Duck Hunting and Tragedy in the Garden

One of the things I have enjoyed about COVID is all the time I get to spend with my kids.  Just this morning the three of us went duck hunting on San Francisco Bay.  Much fun.  Also very important since Anselm is leaving for the Navy in 4 months.   Last night after dinner (They spent the night since we had to leave the house before dawn this morning.) we talked about stewardship and the importance of planning giving and not just handing out money to everyone who asks for it.  (Because they are inexperienced and have very few financial needs, young sailors and soldiers are often targeted by various charities.) So I told him about the OCMC and FOCUS:NA, and encouraged him to talk with our priest about other giving opportunities before he leaves to go to be a submariner.  I also made sure the boys saw me write 3 checks to our parish for various things.  I explained to them what the checks were for, and told them about Malachi 3:8-10.  And I talked with them about God's mercy because when we give money to the poor r to the Church, or do charities we will often do it then think of ourselves as good men for doing it, or how we've done it hoping someone will see us do it and thing highly of us  - that even the good things we do are polluted by sin.  Thus we ask God to show us His mercy.  As for ducks there were none, and the geese were flying too high to shoot.  But it was a good time boating around on the bay.

A few days ago Kathleen and I started a bunch more seeds in little pots.  Most of them have sprouted.  Altogether we have almost two hundred little seedlings of various kinds.  But now we have a problem:  I wrote the names of each kind and variety we planted on the outside of each of the little bio-degradable pots. Why is that a problem?  Because when watered the pots begin to decompose and I can no longer read what I wrote on more than 70% of the pots.  I planted six varieties of squash in about 25 pots but have no idea exactly which variety is in which pot.  I have the same situation with cukes, melons, zukes, peas, and tomatoes.  The only things I know for sure are black beauty eggplants and burley tobacco because those are the only varieties we planted of eggplant and tobacco. We'll just have to wait a few months to see what grows on all the other plants.