h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Talkative tonight, aren't we.

Hello and welcome.

*sips *

Apparently our office had violated Murphy's Law in some way, as it was strictly enforced today. Internet and Fax machine died mid-day, which of course happened to be the day we get new clients in. And also the day that the Salonistas decided to put several pages onto the backlog!

Hello to Earth Guide! I hail from Flagstaff, Arizona, which cannot be considered a "major city" by any stretch of the imagination. It was never a state capitol, and the one song that mentions it (Get Your Kicks on Route 66) only does so because it's mentioning a whole litany of cities (which sets it apart from Winslow and Tucson, Arizona, immortalized by the Eagles and the Beatles respectively, in a more specific manner).

Regarding LiveJournal, I have an account: I'm known as Greenbandit there.

*adds someone else, though her idea that adding more friends will give her more to read is a bit off, considering how long it's been since either of her new friends on LJ have updated*

I've thought about LJ, but refuse to pay to actually do things of interest. I'll take blogger, thanks (or whatever they call the website Google bought a while back).

One of my good friends is moving to DC...boo! But it's a good thing for her, and if I go to DC, then I can spend all my money on the museums instead of lodgings. So that's a plus, right?!

Hi Earthguide

Morning everyone.

The reason I'm late today is because I had a wormery crisis this morning.

I wonder what tomorrow's reason will be.

B

A wormery crisis??

>It took me 20+ years to realise I *didn't* have to keep all the books I've ever owned
*faints*

It's bad enough that Mrs SG V says we're getting no more shelves. Period. So when I have filled them, it's time to throw aw...... *faints again*

lml and lmn - only me getting ? ...

I am too. I keep thinking people are talking to me and then look closer and realise its not me!

morning all

That'll teach me - the earworm had gone but is back now thanks to the backlog

I have to do a book cull soon, T'boy is almost ready to take ownership of his new bedroom so the bookshelf has to be cleared for his books rather than ours. I don't want to put yet more stuff in the loft so lots of them have got to go. Not sure what selection criteria to use - my preferred method (get rid of stuff that J bought as it is probably rubbish, keep the stuf that I bought as it is Literature, even the trashy murder-mysteries ) doesn't seem to be going down well with J.

Jam turned out fabulous - am now wondering when my twin-set, pearls, and WI membership card will arrive. J said that won't happen until I have mastered baking, being able to cook one type of cake and brownies doesn't apparently constitute mastery.

Anyone have a recipe for courgette chutney? Neighbours and friends are now avoiding us if we are seen clutching something green.

k

PS *waves to new entrants*

I like the WI - and nary a twin-set amongst us Kelli.

The criteria I use when culling books are

1) how likely is it that I'll want to read it again? and
2) how hard is it to replace?

I'll happily ditch books that are still in print but am much more careful about stuff that's out of print or hard to replace.

Amazon and Alibris have made me much more willing to think of books as rental items though. In fact thanks to some nice Amazon Resellers, I've managed to replaace the two or three mistakes I have made when getting rid of books.

B

I have just made myself a completely disgusting cup of tea. How did I do it? I'm sure I was paying attention.

To my mounting annoyance, all the typing and mouse-work is making my hands ache. And I have so much more to do. Curses curses curses.

We used to end up turning the courgettes into soup and freezing it. When we finally left the place and had to turn out the gigantic chest-freezer in the stables, we found layer after layer of courgette soup, the freezer-bags flattened into greenish pointy pancakes. The bottom layer was *gasp* nearly ten years old. Moral of story, you are, in fact, allowed to throw the excess away if your friends and neighbours don't want them.

I've just recycled some courgettes that turned into marrows. On the compost heap.
My wormery seems to lurch from one crisis to the next.
It's going to need resited since its current position allows too much rain water to get into the doings. I'm having to leave the tap permanently open to stop the wee beasties from drowing. Think I need to order some more red worms as, due to my incompetence and inexperience, there are very few left

I'm sure I meant to say something more but find I have a memory like a hen this morning.

Do you want me to bring some with me on Saturday, Teuchter? I have lots of really very endearing worms. Big fat juicy ones, as the song says.

What's all this fascination with worms then?

As is probabaly obvious, having just gravelled over a third of my lawn, I don't have very green fingers.

The gravel is very nice btw, it's local "brown pebbles", which have an interesting variegation of size and colour. The bed will provide a backdrop for a focal point of Peter, an ancient heirloom cherub statue-cum-birdbath thing, and I have visions of Peter holding an urn overflowing with trailing honeysuckle...We'll add logs, boulders, sleepers, other pots of things, over time. Possibly even a post-modern post-ironic garden gnome.

*running round like a mad hatter IRL so only ing here*

Courgettes? Marrows? Apparently these are the same things as zucchini which is the same thing that my supermarket insists on merely labeling "squash". How many names can there be for one vegetable? And what is it about zucchini that causes people to name it so many different things?

so the vegetable that comes out of a grocery store in the states isbt a

Courgette Stingray?!

well does that change the fact that over here its a

Lettuce Elan?!

d'E They are trying to trick people into eating that foul creation.

Well, zucchino, the Italian term (zucchini being the PLURAL, you weird Americans ), means 'little squash'. Zucca being a squash. Or possibly a pumpkin. Italians seem not to differentiate much between pumpkins, squashes and marrows. Italians took the vegetable to America, so that's why Americans call it zucchini. The French introduced the concept of cooking it as a savory vegetable to Britain, hence 'courgette'. Left to our own devices, we'd've probably carried on calling them 'baby marrows', leaving them on the plant until they were the size of zeppelins, and then making jam out of them. Or stuffing them with something obnoxious made out of the more private and disposable parts of lambs. Eliza Acton has many weird things to do to a marrow. One is marrow stuffed with marrow. Bone marrow. Good Lord.

Still can't figure out why anyone would willingly eat it, by any name. Ah well.