A Couple of Miscellaneous Topics

First of all, maybe it's just me, or maybe it's a local phenomenon, but what is it with dirt? I spent a good bit of time yesterday adding plants to the vegetable gardens (4 varieties of dried beans, garlic, and shallots - and I replanted the things that died from the cold), and putting pansies in various containers. The nice thing about containers - including raised beds - is that planting generally involves shoving one or two fingers into the dirt and making space for the seed or the plant - no digging involved.

But at the end of the day, my hands, which are normally in pretty good shape, could have been used to sand wood. They're still nasty this morning. Maybe the potting mix in this area is made from sulfuric acid and splinters or something. Anyway, not good.

The other thing going on is that my husband and I restarted on the South Beach program (I hesitate to call it a diet, since that implies a short-term change and it's not supposed to be short-term) over the weekend, and I got up this morning and had lost at least 2 pounds. And if the multi-function, body-fat-percentage measuring scale is to believed, at least part of that loss is real fat. I'd forgotten what instant gratification this plan provides - and to be honest, although we'd tried to get started in Phase 1 on Saturday, our neighbors had a Derby Day party and we succumbed to the wine and the Derby Pie, among other things, so the results may only be related to a single day's worth of commitment.

But way cool, whatever the reason.