I'm Free!

I'm free!  I'm free!  At least until September 14, that is.  The rest of the plant will be free as of 2:00 PM today, but thanks to judicious scheduling of my vacation time, I have today off, too.  And as usual, at least one of my coworkers said, "You're so lucky to have these three day weekends!"  And also as usual, I replied, "It's not luck.  I saved my vacation days, and you too can save your vacation days to have three day weekends."  

"Oh, I don't want to do that!" this particular coworker replied.  

By the way, they already started re-arranging stuff at work, and we can't find anything.  "I feel like when they re-arrange Walmart!"  I told my coworker.  They're still determined to put the sub brazers back on the lines, though.  I think they have meetings up front to decide on the absolute dumbest way to do things.  Seriously, every time they have these big announcements telling us they're going to change stuff and it's going to be so much better, all that ends up happening is that my job becomes so much harder.  

And they can't figure out why their turnover rate is so high....

Enough of that.  I don't have to think about work for a while, so let's move on to something more pleasant, like my garden.  

It's so much nicer to be able to get up and work outside in the cool of the morning, even though the humidity still makes it miserable.  It has been so hot and dry here lately that I gave all the beds a real good watering.  I probably overwatered some of the beds, but they'll dry out quickly enough. 

While that was going on, I built up the tomato cages on my second batch of plants.  

This will probably be as high as I need to make them, though I can add another tier to the cages if I have to.  All of my plants are struggling in this heat, so much so, I'm considering going ahead and pulling these old tomatoes out and composting them. 

Especially this one.  It's got some sort of fungus or mold growing right at the base.  

I don't know what it is, but I'm pretty sure it shouldn't be there.  I've sprayed it with Neem oil, but it keeps coming back.  

By the way, I was watching a video by The Millennial Gardener about making a hot compost bin out of a black plastic garbage can, and I think I'm going to do one for myself.  What with that, and the composting bag I have, I can make myself a two bay hot compost system, then when the bag finally tears up for good, I'll replace it with another garbage can.   

There isn't much else going on in the garden right now.  It's just too hot.  I gave my lemon balm a good haircut, but didn't save any to dry.  

I've already got so much of it, I didn't feel like I needed any more.  I've been thinking about moving my lemon balm away from the house, so it will have more room to grow.  I'd never expected it to get so big, because it had always stayed small when it was in the planter. 

I may put my cayenne peppers into those beds alongside the house, because they are doing very well there -- even better than the ones in the 4' x 4' bed.  In fact, I'm still getting a good harvest from them.

I might try to overwinter these plants -- the ones in the beds beside the house -- and let the others go to that great compost bin in the sky.  

I've been thinking about planting a fall garden, but don't really know what to plant.  The extension office posted this on their Facebook page earlier this week.  

The things I like most on that list are the onions, but I've already got so many in the freezer, I'm not going to plant any this year.  Garlic isn't on the list yet, but I expect it'll come later.  Even so, I have a bunch of it in the freezer, too.  I like baby spinach, but I don't think I could eat it fast enough to make it worth planting.  I don't know...with it just being me by myself, it's hard to plant for just one.  I'm seriously thinking about making another batch or two of pepper jelly, because I still have so many banana peppers in the freezer.  At least I can give the jelly as gifts.  Heh, my sister has already laid claim to a jar.  

Speaking of my sister, she finally got the headstone for our mother installed.  She sent me these photos this morning. 

She told me not to worry about the weeds, because they'll all be covered with snow soon.  It's already getting down into the low 40s up there.  They plan on doing something in the spring, when the snow melts.  I'm sure she'll send me photos when they are done. 

But I digress...

The extension also posted this list, but pretty much all I'm going to do on this is to put down some Weed 'n Feed in my front yard.  

I bought some last week, and I'm probably going to mow the front and side yards sometime this weekend, then put down my fire ant treatment first.  Then, in a week or two, I'll put down the Weed 'n Feed.  

OK, OK, I know I'm boring you with all of my garden talk, so I'll just say that the last thing I did before retreating into the air conditioning was to plant a couple of my packets of Bluebonnet seeds.  I've got several plants coming up from the ones I planted last year -- either the seeds still in the ground or from the ones cast by the plants that grew.  

Still, I put a few seeds in the bare spots, just to fill in some.  I've got three packets left in the freezer, and I'm thinking about making that bed wider.    It's only about 10" wide right now, and I have a couple more pieces of that edging, so I can extend it a bit.  I'm definitely going to wait until it's cooler to do that.  

