Another blow to a love affair

No, Georgia and I are doing well, and nothing spiritual here. You need to go down to the December 24 post for that. Here is just an old man pissed at an institution that has disappointed him for the last time. It revolves around what I thought was a great Craftsman model#315.115690 cordless jig saw. You will need to go back to my post, "My turn to vent" dated Tuesday, July 14, 2009. I had just purchased this saw and wanted to use it in Gas City, but had left my charger at home. Read that post for that story. Well. Here we are in 2013 and I found while working on the additional reindeer for the lawn that my jig saw batteries would not charge. Oh, while we are dealing with this, our local Sears store is closing and looks like a wasteland at this point. I finished the reindeer using a good old corded saw, then went to Sears to see if I could find a replacement battery. NOT!!! They suggested I check with a battery company. I found a local Interstate Battery store and they showed that both my Li-ion batteries were defective and they didn't find that they had a battery that worked. Here at the local Ace hardware, where Craftsman tools are sold, there was no such battery and they couldn't order one. So today, after the dust of celebration has settled, I went to SearsDirect.com to find a replacement battery. Well that was a bust. so I called the number. After the obligatory wait while listening to elevator music, I got a nice young man who tried. He could find no such battery, but did however find that there was a different battery available for this model of saw. Only $194.. You gotta be kidding me!!
I then took a look at their site and found a saw nearly identical to mine which is in the "C3" line. I mean I could not tell it from mine except that the battery post on the C3 was molded just slightly different. I then recalled that not long after I bought my saw, Craftsman came out with that C3 line of interchangeable tools. Aha.... foiled again. I'm now thinking that they found that the tools with the technology that I bought weren't working well so the launched another campaign with this new line. As best I can tell, about April, 2010. The saw identical to mine costs around $50 today and the battery is on sale for $19.95.  Now I must decide, do I yield and buy a replacement saw and battery as I chuck the old one, perfectly good .... with no power, into the trash, knowing that as soon as I buy it, Craftsman/KMart will discontinue that line and come out with something new; leaving me with yet another paperweight? I know this because they are already pushing their Nextec line. I do know that my reverence and attraction to Craftsman tools has withered to nearly nothing. You will be seeing more yellow and black stuff in my shop as the years pass, along with whatever ever my new love, Harbor Freight, is pushing at the time.

Good bye Craftsman. You've hurt me for the last time.

Gotta tell somebody!

This as been a bit of a difficult year for us, but at year's end, I still have the feeling of "we're gonna get through this". Although Georgia hasn't been able to be involved much this year for our Christmas celebration, we have discussed things and are forging ahead to our annual family gathering which is to take place this afternoon at our house. At this age, I have pretty much come to the conclusion that our sense of worth pretty much comes from whether or not we are meeting our goals in life. As a Christian, it pretty much goes back to whether or not we are living up to what we believe God would want us to do. My favorite scripture is Micah 6:8 (This one thing do I require of you, oh man. That you do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.) A "down home" version would be "do your best, pray that it's blessed, and God will take care of the rest".
Our family is used to "enjoying" fairly generous gifting from us at Christmas time, a trait that I married into. The purpose is to bring gifts as the "wise men" brought gifts to Jesus.  During the past few years as we have been blessed with some extra work, we are reminded of the verse, "I prosper you so that you can be generous".. (paraphrased). In that, we have come to start our Christmas season with giving to the Salvation Army, Eastern Illinois Food Bank, Salt and Light, Empty Tomb Ministry, the DSC "tree of hope", and WBGL, one of our local Christian radio stations, among others. Essentially we give approximately 10 times to charities that we deem worthy before we start "giving" to our family. So with most of this under our belt for this year, I was feeling pretty good about myself, when I read a post on Facebook by our son Greg 10 things you can't do bearing a "drawing" depicting Jesus, I think, in a Santa hat. I was in a hurry, but ran through it quickly, checking things off, then I started feeling condemned and didn't know why. So I let it soak a while.
This morning, I got potatoes peeled and started getting things around for the arrival of the troops while listening to Ann Rhoton on WDWS and heard lots of varied Christmas music including Johnny Cash doing "The Christmas Guest". (Look it up). The "10 things" post kept gnawing at me, so I decided it was time for a break and came up to read through it completely. I'm not sure why I feel the need to do this, maybe I just want someone to know that "I'm workin on it". I understand that I shouldn't need to have the approval of earthlings and maybe won't even get that, but as the title says, "I gotta tell somebody". I wrestled with how to go about this, and have now decided to copy each of the 10 points and address them one at a time. Understand that this is all from the top of my head, out of my heart, and maybe pulled out my butt.. Hopefully it will make sense to someone.  I start with the fact that I believe the writer reversed the order of his points, but I will not belabor that. (His words in RED)
10) Celebrate Consumeristmas.
For many folks, Christmas starts standing in line on Thanksgiving Day. 'Tis the season for mass consumerism. Regardless of where you think it began, Christmas has slowly drifted into the bog of consumer madness. Like frogs in a pot of slowly boiling water, we never saw it coming. For Christians, this is particularly problematic because the guy we are celebrating this time of year told us that collecting stuff here on Earth is not the way to follow him.
I am totally on board with this one. We have let the merchants turn us into beasts. We as a society. I don't think I fit here (???) But I do like to be a good steward of the funds given me to care for and not waste them.

