Walked past newly spread mulch twice in one day with two different people. Both noted the widespread aroma but differed on the cause before being made aware of the fresh mulch. One noted the stink and equated it with manure; the second enjoyed the delicious scent of brown sugar. “Brown sugar” led to talk of gardens and the sweet, textured fragrance of a rich garden soil.

While I have nothing against manure and actually enjoy its scent in reasonable exposures, I much prefer the brown sugar reference and am now looking forward to getting my hands into our garden.

Picked a few of our mini first harvest of figs tonight. These are the teasers for the onslaught of figs we’ll see in October.

Just in from cleaning gutters. The rain stopped as I went out to work and I have no ladder stories — a wonderful evening.

I was determined to go out due to the large amount of water pouring out of the clogged gutters. Based on the day we’ve had and the conditions as I went to change into rain gear, I expected to get very wet. Instead the world was kind to me and provided very nice weather for this task. Still not a fun way to spend an evening.

As I’m sure you recall, I reported on a mass reproductive cycle of worms in my initial Night of the Worms posting in March 2007. Obviously I did not continue my studies of worm reproductive practices, but last night, as I was again out with the dog, I happened upon yet another night of the worms. I do have to admit that the scale was nothing compared to the previous encounter but my observation cycle may be off. Back to cycles, yesterday was another waning gibbous moon just like March 5, 2007.

Not only did I visually encounter this mass mating but would also swear that I could hear rustling in the soil. Could it be that thousands of worms are busily preparing or tidying up after their reproductive cycle? Or, perhaps it was late and I was hearing things.

Here are a few shots from last night. To view more images you can view the gallery from my previous posting.