Yesterday sucked. There will be a post about it soon, just not today. Many of you have already heard about yesterday’s sucking anyway.

But the whole day didn’t suck. I was actually having a pretty decent day until evening came. I spent the afternoon out in the garden mixing dirt and filling pots and planters and getting some squash seeds in them. I knew it was going to rain today, and it’s always good to get seeds planted just before the rain comes. Seeds react to rain in ways they don’t react to watering. I think it has something to do with pH levels.

Anyway, things are popping up all over the garden! The scallions, dill, cucumbers, lettuces, arugula, tomatoes, pole beans, and peppers have all made an appearance, and that one lonely potato plant is thriving. Today I noticed the marigolds and nasturtium have come up as well as the wild walking onions. The fava beans finally have some beans on them too, and the last planting of winter carrots are looking great. The only real disappointments at the moment continue to be the cauliflower and Brussels sprouts. I imagine none of those plants are long for this world. They had their chance, and they did nothing. I want to plant something else in those spaces (though what, I don’t know). Oh, and the tomato plants are looking good too! Really growing and already getting blooms. Early tomatoes, here we come!

The best thing is that the soil temperature is holding steady at 70ºF. That’s the magic number, and the longer it stays at that temp, the better for my plants. I don’t expect it to be that way too long, but I’m hoping for at least another month or two before the dirt starts getting warmer. The stronger my plants are before the awful heat sets in –and I am expecting awful heat again this year– the better they will do when summer hits.

The last thing that really needs to be done out there, other than clearing the weeds out of my walkways, is tilling up a spot for corn, okra, and onions. I’d hoped to do that today, but it’s raining and too wet, so maybe next weekend. To be honest, I wouldn’t mind not having corn this year. The garden has already been expanded in size with one new bed and all the containers. I’m not sure I really want it to be much bigger just yet. I love working in the garden, but I don’t really want it to be a full-time job, know what I mean?

In other news, I’m feeling like crap thanks to seasonal allergies and an absolutely insane amount of pollen in the air. Today’s rain helps a bit, but tomorrow it will just add mold spores to the mix. The pollen has been so thick lately, it can be seen floating in the air and it is covering everything with a fine greenish-yellow dust. Yuck. If it wouldn’t look completely ridiculous, I swear I’d start wearing a freaking filter mask every time I had to be outside. Some people do, but I’m too vain to look that silly in public. Instead, I’ll just be taking my pills and being loopy in the head (but breathing). Speaking of which, it’s time to go take one now. I can feel the wheezing and sneezing about to start again.^†

1. † I am so hoping this whole health care reform thing works out with me having decent health insurance. There are some new allergy shots that a lot of people are raving about, and I would like to give them a try, but without insurance, I’m pretty sure I can’t afford them. I don’t know what my life would be like without all these allergy problems, but I would seriously like to find out. In my imagination, my life becomes wonderful. LOL! [↩]

I’m finally starting to feel somewhat rested. The last few weeks have been hell, and with the insomnia episode for a couple weeks before that, I was seriously running on fumes when this week began. Not even fumes … running on willpower and a strong desire to get things done. But even though the last few mornings have been earlier starts than normal, I’ve managed to squeeze in some sleep here and there, and boy does it feel good to not feel like I am about to fall over at any minute.

Had a busy and interesting day. Went to the bank, which I needed to do weeks ago. I love my bank, because they are wonderful, but there’s only one –ONE– branch in Austin (and only two in the whole state), and it’s just a hassle to get over there. I’ve been going to that bank since I was a little girl, and never once had I walked behind the building to look at the dam. I mean, there’s the big huge hydroelectric dam right there, and I’d never bothered to check it out. Today, I finally decided to do that. There’s a neat little lookout area with a picnic table, so I sat there a while and just enjoyed the sunshine, cool breezes, and the sounds of splashing water. It was nice to take a break for a while after having had to deal with some insane highway traffic getting to the bank. I think I’ll plan ahead next time I have to go to the bank and take a snack and beverage and enjoy some time there listening to the world. Always good to take a moment now and then to just breath.

