Old Guys Rule

By Fred Owens

I'm too old and Joe Biden is three years older than me and he's too old, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is 79 and she is not too old. Actually, there's no rule about this. It  depends on what you're doing. For instance, I'm too old to operate the gas-powered weed eater on a steep hillside. I can't do it anymore, but I can use the lighter-weight electric weed eater on flat ground, and we can hire someone to take care of the steep hillside, maybe an immigrant of unknown legal status.... you can hire them around here for $15 an hour, although most of them are getting $20 these days. It's supply and demand.

I am going to someone's house --- the address was posted on the Biden for President website -- for a debate watching party on Wed. July, 31, to watch a re-match of the Biden-Harris challenge. I am very interested in these two, I think they need each other to win. Kamala Harris wants to be President and there is no way she gets that job without the full backing of Biden and his team. Also, Biden needs the support of Harris just as much.

Separately they both lose. United, one of them gets to win, either Biden or Harris. Does it really matter which one? And people ask me, what about Elizabeth Warren or Mayor Pete? Well, sure. Or Julian Castro, who is not so well known.

The Frog Hospital readership is not large, but it is nation-wide. I will be soliciting reports on the 2020 campaign from reader/friends in  Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Iowa, Colorado and other places as well. I enjoy making these long-distance phone calls.

Long distance phone calls? Isn't that archaic? Well, I'm too old. Do you remember pay phones, when you needed a dime to call? I was explaining this to the barista at Starbuck's near us. She is about 25. She's a nice person, so she pretended to be interested when I explained that there used to be a pay phone on the corner and it cost a dime, and if someone else was using the pay phone, you had to wait your turn. Then I told her about the the busy signal and stuff like that. The barista nodded politely.

Mesa Harmony Garden News. Vicki and her team of fruit pickers gathered 174 pounds of stone fruit on Monday -- peaches, plums, necta-plums, maybe some apples. We have a lot of fresh figs to be picked in coming weeks, but they perish so quickly  -- it's a problem. But the stone fruit is all brought to the Food Bank for a donation so that lower-income folks can get some fresh fruit. Randy, the deacon at the church which sponsors and supports the Mesa Harmony Garden, says "we're going to get a solid ton of fruit this year, by golly."

I recently reported trouble between our orchard team and the pastor of the church. We are working on that one, having a lot of meetings, making proposals and counter-proposals. Let's hope it all works out because the orchard, all 100 trees, is in superb condition this year thanks to an abundance of rain last winter, and thanks to countless hours of volunteer labor.

Old Guys Rest. We're going to the beach after breakfast and spend a few hours in our Tommy Bahama beach chairs reading novels and watching the dance of sea gulls on the waves. Go for a swim. I like to swim right past the reach of the waves, but not too far out. The cold saltwater re-vitalizes my joints. It really makes me feel good. The beach gets crowded on Sunday afternoons, but we expect that, and besides, everyone is happy and relaxed, no cares and worries on the beach, just children playing and teenagers talking. Southern California at its best.

A New President in 2020. More politics here at Frog Hospital. I think the best use of my time is to help a new President get elected in 2020. I'm backing Biden, but we're not joined at the hip. Almost any Democrat with a pulse will work for me. Seriously, the field is crowded, but let's look at this as an abundance of talent. I'm hoping that Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar will emerge from the pack. You might have your own favorite in the back row. So let's work together on this. I have the stamina and the desire to get this done. Doing nothing leads to a state of fear and anger, so let's get movin'

See ya,

Fred

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Fred Owens
cell: 360-739-0214

My gardening blog is  Fred Owens

My writing blog is Frog Hospital

Joe Biden for President

Joe Biden for President

By Fred Owens

Tom Owens, my brother, lives in Sierra Madre and teaches history in Los Angeles at Santee Public High School. He is expecting his third grandchild in November. What do you think of Joe Biden, I asked him. Tom said Biden is the likely nominee. He added that he has not yet studied this in depth, but Biden's positions are about 80% agreeable to him. Tom might prefer Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, but it's early.

