Urban Hayseedrant | Urban Hayseed

Rant From The Past: The Bee Geek Learns a Lesson

Rian — Thu, 26 May 2011 04:09:21 +0000

This is kinda funny. It’s a post I wrote a year and a half ago, but I never published. Sounds like I’d had a lot of coffee that day.

This weekend, my son’s most excellent elementary school had their annual Harvest Festival. This year, I was asked to MC the booth on mason [...]

MMWS: Day 9 – And with that, summer is officially, totally over.

Rian — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 05:32:17 +0000

If you’re looking at this live, you’ll see that the temperature in Portland is in the mid-to-low 40s. On top of that it’s windy and rainy. Any illusion of late, late summer is brought harshly to reality if you so much as look out a window. Tonight’s garbage (and yard debris) night, and [...]

Sweet!: A Month Without Sweeteners

Rian — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 00:19:10 +0000

How about that for a change of pace?

OK, I admit it. I’ve been gone a while. I have received, what I guess you couldn’t really describe as ‘hate mail’ but neither was it ‘fan mail’, messages to the effect that I suck for disappearing. I apologize.

However, it has been an interesting [...]

Are You Allergic to Bee Stings?

Rian — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 21:24:15 +0000

Probably not.

My neighbor just informed me (after I made the mistake of telling him that I was going to keep honey bees) that he has “really bad anti-falactic shock to bee stings.” I can only assume that he was asserting that he would go into anaphylactic shock if he were to be [...]

Why I Hate Earth Hour

Rian — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 01:34:09 +0000

I just got an email from my very nice neighbor trying to raise support for Earth Hour. Again, my blog, I get to be super-duper cynical on it.

I hate this kind of thing.

Earth Hour is supposed to be “a statement of concern about our planet and climate change.” So, we all [...]

What happened to UPS?

Rian — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 21:43:21 +0000

I’ll admit that I was a little late ordering my Christmas presents. A) I’m not a Christian, and B) The whole “consumer’s Christmas” schtick is a little nauseating. Still, not to be a total grinch and to help stave off the inevitable collapse of our economy, I ordered some crap. Call it peer [...]

Obama: The New Great Compromiser

Rian — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 19:50:28 +0000

Sorry, I can’t help myself. Don’t read this. Stop right now.

You’re still reading. Stop. It’s just my own political whining.

Fine. Whatever. Read. I don’t care.

Remember Henry Clay? No? JFK said he was one of the five greatest senators of all time. Why? Compromise. Lincoln (a senator from Illinois, no less) [...]

Is Lying Required in Politics? or Et tu Obamay?

Rian — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 01:14:11 +0000

WARNING: This has nothing whatsoever to do with gardens, food, or chickens.

I’ve been an Obama supporter from early on. I was impressed with his willingness to step up in his first term to oppose the war and stick to that position. I was impressed when he started actually making nuanced statements about [...]

Fireworks Stink

Rian — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 07:54:30 +0000

Happy 4th. I hate fireworks. They’re dangerous, noisy, polluting, and everyone’s already seen them. Sorry. If that makes me a “humbug,” so be it. Why is it OK to scare everyone’s dog, keep their kids awake, and contaminate our air and water as a sign of… not wanting to be British anymore? Tonight, [...]

Notes from an unenlightened gardener.

Rian — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 23:45:27 +0000

Alan Watts said something to the effect that you don’t go to a symphony to hear the finale.

Gardening just for the tomato or raising chickens just for the eggs is kinda like that.

The perfect tomato will be so for, maybe, one day. Shortly thereafter it’ll either get flushed down the toilet [...]