“Change is hard”

News blues…

Our planet is heading towards 100 million Covid infections – a quarter of those in the US – and more than 2 million deaths – 20 percent of those in the US. Yet The Donald is holed up watching TV in the White House, and a second impeachment looming. Nary a word about Covid-19’s toll on the nation.

***

What are the roots of the attempted coup on US Capitol? “The Capitol riot has ended the notion that the president’s hardcore base was motivated by economic anxiety. It has always been about race.”

Donald Trump supporters who ransacked the U.S. Capitol last week weren’t short on cash or propelled by severe economic anxiety.
The insurrectionists came to Washington by plane. They stayed in Airbnbs and at the Embassy Suites. They wore costumes and carried weapons and iPhones. Some were cops. There were doctors, lawyers, a Chicago real estate broker, teachers ― even a school therapist. A CEO.
Sure, some of them could’ve been impoverished former coal miners, as so many pundits have described a certain sect of Trump voters. But these people weren’t raging over the decline of the carbon-based economy. This was a riot about race and power. If there was economic anxiety, it was spurred by the rioters’ false notion that their place in the world is under threat.
We can stop talking about how white Americans voted for Trump because of economic interest. His appeal was never about money. (And Trump is leaving office with the economy in tatters, by the way. On Thursday, 1.15 million more people filed for unemployment.)
The insurrection was the violent cry of a group of (mostly) white men, afraid of losing power ― not just of having their savior leave office but more broadly seeing their place at the top of the American caste system knocked down a peg.
…Overwhelmingly they’ve found that Americans who chose Trump were worried about losing their social status, their place in a country where white folks will soon be in the minority and where many women no longer seem to realize that men should be in charge.

Read “Trump Supporters’ Main Problem Was Never the Economy” >>  

***

The truth will out: “Bankrolling the Disenfranchisers,” a new analysis, calls out the corporate and trade association political action committees that poured millions in campaign contributions to the 147 Republicans who voted to object to President-elect Joe Biden's win over President Donald Trump. 

***

Steve Schmidt, cofounder of The Lincoln Project: The 2nd Impeachment of Donald J Trump 

Latest ad from The Lincoln Project:

How democracy dies  (0:55 mins)

Ted Cruz. 

Josh Hawley. 

Kevin McCarthy. 

These are the names of traitors to the United States of America—and officeholders in our nation’s Capitol.
They must resign, or be expelled.
The defense of our democracy and our Constitution from domestic enemies is our most critical job.
We’re airing ads across Missouri, Texas, California, and in D.C. to remind Americans of the most urgent threat to our Republic.
There is no denying what the stakes are. We’ve borne witness to what falling off the edge would look like.
Our democracy dangled off the point of no return last week, as we watched the President and his sycophants levy a violent attack on the Capitol—and on Congress doing the people’s work inside. We cannot look over that edge again.
We must take steps to back away, and that starts with accountability, first and foremost.
Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, and Kevin McCarthy must resign—or they must be expelled.
We, the People, demand it.
We hoped the fight for our Republic would take place at the ballot box.
Now, it’s in our shared halls of democracy. We must defend them.
Voters in every state and district represented by a seditionist must know the truth, and must take action.
It is our country’s only way forward.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

My sore throat continues. My various remedies include placing a towel over my head then handing my head over a sink full of boiling water and alternate breathing steam through mouth and nose. (Some recommend flavoring the water with eucalyptus oil.) I gargle with salt water, a easy home remedy recommended to fend off anything more deadly.
Home remedies rife on social media advise eating piles of vitamin D, D3, C, magnesium, and/or zinc capsules, and this, that, and the next thing, consume mangos, pineapples, and avocados, not drink cold liquids, only hot, especially with lemon juice and ginger. I received advice to drink gallons of hot tea, as Chinese do “and look, their Covid infections are waning”. But, I reply, the English drink more tea than the Chinese “and look, their Covid infections are surging…”
My most effective home remedy to date? “Rum therapy”: swallow one Panado capsule (500 mg paracetamol) with a mojito: chopped mint, large squeeze of lime, ice cubes, soda water and a hint of white rum. Drink early afternoon. By sunset you’ll be smiling again.
Note: Dr Internet recommends acetaminophen for sore throats. Not much of a pill swallower, I have no acetaminophen meds in the house, only paracetamol. If you have a choice of meds, go with acetaminophen for sore throat. Better yet, trust your own doctor’s advice over Dr Internet’s. 

