my garden is beautiful

My garden is beautiful.
Everything in my garden is beautiful.
If you visit my garden and you don't think it is beautiful I will kindly ask you to leave.

I began the day with the most gracious woman. Somehow she knew I'd forgotten everything she'd taught me before and offered to explain it all again and was so very sweet about it. 

Then I got to have virtual coffee with someone I worked for in Mozambique a few years ago. He made my job there so much easier and more pleasant and by the end of the assignment I looked awesome professionally. Now we both work for the same agency. 

And then ...

Really a very lovely day. 

A new tranche of gladiolas in front are beginning to bloom.

My mother-in-law sent me an article and recommended Taffix as an additional measure to prevent Covid. Israel and Europe are apparently having good success with it. It coats the inside of the nose. An NIH article had good things to say about an experiment in Israel. She said it doesn't feel super pleasant so you'd only use it when distancing and masking aren't possible. 

A new Bayraktar TB2  system, with three drones and a ground control station, was handed over to the Ukrainian military from the Come Back Alive Foundation. There was a ceremony earlier this month. Come Back Alive was established in 2014 and is based in Kyiv. It bought the system for $16.5 million. 

Volunteers from Serhiy Prytula Foundation raised $20 million to buy more Bayraktar TB2 drones. 

The drones are made by Baykur in Turkey. This is the company that, rather than take the money raised by Lithuanians and later by a Ukrainian TV station, donated drones and asked that the money be given to humanitarian causes. Ukrainians made a song for it (must be 18 or over to watch). 

Well Putin wanted some. According to CNN Turk Putin talked with Erdogen about setting up a Baykur factory in Russia. "We have not delivered or supplied them with anything, [and] we will as well never do such a thing because we support Ukraine, support its sovereignty, its resistance for its independence" - CEO of Baykar, Haluk Bayraktar.

The United States is committed to send as many as 580 Phoenix Ghost drones to Ukraine as part of a $270 million package the Pentagon announced on Friday. Phoenix Ghost tactical unmanned aircraft systems are drones that fit inside a backpack and can hang in the air for up to six hours. Because it can stay in the air for long periods of time it is known as "a loitering munition." The drones have infrared guidance, allowing them to operate at night and destroy medium-armored targets. Defense News reported that the technology was developed specifically for use in Ukraine.

The Pentagon said there are reports of Russian soldiers at all levels deserting or refusing to fight. 

Russian soldiers refusing to fight are being rounded up and detained, prompting families to try to go to their rescue. Troops who thought they could leave Russian forces after a three-month contract have instead been sent to a makeshift detention center. Relatives have traveled to the center to get answers. 

A growing number of Russian families are demanding answers from the Kremlin about missing soldiers. A woman told the BBC that many mothers blame the Kremlin for the deaths of their loved ones. More than 100 Russian families wrote to Putin demanding help locating their children, siblings, and spouses after different departments and ministers gave them mixed or conflicting information about the whereabouts of their relatives. 

Russia is facing ammunition shortages in eastern Ukraine. Russians are wearing out their artillery pieces and not repairing them - and now Russian artillery systems are blowing up.