Utterly Off Topic Wednesday: Turning My Garden Upside Down

Utterly Off Topic Wednesday returns with a product review. Incredibly, this is not a sponsored post. But I have to tell you about my experience with Topsy Turvy tomato planter bags.

No kidding. Those ones that are advertised on TV, where the guy breathlessly talks about how the special vertical grow bag heats up and causes a ROOT EXPLOSION! And you can get the bag and the 6 foot stand for only TWO PAYMENTS OF $19.95!

But wait!  You can also get..

Why don't you watch the video to refresh your memory, or if you have never seen it, check it out for the first time.




I actually saw a Topsy Turvy bag in action last summer. My sister-in-law bought one and had it in her back yard by the deck.  She didn't have really great results because her deck is shaded a good part of the day, and the success of these bags is having them in a location where they will get at least 7 hours of sunlight daily. But I could see how in the right location, they could really be interesting.

Getting 7 hours of sunlight hasn't been hard this summer, where we have had several months straight of dry, hot weather. Sometimes incredibly hot weather.  In mid-July we had a week or so of 100+ degree days. With only an occasional splash of rain, watering these bags every day has been even more important than usual. I have been giving them each about a half-gallon of water every day.

Now, I have been growing tomatoes for 20 years. I have a garden that I don't use any more because I can't keep up with it and everything else I have going on in my life. But once upon a time, that 25' x 50' space contained ten large raised beds and a 3 foot perimeter row that was used to grow sumptuous watermelons, cantaloupe, cucumbers, broccoli, brussels sprouts, pole beans, wax beans, zucchini, lettuces, celery, peppers,  raspberries, asparagus, corn, strawberries, carrots, various herbs, potatoes, and the finest Jersey tomatoes anywhere.

I lost a lot of the tomatoes I used to grow to pests of various kinds, and watering the plants and weeding the garden was a real chore. I spent several hours a day in the garden performing maintenance tasks.

Part of the problem was that the garden was kind of far away, and walking back and forth to the house when I forgot something, or if the phone rang, or I needed to adjust the hose, or the kids needed something, just added to the chore of it all.  I had some equipment in the shed, but in general, it was an ordeal.

My Topsy Turvy bags are hanging on my deck. The deck is in two levels, so they are hanging from the railings on the upper deck. I can step out onto the deck from my kitchen and water them, and pruning, maintenance and harvesting can be from the lower deck.  So easy!  I was able to fill the bags with potting soil from the upper deck. No more trudging through the wet grass and dog crap to get to the garden. No more backbreaking shoveling and bending. Twenty years ago it was no big deal, but now...I just can't do it any more.

And the results?  Incredible. 

I planted three slicing tomatoes and three Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes. So far I have harvested 40 slicing tomatoes and several hundred cherry tomatoes. I used to have to plant six or seven slicing tomatoes to get 40 tomatoes. And these are nearly flawless. I have had about 3 tomatoes that were cracked on top, and lost two to a couple of tomato hornworms. But otherwise they have all been like these.

Red. Juicy. Delicious. The finest Jersey tomatoes anywhere.  And there are still more outside that are not ready yet!

I was so excited about this result that I posted this pic on my Facebook profile. Someone commented that it looked like I painted them for the photo op.  This photo was taken with my 2 megapixel phone camera, and no, they are not photoshopped or edited in any way.

Topsy Turvy bags are available most anywhere, and now that the season is ending, you should be able to find them on sale. Even before the season I purchased mine for less than $10 each at BJ's.  If you have a balcony, or a deck or just about anywhere that gets decent sunlight, this is a great opportunity for you get readyto grow your own fresh tomatoes.

Don't like tomatoes? No problem, they are supposedly good to grow cucumbers, squashes and other kinds of vegetables as well.  I plan to try that next year.

Watch this space in about a year and I will let you know how it goes.

Utterly Off Topic Wednesday: Saying Goodbye to Five Star Service in Trenton

I am not now, nor have I ever been, an Obama supporter.

But I grow more incredulous daily as I read about the strange and terrible things that are happening in this country I love since he became President.

Like the closing of Chrysler dealerships.

We have a dealership here locally - in fact, I bought my 2000 Chrysler minivan from them. Since 1972, Irv Roth's Hamilton Chrysler has provided Mercer County, NJ with Five Star Service.

