Rose reborn

As I wrote recently, my little rose plant at work has been growing and blooming again. It had another busy week. In fact, its growth brought to mind one of my favorite Doctor Who episodes, Blink, which feature a race of beings who turn to stone if anyone is looking at them (thus becoming statues), and only move, like toward you to attack, when you're not looking at them. So, when they're getting closer, you have to keep looking at them, and don't blink...

Which is sort of like the rose this last week, except I'm pretty sure the rose is benign. But it seemed that every time I looked at it, it was farther along.

The first new growth was noted on July 7:


Then it took until July 15 to get to this:


A bit more by 7/16:


The morning of the 18th:


And the afternoon of the 18th:


I just love it. I hope I haven't missed too much of it this weekend, but there's another bloom to watch as well.

Pretty.

Mechanic report: much good

The Mazda dealership could learn a lot about service from Accurate Automotive in Burlington, MA.

I've said before that I don't have any complaint about the actual service work that was done on my car at the dealer. I don't know much about cars and how they work, and thus have to take a lot of what any mechanic says and does on faith. I did figure it out quickly when I got a bad oil change, but otherwise it's more a case of accepting their word. What irked me with Liberty Mazda was the attitude, the general contempt for the customer that I always felt from them. The feeling that their day would be easier if I wasn't there, and what did I want from them, anyway?

Meanwhile, the guy at Accurate, Chris, asked if he was pronouncing my name correctly.

Though clearly very busy, he cheerfully took the time to show another customer how to use the coffee machine.

He brought out another chair when a customer came in and was going to have to stand while they put in the turn signal bulb for her. (I think she had bought it and brought it with her. They didn't charge her for putting it in.)

They sent someone to pick up another customer when her car was ready. She walked home this morning after dropping the car off, but it's over 90 around here today.

I talked to a couple of other people waiting there today, both of whom have been taking cars there "for years". They used words like honest to describe the service. I got a good feeling about the atmosphere, with a small but clean waiting area stocked with magazines ranging from Popular Mechanics to US Weekly to The Economist. There was a window mostly covered with kids' drawings, and a newspaper clipping about a group of Girl Scouts who visited to learn something about cars.

Off to one side, on a sort of job organization area, there was a notice to the mechanics that cell phones are not allowed while they're working, and frequent trips to their cars to check messages will be noticed. (You mean, they're supposed to concentrate on their work? What an idea.) There was a TV on the wall, but it was off, which I prefer anyway when I'm a captive audience. The radio was on, quietly.

Anyway, I liked the place. I got my oil change and they fixed the headlight. They also told me (showed me, in fact) that my right front tire was mostly shot, which was not a total surprise after April (when the left one blew, the guy at the repair shop said the right was also showing wear, and should be replaced before the summer was over). They couldn't get a new one today, but will have it Monday. You know, I was so busy looking for a place with Saturday hours, I didn't even notice they're open late in the evenings, too. I'll go right after work, but it's nice not to have to worry about getting there by 6, or something.

Like 4, if it was Mazda.

They did put the spare on, explaining that if anything happened, the insurance company (mine) would be all over them for the liability, for telling me it was safe to drive on. They kept the dying tire, so that they can mount the new tire on the middle bit (to use the technical term) when it comes in, and then pop it right on when I get there.

So the only downsides that I can see are these: first, the cost of the new tire, which is an expense I could have done without, though as I say it was not entirely unanticipated; and second, that I had planned to go up to the North Shore this weekend, and that's not something I felt like doing on the spare: it's probably 50 miles round trip. My Woodman's craving will have to wait for August to be satisfied. (Their chicken fingers are, I say without exaggeration, the best I have ever had. Seriously. Just so you know. The seafood is supposed to be great, too, but I'm more a chicken fan.) (To console myself for loss of treat, or at least delay of treat, I picked up a pizza on the way home. It's no replacement, but it was a pleasure in a different way.)

The upside is that I have found a mechanic that I like, and I can keep taking my car there, get the regular maintenance caught up, and stay on schedule with it. This feels like a big deal to me. Maybe I'll even trust the car again (I've had trouble with that since the blow-out happened). Overall, a positive day.