9) Forget Those Without Food. Jesus once said that when we feed the hungry we are feeding him. Anyone want to guess what it means when we ignore the hungry? How about ignoring the hungry as we scrape the leftover Christmas ham from our plates into the trash? Maybe we need to change the name of the season to Gluttonousmas? Too many presents, too much food – too little consideration for those in need.
As a society, I must agree. Hopefully our personal giving habits help here, but lay off the guilt trip, We can't feed them all. I'm not sure any of us can give enough. Where does it stop. I must also insert here that I do have a problem "caring for" those who could care for themselves, but have come to depend on us to care for them. I believe each person should handle the burden that has been brought to their door. To ignore the hungry is wrong, but are we not to also have some enjoyment ourselves? I can find scriptures that say, "No".. I once had a pastor who said, "suffering is where it's at"... Boy we could go round and round on this one. I think we should be willing to suffer for a rightful cause, but I'm not sure we quite understand what Paul meant when he said "I count it all joy". I fully agree with the writer that we shouldn't be throwing good food away while others go hungry, but I was raised to be a "clean plater" and in the era of "think of all the starving kids in China". Don't take more than you will eat, right? And now that my waist is bigger than my chest, I don't look at stuffing myself as a good thing. So I agree with the writer's basic premise here, don't know why it feels bad when I do agree. Hmmm. (Have to step away and go shove an onion and celery up the turkey's butt and put him in the oven.

8) Forget Those Without Shelter. No room at the inn. One of the key moments in the story Christians celebrate is the moment when Jesus was almost born in the streets of Bethlehem. Our need to clean up the Christmas story assumes that the innkeeper told them to use the manger but the Bible says no such thing. There was no room at the inn, leaving Mary to place her newborn child in a smelly feeding trough. For that night they were without shelter. Throughout his life Jesus would spend his ministry with no place to lay his head. This time of year we celebrate a homeless man. Do our actions, do the places we place our money, honor that?
Whoa!!! They had a home and they left it to go to be counted in the census (as was the law of the land).. Sorry, Bud, that is a bit of a stretch. Yes, just like the sparrow, somewhere after Jesus left "the nest" he apparently did not "have" a home. As far as truly homeless goes, I think most of today's "homeless" are that way because they can't afford a home. So not sure we must separate them from "the poor" which we will always have among us. However, I think we should help as we can. I personally am more concerned with why they are homeless. I'm not sure that just giving them shelter for a night is doing anything. I have the basic concept that nearly anyone can support themselves. I would rather support a ministry that can find out why a person is poor and homeless and help them fix that rather than just supporting with food and shelter. I don't think Jesus was asking for handouts. Again, where do we draw the line. If I thought it would help, I would gladly take all the food we are fixing for our family gathering and all the gifts under the tree and give it to someone without..... But tomorrow, I fear most of those folks will be right back there with their hand out. Surely you've heard, "give a hand UP not a hand OUT".. Sound crass and cruel? Sorry, that's the way I see it. Please understand that my heart breaks for folks who can't..... Hopefully where I am giving  will help them.
 7) Forget About Immigrants.We three kings from orient are. Beside sounding like Yoda wrote a Christmas carol, there are a number of things messed up about that line. We don't actually know how many there were. They were magi, not kings. We also do not know where they were really from other than “from the East.” What we do know is they were foreigners and their revelation of the real king's plans to kill all newborn boys to put an end to Jesus turned Jesus' family into immigrants in Egypt. Our Christmas story is replete with images of people journeying to new lands. Christmas should cause Christians to recommit to embracing immigrants.
Sorry pastor, I fear you are stretching again. Maybe I read it incorrectly, but I come away with a message that these guys got word that a king was to be born and they were coming to pay homage. They weren't immigrating. I fully honor and give credit to people who leave their homeland for a better life in another country LEGALLY.... I'll just leave it there, lest I really tic myself off. Obviously only Native Americans can complain about "foreigners". And I'll leave that one sit also. Christmas should cause Christians to recommit to embracing Christ, whatever that requires them to do.

