Faithful gardening commentor Marvel:
Deep Spring? Okay. I kid. Most days, it ain’t any kind of Spring out there. I’m grateful that our Winters are mild, here in the Pacific Northwest…but DANG, they do seem to last a long time. This year especially.
Lately our weeks of showery days have been punctuated with the odd sunny one (and we’re all miles of smiles, believe me — positively giddy). Everything’s coming in late – the flowers, the Winter veggies (our asparagus is at leat two weeks late).
Last week we finally (FINALLY!) had a warm sunny day and BOY were the crocuses (croci?) happy to dry out & turn their sweet faces to the sun.
The few sunny times have been short-lived, so between these magical days, we’re putting our indoor time to good use: plotting the what/where/whens for the raised beds & green house. Today? SEED TAPES!
We make seed tapes for veggies whose seeds are dinky & a pain in the butt to manage/plant (and since the little things end up growing in orderly rows, [1] you can tell who’s a weed and who’s not during the seedlings early days and [2] ya don’t have to go back & thin out all the bunched-up-together extra plants that result from scattering seeds).
How? Use a marker to put well-spaced dots on single ply TP or thin paper towels (or use double ply that’s been de-layered); water down some white glue; use a toothpick to put a dab o’ glue on the spots & immediately stick a seed on the glob of glue; let em dry; plant ’em (i.e., lay the TP/towel strips out on the ground/bed then cover the whole lot with a bit of soil). Add water + sun + time. Works like a charm. It’s a fun rainy-day activity PLUS in a couple of months, today’s arts-n-crafts will be magically transformed into oodles of delish beets & carrots. Seed tapes: YAY.
************
Despite my half-hearted never again declarations last fall — it was a terrible year here in New England for tomatoes, even the professional farm stands were pitifully understocked — I broke down and ordered another batch of mail-order tomato plants. Cut down the number of plants (varieties) by about 30%, which would still be too many tomatoes if (a) I expected to get more than a handful from any given plant in the rootpouches aligned on my asphalt ‘garden’, or (b) there *were* such a thing as too many home-grown tomatoes.
What’s going on in your garden (planning) this week?
OzarkHillbilly
I’ve had fun before. That weren’t it.
raven
I spent the day hauling shit to the dump, stapling leftover insulation above the AC unit under the deck, and caulking the repaired trim on the roof. The boss lady spent hers in the yard planting and re-planting stuff all over the yard. I’ll have to show here the tape gig.
JPL
@raven: Yesterday was the beginning of yellow pine season, and I assume that the rain overnight washed all the gunk away.
Marvel, the pics are gorgeous.
OzarkHillbilly
Crocuses always put a smile on my face. Mine came and went a few weeks ago. Any that were still hanging around bought it in the great freeze-up a couple weeks ago. Speaking of the freeze, unlike my peaches (and forsythia and magnolias, and….) my cherries did not get deep sixed and are starting to bloom now. They seem a little spotty but maybe it is still early. At any rate I get to enjoy their blooms for a couple weeks.
These Ozark hills are starting to come alive. My dogwoods are just opening up, the redbuds beat the freeze up back and are blooming too. We have little shoots of green or red sprouting out of everything. In a week or so the hills and hollers will shimmer with green. Soon it will be time to go in search of the elusive morel.
Meanwhile I content myself with my garden. Got my onions in last week. Gonna put in the potatoes today. Rained all day yesterday so it will be too muddy for tilling. Still have some landscaping and mulching to do so that’s on the agenda too. Maybe inter some blazing star bulbs I bought.
Jeff
I’ve been watching episodes of the BBC’s Gardener’s World on YouTube to motive me to get out and do something. Unlike the northwest the northeast mid Atlantic had a very mild winter which caused earlier than normal growth. It all took a hit with the snow storm that occured two weeks ago. The arugula which had thrown up flower spikes died back. Don’t know if they will throw more spikes or not. I depend on them to flower to get seeds for the fall planting. I did buy some primroses yesterday to put in the ground out the kitchen window to see a bright splash of color while doing the dishes. Am waiting to see how the tulips have fared. Some look like the buds got burnt by winter’s return.
satby
The seed tape making is brilliant, I have been tempted to order tapes instead of the seeds just because of the ease of handling, but the almost quadruple cost always stopped me.
I mentioned it on another thread previously, but I planted 3 lilac babies and two more normal sized roses this week, in advance of the three days of intermittent rain we’re expecting. To protect them while they get established I cover them each with their own mini greenhouse of clean large dog cookie containers or gallon milk jugs. I cut vents in the tops so heat doesn’t build up on sunny days but the new plants are protected from light spring frosts.
I had planted a lot of trees and shrubs at my old destroyed house:fruit, English walnut, crape myrtle, lots of ornamental and wildlife friendly, etc. About 25 in total, but it was an acre of land. Obviously I don’t intend to replace all of them on a large city lot, but I hope to replace several, mostly the shrubs. I’m probably going to pull out several things I’m less fond of, evergreens and the two straggly forsythia bushes, to fit the new stuff in.
ThresherK
We don’t garden. But, the crocuses look wonderful, doubly so because in our yard there’s still a ton of snow.
