Know what?

(Don't you DARE say "chicken butt" lest I smite you telepathically)

I am pretty sure I killed my Indian Stripe tomato seedlings, while trying to harden them off. I had dumped them outside for the afternoon (not for the first time) and accidentally left them out overnight. I wasn't too too worried, since it only got down to 47º that night. So I left them out for the day, not realizing how sunny it was going to be. By the time I got home from work the foliage seemed burned and was shriveled all to hell. A couple of the seedlings may have survived. I only need two healthy plants, so cross your fingers. I am bummed, though, because I was going to give the others to Maria, whose seedlings also perished somewhere along the way this spring. Luckily I still have the other variety, whose name is currently escaping me.
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Jamie's visit (next weekend, wooo HOOO) is going to coincide with a couple of neat things. It's Earth Day weekend, so all sorts of earthy events are going on. Too many, actually. Why can 't people spread these things out so you can do all of them!!

Anyhoo, we'll be going on a tour of local farms (small, sustainable agriculture), including two different dairies: cow and goat. It's a good thing, because Monday Jamie will begin the Pennywise Eat Local Challenge, so we'll have some scrounging to do. We'll be going over to my friend Maria's house, and I'm thinking we might be able to barter some produce off of her if I offer her some of my other tomato seedlings. Greens are in season, so if we buy some buttermilk from our third local dairy (warning, Moo), we can use it for a ranch-like salad dressing with my herbs. The leftover buttermilk will go towards biscuits.

Another of the farms we'll visit is Maria's brother's, where I will propose a barter. Translation for turnips, anyone? A lesson for lettuce? Condoms for collards?
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My plans for the yard now center around buying a powered lawnmower. I just can't take the stress of not being able to cut the grass if I miss a couple of days. There's no pushing that reel mower through a week's worth of growth when it's rained.

I just missed buying a well-maintained, well-priced mower on the cheap from a Craigslist ad. It was in a subdivision behind Trader Joe's, so I could have made one trip for goodness. But the mower sold out from under me! Ah well.
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I hope to see good birds tomorrow. We're in migration season now.
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I'm starting to wonder if I actually have a COLD now rather than allergies. I'm exhausted, everything itches, I occasionally cough, I can't sleep, and my face and head now feel full. My throat was hurting, but does no longer. I've doubled up my meds, using Allegra D along with the genaric Flonase I got in Athens thanks to Julie, all on my doctor coworker's advice. (I love having doctors as coworkers. It's just SO easy when you want to vent about stupid things like post-nasal drip. And I didn't know you could combine those two meds. Rock.) But my hankie is just soaking wet, nonetheless.

I'm really tired of thinking about my symptoms so much. Boooooring.