Dear Mr. Colbert:  Frankenoid again, in "that oxygen deprived, granola snarfing, watery beer making, mountain bike riding, Camelbak toting, Patagonia wearing, Norad adjacent, rectangular state bordered,  John Hickenlooper mayored, high miled [sic] cesspool" known as Denver.

Last week I invited you  to be the keynote speaker at the SquareState/Garden Blogging DNC Open House and Meeting of the Colorado Chocolate Fountain Caucus.

Not only that, I sweetened the offer with the promise of all the watery beer you can drink, courtesy of SquareState.net, the Convention credentialed blog for Colorado, and I promised to name our kitten after you.  How could you resist both saving a dear little pootie from being called Caligula and knowing we were shouting "Steve Coal Burt" around the neighborhood as we called the cat?

I was disappointed to have not received an acceptance.  But then I figured it out.

It's the Big Blue Bear.

 Good morning, and now for something completely different.  Welcome to Saturday Morning Garden Blogging.

When I last posted garden blogging on 8/2/08, Denver was in a record-smashing string of days with 90°+ heat (the string ended with 24 days, besting the previous 18-day record by almost a week).  The day before — August 1 — saw a high of 104°.  We'd gone from early June to late July with just a few spatters of rain falling on Casa de Frankenoid.

On August 8, a thunderstorm finally hit our neighborhood — leaving almost 2.5" of rain behind.

And yesterday, August 15, saw a new lowest maximum temperature, a mere 59° (the old record was 68°, set in 1880).  That 59° occurred just after midnight; during the daylight hours, we got to a whopping 52°.  And it rained.  All day.

Today is to be a repeat of yesterday.  WTF?

It is, definitely, official.  The weather is extremely weird this year.

Dear Mr. Colbert:  Frankenoid here, in "that oxygen deprived, granola snarfing, watery beer making, mountain bike riding, Camelback toting, Patagonia wearing, Norad adjacent, rectangular state bordered,  John Hickenlooper mayored, high miled [sic] cesspool" known as Denver.

I know you want to be here, but as you haven't invited to speak at the Democratic National Convention, you're not coming at all.

To welcome our out-of-state visitors (yes, even those from New York), I'm opening the blog-infamous Garden Blogging Garden for an open house on Sunday, August 24, 2008.

And we want you here.

Really.

You can give the key-note address.

Good morning my lovelies!  As monkeybiz is guest-hosting Saturday Morning Garden Blogging this fine morning, I'm going to take this opportunity to spread the word about the

SquareState/Garden Blogging Open House

I've opened the doors of Casa de Frankenoid for several parties over the last couple of years, but I have to tell you: I'm looking forward to this one more than any other.

This is not a fundraiser for anything, or anyone.  There is no agenda; there are no "scheduled events".

Our only purpose is to welcome you to Denver; share food and drink; and have the opportunity to meet outside the confines of "official" events.

And now the question is -- will I ever be forgiven?

You know how it is:your beloved just isn't what she used to be; the newness, the freshness, of the relationship is gone.

So you're thrown into proximity (and face it, you went looking, it wasn't accidental), and convince yourself... it will be all right.  Even if -- oh, let's get real, when -- your beloved finds out, you'll be forgiven.

And you ignore your misgivings, the second thoughts.  You say "yes" -- and somebody new is in your life, taking up your time.

And when your transgression becomes known to your beloved, you have to work to try and make it right, to put together again what was broken.

But she took it much worse than you thought she would.

OK, see, in early July, there was a picture of a kitten on the "lost and found" page of the Denver Dumb Friends League that, looking at his picture, I really, really wanted.

He was a little red tabby, holding out his beautiful, polydactyl foot.

Oooooh, I wanted that kitty... so I called, and called, and called, until he was old enough to be adopted.  I even had a name picked out: Marcus Antoenius.

And today, the call came -- they were putting a 48 hour hold on him for me.  So I raced over to the Dumb Friends League to meet him.

Sigh... you can't always get what you want.  While he was a beautifully marked little boy, he also was very, very skittish and fearful.  He wanted nothing more than to get the hell away from us and hide in a corner.  He'd be a good cat for a house without other cats, and without kids.  Which is not our house.

