{"id":573899244,"date":"2026-08-07T20:09:34","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:09:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/?p=573899244"},"modified":"2026-08-09T00:31:45","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T04:31:45","slug":"alien-plants-have-landed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/blog\/2026\/08\/07\/alien-plants-have-landed\/","title":{"rendered":"Alien plants have landed"},"content":{"rendered":"

I got in some good work today. For about three hours and change I worked on straightening out one of my fall courses. I have the first six weeks of lecture notes all set up. Everything is organized through mid-November. Then it got confusing, because I got blurry-eyed. It happens. I’m surprised I was able to keep it together that much. <\/p>\n

It isn’t the material. The material is fine, but rather the organizational part. All of those dates, all of those moving parts.<\/p>\n

I did realize that one of my better lectures lines up nicely an important part of the football schedule this year, so there’s that.<\/p>\n

After a time, I took a break for lunch, which was my first mistake. Lunch was good. We sat around and talked about this and that, as people do. Then we decided on the thises and delayed the thats. We moved some furniture around. We sat and had a little read. I called my mother for a chat, as people do. And, somehow, that was the day. <\/p>\n

Oh, and I checked a few of the growing things in the backyard, where some things are having a great year. <\/p>\n

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Especially the weeds. As in not here yesterday, embarrassing large today, and pulled this evening. So I pulled a few weeds — I need to get more yard bags, and so I can’t too invested in that. <\/p>\n

Besides, I just went to look at the things that were a-blooming. <\/p>\n

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The things we want to bloom, anyway. I can hear my old teacher, and all of my old friends who studied horticulture even now “a weed is anything undesirable. A rose could be undesirable if you don’t want it where it is growing.”<\/p>\n

Well, I don’t know for certain what this is. Stonecrop, I think. And I’m not sure if it has grown in this spot before. Or if we want it there. Good thing I don’t have those yard bags, right?<\/p>\n

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I’ve said that a lot in the last month or so, which goes a long way to explaining all weeds which must now be addressed. Well, soon, anyway. <\/p>\n

This evening watched today’s stage of the Tour de France Femmes. We watch a lot of sports, of course, and more than our share of bike races, as you might imagine. At the risk of testing your patience, this stage had what became one of the greatest climbs in mathematical history. (That phrase has never been written on the web.) Here’s the highlight version.<\/p>\n