It's rosebloom time, and these are the first lovely buds from the rosebush Annie gave us two years ago when we moved here to the Lovestead. They don't seem to care about their little nasturtium friend sharing their space in the garden around the dog kennel.

Yesterday, Bill and I removed the dead buffalo berry bushes. Anyone who has buffalo berry bushes knows they're not nice. They're filled with vicious thorns, which will reach out and grab a mower of lawns every time.

This place was beautifully landscaped, but I cannot understand the motive behind a row or two of buffalo berry bushes in the middle of any lawn. The lawn needs mowing. The bushes with those nasty thorns will not allow any contact, so the grass grows freely beneath them and creates a rather ugly sight in the midst of a manicured lawn.

Well, the bushes, almost all of 'em anyway, died over the winter. So, we felt no guilt in removing them, rationalizing that it's not a good idea to grow dead things in the middle of the lawn. All that remains this morning from the eight or so bushes are little stumps, which still give the lawnmower fits, but the mower of the lawn is mighty happy knowing that my body can escape bloody arm syndrome from buffalo berry bush attacks for the rest of the summer.

Our day was topped off yesterday by a drive we hadn't taken in a couple of years. It's in our neighborhood, but I'm not gonna tell, cuz I want the locals to guess where. We drove 26 miles from home before turning around, and along our way, we saw huckleberry bushes with tiny green berries. Maybe there will be some decent picking later this summer.