Tips For Turning Your Concrete Jungle Into A Paradise

'Tis the season to get out into the garden and pick out the weed that are threatening to kill all your annuals and perennials that you worked so hard planting in the Spring.

Although this year I decided to say enough is enough with spending a bundle on flowers that I can only enjoy for maybe three month of the year. Southern Ontario is a zone 5 so it gets a little cold for all but the heartiest of native plants by early October (if your lucky).

This year I found a couple of great deals on Ebay for Cotton and Polyester flowers, although they try to sell them as Silk. I don't know why they do this, but it's better that the Tiger and Water Lillies, Orchids, Roses and the two Palm trees (a Yucca and a Phoenix Palm) that I bought are made from this durable blend.

I did a little research and found out that this type of artificial plants are guaranteed for six or more years depending on location and climate. I sprayed a liberal coating of an acrylic lacquer, resistant to water and staining on them, which should extend their wear. Note, test your lacquer out on the underside of a petal or leaf first.

The artificial along with the row of Pine trees lining one side of the yard, the late blooming Lilacs to the rear, and to my pleasant surprise, a large flowering shrub has sprung up on the remaining side camouflaging to an extent an eye sore weed tree that is growing through my fence from a neighbors side who repeatedly states that he is planning to cut it down; all help to provide a little escape from the ugliness of my inner city surroundings.

Any way I digress, I would love to find out what this flower is. I never planted it and nobody I've talked to knows who or when it was planted. I would best describe the flowers as reddish orange bell shaped. Anyone who knows the name of this, please drop a not, I would be happy.

I don't have a camera so I don't have any pictures, if I remember while I'm out I'll pick up a disposable and snap some shots and post them later.

Any who, here is the recipe for my homemade weed killer that is 100% good for the environment and guaranteed to turn anything organic brown and dead so be careful around the grass,

This is for a 10 Litres (2.5 US Gallons) batch that will easily cover an average size garden or yard.

All conversions are ballpark

10 Litres (2.5 US Gallons) of Water
1 Litre (32 Ounces or 4 cups) White Vinegar
283Grams (10 Ounces or 22 Tbsp) Regular Table Salt

Boil water in a large pot, add vinegar and salt. Pour HOT liquid on weeds to be killed. BE CAREFUL how you pour the water as not to burn yourself and I repeat don't let the water run on top of the soil because it will kill what ever it touches.

The Good, The Bad and Down Right Ugly of This Past Weekend In Sports

Well, the weekend in sports was definitely a roller coaster ride. Up down, around the loop- to- loop I went, weeing and screaming all the way. When the ride stopped, first I was jacked and then I was right sick.

Warm and Fuzzies

Way to go Lance Armstrong, you are truly an inspiration to humanity. Armstrong by winning his seventh Tour de France by almost five minutes has etched himself into sporting lore ahead of Gretzky, Woods and all the other contemporaries that he spoke so eloquently of in his farewell speech. Cheers!

As well, congratulations are in further due for Armstrong not being able to resist a parting shot at "the people who don't believe in cycling, the cynics and the skeptics" who suspect that doping is rife and fuelled his dominance of the past seven years.

"I'm sorry you don't believe in miracles. But this is a hell of a race," he said. "You should believe in these athletes, and you should believe in these people. I'll be a fan of the Tour de France for as long as I live. And there are no secrets - this is a hard sporting event and hard work wins it."

Quotes Curtesy of Associated Press

The Good.

I did fantastic in my Yahoo Sports Fantasy Racing League on Sunday. At the end of NASCAR's Pennsylvania 500 mt stats looked like this.


Notes Started Finish Laps LapsLed QualBonus LapsBonus Score Pts
(A List)
Ryan Newman Dodge 4 5 203 1 1pt 10pts 82 93
(B List)
Rusty Wallace Dodge 13 2 203 18 10 88 98
Mark Martin Ford 3 3 203 26 3 10 86 99
(C List)
Joe Nemechek Chevrolet 14 22 203 8 10 48 58

Race Total:348
If anyone else plays in a fantasy league drop a line and tell me how you did. I had a pretty good day for a rather lack luster season.

