That is, by the new method of calculating age . There, that should make you feel loads better.

Lake Cerknica comes back.

The two nurseries were closed, one at 5, the other at 6. However, my luck at the library was better.

I’d been looking for The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. Also got The Hopes of Snakes, and Other Tales From the Urban Landscape, essays by Lisa Couturier, The Piano Tuner, by Daniel Mason, and Lidia’s Family Table, by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich.

Lisa Couturier comments:

I’m so glad you found my book in your library! I hope you enjoy it. Thank you for your interest in my work.

Yes, I started Time Traveler’s Wife, and The Hopes of Snakes is next!

With cut fingers (from the blackberry mishap) bandaged and hand gloved (right only, I hate garden gloves) on, I manage to pitch a trowel full of potting soil directly into my face. Which wouldn’t be so bad if I didn’t wear contacts.

But all is not lost. I plan to go to a nursery later today to buy tomato plants for my mom’s garden, which is way bigger than mine. Plants that wither and die here grow with wild abandon there, most especially the tomatoes. If all 20 or so of my container tomatoes languish, I have a backup plan. I will plant extras over there.

Last year, a Brandywine grew about 8 feet tall, covered itself with tomatoes. I staked it well, or so I thought. One night, it toppled over, tearing up stakes as it went. After that, it was a challenge to find tomatoes among the tangled branches, but it continued to produce till the fall. We had to call in a professional stump remover to get the whole root out. Just kidding.

Years ago, I found the perfect petunia - a very pale pink one under the name Dreams. I put masses of them in big pots, and they made me happy whenever I saw them. Then it disappeared from the nurseries.

The other evening, I found them again, but in mixed 6-packs with a deep purple one. No matter. I will separate them. I love purple petunias too, but more by themselves. Now I have put in the pale pinks with the lavender Storm petunias by the front gate. In a household of mostly guys, I don’t often get to do pink/purple.

Who could ask for anything more? Charles Milliken heads a research group that discovered a bacterium (Desulfitobacterium) that not only wipes up pollution, but makes electricity . In amounts that could power small machines.

So, stuck on that mythical island with few resources, one could have a number of electronic toys with a little help from really little friends.

Researchers find that compounds in raisins block bacteria that cause cavities and gum disease.

Child: Mom, what are these black things in the toothpaste?
Mom: Raisin bits, sweetie.
Child: But I hate raisins. You said they rot my teeth.
Mom: Not any more, dear. Raisins are our friends.

The doctors eliminated the possibilities, one by one: Lyme disease, meningitis, lymphoma, lupus. What was wrong with this patient ?

Large, but harmless . Adults do not eat.

Half a million, and the numbers are growing. Originally brought over by Spaniards (either DeSoto or de Leon), researchers believe these hogs crossed with the wild boar of European descent. The Florida variety is a hybrid that carries a mix of diseases that includes TB, cholera, and anthrax.

It’s like a show-and-tell for grownups with instant gratification and feedback from like-minded types, who will let you join their many groups.

There you are, in the middle of nowhere, with nary a Jack-in-the-Box or Burger King in sight. Your car is full of small, grumbling, testy individuals who also happen to be the people you love most in the whole world. Except maybe right at this minute.

Food, that great tranquilizer, can be had as you pump gas. Healthy choices? You decide.

An MIT grad student and her surgeon husband discover a method of optimizing kidney matches between donors and potential recipients.

So, what’s in the arsenal against Greenpeace? In NZ, they use potatoes.

NZ: Man the spud guns.
GP1: So, they going to shoot us or something?
NZ: Aim.
GP2: Heh, look, it’s vegetables.
NZ: Fire!
GP1: Incoming! Ow. I’m hit!
GP2: At least there’s no shrapnel. Ow! Ow!

Cal scientists, using the model of the octopus that walked upright, are considering the advantages of a robot that can squeeze through very small spaces .