I've just finished my laundry, so I only have the towels to put away and that will be done. Then what? I'm not sure. I love the weekend.

Already better than the other guys

As you may recall, I've done my share* of ranting about the ordeal of getting my car serviced, given that I have been very unhappy with the dealership's service department, and had a bad experience elsewhere as well. I've been procrastinating on finding another place to go, because hey! Procrastination! That's me, procrastinating since 1981 (at least; junior high is the first Incident that I recall).

*Actually, I've done your share, too. And yours. You're welcome.

Finally, though, I have taken a step forward. After asking people for recommendations, after wandering blindly through the innernets, after doing who really knows what (other than putting off a decision), I picked a place to try. Third time lucky? I'm hoping.

I cross-referenced AAA's recommended mechanics with Car Talk's mechanic reviews, and found a place that was on both, and had Saturday hours (which was sadly rare). I want to save sick days and vacation* time for things like doctor's appointments, I'd prefer not to use it to doctor the car as well!

*And, oh, vacations, too.

I decided to start with an oil change, and see how I feel about them before diving into the scheduled maintenance that is doubtless necessary. Feeling cautious, I called today to make sure they weren't likely to greet my appearance tomorrow with an are-you-kidding, today?

The woman who answered the phone was cheerful, friendly, polite.

When I asked whether I might be able to get an oil change tomorrow, she said sure, took my name, and asked when I would like to come in.

Comparing that to the attitude I always got on the phone with the dealership, well, no contest.

So I have hopes. I would like to have a place I can go to, trust, the way I did with the Saturn dealers in Charlotte, lo these many moons ago. I don't know if it's that Southern politeness thing, or a Saturn thing, or what, but I always found them to be so helpful, friendly, willing to work with me ... it was great. Perhaps this new place will be a step in the right direction for me and the little car. I'll let you know how it goes.

**********

So, the solution to my "I can't reply to commenters" dilemma was embarrassingly easy to solve. I mean, the address isn't actually in sight, but when I click right there, oh look, e-mail address. Sigh. Well, it's never fun to feel stupid, but this isn't a huge oops, just an aw nuts. And after all, it is the weekend, finally. Off I go to do nothing much. Have a good one, y'all!

Comments and commenting, generally and specifically

Time for some comment responses! I write, you write, I write, it's a whole cycle!

Slight tangent: One thing I wish Blogger did is to give me a quick-and-easy way to respond to comments. I get the comments sent to my e-mail, which is handy, but I can't reply to the commenter directly. What I can do, if the commenter puts in the info, is click to their Blogger profile, go to their blog, and see if there's an e-mail address there for them ... but I often don't get around to it. I love comments, I do! But that's just too many steps for a quick reply. I know I'm revealing a lazy component to myself, but history speaks for itself.

What do you do about comments, if you have a blog? Do you use Blogger, or something else? Do you respond to every comment, some comments, or no comments? What about when you've left a comment, do you expect a reply to every comment? By not responding, do I come across as uncaring? (I'm not, I'm not!)

Also, do you have any self-imposed rules about when you will leave a comment on a post? Do you comment only if you have something to add to the conversation, or just to say 'amen, me too', or for no particular reason?

Does anyone but me think about these things?

Well, that was some tangent. Onward:

From the lol job description, it sounds like it couldn't just be telecommuting, and since "Boston to Seattle" makes my current commute look tiny, I'm not planning to apply. I wasn't searching job postings, either; I read about it somewhere.

If it was local, though! Not that I'm looking for a different job, I like my job fine, but if something like that (only here) fell into my lap, well, really, how could I say no?

The cats are fine. Really, they continue to be fine, and it's my emotions that go up and down. Mostly I'm fine with the situation, and enjoy now with them, but some days aren't as good, which I guess is only natural.

The technology only got weirder. Not only did my friends' DVD player not play sound, it wouldn't play the DVD at all. It just sat there whirring "loading" until we gave up. Not only does it baffle me, it beat me.

