Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Bark louder, little dog.

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Anne Laurie is a fucking hero in so many ways. ~ Betty Cracker

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

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35Comments

  1. 1.

    numbskull

    Yep, squirrels keep getting my big ones. They’ve stayed away from the cherry tomatoes, though.

    Sadly, I am not allowed to shoot them…

  2. 2.

    shortstop

    Beautiful! Enjoy every bite!

    As a veteran urban container gardener, I gotta say that what bugs me about the varmints’ tomato snacking is that they don’t finish what they start. No one begrudges them a nice tomato now and then, but when they take a bite out of each tomato and leave a pile of rejected produce on the deck, it makes me cry.

  3. 3.

    frankdawg

    Why do the furry creatures of the upper woodlands prefer their produce green? Deer, squirrels, chipmunks – all chow down on my garden before things have a chance to ripen. I thought ripe stuff would have more sugars so more energy.

    If I can spare the green stuff it seems to me the ripe stuff goes untouched.

    @shortstop:
    this too!

  5. 5.

    Randy P

    Well, I’ve been mentioning how I have had almost nothing that I tried to grow make it to the table, but a few zucchini plants are still thriving and we ate the first one last night.

    This is apparently a mix of different colored varieties. Last nights was bright yellow. Not large, about like one of those skinny Japanese eggplants. We’ve also picked a couple of fat white ones, once we decided that was their final color and they weren’t going to turn green. Those are fat, more like your standard eggplants.

    I know most people say they get zucchini by the truckload, each of them the size of a watermelon. But for me, this is a bumper crop. The usual varmint that gets me is a squash borer that gets into the stalk and kills the plant, but for some reason they haven’t attacked these plants this year.

  7. 7.

    Josie

    Just out of curiosity – what kind of tomatoes do you grow (John or anyone else)? I tried several heirlooms – Brandywine, Moneymaker, Black Prince – but my soil has tobacco mosaic virus, so I had to go with hybrids that are resistant – Park’s Whopper and Park’s Terrific.

  9. 9.

    Cat Lady

    @shortstop:

    Three beds of strawberries I used to keep but lost them all to the one-biters, aka squirrels. The deer get the hosta, aka deer lettuce. There’s a groundhog out there that likes certain of my flowers and the only thing that seems to be immune from attack are the daylilies. So, daylilies it is!

  10. 10.

    hoosierteachergirl

    Nice pic! I just want to pick it up and cram my nose right up against it and breathe it all in. I LOVE that smell! And then eat the crap out of it. My tomatoes are still green…

  11. 11.

    geg6

    Lovely mater, Cole. Wish I could appreciate it as it deserves, with drooling and such. But I can’t. I have some sort of either virus or food poisoning or something. Horrible pains in my abdomen, can’t eat (haven’t eaten since Wednesday night and don’t miss it), can barely drink but am forcing myself to. No nausea or other awful spewings, but terrible abdominal pain. Very similar to the e coli I got from spinach a few years ago. Terrible joint pain, too, which I had then, too. Feeling a little better today, but still kinda miserable. What a way to start a holiday weekend.

  12. 12.

    Kristine

    ::envy:: I’m Zone 5 and started plants from seeds, so all I have are buds so far…except for two surprise Romas that each have a marble-size tomato. The Romas are a surprise because I didn’t plant them on purpose. Seeds either got into the ground via the compost or last year’s fallen fruits. Not crazy about the taste–pretty taste-free come to that. But they roast well and make decent marinara. And I’m greedy. I’m nursing along every surprise tomato plant I find. I had 6 plants total last year, and once things started ripening, I could barely keep up with the eating/sauce-making. This year, I have 12-14 plants. In tomatoes, I will be awash.

  13. 13.

    General Egali Tarian Stuck

    In an attempt to outwit the devious bandit deer, I placed my giant mater planters on the back patio. Which means they only get a few hours sunlight in the morning. So Just now getting golf ball size tomatoes. Luckily, we have a long growing season. Unless the cud chewing scoundrels learn how to build a ladder to get to the plants, or pay off a squirrel to do their dirty work.

  15. 15.

    QuaintIrene

    I gotta say that what bugs me about the varmints’ tomato snacking is that they don’t finish what they start.

    Aaah, they do the exact same thing with my apples. Like you said, all in favor of sharing but really! Sometimes they’ll leave them still hanging on the branch with a bite taken out of it.

    Yes, John, what variety is that? Best Boy?

  17. 17.

    Josie

    @Randy P: The same thing has happened to all squash and zucchini that I have planted. It’s really frustrating. Just as they bloom and are ready to set fruit, they all start to die out and fall over. Finally this year I planted one called tatume that has actually given me a few squash and is still alive. I’m jealous of people who say they can’t keep up with the zucchini harvest.

  23. 23.

    CentralVA

    Groundhog got to our watermelons last year just when they turned ripe. The seeds on the ground over wintered and there were numerous plants in the spring. Now there are over a dozen melons with no groundhog in site. No squirrels though, the hawks keep them under control.

  24. 24.

    Corner Stone

    My vote for the WTF moment:
    House Democrats pass ‘budget enforcement resolution’ by 215-210

    “But unlike traditional budget resolutions, this year’s version doesn’t detail how Congress should reach that goal, leaving those tough decisions to Obama’s bipartisan fiscal commission.”

    The way I read this, essentially any recommendation that gets through the Senate then has to have an Up or Down vote in the House.
    Maybe the Thursday Night Menu should start rotating in a few tricks to make cat food taste better.