Big deal, what is a Five Star dealership, anyway? According to the home page of Quinn Chrysler Dodge in Bartlesville, OK:

In order to make that claim, the dealership must comply with the Five Star quality program as set forth by Chrysler. It should be noted that there are no official one, two, three, or four star Chrysler dealerships.

To qualify, a Chrysler dealership must:
- Contact every sales and service customer for feedback after the sale or service.
- Survey dealership employees on a regular basis.
- Act on feedback given by customers and employees.
- Maintain high survey ratings.
- Provide training to employees.
- Keep the dealership grounds up to standards.

The Chrysler Five Star quality program has no outside source of certification, and is handled completely within Chrysler. Chrysler pushes its dealers to create a continuous cycle of improvement and measurement in order to counter customer dissatisfaction. The benefit to the consumer is that they can rely on the Five Star program to ensure that they are purchasing products and services from a dealership that has met the rigorous requirements of the program and is focused on customer satisfaction. The benefit to Chrysler is increased quality and satisfaction reports, increased profits, customer retention, and improved relations with their high-standard dealerships. The benefit to the dealership includes increased satisfaction reports, increased profits, customer retention, access to the Chrysler lead generation program, and access to additional incentives for sales.

Well, no problem, then. Hamilton Chrysler has been this, and more, since at least 1987 when I moved into the area. They have an A+ rating with the BBB. So I was fairly certain that they would not be on the chopping block when I heard that Chrysler was closing dealerships. So I was stunned - and mystified - to discover that they were closing after all. Why??

Hot Air reports some strange goings-on in the continuing saga of the Chrysler dealerships that are being abruptly shut down in just about two weeks.

Actually, Hot Air's post references Doug Ross @ Journal, who asks "does it seem odd that the list of closed dealerships appears to have contributed a grand total of $200 to Barack Obama and millions to GOP candidates/causes?"

Please tell me you are kidding.

By the way, I don't have any idea who Mr. Roth or the folks at Quinn Chrysler may or may not have supported. But if these allegations are true, this bodes ill for our beloved country. It's Nixon's enemies list all over again. The list in question actually reveals that these dealers did not support only Republican candidates, but any candidate other than Obama.

If this doesn't upset you, it should. This is just one more evidence that dissent is being stifled in this country. Where is the press? I have not heard a whisper of this in the mainstream press.

Why are Americans not fighting back? Are we asleep? Or worse, are we dead already?

Utterly Off Topic Wednesday: Gallup Poll Shows Majority of Americans are now Pro-Life

A new Gallup poll shows that a majority of Americans are now pro-life. This is the first time that has happened since Gallup began asking the question in 1995!

Source: Gallup Organization

Until now, the highest percentage of adults identifying themselves as pro-life was 46%. The number of people who say abortion should be illegal under all circumstances is now the same as those who say it should be legal under all circumstances - 22%. Click here to see additional graphs and statistics from this interesting article.

This is exciting for the pro-life movement, and an interesting development to be occurring in the administration of the most pro-abortion president in history.

Sincere people have actually looked me in the eye and made the incredible statement, "But President Obama is not pro-abortion!"

If they believe that, I have some swampland in Florida I would like to sell them also.

I am sure there are some readers who think I am exaggerating when I say that Obama is the most pro-abortion president in history. For you, here are some highlights (From US News) of the President's anti-life agenda since his election:

November 19th, 2008 President-elect Obama nominates pro-abortion former Senator Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) as his Health and Human Services Secretary.

December 10th, 2008 The Obama transition team publishes a wish listfrom radical pro-abortion groups of pro-abortion actions they would like to see from the Administration.

November 25th, 2008 President-elect Obama appoints Melody Barnes, former board member for the pro-abortion EMILY's List and executive vice president for policy at the George Soros-funded Center for American Progress, as director of the domestic policy council.

December 1st, 2008 President-elect Obama nominates pro-abortion advocate Senator Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) as Secretary of State and pro-abortionad vocate Susan Rice as Ambassador to the United Nations.

