Went out about 0800 this morning, toting a cup of black coffee and
followed by the faithful dawg. The figs are getting bigger, might get a
crop big enough to at least make a half pint of fig jam. Not bad for a
recently planted tree. The blueberries are starting to ripen, looking
forward to freshly picked blueberries on my breakfast cereal or made
into blueberry pancakes or waffles.

The pole beans and the cucumbers have not started to climb as yet, we
still have hope. The radishes and lettuce are growing quickly now but
the Swiss chard is very slow. The Cherokee Chocolate tomato has four
blooms on it and the other tomatoes have very small fruit. The squash,
both yellow summer and zucchini seem to be at a standstill.

The only thing that is growing fast is the lawn, mowed yesterday and
today will take the weed eater to the verges and the sidewalks. Oh yeah,
the new kumquat tree has grown about four inches taller and is putting
out lots of new growth, have high hopes for that tree.

The Oriental poppies have bloomed and are lovely, they are multi-petaled
and a deep red. The brief iris bloom is over but other flowers are
coming along.

We took out the two dwarf Indian hawthorne plants in front by hooking a
rope around them and yanking them out with the truck. Neighbor wanted
them and came by quickly to get them. I'm going to have to take the
Sawzall to the hedge plants, couldn't get them to budge. Will cut the
roots in a circle around each plant and then try pulling them out. Same
neighbor wants those too, he's trying to stop people driving their four
wheelers through his side yard. He lives on a cul-de-sac and the
heathens think his yard is a freeway.

Have to go buy a fence post today, found that the builder didn't bother
to put a post in where our back fence ties into the next door neighbors
fence. Sort of leaves a four-foot section of our fence flapping in the
wind. The previous owners never noticed it I guess, or just didn't care.
Will get the materials to put a gate in the back fence while I'm there.
Seems all I've done to this house since we moved in last December is
build, refresh, repaint, or do some other work to make this "OUR" house.
I've lost over thirty pounds in weight so something must be going right.
Cardiologist took me off three of my blood pressure meds yesterday, have
been having extremely low BP readings. We will see how this works out.
I've been taking those pills for twenty years so I may go into
withdrawal without them. <G>

Almost skinny George, Tilly Dawg says "Hey!"