I wish I knew how it had happened, though. It's not like I spent Saturday randomly pushing buttons and changing settings on my player, so how could it work Friday and record so selectively Saturday? Shrug. Not having a tech-geek of my own, I think I need to rent one to tweak my system, such as it is, so that it all works. DVD recorder, VCR, cable box, and near-20-year-old TV, what's so hard about that, right?

I knock wood as I say that my garden continues to grow, without further critter incursions. Since other plots in the garden have not been so lucky, I really do wonder if the cups of kitty litter are discouraging the thing from bothering my plants. It's hard to be sure ... but so far, so good. My harvest thus far includes more than 50 peas, which is fifty times what I got last year, so I'm quite pleased with that.

I've had almost as many green beans, too, which I'm also happy about. I guess I don't know much about green bean varieties, though, since I was rather surprised that these grow flat, not round. They still taste like green beans, so I'm not unhappy about it, but it was a surprise.

I did pick that lone cuke yesterday. Looking around at the many nibbled cucumber plants, I felt like I was asking for trouble, leaving it there. I won't be getting many cukes this year*, so I wouldn't want to miss this one!

*Started with six plants, and one puny one died of natural causes in short order. Of the five remaining, one had all its leaves nibbled off, three had most of their leaves nibbled off, and one had only some of its leaves nibbled off. The plants aren't currently dead, but they are not the most promising things one can imagine. I'm trying to be realistic: I may get more cukes, but the one may be It. Which is not ideal, but it's okay.

I will go back to the Banish February socks and try that bind-off again, I'm sure. Just ... not yet. Every once in a while, I think of them again, and I can feel my face stiffening into unpleasant lines. I can almost feel my blood pressure rising. I'm going to wait until those symptoms diminish. For now, I'm trying to keep going on the so-not-portable baby blanket (which of course is portable, but awkward), with the new Kangaroo socks for travel knitting (Kangaroo refers to the yarn, not the pattern).

For lack of a better finish, I'll give you a lolcat, since I somehow posted the lol job description yesterday without one, and we can't have that. Let's see ... how about this one?



Or this? It goes with the whole technology baffles me concept.



Maybe this one is the best to end with.

Best Job Description Evr!

Thanks for the empathy about my topic yesterday. Today was better. I think it helped when I changed the desktop photo on my work computer from one that makes me melt, and thus sniffle, to one where Pan looks kind of grumpy. Cute, but grumpy.

Other than that, I'm not feeling the pulse of writing here tonight, so I give you something I read a couple of months ago. If I lived in Seattle... I love the LOLs!

I Can Has Cheezburger? is looking to hire a moderator to work in our Seattle office! You too can work for one of the largest, fastest growing Websites in Seattle.

Moderators screen all submissions, moderate comments and help our users with the world of lolcats. This is a paid, part-time (30+ hours, or possibly full-time) position. Due to the nature of the Web site, moderators work non-regular office hours. You will be joining our team of 3 full-time moderators in enjoying all the fun the Web can offer.

We’re looking for someone with:
- A great sense of humor
- A deep understanding and love of the Internets and
- A strong work ethic. (Cat ownership is NOT required.)

We offer:
- A fun, casual work environment
- Flexible hours
- Benefits, if you become a full-time employee
- Opportunity to grow with a fast-growing company
- A unique life-experience like no other
- Free pictures of cats
- Never having to use spellcheck again. Evar.

If you’re interested, email us your resume (and cover letter). Internet is serious business for us. And also fun.

We are located in the Lower Queen Anne area by Seattle Center.

Of cats and gardens, up and down

Harold went to the vet on Saturday for his annual check-up.

Does that make it sound like I sent him off on his own? More accurately, I took Harold to the vet on Saturday for his annual check-up. He was a very good boy. He didn't fuss for his shots, allowed the poking and prodding, and only made the occasional attempt to hide behind that molecule in the air right over there. Even the vet thought he was good:


(The situation with Pan, of course, means he shouldn't lose weight. Harold could stand to lose a little, but try that balancing act and see how well it works.)

It wasn't as bad as last year's check-up was. Last year, in addition to having to go in the car and be at the vet, poor Harold got a thunderstorm, too. It was all his worst things at once, poor baby. So this year, although no fun, wasn't as bad as that.

