From hardy perennial garden commentor Marvel:
It’s been mild here in the Willamette Valley — warm days, cool days, sunshine, sprinkles — a perfect time for working WAY too hard//long in the yard.
Having been cooped up in the greenhouse for weeks and weeks, sixty-seven corn plants were clamoring to go outside and play. I let them. (There are a few dozen more still putting on size — they’ll be planted soon.)
Above: Young corn queued up for their trip to their new home in Area 51. The white spots in the planting field are scoops of ‘complete organic fertilizer’ — builds strong bodies X ways without burning ’em.
The whirligigs were there to keep me & my partner from stomping on/tripping over some dirt-colored pegs that defined the planting bed as I was preparing it — I’m keeping them there because, well, whirligigs.
These are some of the starts that that are awaiting their new homes — they’re an experimental sweet corn and I can’t wait to see (taste?) how they turn out.
This is as close to a ‘still life’ as we get, mid-Spring.
Meanwhile, it’s a splash of Chardonnay (with an ibuprofen chaser) in the garden shed. Oh my aching back….
***********
Here north of Boston, I’ll be spending the afternoon transplanting another half-dozen mail order roses into rootpouches and setting up more bags with the latest batch of tomato-growing ‘accessories’ (new potting mix, Terrasorb, organic fertilizer). This year, I’ll be experimenting with the red plastic mulch that’s supposed to “increase yield up to 20%”… and I’ve got a block of fancy-schmancy “wonder soil” expanding coir to test in one or two bags, see if it makes a difference for productivity or hardiness. Of course, I’ve yet to receive my tomato plants from California and Oregon. Last year, the cartons showed up at or just before my ‘second half of May’ deadline, when New England was having a damp chill Spring, and the plants were almost too tall to ship; this year, we’re having a lovely sunny warm Spring, but I suspect my West Coast suppliers haven’t been so lucky!
What’s going on in your gardens this week?
NotMax
In strict moderation.
Ibuprofen impairs kidney function. And, in combination with alcohol, can cause stomach ulcers.
raven
Nice Marvel! We stopped at “Pearl’s Topiary Garden” in Bishopville, SC yesterday. If you don’t know about it it’s worth a glance. We were gone for a week and the progress on the addition was great. It’s hard to visualize the size of something from drawings or even the layout on the ground but having the block foundation in really helps! The garden with the roses is right behind the room and the windows in the space will look right into it! On the left side of the basement I have a big bay window and a “sitting garden” will go there.
Mustang Bobby
My chili pepper vanda orchid is blooming for the third time since last September.
To be fair, it was blooming when I got it, but it did it again in December and again this week.
raven
@Mustang Bobby: Sweet!
OzarkHillbilly
Waiting for the rains…. Again.
I got a few tomatoes about one foot tall already. The rest are at least 2′ with some at 3′. All of which makes me feel like most everything else is lagging, with lettuce and broccoli the exceptions. Eating lots of salads right now.
Straw is a rare commodity in this part of MO this spring, hard to find anywhere. So now I have to get creative in my mulching, grass clippings and sawdust mostly, both of which I have plenty of. Also decided to try planting clover between the rows of my tomatoes, a “living mulch” that is supposed to be good for them. We’ll see.
Beyond that, just weeding. And weeding some more.
RAVEN
@OzarkHillbilly: There was a group of about 10 college guys on the boat trip I took. I cringed thinking what a bunch of drunken idiots they would be for 6hrs. It turned out they were Mizzou students, mostly from St Louis and really nice kids!
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: I started using grass clippings for mulch this year too, and I have about 1/3 of an acre’s worth to try to rake up today, and then plant my few tomato seedlings that are thriving before a predicted 5 days of rain sets in. I’m just settling for a few plants again this year, didn’t get to the big garden area to till it in time, and it’s too overgrown now. For me to do by myself anyway, and I don’t have help.
satby
And Marvel, your gardens are great. Way more ambitious than I can manage.
BillinGlendaleCA
My new window boxes look really nice, but I’m not sure what’s the deal with this tomato. Any ideas?
BillinGlendaleCA
Moderation? Really?
FortGeek
All I’m growing is tired of my water heater project.
Old one finally died about 2 weeks ago. Found a replacement for cheap ($75!) on CraigsList.
Haven’t gotten it fully hooked up yet: my house is a stodgy 52 years old and its rusty old circulatory system is trying to reject this experienced 19 year old donation. I’m in the nickel-and-dime phase of things, now–“Okay, I need a couple of these”…”Dammit, now I need one of those.”
I’m down to one old iron fitting that is so far resisting aggressive beatings on a pipe wrench, liberal applications of “PB Blaster”, a Dremel tool with cutoff wheel, and a trusty propane torch.
Today, however, I will prevail. I am tired of cold showers!
RAVEN
@BillinGlendaleCA: Not sure but you are safe from lawn shaming!
BillinGlendaleCA
@RAVEN: If it’s green out here, you’re evil.
OzarkHillbilly
@RAVEN: How was your week? Catch much? The few posts I read seemed like you were enjoying yourself.
Baud
I’m going to pull my weeds this morning before they turn into trees.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: I’m a gona paint my bathroom.
ETA: The green color the landlord painted it makes me want to start cutting myself.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA:
I used to paint. I got tired of cleaning brushes.
NotMax
@raven
Here’s hoping the job includes having them build the new stairs.
Decided on what’s gonna be used for flooring yet?
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Hulk Smash green?
RAVEN
@NotMax: There will be interior stairs on the left side of the addition and a new, smaller, deck at the door that will be made from the existing kitchen window. We will have some light issues in the kitchen but the boss is working on that.
OzarkHillbilly
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Recognizing Tomato Problems
NotMax
@Baud
Beats the heck out of Exorcist green.
