Grow, Grow, Grow...

So this year is the first spring in our new home. I'm loving home ownership, especially yard-work! Since the beginning of spring my little thumb has been itching to turn green. I think I caught a case of the gardening bug. With all the nice weather down here in Nashville, Tennessee, I've been spending a lot of time and money at Bates Nursery. Not to mention the labor I've put into the yard. Call it a labor of love.

It's been a learning experience. My biggest failure this year is my Boston Ferns. I wanted to have hanging ferns on my porch. It's the South, and nothing says Southern like a shady porch, with beautiful ferns, some rocking chairs, and a pitcher of sweet iced tea. Got everything else, besides the ferns to work. The part sun/bright shade was way to bright for them to even survive. So I took them down and am reviving them in a shady corner with lots of water. In their place I hung some Evolvulus Blue Daze, a sun loving, drought tolerant plant. Not to mention the flowers on this thing are about the bluest you can get when it comes to blue flowers. I like them better than the ferns!

Where are the shady trees? We fixed that too! We got a heck of a deal on some pretty mature trees. We planted an 18ft Pin Oak in the front yard, moved our existing maple to the back along with a new Autumn Blaze Maple. Thirsty, Thirsty, Trees!

We used to have three Arborvitaes as accent shrubs up front. I removed them yesterday, and replaced them with some Boxwoods. The Boxwoods look great, they are slow growing, and a perfect low-hedge plant. The look good in front of brick, and make an awesome backdrop for the annuals we planted in the flower bed. We planted almost everything sun-loving from irisis to cox comb. The Arborvitaes (two of the three, one did not make it through two summers of droughty conditions) now reside in huge planters on the back patio. I'm sure they appreciate the drainage of the potting soil, organic mushroom compost, and soil conditioner, a lot better than the clay they were trying to grow in. 

I'm almost afraid to see what my water bill will be through the summer. 

Now the fun begins...watching it all grow. Cross your fingers!

If water saves lives, use it!

Things up in D.C. really perplex me. If it's not one thing it's another. 

Enhanced Interrogation Techniques (EIT), mainly water-boarding has saved lives. The lives of countless Americans, and now it's being called torture. Torture or not, if dunking an enemy of this nation's head in water to force him to give up valuable information works, dunk his head! Why are we so concerned about the comfort level of those who seek the destruction of our Union? We would rather make sure that people who have publicly declared jihad against the United States live better than how they used to in their homelands, than protect the lives of the American people.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi(D-CA) along with other top congressional politicians were briefed in the after-math of 911 concerning the techniques employed by the Bush administration, and they supported it, but because it profits them, and their party politically they want to put on a "dog-and-jackass show", cry foul and divert attention by calling for the indictment of leaders of this country that kept us safe post 911, they have declassified secrets that gave us valuable information, but did not disclose the information obtained from EIT. Since the enemy knows the tactics, I'd at least like to see the results.

What ever happened to the promise of transparency?

Yes, President George W. Bush, kept this nation safe. There's a lot of things he did that I did not agree with, but there's no denying that we did not suffer another attack on U.S. soil for the remainder of his administration. His policies concerning water-boarding were in large part to thank.

So if water saves lives, let's use it.