A Ray of Sunshine

The LipsYard Garden is alive with Sunflowers (Helianthus annuus.) The taller ones are the "Cherry Rose Hybrid,"

and these beautiful bright yellow ones are called "Baby Bear."

Did you know that sunflowers are one of the leading cash crops in the country?You can learn a whole lot about sunflowers HERE.

Also popping up like sunflowers, but without the happy feeling, are more attack ads from John McCain.

One ad features newspaper headlines criticizing Obama's tax proposals, which call for cuts for the middle class but for letting the Bush administration tax cuts lapse for those making more than $250,000 a year, and images of families.

"The press warns the 'taxman cometh,' the announcer says. "Obama's taxes mean 'higher prices at the pump.' Obama's taxes a 'recipe for economic disaster.' Higher taxes. Higher gas prices. Economic disaster. That's the real Obama."

Too bad this ad is just more of the same old false and discredited attacks that Senator McCain knows aren’t true. Senator McCain will say or do anything to hide the truth: while Obama will cut taxes for the middle class, McCain will give a billion dollars in new tax breaks to America’s eight largest corporations, while his plan provides no direct relief for more than 100 million American families.

What happened to the "Maverick?" He's been corrupted by the same team that got President George W. Bush elected.

McCain is so desperate to raise money so he can launch more negative attacks on Obama that he is getting help from a strategist with ties to lobbyist Jack Abramoff, whom McCain once helped investigate.

Ralph Reed, former director of the Christian Coalition and now on team McCain, is soliciting donors to attend a Monday fund-raiser in Atlanta for McCain and the Republican National Committee. In 2006, a House investigative committee concluded that Reed interceded with the Bush White House to help some of Abramoff's clients. Abramoff was sent to prison on conspiracy, mail fraud, and tax evasion charges.

Despite all of his rhetoric about reform, the truth is John McCain simply cannot be trusted to bring change to Washington politics.

Bye, Bye Sunflowers

Remember the sunflowers back in July? Our tall friends, following the sun from East to West are past their prime and starting to die. Time to say goodbye to Helianthus annuus.

Here we are using the garden fork to dig out the sunflowers.

They have a substantial rootball just under the surface.

This pile will be tied up, then put out for yard waste next month.

There's quite an empty spot left by our 'happy face' plants. It won't be long until everything is out of the LipsYard garden. Kind of reminds me of how the White House is getting rid of all the happy faced 'Yes-men.'

I can't wait until it's time to plow the whole place under and start fresh.

Sunflower power primer

Sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) poke their heads high above the LipsYard garden. Nearly 3,000 years ago (before Cher!) the Sunflower was domesticated for food production by the Native Americans. Lewis and Clark made mention in their journals, and it was brought back to the Old World by the early European explorers and widely cultivated there, too.

Sunflowers exhibit heliotropism. At sunrise, the faces of most sunflowers are turned towards the east. Over the course of the day, they move to track the sun from east to west, while at night they return to an eastward orientation.

What is usually called the flower is actually a head of numerous flowers crowded together. The outer flowers can be yellow, maroon, orange, or other colors. The seeds inside the circular head that we eat are actually fruit, while the true seeds are encased in an inedible husk. (This sounds like it was created in Dick Cheney's office to hide the truth!)