December 20th 2008 President Obama nominates Harold Varmus and Jonathan Moreno, both of whom advocate for destroying human embryos for experiments and human embryo cloning for experiments, to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

January 6th, 2009 President-elect Obama nominates Thomas Perrelli, attorney who argued on behalf of Michael Schiavo pro bono in the assisted homicide case of Terri Schiavo, to be Associate Attorney General.

President Obama nominates Dawn Johnsen, former Executive Director of radical pro-abortion group NARAL who has argued against the policy of "reducing abortions" and has compared pregnancy to slavery, to be Assistant Attorney General.

January 22nd, 2009 In one of his first written public statements,President Obama releases a statement celebrating the anniversary of the Roe-v.Wade decision that allows for unlimited abortion.

January 23rd, 2009 President Obama issues his Executive Order overturning the Mexico City Policy, freeing up taxpayer funds for groups that perform and promote abortions.

January 26th, 2009 President Obama's nominee for Deputy Secretary of State, James B. Steinberg, testifies that he believes the Constitution guarantees abortion should be funded by taxpayer funds.

February 3rd, 2009 President Obama nominates David Ogden, a lawyer for the porn industry who has argued that girls as young as 14 do not need parental notification when seeking an abortion and that abortion is a form of family planning that should be eligible for taxpayer funding, to be Deputy Attorney General.

Now these are just the things he did as president-elect, and up to the first week he was in office! You can see the rest of the list of things he did in his first 100 days here. He has found other things to do since then.

Actions speak louder than words, and even his words are clear enough that it is hard to understand how anyone could have gotten the idea that he was not pro-abortion.

Utterly Off Topic Wednesday: What is this?

Easily accessible from a major New Jersey Interstate.
Plush Carpet.
Comfortable Chairs and Couches.
Arched Ceiling.
Soft Lighting.
Tasteful Decorations.
“Valet” Service for your Automobile.
Free Internet Access.
Free Coffee.

Answer to follow...

It’s the Waiting Room for the Express Lube and Car Wash on Route 130 in Hamilton Township , Mercer County , NJ!

Utterly Off Topic Wednesday: Wal-Mart Customer Finds Human Teeth in New Wallet

Police say the man found 10 human teeth Saturday when he unzipped a compartment in the wallet. One tooth had a filling.

Honestly, I couldn't make this stuff up. From FOX News...

read more | digg story

Utterly Off Topic Wednesday - Avoiding High Credit Card Fees

Outrageous Fees...

Greg McBride, CFA

Bankrate.com

he fees really add up -- bank fees, credit card fees, loan fees, real estate fees and car rental fees. As a consumer, you get dinged at every turn, it seems. Some of these charges may appear to be reasonable -- while others are clearly outrageous. But you can beat the system if you know how...

BANKING AND CREDIT CARD FEES

Fees charged by banks and credit card companies have skyrocketed in the last several years. Some of the worst...

Doubled-up ATM fees. When you use a machine that belongs to a bank other than the one that issued your ATM card, your bank may charge you a fee (usually $1.25 per transaction), and the owner of the ATM will charge a fee, as well ($1.64 on average). It's common for banks to charge $2 or even more at ATMs in airports, hotels, sports venues and other places where they know you are under pressure to find cash.

Self-defense: Know your bank's policy regarding ATM fees. Use your own bank's machines or national ATMs -- machines within a national surcharge-free network, such as Alliance One (866-692-6771, www.allianceone.coop) and Freedom ATM Alliance (412-261-8146, www.freedomatm.com) -- where there are usually no fees.

Check my company's Web site, www.bankrate.com, for the best ATM fees.

Balance-transfer fees. If you move your credit card balance to another card to obtain a lower interest rate, the new card company can charge you a fee.

Example: Bank of America charges 3% of the balance transferred.

Self-defense: Use a credit card company that has no fees for balance transfers and low interest rates.

Examples: Capital One (888-810-4013, www.capitalone.com) has no balance-transfer fees on most cards... Wachovia (800-922-4684, www.wachovia.com) exempts new customers from balance-transfer fees.

Credit card late and over-the-limit fees. Your credit card company may slap on a fee for paying late or for charging beyond your credit limit, even if your payment record is otherwise perfect.

Example: Providian charges a $39 late fee to any customer with a balance of $200 or more who misses a payment deadline, and $39 to those who exceed their credit line by 2% or more.

Self-defense: To avoid these fees...

