Remember that photos experiment?  It lasted all of one day.  I had to uninstall and quit the whole Google drive for mac desktop and syncing; it was an abject failure, and was also adding twice as much data to my storage.  And the photos were twice as hard to download/upload and locate,  and the edits sucked, so it defeated the whole purpose of switching over to G photos only and restoring storage space.  (I got rid of iCloud and just use G-cloud now, so a lot of data have nowhere to be stored except by deleting old mac files and newer G files on my mac and external drive.)  ‘Cuz I’m a tech dummy.

So now I’m back to my old school way of downloading Google Photos to Apple Photos, editing them, and uploading to WordPress, then deleting superfluous duplicates whenever.  At least I know that drill, and the edited mac photos come out better.  I mean, c’mon, I’m 74 and figuring this much out on my own!  No tech support available (they’re all busy doing important tech stuff).  (I also unsubscribed to Apple Care support; too expensive.)  Plus I’m used to the mac user interface–it’s what I first learned, and other op systems would make no sense to me.  Even just learning my way around each new OS upgrade is enough challenge for me.   So this MacBook Air had better outlive me!

Short story long, ignore the preceding.  I spent the night as usual; in fact, knowing I probably wouldn’t sleep anyway, I brought my laptop to bed and figured out all the above, so it was fine and worthwhile.  Now I’ve crossed the final frontier of doing my laptop stuff at Avdi’s; indeed, I’m writing this post at his table.  I even watched one of my series in bed here.  Loucious got over his fear of embarrassing himself by falling off the bed, and joined me for a while, so that was fun.  It’s only a matter of time until I’m fully assimilated into the Bed.  Borg.  (Eventually I even slept a little, until an owl right outside the window loudly woke me up!  It sure beats the electronic cuckoo, though.)

It suddenly went from (false) spring to winter again overnight; they’re even predicting snow, or slush, or who knows what.  But hey, it’s March 1st!  Official Equinox is in 20 days!  We lived through Feb!  There’s hope!

If you need sleep, just read my Blahg.

Loucious and I took advantage of the 70s temps today to get lots done, that being endless frisbee and some garden work.  That dog is obsessed with frisbee.

I took down the non-functioning moon-and-stars lights from the front arch, and strung them up on the fence corner as you enter the back yard.  I didn’t think they would revive, but lo and behold they worked, and looked beautiful at night.

Then I went ahead with the big project of carefully raking the whole woodsy area back to the fence.  This was mainly to clean up L’s “facilities” and train him to “go” only in the designated areas farthest back.  He was not impressed, but he’ll get it soon, with some incentives.  I had to go ahead with the job early, before more plants come up.  I don’t think I murdered too many dormant critters.  I also edged the whole front of it farther out into the grass.  It looks really parklike now.

I also did the usual erev preps–challah, a greek-like veg and chick-pea salad, an exotic fruit salad, and rice with peas and corn.  Y tried most of it, which is how I gauge if it’s good.  Loucious couldn’t wait to sample and approve the challah.  The kids were in fine frenzied form tonight, uproariously so.  I’m just glad they are allowed to let all their big, loud emotions out in an accepting, safe environment.  Poor exhausted Avdi just slunk into the farthest away room.

I’m doing a photo experiment using Google photos instead of Apple Photos, editing them with the G. app and uploading them to WordPress.  The quality isn’t as good, and I haven’t gotten the process streamlined yet, but I’ll figure it out, so just bear with me.

Loucious and I spent the afternoon in the garden.  It was almost 60º.

First I carefully cultivated the larger of the raised beds, and planted peas up against the fence, two different mesclun mixes, and a new-to-me trial spinach.

Then I connected up the sections of light strings I had removed from the tree to the ones on the veg fence, to see if I could get them to hook up (electrically).  (Spoiler: it worked!!)

Finally, I hand-hoed one side of the veg garden.  OMG the soil was black and gorgeous!  My evil plan is working.

Right now I’m writing at A’s on my laptop, listening to an unusual exchange in the kitchen between K and E, a rare occurrence.  I don’t know whether to laugh hysterically or be at a loss for words.  I’m just impressed they’re interacting.

Is it just me, or is February the new March?  February used to seem like dead of winter, while normally I’d be tending my seedlings down in the “lab”.  It’s been mild enough to be outside almost every day, with Loucious and frisbee of course, and I notice so many flower shoots coming up, even with L sitting on them.

Yesterday I restrung some of the fairy lights around most of the veg garden fence.  Then I unstrung the old ones from around the tree.  They were starting to be absorbed into the tree bark!  This will be the year of mini-Garden Glow, when I get done!

It’s actually almost time to sow peas, lettuce, and spinach outside.  I’m still deciding between the raised beds and the main veg garden.  I think the former, where it will stay cooler longer.  I want more room in the latter for tomatoes and other large warm-weather crops.

This is why I’m up in the middle of the night.  Since it seems I’m doomed to never hibernate anyway (too many waking tasks to learn to take over), all I can think of is not missing a second of spring, which apparently starts in February.  The whole world may be self-destructing around me, but dammit, I’ll be out there beautifying what’s left!  It keeps my mind off the horror.

Also off my side effects, which I won’t enumerate (much).  The other day I almost impaled my head on a small tree stump, because I get light-headed and off-balance, but I didn’t let that stop me!  I get nauseous a lot, but it passes.  I won’t bore you with the others.

Look at this worn-out doggy!  I know the feeling!

I intentionally did not subject myself to that abomination they called the SOTU address.  Just scrolling through my inbox tells me what I already knew.  Later I’ll read some of the more savvy commentaries for a good laugh or existential horror.  [insert “The Scream” image.]  I have enough nightmares of my own, without contaminating my brain with degenerate crap.

