Undulating patterns formed by Sun and Shade cloth on Patio woods in late afternoon.

Bad Attitudes..

No matter what we do, we just can't seem to get the rich off welfare!  Why?

This SITE LINK  is an extension of the "Sacred Bull" sort of manure that drops from the lips - figuratively speaking - of some of the Ruling Class Bovines that circle the Halls of Congress and probably that infamous "Lobby", wherever it may be in Washington DC.   The White House lawn in the grazing areas?

Oh, don't forget to click on the link that is called, "let's see", which is buried in there somewhere.  It takes you to NPR's page where Feinberg is whimping out.  

So, when all the entitlements for the children who are, as we've been led to believe, our future, just up and vanish, we can thank the "screw you, Cash Cows (US tax payers)!"  Corporate cheerleaders.

Too bad if the CASH COWS need to be watered and fed, using the COWS OWN pooled monies, set aside for such purposes, to be used during droughts- read recessions caused by poor governance." 

If that is hard to understand, I'm very sorry, but knitting isn't cutting it either for calming down or for lucid thinking.

The Twisted Sisters who use all our money for things that THEY want, have used all the BIG words to spin up favor from politicians who really ought to know better.  They forget who pays ALL THE BILLS, you reckon?

I need to go eat a lot of sugar, and field dress a cat.  Thank you, Santa Clause.

BIZZARO

I was wondering why Google decided to be so generous with space for things like photos, after they had originally announced that they were going to be downright stingy to their little blogspot.com captives.

Now we all know what they have been doing, while basking in the glory of being THE ONLY ONE of the three biggies (Google, AT$T (yes that's a dollar sign), and Verizon) who turned the government down cold when it slithered into Corporate and asked to use Google's search engine information to compile "lists".

We, those who would die for freedom of press and speech, all thought, "Score one for democracy! Way to go, Google"! It seemed as though you were for freedom of speech and thought and all that good stuff. You were a defender of the Constitution of the United States, for one. Now we see that we were wrong to heap all the laurels upon your brow.

*spits* Go fish!

Thrift Store Sweater

 

The question is, do I wear it or frog it for hats or hat and muffler? It's very soft and warm. It's a mohair blend of some sort, and a hand knit.

And, yes, welcome to my roller coaster ride. Up, down, up down... Sometimes I feel that living in the modern world of warfare (WoW) is like being a beautifully dressed Debutante, going to a Huge Ball at a very rich man's house but having to pick her way through the horse crap, gown gathered up in her hands, and shod in very expensive French high heels.

Up your Tailpipe, Google!

You ruined Blogspot by buying it.

Something good to eat, A compost bin moves house, and a picture of a tiny gardener.

Some sort of delicious, lumpy Citrus. Clementine, I think. It made for a very yummy Lunch!

Sis and I went grocery shopping today, but there were no more African Violets to rescue. So we hit the Salvation Army and Good Will Stores. We had a Thrifting Crawl!

I found a lovely rose colored mohair blend sweater - picture tomorrow when the sun is up - that I was going to rip down for hat yarn. DH and Sis told me to just wear it. Maybe I will.

Delicious, but admittedly dry, compost. The bins are being moved. I hope to plant three new roses where these bins were, and move back SunFlare. I haven't moved a rose since I was a kid. We'll see! Apricot Nectar is not doing will this year but there hasn't been a lot of 6 hour sunny days, either.

Sarah, gardening at an early age. She still grows many gardens. I see her and think of Kate Sessions, and my own dear mother, both of whom loved gardening their whole lives.

All our daughters make beautiful gardens.  It's such a joy to see their gardens.

In Celebration of something truly good....

Mutts.

Isn't that sweet?

Well well.. who could it be?

 

Uh oh....

I hope it's God and not Homeland Security. Or are they God now? Can't tell.

And I know what the SACRED BULL has been up to..

"Audit: Pentagon Can’t Account for 95% of $9B of Iraq Reconstruction Funds

A new government audit has revealed the Pentagon cannot account for over 95 percent of some $9 billion spent in reconstruction funds in Iraq between 2004 and 2007. In its report, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction accused the Pentagon of lax oversight and weak controls of money in the Development Fund for Iraq. The report stated, "The breakdown in controls left the funds vulnerable to inappropriate uses and undetected loss."

Sourced from DemocracyNow's email newsletter.

