I managed to mislay these photos, from the beginning of July — sorry! From commentor Lapassionara:
These are under the category “well, I didn’t see that coming.”
There is a bed in front of the house that is supposed to be for some shrubs, eventually, but I have been fighting weeds there, so have been using it as an annual bed in the meantime. In 2015, I planted purple wave petunias. They did not thrive, so I chose to go in another direction. Last summer I planted 3 cleome. They were the branching type, and as the summer progressed, they got so tall that I had to stake them.
This spring, before annual planting season, the bed was wall to wall cleome seedlings, along with a few wave petunia plants. I thinned clumps of seedlings, or so I thought, but when I returned from my vacation (over 3 weeks), I found a cleome forest happily blooming [top photo].
The other surprise was the “bush sunflower” plants. They were 2 inches high when I left, and now they are way too big for the space I chose for them.
I am debating whether to try to transplant them. Suggestions are welcomed.
This weekend is the anniversary of Hurricane Harvey, which helps put this Summer of Weather Weirdness in perspective. At least Hawaii seems to have avoided the worst predictions for Tropical Storm Lane — “merely” four feet of rain. I hope all the Islander jackals are safe from the torrents!
What’s going on in your garden(s) this week?
NotMax
Know it is is OT, but it’s the only morning thread on a Sunday.
In the mood for a heartwarming little movie?
Check out Little Big Voice on Amazon Prime.
Compact and tenderly put together Austrian film. Not a misstep by any of the cast, whatever their age. Oh, and have a few tissues at the ready (no, randy jackals, not for that).
Lapassionara
Thanks, AL. The cleome forest is still thriving, with blooms galore. There are also some volunteer purple wave petunias in that bed, along with wild violets and wild strawberries.
The sunflowers grew six feet tall, and when they wilted, I dug them up. They were fun to see, but oddly located, and I am going to plant some again next summer, but along the fence instead of along the walkway.
Good morning, everyone.
NotMax
Coming down in sheets at the moment, unlike ‘during’ the storm. Same expected through Wednesday.
Thinking of sending away for the Acme Instant Ark kit.
satby
Lapassionara, the cleomes are great! That was a happy accident indeed. Is it worth trying to move the sunflowers this late in the year? I’d probably just let them go for the rest of the year and do something else in that spot next year, but our first frost is only 4-6 weeks away or so (hallelujah!).
I love annuals that self seed so I didn’t put any germination inhibitor on my raised beds. Unfortunately, the weed seeds outnumbered the coreopsis seeds 1k to 1. It’s going to take all fall to clean up the mess.
satby
@NotMax: I hope flooding or mudslides aren’t much of a risk at your location. At least you still have power.
NotMax
@satby
Just to let you know got Mom hooked on Grand Hotel on Netflix.
She called me up yesterday to check that I was surviving the weather and wanted to discuss the series. Took tremendous self-control not to reveal spoilers.
:)
NotMax
@satby
Location where I happen to be is pretty disaster resistant (absent killer winds or earthquakes). Power went out 3 times so far, for a maximum of 2 seconds at the longest. Just enough to have to reset clocks and cross fingers that the various surge protectors did their job.
Whosover decreed that when the power goes off and comes on again, the TV maintains its ‘on’ status deserves some sort of appropriate punishment.
Betty Cracker
@NotMax: Been thinking about checking that series out too.
raven
@Lapassionara: Hey, looks good.
NotMax
@Betty Cracker
Gorgeous period settings and costume., Whatever the Spanish word for crack is applies.
Once the character of the police inspector shows up, it really gels.
satby
@NotMax: it’s bizarrely addictive, glad she’s enjoying it. I started watching Monaco, Life in Wartime on Netflix. It has several of the same actors, including the two lead women from Gran Hotel. I’m only through one episode, so not quite sure it’s going to grab me the same way.
NotMax
@satby
Great descriptor.
satby
@Betty Cracker: yeah, it’s really bingeworthy. Once your ears adjust to the Castilian lusp.
satby
LISP, dammit.
satby
Dervish Casper Tunch I is growing into his imperious cat personality. I woke up this morning crammed onto the edge of the bed while his teensy little self was sprawled as far as his 1 1/2 pounds would stretch out diagonally across the rest.
Mary G
@satby: It’s a miracle of physics how even the smallest cat can take up even the biggest bed.
@Lapassionara: Garden accidents are awesome.
JPL
@Lapassionara: Thank you for sharing the pictures.
HeleninEire
Morning, morning crew. Second day of Popeapolooza. My garden, Phoenix Park, the largest urban park in the world, will have half a million people attending mass. Think I’ll leave the weeding till later.
OzarkHillbilly
@Lapassionara: Happy accident indeed. Who needs bushes?
debit
@satby: Awwwww! He sounds so adorable. I love how kittens pick a spot to sleep and that’s it, they are sleeping there. Dani used to sleep curled up under my chin, which was fine, if a little awkward. Then she would drape herself over my neck when she got too big. Eventually she grew too big for that and covered my mouth and nose, so I had to insist she find another spot. Even so, every once in a while she’ll try to wedge herself under my chin, usually by backing in and my only warning is when her butt suddenly lands somewhere on my face.
Ken
@satby: But is it really a lisp when everyone does it? Sounds like a question for the folks over at Language Log.
Betty Cracker
@HeleninEire: Have you read about the archbishop who alleges the pope knew about Cardinal McCarrick’s abuses and helped cover it up? It’s in today’s NYT. Vigano (the archbishop) is calling on the pope to resign. Vigano is allegedly a right-winger with an ax to grind against Francis. I have no idea if he’d straight-up lie about something like this; I know nothing about the man. But that’s a hell of an accusation!
OzarkHillbilly
The vermin actually allowed me some tomatoes this week. Lots of Purple Bumblebees and more than a few A Grappoli D’Inverno. Even let me have a few Costoluto Genovese. I have lots of sweet peppers but they are really slow to ripen. Of course the hot peppers are coming out my ass, most of them head for the solar food dryer. In spite of everything the flea beetles could do, I have sufficient eggplants to make Baba ghanoush today. Can hardly wait.