RAVEN
@OzarkHillbilly: Very nice week. I overdid it with the surf fishing but it looks like the waterproof bandaid and surgical gloves did the trick on my finger. It was nice to catch a good size red the first day although I could have done without gashing my knee when I went to put water in the bucket and the fish temporarily.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: More like hospital OR green. Knowing my landlord, it was probably some paint that somebody else rejected and he got a deal.
RAVEN
@NotMax: oh, flooring. She settled on reclaimed heart pine to match the funky stuff we have$$$$$$$$!
RAVEN
@BillinGlendaleCA: OD Dawg!
NotMax
@RAVEN
Something you might consider (and which I do as force of habit) is to put a trail of boric acid on all the horizontal studs before the walls are enclosed.
tofubo
in our garden ?? nuttin yet
boldly go to work where no one has worked before
https://youtu.be/C4QWkgTyn1Q
NotMax
@RAVEN
Saw a feature once on a guy in Japan who made traditional tiny wooden scoops used to remove ear wax.
He crafted them only from beams reclaimed from houses over a hundred years old which had charcoal cooking pits or fireplaces, so the beams had been well smoked and well seasoned.
Part of the feature was him complaining how difficult it had become to get his materials, especially since those beams were now in demand to be repurposed in new construction.
Ultraviolet Thunder
Weeding, mowing and negotiating. I packed a yard waste bag full of purple bellflower that I pulled out of the ground cover. I like this native plant, but not taking over everything. I left about 10% of it, in spots where it can’t invade and spread from. Now I can see the vinca minor and hedera helix again.
My wife contacted a local landscaper for ideas about rehabbing a small area on the front/side of our house. They said they’d submit designs after we gave a $3k nonrefundable deposit, and the work would probably cost $5k. I said no. I have 3 weeks of paid time off coming this year and I’ll gladly spend it digging and planting to save five grand.
Today I’m just going to mow, shower and moan about what hard work it all is.
WereBear
I would feel I’m in the wrong line of work… except you aren’t using them :)
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
Whoever mentioned Actinovate for tomato issues, I love you forever.
The tomatoes have only been out a short time, but the iris bed next to the veggie bed was a riot of blue and purple for the first time in years. The iris on the other side of the driveway, which didn’t get the overspray from the Actinovate treatment, were their usual “Bloom? Nah, not really feeling it this year.” They’ll be getting their own treatment soon.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@WereBear:
Maybe that’s typical for our area. I spoke to some neighbors about what they’d paid for landscaping. They recommended other landscape businesses but stated prices in the range of what we were quoted.
I really need someone to come in and dig all of the scrub mulberry trees out of an isolated area so it can be covered in fabric and mulched. It’s blocked by the house and not visible so we won’t ‘develop’ it, but it should be cleaned out. The digging is too strenuous for me I think. That shouldn’t cost the price of a decent used car.
satby
@WereBear: Yeah, that’s crazy prices.
OzarkHillbilly
@Ultraviolet Thunder:
I hear that a lot, to which I always reply, “Then do it yourself.”
Ultraviolet Thunder
@OzarkHillbilly:
I hear that a lot, to which I always reply, “Then do it yourself.”
The landscaper wants to sell design and management services. What I need is labor. We had over the last few years a guy who did heavy work for us. Thatching the grass, hauling in a new shed, helping tear down a fence. Stuff that required an extra pair of hands and muscle. He was worth the $50/hour for his effort. But he’s busy with other jobs this year. I’ll probably ask him for a referral to someone else.
I can do the planning and planting but this scale of heavy work is beyond me these days.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Ultraviolet Thunder: Round these parts we have day laborers that hang around the orange home improvement store. But ya gota go early cause they’ll be drunk as a skunk after noon.
satby
@Ultraviolet Thunder: That’s how I feel, being a short portly lady also impacts how much leverage I have for some stuff. But no budget this year for help. Tempted to get a goat for some of the heavy duty weed clearing, if I could just rent one by the day.
And before anyone even asks, I still would rather buy goatmilk for my soap than add yet another animal to the mix. This ark is maxed out right now.
OzarkHillbilly
@Ultraviolet Thunder:
That is what he is in the business of.
Sounds about right.
Botsplainer
According to Matt Walsh at the Blaze, the JimBob, Michelle and Josh are the real victims, the evil doers being progressives.
http://www.theblaze.com/contributions/the-duggars-arent-hypocrites-progressives-are/
satby
@Botsplainer: Man, you’d think that they would draw the line on the tribalism at defending the cover-up of child molestation, but you’d be wrong.
Ultraviolet Thunder
In other garden news, the Wistarias did a very strange thing this year. We have two ‘rescue’ bushes that were cloned from a gargantuan one in a lot next door that was scheduled for construction. We dug two pits and rooted runners from the parent plant over the lot line on our property, before the parent was cut down. So two new vines on a trellis, same age and genetically identical. Neither had bloomed in the past 4 years since they were started. This year one came out immediately covered in blossoms and no leaves initially. It was gorgeous and the bees went nuts. The other leafed out hugely and not a single blossom. They’re 6′ apart and as I said identical twins. Now the blooming one is producing leaves. I can’t figure this out. I’ll be very interested to see if the same pattern is followed next spring.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@BillinGlendaleCA:
I’ll probably ask on the local community discussion site for a recommendation for labor. We’ve gotten very good leads for plumbing and electrical work there, and posted endorsements of businesses that have done well for us. I’d prefer to have someone I don’t directly supervise. My wife and I both work 50 – 60 hours/week and I’m usually out of the state during teh work week.
debbie
@Botsplainer:
That’s how it always is in Beck World. When the founder of Mozilla was found to be supporting anti-gay causes, he was simply exercising his free speech rights. When others protested and called for boycotting (as in exercising their freedom of speech), they were labeled terrorists.