She didn't mean anything bad by it
The vet was really nice, and I know she didn't mean to upset me. But when we were talking about Pan (who only goes to the vet now in emergencies), she said something very cheery about how it's great that he's still doing so well, so long after his diagnosis with CHF.

Still. So long. From March.

I truly am grateful for every day he gets. I am. I'm very conscious of not knowing how long I will have him.

When I see him curled up, I check that he's breathing.

When I leave, I wonder how he'll be when I get back.

The vet said in March that it could be months, could be years, they just can't say for sure, and trust me, I get that.

It's not that I disagree with her. Every single day we get is great. I guess I just didn't need to be reminded.

It's never going to be enough, of course, no matter how much time he has in the end. Making it through the past four months has enabled him to get to ten years: in April, ten years old; in June, ten years that I've had him. Ten years is both a long time and not enough, not nearly enough.

And over the past four months, even more than in the last few years, I've wondered, far more often than I'd like, how I'm going to get through it, when the time comes. Not will it be bad, but how bad will it be? How will Harold and I do, when that train hits?

Enough of that for now! Here is the end of the depressing part:


Or, technically, the ends.

How does my garden grow? It grows!
Meanwhile, the garden weekended well, leading to a bumper crop:


Peas and green beans. I also picked more basil, whew, that stuff is growing! And some of these things don't grow quite straight:


Not that there's anything wrong with that. About five minutes after coming inside, I had the green beans and this:


I have a half-decent cuke that I'm trying to be patient with.


I'm nervous, though, since a look at the rest of the garden plots showed me that the critter-thing really likes cukes:


A lot of plants are missing leaves. Mine haven't been nibbled since the first time, a few weeks ago, but seeing the nibbles in other plots makes me edgy. I may pick that cuke sooner and smaller, rather than waiting much longer.

Camera focus continues to elude me. I suppose it's possible that someday I will learn to make the camera focus on what I choose, and that would be nice, but I get some interesting shots this way.

Technology Baffles Me

Seriously, I think my DVD recorder has done the impossible. It isn't just that I don't know how it did what it did, since I don't actually understand how the thing works at all. It's that Not only didn't I know it could be done, I still don't think it should be possible.

To start from the beginning ... a friend asked me if I could record something for her Saturday night, when she would be out of town. While I'm happy to help any friend, I especially want to help someone who's always doing things for me, so of course I wanted to. I told her that I thought I would be able to, though as I haven't recorded anything in a while, I'd have to test it and see. She assured me that it was fine even if it didn't work out, but of course I still wanted it to.

After work Friday, I tested the machine, and it worked. I taped a minute of whatever was on channel 2, and it was fine, so I was happy.

Saturday, I set up the machine (after watching A Lot of Doctor Who). It taped: sorry, recorded.

When I went to check the recording, I found that the picture is fine. There is background sound, car doors closing and heels clicking on the floor, and some music, including the theme song. What there is not, is audible dialog.

How is this possible?

I simply don't believe it. I don't know how the machine, a simple DVD recorder, could separate the sound and only record part of it. If it was silent, if it was picture and no sound, I'd be pissed, but I would not be surprised. This? I just don't get it. It's not that I expect to understand technology, but still. This has me stumped. There's sound on the minute I tested on Friday...

She called today to find out if I'd had success, and I had to say I didn't know. I'm holding out a small, forlorn hope that on another machine, her machine, there might be complete sound. Is that likely? Probably not. But how likely is what happened? Not so very much. What happened?

The vegetables of my labor

Quite a haul from the garden this week! One day, for example:


Not to compare with Robyn, of course. But for a small patch by a near-complete gardening amateur, I'm more than pleased.

This week, I have picked 25 pea pods, 12 green beans, enough basil to make pesto, and a little catnip as well. Yes, I am counting. Though I may stop reporting on the catnip, since it's hardly an achievement. The bush is very large, through no work of mine, and plucking the leaves is hardly work. I do think Pan doesn't like the lemon catnip as much as regular. Sometimes, he'll gobble it right down, but other times he walks away from it, not something I'm used to seeing him do with catnip.

