National Observance days

[ChrisGreaves]

I now have between fifty and a hundred apple trees, plus some citrus etc.
I can't possibly fit them into the plot where was my second driveway.
I will give them away on Arbor Day!

I can't remember what day that was, so I look it up on the Internet. I find this page which suggests I should look for "holidays" as well as "observance"; I find this page which suggests that different states have different days/weeks and potentially the same applies for some other observances, excepting Anzac Day which is unique to Australia and New Zealand (April 25th).

Now a similar situation exists in Newfoundland, which tries to ignore Canada day (July 1st) because we are still mourning Beaumont-Hamel "Of the 780 men who went forward ... only 68 were available for roll call the following day".

I have failed to find a comprehensive list using Google searches such as "nations days observance holidays" w/o quotes, or "international days observance holidays" w/o quotes.

I am saddened that I failed to observe "international Literacy Day yesterday, spending far too much time sitting under a shady tree reading a book of Newfoundland narratives.
I shied away from "World Coconut Day" just a week ago, but then I don't like coconuts.
I will unwrap a new policy of observance on Sunday Sep 13, 2020 (International Day)

A data array to hold every town⁽¹⁾, city, state (Aus), province (Can), departments (France) and so on, for every nation in the world, broken down by day/week/month would be enormous, including "Treat your secretary to a Boston Cream Doghnut" day which is probably in effect right now somewhere in Oklahoma.
But that's what computers are good for, right?
Storing vast amounts of data and filtering out results with search boxes and drop-down lists.
Also parsing the various formats and layouts of web pages.
Also dealing with synonyms (doughnut/donut)

This could be my killer-project this coming winter (Celebrated in Newfoundland from September 18th through Jne 23rd). Accumulate reams of data and produce a drillable-down (or a down-drillable) spreadsheet or similar.
Such a beast would require team-editing, so my thoughts fled (flew?) to "Wiki" and I found Wiki-calendar but that site appears not to be a team effort to produce and maintain filterable event calendars.

Suggestions are welcomed.
Especially from such an internationally (by birth or by residence) crowd as we have in Eileen's Lounge.
Cheers
Chris

⁽¹⁾ As most of you know, the only settlement within cycling distance of me is Elliston, Root-cellar capital of the world. I bet they don't celebrate a special day (would they sit around eating a vegetable stew of last year's carrots, turnips, rutabagas and potaoes, or just send someone down to Marsh's in Bonavista for pizza and chips?)

Appendix:
https://www.un.org/en/sections/observan ... days/#July
https://internationaleventday.com/event ... days-2020/
https://observances.global/2020-dates/
https://www.calendarlabs.com/holidays/i ... ional/2020
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_m ... erminology

[HansV]

Shouldn't you have posted this on the 28th of September?

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[ChrisGreaves]

Shouldn't you have posted this on the 28th of September?

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Thanks, Hans. Duly Noted.
Except for phoning to see if the optomwossit is in Bonavista today, and the off-chance that Robert might be interested in doing some carpentry, not much is happening here over the next few weeks. Even Pay Day is automated now.
Got any space-fillers?
Thanks
Chris

[HansV]

Don't forget that tomorrow is International Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) Awareness Day!

[DaveA]

And just how did you come upon the 100 and 50 trees?

[BobH]

Citrus? In Bonavista? Is there a greenhouse in the offing? How will it be heated?

Inquiring (or is that enquiring) minds want to know.

[ChrisGreaves]

Don't forget that tomorrow is International Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) Awareness Day!

Not here. We are not on the international scene here^(1). Please see my thread on "Electronic Banking from Newfoundland".
Cheers
Chris
⁽¹⁾ Or, for that matter, in the onternatinal scene.
C

[John Gray]

Not wishing to ignite a mushy-peas argument, I point out that we've already had National Fish-and-Chips Day this year...

It is worrying that many of these days/months https://www.awarenessdays.com/awareness-days-calendar/ relate to nasty illnesses.

[ChrisGreaves]

It is worrying that many of these days/months https://www.awarenessdays.com/awareness-days-calendar/ relate to nasty illnesses.

