First Mr. Lincoln Rose Bud - Fragrant Enough for the Entire Room

This is very close to the one near my desk.

Be sure to enunciate when you say, "Look at that bud!" Mr. Lincoln bloomed right away, so I cut off the first one and put it in a bud vase.

The fragrance radiates around the room, and the bud is slowly opening.

I often cut a group of flowers near the top of rose, where the buds have their sepals open (all five bud coverings). If the sepals are open, the bud will open up slowly. The look is deceiving. A small bud can produce an enormous rose. A good group of three of more roses/buds will open up over a long period of time.

Pumpkins Planted - Another Inch of Rain. Corn Disappeared Faster Than Hillary's Email

Yesterday was especially enjoyable. Morning is a better time to start gardening here. The backyard is in the shade and the air is cool.

I managed to lose most of my pumpkin seeds, but I had a half-package left, more than enough to start. The Three Sisters Garden, lacking any corn, became the Pumpkin Patch by default. The corn did not show up in two weeks, either because of cold soil, squirrels, crows, or all four together. Pumpkins are always fun to grow and give away. I should have some gourds, too.

I planted some pumpkins in the compost, which now has regular watering from the soaker hoses, coming from both directions.

I pour rainwater on each new plant or seed, giving it a boost of water, settling the soil, and giving the soil a supply of useful nitrogen. The effect of nitrogen fertilizer in water would be to burn or kill the plant, seed, and microbes.

I told Mrs. I about all the roses leafing out and blooming now. "I visited the laggard roses each day and pruned the canes a bit and poured rainwater on them."

"You make pastoral visits? No wonder all the roses are growing."

"Yes, it only takes a little extra care."

Sweet potato  vine starts were selling at the Walmart - almost for free - so I planted a bunch of them, in the brightest sun for most of them. They love sun and warmth - like tomatoes, corn, and sunflowers. Sweet potatoes are a Morning Glory relative, so they vine along the ground or perhaps up a fence - waiting to see that. I am new to this plant - except for eating the results.

I visited all the new vines with rainwater. One trumpet vine has started to grow. The Passion Flower vine (maypop) is struggling against insects.

I looked at the chewed leaves and said to myself, "Get out the heavy artillery." I cracked flower pots for nearby toad houses and also put a couple of whole pots, upside-down, near the plants. A pot with the hole on top will attract insects, which means a spider will move inside for the shelter and food.

The Creating Word planned all this, so we can enjoy the benefits of the Creator's wisdom, without paying for man's marketing.

A toad will eat 10,000 bugs in one summer. For that reason I also have flat pans around for their hydration. Birds will sip from them and toads sit in them - not at the same time, of course. The clay pans are under the soaker hose, easily filled and cleaned.

Butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds love Honeysuckle Vines.

The prize is Honeysuckle Vine, already climbing the dead tree and flowering. I am looking forward to its "rampant growth."

Cow Vetch is also climbing and flowering on the back fence. My neighbor seems to want a screen too, so he has planted a tree in just the right spot. In time his dogs may stop barking, "There he is! Come to kill us all!" Chihuahuas.

Our helper mowed the backyard before the latest rainstorm. We could use another mowing, but days of rain are ahead. He was happy to learn that the back section will be designated The Wild Area. I marked it off with logs. Grass and weeds will grow longer there, and use bushes/vines/sunflowers for a screen friendly to birds, bees, buttreflies, and hummingbirds.

Re-Elect Mark Gurgel, WELS Synod President And Joel Voss, Designated Packer Fan

If you liked the first Gurgel, vote for the high school principal
who extended the influence of Gurgel's methods.

I remember the Israelites groaning under the burden of Carl Mischke, now gone to his reward, which may not be pretty or peaceful. They would elect Gurgel, and he would stop the closing of Northwestern College and end the era of Mischkean darkness. He was the "conservatives" dream candidate.

Had they forgotten that Gurgel as a District President mismanaged the MilCraft estate gift  so badly that WELS lost the widow's lawsuit. The judge agreed that WELS was robbing widows, a subtle irony, and awarded her $1 million. WELS responded among its brain-washed clergy, saying, "We have to be more careful about the gifts we accept in the future."

WELS leaders do have a sense of humor. They are always joking with their underlings.