It's been eating all our money and getting fatter and fatter. I wonder when it starts to eat up the children's houses? Oh, I'm sorry; I forgot! It's already done that. duh..

And this, well, this just breaks the heart:

A Quote of Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio)from DemocracyNow!:

"Wake up, America! WikiLeaks’ release of secret war documents gave us 92,000 reasons to end the wars. Pick one. Wake up, America! Main Street is falling apart, businesses have closed, bankruptcies abound. People are losing their jobs, their homes, losing their retirement security. The middle class is falling apart. Workers’ rights are not being protected. The government’s out of money. There’s not even money for childhood nutrition!"

Thank you Representative Kucinich. Thank you DemocracyNow!. And we ALL can't just be "Cranky Socialistic Bully Pulpit Pundits", either. That's ridiculous. In fact it's infantile to go on that tract.

BIG BANG BIG BOOM - the new wall-painted animation by BLU

This is amazing! And there are some others, too. Thank you B. Click through to get the long playing version. It's truly awesome.

PS. I don't think it's r rated. teehee

Has anyone seen this cute hat?

 

I want to make this and will gladly buy the pattern but have no idea where the picture came from.

Well, now the cute hat is by itself!  I don't even have an excuse for such errors.. Insanity?  

Fiesty Alan's Hummer snags Lunch

To see the bird very well, you'll have to make the pictures bigger.

He didn't much care for all the activity going on below him, so he hid around behind to get a drink of nectar.

But, then, he came out front when the digger moved away a bit. This was the day of seeing whether what we'd gotten was actually usable in the garden or not. The composters have done their job. Yippie!

Another succulent that's been busy....

 

This Portulacaria, Elephant Bush, is blooming all over itself. Unfortunately it was attacked by something or other that likes to chew. But the little flowers are still nice to look at and very PINK which is my very favorite red. That site describes the flowers as inconspicuous, and is really, truly unfair to them. They look like pink semi-furry things.

It's Alive! eeee!

 

There are at least three distinct little plants growing on the surgical scar. Yayness!

Photo is Courtesy of DH, who can see to take macro shots. hehe

The Knitting.. Yes, actual knitting

The little pink sock.

 

The little red lace edge hat

 

I'll finish that toe tonight, and cast on the other sock. Also, it's time to unearth an UFO so the purple hempathy fingerless mitt will find it's way out of a little plastic baggie.. Yay!

A Very little Bird Bath and a Post Script

 

The Towhee had a bath first, and chased off a Scrub Jay, twice! Brave little Towhee! Then a male House Sparrow bathed.

It's supposed to be for watering the birds, but I'm so happy they are comfortable enough to take a bath in it, too, since it's right outside the window.

I would have gotten pictures of them bathing but the birds are not THAT willing to stick around. There is one-a picture not a bird- on the phone and if it's good enough, I'll upload it to this post later. One thing at a time!

PS. Last evening and today, the Baltimore Oriole females came to get nectar from the Cape Honeysuckle, a small flock of those tiny birds called Bushtits came to glean, the resident Towhee, Scrub Jays, House Finches, Mockingbird, two species of hummingbird, Allen's and Anna's, all came and settled for a time in the Honeysuckle. All because the water in the shade patio and the little bowl on the paver attracted them. They came for both water and food, plus the left over buckwheat waffles crushed up and set out for them on the garden bench. I'm sure that the other "wildlife" is enjoying the water and food during the night. Live and let live!

OMG Baby Bunnies!

Just when I need a cuteness fix, there they were, in my mail box. Thank you G!

Fuzzarelly, aren't they cute?

Sometimes maybe, just maybe, the Teabaggers have a point.

Since the laws were changed about consenting adults participation in you know what, it seems that is the ONLY thing that changed.

Here we have a case of food co-ops and other private groups for food distribution being hassled by raids and abuse of power (yes, it looks like that from here, particularly when search warrant limits were overstepped) by government agencies.

Can we no longer buy foods from private farms?  This is America?

