I was run ragged today. Another deployment starting so had to work today (and tomorrow and for the next 10 days straight). Dontcha know I overslept? Me, the keeper of keys, and my eyes didn't open until 6:30 am. I made it in by 8 am and was greeted by the team I'll be working with and 14 tractor trailers. We managed to empty 4 trucks when my forklifts died. Seems my employees never charged them like I asked them to, so the trucks had to be unloaded by hand. There are 32-36 pallets of equipment on each truck, depending upon how high the pallets are stacked. That was a lot of walking, pulling and pushing. A friend stopped by for a while to drop off a lawn mower and weed eater and that was a welcome break. I'm gonna miss this man terribly. It's funny how life plops the most oddest creature in the middle of your path at a time when you don't really want to deal with it. Diversionary tactics. I call him my curmudgeon, he was crusty and cynical when we first met, and I always felt like the real person was hiding behind some high castle wall. I was right, little by little over the past 10 months, I've managed to scratch my way through the vines and moss and get a glimpse at what lies on the other side while still respecting his privacy. He has deemed our relationship to be a symbiotic relationship, and I couldn't agree more. It's an odd friendship, but it works. And in 4 days, he'll be 700 and some miles away. But he'll always remain close to my heart. At noon, I had to run home and pick up DS so he could go on a "mini" hike in preparation for a hike along the Appalachian Trail next month. We had directions to get to the trail he was hiking, but they just didn't sound right to me, so I ran by work and asked some of the guys if going an alternate route would be better. That put us 15 minutes behind schedule. DS was worried I'd get lost...HA! Foolish child. But he convinced me to try to follow the directions he was given. Foolish Mom! The access gate the directions told us to take was closed for the weekend. That put us another 15 minutes behind, and we ended up driving the 50-some miles around the north perimeter of the installation to get to the meeting point. The group had just taken off about 5 minutes before we arrived, so we could see them. DS said he'd keep them in sight and he'd be fine. I was hesitant, but eventually a mother has to let go, right? I fretted the 50-some miles back to work but quickly put it out of my mind for a few hours while unloading trucks...by hand. By 5:30 pm, it was time to go retrieve him...another 50-some miles out to...OMG! I didn't know where to pick him up! And he didn't take his cell phone. Stupid Mom! I drove to the drop off point, not there. I reached for the map to see where the end point was...no map, I left it at work! So I drove 10 miles down the road and found a little dirt/sand road that went back into the woods in what seemed the right area of an end point. But, the sand looked soft and I was afraid to drive down it and get stuck. So I drove another 5 miles down the road to a point where I could turn around. It was as I pulled off the road that I noticed my gas gauge...I was almost on empty! How stupid could I get? I couldn't find my kid, I was almost out of gas, I was out in the middle of absolutely NO WHERE, I was hot and tired and fighting back tears of frustration. I reached for my cell to call the curmudgeon and admit that I was a damsel in distress and needed a knight in shining armor when it rang. It was DS. Thank goodness. He was back at the start point, so off I went, another 15 miles down the road, watching the gas gauge the whole time. When I got there, there was one adult left with the boys so I asked him which direction I should take to find a gas station, the only one I knew lay in a town another 30 miles away. This is how dense I really am...there was a gas station 7 miles down the road, which was only 10 miles from my house! Yep, I put over 150 miles on my car when I could have put 50 on had I stopped and really looked at a map. Good grief. I figured it was a good time to buy a lottery ticket with the $5 I had in my wallet. All gassed up, lottery ticket in hand, DS safely stowed in the passenger seat, the heavens opened up and it began to rain. A nice, soft, steady rain. I realized then just how drained I was, and there was no way I was going to cook dinner. So we found an ATM, got some cash, and had fried chicken for dinner. The curmudgeon refers to his new duty assignment as a "fresh start". I've been thinking about that a lot lately. I know I need to make a fresh start, but it's so hard. Can one really make a fresh start in the same place? Seems like an oxymoron. Same town, same job, same group of friends, nothing is really "fresh". Sure, I'd find a new house and move. There'd be new gardens to grow. But life in itself would be the same. So, over the past 2 months, I've submitted my resume for 2 different jobs. One is local, one would take us to Africa, both would be promotions. Getting feedback on resume submission is a long process with the govt, but tonight I got feedback on the job that is local. I've been rated as one of the top candidates and my resume has been sent to the hiring authority for consideration. This job is the supervisor position in an office where I was offered a job twice before but didn't accept, basically doing what I do now but as a staff member. This would be the end to the physical labor and long hours! I figured I didn't stand a chance for the supervisor position since they'd most likely just promote the guy they did end up hiring. So it was a pleasant surprise to see that they didn't do that. The job in Africa would be working as the assistant to the political advisor...definitely not something I'm strongly suited for, but I had to give it a shot. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? I just need to remember to start reading a map if I end up in Africa! Something tells me I won't be able to send an SOS to the curmudgeon. And now it's time to close my eyes and dream...of fresh starts in life with the child I love dearly. And of winning the lottery....

I have had good luck with 4 roses that did surprisingly well for me as first year plants. One was Sterling Silver, the florist strain from Vintage Gardens; Enchanted Evening, the new J&P floribunda; The Prince; and Simply Marvelous, another floribunda. With my spray program, all of them did well. The Prince has a variable color, but it semms to take our climate okay. I was surprised by Enchanted Evening. Its color is lighter lavender than the others. I am holding my breath and withholding final judgment on it, but it sure was trying to put out the flowers. The star performer for me is Simply Marvelous. It is one of a handful of roses I would say is almost miraculous for me here because of its flower output, good growth, and doesn't get sick much with my spray program. Here is an example of what my Sterling Silver looked like, prior to my getting the bed weeded: This is a picture of Simply Marvelous earlier in the season while it was still on the small side: This is an example of Enchanted Evening later in the year just before I put the straw down on the bed for winter: I hope you find these interesting. Notice that there is no or very little blackspotting.

I forgot to mention that I, too, am one to wait a couple hours till I eat breakfast, usually. DH, on the other hand, will practically wake up eating. Sweets first thing are fine for him, too. If I've made some cookies or something, he'll grab one or two as soon as he climbs out of bed. He doesn't get that I'm not hungry when I first wake up, and I don't see how he can stomach eating that soon after waking up. I never liked tomato juice until I tasted my MIL's home made tomato juice from the tomatoes my FIL grew. I was stunned at how good it was. Decades later, and a bit more educated on processed foods, and food in general, I realize why I never liked it before tasting her tomato juice. Quality ingredients, freshly made, without all the additives and the taste of tin can (which the store bought tomato juice used to always come in), makes all the difference in the world. Sally

AnnT, you definitely got Elery's attention with that rack of lamb, and mine with the duck fat roasted potatoes. I can only imagine that it's as good as it looks. Annie