Miscellanea

A few miscellaneous notes of late:

• Know that feeling, where you're driving down the road, feeling like you're maybe going a little fast, and you see a speed-limit sign? In AZ, I was almost always going too fast and had to slow down. Here, I'm almost always going slower than the speed limit -- "Oh, the speed limit's 50 on this road? I'm going 35, and that feels fast..." Maybe it's the fact that the shoulders on the road are like 6 inches wide.


• We just put in the plants in our front flowerbed. Northern Alabama has "red clay" soil, which is indeed, red clay. As in "stains clothes". And yes, it's really clay, like you could probably take a handful, wash out the soil part and make pottery with what's left. In AZ they talk about "caliche", but it's way different from this.


• On the same note, we found a place about 15 minutes from here that gives out free "rotten cotton", composted cotton leftover from the gin process. It is a soft, almost black, really rich-top-soil-looking stuff. I have no personal experience as to whether it works yet, but it sure seems like the ideal stuff to put in your garden. (And the Botanical Garden folks told a friend of ours that it's some of the best stuff there is, so I guess that's a good sign.) The free part is very nice, of course, and it doesn't stink at all like manure, nor does it attract flies. Awesome!


• Thanks to a friend at work, I've discovered "Legal Lad's Quick and Dirty Tips for a More Lawful Life" podcast on iTunes. I love it, finally someone who can explain legal matters in a way that doesn't sound like mindless babble spoken slowly. That's all I've listened to on my commute for the last 5 days...

Oh, and for those who missed it, Snoop Dogg's converted to Mormonism*. I hope we get to meet Brother Dogg someday, he'd make a great primary teacher. =)

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* Note, of course, the date of the news release before you get too excited.