight jeans. The straps of a lacey bralette peeked out tastefully from under a knit sweater. A bit of jewelry and makeup accentuated her features. Her hair fell in big, loose waves just above her shoulders. Her coat and purse were held under one arm.

Beetlejuice wolf whistled, grabbing her attention.

“You look like a million bucks, Beck!” Beetlejuice said, walking over and slapping her ass.

“Thanks,” she said awkwardly. “I actually wanted to wear this cute bandeau and jacket I picked up the other day, but I’ll save that for when it gets warmer. Hoes don’t get cold, but they do get pneumonia.”

“Why are you worried about getting sick? I thought you were staying in today.”

“No. I actually need to head out soon.”

“Why? Grocery store closing?”

“No, Lawrence,” Beck giggled. “I’m going to the pub downtown. This guy from my sculpting class struck up a conversation with me about craft beer. Apparently he knows the woman who owns the place. We’re gonna try some of their new pours together.”

Beetlejuice was quiet for a moment before he finally responded with a breathy laugh.

“If I didn’t know you any better, Bexley, I’d say it sounds like you’re going on a date.”

“Yeah,” she sighed. “Yeah I am. My first since Lydia.”

“Well, you can’t go then!” he snapped.

She looked up at him in surprise.

“And why the fuck not?” Beck spat back.

“Because you and I are already together.”

Oh boy.

Beck’s mouth gaped open for a second, not exactly sure what to say.

“No, we’re not,” she said firmly. “I’m sorry I never laid it out, but what we have is strictly casual.”

“It’s not casual, babes,” he insisted.

Beetlejuice’s words were calm, but she didn’t miss the bits of red that were starting to fleck his green hair.

“We can talk about this later,” Beck said dismissively. “I need to go.”

Beetlejuice pinned her against the wall, holding her firmly in place by clutching her forearms above her head. Her shoes felt like they were glued to the ground— likely his powers holding her. She struggled against him, but quickly realized it was useless.

“Are you going to hurt me?”

“No, baby, never,” Beetlejuice cooed into her ear. “I’m just going to prove a point.”

“What point?”

“That your fucking little breather flings can’t hold a candle to how good I make you feel.”

Beck didn’t get a chance to respond before he hoisted her from the wall and laid her on the nearby countertop. He quickly undid her jeans but looked at her for approval before pulling them down. She hesitated for a moment before shrugging.

“Prove your point, big shot. Make it fast.”

Beck knew she was being greedy and inconsiderate for pulling a stunt like this so close to her date, but she couldn't help herself. She'd become addicted to his constant attention.

She tensed at the coldness of his tongue, but it quickly warmed inside her. It always did. One of Beetlejuice’s hands grasped her thigh while the thumb of the other worked her clit. Her hips spasmed at infrequent intervals at the pleasureful sensation.

She loved the way his tongue pulsed inside her at a steady rhythm. At first she was turned off by how inhuman in looked— wormlike and darker than a human one. The way it could stretch and move her, though, was incomparable to anything else she'd experienced. He was already driving her wild, his movements simple but skilled.

He wasn’t allowed to know that, of course.

Beetlejuice looked up at Beck. She was supported on her elbows, giving her enough height to look back down at him blankly. He knew she was trying her best to be unenthused, but her act wasn’t convincing. Aside from her electrified hips, he could read the lust in her eyes and hear the lilt of an occasional whine leave her mouth.

Not good enough.

Craving a more intense reaction, he slid out to tease her ass for a second. When she opened her mouth to gasp, he quickly rammed the tongue back into its familiar sheath. Beck’s hips bucked into his mouth and she let out long, pleasurable cry.

Beetlejuice smirked, raising an eyebrow at her from his spot below.

“Don’t get cocky,” she groaned.

Repositioning, he placed a hand on either of her thighs and spread her legs further apart. He took a second to appreciate how beautiful and vulnerable she was in this position before diving in headfirst again. She panted, weaving a needy hand in his hair. She'd move him gently, desperate to chase her orgasm with his help. She loved it when he maneuvered so that his appendage could both rub her little pleasure button and fill her insides.

She closed her eyes, imagining it was his cock filling her instead.

After manipulating her with his mouth for a while, Beetlejuice withdrew. Beck, who’d mostly shucked off her pants by that point, wrapped a desperate leg around the back of his head. She tried to push him back into place.

“I’m so fucking close,” she pleaded, “Please don’t stop.”

Everything in him wanted to oblige her.

Beetlejuice was obsessed. He craved to feel her fall apart in his hands. After so many rendezvous like this, it started to felt like his purpose in unlife was to worship her body. It felt like sin to not to give in to her wants.

But he had a point to make…

Beetlejuice kissed her left thigh, the wetness from around his mouth transfering partially onto her with it.

“You can cum when you tell me that no breather will ever satisfy you again.”

“That no wha-? Oh!”

She threw her head back and arched towards him as he slowly slid a thick finger in. The speed was disappointing and teasingly slow. Sitting upright now, Beck tried to stimulate herself further but was unable. Her hips felt like they were being held in place, making it impossible to ramp up the speed by rocking back and forth. Her hands, similarly, felt stuck to the counter. It kept her from playing with her clit.

Beck tried to contain her frustration but failed miserably. Finger still moving painstakingly slow, Beetlejuice watched her thin veneer of calm fall apart. A deep, grounding sigh from her lips slowly became a vexed protest. He laughed openly at her struggle and pressed his forehead against hers. The proximity gave them both a rush.

“Say ‘you’ve spoiled my body too much’ and maybe I’ll let you cum,” he said.

“I’ve had better!” Beck spat back.

He bit her neck in response. Pleased at the scream he elicited from her, he kissed the mark it made.

“Don’t do that! I don’t want Nathan to see it.”

"Fuck Nathan!"

Beetlejuice was about to bite harder when he got distracted by a buzzing noise. They both got quiet. Looking around, he realized it was coming from her jacket on the floor. It, along with her purse, were knocked out of her hands when he pushed her against the wall.

She grumbled when his hand and face left her body. Beetlejuice leaned down and fished the buzzing thing— her cellphone— out of her jacket. He looked at the glowing screen, an evil grin spreading on his face when he saw who was calling her.

“Pick it up. Now,” he demanded as he tossed it to her.

He dismissed the restraint from one of her hands, allowing her to catch. She swallowed nervously before answering.

“H-hi Nathan."

Beetlejuice resumed his position on her neck and teased her entrance with his fingers. As he placed his other hand on the small of her back, Beck realized with horror what he was about to do.

She bit her lip to suppress a moan as two of his thick fingers slammed into her repeatedly. It made her crazy, feeling the hilt of his hand ram against her pelvis. Beck tried to close her thighs to buffer the movement, but his powers still kept her position locked. He nibbled and sucked her neck, careful not to bite too hard this time. She liked it when he paid attention to the spot on her collar bone, too, he'd learned.

Her body trembled at the sensations. A tremor was in her voice, too.

“I’m not standing you up, I promise,” she laughed nervously into the phone. “I, uh, I’m stuck at my house. My car won’t start. Sometimes that happens when it gets too cold.”

Beck let out a yelp as Beetlejuice put a third digit into her.

“No! I’m fine. My back just hurts from hunching over my desk all day. W-what was that? Oh! Uh, yeah that’d be awesome. You're the best. I’ll see you in five.”

She hung up the phone, immediately tossing it aside in order to manipulate her clit. Beetlejuice laughed against her skin.

“Not so cool now are you, Bexley.”

“Shut up and finger fuck me like you mean it.”

That was all the prodding he needed.

Her sweater bunched up as the hand on her back clenched into a fist. Beetlejuice started kissing her on the mouth. Beck kissed back, fiery need consuming them both. When he untethered her other hand, he was surprised to feel her tugging his pants down. He moaned into her mouth at the way she stroked him.

Beck's concentration on him wavered. She broke their kiss and stopped manipulating his cock, too focused on getting herself off before she had to leave.

A long and drawn out scream soon crescendoed from Beck’s mouth. It was so unabashed it almost made Beetlejuice blush. He loved it when she didn't care who heard her cumming. I made him feel powerful. The Maitlands were probably somewhere out of sight and clutching their pearls over it. He certainly didn't give a fuck, though.

“Oh, fuck, baby. That’s right. Ride it out,” he whispered.

Combined with the feeling of her hand on his cock, the sensation of her body clenching around his fingers was almost too much. Beetlejuice was close to climax, too.

