sweasel.com

I need to get off my lazy butt and start gardening again.
I grew cardoons once (didn’t eat them) and they were so pretty. I need to try artichokes. I wonder if deer will eat artichokes? Dumb question-of course they will.

I had to chuckle when Her Stoatliness said where she was off to this afternoon It all seemed a bit Jane Austen and it may surprise some readers to learn that Our Leader is, er, not really a Jane Austen kinda gal.

Still, apparently she didn’t bite anyone. Which was nice.

As for artichokes, we are also, at Madam’s behest, growing Jerusalem artichokes for the first time this year, as well as the common or garden globe variety. I am mildly perturbed to note that they are already about nine or ten feet tall and seem impervious to the drought we’ve been experiencing. I assume they will stop growing at some point.

Apparently they are colloquially known as ‘fartychokes’ because they, er, make you do that. That’s also not very Jane Austen who, I’m told, had very few fart jokes in her stories.

‘It is a truth universally acknowledged, that….paaarp!’

There. A great improvement, as I’m sure we can all agree.

I’ve an Australian buddy who exclaims, “fuck oh dear” when he’s distressed about something. I find it charming for some reason.

Hopefully if that lady is ever in the presence of Kamala, she won’t repeat that phrase. After all, that is how Kamala rose to her position in government. Willie Brown insists that she is every bit as qualified as Monica!!!

Hmm. Jerusalem artichokes impervious to the heat and drought. Hmm. (I thought it was drouth over there, by the way).

Well, of course the Jerusalem variety grows well in drought. Jerusalem’s in a freaking DESERT, n’est-ce pas?

At work a few days ago I noted that there was an impressive storm approaching from the west on the weather radar (phone app). I took a look through one of the west exit doors near me and saw the swirling deep deep blue cloud front coming in, being led by an even darker blue/black cloud band.

Then the tornado sirens started sounding.

I beat it for an interior shelter and didn’t see or hear a thing from outside.

Heard later that it was quite the show.

@dissent. Shudder. Damn, I hate tornados. Was this in the midwest?

dupage county IL

I’m glad you had somewhere safe to wait out the storm.

I used to think I wanted to ‘see’ a Tornado.

After all these years in Texas and Oklahoma, I’m now grateful I never have and hope I never will.

Jerusalem Artichoke is not a true artichoke but a type of sunflower, grown for its underground tubers.

I’ll see myself out, no need to be so rough

@Mark… it was rumored in the Bay Area that Kamala could suck the chrome off a bumper. Wait…maybe that was Grace Kelly. Never mind.

Quite right, Lauraw. What’s more it doesn’t even come from Jerusalem. A bit on imposter, in fact.

The Pioneer

I seek in anonymity’s cloister
Not him, who ate the first raw oyster,
But one who, braving spikes and prickles,
The spine that stabs, the leaf that tickles,
With infinite patience and fortitude
Unveiled the artichoke as food.
— Ogden Nash

Doesn’t come from Jerusalem? I’m crushed.

Uncle B! Next you’ll be trying to convince me that Macadamia nuts don’t come from Macadamia!