Flash, Boom, Ow!

I think there are 3 major reasons to get out of bed in the morning. Our cat (Maisie) demonstrated the 3rd, fear. The storm last night gave us some cool relief and an open bedroom window. A close clap of thunder from the storm sent Maisie from warmly snuggling with Deb to rocketing out of the room. She used my, thankfully closed, eye as a launching pad from the bed to the door. I'm just glad 80# Cooper doesn't sleep on the bed!

The #1 reason I get up in the morning I'll leave to your imagination. #2 is hope, excitement, I get to, or any of a thousand other names for having a purpose for the day. Sure the purpose can be as contrived as I've gotta walk the dogs or I gotta check see if there is a mouse in the live trap. If before my feet touch the floor I can change that "gotta" into "I get to..." it's usually a good day.

In money matters purpose or motivation is usually boiled down to an essence of fear or greed. With fear considered to be twice as strong of a motivator. In politics it's expressed as negative ads and vision for the future. I'm not sure of the power equation between those two but I wouldn't be surprised if it was also 2 to 1. I suppose in gardening a "severe storm warning" elicits some version of this cortisol/dopamine cocktail. The storm warning wasn't a guarantee of anything, just a guess at the future. A guess on a small screen with swirls of red and purple passing over an equally small map. Zoom in and replay as many times as you want you still end up guessing the impact on the garden.

For me the first step is pick everything I normally would. Next, move the potted plants under cover. No big decisions there - nothing you can't reverse. Now the guess work. Fall could last a week or two more months. - A ton of green peppers that I'd like to sweeten to red but might be wiped out by hail. No easy way to cover the beans or the trees. What about the basil?! Time and Mother Nature will likely make a fool of whatever decisions you make so accept reality and move on. The severe weather warning and the storm itself will last through today, so I'll let you know how brilliant or foolish I was in the next blog. Sadly, these last few weeks if not these last few years have not had the cortisol/dopamine system on overload for beans or basil. That job has been left to money and what we consider politics. Doug A.

I'll leave you with the words of Joni Mitchell's Woodstock

... And we've got to get ourselves

Back to the garden.....

Well maybe it's the time of year

Or maybe it's the time of man

I don't know who I am

But you know life is for learning

We are stardust

We are golden

And we've got to get ourselves

Back to the garden

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small gardens & small government

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