Rain and Inspections with Sassy

Tomato flower.

Sassy and I do regular inspections of the garden. Today we spotted two tomato flowers on our new tomato plants, where they share space with some cucumbers and sunflowers.

We have a special rain gauge I check on our walks. One street is poorly drained, so it collects water in proportion to the amount of rain. A good soaker will form a lake that goes completely across and makes walking on the busy street hazardous, except for immersionists. The drivers are thoughtful and really slow down for the lake.

As the soil dries out, the lake evaporates. Or - if the rain is scattered and sparse, the puddle is not large enough to reach across the street and soon dries up.

We are supplementing the rain with three soaker hoses, which seem to be most effective at the faucet, where they spray me and the bushes, saturating the soil, creating oozing mud. Later I will get some stepping stones in the late summer, when the amateur gardeners think the season is over and stop buying.

Malabar Spinach - not a true spinach, but MS tastes like it and loves heat.

I am starting next year's vegetable garden early, with beans and Malabar spinach. The area will be mulched  to kill most of the grass, wide rows dug for whatever I plant. Mrs. Ichabod wants okra, which is new to me. She likes to use a mixer for raw vegetables. I like to eat them raw from the garden.

No matter how fresh the vegetables at the market, garden produce is far fresher and more appealing. Long ago we had young boys eating green peppers and beans out of the garden. Raw carrots are really good, but carrots pulled from the soil and washed off, are especially crunchy and sweet.

Potatoes, tomatoes, and peas are best from the garden. Sweet corn loses the most from the moment it is harvested, so it is the most prized product. Why go through the bother of a block party when sweet corn will pull in neighbors from afar?

I have used French intensive and wide row gardening, which simply means packing as much growth in one growing area as possible. I remember fishing through my tomato plants for all the fruit. No matter how many tomatoes I picked, at whatever color for ripeness, they disappeared fast inside the house. The ones I ate outside were pure red, seasoned with dill seed. I pulled the seed from the dill plants all over the yard and dipped the tomato in it.

My neighbor uses the old straight, narrow rows, bare soil, and rototiller methods. I believe he tills the weeds up. I leave no bare soil in the garden and do not till.

My favorite mulches are:

• Compost - the best, since worms pull it down to amend the soil.
• Newspapers - useful under a layer of mulch, earthworm-friendly.
• Wood fragments - inexpensive and easy to haul. Heavy as mulch, they stay in place and hold down newspapers and leaves.
• Lawn clippings - full of nitrogen for the soil, quick to dry up, pleasant looking. They stay in place.
• Leaves - blowy in the wind, but good when ground up with a mulching lawnmower. They can also be under a layer of wood mulch.

Mulch can absorb nitrogen when decomposing, but the nitrogen is released afterwards. Wood products are supposed to increase the good microbial counts in the soil, making it more productive.

Why haul away all the lawn and tree products when they can amend the soil and almost end the labor of pulling weeds?

Instead of bagging grass and hauling it away, I use a mulching lawnmower that chops it up and drops it back into the soil to feed the worms. It does the same for leaves, to some extent. I have sycamore leaves, which are otherwise almost indestructible.

Basil smells great, seasons tomatoes, and is considered an herb promoting happiness.

More Ooze from the Wizard of Ooze - ELCA's Favorite Media Guy. No, LCMS' Favorite Media Guy. No, WELS' Favorite Media Guy.

TIME OF GRACE BLOG STRAIGHT TALK. REAL HOPE.

By Pastor Mark Jeske

Posted 2 days ago

June 18th, 2014 10:31AM

So Gay Marriage Is Here. What Now?

Last week I commented briefly on our new reality here in Cheeseland, that federal District Judge Barbara Crabb had unilaterally declared that the people of Wisconsin’s 2006 one-man-one-woman marriage amendment was unconstitutional. She has since put a moratorium on further same-sex marriages, but I wouldn’t bet even a nickel of my pension that that halt will stop the process; it won’t be anything more than a brief pause. My personal assessment is that the people who want gay marriage and the full legitimization of the LGBT lifestyle want it more badly than those who oppose it, and like a medieval siege army, will keep battering until the gates give way. For me the tipping point was President Obama’s reversal and endorsement during the last presidential campaign. When he was more rewarded than punished for that stand, it became clearer to me that the national center of gravity had shifted left.

