Good morning, Everyone. We had rain last night--nothing like the East coast with post-Irene flooding. But enough that I won't have to water the gardens. It no longer resembles a jungle. I hadn't planned on it but I transplanted the mini-roses into one of the large containers where they are keeping company with the mums. The spearmint cuttings are doing very nicely though I will move them over onto the table/potting bench sometime today because the temps over the next two days are predicted to be in the 90s tomorrow and Friday. I don't want them cooked in the pots. I will pick some of the green beans today and we will have some with the pork roast tonight. The rest will go in the freezer. The verbena and rosemary are doing well--so far. I found new growth on both when I put them outside for a while today. But I have a long winter to go before I will know if this experiment will work. I have threatened for the last week to take out the Juliet and yellow cherry tomatoes. It is time to follow through on the threat.

I decided to grow strawberries here next spring and this article simply reinforces that decision. I read articles several months ago about this but the topic simply disappeared from my normal alerts and other reading. The issue illustrates both the need for government regulation (contrary to the pie-in-the-sky notion of the Repthuglican anti-government fringe that industries can reliably self-regulate) and the need for that regulation to consider health and safety first and company profits last. Unfortunately, it seems that the California regulators were far more concerned with profits and too willing to risk health and safety.

Vertical gardens are increasingly popular if the increasing number of blog space devoted to them is any indication. I found this by way of the Facebook group for container gardeners. All three are ingenious but I especially like the second one which incorporates a fish tank into the gardens.

I agree, Kay. If Jesus returned tomorrow a lot of Christianist hypocrites would be confused as he denied them. They are suffering from an old malady--conflating their will into God's. We aren't much for Wal-Mart either. We only go when price is the major consideration and the higher priced goods aren't of any better quality than the low. But the last few times we found their prices way too high for the items we were looking for. I can understand why Wal-Mart has been taken to the cleaners by the dollar stores. Much of what we used to buy at Wal-Mart is much cheaper at the dollar store we frequent. We had been doing pretty well on the grocery front until the last couple of years. We eliminated all of the high priced prepared foods (except for the dried fruits we added to our diet) and all of the high sugared cereals which are the most expensive in the aisle. But lately we have noticed the prices on everything is going up--sometimes by an incredible amount. The oatmeal and farina both went up by nearly 80%. We give the store brands and generics a try--if we don't like them we simply don't buy them again.

Terry Newell at Huffington Post has an interesting article this morning on the 'misrepresented majority.' I don't know how often I have seen a news story where some poll is presented in which the vast majority favor (or oppose) a given policy, bill or whatever followed by some politician favoring the position the majority rejected claiming that 'the American People demand' his position. I sit here and scream 'which American People, you (choose your own epithet--mine are quite raw)?' Well, Newell explains how it has come to pass and how these political hacks can ignore the will of what may be a majority. And, if he is right, we will need a massive revolution in voter attitudes to break the lock the respective parties seem to have on the 'safe' districts to shake things up. And if the news surrounding the redistricting, largely in Illinois, the number of safe districts are likely to grow.

Evidently NY Attorney General isn't the only state AG to resist white-washing the mortgage mess. According to David Dayen at Firedoglake Nevada's AG has filed papers to pull the state out of a multi-state agreement with Bank of America concerning the morass they took over when they acquired Countrywide on the grounds they have repeatedly failed to abide by the agreement. And she has added the charge that Bank of America has illegally foreclosed on homes they had no standing to foreclose on because they had failed to properly securitize the mortgages thereby breaking the chain of title.

Helen at Margaret and Helen has summed up the problems with at least two of the Repthuglican field. And with about as much respect as those buffoons deserve.

