Daily Notes- June 30

I thought the ruler markings would be visible but too much contrast from the outdoors. My avocado pit/stem is now 6 inches tall.  Any other measurements I gave you all-were incorrect.

And the stem is showing indications of leaf making.  Which might be the reason the stem has stopped getting taller.  Leaves are taking energy.

The background is outside the back southern side of the house and the pinks you see are Rose Campion. It has furry gray stems and then each stem is topped with a flat petaled rose pink flower.

Until it flowers it looks very "weedy".  It's self seeded all over the property.

I managed to get daughter's taxes done.  She is getting nearly all her withholding back. 

Which is very surprising. But I checked and the adjusted gross income is correct.  

Must be that new (last year) Trump Tax Code kicking in. Economy Jump Start. That worked out didn't it?

I have everything spread out all over the ottoman in preparedness for our return.

There is so much technical stuff with dividends and cost/basis, and IRA's etc.

I am going to do some mindfulness deep breathing exercises.

After daughter's taxes were done (the printer shot out five copies), the pages all sorted many times, envelopes addressed etc- daughter said she'd stop in to sign someday this week..........um.

So I piled it all on the couch by the front window and sat on the couch to watch some mindless television.

Later I made Pizza and we ate it while watching Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy.

I did manage to get two nights in a row of good sleep.  Sleep is hard to come by these days.

The Drought is still real here in Maine as we did get 4 inches of rain but most "ran off" because the soil was hard and very very dry.  I think most of the rain soaked into my yard. Hardly any puddles. The strawberry growers were not happy as they can't pick berries if the ground is real wet.  And of course picking wet berries is not good either.  No sun and very damp this morning. More rain coming.

When the bad stuff happens it's like a heavy ball rolling down the hill. The strawberry hill.

Thank you for the comments on the Herb Garden post.

This end result is the work of at least five years but likely more.  Gardening isn't easy.

First, I had to make the bed and divide it into rectangles. Fill with soil. Amended soil. Sandy.

Then I planted a few herbs- some lived but most died. And some herbs I never used so those are gone.

And one year all the rectangles decided to be mint. Another year- all weeds.

Each Spring, the soil is bare and then things start coming up and it gets interesting.

Plant what you use in your food.  And a few pollinators.  Edible flowers are nice.

I had no seed packets of Nasturtiums.  Nasties.  I like the orange ones.  Peppery taste. Edible.

Next year those seeds are on top of my list.