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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

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Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

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And we’re all out of bubblegum.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

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

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

I was promised a recession.

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But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

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Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

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You are here: Home / Garden Chats / Sunday Garden Chat: Praties and Poppies

Sunday Garden Chat: Praties and Poppies

by Anne Laurie|  March 19, 20175:06 am| 102 Comments

This post is in: Garden Chats

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Double header this week, because our Garden Correspondents are the best, and some of them live on the left coast where the weather has moved beyond snow/slush season.

At the top, from commentor Marvel:

We had another sunny day today so we fussed over an otherwise-uncultivated area out back in preparation for the annual ceremonial/sacrificial internment of our St. Paddy’s Day Spuds. We’ll plant a well-tended bed of potatoes for eating & storage some time in May, but lore has it that one must show one’s faith in the coming growing season by planting potatoes on the Irish holiday. Since each previous years’ crop of storage taters look mighy freakazoid ’round about mid-March, this activity works out well for us.

***********


And from commentor Scout211:

We finally have warm weather and plenty of sunshine after many winter rainstorms and “atmospheric river” events that brought us record rainfall this season. The drought is finally over, at least for the vast majority of the state.

Here are some wildflowers to brighten your Sunday.

Attached are 4 photos from March 11-13, 2017, either on our property or our neighbor’s property. The first pic [above] is of a group of popcorn flowers.

The second pic is a group of foothill poppies.

The third pic is a close-up of the foothill poppies.

The fourth pic is a group of blue dicks.

***********

Also a mid-March tradition, the Boston Flower Show, considerably reduced since its BHS heyday, but still a good way to get into the spirit of another year’s yard-tending. Nothing like walking onto the trade-show-arena floor and being hit with a blast of warm green humidity and the smell of damp mulch! We’re hoping to get there Wednesday evening, weather and the Spousal Unit’s work schedule permitting.

What’s going on in your gardens (planning) this week?

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Reader Interactions

102Comments

  1. 1.

    Jeff

    March 19, 2017 at 5:31 am

    Winter showed up in Philadelphia this past week after being on vacation for most of its actual time. All the spring stuff that was flowering or opening early has now pretty much been killed. So much for any spring display. The tulips held off flowering. They will make it.

  2. 2.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 19, 2017 at 5:40 am

    I much prefer the blue dicks in the fields over the Orange Dick in the White House.

  3. 3.

    SiubhanDuinne

    March 19, 2017 at 5:43 am

    As usual, great pictures and commentary!

    “Praties” always reminds me of this fun old Irish folk song: The Garden Where the Praties Grow (sung by Richard Dyer-Bennet)

  4. 4.

    Elizabelle

    March 19, 2017 at 5:43 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I knew somebody was going to get to that one first! Good morning.

    Now to try to nap a bit until sunrise.

  5. 5.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 19, 2017 at 5:56 am

    @Elizabelle: Couldn’t pass it up.

  6. 6.

    Steve in the ATL

    March 19, 2017 at 6:15 am

    @SiubhanDuinne: do you ever sleep? Or maybe you and Mnemosyne are on a coke-fueled binge right now?

  7. 7.

    raven

    March 19, 2017 at 6:18 am

    Making it a HOME and Garden thread!
    So somehow with the new roof installed as part of out renovation no one took the time to repair the end of the trim. They painted it but didn’t even put flashing and the guy that did my insulation pointed out it’s a prefect place for roof rats to get in. I’m going to try to cut out a couple of feet and put new wood in. I have a dremel with a flush cut blade and I hope that will allow me to make a square cut and not fuck up the shingles.

  8. 8.

    raven

    March 19, 2017 at 6:22 am

    @Steve in the ATL: I’ll sleep when I’m dead. . .

  9. 9.

    SiubhanDuinne

    March 19, 2017 at 6:28 am

    @Steve in the ATL:

    Or maybe you and Mnemosyne are on a coke-fueled binge right now?

    That delightful scenario must wait for another time. She’s probably sound asleep in her own bed by now.

    As for me, I’m going to try to grab another couple of hours. Yes, I do sleep, but in recent months it has been … fitful.

  10. 10.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 19, 2017 at 6:30 am

    @raven: I always use a sawzall for that job but the dremel ought to work too. Ideally you would not have any wood touching the roof at all (min 1″ between) but if it is built as I suspect it is, that is an option only if you are willing to tear off half your roof and rebuild the whole thing.

