Chicago Weblog

Last weekend, all of the little plants that I had grown from seed suddenly keeled over and died.  Admittedly, most of them weren’t looking like they were long for the world to begin with, but several appeared strong and healthy and upright, with little green leaves and everything.  But somehow, overnight, something killed them all.  I had been warned that it was difficult to grow things from seed.

On the plus side, this past weekend was the traditional start of the planting season here.  From my office window I can see the entrance of a well-known nursery, and Saturday the traffic there was unbelievable.  I’m surprised somebody didn’t get shot.  Sunday afternoon it wasn’t so bad, and we went over and got some seedlings to plant: chard, okra, rosemary, eggplant, squash, something else I cannot remember right now, as well as organic bug killer: $40.47.

CVH was sitting and working at her desk today when she heard a tapping, a gentle rapping.

“Now what could that be?” she wondered.  After a moment she realized that someone was knocking softly at the front door.  She went to the door and opened it to find her beloved pair of wild ducks, Doofus and Dorothy, standing on the porch awaiting some morsels of bread.  This duck couple has been nesting each spring in the bushes by the house for God only knows how many years.  Charlaine feeds them bread every day or so and looks forward to their annual return.  I think they just leave a lot of mess on the sidewalk and steps.  “How polite,” she thought, “Instead of rudely quacking and demanding food, they nicely knock on the door now.”

The Kentucky Derby Marathon was held today, and our company fielded a small team of runners and walkers.  I was a member of the team, but I wasn’t perambulating the course – I was one of the support team, cheering on the others.  I stood by the course ringing a cowbell for an hour and a half (I wore earplugs).

The morning started out cold and rainy.  I went to the designated spot where the race organizers had said that there would be bleachers and noisemakers and maybe even snacks.  But when I arrived, there were no bleachers or noisemakers and certainly no snacks.  And there were only about six of us.

The sun finally came out and it turned into a pretty, if humid, morning for running.  So I walked down further toward where the runners were coming from and was amazed at what fifteen thousand people  coming down Fourth Street looked like.  I was reminded of the old remark about if all the Chinese started walking by four abreast, they would never stop coming.

Not the Kentucky Derby Marathon

There weren’t many people in costume; apparently that’s not as popular as it used to be or the rain discouraged the use of such elaborations.  There was a cute SpongeBob SquarePants, a couple of Elvises, a race horse (last year’s Derby winner Mine That Bird), and what I think was a nineteenth century riverboat gambler or gentleman – it was hard to tell which.

At my corner there was also a guy who showed up in his car and argued with the policeman about letting him drive across the course.  I wonder why he engaged in such counterproductive behaviour; the cop a couple of blocks down was letting people across, but once he decided to argue, well, that was it for him.

Our team leaders both finished the half-marathon in under two hours, and one team member came in 23rd in their division!  I rang them on, as well as the rest of our team.  Eventually the last walker of our team came by, and I holstered my cowbell.

A co-worker told me that Norton HealthCare, one of our local medical megacorporations, was sponsoring a walking club: free signup, and you can walk around the Louisville Zoo early in the morning before it opens up to all the rug rats.  I called the number he gave me and spoke with a nice lady who took all my information.  Sure enough, a few days later two packages arrived in the mail, one for me and one for my wife.  We each got a t-shirt, maps of the zoo and the malls, a pedometer, a wrist or ankle packet, and other schwag.  All free.  Well there’s no such thing as a free lunch, of course, so I figure somebody managed to get a grant.  Perhaps the zoo got some money to get more people in the gate; perhaps a green grant as part of the stimulus plan?  Who can say?

The Topsy Turvy Planter

I’ve decided to try three different tomato plants (Early Girl, Celebrity, and Black Prince) in the Topsy-Turvy (As Seen On TV!) containers this year.  When I went to hang them up, however, I discovered that the hoop on the planter is very small and I needed some S-hooks to get them up on my plant hangers.  Another trip to the hardware store ($4.22).

The big dark rabbit was out for silfay behind our house last night, and when I went to confront it in an effort to direct it away from my lettuce plants, it hopped toward me instead of away.

Awfully cheeky, I thought, until I saw it had hopped over to the side of another rabbit, this one a wild one, not a bred one like itself.  “Well,” I thought, “he’s found himself a native wife.  Or she’s found herself a wild husband.  In either case, they seem to make quite the pair.”

What I fear, of course, is that this lapine canoodling will lead to more rabbits,  more silflay, and my garden will be rendered “zorn”.