As part of our property we own the bluff behind us, complete with game trails, fossils and now small mudslides. After cutting down an old 50 foot ficus tree we now have a bare wall that needs terraforming, otherwise my hill will end up in the backyard, so we plan.
Terracing
I decided that I was going to do terracing at least 3 stages high, until it turned into the Waimea Bay giant wave that I had to encounter next.
I had a ton of large mason blocks delivered then had to hump it to the back yard, not fun at all, and then my nice stacks went over like dominoes, at least it’s close to the work space.
Once several of the terraces have been established, I’m going to put in lots of Hardy plants to create a nice root structure and help hold the bluff together.
I was fortunate enough to have a good friend haul all of the blocks up on the pony wall where I can just flip them over and set them in place.
next comes the dirt time…
Cool fossils!
Very much so,
From the ded thread:
If we want to be realistic about what it does for America, it helps to be amenable to the idea that it could be beneficial.
First and foremost, its puts China, and Russia to a lesser degree, in a very bad spot. China will be our biggest threat in the coming decades. Putting a stranglehold on their oil supply weakens China in ways most of us can’t really understand, but also in ways we should not discount for lack of understanding. They’ve now lost 2 of their 3 oil suppliers, and Russia is in shambles. Toppling Iran resets the global chessboard in heavily favorable ways.
I don’t understand how it’s not readily apparent why weakening China isn’t beneficial for America.
A lot of American politicians are deep in bed with the CCP. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
That’s an understatement.
Eric Swalwell says hello.
American interventions in Lebanon, Libya, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan did not go well.
Desert Storm was the exception.
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China imported a record 11.6 million barrels per day of crude oil in 2025, with Russia, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Iraq, and Brazil supplying the majority.
***
Bombing Iran doesn’t weaken China, and trying to weaken other countries is a stupid goal anyway.
Previous US interventions in Iran also did not turn out well.
https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp90-00552r000505290007-5
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CBS Network DATE March 2, 1980 7:00 PM CITY Washington, D.C. CIA’s Role in Forming SAVAK MIKE WALLACE: Today is the 120th day the American hostages have been held captive in Teheran, and today marks the end of the first week of the U.N. tribunal’s investigation into the alleged crimes of the deposed Shah. They have been asked also to investigate Iranian charges of U.S. complicity in those acts: Why do so many Iranians believe in U.S. complicity, guilt? Why do they so fervently endorse the anti-American Kho- meini and the holding of the hostages? Of course, we know the embassy takeover was triggered by the Shah’s entry into the U.S. last October for medical treat- ment. More about that later. But beyond that, the fury in Iran focuses on the undenied fact that the CIA restored the exiled Shah to the Peacock Throne back in 1953. And after that, the Iranians have been told, the CIA helped the Shah set up SAVAK, the secret police force that has tortured so many thousands of them. . A classified Senate Foreign Relations Committee report confirms the CIA’s role in forming SAVAK. It says the CIA pro- vided the Shah money, as well as training, for that purpose. Of course, the brutality came later. In 1976, in Niabran (?) Palace in Teheran, I asked the Shah about the continuing reports of torture Inflicted by his SAVAK upon so many of his citizens. Now, when an outfit like the International Commission of Jurists comes here and then comes out with a report saying that in spite of what you say, Your Majesty, torture continues…
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It’s well known the Shah was a sack of shit but he wasn’t the first sack of shit we’ve supported and he definitely wasn’t the last.
Because taking crazy risks that could lead to wider conflicts isn’t worth the payoff and that’s leaving aside the moral issues of stomping around the world while bombing everything that moves and that has the nerve to not agree with us. If we could just wave a magic wand and, poof, weaker China sure.
Do you really want to go with the “just doesn’t agree with us” nonsense?
You understand what hyperbole is I assume.
You are describing exactly how WWII in the Pacific started. Cut off an country’s energy and assume they’ll accept it.
Rubio just said the quite part aloud. We attacked because the Israelis were going to attack. No other reason.
https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/2028576202420535469
The Japanese were fighting long before FDR poked at them.