Since I hate the method by which the city planners decided drivers should get back on MOPAC North from Lake Austin Blvd., I always take Exposition north until I get to the next big street that heads to the highway. Enfield, maybe. I can’t look at street signs and drive at the same time, so I have no idea what street it is. Well, this time, I decided to see where Exposition went and skipped turning where I always turn. It’s a nice street to drive on through a very nice part of town, so why not? Eventually, I came to a stop light and the street beyond looked like it did something weird, so I went ahead and turned toward the highway to head to the grocery store. And thus begins an adventure.

I did not see how to get onto MOPAC, even though there had been a sign telling me there was some way to do so. No biggie, really. I’d just go to the next light, make a right turn, and then come at the highway from the other side. Uh huh. I ended up on some other unknown street that wound its way through an older (but nice) neighborhood, and then through a bunch of DPS offices and nursing homes … and road construction. It eventually came to a T-intersection, and I turned west to get back to MOPAC. A few blocks down the road, there was the sign with an arrow telling me MOPAC North was in that direction. I turned onto a really tiny little street and drove through yet one more old neighborhood tucked away among a whole bunch of trees. Suddenly, with no warning at all, I found myself on the highway. It was weird, but cool, and seeing as I was not the only one taking this strange route to MOPAC (and not everyone could possibly have been “lost” like I was), apparently it’s a hidden shortcut other people already know about.

So a whole lot of lackadaisical driving later, I was back on MOPAC and then on 183 and back in my ‘hood. Though I’d meant to stop at Target for coffee, I forgot and missed the exit. Oops. I was too lazy to bother going back, so I went ahead and headed to the grocery store for all our beverage and paper needs. The HEB was a madhouse of epic proportions, which is odd for a Tuesday afternoon. I actually had to circle the parking lot once to wait for a parking space –this never ever happens– and then when one opened up I had to prove I really do know how to drive a truck. Wow, that was a tight fit, but I wedged my truck between two other larger trucks and went about my shopping. Good thing I’m skinny or getting out of the truck would have been a pain. Hope the drivers of the other trucks were skinny too.

Since I didn’t have anything that required refrigeration, and because I was feeling up to more driving, I finally went to the Michael’s craft store to ponder what to spend my gift card on. It’s a pretty nice store. I hadn’t been in a Michael’s in quite a while, because the closest one isn’t all that close. Or rather … it’s just a bit off my usual path. They had plenty of artsy-crafty stuff to fondle, and I spent far too much time in the fabric department. I didn’t buy anything this trip, of course. I have to ponder what I want to get a little longer. I have decided to use my card to get some nice fabric to make something awesome, but what that awesome thing will be I’m not sure just yet. It’ll probably be either a dressy dress or this totally cool kimono-style jacket I recently bought a pattern for. I’m going to be watching their sales to see when the fabrics I looked at go on sale (probably sometime in April when dressy stuff always goes on sale). I never buy anything that isn’t on sale. I can be very patient.

When I finally got home again, I realized I’d been gone for most of the afternoon. My how time flies when one is idly driving around not being rushed! The sun came out again, so instead of doing the housework, which had been my plan, I went out to the garden, pulled some more weeds, and then planted some dill, parsley, radishes, nasturtium, and marigolds in the mound area, as well as sticking some garlic here and there in various empty spots in the beds. All the currently available growing space is now planted! Yeah! This weekend I’ll get Lin to till up the area I have selected for the corn, okra and onions, then there will be more planting. Eventually the planting will come to an end and the growing will begin. Well, actually, the growing has already begun.

As I hovered around the beds looking for weeds and bugs, I was very pleasantly surprised by all the seeds that are already coming up. There are seedlings everywhere! The most exciting appearance though was the sprouting of one of the two shriveled potato starts I had found hiding behind the stove ages ago. I don’t know that the other one will come up, but at least one of them did, so the Great Potato experiment continues. I hope we end up getting some to eat, but my main goal with that plant is to get new starts for next year and not lose that genetic line. Needless to say, I will be doting on that plant to make sure it survives and thrives. I only need about six potatoes from it, and anything else will be considered a bonus situation. And who knows, maybe that other one will sprout too. I’m keeping my fingers crossed. Two plants would definitely be better than just one.