Currants
Yay gardens and garden threads! Love reading your garden news, Marvel. Your crocus are gorgeous. You’d posted about making seed tape before and I don’t remember the glue bit. That’s a really useful idea, and I’ll keep it in mind over the next month or so. Here in New England (a tiny bit south and west of Anne Laurie, but still, New England) my snow drops have been working at showing up for months now, and the dwarf iris and early crocuses–well, the ones in a south-facing location–showed up a few weeks ago. Then they got hit by a couple of frosts but survived, and then we got 12″ of snow and ice, and they were goners. But! The dwarf iris and crocuses planted in other locations (west-facing) are now showing up, and this coming week should be pretty good for them. As for the later crocuses, whose leaf and bud tips are starting to appear with color (hope they’ll be out soon as beautifully as yours, Marvel).
debbie
Love the crocuses, especially the massed planting! I’ve noticed the daffodils are bouncing back, but the magnolias won’t be flowering this year. It’s my second most favorite of favorite moments of spring, so I’m bummed. I hope the snow/freezes didn’t affect azaleas (my first most favorite).
Currants
@satby: I’m looking forward to doing more in the yard–planting two new dwarf apples, the veggies, moving a few strawberries that appear to want to colonize the asparagus, but it’s going to be a couple weeks before that can happen (at MINIMUM). Ground is still frozen here. I’d really like to get a good source of manure, but it’s hard to reliably know what critters have been fed or bedded in, so for the foreseeable future, I’m going with the fertilizer recipe Marvel posted on the last thread.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
p.a.
Good morn.
My tulips are at about 2″. My only other perennials I haven’t even noticed, and I walk by them daily, but they’re in my snow pile zone. What are they? My favorite kind: On Sale. Last year my tomatoes did fine; I just do grape & cherry, no fullsized. My rosemary made it through the winter. That’s about a 40/60 here.
Immanentize
We are still in deep freeze here near Boston. Snow is still over half the yard. We are supposed to have a more normal week (temps up to low 50s but still some nights below freezing). So, no gardening until April.
But I have a miserable cold anyway. It’s the weirdest — feels like full on flu, but no fever.
Schlemazel
Do you have any idea how depressing it is to be out here on the tundra, knowing we are still a couple of weeks away from crocus time, gray and rainy with the whole world in dull browns and grays? Then to open BJ and see that lovely picture above the fold? UGH, I can’t take much more of this.
Thanks for the lovely pictures & the great idea for seed tape.
Eric S.
I’m not sure how the deck gardening is going to work this year. With my right arm in a sling toting bags of soil up 3 flights isn’t happening anytime soon.
WereBear
@Eric S.: Pulley and basket.
Baud
I normally like David Atkins, but his latest in WaMo about health care next steps pisses me off.
I’m happy to be corrected by actual facts, but this seems like revisionist history, particularly about states being close to implementing single payer.
JPL
@Baud: If memory serves me, which I doubt, VT tried it and found it to expensive.
Let’s ask Bernie
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Talk is cheap, and that’s all I remember of it, and precious little at that..
Elizabelle
Good morning, all.
Like the idea of the seed tape. Ingenious. I don’t have a garden, but that would be fun to try.
Love the crocuses too. They’re a flower you never take for granted.
Pogonip
Cheery little crocuses! They’re adorable.
Did anyone watch Samurai Jack? It was pretty grim at first, but things were looking up for him by the end. I think that big white dog belongs to the mystery man who likes horned helmets.
satby
@Baud: Yeah, I have no memory of single payer being seriously proposed anywhere outside of Vermont, though it’s a perennial in California too I think. But to imply that it was sidelined by the ACA is bullshit.
guachi
I shall mention this seed tape idea to my wife as we begin our delayed planting here in Georgia.
FlyingToaster
@Baud: Nobody could figure out the $ on single-payer for a single state. Vermont tried, but the numbers just won’t add up.
California might be able to do it (being as large as a G-8 country in both population and economy), but they’d have to dump the federal tax burden and fund their own military as well.
We’ve got Obamacare for the forseeable future… So long as we pay for the lawsuits to keep it enforced.
debit
I’ve started some seeds under a grow light inside and plan to build a couple raised beds in the back yard. Since this will be my first summer here, I’m hoping the spot I’ve picked is actually the best one, but we’ll see. I’m going to be restrained and only do a few tomato plants, some cukes and lettuce. And then we’ll see how things get on.
Also, too, I’m happy to report that after one week Kelpie has the house training thing down. She knows she should go outside and holds it until then. She doesn’t have a signal, but we have a routine and for the last few days she’s been 100%. I am so proud of her.
WereBear
@debit: So glad to hear!
We had snow this weekend. No crocuses yet :)
JMG
During last week’s horrible wet snowstorm, a large, large branch from a tree in our front yard fell on top of rhododendrons. I should go out with the pruning saw today before it rains again and cut away as much as I can. I don’t like the looks of the tree at all, and it may have to go this spring. Tree services are expensive, but not as much as a collapsed roof.
Pogonip
@debit: Yay Kelpie! May you and she be as happy as you were with Walter.
Pogonip
@JMG: We had a dead tree in the yard and one day a tree guy offered to remove it for free since he was in the area. I waited for the inevitable inflated bill. It never came. Good people still walk among us.
