Well, the garden pictures have been posted so on to other things.  Our internet and cable were solid yesterday--for the first time in a month.  We hope the new wire outside will, finally, take care of the problem.  We are still a bit frustrated that it took so long to accurately diagnose the problem.  And we definitely are not happy about the missed appointment that was never scheduled on their end, the failure to even record that call, and the snafu with the appointments and calls on Tuesday.  For now we will let things go as they are--but changing carriers is always an option.  I will keep ATT in mind, Kay.  Netflix might have the British public TV Wimsey stories.  I saw a couple on a PBS station some years back.  I still have the complete collection of the books including the three new ones written by Jill Walsh based on material Dorothy Sayers had generated before her death.  I highly recommend them.

And here is another entry in the on-going Repthuglican efforts to purge voting roles.  It is amazing how well those $#%$# manage to target women, elderly, minority and democrats.  NPR provides this account of the issue.

Isn't this just typical of the agribusiness mindset?  Their scientists have spent the last many decades and who knows how much money breeding tomatoes (and other veggies) for longer shelf life, transportability, and uniformity only to find that a significant part of their potential consumers are unhappy with the tasteless (and nutritionally deficient) product and now they have spent more buckets full of money to find the genes that govern flavor so they can develop genetically modified tomatoes to cure the problem they created in the first place.  Sounds oh so efficient and economical, doesn't it?

Just in case anyone still believes the Repthuglican bullshit that we are 'Number One' in health care, take this antidote.

The nanny strikes again.  I get really irritated with the politicians who push this issue to absurdity.  I don't mind the publicity given to the calorie content of various foods--especially fast foods and prepared foods.  We need that information.  I also applaud the move to make the sellers and manufacturers provide as much accurate information as possible on the labels or on site.  But I resent the notion that they can prohibit the sale of thing I might want to buy but they have decided, supposedly for my own good, I shouldn't have.

Another example of just how idiotic our economic system is: there is no state in which a 40 hour work week at minimum wage would allow a worker to afford a 2-bedroom apartment.  From my own experience it would be very difficult to even afford a 1-bedroom apartment.  And only if you didn't have a car payment, auto insurance, or health insurance payments.

Chris In Paris picked up on the FDA's rejection of the corn syrup lobby's attempt to get its product relabeled 'corn sugar.'  I hadn't expected the FDA to show some backbone in dealing with a deep pockets industry group but am delighted to be surprised.  Chris notes the irony of the group's history of touting its product as being a healthier alternative to white sugar.  (healthier only in terms of how many fewer but emptier calories)  But it is ironic in the industry's assumption that consumers can't translate from 'high fructose corn syrup' to 'corn sugar.'  If we don't want the one, why would we want it under the other name?

Once upon a time the Indiana legislature became the butt of jokes when they tried to legislate the value of pi at 3.  Now the North Carolina legislature can join the scientifically challenged club.

 Good Thursday morning on this last day of May. It is very cool this morning--only a bit over 50.  And cloudy.  With a bit of a breeze.  We haven't had any rain yet.  So I think it is time for some gardening pictures and update.  First up--one of the two spearmint plants from cuttings from the plant I bought last year.  Like all mints, these behave much like the weeds they once were.  I have already harvested two dehydrator trays of leaves earlier in the week.  They root so easily that taking cuttings may be the best way to get next year's plants.

 This is one of the new mints this year--orange mint.  I harvested one tray from this plant.  Another candidate for cuttings later in the season. I am looking forward to adding it to my hot tea over the winter.  Hmmmm--may do that with the iced tea this summer.

 I added savory to the herb line up this year.  Mom found some herbal/spice mixes that are good salt substitutes that call for savory.  She finished up the store bought stock so, when I found seedlings at our favorite farm market, I picked up two.  I haven't looked up the specifics on how hardy it is or if I can propagate by cuttings.  I find herbs are a bit difficult to start from seed.

 This is the view of the right side of the patio.  I have corn planted at the back, the three blueberries on the board between the two back containers, plus basil, sunflowers, patchouli, stevia, tansy, pyrethrum, love-in-a-mist, peppers, tomatoes, mints, roses, butter bush squash, beans, cucumbers, and vine peach in the various containers.

Here is a close up of my mini-roses.  I rescued two of the plants last year.  A friend saw them at a Walgreens store and thought they would make nice gifts on a Mother's day.  I got one just because she thought I would like it.  (I am not a mother.)  Mom let me take over hers.  As usual with stores like Walgreens, the plants were crammed into a small pot to make a nice but temporary show.  I trimmed them back, reduced the number of plants to the strongest from each pot, and transplanted them into larger pots.  They overwintered in a large container and this spring I put all three in one of the large pots I got at the end of last season.  I added another rose last year that has a heavenly scent.  The only scented mini-rose I have found so far.  Just love walking by it.

Sage and lemon verbena.

 Another new herb--variegated marjoram.  We visited one of the other farm seasonal farm markets earlier in the spring and found this item.  One of my few truly impulse buys.

