Tuesday--
Got not gardening done yesterday. We decided to do our shopping errands yesterday because we expect rain today. By the time we were done and had things put away it was getting warm and the humidity made that worse. We'll see if we get the rain the weather people are predicting.
A good recap of the last incredible (in a not very good way) fourteen years by Tom Englehardt. I get so tired of our news media interviewing some insipid little nitwit after every new measure by some organization, government, or venue to search bags or people, restrict they can carry, or otherwise impose on citizens a new restriction who mews something about "If it is for our safety, I guess I'm ok with it." The "land of the free and home of the brave" has become the "land of the constrained and home of the craven."
Wednesday--
The rain took its time coming in yesterday but was heavy when it came. I collected a full basket each of ripe tomatoes, beans and peppers. The tomatoes will be in the dehydrator and the beans and peppers in the freezer later today. The temperature should stay in the low 70s so I hope it will be a good day to clean up a bit in the gardens. Several plants are looking more than a bit tired. Update: tomatoes in the dryer and beans in the freezer. Only have the peppers to do.
Interesting post from the Contrary Farmer--one that speaks to my disenchantment with our commercial world.
Thursday--
Didn't get the peppers in the freezer. Instead I took down the plant bags and cleaned out the petunias and begonias that were looking very tired. I plan to put strawberries in them next year. The tomatoes will be dried by sometime later today.
Thursday, September 10, 2015
Monday, September 7, 2015
Monday--Happy Labor Day
For those who actually still have the holiday--enjoy. Planning to collect tomatoes from the gardens. I will dry most of them. It is supposed to be steamy today so I doubt I will get much done besides that and watering. The weather people predict a good bit of rain tonight and tomorrow.
Found this post first thing this morning and it is worth a read. Perhaps Kim Davis would be a better Christian if she emulated Jimmy Carter.
I wished you all a happy Labor Day but it is one of a growing number of holidays we really don't pay much attention to any more. Like Christmas, Halloween, "Presidents' Day, Fourth of July and so many others it is merely a "buying" opportunity. For most of us our only value in this society is how well we can mindlessly consume what every our corporate masters throw (up) at us. We don't ask ourselves what the holidays are supposed to honor. Doug Smith does muse on that very question at Naked Capitalism. Read it and weep.
For those who actually still have the holiday--enjoy. Planning to collect tomatoes from the gardens. I will dry most of them. It is supposed to be steamy today so I doubt I will get much done besides that and watering. The weather people predict a good bit of rain tonight and tomorrow.
Found this post first thing this morning and it is worth a read. Perhaps Kim Davis would be a better Christian if she emulated Jimmy Carter.
I wished you all a happy Labor Day but it is one of a growing number of holidays we really don't pay much attention to any more. Like Christmas, Halloween, "Presidents' Day, Fourth of July and so many others it is merely a "buying" opportunity. For most of us our only value in this society is how well we can mindlessly consume what every our corporate masters throw (up) at us. We don't ask ourselves what the holidays are supposed to honor. Doug Smith does muse on that very question at Naked Capitalism. Read it and weep.
Sunday, September 6, 2015
Sunday--
Heavy rain for most of the day yesterday so I didn't harvest anything. Looking at the extended forecast, with overnight temps dropping into the 50s and even 40s, I think it is time to start harvesting the green tomatoes as well. I will dry them and we will use them in our tomato sauce over the winter. The larger ones we will fry and freeze. I noticed a separation in the cover of my mini-greenhouse just where the plastic joins the zipper so I won't worry about taking it in over this year. I will need a new one next year.
I linked to a post yesterday about the run-amok trend of intolerant idiots using personal belief as a public club against people who violate their tender sensibilities. Here is another one.
So this is still going on--just not making our news media.
This is gruesomely mind-boggling. Yves Smith who provided the link on her Naked Capitalism site hoped it was sensationalized but, given the legal and cultural factors, I can believe it. After all our major companies factor in the possible fines and compensations as "costs of doing business" so they don't actually have to change behaviors or products that are lucrative.
