September 20

 Here we are at the last day of September. The weather feels more Summer-like than fall. But the shadow of the house covers the fence and has for several days. The fence won't reflect sunlight onto the patio until after the Spring equinox at the end of next March. The nice thing about the shift is we won't see oven-like temperatures for the next six. months. The bad thing is the plants that like full sun won't be happy. This year it isn't as much of a problem since I don't have much still growing--besides weeds. I am still making final decisions about what containers to keep and which to get rid of. But with October starting day after tomorrow  I have to get busy deciding what seeds I will order in November. 

I spent most of the weekend watching soccer, re-runs from our own shelves, and weaving a bunch of 4-inch squares. From what little I saw of news I think my time was better spent. Evidently we had two spectacularly idiotic assholes who decided to act out with guns. One crashed his truck (flying large U.S. flags) into a church and started shooting up the place before setting it on fire. Another decided to run a boat up near a waterfront bar and started shooting. The first died in his firefight with police and the second was captured by the Coast Guard. That might be the worst of the idiocy over the weekend but the behavior of the spectators at the Ryder's Cup yesterday takes the notion of THE UGLY AMERICAN to a new low. Golf used to be the genteel sport but obviously not any more.

Rachel Bitecofer posted an article with an intriguing title: SMART PEOPLE ARE DUMB, DUMB PEOPLE ARE EXPERTS. WELCOME TO THE DE-ENLIGHTENMENT.

I read that the Trump administration planned to give some kind of a hefty life line to Argentina but hadn't followed it. Given how much Trump loves strongmen and Milei in in that camp, I wasn't surprised. This article at POPULAR INFORMATION gives details which though not surprising stinks like a roadkill skunk. The $20billion he plans to provide isn't just a life line for a fellow would-be dictator but a life line for a U.S. billionaire hedge fund manager who is heavily invested in the Argentine economy. Yet another gift to the billionaire class while his Big CRAPPY Bill will take healthcare benefits away from low income Americans.

I started Chris Hayes' THE SIREN'S CALL and like the author of this piece, Jeremiah Johnson, got distracted by other interests. Johnson, however, has actually gone back and finished it during a stay in Switzerland where he did an internet detox and unplugged for a while to read actual books. It takes real effort to keep focus on any particular information thread because you are bombarde by so much. Once upon a time, when I read physical books, I kept a notebook by me to jot down questions or things I wanted to pursue more deeply. Now I simply go from the text on my iPad to the internet to ask the question or get the definition of a word. But sometimes I don't make it back to the book because my magpie mind has been seduced by a shiny new subject.