Shopping and peaches

I have seriously boosted the economy today. Obama would be proud. I started at Lowe's. This last week I killed my weed-whacker, so I had to go buy a new one. I tangled something in the old one and burned the engine out. Or that's my guess anyway. I semi-disassembled it (I love to take things apart) and couldn't find anything obvious, but it's dead even though it's registering a full charge. It was about 6-7 years old anyway, so it was probably time to reinvest. My new one is nice. Red. Electrical with a 20 V lithium battery so I don't have to drag a cord around. I've already assembled it and will try it out as soon as it has a charge. I also picked up a few odds and ends while at Lowe's: an extra water filter for the new frig, a new trimmer (officially called 'bypass pruners' whatever that means), more bug spray for the roses, extra line for the new weed-whacker. Then I went to Michael's (hobby place) and got more frames for posters, calendars and various other pictures. Then I went by the bank (to cash a small check I'd gotten to balance my escrow account) and the cleaners. Then I hit the mall.

I shopped the mall last because I knew it wasn't going to be pretty. I needed to clothes shop and I'm currently chunky enough that I knew I wasn't going to like the way anything fit me. I know myself well enough to know that if I get frustrated/depressed at the first store I go to, there's a good chance I'll go home without buying anything or shopping anywhere else. So I did all the stuff I needed to get done BEFORE I went clothes shopping. Despite my misgivings, I did manage to find a couple of decent dresses. I was completely surprised because the styles out right now SUCK bigtime. Short, high-waisted dresses made of flimsy, clingy material that's cut low and crosses between the breasts. Are they completely unaware that those styles look good on anorexic teenagers, and that's about all? So, I was happy to find something that didn't make me look like I had stolen the clothes from a high-schooler, but also didn't make me look like I was playing dress-up with my grandmother's clothes. I had to buy designer labels to get decent styles, but that can't be helped.

So it was a very productive morning and I did my patriotic duty, stimulating the economy. And I can ignore just how much stimulating I did for awhile ... at least until the bills come in.

My peach tree is looking good. Here are a couple of pictures from this morning. The first one gives you a basic idea of the number of little peaches that are growing. They're everywhere. I want them to be thinned somewhat or I'll have broken branches. No, I'm not going to thin them. The birds and insects usually decimate them pretty well without me thinning them. I don't spray for insects. I could say that I'm a minimalist, or that the insect spray might harm the birds, etc, but the truth is, I'm just lazy. If I have a great peach crop, I'm delighted and I share it with everyone I know. If the birds or insects get the crop or the frost keeps me from having one, then I just don't have peaches.

The closer picture shows you the little fuzzy green peaches. They're very cute and soft looking. These ones are currently a little bigger than my thumb probably.

It would be nice if the birds share with me this year. It looks like there will be enough to go around.

Here's a picture of my little yellow rose bush with the first three buds on it. It's grown enough to have flowers now. This picture was taken the day I killed my week-whacker, so the grass around the rose is a little out of control. I had just finished edging around the front and was about to come do the back yard when I tangled it and it gave up the ghost. So I need to weed-whack around this little guy as soon as I have a charge on the new whacker.