I wonder if these are the same "intelligence sources" who claimed the Saddam Hussein's Iraqi government was buying yellow cake uranium ore from Africa. Or those who insisted his government had large stockpiles of WMDs. We know how well that adventure turned out.
I started reading this piece by Margaret Atwood and didn't recognize the names of the politicians which confused me. Then I remembered that she is Canadian. However, as I read further, I recognized the politics and wondered if Stephen Harper and his conservative have had their sensibilities adjusted by our Repthuglicans. It sure sounds like it.
Heavy rain for most of the day yesterday so I didn't harvest anything. Looking at the extended forecast, with overnight temps dropping into the 50s and even 40s, I think it is time to start harvesting the green tomatoes as well. I will dry them and we will use them in our tomato sauce over the winter. The larger ones we will fry and freeze. I noticed a separation in the cover of my mini-greenhouse just where the plastic joins the zipper so I won't worry about taking it in over this year. I will need a new one next year.
I linked to a post yesterday about the run-amok trend of intolerant idiots using personal belief as a public club against people who violate their tender sensibilities. Here is another one.
So this is still going on--just not making our news media.
This is gruesomely mind-boggling. Yves Smith who provided the link on her Naked Capitalism site hoped it was sensationalized but, given the legal and cultural factors, I can believe it. After all our major companies factor in the possible fines and compensations as "costs of doing business" so they don't actually have to change behaviors or products that are lucrative.
I wonder if these are the same "intelligence sources" who claimed the Saddam Hussein's Iraqi government was buying yellow cake uranium ore from Africa. Or those who insisted his government had large stockpiles of WMDs. We know how well that adventure turned out.
I started reading this piece by Margaret Atwood and didn't recognize the names of the politicians which confused me. Then I remembered that she is Canadian. However, as I read further, I recognized the politics and wondered if Stephen Harper and his conservative have had their sensibilities adjusted by our Repthuglicans. It sure sounds like it.
Saturday, September 5, 2015
Friday--
Temperatures hit 90F yesterday according to the weather people. Supposed to be a tad cooler today (mid 80s) before going back into the 90s for the weekend. Suitable, I guess, for the Labor Day holiday. I keep looking at the spend sunflowers thinking it is time to cut off the spent flowers but each time we see some goldfinches pecking at the seeds. Can't take out the stalks because they are the supports for my beans. At least one hummingbird has been visiting the feeder and a couple of the flowering herbs.
The news this morning noted the expanded Kraft Singles and the Johnsonville sausage patties recalls. I pay attention to recalls but more often now-a-days don't have to think too much about them because we either never bought the product or stopped buying them a long while ago. We never bought the sausage patties and stopped getting the Kraft Singles cheese products over two years ago. We haven't given up either sausage or sliced cheese--we just get both from our local meat market. Better flavor, fresher, less packaging and fewer (many fewer) extraneous chemicals.
Helen at Margaret and Helen is on another good roll this morning. I simply do not see how calling out a little asshat tyrant claiming religious convictions to deny people she doesn't like their rights under our secular law because god gave her a private revelation is "religious persecution" or "criminalizing" Christianity.
The ghost of Elizabeth Bathory must be crowing though Ronni Bennett cites the myth of Tithonus. The best discussion of the possible consequences of immortality is Robert Heinlein's Time Enough For Love. Most of us would be terminally bored before our Biblical "threescore and ten" ended. What would we do with eternity? I have a few ideas of what I would do if my physical age were in my late 20s or early 30s again but they wouldn't fill up all the time immortality implies. I have always had a problem with the notion that more life is better no matter the quality of that life. What is the use of extending a life for a short time at great cost when that time will be spent in pain and suffering? And other moral considerations are very troubling. Look up the story of Countess Bathory and tell me that our uber rich wouldn't feel entitled to youth at what ever price to those from whom that youth would be taken.
