this and that

Today I had to get two new tires for my car.  That kind of 'shopping' isn't the fun kind, but it had to be done.  I'm hard on tires.  I keep running over the edges of curbs when I go around corners.  I've owned this car for 10 years and you would think that I would know where the wheels are in relation to curbs.  Unfortunately, I don't and I guess I never will.   Anyway, the new tires are on and the realignment is done and my bank account is significantly lower than it was this AM!

We are into another spell of extremely HOT weather.  Actually, I"m not sure this is a new spell or just a continuation of the one we've been suffering from for over a month.  We did get some rain a few days ago and had one cool morning from that.  Mostly, it's just too hot to be comfortable outside at any hour, day or night.  Most of my potted plants are happy with the weather, as long as I water then every day. The ones planted in the ground seem to be doing fine without additional watering.  The butterfly bushes are blooming - one purple and one dark pink - and the pink crape myrtle is starting to bloom as well.  I'll try to take a photo tomorrow; it's too dark to take one tonight.  The grass is green due to last night's rain.  Hopefully, it won't grow enough to need mowing this week!  As you might be able to tell, I'm not enthusiastic about grass.  I have to have some out front (homeowners' assoc. rules), but I refuse to fertilize it or use weed killer on it.  My excuse for that is that those products are harmful to the Chesapeake Bay, which they are.  Our water all ends up in the Bay.  However, the truth is that I would neglect my grass anyway.  I like plants, but if I could, I would have ground cover and flower beds and stone paths with no grass at all.  So my 'lawn' consists of a good deal of clover,some crabgrass, a few dandelions (I do dig them up each year), miscellaneous other weeds and at least three kinds of grass, most of which are currently brown from lack of rain.  The lawn greens up every time we have a  rain and then goes dormant again until more rain or cooler weather. 

Lately,I've been having a battle with the squirrels.  They have eaten holes in two bird feeders in recent weeks.  The feeders are the ones that contained thistle seed for the goldfinches.  The squirrels don't actually like the thistle seed, but they cannot seem to resist enlarging the slits in the feeders just to see what is in them.  I finally bought a feeder with an outer metal mesh.  It also has a weight triggering aspect that closes up the feeder when a squirrel (or a large bird) puts his weight on it.  It holds shelled sunflower seeds, which the goldfinches like.  So far it seems to be working.  I haven't seen a squirrel on it, so I don't know for sure.  Squirrels sure are cute, but they are a real nuisance.  They also bury food in the pots on the deck and then uproot the plants digging the food back up.  I have put small 'river rocks' on the surface of the pots, hoping that will keep the squirrels from digging.  I think it's working and the rocks do look nice.

I'm trying to get rid of some of the MANY books I own. I printed off my book list recently.  It contains both the books I own and the ones I have read from the library or read and discarded.  (so that I won't buy the same books again).  It contains 5400 listings!  Even if half of those are discards, that means I own about 2700 books!  That's really scary.  Luckily most of them are paperbacks.  Otherwise, there would be no space in my house for furniture!  I do not have piles of books on the floor or on tables, but I do have a lot of book cases.  I can actually remember a time when I didn't buy books.  I just used the library a lot.  This was about 20 years ago.  I blame my daughter for getting me started buying books.  She bought books - really just a few - and somehow that got me going.  Of course, she culls her bookshelves every so often and limits herself to just as many as she can fit on a few bookcases.  I am much more addicted to buying than she ever was!  When I run out of room, I just buy more bookcases!!  Now, having no space for more bookcases, I am trying to get my book buying habit under control.  It would be easier if Borders didn't send me a coupon every week!  I am actually donating more books to charity than I am buying, but I have a LONG way to go.  At least I am getting rid of more than I am buying!  Since the beginning of June, I have donated 45 books and only bought about 10 new ones.  For me that's really a good record.