Good day on this beautiful Tuesday.  Temp on the patio at a bit over 50 and predicted temp in the mid 70s.  No rain for today.  I should water containers later today.  I didn't get the lettuce transplanted yesterday so that is on the agenda for today.  It is cool enough that I don't feel any urgency about doing all the gardening now.

There are some lists on which we should not be proud of a high ranking.  But, given the current political climate, I don't expect any improvement.

I found this Atlantic article by way of Green Prophet and it has us thinking.  We changed our habits late  last year when we switched from a large glass of milk with our afternoon meal to a pot of tea.  Our usual formula is to use two bags of green or black tea and two of various herb teas.  Out of curiosity I checked the boxes on our shelf and none of them mention the composition of their bags.  We have decided to empty the bags and brewing the tea without them.  I looked for loose tea a couple of times but our local supermarkets but haven't found any.  We know of a small shop that deals in bulk tea, herbs and spices in a nearby town.  We may visit it again.

Another interesting story from Green Prophet parallels some I have been reading in our media, or more likely on ecological/health blogs, concerning the increasing pollution of water supplies by waste pharmaceuticals.  And by 'waste' here I mean filtered through our kidneys or passed through our bowels.  Most water treatment plants don't treat for pharmaceuticals.

This almost makes me want to hang my Indiana University diploma in the bathroom over the toilet.  But, considering how things have gone in Indiana on the labor front over the last few years, I am not entirely surprised.  It reminds me of the title of a book I read some two decades ago: When Work Doesn't Work Anymore.

I have questioned economic statistics from both government and private companies.  They just seemed too good to be true and this piece indicates my skepticism is justified.

Good Monday to you all.  Our weather is somewhat unsettled here.  Should be in the 70s with possible intermittent showers.  That rain system that has drowned the south and southeast is sending pulses up here.  I hope to get more done outside until later in the week when we expect more rain.  So far I have my purple cayenne, Amish paste tomatoes, Super Sauce tomatoes, two of my Mohawk peppers, and Kale in the gardens.  I hope to get my cypress vines and lettuce in--and maybe something else also.  The seedlings under the light upstairs are slowly dwindling and soon I won't have any--for now.

I saw a couple of interestingly titled articled on Firedoglake today.  The first claimed: Economy Still Not Working for Young Americans.  The second screamed: Over 55, out of work more than six months? Headhunters say you're screwed.  Sounds like the economy isn't working for anyone who isn't a bankster or doesn't have a nice stock portfolio.

Happy Cinco de Mayo and I hope you all are having a good Sunday.  Ours has started off sunny with temperatures predicted to be in the low 70s.  I have some more gardening planned for today.  The tomatoes I transplanted on Friday are all doing well.  I took the caps off during the day yesterday but they go back for overnight.  I have several starts upstairs that I have to put into larger pots and get into the greenhouse.

I did nothing but sit around and play on my computer yesterday.  And as you can see I didn't see much to comment on either.  Let's see if today is any different.

Most of what I have to say about this story is thoroughly unprintable.  Unfortunately, that kind of over-the-top reaction by authorities has become all too common in our (former) 'land of the free.'

I heard this on the nightly news yesterday in a very brief announcement.  After 40 years it is about time the FDA asks if triclosan is safe and effective.  We began to eliminate what products contain it a couple of years ago when we first heard it might be harmful.  We have long had our suspicions about the necessity of anti-bacterial everything and thought plain old fashioned soap (without antibacterial agents) and water was good enough.

Welcome to Saturday, All.  We had a good downpour yesterday afternoon and the patio is still wet. The temperature so far is ten degrees above what we had yesterday at this time and we expect the mid to high 60s with 70s for most of the week coming.  I did get six of my tomato seedlings in the containers before the rain came.  I put caps on them and am glad I did because that rain would have pounded them into pulp.  I won't do anything more outside till things dry out.

This intrigues me because I am amazed that somehow 'big data' is revealing to consumer product companies that a lot of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck.  Evidently they are finding that even middle class consumers are buying things they need when their paychecks come in and not buying between.  I am amazed because the 'paycheck cycle' has always dominated my adult life and the lives of most of the people know.  But it s only now becoming a major concern for consumer oriented businesses???  Looking at the response of the executive I have to wonder how it is so many consumers escaped the 'paycheck cycle' that companies like his didn't see the volatility of a market made up of hand-to-mouth consumers.  I notice the writer to assume that such volatility is a recent phenomenon.  And I am not so convinced that we have had a century of extending horizons with respect to our economic decisions.  Most of us have had a much shorter horizon than the pre-industrial herders and subsistence farmers had.  Our horizons were next week, or the next two weeks, or the next month, or what ever interval we had between one paycheck and another.  Those of us who tried to expand our horizons by saving for some distant event (i.e., retirement) often enough found ourselves brought back to the immediate by some unforeseen and random event that threw a monkey wrench into our planning.  That is why I am amused by the economic talking heads who are touting the new highs on the stock market because those who were iron-gutted enough to stick it out after the crash five years ago have got everything and a bit more back again.  Yeah, they got it all back--until the next crash.  And only if they cash out before.