Alas, my various remedies work only during daylight. Overnight my throat infection blossomed. I spent an uncomfortable night, despite several forays to the bathroom to gargle salt water.
This morning, after shining a flashlight/torch down my gullet, I see one tonsil is more inflamed than it was yesterday. I thank my lucky stars both tonsils are not inflamed.

***

News from the US Embassy in South Africa:
Health Alert: South African Department of Home Affairs Announced the Temporary Suspension of Marriage Services in South Africa
Location: The Republic of South Africa
Event: The South African Department of Home Affairs announced January 12 that they are to combat COVID transmission. These include applications of Smart ID cards, applications for passports, and marriage services such as solemnisation and registration including those of foreign citizens.
Actions to Take:

• Visit the DHA’s webpage for more details on this announcement 
• Visit the Embassy’s COVID information page for additional information on COVID in South Africa. 

I recommend the info available on this last bullet point….

Beware: Getting married or not, South African Department of Home Affairs is the last place anybody with a modicum of sense would visit during a pandemic.
Having spent literally years trying to get a passport and an ID card completed in South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs, I’d say one would be hard pressed, during a normal (non-pandemic) day, to tell whether Home Affairs has “temporarily suspending many services” or is operating. The pace is about the same for both operation and suspension of "many services."
After years visiting KZN Home Affairs head office, I finally stumbled upon how to complete paperwork: do it via the South African Embassy in Los Angeles, Ca. 

What had not been completed over 6 years of trying took 6 months in LA. 

That is, I received a passport. 

The ID card? Nope. I still do not have and ID card that can be applied for only in South Africa. 

The rumor that I could obtain one via my bank turned out to be half true: only via banks in Gauteng Province.

Hotspot!

News blues…

The lead article of a local weekly print newspaper this week, titled “Umngeni: Covid-19 Hotspot,” reports uMngeni District (in which I reside) “boasted the most Covid-19 cases” [in KZN province]. “The district has seen the highest number of deaths throughout KZN during this second wave.”
The front-page article enumerates how local funeral parlors and undertakers are feeling the strain and experiencing “an increase of more than 80% [funerals overall and] “some 30% more funerals during the week than before Covid.”
Moreover, “fetching a body takes a maximum of 20 minutes…but now they spend more than on hour on one body because of [Covid] protocol.”
The article ends, “We all see what is happening out there but being stubborn or stupid won’t help us. Let us all pray and make sure we protect ourselves and those who are close to us.”
Amen!

***

The Donald reverts to type. With six bankruptcies in his past, The Donald is setting the stage to not pay his consigliere Rudy Giuliani. Surprised? Nope. It’s the Way of The Donald. Don’t say Rudy didn’t know… It couldn’t happen to a more deserving duo. 

Look on the bright side, Rudy: you're not special - the amount The Donald owes you pales in comparison to the amount he owes many others. Moreover, you must know you risked not getting paid by a guy who seldom pays anyone.

***

The Lincoln Project: Defund the GOP  (0:59 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

Research suggests that at least one type of plant – the french bean – may be more sentient than we give it credit for: namely, it may possess intent. 
… Intrigued by the ability of climbing beans to sense structures such as garden canes and grow up them, [scientists] devised an experiment to investigate whether they deliberately aim for the cane, or simply bump into such structures as they grow, and then turn them to their advantage.
… they used time-lapse photography to document the behaviour of 20 potted bean plants, grown either in the vicinity of a support pole or without one, until the tip of the shoot made contact with the pole. Using this footage, they analysed the dynamics of the shoots’ growth, finding that their approach was more controlled and predictable when a pole was present. The difference was analogous to sending a blindfolded person into a room containing an obstacle, and either telling them about it or letting them stumble into it.

