one year later

This is the weekend when our townlet brings in a large dumpster and we are allowed to put junk in it over Saturday and Sunday. I got rid of two old mailboxes, their posts, and lots of old black asphalt chips. Oh, and three sets of blanket-like window shades that came with the house.

I retrieved nothing out of the dumpster. Last year, I lucked upon several piles of limestone rock that once made up a barbecue pit built in the 1930s.

And this is the weekend of the townlet's chili cook-off, when we must uphold the simple idea of Texas beef chili against the on-slaught of yuppie turkey and white bean inventions, not to mention midwestern spaghetti.

This afternoon was a beautiful day. The ground is still a little dry ... I stopped by a friend's house where he was planting yews. Six inches into the ground and it is still quite hard. We're expecting more rain this week.

I brought chairs over to the cook-off -- it was two doors down -- and Franklin ran between our yard and the Colonel's, with two large wolfhounds running behind him, along with two long-haired daschunds and one airedale.

The cook-off was well-attended. Lots of neighborhood talk. A band. Children staying next door to play with the wolfhounds. Lots of whispered talk among Democrats. As divided as our neighborhood is politically, we often don't talk about politics openly. We're still trying to find Kerry signs. There is no Kerry operation in Indiana, but there are a few signs around.

And finally back home. The dog is tired from his day of running and playing with the pack.

A year ago today, I started Hands In The Dirt.