  11. 11.

    SiubhanDuinne

    March 19, 2017 at 6:34 am

    @raven:

    So somehow with the new roof installed as part of out renovation no one took the time to repair the end of the trim. They painted it but didn’t even put flashing and the guy that did my insulation pointed out it’s a prefect place for roof rats to get in.

    Can’t you contact the people who installed the roof and get them to do the repair? Seems to me it’s their responsibility.

  12. 12.

    raven

    March 19, 2017 at 6:36 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I was looking at the flush cut blade for the sawzall as well. It is flashed at the other three points on the roof but you are right, there is not a one inch space and we are not in the position to replace a year old roof. Fucking southern carpenters!

  13. 13.

    ThresherK

    March 19, 2017 at 6:44 am

    @raven: Two hours ago i had a nightmare about owning a home with a leaky roof. We no longer own a home; we’ve rented a condo for a few years.

    Hope it wasn’t connected to your situation somehow! Maybe all the TV news stories about floodwaters on the shore.of Long Island Sound caused it for me.

  14. 14.

    raven

    March 19, 2017 at 6:48 am

    @ThresherK: Nah, we had a major addition done recently. It was a nightmare that took two years longer than “planned” but the roof is tight and we’re snug as a bug. This was just one of those oversights that I should have caught.

  15. 15.

    raven

    March 19, 2017 at 6:53 am

    It was blocked by the crape myrtle!

  16. 16.

    raven

    March 19, 2017 at 6:56 am

    Another view.

  17. 17.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 19, 2017 at 6:56 am

    @raven: If it is properly flashed it works almost as well (again, it all depends on how the soffits are built) The gap also allows 2nd and 3rd roofs to be applied with ease. At least you don’t have to worry (much) about snow piling up against it with freeze/thaw action.

    @SiubhanDuinne: Roofers roof. If a structure isn’t ready for them when they show up they presume it is that way because nobody wants to spend the money to do it right and just try to make the best of it. (ie. water tight) It’s not really their fault, it happens all the time.

  18. 18.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 19, 2017 at 7:02 am

    @raven: Well no wonder! With all those beautiful blooms, who would ever look at a roof?

  19. 19.

    Raven

    March 19, 2017 at 7:16 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Yea, when they punctured the AC line that was flush against the roof decking it was my problem. It’s just one of those things.

  20. 20.

    Raven

    March 19, 2017 at 7:19 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Ah, so the inch gap is for that. Since the rest of the roof doesn’t have the gap I guess I don’t need to sweat that.

  21. 21.

    satby

    March 19, 2017 at 7:25 am

    @raven: I love crape myrtle, and your house is so pretty and cozy looking.

  22. 22.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 19, 2017 at 7:29 am

    @Raven: No, you don’t need to sweat that. It is just something that I, a carpenter who has rebuilt a thousand and one roof/soffit/fascia intersections try to do whenever possible.

  23. 23.

    Raven

    March 19, 2017 at 7:30 am

    @satby: the boss planted that in anticipation of the dogwood dying. I personally think we should not have trees in front so people could see that wonderful gingerbread. I also don’t like the magnolia she planted on the side of the house or that goddamn wisteria. Guess what, she doesn’t give a shit what I think. I was surprised to see wisteria for sale in Aldi yesterday.

  24. 24.

    satby

    March 19, 2017 at 7:31 am

    Pretty pictures of the wildflowers up top! And I’m debating growing potatoes this year. Last few years I’ve grown blue versions exclusively, but local farmers here have gotten into heirloom growing and they’re easy to find at market. Still debating. In the meantime, the last snow just melted off yesterday and I have a Joseph’s Coat rose to plant that was delivered at the height of last week’s freeze.

  25. 25.

    Raven

    March 19, 2017 at 7:33 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: As always, I really appreciate your input. When I climbed up on the back to take a look I saw that the other side had a couple feet replaced that way. I can’t remember if I did it or not. I’ve done a lot of projects in 18 years.

  26. 26.

    satby

    March 19, 2017 at 7:37 am

    @Raven: Tough call between showing off the gingerbread and flowering trees! I only started getting flowers in my wisteria at the old farmhouse after waiting six years. Not really enough sun to plant it here, since my old house is still vacant I’ll go by and see if it’s blooming there this summer.
    Edited to add, My crape myrtle was just getting nice there too.

