Bits and Pieces (Lulu’s Garden)

Posted on June 8, 2012 by lmsinca

We’ve had one of those years at our house.  You know, one of the memorable ones for crappiness.  Things are looking up however, for the most part.  We even received rent money and the security deposit this week on our rental property, and the new family begins moving in today.  They don’t appear to be hoarders, and yes we did have the house fumigated.  Last weekend my husband and I painted all four bedrooms and this week I cleaned all the floors (again), the bathrooms (again), windows and the broiler.  He cleaned the windows on the enclosed patio, put in a new toilet and cleaned the fireplaces etc.  That’s over finally.  We’ve had a few health issues, some accidental, some related to being over 60 I guess, but so far we’re carrying on pretty well.

One thing that has always kept me from panicking when the worry sets in is working in my garden.  That’s right, the garden comes in ahead of ATiM.  I will try to participate a little more going forward however, as I have missed our discussions.

Anyway, I’ve been growing veggies since I rented my first house at age 20.  When the kids were little we had a fruit orchard and really large garden in the back part of our property (we have a half acre).  That’s all been replaced with a rather large warehouse for the business.  We did manage to find a nice growing spot on the side of the house, outside the bedroom window, for a small garden.  Since it’s just the two of us now it’s perfect and I can look out the window and see our handiwork.

This year I planted a couple of things I’ve never had in my garden before, bok choi and Japanese cucumbers.  In the photo below the bok choi is in the center bottom of the picture between the beets, on the left, and the Japanese cucumber.  At the back of the photo is swiss chard, which we have in our garden nearly year round.   I saute the chard in safflower oil and then add tamari and a little sesame oil and add it to brown rice after the rice is cooked……………………..yummy.

In the photos below are three kinds of summer squash, a few remaining green beans (the dogs dug up most of them), three kinds of lettuce, more swiss chard, and I just planted pumpkins and acorn squash last weekend.  These new veggies took the place of the snow peas, which we already ate, also yummy.

We’re taking a couple of days off this weekend and heading to the beach tomorrow, my favorite destination, so have a great weekend everyone.

Filed under: Bits and Pieces, food, fun stuff | Tagged: | 3 Comments »

Green Jobs

Posted on June 8, 2012 by novahockey

Oil lobbyist friend sent this to me.  Don’t act so shocked, I have friends

Video at: http://dailycaller.com/2012/06/08/labor-dept-counts-oil-lobbyists-garbage-men-bus-drivers-as-green-jobs-video/#ixzz1xD7qDCZn

Here’s the transcript.

