Did You Think This Through? - I Hear My Parents Saying - About the Roses

Fragrant Cloud.

Mother's Day was a good day to harvest roses, but nothing like today. Even though most hybrid teas were done blooming for the moment, I had two large bouquets, each garnished with fragrant roses.

We laughed about that when Mrs. Ichabod and I delivered them. One bouquet was in a large plastic coffee sipper cup -  I found it on the morning walk with Sassy. Yes, I washed it carefully first. I have a lot more roses than rose vases, and this one was just right in size for long-stemmed roses, which is how I cut them.

Floribunda roses and KnockOuts tend to grow multiple blooms on a stem when they are healthy and well fed organically. Last year I had one stem with seven perfect orange roses on it. That one went into a glass vase for Mrs. I to enjoy.

But - at the chiro's office, I admitted, "My parents would be asking me if I thought this one through. Just to keep up with harvesting the best roses will be a challenge."

I have fond thoughts of previous efforts. I planted one Fragrant Cloud rose near the downspout of the garage in Midland. The rose produced constantly, unusual in color and fragrance, unique in shape. Now one Fragrant Rose is planted in memory of Mrs. Wright and will have a plaque.

Queen Elizabeth - from Dr. Walter Lammerts, PhD

The two Queen Elizabeth roses were planted last year, so they are quite strong already this year. They already have plaques for Bethany and Erin Joy.

Growing so many roses will also be a lot of fun - and a necessary part of raising and pruning roses. Today we had another thunderstorm, loud but short on rain. More should fall tonight. The happy consequence of this will be a bountiful harvest of roses in June.

1. The roots will be more established.
2. The above ground will be developed.
3. The underground soil microbes will be thriving and - at the worst - in suspension waiting for more rain. 

Mowing the front lawn is no longer a chore, and sometimes we sit on the patio chairs and enjoy the scene. The cardinals fly to their nest in the Crepe Myrtle bush. Robins work the mulch for worms and insects.

California Dreamin'

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WELS, ELS, LCMS, and CLC (sic) Know How To Do This Too. Roman Catholic Priestly Abuse, Cover-ups. From 2013

Cardinal Roger Mahony at a mass welcoming the Los Angeles Diocese's new archbishop (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times / May 26, 2010)

• Cardinal Mahony's moral failure
• Shine a light on church sexual abuse

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By Patt Morrison

January 22, 2013, 1:34 p.m.

Priestly sexual abuse, churchly cover-ups - latimes.com:

Patt Morrison:

I had to look twice at the date on the newspaper to make sure I wasn’t having a time-warp moment.

I’d heard this before. In a way, I’d covered this before.

My colleagues Ashley Powers, Victoria Kim and Harriet Ryan have dropped a doozy on Southern California with theirstory of memos recounting how, a decade and a half before the scandal emerged about Roman Catholic priests’ sexual abuse of young people, future Cardinal Roger Mahony and an advisor planned to hide these molestations from law enforcement, going so far as to move the suspect priests out of California.

In a word, a cover-up.

But long before those memos that The Times found about concealing priests’ misconduct, the church apparently was doing the same thing in the face of a lawsuit by a young woman named Rita Milla. I wrote the stories about her suit against seven Filipino priests working here, and the archdiocese, for $21 million in 1984. Her suit said that:

• For four years, beginning when she was 16 and a parishioner at a Wilmington Catholic Church, first one and then all seven priests had sex with her, beginning when one who fondled her through a broken confessional screen. Two of them assured her that “it was morally, ethically all right for her to have sexual intercourse with them … that by doing so, that she would be helping them and helping herself.” Milla was 16 when all this began; the age of consent in California is 18, but no question of criminal charges was evidently pursued in this matter, perhaps because of the statute of limitations.

