1. Yesterday men in a bucket truck starting cutting down one of our neighbor’s trees. It was huge, in the middle of her backyard, and was the tree responsible for ripping down power lines/pulling siding off her house during that ice storm. She decided she didn’t want to deal with the tree anymore, and because the men got called away before they finished, a giant naked trunk with the thickest of its bare branches remaining. Around it are giant fallen logs, but they removed all of the limbs and leaves. Today I think they will come cut down the rest of the tree. It felt undignified and stark, the empty tree waiting silently for the end. Its remaining cut-off stumps of arms jab against the sky sharply, and make me uncomfortable with their defiance.
2. The wind stopped blowing so hard, and tonight I should be able to plant all of the plants. Jut has been planning to plant a tree. He’s right.
3. Last night we met Jut’s mother at a restaurant in a town she was visiting for work. Lately I’ve felt hungry, and this restaurant had a nice salad bar, and all of its entrees came with a side of spaghetti. We had a nice visit, Jut gave her the Mother’s Day gift, and she surprised us each with a small gift. She gave me a pot chock-full of hens and chicks (which I have been searching for with no success) and Jut a package of Nutter Butters (one of the few sweets he likes–and one I despise, so they are All His). On the one and a half hour drive home, Jut and I played Twenty Questions, which we have not done in a long time. I stumped his with the following: Slugger (the Royals mascot), swimming pools, and Club Dread. He especially stumped me with Kum and Go. My worst guess during the entire drive: poop. Jut got bonus questions for guessing “Brett Michaels” during the Slugger round, because I almost HAD chosen that to be the answer.
4. Cab just carefully brought me a pair of my underwear. DOGS.
5. This morning the bunny outside was even more taunting than usual to the dogs. Monk pressed against me, pointing and shivering. Cab bounded around, tugging against his leash wildly. He was twitchy and leaping, and kept starting to squat to pee and then leaping forward again. He was in an agony of decision–to pee or jump unsuccessfully toward the rabbit? WHICH? WHICH? WHICH?
6. Sunday the tree neighbor brought us over two slices of rhubarb pie.
7. We’ve started the process of Saying No to Plastic Bags at Stores. We have a few grocery store totes, and last night I got a super cute huge tote for three bucks at Target. If I go to a store and just purchase a few items, I’ve started refusing a bag and putting stuff in a tote or just in my purse. Or just–GASP–carrying the item out with my hands.
Pros: not having to deal with tons of annoying plastic bags in our house, knowing we’re not responsible for putting bags Out There to Fester in the Environment For Thousands of Years. Cloth totes are WAY stronger, hold WAY more, and can be adorable. Seriously: they hold a lot more stuff. And they don’t flop everywhere and dump items all over the car. They are cheap or free, because most people probably already own a few. And they don’t make that annoying crinkly sound.
Cons: Just having to remember to HAVE the totes. This is remedied by stashing totes in each vehicle. They fold up/wad up (not that I ever wad ANYTHING, especially not my clothing in drawers) easily, so they don’t take up much space.
It’s such an easy thing to do, and it makes life LESS annoying. So! I feel better now that I’ve shared that.
Totes!
Tuesday,
black sheeped