  27. 27.

    Raven

    March 19, 2017 at 7:39 am

    @satby: I always liked the Quicksilver version of Joseph’s Coat.
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6qKMo0MZMvI&feature=youtu.be

  28. 28.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 19, 2017 at 7:41 am

    @satby: You mean it’s still standing?

    @Raven: Then I’ll keep giving it.

  29. 29.

    Raven

    March 19, 2017 at 7:43 am

    @satby: Her folks had it on their house in Virginia and she can’t be reasoned with. The gingerbread came from a house in Appomattox that had been owned by a one-armed Confederate officer. I have a picture of him in front of the house but,alas, you can’t see the gingerbread.

  30. 30.

    Raven

    March 19, 2017 at 7:45 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: One thing I have learned in all these years is to pay attention to people who know what they are talking about.

  31. 31.

    satby

    March 19, 2017 at 7:48 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: the house still is, but even in the pictures online for the listing there’s obviously a slant and some wall bowing and cracks showing. You’d have to be experienced at construction or have someone point it out though how compromised the structure is. They’ve cut the price to half of what I owed, but to fix it after all this time and rain would take that much again. Cheaper to tear down and start over, but then the price is still way too high for just the land.

  32. 32.

    satby

    March 19, 2017 at 7:54 am

    @Raven: I love the look of wisteria but it’s pretty invasive. Took years to get rid of it all when I planted it in Chicago and it never flowered once, after about 8 years I cut it down and planted other stuff, but I had to keep cutting new shoots for another two summers. Couldn’t use herbicides because of other stuff in the bed.

  33. 33.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 19, 2017 at 8:01 am

    @Raven: Yo tambien, amigo.

  34. 34.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 19, 2017 at 8:05 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: WTF? In moderation for using Spanish???

  35. 35.

    ThresherK

    March 19, 2017 at 8:14 am

    @raven: Okay, I feel better now. I get enough nightmares that I’m constantly wondering if they’re linked to anything.

    @Raven: Trying to decide if you hired Laurel & Hardy or the Three Stooges. I’m leaning towards the latter.

  36. 36.

    SP

    March 19, 2017 at 8:14 am

    Anyone know how/when to prune apple trees to drive fruit production? I have a couple, a Mac and a Cortland, that I planted four years ago (fun fact: was putting them in the ground at the exact moment of the marathon bombing) and they gave a couple fruits the first year and nothing since. They’re about 10-12 feet tall now but not very dense because I haven’t pruned them properly.

  37. 37.

    satby

    March 19, 2017 at 8:27 am

    @SP: really good guides here

    Damn, now you’ve made me remember all my fruit trees in my old property too. I’m replanting blueberries and asparagus, but no room for the apples, and those trees were old anyway.

  38. 38.

    MomSense

    March 19, 2017 at 8:31 am

    My garden is under more than a foot of snow.

  39. 39.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 19, 2017 at 8:32 am

    @ThresherK: The problem with construction on older homes is that so much work has been done that wasn’t up to standards and code, whether by previous home owners, numbnut fly by night contractors, people who are just too lazy/hurried/hot/wet/cold/hurt at that particular moment to do it right, or conscious decisions by home owners who don’t want to pay for it to be done right, not to mention hidden rot and aging. Than somebody else comes along, makes assumptions based on standard construction practices and “Voila!”

    “I’m sorry, we ran into a problem. It’s going to cost 3 times as much.”
    “Can’t you just put some boards over it and paint it?”
    “Well yeah, but…”
    “Good! do it.”

  40. 40.

    satby

    March 19, 2017 at 8:35 am

    @MomSense: ?

  41. 41.

    debbie

    March 19, 2017 at 8:40 am

    @satby:

    I have a neighbor with decades-old (my guess) wisteria trained to grow up and over a horizontal trellis. It hasn’t bloomed the past few years because of the weather, but I remember when it has, and it’s a thing of real beauty. The twisting of the trunk is also a feature.

  42. 42.

    Steeplejack (tablet)

    March 19, 2017 at 8:40 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    In moderation for using Spanish???

    “Tambien.”