Hellbastard
No doubt the lamestream media will ignore the story… but a massive crowd turned out to support Donald Trump in a MAGA rally in Lubbock, TX. Aerial photos, satellite imagery, and eyewitness accounts suggest that close to two dozen people showed up. Luckily, police had the foresight to cordon off several blocks of the downtown area to allow for the massive wave of popular support. There were no cases of violence but several injuries were reported when a participant lost control of her mobility scooter and ran into another small group of patriots.
http://www.everythinglubbock.com/news/klbk-news/maga-march-held-in-lubbock/680689161?utm_medium=social&utm_source=KLBK_News_-_EverythingLubbock.com
amk
It’s AWAKE and is taking pot shots at teabaggers aka kkkrazy kaukus. Popcorn time.
Pogonip
Happy National Spinach Day!
tobie
I recently found out that saffron is actually the stigma of a ‘saffron crocus’ and the plant seems to grow fine in zones 6-8. Has anyone here tried to grow the saffron crocus? It’s such a divine spice. I would love to be able to grow my own.
debit
@WereBear: I’ve seen some tulips bravely poking up out of the dirt, but otherwise everything is brown and sad. My yard looks like a mud pit.
@Pogonip: She’s a good girl and I love her, but Walter was the dog of my heart. Every time I think I can talk about him without crying the tears come anyway.
amk
@Hellbastard: LOL. I don’t know if that teevee report is for realz or just giggles.
debit
@Hellbastard: Mine is an evil and spiteful laugh.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Baud: It reads a little like the version of history where the southern states were just about to abandon slavery till the north interfered.
BTW the fact that we survived as a nation through and after the not-so-Civil War is something that gives me confidence we’ll come through this constitutional crisis whole and strong.
Corner Stone
@Pogonip:
No shit, really? I have been mad *craving* some greens the last couple days and I didn’t know why. Maybe my body was telling me it needed more iron. But now I know it was just reminding me to celebrate something wonderful!
Hal
@tobie: I found that out a few years ago from watching Ina Garten. Every time she uses saffron she mentions it’s from the crocus flower followed by a joke that’s some variation of “now how would you like to have that job”?
Pogonip
@debit: Awww. I understand. I could tell he was that once-in-a-lifetime dog just from reading about him.
D58826
@JPL: I was about to make the same comment. And now Bernie is planning on riding his pink pony by introducing a single payer bill in Congress that has no chance of being passed both because of GOP control and opposition by many of the stakeholders such as people who have employer based insurance. I was dinged yesterday for suggestion that the D’s would miss the golden opportunity to drive a stake in the cold evil heart of right wing ideology that the GOP has given them. My point was D division between the Bernie wing and lets call it the Clinton wing will prevent the party from getting anything done. Bernie is proving my point.
Don’t get me wrong I think single payer/medicare for all is the gold standard but there is no way, even with a D congress and Hillary in the WH that we will get there in 2017-2020 time frame. Pushing that pony now just wastes political energy and gives the GOP a talking point to distract from their generally evil political ambitions.
Pogonip
@Corner Stone: Really. I have a calendar of National Days.
CarolPW
@tobie: I have grown saffron crocuses. They are attractive, trouble-free and bloom in the fall.
WereBear
If it helps, you were there for him when it counted most.
I know about Heart Pets. :)
OzarkHillbilly
@Hellbastard: I have driven thru Lubbock on several occasions. That is about the best thing I can say about Lubbock Texas.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Corner Stone: Re: spinach. I love Indian food and make no pretense at being a vegetarian. But by far my favorite dish, the one I keep going back to, is palak/saag paneer, which is basically just a big pile of spinach/greens cooked into mush. With paneer (homemade cheese) which is also incredibly satisfying for undefinable reasons.
Dang, now I want some.
rikyrah
@debit:
Yeah. I hadn’t congratulated you on Kelpie. Glad she got it figured out.
You are good people, debit??
D58826
And further OT. Words I never thought I would utter ‘its time to 25th amendment Trump and put Pence in the WH’. Now Pence is a nasty piece of work who embodies the evil at the heart of the modern GOP but he is not crazy. To wit :
There truly are no more rabbit holes to go down. The word insane totally fails to cover the magnitude of this. There is no alternate universe in which this would make any sense.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/germany-dismisses-white-houses-intimidating-300bn-bill-for-defence-dl7dk629k
amk
@D58826: That seems to be an iffy source.
MomSense
@debit:
Woohoo Kelpie! Great news, Debit.
My garden is still sleeping under a lot of snow. It’s not quite as much snow as last week. The top layers keep thawing and then freezing. It’s like a snow version of creme brulee.
ThresherK
@debit: At least it’s acceptable to talk about how much you miss Walter in front of your other pets.
Spousal ThresherK and I don’t have kids, but I hear that doing the above in front one’s children can scar them emotionally.
Mary G
Haven’t done much in the garden yet, but the hills are green and the wildflowers are going crazy after we finally got rain. The Theodore Payne Foundation hotline on where to go in Southern California is back, narrated by actor Joe Spano.
Corner Stone
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: I’m still considering picking up some ham hocks and a couple pounds of mixed greens and make a pot of seasoned greens happen.
OzarkHillbilly
@D58826:
Not to mention the Republican majorities in the House and Senate, the nutcase in the White House, or the soon to be religious tribunal that once was the Supreme Court.
The best thing DEMs can do now is absolutely nothing. The Repubs have the rope tied into a noose and are in the process of putting it around their own necks. Soon they will kick the chair right out from under themselves. Sadly they will probably hang the country in the process, and It doesn’t really matter right now what the 2 wings do so long as we don’t help them.
