Fun flower

Honeysuckle. Not native, no wildflower points, even though it is a volunteer. I kept the vine because I like the vine. This year it put out a blossom and now a second one and the color just happens to match the bee balm behind it. 

I made pesto tonight. 

But wait, didn’t you harvest the basil days ago?

Do I judge you? 

When you run out of pine nuts you can use peanuts. It isn’t as good but you can. When you run out of Parmesan, well, I guess you can stop. But I still have a lot of basil left. Wow. 

I am not leaving tomorrow. Yes, I will have a visa, which is amazing. But I messed something else up. I will leave Friday. The trip will be 38 hours long. How can there be anyplace on the planet that takes 38 hours to get to? Once I arrive, I will then be driven another four hours. With enough pills I will hopefully sleep on the plane - twice - and be ok. At least I’m not driving. 

But because it is Friday and not tomorrow I’m now much more relaxed right now. 

We’ll see if I stress out again tomorrow. 

Chinese companies increasingly won’t sell goods directly to Russian firms because of sanction risks. Russian organizations have been buying goods through the United Arab Emirates from Chinese firms, having the goods shipped directly to them in Russia. Now the Chinese firms won’t do this any more unless the goods go to the United Arab Emirates. 

Ukraine destroyed one of Russia’s special electronic warfare systems in Kursk. They have been in Kursk THREE WEEKS???? Russia just upgraded its Sapphire electronic warfare system in November. These systems are supposed to protect Russia from drone attacks and so a drone was used to destroy it. 

Ukraine has its F-16s! They used them in combat! Russia launched a tremendous attack on Ukraine including cruise missiles. They fly at low altitudes so they can evade radar.  The F-16s are much better at combatting them than anything else Ukraine has. It has superior radar that can detect low flying targets better. 

Russian soldiers whose contracts have ended have to desert if they want to leave the army. 

Ok, yesterday I said that satellite images show that hundreds of Russian military facilities are in range of ATACMS, missile systems the US gave. If the US gave permission to use them, would Ukraine win the war?

Remember that a lot of the “news” isn’t. It is speculation, opinion, and often deliberate attempts to rile people up to sell papers. Sometimes you read things from supposed experts that are clearly nonsense, like Russian elites losing trust in Putin because he assassinated the Wagner lead - did anyone in the entire world not expected that man to be assassinated? So in that spirit, there are more articles suggesting Putin is trying to “coup proof” his reign by purging high ranking officials and officers. Arrests. It is tough for these people but it helps reduce the number of competent people left which accelerates Russia’s loss. But, don’t put too much faith in it because he’s been purging people for a while. We’ll just keep hoping. Maybe it will be true?