Monthly Archives: August 2015

So Many Shootings

Regulation, Words, , , ,

I could not believe it when I saw an online report that two journalists were killed while on live television.  Then it soon became clear that this was indeed a new high profile shooting.

.DSC07553  This shot from Anderson Cooper 360 shows people grieving from this loss, which occurred in such a very public way.  On the average, eighty lives are lost per day in this country due to this gun violence.   Andy Parker, father of the young reporter has gone on many shows since the death of his daughter yesterday morning, to appeal for better regulation of gun possession.

Don Lemon’s show tonight was excellent on this topic this evening.  He had Andy Parker on with a panel of others who have lost children in this way.

My heart went out to Andy Parker, because I know he does not yet know how much he is going to grieve and suffer.

Take this suffering, and multiply it by at least 100 for the suffering of those who knew his lovely daughter Alison, and by another 100 for the suffering of those who knew her less well, but are reminded  yet again, of their own past unnecessary losses, and by another 100 for all other people in the USA who also lost people they love on that same day.and the result is a deep suffering perhaps equal to 1,000,000  (if one can quantify suffering at all).  Add in all the days of the rest of Andy Parker’s life, because he will suffer for the rest of his life, and so on.

The  burden of  senseless suffering from gun violence in the USA is staggering.

I favor regulation of gun ownership for the sake of us all.

 

Oven Mitts and Pot Holders In Their Baskets

Uncategorized

After I remove the dust from our kitchen island yesterday, I washed all of our oven mitts and potholders.  As we stand at the stove, these are right behind us.

DSC07550  Upon drying them, I discarded thin or damaged ones, and put them into baskets, with slip resistant trivets under them to keep the baskets from sliding when we reach for the mitts or holders.

DSC07551 Our island is in order!

August Garden, Compost Eighteen Days Later

Garden, Weeds,

Here is the rotatable composter on August 8.

DSC07401

DSC07545Here is the same compost, plus a little more, eighteen days later.  You can see that it has settled a lot.

DSC07543 I moved it into a place where the weeds in the unplanted garden are grass.  This indicates a sunnier spot, because grass requires quite a bit of sun.

For this composter, I am trying to implement a hot compost method, where sun is helpful to reduce cooling.  The hot compost method produces faster decomposition, and better kills weed seeds (along with killing some of the beneficial things) than the cool compost method.   The heat is caused by bacteria which function well at a higher temperature, about 140 degrees Fahrenheit.   Since I have not gotten compost from this rotating  composter, yet, I would like to see if I can spur it on!

Another source says to keep your hot compost in the shade, and that the temperature spikes up and cools down to maintain a hotter temperature according to the ability of the special bacteria to grow, we need to give it more material and continue suitable moisture and nitrogen conditions.

One day after doing this, I put my hand into the middle of the compost, and it felt like it was only slightly warmer than body temperature, maybe 100 degrees.  Two days after doing this,  the compost was cool in the morning, so now I will try to increase the compost volume to see if I can improve the growth of the heat producing bacteria.