Friday July 27

We might get some showers today. I have lavender, chocolate mint, and oregano to chop for storing. If the predicted rain holds off or doesn't come at all I plan to cut peppermint, sage and lemon balm.

The peppermint and lemon balm filled the dehydrator so the sage was left for another day. So far the rain has bypassed us and I am considering watering.

Saturday July 28

Not much going on today. I watered the gardens early but put off any new harvesting and processing til tomorrow. I cleaned out the storage space in the ottoman and moved a lot of yarn upstairs. I have to find a permanent home for it now. Mom cleaned out the linen closet. We both came here with a large supply of embroidered table scarves, doilies, and pillow cases. Some of it has been put in a box for Goodwill. Some of the rest were washed to see how stained the items were. Most washed nicely and have been put back. Some of the crochet pieces need to be starched and stretched. When we first moved here we were still in the habit of leaving such items to be used for special "good" events. We don't do that any more. They were meant to be used and who better to use them than we who made them. Some will be repurposed and remade to serve new needs.

Sunday July 9

Got the lemon balm and peppermint finished and put thyme in the dehydrator. Gave the cat a bit of a tread and sprayed their scratching post with a bit of the alcohol that had catnip soaking in it. They loved it. Some of the spray also hit their cat beds--which they have ignored for the last several weeks--and they rolled around in them for a while. I will have to do that more often.

Thursday July 25

My energy evaporated too quickly yesterday. We were cleaning up and recharging after our guests on Tuesday. I remember a number of Ronni Bennett's posts at her Time Goes By blog when she noted how exhausting even pleasant social events could become. We had a very good time with our guests but we needed to get things back to normal.

I put off processing the herbs in the dehydrator so I still have that to do. And I need to water everything well today since I put that off also. We'll see what else I get done.

I found this Dr. Bones piece on Gods and Radicals this morning. It is one of those posts where you read along and nod all the way through.

Tom Englehardt has another good post on Tomdispatch. A constellation of failures.

Tuesday July 24

Started out gloomy but the sun has come out nicely. I have a dehydrator full of cinnamon basil with a few scattered strawberries. I will use both for tea over the winter.

We are expecting guests today so I probably won't get much else done.

Wednesday July 25

Well, I was right. I didn't get much done yesterday. Our guests stayed longer than I thought they would.

I hope to finish off the cinnamon basil today and harvest another load for the dehydrator.

This article says a lot of what we have already concluded.

I read stories like this and ask the "What if?" question. Situations in this country also rouse concerns.

Ronni Bennett at Time Goes By has been writing about all facets of aging for a long time now. She is going to depart from her usual policy of not covering politics unless it is connected to her major theme and, intermittently, discuss broader political challenges. Good!! Those issues, sooner or later (usually sooner), come back to bite us no matter our age. Some of us will simply have to live with the fallout longer.

Sunday July 22

Quiet day today. Finished processing the herbs in the dehydrator. I could have collected more but the weather hadn't improved before my ambition disappeared. Instead I did some more sorting and rearranging in the What-not room. I found a lot of bits and pieces (crochet motifs, embroidered patches, cross-stitched squares) that I put aside for later use. I found a nice crib quilt top that I will finish and a quilt top I haven't finished and will take apart rather than finish. That last has some unpleasant emotional connections. I have at least two pieces that only need hemming and a crochet edge put on to finish. So much still needs to be sorted.

Monday July 23

Cloudy right now and should be mostly cloudy all day. But not much chance of rain so I should get another batch of herbs cut and drying. The cinnamon basil is next on the list. I probably wouldn't make a good farmer or market gardener--I prefer to stay inside and dry no matter what needs to  be done outside. I saw some of the black vernissage tomatoes on their way to ripeness. We will get a few ox heart and Lemon Boy tomatoes a bit later. I already harvested a couple of the purple bell peppers and one of the Shishito peppers. The red bell haven't ripened yet.

As someone (I can't remember who) said: the future is here: it just isn't evenly distributed. Take a look at what can only get worse.

Saturday July 21

Our weather forecast calls for scattered thunderstorms. Yesterday's rain didn't come until late so I got the bee balm, lemon verbena and basil cut before it came in. I will see what space I have between rain drops to cut some others and dead head some of the flowers.

