Presidential Candidates, 2

 Angel AbbyGrace asked "Are you remembering the "Russian Reset" with Hill?"

Well, I did have to google "Russian Reset" and it WAS kind of funny.  Something about a mistranslated American word into Russian  on a symbolic fake "reset button gadget" (and noting it had been signed off on as accurate by the Russian embassy).

But I wasn't arguing politics.  I was thinking about the current presidential candidates and who could stand up among world leaders facing someone like Putin.

There are darn few of the current crop that could.   It's awful! Marco Rubio comes across like the intern designated to bring the serious leaders their coffee. Jeb! is a wimp.  Trump would be out-bullied by Putin.  Walker and Kasich would be dismissed as bullying teacher unions (though at least Putin would like THAT!

And I'm not being mean to just Republicans.  Politically, I'm more aligned with Bernie Sanders; I'd love to talk to him all day.  But he is basically a mayor of a small place.  He has no executive or international experience.  O'Malley was a great Governor of a minor State (and for all I know,he could be a very good Chief Executive in calm prosperous times).

It is just that I can't find anyone but Hillary Clinton who could look eye to eye with someone like Putin and not flinch.  She's hard as nails.  And I don't mean fingernails...

To prove the point that I am politically unbiased regarding "strength" of presidents, who would I take today from the past?

Teddy! (Roosevelt, not Kennedy), Franklin Roosevelt, Truman, Reagan...  Yeah, some democrats and some republicans.  Like I said, I'm not arguing politics here (yet). 

So if I wanted someone from the current  crop of people desiring to become President,  who would I want?  Well, aside from ME of course...  I would want Hillary Clinton.  She just has the personality to handle the job.  Seriously, you don't WANT some inexperienced and stupid "hey, I might actually get lucky and win" type as President here.

I remember seeing some political cartoon showing some guy being sworn into office and then in the 2nd panel he says to his political advisors, "OK, so what do I do NOW?".   THAT'S SCARY, and that's what I'm afraid most of the candidates WOULD do.

There are too many people who desperately WANT that job, but too few who really seem to have any idea what to DO with it. 

Clinton's politics don't align with mine perfectly.  And yes, she is a politician and bit of a slippery one at that.  But at the top job, experience and talent matter.  Few leaders are "nice" or "clean". 

At the risk of echoing Donald ("I went Wharton, so I'm smart") Trump, I have to say I have a degree in Political Science.  I study this stuff to this day.  We are far past the times when we elected successful Generals because they knew how to manage a whole army.  World affairs are bigger than armies now. 

What a US President needs is the skill to manage international chaos.  The only candidate I see who could do that is Hillary Clinton. 

Presidential Candidates

The Republicans...

Donald Trump - Middle school bully, with brains to match.

Ben Carson - The quiet crazy guy who thinks everyone is either a Nazi or a slaveowner.  I think maybe we are all both.   In his mind..

Ted Cruz - I could be both of those guys above, really.  Let me try harder... 

Marco Rubio - Sure I look like I'm 20, but I can talk that way too.  Oh wait, is that the prob?

Jeb! - Hey, never mind if I don't mention the last name, I'm The Next One.  You all know it, right?  Unless you don't want me to mention I'm a Bush..  Then I'm not.  Dubya says not too, so...

The Democrats...

Hillary! - I'm the ONE right?  I mean we all agreed on that after the last go-around.  The Black GUY first and THEN its my turn...  Um, OUR turn, Right?  It's my turn now?  And you get Bill back for a 3rd and 4th turn...  He's not dead yet.

Bernie Sanders - Look you want an angry guy who is usually right (well leftist if ya know what I mean), you have ME!  Never mind that I probably couldn't manage a candy store, I'm always right. (er, left)  And I yell a lot, so that proves I care.

Martin O'Malley - I talk nice, I'm from Maryland, I'm classical liberal, I'm not Spiro Agnew.  What more do you want?

  ******************

What we are missing here is the person who can meet with Putin and say "I'll punch ya into the middle of next week" convincingly.  And with a plan for that...

Putin would laugh at Trump, remind Jeb! that his whole family are wimps, ask Rubio if he shaves yet, and tell Sanders that he isn't the socialist he imagines he is.

But he wouldn't know what to say to Hillary Rodham Clinton...  She's unflappable, unstoppable, and unbreakable...

The Last Edging Circle

It nearly done.  I did the last digging yesterday.  Almost...  There are 3 tree roots crossing the edging trench.  I don't want to chop them out; the tree needs them.  They ARE slightly below-ground though.  I think I will cut the bottoms of the edging to fit over top of the roots.  But I sure need to have the whole rest of the edging perfectly fitted around the trench before doing any cutting-to-fit.

Seriously, it has to be about as precise as wood-working.