6) Miss The Message About Resisting Abusive Power.Mary and Joseph and their family had to flee their homeland because King Herod strong-handedly used his power to squash out what he saw as a threat to his power. I can guarantee you two things; One, in the house where Jesus grew up, the narrative of why they had to flee to Egypt and of the senseless deaths imposed on other families by the powerful was a story that was told time and time again. Two, the focus on abuse of power in Jesus' teaching and his constant willingness to confront it was no accident. Christmas should cause Christians to recommit to confronting those who abuse power.
My my. I had never thought of it this way, but you know I think he's onto something. Wow, where do we start? I mean, we have our leaders all telling us the "other side" is lying and abusing and I pretty much believe they all are. I refuse to let this get political. We just dealt with the passing of Nelson Mandela who apparently was successful in this regard. I pray a lot, but feel at a loss regarding having any meaningful value in confronting. I think I'll have to let that one soak a bit also.
5) Forget Those Without Presents.If you have two coats give one away. In announcing the coming of Jesus, John the Baptist told us what God was asking of us. Coats were just an example – a place holder if you will. If you have two Christmas presents give one away. 
OK, I think I'm good here. Not being smug, just OK.
4) Insist Your Religious Celebration Rule Them All.This time of year far too many Christians remind me of Gollum and his Precious. (A LoTR shout out in a Christian Christmas post! C'mon Peter Jackson, give me some promo love!) One holiday to rule them all: “We nee-eeds it. They stole it from us!” Never mind that Jesus was Jewish or that there is a list of other celebrations that occur this time of year, there's a certain cultural privilege in the air that seems so very un-Christian to me. You can just about bet that the folks calling out for the dominance of Christmas would be singing a new song if Judaism were the dominant religious culture and this time of year radio stations across the land played Chanukah songs. Well, metaphorically they would be singing a new song – maybe a few even literally.  
Sorry, lost me here. As I said in a Facebook post. Y'all can celebrate whatever you want, but "as for me and my house"; we're celebrating Jesus. I know, I might be a redneck. However, I simply cannot abide with the idea that it is a cultural thing. If I deny the fact that Jesus is the only hope of the world rather than just one of the things we celebrate, then I think I am disregarding a whole lot of scripture this guy seems to be ignoring himself.
3) Get Mad About “Happy Holidays.”On a related note, you know what “holiday” is short for, right? Holy day. Do you really have a problem with people calling Christmas a holy day?
Boy this one has gotten a lot of play this year. Yesterday I heard several people do it "right".... "Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays". Which says to me, "I wish you the love of Christ as well as whatever other holiday you may be celebrating.".. To me Merry Christmas says, "For God so loved the world that He brought his only begotten Son to earth so that he could be sacrificed in your and my place that we might have fellowship with the Holy and Marvelous God of the Universe.   And I'm happy about that and hope you are too." I don't get "Mad" about "Happy Holidays", but please don't leave out the joy of Christmas.
2) Think That It Is Actually Jesus' Birthday .Um. So... dang, this is hard and I'm really sorry to be the one telling you. Um, let's see. Remember how when you were growing up the Sunday school teacher told you it was Jesus' birthday? Yeah. Well, um... they lied. Yeah. Sorry about that. We don't actually know when Jesus was born. It was probably in the spring or summer because “the shepherds watched their flocks by night” – something which definitely didn't happen in the winter.  
I know that! So what? Why make it number 2 on your list? It really makes you come off as a smart ass. But then your stepped in it with your last statement. Here on December 24, the temperature in Tel Aviv is 63 degrees F. with a range of 48 to 70 this week. So why would they not be watching their flocks by night?
1) Confuse The Religious Observance With the Secular Holiday.
It may be that December the 25th was picked as the date to celebrate Jesus' birth to compete with or even to adopt the followers of the pagan celebration of Saturnalia, which included decorating with evergreens, gift giving and parties. (Hmmm, why does that seems so familiar?) I bring this up to make a simple point; A lot of our “War on Christmas” problems would rightfully go away if we simply acknowledged that there are two celebrations of Christmas each year. One is religious and one is not. Most of this article actually points to the issues that happen when we conflate them. So, let's stop doing it.
Totally agree that the celebration of the birth of Jesus the Christ has been bastardized into a gluttonous, consumerist, and maybe selfish excuse for drunkenness and debauchery. Many of our traditions have truly drifted from the celebration we Christians hold dear. I even made extra reindeer including Rudolph to go with the sleigh in our yard for this year. Should I feel guilty? We do have angels in another part of our yard. I would challenge the author to turn his negative energy to positive. Come up with ideas to help us to move away from the secular. Maybe I'm being the dolt here because it seems so simple, I guess. Francis Schaeffer  wrote "How Shall we then Live?" Maybe this is what Pastor Sandlin is driving at. I agree most of us probably mix too much world into our Christianity. It is painful to keep one foot on each of diverging forces. This is completely off the subject, but I did receive this from a couple of folks this week. I think it illustrates this point, though most likely "digital magic". chuck-norris-splits-spoof/Maybe I've come full circle in this argument. I feel better now. I hope I haven't confused you. Merry Christmas! (And Happy New Year). Oh, the last of the Christmas gifts we ordered for our grandkids just arrived at the door. Gotta go!!
 

