This has been quite a day! We're now thinking it was some yokel on a drunken rampage who hit the Sandy Beach Road sign. There are tire tracks in the field by Rt. 2, so perhaps it was an accident rather than deliberate vandalism. I think we'd all feel better if whoever it was fessed up and at least offered a hand to help repair the sign.

The good news in all of this is that Ray Richer rescued the top of the sign this morning - that's why Fred didn't see it. I had talked to Jeff Downs to find out if he'd heard any rumpus during the night, but he said he hadn't, but noticed the broken sign when he left early this morning. I guess we'll need to see what, if anything, can be done to protect that sign. I think Evelyn said it has been damaged at least three times. The town's road sign looks like it's taken a beating, too, but perhaps that was from the snow plow last winter. I once read that if your car goes into a skid the best thing to do is be sure to look where you want the car to go, not at things like posts or trees by the roadside, and you'll likely steer out of it. If you focus on an upcoming tree at a time like that, you'll very likely hit it. Ever notice how many cars slam into the one and only tree beside a highway? I guess that's the reason.

We chipped the tree limbs we'd pruned from our various trees yesterday and I used the chips to mulch my flower beds. It isn't as pretty as the bark you can buy at the store, but helps keep the weeds down and decomposes much more quickly. I tried some cocoa bean shells a few years ago and they're still around. They sure smelled great when I first put them in the garden, though. Walking past the flower beds on a hot day was like I imagine being in a chocolate factory would be.

Our chipper is small and sometimes difficult to start, but once going, it does a nice job on stuff up to about 1 1/2 in. diameter. Anything larger, we can cut up and burn in the wood stove. Fred went down on the lower lawn after we finished chipping and limbed out a large cedar tree that came down during the winter. Cedar smells really nice when it's chipped but doesn't decompose as quickly as other wood. I can use it in some spots, though, so we may have another chipping session in a few days. We're too tired tonight to think about that.

There may be showers tomorrow afternoon, and all week we'll have near freezing weather at night. It's still a bit early to plant seeds, although I'm thinking about peas . . . maybe I'll peek under the black plastic over the vegetable garden plot to see how things are looking. I did the Ruth Strout no-work gardening last year using grass clippings, and it worked very well. She writes that hay or straw works best, and I may try that this year. I put the clippings on after planting the garden; it'll be a different proposition planting through the decomposing grass this year, but according to Strout it isn't difficult. We'll see. It's hard for me to not work the soil - my inclination is to turn over the soil and rake it until it's fine and lump/stone free. Strout's method is easier on one's back, for sure, but I miss seeing the little green sprouts against the dark earth. Vegetables certainly stay a whole lot cleaner, though. No matter how hard it rained last summer, there were no mud splattered veggies. Even the lettuce was clean.

I notice there are quite a number of lights around the pond tonight. Pat Parizo just posted a comment here on the blog, so they are in this weekend for a few days. I think in another week or so there will be lots more people around. Many are scheduled to be back in early May. I think we'll take a walk along West Shore Road tomorrow and maybe we'll see some of our neighbors.