Maggie's Farm

She always seemed like a part of our friend's website.  Dead aged 104.

She saw a lot of life and a lot of changes, didn't she?  As best I could tell, a darn good attitude too.

Is Euthanasia Psychiatric Treatment? The Struggle With Death on Request in the Netherlands

Watch: Kat Timpf Argues against Claim That Dodgeball Teaches Kids ‘Oppression’

Re Art:  "If you left the Rabbit on a curb, no one would steal it"

 Facebook Has Banned The Word "Honk" For Violating Their Community Standards

Young Adult fiction  Cowed by the culture cops

 Internet Hilariously Responds to ‘BirthStrikers’ Who Are Avoiding Childbirth Due to Impending Ecological Doom

"Natural selection at work" 

 My Prediction of The Next New Thing: Rich Renting "Accommodation" Addresses to Boost Kids' Adversity Scores

Own... rent... it's all a state of mind, isn't it?

Kiwis 'Just Say No' To Gun Ban

Oberlin College ignored the First Law of Holes responding to the jury verdict against it

Why Some Americans Won't Move, Even For A Higher Salary

 Millennial Dads Have Pathetic DIY Skills Compared To Baby Boomers

The Business of Health Care Depends on Exploiting Doctors and Nurses. One resource seems infinite and free: the professionalism of caregivers.

 Philadelphia To Ban Balconies And Bay Windows; “Symbols Of Gentrification”

California Democratic Party: First Amendment ‘Limited To Exclude Hate Speech’

 At University of Illinois, 265 bias complaints enforced by literal ‘speech police’

 G20 Countries Agree on Approach to Shut Down Big Tech's Tax Loopholes

Ross McKitrick: This scientist proved climate change isn’t causing extreme weather — so politicians attacked. And so, many scientists who have the facts and know the truth remain silent

 PROOF that FACEBOOK Is Allowing Vile Leftist Pages To Dominate Platform While Silencing Conservatives

  Liberals have become so consumed with hatred that they are hurting themselves. This is not normal.

Yes it is 

 Mexico freezes bank accounts in widening migration clampdown

 Via ‘We Build the Wall’ — Armed Mexican Cartel Member Filmed Crossing US Border in Broad Daylight!

 Why Trump’s critics had a royal meltdown over his visit with the Queen

 England Forced To Crown Donald Trump As King After Strange Woman Lying In Pond Lobs A Sword At Him

 China adds Washington Post, Guardian to 'Great Firewall' blacklist

 SpyGate Shake-Up: Prime Minister of Italy Fires Top Officials from Italian Intel Agencies

Acts 2:1-21

2:1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.

2:2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.

2:3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them.

2:4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

2:5 Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem.

2:6 And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.

2:7 Amazed and astonished, they asked, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?

2:8 And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?

2:9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,

2:10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,

2:11 Cretans and Arabs--in our own languages we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power."

2:12 All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?"

2:13 But others sneered and said, "They are filled with new wine."

2:14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, "Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say.

2:15 Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o'clock in the morning.

2:16 No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

2:17 'In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.

2:18 Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.

2:19 And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist.

2:20 The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord's great and glorious day.

2:21 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.'

What is Shavuot? The Middle Child of Jewish Festivals

The Ultimate Multi-Tool

Don't worry Donald, I only ever had eyes for one woman!: War hero
who flirted with Melania Trump reveals his captivating life story-from his D-Day landings at 18 to his 49 year marriage

 Lessons From the Great Antioxidant Lie

Image today from THE WEEK IN PICTURES: BRITISH EMPIRE EDITION

 VERDICT: Jury awards Gibson’s Bakery $11 million against Oberlin College

The misuse of data on extreme poverty in the United States

 On The Prevalence Of "Extreme Poverty" In The United States

 Acting ICE Director: 'Grab a Kid and That's a U.S. Passport Into This Country'

Hundreds of Illegal Aliens From Ebola-Stricken Congo Dumped in the Streets of San Antonio

 TRUMP BREAKS MEXICO: New Deal Reached,  Mexico To Take Action Against Illegal Immigration Into U.S.

That shady Russian was a CIA asset 

Minor detail 

Elizabeth Warren Claims Climate Change Is A 'Bigger Threat Than World War II' On Eve Of D-Day Anniversary

 PRESIDENT TRUMP AND RACE

David Brooks is a worm 

Peggy Noonan and Snob Rule

VDH:  Is Germany Becoming Germany — Again?

Scott Adams calls music a sort of drug

Mac Rebennack, dead at 77.  Had the delight of seeing him live many years ago, and also recently. Cranky SOB. Good obit here.

"There must be a better world somewhere":

Transcript of Trump's excellent D-Day speech

Liberal Media Call Trump Normandy Best Speech Ever

 Unable To Give It A Rest For One Day, Media Spreads A Fake News Story About Trump And The D-Day Ceremony

Is there a limit to human endurance? Science says yes

Lost Lewis Chessman worth over $1 million found in drawer

  National Park Begins Subtle Removal Of “Gone By 2020” Signs After Glaciers Just Keep Not Being Gone

 'Do no harm' to medicine with gender identity and abortion politics

Professor Is Accused of Creating a ‘Hostile Learning Environment’ for Assigning Too Many Male Authors

 DC Dyke March Condemned for Banning Jewish, Israeli Symbols, Including Star of David

 Dem Rep: The Right Has Conflated A Heartbeat With A Soul Or With Personhood…

 Modern D-Day Warriors Storm Washington To Demand Free Stuff From Government

 Something Big Just Happened On Mexico’s Southern Border

 The Border Is In Crisis Says ….. Vox?

