"Janet Baraclough" <janet.and.john@zetnet.co.uk> wrote in message
> from "FarmI" <ask@itshall be given> contains these words:
>
>> Too much would probably be as much of a PITA as too little. We've had
>> cloud
>> cover and I've done everything I can think of to make it rain, but to no
>> avail. I've made sure I had a line full of washing and left it out for
>> days, I've washed the car and left it outside where it can get rained on,
>> I've left secateurs/forks/hand tools out in the garden - still not a
>> drop of
>> rain.
>
> Hm, strange those rain-charms aren't working normally. Try holding a
> wedding in the garden,

Snort! The only 'wedding' that could be done in our garden is a 'renewal of
vows' between me and Himself: since the old vows aren't yet worn out, that
won't happen any time soon.

or painting some furniture outdoors. If all else
> fails, have the roof opened up.

Hmmm - that latter idea isn't a bad one - the roof on the sun room needs
renewing and since it's such a huge room and could fill up enough to flood
the rest of the house...............

I'll get back to you on that one.

"Elmo" <ElmoHateSpam@noSpam4U.org> wrote in message
> FarmI wrote:

>> Too much would probably be as much of a PITA as too little. We've had
>> cloud cover and I've done everything I can think of to make it rain, but
>> to no avail. I've made sure I had a line full of washing and left it out
>> for days, I've washed the car and left it outside where it can get rained
>> on, I've left secateurs/forks/hand tools out in the garden - still not a
>> drop of rain.
>
> Sympathetic magic only works when the result is inconvenient.

Well a line full of washing that would take 3 days to get dry using my
dryer, would be most inconvenient. Got any other ideas I could try?

On Apr 19, 11:20=A0am, Larry Caldwell <firstnamelastinit...@peaksky.com>
wrote:
> In article <4809acbb$0$1365$5a62ac22@per-qv1-newsreader-
> 01.iinet.net.au>, ask@itshall (FarmI) says...
>
> > This cite was posted on a US dominated gardening ng:
> >http://www.alternet.org/water/81301/
>
> > Exactly what is the situation with water supply in the US? =A0I assume t=
hat
> > Larry wouldn't have any problems where he is.
>
> The article gave a pretty good overview of the various regions having
> water problems. =A0The part about global warming causing local droughts is=

> just superstition. =A0Weather is a chaotic system that can't be predicted.=
=A0
>
> The drought in the SE has been particularly hard on people, because they
> have little experience of droughts, and lack experience or
> infrastructure to deal with one. =A0Rainfall in that area is so regular
> that you can normally raise crops without irrigation. =A0Last fall, I was
> asking Jim how his yields were. =A0His soybeans dried out pretty severely,=

> but high crop prices helped him out. =A0It looks like the drought in the
> SE is breaking. =A0One good tropical storm and they will be up to their
> necks in water again.
>
> The real critical area is the Desert Southwest. =A0Las Vegas has a
> problem. =A0So does Los Angeles. =A0Farmers are selling their water rights=

> for more than they could get for their crops. =A0Southern California is
> building ocean desalination plants, but it's a lot cheaper to just go
> out and buy ag water. =A0Recent tree ring paleontology indicates that the
> SW has been in a wet phase, and may return to dry conditions with only
> 1/3 as much average precipitation. =A0If that happens, a bunch of people
> will have to move where the sun don't shine. =A0
>
> Here in the Pacific Northwest, we have lots of water this year. =A0
> However, we have a drought every summer, with no rain for at least 3
> months. =A0Some years the winter rains are pretty short, and the drought
> gets pretty long. =A0I think in 2003 we had 5+ months without rain. =A0You=

> learn to live with it. =A0Everybody in my neighborhood has water storage. =
=A0
> If you want water when you turn the tap, you have to plan ahead for it,
> except when it rains. =A0I don't even use my cistern in the winter. =A0
>
> I hear rumblings about some massive water projects to increase storage,
> but nobody has actually done anything yet. =A0The USA doesn't have
> regional governments, and water projects are a regional issue. Stay
> tuned. =A0We will have a crisis one of these years, and everyone will
> wonder how it happened. =A0
>
> --
> For email, replace firstnamelastinitial
> with my first name and last initial.

