It's a bit cloudy and windy today. It started out calmly this morning when I was up on the roof with the shopvac cleaning out the tray of the swamp cooler. The salts from the water had clogged the drip rails last season, so I figured that I'd give it a good cleaning. Within an hour or so, it was humming along and it now cools the house nicely.

The LW is off to have lunch with Brandy today. It's become a Friday ritual of sorts and it gets her out of the house. I think that they were headed to Pei Wei for some oriental style food. I've had a few appointments this week and it's kept me busy and kept my mind off of the "watched pot" that is my wife.

I heard a really good story while listening to Science Friday on the way home this afternoon. It was all about farming and how we have basically taken a good solution, in having animals and crops on the same farm, and have separated it into two problems (where cows go to feedlots and corn fields need nitrogen). The story was about how some farmers have started to use a closed-loop system. I heard of this one farmer who lets cows feed in a pasture, moves them out, waits 3 days, then moves in chickens. The 3 day wait allows the grubs in the cow manure to grow. The chickens move in, dig up the grubs, and spread the manure at the same time. The flies are kept to a minimum because the chickens catch them in the larval stage. The LW and I dream of eventually living somewhere that gets regular rains and feeding ourselves from what we grow and gaining income from the extra that we sell. Ahhhhhh maybe someday we'll find such a place where the local science education hasn't been gutted and supplanted by myth.