Good morning, Everyone. Overnight temps were just above 60 and the prediction is for high 70s with, perhaps, an 80 somewhere up here. I got quite a bit done yesterday in the gardens. It has finally been cool enough for me to get out more than a brief time to water in the morning. The rains we had Sunday and Monday were nice. I didn't have to water till today. I got the lemon balm cut back and dried yesterday along with the basil. I need to get to the oregano today and, maybe, the stevia. My main effort is to get the east side containers trimmed back to take pressure off of the trellises. There is so much foliage on them that a good wind might collapse them. Also I was surprised to find more Fresh Salsa tomatoes and cucumber than I thought. And a lot more bean blossoms. I don't want to lose the harvest because it is hidden behind a lot of leaves. I took the first of the slicer tomatoes this morning--off the Big Beef, I think. I found a whole bunch of the Brandywine I didn't see because of the thick growth of leaves. I really need to sit down and check out the maturation times on these varieties. I wonder how much more I will find when I get more of that jungle cleared. July was just so damned hot that only the minimum tasks got done. I am surprised, given the heat, that I managed to keep everything watered well.

I am about half way through my morning reading on-line. Haven't found much to comment on. Yesterday's stock market seemed a bit manic-depressive. But no matter--it is still out of touch with the real economy. Out of curiosity I just checked Market Watch to see what the markets are doing and right now all are down. That slightly-more-than 400 point gain the Dow had yesterday has been almost cancelled out. In a summer of re-runs this is all too familiar. As is yesterday's trading range of -400 to +400. I wonder how the pundits are going to spin this. Of course by the end of the trading day the reversal may have reversed itself. As I said--manic-depressive on a massive, collective scale.

I read this item yesterday and I immediately thought of a quip from a favorite fictional character, Robert Heinlein's Lazarus Long: In a government of the people, by the people, for the people--DON'T tell the people. Evidently that applies even to those governments that hove no tradition of (usually violated) reverence for the people.