Regaining control of herself, Beck's hand started working him again. Beetlejuice grunted and came all over the base of the countertop.

They just stared at each other after coming down from their respective highs. The silence spoke volumes.

In a moment of tenderness, Beetlejuice tried to kiss Beck, but she turned her head.

Wordlessly, she readjusted her clothing. He watched bemused as she maneuvered her hair to fall over the purple and red mark he’d left on her skin. Hearing a car horn honk outside, she picked up her things and headed for the door.

Beck dared to glance back at him one last time.

Beetlejuice smirked back, mouthing the word “spoiled."

She slammed the door behind her.

⁂

The date was a bust. Nathan didn’t even go in for a kiss when he dropped her off.

It's not like she had anyone else to blame but herself, though.

Beck was distant the whole time, her mind more interested in replaying what had just happened rather than listen to her date talk. When she did pay Nathan mind, it wasn't for long. She was self-conscious about hiding the hickey on her neck. She was too distracted to give meaningful answers to the questions he asked. She was too overwhelmed with the worry that he could smell Beetlejuice on her. It wasn't long before he gave up on coaxing conversation out of her.

“Whelp. See you in class Tuesday,” he sighed when he dropped her off.

"Thank you. I'm sorry," was all she could manage to say back.

She really did feel sorry. She really did like him.

Beck was surprised that Beetlejuice wasn’t waiting for her in the foyer. She thought for sure he would been itching to gloat about how he was right. About how that dumb breather didn’t have a chance with her and all that.

He wasn’t waiting in her room when she got up there, either.

This was so unlike him, Beck thought. Where the hell could he be?

The ceiling above her room creaked.

“That bastard,” she muttered.

The message was clear: not only did he demand that she grovel, he demanded she actually go up to the attic to do it.

Resolved that she wouldn’t play his game, Beck started to get ready for bed and kicked off her shoes. Tossing her keys onto her dresser, she noticed the coffee cup that had been left there earlier. The art desk was still by the window, too, along with the drawing she’d been working on.

Picking up the sketch pad, she noticed the thick black line from before was gone. The picture, otherwise, was the same aside from the addition of two crudely drawn figures. A man and a woman peered out at the rest of the town from a window in the top part in one of the houses. The detail was hard to make out, but she could tell they were holding teeny tiny coffee cups.

Beck smiled despite herself.

#beetlejuice #beetlejuice fanfiction #beetlejuice fandom #drama #writing #fluff #original female character #adult language #beetlejuice nsft #nsft

10 notes · View notes

pinervista · 2 years ago

Text

Dozer rental knoxville tn

#Dozer rental knoxville tn plus#

If you have heavy equipment or construction equipment rental needs in Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas or Mississippi, please contact one of our branch locations. Need for same equipment on different jobs.Location of job is away from their home base Contractors Equipment Rental Forklifts & Trucks-Rental (1) Website 10 YEARS IN BUSINESS 2 YEARS WITH (800) 436-2560 Serving the Knoxville area.Most importantly to this relationship is service – it is the one factor for getting and keeping a contractor’s business. At Certified Rental ® we feel all of the above are important, but more important is the relationship we build with our customers that enhance repetitive business. The key elements for contractors when renting equipment are availability, rental rates, nearby location, well-maintained equipment and prompt field service. We understand how the market is changing and what contractors want when they rent construction equipment. If they cannot utilize a piece of equipment more than 65 percent of the time, there is no need to own it. It is a known fact that more and more contractors are realizing the advantages of renting vs. Read about why our customers rent with us.

#Dozer rental knoxville tn plus#

130 chairs plus eight 6 tables are included in rental.May use kitchen and provide own alcohol. You can contact us online or give us a call at (865) 218-8800.It is no secret that renting construction equipment is more popular than ever with different economic conditions, changing attitudes, and viable providers in the marketplace. Knoxville TN 37915 Map It (865) 522-8661 Rental includes guest house and grounds. To learn more about working with us as your Cat equipment dealer in west Knoxville, reach out to us today. Prices for Bulldozer Rentals in Knoxville, TN 40 HP Bulldozer. Our technicians will do whatever they can to get you back to work quickly with minimal downtime.Īt Stowers Cat, we also understand the need for flexibility, which is why we offer many financing options, so your equipment can meet the requirements of both your project and budget. We can meet you in the field if needed or you can come to the shop for maintenance and repairs. In addition to our vast selection of equipment, we also offer exceptional equipment service in west Knoxville with the help of factory-trained technicians and genuine Cat parts. Excavator Vibratory Topsoil / Rock Screener 5,950 (Knoxville TN) 43,000. Browse a wide selection of new and used Dozers for rent near you at. Whether you need equipment sales, rentals or service, Stowers Cat has you covered. I need to rent a mini excavator to locate septic tank in the grand lake area. 2712 Ball Camp Byington Rd, Ste 103 Knoxville, TN 37931. Our rental options also include some of our auxiliary tools, such as aerial platforms, attachments and power generators, so you can get the job done quickly with all the resources you need. Reviews on Machine & Tool Rental in Dayton, Tennessee - Re-Tooled, Southeastern Farmers Co-Op. Our equipment selection includes many of the same categories we have for sale, including: Our rental machines are well-maintained and come with all the durability and reliability you expect from Caterpillar ®. There are many instances where rentals are a great option, and we can help you fill those gaps with equipment rentals in west Knoxville. Renting can often be a smart decision for short-term specialized tasks or supplementing your fleet during busy times. If you don’t want to purchase a new machine, we carry one of the largest rental fleets in the area. for Sale in Knoxville, TN: 2018 Polaris RZR RS1 Utility in Clinton. In addition to Cat machinery, we also carry heavy equipment from other leading brands and accessories such as attachments, power generators, aerial work platforms and crushing and screening tools. Craigslist Rental - Commercial properties for sale Distance +20 miles Kingwood. Our array of Cat equipment for sale includes the following, along with many other machines.

Mobile Elevating Work Platform Trainingįor a large selection of Cat equipment in a wide range of sizes and specialties, trust Stowers Cat. We carry both new and used machinery to fit your budget.

Wheel Loaders / Integrated Toolcarriers.

#Dozer rental knoxville tn

0 notes

spreadcasts · 8 years ago

Photo

Happy seed-starting season - It’s the most wonderful time of the year!

satoyama seed starting mix

1 part perlite

4 parts vermiculite

5 parts peat moss (or coir coconut fiber), screened

Enough water for mix to ‘clump’ into a ball when clenched in your fist which crumbles apart easily when poked

Tip! Put your seedling flats in trays so that you can water from below by adding water to the tray (no more than 1/8″ deep).

When the seedlings show signs of true leaves, I transplant them into

satoyama potting soil mix

5 parts satoyama seed starting mix

4 parts topsoil, screened

1 part vermicompost or other finished compost

Enough water for mix to ‘clump’ into a ball when clenched in your fist which crumbles apart easily when poked

Tip! Pour 1 c. boiling water over a chamomile teabag and steep overnight. Mist seedlings with chamomile tea for a soft antifungal to prevent damping off.

References

DuPont, S. T. Potting media and plant propagation. PennState Extension.

Savonen, C. (2010). How to sprout seedlings. Oregon State University Extension Service.

Texas A&M AgriLife Extension. How to estimate soil moisture by feel.

#seed starting #seedlings #vegetable seedlings #transplants #soil free mix #seed starting mix #potting soil #potting soil mix #seedling watering #seedling care #damping off #chamomile #antifungal #IPM #Integrated Pest Management

3 notes · View notes

backgroundnoiseblog · 8 years ago

Text

from These Little Things

The wind outside was getting colder and a robin had dropped dead onto the front porch. Hannah stepped outside and stopped to stare at it, her eyes bound to the cold figure ragged on the concrete. The air smelled of rain.

“Dad,” she called through the screen door. “Come see the birdy.”

John appeared at the door. Hannah still stared down.

"Is it moving, Hannah?"

"I don’t think so."

She bent over to pick up a stick and her arms shook as she broke the stick in half.

"Don’t poke it."

"I wasn’t. But why not?"

"It’s just not polite."

She turned around and stared at her father, an uneven brow.

"If something dies, are we supposed to be polite to it?"

"Just don’t touch it, okay?"

"Okay, Dad."

John went inside and snapped several paper towels from the roll next to the kitchen sink. He returned to the front porch where Hannah still stood examining the bird. John gently plucked the robin from the stoop and turned it over, cupping it in the paper towels, the underside of the animal still flat like the cement where it had laid. John moved towards the side of the house, toward the large trashcan. He opened the lid, lightly balancing the bird in the other hand.