{I’m tempted to make a sarcastic joke about a French bean showing more logic than your average American human….)

***

In general, not one for seeing omens, here's food for thought: 

One of the ravens at the Tower of London is feared to have died, in a potentially gloomy omen for Britain. It means that the tower is close to having fewer than six ravens, a level that would spell doom for the kingdom, according to legend. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Last week I admitted that I’d become more alarmed at the increasing rates of Covid infections in the area, and that I lacked medical insurance .
More than 6 weeks ago, I’d emailed a “medical plan” company requesting information on securing a medical plan, but I’d heard nothing back, beyond an acknowledgement of receipt of emails.
Today, however, a form letter from that company:

The number of COVID-19 infections have increased significantly in the second wave all over the country.
To limit the impact of infections on our members and staff, we have opted to close all [company name] walk-in centres from 15 January 2021. The walk-in centres will re-open on 1 February 2021.

While I am careful, always wear a mask in public, ensure the required social distance, and always sanitize, I also regularly enter grocery stores, both for groceries and to receive cash back to pay the gardener. (He lacks a bank account for electronic fund transfer.)
I awoke after midnight last night with a terribly sore throat.
Soon after that, I emailed the handy man who’d worked at my place yesterday morning and who intended to return today to complete other tasks. I informed him of my ailment and delayed completion of the remaining work.
Could I have contracted Covid somewhere, somehow? Examining my behavior and activities it seems unlikely but…
I’ll carefully monitor my health today.
I’d waited a month, since before Christmas, to have someone remove a section of fencing around my new apartment. I made peace with my decision to remove the fencing and, potentially, allow warthogs and impala enter the inner garden and eat garden plants. The work is finally done. I can now step from my small patio onto a set of flag stones I laid, then into the semi-private garden. Oh, joy!
Ironical if I contract Covid… and become a statistic. But which statistic? Another infection? Or another death? Enquiring minds wanna know….

“The beat goes on…”

Worldwide (Map) 
January 14, 2021 – 92,314,000 confirmed infections; 1,977,900 deaths
December 17 – 73,557,500 confirmed infections; 1,637,100 deaths
November 19 – 56,188,000 confirmed infections; 1,348,600 deaths
Five countries doing well against Covid: New Zealand, Senegal, Iceland, Denmark, and Saudi Arabia. 

 
US (Map)
January 14, 2021 – 23,071,100 confirmed infections; 384,635 deaths
December 17 – 16,724,775 confirmed infections; 303,900 deaths
November 19 – 11,525,600 confirmed infections; 250,485 deaths
“The death toll from Covid-19 has now passed 380,000 across the US, according to Johns Hopkins University – closing in fast on the number of Americans killed in the second world war, or about 407,000…” California is among the hardest-hit states. 

 
SA (Coronavirus portal)
January 14, 2021 – 1,278,305 confirmed infections; 35,140 deaths
December 17 – 873,680 confirmed infections; 23,665 deaths
November 19 – 757,145 confirmed infections; 20,556 deaths
“SA recorded 806 new Covid-19 related deaths in the past 24 hours, its highest ever single-day deaths so far.” 

