Week In Review

Despite the fact that I work in IT (mainly men, mainly geeks), I have the good fortune to work with a fellow gardener. We compare notes and exchange plants and seeds. She also reads this blog. She became concerned that I appeared to be taking a blogging break this past week. As I explained to her, there were two reasons for this. The prior week, I had taken time off from work and could garden and blog to my heart's content. This past week, I was back to work and had less free time.

The other reason why I had little or no time to blog is that I have been working on the Master Gardener newsletter. This is our fourth issue. We struggled to get two issues published last year. Our goal is to publish three this year and then go to regular quarterly newsletters next year. It has gotten a lot easier over the past year. We have worked out the content we want and I have slowly mastered Microsoft Publisher. I have fewer meltdowns per issue but there is still a fair amount of tearing of hair and gnashing of teeth.

The Head Hatter (Editor-in-Chief) and I were thrilled to learn this week that our hard work has been rewarded. Literally. The newsletters we published last year competed for a Communications award from the NACAA (National Association of County Agricultural Agents). First they were entered in the State competition. And won! Then they were entered in the Regional competition. And won! Finally they were entered in the National competition. No, we didn't win, but we were named as one of the Finalists. Unfortunately, the website has not been updated to reflect the 2007 winners. Our category is "Team Newsletter". We (the Master Gardener program) won $250.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I still have a few tulips blooming.

My strawberry jar experiment may actually work. I spotted this nasturtium seedling:
The wild Columbine seems to come in three versions:

Small, Large and Purple.

And here's what else I did on my summer vacation:

I adopted another cat. This is Rory. Whenever he sees the camera, he assumes this pose. I now have 3 indoor cats and a stray that I am feeding in my backyard.

Someone stop me. Please.