Winning & Water

We won. I received official notification that Collinston had won the afore-mentioned Cleanest City Contest Friday afternoon. I put the word out among the town folk and interested parties and all were pleased. A day later, there was one shiny blue beer can laying on the side of Main Street, glaringly obvious as the only piece of litter in town.

I enjoyed having one of my sisters around last week. We have visited and just nattered around. Friday afternoon, we made a quick trip to the city. As we were walking out the door, she spotted two deer grazing out on the grounds. The deer did not seem disposed to move, so I went back in and got the camera. Even after pictures, they just watched us get in the car and drive off. I was glad to see them grazing. The ground is too wet to mow, so anything willing to cut grass is okay by me.

Both kids and I should say all three, because we now have a future daughter-in-law, spent the weekend. They cooked me an organic dinner Saturday night for Mother’s Day. And yes, they brought the groceries with them. My children treat me very well. They are so very generous with their most valuable possession, their time, with me and their father.

I discovered over the weekend that the Bigleaf Magnolia seeds I mentioned in the “Seeds” entry are sprouting. It is amazing how tiny those first leaves are compared to how big they are on the mature tree. It’s got to start somewhere. It is especially encouraging to have them sprouting. The amount of rain we have had, and are going to have more of very soon has the grass growing by leaps and bounds. I don’t mow everywhere on Kalorama all year long, but there are areas that are normally kept trim. That is a key element to keeping areas rough. You need to have some adjacent areas neat and trim to keep the whole thing from looking like a mess. Right now the areas that are normally trim are as tall as or taller than the rough areas. I am sure it will stop raining one day, as in really stop, and I will be complaining about having to drag hoses to keep some parts green. Between now and then, it aggravates me to no end that I cannot get out there and work, except to fill the potholes and grade the ditches out of the driveway.