Thursday Nov 8
Well, most of the election 2018 is over though several tight races remain to be decided. I am gratified that Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa overwhelmingly dumped their Repthuglican politicians. I did see some interesting items yesterday to which I can't link because I didn't note them down at the time. They have been fermenting in my mind since. First the Republican strongholds that elected #45 remain pretty much intact except for the "Blue Wall" he supposedly toppled--a.k.a the midwest. But following the interactive map and looking at the distributions in the individual states I noticed that the national pattern was replicated within states. The Republican strength is in the rural areas and small towns while the Democrat strength is in the urban and suburban areas. In the 2016 election the Republicans peeled off the disaffected suburban voters and large segments of the the Democratic base in minority and female voters were also disaffected and stayed home. But the policies the Republicans pushed over the last two years haven't helped those disaffected voters (or their rural and small town constituents either.) And they were punished for that. Number 45 pushed new trade deals with Mexico and Canada to replace NAFTA but those delivered very little improvement over the old agreement and nothing he couldn't have gotten if we had gone with the Trans-Pacific Partnership which the Republicans opposed because--you know, OBAMA!!
I have ignored most of the prognostication about where the results of this election will lead because, truth be told, no one really knows. Those few I have read expect, like I do, more of what we have had a lot of sound and fury and not much done.
Monday Nov 12
Oh, well. The entry above got lost in the shuffle. We got our first measurable snow fall. It didn't stay long and didn't require shoveling. We are getting our first stretch of sustained freezing temperatures. The gardens are pretty well done now. The hardiest of the plants (strawberries, thyme, bee balm, a lonely lavender and a couple of thyme have finally succumbed. We woke to frost on our windows for the last several mornings. We got used to frost on roofs of buildings and cars but it hadn't been quite cold enough to do more that fog the windows till now.
I just finished watching an ad that Iceland banned because Greenpeace was one of the producers and Greenpeace is "too political." Nimue Brown links to it and has an excellent criticism of the ban. So why are advertisements that encourage "business as usual" not as political as those which question "business as usual?"
Monday, November 12, 2018
Tuesday, November 6, 2018
Monday Nov. 5
Well, it is now the day before the vote. We have scoped out our candidates. Have you?
It was a quiet weekend filled with reorganization and cleaning. The reorganization will continue for a while. I just finished putting all my craft/needlework pattern books in the file cabinets where they will be easier to get to. I may have to shift things a bit and move the top drawer down a bit because it is almost heavy enough to tip the cabinet.
I am letting the remaining plants in the gardens go. When the cold finally kills them they will provide ground cover and I can work their remains into the container soil in the spring. So far the only certain notions I have for the spring include NO tomatoes or peppers. They have a spotty record on my patio because it warms up so slowly and then the heat concentrates because of the cement and white fence. I might try some strain of green beans and I definitely want to try a couple of different cucumbers--kinds that can't be found in our markets. The rosemary plants weathered our week away very well. The small one had started to wilt just a bit but has recovered nicely. The hibiscus plants didn't wilt but they are showing a number of yellow leaves. that might be due to the reduced light. All they had was what came in the window. I usually put on the larger grow light and the room light when we are home. I will check on their progress over the next couple of weeks to see if any permanent affects show up. I need to cut them back but don't what to do it while they are stressed.
Tuesday Nov. 6
The polls haven't opened yet. (Heh, Heh--it is only 4:30am. Our furry alarm clocks haven't "fallen back" yet.) But that is on our agenda first--even before grocery shopping. I have never been happy with voting against the worst evil because I don't consider a "choice" between bad and worse to be a real choice. However, this year I will do my best to retire as many Republicans as possible.