See the whole story HERE, and read what follows about the steps which these farms are being advised  to take:

1. Be wary of strangers who want to join your private buying group or herdshare: Before they seek out a search warrant, regulators invariably nose around and infiltrate private buying groups or raw milk herdshares to gain information on "probable cause." They'll often make up sad stories as to why they should be allowed to join. Gary Cox of the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund recalls how an undercover agent from the New York Department of Agriculture and Markets infiltrated Meadowsweet Dairy LLC, a private organization of 120 Ithaca consumers who bought shares to gain access to raw dairy products, in 2007: "He was insistent. 'I live so far away, and I only come here so very infrequently, so can't I at least have some (milk) today, PLEEEEEEEASE, because otherwise I won't be able to get any for a long time.' Barb Smith felt sorry for him and relented. We know what the consequence was of her kindness." The consequence was an open-ended search warrant that agents used several times in late 2007 and early 2008 to confiscate product, leading up to a legal challenge to the LLC that is currently under appeal following rulings in New York state courts against Meadowsweet.
2. Have a video camera at the ready: Since search warrants are usually specific as to what can be searched and/or seized, a video recording of events inhibits abuses by regulators and other law enforcement personnel. Regulators and law enforcement officials definitely don't appreciate being videotaped, and sometimes will simply disconnect videos or order targeted individuals to put the videos away. According to Aajonus Vonderpanitz, in the June raid of his Rawesome Foods outlet, "They unplugged our surveillance camera to hide their actions. They threateningly refused video capture of their raid when members commenced filming."
3. Have a plan of action: Much like planning how your family might escape a fire, decide in advance who will handle the video camera, who will collect business cards or take down the names of all agents, and who will interact with the regulators. The regulators and police count on the element of surprise to sow confusion, and keep the targets from responding intelligently.
4. Read the search warrant fine print: Sometimes there are limitations on the search warrants that targets can exploit. Vernon Hershberger, the Wisconsin dairy farmer, was able to slow the regulators down because he knew the search warrant in his case likely wouldn't allow forcible entry, so when agents returned a second time, after he cut the seals on his fridges, he locked his farm store doors and they were forced to leave. They eventually returned with an amended warrant that specifically allowed them to take his computer.
5. Keep computer backups: In nearly all such raids, the authorities confiscate computers so they can document transactions and customer interactions. If you don't have a backup of what's on your disk, you can literally be put out of business. Moreover, it's advisable to monitor what information you keep on the computer in the farmhouse or in your food club. There's something to be said for backing up every few days onto another computer kept off-site.

As I said, maybe, sometimes,  the tea baggers have a point.  

Since raw milk is a choice, what is the government's problem?

God Bless Grist!  And if that left you saying, "yeah, but hey, it's raw milk stuff", read THIS, also from Grist.  And I'm sorry, you have to read the whole thing to get the drift.  IMHO, it's an awesomely strange little FDA oversight to not get on the ball with this one!

Pretty in Pink

Newest, and probably last, of the Supermarket lovelies.

Last week, in order to not buy the delicious two bite blueberry scones that I shouldn't be eating, I bought another African Violet, a ruffled pink. The picture was taken in afternoon light under a sky light, so it's accentuated the blue tint. The flowers are too far blown by now to show well, so there it is...

The other bits and pieces of the earlier AV surgery are still alive! Wonder of wonders. They have not produced any little leaves at the base but hope springs eternal in the heart of African Violet surgeons.  Here is the non-progress piccie, but as they say ( and "they" are always saying something!), "Where there is life,  there is hope."  The Mother plant continues to live as well but those little tiny nothings at the base of the slice are still just little tiny nothings.  If there is any growth at all there in the last week, it would take a 70 power microscope to see it!

In other news, I've been shopping and bought some beautiful discounted summer dresses, the Indian cotton type that I can stand in a cold water shower while wearing, letting the water run into my hair and onto my clothing.

We are having cooler temperatures here, but that is to say that it's only around 85 out there on the sidewalks of our city. I still wouldn't want to be the postman.

The political climate, however, still leaves much to be desired but then how can you have perfect weather within an imperfect system?  Maybe if we all yelled at once, even the laid back coffee drinkers, there would be such a din that it would create an earthquake in the heads of the Big Money Boys who are now thinking of cutting Social Security or making people work five more years before retirement.  As if we didn't already work more and longer than anyone in Europe, for instance???!!!???  Why don't they just carve a side off that Sacred Bull that's eating all the money?  Huh?  Any of the tea baggers have any logical answers?

Hot, hot hot!

The birds are really suffering so I filled up the big well of the folding table that serves for a potting bench so that they can use it as a bath and water source. I hate to see them so stressed over water. The baby Scrub Jay and at least one baby dove are still close by. This drought is hard on everyone.

