Well, we have had the longest days of the year. I went to a couple thrift shops on Friday, and the lines weren't as long. Maybe people have stopped panicking over the prices. Ethanol went down 4 cents a gallon. I got a brand-new, high-quality, thick Penguins t-shirt for $1.79. I will continue to look to see if people unload any of the playoff/Stanley Cup t-shirts. I was unwilling to spend $12 and up for one. If they had won the Stanley Cup, I was willing to fork over some money for the regular price of a Stanley Cup champs t-shirt, however. I also got a bathing suit for $2.69. So I'm prepared this time if it goes above 90 for several days.
Saturday, I spent the day at Ligonier. I took an hour and a half hike on the summit. It was just beautiful! I did part of the Spruce Run Trail, part of the Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail, and part of the Burma and Summit Trails. The only people I saw were two young men backpacking. They were in a hurry, probably because the shelter area was several miles away over very rough terrain and they wanted to get there before the thunderstorms.
I then descended into Linn Run State Park. The feral cat at the cabin areas seemed to be well fed by the visitors. He was happy to see me but not that hungry. The spring was busy so I slipped into the Grove Run picnic area to get my six bottles of water. When I got to my lot in Rector, a mother deer and a fawn greeted me but then ran. The fawn was so cute. I also met two local cats and petted them. I spent a couple hours marking barberry bushes with flags. I cleared out around one barberry bush and made some mulch. I mulched it and made some cypress mulch to take home. Barberry bushes are shrubs that people actually pay for. They are from Japan, I believe. I have wild ones all over the lot. They are considered an invasive exotic species up in the Ligonier area. This means they take over and wild animals eat them and they actually aren't good for the animals or that environment. They displace the native plants. I like them, however, and my goal is to clean out around all the ones on the lot. I will dig some up and bring them home to plant them for hedges. But my first chore for cleaning up the lot is to clean up around all the barberries.
Kimberly talked a local produce merchant into a deal for a flat of impatiens and a flat of geraniums for $9 total. So now we have beautiful geraniums and impatiens all around the porch. I planted some portulaca and they are coming up. Portulaca are beautiful and easy to care for. You can plant them from seed for cheap and have a ton of them. I found seeds for them at Wal-Mart.
Sunday we had a guest minister at church. Her role in the Presbyterian Church is to establish liaisons with scientists. She was very interesting. I saw my Russian friend and a couple other people. The church was marching in the Gay Pride Parade later that day, but I couldn't go because I just have too much to do. Mayor Ravenstahl apparently was there to introduce a registry in Pittsburgh for unmarried couples. After church I had to quickly stop at the Redd Up Campaign to do my recycling. I also stopped at Trader Joe's. It was kind of a strange place but I had to check it out.
I watched the Indycar race because it was sponsored by ethanol. Since I am a major consumer of ethanol, I thought I should watch it. Kimberly used to be a drag race driver, so we were very shocked by the violent death of Scott Kalitta at the drag race. I also watched the Red Sox and saw Youk's game winning home run in the bottom of the 13th. We watched part of the NASCAR race, but Kimberly hates Kyle Busch, so I don't think she was too excited with it.
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