Well, if people will eat mushy peas ...
Cheers
Chris

[HansV]

Hmm... the 21st of September is the International Day of Peace, but there is no National or International Mushy Peas Day...

[ChrisGreaves]

Hmm... the 21st of September is the International Day of Peace, but there is no National or International Mushy Peas Day...

Some Brits, as I understand it, annually observe Mushy Peas Year.
But probably only because they don't like under-boiled Brussels Sprouts
Cheers
Chris

[HansV]

But probably only because they don't like under-boiled Brussels Sprouts

That reminds me: time for the Brits to put on the Brussels Sprouts for their Christmas dinner!

[GeoffW]

Ah, January 31 is National Eat Brussels Sprouts Day

[HansV]

By that time they will be totally overcooked!

[ChrisGreaves]

And just how did you come upon the 100 and 50 trees?

I grew them from seed using Basic Logic and Probability Theory.
It starts with home-made baked beans or meat sauce. For this I make use of 375ml cans of tomato paste. The cans are emptied and then rinsed clean. The paper labels soak off and are aimed at the vermicomposter(Second Use For Everything). The cans receive three triangular holes punched in the base by an old beer-can puncher (me!).

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Here are three trays holding up to two-dozen cans at a time. The right-hand tray holds 36 cans emptied of Hereford Corned Beef.
Each tray holds one type of seed. The right-hand tray is lemon seeds from a lemon-marmalade spree some three weeks ago. Six medium-sized lemons yielded enough seeds for two per tin. The left-hand tray is another batch of MacIntosh apples (I was testing out a new apple-crumble recipe), and some of the tins are on their third seed cycle (Second Use For Everything).
I eat the entire apple but for the stalk, but in cooking I retain the core. Each core goes into a bed of soil in a can and the can is topped off with compost (Second Use For Everything) from Bonavista’s Largest Continuous Flow Modular Composting Facility, made from old planks (Second Use For Everything) from the Variety Convenience store.

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In the SW corner of my small lot I had about fifty cans of trees. I am in the process of re-potting and moving the trees to an angled corner of my house.

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Hard to see but here are about forty tubs, each holding an apple tree. The tree in the corner is threatening to outstrip the longest thread! As tubs become available (three to seven at a time), I load them with compost and transplant a single apple seedling from a can to a tub. The green tubs are decapitated water bottles (Second Use For Everything) which I lugged here from Toronto (Second Use For Everything!). The building’s management office are a pampered lot, and threw away their empty bottles for the garbage.
I have now run out of tubs and am considering using 1-pound and 2-pound margarine tubs (Second Use For Everything) but will soon run out of tubs, so will have to buy more margarine, and that means buying more flour to bake bread, and I am worried.(contd. in next post)

[ChrisGreaves]

And just how did you come upon the 100 and 50 trees?

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Just to prove I am more than a one-track mind, here are some orange and lemon seedlings on my bridge, which is what they call a back-porch up here, even though it is on the side of the house. One of the tubs has been serving as a door-stop (Second Use For Everything)

You have been very patient in waiting to hear about the logic and probability theory. Here it is: When I pop an apple core into a can of soil I reason that there are two possible outcomes (in the literal sense this time). Either the seeds in the core will sprout; or else they won’t sprout. If the seeds sprout I have won! If the seeds don’t sprout, I haven’t lost anything (please see “Language Podcasts” below).

Despite rumours to the contrary, apples do have more than five seeds. I have gotten as many as eight seedlings from one apple core in one can. When I have stolen/accumulated enough tubs to accommodate a can of seedlings, I sieve out more compost and place a seedling in each pot. The can goes back into my empty-can sack (Second Use For Everything).

Language Podcasts I download (“Podcast Addict”) the Australian and World news from the most excellent SBS , and listen to the news in French, Spanish, Italian, German and Dutch on the principle (here’s the logic again) that if I don’t listen to a foreign language then I can’t possibly learn that language; but if I do listen to that language, then I might learn that language.
The SBS podcasts are easy for me to understand because there are always sound-bites from Scott Morrison and Joshua Anthony Frydenberg, and I’ve already hears everything they want to say on the ABC AM Full Program (which I play back at 1.3 times normal speed to keep my hand in).

