I say yes, you say no, OR People are Strange

Bren-2007

Anne .. thanks for asking about Tim.  He went back on the road today.  Yay!  I hope he can get some good miles.

Kam .. your flowers are beautiful.

Sunnyflowers .. I tried all kinds of stuff with the deer.  Even peeing to mark my spot. They just don't care.  They are like overgrown pets around here.

Just took something strong for my headache ... back to transcribing!

hugs,

Bren

bluedahlia

Anonymous

Kam - I am SO jealous of your garden...gorgeous.  My hollyhocks, transplanted from a friend's garden are about 7 inches high.  They are the CLASSIC english country garden flower - along with sweet williams, aubretia, and foxgloves, love tham all.

BIG BARS OF DIAL soap - lots of them - go to Big LOts or something ike that - really does seem to work.

More thunderstorms today...good thing I'm an optimist - know the sun will shine someday.  Actually, it's a giggle, supposed to be beastly HOT (90's ) and summer humid by the end of the week...

Blue - those grapes look delicious -

QuinnCat

Sunny - believe me, it's not me, it's the pile of soil I got from a local landscaper.  He has a couple of horses contributing their part!  My tomatoes were incredible, in same spot, last summer (though our growing season is short, so does not necessarily pay off) .  I have anything BUT a green thumb.  My gf in Portland does have a green thumb.  Every few years she has a pile of compost delivered to the street in front of her sidewalk. It takes her a couple of days to move it (that big a pile) and she spreads it all throughout her garden.  We've had a very unusual winter/spring here...I think we had our first day of real precip yesterday since early January!  No snow to inhibit growth and water is still free in my town.

I'll need to research aubretia - thanks for the idea.  I've always loved the looked of cottage gardens too and that is my ultimate goal for the front area.  Planted some hollyhocks, bee balm and a mum this last weekend. I have no idea what I'm doing, but as my friend says, you can always rearrange later.

bluedahlia

bluedahlia

bluedahlia

bluedahlia

bluedahlia

bluedahlia

Small but it is my get-away!

gardengumby

Love the garden pictures.  I've always loved foxgloves, my grandmother used to grow them.  I've grown hollyhocks, but never very well.  They always ended up getting something that looked like blight, so eventually I removed them.  In all the houses I've had, I've never yet had a good place for plants that require shade.  Who knows, maybe the next place.

I dearly love craftsman style bungalows, possibly because I grew up in an old craftsmanish style home that was built in the late 1800's.  Hubby grew up in a split level - probably my least favorite home style ever!!  We'll probably end up in a rambler though, as that seems to be where his interest lies at the moment (and my knees really like the idea of no stairs) - and while I is working he is house-hunting.    He was quite willing to go the craftsman route at the beginning of our search, until he got sick everytime he went into one.  They are simply too old here in the NorthWest not to have contracted a mold problem somewhere along the way.  We've agreed that our health is the number one concern of this home, as we want to spend what time we have left (and however much of that is spent in this house) as healthy as possible.

I am SOOOO happy that the ACA is appearing so well in both California and Oregon.  I haven't heard anything here in Washington, yet, but that may be my head being in house-hunting, not healthcare mode.

Bren-2007

OMG .. Cathy ... the picture you posted could be me!  That's how I feel today ... the only problem is that two pain pills later and the damn headache is still here.

I love your garden/patio.  It's so beautiful and clean.  Did you and Ray do the brick work yourselves?  Sure wish Ray could come over and help me out with my acreage.  I'd give anything to have a little help with the weedwacking!

hugs,

Bren

bluedahlia

He would Bren and so would I!

gardengumby

Ah Bren, that in a nutshell is why we decided to downsize. In addition to the steep slopes I could no longer manage! And keeping the house clean. It was all just more than I wanted anymore. O do have to admit though that there have been a few times over the last couple of months that i've wished we had just stayed put. At least that was a healthy house.