I found this almost first thing this morning. It is good as far as it goes on explaining why so many over-65 are declaring bankruptcy. The author's expend most of their pixels on the rising medical costs which has been covered so frequently that the only difference from one story to another is the case study to illustrate their point. The barely mention at the end the other side, the static or even reduced income from pensions. Or the fact that any pension that is pegged to the official inflation rate is not keeping up with the real inflation we experience because so many of our normal expenses are not included or are underestimated because of various accounting tricks. I will agree with the quote that we, as a society, are becoming quite "uncaring" about the struggles of the elderly and a whole lot of other people in the lower 80% of our society.
It is now 9:40am and we have finished voting and shopping. I was surprised and pleased that the polling place was very busy. I have never seen such a crowd for any election--presidential or other. The interest is very high and I hope it leads to the kind of changes I would like to see. We had a "balanced budget" amendment on the ballot which I voted no on. Before I would agree to such an amendment I want to see some limitations on what the government can spend our money on. High on that list I want a prohibition on tax and other give-aways to corporations. I am tired of seeing these companies promising a huge amount of jobs for a long period of time and then leaving before fulfilling their part of the bargain but not before raking in tax payer money. I don't want to see a situation where legislators have to cut things like education or health care for pie in the sky promises which are never fulfilled. Otherwise I voted a mix of Democrats with a couple of Libertarians but NO Republicans.
On the whole, I am not holding my breath even if a large number of Republicans are "retired." Tom Engelhardt has a good piece this morning which parallels my thoughts on the probable results of the election.
Well, it is now the day before the vote. We have scoped out our candidates. Have you?
It was a quiet weekend filled with reorganization and cleaning. The reorganization will continue for a while. I just finished putting all my craft/needlework pattern books in the file cabinets where they will be easier to get to. I may have to shift things a bit and move the top drawer down a bit because it is almost heavy enough to tip the cabinet.
I am letting the remaining plants in the gardens go. When the cold finally kills them they will provide ground cover and I can work their remains into the container soil in the spring. So far the only certain notions I have for the spring include NO tomatoes or peppers. They have a spotty record on my patio because it warms up so slowly and then the heat concentrates because of the cement and white fence. I might try some strain of green beans and I definitely want to try a couple of different cucumbers--kinds that can't be found in our markets. The rosemary plants weathered our week away very well. The small one had started to wilt just a bit but has recovered nicely. The hibiscus plants didn't wilt but they are showing a number of yellow leaves. that might be due to the reduced light. All they had was what came in the window. I usually put on the larger grow light and the room light when we are home. I will check on their progress over the next couple of weeks to see if any permanent affects show up. I need to cut them back but don't what to do it while they are stressed.
Tuesday Nov. 6
The polls haven't opened yet. (Heh, Heh--it is only 4:30am. Our furry alarm clocks haven't "fallen back" yet.) But that is on our agenda first--even before grocery shopping. I have never been happy with voting against the worst evil because I don't consider a "choice" between bad and worse to be a real choice. However, this year I will do my best to retire as many Republicans as possible.
I found this almost first thing this morning. It is good as far as it goes on explaining why so many over-65 are declaring bankruptcy. The author's expend most of their pixels on the rising medical costs which has been covered so frequently that the only difference from one story to another is the case study to illustrate their point. The barely mention at the end the other side, the static or even reduced income from pensions. Or the fact that any pension that is pegged to the official inflation rate is not keeping up with the real inflation we experience because so many of our normal expenses are not included or are underestimated because of various accounting tricks. I will agree with the quote that we, as a society, are becoming quite "uncaring" about the struggles of the elderly and a whole lot of other people in the lower 80% of our society.
It is now 9:40am and we have finished voting and shopping. I was surprised and pleased that the polling place was very busy. I have never seen such a crowd for any election--presidential or other. The interest is very high and I hope it leads to the kind of changes I would like to see. We had a "balanced budget" amendment on the ballot which I voted no on. Before I would agree to such an amendment I want to see some limitations on what the government can spend our money on. High on that list I want a prohibition on tax and other give-aways to corporations. I am tired of seeing these companies promising a huge amount of jobs for a long period of time and then leaving before fulfilling their part of the bargain but not before raking in tax payer money. I don't want to see a situation where legislators have to cut things like education or health care for pie in the sky promises which are never fulfilled. Otherwise I voted a mix of Democrats with a couple of Libertarians but NO Republicans.
