Good morning Kossacks and welcome to Morning Open Thread.
We're here every morning at 6:30 a.m Eastern time. Feel free to volunteer to take a day - permanent or just once in awhile. With the autopublish feature you can set it and forget it. Quite often the diarist de jour shows up much later (like me), that's the beauty of Open Thread...it carries on without you! Just let us know in the comments.
Random thoughts on a Tuesday, well, actually a Monday afternoon.
*I just bought Kosher-for-Passover wine in my neighborhood. This is AMAZING! I don't live anywhere near a synagogue, and for years the only kosher wine was Mogen David - yuck. This is real, honest to goodness drinkable wine that I can take to friends's houses for the seder. The price wasn't great; kosher for Passover wines are always expensive, but when I got home I realized that if I had driven clear across town where I might be able to get cheaper choices, I would have burned up the difference in gas. So I promptly called the store I had just been to to thank them for stocking it.
*Another great addition to the neighborhood is a locally-owned running store, not far from the above mentioned wine store. I saved a 10% off coupon from when I walked the Women's Half marathon last September, and bought a new running bra. There's a new Italian restaurant going in across the street, next to the bakery, massage place, Montessori school, and apartments for the deaf. It's also rumored that Robert Plant lives a few blocks away. Yes, that Robert Plant. This is a very different neighborhood than the one I moved into 14 years ago. (No comment on Robert Plant living that close to an apartment for the deaf.)
*Speaking of running and the Women's Half, it's too damned hot already. It was already 80 by the time I got out for my run this morning. I was still toying with the idea of doing the Country Music Marathon (Half!!!) this year, but if it's this hot already, it's gonna be even hotter then. Last year I was entered and planning on doing my first full marathon, but got my cancer diagnosis just 9 days before the event, and had my first surgery 4 days before. My number was really cool - 21000, so I framed it and I can look at it to remind me that I can remain healthy. Here's a picture of my finish after walking the Women's Half last September. It was about a month after I finished chemo and just before I started radiation. My legs feel SO much better now, but as you saw last week, still not totally up to par. I'll stick with the 5k's for now.
*Most of my plants went in the ground yesterday. Everything I planted last year died, partly from the intense heat and partly because I just wasn't up to watering everything. I've got three kinds of tomatoes, some arugula, catnip, oregano, parsley, thyme, peppers, and strawberries. I also have one lone rhubarb plant. Rhubarb is NOT a southern plant. It's much too hot here, and usually the plant wilts from heat before I can get anything from it. AND the grocery stores here no longer carry frozen rhubarb!! To add insult to injury, they DO sell fresh rhubarb from time to time, buy I refuse to pay upwards of $6/lb for something that grows like a weed up north. I guess that makes my sister-in-law's pies so much more yummy.
*WTF??? The Supreme Court just OK'd strip searches for minor offenses? What. The. Hell. Seriously.
*As for the Wisconsin primary, meh. I'm more interested in the recall. I have no idea what my brother thinks of the whole thing, but my mom told me that my cousin was definitely going to vote because it will be the last time we can vote. He's off-the-cliff right, and he said that this country will cease to exist if Obama gets re-elected, and that we will become a Nazi country. (sigh, roll eyes, face-palm.)
So, those are my random thoughts for the day. Please insert your random thoughts below!
Happy Tuesday!