OzarkHillbilly
@Ultraviolet Thunder: Mine has never bloomed. I put it on the edge of my garden for the express purpose of attracting pollinators. So much for that idea.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@OzarkHillbilly:
I was told they take a decade of growth before blooming. But these grew slowly until last year when they finally put on some size (about 4 years in) and this spring, BLAMMO one of them popped out in blossoms. Maybe it was the very hard winter we had. The one that bloomed had significant die-back of its vines, and budded out later than the leafy one. I have no idea and I’m too lazy to look up Wistarias. More or less a laissez faire gardener.
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: Mine hasn’t either. I bought a special on a pack of three wisteria plants, planted two and gave one to my neighbor. I get lots o’ leaves. He has gotten blooms for the last two years. So annoying!
Steeplejack (phone)
OT question for the fútbol crew: which one of the final EPL matches should I watch in an hour?
OzarkHillbilly
@Ultraviolet Thunder: I am more or less a laissez faire weeder.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@OzarkHillbilly:
Ditto. I enjoyed having a patch of milkweed for the bees but the city inspector was less keen.
I’ll pretty much leave something attractive alone as long as it behaves. The lily of the valley and I may come into conflict this year though.
Mike J
@Steeplejack (phone): Chelsea is going to take home the silverware, so you could watch the ceremony.
Hull City is the only team in the relegation zone that could possibly escape, but it means they have to beat Man U and Newcastle has to lose to West Ham.
As a fan of the newly promoted Leicester City, the LC-QPR match could be fun.
Everton (with American Tim Howard in goal) play Tottenham Hotspur to try to stay in the top 10.
Mike J
And Lewis is going to lose Monaco because the team made a stupid call.
Cervantes
This fine morning, reading.
Good to hear from Marvel in Oregon. Purely by happenstance I am reading Captain Cook’s diary from his final voyage. After putting a curse on Hawaii, or, as he insisted on calling the place, the Sandwich Islands, he eventually reached Oregon, or, as he insisted on calling the place, New Albion.
I’ve been there. “Nothing remarkable about it” my foot!
Excerpt is from the Captain’s Log, March 7, 1778.
(Yes, war is on and he’s still claiming “New Albion” for the Crown. As with that Sandwich business, he certainly knew on which side his bread was buttered.)
Steeplejack (phone)
@Mike J:
Yeah, I think it’s Hull City-Man United with look-ins on Newcastle-West Ham. I could actually see Newcastle snatching relegation from the jaws of mediocrity except that I can’t see Hull getting past United. There is a reason they’re facing relegation, and the reason is that they’re dreadful. If United score first, it will probably mean an early end to my viewing season.
OzarkHillbilly
@Botsplainer: @satby:
I have a problem with this whole Duggar thing. Admitting that I don’t know very much, mostly because of my own… discomfort with the whole subject. But here is what I do know: He was 14. He did it. They (the family) reported it to the police. There were (I assume) legal proceedings. They got him counseling (yes, I know it was Christian counseling, if it worked for him, so what?). To all appearances, there has been no recurrence of sexual abuse on his part.
Isn’t this what we as citizens would expect people to do in the hope that we get this result?
As a juvenile, any and all court/police records are supposed to sealed and expunged upon successful completion of whatever the courts order. The idea being, and I think most liberals agree 110%, that the teenage mind is not yet fully formed and capable of understanding the full implications of what they are doing.
I understand the charges of hypocrisy, and to some extent they are accurate. I understand that they were the ones who put themselves on TV and made a target of themselves. I also understand the creepiness of the whole “Quiverfull movement” and the desire to attack those who think it is the end all of all things Jesus.
But I am also the father of a son who got caught up in the juvenile court system (drugs). I did everything the court system asked of me. I made sure my son did everything the court system asked of him. Even as my ex-wife with whom he was living fought me every inch of the way, making things even more difficult for him (until she went to prison anyway). To think that all of that could be dragged back out of the abyss of history and thrown back into his face a decade and a half later…
Well, I am one liberal who feels that whatever the faults of the Duggar family, and they are plenty I am sure as all families are flawed, what is happening to that family right now is not right. They went through what had to be a very difficult and trying time, trying very desperately to hold their family together thru a pain I can not even imagine. Healing not just their son, but their daughters too, as well as their other children. They are Christian so that is the crutch they used. As an atheist I say, if it works for them, fine.
And now they are having to go through it all again.
Tommy
Well the garden has been in almost three weeks. Tomatoes. Squash. Cucumber. Bell Peppers, Jalapeno, Banana, Cayenne, and Habanero peppers (yes I like peppers — I can most of them). Various herbs.
Just watering and watching them grow at this point. Only downside/problem squirrels (I assume it was squirrels) dug up just my Habanero peppers. Pissed me off more then a little, cause I use those peppers throughout the year to make a pretty amazing chicken/green chili.
But I guess squirrels need to eat as well :).
OzarkHillbilly
@Tommy:
Screw the squirrels :-(, they should go plant their own.
PurpleGirl
@raven: WRT the extension: Wow, That’s some good progress there.
Fryar’s Gardens: Such a beautiful place. Wish I could go to see it. (For medical reasons, I don’t drive.)
@Mustang Bobby: Another beautiful picture.
Tommy
@OzarkHillbilly: I wouldn’t say your analysis is wrong, but somewhat misinformed as you noted you have not followed this closely.
Honestly I almost knew nothing about this family. Maybe heard their TLC show mentioned once or twice and honestly my first thought was that is FUBAR.
