Hell, Janie, I'm on my THIRD spade fork at this house alone (in 7 years)! I broke a tine off of one, the other turned out to be kind of feeble and I think I cracked the handle, so I bought one last fall that I hope is a real sturdy one. It was the most expensive and heaviest on the rack.

This was one of those days in the garden when every time I wanted to start one task I realized I had to back up and do something else first. As a result, I have cleared up an old compost pile by adding it, sans sticks, to my new compost pile (the sticks in the old one meant it didn't break down like it should have), I cut up and stacked at the curb several large tree limbs that I took down last summer, I dug a new bed (the sod from that generated the compost pile work) and made a run to Home Depot for manure and ran past the park site for free compost (lots of wood chunks in it, I use it more like a mulch around the edge of the garden and to mark the path where I can step in the garden). I planted some tomatoes, and as a bonus, fixed a bicycle for some kids who were kind of far from home, it was dusk, and they thought they just needed a hammer to pound the handlebar into place. It needed a hammer and an Allen wrench, and after that little break, I finished planting and mulching tomatoes. Peppers tomorrow.

MOM, I'm bushed. I knew I had to keep moving until I finished everything (including fixing dinner) because once I sat down (now) I probably wouldn't want to get up again. And I don't.