Smarter Than the Average Squirrel

Potted a few of the cannas today. They're supposed to need three weeks to put out some roots and get their heads above soil. "So probably three days," Marci says.

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One of my neighbors asked if I'd started planting yet, and I said I wished it was warm enough to bring things out because I'm running out of room inside. He said, "Your thumb is too green."

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Daphne and I went to the park tonight and the sun was very kind. The weather was nice enough that she didn't have to wear a coat, and she had a great time frolicking in the field at the top of the hill. And on our way down we were visited by the brightest sundog I've ever seen! Even my phone camera was able to capture some of the color.

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Finally, I'm really enjoying Duolingo's new units on hiking.

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today's bilingualisms

♥ Stella: “不要judge我的化妆技术。”

"Don't judge my makeup skills.

♥ 竹子：“我用筷子 - uh-oh - 我用筷子夹黄瓜，有点难夹住。”（“我hold不住笑。”）

"I'm using chopstics - uh-oh - I'm using chopsticks to pick up cucumber, it's a little hard." ("I can't help laughing.")

♥ Cherry：“。。。加一杯黑咖啡，actually it's 美式咖啡我觉得。”

"...with black coffee, actually it's American coffee I think."

♥ Dawn’s guest：“他们那个音乐一响起来，那个welcome to 西双版纳就是特别吸引人。”

"When their music starts playing, that welcome to Xishuanbanna really draws you in."

Me: Internet, how long do dahlias take to sprout?
Internet: Could be two months, but probably only one. Maybe as little as two weeks if they're the right variety in the right conditions.

It has been ELEVEN DAYS. 7 out of 22 containers have little dahlia sprouts, and by "little" I mean the biggest one has FOUR LEAVES ALREADY. I cleared off a shelf in the utility room and snapped my one spare magnetic grow light to the shelf above, plugged it into a Christmas tree timer* in the hallway, and squeezed in all but 7 pots. (The four that had sprouted by yesterday are still on their succulent shelves, and the three I judge least likely to succeed are sitting on a box near the light for monitoring.)

I did a little garden tidying, but the ground is still too frozen for digging (despite the daffodils coming up everywhere, plus some red sprouts that must be tulips, yay my daffodil protection circle worked) so bad news for the boxes of cannas by the back door: they are headed for the garage tomorrow morning. If I have to cart them back and forth from the garage to the house to keep them from freezing overnight I will, but I'm hopeful that I'll be able to insulate them enough that they can weather a few freezing nights on their own.

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*All the lights have to be on timers, otherwise it's like Wei Ying's tomatoes in that one where Lan Zhan is a wolf and keeps judgmentally turning his plant lights on and off for him. I have absolutely thought to myself, "oh I turned the lights on late this morning, surely I should leave them on late tonight to make up for it!"