    Spanish with drugs on board!

  43. 43.

    debbie

    March 19, 2017 at 8:42 am

    @satby:

    Can your espalier the trees?

  44. 44.

    Zinsky

    March 19, 2017 at 8:50 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Nicely done! It’s a small dick in the White House, too!

  45. 45.

    JMG

    March 19, 2017 at 8:51 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: We’ve lived in our house for over 25 years, and it has a lot of good points, but it has been a labor and cash-intensive 25 years. Time after time, we saw that our house was where the developer’s money started to run short. It also had been a rental for a decade before we bought it (that’s how the price was within our grasp) with absentee landlords who lived in Chicago, not Boston.

  46. 46.

    rikyrah

    March 19, 2017 at 8:53 am

    Good Morning, Everyone ???

  47. 47.

    debit

    March 19, 2017 at 8:59 am

    @satby: How invasive? I have a tall chain link fence and am debating on whether or not to replace it with a wooden privacy fence or just plant vines. Obviously looking for fence coverage, not looking for something that will spread out over my lawn and eat my house.

    @rikyrah: Good morning, sunshine.

  48. 48.

    Gin & Tonic

    March 19, 2017 at 9:06 am

    @satby: My parents’ old house had wisteria all over the (detached) garage. It was nice for the one week it was flowering, but a fucking nuisance the rest if the time. It ended up destroying the roof.

  49. 49.

    raven

    March 19, 2017 at 9:17 am

    @ThresherK: We had a really good contractor for the addition and this was just something that wasn’t a big priority since the addition was on the back except for the roof.

  50. 50.

    satby

    March 19, 2017 at 9:18 am

    @debbie: I had to look up what that is, but now I’m wondering! I have a perfect location to try it in. Thanks, I have to think about it.

  51. 51.

    satby

    March 19, 2017 at 9:22 am

    @debit: if thwarted or cut off it sends suckers up around the original plant, but with some training and full sun, it would look beautiful on a chain link fence and provide coverage too. Takes years though, if you want faster try some climbing roses or even morning glories.

  52. 52.

    satby

    March 19, 2017 at 9:22 am

    @Gin & Tonic: yep, those vines get heavy.

  53. 53.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 19, 2017 at 9:28 am

    On my own garden front, I have plenty of tomato, pepper, eggplant and various brassica seedlings growing under the lamps. The garden is almost ready for tilling. My seed potato and onion sets showed up. I have to put in some landscape timbers and mulch around various plants (my pig farming buddy gets truckloads of mulch for free from tree trimming companies, and right now he has more than he can possibly use so I am kindly helping him reduce the excess)(sucks to be me).

    And my sciatica is acting up.

  54. 54.

    satby

    March 19, 2017 at 9:35 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: if I didn’t have to go to work, I would have to go back to bed to rest up after just reading that list ?

    @rikyrah: Good morning rikyrah ?

  55. 55.

    satby

    March 19, 2017 at 9:36 am

    And on that note, time to get going. Everyone have a nice Sunday!

  56. 56.

    Jerzy Russian

    March 19, 2017 at 9:38 am

    @Raven: We have two crape myrtles in the front and one on the side. We got them for free from a group called “People for Trees”. They give out free shade trees to save energy in the long run. One of the requirements is that the trees need to be in a place where they would provide shade for the house, and for us that was the front. Right now, they are barely starting to get their leaves back, but meanwhile the weather is starting to heat up (I am in the San Diego area).

  57. 57.

    debit

    March 19, 2017 at 9:45 am

    @satby: You as well!

  58. 58.

    Spanky

    March 19, 2017 at 9:46 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    And my sciatica is acting up.

    Same here, so it’s perhaps fortunate that it’s snowing here in sub-tropical Southern MD. Barely covering the grass, but enough to put the brakes on any gardening I might do. And this right after blowing through a Benjamin at the garden center yesterday.

    Ah well. I guess I’d better get going on the taxes.

  59. 59.

    Spanky

    March 19, 2017 at 9:48 am

    Also too, we bought this place with the Wisteria already having escaped its confines. Any I now see I will napalm without a second thought.

  60. 60.

    Corner Stone

    March 19, 2017 at 9:58 am

    What’s going on in your gardens (planning) this week?

