Carol is in Seattle until Thursday morning. She will be gone for a week, and as you can see from the above photo the cats are missing her a great deal. They are sleeping through their sadness.

The garden is doing great. The newly planted squash have come up. The tomatoes are about to put out a ton of small grape tomatoes, though the big ones are a few weeks behind. I need to pull the peas, they are not doing well at all.

The trip east went well. We had a good visit with C's parents, though her mother over did it and was in pain by the time we left.

Other than that, it has been very quiet here.

We are off to see C's parents this weekend. Not only is it mom's day, it is also her birthday.

Right now I am sitting out back listening to water drip off leaves. It is not currently raining so what I am hearing is the water as it finishes its fall through the oak leaves to the patio. It is warm and earthy this morning. I was out front briefly, and the rain had knocked the scent out of the rosemary. Quite delightful to step out front and get a whiff of rosemary melded to the fresh rain scent.

Pulled my taters this morning. There were only a handful from the half-dozen plants, which is a little disappointing. However, there are a few reasons for the low yield: 1) bugs got to the leaves early on and the plants never fully recovered, 2) the soil is still very hard even though I double dug the plot (need to add some straw or something similar to loosen the soil in the future), and they needed another couple of weeks to finish developing (though the baby taters should taste great).

The weather has been decent lately, we have finally cracked the 90's for a few days in a row. Cooler next week, but one can take comfort in summers return.

post script

Went to Frisco this afternoon for some tamarind past and noticed that the wheat fields are ready for harvest and the corn is not far behind. I have never seen the wheat ripen here as the last few years it was too dry and farmers either did not plant or they plowed it all under early. cool huh?

Up way to early this morning, again. I wish I could blame it on the aging process, but it's not.

Still no work. Been looking at budgets and such like and wondering how anyone can claim this to be a recession when so many necessary items are being destroyed in the name of economic realities.

   I have been seeing stories of more libraries closing across Canada and America. Some of these places have unique items that will be lost forever. Seems like the Alexandria library is burning once more and there is nothing we can do to stop the barbarians running the show.

I will stop there cause I feel a rant coming on and I would rather not spoil my day.

Summer has settled in here. Nice balmy evenings, warm days, and lots of green left from the damp spring. I have taken to regular watering of my garden and man have the tomato plants taken off. No fruit yet, but it won't be long.

I do need to take a few soil samples and send them off to the ag guys for testing. I do know that I need to mix a lot of roughage into the soil as it is mostly clay and very hard. Still, somethings are growing. I plan on pulling my taters today or tomorrow as I have given up on them ever recovering from the critter damage. I am thinking I will plant a delicata squash or two in their place and see how that works out. If you have not tried these squash, you should. They are delicate and delicious. I am not a big squash fan, but these are definitely good. Course, now that I have said this you won't be able to find any. They are usually available only late in the season, Sept. Oct. Nov.

Although I have not given up on the librarian job, I have decided to put some effort into an alternative. I have applied to a teacher certification program and I am beginning to work towards passing some of the state tests. I don't know if I can be a teacher (would love to teach science), but I am going to try. I will be signing on as a sub once we get back from Arkansas next week.

We are going to go up and see Carol's parents next weekend, spend mother's day with them (also her mother's birthday) and then return.

Our two year anniversary is coming up Tuesday and I have no idea what we are going to do. Should be something special, but not sure what just yet.

Bit hard to believe it has been two years already.

I had to take my glasses into get fixed yesterday and they are not back yet. Can't see very well with these old ones. They are ok for driving and as sunglasses, but they sure don't work well as reading/writing glasses.

Happy Earth day to all ya'll!!

This morning we went down and checked out the local CSA but decided the portion offered was way to tiny for the money they were asking. Bit disappointing, but we are reluctant to spend more money for veggies than we absolutely must. It wasn't like they were anything special either.

From there we went down to the Denton Master Gardner's annual plant sale and walked away with some awesome plants for an awesome price. The real problem with buying plants is actually planting them, but I have stuffed them into the ground with a little effort. Fortunately, it is only 82 this afternoon with a breeze, so it is still comfortable to work outside. Though I must admit, I am rather soft right now. Digging the holes and planting and dragging bags of mulch and garden soil around played me out.

We bought and planted:
Black and Blue Sage
Greggs mist conoclinium (supatorium)-aka blue mist (butterflies are supposed to love this)
Aster Fall/ Woods Pink Dwf
Turks cap, pink
Butterfly bush "honeycomb"
Gaura (pink)
French Hollyhock
White lantana
columbine aquileria

Bit of a hodgepodge of plants, but fun.

I find I am really enjoying sitting out back at this new place.

This is the Denton Arts and Jazz fest. I can hear a band playing, sax, drums, piano, and even at this distance it sounds fine.

We arrived home early Friday morning, just as I had hoped. Traffic was light for most of the trip, so we had no real delays. We did miss some of the pretty flowers along the side of the road just outside of Houston, but we were still able to enjoy the massive fields of bluebonnets as we came closer to Dallas. 

Yesterday was a day of restocking and running about. We were able to get a morning walk in, and a later, afternoon walk. It felt great after a week of sitting and traveling. 

Both yesterday and this morning have been perfect. 50, no breeze, no clouds. Perfect early summer weather, and it really does feel like early summer.

I mowed the front lawn yesterday and the back lawn this morning. I am sitting out back right now enjoying the flowers, fresh mown order, and the birds that are visiting the bath. Butterflies are fluttering about the center flower garden, mourning doves coo, a light breeze ruffles the leaves, and my peas have climbed above their fence. It is a perfect morning.