Pruning to stop the blight: news and tomatoes

I start each day by reading the local paper. I really shouldn't; most of the news is depressing or annoying, and the letters to the editor are, by and large, written by people who, as my dad would have said, shoot off their mouths before their brains are loaded. Homicides rest next to sad news, bordered by a selectman in a neighboring town who wants us to all be better prepared for thermonuclear war. He recalls having to hide under his desk as child, as part of the drills. He feels that it is the safest protection against nuclear fallout.

What the merry hell. 

I, too, started school that way. We had those drills. But in no way were we ever told or convinced that the desk would save us from nuclear fallout. It was to protect us from falling ceiling or flying glass. At any rate, today's desks wouldn't save anyone from much at all; they tend to bend when someone sits on them. And little kids are often seated at group tables, so there's that. 

I'm fairly certain that northern New Hampshire small towns are not going to be targets, either, but who is to say? This world is an upside-down place. 

That all said, on the back page of the paper was a thrilling story about a 17-year-old who stopped a runaway motor boat on Lake Winnipesaukee. He saw the problem, jumped from the back of one watercraft to the speeding, circling boat, and cut the engine. Turns out, the kid is going into the Navy in the fall. I wish him well. At least it was good news. No one got hurt.

The steady diet of doom from the media gets in my head far too often. They report on non-stories as if they are stories, or they report on the reporting of non-stories as stories (did you follow that?)-- and by reporting on the reporting of what should not even be reported on, it becomes fodder for the machine. It's quite depressing, really. And a little overwhelming. Okay, a lot overwhelming.

The other day, G was pruning tomato plants, and he mentioned that he was glad to do it, as they have become very foliage-dense, and they really need some light and air in order to stop the blight that would come. I was in the pool with Holly, and I got musing, wouldn't that make a great political sign on the lawn? "STOP THE BLIGHT" seems appropriate. We all need a lot more light and air.

Have a good day,

C