My country tis of thee....

Well its alomst the Fourth of July and naturally I get to thinking once again about those who came before us that allow us the freedoms that we enjoy through their sacrifice and service they gave for this country. I love this country, I get teary eyed during the National Anthem, I love the Red, White and Blue! I truly believe that we as Americans are blessed as One Nation Under God, and that we are Indivisible and foremost that we live with Liberty and Justice FOR ALL !!

I am an American whose great grand parents came to this country from Ireland, a fact that I am proud of, but I am not an Irish/American, I am an American. We are not little groups of people who are indentified by hyphenated terms such as Someplace/Americans, how is that Indivisible? If we do not stand as one then we do not stand for anything. We are a collection of individuals, we garner our strength through our plurality, we weaken ourselves through division. As a whole this country has the brightest and best, the innovators, the entrepaneurs, the philanthropists that the world envies. That is the reason that they come here, they flock towards the ideas of Freedom and Magnitude. Nothing is impossible in this land of plenty, IF the individual is willing to work for it.

FREEDOM, freedom of speach, the ability to be able to have a voice and express it publicly without being spirited away to jail or disappeared as happens in much of the world. This freedom to call your representative, senator or president useless, ineffective a bum or a liar and face no sanction other than the ire of said persons backers is what gives this country strength and makes it so appealing to the masses. Despite this we have seen lately many of our freedoms eroded, some were taken through the questionable policies of our current Imperial Leader, err, President, while others we have given away for little securities or to assauge some fear of harm. I bet those who have given their very lives for our freedoms are rolling in their graves, yet they may just as well feel that its our right, or a freedom, to give away the very freedoms they died for.

A FREEDOM we may soon miss, and definetly seem to be losing right now is the Freedom of religion. Right now this very freedom is under assault in the guise of Obamacare, or the Affordable healthcare Act. This Obamacare takes the very right of christians to say no to abortion away. It removes that right by saying that Christian institutions must pay for abortions and abortion related services and drugs, and that EVERY Christian individual pays for these very things when they pay the " TAX " that is levied in the mandated healthcare act. Yup my friends, you and I are paying for the murder of innocents, whether you are Christian or Jewish, or Muslim or Buddhist you are paying through your contribution to healthcare for the murder of innocent yet born human lives. Now if you are okay with this and its fine with you its not  a problem, but if you are against it you no longer have the freedom to say no.

On the other hand would not a person who is pro-abortion be upset if those in power suddenly mandated they must pay to limit or outright ban abortions and abortion related services/drugs or face fines and possible jailtime? The government needs to get out of our lives, we live in a nanny state already, we can not drive our car without wearing seatbelts, this was one of our freedoms we gave away as it was " for the good of everybody ", in reality it was more to hold down insurance claims. This current regime has implemented school food police to keep our kids from being fat. In reality if what we do hurts ourselves its not the goverments business at all. Now under the guise of national healthcare we have gave away freedom of religion, its only a small part but heck, aint that the way Hitler got rolling, a few limitations at a time?

Oh Yeah !! I almost forgot the Bombs Bursting In Air .

Anyway, have a great Fourth of July and enjoy the freedoms you still have left!

ed

What to write about?

I have not posted for a while as I have had a tough time thinking about what to write about. I wanted to find something that may interest my  -4 followers with out boring or disgusting them so that pretty well leaves me no options. I decided to write about my interests and either my -4 followers will ignore me or maybe I may double my followers to a positive number like 0 or even 1 if I am lucky. Of course my math is not that good so maybe I have the numbers wrong, but trust me my followers are in the minus category.

Bonsai, this is one of my hobbies/passions/sicknesses that I enjoy and have messed with since a child. I have always had one growing and at times quite a few going. I have lost them to accidents, weather, theft and disease, and a few I have killed myself due to misadventure or bad technique.

Today I want to share the tale of my Catlin Elm forest. Catlin Elm is a cultivar of Chinese Elm discovered in California by some guy who does stuff like that, discover new sports of Elms and other trees. I could look up his name, but so could you, what are you a lazy sumnabiotch or something? This sport, or cultivar is perfect for Bonsai cultivation as it has small leaves. Come to think of it the guys name might be Mr. Catlin, but don't quote me on that.

I arranged seven of these immature C. Elms into a forest planting as they were small trees and none were too spectacular on their own, but in a group, hell, they are still not too spectacular but as time goes on who knows.

If that shows up through the magic of this electronic medium we in my home call the "hey its my turn" then you will be looking at the image of my forest after being grown from seeds for two years and then being arranged into a group of seven in this nice colored cheap Bonsai pot. You will notice when looking at Bonsai in group or forest plantings, those terms being interchangeable, that the common practise is to plant them in odd numbers, 3, 5, 7, etc. This has something to do with Asian culture, its either that even numbers are considered bad luck or if you use even numbers in Bonsai displays an ancient Bonsai master will stop by your house and kick your butt with a large stick. Either way why risk it, keep your forest/group also known as Saikei which translates from that odd sounding speach the Japanese use when they talk about you without wanting you to know what they are saying, anyhow Saikei translates too Planted Landscape. And you thought you could not learn anything from me, Ha,  I say bemusedly to myself and my -4 followers, Ha,!! The above picture was taken sometime this decade, maybe even early this year. Could be January or so...

Its been growing for a while since putting it in the new pot and I use the method of clipping new growth back to develop ramification, which means making branches more dense with finer branchlets. This clipping of tender new growth back to the existing hardened  leaves allows for the branches to grow out from the leaves in a new direction so you do not wind up with long branches rather shorter branches with lots of little branches which also tends to thicken the branches. Most importantly it adds to the canopy of the tree.

The above picture was definetly taken sometime this century, I believe not more than a week or so ago, but do not quote me on that one either as I am an old guy and you know how the memory gets with age. In the picture you can see the fuller look of the overall canopy and with some imagination you can see the ramification of the branches, with even more imagination you can imagine yourself strolling through the trees when you spot a lovely young woman having lunch on a picnic blanket in the center of the forest, you walk over closer and notice she seems upset, you ask " are you ok?" she answers expalining that she had invited a friend she was romantically interested in to come eat with her and he did not show up or even bother to call and cancel, and she adds would you like some fried chicken and pie? Naturally you accept and after opening the chicken you hear a rustling in the background, near the largest tree in this odd grouping of Chinese Elms growing in the midwest in a large pot, and you get up to investigate. Walking towards the noise you notice too late its a mother bear guarding her three young cubs, after being ripped to shreds by the bear your last thoughts before imminent death are , at least the young woman is running the other way as she heard you screaming like a little girl as the bear set upon you with sharp talons slashing wildly. Sorry, maybe you had a good picnic in your version and learned about your common interest in the catholic Church and developed a mutual respect and love for each other leading to a sacramental marriage and a loving family. Who knows.

ed