Good Morning on this bitterly cold January 25th. The Weather Channel puts the temp at 1F with wind chill at -18F. Over the next couple of days the daily highs are not expected to get out of the teens. Thankfully we don't have to go out in it. The next ten days are going to be brutal. This might end any chance my strawberries have of surviving in the gardens. Oh, well, this is a bit of a transition year for me and my gardens. I will be using more transplants from local shops and the farm market (when it opens). And not a lot of planning so almost everything will be a surprise.

I just saw a news snippet of Wilbur Ross, Secretary of Commerce, saying he simply "didn't understand" why federal workers who haven't been paid in a month are lining up at food pantries and why they didn't get loans to cover their bills since the back pay was "federally guaranteed." I found this longer account on Salon. I don't think I have ever seen a bunch of politicians so divorced from everyday reality and so totally clueless about how those lower on the economic pyramid live. I won't link to any of the coverage of #45's daughter-in-law's comments telling her audience how she understands the pain of those not getting paid for working or not able to work because of the shut down but it is only a "little pain" for "the good of the country." I find it amazing how those not experiencing any pain at all can dismiss the pain others feel. We are being governed by psychopaths.