Saturday, September 10, 2016

Old Men Talking





Old Men Talking ..... a poem
She wants to be President, says it's her turn.
They all say that. It's our turn.
Our turn for what?
To run the country.
They want to run the country? Why?
They want to run the country because they think they can do a better job.
Do you mean Hillary Clinton or old women in general?
I mean both -- they think they can do a better job.
Maybe they can.
Yeah, maybe better or maybe worse.
But they're saying it's their turn.....
So let 'em.
If they run the country, what will we do?
Good question.
Got time for a game of cribbage?
Got all day.
Election Forecast. Okay, I'm not much of a poet but it's short. The words above are my version of old men endorsing the Democratic candidate. She is the likely winner at this point, but the race is tightening and I predict it will go down to the last day.
In today's newsletter I am being entirely supportive and kindly toward Hillary Clinton. I felt a warmth in my heart for her when she had that coughing fit. That was normal. She might have had a touch of flu -- that happens to everybody.
Our housemate Julia said that it's awfully tough for Hillary to run a campaign. Tough? My brother teaches high school in Los Angeles. Imagine facing a room full of teenagers! That's tough..... so we all do those tough things and we all get those coughing fits or whatever. It's normal. Hillary Clinton has been sheltered by her immense wealth and 24-hour Secret Service protection. It is time for her to have the courage to walk among the people.

Olive Oil in Ojai
Doug Off produces olive oil from his orchard in Ojai, California..... He calls the place Topa Mountain Ranch..... You want to go to his website just to see the photo of Topa Mountain -- such a beautiful place. Ojai is a bit of a magic place. It is a somewhat famous town for attracting Hollywood luminaries who wish to indulge in expensive spa treatments and play at having a ranch. Doug Off himself is not of this ilk, being retired from the petroleum business -- He made kind of a cool transition -- from oil wells to olive oil trees.
Olive trees, grown for oil, have a great future in California. They don't need nearly as much water as the other tree crops like almonds and apricots.
The best crops for a drier climate are olives, grapes and figs..... 
Weather. They got a ton of rain in Arizona, downpours and flash floods. We got nary a drop in Santa Barbara. But the grapes are doing well. My Laurie has a grape vine about forty feet along and it was planted forty years ago. Stout vines, roots down deep and never gets watered. This year she is harvesting nearly 200 pounds of Concord table grapes. Sweet and pretty.........But it's too dry out there. Eucalyptus trees across the way are leafless and surely dead. I work for the Swiss lady every two weeks and she said there are a lot of critters that come to her bird bath for a drink -- where else can they go?  Lake Cachuma, the principle source of water for Santa Barbara is effectively closed and empty -- the reservoir is down to the dregs, the undrinkable portion known as the Black Pool.
But the weather has been great this summer, meaning delightfully cool evenings and the days have not been too hot. You get used to good weather if you live in Santa Barbara, you start losing that edge you carried all your life, and folks might think you've gone soft because you have.

What We Are Watching on TV. Nurse Jackie on Netflix. We're on Season 6. We watch four half-hour episodes per evening, a mini-binge. I worked five years at Skagit Valley Hospital and Nurse Jackie reminds me of women I worked with. I keep looking at the ER in the show and thinking I was there. I used to do that  -- that silent assistant in the background, that was me.

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Fred Owens
cell: 360-739-0214

My gardening blog is  Fred Owens
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