Good wet and warm Tuesday morning, All.  Did I say warm?  Well, on the news the temperature is listed as 59F.  In January!!!  Won't last long--the temperatures tomorrow will be falling through the day and won't get out of single digits on Thursday and Friday.  They also say that the entire area is under a flood watch because of the copious amounts of rain expected.

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Here we are on an equally wet though not so warm Wednesday.  The temperatures are supposed to fall from the current mid 30s to the mid 20s by late this afternoon.  The rain should shift to snow.  Let's see if I find anything worth commenting on.

Please don't try to tell me that this can't happen here.  We also have shady corporate and governmental actors whose favorite sport is evading environmental law and social/criminal responsibility.  The only difference is their language and religion.

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Hope you are all having a good Thursday.  Definitely not warm today.  Temperature is 18F with wind chills are in the single digits.  We did get a bit of snow--not nearly as much as the weather people had thought.

The NY Times posted this story and I hope it is just the tip of the iceberg.  If the number of applications to law schools are dropping it means that a lot of prospective law students are considering very carefully the old means of paying for their legal education (student loans) and deciding against.  I wonder if a similar pattern shows up in graduate schools.  My quick and dirty internet search yielded contradictory results.

I have followed this story for some time.  I have read several economic analyses of China which conclude that China will get old before it becomes wealthy because of the gender and age imbalances resulting from the One Child Policy.  To that I would add--China will become a polluted wasteland before its people enjoy the prosperity industrial development promised.

Good Monday to you all.  Well, the weather people have been right--we have rain today, so far, and the temperature is in the mid 40s.  Most of the snow we had has melted but we expect more over the coming weekend when the temperatures go back into the freezer.  I did get some of my records updated for the new seed varieties and have started my calendar.  See how things go.  I have never ended up in the fall with the garden I planned in the spring.

Just took a look at the gardens.  First time in about two weeks--before the nearly a week of 0 and sub-0 weather. Right now the tansy, pyrethrum, lavender, sage, oregano and marjoram are looking a bit sickly.  We'll see how they come back.  The good new is that the strawberries look fairly good.

Oh, yeah, Leigh.  Every now and then there is something positive on the news.  However, more often we find new problems--or rather a new head on some hydra-headed problem.  Plastic manufacturers have rushed to get the BPA out of the plastic after popular protests but I just found references to a substitute for BPA that may be even more toxic.  This article also provides some information on the topic.

Here is one for the 'what government isn't telling its citizens' file.  Our media didn't really cover the Fukushima nuclear disaster well (along with the earthquake and tsunami).  Evidently our government was far more worried that they let on.  I hope the rest of the Asahi Shimbun article is posted.  I found this installment on Fire Dog Lake.

This is one reason why I have a very dismal view of our prospects of getting a handle on our national budget.  Don't you just love the notion of taxpayers footing the bill (or most of the bill) for corporate misbehavior?  And let's not forget the tab for bailing out the too-big-to-fail banks which hasn't been fully repaid no matter what the media apologists have said.

Ah, it looks like James Kunstler wasn't impressed with the second Obama Inaugural.  I rather agree with him.

For some time a running joke here is that every time sales of some food go down a new study comes out about how healthy the stuff is for you.  Or every time some nutrition study (usually a preliminary study) which indicates that this, that, or the other food isn't healthy another study will surface in a couple of months to prove the opposite.  Well, this article on Grist gives an idea of how deeply food manufacturers have infiltrated the nutrition 'industry.'  We take any nutritional advice or study with a gigantic dose of skepticism.

The Netherlands will soon lose a queen and gain a king--for the first time since 1890.  Queen Beatrix will abdicate as of April 30 and her son will become king.

