Well-Swept Yard

Gmail is pretty clever at placing ads next to messages--ads that pertain somehow to what is in the message. I've noticed recently that when message from or about my university show up that an add for the University of Phoenix appears. I wonder if this means that Gmail thinks that I might want to work at another place or that it likens my university with UPhoenix. Hmm . Well, yes.

Ten years ago. I vividly recall the moment when I heard that my bombs were raining on Afghanistan. I was working in the garden. A neighbor was playing his radio or TV loud enough that I heard the "news flash." I stood frozen for a moment and then dropped the tool and screamed. I saw old friends and their children and grandchildren exploding, dying, suffering. I ran inside. Tears ran down my cheeks.  I told my wife. We held each other. What else to do?

October is the month for rose bush propagation. And helping rose bushes multiply is easy. Look for a cane of goodly diameter, large enough that you will be able to push it or hammer it into the soil without the stem breaking, and yank the stem from the bush with enough violence that you pull a strip of bark from the mother branch.  Flat cut the branch 4-5 inches above the tear (being certain to leave 2-3 stem segments between top and bottom). Poke the branch, rip end down, into the earth. If need be, gently hammer the flat top of the stem to help the sinking. (If the earth is hard, place a gallon plastic jug of water over the spot where you want to sink the stem. Make a small hole in the bottom of the jug and allow the water to seep into the earth and soften it). Push the stem into the earth so that the earth remains compact around the stem (that is, do not dig a whole or poke a hole with a tool).  Walk away. Forget about the bush-to-be until spring.  While you have forgo