Blue's Garden

summerofthe69 is done for the year.  Find links to all the fun smut here.  

So far, two poems have been sponsored and posted.

"All About Removing the Barriers"

"Like Floating Down a Broadening River"


If you're still shopping, now's the time to make your selections. Still available:

"Not for Looks But for Books"
Marjane and friends mourn the passing of Dolly Parton, and plan a memorial library.
87 lines, Buy It Now = $44

"Food That Grows Itself"
After a Fall, a group of people discuss ways to improve their food security without attracting dragons.
209 lines, Buy It Now = $105

"The Single Biggest Boost"
Dhara Lavarnway is struggling to adapt to Mole Traits including blindness. Fortunately the jobs board in Thalassia has options including audio.
245 lines, Buy It Now = $123

"All That Matters Is What You Do"
When Shiv gets a panicky SplatChat message from Persia, he does what he can to help.
476 lines, Buy It Now = $238

Today is sunny and hot, but less so than yesterday -- 80sF instead of 90s.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 9/6/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 9/6/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 9/6/26 -- I trimmed two spaces where I will dig down to see if the sunchokes are setting tubers yet.  Some of them are still blooming, but others are already drying up.  I'm hoping to get tubers from 2 different plants to take to the permaculture club tomorrow.

EDIT 9/6/26 -- My first dig yielded three fleshy roots with growth nodules, but no tubers which must still be in development.  I kept the roots as they could likely be used to grow new plants.  I'll have to try again for tubers next month.

EDIT 9/6/26 -- I bagged the sunchoke roots in damp sand.  Then I cracked 4 yellow peach pits and got 3 good seeds, which I bagged and put in the fridge.

EDIT 9/6/26 -- I watered the new picnic table garden, old picnic table garden, patio plants, purple-and-white garden, and house yard plants.

EDIT 9/6/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

I watered the telephone pole garden.  Moths are visiting the zinnias!  :D

Cicadas and crickets are singing.

As it is now dark, I am done for the night.

Pete Seeger There was a young women who swallowed a lie with the lyrics

... well, this is timely.

This poem is spillover from the September 1, 2026 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from mama_kestrel. It also fills the "adolescence" square in my 9-1-26 card for the Life Events Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by janetmiles. It belongs to the series Fiorenza the Wisewoman.

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Yesterday I made tuna steak for the first time, but forgot to write it down.  :/ 

One hand-sized tuna steak about an inch thick, cut in half across the short width, made a good serving for each of us.  $6.99 for one steak isn't cheap, but cut it in half to serve 2 people and suddenly it is quite affordable -- no more than the chicken, pork, or beef cutlets we buy for the same purpose.

I made the marinade from about 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, a dash of Worcestershire sauce, and about 1/2 teaspoon Santorini Citrus Seasoning.

Then at supper time, I just dropped the tuna steaks into a skillet to sear each side.  They're usually served medium-rare with the center still red.  They turned out delicious. \o/   


Today I'm making the corn and tomatillo skillet dish again, this time using diced sweet onion (1/4 instead of 1/2, because this thing is huge).  The meat will be cubesteaks with some sort of Mexican seasoning that I still need to look up.

EDIT 9/5/26 -- I made a batch of Carne Asada Mild Mix to season the cubesteaks.  Supper turned out quite tasty.

Endangered Salmon Return to California Rivers in Incredible Numbers: ‘Everybody’s just ecstatic’

A record 30,000 coho salmon returned to central California rivers last season—up 10x from an average of 3,000 over the last decade—and double the total of last season. Running up the rivers which empty into the Mendocino coast, the proliferation among the fish is something that scientists studying the animals thought they’d never see in their careers.


Remember that salmon lay many eggs in hopes that few will survive. If you raise the carrying capacity by improving habitat, then you can see large gains relatively fast as the few surviving fish (natural or introduced) fill those available niches.

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People have expressed interest in deep topics, so this list focuses on philosophical questions.

Should full access to the internet be a fundamental human right?


If it is required for safety, survival, or social participation then yes. Otherwise you are denying people other human rights -- such as access to health care, education, relationships -- by gatekeeping. A society that makes it feasible for everyone to meet needs by other means, such as going to a business in person, does not need to count this as a human right. The more of a society happens online, the more vital it becomes to ensure that everyone can get there.

Today's theme is One Piece.

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