Unless I can fit it in early one morning this week.  I've got so much on my to do list, but unlike my friend Marcy, I am not good at multitasking.  My main project for the week is to finish cleaning out that shed so I can call the clean-up man to come haul my junk off.  But I also kind of want to call a handyman and electrician.  However, I don't feel I can make those calls until I've got the first project done.  I mean, what if they all show up at once?  Then I'd be wayyyy overwhelmed. 

Speaking of my friend, I channeled her a bit this morning.  Not on the multitasking, but with the coffee creamer. 

Since she doesn't like pumpkin spice, she associates Hazelnut with Fall.  And yes, I did think of you when I was buying it in the store.  

I know you all know I love my pumpkin spice, but I think this is taking things just a bit too far. 

That fresh pine, on the other hand, kind of appeals.  I think that's because we associate pine scent with cleaning because of certain products that have been around far longer than we have.   I might get some of it next time I go into the Mart of Wal. 

And finally, I'm ready for some cooler weather!  

 I'm getting mighty tired of these 100° + heat indexes!  Bring on the sweater weather!

Copy Cats

The copy cats have started already.  Or should I say in this case, the copy kittens have started. 

If you've been on social media at all here lately, no doubt you've heard about the construction crew that rescued the kitten from the heavy equipment, then made her the official company mascot.  If you are smart and are avoiding social media, you can watch her story here: 

It's a wonderful story, isn't it?

This morning, one of my kind hearted but too trusting friends posted this to her Facebook page. 

It is a pretty obvious copy kitten of Sue's story.  Still, it fooled my well meaning but somewhat naive friend.  I spent all day thinking about this, and figured it was time to post a brief lesson in how to tell a fake story from a real one.  Now, keep in mind, this is not comprehensive -- just a few tips to help you not be scammed. 

OK, ready?  

1.  In the story of Sue, there is actual video -- of the kitten trapped in the excavator, of the man opening the bottom, of the kitten falling out.  

In the meme, despite the claim, there is no video linked, and no amount of searching led me to this story. In fact, when I did try to find the video, it took me to videos of Sue.  

2.  In Sue's story, there are names.  The name of the company, the name of the town it's located in, the names of the brothers who own the construction company, even what they named the kitten.  All of this is verifiable information. 

In the UPS story, there are no names -- not of the driver, the cat, or the town he delivers in.   Just a generic delivery driver.

3.  The photos of Sue are genuine.  The photos and video of the men who rescued and adopted her are genuine.  The story has been posted to multiple legitimate news sites. 

The photo of the UPS driver and his kitten are clearly AI.  It even says it's AI on the Facebook post.  If it were a legit story, there would be legit photos and the video that was mentioned in the meme would be out there...somewhere.  

4.  Sue the kitten tugs at your heartstrings in an authentic way.  It's such a heartwarming story. 

That one line in the meme, the one that claims his coworkers posted the video to mock him, is meant to tug at your emotions in a slimy, deceptive way.  That is the end game here -- to manipulate you into sharing in order to boost their page stats.  

There you go, four simple tricks to help you spot a fake story.  As I said before, this is not a comprehensive lesson, but it should be enough to help keep you from falling for a scam.  

Happy Fall, Y'all!

Did you know that there are actually three first days of Fall?  It's true.  Let me explain. 

The one most people know about is Astronomical Fall, which is based on the Autumnal Equinox.  This year, that day is September 22.  

There is another one that isn't as well known as it is mostly observed in the weather geek community.  That is Meteorological Fall, which starts on September 1.  Also known as today. 

But there is another one that almost nobody knows about:  Traditional Fall.  What is traditional Fall?  Well, since Labor Day traditionally marks the end of summer, then logically the day after that would be the traditional first day of fall.  See what I did there?  

Fall lovers rejoice!  We get to celebrate three times a year, so let me be the...dozenth or so to say: 

Happy first day of Fall!  

Even though it's still 100° out there...

(Not my photo.  I copped it from the internet.)

More Stuff

Today is the last day of August, and it's still hot.  That means tomorrow is the first day of meteorological Fall and guess what?  It's still going to be hot.  Upper 90s with heat indices in the triple digits. 

I know you're tired of hearing it, but you know something?  I'm tired of living it.  I'm ready for cooler temps, hot drinks, and cozy nights snuggled under a blanket.  I think my neighbors are ready for that, too, because they put out Halloween decorations already.   I've got some general Fall decorations I'll start putting out soon, but I'll wait until October to put out my one little Halloween thing. 

