Friday--

Cold, windy and drying out yesterday.  Should be a bit warmer with some sun today.  We got a tease of sunshine yesterday but then the dismal gray moved back in.  Got a couple more rows on the cap yesterday.  It is an interesting experiment and looks pretty good so far.

I saw stories yesterday that China has ended the "one child policy."  Now couples can have two.  That the government hopes will still keep their population growth in check while addressing some demographic problems created as a result of limiting families to one child: the decrease of working age people, the problem of only child couples caring for two sets of elderly parents, and the fact that they have far too many young men for the number of young women.  However, the new policy won't have any significant effect for twenty years and the demographic problems are evident now.  And I have read some stories in which young, urban Chinese expressed no interest in having more than one child, or, in some cases, any at all.  They face the same problems we have over here: the expense of child care.

This is more than a bit pathetic.  It is nice that NBC wants to negotiate "in good faith" with the RNC but that assumes that the RNC and the various campaigns/candidates will also negotiate "in good faith.'  Would someone please define the terms "negotiate" and "in good faith."  So far they have complained about CNN, Fox and MSNBC.  None of those are flaming liberal media organizations.   Maybe they would like the moderators kowtowing abjectly to each of them, kissing their asses and apologizing if the weather wasn't exactly to their liking.

Saturday--

We actually did get some sun yesterday which was nice but we are back in the cloudy and wet today.
Hope you all have a fun Halloween or a blessed Samhain or what ever holiday you celebrate and that your weather is pleasant for it.

Sunday--

Welcome to November.  And to the change of time--something you all know I wish our powers-that-be would discontinue.  I spent most of yesterday finishing the new cap and tending the plants under the lights upstairs.  I cut back the larger lemon verbena and the leaves are nearly dry and ready to grind.  So far the two lemon verbena plants I added this year are doing very well and have lasted far longer than any others I have had.  I may try wintergreen and bay laurel again.

This is exactly why Big Ag doesn't want GMO labeling.  We have shifted to honey and cane sugar. So far sugar cane hasn't been invaded by the GMO companies while GMO sugar beets represent 95% of the beet crop.  We also look for any of the artificial sweeteners in anything we buy and choose items which don't contain things like high fructose corn syrup.  GMOs may or may not carry negative health impacts but I believe we should stick with simpler and less processed foods starting with the seeds.