This was a preliminary practice interview for me. I might start a Joe Biden Support Group and call it the Moderate Maniacs. Tom thought that was a good idea. Call the group Moderate, because we are moderate, and call us the Maniacs to indicate a genteel ferocity. I got this idea after I heard Trump's supporters with their chant of Send Her Back. This was a terrible thing to do. I fretted over it. I woke up at 5 a.m. the next morning and fretted some more. I thought where can I go and hide. I will shut off all media outlets and forsake all Internet access. I will find a cabin in the woods and spend my days reading ancient texts. All to avoid Trump........ Nah.

Then that same morning, after losing sleep and fretting, my daughter Eva called me. She lives in Seattle. She is three weeks short of giving birth to what will either be a boy or a girl. She's being coy about that, but we'll give it to her. It's all about you, girl. So I got an update on her super-pregnant status  -- doing fine, she said. Then I told her I was fretting over Trump and looking for a place to hide. She said, Dad, why don't you get active? Boy, that's what daughters can do, get you going. So here I am making the first steps  in my Biden Support Group, and the miracle is that I am not fretting, not angry and not stressed -- but engaged and satisfied. Eva was right about that.

Next I will call Andy Boyer in Columbus, Ohio. Central Standard Time. The Midwest. The Heartland, they call it. It seems more real there. Wonderful people. And the country side in Ohio is pretty too, not dramatic, just pretty, easy on the eyes.

I met Andy in 2004. What I did was hop in my red Toyota Corolla and drive across country to Columbus, Ohio. It was, and still is, the Battle Ground State. I just showed up at John Kerry for President headquarters and said Put Me To Work -- I'm here for the duration. And so Andy and I  battled for the soul of Ohio, working night and day for John Kerry, eating cold pizza and drinking stale coffee. We put up a good fight but in the end we lost. The other guy got more votes. We were defeated. And  I won't kid you, after all that work it really hurt.

That was 15 years ago. I stayed in touch with Andy, but I did no more political campaigning. But now I'm thinking, why don't I do it again? Why don't I jump into this campaign? Maybe I can do something useful and help my country. You know, the country we all live in. Our country. So is this just my whim, or is this what I will be doing for the next 15 months? Only 15 months until November of 2020. I really want to work for a winner this time. Being the good guys in 2004 wasn't good enough. There are some things I would do differently this time. I need to discuss this with Andy. He's pretty smart.

 I had a soul-touching experience in Columbus, Ohio in 2004. Three days before the election, when the cold winds of November began to blow across the Ohio State campus I want to a campaign rally, easily 10,000 people, come to hear Bruce Springsteen give a performance. John Kerry came out and spoke a few words. But it was all about the Boss that night. We were so happy. We could have a rally like that in 2020. We could do that again and we can win this time.

Funding. Your check for $500 will help to get this started. Make the check out to Fred Owens, 1105 Veronica Springs RD, Santa Barbara, 93105.

I can make a good plan and justify the expenses, but I need the funds to get off to a good start. Call me for details at 360-739-0214.

Gardening. Laurie has a forty-year-old table-grape vine in her back yard. We need  to prune the extra leafy branches so that the sun can reach the ripening grapes.

Weather.  July continues to be cool and cloudy. We usually expect good beach weather this time of year but it has been scant. I went for a swim in the ocean yesterday. The water was cold, and the air coming out of the water was cold, but I went in anyway. I just love it.

See ya,

Fred

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Fred Owens
cell: 360-739-0214

My gardening blog is  Fred Owens

My writing blog is Frog Hospital

The Roof Leaks

The Roof Leaks

By Fred Owens

The roof leaks at Holy Cross Church in Santa Barbara. It's a small church, and not famous like the Mission Church is famous, but the roof leaks. I know because last month right after weekday Mass, Monsignor Rafael stepped down from the altar, walked over to the pews, pointed to the ceiling above the pews and said it, "The roof leaks." Then he pointed to water damage on the pews underneath the leak.That's all he said. Then he want back to the room where the priest changes his garments and then back to the rectory for his breakfast and the day's business.

I got the monsignor's point. The roof leaks. It needs to be fixed. That takes money. Holy Cross is running a deficit of $12,000 according to someone on the parish council. Where is the pastor going to get the money to fix the roof? I hope he wasn't looking at me.

Holy Cross Church hosts an almost one-acre fruit orchard on its grounds. The orchard is tended by  volunteers who prune and rake, and tend to irrigation, and a hundred other chores. The fruit -- apples, plums, peaches, apricots, bananas, citrus, table grapes, and much more -- is all donated to the Food Bank so that low income people can have access to fresh fruit.

