It's a jungle out there

The weeds in both my flower beds and vegetable garden are getting the best of me. I try, I really do try, but this spring has been such a fabulous growing season it's hard to keep up. The pattern of a few days of warmth and sun followed by a day or so of rain has been the norm, and that's good for whatever's growing, be it food or weeds.

My Honeycrisp apple tree is dead. It didn't flower last spring or this, but it leafed out beautifully and I wasn't worried about it. I noticed its withered brown leaves while I was mowing yesterday. (The Granny Smith and Yellow Transparent are both doing well.) I'm so sad, but I've heard Honeycrisps are difficult to grow so I'm not really surprised to have lost it. I'm pretty sure I've also lost the ornamental Summer Chocolate mimosa I planted late last summer. It leafed out this spring, but one day all the little fronds just fell off. I'm going to keep it in the ground until next spring, to see it it's really dead or just mostly dead. Right now it's just a tall twig stuck in the ground. Rather ugly.

Eeek! A snake in the grass! There
are snakes in the jungle, right?

It's so good to be home for a while. My husband and I took a long walk together yesterday morning, something we haven't been able to do recently. We would have gone a bit further had he not noticed a copperhead sunning itself along the side of the road. I missed it completely; I guess my head was in the clouds, while my husband was paying attention! I stopped long enough to inspect it carefully and snap this blurry photo, and then I did an abrupt about-face. We got 6.3 miles in (I'd intended to do 7), but 6.3 was definitely enough, and a good start for this week.

Jen, I promise I'll get a progress picture up soon. I don't think I look much different from the last one, but it's good to update every 10 pounds or so. And I've lost 15 additional pounds since then (May 6). So, yes, it's time.

I'd hoped to walk this morning, but since we've had three or four days of sun and warmth, it is – of course! – raining. Today might be a rest day, or I might sneak a couple miles in later today. It doesn't generally rain all day long – just long enough to interfere with my schedule. I have a lunch meeting in town today and my volunteer gig at the prison tonight, so it will be challenging to fit some intentional activity into the day. Not impossible, though.

There's always the elliptical option.