Stinky Easter

It's Easter Sunday, and I managed not to gorge myself on chocolate or jelly beans! It's a new record. Unless it rains tomorrow, the rest of the plants will go in. Really. The landscape cloth went down (note to self: decide to put down weed barrier BEFORE putting down the mulch) at the end of last week, and now there's nothing holding me back from putting the plants in place for the last four raised beds. As my final check for which plants go in which beds (after soil moisture, light requirements and height), I turn to my bloom chart. This is only a snapshot of the spreadsheet, the rest of the info already mentioned is also in it, but the visual aspect of this part as I move the rows around representing where plants are placed in each bed is incredibly helpful in ensuring I don't have the dreaded flower gaps.

On a subject that is not gardening, I learned some very interesting things today about tonic water! I knew that you aren't supposed to drink lots of it because of the concerns about the quinine in it. But what I didn't know is that doctors used to prescribe quinine for leg cramps--which frequently wake me in in the middle of the night--and it can also deter mosquitos. I don't know if it also makes you smell funny to people, I guess I'll find out. Anyway, three eight-ounce glasses a day is okay (without the gin ;-), and I find I really like the flavor with lime.

And on the subject of smelling... Not-so-funny moment of the day: Jessie was hunting for Easter eggs this morning and there were three hidden in our bathroom. While she was looking there, she had her sweatshirt pulled up, covering her nose. I asked her why and she said because of the cat box. She went on to say it even smelled into our bedroom. OMG! I have become the old cat woman!! I couldn't smell a thing! I have noticed a strong odor in other people's houses if they had a lot of cats or around their cat boxes, and though it was unpleasant, I always figured they knew about it. Maybe not. Now I'm really bugged: How do I find out if my house (or parts of it) smell unpleasant if Jessie is not here? And what the heck happened to my sense of smell?!?