So I went round and round the circle trench to get it as uniformly deep as possible (but not too deep either, so I can lay in this last area of edging.  The edging is heavy (but cuttable) plastic, and I'll get it to all fit in tomorrow.

But I thought this would take 2 weeks and it has been 6 weeks.  *sigh*  Other demands get in the way.  Laundry, grocery-shopping, cooking,  etc...

At least I'm close to done!  But that's not "quite" done.  The center areas is edged, but that is for transplanted Lychimatria Firecracker to.  Lovely plant; very invasive though.  So I have the circle for it that I can mow around all year and keep it from spreading.

The last area is for semi-shady wildflowers, spring bulbs, and some dwarf azaleas.  I have no idea how that will work out, but I don't have to worry about THAT until next Spring.

Meanwhile, the older flowerbed along the fence has been ignored for months.  I needs work.  Mostly, it needs areas that have been taken over by grass killed.  Fortunately, it won't take more than a day (he said optimistically)  to pull the grass tops off and cover the areas with black plastic for the Winter.  I hope they will die.  And least they will be weakened.  And that whole area needs to be rebuilt next year.

There is too much space there with "just a few of this and a couple of that" left in spots after years of gradual die-backs.  Even perennials don't live forever.

I need to collect the surviving ones from various spots together (9 same plants together look better than 3 spots of 3 plants).  Some long-lived perennials (like purple coneflowers and black-eyed-susans) tend to self-seed to places the prefer, and some plants get exposed to more sunlight than they like when other plants die back and need better conditions.

The good news is that I have 15 daylilies saved in pots from the ridge that was removed, I have 30 azalea cuttings that have been rooting for 2 months, the dwarf butterfly bush and the dwarf knock-out rose seem healthy enough for cuttings (I have a well-lit plant light stand),  and I have LOTS of viable seeds of marigolds, zinnias, salvias, forget-me-nots, butterfly weed, herbs etc.

I am slowly changing from multi-yearly troublesome perennials, that bloom briefly, to replaceable annuals that bloom all year long.  The nice thing about annuals is that you can turn the soil early each Spring before planting and expose the germinating weed seeds to be killed with a shallow hoeing.

Some perennials solve all the problems by growing high and thick so that no weeds thrive.  That's why I'm trying to give the Lychmastria their own space.  There are 2 areas of plants where no weeds grow.  The Lychimastria and the Stokesia (Stokes Asters).  I'll divide the Stokesia (guidance says in Spring, which seems odd, but OK).  To set up another 6x6' area.

Projects

Ever feel you are mentally done doing yard projects for the year?  But they're not finished?  I'm tired, but there is more to do.  I did finally get one done.  The far edged area intended for wildflowers...

I needed to loosen the soil, and I couldn't get the rototiller to start.  It has always been an "iffy" engine.  So I tried to rake the soil loose.  Too much gravel.  But it is supposed to rain lightly tonight and tomorrow while staying above 50F and that would be good for germinating the seeds.  So I thought about it...

Well, I had 2 trashbarrels of a half compost, half topsil mix.  What the seeds want is to get thoroughly moistened to trigger germination, some soil to surround them to trigger rooting, some soil below for the roots to penetrate, and some regular moisture after that for the roots to absorb water and minerals to send upwards to stems and leaves. 

So I used my 2 barrels of compost/soil on the area.  It only came a 1/4" deep when spread around, but the soil under there is decent.  So if they root, they will grow.  Wildflowers are exactly that; "wild",  They don't depend on people spreading fertilizer and in fact usually don't want it. 

So I spread the meager compost/soil mix, scatterred the seeds, walked all over the surface (and using a flat rake to also press down), and then watered the area.  Once lightly, waited 10 minutes and did it a gain, and repeated. 

Why water before a light rain?  To settle the soil around the seeds.  There is less chance now of a rain causing the seeds to get washed into uneven pockets.

And I did it later than I should have.  The package instruction say they want 2 weeks before the first hard frost.  Well, we've already had a frost, but that was before I planted the seeds and the forecast is for at least 10 days without another freeze.  So I may get lucky...

I'll know in a week to 10 days...

American Politics

Megen posted "What I don't understand is why politicians don't get it that voters want politicians to act in the best interests of the country in a manner that is consistent with the policy platform of the party that they represent. All this time and money wasted on attempting to score petty points while the big issues float on by is appalling."

I agree. In the US, people want politicians who agree with their most basic desires.  I personally object to such selfish  and biased opinions, but I recognize them as existing.

Personally, I think most voters are idiots.  Too many can't comprehend basic science like climate change and human evolution.  Some might even barely allow for gravity...  LOL!  It's partly religion (the percentage of atheists and agnostics here is ONLY about  15-20%). 