Bren-2007

Gumby ... I sure hope you can find somewhere to live soon.  I love my five acres ... it's great cause I can walk my dogs on my own property and not have to go near the road ... but the maintenance is so hard.  I'm mowing a minimum of three days a week now just to keep up with it.

I have to confess ... I do spend more time caring for the outside than the inside!  Tim was a big help when he was home with the inside stuff ... but  now that he's back on the road, it's my job again.

hugs,

Bren

Anonymous

Blue - gorgeous - elegant, so, so, so neat. 

Kam - ah, mulch.  I've gotten some from a friend who raises goats - and we suspect that also where the compost pile contained jerusalem artichokes.  More invasive than bamboo!!!!  Been a few years of trying to dig them out, and they're still here.  SO, I take all the roots I can get, dump them in the field, and the wild turkeys think they're in heaven.

Cottage Garden  - I actually had one when I lived in London many years ago.  That's when I learned about Sweet Williams, lovely smell.  Check out Vita Sackville-West at Sissinghurst, and Gertrude Jekyl ( pronounced to rhyme with treacle) and her garden at Munstead - she, Jekyl worked with with Edward Lutyens - CRAFTSMAN personified.  Oh, my I miss visiting those gardens...still, I'm a New Englander at heart - a northern New Englander.

ENJOYFUL  ENJOYFUL  ENJOYFUL - hoping you're no where near Rosedale MD!

Alyson

This is taken at Sissinghurst one of my favourite places in the world.

Anonymous

OOOooooohhhhhh.......another Sissinghurst lover  Did you climb up into the Tower, and look down on the White Garden.  I also love Hidcote Manor - but Sissinghurst is the BEST.  Sackville-West has written wonderufl books describing her gardening style - letting the morning glories vine up into the roses...my kinda gardener.

Enjoyful

Sunny -

I'm about an hour from Rosedale, so no problems with me.  Reports are one injured, but there was an explosion and the train was carrying hazardous chemicals.  It'll probably take at least 12 hours to sort out.  We're doing our darndest to ruin the planet, aren't we?

E

1Athena1

Bren, I also LOVE Lloyd Wright.

Blue - LOL - I wish I had pills that made me feel that way!

IllinoisLady

IllinoisLady

IllinoisLady

IllinoisLady

Blue -- beautiful garden.  Outstanding !!

Bren....long time for a nasty headache.  Sure hope it is not hanging around too much longer.

Jackie

CherrylH

Jackie, so what colors are those dragons?

Athena, if you like Frank Lloyde Wright, you need to come visit me and do  a tour of his houses. There are several here in Oak Park. I have a guest room and a littie who will join at various times during the night. Wine flows freely.

IllinoisLady

There is an offer that should be hard to refuse.....

My dragons are all colors of the rainbow.

Jackie

IllinoisLady

Well, well, well......Just for once it would be so nice to be wrong about the good/not good at all GOP.  Un-fortunately you can without fail count on them to show nothing but the highest disregard for their fellow citizens....in and out of government.  Sure am not going to be standing next to them when the karma train comes along. 

It is fact that the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare, is the law of the land. It is fact that Obamacare implements healthcare reform based on a policy of conservative think tank, Heritage Foundation, using private insurance instead of the much less expensive Medicare for all (single payer) model that most liberals want. It is fact that the Congressional Republicans have voted to repeal Obamacare 37 times and counting. It is fact that even as Republicans attempt to repeal Obamacare they have no plausible alternative to solve the key healthcare problems solved by Obamacare.

Obamacare includes exchanges that provide affordable healthcare insurance to all, secure healthcare insurance that cannot be rescinded, provide healthcare insurance that cannot be denied for pre-existing conditions, and provide healthcare insurance that includes early screening for diseases. If Americans understood the facts about Obamacare, as opposed to the lies and misinformation maliciously being promoted by Republicans and their cohorts, most would be clamoring for it. This is not a game. It is a life and death issue for many. Many Republican governors have seen the light and have done the moral thing. Inasmuch as they claim to not like Obamacare, they have decided to implement it fully by accepting Medicaid expansion.