Good Saturday, Everyone.  We finally got enough snow to snap the record we had been setting--days without 1in of snow on the ground.  Barely.  The next few days are going to be odd because we have the chance for more snow, rain, freezing rain with temperature possibilities rising into the low 50s. and then into the deep freeze by the end of the week.  We are postponing any decision about until we see what actually comes our way.  Most of my seed orders have come in.  I have to take a look at them all and decide what gets started when.  The hibiscus and cranberry plants and the pineapple sage are on backorder.  All of the companies I deal with have been very good and prompt.

It is good to see someone finally looking at our political/economic system and uttering some truths.  The politicians can (and do) promise anything but whether any can be kept or kept for any span of time beyond the next election is something else altogether.  And we have seen all too often how reality takes a big bite out of any plans they do come up with.

Well, it seems we may have a little trade war developing between the U.S. and Mexico over---tomatoes!  The U.S. may scrap a sixteen-year-old agreement it hasn't adequately protected U.S. tomato growers.  Of course those who sell Mexican tomatoes are crying foul and insisting that the American consumers will pay (gasp!!) higher prices if the trade agreement is scrapped.  My take--higher prices are simply the consequence if consumers want out of season veggies.  What is really at stake are profits.  I can be a bit amused by the whole mess.  We don't buy fresh tomatoes out of season very often and most of the sauce, stewed and in season  tomatoes I grow myself.

We saw this story on our morning TV news.  My first reaction was 'when will they get potassium bromate out of our flour?'  You didn't know that was in flour?  Surprise.  I found out sometime ago.  For more info check this out.

This also appeared on our morning news.  Poor babies--were they not paying attention to the drought and heatwave last year?  We watched as eggs from a couple of our favorite egg producers disappeared as they lost tens of thousands of birds.  And we knew very well that the eggs were only the most obvious part of the situation.  Here is another link on the topic.  This one says that next year prices will be more 'normal;' but I say only if the temperatures and moisture are more normal.  And I ain't taking any bets on that either way.

Good cold and snowy Thursday to you all.  We may finally break the snowless streak today and tomorrow.  One thing about this cold snap--I will see exactly how hardy the plants I left on the patio really are.  We live in the upper hardiness zone 5 and everything out there is hardy to at least that level with many suited to level 3.  I got another seed order in the mail--the one from Totally Tomatoes for the small patio pepper and patio tomato.  The said the cranberry plant is backordered.  So far they have been very good and easy to deal with.  Burpee and Shumway sent e-mails to tell me those orders have been shipped.  Totally Tomatoes sent a couple of interesting samples as gifts.  I may try the purple cayenne.

Hey, Lois.  Good to see your comment.  We have cut back drastically on watching news on TV and have, at the same time, broadened our sources.  We constantly talk about the items we read or see through our internet reading or on BBC but which make no appearance on our TV news broadcasts.  If an informed (and educated) citizenry is fundamental to a functioning democracy (or democratic republic) we are well and truly F---ED.

Dennis Miller has some good points on another topic, inflation, which is another way in which ordinary people are screwed over and how the government statistics cover it up.

Good day to you all on this only marginally warmer Wednesday.  The temp on the patio was warmer this morning at 5:30am as it was yesterday when Mom checked it out at 9:30am.  In fact it is warmer than our high yesterday.

I sympathize, Lois.  I don't live in Illinois--rather Indiana about 50 miles east of Chicago.  Our asshole, Repthuglican ex-governor has retired (bless term limits!!) to become president or chancellor or some kind of high mucky muck at Purdue University.  Too bad political assholery isn't an indictable offense.  Unfortunately, the voters over here saw fit to put in a new Repthuglican who, I hope, won't be so thuggish.  Our weather has also been weird.  We still haven't had much snow.  In fact, many areas have yet to put 1 inch on the ground.  The cold snap of the last two days provided the coldest temperature of the last two years.  And we are still way above normal for temperatures for the entire season.  And two weeks ago we had almost a week of temperature 20+ degrees above normal.

Frustration with mainstream media #123:  Can anyone tell me why Beyonce's lip-synched rendition of the national anthem is important enough that the news broadcasts for two days now have spend considerable time on it?