In Las Vegas, all new housing construction is mandated to be "desert
scaped" which is basically a rock garden with some cacti or a palm
tree. The water district offers incentives to the homeowner to convert
existing grass to rock, which many are doing with the help of illegal
alien labor. The large watershows at resort/casinos is largely
supplied by their treated laundry water. The problem lies mainly with
the construction boom, which the politicians have refused to curtail.
But the foreclosure/subprime mortgage crisis has stopped that for now.
Another problem lies with folks that have moved in from back east,
and, yes, the Pacific Northwest, that have water wasting habits such
as using the garden hose to clean the driveway and sidewalk. But we
have water police to issue tickets for that.
What makes no sense to me is why we pay Arizona farmers huge
subsidies to grow cotton in the desert with irrigation water, with the
labor done by illegal aliens. There is a worldwide glut of cotton, and
we are driving dirt poor North African farmers out of the world market
with subsidized below cost of production prices, adding to world
poverty, which we then send food aid which they could buy themselves
if allowed to compete in a free market. Do we do it to save American
jobs? Not on the farm, the workers there are Mexican illegals. Not in
the clothing industry, that has mostly gone to China. It is to make a
few rich agri-industrialists richer than they already are so the cash
keeps coming to the politicians.-Jitney

FarmI wrote:
> "Elmo" <ElmoHateSpam@noSpam4U.org> wrote in message
>> FarmI wrote:
>
>>> Too much would probably be as much of a PITA as too little. We've had
>>> cloud cover and I've done everything I can think of to make it rain, but
>>> to no avail. I've made sure I had a line full of washing and left it out
>>> for days, I've washed the car and left it outside where it can get rained
>>> on, I've left secateurs/forks/hand tools out in the garden - still not a
>>> drop of rain.
>> Sympathetic magic only works when the result is inconvenient.
>
> Well a line full of washing that would take 3 days to get dry using my
> dryer, would be most inconvenient. Got any other ideas I could try?
>
>
>
Mowing alfalfa or bromegrass. It usually rains before one can get
it baled. I think it worked better when farmers mowed, raked and then
baled. Using a windrower seem to jinx the process.

Dean


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The message <481010ad$0$1605$5a62ac22@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au>
from "FarmI" <ask@itshall be given> contains these words:

> "Janet Baraclough" <janet.and.john@zetnet.co.uk> wrote in message
> > from "FarmI" <ask@itshall be given> contains these words:
> >
> >> Too much would probably be as much of a PITA as too little. We've had
> >> cloud
> >> cover and I've done everything I can think of to make it rain, but to no
> >> avail. I've made sure I had a line full of washing and left it out for
> >> days, I've washed the car and left it outside where it can get rained on,
> >> I've left secateurs/forks/hand tools out in the garden - still not a
> >> drop of
> >> rain.
> >
> > Hm, strange those rain-charms aren't working normally. Try holding a
> > wedding in the garden,

> Snort! The only 'wedding' that could be done in our garden is a
> 'renewal of
> vows' between me and Himself: since the old vows aren't yet worn out, that
> won't happen any time soon.

Now's your chance to write in some new clauses, to cover stuff like
rubbish hoarding, tool acquisition and Landrover issues.All those
matters that we didn't foreseee when we were dewy-eyed brides.

The other day we went to a charity auction for a project I support. I
thought it was pretty good of J to accompany me , showing support for my
interests etc. As we arrived, one of his cronies greets him with " That
drill I told you about is over there". ??????????????? So, there's a
brand new unused drill; but even I could see, it's the same make and
model as J's own favourite and hugely expensive drill at home, less than
3 yrs old, special request retirement present from his boss. He agrees.
we already have one exactly like it. So, although I've clocked that J
had prior knowledge of the drill being auctioned and only came because
of it, I stood down the opposition because, quite clearly, he wasn't
going to be interested in bidding after all.

