My Tiny Toy Watering Can

My garden bed over the septic outtake line is thawing nicely.  More and more brown dirt and more daffodil tips showing.  And the packet of crocus bulbs I planted is showing itself as well.  I alternate between floral overload at work and not much of anything here at home.  The one constant: the watering can.  This one doesn't actually work.  My tiny red can came with a full set of garden tools.  Little shovel, trowel, fork etc. I, at one time, had my little Muffy bear all dressed up for gardening, surrounded by her "tools" of the trade and a few tiny, tiny pots of tiny, tiny flowers.  I had way too much time on my hands.

Today age is evident in the pains in my back and weakness in my legs.  Riley got me up at 7.30 even though it is my day off (from paid work; I have plenty of domestic work to do).  The sun isn't shining, Riley isn't interested in eating breakfast, I don't know what to try and do first as I have so many things waiting to be done.  G managed to install my tax program, install a new toilet handle on the upstairs toilet and exchange two window blinds, one broken and one working.  Now the broken one is in the workroom and the working one in our bedroom.  He also did some of the more urgent grocery shopping.  Orange juice, milk, yogurt, bananas.  We run out of breakfast sooner than anything else.

Our local Dairy Queen opened yesterday.  We went for a "treat" after a quick dinner.  I worked yesterday and was very tired when I arrived home at 5.30.  It was interesting to watch the line grow and the parking lot fill as G waited to order our ice cream at 7 pm.  We Mainers love ice cream and especially Blizzards I noticed.  Blizzards in various sizes were the most popular item followed by a simple vanilla cone.  I always have hot fudge because DQ makes the best hot fudge of any of the ice cream places in town.  And it's really not that good.

Next week is.........well, I guess it's THIS week.... Spring Open House at work so we will be busy cleaning, fixing up and setting up for the big event on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  Lots of free food and drawings for gifts.  I will be working Thursday thru Sunday.  Every day. Plus teaching the big Vegetable Gardening class on Saturday.  I hope we are busy. Yesterday I had some watering to do (my boss watered the fuchias on Saturday !!!!!!), I answered questions (what I do best), repotted some things (not near enough to make me happy), mixed up a big batch of potting soil, and stood around doing nothing much at all for longer than I like.  When I did sit down to have lunch, a customer with two orchids came in and that was the end of my lunch break.  It could have been worse.  K had to fry peanuts all day.  V & A will have to weigh and bag them today.

Riley has gone back outside to forage for things in the melting snow banks.  His bone and a blue dog toy have surfaced along with a lot of sticks and branches.  His soccer ball is out there, also, having survived yet another long winter.

I read a very long letter (linked from a comment on a blog) from an American who has lived in Japan since the 80's.  He went on and on about how the Japanese government (even though he stated that the government officials were incompetent) was going to do what it did best and take care of everything.  It would all be neat and perfect in no time as evidenced by the recycling piles behind one of the shelters in the tsunami area where everything was being sorted perfectly.  He seemed to be leaving unsaid that in other places (Katrina) the waste would just be thrown anywhere. Food was expected to arrive any day now (how many days since the event?) by efficient train service as the government had billions of pounds of rice in warehouses along with "little white houses" to be built in straight lines, on even ground, for the homeless. All major roads were clear and in good repair. We shouldn't worry about the damaged areas as they were under populated anyway and of little economic value (old people?).  Took my breath away as comments (from Japan) thanked him for  "telling the truth" about the situation.  Utopia.  The nuclear problems would be solved, perfectly, also, with the GREATEST upside as Japan becomes the greenest nation on earth. I hope he's right.