• When she became pregnant -- by one of the younger priests, as DNA tests showed years later -- Milla says there was talk of an abortion; then the priests got her a passport, arranged travel to the home of one priest’s relative in the Philippines for her pregnancy, and told her family she was going abroad to study. When she came back with a baby daughter, and the priests did not pitch in to support the child, she asked the church to help hold the priests to their responsibility. But, she said, when one churchman said it was probably her fault, and not the priests’ alone, she went to a lawyer.

• Not soon enough. California courts first dismissed the archdiocese from the case, saying that because sex with parishioners isn’t part of a priest’s job description, the church couldn’t be liable. And then the courts threw out Milla’s case completely because her legal clock was timed out -- by about six months before the suit, as it turned out. The courts said she should have sued, at the latest, within a year of her daughter’s birth.

• Milla was regarded as off-balance, a fantasist, a scarlet woman. She filed a slander suit against a bishop who told a local Spanish-language radio station that she was a “person of bad reputation.” Then-Cardinal Timothy Manning, at the archdiocese’s old cathedral of St. Vibiana’s, scolded The Times for its coverage of Milla’s case. And the priests could not be served with the lawsuit because they could not be found. When I called looking for them, I was told they were out of the office. Then I was told they were away on vacation or retreat, then transferred to unknown parishes. Gone.

About half a dozen years after this, my phone at The Times rang. A creaky voice said, “Patt? It’s Father Tamayo.” The eldest of the seven priests was dying, and he was remorseful. He had a confession to make to me. He showed me documents on the archdiocese letterhead. One, CCed to Cardinal Manning (Mahony came to the archdiocese a year after Milla sued), advised Tamayo not to reveal he was being paid by the archdiocese unless he was questioned under oath. A check for $375 was included. It was one of many checks.

The archdiocese knew where to send Tamayo the letters advising him to stay away, and nearly four years’ worth of checks, but did not share that with Milla’s lawyers. A copy of one letter urging Tamayo to go back to the Philippines was copied to then-Archbishop Mahony.

Tamayo kept asking the archdiocese for permission to come back, but the letters told him to stay put; returning could “open old wounds and further hurt anyone concerned, including the archdiocese.” Tamayo was also in bad standing with the church because he had gotten married.

A church spokesman told me then that the payments didn’t amount to hush money but were mandated until Tamayo found another post. The fact that payments went on so long was “unusual” but were sent “out of compassion and care and a sense of moral responsibility for a man who had served us.”

No such responsibility was evidently acknowledged for Milla and her child. Not until 2007, when the church paid out a massive $660-million settlement to more than 500 young people who had been victimized by clergy, did Milla get any money for what she went through. By then her daughter, the priest’s daughter, was 25 years old.

ALSO:

Roe vs. Wade turns 40

'via Blog this'

The Stephan-Walther Mythology Harms the Entire Synodical Conference. From 2012

Synodocat has a grim outlook,
because he must promote a mythology he knows is false.

I get into phone and email discussions with people who scratch their heads over peculiar attitudes of the Olde Synodical Conference.

The biggest single problem of the Olde Synodical Conference is the Walther mythology. Although the facts about Bishop Stephan and Walther are published, known, and circulated, the mythological view predominates - even among those who would never call themselves Waltherian.

One eye-opener was Herman Otten's grandson repeating the lie, told in Perry County, that Stephan was "given three choices" when caught in adultery. First of all, Stephan was an open serial adulterer, so there was no shock. Secondly, when a man's life is threatened and he is forced across a river at gunpoint, there are no choices.

Stephan's St. Louis residence was known for all the women hanging around.
That included C. F. W. Walther's young niece, who died in America.

Anyone can see how the various authors skip over the kidnapping of Walther's niece and nephew from his father's parsonage. Mrs. Buenger was so involved that she spent time in the hoosegow for her participation. C.F.W. married one Buenger daughter, and his brother married another. When Walther's brother died, Ottomar Fuerbringer married the widow, making the kidnapping epidsodes (the children and Stephan) basic to LCMS history and DNA. Ottomar begat Ludwig Fuerbringer, who skipped over the early years of Missouri in his two books, and Ludwig begat Fibby, who turned Concordia Seminary, St. Louis into a faculty for Seminex.

