Good morning, everyone. Yesterday turned out beautiful. Temperatures reached the mid 70s and only fell back to about 60 overnight. I got the last two of my large containers covered and had enough small pieces to tent two of the 5 gal containers. But, since I ran out of trellis uprights, I can't tent the others. I had planned to get more but not yet so I will use the milk jug cloches I cut last year to protect the peppers planned for those containers. I left everything out overnight and they are all doing well.

You asked about the Teddy Bear sunflower, Lois. This variety puts out a double flower with a lot of sunflower style petals. It resembles a pom-pom. It is also a medium tall plant. I hope some of the birds--like the goldfinches that visited the marigolds last year--like them.

Here is an entry in the 'penny wise, pound foolish (or dollar foolish, if you prefer)' file. It goes along with another story that appeared on the national news last night. I forgot which GOP legislator was getting an earful from one of his constituents over his vote to turn Medicare into a voucher program. Asking why one of the Representative's supporters yelled "Because we can't afford it, you moron!" Well, this moron also has a problem with this and related issues. We seem to find endless amounts of money to fund Afghanistan, Iraq, and now Libya. The GOP legislators, and a few Democrats-in-name-only, don't mind cutting food stamps, nutrition programs for pregnant women and children, and educational grants because we 'can't afford them,' while making sure the upper 1% keep their Bush-era tax cuts and the oil companies keep their tax breaks and government subsidies.