Good morning! Hello there, how are you? Have a good weekend? Mine was great, thanks for asking. Lots of gardening. Man. Let me tell you. I have been procrastinating in the garden for a few weeks, restaing on my laurels and letting it ride. But there was so much to do. I spent two full days haulin’ ass in the garden and I didn’t get everything done. But at least I got everything done that absolutely needed to get done this weekend, as in things that needed to go into the ground, because the Farmer’s Almanac planting calendar said so, and everything off of the mulch beds so Travis the mulch man could lay down some sweet new mulch today.
I planted two apple trees! They’ve been growing in pots and I finally transferred them over and put them in the ground in their forever homes, hopefully, assuming they take. They’re in the front yard. Front yard gardening is fun. People stop and chat. I enjoyed that. Made me feel like we live in a society and all that. I’m a bit nervous, because our soil has so much clay, but these are NC-raised apple trees, from an orchard nursery just about an hour west of here, further into the Piedmont, so, you know. They knew what they were getting into.
I had to plant the apple trees so I could free up that space in the hoop house so I could build the new Birdie’s raised bed, so I could fill it, so I could sow the seeds for the fall crops into said bed, along with the other Birdie’s bed right next to it, which was growing strawberries, unsuccessfully. Well. They were propagating and growing and expanding, but they were not bearing any fruit. Ever. So we will try that again somewhere else next year. I have a few ideas. I don’t know why strawberries are so hard for me. Anyway, got the bed built. I built it with Jane. She learned how to put the bolts through the holes, and screw on the nut, and then use a screwdriver and the free little wrench that comes with the bed kit to tighten the nuts. She did a good job! She would get frustrated as she learned and practiced, but she never gave up. It was a real father-daughter bonding moment. I filmed it all in time lapse I’m sure it is very emotionally moving.
I did so much gardening, however, that I did not actually make the gardening video for the week, but at least I shot all the footage. Maybe I will get to the video tonight, since it’s Emma’s night to do bedtime.
Anyway, then I had to fill the bed, which meant a) hugelkultur! filling the bottom of the bed with spare logs and branches and green material I had just trimmed off of my dying tomato plants (RIP — at least others are still doing well, especially the Roma) and the out-of-control rose bush. Then b) four loads of dirt from the soil/compost 50-50 mix that I bought at the beginning of the summer. Ten cubic yards that I had mostly used up, but there was still a small pile under a tarp in the driveway that’s been sitting there being an eyesore for months. But it’s gone! I used it all up. So exciting. That wasn’t enough, though, so I actually had to go to the hardware store and buy more dirt, dirt for this bed, topping off the old strawberry bed, and for the containers in which I will be planting the broccoli next weekend (hopefully). Twenty-five more bags, good lord. Which is a bummer because I hate dirt that comes in plastic it is just so stupid.
And then, after all that, I could finally sow my fall seeds: four varieties of lettuce, three varieties of spinach, beets, two varieties of radishes, three varieties of carrots. All in the ground. Very exciting. Next I will clear out the summer lettuce bed and that, I think, is where I will plant my garlic. But that’s not for a week or so. The corn looks about ready to harvest too. The baby bok choy is going great, the fall peas and cucumbers look to be doing okay. The beansa are about done. The second succession of shallots aren’t ever going to bulb up, alas. The four southern beds weren’t getting water for a week, becuase I put a hole in the drip tubing, oops. But it rained last night and I fixed that so hopefully things survived. Only another couple weeks and I can clear out all those beds.
I also got my podcast done on Friday, if you are into that sort of thing. It is here:
In the podcast, I confess a secret I have been hiding from you, dear GMHHAY reader, for… um… two weeks or so? And that is that I have taken delivery of a new automobile. A truck. An electric truck:
It is very black, very new, very quiet, very trucky and very luxurious. Now, mind you, my previous car was a little 12 year-old Mazda 3, so a lot is going on here. I’m not used to trucks. I’m not used to EVs, and I’m not used to modern, luxury automobiles. So there is a lot to get used to, but I am very into it. I am very into never needing gas again, never needing an oil change. I am very into BlueCruise, the hands-free cruise-control. It only works on interstates and such, and it is definitely a little stressful, but you get used to it. It is nice. I’m very into the wireless CarPlay and wireless phone charging. I’m into four cup holders because this is America. I’m into how much space there is in the back cab for Jane and her car seat and me putting her into the car seat without bending over.
I’m into the Frunk. Man. The Frunk is the greatest thing. It is so big.
That suitcase is three feet long, I kid you not.
I like that it basically looks like a normal Ford F-150 and you wouldn’t know it was electric if you just glanced at me on the road, unless, you know, you know. We took it to Baltimore for the show and there were definitely some EV dudes that noticed.
Another thing I like is that it’s not a Tesla, so you don’t charge at Tesla superchargers, so you get to see all the cool other EVs out there on the road. I saw a bunch of Hyundai Ioniq 5s, which look so good, and their little Kia twin, and the Porsche EV and a BMW EV and a Ford Transit electric EV (seriously considered buying one of those but Emma put the kibosh on that one). Just lots of fun variety of EVs out there.