Lapassionara
@OzarkHillbilly: Love baba ghanoush!
eclare
It has been a strangely cool summer in Memphis, especially with heatwaves going on globally. But not complaining.
JPL
@Betty Cracker: The anti-gay faction has been trying to push the Pope out for years, and if they succeed, expect the church to lean further to the right. That’s all I know, but you are correct that the allegations are not good.
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: hmm, baba ghanoush… I have two medium sized eggplants I got yesterday. Was just going to bake them.
I’m calling shenanigans on the whole “it’s your browser’s problem” with the disappearing nyms. This browser has my info sticking everywhere I want it to but here, for weeks and weeks. I’m developing a healthy hatred of WP.
OldDave
@NotMax:
Very nice. I’m also a bit jealous – several of the hurricanes over the last 15 years or so have managed to kill the power here, usually for over a week. Last year’s Irma included a special treat – one of the ‘hot’ lines on the pole mounted transformer was knocked loose, so when we did have power restored we only got back one side of the 120-0-120 drop. So only some of the lights / outlets worked (usually the wrong ones) and there was no 220V (so no hot water or AC). Joy.
As J. Buffett once observed there’s (no) Tryin to Reason with Hurricane Season. Good luck with the rest of the season!
debbie
@Lapassionara:
Never heard of cleome, but I like them! Do they attract butterflies?
satby
@eclare: going to be 89° here, right now it’s 73° with a dew point of 72° and humidity of (bleccckk) 99%! Not raining, a thick fog. It’s going to be like that for the next 3 days.
OzarkHillbilly
@Betty Cracker: The right wing of Catholicism is no different than today’s Republican party. Their hatred for Francis and everything he is trying to do consumes them. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a lie here and there in service to The Church. In fact The Bible commands them to.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
@OzarkHillbilly:
I bet next we’ll hear that Francis used a private server for Vatican business.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Betty Cracker: Vigano is allegedly a right-winger with an ax to grind against Francis. I have no idea if he’d straight-up lie about something like this; I know nothing about the man. But that’s a hell of an accusation!
I wouldn’t put anything past the far right, especially one who wears a collar. And I have no idea if this is true, and I hesitate to cite a fake twitter account as an authority, but…
Pierce and EJ Dionne are Catholics who know the ins and outs of the factions and institutions. I’d say they’re two people to listen to as this unfolds.
OzarkHillbilly
@eclare: Yes, an unseasonably cool summer up here too. Only had one real hot spell. We have another coming this week but it’s only going to last 2 or 3 days before the next cold front comes thru.
@Lapassionara: @satby: It’s a favorite of mine. I grill the eggplant over a nice smoky fire for that just right touch. The last time I was unable to get the necessary sesame seeds at a reasonable price and substituted sunflower seeds. It was good but not the same. This time I have them by the tonnage (from Bob’s Red Mill) and it will be the real thing.
Lapassionara
@debbie: Yes, but not in profusion. I like them because they keep blooming all summer and they will reseed another forest next year.
eclare
@satby: wow, that sounds awful for where you are. High today only 92, which is awesome. I don’t even check humidity, I know it is air you can scoop with your hand.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Did he say how he learned of the conduct he is accusing Francis of? I don’t trust any right wingers when it comes to allegations, but every once in a while, they do score a legitimate hit.
Lapassionara
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: This. Francis relieved Vigano of his post after the Kim Davis fiasco. A big ax to grind.
eclare
@OzarkHillbilly: Wondered about you, it’s been downright pleasant here.
HeartlandLiberal
Well, in garden related news, our friend of almost 50 years, the woman who was my graduate school advisor back at the University of Illinois in the early 70’s, then 25 years ago left academia and became a Benedictine Sister, visited us for three days and nights this past week.
I had promised breaded fried okra southern style, using okra from the garden. She insisted on helping, so we made the fried okra together, she chopped it all, then helped dip it in the buttermilk egg, then I dredged it in the cornmeal and fried it.
She is eighty years old, a small, diminutive, woman, with a zest for living and learning that anyone should aspire to. We took a day trip two hours south to visit the monastery and church at St. Meindrad, in southern Indiana. She had brought some books from her library, which she is starting to downsize and disperse, that she wanted to go into their library. She also had brought me a sack of books she thought I might be interested in, with instructions to pass on anything I did not want.
On the way back, we stopped in French Lick, home of a famous classic hotel, like something out of “The Shining”, now updated with a casino next door, and ate at the German Cafe, a German restaurant run by a family that moved from Germany about ten years ago. Our friend is originally from Switzerland, still holds dual passport, I think, so we got to speak German with the daughter of the owners, who was our waitress.
The food is genuine German cooking. Our friend had cheese spaetzle noodles, my wife had the Schnizel with cream sauce, while I had the Jaegerschitzle, smothered in dark gravy with mushrooms, with bratkartoffeln German style on the side. Afterwards we stopped at the West Baden hotel, a round structure with indoor open area surrounded by the circular structure and roofed over with transparent roof. It had almost fallen into total ruint, but it was restored some years ago with help of billionaire Cook from Bloomington, Indiana, who pretty much invented the heart catheter. It is now a national landmark, thriving as a resort hotel.
FWIW, I need to send email to sitefixer address, I just noted that the site is NOT remembering my name, email, etc when I post, I have to fill it in every time, even though I check the save my name etc every time. I am not flushing cache or cookies on browser close, either.
debbie
@satby:
I must say, without this edit function, I am surprised at how many typos there really are. I thought I was the only one!
Immanentize
@Lapassionara: I live volunteers. The surprise of them somehow takes some of the pain of gardening away. Just marvelous.
@satby: I always wondered how that happened…. My cat ends up a cross the whole bed and I am on the edge, or at least my feet are. Once, in the middle of the night, half asleep, I discovered his technique. While I am sleeping, Toasty taps lightly on the blanket or sheet next to my knees. It’s enough, over just a bit of time to make sleeping me adjust seat from the annoyance. Cats are clever.
debbie
@Betty Cracker:
NPR was covering this just now. He’s part of a fierce minority who believe that all the Church’s problems are due to homosexuals.
