... you can talk about whatever you want.
The photos are by Meade.
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Here's a wider view of the garden where Meade found those things. This picture was done by me, standing on the deck.
You can compare it to a picture from about the same place 5 days ago, here.
Posts
49 comments:
Looks like emerging hosta leaves? Must have been a pretty mild winter not to have blasted those hellebore leaves to brown. With only a couple of years down South, I'm still a bit gaga over plants that are broad-leaved and evergreen. Hoping he composts those leaves.
If you have been fighting bug reflexes with your iambic keyer and decided to go full iambic to go with the flow, the following words are good to practice
blackberry
bricklayer
bricklaying
clarify
classificatory
electrify
falconry
flycatcher
freckle
gyrfalcon
huckleberry
hydrofluoric
monkeyflower
olfactory
quackery
quicksilver
Rockefeller
Those are all the headwords in Websters II dictionary with at least five distinct iambic letters (c,f,k,l,q,r,y).
Anybody else here ever have hip surgery?
Just asking because it's a cafe and we can ask.
Also
Typing while lying on your back sucks.
Rusty,
No hip surgery but I have a trick back. All those ridiculous health fads which healthy young people engage in suddenly become a real help if you have a real problem - i.e., therapeutic massage for muscle cramps which you get from lying down a lot, magnesium pills for the same, mineral salts baths or which is Epsom salts (which is magnesium sulfate) + sea salts, Jacuzzi baths (which lots of gymns have), a personal trainer/gymn membership for awhile to help you get moving again and strong without damaging yourself, a chiropractor to help you get an upright posture again and the right furniture - or a PT person to do all of the above. It sounds like a lot but it just means that over a period of time you come back.
Rh, if you ever catch me using a thesaurus, feel free to pull the plug.
The top photo looks like baptisia. The hellebores are stunning.
Paris: At least in this case the ISIS targets were armed, which kept the infidel death toll to a bare minimum.
Still, the attacker always has the advantage of surprise. Armed or not, infidels are going to die.
"Rusty said...
Anybody else here ever have hip surgery?
Just asking because it's a cafe and we can ask.
Also
Typing while lying on your back sucks."
I've had two, both by the the anterior method. Right hip last October, went great. All the great things you hear about hip replacement.
I had the left one done 3/30. It was going great until I got a staph infection in the joint and had to have surgery to open it up, clean out all the infection, and replace the components. I just got out of the hospital today and now have six weeks of IV antibiotic therapy, as well as taking two types of oral antibiotics. Assuming the infection can be dealt with (and there is no reason to think it won't) the replacement will be fine in the end.
Now listen closely to this part. Do put off hip replacement. You'll regret it. Your hip will get progressively worse. You will not be able to avoid the pain. Standing. Sittting. Sleeping. It'll be there. It's spirit crushing.
BTW: I still have the same dilemma as yesterday; what am I going to watch at 8pm?
Speaking of arming your citizens, Nicolás Maduro had previously disarmed the Venezuelans. Now, presto, he creates a citizen's militia of his supporters. And arms them.
"Do put off hip replacement."
Shouldn't that be don't put off hip replacement?
Want to lose weight? Jenny Craig didn't work for you? Nutrisystem not your cup of tea? Become a Socialist country.
"Venezuela's Living Conditions Survey found that nearly 75 percent of the population lost an average of at least 19 pounds in 2016 due to a lack of proper nutrition amid an economic crisis."
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2017/02/19/Venezuela-75-of-population-lost-19-pounds-amid-crisis/2441487523377/
George.
I waited far too long.
The doctor wondered how I was still walking.
Anterior as well.
All kinds of antibiotics and steroids.
So far the pain is no worse than before the surgery. I haven't had to use the oxy yet.
It is the first experience
I've had with hospital since
I was seven and had my tonsils out.
I'm throwin one out for your speedy recovery.
Thanks George.
Well, I love Dana Perino, but not at 8 o'clock.
Also, did you ever notice the frequent shrillness of women's voices? Piercing.
"David Baker said...
"Do put off hip replacement."
Shouldn't that be don't put off hip replacement?"
Yeah. Still goofey-headed. Plus the oxycodone.
Americans prefer United Airlines over President Trump
"Rusty said...
George.
I waited far too long.
The doctor wondered how I was still walking.
Anterior as well.
All kinds of antibiotics and steroids.
So far the pain is no worse than before the surgery. I haven't had to use the oxy yet.
It is the first experience
I've had with hospital since
I was seven and had my tonsils out.
I'm throwin one out for your speedy recovery."