The Christian world is badly divided on this issue. The left generally has supported the LGBT agenda, although at great cost as their denominations have hemorrhaged members and congregations. So what do the rest of us Christians do now? Here are ten thoughts opinions:

1. I don’t fear that gay people who want to get married are a serious threat to heterosexual marriages. The greatest threat to heterosexual marriage is heterosexual people. In my pastoral opinion, the best thing straight Christians can do to protect one-man-one-woman marriage is to take better care of their own marriages. Marriage is like a car—if you just drive it and drive it and never refuel or do maintenance, the car will die by the side of the road.
2. The greatest damage to straight marriage is done by straight people who don’t bother to get married but just cohabit, or single straight people who just sleep around as though it is their right, or married straight people who want to act like they’re single. We can do a lot more good for the state of heterosexual marriage in our world by putting serious work and respect into God’s marital design.
3. Christians should stop expecting that their government will be the teacher of national morality. The only possible source of a code of conduct that is universally true for all human beings on earth is the Bible. Our nation’s laws are based not on the Bible but on what the people say they want. That’s the downside risk. But there’s an upside—the darker and bleaker that our world gets, the better and more desirable our Christian communities will appear. Where God’s Word and Spirit are disappearing, Satan moves in. In Satan’s wake are always pain, conflict, hatred, selfishness, and cruelty.
4. Opposition to the LGBT agenda and lifestyle is not homophobia. That very word is a made-up mishmash—the Latin word homo means “man” and phobos is the Greek word for “fear.” We are not afraid of gay people. We are simply convicted by the clear words of Scripture. Neither are we haters. Christians whose harsh words make them look like haters only make the biblical position look backward and distasteful.
5. Any Christian who dares to utter an opinion on the sexuality of others better know what the Bible says. Do you know where the Scripture speaks about homosexuality? If our words are not based squarely on Scripture, then we will just appear driven by prejudice rather than principle.
6. Businesses run by straight people who oppose the LGBT agenda will probably no longer be allowed to discriminate against gay people with their goods and services. Christian bakers will have to make cakes for gay weddings, photographers cannot say no to gay fiancés, companies cannot fire people for sexual preference, and bed-and-breakfasts will have to allow gay couples as guests. The law’s compulsions on businesses, however, do not constitute approval of the lifestyle on behalf of the owners.  
7. There has always been a subset of the human population that is sexually attracted to the same gender. You can argue the percentage, but the desires will always be there in some. That means that there are people sitting in the pews with you on Sunday who are wrestling with their desires. People with same-sex desires are people too, people loved unconditionally by the Lord, sinners just like you and me in desperate need of the blood of the Lamb. People who feel shunned by their families and churches are often intensely lonely and can find acceptance and support only in the gay world. We need to find a way to make people with gay desires feel valued and loved even while discouraging living the lifestyle. We must find a way to welcome people even when not sanctioning parts of their lifestyle. Gay people need to be in church. Gay people need Jesus.
8. LGBT advocates argue that the very presence of gay desires legitimizes those desires. Their Christian allies will say things like, “This is how God made me.” Biblical Christians do not have to yield on this point. The presence of a desire in someone’s mind and heart does not make it right. A persistent subset of the population fantasizes about sex with children. That does not make it right.
9. My greatest regret about the legitimization of gay marriage is that it will damage the individuals themselves. Gay desires will always be there, but it is repentance that brings Christ’s forgiveness and new strength. First Corinthians 6:9-11 teaches us that arsenokoitai (men who have sex with other men) will not inherit the kingdom of God. Steadfast rejection of God’s Word only brings divine judgment and condemnation.
10. Kindly note that heterosexual adulterers come under the same judgment, as do thieves and swindlers. Christians do our world no good when they appear to single out homosexuality as worse than other sins. All sinners need to acknowledge their accountability to God, compare their lives to his standards, repent of their failings, claim the forgiveness that Jesus bought, and then fill themselves with Word and Spirit to make the changes they need to make. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, “And that is what some of you were” (note the verb tense—people can change their lifestyles).

Ugh. Koine - The UnBlessed Fruit of Mark Jeske's False Doctrine

Identifying the Plants by Their Fruits

Pumpkin seedlings are easy to spot, because of their broad leaves.

Since I buy seed on sale, I often have new varieties planted. The dried grass has formed a mulch layer along the fence, where I planted a number of different seeds and positioned a soaker hose. They are now starting to grow.

The question arises - is that one of the new seeds or just a weed? The plant has to grow for a period of time to be sure.

When a plant flowers and fruits, there is no question about the seed. The pumpkin seeds are going to produce distinctive pumpkin flowers and eventually the gigantic, semi-deflated Atlantic Giant gourd.

