Thursday, May 26, 2016

Trump vs Clinton Media bias

English: Bill Clinton’s flyer as he ran for Pr...
English: Bill Clinton’s flyer as he ran for President of the student body at Georgetown University (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I am not a big fan of either presidential candidate but it seems that Trump does get negatively slanted press reporting of his campaign. Clinton seems to get a pass by the press on her gaffs and illegal emails.  I certainly wouldn't vote for either one of them but maybe someday there will be a candidate I could support.

The disruption at Trump events seems to be caused by external agitators and not by Trump supporters but the media does not differentiate this fact clearly.  Trumps words are extensively analysed for racism and inconsistencies. I do not trust Trump but I don't trust any politician so why should he be different.  Trump uses emotional statements to emphasize feelings he thinks people believe in and he clearly is not careful with his wording.  It is fair to give him significant criticism but not everything he says is wrong and he should not be automatically dismissed when he talks.  The liberal press has a knee jerk reaction to everything Trump says and that simply is not appropriate in a representative democracy.

The press seems to ignore Clinton's illegal emails and reviews of her comments are always slanted to put her in the best light. Her husbands sexual behavior while in office is a legitimate problem and he should not be in government.  Everyone may have sinned but that doesn't mean you should put someone in a public trust when they have used that trust inappropriately in the past.  Hillary plans to put Bill into some kind of public trust in her administration so his past behavior is fair game in politics.

It would be nice if we could just judge candidates by their policy viewpoints.  Unfortunately, most of Trump's policies change with every wisp of wind and the majority of Clinton's policies are not acceptable to start.  Third party candidates are not a viable solution at this time. There are not any presidential candidates that I would trust at this time.

Saturday, May 21, 2016

My grape vine planted last year is actually alive !

Example of old vine branch with ripening grape...
Example of old vine branch with ripening grape clusters. Some of the berries on the cluster are ripening unevenly with only partial veraison. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I thought the grape vine I planted last year was stone cold dead.  I was wrong which is a rare occurrence that seems to be happening more often as I slowly approach middle age. The grape vine had two beautiful little leaves coming out of the vine which appears devoid of life otherwise.  Some day I hope to enjoy the taste of these table grapes developed for people in northern climates.

Monday, May 16, 2016

Garden didn't work out this year.....bummer.

Euphorbia wulfenii
Euphorbia wulfenii (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I wasn't able to make much of a garden this year.  Certainly not anywhere near my ambitious plans made during winter.  I was just too ill and didn't have the cash for a lot of frivolous luxuries. Plus I had bigger issues to deal with.

Still, I will have a few container veggies and some small fruit/nut bushes to be planted.  Scavenged containers from Craigslist help keep the cost down.  I recommend Guerneys seed and nursery mail order for some good deals on high quality plants if you wait for their sales. I don't care to plant anything that I don't like to eat so that limits what I grow.  Flowers are pretty but I want something that will provide me with a little return on my investment.

The existing giant trees in my garden area need a good trim to allow some light in for veggies and other plants.  We have a 27 foot manual pole saw that needs to be employed on a sunny day with no wind to get rid of all the shade producing branches.  Last year we even had some one foot puff ball mushrooms spring up over night under the trees.  Its time to let the sun shine in to this dark abyss.  I tried using the long pole saw on an extremely high branch but its a little tricky and my muscles are not like they were 20 years ago so I temporarily delayed until I have more time.  Its easy to use a 16 foot pole saw but these 27 foot honeys take some practice.