The two places you are off, and where you DID’NT do this with your son when he has problems was reporting it to the police and seeking counseling for the child.
They reported it to the police long after they first found out it had happened when it started to happen again. And the cop they went to was a family friend, who is now serving 50+ years in jail for having child pornography.
The counseling was with an uncle, that just put him to work for his construction company from March to July of a single year.
I do find the shitstorm around what this kid did when he was 14 to be somewhat troubling. I mean kids make mistakes and do stupid stuff. But that I think is mainly because of his anti-gay comments. What is the saying about glass houses.
I also think his family was trying to do him favors by protecting him as a child, and if I had a son his age I am sure I’d do the same, but that has hurt him as well. Easier to pile on the guy when they reported it to the cops late in the game and halfass and the counseling (if you can call it that) wasn’t the kind any sane/loving family would seek.
But that is just my two cents worth.
PurpleGirl
Marvel: Ah, your pictures are great. I like your use of the whirligigs. I’ve had one of two tied on the railing of my terrace and love looking at them in the wind up here (17th floor apartment).
Ultraviolet Thunder
@OzarkHillbilly:
That’s an interesting take on the matter. I think a lot of people assume he dodged legal consequences because they’re a Christian family and took care of it among themselves. There’s also the fact that he worked for the militant moral scolds at the FRC after having sexual transgressions in his past.
But his age at the time of the offenses does have to be taken into account.
I hope that the victims got help and didn’t have to suffer in silence for the sake of a face saving coverup. That would be tragic.
Germy Shoemangler
@Ultraviolet Thunder:
Wasn’t the deciding judge appointed by his dad?
Svensker
@OzarkHillbilly:
The parents lied about the counseling, he was sent to a friends to work in the woods. He did get some counseling from a Christian center — the guy who founded the center was dismissed for “grooming” young women workers to have sex with him.
The family reported it to their church a few months after it happened, the church did nothing — like mentioning it to parents of children with young girls.
A year after it happened, they “reported” it to a police friend who did nothing. The police friend has just been put in jail for 56 years for child porn.
The family claims the girls received counseling. Did they? What kind of counseling?
The family claims Josh never did it again. How do we know that? Fondling little girls’ vaginas — especially when those vaginas belong to your little sisters — is not normal behavior for 14 year old boys. Does a boy who is exhibiting not normal behavior stop that behavior after a stern talking to? Is it possible Josh wasmodeling behavior he saw within the family?
The tell to me is that the family called it a “mistake.” But what Josh did was more than a “mistake.” This seems very much like “sweep under the rug-itis.”
And then he has the nerve to publicly talk about gays being child abusers.
Tommy
@OzarkHillbilly:
LOL. I had once of those mulching lawn mowers (didn’t really work as advertised). Picked up a new mower last weekend with a rear bag JUST to catch the grass to use in my garden. Paid a lot more for it than I really wanted. Plus had to go into a Menards to get the best price, but I can’t wait to see how it works.
BTW: Menards is owned by a terrible, far right loon. I almost never shop (only twice before when my parents were in town — they almost live in the place) there just because of that. Why can’t a raging liberal own Menards? That has to be one of the coolest stores I’ve ever been in.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@Svensker:
Defamer has put together a timeline with more data in it than I’ve seen in any other single story. I’d consider the source carefully, but they do include links to original sources.
http://defamer.gawker.com/the-web-has-known-about-josh-duggar-for-years-when-did-1706258269
Germy Shoemangler
@OzarkHillbilly: Last summer, EVERY MORNING I’d find vegetable scraps on my front porch. Chewed-up corn cobs, chunks of tomato, a variety of shredded green vegetables.
At first I thought some teenagers were doing it, but then the more I thought about it… teenagers don’t drive around eating healthy foods and tossing them at houses. They toss beer and soda bottles and candy wrappers.
It went on for a few weeks. Then one morning, I looked outside, and saw the scraps fall onto my porch from the tree over our house.
Squirrel.
Raiding my neighbor’s (and our) garden, then enjoying his bounty in his treetop perch, then tossing his leftovers.
My wife was pissed. My neighbor was pissed. (His wife said she wanted to make “squirrel stew” since he’d fattened himself on her vegetables.)
I tried to be magnanimous. The squirrels were here long before us, and they’ll be here long after we’re pushing up daisies. I just wish the little bastards weren’t such litter bugs.
And I was looking forward to eating our tomatoes. This year, tomatoes and other vegetables are growing in containers in our yard, handing from thin decorative metal poles.
A slow golf clap from the squirrel. “Well played, sir, well played.”
Tommy
@Ultraviolet Thunder: I know about this because more than I care to admit becacuse I love the site Jezebel. Read it multiple times a day. They make me laugh. They have been all over this. I learned from the site that in the short statement the Duggar family released on Facebook they mentioned God eight times. They didn’t mention their daughter’s once. Not a single time.
I fear they never got any help, plus looking at some of their homeschooling course material Jezebel posted from the “cult” they follow (the owner of it is also in jail), it would appear it is the child’s fault they were abused and it is their responsibility to forgive the person (no I am NOT making that up).
I feel like the girls in this have been lost in all the “nosie” and I really feel like getting them help should be something that is talked about 24/7. I mean they WERE the victims here!
Pogonip
Oh, all across this favored city the sun is shining bright
Parades and picnics everywhere, citizens’ hearts are light
But in this entire cheery town, the happiest spot on the map–
Is the abode of Pogonip–the tomcat’s in the trap!
(Not to worry, cat lovers, the trapper runs his traps every day, but this being a holiday weekend, if he misses today I’ll leave water where the tom can reach it.)
J R in WV
When plants get stressed, sometimes it forces them to bloom, in an effort to reproduce before it’s too late.
