Soil

Today my plans changed at the last minute and I found myself with an extra hour of daylight free of obligations.  I could do anything I wanted during this hour.  I chose to spend my hour in the garden.  I saw that my Bing cherry bushes were almost in full bloom.  The chives were long enough to harvest.  The rhubarb was up a couple inches.  Irises are up.  Dandelions are forming flower buds.  The garlic was six inches tall already.  I dug in the compost and fluffed it up.  I like the smell of cooking compost.  Well, I don't like it - like it.  I wouldn't wear it as a body spray.  I just like the smell because when the compost smells I know the materials are being broken down into something I can use.  Sometimes the materials produce a little smoke.  I dug up 1/6 of the garden pulling earthworms reluctantly out of the soil.  I didn't see any cutworms yet.  I allowed Meredith to follow me.  She enjoys pecking in the compost and digging in the dirt.  She loves to take dirt baths.  She lays in the dirt and kicks at it with her feet.  She digs a hole and she throws the dirt up and over herself.  She has dug holes 12 inches deep.  When she is well covered with the sandy soil, she shakes her feathers like a dog shakes when it climbs out of a lake. Dirt flies in all directions.  She lays her feathers flat again and starts preening them with her beak.  She looks very satisfied with herself when the dust bath is over. And that is why, if you come over, there are holes next to the foundation almost all the way around the house.  It's Meredith's fault.