In Which I Speak Of Literal Horseshit

Heading south on Main Street, Lloyd, FL

I decided to take a little walk this morning which is something I have not done in forever. But for some reason, it was easy to put my shoes on and head out. I walked west on Old Lloyd Road, first, my old route that takes me past Harvey's, up to the county line. Everything felt fine but I turned around at about the half mile mark because I wanted to walk down Main Street too, but I didn't want to push my milage because I'm so out of walking-shape. 
Before I turned around though, I took these pictures of what is a fairly common roadside flowering plant here. 

I'm not sure I'd ever done on ID on it before but I did one today and it is called Rattlebox and upon looking it up, I see that it is considered a toxic weed which is...very invasive. 
One of the few invasive plants around here that I haven't seen in my yard. 
Yet. 
The flowers are a bit strange and a bit lovely, aren't they? I see them in other places on my usual route and they stand out with their deep orange color. 

Nothing on Main Street seems to have changed much since I last walked down it. The fally-down house is still in the process of falling down. Abraham's yard is still as tidy as a clean quilt on a freshly made bed. The same ancient oaks are still there, the old store that was restored with funds from some sort of historical society something-something still lies empty, the yard around it overgrown. 

Lloyd. 

The My Gypsy Soul Boutique has changed though, in that I am thinking it may never open again. The banner that was stuck in front of it advertising lottery ticket sales is gone and I think that might have been the last hurrah. The "local" art didn't work, the vaguely bohemian jewelry and clothing didn't work, the tarot reading didn't work, the selling of CBD and other smoke-related things didn't work. 
I am mostly shocked that it stayed open for so as long as it did.

The rest of my day after the little walk was mostly spent outside. Glen planted a few rows of white acre peas and zipper peas and offered me the opportunity to plant one more row of white acres. I took him up on that offer. He'd already laid out the row so it was mostly a matter of just poking little holes in the ground with my finger, dropping a pea in each one, covering them up and giving them a nice little pat. 

I gave my gardenia bush another once over. Look who I found lurking in the branches. 

One of our pretty little green anoles. I adore their eye shadow. I love the way this one's tiny front leg looks like an arm, casually draped over the back of a chair or someone's shoulders. This isn't a great picture but the little one knew I was there and I didn't dare get any closer for fear of it taking off for a safer hiding place. 

My first zinnia bloom.

Of course this one is on a volunteer plant, growing up from a plant reseeded from last year. The ones I did plant a few weeks ago are coming up nicely but it'll be awhile and I stupidly planted them in rows which is simply ridiculous and an insult to the entire zinnia empire which wants to be a scattered thing. I have no idea what I was thinking. 
Perhaps I was channeling Mr. Moon and his desire to see only straight lines in the garden. 

Now. Speaking of Mr. Moon and the garden, he's been talking for awhile about driving the truck down to a local horse farm and getting some free composted horse shit and today he did it. 
He asked me if I wanted to come help him shovel it into the truck and I said, "No. I do not." 
I have become quite blunt here in my later years. 
And that's fine. I don't have to shovel horse shit but there's a little story behind a time when I did which was that when Glen first came into my life, he immediately wanted to be my knight in shining armor and provide whatever it was I needed. 
Like, the first thing he did was to build a fence around my backyard which I do not think we need to delve too deeply in as to the symbolic meaning there. 
It was a beautiful fence. 
But I had a little garden in that back yard and he found out where he could get some horse shit and both of us, along with Hank and May who were quite young then, drove out to Jefferson County and filled the truck bed. At that time, I was pretty darn young and spry and I honestly believe that one of the main things Glen Moon first loved about me was the fact that I would shovel horse shit into the truck bed and would shovel it out of the truck bed and onto the garden. 
We always joke that it was that and my biscuits which charmed him so.
I will add that there were other attributes I had which he also admired but we have no need to discuss those. 

And so today, after I told Glen quite plainly that no, I did not want to shovel horse shit into the truck bed nor was I going to do it, I added that I could possibly help shovel it out of the truck bed and onto the garden. 

And here's what he came home with.

Do you see how helpfully he's got it all so close to the tailgate so that it will be easier to get from the truck to the garden? 
He's so thoughtful like that. 
It's not enough that I make biscuits every Sunday morning? 

Meanwhile, I did some more weeding in the hydrangea bed and did a few other outside-related things and then...

I mopped that kitchen. 
Twice. 
Mission accomplished! 

Here are a few more orchid bloom pictures. For some bizarre reason (I am thinking demonic possession) that little neglected orchid plant is blooming like it's getting paid. 

Will wonders never cease? 
Probably not.

Love...Ms. Moon