Here we are at the last day of September. Only three more months left in this strange, strange year. The temperature was at 50F a bit ago so it will probably dip down into the 40s before the sun comes up. I didn't get any work done outside. We decided, on the spur of the moment, to do our grocery shopping yesterday instead of today. During the summer we generally do that on the days the farm market is open but as the season winds down we don't have as much to buy there because we have already put up as much as we can in the space we have. By the time we came home and put things away the wind was kicking up so I decided not to fight it and left the gardens and outside clean up for today--I hope. Baker Creek sent out their e-mail announcing their 2018 catalogs so I ordered it. I already have a list of seeds started for next year.

So Price has resigned as HHS secretary. I wonder which parasite the Parasite-In-Chief will nominate to replacement. I doubt very much that the money angle bothered #45 much. I suspect it was the embarrassment and the fact that Price was supposed to smooth the way for the ACA repeal but failed to get that job done. The real lessons: don't embarrass the boss and give him enough progress toward what he wants to allow him to claim a biggly victory.

Garden Myths has a good review of a product I once used when I first began trying to start plants from seed--the Jiffy pellets. Actually I should say "peat pellets" because I used other brands as well. I stopped using them for reasons mentioned: they aren't big enough for the larger plants and the mesh that holds the peat together to form the "pot" isn't biodegradable. I dug the mesh out of my beds for several years and threw them away--after emptying the peat into the soil. Last year I started using toilet paper core tubes as my starter pots and will expand my use of them next spring. They soften when wet, help the soil retain moisture, and they are biodegradable. I was parsimonious and cut the tubes in half to make two pots. I won't do that this year because the half size is too small. And I found the roots do make their was out of the pot.

The temperatures are supposed to be a bit cooler today. Right now it is a bit overcast but the chances for rain are low. My brother brought the mini-greenhouse he picked up for me his church's rummage sale so I need to clean up the shed to make room for the old one. I will do that until (if?) it gets too warm to work outside. I got my hens 'n' chicks re-potted. I wanted to separate them but a couple of clusters were so tight I was afraid I would irreparably damage them so I left them as a clump.

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I didn't work outside at all. The clouds didn't clear off till around noon and I didn't want to fight the wind.

I found this early this morning--another WTF moment from our dysfunctional political administration. Or, rather, from the idiot at the top. The real difference between the responses to the hurricanes in Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico is how dark and how poor the populations are. And I would bet, if I were a betting person, that the richer and whiter sections of Texas and Florida will get rebuilt sooner and more completely than the poorer and darker sections. The pattern was set by Katrina (and maybe long before.) Update: I guess the criticism got to #45. He suspended the Jones Act for Puerto Rico so they can get more fuel and supplies in sooner. It is a sad when it takes public shaming on the internet and other outlets to get him to do what is right.

Well, we have had a busy morning. First, I had to do some cleaning and rearranging in the shed to make room for the old mini-greenhouse which was going to be retired to simply storage shelves for pots. But when we tried to put it in place we found it simply wouldn't go there--the shelves were too deep and I would have no room to move or reach the stuff stored further back. Soooo--we rearranged things a bit outside and it will work there for the same purpose. The new mini-greenhouse is a smaller model which fits in the space the old one used to occupy and leaves more room to get around. I hope it won't get direct sun as the other one did which might prolong the live of the cover. I actually had to cut the plastic on the old one and rip it off the support bars. My next project (tomorrow) is to get into the shed and start getting it sorted out and rearranged. It is amazing what one accumulates. Some we got because we had an idea and we found a cheap way to try it out. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. I found a couple of items from the failed experiments. They will go out in next week's trash.

Mom's eye doctor's appointment today so nothing much else done. Her insurance gave us a surprise we are still trying to figure out.

However, that doesn't mean I am not reading blogs and such. Case in point: Margaret and Helen. Amen, Helen. I couldn't say it better. We have been wondering if this is another diversion from what the administration and the congress critters are trying to do to us.

