Vote for My Garden Please(Second Edition)


I have never enterred a contest before today. The Chicago Tribune is co-sponsoring  a contest called “Glorious Gardens,” with Home Depot.  An entrant is allowed to place five photos into the competition. I uploaded five.  Today was the deadline for doing so. Beginning tomorrow, June 27, 2009, you can go to the Chicago Tribune Website and vote for my garden.

(Edited 3 August 2009)—-I went tothe Tribune site today and found out that the glorious gardens contest is opn for voting. I spent an hour rating photos, and only came across one picture of my garden.  If you go to vote, the pictures will appear randomly and you have to give each one a rating from 1 through 10 to go to the next picture. There are so many beautiful gardens it is hard to pick a really good one. Many of the photos were presented multiple times.

(Edited….July 25, 2009—-I am sorry, but the Trib is not conducting a popular vote for the most glorious garden. I was wrong to ask you to vote. Sorry for any confusion this caused you.)

Since, I’m not a machine politician, I can only offer you my ‘thanks’ for voting. I’m proud of the garden and I love taking pictures at different times of the day. I call it the ‘Monet Vision.’  The goal is to create a horticultural scene of magnificent complimentary colors. I have a long way to go, but I’m on my way. Hopefully,  the image I see in my mind will be realized in the backyard. That is, if Bambi doesn’t decide to taste all of the new entries like he has been this year.

“A Gross Betrayal and Abuse of Our Trust”

My Flag Flies Everyday

My Flag Flies Everyday

I just read a post on the  conservative BLOG Backyard Fence. It reveals a plan for re-taking our republic. So many of the concerns registered by this blogger are my own.  I wish his words were mine.  I promised him that I would link his site and post his plan on GrumpaJoesPlace.  Here is the opening.  Click the link to Backyard Fence to get the entire piece.


In order to Restore our Republic, We the People of the United States of America hereby declare and affirm that we will engage upon an Emergency Action Plan to ensure the bail outs and excessive spending are all rescinded.

After that has been achieved, we will then embark on a longer term program to fully Restore our Representative Republic.


The singular observation we made early this year, after calls and letters to the government were between 50 and 100 to 1 against the TARP program and all subsequent spending, was that our government no longer represents us. Indeed, our government has begun harvesting us and our resources against our will and in direct opposition to our best interests. This is a gross betrayal and abuse of our trust and shall not stand.
Emergency Demands:

1. Repeal the Stimulus Package.
2. Repeal the Omnibus Spending Bill
3. Recall the Budget, eliminate all unnecesary spending and pork and re-submit for a vote


Conservative Action Plan / Request for Comment

 It’s a good read. If we can see it and believe it, we can achieve it.

A Shot Rang Out

A sharp noise shot through our house. Peg looked up from the kitchen and asked  “what was that.” I sat at my desk, and asked her “what was that.”  We searched the house for broken windows. Often a bird will run into a window and break his neck. No birds, no broken windows. We talked about the noise and tried to understand what it could have been. It definitely sounded like glass being broken.

Later in the day, Peg  noticed some shiny stuff on the carpet in the living room. She looked up to the glass table and screamed, “Joe come quick. Look at this.”  I came and looked, “That’s the noise we heard Peg.”

Our contemproary end table has a glass top with four stainless steel legs glued to it.  A huge crack separated one leg from the remainder of the table. The shiny stuff on the carpet was shattered glass dust.

Cracked Glass Table Made by Progressive Furniture

Peg was furious and called Darvin immediately. We bought all of our living room tables from them less than four years ago. This end table is one of four pieces we have. Darvin furniture looked up our purchase and told us their warranty is only good for one year, there is nothing they will do about it. Peg asked to speak to the manager.

A short time later, the manager from Darvin Furniture called, and reiterated what we were told earlier. I asked him if we could buy a replacement. No, the table is no longer made. “Okay, can you tell me who makes the table? “Progressive Furniture from Ohio. I sent them an e-mail asking if they could help out with a replacement, I attached a photo as evidence. It’s been six weeks since I sent it.  They have not replied.  So much for customer service.

