51...

51...

After spending most of the day in my garden I took off for the golf course after supper to see how many holes I could get in before dark. If I could drop my score by 7 strokes every time I played, I'd quit my day job. I played much better this week, but I can still do better.

After my friend and I finished the first nine (that was my 51) it looked like we had time to do some of the back nine. We managed to get 7 holes in before the sun was fully down. It was a great night. On the back I parred 2 of the 7 holes. (In aiming to break 50 consistently my goal is to average just about 1 1/2 strokes over par. There are 36 strokes on each nine holes, so a 45 is consistent bogey golf. When people say, with derision, "Thats par for the course" it is kind of ironic because par is really good golf.)

I started planting my garden today. Here is what the boxes look like under construction.

And here is how it looks with the slats in place. If you blow it up, you may notice that some of the squares are a little darker. Thats because I soaked them good before putting out seeds. Of course the stuff in front are some seeds that I'm starting in doors.

I find myself a little reluctant to expose my ignorance here because I feel I "should" know this stuff - like when to plant what. Based on a variety of sources I decided I could put out a handful of frost tolerant plants (sugar snap peas, Swiss Chard, parsley, lettuce, spinach, kohlrabi, and sage). I don't really know what I'm doing, but I figure I'll learn as I go. Then in the pots in front you'll see a couple varieties of peppers (hot and sweet), cantelope, winter squash and some heirloom tomatoes that I saved from the sweetest tomato that I ever ate from the market last year.

For all I know, master gardeners who are reading this are rolling their eyes... you're welcome to teach. But better yet - I'm looking for starts of rhubarb, peppermint and raspberries, as well as hostas. I might also be able to use some native tall grasses.

One other thing I have to tell you...

As I was working, the entire neighborhood had gathered two doors down at the Comet's house. There is a 6' high fence bordering their property so I can't really see what is going on, except they have a play structure that pokes over the top. But I can hear everything.

In these days of video games and tv, I didn't know kids knew how to play like this anymore. At the top of the fort I could see the oldest girls wearing bandannas as head scarfs, and it turned out that they were all pirates - or at least sailors. There were a lot of "Ahoy Mates!" and shouts of "Land Ho!" and the voyage seemed to progressing nicely.

Then suddenly somebody yelled "Oh No! Here come the Indians!!!!!" Bedlam ensued. (OK, so they're not PC - get over it.)

It was a terrible battle:

"They're gaining on us!" "Quick, full speed ahead!" "I'm at full throttle." "No - they're too fast" "Then man the cannons." "OK" "Blam" "Pshuu" "I got one!" "On no, they're coming over the side!" "Oh, I'm hurt" "I'll help you." "Look Out!!!"

This went on for at least 10 or 15 minutes. It was simply amazing. Their imaginations were so rich, and they fed off each other like the best improv actors you'd hope to see. What a treat.