    Just bought some wormies and am going to setup a worm bin for composting and castings. I am way late to this endeavor but I was not sure for a while I would be able to move forward on the project so I held off.
    I’m not much of a gardener but my mom and son like spending time tending to the stuff I buy so it all works out. I should say my son likes the stuff until he gets bored with it, which is sometime around The Pit of Hell aka late July, early August here.

  61. 61.

    father pussbucket

    March 19, 2017 at 10:05 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I much prefer the blue dicks in the fields over the Orange Dick in the White House.

    Done in 2. Good work.

  62. 62.

    Schlemazel

    March 19, 2017 at 10:11 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I much prefer the blue dicks in the fields over the Orange Dick in the White House.

    Comment of the day!

  63. 63.

    Corner Stone

    March 19, 2017 at 10:17 am

    @debit:

    How invasive? I have a tall chain link fence and am debating on whether or not to replace it with a wooden privacy fence or just plant vines.

    I can not stress strongly enough that you should run away screaming at the top of your lungs if someone offers to plant Wisteria for you.
    I had to hire a number of Contra guerrillas to wage an insurgent war against some I had already here when I bought the house. After losing a number of their brothers in arms to the beast they felt they had finally defeated it. Only two years later did I find out it had re-rooted itself inside my brick fence and ate its way to daylight over time. Completely collapsing a column and causing me to have a side wall rebuilt.

  64. 64.

    Corner Stone

    March 19, 2017 at 10:19 am

    @Steeplejack (tablet):

    Spanish with drugs on board!

    Now we finally know the real reason his “wife” goes “home” to visit Spain.

  65. 65.

    debit

    March 19, 2017 at 10:26 am

    @Corner Stone: I have found your words to always be thoughtful and wise, and therefore will heed your warning.

  66. 66.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 19, 2017 at 10:36 am

    @Corner Stone: Heh. Only her therapist knows for sure.

  67. 67.

    Yarrow

    March 19, 2017 at 10:41 am

    @Corner Stone: Old fashioned wisteria is like this–invasive, grows everywhere, doesn’t go away. I have been told that there are more modern varieties that don’t behave in the same way; they aren’t nearly as invasive nor do they grow in quite such a crazy way. If someone really wants wisteria it’s worth looking into what varieties are available and talking with someone at a garden center or plant show who knows about it before fully ruling out.

    That being said, I had the old type of wisteria at a house once and it was firmly wrapped through every big of the chain link fence. It was fabulous for that one week or so when it bloomed but the rest of the year it was horrible. Vines grew all the time and I had to go out and cut it back every few weeks during summer just to keep some kind of control over it. I would not choose to plant it.

  68. 68.

    Schlemazel

    March 19, 2017 at 10:57 am

    @Corner Stone:
    I tried growing westeria here on the tundra in a sunny spot out back. It was a variety that was supposed to do well in our zone. Growth was anemic and it never bloomed. After 5 years I tore it out 2 summers ago. I did find one shoot last summer that I dug out but nothing more. I’ll watch again this year.

    @debit: I would have given you my roots had I known.

  69. 69.

    chris

    March 19, 2017 at 10:57 am

    @raven: You know that handy flat prybar you were looking for? There it is.
    Also, why do the shingles overhang so much? I’d worry about the wind taking those floppy edges and peeling them off.

    Speaking of wind, it’s turned northeast now and we’re expecting 6-8 inches of snow. Happy Spring everyone!

  70. 70.

    scav

    March 19, 2017 at 11:01 am

    Frost outside on the far left corner, but at least that means it was clear last night. Especially as today is to the jardinage de sauvetage event, rescuing the existing plants in front the women with the new bushes, moving fast, tomorrow. Heuchera crowding in with the veggies for safety, daffs still technically homeless.

  71. 71.

    StringOnAStick

    March 19, 2017 at 11:10 am

    This is garden related: we have an insanely aggressive robin who is currently fighting with his reflection in the dining room window, for over an hour now. Last Monday he was after his reflection in the sliding glass door, pooping like crazy on the deck; I had no idea one bird could poop that much in a day.

    We tried scaring him off the door attacks by putting a ceramic bird with big eyes up next to the window, which made him even more enraged so I bought a garden owl, complete with a Bobble head and bright scary eyes. That got him off the door/deck crusade, but I think he’s getting g brain damage from his new found “enemy” in the dining room window. I hope he finds a mate soon for the distraction, but I feel sorry for the poor female who will have to put up with Mr Aggression!