Thanks George.
4/20/17, 7:04 PM"
Thanks Rusty. I should be fine from here. And I know the feeling of waiting to long. I walked in from the outer lot at Miller for a gugs game last falll and literally had tears streaming down my face.
More advice, stay ahead of the pain. Use the oxy. I played "tough guy" and paid dearly at about two weeks. And this was after walking a mile or so daily on it.
Do you exercises. They seem silly but aren't. Other than that, glad things are going well. Modern medicine is amazing.
I went to a CME class today at U of Arizona Medical School. On genetic medicine. Good program. I had no idea how much is now known about cystic fibrosis. I had not read much about it for years. 70% of patients have one mutation site although the mutation varies, They know exactly why it occurs and that has added to the options for treatment.
As soon as I get my boxes of books unpacked (finally) I need to go back to my genetics book.
OMG! It's out in another edition ! I bought Genes IX, then realized I had to read Alberts' "The Cell." That took me a year. 1500 pages.
Then I went back to Lewin but the current volume was "Genes IX" Then two years later, it was "Genes XI."
Now it's "Genes XII." The first one was so out of date by the time I began to read it for the second time, a lot was wrong.
Oh well. The new edition is only $137.00. Amazon lets you rent them. The way it is going, maybe I should do that. I'd have to read fast.
The first one I started to read was "Genes VII."
"Sorry, sir, but I can not let you on the bus dressed like that..."
"But I am Cocksauricus!"
"You're what?"
"I am Cocksauricus! I am an ancient Greek God with the Cock of a Dinosaur!"
"Sorry: I can't let you on the bus with that thing you got there in front, buddy."
"But I am Cocksauricus! And this is my Golden Dinosaur Cock! Behold my Scaly Golden Magnificence!"
"That thing isn't magnificent, that thing is a Public Danger..."
"But I must get five stops to the High School! I am Rutting!"
"I can't let that happen, sir. I need you to step away from the bus."
"For ages I, Cocksauricus, have mated with Young Girls in the Spring to produce a bountiful Harvest! Do you wish to bring Famine upon Your People?"
"I don't think you riding my bus is gonna have an effect on Taco Bell, my friend..."
"Swine! My Golden Dinosaur Cock aches for nubile young females!"
"Yeah. You see, that DOESN'T make me want to drive you to the High School, you know..."
"But the Young Girls who satiate my Golden Dinosaur Cock are looked upon in Favor in the Heavens! Stars will be named in their Honor! I am full of Semen!"
"Okay, buddy: do I need to call the Police?"
"No, no: that is not needed. I shall go forth to the maidens on foot."
"You do that. And I'd say to try to keep that thing in your pants, but you're not wearing any pants..."
"Of COURSE I do not wear pants! I am Cocksauricus!"
"Yeah: I got that. Good luck, Greek Dinosaur Cock-Dude..."
"Thank you, good sir. May you and your passengers not perish in the Famine!"
"Ah, I think I'm good: the wife packed me a sandwich, a sprinkled donut and an Orange Nehi..."
I am Laslo.
There's nothing worse in fantasy baseball than watching one of your hitters bash a home run off one of your pitchers. Just had Neil Walker of the Mets hit a three-run blast off Aaron Nola of the Phillies. Ouch! I invariably root for my pitcher in those kind of matchups. The hitters can make it up against other pitchers.
The way this O'Reilly thing has gone down, I am suspecting it is more of a nuclear strike on Fox News than a moral reaction to O'Reilly misbehavior.
"I am suspecting it is more of a nuclear strike on Fox News than a moral reaction to O'Reilly misbehavior."
Yes, but he left himself open and the owners (the Murdoch children) are not interested in defending the franchise. The Manhattan cocktail parties are more important.
I read A Compreshensive Grammar of the English Language (2000 pages) one summer.
Quirk Greenbaum Leech and Svartvik.
Learn a lot of rules that you didn't know that you know. Thousands.
Grammar for them is rules about what sounds okay and what doesn't.
The DNA of the language.
"Hoping he composts those leaves."
The pile is still hot and cooking but in 2 or 3 weeks they'll become mulch, tucked under the hostas, hellebores, and other humus-loving herbs. By the end of September, 95% of them will have been digested into leaf mold by worms and other microorganisms.
I pile scythed grass under my maple tree in the lawn season and leaves in the fall, so alternating covers. It doesn't seem to be growing in height from one year to the next.
Though there are times in the year when it's a noticeable pile.
O'Reilly is not on again tonight. And Fox is suddenly a very dull place. The fill in Babe does not talk back to the usual MSNBC suspects the New Fox now invites on to argue with them.