Better Sheck (With apologies to Deanna Falls)

When our boys were young, this phrase was endearing because more than once a younger, more reckless (shall we say) brother would plan to do something and he would hear "Better Sheck", which of course was an indication from a wiser, older brother that before he did something he would regret, he had better check with us (the parents). No I didn't spell it incorrectly, but am attempting to let you into the voice of a wise, very young man. Why did that come to my mind today? If you read my most recent post, you know that I was debating with myself about checking to see what Deanna Falls said in the commercial. As you also know, I didn't check but went with what I thought I heard. Today I checked in at Luther Falls place in Champaign (It is only a block from Lil Porgys.) Deanna wasn't there, but I went ahead and related my story to the 2 young folks who were in charge at the time. I started by asking if they had heard the commercial; they hadn't ..... hmmmm.  (Well the young lady had only worked there for 3-4 days. I then said, "I'm not sure if she said "box" or "fox"... He said, "Oh, I'm sure it was box because box cabinets are cabinets ...... (I think he said less than 3 feet wide, but I'm not sure)... Well here is a site that backs up his story and shows me that I should have checked this before posting my blog.. (BETTER SHECK)
 box cabinets

 Both of them also knew that faux is pronounced pho and were sure Deanna knew that also... So only the Hampton's lady is at fault. Obviously, I haven't learned my lesson yet. I am assuming that Deanna's last name is Falls, because I think she is married to "Luther Jr.).... Oh,, here i go again. Now I need to go back and check that fact (or fiction). I can hear her now, saying "who is this guy and why doesn't he get off my back"... Sorry Deanna, I'll drop it here.

Did I slip another one by you or did you wonder why I said it was pronounced "pho" not "fo".... While we are playing the pronunciation game, how do you pronounce "pho". If you're part of the "hip hop culture", you surely pronounce it FO, like phat, etc. but if you're up on the Vietnamese soup that has become popular the past few years, especially in the western USA, you will know that pho is not pronounced "fo", but some version of "fa"... No wonder we are confused with our pronunciations. "faux" is pronounced "pho" and "pho" is pronounced "fa"; well, sort of. Here is some help if you want to pronounce it correctly. Be sure to go down to where it says "Wikipedia pronunciation" and "my pronunciation" so you can hear it in the many forms.

Pronouncing pho  Thanks to a friend from the Denver area for the picture .

OK, I will now close this post with probably another error in judgement... I can hear our boys, saying "better sheck"... but I am again throwing caution to the wind. Today, on  wwhp, I heard Shemekia Copeland singing "Lemon Pie".. I haven't been able to find printed lyrics, but unless these old ears are deceiving me again, I think she is expressing how I feel each time I pay another estimated tax payment.. Hopefully, someone will correct me if I'm wrong. Although I can't complain, I do feel some of the "luster" is taken off my extra work and must think a lot of it is going for no good for anyone... I think that's what she is saying?????? At least I live in a country where I can choose to work, although I would rather have the choice to be generous rather than a "caucus of crows" deciding where it goes.  (Anyone want to make a song from that? 

Oh, here's the song. I really like the black and white version with Shemekia and the band in the park.