Good day to you all on this cloudy first Friday of May.  I did get the mints transplanted yesterday but I don't really have much gardening planned.  The temperatures aren't supposed to get much above 60 with scattered rain.  All I will do is check all my seedlings for water.  A couple of the gardeners we see most mornings say they have already planted their gardens.  Hope it works out for them.

I didn't see much to mention yesterday.  Let's see if that changes today.

Every time I think a given situation can't get any worse--it does.  Recalled 'beef' contaminated with pork and horse in Europe and now, in China,  'mutton' that turns out to be rat, fox, and mink.  I love the last  quote from an unnamed interviewee: Everything we eat is poison.  In our news last night, the reporters focused on an article in Consumer Reports which linked the common practice of 'blade tenderizing' large cuts of meat which can inject contaminants deep into the meat.  Customers can't tell just by looking that the meat has been so treated.  I wonder if that is the same Consumer Reports article which found that nearly all of the meat they checked from supermarket shelves were contaminated by fecal matter, salmonella, or e. coli.  Worse a large portion of the bacteria were resistant to at least one and often more important antibiotics.  A key finding indicated that those animals not raised on antibiotic-laced feed had far less resistant bacterial contamination.

This is a topic that hasn't received any attention in our press--not even our economic press.  I have heard a few related stories but only because I get my news from a lot of different sources.  Workers have long known that globalization has provided less benefit than promised and cost them dearly in other areas--like wages.  But the concerns of those at the lower end of the economic scale didn't stem the tide of globalization.  However, now that the political powers-that-be are concerned about what it is costing the nations they lead, that may change.

Arianna Huffington posted an interesting piece on "America's Real Deficit Crisis."  Not debt but time.  As one who spent most of her adult life frazzled to one extent or another, I agree.  I haven't worn a watch since I retired and don't want to start again.  I might suddenly find myself wondering where the time has gone but I am not obsessing over it.  And at the end of the day (or month or year) I look back and am amazed at how much I actually did get done.

Good Thursday, All.  Sunny for now but clouds will move in later according to the forecasts and they should stay through Monday.  I cleaned out my strawberries yesterday.  I put in 8 plants last year and transplanted 15 from the old bed last year.  About half of the seedlings I had under the lights are now in the greenhouse.  Those will be the first to go into the containers--next week probably.

I guess this is as good a tactic as any other if you would rather not deal with lousy economic stats.  Simply pass legislation prohibiting the government from compiling them.

Good Wednesday and May Day to you all.  Another beautiful day on the tap.  Had 80s yesterday and expect the same today.  I plan to move most of the seedlings into the mini-greenhouse today and to clean out and transplant the strawberries.  Got the previously worked containers and blueberries fertilized and watered.  I want to get as much done today as possible because the next week is supposed to be in the 60s and wet.  I saw some new growth on the sage so it seems that plant will survive.  Haven't seen any new growth on the lavender.

We are not, repeat NOT, fans of the plethora of so-called smart things flooding our markets.  We rejected smart phones last time we had to replace ours.  We don't want to surf the 'net.  We check directions for where we want to go, if needed, before we leave on our computers.  We don't need our fridge and freezer telling us we are low on whatever.  And we don't need the car talking to us.  So a world dominated by all kinds of trivial household objects talking to each other or to me is--worse than annoying.  Another example of a 'convenience' which is a whole lot less than convenient.

Rude Pundit is so right on this.  We turned off the news because it was going insane on the Boston bombing.  In all the verbiage we got little useful information and a whole lot of unconfirmed speculation.  But we get absolutely nothing about the threats to our health and safety that are much more likely to harm us.  Has anyone heard anything more about that pipeline spill in Arkansas?  The West, TX plant explosion killed, last I heard, 14 while the Boston bombs killed 3.  And our media is obsessed about terrorism??

This item was posted on Can It Happen Here? and it underlines thoughts I have had on a number of issues.  It doesn't matter if the issue is climate change or economic reforms or expanded background checks for gun purchases.  If the people making the decisions or those bankrolling the decision makers aren't at risk nothing will get done.

Grist pretty much says what I have thought about our industrial agricultural system for some time.  It isn't safe for consumers or for workers.  In fact, that is safe in that perverse system is the profits of the companies.  Of course, food isn't the only aspect of our lives that is toxic.  Damn near everything else is--for the greater glory and profit of the chemical industry.