Baud
@D58826: I think reasonable people can disagree about strategy (although I tend to agree with your take). I was more offended by what appeared to me to be lying about the history of single payer in the states at the time the ACA was passed.
ArchTeryx
@Baud: The problem is, as always, the money. Vermont passed single payer, but quickly discovered that the tax base of a tiny, poor state with a lot of non-taxpaying, vacation-home owning “flatlanders” would never, not in a million years, support single payer. Not without bankrupting the state. So it was quietly dropped.
California’s taking a whack at it too, and it has a better chance. It has a giant tax base and an economy larger then many, many countries that do have a single-payer system. But it is *already* a high-tax state and taxes got raised further to balance the budget, once Brown became governor. So appetite for further tax-raising may not be there.
Single-payer, to truly work, needs economies of scale. And many systems that call themselves “single payer” still rely on private insurance and private medical care (see: France, Switzerland, Germany, and even Canada) but regulate said private insurance very heavily. (No surprise that “Essential Health Benefits” are one of the key parts of the system).
A lot of single payer purity ponies have not one clue how actual single-payer systems work.
JMG
@Pogonip: Our service is not cheap, but they are the best in the area. Recommended for tough jobs by other services, in super demand by the power company after storms, etc. So I don’t mind paying if I have to.
OzarkHillbilly
@ThresherK: It’s perfectly acceptable for a parent to speak of how much they miss a dead child in front of their other children. The other children miss their sibling too. There has been a huge hole in my life ever since my sister Peggy died. It does not mean I don’t love my other siblings any less. They have their own places in my life and if any of them go before me, there will be other huge holes in my life.
tobie
@Hal: I bet it’s hell to have to pluck out the pistils of crocus flowers, if you need to generate volume for a business. But how much would you need for your own annual consumption? A little bit of saffron goes a very long way. I need to look into this, though my soil conditions (clay, clay, and clay) are not ideal.
Thanks for mentioning Ina Garten. She should have been a gardener with that name! The pun is ready made–In a Garten. I’ll add her to my list of things I should look up on YouTube.
WaterGirl
Happy crocuses! Yay!
@ThresherK: It’s been my experience that all the kids know who is mom’s favorite and who is dad’s favorite, to the point that it’s even acknowledged in conversation. I have seen that in other families, too. That’s true in my family, for sure. I was about to say that nobody was scared, but maybe that’s easy to say because I was my dad’s favorite.
WereBear
@tobie: You can fix clay with vermiculite and compost.
Corner Stone
I like Malcolm Nance a lot, but I have to disagree with him. James Woolsey is a fucking nutcase, not a straight up guy.
tobie
@ArchTeryx: I’ve been struck at the left’s fixation on single payer as the only form of health insurance and the assumption that single payer is the only system used in the developed world. It’s not. Germany and Switzerland follow the Bismarck model–private insurance with a public option, employer based, universal coverage with subsidies–which became the model for the ACA in turn. England nationalized healthcare, and France and many other countries went the route of single payer. The latter approach probably is the most cost-effective. The fear in 2009 was that you would have to overturn the entire existing system to implement it, and the disruption to the economy would be terrible, at least in the short run. The ACA can be made much, much better and hopefully we will one day have Dem majorities in the House and Senate, and a Dem in the White House to do just that.
Baud
LOL
tobie
@WereBear: thanks for the tip.
laura
@rikyrah: Good morning Smiley.
It’s been rainy with intermittent sun and too mucky to plant without compacting the soil in the raised bed. I’ve got 2 jars of flower seeds, mostly zinnia (tall & small), nasturtium, cosmo, poppies and marigolds. On a trip to the garden/yard porn store, I snagged some beautiful dahlias because who doesn’t love a showoff?
D58826
@OzarkHillbilly: As part of an ad campaign to tie this mess to the GOP, I think the D’s should say:
1. we know Obamacare isn’t perfect
2. we are still plugging holes in medicare/medicaid years after passage
3. here are the holes that we would plug right now if given the chance
4. which pro-life/family GOP member is willing to join us in getting this done to protect the families that they tell us are so important to them.
I suspect the number of GOOPERS could be counted on one thumb but this is about starting to take back Congress and the states. Remember unless there is a huge wave in 2018 the House majority, even if somewhat reduced, is safe. And the Senate map is a nightmare. The D’s are defending 24 seats, 10 in states that Der Fuhrer carried. In order to take back the Senate the D’s have to win all 24 plus flip 3 more red states. That is a pretty heavy life. If the D’s lose all 10 red states then the filibuster, or whatever is left of it is irrelevant. The best he D’s can hope for is saving a few of those 10 seats to keep the GOP majority under 60.
So while Friday was a very GOOD day and the popcorn was extra tasty, we can’t lose sight of the fact that the D’s at all levels are still in a deep hole and it will take a couple of election cycles to climb out. In the short run the best they can do is offer a positive doable alternative and fight rear guard actions to prevent the worst of the GOP nightmare from happening.
You can call me a debbie downer (and yes I do tend to be a pessimist about a lot of things) but I prefer to think of this as a realistic view. If we lose sight of that in the joy of the moment then the number of similar wins will be few and far between.
