socks and computers

I once again quote Henry Mitchell: "Even the most beautiful weather will not ally the gardener's notion (well-founded, actually) that he is somehow too late, too soon, or that he has too much stuff going on or not enough." (The Essential Earthman, p. 17) The past couple of days have been sunny; yesterday was as close to perfect as a day gets; and I can state with assurance that I am too late and have not enough stuff going on. I simply can't bring myself to be out in the yard while the Ts are inside, so...

The puppy pen got its first haircut yesterday, so this week I plan to go stomp around in these ridiculous spiked "sandals" that I am assured will aerate the soil (and probably pierce daffodil bulbs), then spread WOW (fertilizer with a corn-based weed suppressor), then put out both new tunnels, set up the teeter, get out the puppy-pool and stick some more tape over the holes, and get a new Jolly Ball for Timber. We *are* going to be out in the puppy pen next weekend.

Of course then I'll have so much to do I won't know where to start.

Yesterday, excepting the weather, was a very bad day and I spent most of it asleep or reading. Today is better--hot outside (currently 88), less painful. I've spent most of the day doing computer tasks--ran the antivirus program and both spybot programs, did disk clean-up, defragmented, finally set up the external harddrive and copied some files to it and deleted some off this one, downloaded a "monitor calibrator" which is supposed to fine-tune the color reproduction, and downloaded something called Registry Mechanic ("Registry Mechanic is an easy-to-use application that uses high-performance algorithms to quickly identify invalid or orphaned references within the Windows Registry and allows you to repair each problem selectively or repair them all automatically.") which is supposed to make the computer run faster, something I'm always after. I coughed up for the 3-computer license so I could also put it on the laptop. Haven't run it yet--that's next on the list.

Meanwhile, I also finished the first full pattern repeat of the Bayerische socks and took a couple of pictures. I'm starting to get the rhythm of the pattern and understand what I'm doing with each stitch--always a nice feeling, although I'll have to continue to be very careful and count like crazy or I'll get overconfident and mess it up.

Obviously I haven't been able to figure out how to use the Super Macro on the camera yet, but it gives you an idea.

The Mudpit

It's 57 degrees out. Bright and sunny. The Ts are begging to go out. They want to go out to the puppy pen to play. I can't take them. Why not?

That's right, the puppy pen is a mudpit. The green in the photos isn't grass, it's indoor/outdoor carpet. We had rain yesterday, and the result is as you see. Tomorrow I hope it will be a little dryer, so I can put down grass seed and straw, which will, I hope, result in good grass for them to run on, but it will be at least 6 weeks before they can use the puppy pen again once I put down the seed.

Meanwhile, I have nowhere to take them to run that's safe. The local dogpark hardly deserves to be dignified by the name--it's just as muddy and since no one who uses it ever cleans up after their dogs, it's also wall-to-wall dog poop--not a good place to take Ts. I could probably take Taenzer to the state park and expect her to stay close, but I wouldn't trust Timber; nor would I trust other people's dogs. For some reason I don't know anyone with a farm where I might take them. So the poor dogs will have to make do with leash walks until mid-April or early May. Maybe I can let them play tomorrow morning before I put down the grass seed.

I must say, it makes the 3 acres in one of the local townlets seem very desirable. Or even the acre and a half in another, although that little town was pretty rough the last time I was there. But we all 3 wish for something larger than a postage stamp for playing on

I promise that my next post will be about knitting!

Current soundtrack: What Am I Living For, Moondog Matinee, The Band

Current book: Letters of Dorothy Wordsworth, ed. Alan G. Hill