landscaping

Ninebark (Physocarpus) and chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia) hiding the electric meter and soaking up roof drainage

Chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia) with red berries framing the dining room window

Instead of digging holes in the meadow, Paul spent 2 days digging holes around the house for the big pots of natives we bought at the Hort Club show.  He, of course, filled the holes with compost so the shrubs would have a nice start.  Most of the shrubs were root-bound, so he slashed the sides of the root ball and cut off the old roots at the bottom to give them a kick start in growing new roots into their new locations. The rocks and clay that were dug out of the holes are now diverting rain water from around the chicken coop. 
I visited the Hardwicks with a box of nature (feathers, fossils, shells, and more) for Jennifer to show Jonathan's class.  I was less than 10 minutes away, making the last exit from the chain of interstates in the heaviest traffic of the drive, when what to my wondering eyes should appear: a bald faced hornet, escaped from one of the beautiful nests in the box, climbing up the front passenger's window.  I quickly opened all the windows and (of course) some of the feathers and the clump of deer hair flew out the window.  I didn't see the hornet again so I assumed he flew out too.  WRONG!  He appeared again on the trip home crawling up the front windshield. This time I turned on the defroster full and only opened my window.  I was able to flick him out with a napkin. I prefer choosing my own driving companions, thank you.

Reading
65The 24th Letter *** Tom Lowe  6 people are killed before the good guys figure out who did it and save the convicted man from lethal injection with 5 min to spare.
64The House I loved ****Tatiana deRosnay  A love letter to her dead husband and explanation of her life in Napoleonic Paris during major renovation of the city.
63No time to run ***JD Trafford  Michael Collins burned his suits and ties in a beautiful bonfire before leaving New York and taking up residence at Hut No. 7 in a run-down Mexican resort. He dropped-out, giving up a future of billable hours and big law firm paychecks.  When his girlfriend and owner of the resort is accused of murder, he knows that there really isn't much choice; he has to go back.