The Bohemians had no problem with slavery.
Stephan settled his group in a slave state, unlike the Scandinavians,
who loathed slavery and stayed away from slave states.
Quoting Walther on slavery is considered slander, especially today.

Bishop Stephan is often accused of mismanaging money. Doubtless his plans and insistence on Perry County were quite harmful, and he lived high on the hog. But he did not touch the money. Everything was approved by the pastors and the laity, sometimes by one group, sometimes by the whole group. The clergy took money out of the common fund for themselves, too. CFW's brother took $400 out, a huge sum, and never accounted for it, never repaid it.

Zion on the Mississippi goes into all these details, which are quite confusing and difficult to follow. The Society was running out of money when they robbed Stephan of all his gold, personal possessions, 1500 books, and land (120 acres, eventually).

C. F. W. Walther led the mob against Stephan, acted as the new leader in Perry County, and took over leadership of the group soon after the big event. Walther also controlled the history of the group, stifling attempts to write about those early days.

The Saxon mob, organized and led by Walther,
robbed Stephan of all his gold.
Where did it go?
The stolen chalice ended up being used in C. F. W.'s congregation in St. Louis.
Thieves love to show off their trophies from robbery.

A group of pious liars turned Stephan into an embezzler (who never held the funds), a false teacher - whom the clergy installed as bishop. The clergy pledged total obedience to Stephan, so it is not shocking that Walther simply took over that style of leadership, becoming the American Pope.

The pious liars have never disclosed Stephan's well known adultery, in Europe and in America, or how he doomed his wife and children by sharing his syphilis with them.

Stephan studied at Halle University.
Stephan changed Walther's concept of justification.

The doctrinal foundation of the Olde Synodical Conference comes from Stephan's cell group Pietism and his initial education at Halle University. The Saxon group came over as Pietists and kept their cell groups going for a long time. Their bizarre justification scheme came from Halle and Stephan. Walther never changed, never went beyond his rationalistic and Pietistic training. But many consider his every pronouncement infallible, inspired, and beyond criticism.

The Missouri Synod, like other Pietistic groups, moved closer to the Confessions and Luther in later years. In that regard the LCMS was no different from the Swedish Augustana Synod or the Tennessee Synod or the General Council. Even the General Synod became confessional enough to merge with General Council, forming the ULCA in 1918.

The Missouri Synod remained a mix of Pietism and Lutheran doctrine, which is why the group had their Seminex crisis, their surge of Pentecostalism, and their love affair with the Church Growth Movement.

The Fun of Giving Roses and - Rugosa Roses, If You Like Having Really Big Hips

Mr. Lincoln has outlasted the fancy
rose of he year stars from a few years ago.
This rose is robust, impressive, and fragrant.

Mrs. Ichabod has had great results from visiting the chiropractor, not far from our house. We normally take roses to anyone we see, so this turned into extra fun. When appointments were twice a week, Chris said about cutting a new bunch, "We don't need to bring them roses on Wednesday. They just got a bunch Monday." When the receptionist, who adores roses, heard this, she gleefully joined me in claiming my wife was a rose miser.

All the clients loved seeing the roses, and I put some highly fragrant Mr. Lincolns in each time, since people enjoy choking on the fumes. OK, that is hyperbolic, but if someone cannot smell a Mr. Lincoln from 10 feet away, medical attention is advised.

One woman - a client at the chiro's - really talked about how much she loved roses. I had been speaking with her husband, who turned out to be a retired agriculture professor. When she said, "Have you talked enough during my appointment?" I said "No."

When I talked to the receptionist about sharing the roses with this rose fan, the hurt look on he receptionist's face told me that was a bad idea, so I doubled up and brought two vases using 10 cent large, plastic cups from Walmart. I keep telling people, "I have more roses than vases, but the vases slowly vanish."

