Sharyl gave me three miniature rosebushes for Valentine’s Day this year. They were quite small when she gave them to me and we kept them on the windowsill in our kitchen for a while. When they started to get too big, Sharyl suggested I plant them out in the garden. I wasn’t sure how they would do, but they have really thrived. As you can see they are almost as tall as the Indian Hawthorn. They are covered with blooms, which is surprising for late August, and you can see quite a bit of new growth at the top.

We’ve finally had a few days without rain. So I’ve been able to work on the shed again. Click the picture to see the most recent step in the process. Here, I’ve used batterboards and mason’s string to layout the area that I’m going to excavate for the shed’s platform. The next step is to dig the hole out to a depth of three inches. Then I’ll be putting in the concrete footings for the platform.

Senators Barack Obama (D-IL) and Tom Coburn (R-OK) introduced a bill recently, S.2590, that would create a web-based searchable database accessible to the public that would detail all federal grants and contracts.  This would shine a bright light on the pet projects of our Congress.  Well, apparently someone in the Senate doesn’t like the idea.

Before the entire Senate could vote on the bill, an unknown number of Senators placed an anonymous hold on the bill.  This is within the Senate rules and is an effective way of killing a bill.  This hold could be used to maintain the relative veil of secrecy that surrounds federal government spending.

But fortunately, citizens across the country have sprung into action, calling the offices of their Senators in an effort to smoke out the secret holder(s).  Porkbusters has been keeping a tally of which Senators are on record as saying they are not a secret holder.  I’m glad to see my two Senators, Landrieu and Vitter, are in the clear.  At this point only eight Senators have not denied placing the hold on the bill.  Hopefully as the pressure mounts, the mainstream press will give this more attention.

Katherine Harris, the one-time GOP golden girl, and the apple of Sean Hannity’s eye, has been running a rather interesting campaign for the U.S. Senate seat in Florida.  The Republican Party pulled its support from her campaign after a series of scandals, most notably her acceptance and misreporting of campaign contributions from defense contractor Mitchell Wade, the man who pled guilty to bribing congressman Duke Cunningham.

Since then, she has seemed hell-bent on self-destruction.  Most recently, in an interview with the Florida Baptist Witness, she told the paper:

“[I]f you’re not electing Christians then in essence you are going to legislate sin.”

In addition to advocating a Christian litmus test for politicians, she says:

“[I]f people aren’t involved in helping godly men in getting elected than (sic) we’re going to have a nation of secular laws. That’s not what our founding fathers intended and that’s (sic) certainly isn’t what God intended.”

Going to have a nation of secular laws?  We’ve had one for 230 years.

But these are just the silly ramblings of a woman desperately trying to hold on to a sliver of hope for her campaign.  Even if she is serious, I don’t think any serious people take her seriously.  Seriously.

But this did strike a chord with me:  In her Statement of Clarification on her website, Harris says she was “addressing a common misperception that people of faith should not be actively involved in government.”  Huh?  Is there any misperception that people with religious beliefs should not hold public office, let alone a common one?

According to one poll 70% of Americans think it’s important for a President to have strong religious beliefs.  Most Presidents are “actively involved in government.”  I mean, sometimes they have brush to clear, but usually they make with the governing.  So Harris’ clarification doesn’t fly with me. 

I file this one under persecution complex.  It fits neatly between Tom Delay complaining that the government’s investigation of him represents persecution of Christians and the faux “War on Christmas”.  These are cynical ploys wherein politicians, or those who do their bidding, attempt to convince the majority of Americans that they are a persecuted minority in order to spur them on to the polls. 

This is a pet peeve of mine.  There is enough real persecution going on in the world, religious and otherwise, that I don’t think we need to manufacture any in order to exploit the faith of Americans.  In my 30 years of life, no one has yet prevented me from saying a prayer or holding religious beliefs.  No one has prevented me from wishing a “Merry Christmas” or humming a carol.  And this is the first time I’ve heard it suggested that if I have a religious faith, I shouldn’t hold public office.  But if someone like Katherine Harris would be my colleague, why would I want to?

While visiting my mom in Lafayette yesterday, I picked up a few new plants for the garden.  There’s a great nursery there named “All Seasons” that has a really broad selection.  Every time I visit, we stop in and I rarely leave without buying something.

I’m trying to fill in some spots in the garden so I’m planting a few new things now before I make major changes in the spring.  Here are the new additions:

• “Candy Stripe” Creeping Phlox
• “Louisiana Purple” Woodland Phlox
• “Patriot” Hosta 
• “Victoria White” Salvia

I love hostas and I’ve wanted to get more.  But I don’t like trying to prevent the slugs from eating the leaves.  In the past I’ve used the “Cup of Beer” method, where I lay a plastic cup on its side with beer in the bottom.  The slugs are attracted to the yeast, they crawl into the cup, and they drown.  My slugs drink Natural Light.

But making sure my slugs have fresh beer to die in can be a lot of work, so I’m trying something new with the Patriot Hostas.  I’m going to plant the Creeping Phlox around the hostas as ground cover.  It’s very prickly to the touch and I’m hoping the slugs won’t like crawling over it to get to the hostas.  Hopefully the phlox will spread out enough next spring to form a protective barrier around the hostas.  We’ll have to wait and see how tenacious my slugs are.  But I may have to keep them liquored up in the meantime.