§ Finally, actual warm summer weather for what must be the first time this year. All of the plants and animals seem to be as happy about it as I am. The blackberry and honeysuckle are blooming, a garlic scape has bolted up out of nowhere, I harvested a few onions, and strawberries are ripening left and right. Most importantly, the swarms of midges have been replaced with placid lightning bugs.
§ On Monday I found two baby raccoons wandering around the backyard. They were, frankly, extremely cute. They are also, unfortunately, a big risk to our quails so I’m not entirely sure what to do. I reinforced their greenhouse coop, at least.
§ Also on Monday, after all of the raccoon excitement and three weeks later than I expected, Caroline and I finally finished shlepping the remaining half of the mulch. For the first year ever, I think we actually ordered too much.
§ On Tuesday I attended the Ohio Aerospace and Aviation Summit in Columbus. Afterwards, I walked along the Scioto Mile which was great—exactly the type of public downtown space Cleveland should have.
On the drive back from Columbus I stopped by the Litchfield Wetlands Nature Preserve where I saw a common gallinule which is one of the strangest birds I’ve ever seen. Have I extolled the virtues of the Merlin app yet? It’s like Pokemon Go for real creatures.
§ On Thursday morning I managed to snag a Switch 2 for my wife’s birthday (shh!) more than a month away. We will see whether or not I’ll be able to keep it quiet for that long.
§ I’m so glad Jim Kosem linked to a design history of the monobloc chair—the ubiquitous plastic lawn chair I didn’t even know had a name. Fascinating. What is the internet for if not this?
