Paydirt!

So there I was, digging away in the garden spot. Occasionally I would dig up an artifact - a fused door hinge, a part of a machine linkage, a chunk of a broken ceramic crock. Then, I turned up this 1885 Indian Head cent, in excellent condition except that it has turned green. A nice reward for my day's effort.

The Good Dirt

I had to share this photo of the garden in progress, which shows two things. 1) I didn't get done turning the soil this week (oh well), and 2) the soil here is amazing! I have had heavy clay soil in the last couple of places I tried to garden. This soil has enough clay for good tilth, but it is rich and crumbly with organic material. It is to the soil I had at my big garden in Georgetown as cake is to fudge. I could have mulched and composted in that garden for another ten years and not gotten dirt as nice as this. Maybe some master gardener of old worked the soil into this gorgeous shape for me and I am just lucky enough to reap the benefits.

Put On A Happy Face

Remember Jack? We have been tracking him from his birth and lonely upbringing as an only gourd. We saw Jack beat the odds, winning out against vine borers and the vagaries of weather to grow into a fine figure of a pumpkin. Now, after all that, having realized his destiny, Jack can lean back and smile.

Garden Work Begins

This is the back edge of the new garden spot. I dug a trench and have put in a line of stout old oak boards (scavenged from the barn) as a border to separate the lawn from the garden area. In theory this will keep the grass from spreading back into the garden and discourage moles from burrowing in. I began turning the sod too, but that was after this picture was taken. Turning and chopping up sod with a shovel is hard work for my finicky back so I can only do an hour or two per day of this. I hope to get the soil turned and covered this week - we'll see how I hold up.

New Vegetable Garden

Yesterday was a nice day out, and I am off work this week, so I began prep work for what will be our vegetable garden at the Tower House. The area is 14 feet by 28 feet and is bounded on two sides by concrete walks. Lee Ann has planted a row of boxwood bushes on the third side as a separation from the parking area beside the house.

This has been a staging area for Lee Ann's pond project, so it is strewn with debris and mounds of dirt but is mostly established grass which will need to be turned over and covered for the winter.

Camera Shy!

Our dog Danny is a fine pet in many ways but like all of us he has his little quirks.

On Monday morning Lee Ann and I took a walk on the bike trail near Oregonia. This is a very undeveloped and woodsy part of Warren County. We discovered another trail leading off into a big meadow and by reading the signs found out this is a wetlands restoration area. It made for an interesting walk.

So we took turns trying to get a photo of us walking Danny along the trail. Sounds simple, but something about the camera spooked Danny. He would see me or Lee Ann raise the camera and immediately cower away, as you see in the photos, turning his head and ruining the shot. For some reason, in Danny's mind the camera equals BIG TROUBLE. Do any of you dog psychologists out there know what's up with this?

My Flying Tiger

Years ago, when Annie was little, she worried that I would be lonely when I was traveling on business. She dug into her stuffed animal collection and found me a traveling buddy. Since then the little stripey guy and I have flown 680,000 miles on Delta Airlines to all corners of the U.S., plus selected stops in Mexico and Canada - and I have never been too very lonely. This week (for the third week in a row) we are in Kansas and Missouri, business traveler and faux feline, keeping each other's spirits up.

Incredible-ish Journey

We just got back from a long weekend's drive. On Saturday morning Lee Ann, Annie and I piled into the car and made our way north to Jackson. We visited Brian to see his Cranbrook Drive house(and after months of work it is ready to rent and looking sharp!), and spent the afternoon at Mom's catching up on news and eating her yummy lemon meringue pie.

From Mom's we drove to Ann Arbor to attend a presentation given by my old high school friend Jeff Holden. Jeff has volunteered for several years to pick up bones and antlers on Isle Royale (in Lake Superior) so scientists can track the wolf and moose populations on the island and unravel some of the mysteries of predator-prey relationships. The subject is fascinating, and we really enjoyed the presentation and first-hand accounts from Jeff and other volunteers about the work that is being done there.

After spending the night in a motel south of Toledo we continued this morning to Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware OH. Annie participated in a lacrosse camp there with about 50 other high schoolers, instructed by the OWU coach and senior team members. Annie had a good workout, and it was fun to watch her play in the big old-fashioned football stadium there.

Now we are home, having traveled 600 miles in 36 hours to get back to where we started but feeling it was well worth the trip.

New Pumpkin Pic

The vine is about dead and Jack is turning orange, so I guess he is as big as he is going to get. The next time you see him, he will be smiling into the camera!