Thank you, fellow gardeners, for the shared combat experience and recommendation of methods to foil squirrels, moles, and other urban destroyers of dahlias. I'm going to try sprinkling red pepper flakes around the base of the plants, and if that doesn't work then I'll have to try a rough mulch like bark. I'm happy to say there hasn't been a repeat performance of Wednesday's mysterious uprooting, but I notice one of the snapdragons has withered and died as though being attacked from below. Since the others are all healthy and unfurled their first blooms today, I'm not going to worry about it. As you can see, the scabiosa is a thing of beauty and is thrusting out stems like mad. The violets are going to town, too, so I ought to choose a spot and plant them this weekend.
This is the first Friday in months that I've enjoyed. The work pace was busy but not frantic, and the news of a receptionist starting Monday cheered me up immensely. The new agent, Matthew, is working out extremely well and I've finished up all but one large project besides staying relatively caught up with the paperwork. I even managed to work in some interesting flight itineraries. I got a call from a woman who wanted to fly into Mali and depart from Morocco. I talked her out of flying El Cheapo Scary Tiny African Nation Airlines and spending ten percent more in order to fly Sabena all the way. I don't make more commission if she chooses Sabena, I just don't like sending people on airlines that have zero money for maintenance and a lousy crash record. She and I chatted for quite a long time about what we like about Africa. It doesn't take much to fire me up about going back, and I'd really like to see Mali. Of course, I'm not going anywhere exotic right now. Unless you consider Oregon exotic.
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