Monthly Archives: April 2004

In A Kitty’s Garden

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An example of synchronicity? The world knows no boundaries of nation or language; if it’s spring, there’re plants for sale tempting people to try to get them to grow. Earlier today I was plant-shopping in Schaumburg. Meanwhile, Mediatinker was plant-shopping in Japan.

Lamb’s Ear is the softest plant ever. I love stroking its leaves and was very happy to do so at the herb shop we visited today.

I didn’t buy any, though. Instead I picked up parsely, sage, rosemary, thyme, margoram, basil, shiso, lemon balm, tarragon, wild strawberry, lettuce, yarrow, lavender, and eucalyptus. I would have purchased more, but I’m not sure I have enough pots or space to plant everything.

I bought perennials today to go into the circular bed I dug out and amended yesterday. This is my first foray into creating a perennials bed (other than the “lets stick these lavender plants here in this weird little corner the former owners left”).

I picked out plants that attract butterflies and/or birds and hummingbirds, and later on will install a birdfeeder on a hook and a goofy little “birdwatching cat” statue.

I bought 3 catmint plants… and then for myself I bought cheddar pinks, larkspur, black-eyed susan, purple gayfeather, some blue-green grass of some kind, and a variety of other sunloving perennials that bloom at different times. I tried to be aware of things like texture, foliage, and mature height. I may decide to put one or two things in a bed in front, in case the bed is smaller in reality than it is in my mind’s eye.

As it happens, I already have some lamb’s ear in the yard – I stuck it in the one front bed otherwise known as the “afternoon hell” bed, because it’s the driest one that gets all the afternoon sun. That one is going to get dug over and composted and mulched, and some more columbine and maybe some lupine will go in there later (will try to start that from seed).

I tried to grow these plants and more from seed last year (including shiso) but failed utterly to get them to grow beyond a certain point. I probably overwatered early on, and underwatered later on. Well, I’ll give it another shot.

So for now the round bed is getting a bunch of relatively mature plants, and so I’ll have some flowers this year and not have to wait for next year.

Gopher Wanted

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Air America Radio is looking to hire an intern.

Duties: Escorting guests to and from The O’Franken Factor studio. Venturing out into the city to accomplish time-sensitive missions. Supporting Team O’Franken in its various online and offline activities.

Pay: The job’s strictly volunteer, but it will pay out – big – in terms of hands-on experience in a deadline-driven radio work environment. It will also be occasionally hilarious.

I’m thinking “time-sensitive missions” probably means “be back by 1255pm with the sandwiches.”

Still, it could be an amazing opportunity for somebody.

The Face of Compassionate Conservatism

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The father of a Columbine High School victim found a cool welcome when he tried to attend an NRA event to engage VP Cheney about the assault weapon ban, which is due to expire this fall:

Mauser entered the convention hall where the NRA was meeting, but was turned away by a security guard as several conventioneers applauded. A couple of conventioneers yelled “Get a life” and “Vote for Bush.” Mauser said the NRA “is an organization with a Field and Stream magazine membership, but a Soldier of Fortune magazine leadership.”

Nice.

Daylilies Must Die

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Let me start by saying that I can’t stand daylilies. My mom had them in a hardscrabble little bed in front of the porch for years, and one of my garden chores used to be deadheading the daylilies. They’re really boring flowers; there’s no scent and they’re ridiculously hardy, so they can’t be killed off by anything short of a mini-Ice Age. They grow, they bloom, the flowers die, they keep growing and blooming. Meh.
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Sweet Home Chicago

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It’s been an interesting day for AAR listeners in Chicago – the local station continued to broadcast in Chinese until at least 2pm according to the pre-show comments at Majority Report: The Network, Tonight, Next Week.

However, sometime around 3pm or so, AAR was back on the airwaves at WNTD AM950.

Listeners to Randi Rhodes show reported that the Chicago AAR staff wasn’t able to get in to the studio until then. My own personal theory is that someone walked off with the new keys after the locks were changed.

Here’s my list of items AAR studio staff should have in their emergency toolkits:

  • Cell phone with legal eagles on speed dial
  • Certified copy of court injunction
  • Crowbar

That’s it! Just a suggestion. Glad it’s all worked out.

Well, I get to listen to their (admittedly not very good) signal again as I drive home, instead of getting an unwanted Chinese language lesson.

The weird thing is – the morning guy sounded a lot like Al. And it was starting to grow on me.

However, This Doesn’t Suck At All

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John Cleese and Tim Curry have joined the cast of upcoming animated picture “Valiant. What is it? I hadn’t heard of it before, but based on this, it probably will not suck one tiny little bit.

The animated comedy tells the story of a wood pigeon named Valiant, who overcomes his small size to become a hero in Great Britain’s Royal Air Force Homing Pigeon Service during World War II. Cleese plays an Allied pigeon who gets trapped behind enemy lines. Curry voices a character who is devoted to the pigeons’ destruction as part of the enemy’s Falcon Brigade, the trade paper reported.

Ewan McGregor, Ben Kingsley, Jim Broadbent, Rupert Everett, Hugh Laurie, John Hurt and Ricky Gervais are already in the voice cast.

Nihau Nihau

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Chicago Tribune | Air America restored in Chicago

Well, as of 832am local time April 16th, it’s still in Chinese. I’ve got a little AM radio at work today, set very low, so that I can hear if/when they make the cutover.

Why? I don’t know. The situation is bizarrely fascinating.

I’ve been chatting most nights on IRC. There’s a simpler way to get to IRC, for those people who have no idea what Internet Relay Chat is. It happens during the Majority Report live show weeknights.

Go to http://www.undernet.org and click “webchat” from the array of buttons. Specify channel #MajorityReport. Then select a nickname, give some basic information, and connect. It takes a few seconds to load as a little javascript runs.

and wa-la!! you’re there. It’s a small group of chatters, but we have fun. Last night, dubya and his handler Cheney showed up and gave a puppet show. Sadly, they didn’t perform the “water drinking” trick.

That’s it for now… still listening to someone speaking Chinese and playing even more annoying ads than AAR’s.

Winterkill

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We walked around the yard yesterday. There’s chunks of dead grass in the front under the hawthorne bush (Bush Must Go! Bush Must Go) from the actions of voles. There’s dead grass in the back (looks like moles).

There’s a hole back there something dug – probably a toad – behind the star magnolia.

Voles and moles and holes. Oh my!

We’re calling somebody to come out and do something. Blech.

Meanwhile, the rosemary in the “herb garden” didn’t make it because I didn’t mulch. The rosemary next to the house (big clue here, near the dryer vent) made it, along with the lavender.

Time to try again, this time with raised beds.