Thursday--May 25

After a cloudy but dry morning we now have sun. It is still quite cool. I raised the shade on the oxheart and Rosella tomatoes. They have come back nicely from our three 80+ and very sunny days a couple of weeks ago. No sign of the cucumber and sunflower seeds sprouting yet. I found a single blossom on one of the patio tomatoes which seem much happier outside. I had thought to do a winter crop inside but I don't think I will. I started these very, very early and they sort of struggled along. I thought I would be economical and cut the toilet paper rolls in half to make two starter pots instead of one. I won't do that any more. The plants I started in the full size roll grew much better and had more time to develop before their roots emerged from the pot. Also the larger ones didn't dry out as fast.

Friday--May 26

Just separated the aloe from its daughter plant and transplanted both. The mother went into a larger pot and the baby into the original small pot. That last is outside on our spiral hanging planter. I think I am going to have to clean out the shed. I know I have two more pots like that small one. We bought three at the same time because the spiral has places for three and those were all just the right size. I can't find the others at the moment. I also did my yearly reset of the large rosemary. I took it out of its pot and trimmed about half of the root ball and then replaced it in the same pot with new soil.

I haven't post much on politics because very little in political (or economic) news moves me to post. A while back a I normally read blogger related a story about Socrates and a young man who came rushing up insisting he heard something Socrates needed to hear. Socrates asked him to answer three questions before relating his news. First, is it good? The young man said no, in fact is was very bad. Second, is it true? The young man said he didn't know because he had only heard it and couldn't verify it. Third, did Socrates really need to know the information? After reflecting a moment the fellow conceded that Socrates didn't need to know that juicy bit at all. "So", Socrates summed up, "it isn't necessarily true, it isn't good and I really don't need to know it. Why tell it?" I try to follow a modified version of that in my reading and commenting. So much out there isn't necessarily true. Much is just juicy gossip I don't need to follow about people in whom I have no interest. And very little of it is good. Now, some of what floats around the aether is bad but I do need to know it (like what the assholes in Washington are planning for Social Security and Medicare) so I pay attention--and sometimes comment. Sometimes what I find is cute or good though nothing that is absolutely essential to know. Again I read it and sometimes comment. So much of it we have no clue as to its veracity even if we try to verify it. That gets filed in the back of my mind awaiting corroboration.