On the whole, I am not holding my breath even if a large number of Republicans are "retired." Tom Engelhardt has a good piece this morning which parallels my thoughts on the probable results of the election.
Friday, November 2, 2018
I think this blog is going to be intermittent for a while. As I have said before I am really tired of the politics and after you have called BS on bulls$*ters a few (hundred? thousand?) times knowing that nothing you think or say will change the situation it is time to focus on something else. A friend mentioned a neuroscientist she knows who told her that people tend to get into ruts, can't find their way out and simply fossilize in place (which sounds too much like dementia to my mind). Everyone needs to shake up their patterns and blow the cobwebs out of their minds.
We spent a week traveling and staying in Denver to meet women I met and grew close to 25 years ago at Colorado State University. We have kept (sporadically) in touch in the intervening time. Seeing them all in person was wonderful and the multi-day trip definitely broke our normal routines. We haven't been away from home often in the past almost 20 years. We are planning on more but much shorter trips next summer.
We boarded the cats with our Vet. They opened a new office with much more space. We wound up getting their yearly shots and regular exam at the same time. The girls were not happy campers. The people we talked to said they were a bit stressed out but had settled down and were eating and drinking normally. They were concerned because these kitties who had been together for nearly a year and getting along well were suddenly hissing at each other. However they have settled down nicely and are back to their normal routines. We won't board them again unless there is some kind of emergency that will take us away for more than three nights.
We traveled interstates all the way to Denver and back. We were surprised that the speed limits were usually 70mph and in some cases 75mph. Only in urban areas did the limit drop to 65 or to 55 in some construction zones. Areas along the way I was familiar with through either living there (Columbia, MO) or frequently visiting (Denver) were unrecognizable due to metastatic growth. And if you are thinking cancer that is exactly what I am thinking. Denver had the worst traffic which was bumper to bumper for over an hour between the east side of the city and the west where our hotel was located. One of the friends I was visiting says the city is a mess suffering the effects of 12k new residents a month.
Colorado had the worst roads and I do mean really bad. We passed one sign telling us the road was rough just before hitting a dip and bump that made us glad we habitually wear our seat belts--otherwise we would have slammed our heads on the roof. One of the big questions on their ballot is a choice between two initiatives with differing plans to fix roads. I wonder how bad the lesser roads are given the state of the interstates.
We noticed that wherever we were the same issues came up and the biggest one was taxes. Everyone wants new tax cuts and/or to protect previous cuts but also wants services restored or expanded. Several of the Republican candidates hoping to unseat incumbent Republicans were promising just that but how thy would do that wasn't explained. And several of the Republican candidates, like Rauner in Illinois seem to have a "Jesus Complex". If they aren't elected (or re-elected) they swear the State is doomed to become hell on earth.
I am going to stop here and hopefully continue later.
We spent a week traveling and staying in Denver to meet women I met and grew close to 25 years ago at Colorado State University. We have kept (sporadically) in touch in the intervening time. Seeing them all in person was wonderful and the multi-day trip definitely broke our normal routines. We haven't been away from home often in the past almost 20 years. We are planning on more but much shorter trips next summer.
We boarded the cats with our Vet. They opened a new office with much more space. We wound up getting their yearly shots and regular exam at the same time. The girls were not happy campers. The people we talked to said they were a bit stressed out but had settled down and were eating and drinking normally. They were concerned because these kitties who had been together for nearly a year and getting along well were suddenly hissing at each other. However they have settled down nicely and are back to their normal routines. We won't board them again unless there is some kind of emergency that will take us away for more than three nights.