George Friedman has an interesting post today also. Although he does make a good point when he says we should expect the computer industry to take more responsibility for safety as we operate our vehicles (personal computers) on the appropriate road (the internet), we should also remember that we expect the drivers (of cars and computers) to exercise due care. We do expect that the manufacturers of cars build them to function safely though our expectations have been tempered by over 100 years and legal developments--which the computer industry hasn't had. And even then we should remember the air bag failures and break failures and the gaming of the emissions tests all of which made news over the last decade. Nor are we surprised much when some criminal hijacks/steals a car to commit another crime. Or when some idiot gets drunk and wrecks havoc with his vehicle.

We expect another hot day today so I will water what needs watering outside and do nothing else. I will wait until Wednesday when it should be a few degrees cooler. The geraniums are reviving nicely now that they have more shade. I will definitely have to change how I use them next year--keep them in pots I can move in and out of the gardens as the light changes.

Found this piece that I thought hit an intellectual bullseye. We had become very disgruntled with the offerings on our cable service for more than a decade. Our favorite channels were Scifi and the History Channel. However, gradually, from about 2007 we simply stopped watching them--and most other channels available to us. I got over the fascination over the notion of "ancient aliens" back when von Daniken wrote Chariots of the Gods. It didn't take me long to notice he had no evidence. He did have some interesting phenomena but just because you can't explain how the ancients did it doesn't mean the didn't or couldn't. We have almost given up watching TV.

This has become a frequent story with #45's administration. Number 45 himself has run the Secret Service out of money with his frequent travel to his Florida and New Jersey golf clubs and his extended family's security needs. Frugality is something for others who don't have access to the public purse not for him or his appointees. How much longer can we afford these parasites?

Well, the autumnal equinox has arrived; welcome to fall. Our weather right now is more like August than the end of September. The last two days saw records set with temps of 92 and 94 in Chicago. We are expecting 90+ again today and for the next two days. The trees are developing their fall colors about a month early so it does look like fall. One blogger noted a day or two ago she was behind putting in her fall garden--as always because it is too hot in July and she is busy harvesting and preserving in August which is when the experts say to plant for the fall. The weather nowadays is so unpredictable your fall plants might bake or freeze before yielding anything.

According to Ronni Bennett at Time Goes By today is also Falls Prevention Day. She has some good points to make and some useful links. I have been really lucky in that regard. I have fallen twice here at home and once at work long before I retired. Though I no longer have cats which caused my first fall I am careful on the stairs where that fall took place. (In case you wondered, the cats lived out their very long cat lives still loved and cared for here. I just became more watchful of where they were and where my feet were.) We replaced the old door mat which caused my second fall after the rain made it really, really slick. The new one provides much surer footing and, again, I have become more careful about stepping out the door. In the last case I was in a rush, stubbed my foot on a curb and fell hard face first onto the sidewalk. The key there, which didn't come until after I retired, was to not rush and to not let others rush you. Any one of those could have done me serious injury and, worse, I didn't have any health insurance that would have covered those expenses. I simply couldn't afford it and none of my jobs offered it. Lesson from all that: be aware of where you are and of who and what is around you. That would have prevented all three falls.

I wasn't going to post anything today because I have an eye doctor's appointment in a little bit. However Infidel has a good one I can't resist linking because it hits what has become a blood-pressure raising, profanity-inducing explosion of anger here: intrusive internet ads.

I've been busy cleaning up our sewing/plant starting/storage room so haven't paid much attention to blogging or news.

I have been reading stuff but nothing to comment on. Politics is as usual--totally insane. It is hard to comment on something when, in five minutes, the situation changes. Some unnamed "high official" says the administration has agreed to some action (or whatever) that appears to change their policy/position/etc. Then some other unnamed official or, sometimes, #42 himself comes back (or tweets) that "no, no--they didn't say/mean/imply that." The fog of innuendo and uncertainty is so thick we can't see the abyss at our collective feet.

At least, by ignoring (or not wasting electronic blips) on the mess I do manage to get other things done.

Just finished reading John Michael Greer's Retro Future along with a couple of fiction re-reads simply because I get to the point where I am too tired to think and re-reading is easier than reading the first time. I am working on Ugo Bardi's Seneca Effect which fleshes out a theme he has been chewing on in his blog, Cassandra's Legacy for sometime--how complex systems (empires, societies, economies) collapse. Also, pecking at Frederick Lewis Allen's Since Yesterday having finished Only Yesterday couple of weeks ago. I had read most of both years ago for college history courses but now I can savor them. I also have two more of his books in the queue for later.