Saturday--
I had intended to post yesterday but got distracted. My computer was giving me a problem because it kept freezing up and giving me the "beach ball of death." I kept getting the message "Safari web content not responding" as I tried to go through my e-mail. That is a problem that occurred with greater frequency over the last couple of weeks and yesterday seemed to happen almost every other e-mail I brought up. I finally shifted over to Chrome as my primary search engine. It seems to work better. I preferred Safari but if it won't work smoothly I don't have much choice.
The gardening season is definitely coming to an end. The shadow of the house on the patio and back fence clearly indicate that. By the autumnal equinox at the end of the month that shadow will touch the top of the fence and the garden will be in deep to partial shade for most of the day. That is the cycle of my year: spring equinox begins the time of increasing light (reflected and direct) my plants can use though planting doesn't begin seriously until mid May when the average last frost occurs, summer solstice when the garden gets the equivalent of full sun, and, finally, the autumn equinox when the gardens go into shade and dark and it is time to clean up and plan for the next growing season. As I water the various containers I am thinking of the order in which the clean up will begin, which plants and pots will be taken out when. The wheel turns.
Interesting commentary on the growing separation between the privileged classes and everyone else in our society. Brings to mind a couple of old sayings. "What is old is new again." Or, terrifyingly, "What goes around comes around."
Here is a perfectly plain and eloquent discussion of the Kim Davis story. As an agent of the state she had a duty to treat all people equally under the law and did not have the right to decide what law she would respect. We are not a theocracy--at least not yet. For an interesting commentary on the consequences if the current trend inherent in Kim Davis' actions (and of others like her but of different religious affiliation) check out this post. But this piece points out the problems with some of the more simplistic condemnations of Kim Davis' "expression" of her religious purity. We don't condemn St. Paul as a hypocrite for persecuting Christians as Saul and preaching the gospel as Paul. He saw "the light" and changed his life.
So some bankers expect to lose their jobs soon and are being told they shouldn't expect to be rehired soon (if at all) and certainly not at the salary/bonus level they currently occupy. And the banks aren't looking at experienced people but rather those just out of college who have no memory of seven figure salaries and bonuses to match and will settle for low six figure wages. They are finally joining the rest of us.
I rather like this idea. Too bad it didn't pass when first proposed--in 1916.
Temperatures hit 90F yesterday according to the weather people. Supposed to be a tad cooler today (mid 80s) before going back into the 90s for the weekend. Suitable, I guess, for the Labor Day holiday. I keep looking at the spend sunflowers thinking it is time to cut off the spent flowers but each time we see some goldfinches pecking at the seeds. Can't take out the stalks because they are the supports for my beans. At least one hummingbird has been visiting the feeder and a couple of the flowering herbs.
The news this morning noted the expanded Kraft Singles and the Johnsonville sausage patties recalls. I pay attention to recalls but more often now-a-days don't have to think too much about them because we either never bought the product or stopped buying them a long while ago. We never bought the sausage patties and stopped getting the Kraft Singles cheese products over two years ago. We haven't given up either sausage or sliced cheese--we just get both from our local meat market. Better flavor, fresher, less packaging and fewer (many fewer) extraneous chemicals.
Helen at Margaret and Helen is on another good roll this morning. I simply do not see how calling out a little asshat tyrant claiming religious convictions to deny people she doesn't like their rights under our secular law because god gave her a private revelation is "religious persecution" or "criminalizing" Christianity.
The ghost of Elizabeth Bathory must be crowing though Ronni Bennett cites the myth of Tithonus. The best discussion of the possible consequences of immortality is Robert Heinlein's Time Enough For Love. Most of us would be terminally bored before our Biblical "threescore and ten" ended. What would we do with eternity? I have a few ideas of what I would do if my physical age were in my late 20s or early 30s again but they wouldn't fill up all the time immortality implies. I have always had a problem with the notion that more life is better no matter the quality of that life. What is the use of extending a life for a short time at great cost when that time will be spent in pain and suffering? And other moral considerations are very troubling. Look up the story of Countess Bathory and tell me that our uber rich wouldn't feel entitled to youth at what ever price to those from whom that youth would be taken.
