"Having talent doesn't carry with it the obligation that something has to be done with it." (Alice Vonnegut)

So there!

projections

The other day the Post Office issued a report.

They are going to lose a bunch of money “over the next 10 years.”

Why 10 years? Does it not sound bad enough for just one year? Guess not.

I was looking for the source of a fiberglass cloth I used some years ago. I had Quicken give me a report, and since I could not remember the year, the report was over the time since I began using that software.

It churned a bit and kicked out an answer -- I found the source, called the and placed an order.

But I digress. During the time I have used that software I had sales of half a million dollars!

So, in twice that time I “probably” grossed a million.

As I remind my business major friends, it is possible to gross a lot and go broke and possible to gross little and keep it all. I this case I did neither.

But, I will get a third of a million bucks in the next twenty or thirty or forty years.

Ahh, projections.

Miriam's family about 1943.
The three boys in the back were sons of Dad's first wife who died not too long after the youngest was born.
Marie is the mother of the 4 young ones in front.
Miriam is on the left.
It was during that missing front teeth time.
This is about the time I met her for the first time. I did not think much of her then.
Boy did I change my mind!

lamb?

March is an unsettled month around here.

Some sun, some clouds, occasional rain, and lots of wind. Shucks it has snowed in March, but not much or often.

We had a few days of sun, and I got the grapes pruned and some of the bramble berries. Then it turned cold and windy.

Today it rained a good share of the day. I was glad to be able to work in my warm shop.

When we get a few days of warm it is easy to think it is time to plant something. But even hardy crops that like cool weather need the dirt to get a bit warmer. If it is too cold the seed just sits there.

There are some things I planted last fall: Kale, Garlic, Spinach. They are doing ok, but there is not much growth yet.

The cold frame has salad greens to put I salads. I planted “Cool weather Mesclun” and that is looking pretty good, but most of the growth happened before it turned cold.

But now is a good time to prune, and clean up and get rid of debris that was last year's garden.

I'll get a trailer load of composted manure soon.

Gotta continue to work at improving the dirt.

Last year I put 16 grape prunings into a pot and kept it most and 12 sprouted. I planted some myself and gave the rest away. This year I have more I the pots.

I can always get rid of the excess.

One fathers day some years ago, we were went to ShopKo with Emily.
She picked out this chair as a gift for "Papa".
I am not remotely jingoistic, but I treasure this chair.
Seems to relate to today's post.

justice? i think not

There was a 12 year old kid who lived down the street and around the corner.

His father had sexually molested him since he was 8. After one session the father said the next time would be different because the boy's younger brother and sister would be involved.

While the father was taking a nap, the boy got his father's rifle and shot the father dead.

The boy was the only one around, so he went to jail, but would not talk. He sat in jail for a year.

They spared him a trial. but he has to spend a LOT of years in prison. We are a big law and order state. We prosecute kids as adults, even if they have no emotional or intellectual maturity.

So, for saving his sister this boy has his life thrown away. Maybe it has to be that way, but I don't have to like it and I don't.

Had he gone to the prosecutor who judged him, he would have been brushed off. He would have been in more trouble than ever from the father and his life would get more and more hellish.

I am convinced that when these things are happening more people know about what is going on than any one will ever admit, and yet the kid is the victim.

In this case he was victimized by his father, and now by the court. So we are going to throw this kid away. We should be proud of ourselves.

I don't like it.