"Dad?"

"Yes, dear?"

"Is it polite to throw animals in the trash?"

John stopped, gawked at his daughter.

"Well…more kind than leaving it on the ground, right?"

"I guess."

"Do you have a better idea?"

Hannah thought for a moment, her face squeezed together like her mother. She turned without a word and disappeared around the corner. John waited. When she jumped back from the front of the house, she carried in her hand a pink plastic spade. She stopped a foot from her father and held it up towards his face.

"I see," said John. "Where to, undertaker?"

She stretched her arm out straight, pointing toward the backyard. John followed her and opened the gate with his free hand and let his daughter slide underneath him with the dead thing in his other hand.

The air was cold but the sun was shooting small rays of light across the green grass where the clouds allowed it through their grayness. Hannah was wearing her pink raincoat and it creaked and rubbed as she stomped her way towards the back of the yard. Once they arrived at the swingset on the left-hand side of the plot’s backend, Hannah stopped and took inventory of the possibilities.

“If we bury it by the swingset, it will get stepped on a lot,” she said. “How about…here.”

She had taken five steps away from the playground equipment and she kicked away a small pile of leaves. The grass was brown and matted where the leaves had laid. She kneeled down and then stared up at John, awaiting something.

“It looks like a fine place to be buried, my dear.”

“I’ve seen lots of birds back here, Daddy. Probably his friends. They can visit.”

“That’s important,” John mumbled.

She stuck her shovel into the soil. She lacked the physical power to dig into the ground; she only lifted the topsoil from the spot and tossed it aside. She lifted both hands above her head and drove the spade into the dirt; it spiked into the ground but when she pulled it out, only a few clogs came pouring from the shovel’s head. John watched her as long as he could before putting his hand out and offering to help. She was hesitant but allowed it. John set the bird down behind him and dug a hole, approximately a square foot in size and just as deep. Hannah sat beside him and ran her fingers over the pile of dirt he had created in front of her. He stood up, his knees tight and sore as he stood. He leaned backwards to stretch out his legs and back.

“So,” he looked at his daughter. “Should I do the honors?”

She stared up at him. She shrugged her shoulders. John turned around and bent down to pick up the bird. He still had the paper towels underneath the creature and he picked up the paper at the corners and carefully moved it close to the hole and dumped it in. He picked up the spade again.

“Do you want to say something?”

Again, Hannah stared at her father.

“That’s what people normally do at funerals, see.”

“People say something nice?”

“Yes, something nice.”

“What if the person was mean?”

“Well, then,” John smirked. “Still have to say something nice, I guess.”

“I’ve never done that before. You can do it, Dad.”

Hannah pushed herself up from the ground and brushed off her hands on the front of her pants. John scratched his chin. They both stared down at the bird. John noticed the bird’s feet and, as he looked closer, saw that the bird only had two talons on one foot. A gust of wind blew the dirt on the ground off of the pile. The cold air was becoming more apparent and John could feel it climbing into his shirt.

“This bird,” he began. “This bird was a great flier.”

John thought and Hannah looked up at her father.

“He helped build many a nest and was always kind to his family and friends.”

John dug the shovel into the loose soil pile beside the grave.

“He will be missed by the entire animal kingdom.”

John poured the first bit of dirt on the bird. He had a smile on his face when he looked back down at Hannah. She did not find it amusing and John quickly changed his appearance because he knew she was right. John again stuck the spade into the dirt pile and placed the load onto the bird and its grave. He continued to do this until the hole was full and the bird was no longer visible. Once the dirt was completely returned to its position, or as much as possible, he patted the dirt down with the back of the shovel as he had seen done.

“Dad?” asked Hannah.

“Yes, Hannie Fannie?”

“Can we go play with the chalk in front?”

“Sure, kiddo. But just until Mommy gets home, okay?”

“Okay, deal.”

John grabbed the paper towel from off the ground, crumpled it up, and they began to walk back towards the front yard. Before they got the wooden fence, Hannah turned around and strutted back towards the burial site.

“What are you doing, girl?”

Hannah stopped and turned around. Her body shivered, a quick chill.

“I decided I want to say something to the birdy.”

“Okay,” John replied. “Go on.”

Hannah walked back to the site and John waited by the gate. His experience told him that she probably didn’t want him to hear what she was going to say. He listen closely but stayed at the gate. Just as Hannah reached the bird’s new home, the wind died down and the leaves stopped rustling.

“I love you, bird,” she said.

#fiction #prose #spilled ink #writers #readers

2 notes · View notes

dahlgaarddahlgaard0-blog · 6 years ago

Text

Expand Your Best Garden Ever

Roses, timber and lawns, are usually all section of the household séjour that fall under gardening. Any time the idea concerns gardening, it can sometimes be much easier to simply leave this to groups to work upon it, but for folks that try to make their very own back garden unique, they can certainly find the rewards extremely rewarding. Growing your personal spots of flowers in addition to vegetables can be very enjoyable and use some associated with the tips which can be specified in this article. Develop seasonings and kitchen herbal remedies inside your garden. Herbs can be generally very simple to raise, and can even be made to thrive inside a window box or maybe indoor pot. On the other hand, all these easy plants are incredibly high-priced to buy with the store. Expanding them all yourself can save a person a great deal of money. Create a unique visual effect with a good hanging container. A holding basket full of planting season or summer flowers can brighten up a uncovered wall or a dreary back yard. The conventional hanging basket is made from cable and lined together with moss. The tree is useful throughout retaining moisture. You could make a spectacular display simply by not only planting within the container itself, yet by placing hanging plants in the interruptions throughout the wire mesh. Often the mesh and surrounding moss with ensure that the plant life stay secure. Increase some plants that kittens and cats want to eat - test catnip or rice lawn. A particular problem smells likewise function to be able to repel cats in addition to other bothersome animals through eating the plants. Try putting mothballs, citrus peels, garlic in addition to some other pungent items within the topsoil. Throughout addition to enhancing the appearance of your home with bouquets together with saving money by simply growing your individual fruits, fruit and vegetables and herbal products, you today have another reason to take up gardening. Studies have revealed that will stress and bloodstream pressure quantities are substantially reduced when folks view characteristics and flowers. Gardening can be a great source associated with pleasure for many individuals and the end effect any that can aid them live a much longer, healthier life. When you use fertilizer, moderation can be this a major ranking factor. While it's real of which using a fertilizer can improve your garden's work productivity, it's easier to apply it sparingly. An overdose regarding fertilizer can cause excessive growth of the plant's foliage with stunted growth of the fruit or fruit and vegetables thus reducing your harvest. When you grow rose bushes or maybe rosebushes, spray associated with a new solution of 1/3 pot powdered milk in with regards to a quart of water each 1 week or so. The particular derived milk solution can be sticky on the leaves and stems connected with your roses which can lock in aphids and secure your own personal roses. While anyone garden, it is important that anyone wear the right clothes to protect your skin area from the harmful rays of the sun. There are many ways to be able to shield yourself from often the sun's harmful rays such as wearing sun glasses, sun screen and wide-brimmed caps. In the event you cover up through the sunshine, you are less likely to turn out to be burned or get body cancer. Make bloom-times terme conseillé. Plant both early and late blooming plants near to each other, so that you have blossoms all season long. Shallow-rooted flowers can be planted all around deep-planted spring lamps : when the lamps die along, the annuals can you should be coming into blossom. For each time of year, select one remarkable plant to help serve as the key flower. Plant in drifts throughout the cargo area, together with fill in with 2nd flowers. Save cash when sprinkling. When watering your garden, try to water using a yacht instead of a hose: that way you will end up being able to help direct often the water straight to typically the roots. Using a new line means that some sort of great deal of water will finish up on the leaves, and may even go before that has a new chance to be able to reach the earth. Merely water in the morning hours or maybe late evening, as this can help to reduce evaporation. If you plant some thing new, it will call for continuous watering to become established, so if possible, placed off new planting until the Fall. This approach, dynamics will be capable to do much associated with the tearing for you. Choose carefully the flowers you want to develop. Several plants are simply not made to grow in the house. If you want for you to raise vegetables, you could effortlessly expand broccoli or perhaps Brussels seedlings indoors. Alyssums and zinnias are excellent flowers to grow inside. You can also try things out with other kinds associated with plant life, but keep throughout mind that it may well not work. If weed seeds for sale in uk are growing plants naturally indoors, you have in order to consider the light the fact that they are getting. In case you live somewhere without tough natural sunlight, you may want to look straight into growing plant life that succeed in lower-light environments. You can also try employing man-made lighting to help. Have your gardening instruments near you for you to decrease the time spent trying to find them. You should make use of a large suitable container and even wear sturdy pants that will have several pockets. Retain gloves, small pruning shears, a trowel and any other tools handy in order to raise the quickness involving the work that goes in your garden. Install the fan to blow on your own seeds. Make sure your fan is usually turned about a very low setting. This light touch might help your plants grow tougher. You can also rub your flowers very softly with your hand as well as a piece of report for some sort of few hrs to get the very same influence. For the ideal organic garden, decide on vegetation that do best within the type of soil and weather conditions. Plants the fact that have adapted to the distinct type of environment possess a better chance to help succeed without much bother in that surroundings. These kinds of plants will also help you save time in maintenance mainly because they are by natural means healthy. Gardening care is the weekly maintenance task. In order to soar above and even over and above your neighbors' backyards, the idea requires a certain a higher level motivation and energy, and, the knowledge gained throughout this article. Gorgeous roses, great smelling trees plus fresh lush growing grass, are usually just a few positive aspects which a knowledgeable gardener need to take advantage of when given any energy.