Given that Republicans have failed at every turn, they are now intent on launching two specific campaigns. The first is a push to have Congress use the debt ceiling debate to attempt to defund the exchanges. The second is a massive and immoral sabotage effort, a misinformation campaign on the health exchanges where the uninsured can go to purchase affordable insurance.

Bloomberg reports this as follows.

Heritage Action for America, the advocacy arm of the Heritage Foundation, and the Tea Party-aligned group FreedomWorks will push Congress to cut off funding for the exchanges in the debate later this year over raising the debt ceiling, the Washington-based groups said. The chairman of the advocacy group Restore America’s Voice, Ken Hoagland, said he plans to warn people through advertising about the “dysfunctional” exchanges.

While opposition to the health-care program is nothing new, the tactics are changing. Rather than focusing on repealing the law in Congress and the courts, two avenues that have failed so far, the groups are aiming to prevent the cornerstone of the legislation, the insurance exchanges, from succeeding. Their goal is to limit enrollments, drive up costs, and make it easier to roll back all or part of the law later.

“If you’re committed to making sure Obamacare doesn’t go into effect, you have to focus on the expansion and on the exchanges,” said Dan Holler, a spokesman for Heritage Action. “Once you have people under a program, it’s really hard to change that system no matter how badly it needs change.”

Democratic supporters of the health-care law said critics are afraid that the measure will be a success and are out to prevent it.

[Source]

Republicans are playing a dangerous game. They know if healthy people are scared off from joining the exchanges, then the cost of insurance on the exchanges will skyrocket and likely fail under their own weight. Ironically, under said eventuality, Americans are either taken care of by the taxpayers, increased premiums will be imposed for everyone else, and yes, many will simply die.

Republicans biggest fear, however, is the eventual success of Obamacare. Putting obstacles at every turn slows the process down even as many Americans are systematically hurt by their actions.

Because of the lack of funding from the Republicans’ intransigence in Congress, Secretary of the Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, has had to resort to raising private funds (e.g., Enroll America) to aid in real truthful education on Obamacare and options for every American citizen.

Maybe Republicans should read this. They would learn that government can play a role in making lives better for all without damaging the country’s productivity or work ethic.

Read more: http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/05/28/republicans-sabotaging-obamacare-at-the-expense-of-the-middle-class-and-poor/#ixzz2UdbKJFy

QuinnCat

The Onion has always been recognized as a first-rate satirical publication, making fun of all that is absurd in our socio-political world. However, in today's contemporary political environment, our brand has simply gotten muddled. And I can say with clarity that today's GOP is fully to blame.

[...]

It used to be that political satire was easy. All one had to do was find the absurd buried beneath the surface of a given story and employ satire to highlight that absurdity. To shine a light on it.

Now? Now you have headlines showing up in mainstream publications like "Kansas Republican Actually Opposes the Poor Buying More Food" and "Conservatives Less Likely to Buy Energy Efficient Bulbs if Labeled as Environmentally Friendly."

The absurdity of conservatives in this country has completely destroyed our business. Republicans have ruined us. Period.

New readers to The Onion can't tell anymore that we are a satirical publication. And established readers have been leaving our pages, finding greater absurdity at places like CNN and USA Today.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/05/27/1211908/-The-Onion-Calls-it-Quits

River_Rat

Kam, just to note that piece isn't by The Onion. It's just very good satire from the diarist at DK.

IllinoisLady

Sad but true --- the conserves outdo themselves at an un-believable rate.  Just when I think no one could say or do anything dumber, sure enough --- kersplat -- another embarrassing stupidity of some kind.  They have enough fodder going most of the time for a couple of galaxies at least.  I use to wonder how they could come up with so many straight faces, but it is easy if you don't have a clue.  If it gets a little quiet....there's always Limbaugh...the thin ice guy.

Jackie