But by that point, Younger Son had his heart and mind set on taking home a kitten.

Despite the best efforts of the City of Denver to prove otherwise, there are a whole buncha people here who are excited the Democratic National Convention is coming, and that Our Fair City will be awash with the hard-core of the Party.  I'm hoping my passionflower vine will have burst forth with a display worthy of how passionate we are about this election.

In fact, we are so excited that we're taking it upon ourselves to throw a party in honor of the party for the Party.

In conjunction with SquareState (credentialed Colorado blog of the Convention), we're throwing open the doors of Casa de Frankenoid for a Garden Blogging Open House on Sunday, August 24, from 1:00 p.m. until... whenever.

 Good morning, and yes, it's hot enough for me.  Welcome to Saturday Morning Garden Blogging.

Denver is in record-smashing hot territory.  Yesterday was the 20th consecutive day of 90°+ heat — the previous record was 18 days — and the over-90° weather will continue through the beginning of next week.

Yesterday the high was 104°, a record for August 1, and just one degree shy of the all-time high temperature of 105°.  We've been without thunderstorms for the last few days, so the heat just continues to build.  Even with the swamp cooler running full-tilt, in the house it's close to 80° in the late afternoon.

I'm watering like mad, but the potted plants are suffering.  But hey — the bees are happy.  They really loves them some sweet corn pollen.  Last weekend there were so many bees in the corn I could hear them buzzing half-way across the yard.

There's much excitement in Denver over hosting the Democratic National Convention.  I know I'm looking forward to having so many of you visit our wonderful city, and I really, really want you to have a good time.

So I want you to be prepared.  Because Denver really is the Mile High City.

This is actually one of three "Mile High" markers on the Capitol steps.  The original engraving was done in 1947; in 1969 students from Colorado State University re-surveyed, and placed 5280 feet as being 3 steps higher.  Then, in 2003, yet another survey by the state set a "Mile High" as being 2 steps lower.

Photo courtesy of Guidebook Denver.

 Good morning, and stop taunting me!  Welcome to Saturday Morning Garden Blogging.

Denver is in a weather rut.  Day after day with highs in the 90s — the last under-90° day we had was on July 12.  Thanks to thunderstorms in the area, for the last couple of days we have, at least, cooled into the 60s during the night (rather than staying in the 70s until dawn the next day).  But those thunderstorms — alas — have missed Casa de Frankenoid.

Oh, they are tauntingly close.  The wind blows madly.  The clouds move in.  We can smell the rain.  But for the last 3 days we've been right... on... the... edge.  A few sprinkles, barely enough to dampen the sidewalk, and then the clouds move on, and the hope of a good cloudburst is over.

The last real rain we've had here was in early June.  I've been rotating the watering so that every day at least one portion of the yard gets water.  But hey — July is (usually) our hottest month, and it's almost over.  Soon it's gonna rain — right?  Right?  Please?

Cross-posted at Squarestate.net

Good Morning, and thanks for the break!  Welcome to Saturday Morning Garden Blogging.

Well, we had a couple of days of hot (as in highs in the upper 90s -- still haven't broken 100° here), complete with nights of hot (as in doesn't cool into the upper 60s until dawn the next morning).  A cool front blew in last evening on gusty winds, so this morning we've made it down to the upper 50s, and today's high will be in the lower 80s -- whoo-hoo!

Good thing, as the last few weeks have been so busy I've neglected a lot of weeding -- and the weeds have taken big advantage of it.

The monarda in the back yard is blooming.  I really love monarda -- I call them Who Flowers, because they look like something Dr. Seuss would have drawn.

Gas is expensive, wallets are flat, and folks are just trying to eke as much mileage out of every gallon of gas that they can — especially as we have to pay that goddamned gas tax on every gallon!

Google "hypermiling", and you'll get 362,000 hits, running the gamut from news stories to how-to's.

I know all ya'll are stretched for time, as well as money, so here's a compendium of "hypermiling" tips — how you can raise the gas mileage on your car from 25%, to 50%, to 1000000%!

