Oh MAN...

Jeep Fuck backed out this morning. They were supposed to come by at noon to pick up the Jeep,  and he emailed this morning and said they just don't have the money right now. You'd think that would be something they'd have known a little earlier.

Yesterday I found a green tomato horn worm on my Lilac tree. I literally slapped it into next week. I certainly wasn't going to pick it off with my fingers, so I applied the palm of my hand with a tremendous amount of force and he went sailing off to who knows where. I'm assuming now I'll have to check the tree every day to prevent the little thang from getting munched to bits. My hibiscus is coming back, and I'm pretty excited about that. I pruned it back almost to the root last fall when it died, and I went out yesterday to find a buttload of leaves coming up. It's a beautiful one: giant white flowers with red centers. The flowers are about the size of dinner plates.

Today is supposed to be overcast and dreary, so I think we'll head out to Home Depot to find some plants. The asphalt lot there is way too hot on sunny days, and usually we end up having to put sun screen on Livvie simply to go. Today would be a much better day to venture out. Also, if I decide to get any of the plants in the ground, shady days are much more appropriate to do that to prevent shock.

The skinks are back, so I'm pretty sure that summer is quickly on its way. Last year I had a skink I named Norm, and he hung out on our deck and learned not to run away when I walked out. I really wanted to pick him up and see what he felt like, but I think that would have been asking too much of him. This year I've seen a brown one that looks like Norm, but who can tell. I'm pretty sure they all look alike. We also get black ones with blue tails and yellow stripes down their backs, and those are absolutely gorgeous. So far none of them are missing their tails, so I guess the birds haven't caught up with them yet. I haven't seen a single baby snake in the back yard this year, and I haven't seen any full sized ones either. This is good. We mainly get black snakes and rat snakes, but copperheads also have a tendency to hang out in the grasses down in this neck of the woods. Obviously this is dangerous for the dogs when they go out, so Rich tries to keep the grass cut short so we won't have to deal with them.

The deer have apparently moved through for now, but we'll see what happens once the caladium come up. Last year they ate every single one of them down to the stems, and it was pretty awful. The bunnies ate the ornamental grass down to nubs, and this year the actual lawn is encroaching upon the garden, so we're not going to worry about the grasses. Rich simply mowed them down when he cut the grass last week. I'd like to get a border for the garden, maybe some of those little black plastic things because they're cheaper than brick, but we'll see. 

I hope everyone has a lovely Tuesday. And thank you everyone for your kind comments yesterday. They were very much appreciated.