One thing that was a bummer is that the very first public EV charging station we stopped at was broken, and we were on a road trip, so it did not do a lot to convincing Emma that road trips were viable in EVs, which was a bummer. But the second one was at a Walmart, it worked great, and you could go shop, which was fun. Same thing on the trip back home, we stopped at an EV charging station at a mall with a Target, which is just more fun than stopping at a gas station.
Some of you may know that I put in an order for an F-150 Lightning the day that Ford started taking reservations. In the first five minutes, in fact. It has been very frustrating, because Ford has been horrible at communicating about this. I mean, just the fucking worst. It’s kind of surprising because CEO Jim Farley seems pretty competent and focused on taking on Tesla, and this is one area where they could, it seems to me, pretty easily reach parity: just tell customers when they can expect their automobile. It doesn’t matter if it’s a long ways away. Just tell them. But they don’t. Due to some BS with dealers, but that’s actually no excuse Ford manufacturs the things, they could at least give an estimate. But no. I hadn’t heard a thing from Ford giving me any idea of when I would get my truck for eighteen months.
So I gave up. I bought it used. At auction. With 200 miles on it. I had been watching the auction sites, keeping an eye on any Lightning for sale on the east coast, dreaming up schemes to buy it and fly to where it is then drive it home. Eventually I sort of abandoned the idea, and told myself I would stop looking at the auction sites and just wait in a week or so, and unless the exact model and color I wanted showed up at auction, and local, I would give up.
And then the next day the exact model and color I wanted showed up, for sale in the next town over. Serendipity!
I made an agressive bid and won, since I wasnt going to have to pay transportation fees. Most of the people buying these at auction seem to be flippers, or something. It’s a mystery. One dude has bought like six. But they put ‘em on flat beds and ship em to wherever they are, and that’s a couple grand, so you can beat them in auction if you’re not going to do that. It had some accessories — a roll-top bed cover and some Petzl cargo racks, and it came with the Ford Chargestation Pro (which I have yet to install). I probably paid $2k over all of that.
And two days later, Ford texted me and told me that they could finally take my order for a Ford F-150 Lightning. Ha.
So I went on their site and placed the order, it will be at least nine months before it is delivered. So I am basically paying $2k for nine months of rental. Seems fine.
The guy I bought it from said he got it from a dealer in the Triangle, the only one they got for shipment in 2022. He had to sell it because his wife was unexpectedly pregnant. He seemed sad. I told him he could buy it back when mine came, ha.
We were both EV nerds and looked alike and both watching Cars & Bids and Bring a Trailer auctions. We talked about Jim Farley and did not expalin who he was since we both knew and it was obvious we both knew. We talked about the R1T and R1S and both scoffed at the idea of buying a Cybertruck (I am increasingly convinced that thing is not going to do well). It felt sort of furtive and weird, except we spent a lot of time at banks (I had to pay off his loan) and we worked with a shockingly competent UPS Store notary who was a notarizing machine and had done forty notarizations that day. It took two weeks to do the deal, because Truist bank sucks and lied about the title release, told us theyd do it electronically so he could go pick it up from the DMV, but then put it in the USPS. But then USPS was actually shockingly fast, so… go socialism. We spent a lot of time wondering about the mysterious guy who buys all the Lightnings on Cars & Bids, and I thought maybe he was a little sad that guy didn’t win so he could solve that mystery.
The DMV experience was just fine, in and out in fifteen minutes. The thing has “weighted” plates, and they are not NC looking, they’re just generic white, which is weird. But I like it. It is unclear if I can add a save the bees NC plate to it like our other cars, but hopefully. You find that out after you get your basic plates so I will look into that this week.
So, yes. It is great. If you have questions, let me know, I will answer them. I have some small complaints, but they seem to mostly be about the F-150 in general, not the EV version. Except the frunk. It is loud sounding, which is a shame. But still. Frunks are the best. Dumb name, but so, so useful.
I am trying to get the charger installed, but my solar people are trying to figure out a system where the truck only charges when we are overproducing on solar, so it never has to deal with fossil fuel consumption in any manner, ever again. It is doable, just a little tricky with the wiring. Also I need to build an all-weather pillar because all my electrical is too far from where the truck will be parked. And I gotta trench. It is going to be a production. In the meantime I am charging via 110, not even 220, and it’s fine.
And it is so nice to be able to haul things. Picking up 25 loads of dirt? No problem. I used to have to pay to get that delivered. And I gotta go buy a bunch of 10-foot 6x6s soon, that was never going to be possible before. Sure. I could have borrowed someone else’s truck, and that is hardly an excuse. I don’t kid myself, this was an indulgence. I will pay penance by giving my little Mazda to charity. I will miss you, little guy. We’va had a good run.
Justa mix today, mix of old and new. Listened to a lot of Pavement and Bjork this weekend, that was kind of fun I never really listen to either very often, but they’ve been in the zeitgest this week. That One AM Radio song came on when I was driving and oh, man, I forgot about that song what a great tune.
Talk to you guys tomorrow!
Just last week we drove to Greensboro to collect a piece of funky, second-hand furniture. Had to rent a pickup from U-Haul to get it done. All we could talk about for the duration of the day was everything we could get done. Then I started fantasizing about road-trips with the kid and the dog and all our gear in the frunk and a bed full of funky second-hand furniture...
What I’m saying is I very much look forward to joining you on team Lightning.
hooray for a wish fulfilled!!