We met the couple again by accident at Cracker Barrel and got invited to the Farmer's Market, where he volunteers. I brought a big bunch along on Thursday and more on Saturday, when we returned for the big day at the market.

Fragrant Cloud is...fragrant, but also prolific in blooming.
The color is tough to define, much better than the photographs suggest.

Yesterday a hand-addressed envelope came in the mail. Those envelopes are as rare as IRS refunds these days, so opened it up. The professor's wife wrote a thank-you for the roses we left for them at the Farmer's Market. They visited an ailing aunt with them and left the bouquet, so this delighted their aunt. The spreading of the roses was identical to our sainted neighbor, who took my roses to the dying patient she was helping. Mrs. Wright now has a rose, Fragrant Cloud, planted in her memory.

 The original rose is five-petaled,
so rugosas are a case of Back to the Future.

Rugosa Roses - The Last Frontier Is the First
If you would like to be complimented on your really big hips. Rugosa roses are the ticket. These old roses are not for bouquets and do not have showy blooms.

They do have large hips (rose seed pods), which are the source of Rose Hip Tea and Vitamin C tablets. Roses are herbs, but the modern ones are tilted toward showy flowers and have various weaknesses - like Black Spot and mildew.

The rugosa name is for their textured leaves.

Besides their big hips, which birds adore, Rugosa roses:

1. Make a great hedge, since they grow high and wide.
2. Need a lot less sun than hybrid tea roses.
3. Tolerate less water than the glamorous types.
4. Suffer from none of the weaknesses of hybrid teas - Black Spot, mildwe, and so forth.

A rugosa hedge needs some room and is rather sloppy,
but it needs little care, less sun and water.

Rugosa leaves are textured,
free of disease.

True Diversity in Planting the Creation Garden

Jessica Walliser writes about beetle banks,
where beetles are sheltered as an investment in pest control.

I write for the newer gardeners, because there are so many basics ignored in the colorful gardening books sold in stores. The foundational books for gardening are Lowenfels (soil), Walliser (beneficial bugs), and Lovejoy (observation and discovery).

As Jessica Walliser explains so well, planting diversity is the key to enjoying the support of beneficial bugs in the garden. Some of the efforts I have made include:

• Letting grassy areas grow as shelter for beetles and web-less spiders.
• Seeking out tiny-flowered plants for beneficial bugs.
• Looking at the value of weeds, which often have unexplored virtues and benefits.
• Emphasizing butterfly, bee, and hummingbird plants.

The umbrella flowers of he carrot family, like dill in this photo,
are appealing to beneficial insects.

Some are saying, "Thou hypocrite. Thy entire front yard is planted in roses." I like hearing from KJV fans, but they miss the mark here. I have also planted:

1. Garlic, which repels insects and supposedly makes roses healthier.
2. Mountain Mint, a plant that beneficial insects loves.
3. Spirea, a low growing bush that favors butterflies and bees.
4. Crepe Myrtle (inherited), a tall bush that currently harbors a cardinal nest.
5. Bushes (inherited) near the house, which shelter toads and various creatures.
6. Raspberries and Blackberries to feed the bees and birds.

Pokeweed has several virtues - deep taproots,
easy care, and berries for many birds,
which plant them for free.

Pokeweeds yield bright red poke berries,
and this native wildflower grows anywhere and everywhere.
Grandson Alex says, "Deal with it."

Birds plant Pokeweed and Wild Strawberries for me, but I leave those in the backyard.

Plant diversity means a constant flowering of weeds and flowers that feed the creatures we value so much. Many beneficial insects feed from flowers in the adult stage and set their babies upon the pests in their infant stage. Ladybugs are unusual in devouring pests at both stages.