Today, Peg and I took a photo of the broken table to Tinley Glass. I am hoping they can replace the top.  The lady behind the counter looked at the picture  and said, “come with me.”  She walked us to a table they took in for repair. It was the exact same table. The glass was cracked in the exact same spot. They could have been twins. Now what are the chances of that happening?  How much of a coincidence is it that two totally different people bring in the exact same model of table with a crack in the exact same location, to the same glass company for repair, at the exact same time in history?

Up til now, I suspected that Progressive Furniture had a defect in the product, now I am absolutely sure of it.

By the way, the cost to replace the top is 1.5 times  more than the original cost of the table.


I often hear people tell me that they need a medical procedure that they cannot afford, and they don’t have insurance. They skip going back to the doctor. Instead of taking care of themselves out of their pocket, they neglect their bodies. If insurance pays, it is a different story. Why is this? My deceased wife Barb was in this group. If she had to pay for a treatment she skipped it. She worked as a nurse,  and felt the system owed her the care.

So many times I have heard my own doctor tell me that I need something but my insurance doesn’t cover it, therefore he won’t even think of prescribing it. Why? When I ask if I can pay out of my pocket, he gives me a dumb look like he doesn’t know how to handle a cash customer. Why?

 Our obsession with universal health-care is nuts. We should know by now that if POTUS is pushing  it, that it will be a disaster for all of us. Of course it will be another emergency like the banks, and the car companies, so there will be a hurry for legislation to be passed without any transparency and without anyone reading it ahead of time. Every democratic rubber stamp will be wet with ink on the day of the vote. No amount of  citizen calls, e-mails, and letters to our congressional reps will make a difference. Our congress is a bunch of Obam-ass kissing socialist power grabbers who have forgotten what there jobs are. They represent the people not the president.

Before and After Obamacare

Answer to Riddle

As beautiful and graceful as she is,  if  this critter continues to eat my flowers, she will adorn my office wall. This week, I’ve watched her come through the yard. She ate leaves from a mulberry tree. The next day, I saw a pair of them walk through. Since they saw me both times, they skittered off into the wetland. I never saw them eat any  flowers. The next day, I began to notice deer tracks all about the yard, and many of my plants showed signs of deer damage. Allot of mysterious things began to make sense, like a bunch of lobelia plants without buds, Canna Lillie’s with tops missing, and Asiatic Lillie’s with stems clipped.Bambi's Mother

A week ago, my friend Tom called me to come over and dig some hosta plants from his yard. He helped me dig out several varieties. I drove home, split them and planted them around the yard. The plant in this photo is  under the squirrel bungee. Notice how neatly the leaves are clipped from the stems. Next to this one is a different variety that was tasted, and pulled by the roots from the ground.  Evidently, deer do not like the taste of bright green hosta leaves. They love the dark green best. All around the yard, wherever I planted the dark green variety the leaves were snipped from the stems.Hosta Plant Eaten by Bambi's Mom

Last evening, as I watered the flowers, I noticed the Stella Dora  Lilly was different. Earlier in the week the plants were loaded with buds. I looked forward to the color splash. Now, all the buds are gone, and the stems stick up like toothpicks. It’s been so cold this spring that they were late blooming.  Well, they will really be late now. I hope the critter liked ’em.

Mystery Riddle

What has big ears, is brown all over, and takes the output of your hard work?  The answer to this ridfdle will solve the mystery of the missing corn cob. Answer to follow.

Dumb Ass Squirrel Has Competition

Empty Squirrel BungeeSomething lurks in the darkness of the night. What it is I am not sure. I have some suspicions, but have not verified them. The corn cob bungee continues to entertain us regularly. It also makes work for me. I now go around the garden pulling young plants. Corn sprouts are everywhere. I knew the critters couldn’t be eating that much corn. 

A  mystery has developed. I left the last empty cob hang for a few days because I couldn’t get to it. Now, the cob is gone. The bungee cord hangs empty. What in the world eats corn cobs? I’m afraid to go out for fear that whatever it is might eat me too.

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