We traveled interstates all the way to Denver and back. We were surprised that the speed limits were usually 70mph and in some cases 75mph. Only in urban areas did the limit drop to 65 or to 55 in some construction zones. Areas along the way I was familiar with through either living there (Columbia, MO) or frequently visiting (Denver) were unrecognizable due to metastatic growth. And if you are thinking cancer that is exactly what I am thinking. Denver had the worst traffic which was bumper to bumper for over an hour between the east side of the city and the west where our hotel was located. One of the friends I was visiting says the city is a mess suffering the effects of 12k new residents a month.
Colorado had the worst roads and I do mean really bad. We passed one sign telling us the road was rough just before hitting a dip and bump that made us glad we habitually wear our seat belts--otherwise we would have slammed our heads on the roof. One of the big questions on their ballot is a choice between two initiatives with differing plans to fix roads. I wonder how bad the lesser roads are given the state of the interstates.
We noticed that wherever we were the same issues came up and the biggest one was taxes. Everyone wants new tax cuts and/or to protect previous cuts but also wants services restored or expanded. Several of the Republican candidates hoping to unseat incumbent Republicans were promising just that but how thy would do that wasn't explained. And several of the Republican candidates, like Rauner in Illinois seem to have a "Jesus Complex". If they aren't elected (or re-elected) they swear the State is doomed to become hell on earth.
I am going to stop here and hopefully continue later.
Tuesday, October 9, 2018
Tuesday October 9
We had a busy day yesterday grocery shopping and getting the car ready for winter. As a result I didn't get much reading done and no commenting. The clouds left, mostly, and the temperatures got into the mid 80s. Supposed to be a tad cooler but still above expected for mid October. Sunny now with no rain. I finally got out into the gardens and cut the pineapple sage which is now in the new dehydrator. The few strawberries I found are also in there. In a few minutes I will go out and start cleaning out some of the plants that are well past their prime.
Found this and loved it. The Medusa myth as it should have ended.
We had a busy day yesterday grocery shopping and getting the car ready for winter. As a result I didn't get much reading done and no commenting. The clouds left, mostly, and the temperatures got into the mid 80s. Supposed to be a tad cooler but still above expected for mid October. Sunny now with no rain. I finally got out into the gardens and cut the pineapple sage which is now in the new dehydrator. The few strawberries I found are also in there. In a few minutes I will go out and start cleaning out some of the plants that are well past their prime.
Found this and loved it. The Medusa myth as it should have ended.
Sunday, October 7, 2018
Friday October 5
We have rain today and cooler temps at least until next Monday. I need to water the 2 hibiscus which are now under lights upstairs and the 2 rosemary down stairs in front of the window. The rest of the garden has been existing without much attention from me. I do need to get out and get some of the clean-up done. The weather reports indicate good chances for rain for the next ten days.
But today I have been trying to figure out what has gone wrong with my computer. Suddenly Google Chrome simply wouldn't work. In the end I moved everything back to Safari which has been a pain. I get used to a certain way of doing things and I really don't like to change.
Saturday October 6
Rain again today. The computer is back to something like normal. I still need to get my bookmarks straightened out because Safari migrated all those I had on Google Chrome and now I have duplicates.
And in a similar vein--our microwave went out just as Mom was starting to fix dinner. We quickly moved all the food back into the fridge and went out to replace it and then ate out. She had to call the hotline of the company making the new microwave to get help to set the damned clock. Oh well--it is up and running and things are back to normal. Or as normal as they ever get here.
Sunday October 7
Rain again and heavy rain overnight last night. Been a nice quiet day to read and do needlework which is what I did. Finished a crocheted pad for the arm rest on Mom's recliner. Over the last month I finished a complete set for both recliners and their headrests. Made progress on a tablecloth and a pair of cross-stitched pillow cases.
We have rain today and cooler temps at least until next Monday. I need to water the 2 hibiscus which are now under lights upstairs and the 2 rosemary down stairs in front of the window. The rest of the garden has been existing without much attention from me. I do need to get out and get some of the clean-up done. The weather reports indicate good chances for rain for the next ten days.
