Banisters and canisters

This is the week when TACOman thought he had the Nobel Peace Prize all sewn up, with his strike on three Iranian nuclear development sites on Saturday, and claims that Iran’s ability to build weapons was “completely obliterated”. He flapped off to the NATO summit in The Hague with his willie out ready to wave it all over our allies just to show them how it’s done, because now there can be peace.

The fact that early analysis of the damage indicates possibly not so much (caveat: that’s all it is: early analysis) has him and his toadies spitting nails and demanding more strikes on reporters asking about this. If you question the effectiveness of the bomb run, you’re anti-American, anti-US military and anti-Santa.

If he didn’t want that prize so desperately, and if his big birthday parade the Saturday before hadn’t been such a bust, we wouldn’t be seeing these unhinged tirades. According to SecDef Whiskey Pete, this was the most complicated, most extensive and most successful military operation in history. 

Move over, D-Day landings.

So, of course today’s earworm has to be “Give Peace a Chance”. John and Yoko, 1969.

 

©2025 Bas Bleu

 

Not the cherry orchard

We had a lemon tree in our backyard when I was growing up. We used to harvest the fruit, juice them and freeze it in ice cube trays to have it available any time. I was an adult before I ever paid for a lemon and have been aghast ever since at their price.

So, last year I bought three dwarf citrus trees: a Meyer and a Ponderosa lemon, as well as a lime.

The first stumbling block to my hopes of home-grown juice was chipmunks. Turns out they love rampaging through the branches, which knocks off both the flowers and any budding fruits. I wrote off any benefit from the orchard last year, but there’s always Spring, right?

Ah, well—we had several days of sub-freezing weather last February, and even though I had the pots insulated with bubble wrap, I lost all three. (I know it’s a stretch being in Northern Virginia, but what with global warming, we’ve had very mild winters the past few years, so it was worth a shot. Also—my gardenia bush survived fine. It was in a larger pot, though. Besides: there's a guy in London whose banana tree is producing fruit.)

So last month I bought three more dwarf trees. This time, I’ve armored them against chipmunks, involving a very interesting (and scratchy) session with chicken wire. Fort Citrus looks odd, but so far it seems to be working.

Now I just have to keep them watered through the climate-change-is-a-hoax hotter-than-usual summer.

 

©2025 Bas Bleu

 

Wilting

We’re currently under a heat dome in the environs of The District They Call Columbia, with a triple-digit heat index, so it’s too hot and humid to even think.

Here’s a lily from my neighbor’s garden for you.

 

©2025 Bas Bleu

Brief encounter

Came across the neighbors on my walk yesterday.

If it’s the same family I met before, they’ve lost one of the goslings since our last encounter. Mom and dad kept a close eye on me as I walked past, trying not to look suspicious.

 

©2025 Bas Bleu

 

Gratitude Monday: Huh

Well, okay—here’s something I haven’t really thought about since the Cuban Missile Crisis: I’m grateful that I woke up today—alive—in an apparently peaceful (and decidedly unbombed) neighborhood. Despite TACOman sending American bombers to destroy three sites in Iran (a sovereign nation, with which our vice president insists we are not at war; which would make these attacks a war crime).

Mullahs and the IRGC not being known for measured responses.

(Is it a coincidence that the Kleptocrat’s long-desired military display in the street (it was very short) of DC was a damp squib while millions of Americans flooded cities and towns across the country with protestors proclaiming “No Kings”? And that he left the G7 meeting early because Macron pissed him off and he didn’t want to stick around to see the welcome being given to Volodymir Zelenskyy? And his cockamamie budget bill is in swampland? So his ego is at low ebb and he wants to show that he is too the biggest frog in this pond?)

And if you’re reading this, I’m grateful that you, too, are alive. Let’s hope it stays that way.

 

©2025 Bas Bleu