We have a beefsteak begonia, that we set on the back porch in the shade for the summer, once it’s warm enough. It’s in a big flat pot rooted in loose bark, so it needs watered pretty often.
This spring we let it go a little bit, and I then hit it with lots of water with a little Miraclegro, and it threw two big long stems with blooms on the end for weeks, the first time it had bloomed in years.
So the hard winter on the one wisteria may have triggered its reproduce or die reflex. Or it may just be sexier than the other one…? We can’t have wisteria because it’s too shady for them in our hollow. Darn. Stuck with mosses and ferns and such.
The swamp iris are in bloom at the small frog pond, though, brilliant yellow flashes in the greenery. Very pretty. And Mrs J got some now purple swamp iris to plant at the other end of the pond, which should make for a lovely contrast.
These are iris which don’t rot in a wet spot, as most iris will. I forget the real name, but have seen others call them swamp iris for their love of moisture. This is a hundred yards from the house beside the drive, you can’t see them from the house, but they’re a pretty greeting driving in.
Germy Shoemangler
@Tommy: Maybe sometime in the future, one of the daughters will wake up and start talking about the abuse and bullshit and maybe write a memoir.
Mike J
@OzarkHillbilly:
They told the courts they got him counseling. They sent him to live with a housing contractor in Arkansas. He may be a nice guy, but he’s not a counselor.
When the young molester grew up, he took a job as a professional moral scold working for the “Family Research Council.”
Fuck all of them. They deserve all the scorn and derision that can be heaped upon them.
Pogonip
Good morning shaper-uppers, I did pretty good this week, how’s about you?
Tommy
@Mike J: Yes, yes, and more yes. As I said in another comment I didn’t even really know anything about this family. I am so not a reality TV person. Plus, honestly I get no joy in the pain of others, even if what I think they believe is bat shit crazy.
But when I read a lot of the comments this dude made while working at the Family Research Council, and it would seem even before that, it made me sick to my stomach.
This is a guy, and his parents, who think gays shouldn’t be allowed to live in our nation because they will molest children. Then want to we find, the guy saying all this hateful stuff is himself a child molester.
Is it any wonder that liberals, as nice and compassionate as we can be, are dog piling on this guy? As I said in another comment when you live in a glass houses you shouldn’t throw stones.
MomSense
Korra and I are going to the beach. Best not to discuss my “garden” as Mother Nature, with an assist from the snowplow driver, salted it.
My oldest and his girlfriend packed up the old Toyota and headed west this morning. They are going on an adventure for the next couple months and will mostly be camping at National Parks. Ah to be young and have backs that can sleep on the ground and knees that can hike big mountains.
PurpleGirl
@tofubo: OMG, what a great building and grounds for whatever it is. Looks like it could a school or corporate headquarters. What a way to honor Gene Roddenberry and the original set designers. That’s some cultural penetration there. I wonder why no American company has does something like this.
Poopyman
@Germy Shoemangler:
Really? Around here I get roundly cursed at from the treetops. At least I think that’s what “CHUK CHUK CHUK” means.
Germy Shoemangler
@Poopyman: We have rabbits that are alarmingly bold. My wife confronted one in our garden. He didn’t budge. Just stared at her for a long time. I swear at one point he did the “grab his crotch” gesture at her.
Our cat watches from the window. She can do nothing to help.
Amir Khalid
Liverpool are losing Stevie G’s last game. They’re 5-0 — dear God, 5-0! — down at Stoke City and it’s only half-time.
Tommy
@MomSense: That is flat out wonderful. I am envious. I am lucky at 45 I still have a body that will allow me to do almost anything with it, so for at least two weeks each year I go on a two plus week camping trip (only National Parks I might add) with a former college roommate. Just about my favorite two weeks of the year.
This year the plan is to head West for the first time and try out Zion.
I am kind of pushing for Tahoe and the Pacific Crest Trail. I’ve been there a few times, but only for a few days, and loved it. Like to have two weeks there and see how far we could hike with Lake Tahoe being our “base camp.” Stuff in the town is dirt cheap “off” ski season and there is the “hole in the wall” Sushi place that if it was in LA or NYC they’d make billions.
But my buddy, and his kids will come with us this year, has his heart set on Zion.
MomSense
@Tommy:
Nice! I think they are going to spend at least three weeks just in Yosemite at Camp 4.
In August we will all be reunited for a trip to Baxter here in Maine. I need to step up my training if I’m going to hike Katahdin.
Tommy
@Germy Shoemangler: I got a family of bunnies (which I have become somewhat attached to — they are poretty darn cute) that live in this huge hedge I have in my front yard. They are not remotely bold, but they destroy any type of flowers I attempt to plant in said front yard.
My garden is in my backyard, along a fence. The lady that lives behind me has a few dogs and the bunnies seem to have no desire to venture in that direction, but the squirrels could care less there are a few barking dogs.
In fact, as with your rabbit, I think the squirrels actually enjoy taunting them!
Steeplejack (phone)
@Amir Khalid:
They are stinking up the place. Their worst first-half performance ever in the EPL.
Tommy
@MomSense: I know it will be Zion, because he will be driving. I didn’t even realize they still made them, but Ford actually still makes (with a ton of modifications) and camper van. He bought it used (3-4 years old) and I still hate to think what he must have paid for it, because it is in fact really, really nice.
Normally we go to the Smokey Mountain because it is only a 10-12 hour drive and he is a big white water rafter, and they have some of the best in the country (built/improved for the Atlanta Olympics).
This drive will be far, far long and instead of driving straight through in shifts, we’ll take 3 or so days and camp along the way. His camper will make that much easier before we get to Zion.
Germy Shoemangler
This just in:
WereBear
You have been terribly misinformed. I don’t blame you, of course.