Here's the Official Race Results and Summary.

St Car Driver Make Sponsor Pts/Bonus Laps Status
1 2 #97 Kurt Busch Ford IRWIN Industrial Tools 190/10 203 Running
2 13 #2 Rusty Wallace Dodge Miller Lite 175/5 203 Running
3 3 #6 Mark Martin Ford Viagra 170/5 203 Running
4 41 #99 Carl Edwards Ford Office Depot 160/0 203 Running
5 4 #12 Ryan Newman Dodge Mobil 1/Speedpass 160/5 203 Running
6 10 #29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet GM Goodwrench 150/0 203 Running
7 6 #20 Tony Stewart Chevrolet The Home Depot 146/0 203 Running
8 23 #18 Bobby Labonte Chevrolet Interstate Batteries 142/0 203 Running
9 34 #0 Mike Bliss Chevrolet NetZero Best Buy 138/0 203 Running
10 5 #21 Ricky Rudd Ford Motorcraft Genuine Parts 134/0 203 Running
11 1 #42 Jamie McMurray Dodge Texaco Havoline 130/0 203 Running
12 9 #48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Lowe's 127/0 203 Running
13 21 #24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet DuPont 124/0 203 Running
14 8 #25 Brian Vickers Chevrolet GMAC/ditech.com 121/0 203 Running
15 20 #88 Dale Jarrett Ford UPS 118/0 203 Running
16 39 #38 Elliott Sadler Ford M&M's 115/0 203 Running
17 7 #16 Greg Biffle Ford Post-it/National Guard 117/5 203 Running
18 16 #19 Jeremy Mayfield Dodge Dodge Dealers/UAW 109/0 203 Running
19 26 #43 Jeff Green Dodge Cheerios/Betty Crocker 106/0 203 Running
20 42 #41 Casey Mears Dodge Target 103/0 203 Running
21 22 #07 Dave Blaney Chevrolet Jack Daniel's 100/0 203 Running
22 14 #01 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet U.S. Army 102/5 203 Running
23 27 #32 Bobby Hamilton Jr. Chevrolet Tide 94/0 203 Running
24 19 #11 Jason Leffler Chevrolet FedEx Ground 91/0 203 Running
25 11 #22 Scott Wimmer Dodge Caterpillar 88/0 203 Running
26 24 #15 Michael Waltrip Chevrolet NAPA Auto Parts 85/0 203 Running
27 15 #9 Kasey Kahne Dodge Dodge Dealers/UAW 82/0 202 Running
28 25 #40 Sterling Marlin Dodge Coors Light 79/0 202 Running
29 31 #4 Mike Wallace Chevrolet Lucas/Wide Open Energy Drink 81/5 202 Running
30 33 #45 Kyle Petty Dodge Chick-Fil-A Kyle Petty Charity Ride 73/0 202 Running
31 12 #49 Ken Schrader Dodge Schwan's Home Service 70/0 202 Running
32 38 #8 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet Budweiser 67/0 201 Running
33 18 #10 Scott Riggs Chevrolet Valvoline 64/0 201 Running
34 32 #66 Mike Garvey * Ford Peak Fitness 61/0 201 Running
35 37 #37 Kevin Lepage Dodge BoSPOKER.net 58/0 201 Running
36 30 #17 Matt Kenseth Ford DeWalt Power Tools 55/0 195 Running
37 17 #31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet Cingular Wireless 52/0 192 Running
38 40 #77 Travis Kvapil * Dodge Kodak/Jasper Engines 49/0 179 Running
39 28 #5 Kyle Busch * Chevrolet Kellogg's 46/0 150 Out of Race
40 29 #7 Robby Gordon Chevrolet Jim Beam 43/0 143 Out of Race
41 36 #34 P.J. Jones Chevrolet Mach One Inc. 45/5 23 Out of Race
42 43 #27 Kirk Shelmerdine Ford LR Lyons & Son/Salem RV 37/0 11 Out of Race
43 35 #13 Greg Sacks Dodge Sacks Motorsports 34/0 5 Out of Race