Mexico Freezes Accounts Of “Human Traffickers” Tied To Migrant Caravans - And now you see the reasons for the threat of tariffs.

 Democrats Worry The Forthcoming IG Report Could Undercut Their Trump Investigations

 Key figure that Mueller report linked to Russia was a State Department intel source

 THE PERFECT STORM CONFRONTING XI JINPING

Angela Merkel's extended swan song 

It is said that the D-Day armada witnessed a swarm of Hummingbird Moths (aka Hummingbird Hawk Moths) over the English Channel. Sign of good luck.

I recently planted a few Cleomes in the garden, partly to attract those moths. 

I have only seen them at twilight, but it's said they are around in daytime too.  

h/t American Digest

We're talking about general fitness and energy for life during the years of sarcopenia, arthritis, and other various age and accident-related things. Younger people can take on tougher programs but few of them do.

- 3 hrs of resistance exercises/wk: weights +/- machines. It's for muscle and bone.

- 2 hrs/wk of "cardio." Includes HIIT. Gotta challenge that heart muscle or it will give out on you. Even so, it might anyway unless some cancer kills ya.

- 2 hrs/wk of exercise class or your own calisthenics. Classes push you harder. These are for agility, athleticism, cardio, balance, endurance, etc. To make your body do what's it's meant to do.

That's a good program, because it permits space to miss a random day without losing a step. A 5-hour hill hike can be a sub for any day. What about sports, yard work, gardening, etc? Unless you are playing a few sets of tennis in the US Open, these sorts of things are why you work to stay fit.  Doing ordinary life things are the rewards of fitness, but provide no fitness. 

A note from Gwynnie, from yesterday in the Sierras.

1994's "Dignity." I like the pounding rock version, but all I can find now is this rehearsal version for the MTV Unplugged recording.  

I went down where the vultures feed
I would’ve gone deeper, but there wasn’t any need
Heard the tongues of angels and the tongues of men
Wasn’t any difference to me...

Some great songs have an inevitability to them, as if they were not constructed but just discovered. The unforgettable lyrics here. 

 Study: Up To 25 Cups Of Coffee A Day Safe For Heart Health

10 Tiny Houses That Are Dream Homes You Can Buy on Amazon

Relecting on the old Jewish Mob of NYC 

 Global Warming: Is There Anything It Can't Do?

Yes.  Apparently it can not cause perfect days - like today. Something else caused that.

 10 Of 10 Coastal Antarctic Stations Show Zero Warming Over Past Decades.

Biological Man Who Beat Women in Cycling Complains About 'Toxic Masculinity'

 “The troubling legacy of Martin Luther King.” 

Prager:  Why So Many Mass Shootings? Ask the Right Questions and You Might Find Out

Myths of $2-a-Day Poverty

Biden: Fastest Way To End Transgender Violence “Is To End The Trump Administration”…

 Mexico Is Key to Resolving the U.S. Asylum Crisis

Mexican borders are controlled by banditos 

American taxpayers paid over $90 billion more under Trump tax law

Kimball: Let’s Call the Russian Collusion ‘Hoax’ What it Really Is

 William Barr determined to unravel truth behind Russia lie

 Byron York: Law enforcement, media changed standards for Trump

ROBERT MUELLER: UNMASKED by Congressman Louie Gohmert

Who Ran Crossfire Hurricane? Barr’s investigators should focus on John Brennan and Gina Haspel.

 ISLAMIC TERROR DEFENDER SADIQ KHAN SAYS WELCOMING TRUMP IS "UN-BRITISH"

PIERS MORGAN: The real big baby in London this week is Mayor Khan - a petty little pipsqueak

 Dozens of Confucius Institutes still operate across US

 TWITTER TAKES SIDES: Chooses Brutal Chinese Communist Govt. Over Freedom Dissidents and US Conservatives

A free ad for Gorilla Ladders at Home Depot. Rock solid, easy to use. And they deliver.

I got the one that extends to 18'.  Handy. 

D Day had no Plan B 

 Nothing Prepares You For Visiting Omaha Beach

The Secret Jewish History Of Popeye The Sailor Man

 Luxury cinemas are fighting Netflix with steak tartare, expensive booze, and gourmet popcorn

The first large group of 116 migrants from AFRICA are caught on video wading across the Rio Grande to illegally enter the U.S.

Mexico Is Key to Resolving the U.S. Asylum Crisis

Re The NYT: " the sanctimonious journalists who run the most important newspaper in the galaxy actually wonder why reasonable people think they have an anti-Republican, anti-Trump, blatant liberal bias?"

George Will:  Is the individual obsolete? Progressives want to dilute the concept of individualism, but that’s antithetical to America’s premise.