Well, it bothers me that the paid managers of publicly traded corporations apparently conspire to enforce their personal political views on a news media outlet.
"The viewrs stayed; the advertisers left."
I like the circular layout of the yard and will try to find a way to incorporate the look at my place. Right now the back yard looks like a barnyard, thanks to rain and rain and more rain... plus two rambunctious lab pups.
The hellebore are pretty - a nice way to welcome Spring.
Today my tulips finally shot up their flower buds here in southeast Michigan. I cut one to put in a vase to see if forcing it open will result in a nice flower, though they may not be developed well enough yet. Usually they bloom around Mother's Day - fitting, since I planted a huge bed of yellows in honor of my mother a few years ago. Oh, and the peas in the trough planters pushed their heads through the dirt this week end.
I love Spring and Fall.
wow. How can Rex Tillerson be so wrong? Let me count the ways....
[p.s. I started as someone very optimistic about Tillerson's appointment]....
1) Tillerson is getting the Iran deal all wrong.
Iran chides US over 'worn out' accusations about nuclear deal
Like most people on the interventionist side of the debate, Tillerson gets the Iran dan totally wrong. First, Iran was forced to the noegotiatgiting table by greater powers. Attempts to spend the nuclear deal as some kind of "win" for Iran are completely outside of history. Iran was forced to the table by more powerful actors, and they agreed to limitations above and beyond what they are permitted under the NPT.
2) As boring as it is predictable, the Trump administration seems to actually believe the Fox news headlines that Obama was unable to get what he wanted on the global stage because of a lack of "American leadership" or an ability to show "resolve."
3) Trump stupidly thinks that in order to best Obama, he merely has to show determination to use force. This is, unfortunately, Trump buying into the stupid right-wing critique that Obama was some kind of peacenik, reluctant to use force. So even though Obama escalated the war in Afghanistan, turned Bush's "kill or capture" program into a "kill" program, and started a new front in Libya, the so called right-wing critique of Obama was that he was not intervening forcefully enough.
3) Trump's platform included (apart from the rest of the field's) the obvious insight that it was insane to fight the Syrian Civil War on both sides. So called "mainstream" Senators like McCain and Graham are still arguing for US troops in Syria, and they want those troops there so they can fight on both sides of the Syrian Civil War.
Now here's what we actually voted for:
* Trump "destroying" ISIS. I don't even think that's feasible. but it's a lot smarter than saying you're going to destroy ISIS and the Assad regime. How is that even possible?
I voted for Trump, despite all the counter arguments against him, because I thought his #1 grace was that he would not be swayed, out of a stupid desire for "respectability," to adopt the elitest position. Unfortunately, I didn't realize then that a disapproving assessment from his twerp son-in-law would be enough to male Trump question his entire world view.
Is is pretty hilarious that in today's day and age, the biggest national threats the US can identity to its security are Iran and North Korea. Let's take a look at actual reality...
Population of the US: ~320,000,000
Population of the Iran: ~78,000,000
Population of the North Korea: ~25,000,000
Total military spending by the USA (in US dollars): $600,000,000
Total military spending by the Iran (in US dollars): $10,300,000
Total military spending by the North Korea (in US dollars): $570,000,000
Total military spending by the USA (in US dollars) per capita: $1,859
Total military spending by the Iran (in US dollars) per capita: $134
Total military spending by the North Korea (in US dollars) per capita: $0.25
In other words, of the two most significant so called competitors to American military hegemony around the glob, one spends 0.75% less per capita on its military as the US, and the other spends 0.13% as much as its per capita GDP./
This is a small, but I hope illustrative, example of how far the US exceeds so called competitors.
"Meade said...
By the end of September, 95% of them will have been digested into leaf mold by worms and other microorganisms."
Theoretically.
Farmer seems to be getting hysterical. Could you boil that down (so to speak) to a couple of paragraphs?
See you in the morning.
@ J. Farmer --
Is that "progressive math"? Just eyeballing your numbers, I call bullshit on you.
Using the numbers you provided (and no idea about their provenance or validity):
US: $600,000,000 divided by 320,000,000 people = $1.88 per capita spending
Iran: $10,300,000 divided by 78,000,000 people = $0.13 per capita spending
North Korea: $570,000,000 divided by 25,000,000 people = %22.80 per capita spending
Which is why most North Koreans are malnourished. Too much guns, not enough butter.
Remember George Page, the creator and original voice of PBS's "Nature"? What terrific programs he produced. I recall one episode in particular for its sheer, breathtaking beauty; "Alyeska".