Well, the weather people promised a very cold couple of days and this morning certainly qualifies.  The temperature on the morning news broadcast is 12F and expected to go lower.  Right now we are considering rescheduling a couple of appointments we have for today and tomorrow.  We'll see how the car does.

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Good Tuesday, Everyone.  The inauguration dominated the news yesterday--actually the TV coverage overall.  We watched very little given our errands yesterday and then we ignored most of the rest.  TV has become background noise more than anything else.  Our expectations of colder temps have come through--low this morning so far is 1F (in Chicago but -1F closer to us) with a well below zero wind chill.  But we should get somewhat warmer for the next week.  Even our little birds that visit the feeders are staying in their nests more.  Can't blame them.

We just had a bit of a chuckle.  I read a headline on NBC.com: Ex-Illinois Governor set for halfway house after prison term.  Why the chuckle?  Illinois has two ex-governors in prison.  Pulled up the article to confirm that it is George Ryan who will exit prison for the halfway house after six years.  His allies are still trying to get his conviction overturned.

It looks like the 'water wars' are escalating.  And, since the drought hasn't ended by any means, I expect  more such skirmishes in the near future.

Mom just came back in from starting up the car so it can warm up.  She stopped to look at the thermometer (which she usually doesn't do) and commented that she thought it was broken.  I asked why and she said that it was reading -14F.  Well, it actually reads +14.  She read the bold line at 32 as though it were 0.  She laughed and said she has to clean her glasses.  But it is really cold when she stops to look at the temperature.

Good very chilly Sunday to you all.  Unusual weather and weather swings are becoming all too usual.  We did have high winds yesterday which greatly reduced the perceived temperature.  I will get a good idea of how hardy the plants still outside are with the coming overnight temps in the low single digets and daytime highs in the teens and low twenties.  Those are the lowest temperatures in nearly two years according to the local weather person this morning.

The garden and home show was a nice outing yesterday.  Much of the merchandise was eye candy--what we call 'nice but' items.  We enjoy looking but really don't want to buy.  We did find a very interesting bird feeder that our little friends might like a lot more that one of the tube feeders--which they don't really like at all. I also found some 'wild' flower seeds for sale and picked up the beard-tongue foxglove, agastache, wild monarda, prairie clover, and a fifth I don't remember off hand (and am too lazy at present to get up and take a look).  I put in the quotation marks because domesticated versions are available for all but one.  It is very easy to forget that once upon a time all of the plants we have in our gardens were once wild.  All of them attract either bees or butterflies or hummingbirds or all three.  And the dried leaves of three of the plants are supposed to be good in tea.  I do love multipurpose plants.

Glad you commented, Lois, and that you enjoy my gardening accounts.  On the gun issue--I don't own guns now but at one time I did.  I enjoyed target shooting and was once a member of a couple of gun clubs.  I haven't done any shooting in many years now--when shooting interfered with my graduate work I had to choose and shooting lost.  Everyone I know (then and now) who have guns treat them as tools that, like any other dangerous tool (knives, automobiles, and chainsaws for example) that must be properly maintained and used with due caution for their own safety and the safety of others.  There are idiots out there who shouldn't have a plastic knife, drive a car, or be allowed anywhere near a chainsaw.  And some people shouldn't have guns even if they want them.  (Update: sorry, Lois.  I accidentally rejected your comment from my e-mail account when I intended to post it.  Blast!!  For any who wonder what you wrote, here it is:Ah, I love reading about your garden. It is so cool :)

Gun control is a very hot issue. I do not know if we will ever find a solution. I do not and have never owned a gun. My father was shot down in cold blood, by a man he knew, in front of me. I was 3 years old and I remember it as clear as if it happened yesterday. So, my viewpoint is pretty clear but that is me. Other people have differant viewpoints and I can respect that. I may not agree but I do respect it.
take care)