The Promise

3-30-09 SHORT HILLS: We have had some nice days, and I have started the season’s work. I pruned dead wood and winter kill, that means snow plow damage, from the junipers on Westview Rd. It took about two days and created a good pile for the dump. I fertilized all the evergreen shrubs that need an acidifying fertilizer and most of the other shrubs and bulbs. I took down the wisteria by the back door, another non-boomer, to about six inches. It had grown far up into the sweet gum tree on the back patio and made another nice pile. Most of last spring's plantings look fine. You do remember all of them, don’t you? The southern magnolia and the scotch brooms might be dead.

That magnolia was girdled by the deer, not by eating it, but by the bucks scraping their antlers on the tree, scratching off the bark all the way around the one inch in diameter tree. Other small trees were scraped but not girdled. Speaking of the little deers, they did eat all the ivy beds, hopefully they will re-grow.

The grass is starting to green up. The weeds that make up most of our ‘lawn’ are awakening. The thing about this earliest part of the season is the promise of the flowering to come.

New blooms: daffodil and forsythia.

No Lamb in Sight.

3-25-09 SHORT HILLS: Sorry about the dearth of posts. We ended up spending more time in San José than anticipated. It was sunny every day, but chilly and breezy with an occasional shower. Flowers are everywhere. Besides all the semi-tropicals; daffodil, iris, magnolia and pear were in bloom.

Back in NJ it has been cool and sunny with rain expected tomorrow. We have crocus, snowdrop, vinca minor, andromeda and maple in bloom. Forsythia are threatening.

Reports from VT indicate persisting snow cover with maple syrup happening.



Crocuses? Croci?

March Lion.

3-2-09 SHORT HILLS: Surprise! It’s not summer yet. We got about 5 inches of snow, not the foot that was predicted but enough to cover the yard and require a shoveling of the driveway. I think it’s over, but the wind is getting brisker, and it’s in the twenties so no luncheon on the patio.

We are off to California on Wednesday for the spring visit to Eoin and Joe and their parents. Later this month we take Maggie and Lucy to Vermont for their school vacation.

Balance Sheet.

2-22-09 SHORT HILLS: Back in NJ with almost all the snow gone, only a little remnant of a plow pile in the driveway remaining. The yard without the snow is a mess of sticks and branches. The earliest of the snowdrops is up and about to open, and that earned it a picture.


The day before we came south, I was back at the Dartmouth Skiway, fifty two years after my first visit there. Ski equipment, the kind on your feet and the kind grooming the trails, has changed a lot, there’s a new lodge, new trails and lifts but same old me. Unchanged? I do find myself a bit less cold tolerant—it was in the twenties but windy, overcast and flurrying—I was chilly.

Speaking of chilly, how ‘bout those stock markets, unemployment stats or mortgage defaults? I was thinking about the size of the bailout bill, 3/4 of a trillion dollars, in relation to the National Debt-$11 trillion, total US Mortgage debt-$15 trillion, total US consumer debt-$2.6 trillion, which all added up puts us about $30 trillion in the hole. If there are 300 million US citizens, that would come to about $100,000 apiece.

As for the plus side, the corporations listed on the NYSE are worth $9 trillion and those on NASDAQ $2 trillion for $11 trillion total. I can only guess at the worth of all government, federal, state and local, assets such as real estate, vehicles, land, the army, navy, air force, national parks, etc. The property, art, artifacts of all the museums. The value of all non-public businesses. The property and possessions of all of the people. The total assets of the US must be at least a hundred trillion. So we are, maybe, $70 trillion ahead.

The only problem with that is finding a deep enough pocket if we want to totally cash out.

Vermont February.

2-18-09 VERMONT: Nothing vernal happening here. Judy and I have been here for almost a week. Daytime highs are about 30° and nighttime lows in the teens. There is plenty of snow. It has enough of a crust to walk on without snowshoes and only occasionally break through.

Huge chunks of ice fell off the roof onto the deck. A piece two feet long, one foot wide and six inches thick is one cubic foot of ice and that weighs sixty pounds. Drop it two stories and that’s enough to crack pieces of decking, another repair job for the spring. This week I will have repaired a faucet, a tall case clock, and, if the part comes in, the dishwasher which has had a leaky valve. Old houses keep you busy.

Lots of guests this week and all from Sea Cliff.


Plenty of snow here.

East wind and the barometer has dropped an inch since morning--stormy weather coming.

February Melange.

2-10-09 SHORT HILLS: We have had an amusé bouche of spring over the weekend with temps in the fifties and some melting down of the snow cover which then froze into an ice sheet covering the yard. Our January, and Vermont’s, was below normal for temperature, and I felt it. Nevertheless we go to Vermont later this week with Alison, Anna and Lily and some assortment of friends of each of them.

President Obama’s ability to communicate and captivate an audience was again demonstrated in his town meeting in Elkhart, IN and at his press conference yesterday. One of the questioners at the press conference was from the HuffPo—a sign of the evolution of the media.

How would you describe the behavior of the Republicans in Congress? Obstructionist? Dog-in-the-manger? Suicidal? Homicidal? They are like one of those crazy shooters who take a school hostage, kill a bunch of people and then kill themselves. Well, only about 20 months until the 2010 midterm elections.

Rachel Maddow presented a comparison of the depth and duration of unemployment in the current and last two recessions on her MSNBC show last night. The data and graph are from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.


The blue line shows the drop in employment, 1.5 million jobs, and recovery, 32 months, during the 1990 recession.
The red line shows the bigger drop in employment, 2.7 million jobs, and longer recovery time, 48 months, following the 9/11 attack.
The green line shows the drop in employment in the current recession to date.
Scary?

Hibiscus Season.

2-5-09 SHORT HILLS: It's 17° outside, and there are a couple inches of snow cover on the ground. In the sun room, it's hibiscus season.

February Surprise.