Garden Blogging VII

Dez transplants beets and peppers.


The new home for the tulip magnolia.


And I finally put the pong koa mandarin in the ground.

Erik and Jameson

Welcome back to Texas Uncle Erik.

What not to do with a dead whale

Two more examples of dirty tricks coming out of the Clinton campaign

Trying to flip pledged delegates and

Trying to get around contribution limits.

After the Michigan and Florida games, and the efforts to close the polls in Nevada casinos, this pattern is getting depressing. Quit gaming the system. Let the people choose.

Jameson rides his tricycle

Okay. I was able to upload video clips here using Photobucket, so folks that can't watch YouTube vids on their office computers should be able to watch these. You can still watch clips using YouTube, with most recent clips being available in the sidebar. My channel on YouTube is langston3 if you want to bypass the sidebar here.

Anyhow, here is Jameson pedaling his little heart out. Notice his fascination with dropping some little thingy through the manhole cover. When we take him to the park now, he is less interested in going down the slide than in dropping chunks of mulch through the grating in the flooring of the playground equipment. He likes his firetruck too, but still has a hard time pedaling it. Maybe I need to adjust the pedals, but I think they are about right.



I tried to show him how to pedal it by standing behind him and pressing down on his knees for him, but he's not picking it up just yet. Soon I am sure.

Texas Democratic Primary

Houston Chronicle article on the democratic primary, mostly about Clinton's history in the state.

Obama will be in Houston on Tuesday.

Clinton late to figure out Texas hybrid system. Whether you support her or not, you have to admit this could hurt her overall chances.

Clinton has picked up respectable endorsements from teachers unions and a local blogger I admire. Obama has picked up endorsements from the Austin Chronicle, Houston Chronicle, and Burnt Orange Report, all good endorsements. You all know who I like.

Leno on breaking the picket lines (sub. rqd.)

Here is his post-strike explanation of why he crossed the picket line:

We were just trying to keep the lights on so the guys would have a job and a show to come back to,' Leno said. 'We weren't trying to be heroes, but there are 160 other people who work on this show who would have been put out of a job if we hadn't come back. Some could have lost their homes.

As far as keeping the show from getting cancelled for the sake of the writers, give me a break. It is the flagship of NBC, and had a $50 million profit last year. The lights were going to stay on until the guys came back. I understand why he would want to go back to work if NBC told him to, and that workers not on strike--like those on strike--had bills to pay. Still, if you are Leno, there are better options out there for helping your people than crossing your writers' picket line. He could have been a hero if he had wanted to--obviously, he can do what he wants. He has developed a reputation as a nice guy, but his comments here are weak.

Aside from what Leno might or might not have done, as important as the show is to NBC, it would have been in its best interest to ensure that employees didn't have to be in danger of losing their homes. Sure, it was fun to try to make the writers look bad by promoting the idea that they screwed their coworkers (a tactic which Leno's lame excuse has the unfortunate side effect of enforcing). But NBC needs the Tonight Show, bottom line, and putting the entire crew out of work forever and starting over from scratch would have been counter productive.

Friday Morning

We went by the Grand Opening of the Clearlake Half Price Books this morning, which relocated catty-corner from its old location. They handed out free tote bags and gift certificates to the first 100 people in the door. Dez and I were #98 and #99. Score! I was happy with the old location, but the new store is nicer. Jameson picked up a few new books, and so did Dez. Then Tommy/Granddaddy came over for a visit.

Grandaddy gives a colorful interpretation of one of the new books. Here are a few of pictures he took while he was here.

WGA Strike is All But Over

Congrats! Now back to work for Jimmy A, Steve and Beth.

The unoffical "preview" premiere of Jezebel James will be March 12th, right after American Idol. The cast is great (big fan of Lauren Ambrose in Six Feet Under), the post-Idol slot is nice for a premiere, and the scripts will be funny, so hopefully the boys will be back in New York soon writing the second season's episodes. Dez, Jameson and I will probably be up in Hot Springs Village visiting Zuzu and Grandpa during my Spring Break, so we will watch the premiere together.

Then I hope to be back in time for John Harvey's play, Rot, which will be at Galveston's Strand Theatre March 14th and 15th, as part of its Texas tour.

In other big news, Jameson has learned how to pedal his tricycle. He strings together two or three good pedals at a time. Mostly, though, he likes getting on the incline of the driveway and rolling downhill. We'll try to get some video soon. He is also learning the mighty power of the word "No," and what seems to be a synonym for it, "okay okay."

Garden Blogging VI

Dad came over Sunday and helped put in the edging. The weather was great, and Dad was a trooper. We finished it off without too many goof-ups or lost fingers. I opted for a product called trex, as it should last forever and it is made from recycled products. It was a little pricey, but probably worth it.

And . . . then it rained Tuesday, so the water needs to dry up before the gravel can be shoveled in and compacted. I have a ton of grading to do this coming weekend, so it's all for the best. Desiree has most of the bed planted with assorted greens, onions, beans and carrots. Beets and peppers are sprouting in milk jugs on our breakfast table, and should be ready for transplanting soon. So, the structure is almost complete, and then it's on to other outdoor fun.

Election thoughts from Jim Armogida

Jim sent this email out to the family one month ago today. Edwards, of course, has dropped out since then, but everything else is still in play on the Dem side.

Well, it appears clear now that what is happening is a fight between the insiders of the Democratic Party (who back Hillary) and the ones who are sick of the way the Party has been run and want to retire them.

That is also what is happening at the national level—the insiders there [both Democratic Party and Republican Party] have to go, in order to wrest the power away from the lobbyists, the special interests, and the self-serving politicians who have been more concerned with themselves than the interests of the country and its citizens.

The few times this kind of struggle has occurred, the insiders have always won. I hope that doesn’t happen this time.

When Edwards (whom I am really getting more interested in--- belatedly joining Jimmy L) was asked the difference between him and Obama, he said that Obama believes you need to (or can) negotiate workable compromises with the special interest groups, etc., whereas Edwards doesn’t think that works and you simply have to fight them. I’m with Edwards on that—the insiders (and the way they have structured and support things) need to be thrown out and there really has to be new approaches and a radical overhaul of the way our government and Party is run.

I guess the dream ticket for me at this point is Obama for President and Edwards or Bloomberg for Vice President. I hope to hell that Obama has the guts not to simply become another insider or too much of a compromiser, and to be wiser about actually solving many of the problems rather than adding to them or continuing to suffer the status quo.

A good restart for the Party would be to get rid of Pelosi and Reid as Democratic Party leaders as soon as possible—they have really screwed things up so far, and have shown what the typical political insider is and does.

Look for massive efforts on Hillary’s behalf by the insider group—they do NOT want to lose any of the power, influence and deference they believe they so justly deserve.

Garden Blogging V

Dez lines up rows of kale, lettuce and chard. I still don't have the gravel path between and around the rows. We have had frequent rains ever since I built the beds, and it's too soggy to compact the granite.

Here is the new home for our blackberries. Marc came up with the idea of using a trough. It should keep the blackberries from getting out of control. In the summer, the metal may heat up the soil, so we'll have to keep it moist. I punched a bunch of holes in the bottom, put in a couple of inches of gravel on bottom, and raised the trough up to facilitate drainage.