Now back to natural pursuits.  I got more peripheral tasks done in the garden.  I hacked up more of the big compost pile and applied it to the new raised bed.  I straightened up the wood border around the large natives area.  I finished the white path along the side fence to the pool.  Hundreds of birds were providing surround sound.  Robins were checking out the worms.

To look at these photos, you’d think spring was right around the corner.  You’d be lurking at corners waiting to spring.  And while you’re busy getting ahead of yourself, spring sneaks up behind you with no warning.

Anyway, that’s my take.  Look at that lucky dog!

As expected, Loucious and I had a tearjerker of a reunion!  He was obviously glad to be back with his main pack.  No scary cats!  He and I spent some quality time on the sofa.

Y’s basement flowers are starting to bloom!  So exciting.

I’m all blustered-out from the last post, don’t worry.  Also, I ate two (2) of E’s mega-cheeseburgers last night (plus fries), because they were so good, and now I feel (and weigh) like I swallowed a mammoth.  But worth it.

Allie and Billie have gone, and Loucious is back!  (So I hear.)  Back to the heartrending howling greeter!  I admit I kind of missed that.  Nice to be missed!

This will seem a little disconnected, but please bear with my peculiar but logical (?) progression.

I need to add an “amendment” to my so-called Garden Constitution (see what I did there ahaha!).  If you don’t know by now, gardeners are constantly amending their plan, as well as their soil, to adapt to unfolding conditions or input.  So when I say I’m definitely planning to “x”, that means in five minutes I’ve already changed it up.  Just so you know I wasn’t lying.  Nature has the final say.

And when nature says hold off until all the beneficial critters break dormancy and get to work pollinating and doing their essential work of improving your garden, you contain your impatience to KILL, and listen.

Our tendency is to prematurely sanitize and chemicalize everything for the sake of the neighbors.  Which defeats the whole purpose of a healthy garden, where all the connected parts of a co-evolved network cooperate to provide for each other, and ultimately us.

Instead of a sterilized, birdless monocrop of high maintenance grass and exotic invasives that don’t benefit anyone, you create a beautiful natural haven for endangered species to drop by on their journeys.  Earth gets to live another day, and we benefit.

This is what I recite to myself like a mantra on springlike February days: patience!  (Fortunately, it’s back to more seasonal cold temps today.)  As the climate warms, some migrations and breaking dormancy may occur sooner than usual, and we’ll probably have to adapt as well.  All the more reason to provide welcoming habitats at the appropriate times.

I’m aware as I ramble on about gardening, just how white-privileged I am.  While my own fellow-citizens are being persecuted and murdered by trump/vance criminals, I have the luxury of living near my family in relative safety and security.  I don’t typically wake up wondering if I’ll survive another day or be tortured or shot for being human.  Maybe just die of unnatural cancer, that’s all!

I’m very conscious of violence and genocide happening all around us, as it has for centuries.  Every day another layer is peeled back for me, revealing how conditioned against and blinded I’ve been to the full reality of racism at every level of existence in this country.  We can’t get back to a democracy we never had.

I think going forward means letting the inevitable momentum of destruction play out, while saner humans band together to create safe places, and fight to restore justice and human rights at ground zero.  For me it starts with just listening and taking note of the smart journalistic wisdom of writers of color, and empathizing with their traumatic daily reality, a direct result of white supremacist injustice embedded in our system.

In short, shut up and listen!  Listen to nature, listen to your conscience, and listen to your fellow human beings forced to be the fallout from our corrupt system imploding in upon itself once and for all.  I’m proof it’s never too late.

This is turning into a doggy-interest feature, but I assure you it’s temporary.  I’m just waiting for the official green flag to start the garden season for real.

It seems there is a cat-and-dog standoff at Jess’s.  Pixie is making sure Loucious knows she’s the alpha-cat, be afraid!  (All she has to do is stare at him.)

Over at Avdi’s, Billie is an adorable little fur ball with legs who is only happy when all the big dogs (us) are home.  The rest of the time she lies on her bed looking worried.

Allie presented me with this restaurant-quality lunch when I got there yesterday.  She even recites the ingredients like a professional chef, having had some previous culinary experience.  I won’t pretend to remember them, but it was good.

I did the usual erev preps, not as professionally, but “creatively”.  The kids demand certain foods, then reliably forget about them until they need to be used up, then accuse each other of eating “their” special requests.  So I use that to my advantage!

We had a full, lively table for Shabbat.  The only thing missing was Loucious approving of the challah.  It’s always with the sit-down comedy routines!  Lots of colorful language and references.  My parents would die all over again if they were here.  But to me it means the kids feel secure and trusting enough to be themselves, and so do their friends.  In the terrifying world they find themselves, a safe space is essential.

Presto Chango, Loucious has shapeshifted into a micro mini-sheep!  Is there nothing this dog can’t do?

Sike.  In actual fact, we had to play musical dogs and take L to Jess’s temporarily, so the visiting Billie (yes, that tiny, cowering creature) didn’t freak Loucious out!  It was a complicated day!

L was like, what am I doing here?! but soon adjusted well with all the familiar pack members.  (The cats were banished to upstairs for the time being.)  Meanwhile, Billie, with her resting terror face, took over Avdi’s and all the people!  L would be so jealous!!  I got to catch up with Allie later, after getting L situated.

Earlier, I removed all the old lumber serving as a path from the veg garden.

Today we hope to do a controlled dog meetup, to see how L will do with B.  We hope he’ll think she’s a tiny sheep and herd her around!