Anyway....not much has been going on here, at least nothing worth writing about.  I cast on a new sailor hat over the weekend while watching Clue.  

Yarn:  Hobby Lobby I Love This Yarn

Colorway:  Dakota

Pattern: Basic Beanie

Needles:  US 8 / 5 mm

I was going to watch The Rocky Horror Picture Show, but I didn't.  Can you believe I've never seen that one?  I went with a couple of friends to see it back when I was in the Navy, but there were a bunch of kids that looked like they were between 12 and 15 years old absolutely running wild in the theater -- shooting each other with water guns and squirt bottles, throwing food and stuff, all while yelling and shrieking at top volume.  No parents in sight, just the kids. 

My friends said they'd settle down once the movie started, but they didn't.  If anything, they got worse.  About 20 minutes into the movie, I got up and left.  I couldn't hear the dialogue, I had no idea what was going on in the film, and there was no point in sitting there in all that chaos.  

In the years that have followed, I've often said I was going to rent it, but I never got around to it.  Maybe next week while the plant is shut down.  I don't even want to talk about that mess.  I talked to Cuz this morning and he said they are going to put the brazers back on the line, despite every one of us telling them what a bad idea that is. 

That's the main problem out there.  Too many people would rather be right than successful.  If certain ones up in the office would set aside their giant egos and do what's best for production for once, things might not be falling apart so badly.  

I'll tell you one thing, though.  The first time one of those assembly line group leaders moves me to the line, then starts screaming obscenities in my face because the line ran out of headers...Let's just say, I'm not going to put up with that 💩 any more. 

I'm already looking through my finances and trying to figure out how I can afford to go ahead and retire. That's the problem, though.  I might be able to scrape by, but I don't want to do that.  I want to enjoy my life.  My dad retired at 62, but his house was paid off, plus his job gave them an employee pension.  I've only got social security and whatever I've managed to save in my 401K.

On a similar note, the plant is in a full blown panic because employees are dropping like flies out there.  Quitting, I mean.  By the dozens.  I guess that's what you get when you tell your employees that if they don't like it there, then just go work somewhere else.  That's exactly what they're going to do. 

Enough about that....I've also been working on this sock yarn hat a bit in between sailor hats. 

Yarn:  Forbidden Fiber Co. Fortitude Sock

Colorway:  Starfall

Pattern:  Sockhead

Needles:  US 2.5 / 3 mm

By the way, I forgot to tell you the other day I found some more computer paper in that box I was cleaning out.   The one with the fish on it has never even been opened. 

And I had to pull this book out of the donation stack when I opened it up and found 

this:  

Funny part is, I don't remember a summer reading club at all.  Not at the church library.  We always did the one at the public library, but I don't remember this one. 

I also didn't remember this Bible until I saw it in the box.  

It was presented to me by the women's missionary union when I graduated high school.  

On a completely unrelated note, I've somehow ended up with a house full of mosquitoes.  I made a home made trap with apple cider vinegar, water, sugar, and a few drops of dish soap.  I caught this many in my half bath in the first night.  

And almost as many again the second.  Alas, the one I put in the the kitchen didn't catch any, even though they're thick in there.  I'll make fresh traps and put them out tonight, to see what I come up with. 

I saw a much nicer insect in the garden Sunday morning. 

I couldn't help but think of Dolly, and how she loved butterflies. 

Busy Saturday

It's amazing how much more energy you have when you get to sleep normal human being hours.  I woke up raring to go this morning, just not to the farmer's market.  I don't know why I always feel obligated to go up there every Saturday.  Maybe I'd go more if they stayed open longer.  Maybe not.

First thing I did was to go piddle in my garden a bit.  Well, the first thing I did was to make some coffee, but that goes without saying.  After that, I went and piddled in the garden.  That's just about the only thing I miss about working second shift -- being able to work in the yard in the cool of the morning.  By the way, it was 63 when I got up today, but it warmed up pretty quickly.  Still, it made the coffee taste extra good, being that chilly.  

The plan was to cut and dry some more lemon balm and tarragon, but I had to grind and bottle what I'd already cut first.  When all the dust had settled, I ended up with two jars of lemon balm and nearly a full bottle of tarragon. 

I also bottled up what spearmint I had dried, which will be all for this year because I let it go to flower, then weedeated it all down anyway.  Eh, it'll be back in spring, and for what it's worth, spearmint is my least favorite of the mints.  

