Just Another Weekend in Jersey or untangling myself and Olive brings home the bacon

Saturday was such a beautiful day here and, like many of you probably, I had the need to seed.

Except our seeds are already in the ground, so I headed down to the Pattersons for a couple flats of annuals. They are my favorite local growers where every single family member works their farm and every single family member,

including their 100 year old collie, who I swear muttered "may I help you" as he brushed past me, offered me help. I love that place!

I got back home with my flats and saw that my compost was looking sincerely gorgeous, so I planted flowers in just about everything on my front porch that had drainage potential including my old teapot, garden shoes and my nephew's Tonka.

As I was admiring my newly acquired green thumb and cleverness, Olive came running toward me. She was moving fast, but awkwardly and seemed a bit panicky.

And she had something in her mouth.

And it was big.

It was very big.

(please don't let it be anything cute)

Olive hasn't "caught" anything in a long time, but there were a couple incidents last spring that earned her the nickname (and collar charm) - mole patrol.

She flew right past me into the house with a look in her eyes of conspiratorial panic and victory, as if she were shouting, "I'VE GOT IT! SHUT THE DOOR!"

It was a huge slice of pizza- sausage pizza.

After I wrestled it away from her (she could be lactose intolerant, who knows) and rewarded her with a couple dog treats

(she did try to bring home the bacon - or some other part of a pig - after all)

and planted my minions from the Pattersons, I thought I would check my email and UGH (again) - no internet!

I have been losing internet off and on for weeks. As soon as I schedule a cable appointment, the service rights itself. And even though I know the problem isn't really fixed I cancel the appointment, so I don't have to wait around all day for the cable guy and ...

so I don't have to face the huge tangle of wires behind my desk ...

which is at worst a fire hazard (is this kind of stuff still a fire hazard with surge strips and such?) and at best the kind of disgrace that always gives me a yucky feeling when I see it.

I am no feng shui expert, but I do know that energy gets stuck in neglected places; in messes, in tangles (and not just the kind of energy that gives you access to Google and cable television).

So, I spent the rest of the afternoon untangling, removing plugs to nowhere, removing electrical gizmos that I never use anymore, damp wiping everything off, vacuuming dust bunnies larger than actual bunnies

and with this one little insignificant activity (well, maybe when combined with the beautiful weather and the planting of some amazingly gorgeous new life in the front of my house) - I felt something lighten.

It was like I untangled a whole bunch of wires inside of me as well.

And, of course if you are reading this - my cable did manage to right itself somehow ... again... but this time I'm not going to cancel my repair appointment - since my wires are nice and tidy and easy to reach and I know if I get hungry while waiting for the cable guy, I can always send Olive out for pizza.