Tuesday, July 20, 2021

Blast Off!


When we were in North Carolina I stole those pups from a plant that was in a pot nestled in the poison ivy in a little seating area outside the kitchen. Plus one more. I brought them home in a plastic bag and got them into temporary housing today. They are commonly called Hens and Chicks as each plant produces smaller versions of itself which nestle up under and beside the mother plant. 

I plan on sharing them with the kids. I am usually loathe to even take cuttings from other people's plants although I have been known to do it. But somehow in this case, it felt okay to do. It was almost as if the pot was abandoned there by the little fence so I helped myself. I left many, many more. 
Turns out that North Carolina has plenty of poison ivy, and it has invaded the yard where we stayed. When I sent my review to the Airbnb, the review for the owner, not for the public, I said something like, "There seems to be quite a bit of poison ivy growing in the sitting area by the kitchen which should perhaps be attended to as it could be a problem for someone unaware of what it is."
That was diplomatic, don't you think? 

Today's mission was to FIND CANNING JARS! As we all know, everyone in the world is putting up food for the apocalypse or something with all of the fervor and enthusiasm with which we all made sourdough bread and hoarded toilet paper. 
I, having been a canner most of my life, feel as much resentment about these Johnny-come-lately's in the world of food preservation as I did about the people who suddenly decided to make bread and bought up all the damn flour in the world. 
I am not an especially nice person and that is just one example. 

I went to the Ace Hardware in Tallahassee after calling the Monticello Tractor Supply who had none, and found 1/2 pint and quart jars. I bought some of both. Then I decided to fuck all of my morals and ethics and go by Walmart where I scored. I got three dozen wide-mouth pint jars, which I like best because it's easier to arrange more beans or cucumbers in them before I pour the brine or syrup in. This brought me a great deal of satisfaction, I have to admit. 
While I was doing that, Mr. Moon was back out in the mosquitoes between rain showers, picking the rest of the garden. There is now an entire canning kettle full of beans for me to do something with. Many of them, in my opinion, are too mature to make good dilly beans or even to just cook and eat but Mr. Moon disagrees. I cooked some last night and he thought they were great. 


Sigh.

When I got home from shopping I fully intended to make some bread and butter pickles OR pickled peaches OR peach preserves but I wanted to make tonight's gumbo first to use some of the okra and also because we love it. I haven't made bread and butter pickles in a long time and did not remember that the cucumbers, onions, and peppers have to sit in the refrigerator with pickling salt overnight. Pickled peaches seemed to be quite a project also, and preserves take quite a while to make. So I made my gumbo and then as it simmered, I cut up the vegetables for the pickles and salted them all down, put a weighted plate on top of them and set them in the refrigerator. I'll make the pickles and can them tomorrow and I'll also, hopefully, do something with the peaches which are getting riper by the second. 
The only thing I've ever done with peaches in my entire life is to make cobblers with them, slice them to go on cereal or in yogurt, and put them in smoothies. So this shall be interesting. 

Mr. Moon is now sitting in his chair, watching movies and shelling field peas. Luckily, those are very easy to preserve by blanching and freezing. They taste as good to me when they come out of the freezer as the fresh ones do. And that is very good. 

So Jeff Bezos spent how much money getting himself shot into space today? And Richard Branson did the same last week. 
Hoo boy. 
Say what you will about Bill Gates. At least he's spent his money (or some of it at least) doing things that benefit humanity rather than riding penis rockets into the sky.


Okay. Tell the truth and shame the devil. That was Bezo's penis rocket. Branson did his trip via a plane with a carrier plane. I do not quite understand how this works and yet, it did. 


Listen- I have always supported the idea of NASA and space exploration because it has intrigued me since I watched from my school yard in Roseland, Florida as Alan Shephard's spacecraft was launched in 1961. That felt monumental. As did the walk on the moon. The books of Robert Heinlein fed my imagination and the books of Ray Bradbury inspired my imagination.
But this just seems like two billionaire's wet dreams. 
They're in competition now to see how many people will sign up for a seat on a very short ride to experience zero gravity for three minutes. And according to what I've read, a whole lot of people have already signed up for that privilege. 

Well, whatever. I guess it's their money and they can do with it what they want. They can further destroy the environment of their only home planet but they're going to have to return (very quickly) to deal, as all of us do, with the reality of that destruction. 

And hey- I went to Walmart today so who am I to judge?

Love...Ms. Moon

34 comments:

  1. really I don't blame them for wanting to go up in space. I'd like to do that too. big science fiction fan, always have been. and maybe I wouldn't begrudge them their little folly if they hadn't hidden their money and refuse to pay their fair share of taxes or used some of that obscene wealth to actually do some good for this country and this planet. but no, they want to give us all the finger while they ride up into the outer reaches on a gigantic penis. fuck him and Branson.

    glad you got your jars even if you had to go to the Evil Empire to do it.

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    1. Every day I think I may be leaning towards socialism more and more. This kind of wealth in the hands of a few is indeed obscene.

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  2. lovely to just read todays post and comment....as I've been out of town 5 days and need to catch up...you were in NC last I checked LOL. I have some reading to do tomorrow but....... glad to be back, glad you are back ....... and mostly I wholeheartedly agree with you on Bill Gates.
    Big hug to you and Mr Moon
    Susan M

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  3. Hen and chicks love to go home with anyone, and especially you, I'm sure. And about those canning jars from you know who--get them before the hoarders do, my mom always said.
    I grew up in a gardening, canning family. I was putting peach halves in quart jars when I was two. Canning tomatoes from my own garden two years after I was married. So when my hippie generation sister-in-laws friends asked me how did I like learning to can, too? I almost choked on my rum and coke.

