Today's garden report

After picking our days supply of lettuce, I went back to the garden to take pictures for you.

Just look at the potatoes, would you? These are the ones I planted on St. Patrick's Day. Good grief, where does the time go?

This is one of those Oregon-developed blight-resistant tomato plants I started from seed in February. (Note to self: wait until March, next year.)

Here's a sweet pepper I started at the same time as the tomatoes. The peppers are pretty much at a stand-still, waiting for warmer weather. They're doing OK, though. Just not growing much.

Here's one of the Tri-Star strawberry plants; since it's an ever-bearing, day-neutral variety, we can enjoy the fruit this year. However, I'm supposed to remove blooms until July, so all the plant's energy can go to making vegetation.

That means this tiny, green berry has to go.

Cliff put this cattle panel up in the garden for me. I planted Kentucky Wonder pole beans on both sides of it. Those are string beans, so it takes longer to get them ready for cooking; but I thought perhaps they'd be easier for me to pick, since I'll be able to stand up straight and pick some of them. Stooping really is hard on my knees.

The straw in the foreground will go between the rows of tomatoes, once the weather is warmer. Because the straw is bright, it would reflect sun and slow down the warming of the soil at this stage. Later on it will keep weeds from growing and hold moisture in.

And now, to address a comment from Pam. Here's what she had to say in response to a recent entry: "You have low energy?? I would never guess. You are always on the motorcycle, or on ol' Blue! Or in your spa!"

Well Pam, first of all the spa takes no energy, unless you count the effort it takes to climb in. So we'll count that out.

It's pretty much the same with the motorcycle. Cliff does the work, I just sit there. We're not talking about a dirt bike here. We have a Honda Gold Wing, the Cadillac of motorcycles. It's as comfortable as sitting in an easy chair at home; I've been known to doze off a time or two back there. I do limp when I get off it, just as I do when I get out of the car after a long trip (the knees, you know); but while riding, I feel no discomfort.

Yes, I often mention my walks, or horseback rides (which get less frequent all the time), or my gardening and cooking. What I do not mention in my blog is things like this: "I fell asleep in my recliner while trying to watch TV." "I spent four hours on the computer reading blogs, and another two hours playing on Facebook's Farm Town."

I don't fail to mention these to hide anything; it's just that they're boring things to blog about. But they take up a lot more of my time than what I do include here.

I have always been a relatively low-energy person who does as little housework as possible. Even as a young person, I used to take naps every day. It drove my mother-in-law crazy!

But I do enjoy life! I believe I have done more of what I wanted in life than 90% of the people I've met. If I were dying and had to make up a "bucket list", it would be made up of travel. The only things I'd like to do that I haven't done consist of going to places I'd love to see... mostly right here in the good old U.S.A.

I am blessed.