I wiped out the original post, so here it is.. the weather report.. it was 110 in the sunny part of the shade patio, so we moved the thermometer into the shade and it slowly sunk to 103. We need to move to the beach again! But that would take about a billion bucks. lol..

We got rain today! Yippie!

The three of us, DH, my sister and I, drove up the coast with a promise of finding some nice chairs at the end of the drive, and we did.. But we noticed as we drove that a storm was building.

By the time we bought the chairs and headed for the beach with our doggie, it was very cloudy, and the sky was getting darker. The temperature dropped fast as we got closer to the bay.

Finally the sun made a beautiful orb of light in the sky. The layers of cloud were getting thick enough to start something! We packed up our few things and started to drive away, and sure enough, the rain started to fall. At home we found that the rain had turned the admosphere thick with humidity, like a Sauna.

It was blissfully cool down by the bay. This spot is a very beloved summer retreat, with a picnic lunch or a stop off at Mrs. Kelleys for the best fish and chips ever made, and then to just sit in the coolness and watch the boats go by. I brought my pink sock, and the camera. A very good end to a day that was 100 degrees at home, and only 79 at the bay. Yay!

We met a lot of very sweet dogs today, and poor Wolfie was too hungry to enjoy the company! We won't leave home without his food again! Poor little fellow!

A very big ship and a very small Dozer.

I love little bulldozers and bobcats. Big container ships aren't really that interesting except when they sound their VERY big horns to warn a sailboat that it's time to get the heck out of the way.  The sailboat in this picture is moored to a bouy, but there was one that The Artemus Leader wanted to warn off that was being a little, shall we say, "sprightly" too near the bow?

This tiny cat dozer was working earlier to spread the dirt around at the old Kettner yards.

Kettner's  was a long time dry dock for many a big tuna boat or even a lowly yacht.  I think the Bahia Bell was refurbed here but not sure.  Now Kettner's dry dock and yard are going to be made into deep water mooring for some truly gigantic Yachts worth several million dollars.  We are talking about very big boats.  I miss Kettner already. 

Where have all the big bucks gone, long time pa-a-ssssing...

Yep!  You can cut out jobs, and pell grants, give them back to the Pentagon, and then everyone will be rendered desperate enough to shake pitchforks and belligerently push torches into the face of the scape goat that was elected to clean up the mess!

more Tony Auth can be seen HERE, at GoComics if you want to sign up for it.

And a tip o' the hat to Peter, Paul and Mary...

Wolfie was under the weather....

So, off Wolf went to the vet in the late afternoon.  The vet, who is this wonderful gal whom I've known for literally decades, from working with Project Wildlife, took some x-rays, and blood and urine samples.

We finally got to see his broken rib, plus another one that looks like it was also broken but hid itself by not making a knot on the outside of his body, and lots of gassy pockets but no obstruction!  He now gets to take two medicines, one of which I take, too!  Oh the Joy!

  Wolfie, being adorable...

He's probably in line for a new diet to get rid of a lot of ..er.. flatulence, from a probable food allergy.  There was Gobs of gas, in fact.  I was beginning to suspect that he was an little old fart, and now we have the radiological proof!  He was sent home with a bland chicken/rice/pumpkin diet.. yes, a huge can of pumpkin was opened so now I must make a pie with some of it.  Such a Pity!   How will we eat all that pie??!!  He also weighed in at + 20 pounds, and that is a whopping 6 pounds since the vet saw him last.  Too many treats!  He eats food that costs more than ours does so it's a very good diet. lol

Knitting.. I had to rip the hat back and cast on the other skein.  I put it on my head though, before ripping it, and it's the right size!  Usually when the pattern calls for a needle size of six, I knit it out on a three.  So, first I swatched on a five, and then a four and then a three, and nothing was working to get the right gauge!  I put the swatch on a six hat needle circ, and *bingo!*-- Gauge!  But after knitting a whole set of the lace, and counting all the way except for the last two rows an extra stitch appeared!  Dmmranga!

I ripped the hat off the needles, took out the pink sock and knit it until calming down.  Let me tell you though, the yarn is gorgeous and the lace is very pretty.  I'm happy to know it will fit!  Peace reigns in the sock/hat carryall, and I feel a lot less size anxiety!

