From the Ministry of Horticulture

A small stand of sumac is finally flourishing in the southeast corner of the Camp J grounds, and from the angle and distance at which I see them right now, they look quite a lot like the scene setter for a Robert Ruark screenplay-- tiny replicas of the baobob.

(Getting a sumac patch started is easy enough, You just transplant one or two. But it takes a looong time, several years, before the seeds in the deer turds outpace what the deer damage. At some point the rhizomes seem to get into the act, and you start seeing sumac galore.)

Flash!

Hot off the wires, Government announces kumquats won't cure cancer and ginseng won't give you a hardon.

That'll be $2.5 billion, please.

Haggling

A retiring insurance guy wants to sell me "Dad's"  guns:

--870 Wingmaster

--"old Marlin 12 gauge pump  shotgun"

--  Remington 12c (probably, description sketchy)  in .22 WRF

-- Police Positive also  in .22WRF.  

 I see them tomorrow and meanwhile  rely on,  "Oh yeah, its real nice. Really great for its age. I shot it and it works great. But it hasn't been shot much.  I been checking around and the guys tell me the Colt is worth about $900 by itself and the ...".

I could keep the 870 as a spare birder. The others would be traders, though  it's always nice to have another Colt kicking around the collection.  Probably nothing will come of this. I see about $750 worth of value, and I think he figures  about twice that. What can you expect from a guy who spent his life telling people 20-pay life was a good deal?

Oh fer krissake

Tam reports on the  latest efforts to control armed and  dangerous domestic subversives.