News blues…

The Lincoln Project

A day of firsts:
The first President to be impeached twice.
The first time a party’s caucus has been unanimous in voting for impeachment (222-0).
This goes along with the most votes for impeachment from the President’s party (ten Republicans) in history.
Ten.
Ten Republicans upheld their oaths, put country first, and voted for impeachment—and 197 voted to protect a broken man who launched an insurrection to overturn an election he lost.
All eyes are now on the Senate, but Mitch McConnell—despite signaling his support for impeachment—seems unlikely to bring the chamber back in session before Inauguration Day.
Notably, Senators-elect Warnock and Ossoff (D-GA) will likely be sworn in, so Trump’s second impeachment trial will take place with a Democratic majority. Our coalition’s efforts to defeat Trumpism in Georgia could not have proven more consequential.
To be clear though, Trump’s second impeachment is no celebratory occasion.
Today is a sad day, in an impossibly sorrowful time, for our country.
A full week after siccing a violent mob on the Capitol, the President has been impeached for inciting an insurrection—yet he remains in office.
Our Republic still stands, but her foundation—democracy—has been battered and tarnished.
And the assailant, and his co-conspirators in the Sedition Caucus remain in power.
In the wake of the MAGA insurrection, accountability comes first and foremost.
It is undoubtedly a good thing that President Trump has been impeached for his role in orchestrating this heinous terrorist attack.
But the fact that 197 House Republicans voted to protect the man who just ambushed the very institution they are a member of is a stark reminder of the profound rot in today’s Republican Party.
In the days and weeks to come, we will continue to learn more about the attack on our Capitol. Who incited, who abetted, and who comforted the attackers will be known.
And we will be right here, ready to expose evildoers, traitors, and seditionists, and ready to fight for our Republic.

Healthy planet, anyone?

Political officials at EPA have overruled the agency’s career scientists to weaken a major health assessment for a toxic chemical contaminating the drinking water of an estimated 860,000 Americans, according to four sources with knowledge of the changes. 
The changes to the safety assessment for the chemical PFBS, part of a class of "forever chemicals" called PFAS, is the latest example of the Trump administration's tailoring of science to align with its political agenda, and another in a series of eleventh-hour steps the administration has taken to hamstring President-elect Joe Biden's ability to support aggressive environmental regulations.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

My mother’s physical rehabilitation continues to improve. Alas, Covid continues to spread in the care center. Last week they found one case within the population of elderly. This week, another case.

***

Back in the day, a mixture of beetroot, olive oil and spinach was touted by “some” SA government officials as a way to “strengthen” the immune systems of – even cure - AIDS sufferers. 
These days, it’s not beetroot, or olive oil, or spinach but bananas.
A quick search on You Tube will reveal a cornucopia of coronavirus-fighting foods and food supplements.
Good nutrition is essential to essential to health. True.
Fresh veggies and fruit are delicious, nutritious, and health preserving. True.
Will they prevent Covid-19. Hmmmm.
But why risk it?
I examined the bananas (full of potassium and other nutrients) at the grocery store and brought three home. Two remained, along with three white peaches, in the fruit bowl when I drove out the security gate. Jessica The Dog was in charge of our downstairs living area.
I returned two hours later to learn three monkeys had invaded the house - again. They’d ripped through the fruit, torn open a large bag of my mother’s favorite biscuits, even scratched through the container in which I collect food scraps for composting.
Where was Jessica the Monkey Discouraging Dog during this monkey enterprise? Sunbathing.

“Shoulda known better”

© Huffington Post/Huffpost 

“…new polling showed that nearly two-thirds of likely U.S. voters believe the lame-duck incumbent [president] is directly to blame for the deadly violence.” 
That leaves as many as 37 percent either believing he’s not to blame or, worse, having “no opinion.”
Here, diehard Trumpies impenetrable belief about Trump and the election.  (4:43 mins)

News blues…

Further reason to be optimistic about the withdrawal of people of integrity from the drug of Republicanism:
Former Secretary of State, General Colin Powell said of Republicans, “they should have known better” (5:44 mins)
More Republicans – likely seeing the writing on the wall for their political careers – trend in the direction of supporting Trump’s impeachment. 

