If you need any mulch for the yard, snag some of that chipped up silver maple. Ground native tree trimmings are great for compost and mulching.

One of my side-gigs is managing the local Freecycle page, and scant posts from one member lately will say "OFFER: Odds & Ends Craft Items" - nothing listed, no photos. I pushed back, asking her to please name what she is offering or at least share a photo. It seems she is in such a hurry that that takes too much time but if I want her to send it to the dump just let her know . . . I explained that while her time is valuable, so is the time of people picking up items and if they arrive to find that the "craft items" are nothing they can use, it is rude to them. We all want this material to stay out of the dump, so a little more effort is required.

We have that limestone water here in this part of Texas also, meaning I clean the tea kettle with vinegar every couple of weeks and run vinegar through the dishwasher with every wash. I'm sure the inside of the hot water tank is deeply layered with it now. It was worse in Kentucky, where there was limestone but also a lot of iron in one level of the soil and after a rain the water ran reddish brown. You didn't dare do laundry until the water cleared up, and it took heavy duty acid products to clean the red crust from sinks and toilets.

The weather acts like it wants to rain but it doesn't line up with the forecast. I think all of these firings are already affecting the accuracy of the NOAA reports. This week they're trashing libraries.