Does Dorothy Need Photo I.D.?

On this final day of August, just over two months prior to our Presidential Election, I give you yet another snippet from an episode of the HBO program, The News Room. I know, I know, the writers, producers and directors of this program are raving lunatic whacko commies...or at least appear so to some of us. Others feel they've hit the nail squarely on the head.

This is nothing new; hell, we Americans have been bickering back and forth about such topics for generations. The public bickering however, in my opinion, has reached an all-time low point. Both sides throwing lies out there while hoping no one will notice and call them on it, evidently. Pretty sad.

I'm no historian, so maybe politics has been so low down, dirty and full of lies all along...but as for me, I'm sick of all of it. November 6 cannot come and go soon enough, so we can begin hearing about the 2016 race, of course. Good grief.

The following is presented here to get those brain cells in gear. What do you think?

Puttin' Up the Flag

A good friend just sent me the following link. Sorry I couldn't find a way to embed the video, but you can get there easy enough by just "clicking" the link shown below.

Just simple facts, along with some feelings, stated well by a guy that could be called a member of our great Silent Majority. Yes, it has a tiny religious bent to it, but why not? This is America and we're free to do that.

Yes, I'm sappy, patriotic, country-loving...things that sometimes make other parts of the world hate us. No, we are far from perfect, but I can't think of a better place.

God Bless America!

http://www.billcook.net/puttin-up-the-flag.html

Fantastic Weather

This year's weather has been strange and unpredictable: an extremely mild winter, two weeks of 70-degree weather in March, freezing nights in April, multiple 100-degree days in July. But, that's Michigan for you. As they say, if you don't like today's weather, just wait, tomorrow is sure to be different. 

This week has been filled with "Chamber of Commerce" weather, however. Temperatures in the upper 70s, cool good-for-sleeping nights, and brilliant clear blue skies. Absolutely lovely, as shown in this photo taken from my office 4th floor window this morning.

Perfect, don't you agree?

A Beautiful and Majestic Ode

Back in my college days, I needed a "fluff" course to fill out my schedule so I decided to take a Classical Music Appreciation class. Amazingly, the class gave me an actual appreciation for and love of classical music! Imagine that!

A good friend just sent me a link to the video displayed below. It isn't the full fourth movement of Mr. Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, but you'll get the idea...this is truly majestic stuff.

Oh, at about 4:00 into the video, you can get a good idea of what I expect to hear as I travel through that "tunnel" many people who've had near-death experiences have talked about. You know, on that last journey when my time here is completed. I've put in my request, someday I'll see if The Big Guy comes through for me.

Now, enjoy the video and watch the faces of the people, young and old alike; it truly is an ode to great joy. Thanks, Ludwig.

The Garden is Winding Down

Well, in just a month we'll be at the first day of Autumn, so I guess it shouldn't be a surprise that the garden is beginning to slow down. However, in another week or two I plan to get a fall planting in of the more cool-hearty veggies, like lettuce, peas, Swiss chard and a couple others. The snow won't be flying for quite a while, so why not make "hay" while the sun shines?

I apologize for the poor photo quality here (too much green with the wooded area in the background), but I'll follow-up with a few better shots. The tomato and cucumber plants are absolutely huge and both produced very well.

These heirloom cherry tomatoes, you may recall, were
"volunteers" that popped up from seeds in our
compost pile. 

We cannot honestly figure how these Roma
volunteers made their way into the garden. We haven't
grown any Roma tomatoes! 

These Beefsteak beauties were grown from plants this year. They're a
beautiful deep red inside and sweet as can be.

We've enjoyed these mild "Cubanelle" peppers; similar
to banana peppers. They go about 6" long when ripe and
are a tasty addition to a fresh salad.

I plan to dry this basil as soon as it fully matures. 

Our cucumber plants have pretty much stopped production, but we've enjoyed lots of them fresh while looking forward to tasting the dill pickles happily soaking away right now in basement storage. I just checked them and they look great. I made myself put them back on the storage shelving, though, at least for a while longer.

All in all, I've been pleased with our production, considering the crazy hot and dry summer we've experienced this year. As I said, though, the Fall garden is still to come.

Martian Landscape Panorama

Here's a fantastic interactive 360° color panorama of Curiosity rover and the surrounding Martian landscape beamed back from the vehicle. Pretty amazing stuff!

Nice job by Andrew Bodrov putting this together.



Link directly to the original web page and image HERE.

What a Pickle!

We canned four quarts of dill pickles last night; my first endeavor of this kind. They didn't come out looking perfect, like a jar of Claussen's, but I think they're going to be pretty tasty. Lots of garlic, dill, pickling spices, vinegar and salt...how could they not be fantastic? At least each jar sealed tight, so we're off to a good start.

We'll give them a minimum of a week, hopefully our curiosity will hold off even longer, then crack a jar open to taste the fruits of our labor. It was fun putting them together; I hope the eating will be even better!