Anyway! Last night I "planted" more cups of catnip cat litter, cat litter! around the garden. It's hard to say whether it actually does discourage critters from nibbling the plants, auntiemichal, but that's the idea/hope. I can say that I have had no further incursions since I put the first cups in, while there have been things eaten from other plots: broccoli in two places, tomatoes in another, that I've heard about.

Also this week, when one of my co-workers was driving in past the garden, he almost hit a deer. It's possible that's what's getting in, but personally I doubt it, as I think some tracks would show up. I can't prove anything either way. So, in the ccr-centric universe I inhabit, I will continue to hope that my plants don't get eaten. I just can't worry about everyone else's. Sorry.

I also saw a dragonfly in the garden this morning.


************

I have a love-hate relationship with mosquitoes.

I hate them.

They love me.

When I work in the garden after work, I spray on the bug spray, except for last week when I forgot and was rewarded with two bites on my ankle, that itched like crazy for the next three days. I don't usually see any bugs when visiting the garden during the day.

Today, though, one got me on the arm. I thought I brushed it off before I was bitten, but Wrong! Oh, the welt, oh the itchy.

I hate mosquitoes.

************

Finally, portrait of a happy cat:


It certainly reminds me of this, though:




He woke up a little grumpy. You'd think the sound of the zoom was the cannons in the 1812 Overture.

Cramps suck. Oh look, a mushroom!

Since you really don't want to hear about how I feel right now, and I don't want to be feeling it, let alone talking about it, here's something random. I saw a mushroom (maybe?) in the grass on Tuesday, and found it pleasingly photogenic:


A day later, it looked like the surface of the moon:


Don't you think? What do you think it looks like?

Other than a mushroom. Because yeah.

Pesto teaser

If you want to know how I got from this:


To this:


To these:


I will be happy to show-and-tell you, another time when the kitty is not loudly announcing that he Needs Me.

P.S. I don't talk about work a lot, but I'd like to say that I do appreciate having the kind of job where I can say to myself, "In retrospect, I disagree with that hyphen."

The good old baseball game

Let me say first that I had a good time at the game; second, that the Spinners lost (10-3, not even close); third, that it was hot, very hot; and fourth, that it made a much later night than I'm used to. That covers most of the non-picture-specific part, unless you have questions.

No? On with the show! And I do mean show.

The monster truck outside the stadium should have given me a hint of what was to come (i.e., spectacle).


The view from our seats. Look, ma, no zoom!


I really don't know what that guy was doing to his shirt collar, though.

There was a kids "game" before the main event. So cute!


Really, the only thing cuter happened later, and I didn't get a picture of it, since I was laughing too hard. At one point in the game, they had a little kid who was going to "race" two of the mascots around the bases for some prize. Mascots and little boy take off from near first, the mascots making a valiant effort to look like they're trying to beat the kid while actually not trying at all, and then, as they got near second, the kid turned ... right. Yes, he started off into the outfield. He was a little guy, perhaps he didn't understand the concept of running around the bases as it pertained to, um, the bases? Everyone was laughing, the mascots were kind of running in place and randomly falling over to avoid getting a lead, and one of the organizers jogged out after him, and ran the rest of the way with him, holding his hand.

Anyway, back to pre-game. The players did a rather odd (to me) synchronized warm-up thing that involved hopping. Seriously.


Knitters in the next section, and the one beyond that!


My traitorous camera focused on the baseball, not the sock. Does it not know me at all?


Really, you haven't lived until you've seen someone in a toothbrush suit running the bases. Of all the many, many, many promotions they had (seriously, does no one go to watch the baseball?), this was the strangest.


By far.

This struck me as odd because it was near the end of the game. It was either 9-3 or 10-3, but there are the players, leaning forward and watching like it's a cliffhanger. Um?


Also, can you read the sign? "No autographs during the game. Players are working." Yeah. Un-huh.

And that's baseball! We discussed maybe doing it again. I would vote for a Friday night or weekend game; getting up this morning was even less fun than usual, not to mention how the cats felt about it.

We could also go to a hockey game. It's a bit more compatible with knitting, I think (though in fact I got about three inches of sock done yesterday, which pleases me). We'll see.

