I spent some of this afternoon planting six new fruit trees. I started my orchard six years ago with four Elberta peach trees, two Santa Rosa plum trees, two apricot trees, and two cherry trees. Two drought summers and two ice storms killed the apricots and one plum, so I wanted to fill in the gaps and enlarge a bit. I got three Methley plum trees and three Hale Haven peach trees, both noted for growing well around here. I bought them yesterday and got them in the ground and watered today.

The battle wasn’t without cost, however, as I scratched the crap out of my right ankle and my right arm as I was unfurling and cutting chicken wire, with which I line the root holes to keep out the mophers. I also sproinged my left flank at one point, and it nagged me fiercely as I planted the last two trees.

I know it will be worth it, though, since fresh summertime fruit is amazing beyond compare.

In other news, Sierra the Chihuahua has two bladder stones. We thought she might need surgery, but it turns out that if we feed her a medicinal canned food, it keeps the stones under control and may eventually dissolve them. The vet staff though it was pretty funny when I called it “unicorn meat,” which it might as well be since it costs so much.

I also picked up a cool little toy at Wal Mart in the camping supply section last night: a UV flashlight. We can use it to find pet stains, scorpions, unicorns (I’m pretty sure), and blacklight posters from the 1970s.