Doug R
Saskatchewan, which has 1,158,339 people now, somehow managed single payer in 1962 when they had 925,181 people. Here’s a little history on how they did it.
scav
@tobie: I’d imagine crocus could easily be grown in pots or raised smallish beds — I seem to remember forcing crocus, even saffron ones!, in marbles when I needed spots of color.
tobie
@CarolPW: Do you collect the saffron threads? I suppose if the flowers are pretty it doesn’t matter but it’s always fun to grow your own produce and spices.
BBA
@Doug R: Health care was a lot cheaper in 1962 and they weren’t fighting against their federal tax code to do it.
scav
And, we are so rooting for a dryish day here, there are five globe artichokes (and three incidental sages) needing to be bedded in front. The garage sink is simply not a long term solution.
WaterGirl
@Baud: I can’t wait for the Traitor-in-Chief to start calling in to C-SPAN pretending to be someone else, talking about how this isn’t his fault.
Oh, and so much for the concept of the buck stops here. What a weasel and a coward. I would love to see a word cloud for what is said about trump.
D58826
@Doug R: Interesting article. But it sounds like you had a population that was pre-disposed to healthcare being a public good, there was no entrenched healthcare industry to oppose the plan, there was no employer based system to upend and maybe most important the public did not view taxes as the spawn of Satan. I’m convinced that the anti-tax/pro-Jesus right would pass on the second coming if it was dependent on raising one cent in additional taxes. My Mom used to say about some people that they would not give a nickel to see Jesus come down the street. That sums up today’s GOP and is the reason we can’t have nice things like roads w/o potholes and some form of universal healthcare coverage.
Central Planning
@ThresherK: Not really. We tell all our kids we don’t like them at all.
ETA – We always do it when they are all around, so maybe because we’re not singling one out they don’t believe us.
GregB
@Baud:
Party of Personal Responsibility!
We need a businessman in the White House!
Trump is a closer!
D58826
@BBA: It was also cheaper in 1965 and Medicare for just seniors was a heavy lift. It was the only thing that the master congressional manipulator LBJ could get past. And remember in 1965 he had large majorities in both houses of congress and a GOP that while opposed to Medicare did not abuse congressional norms
OzarkHillbilly
@WaterGirl: I was not my father’s favorite and it was obvious from a very early age. The knowledge that no matter what I did my father was at best indifferent to my accomplishments was actually very liberating. (he did love me, that was also obvious, but he put all his energies into my older brother) I was allowed to do damn near anything I pleased and the worst thing that could happen to me was a screaming and then a grounding.
WereBear
@tobie: I think it’s a reflection of corporate hatred; which I happen to share, as far as that goes.
But I am restrained by practicalities.
WereBear
NOTE TO ALL CAT PEOPLE
Please keep in mind that all bulbs are dangerous to cats. Keep them away from any in the house, don’t even bring in the ones with pollen that will float around and be cleaned off their fur, and don’t feed them any tidbits that might have onion and garlic as ingredients.
This is very serious stuff. Link:
Spring means bulb dangers.
Spanky
Well, now you made me go look. American Meadows has saffron crocus bulbs on sale, $8.49 for 15.
Hellbastard
@OzarkHillbilly: Kinda boring here. But good food and the people are friendly if you avoid politics. Cheap cost of living…
But I’m leaving soon anyway… got a job up in Washington State. Heading back to the northwest in May!
Iowa Old Lady
Trump tweet this morning. I think this is supposed to be a dig.
No duh?
bemused
@ThresherK:
I know our two dogs love me but there’s no doubt that my husband is their favorite human in the world. They start listening and watching for his vehicle at least an hour before his usual arrival home. When he walks in the door, it’s as if he had been gone for days. They are crying and talking in utter happiness. He can’t walk anywhere inside or out without them following right at his heels.
Corner Stone
@OzarkHillbilly:
They have very good dust. The best dust, beautiful dust. Yooge dust, believe me.
As a counterpoint, it is rumored that student sex life at Texas Tech is phenom.
Spanky
@Spanky: And FYI, per Wikipedia:
So buy a lotta bulbs. :^)
hovercraft
@ArchTeryx:
I’m shocked!!
In many ways they are just as ignorant and deluded as the morons on the other side braying about keeping government out of Medicare.
Of course single payer is great conceptually, but we are years and years away from convincing the public it’s the way to go, let alone an actual plan to implement it.
OzarkHillbilly
@D58826: I agree with you on the electoral prospects and the fact that we need to take the offensive on messaging. My ad would be: “In today’s GOP, life begins at conception and ends at birth. If the fetus can survive that long without maternity care. Pro-life my ass.” But there is absolutely nothing DEMs can do in national politics except to keep telling the truth about what the GOP is doing.
I just happen to think that the “feud” between the *Wilmer wing* and the Clinton wing is overblown. Yes, it could be a problem but at this point it is mere semantics. Let’s see how 2018 shapes up before we start freaking out.
** It is more than an oxymoron to say “Wilmer wing of the DEM party” considering the fact that he isn’t a Democrat, but I can think of no better way to describe that side of the debate.
Doug R
@D58826: The party in power from 1944 onward were socialist who had spent decades putting in and improving new roads and power and phones. And they all realized things are better if we work together.
I suspect most of the anti tax sentiment is just sublimated racism.
WereBear
@OzarkHillbilly: In my experience, being the “favorite” often means the person is considered only a reflection of the parent.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@Baud:
And the fact that Trump himself Tweeted hours earlier for people to watch this talking bobble head… pure coinkydink! (But his moronic base will believe him and think themselves intelligent).
