Another not-so-great start

Happy Memorial Day!

See the star in the grass?

This is a house in our town.  Can't figure out how they got it so nice and symmetrical but I  LOVE. IT.

Remember how my tomatoes were not off to a great start?  Well, Paul's racing season isn't either....
Memorial Day weekend was busy with racing events at Lebanon Valley Dragway.  Buick Day was on Saturday and then Musclepalooza was on Sunday.  Paul's car just wasn't feeling it.  All the work he put into it over the winter, only to have problems.

Waiting in line...

In the burn-out box...

Waiting for the green light...

Headed down the track...

Belch-y numbers (11.03 seconds)

No explanation needed for this one.

So, it's back to the garage to figure out what's wrong.  He ran the quarter mile track in 11.03 seconds.  Sounds fast.  But it's not fast enough.  Last year he was running mid-10-second-ish (I think).  You may say, "That's not a very big difference.", but, oh boy is it.   It always amazes me that the various groups that compete are separated by one second.  All the cars that run 10.00 to 10.99 seconds in one group, 11.00-11.99 in another etc.  It's crazy, but it's THAT specific.  Paul has been puzzling over which thing he changed this winter is the thing that made the difference.  He just loves this stuff.  Not that he loves the car not running well, but he loves the figuring out how to make it faster and how to fix it when it's not fast enough.  Hopefully he'll figure it out before the next race.

In Knitting News:
I'm almost done with my Lintilla...

I love it!  It's asymmetrical.  You can see on the left hand side that the ruffle is now starting to go up the length of the stripe instead of at the ends of the stripes.  This is more of a scarf to be wrapped around the neck (as the picture in the link shows) -- not a shawl-y type thing.

Then it will be on to two more new projects for classes to teach in the summer.  Stay tuned....


In Home Improvement News:
Memorial Day was really hot.  So we decided to rip up the carpet in our living room/dining room area.  Perfect hot weather project, right?????

Mandy was "helping"

Phoebe was not.

 A sign of when the carpet was put down (22 years ago????).  And Paul had to take a picture since it has his name on it.   We saw some evidence waaaaay underneath of a seventies-green carpet that was probably laid when the house was built.  Ick.  This was a dusty, yucky, back breaking job.  Blech.

Phoebe resumed her spot when all was said and done.

Hopefully the window is coming soon (to fill the spot just behind Phoebe in the above picture).  THEN we can do the floors!  Ican'twaitIcan'twaitIcan'twaitIcan'twait.

In Gardening News:
I have a garden!  And it's growing!

1 of 3 Sugar Pumpkin!

6 Beans!

Peonies! (My FAVORITE!)

So exciting to see things growing from the seeds I planted.  I think I saw some carrot sprouts but couldn't get a picture.  And I'm waiting to see if my potatoes will grow.  No sprouts yet.

In Book News:
I finished Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, Book 3).  To repeat, it wasn't my favorite of the 3 but I still enjoyed it a lot.  But I didn't like the ending.  Paul said he thought I would like it.  Hmmmm.

Now I'm on to 212: A Novel (Ellie Hatcher) by Alafair Burke.  My mom told me about it because it was free on the Nook!  It's 99 cents for the kindle.  (that link up there is for the hard copy in Amazon).  Alafair is the daughter of writer James Lee Burke, whose books I enjoy as well.   Both write mystery-suspense and I'm enjoying this one so far -- it keeps you on your toes, jumping from scene to scene and leaving you hanging in the meantime, wondering what's coming when you get back to that scene.  Love that kind of book!  Anyone else like those?  Anyone ever read these authors?