Many plants have one bloom cycle. They display pollen, get pollinated by various creatures, and set seed. "Done. Bye. See you next year." We can see that in the low-growing weeds in the lawn. Arkansas has many wild flowers or weeds that garnish the monotonous lawn with color from time to time. They give the beneficials and bees a chance to feed all summer long, or in-between the big crops. Dandelions, a valued herb, is prominent and despised for no other reason than its ability to thrive in grass.

For example, by feeding and watering the birds, these creatures get into the habit of coming to our window feeders and nesting nearby. Likewise, the beneficial insects would rather set up housekeeping near sources of food and water.

Bombing the landscape with poisons is no way to foster diversity in insects. The effect of pesticides is to kill all insects and spiders, a bad result. The effect of fungicides is to kill bad fungus, good fungus, and other forms of life. I once had a lawn service that sprayed the yard with a weed-killer (contrary to my expressed wishes) that killed all the violets in the yard. long ago in Midland.

Almost Eden has a pile of topsoil he obtained for free from a construction site. They messed up orders in scraping and made the soil commercially unappealing. He had the low hill installed as a berm, and it began to grow with all the weeds and wildflowers dormant as seed in that soil. I said, "That is going to be wild with beneficial insects." We saw carrot family, possibly Angelica, common weeds, and some plants too exotic to try to name. I plan on visiting it with Sassy to look for insects.

My morning walks with Sassy often reveal piles of great gardening material set out as garbage. I often bring them home, so I have stumps (rescued by car), rotten wood, Gandalf staffs, and slices of trees. Almost Eden asked where I got my attractive rustic fence in the front yard. I said "Across the street. We went through the pile for the best examples."

The mint family (Mountain Mint here)
is appealing to all insects but can get away.
I told our helper, "Mulch your roses with your
mint scraps."

Spirea - Neon Flash - Butterfly Plant

Spirea is an easy-to-grow butterfly plant.
The flowers can be trimmed off for repeated blooms.

When some blokes walked into the rose garden, without being asked, I felt a need for some kind of fencing. Almost Eden had spirea on sale, so I surrounded the entire rose area with small spirea plants: Neon Flash.

One wag called it "Pepto Bismal colored," which is a bit unfair.

The plant -  like many shrubs (KnockOut roses) - is neglected because of its hardiness. The spirea can tolerate drought, like crepe myrtle. The bush reblooms easily if pruned but seldom is. Some call this dead-heading.

I was dead-heading some drying up flowers for one guy, and he was ready to slug me. I said, "Do you want them to re-bloom?" He did not budge because he knew so little about plants.

This variety should remain about three feet high and spread to that width as well. The little fence has made a difference in defining the rose garden, without a low fence to trip over - and I would definitely do that.

In the spring I will cut it back low to the ground to renew it.

Crepe Myrtle is so productive and beautiful when
pruned and watered. Its tolerance of poor care seems
to encourage neglect, which I can see all over our neighborhood.

Preview of May 30, 2016 Christian News. Readin CN So You Don't Have To. LCMS Gay News

Bill Cosby may be found guilty of molesting young women under the influence of drugs. If he is, will the Missouri Synod revise its official history and admit their Founder, Bishop Martin Stephan, did something far worse - as a Pietist guru - using the Christian Faith to seduce and maintain a stable of young women who ended up sharing his syphilis. Stephan told his main mistress that he was in charge of her body as well as her spiritual life.

The Great Kidnapper, CFW Walther, covered up for Bishop Stephan and enforced the tyranny of his leader. The clergy leaders knew Stephan was an adulterer, because Stephan took his mistress along, conveniently near his cabin, while leaving his dying wife and children at home in Dresden.

Pastor Therwanger is on the left - church FB page.
The other man is not identified.
One listing has him using a hyphenated name for the first time.
See below.

Harrison - Nunes - Therwanger-Tatone
Christian News received a report that Rev. Harold L. Therwanger, the Senior Pastor of First Immanuel Lutheran Church, Chicago, who had served as Fourth Vice President of the LCMS’s Northern Illinois District, publicly announced to his congregation that he intended to wed his same sex partner. CN asked him “Do you have a same-sex partner you intend to ‘wed’?” Therwanger has not responded.

