
Today’s order of battle:
- Woke up at 8 am feeling fully rested, with no desire to go back to sleep.
This toad was evicted from the grass I tilled up in the garden this afternoon. - Mowed like it was the grasspocalypse, including Dorothy’s yards, the bar ditches, the golf course, the south forty, and our front yard.
- Fired up the cranky tiller and tilled the entire garden thoroughly.
- Increased my chances of being struck by lightning by photographing the yard, a toad, and my cherry blossoms as a thunderstorm approached.
- Watched from the garage as a handsome thunderstorm rolled through Byng.
Of note: the tiller starts just fine, but, like a lot of airplane engines I flew over the years, does not like to start when it’s hot. Fortunately, I kept it running for the whole session. Also, if the warm weather holds, this could end up being an excellent season for peaches, cherries, and pears. I’m hoping to get the garden planted this week; I like to wait until April because I have lost crops to frost twice in recent years.
It was nice to be outside today, and now, as I prepare to have dinner, I am feeling exhausted.

“a handsome thunderstorm”
This is my favorite pairing of words in quite a while.
“does not like to start when it’s hot”
Most of the cars I’ve owned have been just the opposite, especially the ’74 Monte Carlo… I think I was the only possible person who could start it when it was cold, which is why I usually left the keys in it, and never worried about it being stolen.