 Second year for this rosemary.  It spent the winter indoors and I was not at all sure it would recover. It is not hardy in my zone and I think it didn't like the lower light levels inside over winter.  This year I am going to try using one of the daylight balanced fluorescent lights to provide more light for all of the inside plants.  But it is coming back nicely.

 This is one of the heirloom lettuces.  Isn't it pretty.

 Oregano--one of two.  The other (not shown) I started from seed.  Again, starting this herb from seed is difficult.  I didn't think I would get anything from the seeds I planted.  And one is not a very good sprouting yield.

Another pot of really pretty heirloom lettuce.

 The mini-greenhouse is still in operation.  That is where I will keep the lettuces and spinach going this year.  I did put a bit in the beds in odd spaces but the greenhouse seems a better place.

And this wild monster is my two-year-old German thyme.  I need to cut it back a bit.  But I got quite a bit of thyme last year so I probably won't harvest any this year.  It spent the winter in one of the big containers and I wasn't sure it had survived.  Clearly--it did.

Enjoy!!

Good Tuesday to all out there wherever you are.  The weather people say it will be cooler today--mid 80s instead of mid-90s.  The temperature on the patio hit 98F yesterday.  I soaked everything in the gardens really well in the morning so the plants are looking good.  I saw the beginnings of blossoms on the Butterbush squash.  I think I will have to transplant the marigolds I have sharing the pot with the squash.  They will soon be crowded.  I may have to move a couple of other plants also for the same reason.  The pyrethrum are sharing their pot with the vine peaches.  I will try to train them on the cage and see if that won't make them play nice with the pyrethrum.  I also need to harvest some more spearmint, lemon balm, and orange mint.  That I plan for tomorrow.

We have, again, had choppy internet and cable service with long periods without any at all.  Comcast called to confirm our appointment but, when Mom answered, the connection broke.  A few minutes later we got a robo-call informing us that the appointment had been cancelled.  Mom called back and complained that we were home, waiting for the call, and had in fact answered the call.  After a verbal tussle with the rep she got a new appointment for today.  But the window has only another 10 minutes to run; I am not hopeful they will make this one.  I wonder if the rep even made the appointment but rather just promised something to get the angry woman off the line.  We have already had another appointment promised but never noted.  We are getting very tired of this run-around.  They are about to lose both the internet and the cable accounts.

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As you can guess, it is now Wednesday.  We finally got a Comcast tech out yesterday.  He thought the problem might be a failing cable outside so he laid a new wire.  We'll see.  His explanation made sense with what we had been experiencing.

The weather people say that our high temps today will only top out in the high 60s and will not get out of the 50 for the next two.  After the 90s this week we will enjoy the cool.  The weather reporter last night predicted rain over night tonight and tomorrow but with a little laugh that said he didn't really believe the forecast.  I hope he is wrong.  We do need the rain.

I have read about the Flame virus for about a week now.  I noticed yesterday that the mainstream media has finally taken notice.  I am not surprised that it might be a 'product of U.S.A.'  Its predecessors (Stuxnet and Duqu) were also suspected to have been created by U.S. cyber warriors.  Unfortunately, these things have a habit of rebounding on the creators.  As they say: what goes around, comes around. It also makes one very cynical about our claim to be the good guys, doesn't it.

MSN has a fascinating slide show titled 'Your House Used to Be What?'

As I read this piece I was reminded of a comment put in the mouth of a one of my favorite sleuths (Lord Peter Wimsey) in a favorite mystery (Gaudy Night): The first thing a principle does is kill people.  The guiding principle for so many of Europe's (and U.S.) economic/political powers is 'Austerity.'  For some time now I have read about people driven to suicide because of the privations caused by the financial crisis coupled with 'austerity.'  I wonder how far they will drive this perversion.

Margaret and Helen have some very apt comments on both the political situation and an economic conundrum.  Having just discovered a newly opened pint of half&half had gone bad long before the sell by date, I understand the frustration Helen expresses.  I definitely don't want to live in the United States of Repthuglicanism.

Good morning on this Memorial weekend Sunday.  I just put up Saturday's post.  Once again our internet connections were out from about 1pm yesterday.  I don't know when it came back because I shut down the modem and router just before 7pm.  We didn't even try the cable TV so I don't know how it was (or was not) working.  I am not sure what has been going on with it because Mom couldn't get into her on-line pharmacy and the bank site was very slow.  I hope things get straightened out soon.  It has been much too long as it is.

I don't have any gardening chores today.  And everything is doing very nicely.

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Hello, again, on this very warm Memorial Day.  As you can see I didn't post yesterday.  We, again, lost our internet.  Mom called after we got home from my sister's cookout and we have an appointment for tomorrow.  We'll see.

The cookout was nice.  We got to see all the grand- and great-grandkids.  Unfortunately it was way too hot.  Most of the time I don't really feel any age--calendar or otherwise.  But, with the heat yesterday, I felt my calendar age plus 20.  The patio thermometer read 98 when we came home and the official temperature in Chicago was 97 last I heard; it may have gone up a degree after that.

