September 29

We have some rain and I am glad because it is much needed. I was thinking of watering the gardens but won't have to for a bit. It is also getting cooler again. I am also glad of that. Hot weather and I simply don't go well together any more. It had been so dry I almost lost the mums I put out front for some autumnal color. I thought when I checked them they were fine but next morning they were wilting badly. I watered them well and yesterday transplanted one to an empty container after pulling the marigolds and pepper that were pretty well spent. I hope it will survive the winter and come back next spring.

My brother came by Saturday with a large bag of crochet thread and a larger bag of yarn. Yesterday I quickly pulled out the full skeins and filled one of my storage boxes with them. Then I started winding the partials into balls. I am about half done and have a large bag filled with those and another bag, a little smaller, yet to go. I think someone had gathered that yarn however they could and packed it in that bag. I had to work to untangle and unknot several. But I have quite a nice bit of yarn to work with now of all weights except the bulky. Brother likes to visit estate sales and anytime he can come up with that kind of windfall I will gladly take care of it. He got it all for $10.

I saw a lot about the possibility outlined in a New Yorker magazine article last week that the Republicans might try to persuade those swing state legislators where the legislature to invalidate the vote if #45 loses and give him the electoral votes anyway. David Kaiser has an analysis of the laws in question and has come up with an interesting conclusion.

Ah--the story of the day...again! A post on Facebook this morning read: Story of the Day--ABC, his taxes; NBC, his taxes; CNN, his taxes; FOX, Hearty Soup Recipes; Hearty Soup Recipe Channel, his taxes. 

 September 23

Almost the first thing I saw this morning was a link to this LA Times article "Why Paul Simon's 'American  Tune is the anthem for our troubled nation." I honestly didn't remember the song and looked it up. Oh, yes! It is the perfect song for our times. And a reminder that we have had similar times before.

September 25

I got to reading yesterday and completely forgot to come back here. Just as well because I didn't have any thoughts to post on anything. In case you are wondering I read The Case of the Lazy Lover, a Perry Mason mystery by Earl Stanley Gardner.

I managed to solve a mystery that has been nagging at me all summer. I had two plants I thought were Japanese indigo but they didn't match any of the descriptions or pictures I found. One was in the middle of a stand of indigo that matched perfectly and were exactly where I planted the seeds. But what the hell was the other. Well, I finally figured out how to take a picture of it on the laptop. Here it is:

I found a free plant id site and it gave me a list of possibles but none matched what I had planted. Well, none I had planted this year. It happens to be Malabar spinach which I planted last year but failed to germinate. Since it is a warm climate plant I think I must have some how gotten a couple of seeds from last year mixed in with the indigo. I will try it again next year now that I know it will grow as an annual here. It is supposed to be a good salad green and a good substitute for real spinach.

I have been looking for heat tolerant plants for the last few years. Our patio, with its white fence all around, becomes an oven that concentrates heat. The official temperature might be 85F but the temperature on the patio in the sun reads 95F or more. My cool season doesn't last long and most of the traditional greens will bolt before we get to enjoy them. I am also considering some shade loving plants for the autumn because after the autumnal equinox the entire patio is in shade.

I love the Lincoln Project ads. (Note: I got to this one by way of Crooks & Liars.) I will admit part of it is I despise #45; but I am getting very tired of the "business as usual" stance of both sides. Biden wasn't my first (or second, or ... tenth) choice but given the (insert your favorite epithet here) I will vote for him.

 September 21

As several other blogs have posted over the weekend: RIP (power or peace) RBG

My first reaction: Can 2020 get any more F*$#ed up? Well, it can. The shameless, power hungry Repthuglicans might ram through a reactionary activist judge forgetting all their pledges that if an opening on the Supreme Court came up in the last year of #45's first term they would not confirm a replacement until after the next inauguration. The "Party of Lincoln" is dead. Or, even worse, #45 might be re-elected.

I was outraged and angry when the Orange Idiot was elected in 2016. Now, I am incredibly sad and, somewhat, philosophical. Things are changing and have been for a while now. It isn't a though such drastic changes haven't happened before. The adoption of the Constitution in 1789 changed our government dramatically. The westward movement changed attitudes toward slavery and the strains on our government resulted in the Civil War and more changes. I could go on but it isn't necessary. One of Heinlein's curmudgeonly characters in a future time (I forget which one) said that the United States had gone from a representative republic (with, I would add, a very narrow representation), to a broad democracy, to an oligarchy to a dictatorship and back and forth in the list without ever changing its Constitutional framework. But I would also caution all those gleeful Repthuglicans to be careful what they wish for--they might get way more than they bargain for.