The doves are camping our front porch and driveway this am and pm.  I have NO idea why they are doing this, but it must be cooler there or something.  They sit right on the front step in the shady part.  Here's a pic...  Their daddy flew out from there when we came home tonight from the vet.  The baby ones are no where in sight.  I hope the neighborhood cats didn't get them.   This is the fourth clutch for these parents!  You would think they would learn.. hide them in the tall grass... tall grass... tall grass! 

Baby doves being adorable, and very vulnerable.  Sighs..

Breakfast at Ginger's- golden retriever dog eats with hands

Thank you Pina!


Watch this one too! It's Great! 

That whole thing is a link...

From my heart .....

This is stolen from a friend's blog. but I'm not laying bread crumbs back there. There's good reasons, Cowboy.

Too wide for many blogs, there is a fix! I Fixed it! Yay!

Just clip it to 325 width and 244 in the height in two places, in the HTML, if you are having the same troubles I've been having.

Accidental Art -17th in the Series

An ancient clam shell embedded in sedimentary mudstone, from Central Coast.

EDITED:  It was lack of sleep?  I can't spell?  I Are A Geologist?  Sheesh

Voilet grows a new head

Mother plants sprouts a new beginning.

The new plant looks like a tiny green moth next to the round cut. This is only part of what is going on. It looks like more are growing on the other side of the stem, too. This tiny growth is probably two plants. We'll see!

A little Adam Smith...

About his divisions, Labor, Nature, Capital...  I still respect his divisions, and the things that he had to say about the need to balance them for a healthy economy.   Capital attracts the worst sort of players into this thing called "free enterprise".

This bit :

"Such is the triumph of the money economy that nothing can be valued by any other measure, despite that nobody knows what money is worth at all these days. This is due in part to the international finance jerk-off, in which the world's governments print truckloads of worthless money, so they can loan it out. The idea here is that incoming repayment in some other, more valuable, currency will cover their own bad paper. In turn, the debtor nations print their own bogus money to repay the loans. So you have institutions loaning money they do not have to institutions unable to repay the loans. All this is based on the bullshit theory that tangible wealth is being created by the world's financial institutions, through interest on the debt. Money making money.".....

Comes from HERE.  Interesting to read.   From "counterpunch" via my DD1, who likes to play with numbers and ideas.  Thank you, EL.

I don't ascribe to the header diatribe about Obama, which I think of as a stealth advertisement for someone's bloody quick-off-the-blocks book and one which is probably full of undigested half truths.  But, not having read it, I'll just have to have an uninformed opinion on it.

Why I can't knit and just stick pins into fat, little voodoo dolls I'll never know.  Probably, It's a sickness that makes me want to rant about what I see as stupidity in the form of suffering brought about by ignoring components in a compassionate, logical, human sized, workable Economic system.

Slow money. hehe

I got up way too early today.. 4:30 because the dog was having an itchy little fit!

As the World Burns...

I'm off to knit the swatch for the hats with this lovely yarn that came yesterday. I think about all the little businesses struggling to keep their niches and just how sweet most of them are.

The candy was a little gift that I intend to enjoy this afternoon with my tea. Thank you, Luv.

I never forget that big, ugly world turning out there. It saddens me that people are being torqued into believe some really weird and horribly untruthful things in their angst and unhappiness, and I say, "Shame on you who exploit them. Shame on you, all you talking heads and hidden hands. You know who you are, and you are truly evil."

And you thought that Yoga wasn't for nearly everyone...

The comments are downright hilarious, though some are x-rated.  Definitely X rated.

Drunk Yoga 

Little pink (and blue) Sockretery Bird

The sock progress, to show the lovely color progression in this Trekking XXL colorway. Delicious! Almost like a layer cake.

While I was knitting this morning, when holding the sock up to look at it for the colors, it appeared to look somewhat like a bird's beak. So, I thought, "With all those needles sticking out, it looks like a Secretary Bird from Africa!" Of course, it does in a way.

Enjoy your day. This is laundry day for me, after the "fun" of ceramics yesterday. There was a little dispute over some cuttings a friend of mine brought me of Zygocactus. Four nicely put together pots of them are now mine.

DH, I presumed, was well prepared for the intrusion but must have been trying to think about something else or he didn't hear me telling him all about it from the kitchen when he was outside watering. I'm giving the benefit of the doubt here. He thinks I have too many plants as it is. I, however, do not. I used to have hundreds, and I've wittled them down to a precious "few". Now there are a "few" more!