Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Wednesday--hot and humid. Garden update. Water & heat.

Another hot and humid day on tap.  We expect the pattern to continue through Friday.  We may get some rain late Friday but for the most part it will be dry.  We try to get what ever errands and chores that take us outside done before 10 or 11am.  Right now the smell of spearmint pervades the house.  I cut that plant back and got seven trays drying.

I'm not upset by the Twinkies either, Kay, although I do notice that the 3 Musketeers and Snickers bars are a lot smaller and they don't taste like the versions I remember from childhood.

I am starting to bring in plants I plan to overwinter inside: lavender, rosemary and lemon verbena for now.  I didn't get any herbs ground or harvested yesterday.  Our landlord's handyman came out to change out an electrical plug that had been giving us problems.  He noted how much I have growing out on the patio.  Most of the people who live in these units are young couples often with children or students who will be moving on within a year or two.  For the most part they have no time, energy, or interest in gardening.  We didn't as long as I had classes or jobs.

The borage blossoms have opened and more of the bean flowers are popping up.  I am rather bummed out because those damned Japanese beetles have munched on my kale.  The had been doing so well.  I have some new photos I will post over the next few days.

Early morning news lead off with the situation in Prince Georges County, Md., where a major water main has failed and some 200k residents will be totally without for five days while the main is repaired. Worse they expect triple digit heat.  We watched and thought about how we would deal with that kind of situation.  We wouldn't be going to the store for bottled water because we have between twelve and fifteen gallons on hand but we would fill the bath tub for water to flush the toilet.

BBC on cable had coverage of this story this morning.  Here is the NBC version.  The two are much the same except BBC said that the suspect contaminant is some kind of organophosphate pesticide.  And they made an interesting linkage to problems with the food production in China as well.  Evidently, according to BBC the kind of contamination that has killed 20+ children and sickened as many more is widespread in India.  Contamination of baby formula sent Chinese parents to western sources and recent stories about rat (and other) meats being sold as pork has hit consumers hard.

I was a bit perturbed by this story until I got into it.  The headline made it sound as if Denver was planning to charge any group, including an informal group of friends, who did yoga or tai chi or some other group exercise for the privilege.  Not so.  The city officials are considering charging a use fee for those paid classes that use the public parks.  Evidently so many such classes are popping up that they are crowding out other users.  I think if the classes are money making concerns they are businesses that should pay for the use of public spaces.  But how soon before they decide that informal groups of friends doing their tai chi or yoga should also pay?  When does it get to the point where the public no longer has access to public spaces?

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