"Green"

A friend of mine fixed my slingshot yesterday.  I am now armed and dangerous.  I'm just waiting for the deer or groundhog to show up.  I've acquired a squirrel and bunny too.  Forget all my earlier warm and fuzzy feelings for wildlife.  I'm feeling murderous.

I was weeding my garden the other day when a fawn jumped up and leapt away.  I briefly thought "How beautiful!", then lamented the fact that I hadn't hit it on the head with my shovel.  To make things worse, I found a tick on my leg.  This is a new thing for my part of the world, and I know the deer brought it.  The tick hadn't attached itself yet so I picked it off of me and the damned thing bit me, which hurt far more than you'd think a little bug could hurt, except I'm still suffering from spider bites from my basement so I know small beings can create a world of misery.  Nature is against me!

My turnips are thriving and the rhubarb is doing great.  Sigh.  Really, how many people want to survive on turnips and rhubarb?  The happiest thing I can report on my garden is that my peonies have finally decided to bloom after 3 or 4 years of disappointment and my slingshot fixing friend gave me a new idea for deer obstacles.  I'm also very pleased that the caretaker of my next-door neighbor is clearing that backyard of years of neglect.  The view from my back windows is a very happy green and I'm trying really hard not to let the incessant sound of the chainsaw or tractor drive me insane.

My city had a garage sale day and I lugged lots of things to my garage.  About 10 people showed up because apparently all the other sales were on the other side of town.  I don't think I can even count all of my visitors because that included a neighbor and Mom.  I'm torn between putting all my stuff back in the basement or donating it to a good cause.  I also wonder about leaving it all in the garage and having another sale later in the year.  I did manage to sell 3 large and heavy objects so even with such a poor turnout I'm counting my sale as a success.  Besides, a few friends came over and kept me company, and that always makes for a pleasant day.

The sentence which spawned this illustration for the Mensa Bulletin is "For dinner, the Girl Scouts ate steak, onions and ice cream."  Well, that's just silly.  It sounds like the ice cream has onions in it, and that isn't an ice cream any of us wants to eat. 

I am not a grammarian.  I know some of the rules, and I've read a lot, but I'll admit I just put in commas where they feel right.  I think I get it mostly right?  Sometimes I ask my friend the former English teacher for advice.  Despite my lack of conviction about most grammar rules, I'm certain that I fully agree with the article's author, Richard Lederer, in the use of the serial comma (also called the Harvard or Oxford comma).  Example:  The groundhog ate my basil, Swiss chard, and tomatoes.  The comma we're talking about is after "chard".  It has become a popular trend to leave that comma out, but that trend needs to be stopped!

It feels like I should say something nice about Girl Scouting, but I have to stop writing and rearrange the garage sufficiently to get the lawnmower back into it.  Maybe I'll help the noisy neighbor for a while too, but especially, I'm going to find some time to just look out the window at the lovely green of the season :)

Another green thing, though not an original idea, a cactus I made by painting rocks as a gift to someone who hates taking care of houseplants.  She was thrilled with it.