Surviving bachelorhood

Too poor to paint, too proud to whitewash.

Well, we survived day two.

I took my youngest son over to Total Firearms in Holt for his first installment of handgun training.  Yeah, I could do it myself, but Rick Burroughs is very safe, very good, very thorough and very patient.  There are some things when it pays to hire the best.  Brain surgery and firearms training come to mind.

They looked us over and asked, "What is his relationship to you?"

I replied, "My son."

The man-in-charged raised an eyebrow.  "That is the right answer.  In fact, that is the only answer that we can legally accept."  He continued filling out the paperwork.

After the training, we were cruising over to youngest son's summer time tutoring.  We had about 35 extra minutes to blow so we were watching for yard sales.   Fridays are very good days to look for yard sales.

We were bumping along in Mr Green Jeans at a couple of miles below the speed limit.  I had a Monte Carlo crawling up my tail pipe.  I saw a sign for a yard sale about 1 second too late.  The arrow on the sign pointed to the left, up a side street.   I eased on the brakes and pulled into the parking lot across the street to turn around.

My son informed me that a police car had pulled in behind us and had just hit the lights.

Ouch!

The police officer was Officer Matusko, a K-9 officer from Ingham County.  He informed me of Mr Green Jean's various deficiencies.  I did not argue with him.  The only scrap of paper in the glove box was the registration....no proof of insurance.  My guess is that somebody pillaged the glove box for batteries and raked out the paperwork in his/her haste.  It was a good experience for that likely "somebody" to have to sit through a traffic stop and experience the complications related to not having paperwork.

Normally, I would not name the police officer.  But Officer Matusko was the height of professionalism.  The second part of Exodus 23:19 can be interpreted as meaning that we are all compelled, at some time, to do things that cause pain to others.  Giving your children vaccinations is an example.  Exodus 23:19 suggests that God wants us to be extremely respectful of other's dignity, especially during those times.  Officer Matusko treated us with dignity and respect, even though our 'story' would seem highly improbably upon superficial examination.

--- Sidebar ---
Due to reasons beyond my understanding, Mrs ERJ and I were not able to have children biologically.  We adopted all of our children.  Consequently, some of our children do not look like us.

Also, I have the deepest admiration, respect and gratitude to mothers who choose the difficult path of giving their babies up adoption.  You know who you are.  Thank-you!
--- End Sidebar ---

Citation in hand, we swung by the first sweet corn stand of the season and bought a dozen ears from Molly and Megan.

Then I dropped son off at tutoring and went to Onondaga, Michigan to kill time.

The following pictures are from Baldwin Park.

Cardinal flower.  Yes, it really is that red.

Dodder.  The entitlement class is not restricted to human beings.  Dodder is a parasitic plant that is not capable of photosynthesis.

A fine specimen of Eastern Hazelnut.  Selections like this may be critical to developing strong, horizontal resistance to Eastern Filbert Blight.

The bush the Hazelnuts came from

Horseradish, growing in ditch.   Seedling volunteer?

View looking south, up the river.  I was looking for places to put some kayaks in for a float downriver.

Silver Maple.  This tree impressed me with its tenacious grip on life.  Joke:  What is tenacity?  Tenacity is 11% better than nine-ass-city.

Not shown, mint.  Several large beds of mint.  A sprig or two may have followed me home for replanting in the Kentucky 24hcf Steelhead Mint Julep garden.

St Johns Wort.  SJW is a source of a natural selective seratonin re-uptake inhibitor.  That is, an antidepressant.

After tutoring I tilled the garden and planted kale seeds.  One way to efficiently broadcast small seeds is to dilute them with something like sand.

Dwarf (meaning less than 4 feet tall) Siberian Kale.  Seed from here at $8.99 a pound.  I love this supplier!

I also slipped some seedlings in between the pepper plants to round out the succession plan.  Peppers are exquisitely frost sensitive and I want to have the next generation established to carry the baton after the first killing frost.

Tray

Can you find the kale seedling?

We are growing Dwarf Siberian and Winterbor kale this year.