CN asked Rev. Dan Gilbert, President of the Northern Illinois District on May 18: “CN is contacting Therwanger and Valparaiso University Professor Dr. John Nunes, an associate pastor of Therwanger’s, who is reported to have heard the announcement when Therwanger made his intentions known to his congregation. CN was told that already years ago you excused Therwanger’s participationin the gay games bysaying ‘well that’s just Harry.’” CN received an automatic reply on May 18 from Gilbert which said: “I will be away from the office for work with the Lutheran Church in Norway, God willing, until May 18.” 

The LCMS’s 2016 Lutheran Annual on p. 443 shows Therwagen, and senior administration pastor of First Immanuel, and Dr. John Nunes on p. 394, as serving at First Immanuel. The Lutheran Annual says that First Immanuel has 225 baptized members and an average attendance of 110. A pastor in the Northern Illinois District told CN that while Therwanger is no longer in the LCMS the responsible officials are so far allowing the congregation to remain in the LCMS and have taken no action vs. Nunes.

Therwanger - 12th place at the Gay Games.

On Google:

Rev Harold L Therwanger-Tatone - Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod ...

locator.lcms.org/nworkers_frm/w_detail.asp?W8267

Address: 4343 N CLARENDON AVE APT 2517. CHICAGO, IL 60613. Phone: (708)227-2779.

***

GJ - Does anyone remember how Otten got all apologetic for my review of the Roman Catholic book on gay priests - thereby printing the truth about the WELS Lavender Mafia? He apologized on the front page to WELS and Professor John Brug, his official handler.

Soon after that apology, the FBI raided WELS headquarters and grabbed some computers and devices. PR Director Joel Hochmuth had his best boy porn collection there - hundreds of files. Maybe he did his file swapping there because his wife caught him once before. In typical WELS-Otten fashion - I was the criminal for telling the truth about WELS. 

I am sure Ichabod readers were looking for Otten's apology to me and his retraction of the apology to WELS. But no - CN buried the  Hochmuth story on page 17. No apology. And - by the way - Otten does not answer questions sent to him, only subscription renewals.

Also in the news, Trinity ELCA Seminary has joined the pink revolution by signing onto Reconciliation Works, which was formerly Reconciled in Christ, a program where the institution is completely in the bag for gay activism.

Look at it this way. One days the conservative, confessional Lutherans will be the ones who say, "I am all for gay activism, but I draw the line at Toiletarian take-over, the Potty Jihad. That is just going too far." 

No? Did you ever think CN hero Ralph Bohlmann would be the father-in-law of his daughter's wife?

WELS is just as gung-ho, with a clever ploy, having an admitted homosexual traveling around the synod, asking for gay contacts to contact him.

---

Greenbay fan Voss seems less than thrilled with Scott Barefoot.

Scott Barefoot and SP Mark Schroeder.
Natalie Pratt always said Scott was a self-important jerk.
so it is strange she invited him to Luther Days.

People of Gomorrah

May 18 at 10:51am · 

MARK THE DATE FOR "LUTHER DAYS": SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2016 at Shoreland Lutheran High School, Somers, WI!
Please join Pastor Richard Starr and Scott Barefoot for an exciting day of presentations and displays! Both Pastor Starr and Scott will be giving presentations on the subject of SSA - Homosexuality. Come visit the People of Grace display booth. Also, Pastor Starr and Scott will be doing a book signing of their book: "Forgive Us Our Sins: Homosexuality In The Light Of God's Truth". Copies of the book will be available there that day by Northwestern Publishing House! Here is some additional Information and links to the Luther Days website:
1. 75 Presenters with a 100 presentations & workshops.

