Elayne had to report that Datsa has passed.

Datsa, for those who don’t know, was a venerable tuxedo that has been featured on Elayne’s for as long as there has been cat blogging. Like any cat approaching his second decade, he had medical issues, but they had been stabilized.

It is sad when they have to go, but they know when it’s time, and you have to respect their comfort and dignity.

Charlie Pierce wants everyone to know what a piece of work “the zombie-eyed granny-starver from Wisconsin” is, and today’s topic was his income.

I found the web site of that little ‘mom and pop’ family business, Ryan Incorporated Central. Yep, just little projects, like railroads, Ohare Airport, Interstates, you know, an everyday small family business.

Oh, yes – Paul Ryan has less executive experience than Sarah Palin, class president in high school is as close as he comes.

I see people linking to the Washington Post for the story about a US Navy vessel colliding with an oil tanker in the Persian Gulf, but they don’t understand the situation.

It was time to check with an Old Salt, Rick Spilman, for some facts : “The Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, USS Porter collided with the Japanese owned, Panamanian flag, Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) M/V Otowasan in the the Strait of Hormuz at around 1 am Sunday, local time.”

See, now we know happened. There are a lot sizes when it comes to ‘tankers’, and this vessel was the second largest type. The US destroyer is at fault. There is nothing that the tanker could have done that wouldn’t have been easily avoided by the destroyer. Because of the narrowness of the channel through the Strait, the tankers risk running aground if they don’t stay on the prescribed line.

Fortunately no one was injured, but there will be a huge repair bill, so I assume the Navy will relieve the captain of the destroyer and the bridge crew will probably be looking for new careers. The Strait of Hormuz is no place for amateurs.

So this Spring I decided to provide the ferals with cat beds plant a few flowers to add some interest to the front of the house and get the roses my Mother decided I needed into the ground.

In a long planter I planted Mexican heather [cuphea hyssopifolia] in the center with marigolds in front and behind it. The marigolds died from some sort of fungus and I pulled them up. Then, from the front of the heather I noticed a small reddish vine tipped with a red flower appear.

In the weeks that followed more the vines came out to produce what you see in the picture. They grow along the ground until they are ready to bloom, and then they shoot up. The flowers are about 1¼ inches [3 cm] across with multiple buds on the tips and they close at night, reopening in the day. They look like primroses, but the rest of the plant doesn’t. I assume it was a stray seed from the nursery where the heather was grown, and probably non-native. I don’t plan to do anything with it much, but I’d like to know what it is.