When the clouds started rolling in again, I did some of the mundane housework I’d been putting off, and then it was time to make dinner (meatloaf, garden salad, fruit salad, and steamed homegrown carrots). Lin got home, we ate, he watched the news, and then we passed out in the living room. If I think I’ve been tired lately, I can only imagine how tired Lin must be. He’s driven back and forth between Austin and Houston twice this week already and not had good days on the project there either. They are putting some equipment on a hospital roof, and if his ranting is any indication, the project is a pain in the butt. I’m sure he’ll be glad when it’s over and done with.

So that was my day yesterday. Kind of busy and annoying, because I’m still feeling droopy and wilted, but I had fun exploring Austin and seeing some new things. It’s so easy to get into a rut where I only go to the places I have always gone and only drive on the streets I have always driven on, and there’s so much more in this town to see. I think I’ll start exploring more often when I am out and about. It doesn’t waste too much gasoline or time, and who knows what I’ll find … like a picnic table beside a dam behind my bank or an interesting route north that avoids a lot of ugly highway driving and doesn’t take much longer to drive. I’m sure there are even better things to find, once I start looking!

It’s funny how the act of lawn mowing spreads through a neighborhood. Last weekend the Latinos and Garden Lady mowed, and Lin went out and mowed in Sunday too. Not because he really felt like mowing, but we didn’t want to be the last one on the street to mow.

See, none of us mowed all winter. There was never really a chance, because it rained and rained and rained and when it wasn’t actively raining, all our yards were soupy muddy places best left alone. There wasn’t much grass (or weed) growth all winter either, so it wasn’t too bad looking, until the temperatures warmed up, and then all of us had grand natural prairies with waving grass and weeds instead of lawns. Our street was getting so wild looking it was even beginning to bug me, and I have never been a person whose goal was to have a perfect lawn (I don’t even mind natural grasses and weeds, so long as they are pretty).

All week long the mowing has commenced down the street, because I am sure no one wants to be the last person left with an awful looking yard. Right now, I can hear at least three lawn mowers going. It’ll be interesting to see who is the last one left with a tall weedy lawn. Well, this time, it won’t be us for a change!

In other outdoor news, I am so well rested today I believe I will go putter in the garden for a while. I want to dump the dirt out of all my containers onto the large plastic tarp to a) let it dry out and b) mix it all together and add compost. I wasn’t sure what I was going to put in the containers, though I know I want to use them again this year to make the garden area a little larger without all that tilling. Since I totally forgot to plant squash (I don’t have any leftover seeds), I guess I’ll put a few squash plants in large pots. Then I can move them around and see where they like it best. They didn’t like where I planted them last year. While everyone else was swimming in squash, I was thankful for the few small pots we got to eat and always wishing for more. Maybe I’ll have better luck with them in containers.

Oh, and I needn’t have carefully planted any basil the other day. The newest weed in my garden area? Basil. Oh … my … god. It’s coming up everywhere! I saw all these tiny things sprouting and thought some new weed had invaded my growing space, but I also noticed it looked an awful lot like baby basil plants. So I pulled one up and sniffed it. Yup … basil. I’m going to leave as many of them as I can without it bothering the other plants, and I’ll probably be putting some in small pots for friends and family. Everyone will be enjoying some basil this year!

Also, my marigolds are blooming like crazy! I thought they would die off during the winter. In fact, I did nothing at all to protect them and fully intended to replant them this spring. But there are two of them out there looking healthy and awesome. They are way too large now for the space they are in, but I tried to dig one up to move it and it’s going to be impossible. I guess they like it where they are, and so they get to stay there. Whenever we get that awful front flowerbed cleared out, I am filling it with nothing but marigolds and irises. Apparently even I can’t kill these plants, and they are pretty.

The coffee is really kicking in now, so I’m going to go grub around in the dirt for a while and get a few more things done out there. It’s a little too muddy to deal with clearing out the mound area, but I can at least empty those containers and get the pole beans planted in the now ant-free potato bed. Yippee!

Must remember to get squash seeds. Can’t believe I forgot about squash!