I planted the oriental poppies today. I'm afraid I may have damaged one badly, I hope it recovers. The other 5 went in well and I have high hopes for them. I got to use the compost finally. I put it down around the poppies and through some of it around the back yard in places that I'm not going to plant but still hope will become lush with life. I hope everything grows well.

Spring has arrived. Soon, the plants my sister and brother are sending me for my birthday will start arriving and I'll be able to put the compost to good use. They are sending me 3 butterfly bushes, 3 red latham raspberry bushes, and 6 oriental poppies. I'm very excited about gardening this year.

I haven't done any gardening since I rented the house in Columbia, Missouri and grew carrots out back. It was a very small house with a small yard, but it was a house with a yard and it was $185/month. Wow, that price seems great now, I couldn't rent a room for that around here these days. It's a different season here, in more ways than just not being winter anymore.

I saw Truman in the compost heap last night, so I know he's alright.

I was out back trying to heat up the compost pile so that like a fire it's heat can sustain itself, and... well... oops.

I had a gallon tub of hot tap water and I poured it in the old brick barbecue pit that I'm using as a composter, and out the hole in front runs a opossum. I was worried at first that I injured it. Well, at first I laughed very loudly and then I worried. Either way, I'm pretty sure that the water wasn't hot enough to burn the opossum, and even though the opossum only fled and never squealed (like they did when I hit them with a tomatoe), to ease my mind I held my hand under the faucet for half a minute with the hot water and while the heat was uncomfortable I was uninjured.