Oh, the things you hear.....
A sampling of the less than completely brilliant things I've heard recently:
"Oh, I didn't know postage was going up. I thought it was just stamps."
"I'll have to go check the label and see how many cc's are in 2 liters."
Green Growing Things...
My garden is growing quite nicely. So is the grass that is trying to take over. Fortunately the mole colony in the backyard is helping me by uprooting a lot of the grass. This is really making it a lot easier to rip out the bad stuff. So far everything is growing nicely with the exception of the cilantro and dill. To be honest, I'm not entirely certain that the seed I had was any good anyway. It was seed I'd harvested in 2005 from my garden.
The holly hedge is doing well. I still haven't got the last four shrubs in the ground. I should fertilize the plants this week. Mulch wouldn't hurt either, but that's a ways down on my priority list. The seedling Rose of Sharon plants will need to be moved to their final places soon. I think I will put them along the west side of the house. I have discovered the soil there is quite rocky, which makes digging anything difficult. If I have an extra plant or two, I will put them back in the poison ivy corner.
Speaking of the poison ivy corner, none of the hosta roots I planted in there have sprouted. Nor have the Lily of the Valley. My guess it that it's a combination of being too wet and the petroleum runoff from next door. Ick.
The coreopsis in front of the house (the plants I dug up and brought from Urbana) are in full bloom. They're quite tall and look very cheery. I hope to propagate more of them from seed so the whole front of the house can have coreopsis. By next spring, I ought to have the front of the house planted how I like it. I really need to finish the digging of the front bed and removing the sod.
The downside of all my grubbing about in the dirt is that my hands are getting quite chewed up and rough. I'll have to mix up some sugar scrub and buff them smooth. For that matter, I need to scrub my feet too. They're not much better than my hands, though they haven't had any trouble keeping the dirt/mud out from under their nails.
Silly Birds
On the way home from work, a goldfinch flew into the side of my car and got itself killed. That's two fatal goldfinch injuries in a month. Then later a hummingbird tried to land on me when I was watering some plants. I am fairly certain that I do not resemble a flower, but apparently this particular bird was confused. It was certainly a bit startling to have a hummingbird fly up to my face, then hover while it checked me out. It left as I was backing away from it.
Weather Woes
It was going to rain this evening. So I went to the grocery store instead of going straight home to weed the garden. It even sprinkled a bit on the drive home. But nothing that would qualify as "rain". The deck didn't even get wet. I really should water the garden, but it seems silly to do that when rain is expected. Murphy's Law will, of course, keep it from raining until I do water.
The Sanity of the iPod
I have been listening to my iPod almost daily at work. I rarely listen to music. I mostly listen to NPR programs or other news shows. The noise level at work has gotten to be quite distracting. It's the only way that I can concentrate and get anything done. Of course, it also means I tend to not participate in the idle chatter at work. I'm okay with that.
For starters, I have ethical issues with spending 1/4 to 1/3 of the work day gossiping. Heck, for that matter, I have ethical issues with gossiping in general. If the woman who runs the cafe on the corner is seeing someone ten years younger than she is, that's her business and hers alone. I also don't care to hear about how the woman at the bank has completely let herself go and really should have someone pick her clothes for her. What is the constructive purpose of talking negatively behind someone's back about things like that? Is it just to make you feel superior? It really just demonstrates insecurity and meanness.
Another reason I shy away from idle chatter like that is that idle chatter is one of the ten non-virtues in Buddhism, along with harsh speech. I figure most gossip fits into one or both of those categories. Both breed negativity in atmosphere and spirit. I don't think it's much of a goal to propagate such things. It certainly isn't much fun to participate in and I've decided to not participate in it any more. I expect my crabbiness at work and in life will start to decline within the week.
"Oh, I didn't know postage was going up. I thought it was just stamps."
"I'll have to go check the label and see how many cc's are in 2 liters."
Green Growing Things...
My garden is growing quite nicely. So is the grass that is trying to take over. Fortunately the mole colony in the backyard is helping me by uprooting a lot of the grass. This is really making it a lot easier to rip out the bad stuff. So far everything is growing nicely with the exception of the cilantro and dill. To be honest, I'm not entirely certain that the seed I had was any good anyway. It was seed I'd harvested in 2005 from my garden.
The holly hedge is doing well. I still haven't got the last four shrubs in the ground. I should fertilize the plants this week. Mulch wouldn't hurt either, but that's a ways down on my priority list. The seedling Rose of Sharon plants will need to be moved to their final places soon. I think I will put them along the west side of the house. I have discovered the soil there is quite rocky, which makes digging anything difficult. If I have an extra plant or two, I will put them back in the poison ivy corner.
Speaking of the poison ivy corner, none of the hosta roots I planted in there have sprouted. Nor have the Lily of the Valley. My guess it that it's a combination of being too wet and the petroleum runoff from next door. Ick.
The coreopsis in front of the house (the plants I dug up and brought from Urbana) are in full bloom. They're quite tall and look very cheery. I hope to propagate more of them from seed so the whole front of the house can have coreopsis. By next spring, I ought to have the front of the house planted how I like it. I really need to finish the digging of the front bed and removing the sod.
The downside of all my grubbing about in the dirt is that my hands are getting quite chewed up and rough. I'll have to mix up some sugar scrub and buff them smooth. For that matter, I need to scrub my feet too. They're not much better than my hands, though they haven't had any trouble keeping the dirt/mud out from under their nails.
Silly Birds
On the way home from work, a goldfinch flew into the side of my car and got itself killed. That's two fatal goldfinch injuries in a month. Then later a hummingbird tried to land on me when I was watering some plants. I am fairly certain that I do not resemble a flower, but apparently this particular bird was confused. It was certainly a bit startling to have a hummingbird fly up to my face, then hover while it checked me out. It left as I was backing away from it.
Weather Woes
It was going to rain this evening. So I went to the grocery store instead of going straight home to weed the garden. It even sprinkled a bit on the drive home. But nothing that would qualify as "rain". The deck didn't even get wet. I really should water the garden, but it seems silly to do that when rain is expected. Murphy's Law will, of course, keep it from raining until I do water.
The Sanity of the iPod
I have been listening to my iPod almost daily at work. I rarely listen to music. I mostly listen to NPR programs or other news shows. The noise level at work has gotten to be quite distracting. It's the only way that I can concentrate and get anything done. Of course, it also means I tend to not participate in the idle chatter at work. I'm okay with that.
For starters, I have ethical issues with spending 1/4 to 1/3 of the work day gossiping. Heck, for that matter, I have ethical issues with gossiping in general. If the woman who runs the cafe on the corner is seeing someone ten years younger than she is, that's her business and hers alone. I also don't care to hear about how the woman at the bank has completely let herself go and really should have someone pick her clothes for her. What is the constructive purpose of talking negatively behind someone's back about things like that? Is it just to make you feel superior? It really just demonstrates insecurity and meanness.
Another reason I shy away from idle chatter like that is that idle chatter is one of the ten non-virtues in Buddhism, along with harsh speech. I figure most gossip fits into one or both of those categories. Both breed negativity in atmosphere and spirit. I don't think it's much of a goal to propagate such things. It certainly isn't much fun to participate in and I've decided to not participate in it any more. I expect my crabbiness at work and in life will start to decline within the week.
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