  72. 72.

    debbie

    March 19, 2017 at 11:18 am

    @StringOnAStick:

    How about leaning a piece of cardboard or something similar up against the window so he can’t see his reflection? I’m sure he thinks he’s defending his territory against another male who looks uncannily like himself and will be a perfect gentleman should he ever attract a lady friend.

  73. 73.

    Corner Stone

    March 19, 2017 at 11:22 am

    @StringOnAStick: “…and I was looking fer love in all the wrong places, looking fer love in too many faces…”

  74. 74.

    tobie

    March 19, 2017 at 11:24 am

    @Corner Stone: Absolutely agree about the wisteria. I was the idiot who bought the plant and planted it and have struggled for 6 years now to train it on poles and the like. The only thing that works, I find, is to cut it back vigorously in the winter. It will fill an arbor, if you have one. That’s about the only way to use it.

  75. 75.

    rikyrah

    March 19, 2017 at 11:36 am

    Jamelle Bouie‏Verified account @jbouie

    Oh look, another edition of“racist people (or people who voted for racism) angry at being called racist.”

  76. 76.

    debbie

    March 19, 2017 at 11:40 am

    @rikyrah:

    I can’t believe how unself-aware the people interviewed are.

  77. 77.

    rikyrah

    March 19, 2017 at 11:42 am

    You live in phucking Texas. You have no health insurance because the sociopath you voted for as Governor refused to do Medicaid expansion. You stupid heifer

    …………………………….

    VALLEY VIEW, Tex. — At 4:30 a.m. on a windy Monday, Tamara Estes swallows vitamin B12 for energy and krill oil for her arthritic fingers. Even with her nightly Ambien, she is always up before the sun, getting ready for a job that reminds her of what infuriates her about America.

    She drives a school bus on a route that winds through a North Texas neighborhood filled with undocumented Mexicans. She picks up nearly 100 of their children and drops them off at public schools funded by American taxpayers. By her.

    One immigrant family lives in the house next door, and in the dark hours before dawn, they are also stirring. As the father leaves for his job at a construction site, the mother is scrambling eggs and scooping them into warm tortillas.

    They have been working in America for two decades without legal status, but their four children were born here, so they are U.S. citizens — or, as Estes and President Trump call them, “anchor babies.”

    The eldest, Rainier Corral, 15, emerges from his bedroom carrying a book bag and a trumpet case. He’s a 188-pound rock of a kid who plays lineman on the high school football team, a top-notch student who wants to study mechanical engineering at Texas A&M.

    Rainier’s family has always believed in the promise of America, where they saved enough to buy their own home and their kids go to good schools. But now that Trump is threatening to deport millions — and even change the law that gave their children U.S. citizenship — they are filled with fear.

    Estes, meanwhile, is filled with new hope. For years, she has felt she was living the American Dream in reverse, her life sliding backward, in part, she believes, because illegal immigrants take all the good jobs and drive up her taxes. Now she thinks her life will improve because Trump is promising to “take our country back.”

    This is what divides them at the dawn of the Trump era: for the president to keep his promise to millions of working-class white voters like Estes, he is threatening millions of working-class immigrants like the family next door.

    ‘Anchor babies’
    It’s 20 miles to the school-bus depot and, as Estes drives, she flips on conservative talk radio, where she gets most of her news. She tunes to 660 AM and Mark Davis, a popular Texas talker, who is praising Trump, trashing liberals and making Estes nostalgic for better days.

    “I wish we could go back to a time when we could live, not just exist, when everything wasn’t a struggle,” she says.
    Estes is 59, divorced and earns $24,000 a year. With four days left to payday, she has $118.72 in her checking account.

    She earns a bit too much to qualify for most government assistance but too little to buy health insurance, with its high monthly premiums and impossible deductibles. When she broke her arm last year, she wrapped it in a $15 drugstore brace and popped ibuprofen for a month.

    The way she sees it, life is easier for illegal Mexican immigrants than for taxpaying, working-class white Americans. As her life has gotten harder, she believes the fortunes of “illegals” have been rising, and that she’s paying for it. Little galls her more than “anchor babies,” who are entitled to government benefits, including Medicaid, public schools and food assistance.