I have almost finished the watering outside.  I watered everything well yesterday so all the plants are looking very good.  The spinach and lettuce I started last week are poking their little leaves above the soil.  I need to start some more Wednesday in the greenhouse.  I have been leaving the front flap open because it gets so hot so fast and the overnight temperatures are not anywhere near low enough to threaten the plants inside.  I also won't use the top shelf for anything except starting new lettuce and spinach.  I noticed  the lavender, orange mint, one of the spearmints and one of the lemon balms need to be harvested--probably Wednesday also.

Welcome back, Kay.  Glad you stopped by.  Having stopped by your blog I know life has become more lifelike for you.  Hope things settle down soon.  I don't know when, or if, I will try the bottle/pot towers.  I have just about all of the space I can cover already covered with containers.  I am thinking about odd corners I might be able to squeeze something else into, just for the heck of it.  You may be sure that when I try my version of the technique I will tell everyone how it works out.  I am so thoroughly disgusted with the non-news mainstream media that I have taken to ignoring them as much as possible.  He said/he said from the pundit drama queens doesn't cut it.  I was shocked yesterday as we drove over to Sister's.  I thought we have been dry but they already have browning lawns.  Our grass is just now browning at the edges.  The weather people say we might get some rain overnight but I won't hold my breath.  The weather reporter on TV this morning gave the prediction but wasn't hopeful that we would get more than hit-or-miss thunder storms.

Wise Father at ragingwisdom has some very appropriate thoughts about Memorial Day and the respect we ought to render to those who died in the service of this country.  I totally agree that the dead deserve our respect no matter what we think of the conflicts in which they died and the greatest respect we can show is to make sure that there are fewer of them to honor in the future and fewer 'wars of choice' to create them.

Good morning on this Memorial weekend Saturday.  Hope you all are planning something fun.  The skies are cloudy this morning but appear to be moving out.  If we got any rain, it wasn't much.  I have a new basil and a Mexican tarragon to plant.  We finished the dried basil we put up last fall so I planted more this season.  I also planted three stevia this year and hope to harvest enough to last through to next year when the new harvest comes in.  I ran out of stevia three months ago.  I also need to harvest some lettuce and spinach for our chef's salads for dinner today.

This story made the national news and happened only about half a mile from where we live.  We wondered, as we were doing some errands, what was happening when we saw three police cars, with flashers going, turn off Rt. 49 heading toward the north part of town.  Later we heard two helicopters flying over our part of town.  The Chicago station had reporter and helicopter on site and we readily recognized the area from the photos.  In fact, I once worked at a building only a couple away from the one the gunman was inside.

I don't often go on YouTube but this piece was worth the time.  I have read about 'bottle gardens' for some time.  I find it interesting as a gardener who is restricted to containers because all the space I have is covered in cement.

Charles Hugh Smith always has very nicely targeted essays and this on on the 'Argument Industry' is a bull's eye.  We have remarked repeatedly here that the 'news' isn't news anymore.  It is gossip, titillation, and argument.  When the reporters cover problems the coverage is superficial and presented in a 'he said/he said' manner that leads no where.

I have seen several small articles about dry conditions such as described in this article from Bloomberg.  I have remarked a couple of times that I have had to water my gardens sooner and more often his year.  Even when we had rain it wasn't enough to do much good for very long.  This article in one of our local papers confirmed my suspicion that what I have seen in my little patch isn't an anomaly.

Good morning, Everyone, on a cooler Friday with the diminishing hope for rain.  We have a couple of errands to run a bit later so I am not sure how much of the internet I will get through.  And I don't know how much time we will actually get because of the intermittent outages we have been experiencing.  Yesterday we had no service between 12pm and 5.  Mom is still checking other service providers but that is a slog.  They have so many different conditions and limitations that reading their promos is almost as bad a reading a legal document.  If we got a coherent explanation of exactly why the service has been so crappy we wouldn't be so disgruntled.  Oh, well, on to something else.

I have seen a couple of other articles on weavings done with golden orb spider silk over the last year.

I read this on Alternet (linked by another blogger I read frequently).  There are times when we should be very skeptical about the 'benefits' of technology and we should always remember that the primary purpose of corporations is to separate us from our money (individually or collectively) NOW and hang the consequences down the line.

Good morning, everyone, on what is predicted to be a hot day.  The weather people say that we may hit 90F.  Thankfully, I don't have much to do outside beyond transplanting the lemon verbena and watering everything that may dry out.  I do need to harvest a bit of spinach for our chef salads this afternoon.  We still have a problem with our internet and cable TV.  The internet was out for more than 5 hours yesterday.  When Mom called Friday (the third time!!) the representative told her that the problem was with Comcast outside wires and they couldn't get it fixed for 48-72 hours.  Since their linemen didn't work weekends that meant sometime Tuesday or Wednesday.  Depending on what happens today they may get another call.

This is an interesting analysis of Mitt Romney's, to date, very fuzzy proposals for what he would do if elected.  I can think of a third reason why Romney won't get specific.  How can he be held accountable if he doesn't make specific proposals?  A vague promise is no promise at all.

Gene Logsdon has a few very wise comments on debt in modern society.  And on the similarities between so-called capitalism and so-called socialism.  The only disagreement between the two is who gets the rewards of the industrial system both have pushed to the limit and beyond.