-ScottP.S. – If you would like to contact me personally / privately, my email address is:ScottB@poglutherans.org

The Answers to the Issues Mentioned in This CN Edition Are Unpalatable to Otten and the LCMS

1. Disengage entirely from Thrivent, its pro-abortion, pan-sexual, and unionistic secular practices. Besides, it is not a very good company to force on Lutherans.
2. Break all ties with ELCA.
3. Adopt one flavor of the KJV so all the Lutheran synods are using and memorizing similar language, a precise translation - like the KJV 21 - rather than a surfer-dude paraphrase.
4. Stop selling and promoting Church Growth books.
5. Repudiate UOJ and its advocates. Teach the efficacy of the Word in the Means of Grace and Justification by Faith.

Otten sides with the Church and Changers,
because UOJ is the false doctrine behind all this radical change,
which will not end with he Toiletarian Left.

WELS is keen on this stuff -
just joking, they say.

Storms Sweep the Central States - Bringing Seed for the Sower, Bread for the Eater

Bee Balm, or Horse Mint, attracts
bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds.

Almost Eden and I talked about that he doubted rain would come. We had a  downpour that day, for a few seconds. The logical, factual wheelbarrow gauge read - not enough to matter.

Yesterday, the birds finished off the suet, emptied the hanging feeder, and worked over the platform feeder and ground for the rest of the seed. The barometer fell first, then wind kicked up to remind us of the Trinity Sunday lesson.


John 3 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?

Spirit and wind are the same words in Greek and Hebrew. Since the Holy Spirit and the Word work together, and never apart, the Word of God is like the rain and snow that comes down from heaven. Their effect is inevitable,

Isaiah 55:10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:

When the storm was raging at about 3 AM, lightning flashing, thunder booming, I thought, "Good, the rain-barrels will be full again."

Yesterday I hoped for Dutch white clover spreading even more, to take over the grass completely. Presently the grass is like the Dunkirk beachhead in WWII, having only a toehold on the property and easily overwhelmed by the Dutch forces.

We made the front row Falling in Love, because our friend loves this variety,
a fragrant surprise from the TV offering of inexpensive roses.
We did not know she was engaged to be married at the time,
so we are looking forward to saying, "This bud's for you."

Another hope - this rain is the final test for the remaining roses to break dormancy and start growing. I looked over the row of Falling in Love roses, to remind myself that they looked like ugly sticks a short time ago. They were all leafed out. But some here and there are stragglers, showing green in their canes but no leaves. A closer look has shown that some started to leaf out and then lost them, probably from cold snaps at night.

The rosarian pessimists will say, "That rain will increase Black Spot too." I do not need rain for Black Spot - it is inherent in most strains of roses. However, it is only bad in weak plants, where the leaves are tainted and unable to deliver much food from solar power. Our friend said what I figured to be true, "All the spraying (of toxins) will not get rid of Black Spot." 

This rainstorm - and days of rain following - will be remembered with advantages - as the Earl of Oxford wrote in Henry V. 

• I do not need to water the roses with chlorinated tapwater, saving me money and avoiding the shock of necessary but unblessed water.
• The mulch and soil will be even livelier with microbes and soil creatures, so food for the roses will increase.
• The rain will deliver mild fertilizer in the form of usable nitrogen formed in the sky by powerful lighting bolts that turn gaseous nitrogen into free, gentle rapid-gro in massive amounts all over the yard.
• The air will be cleansed of pollen which the rain and sun combination leverage to make me decide between allergy misery or Benadryl lethargy.
• The tiny seeds I have been sowing will germinate and take hold in the soil, to raise up a crop of plants hosting beneficial insects - Feverfew, Tansy, Angelica, Giant Dill, etc.
• The perennials I planted last year will continue to prosper and flower: Butterfly Bush, Bee Balm,  Blackberry, Gooseberry, Beautyberry, Blueberry, Raspberry, Chaste Tree, etc.

Beautyberry is a birds-only berry,
but aren't they all?
I grow berries primarily for the birds,
but would like them to share some blackberries.