 Painting of Trump team 'Crossing the Swamp' touches off social media frenzy

 Trump Caves To King Corn Yet Again

Cowardly decision. I guess Trump doesn't use his own lawnmower.

 Moonbat Demands We Ban Lawnmowers

 RUSSIAGATE, SEEN FROM THE FAR LEFT

"It's All A Fraud": Deceptive Edits Found In Mueller Report

Sweden's Self-Inflicted Mess - The Scared Girls of Uppsala; Children of ISIS Terrorists

I had the delight of attending a Connecticut Shad Bake on Sunday after a day of trout fishing.  My pic above of shad (with lardons) on planks, with a tray of shad roe above. Shad roe is a special food for us.  Shad Bakes are done on rough planks over an open wood fire.

Some pics of somebody else's Shad Bake.  Yes, you nail the filets on the planks. The only seasonings are salt and pepper.

Shad are anadromous fish which migrate up rivers to breed in April and the beginning of May. The jolly bake I was invited to attend had Connecticut River shad, expertly-boned (few people know how to filet a Shad) along with whatever sacks of roe that the female Shad contained.

Nice outdoor party, in the woods by a large pond. Seemed like I had two degrees of separation from people I met there. 

Serve it up with beer, cole slaw, potato salad,  and strawberry shortcake for dessert. 

Acts 16: 16-34

16:16 One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling.

16:17 While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, "These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation."

16:18 She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, "I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And it came out that very hour.

16:19 But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities.

16:20 When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, "These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews

16:21 and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe."

16:22 The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods.

16:23 After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely.

16:24 Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

16:25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

16:26 Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were unfastened.

16:27 When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped.

16:28 But Paul shouted in a loud voice, "Do not harm yourself, for we are all here."

16:29 The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.

16:30 Then he brought them outside and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"

16:31 They answered, "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household."

16:32 They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.

16:33 At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay.

16:34 He brought them up into the house and set food before them; and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God.

A daughter visiting from LA helped me work the garden today, and decided to make a tart for her friend. Crust from scratch, of course. That's a BD family specialty- flakey pie crusts.

Rhubarb tarte is amazing, in my opinion. We grow good rhubarb here. I took it from my Mom's rhubarb patch when she died. Rhubarb takes minimal care, grows like a weed but does not spread. Just a pile of cow manure on top in early Spring.

 My father organised D-Day: the story of an unsung hero of the huge invasion

 Experts cite 'bully parents' in decline in youth sports participation nationwide

The Greyhound Bus Company Is Up For Sale

Clean Energy Has Questions to Answer

 What's The Potential Bipartisan Compromise On "Climate" Policy?

 New York Times needs to ‘look in the mirror’ if it thinks MSNBC, CNN are too partisan, critics say

Keeping Minority Kids in Their Place - If you wonder what Bernie Sanders’ education plan means for African-American and Latino students, then look at what’s happening in California.

Federally Funded Study: Common Core Sunk U.S. Kids’ Test Scores - In several cases student achievement reversed under Common Core, and in every subject studied students would have been better off if states had not adopted Common Core.

 California Dems propose resolution linking Israeli government to massacre at Pittsburgh synagogue

 Slavery Is Neither Strange Nor Peculiar

Trump's approval rating hits highest point in two years

VDH:  Trump Has Become the Democrats’ Great White Whale

John Durham Needs To Investigate Why The Info Generating The Mueller Probe Is All Linked To Hillary Clinton

27% of Israeli Arabs voted for Zionist parties  in recent elections

 Why Agritech Is Israel’s Next Big Import

 30 Years Later, the Tiananmen Tiger Still Stalks Communist China's Dragon

Well, not really. It is planting time for tropical things like tomatoes and peppers up here in Yankeeland. Everybody likes to get an early jump on the season, but it's never worth the trouble.  Annual plants do not get going until late May and June here.

On the other hand, from now on it's too late for planting shrubs and trees.  Water them all you can for the first growing season, but transplantation stress and hot weather is tough.  If they hold their own, next Spring they will grow fine on their own - if they like the spot you selected for them.  

The great Ralph Snodsmith who had a gardening show on WQXR or somewhere for 100 years always said "Prepare a $50 hole for a $5 plant."  With inflation, I'd say a $300 hole for a $30 plant.

Loosen up the roots of a potted plant, or chop them up a bit if the new plant is root-bound. After that, the hole is the thing. Double the diameter of the shrub or tree. A firm base, and fill with enhanced dirt (peat moss, planter soil, manure, whatever). I mix it all up for fill in a wheelbarrow to give the thing an easy start. Then soaker water plentifully the first year. Why? Because the plant doesn't have a sustainable root system yet, and to make it easier to send out new roots. Dry or compacted soil doesn't have the water space between soil particles in which to send new roots.

We planted a bunch of hollies this Spring. Actually, two batches. They are looking good thus far. 

Should Government Produce Happiness?

If governments know how to do that, I am all in as long as it does not involve distribution of soma. Maybe governments do know something, because they seem to know how to make themselves happy. Mostly, government seems to annoy and burden me, though.