So, the garden on Mandell is becoming more and more of a solace to me.

A place for me to go and get away from it all.

A place for me to go and focus all of my energies on.

A place for me to build up my positive energies, that have been so depleted by work, and the �$1,400 bump� on the freeway a month ago.

I�m so thankful for the magic that the garden weaves. The magic of momentary amnesia as I immerse my hands in the soil is truly a blessing. While I�m in my plot all seems to be right in my little capsule of a world.

So, I�m in the garden. Popping in some herbs to start my little tisane garden. Most of them are citrus scented, as I�m very fond of that family of aromas. Lime basil, Lemon Balm, Blue Anise Hyssop, Strawberries *the dried leaves are lemon flavored, and high in vitamin C*, Lemon Verbena, and Red Stemmed Apple Mint, were all being popped into the nourishing black earth when . . .

Yiahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! *that was supposed to be a falsetto 6 year old yelp* erupts from the very bottom of my lungs all the way to the tips of my vocal chords, piercing the peaceful sounds of the garden.

Um, yeah, so the pencil thin rear end of a teeny brownish olive garden snake slithering �away� from me and into the squash, was enough to make this 215 lb., 24 year old guy, *me* Scream bloody murder.

Ooo.... my heart is racing a bit even now just writing about it.

I guess it is obvious I�m very scared of snakes.

I�m off to the garden to build some bamboo tomato, pepper, and eggplant cages.

Heheh... Love you guys.