0 notes

meadowacres · 21 days ago

Text

https://meadowacres.ca/product/screened-top-soil/

Bulk Screened Top Soil for Sale in Kitchener| Meadow Acres Garden Centre

Meadow Acres screened top soil is your best choice to level, fill, your construction needs. Available for delivery to KW, Blanford-Blenheim and Cambridge. Buy top soil now.

#Screened Topsoil #Buy Screened Topsoil #Enriched Screened Topsoil #Screened Topsoil Kitchener #High-Quality Garden Products in Kitchener #& Fergus #Top Soil for sale in Kitchener #Ontario

0 notes

josephkitchen0 · 6 years ago

Text

Recycling Materials on Hand for Compost Bin Plans

There are endless compost bin plans available online. A basic understanding of what components a compost bin must have is essential. Composting is among the easiest, environmentally friendly things to do. Organic composting is an inexpensive way to produce organic fertilizer for your plants and conditioner for your soil.

Learning how to compost at home makes providing fertile, healthy soil for your garden possible. There are numerous commercial garden compost bins available on the market. However, making your own compost bin plans from materials you have around the homestead is a cheap and easy way to create your own garden gold.

Ready to Start Your Own Backyard Flock?

Get tips and tricks for starting your new flock from our chicken experts. Download your FREE guide today! YES! I want this Free Guide »

Upcycling for Compost Bin Plans

My favorite composting bin involves using worms for a fast and complete way to turn organic material into healthy, garden fertilizer. This is commonly known as vermiposting. As a gardener, you know worms in the garden are a sign of healthy soil.

For worm bins, you’re going to need red wigglers and a large bin. Anything you have on hand will work. A local farmer gave us his used cattle feed tubs. We drilled holes in the bottom to allow for drainage.

You don’t want many or holes that are too large. You need just enough to let the water drain slowly. Too much drainage will make it hard to keep the compost damp and hard for the worms to thrive. Too much water held in the soil will drown the worms.

A few red wigglers quickly become a large population in the right environment. I have learned they love a mixture of horse manure and cardboard mixed in with your organic material. When I’m asked about how to compost chicken manure, I share how we do it with vermicomposting.

After running manure through the worms, it’ll be ready to add to your garden without any danger to your plant roots. Be careful not to use cardboard treated with harmful chemicals.

We’ve used an old boat and an old bathtub, which had been used as a feed trough, as a compost bin for red wigglers. You’ll want to put screen or bird netting over the top to keep the birds and other animals from eating your worms. Yep, it happens.

When you add new food to the pile, give it a light turning. You’ll see worm eggs and worms of all sizes. I always make sure the worms are covered with earth before I replace the screen cover. They’ll burrow themselves, but I like to help them in any way I can.

Using Wood Pallets

When starting a compost pile we scrape off the topsoil and lay down a tarp or some other barrier. This keeps the compost from combining with the subsoil. Not everyone does this. I know several people who just place the compost pile on the ground. They don’t mind enriching the soil there and losing some of the compost to the spot.

We then will build a three-sided fence from old pallets to hide the bin and keep the pile contained. You can build a few of these side by side. When you have one filled and you begin to see decomposition, you can start on another pile. This will keep compost piles going in different stages. Once a week, turn the compost over on itself.

It’s important to us to not use wood pallets treated with chemicals. To know how your pallet was treated look for the letters HS either branded or printed on it. This indicates the pallet was heat sealed and not sealed with chemicals.

Most of the fall leaves get mixed in with other organic materials for the compost pile. In six to 10 months, your compost will be ready for use. Vermicomposting cuts down on the time. Compost from your worm bin will be ready in three to six months depending on your worm population.

No Bin Composting

Like we said, some people select a spot and start a compost pile. I’ve done this myself. It was by accident the first time. We piled some leaves intending to come back and split them between the compost bins and deep mulching the garden. They were in an out-of-the-way place and we overlooked them.

When I came upon them, they had started decomposing and were full of critter life. I just added to the pile for a few weeks longer. Then I let it sit with an occasional turning. After several months, I used it in the garden to plant new seedlings.

This type of composting only requires a little attention for turning. You will lose some to the subsoil, but I don’t mind that. Soil enriching is our goal, no matter where it is.

What to Add to Your Compost Bin

Animal manure Cardboard rolls (We don’t unless we know they are not chemically treated.) Clean paper (We don’t because of chemicals involved in making the paper.) Coffee grounds and filters (Not chemically treated filters.) Cotton rags Eggshells Fireplace ashes Fruit and vegetable scraps Grass clippings, plants pulled from the garden, green leaves from trimmed limbs. Hair and fur Hay and straw Leaves Nut shells Sawdust Shredded newspaper (We don’t because…you know.) Tea bags Wood chips Wool rags Yard trimmings

Composting in Small Spaces

Did you know there are even compost bin plans for indoor worm composting? I didn’t either, but how perfect is this for those who have limited space? Most of them say to add the necessary bacteria to speed up the composting process.

There are tumblers designed for patio and balcony spaces. They take up little space and require a simple turning of the handle to rotate the drum. In a few weeks, you’ll have healthy, composted soil.

Ingredients for Success With All Compost Bin Plans

1) Air – Is necessary for decomposing without rotting. 2) Moisture – Not wet, just moist. 3) Green Matter – Is considered the accelerant because of its nitrogen content. 4) Dry Material – Adds carbon to the mix. 5) Heat – Decomposition produces heat; up to 140 degrees F/60 C. Some people use black plastic to increase the heat.

Composting can be made as simple or as complex as you want it to be. We choose the simple approach. Provide the basics and let nature take its course.

Whatever material you choose for your compost bin plan, you’ve made a great start toward improving the soil on your homestead. Having a kitchen compost pail will make it easy to collect your kitchen refuse for composting and for feeding chickens scraps.

I can’t tell you how many people have told me they want to compost, but are afraid it’s too much work and expensive. It can be confusing because there’s so much information out there. We keep things simple.

If I can give you one tip on compost bin plans, I would say simple is always better. Get ideas by looking at the variety available and then inventory what materials you have on hand. Then make your own bin.

If nothing else, just start making a pile. One trip to the local farm supply will shock you at how much healthy, composted soil costs. You’ll quickly realize you can make better compost at home almost free.

Be sure you provide variety in your pile. Too much of either green or dry material won’t allow for the right ingredients to create balanced compost. After all, variety is the spice of life.

Do you have favorite compost bin plans? Will you share your composting tips with us?

Safe and Happy Journey, Rhonda

Originally published in 2016 and regularly vetted for accuracy.

