I think it reached 80º today, and tomorrow is supposed to be 90º.  But if that’s too much, other days are 60s and 50s.

I was briefly carless, as I had to drop the car off for maintenance (Jess picked me up and delivered me to Avdi’s, then the reverse in the evening).  It didn’t really affect me, but it felt weird.

L and I were in the garden all day.  Now he’s obsessed with biting the hose spray!  The poor thing looked so soggy and stringy, but he was in water heaven, and it was warm enough to just bask dry, which he did on the back porch, newly cleaned by me for just such a purpose.

I had a brilliant idea!  I’ll plant mixed CA poppies in with the prickly pear!  A desert bed!  The asparagus next to it is sending up new spears, so it didn’t freeze to death after all.

The masses of bluebells are all budding out in pink and blue!  It’s so exciting.  I replaced the low border fencing along the edge of that woodsy area, to hopefully discourage the kids from letting the frisbee and dog smash into the flowers.  They couldn’t understand what the problem was!  I’m not sure they even notice flowers or understand plants coming up.

The peas and most of the cool-weather (?) veggies are starting to come up.  Every day I notice more flower shoots and seedlings appearing; I can’t even remember all the things I planted last year!  I’m happy to report the lilacs that made it are doing well.  Also the redbuds are partially recovering from the freeze and reblooming.

I prepped sections surrounding the veg garden for Y to plant his flower seedlings (which did turn out to be my flower seeds, but that’s a whole other story).

Another whole story is about the world threatening to nuke itself to death for no reason (sound familiar?), but that can hopefully hold off for another day.

We have a water dog!  He discovered the hose and went bonkers trying to bite the water!  He looked so bedraggled but happy!  He will have fun this summer.  Which it may already be, as of tomorrow.

Today was still cool and pleasant, perfect for getting more done (besides frisbee).  I planted various flower seeds in various places, front and back, cleaning a little as I went, and raking leaves to serve as mulch elsewhere.

So many flowers and plants are coming up; every day I discover more of my work paid off.  The bluebells (can’t take much credit) are really taking off.  The mayapple and wild ginger buds are so adorable when they first show.  The dutchman’s breeches started to bloom today!

Y was out back sanding down his desk and painting it (and indulging L with the hose and frisbee).  Y can be very industrious and creative when feeling motivated.  K was also industriously making her great chili and rice for dinner.  E is back to being back and forth, businesslike, but I’m sure that Euro trip changed his outlook and perspective.

Today was more like a typical early spring day, conducive to getting a lot (of frisbee) done outside.

I got the compost area more organized, then raked and dumped leaves there.

I hoed the strip around the veg garden, except where flowers may be coming back.  I was feeling very accomplished.

Then I went to get the flower seeds I intended to plant now, and discovered somebody had gotten into them, unsealed new ones that I was intending to use at the right times and locations, and apparently did something with some of them.

I was pretty upset and angry (to myself), which I rarely get anymore.  I confided my thoughts on the subject to Loucious, who barked his concern.  No one to my knowledge has ever presumed to take seeds without permission.  It was always my personal dedicated stash in a basement corner, for specific garden projects.

I felt like the one special thing I’ve got there to contribute, a gardener calling, was violated.  I’m sure it wasn’t intentional, but it still felt inconsiderate.  I guess I shouldn’t be so attached to that role; I don’t even really live there.  One day I won’t even be around to care.  I’ll get over it eventually.  Still.  Grr argh.

After that, I halfheartedly sowed a few mixed flower seeds in the small square bed on the back porch, not the ones I had intended, and then gave it up.  Maybe another day I’ll get back to it.

Yesterday was in the high 80s, and today was in the low 90s!  Then it got windy and started to cool down, and tomorrow is supposed to be back to 50s/30s.  Don’t try to figure it out.  I just take advantage of it.  Loucious got a lot of frisbee in.

I spent yesterday, overnight, and today getting lots done.  It looks as if I just moved leaves from one place to another!   I do actually have a plan.  I cleared out some beds and roped them off, and I filled in other areas that needed leaf mulch.  No leaves will go to waste!  Whatever I don’t use will go in a leaf pile on the compost pad, to add to the bin.  There will be a pile of sticks, a pile of leaves, and the remainder of the compost soil to be used in the garden.

E came back from Europe this evening!  Loucious was delirious with excitation to see him.  E brought back all kinds of souvenirs and stories.  I now own a decorative Greek phallic keychain and a small rock from the Acropolis!  Our charcuterie/meeting was brief, but felt more like normal.

I actually slept last night, but the dreams were more intense and surreal than ever.  My mind is obviously trying to sort things out from my past while it’s still functioning.  It’s like doing psychedelics in my sleep.

I love how the bluebells and Jacob’s ladder are filling in that whole area of the woodsy edge.  It’s going to burst into masses of purple, blue, and lavender any day now.  Also, I’m calling it the year of the violets–they’re blooming everywhere.

It’s officially summer!  I mean spring!  Who can tell?  I can, by the violets suddenly blooming everywhere.  Also officially, I turned the outside water back on today, and watered all the areas I’ve been working on.  Loucious was out there helping (playing) and checking out the water.  He seems to have learned his new potty training, and earned lots of rewards.

I also baked challah and made dinner: roasted fresh broccoli and other veggies, roasted potato slices, and baked lemon herb fish.  It was just four of us, A, K, Y, and–oops, five, with Loucious.  He couldn’t wait to get his challah.

I got about three wagonloads of compost from the emptied bin, and applied it to: the strawberry/prickly pear/ asparagus and horseradish beds; the smaller raised bed; and Y’s rock garden.

