Just Hmmming Along..

I just came in from watering my rocks. I realize that's an odd statement, but it is absolutely true. Our neighborhood has an ASSociation, and for the benefits I receive from living here, I get to spend Saturday morning rock watering. Fortunately, it is not a year round practice. It is only through spring and summer. I suppose I could have watered them over the winter, but I chose not to. Like most things, rocks are not -supposed- to grow in winter. Mine did. I laughed it off, because I cannot get anything to grow in my yard, other than dandelions. More on those shortly. However, I did notice a distinct growth in my rocks over the winter months.

Okay, clarification. I did not actually water the rocks, that's my endearing term for applying weed killer. If the weeds grow up between the rocks in my gravel driveway, then I get a nice fine from the Neighborhood ASSociation. So I was out 'watering' the rocks. It occurred to me that the 'weeds' which I was attempting to kill were actually, indeed, grass. I glanced across my yard and noticed that my lawn actually consisted of nicely trimmed dandelions. My thanks to Miguel for the use of the lawnmower. I found irony in the fact that the only real grass that I have is growing between the rocks in my driveway, which I am working diligently to kill.

Now, more about dandelions. In the last month, I have been visited from three different lawn care companies. They have all promised to kill my weeds, seed, and fertilize my lawn. When I state weeds, more specifically they all specialized in dandelion removal. None of them offered any type of lawn cutting service, which may have prompted me to say yes to whichever did.

I hate to cut grass. When I was a child, many years ago, my weekly allowance was $6.00 US. I paid the kid across the street $3.00 to mow my lawn. My dandelion's current growth pattern gives me two weeks between mowing's. If I had the lawn de-weeded, seeded and fertilized, hell I may end up having to mow it more than once a week. I will keep the dandelions for now.

One small side note. I don't remember having a dandelion problem last year. Weeds, sure, but not so many dandelions. I notice this year that they are growing very well, even thickly, closest to the street. Could it be, that in the dark of night, these masters of lawn care, specifically, dandelion murderers, have seeded my lawn near the street with dandelions, to prove evidence of my 'dandelion infestation' ? Hmmm.

Two tidbits from the news for this post.

Global Warming. Yea yea, I know. I have promised in the past to stay away from this controversial subject, and I am not going to attack nor defend it in this post. I am, however, going to point out an in-consistency, and let you draw your own conclusions.

Global Warming is (supposedly) caused by the emission of greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases are created in the burning of fossil fuels. Our current government believes that by lowering the amount of emissions created by our dependence on foreign fuel and driving more fuel efficient vehicles that we can reduce our carbon footprint and suspend the growth of the effects of global warming. Like for instance, stop the melting of glacier ice near the poles. I am not sure how a volcano underneath a glacier fits into that scenario, (Eyjafjallajökull, Google It!), but I am almost certain that setting ablaze over 15 million gallons of oil that's floating around the Gulf of Mexico may make one helluva footprint. I understand that it may be at least a month before they can stop the leak. (Washington Post) Our Government is sanctioning, approving and managing this burn.

This makes me take pause.... Let's coerce everyone to trade in their clunker, assume debt we likely cannot afford, or we wouldn't be driving that clunker anyway, then put us into a fuel miser that is environmentally friendly, then set fire to more fossil fuel than we would have burnt in our before we started spending all of our excess income on a car payment we can't afford and not spend on things like oh, I don't know.. medicine, doctor visits, clothes, vacations, you know the types of things that stimulate the freaking economy. Oh my, who slipped that soapbox in here? My apologies dear reader, I will try to stay on target from here on out.

Don't get me wrong. I think protecting the Gulf Coast should be high priority, and I understand the environmental impact this spill will have on the coast if it is allowed to reach the shore. I just think there should be another way, if not many other ways, to prevent this in today's age, than going completely against what you firmly believe to reach the simplest solution. Unless, of course, your belief is really not that firm. Hmmmm.

OK last news tidbit. This one comes out of Indiana. It seems there is an interesting case being considered by the high courts. It involves a lawsuit against a couple of casino's, for banning a patron that was suspected to be counting cards. The casino's contend that they have the right to refuse service to anyone, for any reason. Lower courts agreed with the casinos, but the suit was appealed to a higher court, and they have agreed to hear the case. The higher court's decision to hear the case was swayed by the contention that the man was banned specifically for counting cards. Card counting is not illegal, nor is it disruptive to other patrons, it doesn't cause the counter to be offensive, improperly dressed, or otherwise drawing attention to himself. When considering to ban a customer, the right to refuse service is limited to those who may cause a disruption, or otherwise affect others within the business. The high court went on to state that if the casino's would petition to make card counting illegal, then they would have grounds for banning customers that are suspected of doing so. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. It sets a precedence that can then be challenged anywhere.

Most importantly, if counting cards is made illegal, could I not then sue the casino for not kicking me out when I play and lose? The rules can't say you can only kick me out if I am successful at counting cards, what if I suck at it? What if I suck at it so bad that it is obvious that I am counting and losing? Would not the rules apply if the casino lets me keep counting and losing every hand? Jules says I may have found my own million dollar cup of coffee. All I can say is, Hmmmm.