Responsibility

So it looks like the streets of Cooperstown will be short on the Hall of Fame excitement this summer.  The sure fire class of 2013, including Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa and Mike Piazza are all under the cloud of steroid suspicion.  The government, the self righteous sports writers and many devoted sports fans have demonized these players as cheaters, unworthy of the Hall.  Lance Armstrong will be on Oprah next week to perform a mea culpa for his alleged use of performance enhancing drugs, or not, since pending litigation could open him up to huge liabilities.  However, for some reason we celebrate the steroid enhanced football players who clash each week in gladitorial combat.   Why the dichotomy?   I would make the case that football players are unapologetic about their drug use, and we have been sold on the spectacle of  freakishly huge players in a video game like format of violent confrontations.  For some reason, we think of baseball players and cyclists as ordinary guys, just like us.  We could be out there chasing down fly balls and riding the Tour De France if only we ate more Wheaties and got a little more excercise.  I can't think of any other explanation which fits the story we see playing out.
     Meanwhile, the public rescues AIG during the financial crisis and the sociopath who ran the company at the time now want to sue the government because the terms of the bailout were too harsh.  He claims we gave better terms to Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, et. al.  It seems the big banks were on steroids also, but like the NFL, they have convinced us they need steroids, or in their case public guarantees of their solvency no matter what risks they take.   It seems only baseball players and fools need to take responsibility for their bad choices. The banks and football players are too important to our national identity to trouble with conscience or legality.

Up next

No, it's not the cleanup batter.  It's the temperature, stupid.   Last year was by far the warmest ever recorded in the continental US.  By a full degree.  Usually these records are broken by a tenth of a degree.  At 55.3 degrees average, even the most skeptical observers have to admit this is more than a fluke event.  It seems the new normal is to break daily high temperature records about 5 times as often as we set record lows.  The corollary is the record dryness we are experiencing.   61% of the country is now in a moderate or severe drought.  These statistics argue for a more robust engagement of the government in the nuts and bolts of climate change.  One can only hope our elected officials get in the game before the ninth inning.  However, I think it would be prudent for farmers to assume there will be no leadership on this issue and plan accordingly.

Lightening up

No, I don't mean the New Year's resolution to lose a couple of waistline inches is kicking in.  As I left the office yesterday, the sky was still light in the west and this morning at 6:15 a.m. the sun was trying to lighten up the January gloom.  It is certainly not my favorite time of year, but one of the best things about mid to late January is the increasing daylight which counteracts the otherwise miserable combination of darkness and cold temps.   I celebrated by ordering far too many onion and shallot seeds for the coming gardening season.  Reacting to the various failures of the past season is my modus, and the  onion crops were by far the biggest fail in last year's garden.  It is back to transplanting from the cold frames this spring, since the direct seeding of most varieties resulted in less than optimum stands.  Beans will also be among the early seed orders this year, as except for the last seeding, there was a lot of fail in that category also.    Meanwhile, in fresh produce, the lettuce,cauliflower and broccoli deals are alive and well in the southwest as cold temps and a predicted harvest gap are driving prices to levels not seen in a couple of years.

Vegetarianism anyone?

It looks like the carnivores at Casa Monzeglio will soon be limited to the cats and the dog.  It seems that the latest documentary on the cruelty meat production in this country has inspired the divine Mrs. M and Ms. M to declare flesh eating is over.   I'm not philosohically opposed to vegetarianism, but it will come as a shock to the system.  I did get a dispensation to use up any frozen supplies of meat, so it will not be a "cold turkey" type change, but there are also rumbles of veganism on the horizon.  I'm not so sure I'm on board with that much orthodoxy.  

Winterlude

Amazingly enough, it is 40 degrees warmer today than it was yesterday at this time.  The fact it is still below freezing should tell you all you need to know about yesterday.  This climate cliff diving is worse than the figurative fiscal cliff, at least in concrete physical terms.

Hibernation time

When the local temperatures scrolling across the bottom of the screen on the weather channel go into negative territory, you have to take extra precautions for even a momentary trip outside.  First, make sure you are wearing gloves and a hat.  Failing that, make sure your hands are absolutely dry, or they will stick to the first metal you touch.  You don't want to experience that sensation.  Second, plan your itinerary, or you will run out of heat before you finish.  Ten below zero is not too bad, but we haven't experienced it on the NCR for a couple of years, so it was a shock to the system.  The best part was there was almost no wind, so exposed areas of your face did not begin to freeze immediately.  I think it is time for this to be over.

New Year's Resolutions

Always a problem this time of year for produce salesmen and gardeners.  Produce sellers always make brave resolutions to start the new year.  Let's cut out the dead wood, only sell customers who pay a reasonable price for their produce, and so on.  That resolution lasts until the first truck you need to fill out has 5 pallets open and the jerk you promised yourself not to sell is the only customer who is "willing" to help you.  So you swallow hard and that resolution is down the drain.  As a gardener, it is much tougher to make a resolution that sticks.  Every year you receive dozens of catalogs with beautiful  illustrations of tasty vegetables and fruits and the temptations start.  Just a few more square feet and I'll stop there.  But of course it doesn't stop there.   I need to resist more than ever this year.