Immanentize
@debbie: you are not the only type then post person…. Sorry All
Immanentize
My garden — Tomato time! ?.
I am overwhelmed with tomatoes. Neighbors and co-workers are again happy to see me because of deliveries of the excess. I planted four Marzano bushes and they have been putting out amazing large amounts of fruit. I am processing my first batch of fresh sauce today. Yum!
And tomatillos. Also whipping up some salsa verde for enchiladas tonight.
donnah
Our mostly bare garden space in the front yard yielded a surprise a few weeks ago: magic lilies. I believe we had two or three pop up last year at this time, but this year there were more than a dozen. They came up almost overnight and bloomed the next day. My neighbor joked that I had just gone out and stuck fake flowers in the garden to make it look good.
They do make for a lovely surprise.
OzarkHillbilly
@eclare: If this is what global warming is going to bring to us, I’m OK with it. (not really)
Ceci n est pas mon nym
Puppy/kitten update: Things are settling in here. I won’t say calm, because with an energetic 4-month old kitten and 18-month-old Beagle-ish, things are never calm. But the cat is obviously happy with her pup, she spends a lot of hiding under things and leaping at him as he walks by, and is often to be found curled up next to him on the rare occasions they’re both lying down.
The pup hasn’t destroyed anything important lately, I think we’ve found a cat box that is dog proof, and Sammy continues to demonstrate his intelligence. And his escape artistry. He still managed a Great Escape from the pet door (a latch that you would think requires opposable thumbs, further secured by a bungee cord), but nights are much quieter since I followed a BJ suggestion to crate him in our bedroom at night. He’s totally content to stay in there where he can see his people.
And we’ve started “formal” training with the “sit” command, which he figured out in 2 sessions and now does reliably every time. That’s as opposed to informal training, the constant learning of the household rules that happens all day every day.
Hard to believe it’s been only two weeks.
Elizabelle
@Betty Cracker: I’d tell Vigano that he should push for decanonization of “Saint” John Paul II.
I suspect the rightwingers pushed through his canonization to protect him against fallout from the sexual abuse scandals. Which he did nothing about, as far as I can see. Telling seminarians they have to be “perfect.” What a cop out.
HeleninEire
@Baud: This. And to everyone else who has commented. I can’t answer because I do not, nor do any of my Irish friends pay any attention to the church. Every friend here, to a person, has a horrific personal or one person removed story about abuses at the hands if the Catholic church.
I am just commenting about the road closures, like, you know, the Beatles just landed at JFK.
Gotta tell you though, there was a wonderful discussion on the RTE1 (Irish) news last night where a commentator said about our move into the 21st century in terms of civil rights. She said “We are punching above our weight in terms of civil rights and progressivism.” First country to ban cigarette smoking in public, first country to vote for gay marriage, then the abortion referendum. And much more. The children’s court comes to mind. And all of this is because of the abuses of the Catholic church.
Those fuckers overplayed their hand.
Very proud and happy to be here.
satby
@donnah: I love magic lillies. They naturalize pretty well.
OzarkHillbilly
@HeartlandLiberal: A retired Army vet buddy was stationed in Germany in the early 60s. He’s always on the lookout for German restaurants everywhere he goes.
Immanentize
@Lapassionara: And, there is talk of asking all Bishops to resign, so who better to wage war against that future action than one already out of favor. The church hierarchy has sharp elbows.
And, the narrative is that Francis got badly burned in Chile, which he did. But that he learned from that not to be so trusting of Bishops. And those allegations of cover up were much worse than this one. My prediction is thst people who hate Francis will continue to hate him.
satby
@Baud: @Lapassionara: like all conservatives, a lot of projection from Vigano:
from today’s WP.
Kay
Pretty. You used to see a lot of cleome and now you don’t. I’m glad they’re back.
Calendula are an easy self-seeder for northern parts of the country. They reseed like crazy tons of orange and yellow flowers and the foliage smells good-herby. I sprinkle the seed from the spent flowers along fence lines for an easy border and so I don’t have to cut grass along the fence. The seed sits there until the following spring and then comes up. They don’t like really hot weather so they stall in late summer but they perk back up and go until Thanksgiving.
satby
@satby: clarifying the above: Vigano halted a sexual abuse investigation, which he now accuses Francis of.
Elizabelle
Had MSBNC online on a while last night; had to turn it off after maybe 30 minutes. Andrea Greenspan and Jon Meacham and all the tire swingers in full mourning mode. They lost their gregarious daddy. Can’t never pay no nevemind to Democrats.
All I could think was “apres lui le deluge.” If (just about) the last principled Senate Republican is gone, can they please wake the fuck up soon about what has happened to the Republicans, and what they are ennabling? It would be sweet if John McCain’s passing removes a further political layer of protection from der Trump.
HeleninEire
@HeleninEire: Oh and our Toaiseach (Prime minister) is a gay man whose parents are Indian immigrants. He is an admitted atheist. In Ireland.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Baud:
But his encyclicals!
Elizabelle
Yea to the Washington Post. They make rather short work of the dreadful Vigano. They see what he is doing, and that he offers no proof. (At this time.)
Silence is the only thing befitting, after he has launched an unmentionable into the punchbowl. What a jerk. The Post makes it very clear that it’s a conservative trying to take down a nonconservative pope.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
rikyrah
I have no suggestions about the garden. It looks beautiful to me as is.?
Ramalama
A quick and weird panic.
I haven’t finished my tea yet (my weak-arse caffeine delivery system) and so when I glanced on the photo of your shrubs, all the while not even reading the words surrounding said shrubs? I thought you were somehow referencing Sean Spicer hiding in the shrubs. My second thought: wasn’t he at Harvard’s JFK School polishing himself up to be presentable in 4 years to go on Sunday morning talk shows?
Betty Cracker
@Elizabelle: I wonder how long it will take for Trump to blow up since he’s not all over the front page and cable news. If he were sane, he’d welcome the respite given the week he just had. But he’s a toxic narcissist, so he’ll have to turn the conversation back to himself somehow. Odds are he’ll say something hideously inappropriate and/or schedule one of his Klan rallies to compete with McCain’s funeral.