* Denotes Rookie
(Re-posted from www.Nascar.com)

Kurt Busch dominated at the beginning, surged back to the lead late and raced to his second win of the season Sunday in the Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway. Busch led 110 of the first 150 laps on his way to retain his fifth place overall standing.
Busch passed second-place finisher Rusty Wallace coming out of Turn 3 with 17 laps left and held on to the lead even as four cautions came out before the end, which forced three extra laps and the green-white checkered flag. Jimmy johnson retains the overall lead with his twelfth place finish.

It was nice to see Mark Martin take third spot, this was perhaps his last run at Pocono. Overall it was a good race, only minor bitching about track conditions causing cut tires from Gordon but hey what do you expect. The million dollar baby finished 13th and is running out of time to crack the top 10 to contend for the Nextel Cup Championship.

It's off for a week, then the guys head off to Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Brickyard for the Allstate 400 on August 6.

The Bad

My CFL fantasy pool over TSN took a beating, it was a week of upsets and finishes you couldn't script. Lets start in Calgary were Henry Burris got the strong start he wanted playing against his old team.

In his first regular season game against the Saskatchewan Roughriders since being acquired by the Calgary Stampeders in the off-season, Burris set the tone early and led his new squad to a convincing 44-18 win Saturday night.

Almost a third of the sellout crowd of 35,652 fans were wearing green to support their beloved Riders, but they didn't have much to cheer about as Burris ran for a pair of touchdowns and threw for two more to lead the Stamps to victory.

Pick:Sask.

Here in Hamilton on Saturday as well, there were five lead changes, but when the final whistle blew the B.C. Lions were still undefeated and my beloved Hamilton Tiger-Cats winless.

B.C. trailed by nine in the second quarter before piecing together a comeback and taking the lead for good late in the third in a 28-22 victory over Hamilton on Saturday night.

The Lions improved to 4-0, while the Ticats fell to 0-4.

Danny McManus played well, but it's clear he needs help from his receivers. Danny Mack completed 16 of 32 passes for 221 yards, two interceptions and no touchdowns in front of 27,692 at Ivor Wynne Stadium. The game clearly went to the Lions quarterback Dave Dickenson, who completed 26 of 34 passes for 313 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.

Pick:BC

Friday night I witnessed the shocker of season so far. Milt Stegall gave the suffering Winnipeg fans something to finally cheer about. The Bombers came into the game win less at 0-4.

Stegall took the game in his own hands.

The 11-year Bomber slot back caught a 56-yard touchdown pass with 1:43 remaining to help the Bombers (0-4) get their first win in a wild 51-46 victory over the 2-2 Montreal Alouettes.

The game went back and forth right from the opening kick in front of the 24,550 fans at Canad Inns Stadium. Winnipeg took a 37-19 lead into the fourth quarter, but fell behind 44-43 with just under three minutes remaining until Stegall hauled in his TD. Wane McGarity followed with a two-point conversion.

Here's how the fun unfolded. Just 1:55 into the final quarter and leading 37-22, Winnipeg gambled on a third and one at their own 44-yard line. Roberts was stuffed and Montreal took over and made Winnipeg pay with a 17-yard Cahoon catch deep in the end zone to close the gap 37-29 at 5:09.

On the next series, Glenn's pass to McGarity popped out of his hands and defensive back Reggie Durden snatched it and ran 28 yards to Winnipeg's five-yard line.

A Montreal penalty forced the Als back to the Bomber 15, but Calvillo threw the ball to a wide-open Watkins in the end zone. A two-point convert toss to Cahoon was successful and tied the game 37-37.

