A friend of mine borrowed her husbands truck and we went and got a load of mulch. There is this fancy cover on the back of the pickup which raises up on hinges ...well, the cover only goes so far up, so the guy had a hard time loading the mulch into the back..so with lots of careful manuvering he got 3 scoops into the back of the truck...then off we went to unload. Up goes the cover...I climb up into the back of the truck with my shovel...bent over in half, scooping out the mulch...needless to say, I had a hard time getting the mulch out because I was laughing too much. It probably would have been much easier to pay the extra $ and have it delivered! But I feel good that I did it myself! Now to spread it around where it needs to go......Weather is suppose to hit 90s this weekend....way too hot for here! That is July weather....80s for the last week of school...next week....yeah!!!
Travel safely Richard.
Pat, it sounds like you are staying in Your house this summer.....I am sorry to read about your father-in-laws friend.
Lori, I had a hummingbird in my plants this week. I've actually been to Balboa Park...one of the few places I have been!
Karen..just be your usual entertaining self...remember, he has a mother and shouldn't be surprised by anything!
Happy thoughts................

Karen, that's really nice of you to offer to host that guy for a month. I know what you mean about being on good behavior. Isn't great to going back to being our grouchy bitchy selves after people leave?!!! Just kidding. Sort of.

Thanks for the report, Richard. I didn't think I'd be hearing about a hummingbird in a cactus garden. In one of my poems, I say I wish I were a hummingbird--instead of an elephant (which I was feeling like on that particular day).

lori, my travel journal is short for this trip, cuz i have some days left but i am trapped in a hotel at a conference until i go home. i am actually pinned against a canyon wall that the local indians must have abandoned when the eight lane highway was put in right next to it. now its a hilton and i am trapped here for the next three days. at check-in i was told that hilton is the native american word for being trapped in a hotel jammed between a freeway and a hard place. fortunately, my last twenty four hours has been somewhat better. yesterday i drove along the pacific coast highway between newport beach and most of the way back to san diego. i stopped for beer and some fish tacos at a bar next to a pier in san clemente. the waves were rolling in right under the deck where i was sitting. today i was in balboa park, which is a very wonderful park in the middle of san diego. it is huge and i guess it must have been home to a worlds fair back in about 1910. there are great buildings and many museums that have moved into them. the best part was sitting in the sun having a sandwich as i gazed up at a tile covered dome on a towering building next to an old theater there. then i walked through the canyon of palms. it was a secluded walk with fabulous palm trees and lovers stealing kisses. i ran into an odd sign that told me to stop in my tracks because i was entering an archery range. that was a first. i have never seen a sign that told me to beware of flying arrows. well, you can be sure that i took it seriously and i climbed up a canyon path that eventually took me out behind some park buildings that were pretty secluded. all of a sudden i found myself in a cactus garden that was spectacular. there were all kinds. they are the strangest thing and stranger indeed when they are the size of an alien spaceship. there was a hummingbird poised above a flower on one of the giant pin cushions. you know the pose with the wings as a gray blur and the tail cocked to balance the reaching beak that is drawn to nectar. so that was great, but then the hummingbird landed on a twig and sat there. it struck me that i have never seen a hummingbird when it is sitting still. he had a little pot belly and he used his beak to preen under a couple of his velvet feathers, but most of all he just sat there. i stood motionless and watched. he would tip his head a little to the side as he thought about things. as i was standing there, i realized how much i am just like that hummingbird. i tip my head just like he does when i am thinking about things and i have the matching belly, too. maybe there is still hope for me. then i walked over within a couple of feet of him and he took off. it was wonderful. after that i went to another cactus garden- the one that you can find on the map, and that was even more spectacular. it is beside a magnificent rose garden. the hands down winner in the rose garden is one that is called rainbow sorbet. they had a bunch of them and the colors are all shades of brilliant reds, oranges, and yellows. the roses look like their name, rainbow sorbet. after that i grabbed a beer in the gaslamp district. i am afraid to say that these happy events are all i will be milking from this cow of a trip.

How are Dave and his dad doing, Patti? There's always some life issue to deal with. No time to get bored, right? I guess he's lucky he had her as a companion until age 91.

Richard, we'll be waiting for the travel journal. It must be nice to come home to beautiful Vermont even after being in all those exciting places. The ride home from the airport in L.A. is definitely not beautiful. Just an ugly stretch of freeway to welcome you back to L.A. Okay, there are beautiful places here, too, but the ride home isn't one of them.

coffee break is over. everyone back on their toes! hey, you in the leotard. this is not dancing with the stars, ya know. well, i am about to travel 16 of the 21 working days in june. this may change my attitude about just loving to travel. we'll see. i am one week in san diego, one week in atlanta and four days in boston on two different occasions. karen, i could probably bust loose in atlanta (i think) if you have a minute to see me. it is a trade show and those mean i live and breath co-workers and peers until i want to hurl. then there is july and that one has got a bunch o travelin' too (memphis, san francisco, woochie mama).