I love the cool nights of early fall. Grabbing an extra blanket makes for a good night’s sleep.

Finally, I’ve stopped hauling hoses around. Well, that is technically not true. I’ve been busy draining and winding quite a few this week.

I, personally, have all rubber made-in-America Goodyear hoses which have served me for decades. Home Depot has them for under $30 for 50 feet. No matter what the vinyl expensive one advertise, they always kink and never remain supple after a year or two. Also the yellow plastic shut-off Ys made by Nelson last much longer than the expensive brass ones. They always rust either on or off. Shirley’s carries the yellow ones for a couple of bucks each.

I have dozens of pet peeves. For example: pedestrians who refuse to walk on the left, facing traffic.

This month, my annoyance involves the flowers on coleus. I remove them at about an inch in length. The plant will remain much more colorful and bushy.

After I harvested garlic in mid-July, I had the bright idea to prepare the bed and plant winter rye. It is now over a foot tall and is bothering me. I turned it over instead of letting it go through the winter. I figure its fertilizing qualities will work any time of year. I may just put hay on top and call it a day.

I finally got around to digging the potatoes. They were so weedy it was astonishing that they still existed.

I never purchased seed potatoes this past spring but, rather, planted the wizened remains of the previous year. I was probably risking some disease but the venture was successful.

Some of the perennials are still looking great. I tried a new daylily a year ago – Steeple Jackie. It blooms right now with very tall stems covered with dozens of small yellow flowers.

I grew a large stand of tithonia (aka Mexican Sunflower). This past week, I noticed several Monarch butterflies fluttering around their bright orange flowers. I was thinking they better get a move on if they plan to make it to Mexico in time. How can something so tiny and fragile make that trip? Never mind how they know where to go.

Platycodon is still performing. Granted there is a lot of dead-heading required but several of the balloons remain. I have them in pink, white and blue. The blue really stands out.

I generally am fairly good-natured. Lately, however, it is difficult to remain optimistic.

I really do not have a guilty or innocent opinion of Brett Kavanaugh but his testimony the Senate judiciary committee disqualified him, in my opinion. His anger, partisanship and belligerence were unbecoming for a Supreme Court Justice.

What struck me was the anger coming from Lindsey Graham. I watched this tirade with no sound and found it downright scary. How white men can claim victimhood on any level is laughable. A recent poll found that 54 per cent of Republicans would confirm Brett Kavanaugh even if the accusations of sexual misconduct are found to be true. What a world!