Japan was minding its own business and then the oil stopped. They were entitled to that resource (and other resources such as steel) and thus had to go on the attack. I’m not a big fan of this reading of history. That said, I’m not into this, most recent, fuckaround in the Middle East at all.
That said that said, now having watched Rubio’s press clip, the idea that somehow the US was cornered into acting is tough to swallow as well.
Foreign intervention polls poorly and yet, the War Party always gets what it wants.
I love hard scapeing.
I like the labor of it.
Sadly I’m a gimp and break off projects that are too big for me anymore.
I have two projects in the yard that are entering their fifth year. No rocks placed at all last year.
OMG the “affordable housing” that Mamdani went to Trump hat in hand for?
It’s supposed to be built on a deck over a gigantic train yard.
😂🤣
Proposed many times and laughed out of the room every time.
That’s awesome.
Who dosent like the sound and smells of trains 24/7?
There are train yards underneath several Manhattan projects so it’s not that so much as the cost. I would guess millions of dollars per apartment, at least. But who cares – they’re not paying for it. You are.
All the ‘affordable housing’ projects I have read about cost multiple times per square foot than my house did. Often several times what my house cost for apartments that are in the neighborhood of 400 square feet or less.
Only government would think that something like that is affordable. Never in the useful life of the building does something like that manage to pay for itself.
The wrong side of the tracked moves into the third dimension.
“Mamdani needs $21 billion in federal investment to make it a reality”
Bullshit. Add a zero, at least.
Yeah, it’s preposterous. $21B isn’t even a down payment on the deferred repairs required to keep the existing supply of public housing projects from falling down.
But no worries. The other 90% is going to come from fatcats and kkkorporations.
California High Speed Rail taps it’s nose.
What’s the power consumption in the hot tub?
My wife and I have been milling over getting one for several years and that’s the real sticking point.
Mine is an older model but heating should be about the same. Consumption is ~4kWhr/day for pumps and heater. 200 gallons.
I’ll likely pick up a used one, seems like there are dozens that come up in my area for free or next to nothing.
If that’s a good average that’s about $15 a month for me plus the stupid surge pricing they do for the most used 15 min of the day, at 21X the regular price of the power. They started that crap two years ago.
Bleach the fuck out of it. Do you know what people do in hot tubs?
Do you know what I have done in peoples hot tubs?
Do you know what I have done in peoples hot tubs?
“I am the one who
knocksnuts!”Snort coke?
Terraforming! Cool. You gonna go with cacti?
Ice plants, succulents and honey suckle, maybe
Depending on the particular breed, honeysuckle sucks. I’d rid my property of it in a heartbeat if it were something feasible.
What’s wrong with honeysuckle? Apart from smelling like murder.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036775/quotes/?item=qt0480110
Succulents are fun and easy to split.
Enjoy the climate!
The lady across the street from me in San Diego is an expert on succulents. Deborah Lee Baldwin.
Here’s one of her books:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Debra-Lee-Baldwin-Designing-with-Succulents-English-Hardcover-9781604697087/55695784?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0
Looks like a serious project, Bobbo. A lot of work.
We hardly use our deck, we used to BBQ out there but probably not for 20 years now. Our friends and relatives are far fewer. In nice weather I may sit out there in the morning with my first cup of Joe.
This project is more keeping the hillside on the hill, plants make roots, roots keep soil.
Damn Bill Clinton is a funny scumbag.
https://x.com/DominguezH31015/status/2028612652348399782
He dosent care. Even if he was guilty of terrible things he would skate.
That looks like SD. I thought you were moving to OKC?
I have a place in OKC, but still live here in SD, this is a priority, unlesss I want to wake up to a mudslide in the den
A mudslide in the den would get the bears out of hibernation early.
OK then. Carry on.
Coyotes and pellet guns, winning!
Awesome. Stuff like that looks like hard work but also fun and very satisfying to finish.
I want to do more home and landscaping projects around here, but I’m currently out of funds for supplies.
Bobbo, I appreciate your industriousness. You are always creating.