Hi, remember me?

I have been somewhat remiss in my postings. Seems like every time I thought about typing stuff, either something came up, or I was not feeling up to snuff. If I could get more than 4 or 5 hours of sleep a night, that would probably help. I'm going to try to post a little more often and more coherently in the future.

**********************************************

I was sort of surprised at the Heller decision from the SCOTUS; I thought there would be less dissenting votes. After reading the decision all the way through, I can understand what happened. From reading the dissenting opinions, the 4 judges did not really read the cases such as Miller, as their ignorance showed. And when Stevens refers to the First Amendment as a collective right? Sounds more like they had their minds set on dissenting before it even started, and were just trying to justify it.

***********************************************

The presidential campaigns are getting muddy already; I think those on the left are a bit confused. I keep hearing that Obama is for Hope and Change, anyone who doesn't like him is a racist, we need to redistribute the wealth, and Bush sucks. Let me see if I can clarify things for you:

1. Hope and Change are concepts; they are not plans, and the accomplish nothing by themselves.
2. I don't like a lot of people, and they tend to be all different colors. Just because he has a better tan than I do doesn't mean a damn thing to me.
3. Government redistribution of wealth is not a plan, it's a recipe for disaster. Few things run a country into the ground faster than socialism.
4. NEWS FLASH: Bush is not running for election; what the hell does he have to do with either one of the idiots running for office?

For those on the far right, quit worrying about where Obama was born, and who is dad was; he isn't living there now, and his dad isn't running for office. I know lots of people who were raised in a religion that didn't take. I'm more interesting in what the candidates have in their resume, and what they were doing and saying before they ran for office. Both of them have been doing some serious waffling.

***********************************************

It's been cooler than usual around here this summer (global warming, I assume), the plants that prefer cooler weather have been happy, but it hasn't been so cool as to stunt the others. My tomatoes are up over three feet in height, and are starting to put out; I picked a couple of cherry tomatoes just last week.



These tomatoes are a bit larger than a golf ball; they should be ready before too long.



A sweet yellow pepper, almost tennis ball sized.



These are a favorite of my wife: strawberries. She has been picking these almost daily from the small patch we have; they are just about done for the year.



The Egyptian onion is unfamiliar to a lot of people. It is like a large scallion, only slightly tougher, and with a more pungent flavor, making it good for cooking. At the top of the stalk you find a cluster of bulbs as shown in this photo. After you pull up the onion, you break off the top bulbs, and plant them back into the ground where they each grow up into an onion, thus perpetuating the onion patch. I've been mulching heavy to cut down on weeding and watering, it is a good way to use grass clippings, leaves, coffee grounds, etc.


***********************************************

Not too much in the way of CW in my playlist today; mainly rock, blues, and jazz, as shown in the top ten of the shuffle below:

"Edge of a Broken Heart" by Vixen
"We Gotta Get Out of This Place" by The Animals
"Monk's Mood" by Thelonious Monk
"Let Me Be" by The Turtles
"Gimme Shelter" by The Rolling Stones
"Dream a Little Dream of Me" by The Mamas & the Papas
"Boogie Chillen" by John Lee Hooker
"The Battle of Evermore" by Led Zeppelin
"I Only Want to Be With You" by Dusty Springfield
"I'm Eighteen" by Alice Cooper

Any favorites here, comments, anecdotes?

There's a pair to draw to...

June 16 (Bloomberg) -- Former Vice President Al Gore will step off the sidelines and make his first campaign stop with Democrat Barack Obama tonight.

Gore, who made the announcement in an e-mail to supporters, will appear with Obama at a rally in Detroit that is scheduled to begin at 8:30 p.m. local time.

``A few hours from now I will step on stage in Detroit, Michigan, to announce my support for Senator Barack Obama,'' Gore wrote in a fundraising letter. ``From now through Election Day, I intend to do whatever I can to make sure he is elected president of the United States.''

That sounds like a good place for a conservative and/or a libertarian to avoid. Or anyone who is allergic to bullshit. The way those two are worshiped by the left wing, there will probably be more panties thrown at the stage than at a Tom Jones concert. If McCain wants to make a decent fight of it, he needs to find a couple of political idols to do the rah-rah cheerleading stuff for him. I'm missing Pat Paulsen more all the time.

Yep, I'm still here

It's been a couple of weeks since I scribbled here; I imagine some people were wondering where I was.
The past couple of weeks have been strange weather around here; chilly and raining during the day, cold at night. It is not typical June weather for this area, believe me. Of course, the weeds have flourished during this time, trying to take over everything. It seems like a lot of my spare time has been out trying to discourage them. Along with weeds, the weather is prone to a lot of pressure changes. To those out there with arthritis, rheumatism, and bad backs, you know what that means. A lot of the time I haven't been outside I've been fighting with my bad disks. For about thirty years now, I've had some slipped disks, which means that during that time, I have been in pain, 24/7. On a good day, I feel like I've been whacked across the kidneys with a two-by-four. On a bad day, said two-by-far is studded with sixteen penny nails. Air pressure changes means bad days, and when you couple that with yard work, the results are less than pleasant. This gets very distracting when you try to sleep. Waking up at 300 in the morning with a trapezium muscle having a severe spasm is not conducive to rest, so I'm about half asleep these days. My heart seems to be adjusting to things also; I've been getting tired fast if I work bent over, and the edema in my lower legs seems to be harder to fight. Just thought I'd let people know where I was. But enough whining about my problems.

************************************************

I'm curious to see how the presidential campaigns will get going; right now both parties seem to be poking each other with sticks to see what makes the other bark the loudest. I don't know yet what kind of campaigns the candidates will run, but I have a feeling that the supporters will be doing some nasty fighting. As the old Johnny Cash song says; they'll be "kickin' and a gougin' in the mud and the blood and the beer". I wouldn't be surprised to see tactics done by third parties that will be embarrassing to both candidates. I think what will be important next election is who we send to Congress; they are the ones who make the laws. Personally, I always get a little wary whenever the majority of the house is the same part as a president; it tends to get out of control, no matter which party is running things. Power corrupts after a while, which is why things need shaken up and swept out on occasion. The Republican party learned that the hard way last election, and the Democrats don't seem to have learned from their example at all. I mean really guys, when Congress has a lower approval rating than Bush, you really need to pull your heads out of your butts and look at yourselves.
Personally, I don't like either of them; one is an old guy who claims to be conservative (LOL), the other is for all practical purposes a socialist who claims the ability to do everything but walk on water and cure cancer, all you have to do is let him redistribute the wealth.
Much as I dislike McCain, I have a strong dislike for socialism in it's various forms, so I'm not really happy about the coming election.
I think a lot will depend on their running mates. I have a feeling that the first one that picks a female VP will score quite a few votes from the Hilary supporters who are spitting mad right now.
Just my opinion.

*******************************************

My miniature roses are doing well; this is one of them.



The bloom is only an inch across. I have several of these, all different colors.

*******************************************

Any favorites in this bunch?

"Crazy" by Willie Nelson
"Gotta Get a Hold of Myself" by The Zombies
"Walk, Dont't Run" by The Ventures
"The Story in Your Eyes" by The Moody Blues
"Dream a Little Dream of Me" by The Mamas & the Papas
"While My Guitar Gently Weeps" by The Beatles
"Sole Survivor" by Asia
"Bridge over Troubled Water" by Simon & Garfunkel
"Se a Cabó" by Santana
"Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" by Johnny Rivers