TV Commercials

One of my biggest pet peeves are TV commercials. It's not only the fact that there are so many of them, but it's mainly the nature of them. First, more than half of all commercials are pharmeceuticals or lawyers. About half the lawyer commercials are about the harm pharmeceuticals have caused, the other half are about how bad the lawyer commercials are. From there it seems that all commercials have to be "off-color" or have some mean spirited "attitude". I guess the real sad indictment is that these reflect our society.
Every now and then there is a refreshing commercial that promotes more of what I feel our country and Madison Avenue should be about. This "Jif commercial" is more of the type we need.

Summer Soltice Bonfire

The summer solstice bonfire was composed of mainly a 20 year old ash tree that had become diseased and the old shed off the garage. The shingles on the shed(10ftx48ft) are very visible and made a very hot fire.The rising sun also appears to be very hot as it will reach it's highest point today.

Cicadas

The cicadas from "Brood XIV" are here and they are noisy and disturbing. Here are some on one of my weeping willow tree. They are all over the place and are so loud that you can hear them even when you are mowing. It is a constant roar that will drive you crazy after a while. Thank goodness they only come around every 17 years. Of course there are other broods that hatch out in between, but I have never noticed any as bothersome as this brood.

Memorial Day

I drive by this marker regularly and am both perplexed and curious. Perplexed about why you would even put up a sign if you don't know who is buried there (but apparently this has least 116 precedents) and at the same time curious about who they might be. I guess Memorial Day "Decoration Day" is as good as a time as any to remember whoever they are.

Beltane

My Beltane fire at sunrise included three 25 year old Chinese Chestnut trees, the old back porch, fallen limbs from the winter and spring and sundry other combustible scraps. It was a big, but orderly fire. Now we I have to start a new pile for the Summer Solstice.

Lilacs

You don't need air fresheners when the liliacs are blooming. I can't get enough of them, but they are a little overwhelming to my wife, so only cut them for the basement.

No postings lately because I tore down the back porch and am putting up a deck. Also, trying to get some gardening done. I finally got "taters" in the ground and some early corn out - photos later.

For What It's Worth

In the 1960's most of us young males got drafted into military service. Although a few evaded the draft, you could never be sure of any of our motives. Some of us blindly followed the leaders of our country - some relunctantly and some convincingly. We were all wounded in the process. If you look closely, you can see the scars.
Then there are the "chickenhawks". These are the hypocrits who failed to serve in their youth, but have now led our country into a bigger quagmire than even the most vocal critics of Vietnam could imagine. The "chickenhawks" in particular include George Bush who was AWOL from his National Guard unit and Dick Cheney who got more deferments that I knew was possible.
Neil Young was part of Buffalo Springfield back in the '60s who sang songs of protest to the Vietnam war. Now his music leads a movement to rid our government of the "chickenhawks".