Northern Spring

For those of you who have been wondering, yes, springtime has reached even the far northern edge of our country.  So what if I am ignoring the frost of last night?  It was a light frost anyway.

The month of May started out sunny and warm, and I celebrated May Day by buying myself flowers for my desk at work.  As you can see below, a bit of color really spruces up the scene of my library, which includes only 2 books: North American Industry Classification System 2012 and North American Industry Classification System 2007.  So, if you are wondering what industry you are in, I can figure it out and tell you the current or historic code associated with it.

Shortly after May Day, my 30th birthday arrived with little fanfare.  Unsurprisingly, I felt pretty similar to how I had the day before.  I had hoped to have a draft completed of the first of the papers required for my thesis, but I was caught up by a full weekend of work at the annual bike swap held by the shop where I moonlight.  Happily, I turned in a draft for review yesterday, just over a week behind my self-imposed schedule, a belated gift to myself.  I received lots of birthday wishes and a few excellent gifts, including the opening of the first lilacs on the bush outside my apartment.

Last weekend I got a long overdue haircut.  After much daydreaming and growing out, I had enough to get the asymmetrical cut I have been wanting!  I have been amazed at how many people have thought that this is some trick of styling and that I didn't actually get a cut at all.  If only I were so talented!

Finally, yesterday I solved a great mystery!   A few weeks ago, I noticed that the grass had been dug up in a few patches in my yard.  I was puzzled and guessed that it must have been some animal.  I have been seeing a woodchuck around pretty regularly... Could he have done this??  Well, as I was putting up my Garden Tower my neighbor Olga came over to see what the heck it is.  I talked to her for a little while before she invited me over to tour her garden.  We went into her backyard and I saw her tomato plants and some new hedges for her patio landscaping.  Then, she escorted me back into MY backyard and showed me her other plots - the mystery digging spots!  Below you can see a little line of radishes.  The other mini-plots have carrots and zucchini.