I haven't done much about the garden except think. Though the heliotrope is pretty and has a nice, though faint scent I won't repeat it next year. It is a very toxic plant and I would rather not have it in the gardens. Nor will I repeat the mosquito plant. I plan to put in lemon grass and continue planting lemon thyme and lemon balm which mosquitos and other such insects don't like much either. I was thinking about repotting the geraniums to bring inside but I consolidated the plant space upstairs under the lights so don't have the room. I will put in new ones next year. Those double yellows are really making a show now as are the petunias. The hot weather really knocked them down for a bit.

We went out to a "World Cultures" festival in town. It was nice enough but warm enough to be exhausting. There was a time when the 85degree temperature which is near normal for mid September wouldn't have bothered me. I can't believe I just wrote "mid September." Already. The weather reports have changed--again. It says we have a good chance for rain today through Tuesday. Actually, I hope it comes because the grass looks awful. The drought monitor indicates we are in abnormally dry conditions now. Considering the weather report I think I will concentrate on watering and fertilizing my inside plants and reading.

Yesterday's fog cleared up about mid-day and we had a lovely sunny, warm afternoon. The cookies turned out very well but today, since it is supposed to be clear and warm, I should get back out into the gardens.

This is an interesting development. For decades we have shipped our waste to China where it is supposedly recycled. How much is actually recycled and how much is added to their landfills or incinerators is unknown but some reports I have read over the last few years indicate it may be much more than we would like to think. When we think about it at all since once it is out of our vicinity we tend to forget it ever existed. The Chinese government claims the ban is for environmental reasons, which it might be; although our first thought was a tit-for-tat after #45's threat to impose higher import duties on Chinese steel. Both may be true.

I have a corner of the gardens pretty well cleared. And in the process thinking about next year. The begonias are coming back strong with the yellows continuing to bloom and the pinks budding. They are happier now that the areas are under more shade. I am debating digging out the plants, potting them and putting them inside for the winter. But my space inside is even more limited than that outside so that might not be a good use of what I have. I might just pull them later and put in new plants next year but in pots I can sink into the beds so I can take them out during the months I don't have shady areas for them and put them elsewhere. I think the shepherd's hooks will be hosting vining flowers next year with only one having a hanging decoration--the wind chimes.

In another "sign of the times" the Yellow Pages won't be published after January of 2019. The Naked Capitalism article segues into a discussion of classificatory systems, their uses and limitations and how they shape our thinking. However this article in the Guardian covers the history a bit more. I am not surprised by the development. I wonder how many businesses no longer bother with ads in the Yellow Pages which, if I remember correctly, they have to pay for. Moving to the internet listings may be more economical and productive. Over the years I notice that we don't consult the print books that often any more. Often the books are left on the stoop or the mailbox rack for months until someone finally thinks to throw them in the trash. I remember feeling frustrated by the computerized card catalogs when libraries started making the switch. I always found interesting material on adjacent cards that I might miss in the computer catalog. But then I had to use not only the title card file but the author and subject files as well. I can flip from one to the other to the third without changing my location now. In every technological change something is gained while something else is lost and sometimes we don't realize how valuable the something lost is until it is lost.

Back to the future?? Sounds like a good option given that a college degree now cost more than it is really worth and will put the graduate in debt for life.

Very foggy morning. I don't know when it will burn off so I don't know how much gardening I will do. What ever I do will be after I bake some oatmeal-raisin cookies. I feel the need of some comfort treats. We stopped eating cookies several years ago because we were consistently disappointed by the store bought versions--even those supposedly made by the in-store bakeries. As the packages got smaller and smaller the taste became less and less satisfying and, more often than not, they resembled highly sugared rocks. They didn't even soften up dunked in milk.

John Feffer posted this on Foreign Policy In Focus. Pretty much a spot-on analysis.