Good morning to you all. Plan to do up some stewed tomatoes today following up with tomato sauce tomorrow. Then I should pick some of the green beans. Should be an easy schedule. See what else I can put in here and there. The errands we planned (less one we put off for later in the week) took all morning and part of the afternoon so nothing else got done here. But we did get a couple of irritating shocks. We picked up some Roma tomatoes (to stretch what I have from the garden which are mainly slicers) and glanced at the sweet corn--$5 a dozen. That is more than double what it was last year. There are some cheaper sources out there but those are still much higher than last year and the quality is pretty poor. It makes me wonder if our weather has put a bit of a dent in the supply. The second was how hard it was to find a simple, plain cold cereal. Almost everything out there was highly sugared and had all kinds of faux fruit additives. We could only find two--old fashioned cherrios and some shredded wheat. There may have been some corn flakes but I have never really like them--they get soggy too quickly. A third surprise was how much they have shrunk the refried beans section. So much that we want is disappearing in the supermarkets.

It would seem that the stealth price rises we have noticed at our supermarket is a far more common pattern and even Wal-Mart is engaging in the practice. We noticed two weeks ago an increase in the cost of the cat food we normally buy. The normal price had been between $0.47 and $0.49 with sales taking it down to between $0.42 and $0.45. The new tag read "10 for.." and we though 'Oh, great--a sale!!' But then we read further and saw it was "10 for $5.00" which is no sale at all. I wonder how many people never got past the "10 for" part of the tag. Hey, retailers--how about some straightforward honesty here. I would appreciate it as would others I am sure.

I don't know about anyone else but I am getting tired of the hype surrounding and leading up to the coming 10th anniversary of 9/11. I don't think there has been a day without some maudlin piece on the 'news' concerning some aspect of remembrance. I wish this country would move on instead of being stuck wallowing in the amber of the past. Unfortunately, we seem to have learned all of the wrong lessons from the event much like we did from the debacle that was Viet Nam.

So Missouri's senators are pissed off with FEMA because some payments for tornado recovery in the Joplin area are going to be slowed or suspended to help the agency deal with the immediate aftermath of Irene. Perhaps Blount and McCaskill should talk to the Senate Minority Leader McConnell and that pin-head in the House, Cantor. Where is the money supposed to come from if Cantor's demand is met that any disaster relief be paid for by cutting elsewhere? And, perhaps, they should have a word with Ron Paul who has recommended the elimination of FEMA because all states and localities should deal with such disasters from its own resources and not expect any help from more distant parts.

Gaius Publius at AmericaBlog had this item this morning. Monsanto's GM corn that poisons corn root worms that have the audacity to munch on the crop may be facing a variety of root worm that is resistant. The new bug has only been found in four spots in northeast Iowa but how long will it take to spread. Probably as long as it took Round-up resistant pig weed to spread out of fields of Round-up resistant commercial crops. Already Monsanto is looking for new genes that will give bugs tummy aches. Of course that is a strategy which will ensure future profits when the bugs develop resistance again.

Job Jones has a right on point commentary on all the crazy Christianist idiots (read Bachman and her ilk) taking God's name in vain.

Good Monday morning to you all. Today is our errand day and we have a more extensive series of errands than usual so this might be a bit abbreviated. Well, Irene was bad--thankfully not as bad as it might have been. Now comes the flooding--or more flooding as the case might be. They say it may be a week or more before all of the power is restored to those who have lost it. That doesn't surprise me because I remember how long it took for the power to be restored for the 800k in the Chicago area who lost it during that spring storm not too long ago.

So, finally--ten years after 9/11--someone is asking how much the so-called security our 'Homeland Security' spending has increased our security and whether it has been worth the cost. My answer is: too much for not a lot. Unfortunately, we have been in a frenzied search for absolute security which we can't ever achieve. Worse, that mind set has allowed us to uncritically spend a lot of money so long as some tenuous tie to 'security' can be allegedly shown. I also remember how senators and representatives from less populated states and cities insisted on parity with states like New York and California, and cities like Chicago and Los Angeles. Small town police departments were like kids in a candy store with their parents' credit cards trying to spend the windfall. What pisses me off--I am sure when Cantor insisted that funds for relief after Irene (as before with Joplin) would be available only if it were offset by funds cut from elsewhere he wasn't thinking of taking it from Homeland Security grants.