Filmed in Alaska's Brooks Range, Alyeska included some amazing footage of caribou on the move. Stunning, surreal scenes playing out only to equally mesmerizing music. For minutes Page wouldn't say a word, which was part of his genius. Even with that hypnotic, mellifluous voice, not a syllable to distract from the incredible images unfolding before us.
By comparison, today's Nature programs seem a far cry from Page's. Maybe it was his gentle manner, because now the series seems far more bloody and violent. It's hard to relax while watching massive crocodiles springing from muddy rivers and chomping down on desperately thirsty wildebeests. Or wolves trapping a baby buffalo. I mean, it's like watching cable news. Without O'Reilly.
Thus my 8pm search continues.
My dad had his hip replaced in the 1970s. On one of the tools involved in the operation, the thumb depressor snapped off, and they sewed him up without noticing that it was missing. After complaining about the pain for a year, and getting no attention from the doctor, he went and had an x-ray from a different doctor when they discovered it. He had to have a different doctor remove it. He had to get a lawyer to straighten every thing out, and in the end was awarded $10,000 and the lawyer took half of it.
All operations are dangerous.
two most significant so called competitors to American military hegemony around the glob, one spends 0.75% less per capita on its military as the US, and the other spends 0.13%
Forgetting your use of a term like "hegemony" ripped right from the pages of Soviet propaganda, perhaps you can give us the percentage the 9-11 terrorists spent before laughing off these threats.
"If you have been fighting bug reflexes with your iambic keyer and decided to go full iambic to go with the flow, the following words are good to practice."
They would be good practice for a J-38 as well.
The Weather Channel is still using the discredited Hockey Stick.
How dishonest can they get? Notice that they don't continue the proxy data though the present. It would be very interesting to see how the same proxies that they used to get the historical temps compared to the instrumental record, but then you get into the divergence problem. Basically, they don't match up... But if you have a PhD, then using techniques to measure the past that don't work where you have actual instruments, like here in the present, is no problem.
David Baker said...
Well, I love Dana Perino, but not at 8 o'clock.
Turn off the sound.
We have one Hellebore -- white -- that bloomed super early, and then a cold snap frosted some of it, but it came back nice and strong. Its leaves were out all winter and didn't seem to die.
The purple hellebore we have -- like the one in the picture -- lost all its leaves and I was pondering its survival, but it popped up nicely.
That's the beauty of Spring in the garden -- you're always pleasantly surprised that something survived. And if something did not, you either have forgotten about it or you go out and buy more ;)
Tank said...
David Baker said...
Well, I love Dana Perino, but not at 8 o'clock.
Turn off the sound.
----------------------------------
Or do what we do and watch the French Revolution with Professor Suzanne M. Desan. We're up to lecture #34 so shhh don't spoil the end for us by telling us how it turns out.
Blogger AllenS said...
My dad had his hip replaced in the 1970s. On one of the tools involved in the operation, the thumb depressor snapped off, and they sewed him up without noticing that it was missing..
While on radiology block in vet school, it was brought to my attention that the surgeons would occasionally send a patient down for a radiograph after closing up if they had doubts that something may have been inadvertently left inside (usually the concern was over surgical sponges, which have a radiopaque marker in them.) As a prank, the radiologist had us first take the actual image-which showed no foreign objects-and then a second film with a very large pair of pliers placed under the dog's abdomen.
We did another prank with a cat sent down for radiograph to check for pregnancy (routine practice in vet medicine before ultrasound was widely available.) This was in Louisiana so we had a stash of "King cake babies"- little plastic babies that are baked into cakes during Mardi Gras season. We coated them with barium and arranged them like a litter of kittens in the area of the cat's uterus and shot the film.
Hopefully the amusing memories outweigh any exposure I had to additional unnecessary radiation.
The Mayo Clinic had a long practice (Maybe still does) of xraying the abdomen after every abdominal surgery case. A surgeon friend of mine in Los Angeles did the same thing and had an amusing talk he used to give about what he found.
We're up to lecture #34 so shhh don't spoil the end for us by telling us how it turns out.
I put it on my iPod in the car and listened while commuting to Phoenix.
Meade said... "Or do what we do and watch the French Revolution with Professor Suzanne M. Desan."
Listen, I know all about the French Revolution. Saw it on Broadway, the highbrow version; Les Miserable (sic).
Now I can hardly wait for the remake due out on May 7th; Viva Le Pen.
George @ 7:17
Taken to heart, George. Thanks.
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