School's out

We had three rainy days in a row. Not a lot of rain,
but cool and misty.

Finally, on Wednesday it cleared. Robert and ran errands.
My focus was to get plants for the little garden by
the porch. Robert wanted to get a new battery for
the engine-part of the RV. In addition we went to
the bank and to the grocery store.

In the evening I had book club at Julie's. The book
was the one I had picked out about six weeks ago. It
was "Rise and Shine" by Ann Quindlen. We had a
pretty good discussion about it. It is hard to
keep the subject on the book, as always. Julie
really tries hard to keep us focused. The next
book is by Enger; "So Brave, Young and Handsome."

Yesterday was the last day of school. Carl, Martha
and Ariel came for supper. I made the Superior
Crab and Shrimp casserole. It is really good! I
also had edamame for a vegetable because that is
one vegetable I know that Ariel likes and it
takes care of the protein, too. We also had
cantaloupe and blueberry fruit salad. It has
been a while since we have seen them. It was
fun. Carl solved a couple of computer problems
for us. One was to allow me to schedule a job
and the other was for Robert to be able to get
to his computer when we are on the road.

Ariel stayed overnight. She was really wound
up after her folks left, but she had taken
her bath before they left and it was 8:30 so
I tucked her in expecting many glasses of
water or some such, but she went right to
sleep.

This morning we planted salvia in the bed
where the clematis is and also planted a basil
and marigolds in one of my pots that had dirt
in it.

This afternoon we worked on the dam in the
creek, both getting dirty and wet. The dam
looks pretty good.

Robert ran errands today. The problem with
running errands together is that neither of
us get all of our errands done. He picked
up a book I had on hold at the library which
I forgot to do Wednesday.

We are going to Carl's for breakfast tomorrow. Ariel
is staying over again tonight.

Ariel saw a large gray animal outside the kitchen
window. She was standing on her little stool and
said that all she saw was a gray back, but she didn't
know what it was except that it was big; she only got
a quick glimpse of it. Our mystery animal?

The Bolder Boulder

Today is the annual Bolder Boulder race through downtown
Boulder. It seems a perfect day for it, cool, overcast
and misty. Keegan is running in it. He has run every
year since he was 7-years-old and has Placed a couple
of times.

The Annual Creek Festival is also going on in Boulder
this weekend. These two events totally tie up traffic
in Boulder. I wonder if my weekly box of organic
produce which is to be delivered today will even arrive.

Xekial yesterday commented that he wouldn't be working
today because last year he tried to come to work, but
couldn't get through Boulder so just went home.
This seems a bit much. There should be some form
of detour marked allowing folks to get through the city.
I can imagine, as much as we travel, how we would feel
if we hit a town so tied up that there seemed no way
through it.

I'm hoping this afternoon the soil will moist enough
so I can spade up the small gardens around the front
of the house. I find gardening, never my forte, very
difficult. I plan to dig up the weeds and then cover
the area with bark and place French gardens on top of
the bark. I hope to get that done in the next few
days. It's amazing how long it takes for me to get
anything done. Robert complains of the same problem.

I talked with Betty Wilson on Friday, at some length.
She is such a good friend and we both miss each other.
I hope to call her more frequently.

Keegan graduates from Boulder HIgh School

Yesterday was graduation day for Boulder High School
students. Keegan graduated, but skipped graduation. He and Viki
came up here for dinner last night. Keegan received a math award
at the Awards Event earlier in the week and he has a music
scholarship to the University of Colorado this fall. Viki says
he has spent so much time learning the stuff he needed to play
for the recital for the scholarship that he hasn't had time to do
any composing for a while. He has composed a couple of really
nice pieces that he played for us at one time or another. He has
a full-size harp now and it is gorgeous.

Today Robert an Xekial are working our our septic system. I'm
not sure quite what they are doing, but it looks to be a rather
extensive project.

Keegan carried my papyrus out to the pond for me last night. I
have trimmed the dead stuff off of it. It was not a happy plant
in our upstairs hall. It did much better the year before in the
guest room which was cool and had a higher humidity. However,
the guest room window suffered from all the humidity. The plant
is so huge, it's a hard to figure what to do with it in the
winter.

The fish are out and active and eating despite the water
temperature of 44 degrees. Most of these fish have been raised
in our mountain pond so they don't realize that it is too cold
for them to function. Of course if they wait until it is warm
enough then the season is too short. I think their systems are
turned on and off by light as much as by temperature. In any
case we have about 30 of them that have made it through the
winter and I plan to get another 50 or so feeder fish in a couple
of weeks.

The humming birds are more numerous this year than I have seen
them to be in the last few years. I have one feeder by the
kitchen window and one on the front porch. The one by the
kitchen only has 3 openings so there is some fighting going on
when all three spots are taken. It's fun to watch.