Still in the Garden

Yesterday was a repeat of Friday. I took off more winter mulch and dug up more spring weeds. I also dug out one each: chive and snowberry sprout. Although I could tell some weeds had grown overnight, I know that I just missed these two the previous day. My body feels somewhat worse for the wear and my hands definitely look beat up. This morning I did a little hand washing with the hope my hands would look a little better after soaking in the soapy water.

It happened again. Our neighbor goes into his backyard to talk on his cellphone to his friend Dan or to another friend about Dan. The topic of conversation is generally our neighbor's stock trading strategy. I am not certain if he goes outside because it is quieter than in the house or because he does not want his family to hear his conversation. I cannot remember how many children they have but there are a least four of them. It could be noisy in the house.

Next time, I think I will bring the radio outside and hopefully there will be an opera on. I can turn the volume up high. If someone complains, I can innocently claim to just be affording our neighbor a little privacy, with the accent on the second syllable.

In case he is outside because he does not want his family to hear his conversation, we thought that in addition we could make an occasional comment that would carry across the fence, a somewhat related non sequitur à la Gracie Allen. Or we could be a little nasty and ask each other why his wife takes in daycare children if he is making such a killing on the stock market.