culture clash

Finally got most everything planted today. It rained all week, but today was cool and cloudy, a good climate for working outdoors. I had tilled horse manure into the entire garden a few weeks ago, but by now of course weeds had come in to the area where I planted the sweet corn so I turned it over again by hand -- coming up with seven or eight boulders in the process. Also set out my tomatoes, planted basil, cauliflower and squash, did some weeding. A good day's work.

But . . . most of the afternoon some clown was up in the woods shooting. He must have gotten off at least a couple of hundred rounds. Pow, pow, pow for an entire hour. It's illegal of course -- state land. But the rangers never come here. The locals ride around in ATVs and shoot at shadows all the time. Once a week the state police fly the pot chopper over but they always do it at the same time on Saturday so everybody knows to put their toys down. Ridiculous.

My question, obviously, is why this is supposed to be fun. I'll never figure that out.

Entre dos mundos

Today I weeded my onions, garlic, peas and beans, all of which are already in the ground. That took me a couple of hours. I don't know how people do it for a living, all day, six days a week.

I think I'll actually plant corn tomorrow, and start putting out some of the tender plants -- forecast is for rain starting Monday, and mild temperatures, so now's the time. Also tomorrow, I'm going to grab some firewood left from when I helped my neighbor clear his interior road of trees that came down in the hurricane.

Then on Monday, I have to engage in the bizarre practice of neck binding -- meeting all morning, and then a formal business dinner in the evening with various high and mighty people of importance to my professional milieu. I get a kind of psychological whiplash from this. But that's the how it is these days. The money is in the city, the peace is in the country.

Gardening

Today I did some weeding of the onions and peas. It was a good day to try to get ahead of the weeds a bit since we just had a good soaking rain after a considerable dry spell and the weeds are jumping. I also did the first mow yesterday in between showers. I'm going to put some broccoli and basil seed in the ground today -- we might get a light frost later this week but that won't hurt them, and that will be the last danger of frost, I think. Corn goes in and then the tender plants starting in the greenhouse will go out, maybe next weekend.

I need this because I'm a bit spiritually starved right now. A relationship that seemed so right that didn't work out, needing to find a second wind in my research career -- I only get excited by new ideas but I have to take the time to apply the old ones first, and it can seem like drudgery. The woods now are full of birdsong and shimmering with the pale green of new leaves. There was a tiny toad in the garden that was almost indistinguishable from the dirt, but fortunately I didn't step on it. I've seen a fox and bobcat in just the past week. So I'll be alright.