***

The Lincoln Project

The President is a traitor and an ongoing threat to American democracy.
Republicans who disagree must be fundamentally dishonest, unserious, or anti-American.
Let’s state it in plain English: the President of the United States, after falsely declaring an election was stolen from him, sicced an armed, violent mob on the Capitol during a joint session with the Vice President present.
This was no Constitutional assembly. These terrorists were not petitioning for a redress of grievances.
This was an attempted coup d'état against the United States government, orchestrated by President Trump, and abetted by the Sedition Caucus.
We still have many more questions than answers about this assault on our democracy—who impeded the National Guard from entering the District, and why? What was Trump’s true intent? What were the ultimate goals of the insurrectionists seen with firearms, zip ties, and nooses?
It seems that the more we learn about January 6, 2021, the more shocking and appalling it becomes. We were just seconds, and just inches away, from a total decapitation of the Federal Government.
First, second, and third in the line of presidential succession—Vice President Pence, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and President pro tempore Chuck Grassley—were all present, and were all targets of the terrorists.
We will learn much more in the days to come. But first, it is paramount for our national security, and to reaffirm the peaceful transfer of power, that we depose President Trump as soon as possible.
Reporting on Mike Pence’s thinking indicates the 25th Amendment will not be used—so impeachment for inciting an insurrection is the next best route.
As calls for removing Trump quickly spread through Washington, many Republicans—themselves largely in the Sedition Caucus—have rejected the idea for the sake of “unity.”
To them, I ask, what better way to unify the country than a bipartisan impeachment and removal of a treasonous demagogue? Rather—what is unifying about allowing crimes against our very Constitution to continue to go unpunished?
We cannot set a precedent in this country that a failed coup attempt is excusable conduct for the President.
Congress must act on the House’s impeachment articles expeditiously. Every minute the President remains in office is a minute too long for our Republic.
It’s time to remove Trump from the seat of our government. And it’s time for the Sedition Caucus to pay for crimes against our country.

Healthy planet, anyone?

A coalition of more than 50 countries has committed to protect almost a third of the planet by 2030 to halt the destruction of the natural world and slow extinctions of wildlife.
The High Ambition Coalition (HAC) for Nature and People, which includes the UK and countries from six continents, made the pledge to protect at least 30% of the planet’s land and oceans before the One Planet summit in Paris…. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

The sun shines and it’s time to begin moving “stuff” to my new place.
I’ll not physically move there until this house is sold – at least another 60 days – but there’ll be less stuff cluttering the house when potential buyers view. At least that’s my thinking.

***

I’m more concerned than ever about my mother’s state of physical and mental well-being under tight lockdown at the Care Center. I’ve not seen her since she fell and broke her leg, 28 December. Lockdown presents little chance of seeing her.
Today, I intend to deliver a cell phone that will allow her to receive and listen to WhatsApp audio recordings. Only issue? She’ll need to figure out how to activate the files. That’s a challenge she didn’t rise to before her move to the Care Center. I hope her isolation from family stimulates her to attempt it again – and succeed this time.

Topsy Turvy

What becomes more obvious about our topsy turvy world is the intricate layers of ideology that weave around the reality of close to 91 million humans infected with, and close to 2 million deaths from Covid-19. 

There are the "no such thing as Covid" crowd, the anti-maskers, the "they're taking away our freedom" crowd, the Trump-ubes-alles crowd, the anti-vaxxers.... the list goes on. 

One of the my more disorienting but positive facets is optimism about a handful of Republicans who are breaking with the Republican Party line. .
The Lincoln Project , co-founded by former Republicans, quickly emerged as opting, not for business-as-usual Republican ideology, but for truth over lies, human decency over power-grabs, democracy over fascism, and integrity over Trumpism. The Project used a typically American way of making its points: humor and irony.

