sleep deprived

I didn't get much sleep last night. I listened to loud noise from the usual neighbor house from about 11:30pm to sometime after 3am. The first argument lasted about an hour. The rest was just other loud noise. It wasn't even a party. Just daily life in the #WarzoneInMinneapolis.

Here's the 96-second audio that I finally took from my bedroom window around 12:30am when it seemed to be escalating. There was a woman in the alley hiding by my fence behind the neighbor's garage while the argument took place. Two vehicles finally drove off down the alley. Then she went into their back yard and spoke up. That's her voice at the end.

Yelling resumed at 11am and continued sporadically while I was gardening today. Not specifically a continuation of last night's argument, just being loud and arguing occasionally. I'm exhausted, and I'm not even part of the drama. I learned that somebody is now paralyzed, and somebody has had trouble getting their unemployment check due to bank account problems. I'd be stressed too, I think.

I'm finally reclaiming the best / sunniest garden spot in my lot. What you see here (pictured at right) is mostly celery that's taken over. Celery, mustard, and wild violet.  The violet is supposedly also edible, but I've never tried. They're all rather invasive, it turns out, but I don't mind since I enjoy them and they make pollen for bees.

What I'm planting in their midst, though, is bok choi (which also naturalizes nicely to Minnesota climate), lettuce, cilantro, and 'Georgia Flame' hot peppers. I've grown those peppers for at least a decade. They're the best all-around hot pepper that I've met. They are good when chopped in soups, decent in hot salsa instead of jalapeno, and the seeds are hot enough for my cooking needs (which is spicy). I always collect seeds and replant them. They're great.

I had other plants that I intended to grow. They're destroyed now. I thought at first that it might be squirrels, but I'm starting to suspect local feral cats. Look at them (pictured left). Something just flattened them altogether. Comfy bed for a cat, I'm thinking.

So I have no tomatoes, no spaghetti squash, no carrots (and none survived the winter, as expected), no luffa gourd, no cucumbers.

That's disappointing.

So I guess I should buy some plastic and cover the front yard where those plants would've grown.  Tall grass is taking over there anyway, and I need to destroy it before spreading prairie seeds there.  I still intend to complete the Lawns To Legumes prairie ecosystem for the benefit of the local bees.

Progress.  Slow, slow progress.  Now it's time for another nap, I think.  Sleep deprivation doesn't pair well with age.