Doesn't that just bug you to pieces, Maryanne? And it's amazing how many things around the house are blinking and waiting to be restarted or reset.

It was very hot again here today, topped off by some brief (but noisy) thundershowers. Now it's muggy as hell outside. I could hear it coming so hurried the mower out to finish the front I started this morning, then did a couple of big swaths in the back, hoping it would stay away. I did have to concede and quit as the lightning got quite close.

When it's this hot it's hard to feel motivated to get much done. I did finish the kitchen, took all of the seeds and skins from the grapes out to the compost bin. Yesterday I did some weeding in the worst of about three square yards of a front bed. This afternoon when I got ready to bundle up and throw away an old torn up plastic drop cloth I decided to use one of the bags some mulch came in, except the mulch was still in it. As hot as it was I didn't want to start a huge project, but taking enough newspaper and the bag of mulch to the front I was able to paper and then mulch over a section of the bed where I usually lay the circled up hose, and step through to reach the faucet. It is now a very tidy area between some pink amaryllis and some lovely dark red and green canna stalks, both given to me by my next door neighbor. And now that old drop cloth is at the curb (I'd used it when picking grapes, partly to catch grapes, partly to keep me out of the poison ivy. But that means it has the oil on it.) Some days these small tasks are enough to stand in for what you eventually want to finish.

Also today, a little virtual housekeeping. Since I installed the converter plug for the monitor I am planning to set up a slide show of great images, large enough to display fully on this screen, and I'll set it up as a screen saver slide show. I've been collecting a few images at reliable sites, like NASA. Love those star clusters and nebula shots!

SRS