Monday July 30

We keep hearing from the economic/political cheerleaders that the economy is roaring along nicely. Why do I keep reading stories like this one? Which do we need more: infrastructure that moves the economy or #45's Wall?

Ugo Bardi has a good piece on how and why "climate change" may fall off the public radar.

Tuesday July 31

Wednesday August 1

Welcome to August. The year is certainly going by rapidly. We were busy yesterday finishing the shopping we didn't get done Monday. The local store which has carried the yogurt we like didn't have it in stock--for the second week. If we had known that ahead of time we would have stopped at our alternate source yesterday when we visited my brother and sister-in-law. But the unexpected excursion gave us a chance to check out a farm store we have been talking about visiting. They advertise fresh eggs, milk, cheese and other locally produced products. It is a nice little store and we will probably be going back.

Mom keeps saying that politics is the best comedy show going. I would agree with her if the clowns didn't have the power to mess up our lives "bigly." Unfortunately, the top clown is incredibly clueless. Here speaks a man who hasn't had to buy his own groceries himself ever. After we stopped laughing we tried to think of the last time we needed a photo ID to buy food. We bought food at two places yesterday where we either haven't shopped before or rarely shop. Guess what--no ID required. The last time was several years ago when we purchased wine and beer and the cashier didn't know us. It is at least a dozen years since I had to show ID to pay by check. At least the media isn't giving him the same pass on idiocy they did during the election and his early days in office.

Thursday August 2

Making some progress with a couple of needlework projects. Finished the crochet trim on the table scarf I finished a couple of weeks ago. Have almost finished the embroidery on another and the blanket is almost finished. I also have another project pulled out of storage which will be a Christmas table scarf. I am still in the process of sorting and arranging things in the what-not room.

Cut some rosemary and catnip to soak in vodka for a while. Should finish the thyme and cut some more herbs for drying.

Found a nice lot of strawberries. Kept the best for a yogurt snack tonight. The rest are drying along with pineapple sage, spearmint, and lemon verbena.

Good post at Tomdispatch today.

John Beckett has a good post today. I read the article he refers to a couple of weeks ago. A couple of things about the article hit me. One, the sense of entitlement exhibited is mind blowing as though, somehow, money exempts the owner of that money from human made catastrophe. Second, that all that money makes them better than those with less money. If these guys are Christian they have neglected Christ's answer to the rich man who asked what he had to do to be saved. Third, they haven't learned the lesson the brighter members of the prepper community preach: survival requires a community because you can't do everything alone. And, if you are relying on bought loyalty it may not last long if things go really bad.

Friday August 3

Sunny now and all of the rain went south of us. I will have to water everything. I have the dried herbs to finish processing and several I should cut to put in the dehydrator. We found a real nice lavender/spearmint tea that I can make from what I grow adding only the green tea I don't grow. I started the edging on my crochet blanket so that is nearing completion.

Saturday August 4

Yesterday turned into a lazy day. Watered the gardens but didn't harvest anything. Will have to get things done early today because we expect temps in the mid 90s with heat index breaking 100.

Found this post at Gods and Radicals which pretty well sums up the problem with our environmental debates.

Finished the crochet blanket. It is now on my bed. The ottoman in which I keep current crochet projects is pretty empty now. I won't say I will never do another large project but I don't have much incentive to start another one. And I do have one still working--a stash buster Catherine wheel lap blanket.

I got everything watered but it was already heating up so didn't do anything else.