He had been doing it for a year at that point. It is hard to tell, because the victims in Right Wing Christianity are shamed for letting it happen. Their ages (there were multiple victims, both inside and outside the family) were between 9 and 4 when it happened.
They (the family) reported it to the police.
No. A victim outside the family triggered a church report. No one, including mandated reporters, brought it to any authorities.
Nope, there was an outside the law discussion with a family friend in law enforcement, who created a report which was then buried until FOI brought it to light.
He was sent to a friend who did remodeling. Nowhere, anywhere, was there anything even remotely resembling counseling for the victims.
In fact, there are further accounts from when he was seventeen. He’s now married, within the culture that won’t report unless there are dead bodies, and has three small children of his own.
This is in another galaxy from the difficulties with your own child.
Valdivia
@Steeplejack (phone):
I was going to say Chelsea, in case you are still wondering. :)
ETA: you got a much better answer and are watching the right match. I have been obsessing about La Liga which ended yesterday.
Amir Khalid
@Valdivia:
I might not stick around to comment much longer tonight. Liverpool are getting thrashed and my heart is heavy.
Valdivia
@Amir Khalid:
I just saw that. I am so so sorry. I felt exactly that way yesterday in the first half of the Real Madrid game. Then they came around and trashed Getafe. Though it did not matter. since they are titleless Ancelotti is out and lots of players will be traded I am sure. Still I was able to be happy for Barca, hope they take it all.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Valdivia:
Ugh. All Chelski has to do is show up and collect the loot. I’m watching.Hull City-Man United. Hull is outplaying them but can’t get a goal. And Newcastle has gone one up on West Ham.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@WereBear:
I recall reading that there was no prosecution because the statute of limitations had run out by the time it was officially brought to the attention of the authorities. I don’t know if that’s an example of running out the clock to avoid consequences but it sure is convenient.
Tommy
@MomSense: I had to Google Yosemite Camp 4 because well, as sad as it is to say I’ve never been to Yosemite. With that said that is one heck of a set-up. You got everything you need to camp in an amazing location.
Makes me think back to a camping trip a few years ago with my buddy from college. He has this far right loon come with him. A few days in, and he was actually enjoying himself although he had never been camping before, I was about to walk to the Ranger station to pay for our camping site/permit.
He says he will pay for a few days and hands me like $100 in twenties. I am like dude it is only $11/day. He is “only $11/day, that is one heck of a deal.”
It was at this point I took it upon myself to explain to him that in fact our government can do some pretty neat shit, you know like National Parks. And maybe, as I’ve heard you say the government shouldn’t spend money on this or that the past few days, you think about this camping experience.
And that a budget of FY 2015 Request: $3.65 billion is kind of a “steal” when you factor in almost 300,000,000 visited the parks in 2014.
I doubt it mattered, or he changed his thinking, but just for that few minutes were he pondered how much of a deal $11/day for a camping site was, well it made me feel all “warm” inside!
Valdivia
@Steeplejack (phone):
That was the Barca game yesterday, a formality to pick up their championship win. I watched the end though because Xavi is ‘retiring’ to Qatr and they gave him a proper and emotional goodbye. And it was fun to see how family oriented the celebration was. The players and all their kids in their shoulders walking around Camp Nou or taking pictures with the Liga trophy cup. They have El Rey next week and Champions League in 2 weeks.
WereBear
@Ultraviolet Thunder: Thanks! Stuff that puts it into even more perspective.
And some of my “facts” were wrong… but only in ways that makes the Duggars look worse, actually.
Tommy
@Germy Shoemangler: A NYT alert on this just came across my phone. I hate to admit I didn’t even know Nash was still alive. Off to see if a Beautiful Mind is on Netflix. Watched it many, many years ago and I am sure somebody will say it was a terrible movie. I recall watching it after it came out on DVD and thinking it was one of the better movies I’d seen in more than a few years.
Valdivia
@Tommy:
oh how sad. I thought the movie was good, though it changed the content of his paranoia from aliens to spies (which is understable, Howard wanted to make his insanity accessible to people who knew nothing of him)
Germy Shoemangler
@Germy Shoemangler:
My error. I meant to ask “wasn’t the deciding judge appointed by Hucklebee.“
Tommy
@Ultraviolet Thunder: This is the one thing I don’t understand about the story and not seen explained. The news reports do say that the statute of limitations had run out.
My question is what is the statute of limitations? It has to be years and years doesn’t it. A decade plus? I don’t know, but bet somebody here does because the fact the statute of limitations had run out just doesn’t seem possible to me.
Amir Khalid
Stevie’s scored. At least one Liverpool player is trying. Too bad this is his last match for the club.
Valdivia
Rolling Thunder presently driving by my window, cool to watch every year, but boy the noise.
@Amir Khalid: the gol of dignity.
I saw the retirement ceremony for him (last week?, it was really touching.
WereBear
@Ultraviolet Thunder: @Tommy:
I read that in Arkansas (where it happened) there is only a three year limit, regardless of the victim’s age or when it was discovered.
So they only have to stall for three years and they don’t have to worry about the legal system getting involved.
Yes, some states have updated their laws, to allow for circumstances such as the Catholic abuse scandals. Arkansas has not.
The Pale Scot
?
Amir Khalid
@Valdivia:
Stevie’s been called Liverpool’s real-life Roy of the Rovers. I wish Liverpool hadn’t lost his last few matches at the club so badly.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@WereBear:
Seems like someone could be on the hook for failing to report sexual abuse of a minor, but I’m not from a Christian family in Arkansas so what do I know.
The Pale Scot
Dowd is whining about the low rating Uber drivers have given her
Fucking Hilarious.
