Good Morning to you all where ever you are. We are supposed to get another day into the mid 70s. I hope so. I think I mentioned that I have a few tomatoes and peppers slowly (very slowly) ripening and I would really like for them to get on with it. Planning for the gardens is an ongoing process, Kay. We do it a little at a time so none of it is overwhelming. Over the last couple of years (2 and a half unemployed and half officially retired) I have discovered how much I really hate being rushed into anything. Over the winter, we will finalize our plans for what we will plant and where. That may change in small details but not in any major way. All during the season we look at what is happening with the plants--which ones are doing well, which are really not suited to our space, which might do better if we just tweaked the system a bit. Our gardens are like our house--a small space which requires us to select what we put in and to take out something if we want to put in something new. We have talked about moving to get more space but have always decided to stay put. I have mentioned we have really good landlords. We are within a mile or two of most of our shopping and other interests. The expenses are not overwhelming. And the distribution of the space probably wouldn't be any better. We would like a bigger kitchen but modern designs for the last half century have minimized the kitchen area as people cooked less and less. So until something changes to upset the equilibrium we will stay put.

Well, we knew that big companies have been sitting on a mountain of cash. The economic talking heads have been telling us that for months and wondering what those companies would do with all that money. This Washington Post article (found by way of HuffingtonPost) tells us--they are buying back their own shares and bolstering the price of their stock. This is why I never believe the Republican ideologues when they tell us that all we have to do to boost employment and get the economy started again is to cut taxes so these guys will hire new workers. Pay particular attention to Microsoft's borrowing $4+billion at almost no interest while leaving another $37 billion overseas so they won't have to pay taxes on it. And then think about the wars we are fighting but they aren't paying for, and the infrastructure that is deteriorating over here because their money is parked overseas. I wonder how much Microsoft actually paid in taxes last year.