Inside The Perimeter

Since moving into the ITP Estate in 1999 my neighbor’s huge sweetgum tree posed problems. At first it was the amount of spiky balls it would drop into my yard, especially when I used to mow the backyard. Then over the years it started dropping large limbs into my backyard. During the last few years I noticed the health of the tree decline and it was getting covered by ivy as well. I started researching if there was a program to help the elderly remove dead trees for discounted rates or cost free, and how I would broach the topic with my neighbors. Yesterday morning I had a sense that there was more light outside. When I went out to walk around Wee Little Farm and check on the status of my paw paw trees, I noticed one paw paw was covered by a large trunk-sized limb. Naturally I assumed one of my other trees was damaged by Saturday’s storm, but no, I quickly realized that the sweetgum had toppled. Fortunately for me it did the unthinkable, it fell toward the back of my neighbor’s property and into the property behind theirs. It’s very possible that the far corner of my chain link fence has been damaged, but that’s a minor nit compared to what damage this tree could have done to my property.

Wee Little Farm may also benefit from the tree’s departure as it might now receive a little more afternoon light, and depending when my neighbors get around to hiring someone to clean up the debris I may get some wood chips out of this.

Wordle: six, my starter was DAILY

Today will be different than normal, well as normal as I get. Today I want to introduce you to the book that launched an idea, which I still really want to turn into an art project. The book is “Death of a Salesman”, written by Arthur Miller.

You all probably know that I have an art project called “Home Was Where the Hearth Is”, a collection of photographs of freestanding hearths in the wild. I believe early this year I mentioned starting another art project to be called “In Others’ Words”, which would be a collection of photographs of books which have an inscription, and the inscription within them. Once I figure out how to arrange these photographs I will begin the project. While my copy of “Death of a Salesman” doesn’t have a proper inscription, it does have the name and address of the person who owned it before I did, written in meticulously fine penmanship; this is what intrigued me.

For many years I wondered about the man who once owned this copy of “Death of a Salesman”.
– Who was he?
– Was this a book he purchased, or was it a gift?
– Why did he write his name and address in this book?
– Did he do this for all of his books?
– Why did he get rid of this book?

I’ve been in possession of this book for over forty years, and lived not far from the address when I first obtained it. I believe that I attempted to Google him years ago as well. When I repeated this effort this week, I discovered that he died in 2007. I never got to meet Mr Wyllie, but he altered the trajectory of my life.

FWIW- “Death of a Salesman” is my second favorite play, eclipsed only by “Glengarry Glen Ross”. Unsurprisingly both of these plays are about men in sales, down on their luck.

As Paul Harvey used to say… “And now you know the rest of the story.”

One more thing: This must be Anniversary Week. Yesterday I realized, thanks to the t-shirt I wore, that ten years ago today I rode the GA400 ride.

Wordle: four, my starter was RISKY

I have been doing more “Tradman” chores this week. My use of the term is a bastardization of the term “Tradwife”, aka “Traditional Wife”, where a woman does chores as in olden times. What did I do? I mended clothes — put a button back on a pair of shorts, sealed holes in two pair of underwear — using a needle and thread. I also hand washed some clothes and hung them out to dry since it was hot and dry yesterday. Additionally, I’m trying to learn how to make more food from scratch, such as breads, preserves, and condiments.

Yesterday I also mowed the front yard. I had to do this the traditional way since the only mower I own is a push mower. 🙂

Once again I had to chuck out bean plant starts because they didn’t look great, and when I left them outside overnight some critter destroyed them. My inability to grow healthy plants this year has really baffled me. All I can imagine at this point is that I bought a lot of tainted soil at Lowes this year causing my plants to become stunted and disfigured.

This morning I’m riding my bar bike on the Beltline to Trees Atlanta again. I considered eating lunch at Eats inside Wild Heaven, but decided that I should return home to eat food for which I’ve already paid.

Wordle: three, my starter was USAGE

Here’s a funny story from Monday night’s USA v Belgium game:
I have a bone to pick with FIFA, and not regarding the overturning of the red card. Why was Belgium, a team whose country’s flag is black, red, and yellow, wearing a kit that was white with splotches of red and blue? It causes confusion for those watching on tv, especially when that team is dominating the game. When I watch on Telemundo they put a colored circle next to the country name in the scoreboard to help the viewer; such is not the case on Fox. I realized I was the only one who thought that the team wearing white, red, and blue was the United States when that team scored and I was the lone person who cheered. It was like the guy in the Schoolhouse Rock song who interjects “Hoooray, I’m for the other team!” 😀

I am having a hard time getting on a bicycle. Because I really dislike the new(ish) meeting/partying spot for the Tuesday night ride I have had difficulty riding with them. I’ve registered for the NC Mountain Ride, which is at the beginning of August in Brevard, so I really need to spin the pedals.

Wordle: three, my starter was LOTUS

After last year’s epic sixty mile ride in Asheville, I know you are all waiting with bated breath to find out what I will be doing for birthday #61 in a few weeks. Initially I thought I might go to Montgomery for a Biscuits game. However, a funny thing happened while planning my birthday activities… I completely changed them and will be spending most of the day indoors, in Clemson South Carolina. Because the deadline for registration for the two-day Organic Certification Essentials (are you seeing a theme emerging?) was yesterday I had to shit or get off the pot; I secured a free ticket in the final hour they were offered. The workshop ends at 3:45pm on my birthday, so I will have plenty of time to drink beer somewhere. 😀

Wordle: six, my starter was BOUND

Hope you all had an awesome Fourth of July.