    Estes resents paying for their safety net when she feels she has none.
    “I can’t seem to pull my status back up where it was 20 years ago,” she says. “Some of it’s my fault. Some of it’s not.”

  78. 78.

    rikyrah

    March 19, 2017 at 11:44 am

    The ZEGK with Chris Wallace this morning

    https://youtu.be/1oPif5a7JOQ

  79. 79.

    Gvg

    March 19, 2017 at 11:45 am

    I have only once seen wisteria kept under control. A commercial store (lamps) had it planted in a hedge with the row completely surrounded by 2 blacktop parking lots and growing on a heavy wrought iron hedge trellis, heavily pruned by the looks of it. The Japanese grow it correctly but they seem to like pruning. It is not for the ordinary gardener. Very strong long lived vines. I know someone who grows bamboo by planting his clumps far apart in sandy fields with just fertilized soil wher he wants it to grow. He mows constantly with a tractor around the clumps so the are contained. You couldn’t pay me to take on either one.

  80. 80.

    rikyrah

    March 19, 2017 at 11:47 am

    Man…….I wish a muthaphuckas would.

    Washington Post‏Verified account @washingtonpost

    A California waiter refused to serve a table of Latina women until he saw their “proof of residency”

  81. 81.

    Aleta

    March 19, 2017 at 11:48 am

    Short video, great ending
    https://mobile.twitter.com/USseriously/status/843290118421123077/video/1
    (takes place during the motorcade of the orange quack)

  82. 82.

    Aleta

    March 19, 2017 at 11:50 am

    @rikyrah: fuck that guy. and fire him to hell.

  83. 83.

    jnfr

    March 19, 2017 at 11:54 am

    Mr J and I put in a strawberry bed last year. Here’s a pic of the cage with plants beneath. Cage because birds, squirrels, rabbits, raccoons are all rampant in our area.

    I went out yesterday and pulled back the pine straw I’d mulched them with and it looks like every plant survived our fairly warm Colorado winter. So maybe I’ll have strawberry pics to share this year.

  84. 84.

    Another Scott

    March 19, 2017 at 11:59 am

    New OpenThread, please?

    Just saw a disturbing BBC Panorama piece and don’t want to mess up this thread.

    Thanks.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  85. 85.

    rikyrah

    March 19, 2017 at 12:00 pm

    I have a comment in moderation….help

  86. 86.

    Bart

    March 19, 2017 at 12:04 pm

    Completely off-topic, but you just have to go read this Twitter thread to see just how stoopid Trump voters are: https://twitter.com/SheWhoVotes/status/842943514077933568

  87. 87.

    sukabi

    March 19, 2017 at 12:12 pm

    @OzarkHillbilly: Drumpf is building a wall in the internet.

  88. 88.

    Gin & Tonic

    March 19, 2017 at 12:15 pm

    I wonder if any of the front-pagers are aware that there will be an entire series of basketball contests today.

  89. 89.

    Petorado

    March 19, 2017 at 12:17 pm

    @jnfr: That fairly warm Colorado winter means this morning’s air is perfumed with the scent of campfire-like smoke and the buzzing in the air are slurry bombers instead of bees. This could be a really long summer. The peach tree has beat-out the tulips in coming into bloom this year. I wish the Chinese hoaxers perpetrating this crazy weather would cut it out.

  90. 90.

    trollhattan

    March 19, 2017 at 12:22 pm

    @Corner Stone:
    Seconded. We have wisteria on the property line that relentlessly tries to rip the electrical service snorkel off our house–have to cut it back half a dozen times yearly. It’s also the only thing keeping the neighbors’ pergola upright, so a mixed blessing there.

    Then there are the seed pods, which number in the thousands and on certain warm, dry windy days release their contents–large brown beanish things–with great force, landing on the roof and on ground as much as fifty feet away. There, many germinate, assuring much pulling up of young and vigorous wisteria for essentially ever.

    Ours will bloom this week and make the yard intoxicatingly fragrant. By next weekend the payoff ends and 51-week battle begins.

    Only plant wisteria in the middle of a field surrounded by 60 feet of seamless pavement.