I read some time ago and followed the link in one of the original to a government website which contained the original info concerning the declining nutrient values of our food crops for the last 70+ years. That article attributed the decline to selective breeding of crops for simultaneous ripening, durability for long distance shipping, and high yield while neglecting nutrient values and taste. Scientific American notes that decline in nutritive value (and links the problem to poor soil quality) in addition to selective breeding here.  This article another possible culprit: increased CO2 in the atmosphere. Though the results of several experiments are suggestive the author and the researchers interviewed stress the need for more study. Unfortunately, in our increasingly specialized world getting grants for studies which involve multiple disciplines--chemistry, nutrition, agriculture/crop science, and math in the current case--is difficult.

The cookies are done after a couple of delays. I looked for raisins and found none--so, quick trip to the store. Normally I have a couple of packs on the shelf. The recipe made 30 cookies so I froze 20 and kept 10 out for immediate (over the next three or four days) consumption. Of course, we already sampled a couple and they are nice, chewy and flavorful.

This sounds like a good idea but how it will be implemented (if it ever gets passed) may make it a not so good idea.

No garden work planned right now. We have clouds with rain expected this morning. I brought in my three small pots of hens and chicks, watered them and found a place for them by the window. I plan to split and transplant them later. We had got our shopping and errands done yesterday so we didn't do much else.

William Astore's post on Tomdispatch this morning makes a lot of points we have been thinking over the last sixteen years (since 9/11). We spend more than the next ten top military spenders on our so-called defense and have gotten less for it. We do that because no one asks basic questions about what is going on. The military is our hammer and it is our only tool; therefore, we see only nails. Diplomacy at the point of a gun is not really diplomacy; it's bullying. And we have become the biggest bully on the block. Unfortunately, our powers that be don't know how to get off the treadmill we have been on since the Soviet Union imploded--and yes the roots go back that far and farther. There is an inertia in human affairs and we are seeing it in operation. Breaking that inertial pattern requires either small nudges in another direction that can move us with time into a different orbit. But do we have the time? Or it will take a force large enough to overcome the inertia which is likely to break a lot at the same time it changes our direction. And the things likely to break are things I would rather not be broken.

The fall wreath is reconstructed and hanging in the door. I am taking a break.

Break over. Emptied the second three-tier planter and all of the plants in the pockets of the soft show rack. That made a nice place for small plants--mostly strawberries this year. Next year I will start all of those pockets and the tiered planters with fresh soil and vermiculite.

The hurricanes have dominated the news but I have only skimmed the stories on line. I don't need all of the minute and grim details to know it is bad and won't get better very soon. For many it will be a long term disaster that will affect them for years. We did watch the national news last night but found it frustrating. The stories seemed so repetitive and when the segments got to be about 2 minutes long sandwiched between five minutes of repetitive commercials on each side we turned it off. The commemorations of 9/11 were also at the top of the news feed and that is another story I can do without. It has been 16 years; we need to let it go. However, it serves the aims of powers that be to keep it alive because it rekindles the fear they so need us to feel. Otherwise we might begin to question the need for this "national security state" we live in and whether we are any more "secure" than we were before 9/11.

Bread baking day but I might get some garden work done. We'll see.

I wonder how long before the so-called economists admit that this is a crock of excrement. The only reason rebuilding will give a "boost" to the economy is because the economists never incorporates the losses into the GDP calculations. If you lose 3% of GDP to such disasters and the rebuilding gains you 3%, it is a wash. U.S. News gives a better idea of the economic impact. And as one blogger I read yesterday (sorry, can't remember who) noted the money that is spent on repairing the damage from Harvey and Irma won't be available to address other urgent repair needs. Just think about the reports concerning our deteriorating dams, airports, bridges, roads, water and sewage systems. Number 45 wanted an infrastructure bill and I guess he got one--but it will all go to rebuilding after the storms.

Bread on its first rising. Nothing to do for the next hour or so.

Is this terribly surprising? I have read for some time that plastic "micro fibers" have been found in the flesh of food fish. As the saying goes: what goes around comes around; and there is no "away" to which trash can be thrown.

Sunny today though cool. Time to get out in the gardens again.

Found this at Mendocino Humanist. Too often, in my view, requests for prayer are too much like telling military people "Thank you for your service." Unless you do something at the same time you are praying or expressing your gratitude, it is meaningless. Gratitude and prayer are often worth their weight in gold.

