Monthly Archives: August 2006

Dangit, you guys are too cool. Got to the bottom of the Digger stack today, popped open the last two envelopes–and what do I find? A bag of Red Vines, and an adorable little messenger rat magnet. The messenger rat is adorning my fridge, and the Red Vines are adorning my gullet. Life is beautiful. […]

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/38951421/ Sometimes I wish I had a garden paladin. I mean, I have James, and he’s pretty good for things like digging holes and mowing the lawn, but…well…somebody dedicated and brawny and not very bright, to make a valiant stand against the weeds. Then I could sip mint juleps on the veranda and read seed […]

Did a little work in the garden before it gets punishingly hot, tossed some petunias into the bare patches. Blessed are the annuals, who hide our failures! Gardening smells like sweat and basil, with a hint of pine from the bark mulch. The tropical storm is supposed to hit us tomorrow, although it will have […]

ID…and Ethical Dilemnas.

Woo! Thanks to an anonymous poster and Owlmirror36, we have an identification on my latest mystery weed! It’s Elephantopus tomentosus, also known as hairy elephantsfoot, tobaccoweed, and my personal favorite, devil’s grandmother. http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=ELTO2 Despite my cynical expectation that everything is a voracious invader species…it isn’t. It’s a native wildflower. It’s endangered in Maryland. Here in […]

So I’m working on my latest painting, featuring a big-eyed girl being menaced by an enraged puppet of Napoleon Bonaparte. (Look, don’t ask why. It’s just easier that way.) James looked at this and said “His nose is too big for Napoleon.” “What? It’s a puppet! And how do you know what Napoleon looks like?” […]

A book arrived while I was taking a nap. I heard the thump, and went “Yay! My copy of Entropia! At last!” I jumped up, grabbed the package, opened it, and… Funny, I don’t remember ordering the Manual of Perioperative Care In Adult Cardiac Surgery, Fourth Edition. Also, my name’s not John, and this isn’t […]