Recycling Materials on Hand for Compost Bin Plans was originally posted by All About Chickens

0 notes

delicatepoetrywombat-blog · 7 years ago

Text

How To Have The Most Lovely Backyard garden

Organic and natural gardening is a wonderful way to grow healthier, flavorful, chemical-cost-free make for yourself and your family. The key to profitable organic and natural gardening is to acquire thorough understanding certain to the self-discipline. By adhering to the tips and guidance in this report, you will quickly be feasting on the fruits of your labor. Have your soil analyzed by a laboratory for a modest charge so that you know which nutrition you need to include. Numerous school agricultural departments or cooperative extensions will offer this services for just a handful of bucks. As soon as you have the report, head to a farm source firm and buy what you need to have. For gardeners in colder climates who want to get their plants started in the outside garden a tiny early, use plastic milk jugs for mini-greenhouses. Cut the base off of a milk jug and place over the plant, pushing the jug into the ground enough to maintain it in location. Eliminate the milk jug cap in the course of sunny, but nevertheless somewhat chilly times to allow for some air circulation and exchange the cap at night to keep the warmth in. When the times are a little bit hotter, remove the jug during the day, only changing it at evening, and slowly and gradually enable your plant acclimate to the weather conditions. Think about leaving some places of your garden uncut. Lengthy grass gives a fantastic habitat for beetles, younger amphibians and grasshoppers. Grass is also an important meals supply for some butterflies and caterpillars. Gardens without having wildlife would be extremely sterile environments, and most plants can't reproduce with no the support of wildlife. When planting your vegetable garden you need to maintain in brain that some crops do not increase properly collectively although other individuals do. Remember that some vegetation can not be planted following to each other, so you need to keep away from particular combinations. For case in point, broccoli are not able to be planted following to tomato, and so on. When developing potatoes, make confident you pick a assortment with a starch material that corresponds with the way you will be cooking them. The a lot more starch there is in a potato, the drier and flakier it will be when cooked. Potatoes that are good for mashing have around seven% starch. These potatoes cook dinner speedily and retain a substantial humidity content material, so they're simple to mash. Baking potatoes have a starch material between 15% and eighteen%, and frying potatoes have the highest level at 22%. Plant in the shade. All plants need mild to survive, but not all of them require brilliant sunshine. Vegetation native to woodland areas are content when they get defense from the sun's rays. There are several vegetation that will thrive in a shady garden, which includes Hosta, Cyclamen, Foxglove, Helleborus, Japanese Anemone, and Ajuga. By planting these, you will have a year-spherical screen of colour in even the shadiest of gardens. A very essential phase to remember when planting a rose is to use soil, mulch or compost to mound at the base of the plant all the way to the very first canes. Mounding this way will safeguard the plant until finally new expansion emerges and new feeder roots have grown to absorb h2o for the plant. garden bridges Sacramento When you purchase seeds for your backyard, be certain to obtain seeds that are labeled "accredited natural." This assures that your crops will be organic all through their lifespan and that the seeds you are buying usually are not contaminated with chemical fertilizers or pesticides. View out for labels, this sort of as "genetically engineered" or any point out of "organic" that does not contain the phrase "licensed organic and natural." Just take treatment of your containers. You do not have to devote a great deal of funds on containers: you can reuse widespread things as pots. Make certain you clean your containers totally and disinfect them to steer clear of illnesses. Drill a handful of holes in the bottom so that the added water can be drained. Embrace earthworms in the organic and natural garden! Earthworms are an organic and natural gardener's best buddy. By way of tunneling and their nitrogen-wealthy castings, they can support to aerate the soil. This enhances the volume of oxygen that receives to a plant's roots, enhances drinking water retention capability, and retains the soil unfastened and workable. They really raise significantly-necessary minerals from the garden's subsoil to the topsoil, where vegetation can get the best gain. These worms also break up hardpan soil, which is harmful to root expansion. Make straightforward function of washing your organic and natural generate with a laundry basket. As you choose your make, lay them in a plastic laundry basket, which performs as a strainer. Maintain the hose in excess of the top and the water can make fast operate of rinsing all the dirt and other matter off of your fruits and veggies. Most natural and organic fertilizers will not harm the soft roots of crops, in contrast to, synthetic fertilizers. A great way to use an natural and organic fertilizer is to combine it with the top two inches of soil following to the plant. This is named side-dressing, and it is generally labored into the soil throughout the developing season. The greatest and most all-natural way to fertilize an natural and organic garden is with compost. Compost can be produced from everything that was after alive. Never low cost the benefit of your kitchen area squander, leaves, grass clippings or anything at all else that was when alive. By composting it all, you will give priceless existence to your organic yard. Fill your gardens with bouquets. You should not devote as well considerably time and power planting yearly varieties of flowers as they will only very last 1 time. Maintain these sorts in a restricted area of your backyard. For bigger regions, go with perennials. That way you will have bouquets yet again subsequent year. To management weeds in your yard with out making use of chemical herbicides close to your organic plants, mulch in between rows with bark, clean straw, mulch-coated newspapers, or sawdust from untreated wood. Beware of utilizing everything to mulch or fertilize that may well contain seeds that can insert more weeds, such as grass clippings or new manure. Organic and natural gardening strategies are some of the most worthwhile approaches of increasing wholesome, delicious fruits and greens. It is essential to grow to be familiar with the distinctions that make organic and natural gardening so beneficial. Put these suggestions into motion, and you will be thrilled with the resulting harvest you encounter as a end result.

0 notes

orvillevanover0-blog · 7 years ago

Text

Best Vegetation For A Shady Perimeter.

If you desire to present your affection to your spouse, your parents or your exclusive somebody, you could simply do this through simply giving them blossoms. Pour equal components white vinegar and water in to a spray container and also spray this on anthills and also around locations where you see ants. Being indoor/outdoor trains, G range trains should stand up to sunshine, rain, weather condition extremities, leaves behind on the right track, filthy conditions, or maybe creatures that may move toward. The most significant pain I feel all of us have with the affordable items from crap garden pipe nozzles, the darn factors leak like a sieve. Getting plants at a chain or even a food store retail store with backyard facility may permit you to buy vegetations at a much cheaper price, but it is actually improbable that the workers in these stores recognize a lot concerning gardening. I may simply picture how quite these would certainly look in a backyard as well as just how pleasant they would be actually to possess blooming listed here during the course of the summertime. For on my own, I am actually appreciating a cozy mug of coffee as well as the perspective of my persistent landscape outside the home window where I write. Obviously, Extralook-Onlineportal.Info just what they are skipping for whatever cause is actually inspecting the PH levels in the landscape is actually the absolute most necessary measure to increasing healthy vegetations in any yard. He desires the day to be fun and insists no one is going to be imposed penalty on if they opt for not to yard totally in the buff. These great landscape devices are actually genuinely ergonomic (components that operate properly along with the consumer's body system auto mechanics, i.e. easy to use in a much more medical fashion trend). The relationship from Head of state Richard Nixon's little girl Tricia to Edward F. Cox happened in the Flower Yard in 1971. These five dirty diva reasons are actually precisely why you must build a worm container for your backyard. The gorgeous display screen of 12,000 blooms at The White Garden at Kensington Royal residence work as a stunning homage to Diana's graphic, life as well as design, including her white colored Elvis" Catherine Walker gown. What dirt PH amounts really inform us is just what the level of acidity or alkaline degrees reside in our garden topsoil. This year I grew a mixture of compartment vegetations and also a standard - planted straight in the ground - vegetable as well as blossom garden. I utilized this to bring down the lawn in the area that I intended to create my garden. Let's begin along with the simple projects - Initial don't forget to store every one of your lawn and backyard decor featuring breakable farmers, looking balls, as well as your deck furniture. Since your white climbed landscape has been adequately planted, it is going to require normal routine maintenance. Particularly for tiny kitchen white colored looks positively excellent as well as makes the space look larger and spacious. On my frontal stoop is a little landscape bench merely big enough to store my 2 potted geraniums. Unfortunately, the frost has actually related to core Oregon, and my garden mores than for the very most part-just lettuce and cabbage in the vegetable spot as well as a plants in pots Mum at the main door more than happy now. Finally, a 3rd potential configuration for rattan outdoor furnishings within a yard is actually a gathered plan. If you enjoy having new florals all year or even are just brief on area, at that point garden planters correct up your street. And also he is actually likewise found that clay dirt (which is common in the Valley) cleans off easily with a garden hose pipe.

0 notes

ijunoposts · 8 years ago

Text

The RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show 2017

Joe Swift

My first ever visit to the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show was in 2008, it was a bus trip, and it took hours to get there, and it rained……lots.

However my more recent visit was a much more enjoyable experience, good company, decent weather and ice creams.

There are a lot of blogs currently on the Hampton Court Flower Show, so I shall add my own take on what I saw.

Giant Green Animals.

As soon as we walked in through the gate we were greeted by some giant green animals, great fun, imagine having some of these peering over from your neighbour’s garden at you all day.

The Show Gardens

Blind Veterans UK: It’s All About Community Garden

Circular Show Garden designed with blind and visually impaired veterans in mind while employing traditional craftsmanship.

