Saturday--April 22

It is downright cold outside though, thankfully, not cold enough to damage any plants. I might get the last few plants into the ground. I just watched a little grackle pecking at my peppermint. It reminded me of a study on birds and the habit some species had of taking fresh leaves of certain plans to line their nests. The scientists wondered why so they looked at the nests and found that those birds who did line their nests with (especially) aromatic plants had fewer parasites like mites than those who didn't. I think I will get another peppermint.

I found this item from Slate. It puts a different twist on #45's so-called populism.

Sunday--April 23

It will be a slow Sunday. The temperatures should go up to the high 60s which should mean a good day to finish planting the remaining seedlings.

When I read stories like this one I don't feel so much like a "Lone Ranger." I have often told Mom we seem to be going backwards. I bake most of our own breads here at home. Every now and then we might pick up a loaf of store bought but we are very selective about it. I don't do bagels or English muffins. I have done them before but they are a pain in the ass. I think I have mentioned before that we shifted to cast iron for most of our stove-top cooking with a couple of stainless steel for specific purposes. We started years ago with the non-stick cookware because the cast iron was too heavy and we were fooled by the promise of easy clean up. Well, over time we have learned to handle the cast iron differently and our wrists don't hurt as much. Also, we find that the iron cleans up as easily as the non-stick and the surface doesn't deteriorate. Sometimes new isn't necessarily better--or cheaper considering we replaced our non-stick cookware four times in the last sixteen years.