This orchard was planted nine years ago and is just now coming into full production -- some hundreds of pounds of fruit harvested every year. All at no cost to the parish, all the work done by volunteers. But now we have to pay for the leaking roof.  Monsignor Rafael wants us to pay the parish $200 per month for use of the orchard. Kind of a roof tax, in my opinion. I get his point. If you have a garden that needs work and a roof that leaks, you fix the roof first. The roof is the priority.

So why don't they throw a bingo party and fundraiser and get the money that way? Why don't they ask the archbishop down in Los Angeles to pay for the roof? Why would our lousy $200 a month make a difference anyway?

Almost none of the garden volunteers are Catholic. Some of them are devoutly secular. They  will work for hours to keep the trees healthy, but they won't pay a roof tax to the Church.

It would help if Monsignor Rafael could improve his social skills. He could try asking instead of demanding. He used to be the police chaplain for the LAPD before he came up to Santa Barbara for what is basically a retirement position at Holy Cross. He loves cops, but we ain't cops, we're hippies with trowels. So he won't come down to the garden. He just looks at us from across the parking lot, coming down the steps from the rectory to walk his dog. He loves dogs, just like he loves cops. Good for him. But he doesn't love gardens and fruit trees. It's a bad combination. Trying to get money from the orchard volunteers is like squeezing blood from a turnip. A lot of our people will just go home. Or go to other gardens to do volunteer work.

The garden is called the Mesa Harmony Garden. You can look it up on the Internet. It's a separate entity from the church, a non-profit with a board of trustees. I'm one of the trustees. I like all the people on the board. I like to say that Harmony is our middle name and that is how it feels. But this is getting stressful, being threatened with consequences, getting messages from the real estate attorney employed by archdiocese.

The board met in emergency session on Saturday and agreed to start paying $50 a week on August 1. Then we scratched together a list of fund-raising projects. Nobody likes fundraising. We ran that whole orchard on about $1,000 per year and most of that was to pay the water bill and the water bill is low because we have invested hundreds of unpaid hours installing a state of the art irrigation system that uses water scarcely.

This is not my first community garden. I've seen this kind of trouble before. You would think that every one loves a garden, but you would be wrong.

That's enough. That's enough for this week. It's like that guy said in the movie, the one where they have the Marigold Hotel in India. The clerk says to the frustrated guests who have no running water. He says to them, "Everything will be all right in the end so if it is not all right it is not the end.”

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Fred Owens
cell: 360-739-0214

My gardening blog is  Fred Owens

My writing blog is Frog Hospital

Election News, Reporting from Ohio

Election News, Reporting from Ohio

By Fred Owens

First a little earthquakes news -- we report shaking but no damage in Santa Barbara. Longtime residents took it in stride. Newcomers like me got a little nervous.

Andy Boyer is a lifelong resident of Ohio and an astute political observer. Andy and I became friends in 2004 when we worked together on the John Kerry campaign. We toiled day and night for weeks on end, and talked and talked into the late hours and ate too much pizza. Kerry lost that campaign, as we all know, but I made some good friends and came to like the city of Columbus, Ohio.

I asked Andy to report from Ohio on the 2020 campaign. Here are my questions and his answers.

1. Who won Ohio in 2016 and why?

2. Ohio is important. Why?

3. Which candidate can win Ohio in 2020?

4. Are Biden and Harris enemies, or are they just sparring?

5. What else is on your mind on this topic?

6. And, briefly, a baseball forecast. Do the Indians have a chance?

Andy Replied

Fred, 

You ask some tough questions and I don’t have all the answers. Trump won Ohio in 2016. It probably helped him that the Republican convention was held in Cleveland. It also hurt us, Democrats, that Hillary is someone that most voters had already formulated an opinion on long before she was a candidate for any office. One either loves her or hates her so that doesn’t leave a lot of room to win over swing voters. I honestly think there were many moderate conservatives searching for a reason to cross the aisle and vote for her but she never gave them the push they needed. 