With 5:38 remaining Roberts broke open for a 69-yard TD run, but Westwood's convert failed because of a bad snap and it was 43-37.

Calvillo then engineered a five-play, 61-yard drive that finished with Lapointe's one-yard TD plunge at 12:05. Duval's convert was good for a 44-43 Montreal lead, their first lead of the game.

Stegall's TD and McGarity's two-point convert lifted the Bombers back into a 51-44 lead with 1:43 left.

Calvillo marched his squad down to Winnipeg's 24-yard line, but his pass was intercepted by cornerback Justin Coleman at the two-yard line.

Ryan finished the scoring by conceding another safety.

The good part of the game was that former Hamilton Tiger Cat QB, Anthony Calvillo became Montreal's all-time leader in passing yardage. He now has 30,429 yards, surpassing Sam Etcheverry's 30,303 yards.

Pick:Monteal

On Friday night I correctly picked the Edmonton Eskimos(4-1) win over the Ottawa Renegade(2-3). A close one 28-21.

My Results this week: In reality 2-2 (for what ever reason the pool wizards at TSN Fantasy have Hamilton winning 22-0, giving me a weeks total of 1-3?). Hmm, nice try guys but I don't feel my joy. Any way this gives an overal season total of 11-9, I think I need help.

Stats Courtesy of www.cfl.com

The Ugly

I split my time between the race and that awful Toronto at Kansas City game. I won't dwell on it long, in case it induces nausea for some.

Firstly, I guess most KC residences were enjoying their air conditioning instead of braving the 36C heat. I've seen a better turn out for a little league game.

Secondly, I realize it was the 25th anniversary or something like that of George Bretts pine tar incident, god how I realized it! George Brett must have been payed for each reference. I counted four references in less than two innings by the announcer, usually followed by long pauses of dead air from the other announcer.

The game well, the stats say everything, Lilly starts off like a man on fire. Three and two thirds innings, eleven straight put outs. Then he craps out, thirty-three pitches in the fourth inning alone! Gets pulled, for Gaudin who tosses up two runs on four hits in only one and two third. Jays take the loss 6-4.

If it couldn't get worse Jays have lost all star out fielder Vernon Wells. The bright spot for the Jays was Hinskis' double and a three run homer and the report that Third baseman Corey Koski could be ready to return on Tuesday.

Stats courtesy of www.tsn.com

Well that's how I saw the world of Sports this past weekend.

Later,
Kenaz

Monday's Track List Over At The Eternal Kenaz

Hey all, it's shaping up to be another hot sunny day in the 'Hammer'. I uploaded a new play list this morning, here's the updated track list. Todays play list runs 7:13:00.

As a reminder you can find all these great Old Time Radio, Jazz and Blues from the Golden Era of Radio and todays artists who were influenced by their music by clicking the Kenaz's Old Time Radio link to the right. Or if for some reason you can't just cut and paste the following into your browser.

http://www.live365.com/stations/theeternalkenaz

1. Blind Willie Johnson - Nobody's Fault But Mine - Dark Was the Night 32/44/s

2.Blind Willie Johnson - Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Bur - Dark Was the Night 32/44/sc 3:03

3.Avenger - The Mystery Of Dead Mans Rock - 45-07-13 32/44/sc 28:36

4.Avenger - The Melody Of Murder - 1945-08-03 32/44/sc 28:44

5.Alberta Hunter - Black Man 32/44/sc 3:13

6.Alberta Hunter - Handy Man 05:29:40 32/44/sc 3:34

7.BB King-Buddy Guy w/Jimmy Vaug - Eric Clapton and Bonnie Raitt - all star jam 32/44/sc 5:34

