I'm working at home and have my ear out for the trash guys. I'll walk the large plastic can down with gloves on and ask them to tip it into the truck carefully--under the brush are the last chunks of the cactus I got rid of.

Before starting work this morning I spent about 20 minutes cutting up brush from yesterday's lumbering, and took two modest stacks to the curb (each one was a full armload, but I piled them separately, so I know they'll be easy to pick up and toss in the truck.) I stacked up more back there and left them ready for the Thursday pickup. I wish my village would invest in a heavy duty chipper and bring it around for a modest price so we could chip our branches. It would be the best use of all of this. Tomorrow my neighbor across the street is going to bring over his saw and we'll lop some of the bigger limbs and take down the tall stumps I left. There are several trees I need to take down out there. Maybe we'll get the whole lot. He likes to help, and we do favors for each other across the street all of the time. I think he figures he probably owes me (I give them lots of produce every summer) so this will be a good payback. :)

I have blisters today, from yesterday's chopping. No surprise. One other (but less vigorous) thing I took care of in the yard was to dig up some of the garlic. The stuff growing in the shade isn't worth harvesting, the bulbs are so small. But those in the sun next to the drive and in the oregano were huge. I got one the size of a hardball. I gave them moderate cleaning then gathered it together in a couple of bunches and they're hanging in my laundry room to dry.

I took a look at the tree with the mustang grapes yesterday. I can see lots of grapes from the road. Hard and green right now, but give them 2 or 3 weeks. Now I wonder if I can beat the birds to them? Will I make a supply to take to school next fall for my son? We'll have to see.

SRS