I noticed that MSNBC and CNN both have polls asking if Irene was 'over-hyped.' I don't know. Can you over hype a storm that has, at last report, caused 14 deaths, caused $7 billion in damage, interrupted power for a couple of million, and flooding over most of the east coast from Main to the Carolinas? I rather wish Katrina had been over hyped.

Redtree Times has an good post this morning which echoes some of my thoughts after reading a bit of Ron Paul's tirade on FEMA. Ever since Ronald Reagan a seemingly growing number of pundits, politicians, and (perhaps) just plain folks want to go back to some kind of simpler nirvana located in some idealized past. The past is gone and it was never as nice as they seem to remember.

I couldn't agree with you more on Cantor and his fellow pustules, Kay. This item should raise your blood pressure so take a couple of deep breaths before reading. I wish our spineless and morally deficient press would take the Repthuglicans to task for their hypocrisy. But, since so much of it is corporate controlled and beholden to the interests of big business and the wealthy, I am not holding my breath.

Good morning, All. Most of the news remains focused on Hurricane Irene. Our local news this morning noted that a local (Chicago) Guard unit had been activated to help in the aftermath. That is what the Guard should be used for--disasters here at home. Several bloggers noted that our wonderfully sensitive and caring Repthuglicans are insisting that any disaster relief be paid for with further cuts in the budget. (Sarcasm alert.)

I am back to reading (and maybe posting) after a session with the spearmint that is turning out to be more work than I had thought. I intended simply to cut it back and dry another batch but I found that all I had left was a bunch of bare, woody stems. So I cut it down entirely except for a few sprigs that were very low. I will cut a few of those out and transplant them to small pots to nurture over the winter. Otherwise, I will clean out the entire pot and wash it out for next season. I am not unhappy with the experiment--I hadn't grown spearmint for nearly two decades. I got three large cuttings from it and will enjoy it in my tea during the cold months. Next year I may put it on the fence and try to keep it smaller. And I just finished totally with the operations on the spearmint. I have two small cuttings with good root systems in small pots on a shelf of the mini-greenhouse. I also changed my usual procedure for cleaning out the pot. It was incredibly root bound. I could have chopped up the rootball but this is a very invasive plant and I decided to simply discard the rootball entirely. I really don't want to be pulling spearmint out of other plants because the roots (like the arms of a starfish) spawned new organisms from the pieces.

Joshua Brown at Reformed Broker has an excellent take on pundits of all stripes--not just the financial pundits.

Good morning, all. Not much planned for the garden today. Got the lemon verbena, rosemary, and mums transplanted and that was the main work for yesterday. The verbena and rosemary are half the size (above and below ground) they were and inside. I will put them out on the patio when the temps warm up. We have low 60s right now. Otherwise, all I need to do is trim here and there and check for any ripe veggies. Next week I have to order a couple of Top Hat blueberry bushes. By the time they are shipped I will have clear spots in the beds for them. I hadn't intended to do that till spring but I checked the Burpee site and they accept orders for fall shipment. Makes sense. That gives them the fall and winter to get established for next year. Update--I decided not to wait on lacing that order. Just did it.

All of those regulators and politicians who were so hot to protect individuals from the potential dangers of buying drugs from foreign sources ought to be going spastic over this story. But I haven't heard a word of outrage over either the shortage os so many drugs or the back-channels many hospitals are forced to use to get them.

Yeah, Kay, the garden is producing well--the best yet. The peppers may produce enough that the only ones we will buy are the nice big belles for stuffed peppers. We just finished what we got last year as this year's plants started producing. We won't get enough stewed or sauced tomatoes to carry through the winter but it will put a dent in what we have to buy. And ours smell and taste so much better. I hope the beans produce enough to completely take care of us. Right now they are developing nicely and I should be able to start harvesting next week. So far the timing has been really good. As the tomatoes slacked off the peppers have picked up. I haven't been overwhelmed by picking and prepping. On the string ball gardens--I suspect that they either move the balls indoors in the winter or they clean them out and store them for next season.