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    1. I love rum and coke. Just saying.
      The only thing my mother ever "canned" was strawberry jam that she used a whole lot of pectin in and sealed with wax. Does anyone still seal with wax?
      I learned to can by teaching myself when I was about twenty-five. I can't even really remember how but I think The Joy of Cooking was involved. I still use some of the pickle recipes in it. Today's bread and butter pickles came from it.

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  4. So funny about Walmart! I refuse even to set foot there because of sweatshops on the other side of the planet. I was speechifying about this online a while back and someone said well I feel that way but they've driven out all my stores. Where I live is a three hour round trip to shop if not locally at W. So we agreed that I'd continue to boycott to offset her shopping! Like carbon credit swaps. She felt better, and I have other options. Consumer activism!

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    1. Exactly. I only go to WM when there is very little other option. It's not only the sweatshops that disturb me but the fact that they are essentially a government supported business in that they don't pay their employees a living wage so they then have to get food stamps and so forth. Government assistance. It's one of the greatest scams of all times in my opinion.

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  5. Billions of dollars to launch a giant penis into the sky. I admit to watching the launch this morning, but only because if the whole thing had failed, he would have blown up an exceptional older woman and a delightful youngster from the Netherlands. So I held my breath and hoped for the best and it all came to pass and everyone survived. But I still think Jeff Bezos a dick.

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    1. Your last sentence sums it up. He even sort of looks like one.

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  6. I have not been to Walmart in years. Unfortunately, I can't avoid Amazon or I would be without food.
    Have a sweet night.

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    1. Amazon vs Walmart? Which is worse?
      I have no idea. But yeah, food is very important.

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  7. If it looks like a dick and thrusts like a dick, they say. Bezos wants to take big companies to the outskirts to pollute further, because, you know, he has not done enough. What is he going to do while the earth burns- Jolly jack off while circling the globe.

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    1. I'm pretty sure that Tallahassee is getting an Amazon processing facility. It's huge news around here. Very hush-hush. They're calling it Project Mango.
      Fuck. Them.
      Jolly jack-off indeed.

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  8. With the amount of money that he has, he could improve the world. Instead he fiddles with his... rocket.

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  9. When Bezos had the gall to thank every Amazon worker and customer because "you paid for this," I wanted to choke him. Yes, workers did pay for this - with lower wages, union busting, a frenzied and inhumane workplace where they can't even take a restroom break, and delivery drivers not having health insurance during a pandemic. And, of course, I'm guilty as heck for buying all kinds of stuff from Amazon. But still...what a DICK for saying it out loud. I mean, really, you know we heard you say that out loud, right, Jeff?

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    1. Yep. It was not the most tactful thing he's ever said. Can you imagine being an Amazon worker watching your little TV in your scummy little apartment which is all you can afford and hearing him say that? They need some damn unions.

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  10. I saw a photo of that rocket and thought, OMG, it's a penis, or a dildo. And thanking his overworked, underpaid amazon employees for making his trip possible, despicable.

    The money wasted on these two trips to space, to compart dick size, I'm assuming, makes me want to cry. When I think of all the good that much money could have done here, on earth, clean water, medications, vaccinations, food, housing, I am disgusted.

    It sounds like you have a busy day ahead of you, canning and pickling. I had a patient a few years ago who was not pleased with her husband. He had planted far too many cucumbers and she made way more pickles that summer than she ever wanted to.

    I'm going down to the basement to listen to CBC and paint. Have a lovely day.

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    1. Despicable indeed! Really, it's gross and disgusting.
      I was busy today and have so little to show for it.
      Ah well. Keeps me out of the pool halls.

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  11. I don't think you're judging - I think your commenting and pondering on some of the real issues we face. Morally our societies spend (and expend) huge amounts on what seems flippant and even vulgar when we know billions are in poverty elsewhere. Think of what we spend on all these the stuff that we know doesn't really matter. We are all of us complicit to some extent. There are no easy answers.

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    1. You're right- there are no easy answers but dammit! There has to be more accountability. From those who receive much, much is expected, or something like that. It's completely insane that such a few people can hold so much of the earth's wealth earned on the backs of poorly paid workers. It's sickening.

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  12. Agreed. A dick and his greed. This isn't space exploration to gain knowledge as is/was the intention of NASA programs. It is simply space exploitation.

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    1. Best line of the day: "It is simply space exploitation."
      Perfect.

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  13. My BiL pointed out that a lot of people have been employed to build those rockets/planes so I suppose it did create jobs to pull it off. But I agree with Mary that it does feel like space exploitation instead of doing it for the good of humankind.

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    1. Yeah. All of the rocket scientists and rocket makers must have had a good year.
      The rest of the world can fuck off.

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  14. Loved this post. Thank you for expessing the truth!!! Plus I got several chuckles to make my day brighter. Win. Win.

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    1. If I can make someone laugh I've done my job.

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  15. Bezos apparently "thanked Amazon for paying for his ticket"! Talk about tone deaf - but then again I reckon his ex-wife has more class in her little finger than he will ever have!

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  16. I think your Air BnB review was very tactful! And I am continually in awe of your canning. It seems like a lot of work, but I'm sure it doesn't entirely feel that way when you enjoy it.

    I don't get this desire to go into space. I am not leaving the atmosphere. As I always tell Dave, I don't go anywhere where I can't breathe naturally. (That's also why I don't scuba dive.)

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    1. I do enjoy canning to some degree but at the end of a long day of it, I am exhausted.
      I don't want to go into space either. I never really have. Now honestly, I wish I had learned to scuba earlier in my life. I think it's too late now but it's such a beautiful world under the water. Even snorkeling can be a magnificent experience.

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  17. Yes, a penis rocket. I said it as soon as I saw it. Dick move.

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.