Ronni Bennett at Time Goes By had a post on the advantages of growing old. I found myself nodding my head both throughout her post and through the comments. Many struck a chord. My own--somewhat abbreviated--list: simplified wardrobe (no dresses, suits, or skirts--hope never to wear any of that again--and NO pantyhose); simplified "personal" care (no haircuts/perms/curlers--no makeup); I read what I want to read/watch as long as I want to read/watch it (I no longer feel the need to finish a book/movie that fails to interest me); no alarm clock and no fixed schedule but plenty of time for what I want to do. Oh, yes--there are plenty of advantages to growing older.

I cleared the first of my two plant towers. Took cuttings of lemon mint, orange mint, thai basil to (hopefully) root over winter. If they don't make it I will try to find more plants next spring. I transplanted the Greek oregano and the "hot & spicy"oregano and put the pots upstairs under the lights. The rest I dumped and stacked the tiers with their drain pan for nest spring. That was a bit of work so I quit for the day after getting the two rosemaries well watered and drained.

I don't know if or how much I will get done in the gardens. Right now the skies are overcast.  The weather report says just cloudy--no rain. I started four more cuttings from the English lavender before harvesting the large plant. I got four trays of lavender and put in two of spearmint. I saw some nice sprigs of lemon mint I want to put in vermiculite to root (I hope). The hibiscus seems to be adjusting well to being inside. I don't know if it will continue blooming after the buds it already has are spent. That area gets bright during the winter being on the south side of the house. Whether it is bright enough I don't know--yet. The lemon verbena looks good also after I transplanted and trimmed it. Hope it stays that way.

Oh, well! the clouds have simply made this such a gloomy day all my ambitions for gardening have evaporated. We are supposed to have sun tomorrow so I think that sounds like a better day to get outside.

Kunstler has a take on the impending arrival of Irma in Florida scheduled for sometime Sunday. I had been thinking much the same things after Harvey. Considering how much of New Orleans still hasn't been rebuilt I expect a similar patten in Texas and in Florida. The insurance companies will do what every shenanigans they feel they can get away with to mitigate their losses. The personal losses are going to be even worse because so may individuals were not insured. Kunstler wondered how many people returning to a complete wipe out will drift somewhere else. Again New Orleans after Katrina is instructive. The city stands at three-quarters of the population it had before Katrina. Houston's just over 2million might be reduced by 600k.

Cool so far today with sun--mostly. We had intermittent rain yesterday that gave us a couple of very nice showers. Needless to say--no garden work done. I have been making up for it today though. I ground the rosemary and lemon verbena that was already dry and filled the dehydrator with lavender from one of the small(ish) pots on the garden bench/table on the patio and some cuttings of spearmint. I also took out the eggplant. Found three small fruits in the process but didn't keep them. We already have a winter's worth in the freezer and when I say small I mean very small. I took some more cuttings of the lavender to try to root for next year. So far only one of my earlier cuttings failed.

I don't intend to do much today except, perhaps, finishing the fall wreath I am rebuilding. Maybe I will decide, on the spur of the moment, to do something else. We did laundry yesterday and will wash the bedspreads today. Each of the two will be a load by itself. The bread came out nicely yesterday and tasted wonderful. The smell of baking bread is one of the most pleasurable smells in existence.

I found this article earlier. It is intriguing though it doesn't directly affect us since we have no dietary restrictions, religious or otherwise. I am sure Unilever never thought about the source of its gelatin nor much about its market, especially the religious dietary restrictions. They relied on the USDA's judgement which indicated that since the product was so refined it was no longer considered a "meat" product. It reinforced in my mind the fact that with global supply lines companies often (usually??) can't guarantee what is actually in the products they sell. Think of the stories over the last couple of years of fake honey, fake olive oil, cadmium contaminated children's jewelry, etc. And I am not assuming that our manufacturers are more honest or trustworthy that foreign ones. I know otherwise. Nor am I all that trusting of government agencies which have become increasingly captured by business interests. By the way, I wonder what Unilever's Muslim customers in India and elsewhere think. After all, the article says they can't guarantee that neither beef nor pork are the ultimate source of the gelatin.

