and after that...

...day that was: Filled With Opportunities. An expression heard here at my house when you feel like you have spent the day completely overwhelmed. Pushed to the limit, feeling like a firefighter, with little brush fires popping up all around. As soon as you get one under control, two more come to life. Kinda' like "Whack-a-mole" x 100.

I decided to go out in the yard and dig holes, plant some things after the recent rains. A close associate gave me a couple of really pretty hydrangea plants at Christmas (along with the Mormon holly family). When we went through Kroger, I stopped to look at them, put out as holiday gifts. They are a fairly new variety, that do not have the snowball shaped bloom, but just some white star-shaped blooms around a central nondescript core. Called 'Shooting Star'. I kept them inside, watering semi-faithfully, to enjoy the blooms as long as they were pretty. Today was the day they got put in the ground.

I put them up close to the house, where I can see them IF they bloom.They are easily visible from where I am sitting typing, looking out the big window to the north. Sadly, while I was in the process of digging, putting good home-made dirt in the hole to give them a head-start, I noticed deer tracks literally inches away. I have some hydrangeas and a few day lily plants that have been in the ground for years and Never once bloomed, due to deer browsing. I choose to think of myself as the perennial optimist, even though I know how much the deer like to eat them. Perpetually hopeful that local wildlife will find ample other food, and give those decimated, but deserving plants a chance to flower.

I am already thinking, if they do not do well where they are, I can always move them into the back yard where they might stand a chance. Even though I have seen deer hoof prints in the bare places inside the fence, that they apparently jump as if having a fun field day filled with hurdling events. I choose to be optimistic, but realism will have me relocating them if necessary to enjoy the show.