Mail your credit card payment 10 days to two weeks before its due date... or if you pay on-line, a few days before it's due.

Ask to have your payment date moved so that the bill arrives right after a paycheck.

Contact your issuer and arrange automatic on-line payments. Citibank, MBNA, Discover, American Express and others have on-line sign-ups to do this.

Pay by phone at the toll-free number on the back of the credit card (there may be a charge from $5 to $15 for this service). The amount will be immediately withdrawn from your bank account and you'll receive a confirmation of the transaction by mail.

What to do: Ask your issuer to waive the fee -- many will do so as a courtesy to customers with good payment records.

Biweekly mortgage payment fee. The "magic" of a biweekly (every two weeks) mortgage payment is that you end up making the equivalent of 13 full mortgage payments in a year rather than the usual 12, reducing the time needed to pay down the mortgage and cutting interest payments substantially. But a biweekly payment plan from a bank often includes an up-front fee of several hundred dollars and monthly fees of about $10.

Self-defense: Instead, make extra principal payments with each of your regular monthly mortgage payments. You'll accelerate the payoff and reduce interest as much as you want to with no extra fees (assuming your mortgage allows this).

REAL ESTATE FEES

When selecting a home, the key is location, location, location, but at closing time, the key is fees, fees, fees...

Closing costs. When shopping for a mortgage lender, consider not only the interest rate but also closing costs. By law, you'll receive from the lender up front a "good faith estimate" (GFE) of closing costs. This is an itemized list of estimated costs to be paid at closing (e.g., the lender's fees, appraisal charges, title insurance premium, a partial month's interest payment).

Self-defense: Apply with three different lenders and compare their GFEs. Filling out applications takes some time, but it costs nothing to apply -- and you could save thousands of dollars. Use the free search engine at Bankrate.com. Then try to get fees waived or reduced or credited toward closing costs. The lender may not budge -- but it's worth asking.

Have your GFE reviewed by an attorney or other professional well before the closing. The privately run National Mortgage Complaint Center (866-714-6466, www.nationalmortgagecomplaintcenter.com) will review it and tell you about any excessive fees. Cost: $45.

Note: Banks should charge the buyer what they paid in appraisal, credit report and inspection fees. Often, they mark those fees up. Ask the lender to seek good deals on these items and pass along the savings to you. It may not -- but it doesn't hurt to ask.

Title insurance. When you get a new mortgage or refinance an old one, you must buy title insurance to protect against such problems as forgery of old title documents and potential interests of missing heirs. The premium is paid once and averages $800.

Self-defense: In some states, such as Texas, premiums are fixed by law. If the premium isn't fixed in your state, search under "title insurance" on the Internet or check the Yellow Pages. Call the companies to ask about their rates and coverage. If you're refinancing your mortgage and have lived in the house less than 10 years, ask to get title insurance at the less expensive "reissue" rate

Bottom Line/Retirement interviewed Greg McBride, CFA, senior financial analyst, Bankrate.com, North Palm Beach, Florida, a provider of interest rate information and personal finance news, articles and commentary (www.bankrate.com).

Utterly Off Topic Wednesday - You Escaped, Number 6

While surfing around on yet another blog surfing site called Condron.us. I was saddened today to learn of the death of Patrick McGoohan. He was 80 years old. Same age as my father-in-law would have been had he not smoked himself to death in 1993.

Patrick McGoohan's Number Six was one of my favorite characters in all of television. It has been 40 years since he captivated me for seventeen episodes of "The Prisoner", a bizarre and mysterious show about a man who was kidnapped from his home in London and finds himself in a creepy Stepford village where nobody has an identity, and he is known only as Number Six.

According to TV.com member mac-a-licious, The Prisoner was a

Kafkaesque drama of a man with acess to his nation's intelligence secrets who, after resigning his post in anger is kidnapped and taken to a mysterious village where he is repeatedly asked to give information, particularly the reason for his resignation.