*******************************

Even the smoothest and most peaceable day, which today was not, would quiver under the combined strain of "far too little sleep" and "PMS". But I was a little surprised at myself when, out of the blue this afternoon, I suddenly thought, Jelly Belly. I could buy some after work. That would be good.

I wasn't surprised because of any anti-Jelly Belly feeling, just that after months without them crossing my mind, they were what my subconscious dredged up for comfort. Isn't the subconscious an interesting place?

Too much to fit in one title

The best-laid plans; rose resurrection; garden producing; and fun on the fourth, including fireworks and a great movie

Just over a week ago, I came across something about Stitch and Pitch games, baseball games to which knitters (or, I suppose, any stitchers) are encouraged to come. One of these games was being held by the Lowell Spinners, not impossibly far from Greater Boston; I thought it sounded like a fun summer event, and certainly I want to encourage any entity that sees knitters as a valid group to market to. I proposed to my Stitch and Bitch group that we go, several agreed, and we made plans to meet there.

In our innocence of such things, we (or at least I) did not consider the possibility of the game selling out ahead of time. Was I being naive? I don't follow baseball at all, but somehow I just didn't have the impression that the minor leagues completely sold out all that much. Certainly, I would have known it was different for the Red Sox, since even I have heard how well-nigh impossible it is for anyone to get tickets. (They're not even having a Stitch and Pitch game; no need to try to drum up business.) But, I'm sorry, the Spinners? Really?

We got tickets, but it was close to sold out. Silly me. I did take lots of pictures, but perhaps we'll do the photo essay for that tomorrow, as I would like to get some sleep tonight.

In preparation for the game, I did start the socks this weekend, my traveling knitting for times and places when the blanket is too cumbersome, so that's ready for my trip in two-and-a-half weeks (but who's counting). Pictures of that tomorrow, too. Toe-up again, with the yarn I bought at Webs in April. The down side is that it will be hard to put these aside for the blanket. I may have to leave them in the car, and not bring them in the house at all. Ah, what would life be like with willpower?

*******************

In the Spring, before winter had loosed its icy grip, I bought a small rose plant. It was so pretty, and I craved the color.


Then there was an Unfortunate Incident involving an insufficiency of water, and the plant has been without flower for the last three months. It lost a bunch of leaves, too, but I didn't think I had completely killed it, so I was more diligent with the watering, and it's been filling in nicely. Today I was rewarded with this:


The plant really sprouted over the long weekend. I wish I'd taken a picture on Thursday; ah, hindsight. In any event, I only have an inch or two before I have to move it: it's getting close to the underside of the shelf.

*******************

With some trepidation, I went out to the garden this morning to see what time had wrought. And then you know what? I had a snack.


Delicious! And more coming. I was very excited. That's the way to go, Monday!

Also, one of the flowers has decided to change direction. Interesting:



*******************

As late as a week ago, I didn't have any plans for celebrating the Fourth, but I ended up having lots of fun. My best friend had to work the fourth and fifth, but I drove down to her (she lives in RI) Friday afternoon, had fun, spent the night, and drove home Saturday morning to a whole weekend ahead of me. We had thought of going to the beach in the afternoon, but it was so not beach weather, so she suggested a movie instead.

We saw WALL-E, and it was great! You're totally rooting for this little robot with all his quirks before events even start unfolding, and then! Well, I won't give anything away, but we both enjoyed it very much, and I would recommend it if you're at all interested. To be honest, when I saw the preview months ago, I was on the fence: it looked like it could go either way, be great or a total waste of time. However, the Globe review was very, very good, and then a friend of my friend's had seen it and said it was great, so we decided to go, and I'm so glad we did!

Nor was that all we did. After a delicious dinner at her place, we went out again, for the PawSox were having fireworks after the game. And they, too, were great! Seriously very professional, lots of ooh and ahh. It was such fun.

Now, seriously, I need some sleep! (I wish I could get Cotton-Eye Joe out of my head. Bad enough to have any song stuck in your head, but one you don't like? Ouch.)