Knowing they did not get the joke the first time, Gurgel won the election and promptly reversed his position on amalgamating NWC and Dr. Martin Luther College. Soon a "conservative" was telling me, "We are praying for Mischke to come back." Gurgel pushed the merger of the colleges, but they have answers for their fading teacher population - gubmint supported schools and diaper changing academies.

The same source told me Gurgel was forced to leave the presidency, that is, given an offer to retire or go to prison. The dream candidate was a nightmare who managed to take the wealth of Marvin Schwan, largely pushed in the direction of WELS, and bankrupt the abusive sect. Some would call that just desserts for the leaders who absolved Marvin of adultery in exchange for the largest indulgence in history.

Note the announcement from Joel Hochmuth, who is now in the Big House for file-swapping little boy porn and violating his excessively easy sentence  (work release) -

This is still Hochmuth's LinkedIn profile, as of today.
Shouldn't WELS convicts have their own website,
like  LockedIn?
DP Ed Werner and others could use networking among their own kind.

May 14, 2007



Dear called workers,

President Gurgel has announced he will decline nomination for reelection at the synod convention this summer. He mailed a letter to all of you late last week explaining his thoughts. If you have not yet received it, it should be arriving shortly. 

Sincerely,

Joel Hochmuth
Director of Communications
WELS
414-256-3230
joel.hochmuth@sab.wels.net


One never knows the whole story. WELS is adept at damage control and its clergy are eager to communicate the worst excuses for capital crimes. The bigger the scandal, the harder the clergy laugh about it.

About $8 million was spent out of designated funds, apparently taken from the chapel for their dying college, the one to have been strengthened by amalgamation. The treasurer, who drove Gurgel to work every day, was fired for telling them they could not do that, and blamed for what they did.

That seems to have been the last straw, but no one really knows. I only publish gossip and slander, so find your own stories to believe. I believe all of them 50% - and half of them 100%.

These circus clowns get whatever they want,
and some think WELS is strict?
Abuse of women does not fall under the rubric of doctrinal discipline.

Enter the New Gurgel
The "conservatives" engaged in a plan to have Mark Schroeder's election locked down before the convention started. One plan was to remove all the leaders, but - as expected - they backed out of that in favor of having a new, dream candidate.

Leaking to this blog is quite selective. No one told me, but that is OK. They got what they deserved. All synods seem to like someone with almost no parish experience and no grasp of Lutheran doctrine. Moldstadt, Harrison, Schroeder, and Liz Eaton are alike in their love for Universal Objective Justification and their principled opposition to anyone opposing them.

The tiddlywink pastor behind this couches and coffee church (a failure)
is a prominent speaker in WELS.

Some noteworthy bellyflops of the Schroeder reign, so far -

• WELS spent $250,000 on software to watch the money and lost at least $300,000 afterwards to one clergy embezzler. 
• Church and Change continued its merry way, the leadership circle of C and C almost the same as WELS synodical leadership. Ski learned that being on the board was a get-out-of-jail free card.
• Mark Schroeder encouraged his pals to start something to counter-balance the Jeske Mob, but went after the Intrepid Lutherans once they showed a tendency to like Lutheran doctrine rather than UOJ Enthusiasm. Thus the Intrepids were the only objects of his wrath.
• Jeske cohorts stole Historic St. John Lutheran Church, 8th and Vliet, in Milwaukee, including its endowment and the personal belongings of the pastor - all done with a deluxe law firm. Now it is in the hands of an ELCA pastor, formerly WELS. The abusive sect has not admitted anything.
• Pretending to oppose Church Growth and its Church and Change leadership, Schroeder put booster rockets on it and gave them everything they wanted.

  

  WELS Illumine's church logo -
  speaks volumes.

The Biggest Prize of All

The New NIV is locked down.
The Church of Rome has nothing on WELS.

Supposedly, Schroeder hated the New NIV and opposed it. Just before the last convention, he was afraid his opposition would cause him to lose his cushy job with the princely salary.

Not to worry.

Schroeder caved in completely. No one expressed opposition to the New NIV. The convention, which they believe is the Holy Spirit in action, approved all translations so the New NIV fell under that blessing.

The final act of this farce is the new WELS  hymnal being based on the New NIV, so they will manage to make a horrible hymnal - Christian Worship - even worse in the latest redaction.