I went outside this morning and discovered that on one of my Peony plants that had about 20 potential flower buds, at least a dozen of them had been snapped off, chewed and enough petal evidence left to make me cry this morning. Squirrels and chipmunks are my problem and I am ready to start target practice.
I was googling Groundhog Gun and Varmint Gun yesterday. We have a virtual Meerkat Manor or Groundhog Gardens at our farm. Dozens of groundhogs. Ill see if I can get some photos of their dens. I have not noticed any in the garden so far this spring. Then again, they like beans and the beans have not come up yet.
I may have to get some serious firepower. I also noticed that we have a firing range within a mile or so of the farm. Super.
Don't have the official mileage yet, but I finished 18+ this morning in 3:14:30. Thank you to everyone who sent good luck wishes via the comments or email!
Waaaaaaaaay back in business school - in the first semester of my first year in 1992 - I read a book called The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement for my Technology and Operations Management class. The book made a big impression back then and is pretty much a must-read for anyone interested in improving the performance of manufacturing or distribution operations. Fast forward 16 years. One of our main priorities at work this year is to improve the performance of our supply chain - which in book publishing incluseds everything from printing to distribution to returns. Our work on supply chain led us to some consultants with a company called the Goldratt Group. As in Eli Goldratt. As in Eli Goldratt, author of The Goal along with a bunch of other books. Goldratt has a really interesting story as he's a physicist by training who has turned his scientific approach to solving business problems. Eli (pictured above with me and my colleagues and two consultants - Eli is the one on th...
Haruki Murakami has written a memoir titled What I Talk About When I Talk About Running that is worth checking out if you are a runner (full disclosure - I work for the book's publisher). The book will be released July 29th. The quote I used for the title of the post comes from this passage, where Murakami writes about a mental aspect of running marathons - having a mantra: One runner told of a mantra his older brother, also a runner, had taught him which he's pondered ever since he began running. Here it is: Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional. Say you're running and you start to think, Man this hurts, I can't take it anymore. The hurt part is an unavoidable reality, but whether or not you can stand any more is up to the runner himself. This pretty much sums up the most important aspect of marathon running. An excerpt from the book was published in a recent issue of The New Yorker, but unfortunately all that's online at this point is an abstract . You ca...
Comments
...I'll trade my rat/vole/rodent thing for it!
I may have to get some serious firepower. I also noticed that we have a firing range within a mile or so of the farm. Super.