8. B.B. King-T-Bone Walker-Muddy Waters - Why My Baby 32/44/sc 5:07

9. Barbecue Bob - Dollar down Blues - Complete Recorded Works, Vol 2 3
32/44/sc 2:53

10.Barbecue Bob - Mississippi Heavy Water - American Folk 2 n/a
32/44/sc 2:24

11.Bessie Smith - Frosty Morning Blues 32/44/sc 3:16

12. Big Bill Broonzy - All By Myself - Living The Blues 32/44/sc 2:33

13.Big Bill Broonzy - Good Boy - The Blues Collection # 27- Whiskey And Good Time Blues 32/44/sc 2:35

14.Big Joe Turner - The Chill Is On - The Blues Boss 32/44/sc 2:46

15. Big Mama Thornton - Everybody - not known 32/44/sc 3:03

16.Willie Mae 'Big Mama' Thornton - Stop A-Hoppin' On Me 32/44/sc 2:28

17.Billie Holiday - As Time Goes By 32/44/sc 3:35

18. Billie Holiday - Come Rain or Come Shine 32/44/sc 4:25

19.Blind Blake - Hey Hey Daddy Blues 05:24:38 32/44/sc 3:00

20. Blid Lemon Jefferson - Match Box Blues 32/44/sc 3:00

21.Blind Lemon Jefferson - The Crawlin Baby Blues 32/44/sc 2:40

22.Blues Traveler - Carolina Blues 32/44/sc 4:44

23.Blues Traveler - Crash Burn - Four 32/44/sc 2:59

24. Bonnie Raitt - All At Once - Luck Of The Draw 32/44/sc 5:09

25.Bonnie Raitt - Come To Me - Luck Of The Draw 32/44/sc 4:24

26.Buddy Guy - Sweet Black Angel - 32/44/sc 6:16

27.Buddy Guy - Try To Quit You Baby - Southern Blues 1957-63 32/44/sc 2:34

28. BYTHER SMITH - Hold That Train - Nothin' But The BLUES - CD 02 32/44/sc 5:06

29. Charlie Chan - Murder In Cabin 15 - 19xx-xx-xx 32/44/sc 14:40

30. Charlie Chhan - The Escaped Musician - 19xx-xx-xx 32/44/sc 24:20

31. Death Valley Days - Sam Bass - August 27, 1936 32/44/sc 27:14

32. Dimension X - The Potters of Firsk - ep17 32/44/sc 25:05

33. Elmore James - Madison Blues - Chess Blues Classics: 1957 to 1967 32/44/sc

34. Elmore James - Sweet Home Chicago - not known 32/44/sc 2:57

35. Father Knows Best - New Years Sitter - Dec/31/1953 32/44/sc 29:11

36. Fathers Knows Best - A New Housekeeper - 1950-06-22 32/44/sc 29:37

37. Frontier Town - Quade Dunsten State Senetor - 19xx-xx-xx 32/44/sc 28:33

38. GS520712 - Boughten Bride - Gunsmoke 32/44/sc 29:46

39. Blind Lemon Jefferson - The Crawlin Baby 32/44/sc 2:40

40. Norah Jones - More Than This 32/44/sc 7:53

41. Norah jones - One Flight Down 32/44/sc 5:27

42. North Mississippi Allstars - Shake 'Em On Down - Shake Hands With Shorty 32/44/sc 4:05

43.Playhouse Theater - Now Voyager - 19xx-xx-xx 5.0 32/44/sc 29:55

44. Professor Longhair - Its My Fault Darling 32/44/sc 5:05

45.Professor Longhair - Red Beans 32/44/sc 5:17

46.Robert Johnson - Traveling Riverside Blues 32/44/sc 5:15

47. Robert Johnson - Walking Blues 32/44/sc 2:10

48. Skip James - Shake 'Em On Down - Blues Roots - 1930- 32/44/sc 3:01

49.The Eternal Kenaz - Commercial Break - program intro 32/44/sc 0:31

50. Willie Mae 'Big Mama' Thornton - Stop A-Hoppin' On Me 32/44/sc 2:28

Enjoy,
Kenaz