Night Sky

Now that the storms have blown thru and the skies have cleared there is this special treat from a few moments ago...

HQ-spotthestation@mail.nasa.gov     

Time: Sun Jul 22 9:11 PM, Visible: 6 min, Max Height: 67°, Appears: 10° above SW, Disappears: 10° above ENE

click on images for a closer look

Taking Time to Smell the Flowers

The weather lately has been wet, wet, wet.  As a consequence gardening has gotten slower and muddier, weeding has grown much easier and three and a half miles or so of trails cry-out for deferred maintenance. 

Yesterday afternoon I caught a break between storms and the girls and I were able to get out and fetch the SD cards from the trail cameras and inspect what's going on here at The Platz.

Check this out....

Gray-Headed Cone Flowers

Monarch caterpillar and Sweet Joe-Pye Weed











Strikingly-beautiful Blue Vervain

Towering eight foot tall Compass Plant

More Gray-Headed Coneflower amid the Fireweed (Evening Primrose) and a Monarch












And a Friterary Butterfly hanging out in the Joe-Pye Weed...

 

Click on images for a better look

 

Getting Rich Quick

Some of you may think that the secret to getting rich quick is making a killing in the Bitcoin marketplace trading virtual currency, in the cybersphere all the while making sure nobody picks your virtual wallet.  For those of  you who aren't ready to dip your toe into the dark side of the web I offer you this:

click on the image for the phone number

Yup.  Real estate.  Heck, Donald Trump became a bazillionaire with real estate. So there has got to be more to this than bricks and mortar.  Apparently you can make a cool $10,000 a month - as a TRAINEE no less.  If my ciphering is accurate that is a cool $120,000 a year for on the job training!

As evidence of the credibility of this there it is - scrawled on yellow cardboard and propped against the orange barrel where the road is being ripped-up.  You can't pay for credibility like this.

I fired my financial guy yesterday and my CPA and attorney for good measure.  This real estate investing training will make for terrific pocket change while my Bitcoin trading pays-off in spades.

Ominous

Been dodging scattered storm cells for the past 24 hours and receiving some much-welcome precipitation.

Tonight this rolled-in.

Looking ominous......

click on the weather for a better look

Friday Music

Released in early 1981 this was the first single and title track from an album of the same name that became a number one hit on the country charts.   Problem marriage, drinking at the bar, seeking comfort elsewhere – you get the drift.  Singer, songwriter Rosanne Cash along with Neko Case and Elvis Costello.  Enjoy....

DIY

I always thought that the road to riches was paved (not with good intentions) but by means of disciplined saving and investing both in good times and in bad.  Apparently I got it all wrong. 

This arrived in the mail the other day and it says that basically I can become wealthy beyond imagination by investing in Bitcoin.  Yup, a virtually currency based-upon blockchain technology is the path to riches.  This free booklet tells me how even a beginner can become wealthier than Donald Trump almost overnight. 

You can also use your Bitcoin to launder dirty money if you are a drug cartel, arms dealer or a Russian mobster.






Lest you doubt the veracity of these claims there are complicated graphs that explain the secret.

That's it - I'm firing my financial guy and possibly my lawyer and accountant.  This is easily a DIY (Do It Yourself) solution for retirement.

Diplomacy

Lest there be any misunderstanding - I do not particularly care for Donald Trump.  It is simple - I do not like him.  I have never liked him.  It's nothing personal, yet from the first time I became aware of him many decades ago I've considered him a creep.  Since then I've grown to know that he is a grifter, a draft dodger, a liar and a skirt-chaser.  In-short - a con man from Queens.  His television productions were lame beyond belief.  And seriously, how can you possible drive a casino into bankruptcy? 

Beginning with his campaign for president, election and until today I have neither seen nor heard anything redeeming that might cause me to reconsider my opinion of this individual.  Nevertheless, he is my president and as long as policy remains pro-business, he doesn’t blow-up the economy, tank the markets, or start a war this Chamber of Commerce  Republican can tolerate the chaos and nonsensical adolescent drama of a Trump presidency.  There is microwave popcorn and Merlot after-all.  

On Sunday I published an observational opinion about President Trump's planned summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.  I rather pinned my hope upon the notion that Trump would rise to the occasion and put a Stone Cold Killer in his proper place and stand for what has already made America great.  Alas, this was not to be.   

President Trump stood on the dais with Putin - the former KGB officer - who has annexed Crimea, invaded Ukraine, meddled in Syria, shot down a civilian airliner, poisoned his enemies and hacked the campaign of an opposition candidate as well as state boards of elections and related election entities in an attempt to influence our 2016 election.  On Monday we heard a U.S. president reject the combined assessment of his country's intelligence agencies and taking - seemingly at face value - the word of an avowed adversary with a ho-hum air of what are you going to do about it?  

Can you imagine all of the exploding heads if President Obama had done the exact same thing? 


Can you imagine Ronald Reagan doing the same? 

Our President isn't sure whether he believes the U.S. government or the Russian government. 

You may wish to reflect-upon that fact.  

Of course by yesterday we heard that the president may have misspoken.  Obfuscating:  It could be other people too.  A lot of people out there.  Or famously:  Somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds.  

I got no reason to change my opinion. 

Sigh...