Monday, December 14, 2009

Plants again!

My success with growing (read: not killing) both jalepeno plants and sweet potato plants this year has encouraged me to keep trying. JLR and I recently bought a peppermint plant. This one is going to be tricky. I can't leave it in any of our home's prime windowsill locations because Wally will eat it. So during the day I leave it in the one window Wally can't reach, but this window isn't insulated very well, and with the cold temperatures, the plant has been looking a bit pitiful lately. And by "lately," I mean, "basically since the day after I brought it home."

But I'm hopeful yet.

Come on, little peppermint, you can do it!

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Problems with English

I don't know if it's a lack of sleep, a lack of proper nutrition, or just generally getting older, but JLR and I have been having some problems speaking properly. The other night, for example, she told me that she was having breathing problems, "because of the nases." I think she meant her sinus/nasal passages? I couldn't laugh at her because earlier that evening I had made quite a statement of my own.

We were listening to Christmas music on an online radio station. I really liked one song, and JLR told me that it was a Manheim Steamroller song. I was surprised. Not that I don't like any of their music, mind you, but it's not generally my taste. I wanted to say, "Get out!" but my brain was having none of it. It reached for something similar, something that would do, and before I could stop it, my mouth spat it out.

"Go home!" I said with gusto.

Go home. I just--I don't know.


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Planning in a Small City

I work for a city of about 7,000 people and about 6 1/2 square miles. Definitely a small city. We're in an urbanized area, however, and are surrounded by larger cities. The city bordering us to the west has about 750,000 people, and the one sharing our eastern border has about 300,000. Many of our problems, then, are distinctly urban in nature. But despite finding ourselves in the midst of big cities, we still have to deal with rural-type problems, and when we do, well, the suburbanite in me is tickled pink. I can't help it.

Today, a co-worker and I were driving around town posting signs about an upcoming meeting, when my co-worker pointed out that Mr. Carter's goats had gotten out of his field and had wandered into the cemetery next door. Mind you, they weren't in the part with graves, but still. It had potential to become An Issue. After all, who would want to see their loved ones' gravestones being nibbled on by wayward goats? I needn't have worried, though. When I drove back by a little bit later, the goats had moved on. They had somehow circumvented the fence and were now calmly grazing across the street in front of the insurance office.