It was good to go out for my inaugural ride on “Candy”, my candy apple red colored bike (or as ITP-Reader Steve said my “Crimson Tide red colored bike”). I realize that there are a lot of things on this bike about which I have no prior experience like disc brakes and through-axle skewers. I should probably learn how to debug and maintain these before I go out for a long solo ride.

I knew there was a chance of ripping the rubber AirPods earpieces by trying to remove them for cleaning, unfortunately I was correct. I successfully got the first one off, but ripped the second one. Fortunately, they are not that expensive to replace when buying third party versions at least, so I’ve ordered some from Amazon.

The heat finally defeated my basement. Bermed on two sides, the ITP Estate’s basement naturally remains at least five degrees cooler than the main floor, unless there is no break in the heat; then, it’s only about two-to-three degrees cooler. You wouldn’t think a couple of degrees would make much of a difference, but it does.

Wee Little Farm received a proper rain on Saturday afternoon and I couldn’t have been happier. The farm definitely needed the water and everything around East Atlanta got soaked, reducing the possibility of fire caused by fireworks. Had I imagined that WLF would get 2″ of rain I’d have put out my water catchment buckets.

Wordle: four, my starter was CURVE

Happy Fourth of July (observed)!

Wow did I knock myself out yesterday. While proud of my efforts, perhaps doing a double shift of manual labor in this heat wasn’t the best idea. I think I even developed heat rash in both armpits.
That being said it was fun to finally ride the Beltline to Trees Atlanta, and I did some good work at both locations. I expected that we’d be harvesting more at Concrete Jungle’s farm, but like everywhere else the heat and lack of rain is taking its toll.

Today I will be returning Steve’s bike frame, and finally taking my new ride out on the roads. I almost can’t believe that I’ve yet to ride it, but life and weather kept getting in the way.

I’ve no plans for the weekend other than stay indoors when not working in Wee Little Farm, and hoping that no idiot neighbor hits my roof with fireworks or bullets. To think, back in the day I’d wake early to run the Peachtree on the fourth. Oh well, my running days ended years ago…

Wordle: two, my starter was CABIN

Hmm, I tasted the refrigerator-bound batch of relish yesterday and I’m not convinced the recipe I followed is that great. I will give it time to see how it ages…

Ever since getting a new iPad last year I have been baffled why I’ve had trouble typing on it. That was until yesterday when I picked up my older iPad and realized that a lot of keys on the virtual keyboard have moved and changed sizes. Years of muscle memory has been challenged by the newer configuration.

Oh boy, T-Mobile is the latest of my subscription plans to be getting a price increase, this one is $6/month because my plan is being “retired”.

I’m doing double volunteering today — Trees Atlanta from 08:00-11:00, Concrete Jungle from 18:00-20:00. Since the two locations are close together I almost wish the Concrete Jungle shift were earlier, but since it’s not, I’ll return home for a shower and nap between shifts.

Wordle: four, my starter was TRIBE

Hello, July.

A six month assessment of my 2026:
If I’m being honest, I need to give 2026 a mid-semester grade of D. Why? It’s not been a great year for me, and I am not happy. I hope those change soon.

I (perhaps) stupidly transplanted some bean plants yesterday morning. The soil in their pots was soaking wet, so I gave them just a little more water after transplanting. When I checked them at 4:30pm they looked all but dead. I gave them more water then, but am not sure they will make it. Lesson learned: when transplanting during oppressive heat, do so late in the afternoon to give the plants a chance to survive.

After finding the only sizable tomatoes in WLF with chunks removed, I’ve decided one of two things will happen for WLF in 2027:
– I will grow tomatoes in a fortified cage
– I will not grow tomatoes in WLF because all I’m doing is feeding critters

I’m going to need new underwear soon. I mean that alone knocks a letter grade off the year… 😀 Like everything else in this world, my favorite underwear is no longer made, so I have to find a suitable substitute. I am a boxer briefs man, who also likes fast drying fabrics since I am also a sweaty man. Wish me luck.

Wordle: four, my starter was FLORA

As we hurtle toward the best month in which to be born, I am trying to figure out how to celebrate my Roger Maris (61) birthday, which inconveniently falls on a Wednesday this year. Last year I celebrated by riding sixty miles around Asheville, and I may do something similar again. Or, I may wait until I know the weather forecast and finally attend a Montgomery Biscuits game, since they play a home game on my birthday this year. The world is my oyster, even though I refuse to eat them.

What a fun day yesterday driving out to Oxford for a farm tour of Emory Organic Farm at Oxford. I also learned a lot about the organic certification process, not that I’d ever considered applying for one; hell, I don’t even sell vegetables!

A funny thing happened on Germany’s march to a World Cup title, they got knocked out by Paraguay yesterday. Dangen! I wish Japan had done the same to Brazil, but that didn’t happen.

Wordle: five, my starter was GRIST