AMMO GRRRLL: Things are not always what they seem!

I gather that she's not overly impressed with Mitt Romney....

NOT GOOD NEWS FOR SPACE-X: Crew Dragon capsule destroyed in ground test. Apparently this is the same spacecraft that had just returned from a successful [unmanned] flight to the International Space Station in March.

EARTH DAY HAS COME AND GONE, and President Trump got it right:

Environmental protection and economic prosperity go hand in hand. A strong market economy is essential to protecting our critical natural resources and fostering a legacy of conservation.

Saving the environment isn't exactly top of the list when people are hungry.

NOW THEY'RE CONCERNED: It wasn't that long ago that the Left was demanding higher gasoline prices.

I THINK VICTOR DAVIS HANSON IS AIMING A BIT HIGH: The adolescent progressive mind.

I'd suggest kindergarten -- or perhaps pre-K -- might be the more appropriate level.

FROM POWERLINE'S Week in Pictures, Bernie Sanders on 'sharing the wealth'.

Now go see the rest: I especially like the clown car, gender creation, dogs in San Francisco, sitbit, and Tabby Lee Jones.

SOMETIMES IT'S BEST NOT TO ASK: Senate Democrats' social media poll finds more users want Supreme Court justices like Kavanaugh than Ginsburg.

SPRING LIVES, Episode 7.

We're in the semifinals this week - next week should be the end of the series if it continues as it has so far. Here's the usual view from the deck:

Compared to last week, it's over. The ridgeline across the pond is completely gone, and only that small slice of the pond at the base of the stairs is visible. All of the trees have filled out and I'm not sure the foliage can get any denser.

The change looking down the path to the fire pit is equally dramatic. Much, much greener, and I expect the foliage will be denser next week even though the underbrush along this section of our property has been cleared out the past two years.

Here's the house, with the picture taken higher up the hill and much closer than last week. Note that the foliage behind the house has thickened considerably, as has the grass (read 'weeds') in the foreground. I'm thinking of clearing that out and planting some shade-tolerant turf grass, but that's still down a ways on the 'To Do' list.

Finally, the pond. This picture was takes slightly to the left of where I stood last week (to keep in the shade so the picture isn't washed out) and notice that the house has completely disappeared. It won't show again until late next fall.

And this week, a bonus picture: the dock and paddle boat as the base of the stair. It was gorgeous out this morning after the rain, and I wasted more than a few minutes watching the bass and bluegill cruise around along the dock and shoreline.

Last week's pictures are here for comparison.

A TIME FOR CHOOSING: Will Democrats follow their brains or their hearts? It would have to be their hearts; they have no brains.

I LOVE THIS: "Donald Trump is the whole basket of deplorables -- and he beat the pants off Obama on Election Day."

The worst President in American history is still hurting....

HEH: The redacted testimony of William Barr.

EVERY PRONOUN MUST GO: To root out gender inequity, we must search every corner.

REPUBLICANS SEE THE LAND OF THE FREE; Democrats see the land of the freeloader.
Key graf:

Mice die in mousetraps because they do not understand why the cheese is free.
The same thing happens with socialism.

Millennial-age Democrats need to keep that thought in mind. Seriously.

GEORGIA'S NOT 'BIG ENOUGH' FOR HER: Stacey Abrams won't run for U.S. Senate in Georgia.

Like Beto, she didn't fail high enough, so she'll almost certainly be seeking to fail higher.

WELL, GOOD: I'm not going to miss the climate Armageddon.

If Beto makes it to the Oval Office (fat chance!) I'm sure his first executive order will be to delay climate change for 8 years....

WE ALREADY KNOW IT INCREASES STUPIDITY: California tap water could increase cancer risk.

BERNIE BROS:

Heh. Linked from Townhall.

THIS CARTOON got me thinking that even if there was a vaccination for stupidity, Democrats would refuse it.

SPRING LIVES: Episode 6 of the series.

It's been a near-perfect couple of days, so much so that I've been busy with outside chores and neglectful of posting times. Here are today' s pictures. First the standard view pondwards from the deck:

Much greener this week. The bigger trees began budding out last week; now they're displaying actual leaves. The ridgeline across the pond is getting obscured, as is the pond itself by the lower growing vegetation. By next week, I expect the pond itself will be almost completely obscured except for that always visible slice at the base of the stairway.

The fire pit area has gotten much greener, but we still have some sky visible since the big trees still haven't begun to leaf out yet. As the canopy fills in, it will become much darker and 'foresty'.

The house is still relatively clear, but you can see that the canopy is developing in the upper left corner of the picture. Proof is also in the deeper shadow on the ground. We've had a couple of trees taken out (by falling) over the winter, so I'm hopeful that perhaps we can eventually have a somewhat grassy back yard.

Here's a different view from my usual - this time looking back up the stairs toward the house from the base (roughly the dock area). There are 112 steps from the dock to the basement of the house - roughly 70' and 2 'regain-my-wind' stops enroute.

The final picture is my usual from-across-the-pond view. Our house is still visible, but it'll soon disappear as the tall trees down along the pond edge add their leaves. They've been notably slow this year.

As usual, last week's pictures are here.

THE GREEN NUDE EEL IS NEITHER GREEN, NOR NUDE, NOR AN EEL: A 'Green New Deal' smackdown.

Update: be sure to watch the two videos at the end.