Saturday--
I had intended to post yesterday but got distracted. My computer was giving me a problem because it kept freezing up and giving me the "beach ball of death." I kept getting the message "Safari web content not responding" as I tried to go through my e-mail. That is a problem that occurred with greater frequency over the last couple of weeks and yesterday seemed to happen almost every other e-mail I brought up. I finally shifted over to Chrome as my primary search engine. It seems to work better. I preferred Safari but if it won't work smoothly I don't have much choice.
The gardening season is definitely coming to an end. The shadow of the house on the patio and back fence clearly indicate that. By the autumnal equinox at the end of the month that shadow will touch the top of the fence and the garden will be in deep to partial shade for most of the day. That is the cycle of my year: spring equinox begins the time of increasing light (reflected and direct) my plants can use though planting doesn't begin seriously until mid May when the average last frost occurs, summer solstice when the garden gets the equivalent of full sun, and, finally, the autumn equinox when the gardens go into shade and dark and it is time to clean up and plan for the next growing season. As I water the various containers I am thinking of the order in which the clean up will begin, which plants and pots will be taken out when. The wheel turns.
Interesting commentary on the growing separation between the privileged classes and everyone else in our society. Brings to mind a couple of old sayings. "What is old is new again." Or, terrifyingly, "What goes around comes around."
Here is a perfectly plain and eloquent discussion of the Kim Davis story. As an agent of the state she had a duty to treat all people equally under the law and did not have the right to decide what law she would respect. We are not a theocracy--at least not yet. For an interesting commentary on the consequences if the current trend inherent in Kim Davis' actions (and of others like her but of different religious affiliation) check out this post. But this piece points out the problems with some of the more simplistic condemnations of Kim Davis' "expression" of her religious purity. We don't condemn St. Paul as a hypocrite for persecuting Christians as Saul and preaching the gospel as Paul. He saw "the light" and changed his life.
So some bankers expect to lose their jobs soon and are being told they shouldn't expect to be rehired soon (if at all) and certainly not at the salary/bonus level they currently occupy. And the banks aren't looking at experienced people but rather those just out of college who have no memory of seven figure salaries and bonuses to match and will settle for low six figure wages. They are finally joining the rest of us.
I rather like this idea. Too bad it didn't pass when first proposed--in 1916.
Thursday, September 3, 2015
Thursday--
The promised hot weather has moved in and should stay till the middle of next week. I picked a nice bunch of beans and tomatoes. The beans are in the freezer and the tomatoes are in the dehydrator along with the strawberries. They should be finished a bit later this morning. I will water everything but that is all I really need to do.
An interesting article on a NY Federal Reserve study about the effect of student loan--essentially the expansion of credit for higher education--on tuition costs. Evidently it surprised a lot of conservative economists who bought into the theory that credit doesn't increase the costs of the goods bought on credit. I think that is a fair summary of the theory. Turns out the theory is wrong. But I noticed that no one mentioned the fact that student loans are guaranteed by the government and are not dischargeable in bankruptcy. That means that the loan provider is guaranteed repayment with interest no matter what, the colleges get paid no matter what and the borrower is on the hook no matter what. The borrower bears all of the risk while the other parties bear none at all. That might explain why colleges were able to grab $0.65 of every dollar loaned when the credit was expanded. This is a system begging to be corrupted and it has been.
Helen at Margaret and Helen posted a concise piece about that idiot county clerk in Kentucky.
The promised hot weather has moved in and should stay till the middle of next week. I picked a nice bunch of beans and tomatoes. The beans are in the freezer and the tomatoes are in the dehydrator along with the strawberries. They should be finished a bit later this morning. I will water everything but that is all I really need to do.