Gin & Tonic
@HeartlandLiberal:
That happens for everybody. It’s part of the site upgrade.
rikyrah
@NotMax:
Keep on checking in. Please stay safe.
Thoughtful David
@debbie:
Hmmm…it would be interesting to open his closet and see what’s in there.
And if the church thinks their problem is homosexuals, maybe they should think of a way to not incentivize them to join the priesthood?
Kay
This story is wild. She’s a “reporter” who did a series of those “Obama to Trump” voter pieces except a lot of the “Obama voters” are either elected local Republicans or local GOP Party officials.
Trump and the GOP were pushing this “walk away” bullshit where they claimed to have identified a movement of Democrats who were leaving the Party – these stories appeared at the same time. You wonder if it was coordinated.
rikyrah
@HeleninEire:
Popeapalooza??
Are you going to Mass?
debbie
Huh. Googling around for information about Vigano, I came across another Vigano, who seemed to have it in for one of his colleagues.
Coincidence?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Betty Cracker: the complications and contradictions of McCain’s actual career aside, it’s gonna drive the TeeVee junkie crazy (er) to have ‘the shows’ be all about the war hero of towering character etc etc. I hope Obama hits the rhetorical heights in his eulogy, just so everywhere the Beast looks for the next he will see Obama talking about McCain in glowing terms that he will see as an elaborate sub-tweet
debbie
@Kay:
It’s time to hold editors accountable. Like they used to be.
Baud
@Kay: I think that falls under the venerable journalistic principle of “It’s ok if it makes Dems look bad.” I’ll have to allow it.
debbie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I was going to say I hoped that Obama’s last sentence in what will certainly be very eloquent remarks will be, “Belive me,” but I don’t think that’ll be necessary. We gotta just let the GOP actually GOP themselves. Go, Kelli Ward, keep it classy!
Baud
@Elizabelle:
How Trumpian.
Kay
@debbie:
It’s sort of embarrassing that the volunteer researchers on Twitter cracked this scandal wide open with 30 minutes of googling names in the book and the stories.
If “inanimate carbon rod” is doing your job better than you are you might want to pay attention.
I lurked on “walk away” Twitter for a bit one day. It seemed clearly and obviously coordinated by political operatives. It wasn’t subtle.
schrodingers_cat
@Kay: I doubt she is the only one.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: I’ve been following that story on Twitter. I think the whole thing blew up because McMegan or SE Cupp or some other annoying and more well-known conservative pundit used an example of a “Democrat” that Zito cited, and when someone Googled that person, he or she turned out to be a long-time GOP bigwig. Then folks started digging, and what do you know — multiple “Democrats” Zito used in her column turn out to be actual Republicans.
Maybe I’m just paranoid, but I was watching some CNN piece (I think) just the other day about so-called Obama to Trump voters and how they still support Trump, and I swear, every damn one of them sounded like die-hard Republicans to me. I couldn’t imagine any of them voting for Obama. I’m not denying that such creatures exist, but I do suspect their numbers are overblown.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: The interviews with T voters who are still with T article, has a kinda canned, cut and paste quality to it. If you have read one, you have read them all. They have a template, they just change the names and dates and the latest outrage du jour.
And geniuses on our side want to dump Pelosi because of what they read in NYT or hear on CNN.
rikyrah
NASA Education (@NASAedu) Tweeted:
On Sunday, Katherine Johnson celebrates her 100th birthday! ?? Celebrate this milestone by sharing her inspiring story with your students.
K-4: https://t.co/k9ntZrn4Gj
5-8: https://t.co/7bMXnTMLgs
#Happy100Katherine https://t.co/8vnfoGmTnd https://twitter.com/NASAedu/status/1033066423600525312?s=17
Aleta
@NotMax: “Whosover decreed that when the power goes off and comes on again, the TV maintains its ‘on’ status deserves some sort of appropriate punishment.”
True. It’s hideous.
Take care. Glad you’re in a stable area.
schrodingers_cat
@Betty Cracker: I know one such person. He was/is a die hard R but voted for O twice, because he was personally pissed with W for tanking his retirement income and he really liked Obama as a person. So with Obama no longer on the ballot he went back to his R roots.
rikyrah
@Kay:
Of course, it was coordinated. No doubt.
zhena gogolia
@NotMax:
Has anyone heard from TenguPhule?
rikyrah
@Kay:
The whole #WalkAway hashtag was revealed pretty fast to be a Russian bot operation. And, the word was sent out about it. Now, they are trying to convince Black people of all this.newfound Black support for Dolt45.??
Lapassionara
@rikyrah: wow! What a story!
Also, did anyone else notice the news that McCain died on the anniversary of Teddy Kennedy’s death? 9th, I think. IIRC, Kennedy’s death ushered in an era of Republican electoral gains. Maybe this time we will get some key Dem gains.
Kay
@Baud:
There’s this thing that people do, in this case “voters do”, where they need an excuse to stop supporting a pol they used to support so they’ll seize on one thing as “the last straw” and it’s always horribly anti-climatic. So they’ll overlook huge things and then tell you “when he changed the earned income tax credit? I said ‘this cannot stand’
A political friend of mine has seen this too and he called it “an alibi” which is just perfect. They need an alibi and it can’t be the horrendous elephant-in-the-room thing because that’s too obvious and it makes them look dumb for supporting the person in the first place so it has to be something like “coverage parameters on crop insurance”
HeleninEire
@rikyrah: Nope. You need a ticket (they’re free) but I HATE crowds. Plus I haven’t been to mass in forever. I would be smited most likely. :)
Baud
@Kay: Makes sense. People don’t like to admit that their votes are based more on gut feeling and irrational prejudices so they look for rationalizations for changing their minds.
Thoughtful David
@Betty Cracker:
Anyone reading Zito’s stuff should have been hit by a clue-by-four right there. That’s a very Republican formulation. An actual Democrat would have said “voting Democratic” or “voting for Democrats” not “voting Democrat.”
cliosfanboy
Did not plant tomatoes this year. Three volunteers came up. Biggest, most productive tomato plants I’ve had in years. But probably because finally broke down and put a sprinkler on a time to water them a few minutes every am.
