Troglodyting

Nice word, isn't it? I'm using it to mean behaving like a troglodyte, or living in a dark cave like a mushroom. It's supposed to be very hot today--hot by any standards (heat index of 105/41 or more), but esp. so after this very cool summer. So I've got the blinds and drapes all drawn to keep the morning sun out, and it's very dark in here. I'm trying not to turn the AC on until this evening.

We went outside at 8 this morning--I figured I'd better get them out early since this evening will be too miserable for words. I finally got the hostas my friend gave me planted out front, moved a small hosta in back, and planted the heuchera I've been nursing along all summer. I found it as a forlorn little leaf on the compost heap this spring, and on a whim, stuck it in a pot. It's been humming along all summer, putting out a new leaf week or so, so I'm hoping it's big enough to withstand the transplanting and start getting itself established so it gets through the winter. It's a piece of the h. Caramel I have near the garage, and I have no idea how a piece of it wound up in the compost pile! We've had rain twice this past week, once quite a lot of rain, so the ground is very damp, and I think everything should be just fine, esp. if we have rain next week.

Now if I could only decide where to put the siberian iris that came with the hostas!

Another friend has offered to give me starts of her daylilies when she divides them this fall. I'm very excited, because she's something of a connoisseur and buys new varieties from a Midwest breeder. Course, I'm not quite sure where I'm going to put them--I'm thinking over on the west side of the yard between the house and the garage. Problem is, the raised bed I made is on the wrong end (south, right behind the house, not north in front of the garage, where they'll get a bit of sun). But she's got all colors and sizes, and I think they'll look great. Maybe I can get a grad student to help me move the raised bed. I've offered to swap her for some starts of European ginger, sweet woodruff, and plumbago--not quite as exciting as exclusive breeder daylilies, but nice basic shade-garden plants.

No brand new car for me, I guess. The dealer admitted Thursday that he couldn't get anything, and Dodge withdrew its offer to match the $3500 govt money and the $1k cash back--it's now offering $2500 cashback, but that's $2k less than before, which is pretty much a deal-killer for me. *sigh* Now I'm thinking about a used 2007 Chevy Malibu Maxx for $10k at a local used-car place--hatchback with lots of safety features, but 65K miles--which is still better than the 114k on the van, and definitely better than the 2003 Caravan with 125k miles! $10k or less is about what I can afford. If I'm going to switch vehicles, I should switch now, before I have to buy a new parking hangtag and renew my license plates; otherwise I want to wait 6 months or more.