May 15--half past May

We have had a lot of rain over Wednesday night, through yesterday and into today. I have a deep (about 2 inches) drain pan for pots that I leave out for water for the birds. It is full. This time Wednesday it was empty. The news said a lot of areas here in N.W. Indiana and in N.E. Illinois are flooded. They were trying to drain underpasses and low areas on major roads.

During a bit of a lull in the rain I decided to move some of my seedlings outside to get the benefit of stronger, natural light. I still have several to move but I ran out of my milk and vinegar jug cloches. Basically, all I did was cut the bottoms off so the rest would sit above the plants. I didn't transplant them yet. I remember when I would have had the garden pretty much planted by now and it wasn't all that long ago. But for the about last four years we have had vicious rain and wind and/or late freezes. I think I might be able to visit the local garden shop and fill out the list I still have for my gardens.

The hardy plants that came back after the winter are all doing very well. One large planter has purslane and creeping Jenny. I will leave it alone. The purslane is already trying to bloom. The peppermints are also growing well and filling their pots. I might get a couple of more peppermint plants. I ran out of the dried herb last winter. The spearmint is sprouting strongly from the original core and I saw a couple of sprouts coming up away from old plant. I have two more plants I started from cuttings. The yarrow is also growing well and filling its planter.

Yesterday I read an article that suggested the real estate industry was in some trouble and the decline in sales of single-family houses. The story focused on the Bay Area of California. However, this piece and the linked sources indicate that the situation may be more complicated. While cities may be  seeing a decline in real estate sales the areas outside some cities are seeing a sales boom. This Politico article says some people are even moving out of the country.

I described the shopping trip in yesterday's post. What I didn't describe was the traffic. We usually go out early before it gets crowded on the roads unless we are going to a specific store that opens later in the morning. The stay-at-home/commercial shut down period has been nice for people, like us, who dislike crowds, on the roads or otherwise. Well, we saw more traffic than typical for the last little while but not as much as before the virus shut down. We state still is six days from the first opening of non-essential businesses reopening at the 50% level.