Meanwhile his crony hints that his own wife is struggling on the tea
stall so I get diverted to sell soup and teas. This means when the
auction starts , she and I are trapped behind the tea table at the back
of the hall, and (like her husband) J is near the front with his back
to me and eyes forward..

That's how J bid against his crony and bought an identical twin of a
drill he already has for 22 quid, and a piece of Royal Doulton I had my
eye on, for ?2 ...against my starting bid of ?1.
"I thought you'd be really pleased I got that bit if china for you"
he said after.

Janet.

Janet Baraclough wrote:
>
> The message <481010ad$0$1605$5a62ac22@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au>
> from "FarmI" <ask@itshall be given> contains these words:
>
> > "Janet Baraclough" <janet.and.john@zetnet.co.uk> wrote in message
> > > from "FarmI" <ask@itshall be given> contains these words:
> > >
> > >> Too much would probably be as much of a PITA as too little. We've had
> > >> cloud
> > >> cover and I've done everything I can think of to make it rain, but to no
> > >> avail. I've made sure I had a line full of washing and left it out for
> > >> days, I've washed the car and left it outside where it can get rained on,
> > >> I've left secateurs/forks/hand tools out in the garden - still not a
> > >> drop of
> > >> rain.
> > >
> > > Hm, strange those rain-charms aren't working normally. Try holding a
> > > wedding in the garden,
>
> > Snort! The only 'wedding' that could be done in our garden is a
> > 'renewal of
> > vows' between me and Himself: since the old vows aren't yet worn out, that
> > won't happen any time soon.
>
> Now's your chance to write in some new clauses, to cover stuff like
> rubbish hoarding, tool acquisition and Landrover issues.All those
> matters that we didn't foreseee when we were dewy-eyed brides.
>
> The other day we went to a charity auction for a project I support. I
> thought it was pretty good of J to accompany me , showing support for my
> interests etc. As we arrived, one of his cronies greets him with " That
> drill I told you about is over there". ??????????????? So, there's a
> brand new unused drill; but even I could see, it's the same make and
> model as J's own favourite and hugely expensive drill at home, less than
> 3 yrs old, special request retirement present from his boss. He agrees.
> we already have one exactly like it. So, although I've clocked that J
> had prior knowledge of the drill being auctioned and only came because
> of it, I stood down the opposition because, quite clearly, he wasn't
> going to be interested in bidding after all.
>
> Meanwhile his crony hints that his own wife is struggling on the tea
> stall so I get diverted to sell soup and teas. This means when the
> auction starts , she and I are trapped behind the tea table at the back
> of the hall, and (like her husband) J is near the front with his back
> to me and eyes forward..
>
> That's how J bid against his crony and bought an identical twin of a
> drill he already has for 22 quid, and a piece of Royal Doulton I had my
> eye on, for ?2 ...against my starting bid of ?1.
> "I thought you'd be really pleased I got that bit if china for you"
> he said after.
>
> Janet.
>
Hah! That's why I always let my wife do ALL the bidding! Of course,
we're usually at farm auctions. Having a woman bidding against all the
male farmers seems to really throw them off as well. Seems like they
tend to drop out a lot faster then when I use to bid...

-cj

"FarmI" <ask@itshall be given> wrote in
news:48101112$0$1586$5a62ac22@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au:

> "Elmo" <ElmoHateSpam@noSpam4U.org> wrote in message
>> FarmI wrote:
>
>>> Too much would probably be as much of a PITA as too little. We've had
>>> cloud cover and I've done everything I can think of to make it rain,
>>> but to no avail. I've made sure I had a line full of washing and left
>>> it out for days, I've washed the car and left it outside where it can
>>> get rained on, I've left secateurs/forks/hand tools out in the garden
>>> - still not a drop of rain.
>>
>> Sympathetic magic only works when the result is inconvenient.
>
> Well a line full of washing that would take 3 days to get dry using my
> dryer, would be most inconvenient. Got any other ideas I could try?
>
>
>
Obviously, you need to pour some concrete! I believe Sheldon is
available to help.

