I was out in the garden yesterday, surmising its progress. The carrots, once seeds like dust and then like little bitty grass, are now looking like carrot tops. From dust to Danvers half-long carrots, it always amazes me. I went out the other day and pulled me a radish, wiping the dirt off of it and tasting its zesty flavor right out there in the garden. I wiped it off on my shirt first, not realizing how hard radish stain is to wash out or what it might look like to someone else.

A little dirt never hurt anybody, I always say.

I lost a few tomato plants, but I don't really know why. They were doing pretty good and then all of a sudden limbs disappeared or they just wilted away. I suspect a pest.

Then again, maybe that 20-20-20 fertilizer did them in. Some of the ones right along the same row are big and dark green and healthy. Well, maybe I shouldn't call that a row, staggering along the length of the garden like a drunk.

The green, yellow and red bell peppers are really taking off, already showing white blooms, some with little peppers appearing. It won't be long until the little marble-sized peppers start to grow large and red or yellow or green. I planted three colors this year, not counting the jalapenos and cayennes and banana peppers.

I also planted the peas really late this year and they are just starting to come on. I hope they get out before the hot weather gets the better of them. They have little pods forming and I should have a mess to eat soon.

This cool and rainy weather really seems like early spring to me instead of nearly July. I sure hope we don't hit a long dry spell after all of this good rain. It would really be hard to watch everything dry up again.

Since I only get to work in the garden a few days a week, I planted my potatoes when I got the chance. They are doing the best I've ever seen, but somebody told me the other day that I might have all vines this year.

"What sign did you plant them "taters under?"

Since I planted on May 15 or so, I said, "I guess that makes it Taurus."

He laughed at me. He was talking about those things like waterman and all that stuff you only find in an almanac or a Ramon's calender. Maybe next year I will try to watch the signs more. I can use this year to let all of those people who did plant by the signs say, "I told you so."

Usually when old folks follow a tradition, there is a good reason for it. My potatoes do have blooms starting on them, so maybe I got lucky and actually hit the right sign.

I still have about 50 pine trees to get in the ground sometime. I guess I'll try to get to it when I can. That's about all I can do at this point.

I might take a few over to my other place, the one that's rented, and set them out so that the grass won't grow so well. It seems to have really taken off every time I go by there. The only thing that is doing better than the grass is the trash I noticed piled up on the back porch. Ah, the joys of renting.

I can't waste my time worrying about everything in the world. So, this evening I am just going to set out on the porch and enjoy the cool air as the shadows of the tree limbs stretch across the lawn like long, skinny fingers. A nice shower just finished falling here and the air smells clean and cool. As I sit in the freshly-washed dappled sunlight, I can look to my left and see where the road crew has demolished a section that used to be forest and instead left red loam at a different angle. I can't understand how red loam can hold better than old trees, but I guess they have a master plan that I haven't seen. Then again, road crews don't have the benefit of providence.

Right now, I have a large cup of coffee sitting here and I have my feet propped up on the side rail, the one that runs around the little walkway to the side yard.

The place I have rented has a deck that is larger than the inside of the house anyway, so I spend quite a bit of time outside. The porch is covered by another covered upstairs porch, both of which are on ground level to the floor they are on at some point (that sure is confusing). The point is, if it isn't raining hard I can still sit outside.

The other half of the deck stretches out in the sunshine and has a nice view of Bledsoe Creek, which is up quite a bit right now. It has a particular roaring quality when the water is up, quite a bit different from its usual continuous strum when the level is normal. Of course, I don't think water levels here have been normal for years. We seem to be getting enough rain now, so I hope it keeps up. The forecast was for rain every day this week. Where's Noah when you need him?

Off to my left is a bubby rose bush beside the steps going upstairs. I hadn't seen one since I left my childhood home. We had one in the yard, but it the fence was right along beside it and the cow smells usually overpowered it — fertilizer overpowers flowers. This bubby rose has its own crisp smell without the benefits of nearby black angus interruption.

Well, bubby rose is what we always called them. It's hard to tell what it really is called. I think I will try to get me a few starts off of it and put them in a flower pot to transplant next year. I see some little shoots coming out of the ground around the main plant.

You know, there isn't anything I can think of short of fresh-cut wood that pleases me any more than a bubby rose after a rain, sending its perfumed smells up across the porch.

Sometimes it's nice to just sit back in an old wooden chair and smell the flowers. Life is too short to work all the time. Maybe so, but I still better get moving. I still have to get my clothes out of the dryer, clean a few dishes and straighten up the house a little. The rain has put mowing off again and I'll have to get on that tomorrow. Oh well, here I go again.

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