I find my country to be one of the dumbest population of citizens in the industrialized  world.  It drives me crazy sometimes.  On the other hand, as Winston Churchill once said, The Americans will do the right thing eventually.

Our political system is scatterred.  The 3 branches (legislature, judiciary, and executive) are constantly in contention.  Each has balanced powers. 

That doesn't make things easy here.  But it has worked pretty well so far.  It is a GOOD thing that the Legislature can force Executive Branch members to answer questions, that the Executive Branch can bring pressure on the Legislature and that the Judiciary can make decisions about law but not have some army/mob to enforce it. 

May everything stay in balance that way forever...

Now back to the politics of today...

The Congressional Representatives only care about what their own local voters think.  Seriously, what I think here in Maryland is utterly irrelevant  to what they think in other US States.  And that is deliberate.  However insane *I* think other State voters are doen't matter.

Now that isn't to say it was always this way.  When I was younger, there were liberal and conservative Republicans, and liberal and conservative Democrats.  The parties weren't aligned ideologically as they are now.  Democrats and Republicans USED to be able to work together across party lines.  No more...

I better stop, I'm getting angry...

Mark

Politics and Congressional Inquisitions...

I watched a lot of the Congressional Benghazi Inquisition today.  It was extreme and partisan.

I'm pretty much oriented to facts (to the point where if the side I agree with does a bad job being factual and engages in evasion and emotional responses I won't think they did a good job.

Hillary Clinton did a good job today.  After 11 HOURS responding to partisan questions, many of which had no logical connection to the sad events at Benghazi, she did very well.  And let me say that as someone who participated in chess tournaments when younger, I know something about the pain of just sitting for hours at a time.  It is called "sitzfleisch".  German, meaning literally "sitting on the flesh".  It is a requirement for playing long chess games.  I used to have it.  Today, I am a pacer.

But Hillary sat, and listened, and sat, and listened.  Sometimes she could get to give an answer.  Mostly, she had to just sit and listen to Republican speeches, some of which applied to Benghazi but most didn't.

So who won the Republican Benghazi debate?  Hillary.  The lozenge did it...  I'm not joking.  When Hillary finally had to take a lozenge out of her purse after about 8 (9, 10?) hours into the inquisition, she had won.  It meant she had spoken more than even a professional politician could be expected to manage.

And the Republicans hadn't been able to find she had done anything wrong about the sad events in Benghazi in 11 hours of questions...

Good Things

After mentioning the horrible beef short ribs recipe, Tuesday, I should mention that I did cook a lot of good food at the same time.  So its not me.

Cooked 3 chicken thighs, bone in, baked, with my own version on "shake&bake" coating.  Came out wonderfully.  Sauteed 3 hot italian sausages for later use in a sausage stew with roasted green and red bell peppers, cannellini beans, minced carrots and tomatoes.  Marinated some large shrimp in garlic, ginger, and onion for a few hours.  Then coated them in bread crumbs and deep fried them.  Added onion rings to the oil coated in pancake batter after that.  I love my Fry Baby.  Once a month though for the fried stuff.  

And I smoked slabs of Boston Butt pork in my offset cooker.  Came out great.  Most was cut into smaller pieces and frozen, but I made a wonderful pork stew with the bit I kept in the fridge. 

That was dinner.  With steamed asparagus in a cheese sauce, a corn on the cob, and fresh green beans, with a tossed salad with homemade Italian dressing.

I don't eat too plainly, LOL!  So that bad beef rib recipe the other day really annoyed me.  Maybe that why I made sure to eat well today, though.

Tomorrow, I'll have tenderloin steak.  I "fry" it, but with the good cast iron pans, its like broiling.

The Old Car Blues

I drive a 2005 Toyota Highlander.  Wonderful vehicle.  I don't drive very much, so MPG don't matter (10 years old and 25,000 miles).  Its even garage-kept and the garage is in the house.  The temperature never gets below 45F  Maybe 50F.

But the darn thing just won't start in the Winter.  The dealership says I don't drive the car often enough for the battery to stay charged.  I doubt that.  The past 3 Winters, I kept jump-starting the battery from 2 old boat batteries and THEY sat around in the car and the garage for months fully charged even using them to start the car every few days.

There has to be something in the electrical system going wrong, right?  The internet says (and we all know the internet is never wrong *koff, koff*), that the starter solenoid brushes have gone bad.   The dealership says that the startes don't HAVE brushes anymore (but upon my interrogation, they admitted that actually, they do, but they just replace the whole starter when needed).  So they lie without shame...

I'm waiting for a call back about the cost of replacing the whole starter unit (like it takes them hours to figure the cost of replacing a starter?).  I know the part costs $200, so they will probably want $600 for the job.  I hope solves the problem, but it might not and the options are to jump start the car all Winter (AGAIN) every time I want to drive out for an errand, or buy a new car.

