Happy Pi Day!!

Tete-a-tete daffodils, which Kate very brilliantly suggested, are exactly the right height to fit in with the crocuses. 

Last year? the year before? I was trying to save my neighbor's lilac tree. I gave her a bigger pot for it. I surreptitiously watered it. She moved it to the other side of her yard. It isn't doing so well. It needs more sun. SHE'S GIVING IT TO ME!! 

I have a spot on my deck that surprised me by having so much sun it burned my dwarf Japanese Maple and fern. I'll put the dwarf lilac there, move the Japanese Maple somewhere else, and hopefully life will be better for everyone. I'm so happy, I wanted a lilac tree but thought I didn't have enough sun. I like lilacs and Karen loves lilacs. It is a tree not a bush, perfect! 

Irish moss - it is beautiful. Some of the Irish moss I planted last year near my stepping stones made it and did well. Most did not. Try again but with more soil amendment? Try again and if they don't make it this year give up and try something different? 

Also wonderful, I have found someone to help me finish the video, the nephew of a friend. 

Russia tried to crush Ukraine by attacking the electrical infrastructure. Everything depends on electricity now, including water, sewage, and heat. Deliberately attacking civilian infrastructure apparently constitutes a war crime. Russia pretended they weren't doing it deliberately, but they hit hundreds of high-voltage transformers. The fact that they hit such targets so accurately calls into question if the attacks on hospitals and schools were because they were inept or if they were deliberately attacking the cruelest of targets. We expected millions of refugees. 

Ukraine won. Engineers are repairing the system faster than Russia can destroy it. Russia is using precious, hard-to-replace Kinzhal missiles. 

Why didn't it happen? Because Ukrainians are amazing. They prepared, they had luck, they had quick thinking, and they got new air defense systems just in time. November 23rd Kyiv was hit so hard that they weren't sure the energy system could come back on again or whether the city would drain water from the heating system to keep pipes from freezing. 

Ukraine just got better and better at countering the missiles. In the beginning, Ukraine had an interception rate of 20-30%. Now, with mobile groups and Western air defense systems the figure is above 75%. Russia is using its expensive, scarce missiles because they are harder to intercept. 

Plus, Ukrainian energy engineers rock. There was some piece of hardware that went up in flames. Just like Scotty on Star Trek, it could not be replaced. There was no substitute. Repair was impossible. So they repaired it. 

Energy teams go to work in flak jackets and helmets. They work in the dark because it is safer.