Random Five Friday

1. Kersey is back to her happy dog normal self. No more laying on the grass or the porch, looking at us with sad eyes. She is busy, busy chasing squirrels and Passage; following us around and running to the garage to greet me when I get home from work.

2. Brett picked up Sedona's ashes from the vet clinic the other day. We are going to bury them under her favorite squirrel hunting tree -- some time when Camille and Kyle are up visiting.

3. My garden is blooming and growing. Except for the lilies. I must have planted 25 lily plants and I only have three left. Some critter has been shearing them off at the base and leaving them there -- maybe eating the bulb? I found two more stalks laying across the alyssum this evening. I put them in a vase; hopefully the buds will open. I'll have to replace the lilies with something else next fall which is a royal bummer. My mom loved lilies and I so wanted them to thrive in her garden.  Like the dahlias -- I have very happy dahlias.

4. The chickens are also growing and we are counting the days until we get eggs. The two roosters, Calvin and Lord Byron, get along well. They seem to be docile. I am particularly taken with Lord Byron who's black feathers fall gracefully from his tail and glow blue in the sunlight.

5. Working woman weeknight dinner tonight (sorry no pictures): I browned some seasoned hamburger from the butcher with a few chopped onions. Not too many - Brett doesn't like onions so I put in just enough to give some umph to the flavor but not enough to be obvious. I added a couple cloves of minced garlic, then a bowl of sweet cherry tomatoes, some thyme from the garden, salt and pepper. I let it simmer and soften while I cooked the pasta. At the end, I added fresh basil and oregano to the sauce before putting it on top of the linguine I had piled on our plates. A sprinkling of parmesan cheese (or in Brett's case, a mountain of parmesan cheese) and dinner was served. Superb. I will do this again.