Reading today:

    Tom Englehardt at TomDispatch: A Vote For the Apocalypse.

September 20

Welcome to Fall🍂

It has been getting more and more autumnal for the last couple of weeks--since the heat broke and nights started dropping into the low 50s and 40s. I think the trees were just waiting for that because they have been turning colors--nothing close to full glory which is about two to three weeks away. The shadow of the house is almost at the top of the fence which it does around each solstice. It has me thinking about looking at shade loving plants for a fall garden next year. At the summer equinox there is almost no shade at all in the gardens except for a small strip near the house itself so all those plants have to be sun loving and very heat tolerant. I will have to think about that and do some research.

Reading today:

    Andrea Mazzarino on TomDispatch: War Zone America? When a military couple worry about a possible new civil war here, maybe we should all be worried.

    Ben Hunt at Epsilon Theory: The Welding Shut of the American Mind. Some interesting points here and has me thinking I should re-read The Closing of the American Mind which I didn't like much when I first read it a couple of decades ago.

 September 17

Cool right now. Waiting to see if we will get sun. It has been trying but not enthusiastically. I would like to clean out at least some of the shed today but not if I will get rained on.

It is nice to have a bit of humor this early in the morning. Thank you, Margaret and Helen.

John Feffer at Foreign Policy In Focus: Trump's Scorched Earth Doctrine. We have our doubts about how anyone who comes after #45 whenever he goes wherever will repair the damage he has done and will do. We will be living with this chaos for a long time--probably long enough for some of it to feel "normal."

September 18

More reading:

On Naked Capitalism: Thousands of New York "Long Haulers" Struggle with COVID-19 Months After Diagnosis. I have seen similar account but only rarely. They don't seem to make the news.

September 19

Though not exactly unexpected, was sad to hear about the death of Ruth Bader Ginsberg. The announcement had hardly been made when Moscow Mitch insisted the Senate will vote on whichever candidate #45 nominates. Someone had it right this morning when they said that all Repthuglicans care about is power and Damnocrats had better start cultivating the same attitude. Or perhaps we, the voters should reduce both parties to minority status and support some new ones.

I have been busy cleaning out my shed and the gardening supplies. The weather is finally cool enough to make that pleasant. I don't know how cool it got outside last night but we down to about 69 inside. Time to break out the flannel nightgowns and sweats. I also took all of the gardening stuff out of the whatnot room since I won't be starting plants inside anymore.

Anyone who thinks we have "rounded the corner" on COVID is as delusional as #45. This is what is happening in Europe. And we have idiots traipsing around stores urging people to take off their masks. We shopped at three stores yesterday and everyone, including us, was wearing masks.

Ah, yes. The "new normal." We haven't had to wait in lines except at the checkout stands and we haven't visited the library even when we could have used curb side pick up.

It has been an active hurricane season and we have a month and a half to go yet. Possibly two months if hurricanes form after the traditional close of the season on November 1. We are two names into the Greek alphabet having exhausted the English list for the year.You can get more info here. Bloomberg has a piece on our horrible year of natural disaster.

 September 15

Really cool this morning but a welcome change from the heat. I haven't had a productive day so far. Only spent half an hour on the tablecloth on the embroider frame. I switched to a small crochet doily but realized near the last row that I had made a serious mistake on the second row and had to unravel it back to the beginning. The rest of the day won't be much more productive because we are waiting for a call from the auto shop that the car is done and ready for us to pick up. It went in yesterday primarily to fix a problem with the turn signals but they found a problem with the sway bars.

Reading today:

    Rusty Guinn at Epsilon Theory: The Projection Racket (part 1). How people lose their freedoms and we are well along the way.

    Treehugger: I Have Seen the Restaurant of the Future, and It Scares Me. I haven't been in a Burger King or McDonalds in 13 years (since I last had a job). We stopped going to the KFC about the same time and haven't visited a Steak 'n' Shake in at least five years--not even for their shakes. Depending on what happens with the economy and covid we may not even go to a sit down restaurant. We haven't been to one of them since January.

Mattea Kramer at TomDispatch: Isolation and Opioids During the Pandemic. Some months ago the Guardian had an article about "shit-life syndrome" and the upswing in both addiction and suicide. I looks like life has become shittier for many on the bottom. The last sentences are depressing.