News blues…

Muscleman, actor, fellow immigrant, and former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger recently shared a heart-felt message following this week's attack on the US Capitol. More than 4.5 million viewers have watched this honest and revealing 7:36 minute clip.
What is Arnie referring to? This…  (10:47 mins)

***

On the frontlines of Covid: How do you persuade 67% of South Africa to receive two doses of a non-compulsory Covid-19 vaccine – when almost half the country, according to a recent poll, says they won’t take it?  
Ramaphosa tries to convince the skeptics ...

Healthy planet, anyone?

Birds’ eye view – these birds of a very colorful feather will blow your mind 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

The Rain, rain, and more rain.
The culvert is still blocked. The garden floods further. The mosquito population explodes. 
Yesterday, the gardener and I explored the blocked culvert.
My goal was to convince him that he and a friend of his choosing could manually dig out the culvert. His goal? Avoid taking on the job.
Our first discovery: someone had dumped a large load of garden waste – bagsful of mowed grass clippings and dozens of pruned tree limbs – along the stream bank. Clumsily, we made our way over that illegal dump to one of the culverts (the other is so completely blocked that trees have taken root in the debris).
With the streambed almost completely submerged beneath debris, water in and around the culvert is stagnant.
Clearing even one culvert will be a far larger job than I’d thought during my recent exploration. 
The NPA officers and service crews are due back at work next Monday.
I’ll be there with more letter and more photographs and more advice and more encouragement to urge officials to attend to the blocked culverts. 

I’ll also approach my neighbor with wetlands to add his voice to my request for service.
If only there was a mosquito abatement program in this area. Or even a department of health interested in addressing mosquito-borne diseases. 

Alas, Covid usurps attention from minor issues such as flooding and mosquitos.

Covid closing in…

News blues…

KZN now has the second highest rate of Covid infections in the country, surpassed only by densely population urbanized Gauteng province.
Meanwhile, the post-holiday surge is on in the US 

***

As the world watches the US fracture into further factions, an ABC News/Ipsos poll indicates how few Americans are coherent in their view of The Donald.

The majority (56%) say Trump should be removed from office, while just 43% believe he should not be removed. 

“Just 43%”? That’s an amazingly high percentage of Americans believing the US can afford to keep him in office.
These numbers do not bode well for the next few weeks, never mind the future of democracy in that country.

Healthy planet, anyone?

For nearly three months I lived in virtual confinement with the occasional visit to the corner shop being my only respite – my only chance to see people …
The only thing that pulled me out of my doldrums was nature: from my small terrace, watching the daily flights of various birds of prey, including black and griffon vultures, lifted me no end. As did a male spotless starling, whose home territory included a television aerial on a nearby rooftop. I watched him claim his coveted song post, singing his heart out, attracting several females, mating with one of them and eventually bringing his family back to the aerial where it all began. There was something very satisfying about seeing nature unfold in daily episodes.

Read “Amid the gloom of lockdown, I have taken solace in nature”  >>

***

It is "doubtful" that the Amazon forest could remain resilient into the future given the layers of threats facing it. 

A new report for Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development  concluded that the Amazon rainforest will collapse and largely become a dry, shrubby plain by 2064. Development, deforestation and the climate crisis are to blame….

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Closing in: One upside of “being American/a visitor” to KZN? 

Not having a wide circle or acquaintances and friends offers a smaller probability of exposure to Covid.
I stay in touch with the acquaintances and friends I do have via phone and WhatsApp audio messaging. Many of them, embedded in communities, report surging infections among their acquaintances and friends.
One alarming story tells of residents of a retirement community leaving the facility to spend three days with family over the festive season. One person returned with Covid. Now the entire facility – up to 20 people, all elderly - are infected.
While total lockdown in the care center in which my mother resides means neither I nor any of her family may visit, at least my mother will not be exposed to Covid. Her current state of health, post-surgery after a fall, would never allow her to fight off the infection if exposed.
I continue to pursue ways in which we can contact my mother despite lockdown preventing face-to-face visits.
Last week’s first Zoom call was cancelled due to my mother’s ill health. We’ll try another video call on Wednesday.
After the failed Zoom call, I sent my mother an audio recording via a staff member’s cell phone. That worked well enough that I’ve decided to return the cell phone that I’d purchased for my mother and that she’d given up on, saying it was “too hard to use.”
I hope she’ll find hearing and/or seeing family on her own cell phone enticing enough to overcome her antipathy of cell phones.

