I have some rock samples of layered chert, opal, and diatomaceous earth my brother brought back from a geology field trip to Eastern Washington. Really interesting stuff. I thought that sounded like a great field trip. It always seemed to happen that I was picking up rocks on biology field trips and finding plants on geology trips, but whatever. Those field trip rocks are some of my favorite bookshelf trinkets.

Three hours in the yard finished the back, all pretty straight forward mowing. The front is trickier with all of the beds for iris and such. I have a rule for myself--I can't go to the garden store to buy the bedding plants or whatever until I FINISH DIGGING THE BED. Otherwise I have to keep these things alive until I get around to planting them and sometimes there can be a considerable delay. I've saved myself a lot of money by following that rule.

SRS