September 16

We picked up the car just before 11am yesterday and it is running well. I didn't do much else. I got into Susan Wittig Albert's Death Come Quickly and then finished it this morning. I then went out and cleaned out the old 5 gal buckets that I wanted to get rid of. I am culling my gardens a bit and they are both the oldest buckets (showing the most wear and tear) and the last of the bottom draining buckets. All the others I out the drain holes in the sides. I had to cut the root mass for both the peppermint and the yarrow to pull the plants. I managed to save about two-thirds of the soil. But the process has me re-thinking my plans for what I will put in and where next spring. Both plants were finishing their second year in the garden and their roots went deep; The peppermint all the way to the bottom and the yarrow down about 8 inches. Right now I am going to catch up on all the stuff on the computer I didn't get to yesterday.

So, here is what I am reading today:

Phillip Baker at Naked Capitalism: The Rise of Ultra-Processed Foods and Why They're really bad for our health. We have been reading about ultra-processed foods for some time. About 15 years ago we eliminated as much of the processed foods as possible. That was well before the concerns about the ultra-processed foods rose. Almost everything we eat is made from scratch and what is commercially produced is as close to homemade as possible.

ProPublica: New Climate Maps Show a Transformed United States. Saw this a little earlier today and found it again.

Emily Cadman at Bloomberg: Sydney's New Suburbs Are Too Hot for People to Live In. I have seen articles about areas of the Persian Gulf, coastal India and other places where the temperatures have reached deadly levels over the last several years. Just a week or two ago places in California reached new records of about 121F. Chicago has had 20+ days at or above 90 so far this year. 

September 14--half past another month

We have had a wet first half of the month but that is supposed to break with some dry and sunny days coming up. Time to get some of the garden clean up done and get the shed squared away. The trees are quickly putting on their autumnal colors and dropping leaves.

Reading today:

    Mandy Smithberger at TomDispatch on the one continuing successful operation the Pentagon has--getting obscene levels of funding.

    At Global Voices: Are Romance languages Becoming More Gender Neutral? I had noticed that some of the commentators and news readers were using the term "Latin-x" and wondered it it was simply an attempt to follow our own notions of gender neutrality. It isn't.

    Ugo Bardi at Cassandra's Legacy: Famines as a Military Weapon, Is Europe in Danger? Modern situation complicated by the industrialization of the food supply which requires much larger imputes of fossil fuels in various forms and by the fact that Europe produces a smaller portion of their food locally.

    HuffPost: Mosquito Clouds Killing Deer, Cattle in Southwestern Louisiana. Damn!! And I found several other stories on this from other sources.

    The Siberian Times: More Than 400 Sealed "Craters" Are Ticking Time Bombs. Something else I have read about for a couple of years now.

    NPR: Is Plastic Recycling A Lie? I was totally bummed out when local stores, except for the local dairy and a health food store insisted that customers not use reusable bags. I thought the whole thing was a subsidy to the plastics industry that had faced growing efforts to get rid of single use plastics.

 September 11

Well, the commemorations of 9/11 aren't so ubiquitous that one can't avoid most of it. Don't get me wrong. We should remember those who died but the event has so twisted our politics, society, and economy that we haven't yet worked it all out of our system. The impact of 9/11 goes well beyond the nearly 3K people lost and the physical destruction. We dwell on the dead without giving much thought to what has happened to the living.

One thing we do seem to be questioning is consumerism with the growth of minimalism, slow food, farm-to-table and such movements. Recently I have seen a number of blog posts emphasizing slow fashion along with refashioning old pieces, mending, re-purposing old clothes. And even in the fashion industry there seems to be some questioning of the old business models as seen in this piece from Treehugger.

Is anyone really surprised by this article? After all the head of the administration described war dead as losers, people who volunteered to serve in the armed forces "suckers", got out of serving himself by claiming (fake) bone spurs and threatened his son with disinheritance if he signed up. His administration diverted funds for a school for soldiers' children in Kentucky to fund his "big, beautiful wall."

A couple of days ago I was reading one of the prepper blogs I frequently read where the blogger detailed an encounter with a non-prepping family member who saw her updating her "bug out bag" in case of a fire evacuation order. They live in a town and the family member asked "What? You think the city will burn?" I think this Guardian article answers that. Hell, yes, cities can, and will, burn. Also the 500K residents under evacuation orders represents one-tenth of the population.