We have gotten brief episodes of sun followed by rain. Not enough time to get outside. Besides, by the time the sun came out I was already working to get some order back into the What-not room. I managed to get the table cleared, cut the excess fabric off a table scarf I finished embroidering a month ago, started the crochet edging. That is enough for today.

Friday July 20

I have a dehydrator full of spearmint but I don't know whether I will get any more harvesting done today. The weather predictions say we will have scattered thundershowers. I also transplanted some of the strawberries into a different pot and trimmed the beetle damaged leaves. I have a few more to do. The hibiscus cutting I took last fall from the plant that is blooming now is in a new, slightly larger pot and showing nice new growth. I hope the weather is a bit wrong and we have some dry patches because if we have rain all weekend my gardens will look like mini-jungles.

It is now just after noon and no showers yet. I cut lemon verbena, sweet basil, and bee balm all now in the dehydrator. The spearmint is chopped and in its jar ready for tea. I also put a handful of small, ugly strawberries in the dehydrator. They will also be chopped for tea.

Thursday July 19

We have a nice moderation in the temperatures. I got the catnip out of the dehydrator and will harvest spearmint in a little bit. I think the season for the Japanese beetles is almost over--I only found and stomped on one in the last several days. The really cheery sight is the hibiscus which is blooming now. The first blossom came over the weekend with two more today. Several are developing all over the plant.

This CNN piece doesn't surprise me. I agreed with #45 when he said the war games with S. Korea, which he cancelled as a freebee to Kim Jong Un, were "tremendously expensive." I figured he would simply move the money somewhere else and we (taxpayers) wouldn't get any benefit. I suspected it would go toward his "wall" but then an ego boost is always nice. We should remember that everything revolves around him.

Wednesday July 18

Not much to comment on lately. The gardens have been doing well for the most part. The tomatoes and peppers are having the hardest time with the heat we have had. We did get some rain but not enough to really revive things. I have a bunch of herbs I should cut and dry. They are doing their weedy best to take over the world. I am doing my best to avoid the political circus. It isn't good for the mood or the blood pressure.

I got more herbs dried, ground and in their jars: spearmint, lemon balm, lavender, pineapple sage. Going to pick catnip and spearmint (again) to dry. Thinking of what to do when I have all I need of the dried herbs.

The catnip completely filled my dehydrator and I had enough left over to start a vodka extraction.

Saturday July 14

Supposed to have thunderstorms this afternoon. I wonder if I can hold off watering the gardens and let nature do the work. I may make this a lazy day and not do much of anything.

So another government data base is going bye-bye. I often quibble about some of the guidelines and their applicability but you need the information before you can quibble. I wonder if some entity somewhere will do what Chicago and other cities did when the administration was erasing climate data and download it to keep it accessible.

Friday July 13

Another warm day. Minimal gardening today--watering and deadheading.

Found this report on FEMA's response to post-Maria Puerto Rico. Frankly, it is appalling. And it confirms my own estimation: FEMA has been just about worthless since it was folded into Homeland Security.

San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz, a critic of the federal government’s response to the storm said in a statement to ABC News ,“The report proves what was evident to all in Puerto Rico."
"FEMA was unprepared and they lacked a sense of urgency, which resulted in neglect, which in turn resulted in the loss of lives," she said. "It is quite troubling that they were not able to adapt their operating procedures to our reality and, from what the report says-they did not even learn from their past mistakes.”

I added the bold type.

I guess this tells us why the federal government is so slow about returning migrant children to their parents. Follow the money.

Jan in SanFran has a post which brings in John Feffer's post of a week or so ago which I enjoyed. She is right that the American empire has passed its pull-by date. They say a fish rots from the head and our empire has been rotting from the top down for some time now. I wonder how long before the smell becomes unbearable.

Infidel753 does say it like it is--unlike #45. I find no attraction in either on--not even in their promised afterlives.

Perhaps it is time to think outside our disposable box. We managed to reduce our single use plastics but too much we need comes in that: juice, milk, yogurt, frozen vegetables etc. Most of our meats come in butcher's paper now (thanks to our little meat market).

A good piece on older workers and changing retirement. Most of the articles I have seen don't deal with the nuances of the situation. Is the older worker physically capable of working past age 60 or 70. I know people, am related to a couple of them, who are not physically able to do the work any more. Changing careers at that age might be a bit problematic. Most of the people featured in the article continued in their previous careers in some capacity. Others I know or know of were essentially pushed out into a retirement they didn't want. The workplace itself may not be very welcoming. I am sure you can think of other questions that need answers.

