farmer john

I have given up. There are plenty of delicious and interesting things that will grow happily here- you can only do so much fighting nature. This year's first experiment is going to be oyster leaf- seed just arrived from France.

They were foraged in West VA. I have tried planting them various places on my farm repeatedly with exactly zero success. 

This isn't something Erik Bruner-Yang might have at Honeycomb in Union Market, is it?

They definitely had them earlier in the year (as I supplied some of them)- not sure currently.

 The Bird team would win some of the time and the Magic team would win others.  It would be tremendously entertaining.

Similar to how it went in real life... the tangible dislike between the 2 teams made for awesome viewing.

I don't think farmer john's point can be over-stressed: Johnson consistently had better teammates - I don't think McHale or Parish would have been McHale or Parish without Bird (we'll never know for sure about McHale because his career virtually overlapped Bird's), but I think the Lakers' studs would have been stars on any team, with the possible exception of borderline-star Mychal Thompson, who was much more effective at Portland when he was younger. Interesting side note: Did you know that Parish never made a single 3-point shot in his entire career?

I liked Mchale, (a 3rd pick like Michael Jordan).  Like all the Celtics he benefited by playing with Bird, but on his own he was a legitimate star, easily having the best post moves in the game to that period.  Nobody could cover Mchale.  Many of Bird's feeds to Mchale were from the wing or top to a Mchale with a defensive body behind him.  Bird would feed him high.  Mchale would take the poor defender through what he described as the "torture chamber" of fakes and more often than not score.  Charles Barkley called Mchale his toughest opponent.  In 87 having a year that was truly Bird-like in quality, he broke his foot and kept playing through the regular season and then through the NBA finals.  Besides talented he was tough.

If McHale had played on a different team he would've scored a LOT more points. (Not that that is a good thing - see Kevin Love.)

Some of those Laker teams had 4 players who were the first pick in the draft their given year- Kareem, Magic, Worthy (my favorite player ever), and Klay Thompson's Dad (Mychal). This of course means almost nothing but I always found it interesting. 

Given the premise that a college player was going to be included Laettner was the right choice. Shaq later became in my opinion the most physically dominant big man ever but couldn't hold a candle to Laettner in college.

Selling raw milk as "pet food" is fairly common. The other common way around the food police on this issue is to sell the customer a share of a cow with the idea that the milk they receive is then from their own animal. The laws on retailing dairy products are particularly nonsensical.

Shooter- Curry by a mile- his body control is insane- no matter what his lower body is doing his shoulders square up.

Dribbler- Maravich over Isaiah

Passer- Magic over Bird

Ball Handler- for some reason I find this one the toughest- leaning towards Isaiah though. Phil Ford would be in this conversation were it not for injuries shortening his career. He was the best collegiate ball handler ever.

Rebounder- Moses Malone over Rodman. Barkley was great as well at 6'4" or so.

Dunker- even more subjective than the rest... I'll take Jordan out of many prospects.

Defender- Jordan away from the basket, Olajuwon near. Lebron, Tim Duncan, Kareem, Ewing also deserve mention.

Apologies to Wilt, Bill Russell, and the Big O but they were before my time.

Curry is the best shooter in history.

Maravich is the best dribbler in history.

Bird is the best passer in history.

Curry is far and away the best shooter I have ever seen.

Maravich is on the fringe of being "before my time" but I have seen no one better in my time.

I'll take Magic over Larry. They are the 2 best I have ever seen though and the game was never better than Magic's Lakers vs Bird's Celtics- greatest team sports rivalry of my lifetime.

The Barbeque Exchange in Gordonsville is about a 35-minute drive from Brightwood (according to Google maps).  It would seem to meet your needs quite well.  

Highly recommend this as well. Get the sausages. skip the ribs. It is a lovely drive from Brightwood too although the toddler may not appreciate the scenery.

Knakals Bakery in downtown Culpeper has the best glazed donuts in the world. Their other products are good too but the glazed donuts are where it's at. It's About Thyme is right up the street from there and is not quite as fancy as Foti's but somewhat so. They have always been very good in my experience- relatively simple European food. The barbecue place on the way out of town on 522 North (the name escapes me) is highly regarded by one of my buddies but I haven't been there as of yet and he is a Carolina barbecue fan so take that with a grain of salt.

