Update and a Dream

First, the dream: It started off as a sort of high-school/college reunion. Only things went all pear-shaped, and somehow I got sucked into an alternate dimension version of the reunion. Faith (as in the BtVS character) was the primary speaker, only in this dimension she was sixty or more pounds overweight with dozens of earrings dangling from her right ear and (I think) a rather nasty scar down her face. The dimensional stability went, and left a group of us stranded in a sort of wilderness environment. Sort of, because there were man-made things scattered amidst the rocks and trees. A door appeared and everyone tried to scramble through it (this was a shortcut across the rockiest, most difficult terrain), but I didn't quite make it. So I started across the rocks. Parts of it were like the lava hike, but my last memory was of grabbing onto some windchimes (very sturdy ones, apparently, and long) and using them to climb down a cliff face. When I was about five feet from the bottom, there was a gust of wind strong enough to knock me loose and the wind chimes...chimed. Not a metallic sound: more like the way bamboo chimes sound. [/dream]

On Friday, I decided to dig out the paving stones in the front yard that I had once used to make a path. They didn't actually follow the path I usually walked there, and some of them were more than half overgrown with grass. I managed to buy too many hexagonal stones last fall when I was making the backyard path, so I used the leftovers to make a contiguous path from the stairs to the driveway, with a sand substrate. A tirepump would have been useful for moving the sand...

Since my wheelbarrow had a nearly flat tire. I now have a tire pump, so this morning I'll probably rectify the situation. On the other hand, moving a hundred pounds of sand in a wheelbarrow with a flat tire was an interesting experience.

I have also developed a hi-tech filtration system for removing excess gravel from the dirt in my front yard. For $2.10 (plus shipping and handling and tax), you, too can be the proud owner of a soil-gravel-filtration system! The first component is a white bucket with heart-shaped perforations all over it. This first filter catches the larger rocks and sticks, and the holes must be heart-shaped, uh, because, uh..., the mystic Caballeros say so (alternately, because it was the first thing I found at the dollar-five store). This first part of the system also helps break up larger clumps of dirt. The second part of the system is a plastic bowl covered in 1/8" holes, also known as a 'collander' or 'sieve' depending on where the intended use is. Anyway, with the two pieces I've been able to get most of the gravel out of the soil where I planted the flower bulbs.

My older neighbor from across the street came by while I was doing this to find out why. He's the classic neighborhood gossip, and I found out from him that my one-legged, drug-dealing neighbor had been sentenced to eight years (minimum five). Apparently he was technically still on parole for something else when he was arrested... *sighs*

Back to the yard, the leaf on the black raspberry plant is in the process of becoming a twig, and I bought some more perennials to plant when it starts staying above freezing at night again. One is thyme, one is a viola (looks sort of like a pansy, but with the leaves overlapping differently), and one is a "hen-and-chicks", so called because of the way it spreads.