Brian is a Permaculture Designer

Posted on May 16, 2011 by Brian Gallimore

I presented my design today and graduated.  I’m amazed at how much material we covered in the 11 day class.  It was a whirlwind of knowledge, ideas, concepts, getting dirty, building a raised bed, rain barrel, herb spiral, compost pile, working in a group, doing drawings, sketching, talking, and stomping on mud to make cobb.  Overall, this was a very enjoyable and meaningful experience.  If you get the chance, I highly recommend taking classes from Dick Pierce.  I like the way he teaches, he packs tons of material in, makes things fun, and is a great facilitator of co-operation.

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Sims Lang – February 6, 1944 – May 5, 2011

Posted on May 9, 2011 by Brian Gallimore

I wanted to honor Amber’s dad who just passed Thursday.  I’ll always remember his amazing ability to remove any bird flying in his vicinity with his 20 gauge shotgun and I respect him greatly for his ability to show unconditional love for his children, one of which I was lucky enough to marry.  Below is the text that will appear in his obituary:

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Sims Braxton Lang, age 67, of DeSoto, passed away Thursday, May 5, 2011 at Charlton Methodist Hospital. He was born February 6, 1944 in Boone, Iowa to Charles Braxton and Marilyn (Hastings) Lang. Sims married Glenda Williams on December 27, 1970 and was a member of the Southwest Baptist Church. He served in the U. S. Army during the Vietnam War. He was an avid hunter and fisherman. Sims was a loving husband, father, grandfather and brother.

Survivors include his loving wife of 40 years, Glenda Lang of DeSoto; son, Braxton Lang and wife Stacey of Austin; daughter, Amber Gallimore and husband Brian of Allen; grandson, Bryson Gallimore of Allen; brother, Dan Lang and wife Janice of Abilene; sister, Debby Hardin and husband Curtis of Mesquite; niece Alicia Grills of Rockwall; nephews, Charles Friedrichs of Norman, OK and Trent Lang of Austin. He was preceded in death by his parents.

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Garden Update – May 6, 2011

Posted on May 6, 2011 by Brian Gallimore

Everything is my garden is growing along pretty nicely.  Out of all my beds, the new bed with 100% imported soil is doing the best.  I think my next project will be to add another 12″ of height to my existing beds and bring in some better soil.  I’m pretty happy with the growth, but after seeing other gardens like Damon’s, I know I’m not getting the results that are possible.  I’m also pissed off with my blackberries.  The fruit they put off are these tiny little things.  I think I’ll dig them up and replace them this fall with a super-hybrid variety that will pump out some good fruit.

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A Few Bryson Pictures

Posted on May 6, 2011 by Brian Gallimore

I asked Bryson if his slide was working ok, and if I could take a picture of him at the top.  To him, this was a quest to see how quickly and how many times he could slide down and run up the slide without stopping long enough to let me take a picture.  Fortunately, I happen to have some camera skills and there was enough light for a fast shutter speed.

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Death of Bin Laden

Posted on May 4, 2011 by Brian Gallimore

     I’ve been very busy lately and haven’t had time to read much of the analysis of the Bin Laden death, but I had a awkward feeling when I heard the talking heads tell me I need to be joyous and celebrate the event.  Don’t misunderstand me, I wanted him dead, but the celebration part didn’t seem right.  Two of the people I follow and have great respect for both communicated some things that describe why I don’t feel like celebrating.  The first one is a short commentary by Michael Badnarik.  The second on is my favorite podcast show by Dan Carlin.  If you have the type of mind that thinks, I’d love to hear what you think!

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Damon’s Backyard – Dallas Texas

Posted on April 30, 2011 by Brian Gallimore

We covered the topic of small animals today in my PDC class.  We took a field trip down to a ‘beginners’ (his words) garden a few blocks away to see his chickens.  The first thing I saw was his tomato plants!  I couldn’t believe how huge they were!  After a few minutes of shock, I started noticing all the other things Damon has done to make his backyard more useful and enjoyable.  I didn’t want to leave.  He has a really cool chicken coup that allows the birds to travel freely between their fancy coup and their side yard.  Then I turned a corner and noticed his bee hive.  He installed a water feature to keep the bees happy, and to prevent his neighbor’s pool from being used as a bee watering hole.  The bamboo are recycled window shades, used to dress up his potato stacks.  His back fence is made from hog panels, and doubles as trellis for climbing plants.

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Garden at Stonewall Elementary School – Dallas Texas

Posted on April 30, 2011 by Brian Gallimore

After my PDC class a few of us stopped by to look at the gardens around the Stonewall Elementary School.  It was great to see all this gardening activity at a school.  There was also a butterfly garden and a greenhouse that I didn’t take pictures of.  Lots of bees and pollinators all over the place.

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Vehicle Fuel Economy Comparisons

Posted on April 27, 2011 by Brian Gallimore

I drove a VW Jetta last weekend are really liked it.  I hate little cars, but this is one of the few I’ve even been in that I liked.  I seemed to ‘feel right’.   So that experience and the obscene about of money I’m spending to keep quadzilla fed in 93 octane has me considering a more reasonable daily driver vehicle.  The era of cheap dino-fuel is over.

Being a chart-geek, I decided to look at the situation from a few different viewpoints.  A few things I found interesting:

  • At $4/gal fuel, driving 300 miles/wk, and upgrading to a vehicle that gets 28MPG better economy translates to a savings of $3640/yr.  $5/gal fuel would increase the savings to $4550/yr.
  • I could ‘save’ the most money if changing vehicles to a more efficient model if I drove more miles per week than I do, and chart 2 shows that distance is the most influential variable.  BUT, it also means I can save the most by simply not driving as many miles.  Staying home pays off, and it pays off even more when you drive a gas guzzler!
  • Chasing maximum MPG efficiency doesn’t pay off very well.  You get a nice savings for the first 15 MPG increase, but it starts to flatten out quickly.  Driving 300 miles/wk on $4/gal fuel, an increase of 10MPG gives a yearly savings of $2364, 20MPG increase gives $3250/yr, 30MPG increase gives $3712/yr, and 40MPG gives a yearly savings of only $4000.
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Crazy Photos

Posted on April 26, 2011 by Brian Gallimore
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The New Dog Feeder

Posted on April 16, 2011 by Brian Gallimore

Sometimes Bryson likes to help out, and getting the dogs their food is one of the things he is ‘good’ at.  It takes a while to get the job done, and when the bag is close to empty, he has to bend over and get on his tippy toes to reach the bottom.  It is a pretty funny site to see.

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