Rain and fog today which should take out more snow out. I have about a month before I start my peppers, tomatoes and eggplant and I still haven't firmed up my new garden map. We are still in house cleaning mode. Still have some of the downstairs to do but I think sorting out the storage jars is my first priority. We started getting honey in quart and pint jars--the good canning kind--sometime ago and added to that with some we purchased when I started doing our own pickled and canned tomatoes. But now the stocks are way above what we need for canning and other storage needs. Plus we kept a number of nice little fruit and jelly jars to keep small amounts of herbs and such we grow and dry for tea and cooking. Those have also multiplied way beyond our needs. I can be a pack rat on some things but the time has come to lock my inner packrat in a closet and pitch a bunch of stuff.

We have a tendency to look at something and think we might use it some time. Sometimes we do and sometimes we don't. We are now sorting out the "Don't" category for redistribution elsewhere--Goodwill, where ever. I am always amazed when we go through these clean-up/sort-out frenzies how much shit stuff we collect over time. It isn't really useless crap. It just didn't work out or isn't working now for what ever reason.

I found this piece this morning which parallels my own feelings well. I mentioned before on various posts that I am more than a little irritated by several phrases that have become so expected and so meaningless but are trotted out in certain circumstances. "Thoughts and prayers" ranks very high on my list of hated phrases. It implies a compassion and sympathy which isn't really superficial (if even that), cheap because it requires no action or sacrifice on the part of the person offering "thoughts and prayers," and signifies a religious sentiment (prayers) that is just a cheap and superficial as the compassion and sympathy. It lasts only the few seconds to say.

So--school shooting #18 since the beginning of the year that is less only a month and a half old. We were, as usual, perplexed (WHY??) and--hmmm, "saddened" doesn't begin describe the emotion. We haven't really become accustomed or hardened by these stories that are almost a daily occurrence. But we don't have any control of the situation especially after the event. However, in addition, we felt a real tinge of irritation yesterday. The only thing, ONLY thing, on TV yesterday when we turned the set on for our usual hour of Jeopardy and news was continuous coverage of the shooting aftermath. I could summarize the coverage at 3:30 quickly: There has been a shooting at a high school in Florida with several victims and the shooter is still at large. That is all we know at present. But the coverage had wonderful (sarcasm!!) pictures from the helicopter of the students streaming out and the police in swat gear moving in, totally meaningless and emotional interviews with frightened parents and students, interviews with witnesses who may or may not have seen something or just heard shots (or something.) When we checked the news at 4:00 they didn't have much to add except an initial report of casualties that was sure to change shortly. Same at 5:00--oh, yeah: shooter in custody. Most of the coverage was meaningless crap with ZERO information value. By the way, that was the second day of extended coverage of a shooting. On Tuesday a policeman was shot in Chicago and the same mix of nuggets of information (street closures affecting commuters) and meaningless chaff. But it was continuous coverage from about 3pm on.

I found this list of school shootings in the U.S. from the 17th century forward on Wikipedia which is a bit frightening. The list shows 28 incidents for the 19th century, 226 for the 20th century, and 212 for the current century which is only at the beginning of its 18th year. I wonder if we will tie or surpass the 20th century tally before this year is out?