I used my fancy new herb jars, but I'm not too happy with the pre-printed labels they came with.  I didn't really expect one for lemon balm, but I was kind of surprised that tarragon wasn't included. I thought it was a pretty popular herb.  I mean, they had labels for stuff I've never even heard of.  What the heck is achiote?  Anyway, they did include some blank labels, but most of the pre-printed ones will likely get tossed.   I'll probably just design my own and print them myself.  

Oh, and there was a label for cayenne, which is a good thing because I cut and strung some more this morning.  

I checked the ones I already had drying and they seem to be doing much better.  No mold as far as I can see.  

For those of you interested, I also recorded a new garden journal, which you can watch on my YouTube channel here:  Garden Vlog.

I also spent a little time cleaning out my shed before it got too hot.  I tossed a bit of stuff into the pile to be hauled off, then I brought a storage container into the house to sort through it.  As I figured, the majority of what was in it went either into the garbage or into the donation box.  There were even a few books that I'm going to take down to the Little Free Library on the square.  

This book is not one of them.  

I'd bought it for Cody when he was little, but when I asked, he didn't even remember the book.  I'd first put it into the donation stack, but then pulled it back out and put it onto my book shelf.  It's got some really cool stuff in it, and if you have a little boy in your life, I highly recommend that you get him one of these.  

I never even put this book into the donation stack.  

It was mine when I was little, but I highly doubt it would fly in today's climate.  Oh, it's not a bad book.  It talks all about how the Native Americans knew how to live off the land, make birchbark canoes, and hunt for their food.  Stuff like that.  But it says Indians and that's verboten these days.  

Other than a few old photos, the last thing I kept from that box was my 50 state quarter collection.

I knew I had one somewhere.  They were a thing, back in the day.  

Purpose

The day Dolly died, I woke up that morning when the alarm went off way too early, and I promise you this is true.  My first thought was, "I woke up this morning!  I have a purpose!"  But then, if you've read my blog for any length of time, you'll know I figured out my purpose long ago.  

Lots of folks think that if they're not called to preach or be a missionary, God has no use for them, or if we don't have a global stage like Dolly did, we won't have an impact.  That is so far from true.  For most of us, it's the small, simple acts of kindness in His name -- like a warm hat to wear -- that shines His light in this world.  

So let your light so shine, no matter how small you think it is.  Somebody somewhere is going to see it. 

Speaking of light, were you able to see the eclipse last night?  This was my view for most of the time. 

I'd go out and would be able to see a little of it, then the clouds would move in.  I'd check every 15 minutes or so, and despite the cloud cover, I was able to see a good bit of it.  Fortunately, there was a break in the clouds during peak totality, so I was able to see that.  I didn't wait to see the moon uncover, though.  I'd still gotten up at 4:30 that morning, and I was tuckered, so I took a quick shower and went to bed. 

This morning, amazingly enough, the cat let me sleep until 6:00 AM.  After a leisurely cup of coffee, the plan was to start cleaning up this mess in my shed.  

I've tried to clean it up before, but would take one look, then get overwhelmed and walk right back out.  This time is different, though, since I don't have to figure out what to do with all the junk in there.  I'll just pile it up and once I'm ready, I'll call the clean up man to come get it all.  I made a good start, then had to take a break when it got too hot.  I'll probably be able to get more done once it cools off a bit -- like mid-September.  For now, I have to keep reminding myself that I don't have to get it all done in one day.  

The other thing I did before it got too hot was to pick up all of these twigs and branches that the recent winds had knocked down. 

I put them here to dry, so I can use them to start fires once winter gets here -- or when they lift the burn ban and I can sit out by the fire pit.  By the way, we actually got a bit of rain this week.  Not much -- just enough to raise our monthly total to 1".  We're still in drought conditions, and my water bill is reflecting it.  From watering my garden, that is.  Oh well, it will all be worth it when I'm enjoying a nice bowl of tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich on a cold winter day.  

Speaking of, I splurged a bit yesterday and bought some of the fancy soup from the deli section at Walmart, only it's so hot right now, I don't want to eat it.  

On a similar note, The Millennial Gardener says that the end of August is a good time to remove your shade cloth from your gardens, so I did that yesterday evening.   

I noticed that these tomato plants seemed a bit more leggy than the ones I'd planted in the spring, so maybe I shouldn't have put the shade cloth on them in the first place.  They got so leggy, I had to add an additional stake to the two smallest ones, because they were flopping over.  I'll give them a few more days until they get big enough that the cage will support them, then remove those stakes.  Or maybe I won't.  They're not hurting anything, so might as well leave them. 