So, the weather being fine, I start up the podcast player, slip the smart phone into my pocket, and spend a pleasant hour or two (as "Farmer John") pretending to be learning European languages while I am sieving, potting, re-potting etc.

Hope This Helps
Cheers
Chris
`

[ChrisGreaves]

Citrus? In Bonavista? Is there a greenhouse in the offing? How will it be heated? Inquiring (or is that enquiring) minds want to know.

Well Bob, I’m glad you asked!
Now while I am typing up this reply, please skim through my response to DaveA (immediately above).

There is a greenhouse in the offing; that is why I have called my home The Landfall Garden House. Next year’s renovation project is to replace all six windows with larger windows, and install six new windows.
The south wall of the kitchen will look something like this:-

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That is a photo I took outside superimposed on a photo I took on the inside. Ken I am not!
The kitchen wall is twelve feet by seven-foot six, and I will meet with a contractor tomorrow to bludgeon him over the head until he agrees to looking into (nice one Chris!) a ten-by-six foot window whose main function will be to suck in solar energy.
The roads here are not wide enough to bring a ten-foot sheet of glass, so it will be “casement windows” which crank open and shut, and are sealed closed with a honking great lever that clamps it tighter than tight. The windows in my shed are better than any of the windows in my house. This has to change.
With the east, south, and west windows replacing the east, south, and west walls, I will have plenty of light and heat. The curtains, blinds and pelmets etc are stored in garbage bags in my shed labeled “scrap cloth”.

Bonavista_20200627_162447.JPG

This photo shows the south wall of the kitchen after we removed the 800-litre oil tank. The angle in the centre of the photo is where I currently am sheltering my apple seedlings. (Please see my reply to DaveA)

By the way, that little bedroom window was responsible for raising my bedroom temperature above 20ºc most days last winter. The thermostat was set at 17-18, but so much solar energy flooded in that the heater turned itself on only at night time. People often confuse Solar Energy with Sunlight. Solar Energy is available right through winter, as the green leaves of pine trees show.

That corner will accommodate a simple wooden frame about eight feet long, two-and-a-half feet high and about four feet deep (away from the wall). The walls and hinged lids will be fabricated from the seven acres of perspex screens that now isolate me from my friends in the stores, bank, and post office. I have already made offers and hope to corner the market for perspex to fill in the corners of houses.

The step-in frame will be a good place for trays of seedlings come next April. This fall I am using a best-fit algorithm to minimize waste and form standard sized stackable seed trays that will be filled with sieved compost soil and stored in my back porch over winter, ready for seeding in April. I have calculated that I can fit up to two hundred cubic feet of seed trays in the porch; a bit less than that in practice or else I won’t be able to turn off the breakers for my hot-water heater.
And speaking of hot-water and what I learned about building back-yard solar water heaters in Adelaide 50 years ago, I scrounged a 50-foot length of two-inch flexible hose (Think "Creep Crawly Cleaner" for the outdoor pool) and will mount that in a glass-lidded box to heat water and circulate it through my mini-green house, so that the seedlings get energy from two sources: directly through the perspex lid and walls, and indirectly through the water.
Hope this helps.
P.S. Sorry about the late reply, but we had three days of sunshine here, and well, you know ...
Cheers
Chris

[BobH]

. . . The roads here are not wide enough to bring a ten-foot sheet of glass, so it will be “casement windows” . . .

Sounds like the intro to a Newfie joke. Surely the glass can be situated lengthwise on the conveyance, or are you planning to use extra thick glass as well?

[BobH]

Hmm... the 21st of September is the International Day of Peace, but there is no National or International Mushy Peas Day...

Surely, the 21st should be International Envision Whirled Peas day!

[GeoffW]

I'd assume that you'd need energy efficient windows if some sort - double glazed, thick glass or coated, to avoid losing energy when the solar heating isn't available.

Even in Canberra, which is not as chilly as Bonavista in winter, we regret not having some sort of insulating glass.