Red State Green

We’ve had a run-in with the flu here (unusual for us), but everyone seems to be on the mend.

I’m still shaking my head at the hype about all this. So far this has got to be the mildest flu season as far as deaths in history (perhaps 4000 overall so far compared to the “normal” 5300 deaths/month each year), yet to listen to the news you’d think we were in the Apocalypse.

Now, this flu is odd, in that it causes some weird effects (hemorrhagic pneumonia is a rare, but nasty one) and seems to affect young, otherwise healthy adults more than the old, but so far we’re not getting much substance, fortunately.

We’ve yet to have a freeze here (although they’re talking about “maybe” an ice storm next week sometime), so I have some lovely tomatoes and peppers out back along the south wall still, which I’ll probably let stay on the vine until closer to the chilly event.

I’ve been doing a lot of tomato-growing; I’ve decided that when I get seeds, the best thing to do is to go ahead and get them started, if I can keep them anywhere near the right temperature, because things just seem to grow slowly around here. So my kitchen window and garage look a bit jungle-like with all the seedlings going on. I’m also rooting another pineapple top and a sprig of basil; both look about ready to pot up.

So we’re doing okay here. I’m going to take at least one rabbit and some hot tea out back and sit for a while.