Gold Medal Winner, Best Construction Award.

A lovely, large, circular garden which celebrates the activities of the beneficiaries, volunteers and staff at Blind Veterans UK. It is a community garden that brings together everyone involved in the charity as well as offering sensory stimulus to those with vision impairment as much as everyone involved in the garden. There is a large Liquidambar styraciflua at the centre which tree provides shade and a 40-year-old apple and pear trees which create a small orchard. Other plantings include, roses, dahlias and grasses, and a small plantings of edibles create a kitchen garden.

Seating area within

Sophie, Countess of Wessex.

Some Edibles within the Garden.

The designers Andrew Fisher Tomlin, Dan Bowyer have stated that they did not want to use too many scented plants as not to overpower the veterans.

Water Bowl for Guide Dogs.

A very tactile gate.

Lovely delicate plantings.

Big bold plantings.

This was a really nice garden, great design, amazing construction, even more amazing weaving.

Fab weaving.

The Veterans on the Garden.

After the show the garden is going to be broken up and used for further projects by the charity Blind Veterans.org.

On The Edge: The Centre for Mental Health Garden

The topical issue of mental health is explored in this garden of two parts, which conveys the journey through depression to acceptance

A nice compact garden, with lots of interesting features.

How would you mow that.?

I noticed a nice finish at the back as well.

The Garden was awarded a Silver-Gilt.

I think it had Gold written all over it, the garden shows the journey from mental ill-health on to acceptance. You enter via a narrow path, pushing through a spiky planting scheme, tall hedges invoke a feeling of claustrophobia. You walk towards an uncomfortable steep staircase into a dull, disorienting area. Pushing on, you step out onto broad, open steps which lead down towards a therapeutic area beside a reflective pool.

There was a lot of thought and personal experience in this design and I really liked it.

Colour Box

A celebration of the way gardeners help each other, coming together to produce something beautiful and colourful

View from the right.

View from the left.

Central View with Charlie working hard.

I had been looking forward to finding this garden, the sketch in the show handbook did not do it justice. the garden is a celebration of people within the horticultural community just helping out, Charlie originally put a request on twitter if anyone could help with plants, materials and time in order to build the garden, so in fact she was not sure of how the garden would end up as she did not know what resources she would have.

I know of a couple of Horti types that I follow on twitter got involved and were able to help with construction, I saw the pictures posted on social media, it appears also that cake was involved.

A close up of the intricate metalwork walls.

The end result is a very bright but simple design, a mass of colourful plants that I found very pleasing, I also adored the metal fencing design which I’m noticing more and more at RHS shows. The Garden was awarded a Silver Gilt Medal, but I decided it should have Gold. So there.

Perennial Sanctuary Garden

Intriguing spiral paths lead into the centre of this garden as they intersect beds of colourful planting that create appealing plant combinations between grasses and perennials. A central area behind a bamboo screen creates a sense of calm from the turmoil of the world outside.

This is another garden that I really wanted to see, it’s a garden which supports the Charity Perennial – The Gardeners Royal Benevolent Society, which supports Professional horticulturalists when times get tough. I am a professional horticulturist, and I know of a colleague who benefited from the Charity’s excellent work a few years ago, so I’m always keen to support.

Perennial Sanctuary Garden, Bright hot colours.

The design conveys how Perennial can help clients to gently move from the chaos of their lives to find a personal sanctuary

The hoggin spiral paths draw the visitor into the garden. The vibrant outer planting in russet and red slowly changes to ochres and yellows before softening to mauves and blues; all the time the planting heightens to increase the sense of enclosure and protection

The garden was in a large circular design, and represents how Perennial can help those receiving help to gently move from the chaos of their lives to find a personal sanctuary.

The spiral shape of The Perennial Sanctuary Garden, has a changing colour scheme of plants that represents the journey that client takes as they move, with Perennial’s help, from the chaos of their personal circumstances to safety – finding sanctuary in the storm. As you travel through the spiral garden the inner planting becomes taller and restful, and in the centre of the garden the planting is a single species of tall bamboo, screening the outside world from view.

The Garden was awarded a Silver Gilt Medal, but once again I gave it my Gold.

Southend Council: By the Sea

Smart beach huts, immaculate decking and subtle planting give a relaxed seaside feel

Two gardens built by young offenders, the aim is to give young offenders new skills and opportunities in life, and apparently the decking is built from timbers salvaged from Southend’s iconic pier.

Bright and colourful plantings with shingle paths

I decided to call the Bear Barry.

Depicting a fun, bright, British Seaside experience.

Both gardens are very bright and vibrant, which appear to be a theme running through many show gardens this year. The gardens were awarded a Silver Gilt Medal.

Small but nice features littered these gardens.

I liked the small, but interesting features in these gardens, such as this homemade wall mounted plant pot holder with matching petunia colour to the wall.

London Glades

This is the very opposite of a typical urban garden – a freeform undulating space where it’s said that part of every plant is also edible

Gold Medal Winner and Best Garden for a Changing World.

This garden has been designed with edible forest principe, whereby the many layers of planting offers edible crops, trees, shrubs, vines, herbs, roots…

The design of the ground has been used by the Hugelkultur or Hill culture, old rotting branches and garden waste is heaped together and covered in topsoil and planted on top in order to mimic the natural forest floor. I’ve heard of this concept before, but have never seen it in the flesh so to speak.

Rich, naturalistic planting.

A Green and pleasant oasis.

An example of Hugelkultur. (Hill Culture).

It was a lovely and welcome respite from all the bright colours and noise of a busy show ground, i noticed when the designed was being interviewed by a camera crew on the garden, he had everybody take their shoes and socks off so they could enjoy the soft, moist moss under their feet. I almost joined them.

I think this was my most enjoyable Hampton court visit to date, a plant was purchased and I provided ice cream to the good company, there was so much to get to try to see and I know I missed stuff.

Tomatoes and Peppers

Gardening IS good For you.

Lovely Potting bench, not a slug in sight.

Nice Greenhouse Display

Summer Flowery Display

We also saw sheep in wellies, Steel Slugs, Hairy bikers and a rather sweet ice Cream Van.

Steel Slugs

Hairy Bikers

Funky Ice Cream Van.

Be-wellied Sheep.

I also spent quite a bit of time in the floral Marquee, but I will cover that in another post.

The happy place.

There was so much to try to see, and I only purchased the one plant.

Salvia nemorosa ‘Crystal Blue’

I’m already looking forward to next years show, so with thanks to @papaver for driving us both. Here are a last few images of the outside of the show.

Bat Conservation Trust Garden

Elements of Life Garden.

The RHS Sign. (Saw this at Chatsworth Flower Show).

The Urban Rain Garden

Brownfield – Metamorphosis Garden

Bottle Openers

Paul Hervey-Brookes feeling the heat.

Journey of Life Garden

Alliums

Scarecrows

Watch this Space Garden

Gardens of the USA – The Charleston garden.

Lovely Bloom-ers.

The RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show 2017 The RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show 2017 My first ever visit to the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show was in 2008, it was a bus trip, and it took hours to get there, and it rained......lots.

#Alliums #Blind Veterans garden #Charity Perennial #Colour Box #floral Marquee #Gardens of the USA #Gold Medal #Hairy Bikers #Hampton Court Flower Show #Hill culture #Hugelkultur #Joe Swift #London Glades #On the Edge Garden #Perennial Sanctuary Garden #RHS #Salvia nemorosa &039;Crystal Blue #Southend Council garden #Urban Rain Garden

0 notes

sensitivefern · 8 years ago

Text

Day after day, Boswell treads water. His flurries of zeal at court come to little... Boswell is mostly in Edinburgh, and I, rather lost in the petty social swirl there, found no character as continuously engaging as the hero’s big toe, with its ingrown toenail; this pathetic digit, already familiar to readers of the Continental journals, makes its reappearance on April 24, 1779 (‘My sore foot was troublesome’), and inflames and remisses, is maltreated and suffered and dreamed about (‘I dreamt that I saw the cause of my toe being so painful’), and at last, to our great relief, before dinner on January 27, 1780, is decisively cut into by the shilly-shallying surgeon (‘I felt myself resolved to bear the pain, so he cut a good deal of the nail of my great toe out of the flesh. The operation hurt me much. But as soon as it was over I perceived that I was much relieved for I felt only the pain of a green wound instead of the pain of my toe irritated by the nail in it’), and henceforth slowly heals, to fade finally from notice on the 6th of May... Like doctor and patient, reader and writer grope together through a puzzling mass of symptoms and uncathartic crisis that unfold with a maddening organic slowness toward the ambiguous optimum of further survival.

