Tuesday--

Not much new in the gardens.  Probable rain and no tasks that need doing.

Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism says exactly what I have been saying about the so-called sharing economy--it is no such thing.

Ray McGovern at Fire Dog Lake gives a brutal, but I think accurate, assessment of Memorial Day and the empty, sanctimonious and hypocritical ceremonies "honoring" the "fallen."  And, before anyone takes umbrage at my agreement, I spent an enlistment term in the Navy way, way, way back in the latter years of Vietnam.   I bought the "patriotic" crap until I learned that it was crap.  As far as the canard passed out all too often today that we have to fight "them" over there (wherever there is) so we won't have to fight "them" over here, well we seem to be fighting "them" both there and here anyway.  I put "them" in quotes because you can take the arguments for fighting in every military action since Korea and substitute "communist" to "Islamist terrorist" and get exactly the same thing.  "Them" is whoever our powers-that-be happen to not like at the moment.  Pay particular attention to the quote from once-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger on the combat troops they were sending into harms way.

The weather this year has been utterly mind-blowing.  This was the report this morning on the Texas floods.  They say the rainfall and flooding are "historic."  I wonder how much all that water has actually done for the drought situation given that much has simply run off washing a hell of a lot (property and people) away.  I only hope it has relieved that situation.

Wednesday--

We did have periods of heavy rain yesterday and high wind.  Should calm down a bit today.  I will check everything in the gardens a bit later.

Thursday--

We didn't get anything more than brief and light showers yesterday.  The only way I knew they had passed through was the moisture on the patio.  It wasn't enough to do the plants any good so I will water most this morning.  Temps are supposed to be cooler over the weekend.  I planted my beans (red-seeded asparagus, Gold Marie vining, Sunset runner, and Blauhilde) yesterday in the same pots with the quickly growing sunflowers.  All the tomatoes are growing quickly.  I trimmed off the lower leaves over the last couple of days and at least two, a Microtom and a Red Robin, are blooming.  The peas, squash, Barese and dragon's egg cucumbers are all growing nicely.  When we went shopping to get some salad fixings to feed our salad craving we found a lime basil that I transplanted.  Every now and again the grocery stores are selling living herbs with intact root plugs.  They are evidently quite viable since mine is thriving (so far).  The new strawberries are also doing well.  The bare root plants were a disappointment, as I told a clerk at the garden shop where I bought them and their replacements.  Still waiting for the sweet potato slips.

In case anyone is confused as to who will benefit from the TPP and its sister, the TTIP, check out this article from the Guardian.  And it is a goddam shame that it is published in a British paper and not plastered all over our news media.

Stratfor posted this today and there is much I like about it.  I agree with the author's attempt to distance the "sacrifice" of soldiers from particular places and his critique of the notion that simply because an area as once "liberated" that those sacrificed require renewed sacrifice if that area falls into "enemy" hands.  And I agree that military deaths shouldn't be devalued simply because at a later date the "liberated" site falls into unfriendly hands.  I have a big problem with the ends, often half-baked and hidden from public view, for which the lives are expended.  Honor our military, especially those who have died, but don't do it by suspending moral judgement on the ends for which they were sacrificed or the motives of those who sent them into harm's way.

I always enjoy Gene Logsdon's posts and his post today on "Dead-End Work" is certainly no exception.  I have thought for a log time that our society denigrates the wrong kind of work--anything of the manual labor type including farming.  We have spent two-plus centuries converting various manual jobs into machine work.  The theory was that any work that machines could be created or programmed to do wasn't worthy of human effort or living wages.  And yet we can very easily do without the paper shuffling but we can't live without the food the farmer produces or that manual harvesters pick.