A show of unusually high technical quality for its time, particularly for British independent television. Created by it's starring actor, Patrick McGoohan, who had previously starred in the series Secret Agent/Danger Man as the morally responsible intelligence officer John Drake, The Prisoner was a close-ended series each episode dealing with a moral or ethical quandary while detailing the protagonists latest attempt to escape or to beat his nemesis du jour. One of the pleasures of the show was its use of gimmicks and inside jokes, some of which could not be appreciated until the introduction of home video more than a decade after the show aired. Among these are that almost no characters were referred to by name but by number (the central charactor was "Number 6"), a takeoff on the hokey theme song for Secret Agent with its refrain "They've given you a number, and taken 'way your name." Others include a regular change of the actors who portrayed the arch nemesis, Number 2, as each number 2 was defeated by number 6. And veiwers were soon to love "Rover", a monstrous security robot that sometimes killed escapees. A remake of the series is underway: as usual with such I simply ask why?

Ugh. Until I read this review I didn't know they were going to do a remake. Even with Jim Caviezel as Number 6, and the quantum leap in techanical wizardry which will make the Village even more surreal and mysterious, there is no way to recreate the campy '60s atmosphere and acting. Neither is there any way to recreate the precise persona Patrick McGoohan brought to the character of Number 6.

Well, I shall miss you. Time to drag out the DVDs and pay tribute to one of the most original television series ever aired.

Utterly Off Topic Wednesday: Top Ten Irritating Phrases

I have been suffering from writers block for about a week and apologize for the large number of "guest bloggers" lately, but I just had to include this one. Utterly Off Topic Wednesday returns with a visit to Judy Aron's Consent of the Governed. While you are there, you should read some of her insightful political and economic commentary!

Judy has cataloged the ten most irritating phrases recently compiled by Oxford University.

At the end of the day, I discovered that each and every fairly unique individual I personally have come in contact with at this moment in time finds me absolutely irritating 24/7. It's a nightmare.

Would you like fries with that?

Utterly Off Topic Wednesday - Can you tell the difference between a horse and a frog?

Watch closely... If this picture doesn't rotate for you, tilt your head to the right and look again. Pretty cool.

Utterly Off Topic Wednesday - The Perfect Worker

I haven't written anything lately about working at home, what with the beginning of school putting me in a homeschool state of mind. So today's OT post is something silly about working that I got in an email.

1. Bob Smith, my assistant programmer, can always be found
2. hard at work in his cubicle. Bob works independently, without
3. wasting company time talking to colleagues. Bob never
4. thinks twice about assisting fellow employees, and he always
5. finishes assignments on time. Often he takes extended
6. measures to complete his work, sometimes skipping coffee
7. breaks. Bob is a dedicated individual who has absolutely no
8. vanity in spite of his high accomplishments and profound
9. knowledge in his field. I firmly believe that Bob can be
10. classes as a high-caliber employee, the type that cannot be
11. dispensed with. Consequently, I duly recommend that Bob be
12. promoted to executive management, and a proposal will be
13. executed as soon as possible.

Addendum: That idiot was standing over my shoulder while I wrote the report I sent to you earlier. Kindly re-read only the odd numbered lines.

Utterly Off Topic Wednesday -Monkey Butt?

Welcome to Utterly Off Topic Wednesday.

Well, this is one from the Twilight Zone.

While visiting a homeschool colleague's enormously fun blog I came across this post:

"Monkey Butt"

I kid you not.

I don't know what else to say.

Utterly Off Topic Wednesday - Kindness is its own reward

Today's heartwarming story is from my good friend Ed, who forwarded this by email. It doesn't seem to have a title, but it has a wonderful conclusion.

By Jaye Lewis

I was feeling my age that morning as I limped from the parking lot up to the Physical Therapy Building.

I was pushing fifty. I was crippled, and I was feeling like a failure. Thankfully, I was happily married. However, health problems had cut short my dreams of finishing my education. Gloomily, I couldn't recall a thing that I had ever done that was important.

My thoughts became more disheartened when I noticed the middle-aged man limping in front of me--his long gray hair blowing in the wind. I just knew I'd be stuck in the waiting room with him. I was in no mood for a conversation. I knew I was in for a long and painful wait.

By the time I reached the hallway, one of the two chairs available was occupied by the gray-haired man. Reluctantly, I took my seat next to him, hoping that I could bury myself within the pages of an outdated magazine.

My bubble of protection was immediately interrupted by his curious stare. I looked up with a sigh. He gave me an uncertain smile as our eyes met.

"I know you," he said.

"No, you don't."

"Yes, I'm certain I know you."