But today I have been trying to figure out what has gone wrong with my computer. Suddenly Google Chrome simply wouldn't work. In the end I moved everything back to Safari which has been a pain. I get used to a certain way of doing things and I really don't like to change.
Saturday October 6
Rain again today. The computer is back to something like normal. I still need to get my bookmarks straightened out because Safari migrated all those I had on Google Chrome and now I have duplicates.
And in a similar vein--our microwave went out just as Mom was starting to fix dinner. We quickly moved all the food back into the fridge and went out to replace it and then ate out. She had to call the hotline of the company making the new microwave to get help to set the damned clock. Oh well--it is up and running and things are back to normal. Or as normal as they ever get here.
Sunday October 7
Rain again and heavy rain overnight last night. Been a nice quiet day to read and do needlework which is what I did. Finished a crocheted pad for the arm rest on Mom's recliner. Over the last month I finished a complete set for both recliners and their headrests. Made progress on a tablecloth and a pair of cross-stitched pillow cases.
Wednesday, October 3, 2018
Yesterday we had breakfast at my brother's with sister-in-law and niece. Nice to see them all. As a result I didn't get too much done.
One thing I did get done was emptying the dehydrator and grinding the herbs. That dehydrator is going into our What-not room because I have a new one. Yeah, I know I got a new one a couple of months ago. This is the second new dehydrator for the year. The one I started the summer with quit so we pulled out my back up which also quit. Well, the old saying goes "two is one and one is none" so I indulged a bit and got a dehydrator with a thermostat so I can control the heat. Now I am back one and a backup. I will give it a try today with some herbs I can harvest.
I need to get busy putting some of the gardens to bed for the season. Some I will let go so the dead plants can provide a ground cover for the pots to prevent soil from splashing out. My niece mentioned she would love to have a rosemary plant so I will take cuttings from mine and try to get them started. If I succeed I will give her one for Christmas.
One thing I did get done was emptying the dehydrator and grinding the herbs. That dehydrator is going into our What-not room because I have a new one. Yeah, I know I got a new one a couple of months ago. This is the second new dehydrator for the year. The one I started the summer with quit so we pulled out my back up which also quit. Well, the old saying goes "two is one and one is none" so I indulged a bit and got a dehydrator with a thermostat so I can control the heat. Now I am back one and a backup. I will give it a try today with some herbs I can harvest.
I need to get busy putting some of the gardens to bed for the season. Some I will let go so the dead plants can provide a ground cover for the pots to prevent soil from splashing out. My niece mentioned she would love to have a rosemary plant so I will take cuttings from mine and try to get them started. If I succeed I will give her one for Christmas.
Monday, October 1, 2018
Well, I am back. I didn't realize that I haven't posted anything since August 24 and it is now October 1. Damn!! Anyway, welcome to October and the last quarter of 2018.
I am ignoring as much as possible the politics. It is far too annoying and after you have called bullshit on bullshit (and the bullshitters) too many times you begin to feel like a broken record. And it doesn't do any good because the old bullshitters will keep on doing their bullshit--and splattering it all over the rest of us.
Instead I have been concentrating on the gardens, needlework, and reading.
It has been a good year for those pursuits. I finished two crochet blankets for our beds, two embroidered table scarves and one table cloth, some crochet pieces to protect the headrests and arms of our recliners, and several doilies. I have a short stack of the embroidered pieces that need to be hemmed. Since that is a tedious and much disliked task I plan to do that when I need a bit of tedium. I just finished consolidating all my embroidery floss which involved taking skeins off stitch-bows and winding them onto floss bobbins. That turned out to be a bigger chore than I planned. I thought I had four stitch-bow albums and found seven. Each one would hold fifty skeins on their stitch-bows which are flexible plastic pieces just the right length for the skein as it comes from the manufacturer with notches in each end to make sure the thread stayed in place. Why change? Well, I also have eight boxes floss boxes with floss in them--basically 8x12 (approximately, I haven't measured) divided into 2 inch squares. Those hold a lot more floss. But whenever I started a new project I had to hunt through all of those for the right colors. Big pain in the butt and I always wound up buying more when I really didn't need to. Also the stitch-bows had all the inconvenience of the skeins without any real benefit. If you pulled the wrong end you still got tangles and the stitch-bow itself got tangled into the mess. Better to choose one system of storage and stick with it.
