Gardener’s Diary

It’s summer, maybe not by the calendar, but yesterday, it hit over 90 degrees.
Sprayed the roses today.
This time last year (Memorial Day weekend), there were hoards of gypsy moth caterpillars dangling from trees. Only found one this year; turns out, the neighbors had their trees treated, so perhaps my yard benefits as well.
The rhodie is very pretty, and the violets I transplanted last year from Peter’s yard are doing well.
Mowed the lawn, watered and weeded this morning. Heading over to #11 to do some yard work there in a little while.
A couple of morning glories, one re-seeded from last year, have started, and several nasturtiums, from this year’s seeding. Have lots of seedlings from the mystery packets from the 2006 Home and Garden show.

10-Points

…to MTV’s “Human Giant” for their skit “Mother and Son Moving Co.” which ends with the superimposed message “Don’t Adopt”.
Absolutely great.

Gardener’s Diary

Seedlings appeared yesterday, one week after sowing!
Planted nasturtium, aster and morning glory seeds this weekend. Found that soaking the morning glory seeds produced rootlets, even without time-consuming clipping beforehand.
James and I are making progress on clearing the overgrown forsythia in their back yard. The soil is so excellent, I suggested planting vegetables; James: “No more gardens!!”

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Gardener’s Diary

Looking back to last year, it feels like we are a little behind schedule. There’s a lot of growth in my yard, but very few blossoms, although my neighbors’ tulips are quite pretty.
We’ve had a fair amount of rain this spring, maybe not as much as last year; some of us think the very wet Spring was the reason the hydrangeas were incredible, more blossoms than we’ve seen before.

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Reading Comprehension

The discussion forums on two local topics prove, once again, that reading comprehension is a problem for some people in these parts.
The first topic, a decision by a postmaster to suspend mail delivery to a neighborhood threatened by two out-of-control pit bulls, unleashed (pun intended) the usual “it’s not the breed, it’s the owner” apologists.
The other, a report that the Mashpee Wampanoag are petitioning the state for return of tribal land on the Mass. Military Reservation, provoked equally irrational reaction from the usual flag-waving nuts.

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Mac vs Microsoft

Jason Snell, the editor of Macworld, wrote a very sensible editorial on how Mac and Windows users can co-exist.
I’ve met a number of Linux jocks, all of whom learned their trade in very expensive schools, like MIT. That, as far as I can figure out, is how most people get their entree to UNIX and UNIX-derivative world, which has always struck me as ironic.

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Massive CF

Politico.com, the co-sponsor of tonight’s Republican Presidential candidates debate, has egg all over their faces.
They announced on the broadcast that their website offers the opportunity to vote on questions to be asked of the candidates.
Unfortunately, the site only works in IE. Understandable, perhaps, since MSNBC is the other co-sponsor.
What isn’t so easy to understand is that the site has a couple of major bugs: when you try to submit a question, the site displays an error that the submit was cancelled due to a disallowed HTTP verb.
Further, when you try to refresh the site, you are denied access to the “vote on a question” page.
Wanna bet that the site development was offshored? Or that someone’s kid designed it?