Deflection

Deflection. Is that the psychological term for focusing your concern for one thing onto another? Whatever the proper clinical term is, I think that's what I'm doing. I have virtually no worries about the child that is growing inside of my wife, despite all the normal stressors such as work and swine flu. The state of our garden, on the other hand, is causing me to lose sleep.

Are those brown spots on the tomato leaves OK? Is this torrential rain going to kill everything? Why are there so many ants on the green pepper plants? Shouldn't we water something? Despite the fact I know far less about the process of having a child than I do about gardening (which isn't much), these are the questions that occupy my mind.

The unthinkable happened on Thursday night when a hideous wind raged all night long, and in the morning it was carnage for breakfast. One corn plant slumped over at a 90 degree angel; a cucumber plant, replanted just a day before, was in the same situation. I'm afraid the cuke is a lost cause, but am holding out hope for the corn. So this morning I salvaged an extra long chopstick from the kitchen and set to work trying to bring it back from the edge.



I did a fair bit of tinkering in the yard today, including some weeding in between the strawberry plants, which always makes me want to just rip them all out of the ground and plant something less crowded. They aren't even that good. I also did some hedge trimming and spider exterminating. I feel really bad about killing the spiders, but seeing a nest of thousands of baby spiders, coupled with visions from last summer's web of death that was our yard, has made me a bit ruthless. I fully respect and appreciate the good things that spiders do, and take comfort in the notion that despite my efforts, our yard will most likely be filled with the bastards again this year.

In the evening I ventured out on a bike ride. Here are a few random pictures. Enjoy the weekend.