5 in a Cape

Wha?????!!!!! You may say?  You know the word.  You said it when you were a kid.  There are several variants:

Sysposed — sys-pose-d
Sposed — spo-z-d

They all have the same meaning, according to Websters encyclopedic unabridged dictionary:

1. Assumed as true, regardless of fact ; hypothetically: a supposed case. 2. Accepted or believed as true, without positive knowledge: the supposed site of an ancient temple.  3. merely thought to be such; imagined: to sacrifice real for supposed gains.

You may know this word as “supposed”.  Wow. Now I’m dumbfounded.  It turns out our use of the word “supposed” is not in line with its part of speech!  I’ve frequently heard people in Maryland say “You were supposed to mow the lawn last week!” or “I’m not supposed to write software for accounting.”

Anyway, I was talking with my nine year old son today and he had some story about how he wasn’t “sys-post” to help make lunch.  I explained how really, he must help anyway.  I followed up with “You know the word is supposed; right?” (funny, I didn’t know to use it as an adjective instead of a verb…)  He said something like “No, the word really is sys-post.  You’re wrong.” He had a pretty big smile on his face so I knew he realized he was saying it wrong.

You know the drill though: Snooty, sorta well-educated parent has to make a point so I give him a fun lecture on “ticket granters” (code word for people in possession of necessary or desirable resources) and how they grant tickets to the most engaging members of society.  Of course god bless the folks who don’t take time to learn these rules of “polite society”, but I want to make sure you can succeed at what you choose so pay close attention, the word really is “supposed”.  Closed it with something like “Supposed is supposed to be pronounced supposed NOT syspost.”

Predictably, he smiles and tells me that REALLY, the word IS sys-post.  Like a “post” in the ground.  At this point it is just a fun conversation.  So I point out, saying “sys-post” in this conversation IS engaging to the ticket granters since the context informs them that you are both passionate about the truth and able to inspect the situation from many angles.

The conversation finally ended with some implied truce where he listened and smiled enough that he undoubtedly knows the value of reflecting on his language and use of it.  I learned that I’ve been using the word incorrectly for years. Wish me luck with the ticket granters!

I was doing a little research on plow designs.  I got a picture of the hitch point on my “tractor” and I visited my local tractor supply store and got some pictures of designs that are currently for sale.  I took pictures of what I saw for review later.

Right after I came up with a simple design that I thought may be workable I was listening to Damon at Greenhorn Gardening.  One of his recent podcasts about raised beds made me think again about plowing/tilling my garden area.  First I thought about the fact that the weeds would be horrendous.  Second, the dirt is probablly totally worthless.  Third, the tilling with a new plow design will be a big diversion to planting my garden.  Fourth, and finally, Damon convinced me that I’ll get better yields anyway using an intensive approach on a few beds of fresh compost.  It’s time for a trip to our local yard waste  recycling center!