Matthew 7:15-21

King James Version (KJV)

15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

If you wonder how the Olde Synodical Conference got so corrupt, anti-Lutheran, anti-liturgical, anti-Confessional, and anti-Christian - the fruits have grown from the seed. The "conservative" Lutherans have been sowing thistle for decades - admiring and promoting its growth. Now the harvest is ready - and it is not white but black.

Tomato flower

We love to see the yellow flowers form on the tomato plant, because the red berry will form soon after.

The over-rated eggplant also boasts a nightshade flower.
Eggplant fanatics always attack me for my candor.

Woody nightshade

The woody nightshade vine has a flower similar to the tomato, since it belongs to the nightshade family. Its berries are small and bright red, but the plant is poisonous. There is a story about colonial soldiers eating the leaves of another nightshade, jimson weed, in a salad and going nuts for a few days.

Potato flower

The nightshade family members have similar flowers. If we do not know the plant, we have to wait for the fruit to arrive.

Deadly nightshade bears dull black berries - bella donna.
I remember the plant having a dark cast, even though its flower resembles the woody nightshade.

Deadly nightshade berries are very dangerous to eat.
They were called bella donna (beautiful woman) because the juice
was used by Italian women to make their eyes dilate and look larger.

My helper and I did a lot of pruning of the trees to change the amount of sunlight in the yard. After he was done and gone, I often trimmed even more. Yesterday I looked at all the branches that would go in the spring. The front and back yards now combine sun and shade, and plants are thriving.

The maple tree in front was a mess from suckering, low branches, and ugly over-crowded lilies around the base. The arrangement belonged on the set of the Addams Family.

Periwinkle or myrtle grows well and flowers in the shade.
Many use it to hold down soil on slopes. The roots are like steel wire.

I am going to circle the base with some kind of ceramic fencing to hold soil, then plant a variety of hardy bulbs, vinca, and blue hosta there.

Mrs. Ichabod has given permission to expand the rose garden, as long as it is easily visible, not on the sunny but occluded side of the house. I pointed out that the right side of the garage, where weeds luxuriated, is actually quite sunny and good for the expansion in the spring. That would be good for some showy plants, such as Tropicana or Queen E.

Roses will be extended past the porch, too. We need some hybrid tea white roses, Double Delights, and Olympiad red roses. The new hybrid teas are doing well and ready to bloom again.

The back yard will be good for a number of planting areas, especially with more tree limbs gone.

Back by the compost can be a large pumpkin plantation, with various sized gourds, not all Atlantic Giants, which are almost impossible to move but fun to grow.

Silver Queen corn is the sweetest of all,
unless there is something even better now.

Near the back of the house there is a sunny area for Silver Queen Corn - stage right, and vegetables - stage left.

Ever-bearing raspberries and edible pod peas can grow along the chain-link fence.

Christian Metal Band - Really Atheistic and Satanic

Christian Rocker Convicted of Murder Plot Reveals He Is Atheist

By NBCSanDiego.com

The embattled frontman of a Christian metal band sentenced to prison for plotting to have his wife killed recently confessed that he and other band members had become atheists, but continued to pose as Christians so they could keep selling records, according to a report by The Christian Post.

Tim Lambesis, 33, lead singer and founder of the band As I Lay Dying, was sentenced to six years behind bars on May 16 for his role in a murder-for-hire plot involving his estranged then-wife, Meggan Lambesis. Lambesis tried to hire a hitman in an attempt to have his wife murdered.

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Lambesis’ arrest, case, trial and conviction took many of his faithful fans by surprise. Many took to social media to express their disbelief over the allegations and, ultimately, the singer’s sentencing.

NBC 7 SAN DIEGO

“As I Lay Dying” frontman, Tim Lambesis, 33, was sentenced to six years in prison last month for his role in a murder-for-hire plot involving his estranged then-wife.

But according to the Christian Post's report, those fans may have had more faith in Lambesis than he did in the Christian religion, citing what Lambesis said during an extensive interview with Alternative Press conducted shortly before his sentencing.

In that interview, Lambesis talked about a YouTube video he made about a month before his arrest in which he addressed fans who felt his new side project, “Pyrithion” was “satanic.”

Lambesis admitted that at the time, he never really gave a straight answer as to whether he was still Christian. He said he was afraid of revealing his true beliefs about God, or lack thereof, because he didn’t want to impact his band’s record sales, so he chose to say “I’m not a satanist” instead.

“As far as the [YouTube] video I did explaining 'Pyrithion''s lyrics… I was trying to put out a fire. I was afraid it would affect As I Lay Dying sales, which would affect my overall income. I was trying to put out the fire by saying the easiest thing, 'I'm not a satanist!'" he explained in the Alternative Press interview.

