It' s been so long since I have posted. Whenever major things are going on, it is hard to find time to post, or to know what to write. I guess I need an idea file to keep me going when my life is a little too personal for the internet.

The latest Newsweek, which we got last week, had an excellent article about Barak Obama and how he runs his campaign. Staffers who have worked with him for four years say that they have only heard him raise his voice twice. When he disagrees with something being said, he leans back in his chair and closes his eyes. In a meeting, he believes that those who are most quiet are probably the ones who are questioning what is being said. He wants to hear all viewpoints, so he makes a point of asking those who are quiet to say what they are thinking. This is a person I could vote for. Probably will.

Spent a lot of time working in my flower beds with my parents last week. I'd just about given up having flower beds this year. Now they are dug, mixed with lots of compost, and filled with flowers. I even dug a new spot this evening for some hollyhocks.

I don't actually dig. I have a field hoe that has a big enough blade to go as deep as a rototiller would. My dirt is more clay than dirt. When it is dry it resembles brick. Hoeing it gets my heart rate up to the aerobic rate quite well. Then I still have to bring in the compost and hoe it all again to mix it in. After that---fun. Planting the flowers.

I haven't added compost for a long time, so what usually happens at this point is a sad decline. That clay becomes tighter and the flowers look sadder, and I realize it's really pretty stupid to spend the money on flowers with this dirt.

This spring had been so busy. I was considering planting the beds to ground covers and bushes. I didn't really want to do that though, so I bought a couple of flats of annuals. I worked, composted and planted one bed but couldn't get any farther because of weather and schedules. Then my parents came to my aid, bringing a rototiller, a bush trimmer, and boxes of perennials culled from their own flower beds.

There is still more to do. A little each day is enough.

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