1) So, I blew a couple of capacitors on my motherboard and now I’m looking for a deal on a new computer. I’d like a dual- or quad-core processor and 2-4G RAM and lots of disk space. I also need a monitor because mine is snapping and crackling and it’s only a matter of time. A built-in webcam would be kind of neat, too. Post links if you happen to see anything. No Celeron anything.

2) To keep myself busy this weekend, I purchased a pressure washer and started in on the layers of mold and other crud on the deck. It was like painting a house with a calligraphy brush. I spent… oh… six, seven hours on the first pass – just with water. I don’t want to use bleach on wood, and I also want to protect the plants and the fish in the pond, but I also want to kill the mold. Recommendations?

3) Besides monkeygrass and pachysandra and vinca, what other groundcovers do well in drought, and on a hillside, and in scorching sun or mildrew-y shade?

4) What color should I paint a room that has orange couches in it? No yellow.

5) Is this a really bad time in Atlanta to trim back azaleas and other shrubbery, or can I do my Kali dance with the hedge-clippers?

Today, it was just too gorgeous not to play and be happy. Since I didn’t have to go to work (at my part-time job), I’ve been playing hooky.

I planted caladium and candytuft and dianthus and hostas and impatiens and a big patch of ever-bearing strawberries. I’ve now got baskets of geraniums hanging by the back door. I didn’t get to the dahlias, though.

After my bookworm winter, some good exercise was appreciated by my aging body (even if I did probably go at it a little too much in one day).

Enjoying the warmth of the sun, smelling the reviving lavender, seeing the various perennials starting to sprout. Ahhh… bliss.

That hot tub sure is going to feel good tonight.