Yoders Country Market on 29 near Madison has inexpensive sandwiches, some good deals on bulk foods, and goats outside in an elaborate climbing pen which may entertain the little one.

Funny, I was just telling Deanne yesterday that I had noticed much more sorghum being grown locally this year.

If Williams fate was not already sealed hopefully that does it.

Definitely under appreciated in the big scheme of things.

I got to see Moses play close up and almost actually got to play against him once. When I was a freshman at VCU I roomed with a member of the basketball team. Since I had been a high school player and could (at least to some degree) not embarrass myself on the court with guys who were way better than me, my roomie would sometimes take me along to summer pickup games at VCU's gym. Moses was there quite a bit working out and would sometimes play himself. One day had the team I was playing with actually won the game we were playing Moses was waiting for the next game. Alas we did not. This was when Moses was in his late 20's and at or near the peak of his game.

Moses was really wide, probably actually no more than 6'6" or 6'7". He was also quite soft spoken and seemed to try to avoid the spotlight.

Ben's Chili Bowl- until we started delivering in DC about a year ago I simply spent little or no time in the city. Now I am in too much of a hurry to eat when I am in there even though I drive by every time i deliver to Fainting Goat.

Jalafuego- jalapenos vary wildly in heat from almost none to about 100k scovilles... i have not grown that particular variety but one thing all jalapenos have in common is that distinct flavor regardless of heat.

red hot cherry- hot but should not blow your doors off...should carry a bit of sweetness along with the heat- very good pickling pepper.

cayenne- can vary wildly in both heat and flavor. in general i think the fatter ones have much better flavor than the skinny ones. they tend to carry some sweetness along with the heat. skinny ones not so much.

bird's eye- most likely hotter than the ones listed prior, not a lot of distinct flavor once again.

jamaican scotch bonnet- should be considerably hotter than the others you have listed. (it's a habanero basically) should also have nice fruity/citrus flavor.

I have grown as many as 108 types of hot peppers in a season and for the most part have relied on simply biting the bullet or having one close friend who is even more of a hothead than I am do the sampling for me. My feeling has always been that I should at least try a pepper if I am going to sell it, regardless of the pain involved.

That being said, I think Astrid has a good idea. Sampling medium definitely needs to be an oil based one if you are going that direction.

I would also be happy to tell you what I think about various varieties.

It's over in a big way. 3 years ago we all thought the Nats could lead the NL for years to come. Now the future of the Mets, Cubs, and Pirates (at minimum) appear much much brighter. Yankees future will be good too when Harper is in pinstripes.

I have owned guns since I could count my age on the fingers of my hand and shoot and kill things with them on a semi-regular basis. I do not hunt for amusement (not that I particularly object to it) but varmint control is a necessity if you do what I do for a living. I suppose that makes me "pro gun".

That being said, I agree completely that gun culture in this country is completely out of control and we would be better off with way fewer of them in the hands of the public. This applies to handguns and semi-autos in particular although it is my opinion that if those were taken away the dunces would then turn to rifles as the most efficient alternative for committing crimes against humans.

The problem with regulation is that this cow has been out of the barn for a long time. There are millions of them already out there. Does this make regulation pointless? I don't know. The statement "when guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns" can be interpreted more than one way.

That is more of a concern when they are heading but it certainly can't hurt now (nor can a bit of mercy from the weather).

Either really. 

Didn't see it until this afternoon...

ASAP at this point.

In general I prefer fall for broccoli as it has less of a tendency to bolt with the days shortening rather than lengthening. Just make sure not to let it dry out too much in the heat.

Soccer players, swimmers, ultramarathoners, tennis players, etc are all certainly very fit but does fitness=athleticism? I would say not. Any schlub, athletic or not,  can become fit. (This is not to say that fitness is all there is to being great at any of the aforementioned activities.) Non-athletic people can be incredibly fit and remain non-athletic. I would agree with Don's assessment of NBA players as the top of the athletic food chain.

Season was short this year due to prolonged cold in March keeping ground temps down.