You know, all the things that comprise the Trump administration?

my yard. I've not seen any such creatures in it. If they come, they are eaten.

I do not have a formal "lawn" but have areas that are heavy to grass that get mowed/mulched or weed eated. Also I have ever expanding garden areas; some is hauled in river silt, some is stonier forest soil where there were six large 150 foot plus Douglas-fir removed 15 years ago. There are native trees breaking up the areas of my yard (about 1.5 acres) and along the property line (Doug fir, California black oak, tanoak, dogwood, canyon live oak (one huge), one incense cedar) and I force back the never ending entrenchment of Himalaya berry and wild grape. I am down to a pear tree and a cherry tree as the other fruit trees have declined and been removed. I live in interior Humboldt county on the north coast of California.

My method is to use a propane torch and repeatedly burn in the Spring, some areas I have hit 3X. I avoid having to rototill in the garden by this technique. It has gotten too dry lately to burn and I am busy planting flower and vegetable seeds and starts and bulbs. But just this AM I burned a slope where under the live oak shade where will planting to lilies and other shade tolerant plants that will naturalize. Also re-burned a raised bed area 4 feet by 22 feet of most recent leaf fall and Spring weeds where I will be planting lobelia, verbena, and gladiolus. There are poke weeds, a perennial herb quite attractive, already sprouting that I avoided with the torch. The are "weeds" but very attractive (and I like them). Tomorrow AM I will break up the surface and rake what debris remains and plant. Around the poke and gladiolus from last year, I will hand weed. This bed was just built last year.

I will use the propane torch for the early weeding of the garden as well, being careful not to scorch the young plants. The fire adds charcoal to the soil, makes the soil easier to work, and reduces the seed load of the various potential "weeds", in general creating a favorable ecology for my gardening pursuit. The birds are busy scavenging the bare soil for seeds and insects. I do much bird watching throughout the year. There is a large area of Himalaya berries and grapes by my driveway entrance I prepared and meant to burn but now need to wait to Fall because of fire hazard. I am an old man too (66) and went through chemo last year so this is all very therapeutic for me.

I always vote and have always been registered and voted Democratic since 1971. The one time I voted GOP was in the 1980 POTUS California primary when voted for John Anderson in hopes of slowing Reagan (who was Governor when I was student at Cal and was POTUS when I resigned as a Fed after 16 years from YOC in high school, career Fed in tech series age 19, to professional post university. Of course voted Carter in the election though I had favored Brown in primary season.

We as a Party and Nation are enduring a trial by fire. I am ever hopeful for a change to a government dominated POTUS House Senate by the Democratic Party. Like always but it seems earlier this cycle that our Party is engaged in another circular firing squad confusing and being intolerant to each other, even here at DU. Trump has done damage to and parked many negative folks into the agencies and various institutions that will take much longer to repair than the time to cause the damage and create a strong anti-Progressive trajectory. There are also serious issues we cannot deny within the Party; much dead wood you would mulch and I have taken to burning in my immediate environment. Seems to me that the strongest stance we can make going into the 2020 election is to take out Trump and his lackeys (Barr come immediate to mind) as rapidly and with as much prejudice as possible; too much talk and too much waiting for the next investigation while ground is still being lost (damn Himalaya berries). Wish I had the answer on how to better come together as a Party; there is a divide between what I call the "Chamber of Commerce Democrats" and the rest of us. We do need to go aggressively into rural areas and into Red States, this is key.

You have grown on me over the years and have become one of my favorite posters at DU. Thank you.