One Pill Made Me Larger: Tripping on Bonsai

Does the current economic downturn have you contemplating a career change? Have you considered taking a hallucinogenic drug? No? Let me tell you, it worked for me.

Wait! Hold it! I’m not talking about my recent departure from my gig with the Santa Barbara Parks & Recreation Department. I’m talking about the early 70s when I began extricating myself from the music business and entering the world of horticulture.

The rest of this sordid tale is posted at my most recent Edhat.com blog, Santa Barbara's finest on-line news and entertainment site.

Santa Barbara Edhat : Tripping on Bonsai

Toxic Aisles at the Drug Store

When Big Pharma extends its tendrils into the gardening aisle at my local drug store, I get worried. I poked around a little to see what Bayer (last I recall, they were pimping aspirin) was up to. This recent post at my Edhat.com blog made me realize that healing the sick and obliterating garden pests and diseases can walk hand in hand.

While I've got you here, stay tuned for a big announcement in September. Susan Harris, one of the forces of nature behind the wildly popular GardenRant blog has marshaled the talents of a national cadre of garden bloggers (me included) to spread the gospel about lawn alternatives. Watch for LawnReform.org.

Laid Off: My New Career Opportunity...

June 30 - poof, out the door after 21 years with the City of Santa Barbara's Parks and Recreation Department. I posted this article at my bi-weekly Edhat.com column. What floors me is the response from my community. I'm having a Sally Field moment: "You like me! You REALLY like me!"

One door closes and a whole bunch more open. Read on for recipes on making lemons into lemon sorbet.

WAY Off Topic...

I usually just write about my smallish world of landscape-related things but this was too good to pass up. My wife, Lin, forward this, no doubt due to my impending retirement from my 21 year gig at the City of Santa Barbara...

Here ya go...my kinda humor.
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TRIP TO WAL-MART

Yesterday I was at my local Wal-Mart buying a large bag of Purina dog chow for my loyal pet, Biscuit, the Wonder Dog and was in the checkout line when woman behind me asked if I had a dog.

What did she think I had, an elephant? So since I'm retired and have little to do, on impulse I told her that no, I didn't have a dog, I was starting the Purina Diet again. I added that I probably shouldn't, because I ended up in the hospital last time, but that I'd lost 50 pounds before I awakened in an intensive care ward with tubes coming out of most of my orifices and IVs in both arms.

I told her that it was essentially a perfect diet and that the way that it works is to load your pants pockets with Purina nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry. The food is nutritionally complete so it works well and I was going to try it again. (I have to mention here that practically everyone in line was now enthralled with my story.) Horrified, she asked if I ended up in intensive care because the dog food poisoned me. I told her no, I stepped off a curb to sniff an Irish Setter's ass and a car hit us both.

I thought the guy behind her was going to have a heart attack he was laughing so hard. Walmart won't let me shop there anymore.

Better watch what you ask retired people. They have all the time in the world to think of crazy things to say.

Forward this (especially) to all your retired friends.... it will be their Laugh for the day!

Video Blog - SF Flower + Garden Show

I think I'm finding my way at video editing. Still very much in the experimental stages of using iMovie and my point and shoot, but this one's got titles and a sound track. How's that for high tech. Lemme know what you think...all feedback would be appreciated.

While this is nowhere near the production quality of my Santa Barbara TV show (Garden Wise Guys with Owen Dell) it keeps me off the streets.

This segment is footage from my trip up north a few weeks ago. Although it might look like I was driving in a perilous manner, my eyes never left the road and my fingers never left my hands.