REP. DARRELL ISSA: Well, let me — let me run you through some questions here because you’re here because we’re having a green jobs counting discussion.
Does someone who assembles turbines — is that a green job?
MS. JANE OATES: Wind turbines?
REP. ISSA: Yeah. Wind turbines.
MS. OATES: I think we would call any kind of sustainable manufacturing –
REP. ISSA: OK.
MS. OATES: — fitting the definition that was –
REP. ISSA: Does someone who sweeps — does someone who sweeps the floor in a facility that makes solar panels, is that a green job?
MS. OATES: Solar? I’ll give that to –
REP. ISSA: To Galvin?
MS. OATES: — if you don’t mind.
MR. JOHN GALVIN: We define — we have a two-part definition –
REP. ISSA: We already had the briefing on that. So just answer the question. If you’re sweeping the floor in a solar panel production facility, is that a green job?
MR. GALVIN: If you ask me for the number of health care jobs in the United States, I’ll give you the employment from the health care industry.
REP. ISSA: Look, Mr. Galvin –
MR. GALVIN: — nurses and doctors –
REP. ISSA: You did not want to come here as a witness. You are not a delighted witness. So let’s go through this.
I asked you a question. You know the answer. Would you please answer it.
If you sweep the floor in a solar panel facility, is that a green job?
MR. GALVIN: Yes.
REP. ISSA: Thank you. If you drive a hybrid bus — public transportation — is that a green job?
MR. GALVIN: According to our definition, yes.
REP. ISSA: Thank you. What if you’re a college professor teaching classes about environmental studies?
MR. GALVIN: Yes.
REP. ISSA: What about just any school bus driver?
MR. GALVIN: Yes.
REP. ISSA: What about the guy who puts gas in the school bus?
MR. GALVIN: Yes.
REP. ISSA: How about employees at a bicycle shop?
MR. GALVIN: I guess I’m not sure about that.
REP. ISSA: The answer is yes, according to your definition. And you’ve got a lot of them.
What about a clerk at the bicycle repair shop?
MR. GALVIN: Yes.
REP. ISSA: What about someone who works in an antique dealer?
MR. GALVIN: I’m not sure about that either.
REP. ISSA: The answer is yes. Those are — those are recycled goods. They’re antiques; they’re used.
What about someone who works at the Salvation Army in their clothing recycling and furniture?
MR. GALVIN: Right. Because they’re selling recycled goods.
REP. ISSA: OK. What about somebody who opened a store to sell rare manuscripts?
MR. GALVIN: What industry is that?
REP. ISSA: People sell rare books and manuscripts — but they’re rare because they’re old so they’re used.
MR. GALVIN: OK.
REP. ISSA: What about workers at a consignment shop?
MR. GALVIN: That’s a green job.
REP. ISSA: Does the teenage kid who works full time at a used record shop count?
MR. GALVIN: Yes.
REP. ISSA: How about somebody who manufacturers railroads rolling stock — basically, train cars?
MR. GALVIN: I don’t think we classified the manufacture of rail cars as –
REP. ISSA: 48.8 percent of jobs in manufacturing, rail cars counted, according to your statistics. About half of the jobs that are being used to build trains.
OK. How about — just one more here. What about people who work in a trash disposal yard? Do garbage men have green jobs?
MR. GALVIN: Yes.
REP. ISSA: OK. I apologize. The real last last is, how about an oil lobbyist? Wouldn’t an oil lobbyist count as having a green job if they are engaged in advocacy related to environmental issues?
MR. GALVIN: Yes.

Filed under: Energy, fun stuff, green energy | 8 Comments »

Morning Report 6/8/12

Posted on June 8, 2012 by Brent Nyitray

Vital Statistics:

 

Last

Change

Percent

S&P Futures 

1302.7

-7.3

-0.56%

Eurostoxx Index

2143.7

0.6

0.03%

Oil (WTI)

82.22

-2.6

-3.07%

LIBOR

0.468

0.000

0.00%

US Dollar Index (DXY)

82.72

0.666

0.81%

10 Year Govt Bond Yield

1.56%

-0.08%

 

RPX Composite Real Estate Index

178.7

0.4

 

 

Markets are weaker this morning after some disappointing economic data out of Europe. I guess people were hoping for a little bit more out of the Bernank regarding further stimulus when he testified in front of Congress yesterday. The trade deficit narrowed as imports and exports fell by 1.7% and .8% respectively. Bonds and MBS are both up a little. Overall, it feels like a typical Summer Friday and I would expect most of the Street to be on the L.I.E. by noon.

The Fed voted yesterday to accept the Basel III framework. Rob Chrisman has a good piece on how Basel III will impact mortgage pricing. Essentially the new treatment of mortgage servicing rights will force big lenders like Wells to lower the price they are willing to pay for servicing released premiums. In plain English, this means that Basel III has imposed a higher cost on the banks that will be passed on to borrowers. The Fed estimates that the 19 largest US banks are about $50 billion short of meeting new capital requirements, but they also note that these rules will become fully implemented by 2019 and that most banks should be able to meet the new capital requirements through retained earnings and won’t need to raise more capital.

Fannie Mae notes in its National Housing Survey that consumer sentiment seems to be plateauing as we head into the summer selling season. Roughly 1/3 of the respondents expect home prices to rise in the next 12 months and 72% believe now is a good time to buy.

The FHA is planning to announce a bulk sale program today. However, they want to deter “vulture investors” by requiring that the loan buyer to wait 6 months to foreclose and to agree to keep at least half the REO for 3 years.

Filed under: Morning Report | 2 Comments »