Not to worry, Am. We get these stretches once in a while where nothing much happens in town. Peace and quiet. It's sort of like summer hiatus on Buffy.

Yeah.

t /worrying

As if I could ever really close that tag.

Huh.

I took a nap on St. Patrick's Day and now people are taking down the Cinco De Mayo decorations. How. . . odd.

I stretch - an effort that does not quite kill me, and start checking out the house. Dusty, but intact. My head is shaggy and, yes, a full crop of leg hair. Perhaps this is my chance to try waxing.

Oh, dear. There's a pile of mail at the door and my machine is blinking.

After a moment I decide against going back to bed and instead press the message button.

"Hey boss, the shipment you were expecting finally got here."

I put down my spinning fluxometer and check out the box Hans is bringing down. After ripping off the biohazard marked wrapping and various strips of tape marked with silly warnings, I finally get to the steel box in the middle of all the bubble wrap. A quick peek inside confirms that my order has correctly delivered.

"Excellent." I say to nobody in particular. "Hans. Get the genetic lab ready. With a few special touches these babies will assure my victory in the Sang Sacre gardening club contest."

With a few special touches these babies will assure my victory in the Sang Sacre gardening club contest.

noooooo!

The cat has apparently learned to use the can opener during my, er, coma. Well, good for her. Raven appears remarkably unphased by my lengthy check-out, which confirms what I've always suspected about cats.

It took me two hours to dust the place, and another two to clean and replenish the fridge. I've left messages with Aimee and Am-Chau explaining my rudeness in returning calls - now for mail.

Wow. What a lot of gardening catalogues. I gather a bundle of them, snag a cup of hot tea and head for the porch to dream of better things. It's a bit of a wilderness out there, but it's pretty. Some foresighted former tenant planted about a million bulbs long ago - grape hyacinths, tulips, irises, paperwhites - all blooming at once. Unlikely, but cool. I bet Sang Sacre has some great gardening clubs. I should definitely look into that.

"Bob, I had a deadline. You're not supposed to distract me so much I lose track of deadlines."

"I thought the only deadline you were interested in was the line between my abs."

"Right. For that you get tickled."

"Somewhere in the city a penguin weeps."

I'm wet, I'm dirty, and raspberry brambles are attempting coitus with my hair. I feel fully justified in ignoring my husband if he's going to speak in faux-Zen.

Gardening is filthy, backbreaking, gloriously satisfying work. I've sheared dead branches off my raspberry bushes, freed my strawberries from tenacious maple sproutlings, raked a forest of autumn leaves … God - did I say gloriously satisfying? I meant never-freaking-ending. Why did we buy such a large lot? Right, because I wanted to garden. Why so many trees? Right, because I like trees.

Cursing my stupid distaste for concrete and asphalt I leaned back on my heels, applying upward pressure on the pernicious weed I held in a deathgrip. It submitted, releasing its hold on the rich loam with an utterly gratifying 'pop'. I brandished my vanquished foe, triumphantly displaying its icebergian root.

"If you care to pause in your noxious weed jihad, lunch is ready."

Oooh, food.

"As long as you're not serving greens, I'm all yours."

"I wish you'd stop putting conditions on our relationship."

He managed to dodge the mud I flung toward him as we dashed toward the house.

***

I stood on the back deck, hands on hips, Mistress of my Domain, fully satisfied.

"You gotta love Blood."

Whilst we were eating a wind had blown up, scouring the yard of fallen leaves, whipping the dead grass from the lawn, removing the detritus of winter, leaving everything black and green and growing.

I dashed across the emerald turf to the flowerbeds. I cooed over Gypsy Girl crocuses, the wee yellow cups streaked with a purple so dark as to seem black. I oohed over the shy, delicate snowdrops, trembling in the breeze. I aahed at the silky soft catikins on my French willow. I scowled at the spiky green plant sullying the pristine earth.

"Die, motherfucker." I growled as I dove - spike in hand - at the cheerful yellow flower.

As I wrestled it out of the ground I heard a far off howl of dismay and caught the faint scent of herring on the wind.

Ack! Never mind, I'll do it myself. Honestly, trying to teach an Instagolem (TM) the difference between a weed and a wildflower is frelling impossible. I send the minions off to clear brush while I ponder the blank slate that is my back yard. It occurs to me that this is a situation for Better Living Through Chemistry - and Magic. Or perhaps I should just rent a flamethrower and start fresh.

To my amazement the Instagolem have cleared enough brush to reveal a greenhouse! I set them to pulling unwanted saplings and investigate. The hinges are a bit rusty, but the glass is intact. The hoses will need to be replaced but all the plumbing works. Wheee! This will be perfect for a summer lab.

"What's his problem?" Phred asks, pointing his thumb back in the general direction of the caterwauling coming from inside the house.

"He's ticked because I rejected his ideas for the garden." I stab the spading fork deep into the dark soil so that it stands up on its own. I leave it there, remove my leather gloves, and use my Dodgers baseball cap to swab at the sweat on my forehead. I put the cap back on, adjusting it on my head. "I told him that all I wanted was a simple little tomato patch, with maybe a couple of cantaloupe plants. He gives me a garden plan the put The Victory Garden to shame. There was corn, and peppers, and eggplants, and beans, and peas, and even kohlrabi, for heaven's sake. And turnips. Yards and yards of turnips. The stupid bird doesn't even eat vegetables!"

"I like kohlrabi..."

I hand him the sheet of graph paper with a bird's diagram on it. "Fine. You plant the garden, then. He can't help you. Do you remember what happened the last time he tried to used the weed whacker? Mrs. Harrison hasn't," I say, gesturing towards the house next door. "She sics her rottweiler on him any time he even looks at her rose bushes."

Phred turns the diagram a bit, trying to align it with various landmarks in the back yard. "You know, turnips are tasty, too."

My eyes start rolling like the wheels of a slot machine. "He doesn't even like turnips. He just wants to grow them so he has some raw material for that stupid case of turnip twaddlers he bought. And don't get me started on the frelling beans. Some guy offers to sell him a pack of 'magic' beans, and he gives him the twenty bucks I gave him to use to buy peat moss."

"So... Tomatoes, you say?"

"Yup. Cantaloupes, too. Started the seedlings a month ago. Hand me the rake, would you?"