"Dean Hoffman" <""dh0496\"@ine$br#as&ka.com"> wrote in message
> FarmI wrote:

>> Well a line full of washing that would take 3 days to get dry using my
>> dryer, would be most inconvenient. Got any other ideas I could try?

> Mowing alfalfa or bromegrass. It usually rains before one can get it
> baled. I think it worked better when farmers mowed, raked and then baled.
> Using a windrower seem to jinx the process.

Haymaking would be a good rain bringer! Sadly it's way past the season for
that.

"Janet Baraclough" <janet.and.john@zetnet.co.uk> wrote in message
> from "FarmI" <ask@itshall be given> contains these words:
>
>> "Janet Baraclough" <janet.and.john@zetnet.co.uk> wrote in message
>> > from "FarmI" <ask@itshall be given> contains these words:
>> >
>> >> Too much would probably be as much of a PITA as too little. We've had
>> >> cloud
>> >> cover and I've done everything I can think of to make it rain, but to
>> >> no
>> >> avail. I've made sure I had a line full of washing and left it out
>> >> for
>> >> days, I've washed the car and left it outside where it can get rained
>> >> on,
>> >> I've left secateurs/forks/hand tools out in the garden - still not a
>> >> drop of
>> >> rain.
>> >
>> > Hm, strange those rain-charms aren't working normally. Try holding a
>> > wedding in the garden,
>
>> Snort! The only 'wedding' that could be done in our garden is a
>> 'renewal of
>> vows' between me and Himself: since the old vows aren't yet worn out,
>> that
>> won't happen any time soon.
>
> Now's your chance to write in some new clauses, to cover stuff like
> rubbish hoarding, tool acquisition and Landrover issues.All those
> matters that we didn't foreseee when we were dewy-eyed brides.

:-)) I don't think so! If I included clauses about hoarding, I'd be forced
to clear out my stashes of sewing/craft/spinning 'stuff'.

And I really don't mind his old car addiction (but I haven't yet related to
you the tale of his last aquisition, a 1933 Alvis - what a nightmare!) as I
figure if he's got old cars, I can always find him - he'll be in one of his
sheds either under a car or with his head stuck in it somewhere.
>
> The other day we went to a charity auction for a project I support. I
> thought it was pretty good of J to accompany me , showing support for my
> interests etc.

Snort! I'm giggling now and I haven't even read any more. I wouldn't mind
betting pounds to peanuts that the rest of this tale will tell me how
gullible Mrs B was to think that her husband was being nice to go with her.

As we arrived, one of his cronies greets him with " That
> drill I told you about is over there". ??????????????? So, there's a
> brand new unused drill; but even I could see, it's the same make and
> model as J's own favourite and hugely expensive drill at home, less than
> 3 yrs old, special request retirement present from his boss. He agrees.
> we already have one exactly like it. So, although I've clocked that J
> had prior knowledge of the drill being auctioned and only came because
> of it, I stood down the opposition because, quite clearly, he wasn't
> going to be interested in bidding after all.

Oh yeah? Can't wait to read the rest, but am sure I know what's
coming......

> Meanwhile his crony hints that his own wife is struggling on the tea
> stall so I get diverted to sell soup and teas.

LOL. and youwent didn't yuo? Talk about 'sucked in'..... boy, were you
ever set up!

This means when the
> auction starts , she and I are trapped behind the tea table at the back
> of the hall, and (like her husband) J is near the front with his back
> to me and eyes forward..
>
> That's how J bid against his crony and bought an identical twin of a
> drill he already has for 22 quid, and a piece of Royal Doulton I had my
> eye on, for ?2 ...against my starting bid of ?1.
> "I thought you'd be really pleased I got that bit if china for you"
> he said after.

LOL. Sometimes they just need murdering.............

"cj" <cj@boi.hp.com> wrote in message

> Hah! That's why I always let my wife do ALL the bidding! Of course,
> we're usually at farm auctions. Having a woman bidding against all the
> male farmers seems to really throw them off as well. Seems like they
> tend to drop out a lot faster then when I use to bid...

