On the way home from work I stopped by Home Depot to pick up a few plant. I love to buy 2-3 hanging baskets of geraniums each year to put o the porch. I  love the splash of red from the blooms.

While there I spied a weed eater on sale and the best part of it is that it is electric. I don’t have to worry about pull starting the motor and carrying around the tank with gas in it while I cut down the weeds. The electric one is very light weight and much more reliable for starting each time.

I guess all this spring rain resulting in lots of thick, tall grass and bush has made this year a bonanza for ticks. I am only outside for 20 minutes here and there to walk the dogs twice each day, but that has been enough to attract three different ticks to get on me. We don’t even go into the woods – we stay in the front and side yards.

Besides the ticks on me, the dogs have each had 2 or 3 to be pulled off, too. This weekend will be bath time for all the dogs with a flea shampoo, and then a few days after that we’ll have to stop by the vet for some Frontline.

Of all the days of the year, I think I hate April 15 the most. Everyone has to tally up what they made or didn’t make or what they want you to believe that the made the previous year and decide how big a lie they are willing to tell Uncle Sam so they can send in their taxes by midnight.

Of course, the people who think they are gettig a refund will have already sent in their returns. They’ve probably already received and spent their refund checks.

The rest of us that are driving up to the post office for that highly sought after postmark date of April 15 might as well wear a sign around our necks that declares, “I owe tax money and need more tme.”

Want to give my lawn and garden a running start on a halthy spring and summer this ear. Last year’s weather was kinda funky. We had a very late frost and then a short spring rain then a long hot summer of drought.

This year we are doing more of a garden and are payiing more attention to nourishing the grass and plants with fertilizer and regular watering. But somehow the automatic sprinkler that we bought at Wal-Mart for $7 last year broke and no longer rotates. It was just a plastic piece on the end of the sprinkler, but it was vital to the rotation process and even superglue won’t fix it.

So off we went to Wal-Mart for a new sprinkler. And a new set of battery cables to jump start a car – our jumper cables all evacuated the area recently and never found their way back home. Ad we got 6 large plastic tubs with lids, to organize the garage. And a case of diet Sunkist, because we can’t seem to find them in the 16 oz bottle anywhere else. And a couple DVD’s from the sale bin. And and and and and. . .

Two hundred dollars later we headed home with our new lawn sprinkler.

Not a big fan of practical jokes. I think whoever is pulling the prank is displaying their darker side and whoever has the joke played on them is having their trust betrayed. Not a fan of deception and sadism, even when it’s supposed to be harmless fun.

April Fool’s jokes are not immune to this thought. The day just gives people the excuse to misbehave. I wish there was a holiday that promoted the opposite. Other than the Santa myth that parents use to threaten their kids. I guess maybe Mother’s Day is a good start in the right direction.

Thanks to J. Rodriguez for the joker graphic. J. is an airbrush artist in the Phoenix area. You should see his other stuff – quite a talent with color.