Yarn started, and another garden update

With some tangles but no meltdowns, I got the skein of Kangaroo into balls last night. If I keep buying skeined yarn, it's going to be time (and past) to get a swift and ballwinder; the de-tangling got excessively tedious. Still, I like the result!


I started a swatch today, to see if I should use 2s or 1s, but it's too early to measure. Further updates as events unfold.

In garden news, these may be the world's smallest green beans:


And do you know how many of these teeny-tiny tomatoes I counted?


Thirteen, and there are more flowers coming. They're not all as big as these, though!

After work, I beat the latest thunderstorm and got my cups of kitty litter in the ground, by the cukes and peas. I wonder if I'll need them by the tomatoes? I used up all the litter I had with me, but perhaps I'll bring more next week.


You know, after my three days off. Boy, do I need them! I've been feeling very stressed this week. Work just doesn't slow down, and I'm cranky. But three days of nothing much is just what the doctor ordered. And to get off to a good start, I'm going to go get ready for bed now! I probably won't post tomorrow (I'm visiting my friend in Providence), so happy fourth of July! (Is everyone here American? Well, have a happy fourth even if you're not.)

Definitely time for bed.

Harold is Happy; and, more garden

Why is Harold happy, you ask? His mama bought him a new toy:


It only looks like a shower curtain to silly two-leggers. To Harold, the bag is the Best Toy Ever.

I mentioned the last time I gave him one that he goes through the bags faster than I need to put up a new shower curtain. Well, his old one was getting terribly ratty:


I mean really ratty, like destroyed, in just over four months.


That's a lot of tooth-marks, yes? Nom nom nom.

But I don't even need to put up the shower curtain I have waiting in the linen closet, the one I took out of its bag to give him in February. What's a girl to do?

Building 19 (actually, 19 and a half) to the rescue. Paying $3.99 for the bag might seem ridiculous, but there are many cat toys that cost more! And even though the plum-colored one fits neither my shower, which has a very high bar, nor my bathroom colors, I won't throw it out, I'll give it to the Salvation Army and someone will be happy. Win-win!

Speaking of winning, more peas in the garden:


I saw no less than four little pods this morning. There are two in this shot, can you find them?


Forgot Where's Waldo, right? Where's pea-pod? Thanks, by the way, for the kitty-litter suggestions on my recent post about signs of critters in the garden. Used kitty litter is never in short supply around here (sigh), and I will bring some in post-haste and "plant" it. You guys are great!

In other garden news, the camera does not read my mind and focus on what I want it to. Here, instead of focusing on the silly way the cucumber plant has grabbed the string and tendrilled around it for dear life, it was sure I was trying to shoot the mint in the background, which has sprung from nowhere.


I didn't plant it, but when I was weeding, there it was. What can I do with mint? Anyone?

Now, I'm off to play with yarn. No, not the baby blanket either, silly me! A few of us from my stitch and bitch group are going to the Stitch and Pitch game at the Lowell Spinners Monday night, and I can't work on a lap full of blanket outside in July! I mean, I'm reasonably sure the park isn't air conditioned, so I simply have to pull together something more portable!

Is Mother Nature setting me up?

I'm afraid Mother Nature is toying with me.

And in case you're looking for further confirmation? As I opened Blogger and wrote the title and first line of this post, a huge thunderstorm moved into the area, threatening enough that I turned off the computer Just In Case. I must have really offended her.

The day after my first cucumber plants suffer some critter damage, I found this:


The first wee pea pod. It's official. Should the worst happen, I will be crushed (again).

Not that I don't know that growing my own is slow. I didn't start flashing back to Friday night in my kitchen or anything:


But oh, please, Mama Nature, don't take my peas, not two years in a row!

Have you ever seen such a thing? The way it unfolds out of itself captivates me.


And the tenacity with which the tendrils grab:


Even the green beans are covered with flowers!


And, in a day of wee first things, the first wee cucumber. I know, it's not much to look at yet, but after all, they all start this way. Isn't that something?


Know what else? Tonight I took the basil I picked yesterday, and made pesto. Which was approximately one hundred billion times easier in my little food processor than in the blender. Like, zap! How do I love that little guy? Let me count the ways... Thanks again, mother dear!

Okay, why am I not in bed yet?