Cross-posted at Squarestate.net.

Good morning, and was it knee high by the 4th of July?  Welcome to Saturday Morning Garden Blogging.

According the Nation Weather Service, here in Denver "June 2008 was a mundane month with no noteworthy weather statistics to mention."  Yeah, that just about sums it up.

Although we had 10 days over 90° — 4 more days than "normal" (whatever that is), it didn't seem really hot: most of those days were in the low 90s, and we didn't top 100°.

It was on the dry side — although we had daily predictions of thunderstorms, none of them fell on Casa de Frankenoid.  I've had to water regularly (but at least we have no watering restrictions this year).

And the first few days of July have been more of the same.  But the corn is growing, and it's more than knee high (at least on me — but I'm short).

[As I prepare for our annual trip to the Mister's folks down in Pueblo for the Fourth (actually waiting for the rest of the family to wake up!), I'm reprising a diary from July 4, 2006.]

In the United States, the term "patriotic music" generally is used to mean the marches of John Phillip Sousa; the National Anthem; God Bless America, I'm Proud To Be An American; and the like.

But I'm of a different bent — I find the above evoke images of martialism and mindless nationalism which are the antithesis to ideals of the United States — our true patrimony.

After the flip is my favorite song about the United States.  What's yours?

Good morning, and my, how time flies!  Welcome to Saturday Morning Garden Blogging.

Our "normal" June weather has continued this week — a little warm on a few days as we inched into the 90s, but all in all, pretty damned nice.  And, well, at least it hasn't been over 100°!

Well, except for those afternoon thunderstorms.  None of them have hit my house, so I've had to water (ooops... need to run out and start the soaker hose running on one area or another of the flower beds).

What's even better, though, is that just in time for the weekened we're getting a little bit of a cool off — today will be in the low 80s, perfect for going out and doing a few chores, then sitting on the front porch and reading.

On yesterday's front page, Markos made the formal announcement about The Big Tent: space and a hang-out for the bloggerati during the Democratic National Convention here in Denver.  How would you like another opportunity to hang out?

As regulars of Saturday Morning Garden Blogging know, the Garden Blogging Garden is in Denver.

Not merely in Denver, but a mere 2.5 miles from Downtown, in the beautiful Baker Historic District, one of the oldest remaining residential neighborhoods in the City.

Indeed, because of our front porch, my house is (or, at least, was) listed as a "notable home" in the Historic Denver guide to the Baker Neighborhood.

If you're coming to Denver for the convention, I'd like to host an open house on the afternoon, and into the evening hours, of August 24.

The question is: if I plan it, will you come?

Revised and updated from original posting at SquareState: Are We Confused Yet?

For a couple of weeks now, I've been railing about the lack of a "donation" link on the Democratic National Convention website, especially given the much-publicized fund raising shortage by the convention "host committee".  I mean, our presumptive candidate is a master at web-based fund raising.  The Chairman of the DNC, the Good Doctor Dean, started the trend during his own primary run back in 2004.

I sent an e-mail to the "information" link on the web site asking: why?

And I received an "out of office" auto-reply.  Actually, it wasn't an "out of office" reply: that's just what the re: line read.  It actually was a "we're far too busy to reply to e-mails" auto reply.

Again — WTF?

Good morning, and something smells good!  Welcome to Saturday Morning Garden Blogging.

Here on the Colorado Front Range, we've finally gotten into "normal" weather for this time of year; it's about fucking time, as the first full day of Summer is upon us!

The forecasts are remarkably similar, day after day: highs in the mid 80s to low 90s, lows in the mid-50s to mid-60s, and a "chance of an afternoon or evening thunderstorm".

The trick to figuring out weather forecasts here is to understand that a "30% chance of rain" means that there's a 100% chance that it's going to rain somewhere, and a 30% chance that it's going to rain on you.  A higher percentage just means that it's a more widely-spread thunderstorm, increasing the likelihood that your neck of the woods will see moisture from the sky.  So far — we haven't gotten any.  Gotta run out and water the grass patch this morning.

And as to what smells good, it's not what's cooking in the kitchen; instead, it's one of the 5 dimensions of gardening.