OzarkHillbilly
@Hellbastard: Congrats on getting out of Texas (says this born and bred Texan) There are good people everywhere (look at me in the heart of Ozarkistan!)(good thing I’m so humble) but in some places we are severely outnumbered.
germy
Saturday was national “show your support for durmpf” day. A smattering of supporters rallied in front of my local strip mall, and it got front page attention.
D58826
@OzarkHillbilly:
Hope your right on that. Or it will be a long cold time in the wilderness.
What was, in a very big way, surprising about Friday’s results was that the R’s did not follow the usual pattern – salute and follow orders when it came voting
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@Spanky:
When I was a boy a boy, I was obsessed with Posh Spice…
My mom spent a ton on saffron.
(Courtesy of Brit-born comic whose name escapes me.)
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@germy:
Lemme guess… conservative paper in a red county?
germy
@West of the Rockies (been a while): yup…
And no wide shots of the crowd (which would show how few people). All closeups.
Baud
@germy: Was the headline, “They Loved Big Brother”?
Spanky
@germy:
So do car wrecks.
D58826
@Doug R:
True but I think there is a good bit of reverse NIMBY going on as well. The very conservative GOOP in my PA district fought tooth and nail to keep the Philly navy yard open even thought it wasn’t physically in his district, but a lot of his constituents worked there.
I rememebr reading a few years back about the anti-tax, anti-big govt GOOPER from Houston Tx. Guess what appropriation he would sell his first born to protect – that’s right NASA and Mission Control. Tip O’Neil said it many years ago – all politics is local. Racism just adds to that
CarolPW
@tobie: I do collect the threads – I don’t always have a big enough crocus stand to take care of all my saffron needs so I occasionally buy some. My sister grows hers in pots on her deck. She has clay soil and very little sun in the yard so they do better on the deck.
germy
@Baud: here’s a quote from the article:
D58826
@germy: well since there were some fist fights then the ‘if it bleeds it leads’ rule comes into play
OzarkHillbilly
@WereBear: Hard to say, except that my old man wanted my brother to be the very best he could be and invested himself in nearly every facet of my brother’s life and pushed and pushed and pushed…. It was no favor to my brother.
I became an asshole, but I was my own asshole doing it in my own asshole-ish way. To this day my brother still has times when he wonders who and what he is.
D58826
@germy:
Did I miss the Obama regulation that required us to eat lemon custard instead of apple pie?
hovercraft
@Baud:
But Twitler says it’s conservatives not ZEGS.
danielx
Hugh Hewitt, in the editorial pages of the Washington Post, says the following:
Did you know it was a good week for the GOP? I didn’t know that. I am ever so glad Hugh Hewitt is around to tell me these things.
Hyacinths are blossoming, amazingly enough. I was sure they were goners after the freeze a week or so ago. Cut down the ornamental grasses and butterfly bush, fertilized, cleaned gutters (again) and cut grass for the first time. Now to take down storm windows* on back porch, clean stuff out of garage…..never ending.
*1 x 2s, double sided tape and visqueen, two inch screws to hold them to the cedar posts. With a northern exposure it really does make a difference…
OzarkHillbilly
@D58826:
So do I.
WaterGirl
@OzarkHillbilly: I guess I wasn’t thinking about what knowing that at an early age could do to a person, glad you were able to turn it into something liberating.
I always figure if you’re damned if you do and damned if don’t, then you can do whatever you want.
germy
@D58826:
On his first day he created an apple tax that doubled the price of granny smiths. The tax went to fund inner city midnight basketball. It was all over the news; I’m surprised you missed it.
Aleta
@germy: Whoever took her apple pie away should be held responsible.
Amir Khalid
@tobie:
Per Wikipedia:
You’d need a good-sized saffron crocus farm just to get usable quantities of saffron spice, it would appear. There’s a reason it’s one of the most expensive spices there is.
Another Scott
@Baud: He does seem to recall an alternative history about the various health care debates…
I pointed him to Scott Lemieux’s post debunking that but I dunno if he saw it.
Why won’t he listen to me!!11
;-)
Cheers,
Scott.
Baud
@germy:
Huh?
germy
@Baud: I don’t even want to google it.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: That would be fake news, Real news would say, “They loved Big Pansy”.
danielx
@germy:
Apple pie and god have been taken away, and nobody told me?
Spanky
This one made me feel good:
Obama’s science diaspora prepares for a fight(caution: WaPo)
(ETA: nekkid link fixed.)
WaterGirl
@WereBear: Yep. People don’t know that even things like cheddar goldfish have onion powder in them, and that’s a problem. My kitty soulmate quiver was crazy for goldfish – and I had no idea that it was bad to let him have any. He was also crazy about tulips and would bite at them; it was adorable but also dangerous.
Just two of the things I got to wonder about after he was diagnosed with kidney failure.
WereBear
In other words, “I used to see ME and MINE everywhere I looked. I was the standard the society modeled itself after. Now there are black Barbies and people make fun of jello salad and the grocery store sells salsa. Once, every sitcom and movie was about ME.”
It’s flippy, but it’s how they think.
germy
@danielx:
If you didn’t spend so much time on liberal blogs you would have gotten the news.
