Joanne & Riley

This morning's portrait.  Riley thinks it's warmer under the table.  G suggested breakfast at the Freeport Cafe on this chilly (53 degree) morning.  A large number of other people decided to have breakfast there also.  We had a table on the porch so it wasn't as warm as I would have liked.  Riley & G have gone out for their walk in the woods, followed by mowing the remainder of the front grass, taking the mower to our daughter's house, discharging the battery on my digital camera, and planting a rose bush.

My list includes laundry, making jelly, working in one of the weedy garden beds, cleaning house, washing floors and changing the couch slipcovers and then washing the white ones (I may take them to the laundromat tomorrow so I can use one of the giant machines).  I asked for and received four days in a row off of work.  Today thru Wednesday my regular day off.  G is wondering if I will actually go back on Thursday.  I am wondering also.  I have overdue books to read--quickly.  Last night I couldn't concentrate to read or even watch television.  I was that tired.

My Bulb Planting class had 19 people in attendance.  And my boss sent the 88 year old guy down to "help" me teach the class.  This guy "talks off the cuff" and off topic and was annoying, but I let him interrupt because, if you remember, I did the same to the Composting teacher last week.  Teaches me a lesson.  At the end, Ed wanted to tell them all about the Crusades and how returning soldiers brought bulbs home as souvenirs and about why the Dutch grow bulbs and we don't.  This is the way Ed taught the bulb class for years.  And he likes to suggest castor oil and red pepper powder for bulb planting.  Thank goodness he did all this after I was finished and the class could stand up and depart.  They did buy lots of bulbs.  And, really, that is the ONLY reason we have the classes.  I suggested super phosphate and gypsum but we didn't have either product in the store, which was poor planning by the boss.  I don't think he remembers to make a fertilizer order when we get low or else the company warehouse has no more to send.  We could have sold a number of bags of gypsum.

I covered bulb planting (daffodils, tulips etc), paperwhite forcing for Christmas,  Amaryllis rebloom for a second year and the time to pot for Christmas bloom,  digging up the summer bulbs and the way to store them (dahlias, glads and some lilies), and the bringing into the house or garage of tender bulbs like Agapanthus, clivia, canna.  I covered a lot of territory.  I saw people scribbling notes on their handouts.

I brought home the class sample of potted paperwhites and my own repotted amaryllis.  The clothes dryer is beeping.  Gotta go.