When I go to plant seeds I usually put them in a little dish to spread out in the garden.
I knocked over the dish onto the gravel by the door. Here are the beets trying to do what they do best.
These aren’t beets. Just a few shots of the roses. They are very neglected so I’m thrilled that they do anything.
I ran across a post somewhere about washing your pillows. I love when the Internet makes proclamations like: you should wash you pajamas every 3 days or you should wash your pillows 2x a year — like there is an official word on this. For the record: I have never washed a pillow in my life. I just always had pillows that looked like they’ve been used for dead people and every 10 years or so I would buy new pillows.
The Internet said I could wash my feather pillows so I did. Luckily they warned me that it would take forever for them to dry. It was a little scary for a bit because they were like drown boneless giant birds (also smelled like wet bird). But it was a nice day and after about 5 hours in the drier I put them outside and they ended up wonderfully fresh and fluffy.
A few weeks later I decided to wash our non-feather pillows.
Afterward I said to Bob: This was not quite as successful.
They came out super lumpy. I gave Bob the lumpier one and he said he could barely notice. We are pretty low maintenance in this house.
I also bought a fancy neck pillow. My back/shoulder/neck issues continue. Stupid hedge clipping. I am still trying to stay off the computer except for work and trip planning. We are going to Montreal and Quebec City this summer. More on this later.
A few weeks ago I tweaked my back doing yard work. I can even remember what it was: those stupid hedge clippers. I do this every year.
While it is painful in many positions, it is especially painful when I sit at the computer so almost all non-essential computing has been eliminated. Also all but basic yard work. And no exercise except upper back and neck release.
I don’t know what to do with myself when I can’t exercise, write or do yard work.
I cleaned out the bathroom cabinets. I threw out a lot of stuff (like scrunchies with dead elastic and squeezed out mini-tubes of toothpaste) but I learned that most medications are good after the expiration date, even up to 15 years.
So, no new Photoshop tricks from me for awhile. But lots of dead pain relievers.
Bob bought some stuff to put on the lawn to make it healthier and help with the weeds.
Wow. We call it Godzilla grass. It grows very fast, very green and very thick. He could mow it three times a week if he was so inclined. He is considering that maybe we don’t want a lawn that grows like this.
But I think the weather has helped. Lots of rain followed by lots of sun followed by lots of rain followed by lots of sun. The grass has no choice.
Future apples. The apple tree is a partner in the Godzilla theme if Godzilla meant a huge quantity rather than one huge fire-breathing out-of-control thing.
Berries are also looking very promising. The berry patch is a mess however so I need to get out there and do some work. I’ve also got sunflower volunteers everywhere and I really need to yank yank. I love them but they tend to takeover.
Last week when I was working in the front yard, a kid came down the street playing the ukelele and singing. It was really sweet. I wanted to ask him to hang out and serenade me but I thought it would seem too creepy.
I feel bad about how hostile my feelings are about this poor plant.
I call it Sideshow Bob which looking at that search results is only partially accurate.
Actually that search result is hilarious. Please click.
I thought I needed something moderately pretty that would take up some space in that spot. But it’s not really that pretty and its only claim to fame it that it’s bushy. It only blooms for about 3 minutes. It’s not like I want to put something else there so I’m not going to whack it down. But I don’t love it.
Today we received a handwritten and heartfelt letter from a real estate agent lamenting the housing shortage in our area and very excitedly inviting us to contact her so she can sell our house. It’s not even like: if you’re considering moving. It’s like: call me, so I can see the inside and finalize my pricing.
Great. But where are we supposed to live?
At the beginning of the week when I got home there was a basketball hoop — not in our front yard but as close to our front yard as you could get without being in our front yard.
I admit, my first instinct was to be alarmed. But I’m glad we live on a street where the kids play outside and it couldn’t possibly be that big of a problem so I forgot about it.
Later Bob came home and said: Honey, there’s a basketball hoop in our yard.
It’s not in our yard and it will be fine, I told him.
As I have mentioned before, I get up at 5:30 on weekdays so I go to bed at 9:30. I barely had my head on the pillow and it started: thump! thump! thump!
And really what I was thinking is: Oh no. Am I going to have to be the wicked neighbor?
This is really the *only* time I would complain about hearing a basketball thumping in the front yard. It wasn’t that bad and only lasted about 5 minutes so everything may still be fine.
This is the second year in a row that the minute these bloomed we had a couple of hot days that dried them to nothing.
First tomato sproutlet
When I dug my potatoes last year I had a bunch of tiny little nibblets — smaller than a marble. I threw them all in a basket and left them in the shop all winter.
A few weeks ago I planted them and I have potatoes sprouting everywhere. At least I think they’re potatoes.