Catch our collective breath

© M. Wuerker

Ten days before Donald Trump is out of the White House and the US has a chance to regain a semblance of balance. Given The Donald’s penchant for the unexpected, the outlandish, and for inciting violence, let’s catch our collective breath and focus on something more easily understood: Covid-19.

News blues…

California:
Health authorities reported Saturday a record one-day total of 695 coronavirus deaths as many hospitals strain under unprecedented caseloads.
California’s death toll since the start of the pandemic rose to 29,233, according to the state Department of Public Health’s website. 
Meanwhile, hospitalizations are nearly 22,000, and state models project the number could reach 30,000 by Feb 1.
South Africa:
My Covid-alert app reported, early this morning, more than 21,000 infections over a 24-hour period in South Africa. On the positive side, Irish health officials believe three cases of another new variant found in South Africa had been contained after…

confirming the first cases of the more infectious variant found in South Africa on Friday in people who had travelled to Ireland from South Africa over the Christmas holidays.
[Irish health] officials … said on Saturday they believe three cases of another new variant found in South Africa had been contained. 

***

Now This | Trump Supporter Calls C-SPAN in Tears Over President's Lies (2:02 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

Despite a 7% fall in fossil fuel burning due to coronavirus lockdowns, heat-trapping carbon dioxide continued to build up in the atmosphere, also setting a new record. The average surface temperature across the planet in 2020 was 1.25C higher than in the pre-industrial period of 1850-1900, dangerously close to the 1.5C target set by the world’s nations to avoid the worst impacts.

Read “Climate crisis: 2020 was joint hottest year ever recorded” >> 

***

Photo essay – a reminder of who and what else depends on a health planet 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Last year's potato crop -
before monkeys....

Lifestyle of the potato: While I understand how to prepare potato “eyes” for planting, I’ve never planted potatoes. All potato plants that grow in this KZN garden are volunteers. (Also true of tomatoes, varieties of squash, onions, and strawberries in this garden. I’ve given up on harvesting tomatoes as they suffer from assorted blights, viruses, and bugs soon as the fruit appears.)
This year, monkeys have been particularly destructive, pulling up plants and biting, once, into a fruit before discarding it and picking and biting into another.
Potatoes may appear prosaic and they’re cheap and abundant in grocery stores, but fresh, plump, garden-grown potatoes offer a certain .. je ne sais quoi. 

Alas, this year, the few I harvested were asymmetrical and knobby with a more-dense-than-usual texture, and full of “eyes.” (Eyes develop into more potato plants.) 

 I cooked and ate them anyway.
I intend to grow potatoes in my new garden, along with basil, chard, parsley, onions, cilantro/coriander, and strawberries.
My new neighbors advise that monkeys do not frequent that neighborhood, but warthogs do. Warthogs offer the additional hassle of being diurnal, that is they forage both day and night.
Something to look forward to – at least until the novelty of warthogs in my garden wears off.

***

The garden pond’s runaway exotic lilies are blooming. They’re a lovely yellow (indigenous lilies are purple) and, as exotics, have few natural predators. By this time of year, they quickly overrun the pond and must be removed.
The gardener hates entering the pond – “inyoka” – snakes, he claims – so I don waders and gloves to extract lilies. I place piles of lily debris on the banks and the gardener strews them along a path. Theoretically, the layer of dry lilies discourages weeds and creates a walkway in the lower section of the garden.
As for snakes in the pond, in three years I’ve seen one, a Common Brown River snake. Scary, but non-venomous.