Elizabelle
@Betty Cracker: Yeah. The anomaly was voting for Obama.
It was not reverting to type to vote for Trump so they didn’t have to vote for some icky Democratic woman. That is who they are.
Foo on the Obama to Trump voters. They’re not some big signifier, like our media “betters” tell us. When they can extricate themselves from the tire swing to phone it in.
OzarkHillbilly
@HeleninEire: Gawd hasn’t turned this ex Catholic into a pillar of salt yet after many wedding and funeral masses endured. If he was going to do it to any heretic, it would be me.
Baud
@rikyrah: Dolt couldn’t even keep Omarosa in the tent. :-\
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: He did something worse. He brought you here.
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
It gets confusing because rural Right-leaning Democratic voters CAN sound like Trump voters, IF you believe Trump voters are populists who are motivated on economic issues. What they really are is “not very well-informed and engaged voters” which I don’t say as an insult. A lot of people have other things they’re interested in other than politics – they just don’t put a lot of time in. They do other stuff! Which is fine.
It can work the other way too. I walked a parade with a state reps wife once- we just happened to be together. Steve Bueher.’s wife He’s no longer in the statehouse but he was popular before he quit. Me and his wife hit it off immediately during this walk and I ended up teasing her because the fact is she is basically a (liberal) Democrat on policy. She grew up in suburban DC area and she really doesn’t agree with Republicans on anything, although she is one.
MomSense
Lapassionara, your garden looks so pretty. Here are good lessons in your experience. You can have the best plants but they will not thrive unless they are in the right spot with the conditions they like. You know you’ve got it right when you can leave them alone for three weeks and they flourish without you.
We had a lot of rain which means a lot of weeds. Not sure how much I can accomplish today in the garden because the indoors is indesperate need of some attention.
RIP John McCain and condolences to his loved ones. Not sure I can watch a whole day of McCain retrospective.
OzarkHillbilly
In today’s You Gotta Be Fucking Kidding Me file:
Yes, his death was orchestrated to divert attention from her because it’s all about her, HER HER!!!!!!
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: The same Gawd who had me beaten out of the Church brought me here? Sounds like a fair trade to me.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: It worked out for us.
Elizabelle
@rikyrah: That’s wonderful news. Happy birthday, Katherine Johnson. Wishing you good health and vigor and a strong mind. Hope she still has them all.
JPL
@OzarkHillbilly: She would fit right in with Trumpettes. Hopefully Cindy McCain endorses the democrat running, but I imagine she will just stay silent.
debbie
@rikyrah:
And who are they going to promote as a shining example? Paris Dennard?
rikyrah
John Dean (@JohnWDean) Tweeted:
“Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America” by Nancy Maclean, was hammered by conservative writers who don’t want their thinking exposed. Here is a good overview for anyone interested in looking under the hood. https://t.co/WaVJlDZSyd https://twitter.com/JohnWDean/status/1033596817928204288?s=17
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: We all have our crosses to bear. I’m the one for jackals.
rikyrah
@OzarkHillbilly:
She truly is repulsive ?
MomSense
@Immanentize:
I’ve got a sauce making operation going. Sooooooo many tomatoes. The Cherokee Purples are especially numerous.
Pro tip for those of us processing our tomato harvests, use a cheese grater instead of the blanching and peeling technique. Cut the tomatoes in half or quarters and grate until you just have the skin between your fingers and the grater.
This saves a lot of time and trouble – unless you really need a tomato steam facial.
sdhays
@HeleninEire: I was in Ireland this week for work, and my local colleagues mentioned that some people were getting tickets to see the Pope without any intention of going. It will be interesting to see if they make the event at Phoenix Park more like Spankee’s inauguration (I’m guessing the difference won’t be that noticeable).
Kay
@OzarkHillbilly:
She’s truly horrible. To me this is where the GOP and political media are kidding themselves. They think this ends with Trump, but it doesn’t. They’ll see broad and deep corruption and corrosion all thru the Party. This is going to get worse. It’s already getting worse. Trump is the leader of that Party. They have not begun the plumb the depths of the damage. It’s already systemic. They’re already desperately seeking exceptions to what is now the rule.
You see it with Jordan and the indicted House members. They watched Trump get away with it and now they believe that’s the best path. It’s rapidly deteriorating now- it’s accelerating.
rikyrah
Wow
Ana Philaxis©®(^_−)☆ (@SkyeCreativeONe) Tweeted:
TONI BASIL IS 74 YEARS OLD AND STILL DANCING LIKE A CLUB KID!!! THIS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU NEVER STOP MOVING!! SHE WAS ALMOST 40 WHEN SHE DID “MICKEY”????? https://t.co/PfYpypQCar https://twitter.com/SkyeCreativeONe/status/1032845183870754816?s=17
rikyrah
Uh huh
Uh huh ? ?
TheBeat w/Ari Melber (@TheBeatWithAri) Tweeted:
WATCH: Sen. Lindsey Graham goes from “there will be holy hell to pay” if Jeff Sessions is fired to “there will be some serious discussions about a new Attorney General” https://t.co/WmlSKYfeoD https://twitter.com/TheBeatWithAri/status/1033117332418306048?s=17
rikyrah
@MomSense:
Can you show pictures of this technique?
chris
@HeleninEire: Favourite Irish tweet from yesterday with a couple more pics in the comments.
jeffreyw
Sadly, the summer heat has not been kind to the vibrant colors of Mrs J’s garden.
Kay
@rikyrah:
I’ve believed for a long time that Trump or his associates have information on these people and either will or are using it- it’s completely Trump’s MO- but I think it is time to start taking that conspiracy theory seriously and look into it.
I keep thinking of what Trump did to the Morning Joe hacks- how he essentially threatened them with public humiliation if they didn’t start fawning over him again. It didn’t work because the only thing he had on them was they were sleeping together and had cosmetic surgery and no one gives a shit, but still. This is part of what he does. We know that. We saw it.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: One of my late grandmas refused to vote because she didn’t give a shit about politics and couldn’t be bothered to be even minimally informed. I respected that — at least she didn’t go into the booth and do “eeny-meeny-miney-moe” or use the franchise as a form of cultural expression.
