Today's hotline training was a stark contrast to last week's training. Where last week was a non-stop answer of phones and garden research, this week was a relatively quiet ordeal, with only three of us at the hotline. We did have phone calls, but they were few, and Sue Bell did most of the talking. Which seemed to suit both Jack and me just fine.

The highlight of the day was the seed search. The Master Gardening program will often receive donations of seed packets. Seeds are packed for a season/year, with date expirations. If the seeds don't sell by the end of the season, they can't be sold, so they are donated to the Master Gardening program. The Master Gardeners then use them in trials or volunteer projects.

For this project, a group of people were going to grow chile peppers to make holiday wreaths (next year, of course). This year's project included the gift of these seeds.

Since the seeds aren't fully organized, Jonica asked us to flip through the seed packets and pull out all the pepper plants. As an added bonus, if we found seeds we want, we could have them. What a deal!

I looked for yellow flowers, to match the front yard yellow design. I pulled out a few vegetable plants, and excitedly took them with me.

At work, I mentioned them to Doyle. He suggested I mention them to Shirley. When I did, wow, did her face light up. She sifted through the packs I had, and found Chinese chives. Apparently, she's wanted to grow them, but couldn't find them in the store. Her mom couldn't find the seeds, either.

So, yay! Serendipity!

And seeds!

I mentioned to Doyle at lunch today that I was visiting Mom next Tuesday and Wednesday. His first reaction was surprise (in the middle of the work week?); his second was curiousity. "So, do you schedule these visits months in advance and just forget to tell me, or is this a 'Hey, a trip sounds good!' and you bought tickets just now so I'm letting you know?"

No, no, nothing like that. I had booked the tickets yesterday with a Southwest credit that was, well, expiring at the end of the month. Not that I have credits to burn or something. Or something. Given my schedule for the holidays and various weekends' activities, this was the best time to go, so off I'm going. I mentioned I had to spend another $40 over my credit, but better to spend $40 not to lose $200 than to lose the $200.

Who would have thought such logic would send Doyle into a rant? I didn't, but off he went.

"Why do people think they're saving money by spending it? It's like spending A and B going to the Sports Basement at a sale and spending $400 on crap. She showed me her stuff and said, 'Look what I got! I saved 80%!' She didn't save 80%, she spent $400! 'But look at these yoga pants! They were only $20! Normally, they're $80!' But you don't even do yoga!"

He kept going all the way to the restaurant we were going to for lunch. I think that was the most words I'd ever heard from him in one string. Ever.

I need to find more of his trigger buttons. These rants are fun.

Kris walked into the house today and asked me if I noticed the guy on the pole. "What?" I asked. "What guy on what pole?" The one on the telephone pole in the back yard.

"What good are you, dogs?" I asked Annie and Bella. "Alert! Alert me!"

One of them might have lifted her head to look at me, before putting her head back down to fall back asleep.

Turns out, the cable guy was up on the telephone pole that stands on the back corner of our lot. The telephone and cable guys used to use our yard for their entrance, before we had dogs and before we fenced off the garden. They now climb over our back neighbor's illegally added shed structure, using its roof as a launching pad.

The cable had gone out along the block, starting next door from our house. We were the last house on the block to actually have cable still working. Everyone else along the block was out of luck.

I think this may be another in the long string of "Hey, satellite might just be the way to go for television" thoughts I've been having. Of course, with the writer's strike coming up, I just may be completely done with television.

Pile of 74 books sitting unread on my bookcase? Here I come!

P.S. The dogs never did figure out there was an intruder on the pole outside. So much for the "highest rating for watchdog" this breed has.

If you asked Kris, he would tell you his wife is insane. I doubt he'd be that succinct, but he'd smirk, hem and haw, and then maybe admit that yes, his wife is crazy. Definitely insane.

Ask him why today, and he'd probably mention how, well, she made him rake a neighbor's yard.

Our yard has lots of greens, but not a lot of browns. If you want to make good compost in a hurry, an even mixture of greens and browns (and enough water) is a good start. Since we have no trees, I've been eying various neighbors' yards for the most leaves in the smallest areas. Density is key here, as I didn't want to wander around the neighborhood for a few leaves. Ease is the key word.

So, this weekend, late in an afternoon, I somehow (how? I don't know. I'm insane, remember?) managed to convince him to help me rake up the neighbor's leaves. When we arrived with a rake in hand, the neighbors (who had, indeed, giving me permission to rake their leaves, so we weren't trespassing) were surprised. Oh, hey, we were showing up to rake the leaves. Their neighbors were even more surprised. "Hey, wait, what? You're raking their leaves? You can have any of our leaves any time, if you'd like."

We managed four regular black garbage bags full of leaves, and another two leaf bags full. Those leaf bags are awesome, probably twice as big as the regular trash bags. We left probably about a third of the leaves remaining in the neighbor's yard, though. We probably could have picked them up, too, as three bags immediately went into the compost bin.