"I'm not from here," I insisted.

"No. I've met you someplace before."

"That's impossible. I'm certain we've never met."

"I feel that I know you from long ago," he said with conviction.

In spite of myself, I was intrigued. We played "twenty questions," and we finally got around to the Vietnam War and San Francisco.

He had served in the Army. He'd been wounded in battle, and he was darned proud of it.

"I didn't do anything important," I said. "I served stateside, as a U.S. Navy WAVE, at San Francisco International Airport. I married way too soon, and I was discharged when I became pregnant," my voice trailed off.

Suddenly, the man became very excited.

"I remember receiving help from a young WAVE," he grinned, "with red hair just like yours! It was in the spring of '67, when I came back wounded from Vietnam."

He continued, "I've never seen anyone like her, before or since. She moved heaven and earth to make sure that I was well taken care of. She was a tiger, all right. I was badly wounded, barely dragging on crutches. She got me into a wheelchair, and she literally ran after a local bus, making them stop. Then she nearly carried me onboard, giving the driver careful instructions to make sure that I arrived at the hospital, safe and sound. And then she called to see how I was!"

"I didn't see her, again, until four months later, when I was heading home, still on crutches. All I saw was this WAVE fighting like a wildcat, trying to get away from some drunken sailor."

Chills crept up my spine as I remembered the wounded soldier who had rescued me.

"I just couldn't let that girl be ill-treated, after all she had done for me. I threatened that sailor with one of my crutches and he finally put her down. I escorted her back to her desk..."

"And then you went and got the sailor," I choked on the words, "and you made him apologize to me."

Tears streamed down my cheeks, as I remembered that day, and him.

How could this happen? My rescuer from 1967 was sitting next to me, twenty-five years later and half a continent away. Our lives had come full circle, and there we sat--thanking each other for a mutual kindness, long ago.

We talked for a long time, and then we parted. I learned some important truths that day.

First, people are seldom what they seem to be at first glance.

Second, kindness is its own reward. It changes the lives of both parties.

Last, I learned that though my time was short, I had served my country, simply by serving those who had sacrificed everything.

I continued that day a happier woman because I understood that a kindness given will often return to bless you again.

Utterly Off Topic Wednesday - Your FICO Score

Well, it seems that there is a trend toward "Wordless Wednesdays" in the blogosphere in which the bloggers take a break from commentary or blather and publish only pictures.

In that same spirit, I offer "Utterly Off Topic Wednesday". We will not be talking about homeschooling at all today.

Hooray!

Let's start with the quote of the day - I just got this in an email and LOVED it.

Calling an illegal alien an 'undocumented immigrant'
Is like calling a drug dealer an 'unlicensed pharmacist.'

I wish I knew who said this, I would like to shake his hand, or at the very least give him an attribution for the quote.

OK, now for the meat. I want to bring to your attention an article on my free info site about debt consolidation and other debt related topics at www.lifeafterdebt.net There is actually also a link to it in the sidebar.

The article gives three strategies to raise your FICO score. For the uninitiated, the FICO score is a number the three major credit bureaus use to determine whether the way you handle money makes you a reasonable risk for them to extend credit. The score has several components - payment history, utilization (do you have a lot of accounts with low balances or a few accounts that are maxed out?), established history, number of inquiries, and mix of credit types that you are holding. Your FICO credit score can be used to determine your interest rate and how much credit a lender will give you.

Here is a sample strategy from the article. You can read the whole article here.

Strategy Two: Maintain Your Good Credit History

Good job - you have paid your bills on time, and do not have high credit card debt. Here's some ideas to keep your FICO score as high as possible.

First, don't close your old accounts. One part of your credit score is based on the amount of credit available versus amount of credit used. Closing old accounts can lower this part of your score. Another part of your score is based on the longevity of your accounts, another reason not to close older accounts even after they are paid off.

Second, paying off your credit cards every month is good money management, but you may be able to improve in this area. Here's the scenario: you have a $2000 credit card. Every month, you charge about $1800 to that card. And, every month you pay it off. But here's what happens - your credit card company reports your credit information monthly to FICO. If they report it before you pay off your card, it looks like you carry a high balance on your credit card every month. You may find your FICO score improves if you pay off your credit card at a different time of the month.