292: Time consuming

Today's view of the pond

Wow.  What a difference a new computer makes.  Things move along at a much faster rate now.  Or they would if I knew what I was doing.  I’ve gone from Windows XP (which I loved) to Windows 7 (which I’m not quite even liking just yet).  I think companies such as Microsoft make changes purely for the sake of change (in other words, somebody who wants to keep their job comes up with something new to justify their continued career with the company).  I really don’t care for the way the Library is arranged on Windows 7.  That said, I’m sure I’ll get used to it eventually.

Black-Eyed Susan

The transfer of stuff (mostly my photos) from the old computer to the new has been slow going.  The new computer (whom we shall call Socorro which means “one who helps”) would gladly gulp down all of that data in about five minutes.  The old computer, fondly known as Snail, seems reluctant to give it up and has been doing so at a slow pace.

Striped dragonfly I

I’m not entirely sure that’s a dragonfly up there.  It’s holding its wings sort of up and sort of down.  A dragonfly holds its wings out (down) when it perches/lands.  A damselfly holds them up.

Striped dragonfly (damselfly?) II

Today’s outdoor time was spent mostly in the garden pulling weeds.  The rain we had yesterday made this chore much easier than it has been with the ground being so hard due to lack of rain.  The weeds didn’t grow as fast without the rain, either.  The veggies in the garden are looking beautiful.  I brought in a big handful of Swiss chard, a couple of cucumbers, and enough lettuce to make a big salad for dinner tonight.  There is something very satisfying about eating foods you’ve grown.  The best part is knowing it’s all good and healthy.  No pesticides.  No herbicides.  No ‘cides’ of any kind.

Striped Damselfly (dragonfly?) III

I did take a short walk after I finished in the garden.  It is another scorcher of a day, with the humidity higher than it has been.  Tomorrow is supposed to be cooler.  I’m looking forward to it.

Dragonfly (no doubt about it)

I had planned to go into the woods today.  I dressed for it, including my ugly (keep away the deer flies) hat and a good spraying of insect repellent.  There are three openings into the woods.  The path I took was so overgrown that I was reluctant to follow it too far in.  I’ll try another path tomorrow.  I am surprised the deer haven’t been eating all the undergrowth in the forest.  Perhaps they’ve already cleared out the plants they like to eat and left only those they don’t like.

Overgrown path heading into the woods

I’m going to have to cut back on my computer time for a while.  I got a call from my good friend The Pickle Lady today.  She has found a possible new source of the little cucumbers that make such great gherkins (pickles).  The gherkins are in and she’ll be coming over on Thursday with a bushel of them for us to clean up, pickle, and can (preserve).  On Friday we have friends arriving in the afternoon or early evening.  They are on their way to Chicago and are stopping for an overnight visit.

View from the cattails

The local farm we’ve started buying from in place of Hilgert’s has let us know that the beans are now ready for picking.  What all this means is that life is going to be busy for a while, with pickling, canning, freezing, and hanging out with friends.

A multi-flora rose in the shade of the woods

I’ll have to start shortening my blog posts (fewer photos) at least until I get the hang of how this all works on Soccoro.  It took me a while to find and resize everything.  This might come as a relief to all as I know my blog posts have been photo-heavy.

A flower for you

Well, enough of that.  I don’t like to write blog posts about writing blog posts.  I’m not sure why.  I don’t mind if others write blog posts about writing blog posts. I suppose I don’t like to do it because it seems a little redundant, or unnecessary, or something I can’t quite place my finger (or brain) on, when I do it.  Or maybe it’s because I don’t blog about blogging (which I know some people do, and they do it very well).  It’s just not my thing.

That’s about it from the Bogs for today.  Tune in tomorrow for another edition of my great outdoor adventures.  😉

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