By Guest Blogger Jerry Cave
Publisher, Washington Home & Garden
I first met Jack Eden in 1980 when I arrived at WTOP Radio. Sadly Jack passed away January 17th in Williamsburg, Virginia after his fight with colon cancer. He was quite a character as well as a garden great. His audience was as passionate about his Sunday morning radio show “Over The Garden Fence” as he was.
I will never forget the Sunday I came in to catch up on work to find a line of Jack Eden devotees patiently waiting to receive some samples of seeds form Jack. He was perched on the steps and people would come up and he would dispense a few samples and exchange pleasantries. I thought he looked like a religious leader dispensing a blessing. It was a sight to behold. His following was very devoted. One day the manager of the now defunct Hechinger’s hardware store called up. I excitedly anticipated their interest in advertising. The manager said he only wanted to find out in advance what Jack was going to talk about on Sundays so he could stock it adequately when throngs would come in looking for it. I was awed at Jack’s power to move his audience. He went on to write for various newspapers with his column “Garden of Eden,” but I will always remember him as someone who moved people on the radio to work in their garden guided by the advice from this self-taught “garden guru.” He leaves behind his wife of 53 years, Patricia Wohlever Eden and two children and a lot of fond memories. My only question is if he is dispensing advice or getting advice for his heavenly garden?

About the Guest Blogger:
Jerry Cave is the proud father of two Eagle Scouts, Sean and Connor, and is celebrating his 25th anniversary with his lovely bride, Sheila. He enjoys hiking with Sheila, fishing with Sean, watching Connor play rugby -- and any time spent with family and friends.

When I worked at WTOP radio I remember when we decided to air traffic reports in the middle of the day because traffic was so bad. Now traffic reports air all day seven days a week. What’s more there are sites you can access on your computer or iphone that shows the traffic everywhere and the picture of the traffic from the cameras positioned at key roads. The only thing that seems to increase worse than the area’s traffic is technology’s ability for us to observe our own misery. 

I wonder if any of you have also noticed this marital phenomenon and wonder even more if anyone knows why this seems to happen. Pitchers seem to marry keepers. I am an admitted pack rat. I hate to throw things away. My wife throws some things away before she has taken the sales tag off of it. I noticed this opposite attraction with my parents and many other couples. It isn’t always true but it sure seems to happen more often than not. If any one else has noticed this among couples I would welcome your observation. If anyone knows why this happens other than the old saying that opposites attract I would appreciation the education.

The good news is that this is a great time to renovate and improve your house. Great companies are anxious to help you at a reasonable price. Some companies that literally would have been to busy to even give you an estimate at the height of the housing boom are available to do a superb job for you now and get it done faster than ever. Mortgage rates are low and people with good credit will get loans. While housing may have had some problems your home is still one of the best places to invest especially in this market that is supported by federal spending.

That said it has never been more important to make sure you take the right selection when choosing a contractor whether it is for maintenance, a touch up or a complete makeover.

The anticipation for the inauguration reminds of certain aspects of New Orleans Mardis Gras. First is that it consists of a major American city being invaded by people from around the country and a few from around the world.

It is a major challenge for police forces in general but specifically for the actual men and women in all branches of security. You know they have to be working a lot of overtime. While the money will be good they are going to be physically and mentally exhausted. The end of the event will be welcome indeed by the law enforcement community.

Workers need homes. The work is here, and more is on its way.

The new administration is clearly going to make the economy its highest priority, and that means money and lots of it. The stimulus will most likely be a trillion dollars, and that is just to start! There won’t be the slightest hesitation to spend whatever it will take to get the U.S. economy going again by this or any other administration. No one wants to be at the helm when the ship goes down so money will be no object, in fact money will be the object! And there are two things history tells us about money that comes out of Washington. First, is that a lot of the money never makes it out of town! Second, the people who get that money in this area need a place to live!

On a recent fishing trip to Dillon, Montana home of the University of Montana Western, I discovered an interesting way to go to college: one course at a time!

Photo Courtesy of www.backcountryangler.com

I didn't want to take time off to go on a fishing trip to Montana with old rugby buddies because I have so much work to do and the thought of flying is just dreadful these days. So I handled the decision to go on a trip with my friends like a man. I did what my wife told me to do, which was to go on the trip anyway. As usual she was right.

A few yearsbefore he died, I had a chance to speak to Michael Deaver about Ronald Reagan. I commented that I credited President Reagan with accomplishing something Inever thought possible, which was the implosion of the Soviet Union. Mr. Deaverlooked me dead in the eyes and said, "Jerry, you need to understand thatRonal Reagan believed what he said, he believed it was an evil empire, hetalked to Soviet dissidents when no one else would. He was committed toopposition to communism and Soviet expansion."

As I reflectedon how popular and successful Sarah Palin has become, I realized that, of themany things she has in common with Ronald Reagan, the most important is thatshe clearly believes the conservative cultural values she espouses. In short,she is honest. She believes. When you speak from the heart, your heart and mindand mouth are in sync. When you believe what you are talking about, yourteleprompter can break, and you can still give the speech of your life. Shecould have thrown away the carefully crafted speech and spoken entirely in herown words and still wowed the crowd at the Republican Convention and the 38million people who watched ontelevision. If as I predict, she does this in the 60 days, we will be seeingher do this for thenext 8 to 16 years.