  91. 91.

    hovercraft

    March 19, 2017 at 12:23 pm

    @Bart:
    WOW.
    We already know they are ignorant and stupid, but they just insist on repeatedly showing us that they are even more stupid than we think they are. No wonder they want to get rid of PBS, these people have never watched anything remotely educational, about animals and their habits, or anything for that matter. I mean FFS, “it’s not an elephant because it’s red”, WTF?

  92. 92.

    Yarrow

    March 19, 2017 at 12:23 pm

    @trollhattan:

    Only plant wisteria in the middle of a field surrounded by 60 feet of seamless pavement.

    Maybe in a pot in the middle of a big box store or mall parking lot. Even then there’s a risk.

  93. 93.

    trollhattan

    March 19, 2017 at 12:30 pm

    @Yarrow:
    We should send some to Mar a Whatchacallit as tribute to the emperor. He’ll be trapped there in no time.

  94. 94.

    brettvk

    March 19, 2017 at 12:30 pm

    @Corner Stone: All that is true, but it’s also true that the Japanese have tamed the beast and make it behave beautifully.

  95. 95.

    currants

    March 19, 2017 at 12:48 pm

    Marvel, I’m late to this, but love looking at your photos, always. Around here I’ve heard you should plant peas on St Patrick’s, and some years that would have been possible but not this one.

    As for your potatoes: looks like there’s fertilizer in the furroughs. Do you put the potatoes directly on top of it? I’ve only tried potatoes once, and got none. I had always understood you have to be pretty careful not to get fertilizer in direct contact with the things you want growing. (Maybe that’s why no potatoes grew.)

  96. 96.

    WaterGirl

    March 19, 2017 at 12:51 pm

    @OzarkHillbilly: thanks for that! I laughed out loud.

  97. 97.

    WaterGirl

    March 19, 2017 at 12:57 pm

    @Raven: wysteria is what you give people when buying a drum set for their small children just doesn’t feel evil enough.

  98. 98.

    Aleta

    March 19, 2017 at 1:02 pm

    I read the story rikyrah posted. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/03/19/a-california-waiter-refused-to-serve-4-latina-women-until-he-saw-proof-of-residency/?utm_term=.8233403fab05
    The chief executive says:

    Bearden stressed that the employee’s actions “are something that you can’t control. The true measure is how you then handle it as a company. I feel very proud of our team and how we tried to take a proactive approach, trying to create a positive out of this situation.”

    What he says is spin. (True they took action after the fact;* though it also may be part of their yearly write off.) The way to “control employee actions” is anti-discrimination training from the start, and frequent statements or sessions after that, so there’s a complete environment that every employee understands.

    The incident shows they aren’t preventing discrimination in their space. Their responsibility is to never put a customer or other employee through this. His statement should commit to doing more.

    *The company offered the women a fancy meal, which they refused, and is donating 10% of weekend proceeds to Orange County Immigrant Youth United, chosen by the women.

  99. 99.

    J R in WV

    March 19, 2017 at 1:07 pm

    @StringOnAStick:

    We used to have the same thing with a male cardinal. He would attack every window in the house, 47 times. It apparently doesn’t cause brain damage, he did it every year for quite a year. Spring ritual.

    When they start nesting/mating is when he goes crazy, trying to drive the “competitor” away from his mate. I’ll let you all know if he shows up with that act again.

    We have a lot of interesting birds, but most of the best ones are canopy birds, and so we rarely see them, just hear them going about their business 60 feet up.

  100. 100.

    sukabi

    March 19, 2017 at 1:08 pm

    @rikyrah: has he gone from starver to killer now?

  101. 101.

    Marvel

    March 20, 2017 at 12:23 pm

    @currants: (Re fertilizing potatoes.) We make a ‘complete organic fertilizer’ and use it on everything. Unlike many other ferts, this one doesn’t “burn” anything. It’s simlpe to make: 8 parts cottonseed meal; 2 parts lime (dolomite); 1 part bone meal; 1 part kelp meal. When planting seedlings, I usually give ’em 1/3 cup per plant. In the case of the ‘taters, I used about 2 C per six-foot trench.

  102. 102.

    currants

    March 22, 2017 at 8:11 am

    @Marvel: Thank you! Thanks for the recipe and the planting proportions. I’ll have to see what I can scrape up around here to make my own–had never considered it before, and wouldn’t have known where to start.

    Thanks!

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