I had other good things to report on but the grumbling took up too much space

I got all the plants out of the house and garage Saturday and gave everything a good watering which I'm sure they were glad of. There is so much to do out in the yard, so much dead foliage to trim off. It's depressing looking at it. I'd rather see nothing. On Sunday I cut back boston ferns, katie ruellia, easter lilies, some of the leatherleaf ferns, cut the damaged leaves off the aspidistra working on the west side of the house and across the front and 3 1/2 hours later I ran out of steam. It was 80˚ and really humid out there. The yard is littered with all the debris, big and little, that I've cut off during the week. I should really get all that picked up before I cut anything else.

Then this happened. I had the door to the little backyard open as I do when the weather is neither cold or hot and no screen and as usually happens, a wren will come in, check things out and then leave. So I could hear them outside and then a little female flew in (and I know it was a female because of what happened) and flew to the far side of the room and then perched on the chain of the temple bell. I told her she didn't want to make a nest in here and then another wren flew in and also perched on the chain. Next thing I know, the second wren is mounting her (it was really quick and I can't believe I got the picture) and then he flew out and then she followed.

So of course Monday turned overcast, cold, and wet. Grumble grumble. Then at lunch I got a call from the dentist's office that I needed to come in for a new impression for my permanent crowns. What? Why? Grumble grumble. But you know what I did the rest of the day? I worked on my drawing (not a tracing which I do when I'm feeling lazy) of the angel trumpet flower and I've transferred it to my sketchbook for a colored drawing. 

Then it was time to go to yoga and Pam pulled up in the driveway just as the predicted rain started sprinkling, I got in, grumble grumble, and we made it to the highway crossover and we looked down towards the oncoming traffic and it was wet and rainy and dim and cold and I said it's not too late to change our minds. I could do that she says. Good. Let's not go so we turned around and came home. Then I texted Abby to let her know so she wouldn't worry about us not showing up since we come from Wharton and the class is in El Campo. Because we always show up. 

Yesterday morning, cold and overcast, and I arrived for my dental appointment for the new impression only it wasn't just an impression. When they sent the crowns back to darken the color the lab guys decided that the crowns were too thin on the backside because of my bad overbite and therefore too fragile and more material needed to be removed from the stubs that remained of three of my front teeth. So more grinding I asked? Yes, he says, more grinding. The first new impression was setting up too fast. He took another one but he didn't position the tray right at first so I'm not sure how that one came out so then he just took some of the 'stuff' and mashed it on and around my stubs so who the fuck knows how these new crowns are going to fit plus my gums were sore from all the trauma.

After lunch I went to check on my bird heads to see if the ants had done their job and I could only find the titmouse skull of which I could now see the back was crushed so I guess when it froze and fell, it landed on the back of it's head and crushed it's little skull. And the robin head/skull was nowhere to be found so I guess some creature...squirrel, possum, or raccoon perhaps got it. So that was a wash. Grumble grumble.

And now yesterday our dumbass republican governor in a bid to distract from the near total failure of our 'private' unregulated power grid and all the damage and the astronomical bills people are getting for a few days of power and the criticism raining down on his head has announced the end of the statewide mask mandate leaving it to the 'common sense' of Texans, individuals and businesses, to decide for themselves if masks are appropriate as well as allowing businesses to open up to 100% capacity. In other words, Abbott has decided that the pandemic is over even though all the major covid strains have been identified in Houston and only a small portion of the population has been vaccinated and Texas is still #2 in infections and #3 in deaths and yesterday there were more new infections and new deaths than there were the day he imposed the mask mandate and limited crowd size last July which he had to do because both those things surged after an  earlier attempt to open up. Oh, counties can still require masks but no penalty for non-compliance. Couldn't even give Biden his 100 days and just plain doesn't give a shit about the health of people in this state. He's beholden only to his big business donors. Yesterday wasn't turning out any better than Monday. The only good thing is that by afternoon the sky had completely cleared and it was warming up.

I was going to post about some of the promising stuff in the yard but this is already long, so next time.