Wednesday July 11

Robert Reich's right on assessment of #45's vaunted deal making prowess. A lot of hot air and no accomplishments.

Thursday July 12

We are getting back to something like normal. The last three months have been chaotic. Simplifying, or downsizing, or whatever the hell you want to call it is not a simple matter. The new recliners should come tomorrow so the downstairs will be in nearly final shape with a lot more room to move and a lot fewer things. The upstairs is half finished with the bedroom pretty much how we want it: again fewer things and more room to move. The new freezer is doing well and restocked with our most used items. That was a major mess and totally unforeseen.

The gardens?, you ask. Going along nicely. I see several peppers and some tomatoes--none near pickable yet. I have been taking herbs for drying regularly. I saw several flowers I should deadhead.

David Brin has a nice, biting article on our present situation. My own thoughts on the mess: we need an implosion of both political parties. They no longer represent our interests and need to be replaced by political parties that do. They both should go the way of the Whigs and into historical oblivion.

It has been a "hurry up and wait" kind of day. I hurried through my chores (grinding the herbs in the dehydrator and then harvesting more to load into the machine) and now we are waiting for the new freezer. We lost our effort to save what we had and threw most of it out. Damn. And damn Sears. First the Kenmore freezer goes out and is only six years old. Then they can't get a "technician" out her to diagnose the problem (not to fix it) for a week. Then we would have had to make another appointment for god only know when to actually fix the damned thing. Needless to say we won't deal with Sears again. Anyone care to guess why Sears is in trouble? I can sure tell them.

Right now my patio is all moved around to make sure the people who deliver the freezer can get in easily. I really hat to think of what our trash tote will smell like come Wednesday when we have trash pick up. I think (I hope!!) the season for the Japanese beetles is has peaked. I didn't squash nearly as many bugs as I have the past week or so. I hope the the basils and other plants they have munched on recover to thrive for the rest of the season.

The cats gave us a bit of a worry. Normally they eat their dry food well and love their canned food treat which is a minor part of their diet. Lately Candy has rejected her wet food  and, over the last few day neither she nor Leena ate their dry food. I think part of the problem was the heat we had for almost a month. But the other is the indoor cat food formulas. Neither cat will eat it. We won't be buying any more. Any one have similar problems?

Englehardt has an interesting take on the "addictions" problem in the U.S. And, yes, he did talk about plural addictions. We have never had one of the addictions here but avoiding one manifestation of it is difficult.

You might not be too concerned that a thuggish regime (N. Korea) would accuse the U.S. government of being gangsterish. However, this is a bit more concerning--a good bit. All for the benefit of Nestle and other purveyors of baby formula.

Saturday July7

Damn!! Someone turned on the cold. The temperature went down to the high 50s overnight.

I plan on gardening today and I might be doin it in a sweater. I want to trim some of the plants and get the beetle damaged leaves cut off. We had to make a trip to Ace Hardware yesterday and they had the remains of their plants free to anyone who wanted them. I got in just before another customer took their entire flat of chives and snagged two four-packs for myself. I have some places in mind for them where the beetles have been most destructive. I notice that the basil and cinnamon basil I planted near three other pots of chives aren't as badly chewed on so the companion  planting guides seem to be right on the deterrent value of chives for Japanese beetles.

Nice opinion piece in the Daily Beast about the exit of Scott Pruitt. I read his resignation letter and I must say I have rarely seen such a masterful piece of sanctimonious sucking up to the soon-to-be ex-employer composed by the quintessential toady.

Although I complained a bit about the very cool temperatures last night, I am enjoying getting out in the garden without wilting in the heat. I have already drowned or squashed a dozen beetles, trimmed damaged leaves off one tower of strawberries, trimmed one strawberry plant and transplanted it to an empty cell along with three chives in the last three cells of the tower. It is full now which I like. I hate empty spaces. I tied up one of the tomatoes that escaped the cage and the two pepper in spaces too close for a cage. That is just the beginning of my plans for the day.

Found this during my break from the garden. It has a nice sarcastic ring to it but pretty well illustrates the case with any technology. I doubt most people realize the demand for smooth paved streets came not from automobile drivers but bicycle riders. It was hell riding those first bikes on cobblestones or brick. We have often changed both our built environment and our behavior to accommodate our technology.