I told the TOYOTA dealership that if I replace the car it will be with a Subaru Forrester.  That got some attention.

But is seems stupid to replace a car with only 25,000 miles on it.  I'm not into having the latest car or new gadgets.  I tend to buy highly-rated cars and drive them until they DIE!   And I don't care WHAT car it is or how old, 25,000 miles is too new to die.  I'm still on the original tires!

I can't wait to see what weird explanation the dealership offers when they call back.  I suppose I will have to go to Corporate HQ for some more expert solution.  But I will be hopeful until I can't be...

Mark

Bad Recipe

I like beef short ribs.  Tastey stuff, but I've never found a good recipe to keep them moist the next day.  So I tried one online for the slow cooker.  It sounded interesting.  Onions, brown sugar, ketchup, red wine vinegar...  And make a gravy after.

OMG, it was horrible!  I have certainly made stuff that I wouldn't serve to friends and eaten it myself just not to be wasteful, but THIS took some work to make palatable.  I had to remove the short ribs from the godawful concoction, rinse it all clean, and then remake a standard beef stew (potatoes, carrots, celery, tomato and add the ribs back in.  It is "OK".

Who makes these recipes and who on Earth rates them 5 stars of 5?  OK, tastes differ, but this had conflicting tastes only an orc could love... 

Oh I Did A Stupid...

I kept calling the car dealership yesterday.  Kept leaving messages with the Service Department.  Got at the online chat help, etc, to try and get an answer to a battery problem...

It was Sunday... I thought it was Monday...  ERK!  No wonder no one answered the phones...

Being retired is like that sometimes.

When I retired, I told my co-workers I didn't want some fake gold plaque, I wanted a big digital display gadget that simply showed the day of the week!  This is why.

LOL!

And yes there IS this...

And YES, I did just order this...  It wasn't available when I retired.  Trust me, I searched...

What annoys me is that some time in the future, there will be a version that shows the YEAR.  And I will buy IT...

For you younger ones, don't laff TOO loud; for you there will be an App for that...   And you'll buy it.    Well, OK, you will just ask your implant what day it is.  But you get the idea...   ;)


"They're coming to take me away ho ho he he ha ha
To the happy home with trees and flowers and chirping birds
And basket weavers who sit and smile and twiddle their thumbs and toes
They're coming to take me away ha ha."

I hope.
Its a joke,
But you never noke.

..  Mark

The Digging Edging Trenches Blues

I am getting rather tired of digging trenches for edging around the new landscaping areas...  So I'm writing about it.  So here are "the blues".  Or at least, "the aquas"...

"I'm grabbin my shovel,
And digging the ditch.
All round the outside,
Then inward, kapish?

Its tedious working
And boring as Hell.
Can't wait til it's over, 
I'm sure you can tell.

I got the busted cramped left foot jambed down on the shovel blues....*

The shovel's 6 inches
The edgings 80 feet.
That's 160 times,
Foot and shovel must meet.

And sometimes there are rocks,
And the pounding repeats,
It aint nice at all 
Pounding shovel with feets.

 I got the busted cramped left foot jambed down on the shovel blues....

First it looks like no progress,
Just a few feet at most.
But then its some more feet,
And the ending is close.

But I'm fooled by the shadows,
And I finally see.
I'm just half-around,
Can that possibly be?

I got the busted cramped left foot jambed down on the shovel blues....

I wish I could do
Like Paul Bunyan did.
Drag a huge axe behind me
So a ditch I could dig.**

But I finally finished,
Halalluah I said.
Now all I have left,
Is to grub-hoe and dredge.

I got the busted cramped left foot jambed down on the shovel blues....

I'll wait til tomorrow
The grub-hoe work instead.
For now I have cramps
So I'm going to bed!

I got the busted cramped left foot jambed down on the shovel blues....

* Some things I do are lefty, some righty.  I think I was a natural lefty as a tot but taught to be a righty.  Sometimes I think that affects my thinking too.

** Legend says Paul Bunyan got tired of carrying his huge axe on his shoulder so he dragged it behind him once, creating the Grand Canyon.

But seriously, the end is in sight.   I did finally finish digging both around the outside and the inside of the edging and tomorrow I can scoop the loosened soil out of the trench and put the edging in.  There are a few shallow spots with largish stones that need to be cleared, and there are apparently 2 places where there are tree roots.  I'll cut the edging to fit over those.  Just one more bit of work, LOL!  But backfilling the edging is the easiest part and will only take half a day.  

Then I can finally plant!  I sure didn't expect it to take this long.  But I routinely under-estimate the time projects take.  Maybe that's what allows me to take on some projects.  I suppose if I knew how much time each one would actually take, I would never start any.  And then where would I be?

I guess I would rather under-estimate the effort and DO the projects then accurately estimate them and NOT do them...