Good Thursday to any and all out there.  It is a beautiful sunny and mild day--so far.  Sometime today the expected rain system should be moving in bring moisture and much cooler conditions.  I don't expect to get any gardening done till Monday.  Maybe Sunday depending on when the rain clears out and the gardens dry out.  Normally, I would be out getting some more done before the weather changed but today I woke feeling unsteady and light headed.  It seems to be passing now but I think the better option is to take things easy today.

The Boston bombers have given way to Cleveland's long missing girls (now young women) on the news.  I have as much to say about the new media frenzy as I did the old.  Maybe now that the spotlight has shifted they might get the dead bomber buried quietly.  The coverage of that kerfuffle goes between the absurd and the asinine.

I think the most significant statement in this article is the last Treehugger.com quote:  if it takes all that regulatory rigmarole to keep the multi-national giants in line why not just buy locally.  We buy honey from a local producer and have for a while.  It tastes better than the cheaper brands.  We generally use it for our hot cereal in the winter and, right now, for tea because our stock of homegrown and dried stevia ran out four months ago.  Our primary rule is to buy local when we can.

So the Dutch are investigating the China connection to baby formula shortages postulating gangs of traffickers depleting Dutch supplies to sell at a premium in China.  The Chinese, if they can afford it, choose not to buy the products of their own food industry.

A couple of news readers rang a warning bell that beef prices were rising--a lot.  We were surprised here because we just replenished our beef and pork for the freezer and didn't notice any great significant increase in price.  Some time ago we decided to go with quality even if we had to pay a bit more for it.  Since then we have watched the prices in the supermarket go up while the nonexistent quality was touted.  Best part--we get the meat packaged exactly how we want it.  If we want five pounds of ground beef in half-pound packages (and we do) we get that and from wonderfully cheerful people who are happy to deal with picky old biddies like us.