Pulling Weeds

There is nothing like pulling weeds out of the garden after a hard rain. The weeds come out so easy. You can grab a handful and they come out in one piece with a slight tug. The roots slide out of the ground but cling to the earth so you have to shake the soil off in big clumps. You can actually hear the roots stretch and tear. It's all very satisfying. In drier weather, you have to include very single branch of the crabgrass or it won't come out. After a rain you can just gather up most of the crabgrass branches and it all comes out with a pleasant pull. It's raining again right now so it ought to be good weed pulling tomorrow too. I have many left to pull. Here are some photos from the garden. Lacking motivation to do chores today, I told myself, "Self, if you clean the floors and shake the rugs, you can go for a swim." I cleaned the floors and shook the rugs. Then I put jeans on over my swim suit and rode the motorcycle up to Orono Park in Elk River. I might have looked a little odd as I took off the helmet, glasses, gloves, jacket, boots, socks and jeans and laid them on a towel but I didn't care. I waded out past the kids and swam from buoy to buoy several times. I usually swim in a pool. Lakes are different. This lake was very turbid. I wore my goggles so I could see underwater but there wasn't much to see. Everything was greenish brown under water. Even my own arm in front of my face was barely a shadow. Since I could barely see my hand in front of my face, I wondered how close a fish could get before I saw it. That kinda creeped me out. I never used to be like this. When I was a kid I thought it was cute when snapping turtles popped their heads up next to me. I didn't swim long in the murky water but I got enough to give my arms and shoulders a good work out.