Valdivia
@Amir Khalid:
yes it would have been a fitting way for him to leave with some nice wins instead. The heartbreak of futbol.
Mj_Oregon
I can vouch for the red plastic increasing yields on tomatoes. I’ve used it now for 6-8 years and we get plants chock full of tomatoes every year we have good summer weather. I’m also in the Willamette Valley and some summers are bleh – but rarely. We also use the red plastic around our ever-bearing strawberry plants.
After a very warm and dry March, the past six weeks have been cooler than normal and cloudy much of the time. We just sprouted our sweet corn and it will go in the ground today. We’re not growing Bodacious for the first time in years and trying an organic, open pollinated type called Candy Mountain that we bought from Adaptive Seed. We’re a little nervous about it, but I bet in the end it’ll be just fine.
We picked 16 pounds of strawberries at one of the local U-Pick farms and the last of them will become jam this morning. YUM!
Amir Khalid
6-1. Shoot me now.
Valdivia
@Amir Khalid:
oh boy. {{{{ hugs }}}}
Cervantes
@Steeplejack (phone):
No reason you should remember this, but in 1954 they lost 1-9 to Birmingham City. They were down 0-3 in the first ten minutes.
A different team back then, of course, not to mention a different league, and even a somewhat different sport.
Howard Beale IV
@The Pale Scot: Just another reason to use a real taxi – my local area has an app, no need to sign up-just download and use it.
Amir Khalid
@Cervantes:
That’s so long ago, it was before Bill Shankly’s time.
WereBear
@Ultraviolet Thunder: In a sane world, sure. But in Arkansas? I doubt it would come up.
gogol's wife
@The Pale Scot:
Gee, I wonder why they would have given her a low rating. She seems like such a nice, humble person.
Valdivia
@The Pale Scot:
just desserts I say! or what @gogol’s wife: said.
Also hilarious: that DC people tip in cash to get their rating up. I find that insane. Have these people, including Dowd, not heard of simply behaving with decency like a normal human being?
Cervantes
@Amir Khalid:
Well, sort of.
He managed the team all through the ’60s and then some.
Kay
@OzarkHillbilly:
I agree with you about sealing juvenile records and you’re also right about the goals of the juvenile system (rehabilitation not punishment) but Duggar didn’t go thru the juvenile system because a lot of people made sure it never got there.
It really is a weird story. I can’t make heads or tails of the “police report” and I don’t know why it didn’t get to child protective services which is where it should have gone.
If it HAD gotten to the juvenile system he would have had a lot more privacy protection, actually, so arguably they didn’t do him any favors with what looks to me like special treament for a “good family” that was politically connected.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@WereBear:
Oh, my God, what a horrorshow that is. I’d forgotten it was AK.
Point taken.
Renie
@raven: I see it is all brick. Is that the basement part and then an addition on top of that?
Tommy
@Howard Beale IV: I lived in DC for 15+ years. I don’t know how many times I took a taxi. I am hard pressed to find a single time they didn’t do what I needed, get me from point A to point B. I guess Uber might be something if you want a Town car. I don’t know.
I was often in a $3,000 suit going to an important meeting and again cabs worked just fine for me. Much of the time I lived in DC I was living only a few blocks from Union station, so a cab, if not flagged from a corner, was so easy to access.
Amir Khalid
@Kay:
I guess the Duggars had their own private exceptionalism. They figured they were better than other families (did Josh commence his activities before they got famous, or after?) — because, I don’t know, more Christian than thou — so Josh shouldn’t have to go through the system for ordinary people. So he missed the intervention he desperately needed, and his sisters missed the victim support they should have had.
Renie
@satby: If you use grass clippings as mulch, doesn’t the grass keep growing? If not, let me know the secret I would love to do the same but don’t want to keep weeding.
Renie
@BillinGlendaleCA: Beautiful window boxes!! I am so jealous.
WereBear
I guess that’s for the “little people.”
mai naem mobile
I’d like to see the uber ratings of all these dc pundits, especially the self righteous windbags with those punchable faces.
Tommy
@Valdivia: Well I am a good if not big tipper. I am often at 20% or higher. I do that for several reasons. Honestly the first is selfish, I want better service. The second is that I know many people I tip are paid shit for wages and if you are polite, friendly, I appreciate that and I don’t mind paying/tipping you above whatever the rate is I am supposed to pay.
I no longer live in DC and Uber isn’t really in St. Louis, but I’d tip cash directly to the driver, well because it is money they get and Uber might not find a way to take part as their own. I could care less about my rating, didn’t even realize they did this, but it is just basic common courtesy and how I was raised.
Kay
@Amir Khalid:
Well, honestly, many times the juvenile system is horrible and we have new(er) draconian registry rules for juvenile sex offenders which were a mistake IMO and will do more damage than good but I think his victims would have benefitted from state intervention and there would have been an inquiry to find out if he was victimized because that’s (sometimes) where they learn the behavior.
However- If he had been adjudicated as a delinquent at 14 he would have had all the protections juveniles get on sealing of records. He would get that benefit. We just saw that in action in Missouri when media went after the victim of a police shooting to get a juvenile record. The court denied their demand and the record wasn’t released. I agree with that result.
Amir Khalid
@Cervantes:
Shanks was Liverpool manager for 15 years, from 1959 to his retirement from football in 1974. The gates at Anfield Stadium are named after him.
ETA: He would have been horrified by today’s result, and would have considered the team’s performance a betrayal of the fans’ trust.
Valdivia
@WereBear:
it’s such a good ethnography of VillageThink™. Bribe people to like them instead of just being normal see if that works.
Valdivia
@Tommy:
oh I understand, I meant that the way she wrote it, it made it sound like a bribe for a good rating instead of for the service. I always tip them. Give them top ratings (which they seem to want even more than the tip money). But I don’t do it thinking he will rate me higher if I have been behaving like an ass!
