Word of the Day

Caterfere: Feline behavior, usually exhibited when the owner is attempting to do something important.

It's been a perfectly wonderful day today. The weather has been ideal. The weekenders won't be here until tomorrow so we've had the lake to ourselves. Peace, tranquility, sunshine, and perfect temperatures with low humidity. Can't beat that. So...I spent the day outside, soaking it all in. I planted some marigolds. I finished up with the rest of the bark mulch. I planted two more Italian pepper plants that I bought yesterday. I planted eight more tomato plants. Please note, I only asked my Mom for two more tomato plants, TWO. She brought me eight. I think she's trying to get rid of them without actually taking on the guilt of personally killing them.

The Tale of the Tomato Plants.

My Mother grew tomato plants from seed. Lots of tomato plants. I don't think she actually thought all of these tomato plants would make it but she has a very green thumb...two of them. She pampered these seedlings, giving them water and sunlight and love. She would take them outside on warm days to get them used to the great outdoors and bring them in at the slightest dip in temperature and then when it came to finding space in their car for the trip to Wisconsin, she somehow found the room to transport them across state lines. She did this with great care. I'm sure she brought them into the hotel room every night on the way here for fear they'd freeze in the car during the night.

So, here she is with all kinds of pampered tomato plants. She asks me how many tomato plants I could use. Innocently, I tell her I could find space for eight. I really do like homegrown tomatoes but that's quite a lot of tomato plants for me. I don't have all that much space in my garden. She brought me sixteen tomato plants. Now, anyone that knows me (and my Mother knows me), knows that I can't abandon plants. I may kill them by mistake but I do make every effort to keep them alive for as long as possible. So, I found spots for the extra eight tomato plants here and there in my flower beds. Flower beds aren't the best of locations for tomato plants especially since a glacier decided to dump a load of rock on my end of the lake but I did my best. Of the eight tomato plants that I carefully transplanted into my flower beds, two died. The rest don't look all that happy but they are alive. Sigh. Being an honest daughter, I fessed up and told my Mother that I'd killed two of the tomato plants. She said, "Do you want me to bring you a couple more tomato plants?" I figured, what the heck, I'd already prepped the soil, removed all the boulders, why not? She brought me eight more tomato plants. Sigh. I planted eight tomato plants. I hope they live. I'd hate to have to tell my Mother that I'd killed more tomato plants because who knows how many she'll send over the next time. I'm afraid to go to sleep at night for fear that I'll have some nightmare where the doorbell rings and when I go to answer the door there will be orphan tomato plants waiting for me on the steps...and I just catch the glimpse of a fleeing car. My Mother's car.

Murphyism of the Day

Minton's Law of Painting

Any paint, no matter the quality or composition, will adhere permanently to any surface, prepared or otherwise, if applied accidentally.