Ohio has accurately chosen the winner of the presidency in all but four occasions and has been correct for 56 years consecutive (Grover Cleveland 1884 & 1892, FDR 1944, and John Kennedy 1960). Why is this important, on the surface it seems coincidental? One reason is because Ohio’s population is reflective of the nation as a whole. Another is we have a lot of media markets. Instead of one mega city we have three semi big cities (Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati) and a handful of cities in the next tier (Toledo, Akron, Dayton). A candidate has to spend a lot of money in Ohio to be competitive because there are more markets to buy ads than in many other states. Many of these markets cross over into neighboring states (Pennsylvania, Michigan, Indiana, West Virginia and Kentucky). So being competitive in Ohio allows one to begin competing in neighboring states as well. Then there is location. Ohio is within 600 miles of 60% of the entire U.S. population. How does a candidate reach the most voters? Stick close to where the majority lives. This allows an Ohioan to gather a good amount of information (or disinformation) prior to voting. 

I prefer not to make predictions and my preference could change between now and the 2020 primary. I worry that the Democratic field is too large. It is allowing candidates to appeal to small constituency groups instead of forcing them to have a broad appeal to the party as a whole. The more moderate the candidate the more crossover appeal they will have with undecided voters in the general election. A nominee with narrow appeal would need a viable third party candidate that appeals to the Right in order to win. Too many primary candidates spreads out votes and leaves us with a nominee that is only representative of the largest constituency group and less appealing to the population as a whole.

Kamala Harris was being savvy in her attack of Joe Biden to give herself a chance but the accusation doesn’t hold. Biden was honored by the Congressional Black Caucus for a lifetime commitment to civil rights. She’s picking a fight with her ally. That works at the moment because there is a primary candidate for nearly every special interest. It allows her to appeal to hers but would hurt her once she needs a broader appeal. Currently Biden has the most broad appeal followed by Harris. If either was the nominee the other would endorse. We need to stop fighting over the small stuff and pound home what all Americans care about: JOBS, JOBS, JOBS and WORKERS RIGHTS! And I’m not talking about hairstyles in the workplace but rather minimum wage, healthcare and benefits. For this reason a Tim Ryan or Sherrod Brown type would be the best choice for VP regardless of who wins the nomination. James Carville got it right when he said, “It’s the economy, stupid!” 

Clearly more important than politics is baseball as we approach the Allstar break. This year the midsummer classic returns to Cleveland and we are excited to host once again. Cleveland has been devastated by injuries early on this season but we keep hanging on. With our manager Terry “Tito” Francona we always have a shot. If we can get healthy down the stretch then we can make a run. I honestly think Frankie Lindor is the best player in baseball but I’m more than a little biased.

Thanks, Andy

Thanks, Andy. Let's stay in touch.

Fred

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Fred Owens
cell: 360-739-0214

My gardening blog is  Fred Owens

My writing blog is Frog Hospital

LaConner Views

FROG HOSPITAL -- July 1, 2019

By Fred Owens

Dear LaConner Friends,

I moved down to California almost nine years ago, after living for so many years in LaConner. I have been back several times for a visit, but even so I am starting to feel not so connected to my old home. It was almost 25 years that I lived there, more than anyplace else, even my childhood home back in the suburbs of Chicago, so I will always be a part of LaConner. I read today about the new library being planned. That is such a good idea. I can still close my eyes and walk around town in my imagination, but I am starting to forget things like who used to own At's a Pizza -- oh, that was Judy Iversen.... and I can see Dean Flood's little old red house, although Dean is gone and so is the house.

But Frog Hospital marches on. We are encouraging more group participation in the writing of it, so tell me what's on your mind. Picture yourself just finishing your morning cup of coffee and taking a look out the window. What do you see?
And honestly, how well are you getting along with everybody else in LaConner?
Please send me a story, even a wry tidbit.
It will appear in an upcoming issue of Frog Hospital.
Also, Laurie and I expect to visit the Old Towne sometime in October, so see ya then,
love,
Fred

Here is how people in LaConner responded to my letter

Denise Hollister So I’ve lost that connection to La Conner even though I only live across the valley in Bow. It is not the same La Conner of our memories of past. Too many of the ole folks have passed on for me. All the artists that have passed on, including Dana and Joel from Edison. Bill Slater, Guy Anderson, I know, so many more. John Kagoris, then way back, Charlie Berg, and I first met Bob Hollister there, playing at the La Conner Tavern.