OzarkHillbilly
@MomSense: Just buy The Original All-Metal Squeezo Manual Tomato Strainer – Silver. You won’t be sorry.
MomSense
@rikyrah:
Here’s the bon Appetit version grated tomato sauce
Here’s the better description from Saveur grating tomatoes
MomSense
@OzarkHillbilly:
That looks so cool.
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay: The GOP will have to rise from the ashes of an ignominious death to become a respectable political party again.
Lapassionara
@Kay: Either Trump has such info, or the Russian Oligarchs. Both would not hesitate to do the worst we can imagine to get and maintain power. We are facing pure evil right now.
Kay
So I’m making some progress with my son’s girlfriend’s 3 year old. They brought him to a family party at Lake Michigan and I got him to go the beach with me where I barked out orders on sand castle construction. He’s spunky! Was deliberately using how own (shoddy) methods.
My son is absolutely smitten with his mother- I have never seen him this taken with a girlfriend but she is more cautious, which may be good because the 3 year old is already attached to my son. OTOH they are doing home improvement projects on her house (they’re both apprentice electricians, so good at that) so it seems to be moving very fast. Unless she just wants her ceiling fans put up by a taller person, which is always a possibility :)
MagdaInBlack
@rikyrah:
I read that a few weeks ago. Suffice to say: disgust and anger.
Pretty much my default mode lately.
OzarkHillbilly
@MomSense: Easy peasy. The clean up is a bit much but if you have a lot of maters to process it is definitely worth the trouble.
Immanentize
@MomSense:
I have a most fabulous tomato mill that separates skin and seeds from pulp and juice. No blanching, no scraped knuckles. Best kitchen investment I’ve made even though I only use it a few times each year.
Here it is on Amazon for 25 balloons.
MagdaInBlack
@OzarkHillbilly:
I must have put tons of tomatoes thru one of those.
Btw, chickens love the skin/seed sludge ?
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay: Parents with children tend to be cautious. I generally kept a distance between my sons and lady friends.
OzarkHillbilly
@MagdaInBlack: Yes they do.
chris
@rikyrah: I just read that article this morning. There really is a Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: So 2022 then.
Immanentize
@rikyrah:
Fun fact — Toni Basil was one of the actresses playing the two prostitutes in Easy Rider. The other was Karen Black.
schrodingers_cat
@Kay: He should have listened to you!
Immanentize
@Kay: If it was just fan installation, they would not have been at the beach with you…. Prepare for family expansion.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: I think that is too soon. They need a more extended stay in the wilderness before they will see the error of their ways.
Kay
@OzarkHillbilly:
I like her. She’s straightforward. She said at the party that she was going to see her family in West Virginia over Labor Day and I wondered if he was going. He is. He told me before I met her that she was “Appalachian” and since I know she went to an urban high school in Toledo I wondered why he said that. Mystery solved. They’re going to her grandparents. She bought her Toledo house at foreclosure and it’s paid for, which is pretty impressive for a 25 year old single mother. Any 25 year old, really.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: Well, that’s how I felt in 2006-08. The voting public disagreed with me in 2010.
MomSense
@Immanentize:
I may have to get one. I’ve never had so many tomatoes before.
Another Scott
‘Morning everyone.
NowThisIsNews has an excellent video by Alyssa Milano on stopping Kavanaugh. (4:39)
(via LOLGOP)
Cheers,
Scott.
cliosfanboy
I can’t respect anyone who can’t be bothered to at least do a little reading about politics and to consider who to vote for. Elected officials impact us all. They may have much effect on YOUR life, but they can really affect others for good or ill.
Doug R
@NotMax: Now you’re starting to understand why the islands without the active volcanoes are smaller….
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay:
Wow. He’d better grab onto her quick.
@Baud: And surprisesurprisesurprise you were right.
Gelfling 545
@Betty Cracker: They’d do a lot to get rid of Francis. First, there’s an anti Jesuit bias and the non- European bias. And then, they REALLY don’t like how he does things: too much love and mercy, too little fire and brimstone.
Cheryl Rofer
My good garden news this morning is that a datura has begun to establish itself in my yard. Maybe this one will make it, having chosen its preferred spot. I have tried several times, unsuccessfully, to get one going.
schrodingers_cat
@Cheryl Rofer: You see datura growing wild everywhere in my ancestral state of Maharashtra. Its a potent poison, so be careful with the kittehs eating it.
OzarkHillbilly
Homeless former paratrooper completes year of hiking UK coast
Gelfling 545
@debbie: Because it’s all about her. I’m sure his dearh is very inconvenient for her.
Gelfling 545
@Gelfling 545: Death. I’m not even going to mention typos anymore. People will just have to decode it.
Elizabelle
And now Neil Simon, the playwright, has died. Aged 91. That’s a good long run.
J R in WV
@Betty Cracker:
We have learned that right wingers of all stripes feel no compunction about lying to gain their monsterous ends. So, while I’m not a giant fan of Pope Frank — even though he’s a huge improvement over Pope Benedictus Rattus — I know which person I choose to believe there.
I not a fan of any patriarchal leader of an old religion that believes huge amounts of hurtful ancient mythology as revealed truth, even though it is obvious that such leaders vary in their inherent evil. There is a difference between those who would burn people alive as an instructional demonstration or foment wars of genocide based upon opinions about magical invisible fairies and people who just express hatred and promise invisible hellfire for those who are different.
rikyrah
@Kay:
Awe??
OzarkHillbilly
@Cheryl Rofer: My neighbor has a pair of those flanking her driveway. They are beautiful. to echo @schrodingers_cat: from the wiki page:
Gelfling 545
@HeleninEire: I’ve been to way too many requiem Masses, so far without incident.
A Ghost To Most
@J R in WV:
What is the difference, if the end result is the same? Just because Jebus told you to do it doesn’t make you any less evil.
rikyrah
@Kay:
That is impressive. He should hold onto her, Kay.?
MazeDancer
Neil Simon has died. He was 91.
