Start of another heat wave, possibly.

Toured the Chapman garden: magical, a true masterpiece in a neighborhood almost as modest as ours.  Spoke at length with George, got his advice on the dogwood, which I trimmed.

Gave the trees a good watering.

We had a highly localized rain shower today.  Wish I’d taken a screen shot of the satellite image.

Changed sheets and hung a few extra things out and those got a rain rinse.

Sprayed the corn and beans today for aphids.

Took the case off the old Easy Share but couldn’t get it to work.  Bid and lost an eBay auction for a digital camera, then won one a little later for about the same cost.

An unexpected shower this morning set the ground up for an application of Hydretain.  Required 1/4-1/2 inch of watering afterwards, so by the time I was done hauling the hose around, it felt like I’d been carrying a pallet of rocks.

We did the transfer station run, though, and a quick trip to the farm stand for tomatoes and cukes.

Planted the little Blue Spruce – last of the trees!  Althea has buds.  Corn is starting.

Cardiac doc gave me a thumbs up for much improved biometrics: slight weight loss, lower blood pressure, much improved cholesterol measures.

Did some weeding today and tripped on the rake, smashed myself into stones.  Scratched my lenses but the optometrist’s office will replace them.

Forgot to take my after-breakfast meds until 1 PM.  Duh.

Sprayed the crabapple and the roses.  The war against bugs, as opposed to just fungus, has escalated.

Luis says to water the lawn every other day for 30 minutes at a time.  Ugh.

Sprayed crabapple and roses.

Great temps today, 70s, nice breeze.  Have all the windows open.

I will raise a glass to every entrepreneur, scientist, ENGINEER or computer geek who’s become wealthy through their own efforts.

I’m not seeing the Republican party do anything for start-ups or tech firms – just the loathesome denizens of Wall Street who don’t produce anything, just collect their billions playing with electronic funds.

I have no respect for big companies who hoard their capital, thus artificially raising stock prices and enriching their overpaid senior executives, instead of investing it.

Hope that clarifies and I’ll be disappointed in anyone who disagrees with me on this.

Being part of Hillary Clinton’s generation, I do identify with her and have felt the hatred directed at her on a much smaller but equally intense scale.

Her courage motivated me to run for (and win) public office in my town, as a way to honor the sacrifices she’s had to make being a gifted woman who wants to serve the country.

I certainly don’t feel “empowered” by her success, and I’ve been horrified by the reaction of younger women to her candidacy.  I’m expecting a backlash when she’s elected, similar to what happened with Obama.

The furies that rage against bright women who don’t kowtow to authority, particularly those of us who aren’t Sheryl Sandberg-cute, will continue unabated, whether there’s a woman in the White House or not.

Habitat is building more houses on the Cape. I have philosophical and practical disagreements with affordable housing generally. For one thing, everyone I’ve talked with about affordable housing refuses to acknowledge that other points of view are worth considering.

I have two problems and two issues with subsidized home ownership. One is that property taxes are based on resale value. That means that Habitat homeowners are receiving the same services as the rest of us, but paying 25% or less of the tax burden the rest of us bear. Property values are not increasing anywhere near fast enough to make this an equitable arrangment. In our case, our house would have to appreciate by about $1,500 a year for us to come out even with the two Habitat homes on our street. All I can say to that is, Hardee har har! We don’t live in Southport or Popponessett, sweetie!