Trap Island, No Bite

To clarify what I mean by "the bite."

It's true of marijuana, and probably true of a lot of drugs. Mushrooms come to mind. Even alcohol. You start to feel the effects of the drug but then your mind starts skimming off the worries and angst bubbling up there at the surface of your consciousness. If you've made a mistake, done something stupid, or just had something lousy happen in your life, the high will sometimes make its first stop in this territory, on these front-and-center topics. Even if you didn't think you really wanted to think about them. After all, isn't that the point of the drug, to escape, to avoid, to detach, for a little while?

My experience with marijuana is that I often encounter this "bite" phase of the high first. Sometimes it isn't negative at all but yields a "head rush" replete with wacky ideas, the highs and "high-deas" of my younger days. Pure wild-minded bliss. But if there's something I've been kicking myself over, or some nonsense I cannot get out of my head, the high will make me encounter this reality. It's the opposite of escapism. It can be therapeutic, facing what worries me. Or it can send me spinning down the bitten wormhole—if I fight it, if I allow myself to dwell there. I let the bite take its hold for a few minutes then I tell myself I smoked up to relax and enjoy myself, not to wallow...


This is just a portion of the full post, which you can reading by clicking this link...

Peking Duck by Seed & Strain

A decent high, a fine high. I went and swept my garage, topped off the oil in my lawnmower. I had changed the oil in that mower last week and wasn't sure I had put enough fresh oil back in. Barely, just above that lower little hole on the dipstick. Room to add, so I added a couple small pours, perhaps an ounce.

Then I put out the new hummingbird food I had mixed up this morning. I stopped using boiled water when making hummingbird food. A source I believe valid said boiling the water isn't necessary. The recipe is four parts water to one part sugar. I have been using a funnel to pour 1/4 cup of sugar into an empty, re-usable club soda bottle. This is the same as the little tonic water bottles that come in a six-pack. Plastic bottles, holding about ten ounces. I fill this bottle to where it begins to taper up toward the mouth of the bottle. Then I shake the bottle and give the mix a few minutes to reach equilibrium, to solve. The sugar disappears. I take the garden hose to the hummingbird feeder, to rinse it off once I've dumped the old water. In this case, the water was about two days old. I've been changing the water more often now that I've nixed the boiled water part of the process. The hummingbirds seem to like this unboiled mix just fine. The feeder has not gotten mildewy or gunky/grimy. The hummingbirds won't be in town much longer.

Read the full review here.../\\...

Dispo Review: Star Buds, University City, MO

I like Star Buds. The building it's in has never had a persistent tenant. It once was a bar but as far as I can remember, the building has been empty for most of the last fifteen years. I would point to Star Buds' tenancy in this previously disused building as one of the early positive impacts legalized cannabis has had on my neighborhood.

There is a small parking lot in front, which is the only place I've ever parked. There is additional parking in back but I've never had to use it. I go in, go up a few stairs, wait for a bud tender to come to the window, then slide my ID onto the metal tray under the thick window. Then in a moment or two they will call your name and buzz you through the door.

It's not a big place but I've never felt crowded inside. There are two main glass cases/counters in which dozens of glass jars of flower sit.

And this is one of the best things about Star Buds. You can buy by the gram. The flower is not pre-packed. You can see the bud, you can smell the bud. The jars have the names of the strain on them. Supply and variety has been pretty good.

Read the full review...