Just a thought without links--#45 made a second trip to Houston and this time made sure the photo ops showed him being the "Consoler-in-Chief." That was nearly as unconvincing as the first trip. But--when did we decide that the President had to play that role? Obama visited several disaster sites and was a great "Consoler-in-Chief" though he faced a legislator that was less than consoling. George W. did the same but came off as somewhat stiff and uncomfortable except at 9/11 ground zero where he could combine the consoling role with Commander-in-Chief. But as Commander-in-Chief he was somewhat of a flop. He tried to make us believe "Brownie" did a terrific job as FEMA basically failed in its response. I saw a list of Clinton's visits but I really can't remember them. Question--did they ever do any good and were we ever "consoled?"

Bread baking day. I have a whole-wheat, oatmeal, and honey loaf in its first rising. I don't have any gardening planned beyond watering a couple of indoor plants. We got a spate of very heavy rain last night so I don't think I need to water anything outside especially since it has been very cool lately.

Very cool last night--only 47F. I brought the hibiscus in and placed it in what I hop will be its winter home. I have to repot the lemon verbena and stake it. Some repair work our landlords did on the outside of the building rattled the wall and one of my framed diplomas fell on it. The glass didn't break (thank you, Gods) and I didn't see anything broken on the plant in the cursory look I gave it before going to bed. I harvested five lovely eggplants and will pull the plant either today or tomorrow. Mom put up six package in the freezer--three breaded and ready for frying, and three plain and ready for anything we want to do with them. I have had a good year for eggplant.

Lemon verbena transplanted, trimmed and staked. One of the sources I read says it doesn't like to have its roots disturbed and tends to drop its leaves when transplanted. I hope I didn't disturb it too much but if it does loose leaves I won't be as quick to think it dead as I had been. I also trimmed back my large rosemary to try to encourage it to grow up instead of out. I also tied it so that the stems are closer together. The trimmings are drying now. Can't waste something as good as home grown rosemary and lemon verbena.

Cronyism at its worst. Or the best politicians money can buy. Unfortunately, although the politicians came cheap, the results are going to be expensive for the taxpayers. Either they will pay to clean up the mess or, more likely, suffer the health consequences of the mess not being cleaned up. But, hey, that's Texas whose two senators voted against funding Hurricane Sandy relief claiming there was too much "pork" in the bill. That claim was refuted in a line item examination of the bill I read recently. Politifacts writes a good assessment of Ted Cruz's charge that two-thirds of the appropriations were unrelated to the hurricane and says they are mostly false.

Another craptastic decision by #45. As soon as I read this three thoughts went through my mind. First, he is moving money around to get two things: his idiotic wall and the military. That was confirmed by the statement that government employees outside the DC area will get a 0.5% raise while the military will get a 2.1% increase. Second, where is the "national emergency"? Please don't tell me that Hurricane Harvey is a NATIONAL emergency. Since when is Texas the whole of the nation? Third, what "serious economic conditions?" We have been told for the last ten years that the economy is recovering well and doing fine. Now, suddenly, #45 sees "serious economic conditions?"

Very interesting article about (some) of what brought #45 to the presidency. The description reminds me of some of what I have been reading on the 1920s. To quote from Battlestar Galactica "this has happened before; it will happen again."

This blogger has a story that parallels mine. Like her I resisted getting a cell phone but relented because I made trips home alone and didn't want to be stranded with no way to get help. So the cell phone entered my life. A couple of years ago we decided to go entirely cell and eliminated the home phone. I also resisted the e-reader for some time before breaking down and getting my first nook which took me about four years to out grown because my e-library had grown bigger than the memory capacity of the device. But I also put Kindle software on my laptop only to find that Barnes & Noble no longer offers nook software for laptops. But the nook was simply a tablet computer so I could put Kindle software on it. That strategy worked until the combined library exceeded the memory which led to the iPad on which I run both e-readers. Why not just move most of the content to the "cloud?" Well, I thought about what would happen if our internet service was interrupted just as I finished a book and wanted to download one from the cloud. I prefer my library accessible. I still love physical books but the iPad is lighter and more convenient. I can change the type size, adjust the brightness, highlight, put in lengthy notes on the text. I don't know if I am a "fan" but I am an enthusiastic user. The battery life hasn't been an issue. I can read for or five hours without a problem. However, I have thought about finding a solar charger--just in case.