[John Updike]

===

The state closest to the Beni was based around Lake Titicaca, the 120-mile-long alpine lake that crosses the Peru-Bolivia border. Most of this region has an altitude of twelve thousand feet or more. Summers are short; winters are correspondingly long. This ‘bleak, frigid land’, wrote... Victor von-Hagen, ‘seemingly was the last place from which one might expect a culture to develop’. But in fact the lake is comparatively warm, and so the land surrounding it is less beaten by frost than the surrounding highlands. Taking advantage of the better climate, the village of Tiwanaku... began after about 800 B.C. to drain the wetlands around the rivers that flowed into the lake from the south...

[1491]

===

T’ville, from Aug. 6, 1966. The house looks better with new screens in the windows, the roof and the back bedroom painted. [...] It was the day of the fireman’s fair and parade. Both Mary’s girls were in the parade, which went by just after we had finished dinner. Susan was playing the clarinet... The whole thing was touching and cheering. Each town had sent its delegation, and they competed with one another in music, display, drum-majorette stick-twirling and other tricks. In one, there was a girl who did flips; in another, the girl would suddenly sink to the ground, then quickly start up again.

[Edmund Wilson]

===

No eaves; so that very quickly one of the hallmarks of compound work, never referred to in the manifestos, became the permanently streaked and stained white or beige stucco exterior wall.

Then there was the principle of ‘expressed structure’. The bourgeoisie had always been great ones for false fronts (it hardly needed saying), thick walls of masonry and other grand materials, overlaid with every manner of quoin and groin and pediment and lintel and rock-faced arch, cozy anthropomorphic elements such as entablatures and capitals, pilasters and columns, plinths and rusticated bases, to create the impression of head, midsection, and foot, and every manner of grandiose and pointless gesture – spires, Spanish tile roofs, bays, corbels – to create a dishonest picture of what went on inside, architecturally and socially. All this had to go.

[From Bauhaus to Our House]

===

That one Holstein cow should produce 50,000 pounds of milk in a year may appear to be marvelous... But what if her productivity is dependent upon the consumption of a huge amount of grain (about a bushel a day), and therefore upon the availability of cheap petroleum? What if she is too valuable (and too delicate) to be allowed outdoors in the rain? What if the proliferation of her kind will again drastically reduce the number of dairy farms and farmers? Or, to use a more obvious example, can we afford a bushel of grain at a cost of five to twenty bushels of topsoil lost to erosion?

[Wendell Berry]

===

Unlike Benjamin Rush, whose medical theories and practices have been relegated to the slops of American history, Nathaniel Hawthorne has remained one of the canonical elect, a certified literary genius... But Hawthorne was hardly isolated from the great currents of nineteenth-century American gastrosophy. His sister-in-law, Mary Tyler Peabody Mann (Mrs. Horace Mann), wrote one of the most representative books of Hawthorne’s time, Christianity in the Kitchen. [...] One of Hawthorne’s short stories from 1846 carries the epigastric title: ‘Egotism; or, The Bosom Serpent’. The story’s protagonist, Roderick Elliston, is a ‘lean man, of unwholesome look’, his complexion ‘a greenish tinge over its sickly white’. As it turns out, Elliston’s problem is more than your garden-variety dyspepsia. He is the ‘man with a snake in his bosom’. And thus Elliston’s convulsive alimentary refrain: ‘It gnaws me! It gnaws me!’

[A Short History of the American Stomach]

===

SKUNK: Many investigators have made detailed food studies of skunks and have shown that their principal food is insects and most of the insects taken are injurious to plant life. When fruits are ripe and plentiful, they constitute an important part of skunk diet. Most of these are gathered from the surface of the ground, so represent waste as far as man is concerned. Mice constitute another important food item and their destruction is favorable to man. An occasionally bird is taken and not infrequently they were previously injured or already dead when taken by the skunk. Under these circumstances, this too is a service to man.

Skunks deserve much credit for digging out the June bug or May bettle in both the larval and adult stages.

===

spiny restharrow | Ononis spinosa Mediterranean region, extending out Turkestan way... the root is used medicinally – its constituents include ‘glycosidic iso-flavonoids and their aglycones formononetin and onogenin, the triterpene α-onocerin, the little known ononid’... ‘Along with parsley root, licorice rhizomes and juniper berries it is an important component of diuretic herbal tea mixtures’... in the wild it is found on dry banks, forest edges, rough grasslands principally on limestone soils... is prickly... Leguminosae...

===

Liatris L. spicata ‘pioneers plant succession in strip-mined spoils and in old fields’... chief pollinators are bumble bees and bee flies; the glorious flower moth (Schinia gloriosa) feeds upon it as a well camouflaged caterpillar... ants and lady bugs... sheep find numerous species tasty; deer, the opposite... voles are said to collect the corms, storing them in their pantries...

[The Book of Field and Roadside]

===

❚David Frum Retweeted Sky News Australia BREAKING Sky News sources say Donald Trump was 'yelling' during his phone conversation with PM Turnbull and hung up after 25 minutes

Shy Shelter Dog FLIPS OUT After Realizing He's Been Adopted

The Trump Era Is Al Franken’s Time to Shine The Minnesota senator has emerged from the shadows to make life hell for Republicans.

Donald Trump Grabs National Prayer Breakfast By The Pussy This dumb ritual happens every year, called the National Prayer Breakfast. It’s a bipartisan shindig, where politicians on both sides of the aisle, of all faiths, can come together and agree to spend the morning praying to Jesus. It’s super evangelical, run by a creepy cult of right-wing dominionist Christians called The Family. So obviously our secular government should embrace it as a tradition, right? ANYWAY. Donald Trump got to go to his first National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday morning, and instead of doing like a common Obama, making nice speeches about faith and family, while the wingnuts in attendance rock back and forth and pray for the unborned babies, Trump urged everybody to pray REALLY HARD... for Arnold Schwarzenegger to get better ratings on “The Celebrity Apprentice,” because that’s what these folks really care about.

HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE MOTHERFUCKERS

Doctor, writer, and all-round polymath Thomas Browne (1605-1682) is now better known for his literary work but in his own time was legendary as the greatest – and first – scientific populariser of his day. Browne’s best-selling Pseudodoxia Epidemica, or Common Errors, debunked myths in botany, geology, geography, anatomy, and zoology, as well as history and scripture. Going through seven editions during his lifetime and translated into several European languages, it made him the first public “expert” and a pioneer of popular science. Common Errors is a landmark work of myth-busting. In it Browne tackles important questions such as: do elephants have knees? Why do we say “bless you” when we sneeze? Is the earth a magnetic body? Did Jesus have long hair? Who would win in a fight, a toad or a spider? [...] One of Browne’s most prolonged experiments involved the ostrich, acquired by his son Edward. A flock arrived in London in the early 1660s, brought by the Moroccan ambassador as a gift for the king, and immediately caused a splash – exotic animals were rare in England at the time. Edward managed to get hold of one and kept it in his stables. A frenzy of letters between father and son followed, discussing its eating and sleeping habits, the shape of its feet, and the noises it made (“a strange odde noyse … especially in the morning and perhaps when hungry”). This experiment in collaborative zoo-keeping came to an abrupt end when the ostrich died in its sleep one night, as Browne had predicted, being unused to the cold of a London January. It was immediately dissected. Browne was nothing if not thorough.

0 notes

newstfionline · 8 years ago

Text

Troops Who Cleaned Up Radioactive Islands Can’t Get Medical Care

By Dave Philipps, NY Times, Jan. 28, 2017

RICHLAND, Wash.--When Tim Snider arrived on Enewetak Atoll in the middle of the Pacific Ocean to clean up the fallout from dozens of nuclear tests on the ring of coral islands, Army officers immediately ordered him to put on a respirator and a bright yellow suit designed to guard against plutonium poisoning.

A military film crew snapped photos and shot movies of Mr. Snider, a 20-year-old Air Force radiation technician, in the crisp new safety gear. Then he was ordered to give all the gear back. He spent the rest of his four-month stint on the islands wearing only cutoff shorts and a floppy sun hat.

“I never saw one of those suits again,” Mr. Snider, now 58, said in an interview in his kitchen here as he thumbed a yellowing photo he still has from the 1979 shoot. “It was just propaganda.”