Friday July 6

Another bit of the household reorganization, rearrangement, and de-cluttering yesterday and today. We both tackled the bedroom yesterday and got it swept, dusted and rearranged. I finished that today with rearranging the books and knickknacks while Mom has a good bit of the bathroom done. I am taking a rest now and will tackle the What-not room later.

Found this item that is interesting. I would like to travel but most of the traditional ways of doing so are too expensive or simply not to our taste. We spent a couple of years taking day trips offered by our local park. They were reasonably priced and toured interesting places but almost half of the time was spent touring the shopping districts. We simply aren't into the shopping. I do remember getting a nice batch of gardening and herb books at the Chicago arboretum. But otherwise the other trips shopping times were a bust.

This sounds about right for the modern society and economy. The lesson is don't depend on any utility, agency, or other entity to provide the service they have accustomed you to depend on.

Thursday July 5

It isn't often that a commentary piece on MarketWatch reflects a lot of my thinking on any issue. I look it over to see what the economic pundits are saying and how out of touch many are with the life I live. This one, however, is an exception.

Another illustration of why our industrial food manufacturing system is not working. Or I should say it isn't a working for those who get sick from it. Because the profits are out of this world and it is making a few people wealthy while employing a lot more and only a few people get sick and/or die from its products most of us are fine with it.

We didn't celebrate the 4th. We stayed home, did our normal things, ate a normal meal, etc. This post has a good distillation of our attitude: why celebrate independence from a geographically distant monarchy only to wind up chained to a socially/fiscally/philosophically distant oligarchy.

Wednesday July 4

I would say Happy Independence Day but I am not at all sure we have much of our lauded independence left thanks to our own government.

We are taking things easy today and tomorrow. No heavy lifting. I did sweep the living/dining room carpet and the new vacuum works wonders. I am starting to reorganize stuff in the What-not room--at least getting things back on the shelves. Later I will do a final reorganization so I, hopefully can find things when I want them. We spent all morning yesterday trying to get someone to come out and repair our freezer. When that failed we went to three different stores before finding a suitable replacement that will arrive on Monday. That was when Sears (it is a Kenmore we bought from then only 6 years ago) could schedule a technician to diagnose (not necessarily fix) the problem. Once upon a time Sears provided good service but waiting six days and spending almost $100 with no guarantee that the problem would be fixed that day watching a freezer full of food melt simply did not meet our definition of good service. That alone should be a good indication of why Sears (as a company) is on the ropes. We got four bags of ice from a local supermarket and that seems to be keeping things cold enough to slow the thawing. We will be extremely careful about the condition of our meat before we cook and eat it. More so than usual. We finally got back home exhausted, irritable, and with aching joints and muscles. We don't normally walk that much at one time.

The Archdruidess has this little graphic on "The Rules of the Witch's Home." I like it. Consider it adopted here.

This is not the America I once knew and loved. And it certainly doesn't make me proud to be an American. But that seems to put me in the majority of those who answered a recent Gallup poll. I am not surprised that Repthuglicans feel differently.

A thought provoking piece from John Michael Greer. I do have a few quibbles. What are the necessary conditions for "equality of opportunity?" That is only one. I have to think about some other items a bit.

July 2

Supposed to be a bit cooler today. I hope I can get some pruning and dead-heading done and check how the peppers and tomatoes are doing. I also have to take care of the Japanese beetles. They have suddenly shown up in droves. Then I still have some books to pack for the local library and I want to get back to rearranging the What-not room. After going full tilt for almost two weeks on major and strenuous reorganizing and culling we needed to recharge a bit.

Sunday July 1

We had a good laugh with this post from the Archdruidess. In case you wondered where our National Nightmare came from.

And another excellent repost from the Archdruidess.

We have been reading and discussing #45's "short list" for the Supreme Court. We take it with a grain of salt on the one hand because he changes his mind more than a woman exercising her prerogative as a woman. Mom commented on the fact that two women were listed but I noted that they might not be any more friendly toward women or other groups at the bottom of the social/economic hierarchy than the men. Echidne evidently found some interesting facts about one of those women,

I have been saying and thinking much of what is in this post for some time. All of our traditional narratives (competition, materialism, individualism) have been driven to the extreme and that is where they break down. Whether the ever worked as well as we have been told (probably not) isn't really the point any more. The point is they aren't working now and haven't been for a good while. But our elites seem to want to double down on the busted system which only benefits them.