  25. 25.

    ellaesther

    This is not much in the spirit of a “look at the lovely tomato!” open thread comment, but well, it’s an open thread.

    I often go on around these parts about Israel/Palestine, and I just wanted to mention that Nick Kristof’s column in yesterday’s NYT on the Israeli occupation is the best in the history of evar. It just says everything that need be said to make the point, in one neat and eloquent package. Here’s me going on about it a little http://emilylhauserinmyhead.wordpress.com/2010/07/01/nicholas-kristof-said-it-better/ and here’s the actual column http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/01/opinion/01kristof.html?_r=4

    And here, for the sake of OMG-punch-to-the-gut emotion, is the tale of an Israeli woman who met with the family of the suicide bomber who murdered her husband http://bit.ly/9OIj1Z It’s on the site of the Israel-Palestinian Bereaved Families Forum, an amazing organization of folks from both sides who have lost family to the violence and are working together toward peace.

  26. 26.

    machine

    If you want to protect ripening tomatoes on the vine – especially from birds – try wrapping the developing fruit in sections of old pantyhose legging. It expands to allow the fruit to grow and camouflages the red color. Simply cut a tube-like section from a leg, tie off one end, then slip over the young fruit.

    This method worked for me…until brown wilt virus got into the soil and ruined things for tomato production.

  27. 27.

    Violet

    @geg6:
    Maybe you should go to the doctor today while they’re open. If it is ecoli, they might want to find out where it came from. Could be appendicitis too. Better safe than sorry.

    That tomato is beautiful, Cole. Good for you for picking it before the critter get it.

  28. 28.

    TaMara (BHF)

    That is one good looking tomato. If it were me, I’d just slice it and eat it.

    @machine: Which brings up a good question. Except for weddings and funerals, does anyone wear pantyhose anymore?

  31. 31.

    geg6

    For all the concerned BJers, I called my nurse practitioner friend and she got me squeezed in. It’s definitely not appendicitis and they doubt very much it is e coli. There is apparently an intestinal virus going around that sometimes results in vomiting and diarrhea but other times with just severe stomach and intestinal cramps. It is most likely the latter. Very painful, I must say, and I’m still not wanting to eat. But they told me to force myself to eat easily digestible foods like yogurt, soup, and crackers. My friend will call me later today with the test results but she was pretty sure it’s nothing serious. I do feel better than yesterday, and that didn’t happen when I had e coli. Took me about 3 or 4 months to get over that. This is really nothing in comparison.

  32. 32.

    Brachiator

    @frankdawg:

    Why do the furry creatures of the upper woodlands prefer their produce green? Deer, squirrels, chipmunks – all chow down on my garden before things have a chance to ripen. I thought ripe stuff would have more sugars so more energy.

    Their digestive systems, etc., are geared toward opportunism. You got to get it early and often, or else you risk not getting anything at all.

    If you ever see a chipmunk tending a garden, then it’s time to start worrying.

    @geg6:
    Hope you feel better and glad to hear that it’s not appendicitis. My office manager had similar symptoms, thought it was just food poisoning, and ended up needing to have his appendix removed.

  33. 33.

    HeartlandLiberal

    Congratulations on the tomato. I have been protected ours with our water scarecrow since last Friday night. Just in time. Saturday at 1:30 I got up to look out the balcony off our bedroom, and a buck deer is walking straight toward the tomatoes. I yell, he bolts, as he passes the tomatoes, the water scarecrow kicks in.

    Good.

    Unfortunately, this morning I get up, look out the deck first thing, to discover the (*_)&(*& deer have grazed my 26 plant strawberry patch I planted two months ago, which I have been carefully tending by picking off the flowers and runners so they will grow solid plants, and next year produce all season. They are a ‘day neutral’ variety.

    I go check out the bed, and sure enough, deer tracks, and all but four or five plants nibbled down to nubs.

    Oh, well, I think they will recover in 3-4 weeks, and we should still get some strawberries, but to do so, I sat down and orders TWO MORE water scarecrows overnight from Amazon.com (the model I recommended to John last week in a post).

    One will guard the strawberry / herb garden plot. he other is going to be connected off same hose via a y-splitter, and stand guard over the strip of blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries, about a dozen total plants, that I carefully laid a new bed for and planted this spring. The raspberry and blueberry bushes are actually trying to produce a little fruit, but between the raccoons and the deer, I will get nada without a the scarecrow. It will be interesting to see if the raccoons are as impressed as the deer.

    I decided when I discovered the damage, by the way, that it was pointless to get angry. Gardening is an existential activity, anyway. If you are not willing to deal with the fragility of life, and how it can be damaged or snuffed out in a moment, after so much time invested in tending and caring for it, you are not cut out for gardening, trust me.

    The rewards, on the other hand, are great. This morning, aside from all the collards, kale, cabbage, squash, egg plant, peppers, and lettuce and tomatoes we are harvesting already in abundance, it was pure joy to see the 300 foot square area I tilled up under the tree line and planted with wild flowers finally showing an area of blossoms.

    It is all very good for the soul.

  34. 34.

    Yutsano

    @geg6: Ki o tsukete kudasai. If you think the chunkies will be too much, just get some chicken broth and float some tortellini in it. Not only will it make you feel better, you’re also eating a traditional Italian dish (very popular during the Christmas season). Mangia!

  35. 35.

    teejay

    JC, what variety is it and when did you plant it? I planted Jetstar the last week of May here in central CT. and I don’t even have fruit showing up.

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