Tuesday, April 15, 2003

Gone to Carolina Archive: Plant the Trees Straight

My personal baseball reporting: Fair, Balanced, Unafraid
Twins 6-6 Braves 5-8
Yesterday I went shopping with the 2 Marys. My Mom and my neighbor Mary R. Mary R and I are interested in herb gardening, and my Mom has some experience in that area. Although my Mom says she really doesn't know much..."I just plunk stuff in the ground and see if it grows"...she is generally knowledgeable, I find.
First we went to a pottery place and bought pots. I am not ready to commit to a garden plot and so I'm doing some herbs in a strawberry pot. Mary R is an avid gardener...both in pots and in the ground. She knew just the place to go.
After that we had lunch at Trio, which my friend Nannette had introduced me to a couple of weeks ago.
Then we went to Lowe's. My Mom has always tried to steer me away from home centers for plants, but Mary R is a big fan and it is true that Lowe's has some great stuff.
Later in the evening, Mom planted the herbs in the strawberry pot and also did a pot of basil and another pot of Rosemary. Why didn't I help with that? Well, Mary R had been nagging me to get this pine tree I had bought in December into the ground. So yesterday was the day.
The tree is about 3 feet tall. Mensa Boy dug the hole for me. After the herniated disk incident, I've decided to lay off shovels for 3 months. Then Taylor and I planted the tree.
This is where Taylor and I learned a very important lesson in tree planting. Be sure the tree is straight in the hole before you fill it in and water it. Fortunately, Mensa Boy straightened the little tree with a well placed shovel blade in the exact right spot next to the tree. Taylor and I then hurried to pack more dirt around it to keep it straight.
Today my Mom, Dad and I went looking for a couple of golf courses for Dad to hit balls. Then we went to Best Buy and watched Mom drool over $300 keyboards and $5000 flat-screen tvs. My Mom is on the brink of retirement. She could retire any day from her job at the Farmington Elementary School kitchen. She tells people she doesn't think she can retire because Best Buy isn't doing too well and she feels a personal responsibility to do what she can to keep it afloat!
We went to The Bombay Grille for lunch. My parents had not eaten Indian food before. I had read a review in the Charlotte Observer about them several months ago. They are on Pineville Matthews Road (hwy 51) and they have a wonderful buffet at noon with about a dozen items. Everything was very fresh and good. Our old friends from Minneapolis, Irshad and Rehanna A, had always told us good Indian food is not so spicy that you can't taste it. And it shouldn't upset the American stomach. This stuff did not. It was superb, just as the review in the Observer had promised. I would give you the link to the review, but the stupid cheapo paper doesn't keep stuff on it's website. They have the review posted in the restaurant.
And we helped the Easter Bunny stock up on goodies.

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