"Truthfully, I was an atheist. The 'strategy' I had at the time was cowardly. Two of the songs on that record were about coming to grips with the idea that life has no purpose, no meaning. These were negative themes I wasn't 'allowed' to deal with in As I Lay Dying songs. I thought making As I Lay Dying darker would be bad for my career. That was my thinking," he continued.

Lambesis went on to say that many of the Christian bands he had toured with over the years had a similar stance and weren’t exactly devout Christians either. He said a few of his fellow As I Lay Dying band members were also no longer Christian.

After a while, the charade became awkward, he said, like the time when an interviewer at a Christian festival asked one of the band members to share his testimony, but he froze on the spot.

“We laughed about it afterward, but we were only laughing because it was so awkward," said Lambesis in the interview.

"When kids would want to pray with us after shows, I'd be like, 'Um, go ahead and pray!' I would just let them pray. I'd say 'Amen.' If praying while I have my hand on their shoulder makes them feel better, I didn't want to take that away from them. When they would specifically ask me to pray for something, I'd say, 'I don't really like to pray out loud, but I'll take that with me to the bus," the singer added.

Lambesis’ shocking fall from grace began when he was arrested in May 2013 in connection with the murder-for-hire plot.

Until that point, he had enjoyed a successful and lucrative musical career with his San Diego-based heavy metal band, which formed more than a decade ago and released eight albums, including the 2007 Grammy-nominated "An Ocean Between Us."

Beside the many albums, the band was also a mainstay of the San Diego Music Awards (SDMA), nominated in 2012 for Best Hard Rock Album for "Decas" and winning for Best Hard Rock the year before that. In 2005, 2007 and 2008, the band took home the SDMA statuettes for Artist of the Year.The band was slated to go on a cross-country tour with the Massachusetts metal band Killswitch Engage until Lambesis’ arrest last year.

When news of his arrest broke, it perplexed members of the San Diego music community, including SoundDiego contributor Tim Pyles of FM 94/9.

"He’s not the idealistic young Christian kid he once was, apparently," Pyles said last spring. "Because that’s what [As I Lay Dying] are: a straight-edged Christian metal band. He was a nice guy.”

At his sentencing last month, the courtroom was wrought with drama as character witnesses, including his ex-wife took to the stand to ask a judge to hand down the maximum sentence.

"My name used to be Meggan Lambesis. And up until two years ago, my heart was entirely devoted to him," said Meggan, who now goes by Meggan Murphy.

"I trusted him with everything, including my life," she added. "When the one person who you've been most vulnerable with and the most intimate with, who you've entrusted with every aspect of your life, who has not only desired but planned your murder -- you're left feeling completely exposed and unprotected. Who can I trust now? How can I feel safe?

Murphy said the ordeal will haunt her for the rest of her life, leaving her always looking over her shoulder. She said many of his fans had sent her threatening messages on social media since his arrest.

"The question of who Tim talked to or will talk to will forever haunt me,” she said in that San Diego courtroom. “The scariest thing is Tim's notoriety. He has followers that will do anything for him. It's terrifying to think there are people out there motivated to kill me on his behalf."

Catching Up with WELS - But No Video Yet

Presbyterian Church Leaders Declare Gay Marriage Is Christian

DETROIT — The top legislative body of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) voted by large margins Thursday to recognize same-sex marriage as Christian in the church constitution, adding language that marriage can be the union of "two people," not just "a man and a woman."

The amendment approved by the Presbyterian General Assembly requires approval from a majority of the 172 regional presbyteries, which will vote on the change over the next year. But in a separate policy change that takes effect at the end of this week's meeting, delegates voted to allow ministers to preside at gay weddings in states where the unions are legal and local congregational leaders approve. Nineteen states and the District of Columbia recognize same-sex marriage.

***

GJ - A WELS layman predicts that the gay activists will soon begin making a lot of noise in his sect. They already started:

1. When I posted the "Party in the MLC" video, I was getting dozens of comments a day from the WELS/ELS college students.
2. When I published Zak's coming out graduation - what a shock to Jeff Schone! - his fans at Martin Luther College and Bethany Lutheran College began jamming me. They were outraged that I quoted him! And I quoted them! They would all sue me for quoting their public statements on Facebook.

WELS and LCMS will pay dearly for their ministry partnerships with ELCA, through Thrivent and Lutheran World Federation/Relief franchises. There are many overlapping bureaucracies that soak up synod money and matching federal tax dollars. All the influence is in one direction.