A Moment of Silence (Un Momento di Silenzio)

We should all pause for a moment's silence.

Silence in memory of 'Sportsman's Guide, Incorporated' based in St. Paul Minnesota, publisher and purveyor of shooting targets. Decreased revenues from their best selling products will surely cause the bankruptcy of the company.

Consider the Ivy (Pensiamo di Edera)

I've had quite an ivy problem outside these days, the stuff is everywhere.

Here is a picture of poison ivy, have you ever been affected by it? I think MyLittleBecky posted a while back that she had a brief foray into the exciting world of urushiol oil and poison ivy.

One place on the web claims to have a plant product preventative / cure called jewelweed. To me though, that sounds a bit like some sort of illicit plant substance coveted by a blonde singer with an acoustic guitar.

I think that I might have affected by poison ivy once, but it was probably not from the vegetation. Is that her hair, or is Princess Leia happy to see you?

I've tried Roundup (tm) and other herbicides, but it never seems to affect the ivy like it does the other plants. I even jumped up and down on it in hopes of slowing it down, but it just keeps growing. I've never encountered a two dimensional plant that is so resistant to all the usual control methods, it's as hard as stone.

It looks like a very old vine. And, speaking of that, I think I'll pull a nice old Zinfandel from the cellar this afternoon.