Next year, I don't think I'll plant tomatoes in succession, because knowing me, I'll still have tomato soup in the freezer from this year.  I do want to plant one round and maybe look into making homemade salsa.  I'll have to research recipes over the winter.  I also want to look into planting a Fall garden, so I'm going to research that, too.  

On a brighter note, my zinnias are blooming again, and the pollinators are very happy about that.  

Not to mention, they look much healthier than they did before.  Next year, I'll know better than to plant so many in the same bed. 

By the way, they say the best way to make sure you don't have tomato hornworms is to look for them at night with a black light.  Apparently, they glow in the dark.  I'd bought a black light years ago, but I have no idea where it is.  I found the battery holder thingy, but not the light itself.  Eh, they're not that expensive, so I ordered another one.  

It would seem I have indeed gotten all of the hornworms off my tomatoes.  I checked while I was waiting for the eclipse to start.  

Since I was ordering anyway, I tossed in this collection of Autumn themed washi tape that I'd been eyeing for quite some time now. 

I'm not sure why, because I only have one pen pal left -- the one from Australia.  Everyone else has stopped writing, but what with a stamp costing nearly $1 now, I can't say's I blame them.  Or else, I'm just boring. 

Here's a fun fact, the black light I'd bought years ago was so I could send letters to one of my pen pals in invisible ink.  But that's neither here nor there. 

The only thing I didn't like about that washi tape was the box it came in. 

The only way to find the tape you want is to dump all of the rolls out of the box.  Naturally, I did what any red blooded American would do.  I repurposed this little lunch box I got when I helped Cody and Brennan clean out their house.  They were going to throw it away, but I figured I would be able to make use of it somehow.  Now it is the happy home to my washi tape. 

And look, it's even got cute little handles to carry it around with.  

In work news, they've started taking down the wall between the front and the back of the plant.  They actually started yesterday while we were all there, and I wondered how safe it was for them to be pulling all of that fiberglass insulation down with a plant full of employees.  

Oh, and do you want to see a visual definition of the word irony?  Look at this:

This is just a small section of a much larger pile of junk that was in the break area...right next to the "Report Unsafe Conditions" code...

I guess that's about it for today.  If you'll excuse me, I need to go write a letter to my Australian pen pal so I can use my new washi tape.

Laters...

Dear Coworker

 Why? 

Why do you have to keep ripping the soap dispensers off the walls?  Why?  

They are motion sensor at that, so there is no reason at all to even touch them, so why are you ripping them off the walls?  Do you realize this was the last one left?  What do you think will happen now?  

Get used to rinsing your hands, because there won't be any soap in there for you to use. 

While we're on the subject, why get all these seat covers just to hang them on the stall door?  

If you aren't going to use them, why even get them out of the box?  Leave them for someone else. 

Thank you.

That is all. 

Bear With Me

Y'all going to have to bear with me.  The flood is getting just a bit whelming at the moment. 

Regular blogging will resume...whenever I can ...deal with all of this.  

Dolly

January 19, 1946 - August 25, 2026

We will always love you. 

Bad News

Today is the day.  What day, you ask?  Why today starts the last week of August!  It even feels like the end of August.  How?  It only got up to 90° today!  And it's supposed to be in the low 90s all week, which is a heap sight better than the low 100s.  Still no rain, though…

You know, I almost feel sorry for August.  Nobody likes it.  It's hot, there are no holidays in August, and the kids don't like it because they have to go back to school.  It seems like the best thing about August is when it ends.  

Before we get to the bad news, here's a bit of good news.  A couple came by yesterday afternoon and picked up all of that scrap wood I had stacked up, even the bits that were partially rotten.  I'd told them to look through and take what they wanted, and the man replied, "Oh, I'm going to take it all!''  And they did.  So that's a little bit less I have to pay someone to haul off.  They also asked if I had any scrap iron, and I showed them all the leftover tin that the previous owners had left behind the fence.  I told the man, "If there is anything there you can use, you're welcome to take it."  He said they'd come back and get it later, after they'd emptied their trailer. 

I wasn't really going to do anything with all of that, because it wasn't my stuff and it's not on my land, but if they want to clean it up, they're more than welcome to.  If anything, they can probably sell it for scrap metal.  

Now for the bad news, I lost another pepper plant.  