I took out the tomato and pepper plants about a month ago. The peppers did give us a nice bunch of peppers to freeze and we used a couple in salads. The tomatoes were a disappointment and what we got we stewed and froze. That made a very nice chunky cream of tomato soup not long ago. I have said before that my little patio is a difficult environment because between the spring and fall equinoxes it becomes an oven as the sun heats up the cement and the white fence reflects light and heat onto the patio. It can be 20F higher on the patio than the official temperature--say 110 vs 90. The other six months it gets progressively colder as the cement loses heat and the area becomes an ice box. The temperature disparity isn't as extreme but it is still there--in the opposite direction. Other plants have done very well. I got almost two pint jars of spearmint, lavender, and peppermint and about a pint of basil, cinnamon basil, pineapple sage and sage. Smaller amounts of chives, oregano, chocolate mint, lemon verbena, and lemon balm. We have had several servings of yogurt with our own strawberries and almost half a pint of dried strawberries for tea.
I will leave this for now and talk about plans for next year next time. Unless I get hold of something more interesting.
I am ignoring as much as possible the politics. It is far too annoying and after you have called bullshit on bullshit (and the bullshitters) too many times you begin to feel like a broken record. And it doesn't do any good because the old bullshitters will keep on doing their bullshit--and splattering it all over the rest of us.
Instead I have been concentrating on the gardens, needlework, and reading.
It has been a good year for those pursuits. I finished two crochet blankets for our beds, two embroidered table scarves and one table cloth, some crochet pieces to protect the headrests and arms of our recliners, and several doilies. I have a short stack of the embroidered pieces that need to be hemmed. Since that is a tedious and much disliked task I plan to do that when I need a bit of tedium. I just finished consolidating all my embroidery floss which involved taking skeins off stitch-bows and winding them onto floss bobbins. That turned out to be a bigger chore than I planned. I thought I had four stitch-bow albums and found seven. Each one would hold fifty skeins on their stitch-bows which are flexible plastic pieces just the right length for the skein as it comes from the manufacturer with notches in each end to make sure the thread stayed in place. Why change? Well, I also have eight boxes floss boxes with floss in them--basically 8x12 (approximately, I haven't measured) divided into 2 inch squares. Those hold a lot more floss. But whenever I started a new project I had to hunt through all of those for the right colors. Big pain in the butt and I always wound up buying more when I really didn't need to. Also the stitch-bows had all the inconvenience of the skeins without any real benefit. If you pulled the wrong end you still got tangles and the stitch-bow itself got tangled into the mess. Better to choose one system of storage and stick with it.
I took out the tomato and pepper plants about a month ago. The peppers did give us a nice bunch of peppers to freeze and we used a couple in salads. The tomatoes were a disappointment and what we got we stewed and froze. That made a very nice chunky cream of tomato soup not long ago. I have said before that my little patio is a difficult environment because between the spring and fall equinoxes it becomes an oven as the sun heats up the cement and the white fence reflects light and heat onto the patio. It can be 20F higher on the patio than the official temperature--say 110 vs 90. The other six months it gets progressively colder as the cement loses heat and the area becomes an ice box. The temperature disparity isn't as extreme but it is still there--in the opposite direction. Other plants have done very well. I got almost two pint jars of spearmint, lavender, and peppermint and about a pint of basil, cinnamon basil, pineapple sage and sage. Smaller amounts of chives, oregano, chocolate mint, lemon verbena, and lemon balm. We have had several servings of yogurt with our own strawberries and almost half a pint of dried strawberries for tea.
I will leave this for now and talk about plans for next year next time. Unless I get hold of something more interesting.
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