Lemon Pie

Fall, Faux, and maybe a few Funnies

We'll start with belated fall images. Although we have had a few fall decorations up for a while, our local trees are just starting to show nice color. I've seen so many gorgeous tree pictures from around the country that I won't bore you with ours. We finally got our freezing temps, so the zinnias have bit the dust and only a few hearty roses remain in color. We did pick up a few pumpkins and gourds to sit around. With Halloween looming in the near future, I think we must declare summer over.

Looking out the kitchen window

Looking in the kitchen window

Under the maple tree

Beautyberry in it's glory (with a few nasturtiums)

Cleomes replacing the irises

Marigolds and catmint

 Chokecherry berries

Coneflowers ready to feed the birds

Faux; how do YOU pronounce that? If you've been watching any decorating shows, you have heard the word quite a bit lately, though it's been around for a while. If you've read any of my stuff, you know that I get pretty worked up about using words correctly (though I make my share of errors). One of my pet peeves is advertisers who are reading script and have no idea what they are saying. Since our local Famous Dave's has closed down, I no longer have to endure "Dave" messing up the emphasis in the line; "what makes me Famous"..., emphasizing "famous" rather than "me" which buries the intent of the message. (You have to hear it). ......  however we now have a local auto dealership who's ad sends me up the wall each time I hear it. They used to say "From forty nine ninety five (4995) to 40,995" emphasizing the first 9, not the 40 the second time so you really had to pay attention to get the point. I know the "editors" or "owners" never listened to it because recently it is "From 3995 to 30,995" with the same incorrect emphasis. It is tough to make the point in print because it is emphasis and inflection on both the auto and Famous Dave's ads. I am just amazed that someone is paying someone to mess this up, then paying to have it played over and over on the radio and don't get the point that their message really is not getting out...... and nerds like me actually get ticked every time we hear it. If I haven't lost you here, let's get back to Faux...... It's a French word meaning false or fake.... It's make believe. So a "faux finish" is a finish that makes the material look like something that it isn't. Back in the 60's we called it "antiquing".  So here is the pronunciation: faux pronounced.  I'll bet you knew that, right? Well over the past year a couple of local establishments have attempted to use the word in their radio ads. Did I ever mention that I listen to a lot of talk radio (not political if I can help it)? Hamptons is a nice central Illinois kitchen and design place hamptons kitchens-cabinets. Now again supposedly the lady in the ad is one of the designers at Hamptons and she is talking about cabinets and she mentions "FOX" finishes... Now do you think she is talking about foxes???  I don't think so. Making the translation between radio and print, please understand that she is pronouncing faux as "fox" not "fo". How in the world does this person not know what this old farm boy veterinarian knows about her finishes.... aaarrrggghhh!!!!! I'm not done yet. The next story is about the Luther Falls radio ad where Dave Loane who announces the Illini baseball, and women's basketball and volleyball games as well as doing sports on the WDWS morning show is conducting a folksy interview with Deanna from that company about their stone countertops and cabinets. During the interview, maybe my old ears aren't hearing right and she is saying "Box" cabinets, but I think it sounds like "fox"... I must admit that I'm influenced by the Hamptons lady.  What makes this one important is that for years when  Luther Falls was selling stone out by I 74, I bought a lot of stone from Deanna, so I know she is for real and not a paid "actor". Here's their site; luther falls site. So there I am listening to Dave Loane do his cute little interview with Deanna and I'm getting all warm and fuzzy cause I'm so used to listening to Dave and I have written many checks to Deanna in that little trailer out by the stone yard before they became Kitchens; when BAM she drops the "FOX" word on me. I haven't completely ruled out dropping bye and asking her if she is saying box cabinets cause I really don't want to have to have her look up FAUX to have her computer pronounce the word for her.  If she is pronouncing faux as "fox", I'm also upset that Dave, a man of the world is letting her get away with it right there in the radio station studio where they make a living on WORDS... Oh, I feel so much better now.

Now hang on. If you know me, although I am a believer in Jesus Christ, the incarnate Living God who endured the cross, died and rose again by the power of the Holy Spirit to allow us intimate access to God the Father, ........reverence is not one of my strong suits. If you don't know me and haven't figured that out, you haven't read enough of my blog posts. It's not something to brag about, and I would say "I'm workin on it", but probably not very hard. I have surely stepped "over the line" more than once and offended someone. Honestly, I don't want to offend, but I do find some things (like the word "fart") to be a bit humorous. So put the kids to bed and go on if you dare. I'll start with a couple of songs from utube that you may have heard. I'll simply title their links as "song 1" and "song 2". Song 1    Song 2

If you're still with me, let's move on to something a bit more intellectual. This summer I was working at Purdue and we were dealing with a nearly drowned patient which Dr. Larry Hoscheit researched. I can't take any credit for this one. Larry even made the connection to our "reality". At this point, I must ask anyone who may attend a seminar by Dr. Hoscheit to stop here because I'm sure he will somehow weave this into his seminar and I don't want to spoil it for him.  However I have used the resultant phrase many times, but didn't know there was a medical basis. Check this out.