It was just like the others, fine yesterday morning, and dead by evening.  I did a bit of research, and watched a video by The Pepper Geek, and from what I can figure, I've got a virus or fungus.  Since it's a brand new bed, I believe it was introduced by the banana peppers I bought at Walmart.   Looking back after the fact, I do remember that I had one little plant that I thought was going to die, but it eventually perked up and grew.  I wonder if that was the one that brought the disease into the bed.  I guess we'll never know for sure. 

But a fungal infection is also consistent with that mold looking stuff I'd been seeing at the bases of the dead plants, so I'm pretty sure that's what is infecting my bed.  According to Calvin -- a.k.a. The Pepper Geek -- these types of infections are incurable and the best thing to do is pull the plant up and burn it.  Not only that, the disease is in the soil, and can stay there for years.  It will eventually kill every plant in that bed.  

I think it's also infected the cayenne plants that I've got planted in that same bed.

You can see how much more healthy the ones I've got planted in the other beds look, even though they're droopy from the afternoon heat right now. 

Their color is much better, and the peppers look like normal peppers, not the short stubby things the sickly plants are putting out. 

With that in mind, I made the difficult decision to just pull them all up and put them into the hot compost instead of trying to overwinter them.  I was going to do that when I got home from work this afternoon, but I changed my mind.  We're getting close to the end of the growing season anyway, so I decided to let the plants be until they died--whether from the fungus or the frost, whichever comes first.  

Then I'll cover the bed with some black landscape fabric to absorb the heat, and top that with a sheet of Visqueen, which will help contain the heat in that soil.  Hopefully, that will raise the temp enough to kill off any remaining spores in the soil.  I may even leave that bed fallow next year, just to make sure.  I don't know.  I doubt I'll grow more banana peppers for a while, because I've already got more than I can use as it is.  

And just to brighten your day, I was finally able to see one of this year's fawns. 

 The adult deer were nibbling on corn in the back, and this little guy had the zoomies behind them.  It was so cute.  

Not A Drop

We didn’t get a drop of rain out of all those storms yesterday. Not one drop.  Even in the second round that came through after I'd gone to bed, it was all wind, and a little thunder, but no rain.  I've got lots of small twigs and things down, and my potted plants on the back porch got tumped over, but still...not a drop of rain out of all of that. 

Well, at least the electricity didn’t go out, though it flashed quite a bit, so that’s a good thing.  I'd gotten my new emergency radio/light/power bank thing out just in case, but didn't need it in the end.  

Quite a few people around the state and in Memphis did lose power, so I feel fortunate in that.  Still, we desperately need rain.  I checked my Raindrop app, and according to them, we've only gotten .08" this month.  

With that in mind, one thing I did this morning was to raise my water bottle drippers up a bit.  

I'd heard to put them deep into the soil to encourage the plant's roots to grown downward, but I think I'd gotten them too deep.    My smaller tomatoes were struggling a bit, so hopefully this will help.  They are still a good 4 or 5" into the ground, so we'll see.  

While I was out there, I dug around under the mulch in my pepper bed and pulled out all of the garden staples I'd used to hold the cardboard in place.  At least, I think I got them all.  As I suspected, they are all covered in rust.  I'm going to try the baking soda trick to see if I can get it off, but even if that doesn't work, I've got plenty more.  

The last thing I did was to move all these chunks of concrete up beside the shed to be ready for the cleanup man. 

The previous owners had a huge fire pit out behind the fence.  I'm sure it must have been nice at one time, but somewhere along the way, they started burning garbage in it.  A few years ago, I decided I was tired of mowing around it, so I started cleaning it out.  It was full of junk like broken glass, coke cans, and miscellaneous trash. 

I cleaned all of that out, and stacked the concrete pieces beside the fence to be dealt with later.  Today was later.  It only took a few trips with my wheelbarrow to get it all moved, and I was done in time to take a shower before church. 

In doing all of that digging around these last few days, I found this gem. 

Figuratively speaking of course.  It's just a rock.  A good sized rock -- twelvish inches or so.  I think I might find a place for it in my toad garden.  

Oh, and I should probably mentioned that I finally finished my Hillsdale College course on American paintings. It should have been such a fascinating course, but ...I don't like throwing shade, but the lectures were delivered in such a dry, monotonous voice that they were hard to sit through.  I often joked that if they'd edited out all of them ums and uhs, the lessons would have only been half the length.  

Anyway, I finished and signed up for another course, this time on C.S. Lewis And Christianity.  I haven't started it yes, but I will soon. 

Hopefully, it'll be more interesting than the last one.