Felonius Monk
@Corner Stone:
This may well be true, but don’t forget Lubbock gave us Jimmy Dale Gilmore, Butch Hancock, & Joe Ely. So it can’t be all bad.
Baud
@germy: After The War on Apple Pie, are Moms next?
D58826
MOving interview with Uncle Joe about his decision not to run last year. Nothing really new but just a reminder of what a basically decent guy he is.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/03/26/joe-biden-do-i-regret-not-being-president-yes/?tid=sm_tw&utm_term=.df1ea5ef741f
danielx
@germy:
I suppose, but I don’t have a strong enough stomach for Breitbart, RedState and so forth.
Gin & Tonic
@Amir Khalid: It has to be harvested by hand, as well.
scav
@danielx: Never did trust that god person — making off with our ‘merkan apples.
germy
@Felonius Monk:
And Mac Davis?
Who wrote the song “Lubbock In My Rearview Window”?
Baud
@scav: Jesus, who died and made him God.
japa21
@Baud: I am assuming it is those folks that hang banners from overpasses condemning the Kenyan’s socialism and calling for the Kenyan’s impeachment. Or at least that is what they did. Not sure what they will be focusing on now.
They would tend to do this during rush hour on busy highways, thus making rush hour worse than normal. There was an attempt to stop this in the Chicago area, but the First Amendment (which is only valid when they need it, not, for example when BLM needs it) kind of guaranteed their right to do it.
OzarkHillbilly
@WaterGirl: It’s a wash. I was hell on wheels in high school and there wasn’t much trouble I didn’t get into. A little surprised I made it thru it all in one piece, but people are more resilient than we think. I have my own issues too.
WaterGirl
@germy:
I thought that was funny, but will we be laughing in the wee hours of the night on Monday when twitler is tweeting that very thing, absolutely certain that it’s true because he read about it somewhere on the internet?
Baud
@japa21: I have never seen one.
Felonius Monk
@germy:
And ,most importantly, Buddy Holly.
Baud
@WaterGirl: I’ll be laughing at him.
WaterGirl
@OzarkHillbilly:
Don’t we all!
Another Scott
@WereBear: Bad linky. I assume you meant this?
WARNING: All bulbs are dangerous to cats.
Cheers,
Scott.
Corner Stone
@germy:
I have to be honest here. I like Apple Pie just fine and all but it’s somewhere at the bottom of my Top Ten Pie List. It’s not even my favorite fruit pie.
Oh, God, what have I done?!
Iowa Old Lady
@Felonius Monk: And Buddy Holly
ETA: Oops. I see you got there already.
WereBear
@Felonius Monk: Heck, Indiana gave us Kurt Vonnegut.
The thing is? They left places like that, so they could be Buddy Holly and Kurt Vonnegut.
hovercraft
@danielx:
Well Mark Halpern did lose his gig on msnbc, and Hugh Hewitt. They were overdue for an update on “good news for John McCain”, now we have it.
So what the GOP shit their pants, at least it was a nice big pile and not diarrhea. WIN!!
Westyny
@Doug R: @Doug R: This.
Baud
@Corner Stone: Communist.
germy
@WereBear:
I think you’ve nailed their logic. They’ve got their own private Mayberry RFD in their heads, and they’ve romanticized the hell out of it.
Felonius Monk
@germy:
Have you checked out Overpasses for America?
Corner Stone
@danielx:
That’s one of the things that infuriates me when Joy or MSNBC in general has HH on their air. Why? WHY?
We all already know what he’s going to say and that he’s going to take whatever R debacle is happening and turn it into a defeat for the D’s.
I mean, the Congressional testimony on Monday, Nunes scattered crazeballs throughout the week, the utter spectacle of incompetence that was the whole AHCA non-vote disaster. And then we find out the former National Security Advisor to Trump had planned a conspiracy to kidnap a US citizen – while in the pay of a foreign power! And now may have a deal to flip!
How in the fuckety fuck of fuckville does that even approach a “good week” ?
OzarkHillbilly
@WaterGirl: I think that’s why were here.
a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)
@Baud: I can promise you that Tenncare, Tennesse’s attempt at Masscare, was screwed over by the subsequent Republican administration and a GOP-dominated legislature that no longer had to walk in fear of Ned Ray McWherter. This was back when Obama was still a community organizer and well before Nancy Pelosi had her hands on the Speaker’s gavel. The ACA was irrelevant in that problem.
amk
@danielx: Both were secretly deported to kenya circa jan 20, 2009 in the middle of the night.
OzarkHillbilly
@Corner Stone: You must be some kinda Commie.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@hovercraft:
So he basically decided to do battle with his true base (because old school Bush GOP folks sure aren’t his biggest supporters).
The boy’s not too bright.
japa21
@Baud: Lucky you. When they were out it almost doubled my drive home because people would go slow. Of course that gave me plenty of time to give them my one-fingered salute.
Felonius Monk
@WereBear:
And Indiana gave us Herb Shriner, Hoagy Carmichael, and David Letterman. And I went to college in Indiana, but I’m sure glad I didn’t stay.
WereBear
Andy Griffith himself said it was a fairy tale version of he and Don Knott’s childhood — growing up in the South, during the Great Depression. It was never conceived as contemporary even for the time.
It was sweet and gentle as his own antidote to playing Lonesome Rhodes in A Face in the Crowd, an experience which left him with a form of PTSD from portraying such a disgusting character.