“Barefoot in the Park”
“The Odd Couple”
“Plaza Suite”
“The Prisoner of Second Avenue”
“The Sunshine Boys”
“Brighton Beach Memoirs”
“Biloxi Blues”
“Broadway Bound”
zhena gogolia
@Elizabelle:
At least we should be able to remember him fondly without any fights breaking out.
Ken B
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
There’s a blog called ‘Whispers in th Loggia’ that follows the Vatican.
A Ghost To Most
@Gelfling 545:
Bah. If a sky fairy hasn’t taken me out, you have nothing to fear.
Cheryl Rofer
@OzarkHillbilly: The seeds are supposed to be particularly psychoactive. Most falls, there is at least one hospitalization of kids who decide to try them out.
schrodingers_cat
@OzarkHillbilly: There is a lot of folklore about wives giving datura to their recalcitrant husbands..
Gelfling 545
@rikyrah: Well, his backbone passed away yesterday.
D58826
@Lapassionara: not beyond the possible that he is doing a hit job on a guilty man
Gelfling 545
@OzarkHillbilly: All the Italian nonnas I’ve known have had one. Though not of Italian ancestry we have one that makes the rounds through the family as needed. Best way to deal with a heap of tomatoes.
Uncle Cosmo
@Lapassionara:
My kopek’s on the Rooskies. Our home-grown oligarchs have been jess faaaaahn with the destruction of government of/by/for the
peoplerabble – it’s part of their gameplan to convert the entire world into a neofeudal paradise (for them, hell for the rest of us) & they were glad to have the Putinshchina to do the heavy lifting.It’s only recently (belatedly, partially) come to their attention of some of them that Rossiya LLC has all the murderous resources (nuclear, radiological, chemical & biological) of a rogue state & the demonstrated willingness to use them against anyone who dares cross them. Including other oligarchs.
So are the Kochroaches, Addledsons & other squishysoft superwealthy vermin. They’ve let the direwolves loose in the chicken coop & it is not going to end well for them either. Not that that does much for the rest of us.
My utterly cynical side wonders how long it will be – more properly, how close Bobby 3Styx needs to get to the bottom of the swamp – before Michael Cohen, Weisselberg, or someone in their families suffers a fatal “accident” (or close brush with death). My truly cynical guess is that they’re saving such sanctions for the moment when the investigators move to indict Pence & force him out of the line of succession. Manafort practically shoved Pence onto the ticket, so he certainly knows why Putin wanted him there – & no doubt has been warned to STFU or watch himself & his entire family eradicated.
(Paranoid? Me?? I respectfully submit that in these times, anyone who isn’t paranoid isn’t paying attention.)
scav
@Lapassionara: Ahh, cleomes: makes me happy to see them again. Cheerful and wonderfully Dr Suesslike. And it sounds like they’ll have a permant home — or at least a welcoming permanent home, because they are gleefully prolific. Thanks for the glimpse.
OzarkHillbilly
@Cheryl Rofer: If I want to go tripping, I’ll get another script for chantrix.
Suzanne
@Lapassionara: Not just the garden, but your house is beautiful, too. Love the shutters.
Suzanne
@Uncle Cosmo: I have been musing on this myself…..if Mueller and his staff and perhaps any of the witnesses would be targeted for assassination by the Russians. I can’t imagine Trump’s thugs crossing that line, but maybe I don’t know. Have we ever found out why Russians targeted those people they poisoned in the U.K.
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly: Chantrix is such an excellent name — invokes both monotone religious music and incense as well as BDSM. Where do I get some?
Immanentize
@Suzanne: If that happened, I would not expect a robust response from Trumpland. Our response to the Turkish bodyguards beating up american citizens in D.C. in plain view of everyone (and filmed!) was pretty mild, IIRC.
MagdaInBlack
@scav:
I am feeling the same way about them. My mother had them, I had them….I love how they just keep going. The little bursting seed-pods still make me laugh ☺️
debbie
@Suzanne:
Based on my knowledge of stories about past activities in Brighton Beach, nothing would deter the Russians from going after Mueller. They are ruthless, period.
germy
Tim Conway is suffering from dementia and is almost completely unresponsive, according to his family
Ruckus
@HeleninEire:
Sounds vaguely familiar. We may have a similar situation here in the new world.
OzarkHillbilly
@Immanentize: At your local pharmacist. It’s a drug to help people quit smoking. Without it I’d still be smoking 4 cigarettes a day, my psychological bond to them was that strong. One of it’s side effects is VERY. VIVID. DREAMS. in TECHNICOLOR and SURROUNDSOUND!!! They are so strong some people have to stop using it. Me, I loved the dreams, even the nightmares were very engrossing.
JPL
@Immanentize: Don’t forget that Paul Ryan would say it’s unfortunate.
Kay
@rikyrah:
Right. He should. But if he’s going to put money into a house he should also get his name on the deed.
I am a hopeless romantic, I realize :)
I tell my people this all the time, and it’s always young people. “You don’t own it, not even a little bit” I just want them to be clear on that :)
Their whole “sharing” thing is …invented.
Ruckus
@germy:
Damn.
We had an ensign on the DDG I was stationed on that we nicknamed Ensign Parker, after Tim’s character on McHales Navy. Sort of looked like Conway, acted only slightly less silly than the character. Of course we never told him.
trollhattan
@germy:
That makes me sad. A truly funny, funny man.
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly: Alas! Smoking was never my vice. My brother went to a hypnotist to stop smoking and it almost killed him, no joke. I guess they implant associations of smoking with images of death and doom into your mind. He became almost delusional and suicidal. He went back for a ‘reversal.’ Smoked again until the heart stent surgery….
JPL
I’ve did a few hours of weeding, and each year there is a new type that decides to over take my shrubs. This year it appears to be a creeping cucumber vine. It doesn’t appear to be extremely toxic, but can act like a strong laxative.
Gin & Tonic
@debbie: I still think there are lines Putin won’t cross.
SiubhanDuinne
Haven’t looked at recent comments, so this news may have been noted, but playwright Neil Simon has died. His scripts gave a lot of pleasure in their time. R.I.P.