If your wife is middle aged and not in the eye candy ranks anymore, there
are other ways you could use her. I've found that being a middle aged woman
is wonderful at auctions as I'm now totally invisible to men. My husband
tells me what he's interested in, be it cattle or equipment and then I just
wait till a couple of men are standing near the cattle pen or the equipment
discussing it. I wander up (apparently aimlessly) always looking in the
other direction, but with my ears flapping. Then I go back to my husband
and report how much they are preapred to bid. It's worked well a number of
times.

"Terri" <Terri@micron.net> wrote in message
> "FarmI" <ask@itshall be given> wrote in
>> "Elmo" <ElmoHateSpam@noSpam4U.org> wrote in message
>>> FarmI wrote:
>>
>>>> Too much would probably be as much of a PITA as too little. We've had
>>>> cloud cover and I've done everything I can think of to make it rain,
>>>> but to no avail. I've made sure I had a line full of washing and left
>>>> it out for days, I've washed the car and left it outside where it can
>>>> get rained on, I've left secateurs/forks/hand tools out in the garden
>>>> - still not a drop of rain.
>>>
>>> Sympathetic magic only works when the result is inconvenient.
>>
>> Well a line full of washing that would take 3 days to get dry using my
>> dryer, would be most inconvenient. Got any other ideas I could try?

> Obviously, you need to pour some concrete! I believe Sheldon is
> available to help.

LOL. Thanks for the kind offer, but I think the local village idiot might
be available........

FarmI wrote:
>
> "cj" <cj@boi.hp.com> wrote in message
>
> > Hah! That's why I always let my wife do ALL the bidding! Of course,
> > we're usually at farm auctions. Having a woman bidding against all the
> > male farmers seems to really throw them off as well. Seems like they
> > tend to drop out a lot faster then when I use to bid...
>
> If your wife is middle aged and not in the eye candy ranks anymore, there
> are other ways you could use her. I've found that being a middle aged woman
> is wonderful at auctions as I'm now totally invisible to men. My husband
> tells me what he's interested in, be it cattle or equipment and then I just
> wait till a couple of men are standing near the cattle pen or the equipment
> discussing it. I wander up (apparently aimlessly) always looking in the
> other direction, but with my ears flapping. Then I go back to my husband
> and report how much they are preapred to bid. It's worked well a number of
> times.

Well, I think she's still in the eye candy ranks, and middle aged, heck,
she's only 55. She does get noticed though, it's hard not to notice a 6
foot tall blond wearing cowboy boots and an Akubra hat. Still, they
rarely pay attention to her in the sense that she might be a competing
bidder, so she can get a lot of info as you describe.

I think mostly, with her bidding, the men just don't know how to handle
it. I get the feeling a lot of them think it's somehow not fair to bid
against a woman.

-cj

The message <48115524$0$1626$5a62ac22@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au>
from "FarmI" <ask@itshall be given> contains these words:

> "cj" <cj@boi.hp.com> wrote in message

> > Hah! That's why I always let my wife do ALL the bidding! Of course,
> > we're usually at farm auctions. Having a woman bidding against all the
> > male farmers seems to really throw them off as well. Seems like they
> > tend to drop out a lot faster then when I use to bid...

> If your wife is middle aged and not in the eye candy ranks anymore, there
> are other ways you could use her. I've found that being a middle aged
> woman
> is wonderful at auctions as I'm now totally invisible to men. My husband
> tells me what he's interested in, be it cattle or equipment and then I just
> wait till a couple of men are standing near the cattle pen or the equipment
> discussing it. I wander up (apparently aimlessly) always looking in the
> other direction, but with my ears flapping. Then I go back to my husband
> and report how much they are preapred to bid. It's worked well a number of
> times.

Seems to me now is the time to take up crime. Even if we're spotted,
nobody will be able to give a description; and even if they do, who can
pick out one anonymous female among all the rest ?. "Uh...and she was
wearing..uh....".

Janet