Peter Goldfarb. Fred, I recall a meeting (1987/88?) when the younger, outraged "Locals" got together with the Chamber of Commerce to protest all the recent publicity promoting tourism to La Conner. I had been guilty of some of that, and the White Swan on my sign had been beheaded. Tom Robbins (who brought in a good share) spoke of "the old days", and how he liked it better without the tourists and how they had ruined it for him. Then, long time, senior resident Roberta Nelson, who grew up in La Conner, leaned over to me, and whispered in my ear: "And I liked it here before Tom Robbins". There was life before we got there, and there will be life after we are gone. Nothing stays the same. In reference to the comment above, I know people who complain about all the new tourist activity in Bow/Edison. Good luck with your projects.

Maggie Collinge. Fred, Larry and I moved to Anacortes almost 7 ears ago now. I go to La Conner to Dr. Fischer to get my teeth cleaned and to Lizz, for a haircut. I now go to the Episcopal Church here in Anacortes. It was just too much driving to keep up with church activity at the United Methodist Church in La Conner though I miss the people there. I attended church there for over thirty years. I can ride my bicycle to church and to many other places here in Anacortes. I was too far from La Conner to ride my bike on a regular basis when we lived out on Snee Oosh Road. I do like making the occasional trip to La Conner with folks who have come from out of town; I always see somebody I know and take the time to have a visit when that happens.

Hopie Ruiz. And I do believe Mary is still working at Pioneer Market.

Judy Booth. Yes, she is.

Debbie Aldrich. We moved to La Conner 3 years ago after hanging out here for many years. I love living here now. I see my neighbor, Molly's chickens in the middle of town.

Judy Booth. Nine years! Holy cow Fred. It's been nine years since you helped me clean a house - no hair? I get along with the people in La Conner that I like... I'm such a brat. I'm grateful to the tribe for contributing to the library. Georgia Johnson having to leave the school is a tragedy. My kids graduated from a great school - LC - and went on to be quite successful in their chosen fields - engineering and dance. I spend less time in town and more on Pull and Be Damned. I look out my window right now and see tall firs and cedars - a madronna tossed in here and there, clouds over Skagit Bay and hummingbirds at my feeder. It's still; very quiet. Not even bird song. Oops - spoke too soon, there's a Robin's trill.

Old Times Around the Ping Pong Table

We moved from Up River in Marblemount to LaConner in the fall of 1979. The Alligator Palace was in its final days. LaConner was a two ping pong table town back then. One ping pong table was in the 1890s tavern and the other ping pong table was in the volunteer firemen's rec room.

That was where the Town Council met, around the ping pong table, which was maybe a little too hokey for some people. But I liked the informality of the meetings. What I noticed and maybe it wasn't until 1981 that I noticed but it was all women. Or almost all women. Mary Lam was the mayor, Diane Goddard was the attorney, Kathi Ernst was the clerk and Pat Sherman was the treasurer. Of the council members, four were women -- Roberta Nelson, Judi Iversen, Neva Malden and June Overstreet.

And the fifth member and lone masculine vote was Don Wright. What was remarkable about this was that nobody noticed, or maybe said anything about it. It wasn't a disaster and it wasn't the dawn of a new day either. It was just eight women sitting around a ping pong table throwing spit balls at Don Wright. He ducked.

Diane Sherman. Reminds me when I first moved to LaConner-- later than you, seeing the farmers drinking coffee around the table in the Planter Hotel early in the dark morning. Wonder what I was doing up at that hour.

Denise Hollister. Ruth Bakke was the best. Those giant Norwegian crepes, that folded wouldn’t even fit on a platter. Homemade raspberry jam and cottage cheese. 50 cents. As close to a New York blintz as you can get.

Lysa Conn Sherman. I'm still here. I remember the way it was back in the 70's, probably because I was a kid and sober. Many things have sadly changed, but many remain the same. You can still get a great burger at the Tav., it will cost you, though. Many folks have stayed and raised their generation of LC Braves, too. It still has a funky vibe around its' squidgy little edges. You won't get me out of here in anything but a pine box.

That's all for now. I did receive more responses from LaConner friends than you see here, but I try not to make things too long. We should do this again sometime.

See ya,

Fred

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Fred Owens
cell: 360-739-0214

My gardening blog is  Fred Owens

My writing blog is Frog Hospital