Gin & Tonic
@SiubhanDuinne: I’m sure someone will come along presently to tell us what an asshole he was.
zhena gogolia
@Gin & Tonic:
Yeah, the people in England were Russians (except for the accidental victims). The idea that they would try to assassinate Mueller or even Manafort or Cohen is over the line, I think. They did cross a line with Skripal, though, since they were reneging on a swap, but still . . . .
raven
@Immanentize: I quit 50 years ago in SE Asia, too much competition for my lungs!
zhena gogolia
@Gin & Tonic:
Mais bien sûr!
Brachiator
@OzarkHillbilly:
Wow. This is some of the craziest, most vile nonsense I’ve seen since the last time I read one of Trump’s Twitter rants.
I hope this has some impact with voters. Even a little.
Another Scott
In other news… Twitter:
(via LOLGOP)
71 days to go. The end of the month is coming up, and several organizations are having contributions matches. Give generously to groups that are working for victory for our candidates in November, if you can.
Cheers,
Scott.
Major Major Major Major
@OzarkHillbilly: I quit smoking when I started Wellbutrin, which is the same drug given in lower doses under the brand name Zyban for smoking cessation. It seems to have worked reasonably well–I can’t say I had that hard a time of it, compared to other people I’ve talked to/read about. Of course, it’s also quite psychoactive, at least at the antidepressant dose.
Kay
@cliosfanboy:
True, but Democrats could make an effort to make it less grim. Obama understood this- that it has to be hopeful and appealing.
We’re always apologizing for pandering to our base. That doesn’t require an apology. Some Republican pundit was tweeting yesterday that if Trump was gone Democrats would hate Pence, as if this is proof of “derangement”. Of course we’ll hate Pence. We’re not far Right Republicans.
Partly I blame political media. People are repelled by political campaigns because campaigns are horrible.
tracy ratclif
For your Sunday schadenfreude I present “Melania Trump ‘Embarrassed & Humiliated’ By Donald’s Love Child Allegations.” Hollywood LIfe’s exclusive sources (who I suspect live on Pennsylvania Avenue and speak with a Slovenian accent) say that Melania is devastated but won’t divorce the Donald until Barron is grown.
https://hollywoodlife.com/2018/08/25/melania-trump-embarrassed-donald-love-child-allegations/
donnah
So sorry to hear about Neil Simon. one of my favorite films of all time is The Goodbye Girl.
With all of the dialogue he wrote, I always imagined his scripts must have weighed fifty pounds.
RIP, dear sir.
SiubhanDuinne
@Gin & Tonic:
Yeah, I had to close down the McCain threads last night. Scanned them this morning.
@germy:
That is sad. Apparently his wife and daughter are battling over custodial rights.
satby
@germy: @trollhattan: Tim Conway’s best bit
NotMax
@zhena gogolia
AFAIK it’s been atypical silence from TP, starting a couple of days before the storm impacted.
Kay
@cliosfanboy:
I bet the Texas senate race is fun. He’s a long shot, Cruz is like a cartoon villain, it’s Texas…
Fun is important. It can’t all be work. They’re volunteers. It has to be reciprocal. Voters pick that up, if there’s joy in it.
Suzanne
@SiubhanDuinne: He was a wonderful artist. His loss is a big one. 91 is a pretty good run.
opiejeanne
@debbie: Yes! Butterflies adore cleome. We planted a large bed of them one year and we had scads of Painted Ladies being chased by Red Admirals.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Betty Cracker:
How is Vigano not also part of the child abuse cover up himself? I mean the man is a “prince of the church” himself and that is the classic hard right line to project on to others.
CliosFanBoy
@OzarkHillbilly: read a little erotica before going to sleep and see if your dreams get even MORE entertaining. ;)
CliosFanBoy
the 1st sentence answers the second with a resounding “YES”
JWL
Forget the foliage. The east coast is so chock-full of beautiful brick buildings like those in the photo that I doubt many back there much notice. You sure don’t see anywhere near the same percentage of them on the west coast. In fact, I well remember being mucho bummed when two of San Francisco’s prettiest brick structures (a shriner’s hospital and a St. Anne’s of the Poor residence) were both red-tagged and torn down in the aftermath of the Loma Prieta earthquake of ’89. Which probably means those still standing are all living on borrowed time, too…. then again, aren’t we all?
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@CliosFanBoy: Of course, the man’s an authoritarian in an inherently authoritarian organization. The only reason he would speak out against a superior like that is to cover his own crimes.
Steeplejack
@rikyrah:
Grating tomatoes: short video from YouTube.
zhena gogolia
@NotMax:
Oh, I hope he’s okay.
Steeplejack
@zhena gogolia:
Fuck that guy! He was mean to Marsha Mason!
Ruckus
@SiubhanDuinne:
Damn.
J R in WV
@rikyrah:
Thanks for posting this link. Everyone, this is important, a blueprint to the ongoing destruction of democracy in America for the benefit of the Kochs and their cohort of billionaires who want us to be powerless in the face of their control of — well, everything, including us!
Meet the Economist Behind the One Percent’s Stealth Takeover of America
Copied from rikyrah’s comment above, for emphasis!
Ruckus
@SiubhanDuinne:
Story I saw said wife wanted to put him in a place that didn’t have the level of care that the daughter wanted for him.
Having had my father in full time care because of his Alzheimer’s I can understand. It’s a tremendously tough gig, deciding what to do. Is the wife’s decision acceptable, is the daughter being over protecting? We found a place, run by two Vietnamese women, sisters if I remember correctly, they owned several houses that they cared for 3-5 people with Alzheimer’s in each. They were wonderful and cared for him far better than the bigger commercial places and cheaper by far as well. And still expensive. They both came to his funeral and were amazing in that they cared so much for each of their residents.
debbie
@zhena gogolia:
I’m glad for yours and G&T’s posts, but there are always new lines to cross. I can’t imagine Putin will let go of his puppet very easily.
JAFD
@Ruckus: My sympathies. My father had what the docs called ‘stroke-induced Alzheimers’ – was ‘just not there’ for several months – had to put him in the car sometimes, drive around the neighborhood in circles, only way to get him to sleep. Fortunately we found some good doctors, and received a lot of prayers, got him back for a few years, ’till his heart failed, couple of weeks after his 90th birthday.