Now this is a 'contract' I can totally agree with!! Much better than that Repthuglican nonsense.

Hi, again. Now that the garden report is in I can go on to my trip through the news and internet.

The big story is, of course, Hurricane Irene. Being in the midwest, we are aren't affected. Every now and again, we hear a bit of emergency preparedness advice which can be applied to the kinds of weather emergencies we are likely to experience.

Just finished transplanting my rosemary bush. I cut off about half of its height. Went from about 12 inches to 6 and cut back the root ball by about half. Hope it works because I really want to keep this thing small. It is sitting on the top shelf of the 4-shelf stand in front of the immobile side of the patio door. In a bit, after I have rested a bit, I will wash the cuttings and put them in the freezer. I just found a nice site called Kalyn's Kitchen which described how her efforts worked. I put her site on my regular reading list.

Time for another rest. I just finished cutting down the ground cherries and that was work. I still have to pull the roots, or cut them out, which ever is easier. In a bit I will transplant the mums from their pot so I can put the lemon verbena in it to move inside for the season. That will be some more heavy work because that is getting to be one large plant. Another I need to trim radically both above and below the soil.

Here is something for the 'cute but' folder--as in cute but not something I want to do. I will simply admire the ingenuity.

Good morning to you all. Very cool this morning and we expect the high will be in the very low 80s. Nice and comfortable. I thought I would show a little of what we are getting out of the container gardens. The first picture shows the Zavory peppers. These are among the earliest of them to ripen and there are a lot more on the plants. Small (only about 2 to 2 1/2 inches long) with a bit of a kick and an interesting over all flavor. We used the first two in the first batch of stewed tomatoes. I definitely plant to plant these next year. This is a new hybrid Burpee introduced this year.

All of these came out of the garden either today or yesterday. At the far left are the same three Zavory peppers I showed above and below them is the first of the False Alarm. Those are a very mild jalepeno style pepper. Good flavor without much of the bite. I have grown these for three years now and been very happy with them. Another Burpee hybrid. The white blob at the top is the last of the Dragon's Egg cucumbers. Planted for the first time this year, I will definitely plant them again. Small (about the size of a turkey or goose egg when fully developed), thin skinned and sweet. Mom doesn't care much for cucumbers for the most part but she likes these. Wonderful in salads and we have three pint baggies of the spicy pickles from them. The seeds for these came from Bakers Creek which specializes in heirloom varieties. The red tomatoes are Brandywine an heirloom variety. This is the third year I have planted this variety and this is the best harvest so far. The yellow are Big Rainbow, another heirloom. It is delightfully sweet. Also the third year for this variety. I got the seeds for both from Burpee. The green tomatoes are a mix of Brandywine and Rainbow I picked accidentally while trying to clean up the vines.
These are the Giant Marconi peppers. It is a new variety for me. I got the plant from the local Home Depot and was really surprised at the variety of tomato and pepper plants they carried. The peppers are about 10 inches and were bred to be grilled. We don't grill but the flavor works very well fried with potatoes or put into omelets. Usually you harvest these green but they surprised me. Actually, we really like the flavor of the red ones better than the green. I will keep this variety in mind for rotation in my gardens.

Today I hope to start getting some of the transplanting done. The lemon verbena and rosemary are not hardy for this area so they have to come inside. I need to get the ground cherries out. This was another new plant for me. I got the seeds as a freebee with my seed order from Baker Creek (I think--it may have been Jung's also) so I planted them out of curiosity. According to the descriptions (on line and on the package) the size made the plant an ideal candidate for a container garden--about 2 feet tall with a two foot spread. The fruit does have a slight strawberry flavor--and, for me, the emphasis is on slight. If I want a strawberry flavor I can plant strawberries. So I won't be planting these again. I will be planting strawberries and I found a small blueberry that grows only 2 feet tall with a 2 foot spread. I will put those in instead. That's all for today.