Rain and Gardens

Spring is here. I am ordering Herb Seeds and plotting Flowers. I am planting Milkweed for the Monarch Butterflies this year. I am getting that Happy Green Feeling in spite of the cold outside.

I have learned you can make that boggy place in your yard a thing of beauty and help clean and conserve water by planting a Rain Garden. 

Once planted, such a garden is maintained with little to no effort. And that is good news. Gardening can be hard work.

The woman in the photograph is teaching a class in Rain Gardens and you can see the perfect sort of location. Find out all the particulars at the link.

"To select a location for a rain garden, begin by observing your yard during a good rainfall. Notice where water is flowing. Rain gardens should ideally be located between the source of runoff (roofs and driveways) and the runoff destination (drains, streams, low spots, etc.)."

The photograph on the right is a rain garden in Philadelphia, designed by Edgar David.

"Rainwater that flows from the house roof to the stone cistern is used to irrigate an intimate collection of woodland plants."

You can read more about this interesting garden HERE. 

The Philadelphia Water Department has some excellent information about making Rain Gardens. The PWD also has a rain barrel program for those of us who do not have a boggy spot and still want to utilize and help manage rain water runoff. And now it is time for a Spring song by The Velvet Fog.

Pussies for Attitude Adjustment

Click Me !

De-evolution of the Republican Party

This cartoon is so good I just had to post it. Enjoy. This post has musical accompaniment. See below.

I cannot find the artist for attribution or a better copy. If anyone has information about this cartoon, please share.

I'm an apeman, I'm an ape, apeman, oh I'm an apeman
I'm a King Kong man, I'm a voodoo man, oh I'm an apeman
I don't feel safe in this world no more,
I don't want to die in a nuclear war.
I want to sail away to a distant shore and make like an apeman
Songwriters: DAVIES, RAY
Apeman lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., ABKCO Music Inc.

Todd Starnes the Cherry Picker - Asshats on Parade

"Isn't it wonderful that we are all so queer." - Minnie Jane Hamm at Trenton Friends Meeting.

Todd Starnes conflates homophobia with Christianity. As does a beleaguered Navy Chaplain named Modder. Fundamentalist Christians use Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 to condemn and vilify gay people. Chaplain Modder uses the Biblical rules to shame people who have premarital sex. The Asexual and biblically stunted must not make rules for the normally sexed. 

Leviticus 21:16-22 says that no man with a defect, specifically of his genitals or his eyes, may as much as approach the altar. Some how and some way Fundamentalist Christians ignore the rules when the rules do not suit them.

So if your pastor wears glasses, has only one testicle, prostate cancer or psoriasis, he may not go near the altar to preach, bless or pray. That means Chaplain Modder. That means you Todd Starnes. You wear glasses. You cherry pick the Bible at will, Todd, when it is your ox being gored. 

Todd Starnes

16 The Lord said to Moses, 17 “Say to Aaron: "For the generations to come none of your descendants who has a defect may come near to offer the food of his God. 18 No man who has any defect may come near: no man who is blind or lame, disfigured or deformed; 19 no man with a crippled foot or hand, 20 or who is a hunchback or a dwarf, or who has any eye defect, or who has festering or running sores or damaged testicles. 21 No descendant of Aaron the priest who has any defect is to come near to present the food offerings to the Lord. He has a defect; he must not come near to offer the food of his God. 22 He may eat the most holy food of his God, as well as the holy food; 23 yet because of his defect, he must not go near the curtain or approach the altar, and so desecrate my sanctuary. I am the Lord, who makes them holy.

Ever hear these phony religionists mention these verses? They lie by omission. Lying is a sin. Do these folks not realize that Gays and other Queer Folks are our family, our friends and our colleagues that we respect and may love dearly?

Matthew 5:22 - He who beats his brother must answer for it to the court; he who sneers at him will answer for it in the fires of Hell..

How can Fundamentalist Christians ignore Jesus this way and feel honest? It is time for the US military to hire only those folks with real expertise in counseling and human behavior to be Chaplains. It is time for the US Military to retire Modder. Past time.

I am so queer. I fantasize egregious sexual assault. I have been so hurt by sexually bent religous authoritarians. I am for it, but I am not going to do it. Jesus told us not to do that revenge stuff. I have to find a way to love these guys. God help me.