White House gardening

During World War II there was a victory garden in every yard.

Including the White House.

I don't know how the victory gardens went. I have seen enough gardening to understand many things. Though it was a different time, many people already had gardens.

First time gardeners eyes glaze over at the thought of row upon row of tomatoes, corn and beans.

Gardening is a process. You plant you wait for things to grow, you realize its the wrong time or that last freeze messed everything up. You weed, replant, till, mulch, spray for fungus, rinse repeat.

currently my garden is very shady, we finally figured out that we could grow salad stuff. The chard, asparugus, strawberries and blackberries are doing fine. We lost several blackberries last your to some kind of canker.

Now the White House has a garden.

I have a hard time swallowing a lawyer who self admittedly goes to restaurants telling people to grow gardens. I can't see her doing more than the photo ops leaving the hard constant work to the groundskeeper.

She's not even dressed for gardening. What's this designer sweater? Jeans? you were guy jeans when gardening, or shorts. Boots? okay it was chilly in Washington D.C. that day, you had to wear boots instead of being barefoot., but those weren't work books.

There is never a time when I am seriously gardening, as opposed to puttering where i'm not muddy, wet, sweaty or bleeding.

Rules for auctions

I used to go to several auctions.

I have started going to some recently. I have noticed some non spoken rules.

Rule number 1
You are not there to pay a fair price for something. You are there to rob the other guy blind.

Rule number 2 for sellers or owners
Something is only _worth_ what someone is willing to pay for it.
I don't care what somebody on ebay sold it for last week. I don't care what its value is. It may be worth that to somebody else but not to me.

Rule number 3 (for new auction attendees)
Do not get caught up with "I'm not going to get it....must bid." Have price in mind. Have an upper limit. If you do not purchase something, so be it. Do not let the hunting gene of "must get it..." take over.

Rule number 4
Be respectful.
Most auction people follow this rule. They will stand out of the way if you are looking at something. They will even help total strangers load heavy stuff into your vehicle.

Rule number 5
Touching is okay.
It must be tried out, tested etc.

Rule number 6
Touching is not okay.
Once someone has won a bid, you do not touch the item without his permission.

Rule number 7
Show up on time
See rule number 4.

Rule number 8
Know how to pay. Have your id and such ready.
Some auctions are cash only, some will take checks, some will take credit cards.

Rule number 9
Men must wear hats.
(no really, if you don't wear a hat, you are really not there)
Also auctions are often outside, rain, cold sun...

Rule number 10
Women need not wear hats but must wear one to tell husbands how to bid.

rule number 11
Hats will bills must face forward.

Rule number 12
Men must wear belts or suspenders.

Rule number 13
Wear comfortable clothing especially shoes.
Only real farmer may wear overalls.

Auctioneers don't like it if you make deals with other bidders, especially with the "bid and you get to pick one of the lot.

Oftimes at an auction there may be several of one thing. The way it works is the high bidder gets choice of which and how many of the lot. Then they bid again for next choice.

cooking experiement

Husband and I have talked about getting biscuits. So started this morning with the traditional _Joy_of_cooking biscuit recipe. It seems okay. I do not have a biscuit cutter anymore so I simply cut it up into squares. This worked without burning the corners.

I made fried chicken via alton brown. They were a little underdone. I have to measure the temperature and time more carefully. I did my first attempt at navaho fried bread. This is a success and it can either become a dessert covered with honey or later I will make them flatter and make fluffy tacos.

superhero

Well, I always wanted to be one

why carry a gun

The news report in our paper held back on something until several columns in.
The robber, the "purse snatcher", pointed a gun. This is not a purse snatch, this is armed robbery and I am allowed to use deadly force.
http://www.arktimes.com/blogs/arkansasblog/2009/03/robbery_foiled.aspx

I would have made a good guhral

http://thelawdogfiles.blogspot.com/2009/03/class-ii-beverage-alert.html

sleep of the just

sleep of the just
It is finally warm enough to do outside stuff today. Husband is building an add on to the shed to store lawnmower, tiller and gardening tools, along with a side shelf to store his wood. I planted blackberries and other things, tended my labyrinth, labeled herbs. A while back I bought a label printer and copper stick in the ground labels. Now I know what is in the soil. I tilled two beds in prep for planting. We have several trays read with sprouted plants including heirloom tomatoes. Helping hubby by holding things. I'm also making a stand up target for throwing knifes at it (hey some people play golf). This is taking time since I am using dowels to hold it together and must share the drill. I just remembered there is another, smaller drill in the house, I can use that to finish.
I'm limping.
I ran some errands and we had to go to two hardware stores, one locally the other an hour away toward the end because we were out of tin for the roof.
On the anarchy homefront, the arsenal is about complete. A while back I realized that...well many things. So I've taken a Concealed weapon permit class, have purchase a pistol, him too. Today I got the last, a winchester 3030 for him and a Remington 700 .270 bolt action for me. The ranges i s far away, we don't know anybody locally who has a safe place to shoot. So on some weekends, go to big city, go to range, go to bookstore, go to gourmet grocery store.
Tomorrow it is supposed to rain, so I will be doing household stuff.
For now, aspirin, vitamins and the dirty martini await.