In addition, most of their writers were Jewish guys from NYC. They would get Sheriff Taylor’s folksy wisdom by translating from the Yiddish. Filmed on sets in California.
So at every possible angle, it was a fantasy. Which these people mistake for a reality they used to have. That is deeply messed up.
Total lack of reality handling. A sickness they are trying to normalize.
schrodingers_cat
@germy: What is so wonderful about the apple pie? Its ok as pies go. What is so uniquely American about apple pie? Apples are not uniquely American, they grow in most temperate regions of the world. Pumpkin pie is probably more uniquely American than apple pie.
Baud
@a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio):
I read that as Massacre. Can’t believe the GOP wouldn’t have a field day with that one.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@Spanky:
Did the March for Science event actually happen? It sure was no Women’s March.
germy
@WereBear:
I think they’re yearning for a world where they can goof off at school, goof off at work, and still make enough money to live well. And also, no Blacks.
germy
@West of the Rockies (been a while):
It hasn’t happened yet, which is why the numbers were so disappointing. I think it’s scheduled for April 22.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
No Writers Thread this morning?
WereBear
Apples grew particularly well in NE United States, and kept well during winters that were more challenging than English colonists were used to. Plus, the whole Johnny Appleseed thing.
Give me a berry pie any day!
schrodingers_cat
@WereBear: I don’t get the fascination for PB and J, either. I think its a revolting combination.
Aleta
@japa21: Driving through town yesterday (town went by a huge margin for BO and HRC) a new flagpole was out in front of a business. Big American flag on top with a big blue Tr flag flying right below it. Weird chilling sight.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@germy:
I spoke to a super bright college kid in town who is a grad student in Synthetic Organic Chemistry (which sounds oxymoronic to me). He told me there have already been a number of funding cuts since Lump took over.
I asked if I could interview him and some of his instructors. He was completely reluctant, fearful of reprisals. Said his instructors would also not likely want to talk on record. I hope the March goes on and is significant.
schrodingers_cat
@West of the Rockies (been a while): Probably, involves creating/studying organic molecules in a lab, not oxymoronic at all.
Aleta
@schrodingers_cat: The early green ones were fired out of muskets at the Redcoats ? (not)
Corner Stone
@schrodingers_cat:
…wait…WHAT??!
My speech..it has been lessed. I mean…there are no evens left for me to can’t..
WereBear
@schrodingers_cat: Your basic nut & fruit combo. Very pleasant to most tastebuds, but apparently not for yours :)
D58826
Maybe it is just the technology allows the news to come at you like a fire house but this is just a short sample from my twitter tl this am. There isn’t enough time to get outraged at all of the things that need to be outraged at. It is even difficult to ‘pick your battles’ since so many of these things are worth doing battle over.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@D58826:
A 45 Year old dad stripper? Hunka-hunka burnin’ sad….
Corner Stone
@West of the Rockies (been a while): I beg your pardon!!
Although, come to think of it. I’m naked most of the time and never seem to get actually paid for it. Hmmm…
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@Corner Stone:
Yeah, me either!
Any photos I’ve seen of the guy, he looks like a mild (bland) furniture salesman.
debbie
@D58826:
I hate this expression with the fury of a quadrillion dragons.
Kathleen
@Baud: First they came for the Chevrolets, but I did nothing…
Kathleen
@Corner Stone: Well, “some say” Trump was calm after the AHCA debacle. I guess that constitutes “good” these days.
Anastasio Beaverhausen
All is (temporarily) forgiven here in DC as the city erupts in cherry blossoms. After initial teaser blooms in February, followed by some very very cold snaps, the tidal basin and surrounding ‘burbs are now in full bloom. And here in our little corner of Arlington Virginia we are thankful for the heliobores, which have bloomed like troopers despite the snow and cold. And the 50+ year old peonies that I rescued last fall from a vacation home near the beach, where they were struggling in the sandy soil, have survived and are poking their heads up. Can’t wait to find out how they bloom. And I have cleaned, raised, and leveled my signature “drip” bird bath. Next might be making seed tapes for beets and radishes with my little daughter. Thanks for that craft project!
TerryC
I have ordered 420 trees to plant this spring, which will bring my four-year total of trees planted to more than 7,000. Ninety percent have been native fruit and nuts, or oaks and cedars. As a retirement project I am reforesting some previously tilled fields and using them, plus preexisting tree stands, woods, and lines to complete three nine hole disc golf courses. Spent the last week hand fertilizing several hundred of the fruit trees and my back is aching.
debit
@TerryC: Wow. I take my hat off to you. That is amazing and an obvious labor of love. I am impressed.
muddy
@FlyingToaster: @ArchTeryx: Vermont’s system wasn’t single payer. BC/BS just carried right on, amongst others. The main problem with the roll out was bad software and no one could use the system, you couldn’t log on and do your business. They finally just paid the feds after giving up trying to fix it for years.
I wish people wouldn’t say it was tried and it failed, like the concept of single payer is at fault. The Vermont was not designed to be fully single payer, and it was never usable online. It was not actually tried, so we have no idea if it would fail. I don’t know why they hire these site designs out to consultants, there ought to be a government department doing it, we didn’t develop the atom bomb by farming it out to consultants. It was a big problem in the roll out of the ACA as well.
satby
@TerryC: WOW! Where is this?