Turning away our yield

A friend and I went to lunch at a diner yesterday because she had a hankering for a BLT. I didn’t want to tell her, but what with the (fatal) cyclospora outbreak, recalls of pork products and salmonella being found on tomatoes, her sandwich might just be a couple of slices of bread with a pickle on the side.

Unless there’ve been issues with pickles lately.

(In the end, she had the brownie sundae. Good choice.)

Between the tariffs and insane Iran war driving up costs, mass deportations of migrants depleting the workforce in the fields and processing plants, and tossing away regulations and oversight on safety standards, our once-vaunted food supply chain has seen some things. That’s on top of human-induced climate change playing havoc with agricultural cycles.

Yay, us.

So today’s earworm is Nanci Griffith’s “Trouble in the Fields”. She's more optimistic about the outcome, but then she wrote it in the 90s. Bon appétit.

 

©2026 Bas Bleu

 

Well, hello, August

If you want to know how the weather’s going, here are a couple of pix of the view through my back windows:

In a word: ugh.

 

 

©2026 Bas Bleu

 

Sigh...

This popped into my queue yesterday.

It’s like the phishers aren’t even trying any more.

But they’ll probably catch someone.

 

©2026 Bas Bleu

 

Boooo

Okay, for the record, as of 3 August, the Fairfax Costco already has its Halloween yard décor merch out in the aisles.

Christmas: I’ve got my eyes on you.

  

©2026 Bas Bleu

 

Gratitude Monday: Flowing water

A week ago Friday, around 1645, I ran the garbage disposer; it regurgitated water back up into the sink, which drained only very slowly. Naturally this was on the cusp of the weekend, where calling out any tradesman would involve an out-of-hours surcharge.

I consulted the Duck (Duck-duck-go) and performed some of the recommendations. Following the use of a plunger, the drainage seemed to improve. But on Sunday, when I ran the dishwasher, it didn’t drain properly.

I first tried calling my appliance repair guy, primarily because I know him and I don’t know any plumbers, and also because I didn’t want it to be what it was, which was a clogged drain. On Tuesday, Alan confirmed that. He knew no plumbers to recommend, but he did have the name of a drain clearing service, so I called them.

The technician came out Wednesday morning. By that time I was bugging pretty badly. Not so much about the slow drain or the garbage disposer (which I rarely use, since vegetable scraps get composted, non-poultry bones go to the fox and everything else gets binned); it was not having the use of the dishwasher that drove me up the wall. I’d be standing in the kitchen with a dirty dish in my hand at an absolute loss as to what to do with it. (Listen—I spent three years in the UK without a dishwasher and thought myself very ill used the whole time.)

It took two snakings to clear the drain, but clear it he did. As he was checking various things (no backup in the utility room, yay!) he let the water run for a good five minutes. Drained like a pro. Absolutely worth the $$$.

(Bonus: I asked him what the weirdest clog he ever cleared was. That stopped him, but then he said, “Rats in the drain. But that’s only in Arlington.”)

So my gratitude today is for having a kitchen drain that runs free, a garbage disposer that doesn’t spit water back at me and a working, draining dishwasher. Viz:

P.S. I also have my calendar marked to flush baking soda, then white vinegar and then kettle-hot water down the drain the first Sunday of every quarter. Just in case.

 

©2026 Bas Bleu

 

Is your money that good?

Dunno why, but I’ve been thinking a lot recently of Dylan’s “Masters of War”.

He wrote it over 1962-63 and has gone on the record as saying that the vehemence of the song surprised him. But it’s every bit as relevant in 2026 as it was 64 years ago. Particularly the final verse.

You’d think we might have learnt something in the intervening time. But no.

Here’s Eddie Vedder and Mike McCready of Pearl Jam singing it at the Bob Dylan 30^th anniversary concert in 1992.

 

©2026 Bas Bleu

 

One for the books

I had occasion to desire a geographical dictionary for reasons. And I wanted an older one, pre-90s, because I like chancing on the names that existed during the 70 years of the USSR, but changed back to the tsarist times.

So I went to ABE books, which I’ve patronized for 25 years at least. Found one at a place called Gulf Coast books, in Texas, and ordered it.

But I was really annoyed to find that someone put one on of those inventory stickers that doesn’t peel off easily or cleanly. On a book. And that there was a price tag of $3.00 for it.

Gulf Coast listed the book on ABE at $5.22.

You’d think they’d at least have removed that sucker before shipping the book.

 

 

©2026 Bas Bleu

 

Suck it up

As you can see, there’s been a changing of the guard for vacuum cleaning chez moi. 

My Kenmore cannister vac, which I bought about 25 years ago when the previous, 30-year-old Kenmore vac died, finally gave up the ghost.

I took it to the local vacuum repair and sales shop, where the proprietor told me that while it was manufactured in the US, its heirs are made in China, as are all parts. He said that replacing the motor wouldn’t be a good investment. I went home to do some research.

Turns out a whole lot of vacuum cleaners are manufactured in China, with somewhat middling reviews. The best ones come from Germany, but they are also pricey.

Well, after mulling it over, I bit the bullet and bought the SEBO from the local guy. With an extra box of bags, it was over $1000.

It’s smaller than the old one, and lighter. But it better outlast me.

 

 

©2026 Bas Bleu

 

Public opinion

Two cars parked next to each other at the People’s Republic library branch last week has Things to Say:

The driver of the red car came out while I was taking pix; she looked like Republicans’ core Democratic enemy trope—middle aged, grey hair (not blue, tho), dressed for her own comfort.

She’s someone I would personally not want to piss off.

Didn’t see the other car’s driver.

 

 

©2026 Bas Bleu

 

Gratitude Monday: exploding color

Seems like I post annually about how much I love crape myrtles. Because they are truly something I rejoice in; have done ever since I was a child.

So today my gratitude is for this beauty that looks like it’s swaddled by a shrub. Just popping out of the sea of green like a breaching orca in an excess of joy.

 

©2026 Bas Bleu