Planting a Garden is for the Hopeful

Planting a garden means you have hope in something. You have hope that the seeds and the seedlings will grow. You have hope that the gophers won't come pillaging and marauding. You have hope that the sun will still rise, that there'll be water flowing out the hose when you turn the handle on, that life will continue on as it has done. And it means you have hope that you'll be around to enjoy the garden as it settles into existence the way it was meant to be.

At least, that's how I see it. I suppose old Mr. Brown, that excellent English gardener from centuries ago, would've seen it differently. He designed and planted gardens for the nobility that were deliberately planned so that they only came into their true being many generations after they were planted. Quite a far-sighted fellow, Mr. Brown.

Perhaps that's an even deeper sort of hope?

Dinner's Menu: Southwest Chicken Casserole

Tonight's menu for dinner is Southwest Chicken Casserole, courtesy of the Whole Foods Cookbook, though, I'm tweaking the recipe to my liking. I've made this once before and it's dead simple and very good.

All you have to do is saute up some chicken with onion and garlic and then shred the chicken once it's cooked. Then, in a baking dish, layer corn tortillas, dollops of enchilada sauce (or tomato sauce if your taste buds are wimpish), the shredded chicken, sour cream, grated cheddar cheese, diced green chiles and artichoke hearts. Repeat that layering motif until you've maxed out the dish, and then top with chopped up bits of tortilla and more cheese. Bake in the oven for about 45 minutes at 375F.

Ah...I'm getting hungry just typing about it.

Sharks in the Water

Another plug for Muggeridge. I'm about 3/4 of the way through his auto-biography, Chronicles of Wasted Time, and I must say it is highly intriguing. He lived during one of those periods where, due to his job, connections, education and upbringing, he was able to know amazing people and be in amazing situations. Moscow during the thirties. Churchill, HG Wells, Gandhi, the Viceroy of India, the Webbs (Beatrice Webb was actually his wife's aunt, which afforded Muggeridge a splendid reception by the Communists in Moscow).

Anyway, even though he was a journalist, he makes extremely caustic remarks about his profession. An interesting one that just floated by was his metaphor that journalists are like sharks in the water, swarming after the ocean liner of society, devouring the garbage that is thrown overboard. Sometimes a passenger falls overboard and the sharks obviously make short work of him. Sometimes, of course, the whole liner goes down...

The Ticking of the Clocks

What waits beyond the ticking of the clocks?

Criminals Are In Favor Of Gun Control

A typical thought-blip of liberals is that gun control is a good thing. Get rid of guns and that will do away with violent crime. Outlaw those handguns and people won't be blowing other people away.

It's a nice thought, but it's a fatally flawed thought. For one thing, there is an extensive black market in weapons and that is primarily where criminals obtain their guns. Gun control legislation doesn't affect criminal ownership of guns. What it does affect, though, is the ownership of guns by law-abiding citizens (who do not tend to buy their guns on the black market).

Criminals, however, appreciate gun control because it means that whenever they mug someone or break into a house, the odds of their victim possessing a gun are greatly lessened.

Gun control keeps criminals safer and allows them to do their jobs with greater freedom.

What We Can And Cannot Do These Days

It's a bit unnerving to contemplate what we can and cannot do these days. In times past, it was common that a man be able to hunt, fish, farm, mould his own bullets, build a house and a barn, etc., smoke meat, raise livestock, kill another man with reasonable fortitude if his family were threatened, and read John Locke with decent patience.

In times not so distant (this from talking with older relatives) it was common that a man know how to build a house, run plumbing and electricity, take apart and fix his own engines, lay tile and cement, dig and sheathe a well, slaughter livestock and finish them into proper cuts and sausage, and exist quite happily without a television.

In our times, it is quite common that a man knows how to program his dvd player and Tivo player, hook up a home ethernet system, shop online for used XBox games, and competently use the various programs of Microsoft Office. Additionally, such a man can probably barbecue satisfactorily on a gas grill, run a power mower and a weed eater that plugs into a very long extension cord.

Simple Things

There's something extremely satisfying about a slice of sourdough, broiled with cheddar cheese, tomatoes, onions and mushrooms on it.

Tresspassers Will

We live on a ranch of about one hundred acres, several miles out of town. Currently growing lettuce, strawberries and cauliflower. Our house is right up on the road, with a small tractor yard adjoining it.

Today, after lunch, I looked out our back window to see two trucks parked down at the end of the ranch. Several figures were visible, and I could see the dust of a four-wheeler pluming into the air. I trudged out and confronted them. It was a young family out celebrating the fine weather with their new four-wheeler.

They explained to me that they hadn't realized they were on private property.

Uh, okay. Look, fellow, you load up your four-wheeler, you drive down several miles of country road, you turn down a dirt road in the middle of nowhere and rumble down that several hundred yards; you stop, surrounded by rows of strawberries of cauliflower and think to yourself, "gee, this must be public property."

Perhaps such idiocy and disregard of the basic rule of law is not surprising, given that half the country seems to see nothing wrong with millions of people illegally crossing our borders and, subsequently, illegaly residing in our country.

Perhaps it is not surprising due to the general sentiment that a lot of people have regarding open country. They think of it as "open space" and that they, the public, have some sort of right to it as a nice view, to be kept pristine and green. Such a sentiment starts to lend a sense of ownership, however misguided and baseless, in those who entertain it.

Anyway, I kicked the tresspassers off the ranch.

Private property. Tresspassers will be prosecuted.