The "Babies"

Here are the baby tomato plants - just waiting for the spring weather we need!

National Hanging Out Day

Reading the newspaper the other day (soon to be a lost pleasure, if the internet wins the race and the printing press is buried), I discovered that April 19th is National Hanging Out Day. Project Laundry List is a group promoting the use of clothes lines outside to dry clothing instead of using energy consumed by the dryer. Years ago when first married that is just what we did, the clothing smelling fresh albeit a bit stiff, upon removal from the line. Older baby boomers should be familiar with this ritual - our moms brought us up on the finer aspects of hanging the clothes out to dry - my favorite clothespins being the newer type with the clip you opened. Trying to hang the sheets without letting them touch the ground was always a struggle! So let's pass the word around - at the very least we could do it once a week or so - conserving our precious energy resources and taking a step back in time if just for a few minutes.....

Packing our bags once again...

This weekend was the Easter holiday - our very last holiday weekend trek home to see family, battling the big rigs on 95 for a little breathing room, the blood pressure and stress level rising as we cover the miles. Sadly, we are moving back to the burbs of the big city in the summer. The one thing I won't miss is these darn holiday weekends - they pull us kicking and screaming back to have meaningless conversations with people we see but once a year. I had planned to let my husband and son make the journey this time without me, but gave in at the last minute knowing my own parents would want me to be there. Family holiday get-togethers are what my mother-in-law denotes a "command performance" - the only acceptable excuses for missing them being work, sickness and death. Happily, the weekend passed quickly and we are now back in our lower slower shore town!

Taking the good with the bad...

My usual morning commute to work consists of 20 miles of countryside and gorgeous scenery pulling my eyes away from the road and calming my soul. But this morning's drive was disrupted by one of those drivers we all dislike getting stuck behind. He just couldn't make up his mind whether the speed limit was 30 or 50 and naturally he was driving one of those oversized SUV's, sucking up precious gasoline and spewing CO2 into the atmosphere. The size of the tank in front of me precluded any attempt at safely passing him, of course, so I just had to grin and bear it.

Shopping for a new set of wheels, no not that kind...

Saturday saw us shopping for a new bicycle for my 14-year-old man-child. He has grown 6 inches since last year - the old bike just wasn't working for him any longer. After three stores and many test rides later we finally settled on one. He was excited, I was happy the shopping ordeal was over, and he can continue to be my biking partner for the time being....of course, the interest in doing just about anything with "mom" will wane sometime in the near future. Til then, we'll enjoy the trails together...

Garden Time

My teeny tomato seeds are blossoming in the sunny window. Being new to gardening, I'll have to do some reading to find out when I should transplant them to the outside world. I'm hoping I have much better success than last year - I had purchased a tomato plant about 3 feet in height from the local nursery. I found out the hard way not to trust your petsitter to give your plants the same TLC you hope she is giving your pets! Anyway, we lost that one - but full of hope we'll see what this year's tomato plants give us! Also showing some green are the ten Arbor Foundation "treelings" I planted. I'm so excited about them - they were dormant for such a long time, I was getting worried...

cats and more...

Spent some time on Tuesday putting my time in at the "safe house" - still working on one of the ferals, Tuck. He wasn't too receptive this time, curled up in a dark corner, just keeping a close eye on what I was up to. Three new rescues in, one traumatized by the transplant to safe house, very shy. He'll take a week or two to decide whether we are friends or not...Two of the kittens are going to the Petsmart adoption this weekend! Orange tabbies - they'll find new moms very soon.