In The Garden - March 31

AKA Graduation Day!  lol.  Today, my little tomato plants moved into their new home in the garden.

Mike had tilled the bed last fall, so the only prep required was to rake it out smooth.  I removed the lower leaves on all the plants so I could plant them deeply.  The root systems looked great when I popped them out of the pots.  Looks like 12 weeks from seed to transplant is a good length of  time.

These two plants are the biggest of the bunch.  Not only were they taller, but their stems were much thicker than the others.  

And because this is Utah, Mike helped me set the walls o' water around all of them.  The weatherman is predicting rain mixed with snow for tonight and tomorrow.  O.o

Grow little tomato plants, grow!   We need lots of salsa and catsup!  lol.

In The Garden - March 24

Highs in the low 70s.  Gentle southerly breeze.  A few puffy clouds.  Aaaah.  Heaven.  And time to start planting.

Mike kindly installed the fence posts for me yesterday.  After soaking the seeds all night, I planted the 'Super Sugar' snap pea seeds in rows between the posts.  I've learned from hard experience that if I don't tie up a trellis for them on the day that I plant the seeds, I don't get back to it fast enough and they get all wild and unruly.  Now, we wait for the crunchy yumminess to begin.

While I was out in the yard with the camera, I took a few photos of some of the other residents who've begun waking up...

giant crocus

 more giant crocus

'Ice Follies' daffodils

I love how these daffodils are all lined up like soldiers standing at attention.  I assure you that I didn't plant them that way.  I like to spread them randomly all over the bed.  These fellas had a different idea apparently.

 more 'Ice Follies'

'Ultima Morpho' pansy

These pansies are just so cool.  They start out all shades of purple and change as they flowers age to shades of pale yellow. 

I Looked Out My Window - 2012

Arriving a little earlier than last year...

 Popcorn!

 

Popping!

on my apricot tree.  We pruned the tree hard after last year's harvest, so there aren't as many blooms as last year, but there are still plenty of them.  Mike helped me get the dormant oil spray on the trees just a few days before the first blooms opened.  Whew!  That was close!

An Independent View

A little background:
I first became politically active at age 16, long before I was able to vote.  I worked for the John J. Rhodes re-election campaign in Arizona stuffing envelopes and making phone calls.  I loved the way that working for a candidate made me feel like I was making a contribution, making a difference.

When I finally turned 18, I registered to vote and began a long history of supporting Republican causes and candidates.  After my marriage in 1980, I re-registered in Utah as a Republican voter.  Since my husband, Mike, is also a Republican, we lived in a happy Republican household.

About 20 years ago, cracks starting appearing in our GOP armor.  Slowly at first, but now more often than not, Mike and I would head to the polls only to cancel out each other's vote.  On a few issues, we agree wholeheartedly, but on many, many issues, we are at odds.

The Utah Republican Party is a particularly peculiar type of animal.  Ultra, ultra conservative at best, completely unrealistic at worst.  For the last couple of years, I have felt completely disenfranchised by the party that I've supported for nearly 40 years.  Today, that ends.  I filed paperwork with the county recorder's office removing my name from the GOP rolls.  Today, I am independent...in more ways than one.

I am beginning to believe that the two-party system is broken, possibly irretrievably so.  The plan designed to provide a voice for all Americans has become a vitriol-filled fight for party power at the expense of a great many Americans whose ideals fall somewhere between the 'official' party platforms of the two major parties.  The 'Tea Party' had the right idea, that the system needs reform, but their response leaves a great deal to be desired as they also have become mired in the political muck.  I have long held the idea that the best way to create change in an organization is from within.  I have been trying to do that for many years from within the Republican party, but they are headed in a direction that I cannot, will not go.

The truth is, I have no answers, no solutions to this problem.  I only know that I could not any longer be both a Republican and true to myself.  In 'Hamlet', Polonius says 'This above all: to thine own self be true'.  Today, I am being true to myself.  Goodbye GOP.

These Is My Words

Just finished a wonderful book!  A work of fiction, but based on some of the author's real family members, 'These Is my Words:  The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine' was a slice-of-life book that kept me interested from cover to cover.  Not too gritty, but with plenty of real life challenges, the story opens with Sarah traveling with her family in a covered wagon.  The story follows her through the loss of family members, birth of her children and the most fun of all, her relationship with Captain Jack Elliot.  They are a complex couple with lots of twists and surprises in their relationship.  This book was a triple treat for me as I love history, stories about Arizona, and love stories.  This one has all three.  When I finished this book, I was delighted to discover that there are a couple of sequels.  I look forward to reading more about Sarah Prine Elliott!

Uglies - The Next Generation

We've had a bad case of the chicken pox around here.  Or, at least, that's what it's looked like for a couple of weeks.

Wallpaper removal left dozens of tiny divots in the surface of the wall.  If we'd been re-papering, I think they would have been pretty unnoticeable.  New paint, though, would have looked pretty ratty with all those owies.  So, we patched and wet sanded and then patched and wet sanded some more.  Took several passes and I'm pretty sure we still didn't get them all.  I finally decided to do a test prime to see if the surface looked smooth with a coat of primer on it.

We looked at the test patch for a couple of days, in every light, from every angle.  It wasn't perfect, but a darn sight better than when we began.  So, I primed the whole blooming room...and stairs...and hallway.

Now it looks like some ghostly apparition is hanging around the room.  The surface seems pretty smooth every where except for the spots where a tiny bit of the paste and/or remover didn't quite get scrubbed off.  The primer seized up a bit in those areas and makes it look a little textured.  I think I can live with it, so next step:  paint!

Mother Nature

Just finished an interesting read.  Em Hansen is a geologist with a way of finding trouble.  A 'friend' gets her into quite a pickle when she recommends her for a new job.  Em learns that her gut instinct is much more valuable than following the rules.  She also gets a chance to become reacquainted with family members that have drifted apart.

Mother Nature is one of a series of books about Em.  I'm always glad to find a new series to read as it makes picking out the next book a bit easier.  I'm looking forward to joining Em Hansen for some more adventures!