A cold front has moved in, along with intermittent rain showers and sun, so I had to run outside between sheets of rain to take even these few photos.  Still no rainbow, though, but it will come.

As for current events, it’s more predictable than the weather that trump will surpass his own batshit crazy record every five minutes.  After a while it’s just too much insanity and chaos to keep up with.  If his mindless drones want to be stupid and destructive, let them face their own consequences, which they will.  As for me, I’m glad we can just stay home.

And now, back to more flowery subjects.

It was with even more trepidation that we donned our “personal protective equipment” and risked another Kroger restock.

Now that TN is opening up to less essential businesses, more droves of stupid people are out shopping without precautions, making it riskier for the rest of us.  At least I noticed most employees and about half the customers were wearing masks.  But the checkout conversation was about being glad non-necessary businesses were able to reopen.  This even as COVID cases and death tolls in TN and most states rise and spike for that very reason.  It seems people here would rather be dead and take others with them, than be informed or inconvenienced.

We were able to find more essentials like disposable gloves, Lysol, and TP, but certain items like rubbing alcohol and liquid hand soap were totally wiped out.  We did manage to find some chicken and other meats, but mostly it’s scarce and pricey.  The upside is we eat more fish, beans, and other healthier proteins.

COVID-19 is an equal opportunity killer.  It is no respecter of persons, politics, or religion.  Collectively we could get this thing under control.  Darwin would be rolling in his grave to know humans are still so anti-science and self-destructive in the year 2020, but he probably wouldn’t be too surprised.  It’s natural selection, which sadly often involves collateral damage.  Maybe nature is just ridding itself of an overpopulation of stupid people.

Speaking of nature, back to it!  Here are my latest finds.  I found this beautiful golden poppy blooming out in the field.

As promised, I delivered–one California native wildflower rock garden, in one afternoon.

It started with a previously dug foundation and rock ledge by E.  After clearing it of weeds, I lay out large cardboard sheets, and arranged large rocks in semi-circles to anchor it and create a raised bed.  Then I poured in gravel, rocks, sand, perlite, pine bark mulch, compost/manure, and topsoil.  This should provide some good drainage.  Finally, I planted wildflower seeds from R&B in CA.  The top tier has poppies, the bottom tier a mix of blue and gold wildflowers.  Above the ledge I planted some hens-and-chicks (a succulent) just for fun.  Now we wait to see if anything happens.

While I was at it, I re-mulched the front maple tree, and took some pictures of some favorite perennials.

We had a fun zoom video visit with The Bobs yesterday, in which we gave each other virtual tours of our houses and their garden, and generally caught up.  Our cats even got in on the act.  They actually look a lot alike (the cats, that is), considering they’re not blood cousins!  It was almost (not quite) like being there.  We all agreed we’ll probably be doing a lot more of this in the “new abnormal”.

Speaking of which, they brought up an interesting point.  None of us can afford to take chances getting injured (or re-injured) from normal activities such as biking, because we have to avoid emergency rooms and hospitals at all cost during the pandemic.  Medical facilities are too dangerous and overloaded right now.

On the other hand, it turns out working from home and not traveling, as in their case, is not such a hardship after all.  In the new abnormal, there will probably be a lot more of that for those whose work allows for it.  And we’re all getting good at inventing unique recipes from whatever we can scrounge up from the pantry, and sharing them.

Since I didn’t really give them my garden tour, I decided to post some overall views of our house and immediate surrounding garden.  Most of what you see is a work in progress of repairing the house and improving the landscape.  The last photo is the little “R&B” dogwood they gave us, which bloomed for the first time this year.  Thanks, Bobs.

Speaking of California, my next garden project is creating a CA natives rock garden, planted with seeds they gave me.  More on that soon.  Wish me luck.

Here is the finished English b&b pudding from yesterday.  It was excellent.

Misu continues to luxuriate on her sill, all worn out from managing humans.

It’s in the 80s today, and watering veggies has begun.  I brought the rest of my herb and flower seedlings out, to be planted soon.  The grow lights are now off.

Here are today’s flower shots, including the newly opened columbine.

We’re about to have our first zoom video visit with The Bobs soon!  Another sign of the times.

It’s a sunny, breezy 80° day.  A hawk just swooped past my window.  Rabbits are multiplying out in a field of wildflowers.  So are veggies in my garden.  I planted more of the eggplant and pepper transplants, and set out more herb seedlings to harden off–two kinds of basil, two kinds of parsley, and dill.

New flowers are blooming each day, including snapdragons and columbines.

E is learning to cook another English classic–bread-and-butter pudding, similar to spotted dick, but I can’t say that here!

She finished repairing the newly installed sink/vanity, and now we have all kinds of bathroom storage space.

Yes, we have some time on our hands, here in lockdown.  Meanwhile, Misu is perfecting the art of slouching and flopping in every conceivable pose.  Here are just a few.

These days we carefully plan our few trips out to the store to last us a while, but sometimes you have to run out for an emergency plumbing part so your new sink doesn’t leak, which is what E did.

Tennessee just opened up for business, so Lowes was packed with stupid, clueless people.  It was like running a gauntlet through a war zone just to get one part and get out.  The lines were extremely long, people weren’t distancing, and employees weren’t wearing protection.  Her checkout person said god would protect them.  Seriously.  It’s like they live on a reality show zombie island, with a barbaric pig in charge.  Who could I mean?

Anyway, aside from the horror (the horror), it’s a beautiful May 1, and we’re staying busy and productive with our respective plumbing, gardening, and cooking shows.  There’s no lack of things to get done.  And no shortage of spectacular flowers and plants.  Misu the Mascot is the only one lounging I mean supervising, when she isn’t maniacally galloping back and forth, finding new and creative ways to get attention.