Larry found a reference in the 1996 Journal of Emergency Medicine quoting that in 1767, the Dutch Humane Society published the following recommendations for treating a drowning victim; "keep the victim warm, remove swallowed or aspirated water, give mouth-to-mouth respiration, and perform insufflation of smoke of burning tobacco into the rectum"... Yes, you read it correctly; Blow Smoke up their Butt!!! Who knew that 9 years before this country was founded, there was medical precidence for what elected officials are doing to the American citizenry as we are drowning in national debt today?

May the Lord bless you and keep you. May His face smile upon you and give you peace.

Decisions

Making decisions is a lifelong endeavor. Sometimes they are lifechanging and sometimes they are trivial. Sometimes they are very easy to make and sometimes they are heart wrenching. The secret, I believe is to keep perspective. You have surely heard the saying, "Don't sweat the small stuff; and it's all small stuff."  I would agree that most of it is small stuff. Obviously those most successful in making decisions are those who have been able to line up those decisions with their destiny (Jeremiah 29:11). Recently (check date of post) those of us who spend any time watching television (at least in the midwest) have come to pretty much disdain a certain guru who is training some gullible kid in making meaningful decisions. Steak and Shake.


The other morning, I had finished my "bidness" in a clean public restroom and was faced with a decision. I realized as I contemplated my choices, that I had been at this same crossroads many times before and had made different decisions, depending on my mood at the time. When I was feeling conservative, which is most of the time, I found that I choose to help finish the nearly used one. When I felt tidy (not often), I would choose to use the one that someone had left hanging down, so it would be neat for the next person. On the rare occasion when I felt selfish and in an "I deserve the best" mood, I would open a new one. If you haven't peeked at the picture yet, you might be wondering just what decision was causing me such concern.  It's like when you are in your own bathroom and there hangs a clean, folded towel, a brand new unused towel, and a rumpled, but dry one that has only been used a couple of times to dry hands. Which one do you choose??? And more importantly, why do you make that choice? I have been known to skip that particular decision and wipe my hands on my pants as I leave. When you are driving on an interstate highway and approach an intersection behind a slightly slower vehicle. Do you go ahead and pass that car so you don't have to disengage your cruise control, or do you wait til you are through the cloverleaf area so you don't "trap" that driver in the right lane? I find that I am one of the few who pay attention to where I am while driving. I do lay back so that the other driver can get into the left lane to make room for merging vehicles in the right lane. I do believe that is the courteous thing to do and remember that is actually what the "Rules of the Road" or whatever other driving instruction you may use tells us to do.. However, I am overwhelmed at the number of times I am the driver in the right lane and some jerk comes whizzing by me or rides my left rear fender so I can't get over to make room for vehicles trying to merge onto the highway. I don't say this so you think I am such a wonderful guy; only to remind anyone to be courteous when making those decisions.
Which brings us back to the original proposed decision. Next time you are ready for it, stop and think about why you chose the one you chose... That should make the next person waiting to use the "facility" a little more uncomfortable as you ponder the important things of life.

July Flowers 2013

The joy of perennial gardening is to see each new wave of blooms come forth as the past one fades away. Now in mid July, the first wave of roses and even the hollyhocks recently posted have faded along with the first crop of lavender blooms. To replace them, the Russia Sage is now in full bloom in back and out front, the tall garden flox, taller than they've ever been, are strutting their stuff along with various lilies. The coneflowers and blanket flowers are blowing away the few daisies that remain. and the first little tomato is red, just waiting to give that burst of juicy pleasure.  Nasturtiums are hanging in there, waiting to adorn a salad and the zinnias are just beginning to take over their spot in the continuum.
The neet thing about posting here is that now I can roll through the different posts to enjoy compare the ever changing beauty of gardening.

Blooms of Spring 2013 Ushering in Summer

June 20:

Glorious Hollyhocks

Yarrow

See the Bumblebee gathering pollen?

Lavender, Roses, and Lilies

Blanket Flowers

Coreopsis

Honeybee circled in upper right.

Sage just beginning to bloom.