I cleaned up the compost area a little.  Eventually I’ll reorganize the pad into sections.

I carefully raked the flower area around the outside of the veg garden, just to see what’s coming back, so Y and I can plant more flowers later on.

Bloodroot is blooming white, and the bluebells are just starting to show flower buds.  I noticed today the redbud trees that had been starting to bloom in the early heat must have gotten blasted by the untimely freeze and are no longer pink.  That’s unusual.

My latest poop-training plan was not going well.  It involved a leash, treats, and parking ourselves where I wanted him to go, but he would just out-wait me–until just now.  It took only a full day.  He finally realized I could outlast him, and he’d have to comply sometime.  Success!  Amaze, amaze!!  Two very different lifeforms in sync.

It was about 80º today and will be almost 90º tomorrow!  In March.  I’m not surprised by anything anymore.

I can tell my readership is much too sophisticated to read my poop posts, so I’ll just wrap that up by reporting that my clever evil plan does not seem to be working very well.  Moving on…

We’re now into a unseasonal warming trend, in case we got bored with the unseasonal freeze.  Today was perfect for getting things done.

After I picked up Avdi’s Aldi order, L and I got to “work” in the yard.  Aside from the not-so-successful attempt to fool L using various devious scents (he was not fooled), I accomplished a lot.

I did a rough straightening up of the herb garden, weeding, and putting mint shoots in water to root out and transplant.

I finally got the compost bin completely unloaded!  It’s empty and ready to begin a new batch.  Now I can apply lots of nice compost to beds.

Neighbor Angela gave me a bunch of daffodil plants she thinned out, which I distributed to three locations.

I’m very excited to announce that the fritillary guinea hen flower bulbs I planted last fall have begun to bloom!  Yes, they are exotic, but so exquisite.

Project Poop Properly is encountering resistance.  After applying every dog-repellant substance known to, well, me, then enclosing that whole area with a low border fence, what does L do?  Just poop in the lawn adjacent to it, closer to the house!!  I mean, it works, if I could fence him out of the whole yard!

So part two of my evil plan will go into effect today: apply dog-attractant pheromone spray along the back fence where I want him to go, and I can keep it managed.  Plus I’ll leash him as if taking a walk, guide him to the preferred area, and treat him if he gets it right.  This better work!

I’m sure if you’re still reading, you won’t be for long at this rate!  A Blahg about dog poop!  Woo.

Other than this temporary setback, Loucious is a wonderful doggy friend.  Last night Avdi collapsed on the sofa with me and L between us, both giving him the belly rubs, and L was giving back the love.  Then I showed A how L knows each of us by name and will go running to find them if you ask him to.  A was very impressed.  We can’t say “Ebba” right now, because L is frustrated that he can’t find him!

The latest freeze appears to be over, and now it’s supposed to get warm again.  The poor flowers are all bedraggled-looking, but they’re resilient.  I’ve been bedraggled myself, for other reasons, but I’ll bounce back as soon as I can get back out there.

BTW, if you didn’t pick up on my title, I’m obsessed with Project Hail Mary!  I want to see that so bad!

Now it’s freezing out!  With snow flurries!  Loucious says ain’t no way I’m going out there and freeze my balls off!  I myself don’t have any balls, so I did a little project I’ve been meaning to do.

First, I mixed up a (researched) potion of: lemon, lime, orange, vinegar, cayenne,  cinnamon, peppermint oil, and eucalyptus oil.  See where I’m going with this?  Then I raked up the whole area behind the pool, which L has been using as a poop place, back up to the woodsy fence.  Then I sprinkled my potion all over the area in question.  Also some other frequented locations.  I think it works, because the one time he ventured out into the cold to pee in his usual spot near the patio, he avoided it and went elsewhere.

When it warms up, I’m going to thin out the overgrown mint (natural dog-repellant) and transplant it to behind the pool to spread as a groundcover.  I know, exotic invasive, but it’s invading the herbs anyway, so might as well re-home it more appropriately.

But wait, there’s more.  I’ve ordered some dog pheromone attractant spray to apply in areas along the back fence where I do want him to go.  This will tell him this is a friendly place to poop!  The above, in conjunction with some training by me, should do the trick.

I never imagined myself to be a dog-whisperer, but one does what one needs to do!

Aren’t you glad you read this scintillating poop-post?  This one should be very poop-ular!  More where that came from, my fertilizer imagination.

I’m writing this during a bona fide tornado warning, the first of the season, complete with obnoxious siren.  This tells you how Missouriensis (?) I’ve become.  Oh, did I mention, right behind the balmy 70s temps and springlike t-storm is a freezing cold front in the 20s, with possible snow!  I dare anyone to outdo that volatility!  I think I’m turning midwest blasé.  What else can you do, besides kiss your ass goodbye, have a strawberry ice cream cone, and fix yourself a gin and tonic.  Panicking is so yesterday.  A.ha.ha.

After not sleeping half the night at Avdi’s, then being startled awake every few seconds by Y shrieking and screeching conversationally on the phone for hours, I was pretty tired.  But it’s fine, teens, amiright?  So I got up and went out back with coffee and Loucious to see all the pretty flowers that popped up overnight in the surreally warm weather.  Hopefully they survive all the havoc to follow.

I didn’t do any more gardening because I felt like a zombie with an upset stomach.  So I just did loads of laundry, and lounged on the sofa with L, while the kids slept off their all-nighters.  Then, as storms threatened, I drove home and got there just in time for the siren.  Then I enjoyed watching the colorful blobs on the radar map while drinking.  I guess I’m an official citizen of the MW.  So far, so good.

My bed is calling unto me.