An interesting article on a NY Federal Reserve study about the effect of student loan--essentially the expansion of credit for higher education--on tuition costs. Evidently it surprised a lot of conservative economists who bought into the theory that credit doesn't increase the costs of the goods bought on credit. I think that is a fair summary of the theory. Turns out the theory is wrong. But I noticed that no one mentioned the fact that student loans are guaranteed by the government and are not dischargeable in bankruptcy. That means that the loan provider is guaranteed repayment with interest no matter what, the colleges get paid no matter what and the borrower is on the hook no matter what. The borrower bears all of the risk while the other parties bear none at all. That might explain why colleges were able to grab $0.65 of every dollar loaned when the credit was expanded. This is a system begging to be corrupted and it has been.
Helen at Margaret and Helen posted a concise piece about that idiot county clerk in Kentucky.
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
Wednesday--
Another hot day expected so what ever I do in the gardens I need to get done early.
A good reason not to vote for Carly Florin. I guess she has been so busy hustling votes she hasn't heard that California has a problem with drought, or that the ground water and aquifers are being drained at a very fast rate, or that the rivers are running dry so there simply isn't much to allocate to anyone, or that the ground is subsiding at a furious pace because of how much water is being pumped and for much of that government can't do much. Of course, one company making out like the bandit it is is Nestle which pays a pittance for the water it puts into the little plastic bottles which it sells to fools for a tidy profit. The CEO says they would pump more water into more little plastic bottles it it only could. Is that the ag business Carly thinks government has destroyed?
At first I thought Marie had posted a fictional piece until I read further down--and then did a Google search for details. We just had a dramatic increase in prices of gas because of an "unscheduled maintenance" problem at the local refinery. No shortage--just prices $0.90/gal higher than they were before or after.
I lived in Columbia, Missouri for about seven years. I don't remember the time fondly and I find this piece at Addicting Info absolutely hilarious. I love it when manipulators of the political process get shafted by their own manipulations.
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
Tuesday--
Too hot to do anything outside. I will collect the beans tomorrow and any tomatoes that are ripe to dry along with the strawberries we picked up today. I am trying to find something Mom might like to do with green tomatoes but have struck out so far. The next few days are also supposed to be quite warm in the high 80s and low 90s. What ever gets done in the gardens will have to b done early.
Don't you just love self-righteous asses who think their religious views should be inflicted on others? If those views prevent her from doing her job as it is defined in law, she needs to find another job. But that wouldn't satisfy her proselytizing soul. I get so sick of idiots who think they have a private phone like to god. All I can say is "NOT my god!!"
Walmart's big press release of six months ago that they were increasing the pay for their "associates" should have been placed in the "too good to be true" file. A per-hour raise doesn't mean much if you don't have the hours. Timing is ironic since this is generally the time of year they start bringing on new workers to cover the holidays. I wonder if that tells us what they expect for the season.
Too hot to do anything outside. I will collect the beans tomorrow and any tomatoes that are ripe to dry along with the strawberries we picked up today. I am trying to find something Mom might like to do with green tomatoes but have struck out so far. The next few days are also supposed to be quite warm in the high 80s and low 90s. What ever gets done in the gardens will have to b done early.
Don't you just love self-righteous asses who think their religious views should be inflicted on others? If those views prevent her from doing her job as it is defined in law, she needs to find another job. But that wouldn't satisfy her proselytizing soul. I get so sick of idiots who think they have a private phone like to god. All I can say is "NOT my god!!"
Walmart's big press release of six months ago that they were increasing the pay for their "associates" should have been placed in the "too good to be true" file. A per-hour raise doesn't mean much if you don't have the hours. Timing is ironic since this is generally the time of year they start bringing on new workers to cover the holidays. I wonder if that tells us what they expect for the season.
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