Neem oil, planetary physics, & walking one’s brain

Friday, Jun. 14, 2002 – 6:52 pm

2002-06-14 6:52

Quest for Neem Concentrate Resolved

After the expedition the previous day on the back roads of Wake County, I opted to take I-40 to the Lowes in Clayton in my continuing quest for Neem Concentrate. Arriving not only before they closed but even while it was still light allowed me to peruse the plants they had sitting out. Ever since my success with the Rose de Rescht that I “rescued from Rose Abuse” at the Lowes in Cary, I have wandered through to see if other places have roses needing “rescue.” At this location, it appears that they had sold all their roses (except for some groundcover varieties like Carefree Delight.)

Going to Lowes is kind like going to Sam’s or Costco. You always walk out with more stuff than you intended to when you walked in. I had some specific things I was looking for: Neem Concentrate (found!), satin finish polyurethane (check), a blue pot for the remaining Kitty Hawk. I did find a nice short, wide pot with good drain holes and a nice mottled blue glaze on the outside. One of the books I read suggested that miniatures do well in pots that are wider rather than deep because their roots grow more out than down. We will see how this works.

While looking for the pots, I stumbled across the aisle with the tarps. There I found a 16’x20′ “blue on one side/green on the other” tarp. That sounded to me like just the right size for a combo rainfly/sunshade for the tent at Pennsic so I got that as well. Ok, one thing that I didn’t actually come in to get… that’s not too bad…. Hey, look at these cool tarp clips! I bet those would work great! (9 of them go in the basket…). Ok so now there are 10 things in my basket that I did not come in intending on buying….

Finding the pots reminded me that I had use up all the potting soil I had so off I headed for the big bags of potting soil. After looking at several different kinds (some with fertilizer mixed it, others with “water-saving crystals” mixed in, and even some with all of the above), I notice a kind that was made for roses…. Ok, that settles that… into the cart it went. NOW we head for the cashier!


As I was driving home (about a 25 minute journey), I was noticing the sliver of the moon with a planet to the upper left of it (probably Venus but maybe Jupiter, according to the Skywatcher’s Diary. This set me contemplating (and trying to get my brain around) what the path of the moon and planets if the tilt of the earth’s axis were different (like exactly perpendicular to the plane of orbit or, even more mind-straining parallel to the plane of orbit). Ok, ignoring the other celestial objects, what would the path of the SUN be across the sky in a given day? and how would it change in the course of a year (in the case #2… if the axis of rotation were perpendicular to the plane of the orbit, there would be no change.)? That set me looking at the problem from another angle (so to speak [grin])…. what would the angle need to be to have the sun basically circle the sky, just above the horizon (so it would be due north at midnight, due east at 6am, due south at noon, and due west at 6pm)? is it even possible?? If so, could you actually see it appear to be moving? hmmmm…. I would hate to think what this kind of conjecture would do to someone doing psychedelic drugs…. their brain would probably leak out throught their ears.


back to reality….. I went walking with nia-nia and Nikulai on the greenway…. It wasn’t that bad! Ok, so I did, at one point turn to Nia and say “so, did you remember to bring the machete?” but for the most part, the trail was obvious. Once in the Jaycee park, the trail forked a number of times but it was not like we were LOST or anything. Ok it was hot and the route we took back to campus was not the most level but we made it! As we were getting back to campus, we started discussing options for eating. I was listing the eateries in the area, without regard for their “points” potential. Nia pointed this out and I explained that I was walking my brain down Hillsborough St. This envoked some very interesting imagery. I paused in mid-sentence and it was pointed out that someone must have stepped on my brain. Ok, I guess you had to be there….

Ack! Time to go home!!

Oh, I only found one live japanese beatle in the garden this morning!!