Stephenson Family Ties

About 4.6 billion years ago, a great swirl of gas and dust some

15 billion miles across accumulated in space where we are now

and began to aggregate. Virtually all of it--99.9% of the mass

of the solar system- went to making the Sun. Out of the floating

material that was left over, two microscopic grains floated close

enough together to be joined by electrostatic forces. This was

the moment of conception for our planet. All over the solar system,

the same was happening. Colliding dust grains formed larger and

larger clumps. Eventually the clumps grew large enough to be called

planetesimals. As these endlessly bumped and collided, they

fractured or split or recombined in endless random permutations, but

in every encounter there was a winner and some of the winners grew

big enough to dominate the orbit around which they traveled. It all

happened remarkably quickly. To grow from a tiny across is thought

to have taken only a few tens of thousands of years.

from: A Short History of Nearly Everything

by: Bill Bryson

We've been here a  a week.  I still cry...at very random times...but cry never-the-less.  Saturday was better.  Mostly because I got a sunburn...and blisters and we got started on the much anticipated garden. Saturday we had sun...lots and lots of sun.  Sun before the storm forecasted for Sunday.  Snow.  sigh  But lets not think about that right now...lets get back to gardening.  Davids garden and baby Ben are the silver lining to this change upheaval in our lives.  Saturday...we began digging the duck pond, and charting out the beds, all of which  did wonders for  lifting my spirits.  I might not be able to get out of bed in the morning...my arm muscles are screaming right now....but I can now look across the fence and see the progress we've made.  Logan is at least a month behind St George in the spring category...the trees arent in bloom yet...but we can feel real spring in the air. Stay tuned for  a record of our progress as we work  this fertile black soil!! We hope to be the envy of the neighborhood.

P.S.-The ancient apple tree that shares the yard and fenceline and proximity to my kitchen window with my weekend partiers, was just beginning to think about sending out tender flowers; a little green was beginning to show on its branches.  Sundays predicted snow is now giving it reason to pause...shucks.
I am so looking forward to enjoying its blooms. Oh well...maybe in a week or two it'll try again.

Rock on Friends.