I heard about the ratings from a driver who shared mine with me.
I was surprised but glad they have a system to notify each other of nasty passengers.
@mai naem mobile:
that would be justice wouldn’t it?
Tommy
@Valdivia: Dowd is an ass. If you ask for service from somebody and you have to “bribe” them to not think you are an ass, well you got issues you might need/want to deal with. I read her op-ed and made me sick to my stomach.
Valdivia
@Tommy:
she makes me nauseous every time I read her. the self delusion must be strong with her if she has to wonder why she has a bad rating?
@WereBear: lol, so very true.
WereBear
@Valdivia: Just listening to her natter on might have led to it :)
Baud
@Valdivia:
FWIW, I’d prefer the cash.
Valdivia
@Baud:
yes I phrased it in an inartful way: that they ‘bribe’ the drivers for a good rating.
Amir Khalid
@Baud:
Perhaps being nice includes tipping reasonably well.
ruemara
This is annoying. I put my camera kit up on ebay and someone bought it. And then failed to pay. Wasting the week long auction. It’s not the first time a buyer has failed to pay and I’ve had to have a judgement against them. But I don’t get why people do this.
And the gardens are all lovely, but Fuck the Duggars. Josh isn’t some innocent mistake maker who’s done his time. His parents ran out that 3 year clock, hid that this was going on during their specials and the deal to get their show. They’ve been a little propaganda parade for the Quiverfull movement and supposed traditional values. Well, this is also a very traditional value from a patriarchal society – abuse.
WereBear
Seconded. The whole Gothard system (that the Duggars praise and live under) is theology by an abuser, for an abuser.
And have you ever seen a picture of Bill Gothard? Jiminy Christmas, his face screams “PERV.”
To me.
Baud
@Valdivia:
So Uber drivers = bond rating agencies?
@Amir Khalid:
I don’t quite get tipping a business owner. Isn’t that what Uber drivers officially are?
Origuy
My sister got a ticket to the Indy 500 today. This will be the first time in years that Jim Nabors won’t be singing “Back Home Again in Indiana”. An a capella group called Straight No Chaser will sing it instead. Here’s their rendition.
MomSense
@Tommy:
My son (same one) went to Zion four years ago and enjoyed it. It sounds like you are going to have a fun trip.
Germy Shoemangler
Valdivia
@Baud:
Ha yes, the rating is just a status thing I think so they won’t destroy our economy doing it. I hope.
Uber drivers get a cut of the ride plus the tip but uber the company takes something off the top. Not sure though what the model is.
Baud
@MomSense:
Zion is on my bucket list.
Germy Shoemangler
@WereBear:
CeilingCat! Even his name! “Got Hard?”
Baud
@Valdivia:
Me either. It seems like a franchise system, but I don’t think Uber thinks of themselves that way.
MomSense
@Tommy:
It really is an amazing place. Last time my son was there they made friends with climbers from all over the world. At night they would all cook and hangout together.
The National Parks are magical places. I’m glad your friend experienced it for himself.
Amir Khalid
@Baud:
Uber strikes me as fishy. I knew something was up with them when they left the umlaut out of their name. They want to be in the taxi/limo business without being subject to the normal regulation. So they just set up in cities all over the world (KL, too) and then try to bullshit their way out of being licenced and regulated. The drivers are independent business operators, Uber says, we just provide car-booking software.
Valdivia
@Amir Khalid:
I must say that for DC where the taxi companies were absolutely horrible and never available in residential areas late at night, Uber has been an amazing addition for those of us who don’t drive and are too far off the path of the metro/bus routes.
I am all for regulations but this is one case where the service has improved all around in transportation since Uber came around. Taxis now actually show up because you can call them through Uber.
Baud
@Amir Khalid:
Did it set off you büllshit meter?
Denali
I had no interest in the Duggars when they were famous and I have no interest in them now that they are infamous.
Ultraviolet Thunder
Are we still chewing over a morning thread at 13:30 EST?
8 hours may be a record.
Germy Shoemangler
19-century fable from Ambrose Bierce:
Germy Shoemangler
@Denali: I don’t have cable tv. For years I got them mixed up with Jaycee Dugard.
Baud
@Ultraviolet Thunder:
Not even close.
Amir Khalid
@Baud:
It was more the büllshit they put forth about why they shouldn’t have to be licenced or regulated, which as we now know has had real-life consequences for passenger safety.
Gene108
@Germy Shoemangler:
I do not get it.
The Mouse dicked over the Lion and did not help the Lion in his (or her) time of need.
Germy Shoemangler
@Gene108: I think Bierce had experience with being betrayed by friends, thus his nickname “Bitter Bierce”
Denali
I do not have cable either. I don’t get why celebrity ups and downs sucks up so much of the news. Perhaps the real challenges we face are too hard to fix or even agree on.
Cervantes
@Gene108:
More so than Aesop, Bierce was a cynic.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@Germy Shoemangler:
I stopped watching TV 30+ years ago, yet I still have celebrity ‘news’ leaking into my life. It’s just too lucrative for any media outlet to pass up.
Cckids
@Tommy: You’ll love Zion, but be warned; it will be HOT, and crowded. But gorgeous!! If the kids are old enough to be sensible, I highly recommend Angel’s Landing. You’ll never forget it.
FortGeek
@Germy Shoemangler: The only thing I know of that judge is that he was a Huckabee appointee and that he ordered the expungement of Duggar’s police record shortly after the story broke. Too late by that point, even though what’s available on the Web is redacted.
No idea whether the judge is any deeper into this than that.
Cervantes
@FortGeek:
The judge is a woman.