Today Mr. Snider has tumors on his ribs, spine and skull--which he thinks resulted from his work on the crew, in the largest nuclear cleanup ever undertaken by the United States military.

Roughly 4,000 troops helped clean up the atoll between 1977 and 1980. Like Mr. Snider, most did not even wear shirts, let alone respirators. Hundreds say they are now plagued by health problems, including brittle bones, cancer and birth defects in their children. Many are already dead. Others are too sick to work.

The military says there is no connection between these illnesses and the cleanup. Radiation exposure during the work fell well below recommended thresholds, it says, and safety precautions were top notch. So the government refuses to pay for the veterans’ medical care.

Congress long ago recognized that troops were harmed by radiation on Enewetak during the original atomic tests, which occurred in the 1950s, and should be cared for and compensated. Still, it has failed to do the same for the men who cleaned up the toxic debris 20 years later. The disconnect continues a longstanding pattern in which the government has shrugged off responsibility for its nuclear mistakes.

On one cleanup after another, veterans have been denied care because shoddy or intentionally false radiation monitoring was later used as proof that there was no radiation exposure.

A report by The New York Times last spring found that veterans were exposed to plutonium during the cleanup of a 1966 accident involving American hydrogen bombs in Palomares, Spain. Declassified documents and a recent study by the Air Force said the men might have been poisoned, and needed new testing.

But in the months since the report, nothing has been done to help them.

For two years, the Enewetak veterans have been trying, without success, to win medical benefits from Congress through a proposed Atomic Veterans Healthcare Parity Act. Some lawmakers hope to introduce a bill this year, but its fate is uncertain. Now, as new cases of cancer emerge nearly every month, many of the men wonder how much longer they can wait.

The cleanup of Enewetak has long been portrayed as a triumph. During the operation, officials told reporters that they were setting a new standard in safety. One report from the end of the cleanup said safety was so strict that “it would be difficult to identify additional radsafe precautions that could have been taken.”

Documents from the time and interviews with dozens of veterans tell a different story.

Most of the documents were declassified and made publicly available in the 1990s, along with millions of pages of other files relating to nuclear testing, and sat unnoticed for years. They show that the government used troops instead of professional nuclear workers to save money. Then it saved even more money by skimping on safety precautions.

Records show that protective equipment was missing or unusable. Troops requesting respirators couldn’t get them. Cut-rate safety monitoring systems failed. Officials assured concerned members of Congress by listing safeguards that didn’t exist.

And though leaders of the cleanup told troops that the islands emitted no more radiation than a dental X-ray, documents show they privately worried about “plutonium problems” and areas that were “highly radiologically contaminated.”

Tying any disease to radiation exposure years earlier is nearly impossible; there has never been a formal study of the health of the Enewetak cleanup crews. The military collected nasal swabs and urine samples during the cleanup to measure how much plutonium troops were absorbing, but in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, it said it could not find the records.

Hundreds of the troops, though, almost all now in their late 50s, have found one another on Facebook and discovered remarkably similar problems involving deteriorating bones and an incidence of cancer that appears to be far above the norm.

A tally of 431 of the veterans by a member of the group shows that of those who stayed on the southernmost island, where radiation was low, only 2 percent reported having cancer. Of those who worked on the most contaminated islands in the north, 20 percent reported cancer. An additional 34 percent from the contaminated islands reported other health problems that could be related to radiation, like failing bones, infertility and thyroid problems.

Between 1948 and 1958, 43 atomic blasts rocked the tiny atoll--part of the Marshall Islands, which sit between Hawaii and the Philippines--obliterating the native groves of breadfruit trees and coconut palms, and leaving an apocalyptic wreckage of twisted test towers, radioactive bunkers and rusting military equipment.

Four islands were entirely vaporized; only deep blue radioactive craters in the ocean remained. The residents had been evacuated. No one thought they would ever return.

In the early 1970s, the Enewetak islanders threatened legal action if they didn’t get their home back. In 1972, the United States government agreed to return the atoll and vowed to clean it up first, a project shared by the Atomic Energy Commission, now called the Department of Energy, and the Department of Defense.

The biggest problem, according to Energy Department reports, was Runit Island, a 75-acre spit of sand blitzed by 11 nuclear tests in 1958. The north end was gouged by a 300-foot-wide crater that documents from the time describe as “a special problem” because of “high subsurface contamination.”

The island was littered with a fine dust of pulverized plutonium, which if inhaled or otherwise absorbed can cause cancer years or even decades later. A millionth of a gram is potentially harmful, and because the isotopes have a half-life of 24,000 years, the danger effectively never goes away.

The military initially quarantined Runit. Government scientists agreed that other islands might be made habitable, but Runit would most likely forever be too toxic, memos show.

So federal officials decided to collect radioactive debris from the other islands and dump it into the Runit crater, then cap it with a thick concrete dome.

The government intended to use private contractors and estimated the cleanup would cost $40 million, documents show. But Congress balked at the price and approved only half the money. It ordered that “all reasonable economies should be realized” by using troops to do the work.

Safety planners intended to use protective suits, respirators and sprinklers to keep down dust. But without adequate funding, simple precautions were scrapped.

Paul Laird was one of the first service members to arrive for the atoll’s cleanup, in 1977. Then a 20-year-old bulldozer driver, he began scraping topsoil that records show contained plutonium. He was given no safety equipment.

“That dust was like baby powder. We were covered in it,” said Mr. Laird, now 60, during an interview in rural Maine, where he owns a small auto repair shop. “But we couldn’t even get a paper dust mask. I begged for one daily. My lieutenant said the masks were on back order so use a T-shirt.”

By the time Mr. Laird left the islands, he was throwing up and had a blisterlike rash. He got out of the Army in 1978 and moved home to Maine. When he turned 52, he found a lump that turned out to be kidney cancer. A scan at the hospital showed he also had bladder cancer. A few years later he developed a different form of bladder cancer.

His private health insurance covered the treatment, but co-payments left him deep in debt. He applied repeatedly for free veterans’ health care for radiation but was denied. His medical records from the military all said he had not been exposed.

“When the job was done, they threw my bulldozer in the ocean because it was so hot,” Mr. Laird said. “If it got that much radiation, how the hell did it miss me?”

As the cleanup continued, federal officials tried to institute safety measures. A shipment of yellow radiation suits arrived on the islands in 1978, but in interviews veterans said that they were too hot to wear in the tropical sun and that the military told them that it was safe to go without them.

The military tried to monitor plutonium inhalation using air samplers. But they soon broke. According to an Energy Department memo, in 1978, only a third of the samplers were working.

All troops were issued a small film badge to measure radiation exposure, but government memos note that humid conditions destroyed the film. Failure rates often reached 100 percent.

Every evening, Air Force technicians scanned workers for plutonium particles before they left Runit. Men said dozens of workers each day had screened positive for dangerous levels of radiation.

“Sometimes we’d get readings that were all the way to the red,” said one technician, David Roach, 57, who now lives in Rockland, Me.

None of the high readings were recorded, said Mr. Roach, who has since had several strokes.

Two members of Congress wrote to the secretary of defense in 1978 with concerns, but his office told them not to worry: Suits and respirators ensured the cleanup was conducted in “a manner as to assure that radiation exposure to individuals is limited to the lowest levels practicable.”

Even after the cleanup, many of the islands were still too radioactive to inhabit.

In 1988, Congress passed a law providing automatic medical care to any troops involved in the original atomic testing. But the act covers veterans only up to 1958, when atomic testing stopped, excluding the Enewetak cleanup crews.

If civilian contractors had done the cleanup and later discovered declassified documents that show the government failed to follow its own safety plan, they could sue for negligence. Veterans don’t have that right. A 1950 Supreme Court ruling bars troops and their families from suing for injuries arising from military service.

The veterans’ only avenue for help is to apply individually to the Department of Veterans Affairs for free medical care and disability payments. But the department bases decisions on old military records--including defective air sampling and radiation badge data--that show no one was harmed. It nearly always denies coverage.

“A lot of guys can’t survive anymore, financially,” said Jeff Dean, 60, who piloted boats loaded with contaminated soil.

Mr. Dean developed cancer at 43, then again two years later. He had to give up his job as a carpenter as the bones in his spine deteriorated. Unpaid medical bills left him $100,000 in debt.

“No one seems to want to admit anything,” Mr. Dean said. “I don’t know how much longer we can wait, we have guys dying all the time.”

#Enewetak Atoll #nuclear test cleanup #sick veterans #Veterans Affairs

0 notes