Slug saloon

Sometimes (just for fun) I'll stick something new out in the garden, and see how long it takes John to notice. He walked right past my new Japanese lantern for about a month during his evening stroll. I knew he finally spotted it when I heard him outside the window muttering "What is THAT?"

Well... to be exact, it's a concrete lantern I bought at a going-out-of-business sale. Does anyone really need a non functional oriental lantern? Nope. But it was the classiest thing I saw among the gnomes, begging squirrels, and turtles with glasses. And after trudging around that block of hideous statuary, I felt like I should reward myself with a little useless "something." Not to belittle the lantern, which has great significance in Japanese culture. And have you ever heard of a "Japanese lantern poem?" A bit like Haiku, but even more structured because the poem can look like a lantern. I love the Internet.

If nothing else, this one will make a fine hiding place for slugs. Many people swear by the happy hour "death by beer" method of killing slugs, so maybe I'll set up a miniature lethal bar in there. I found a passionate discussion about this on the Internet too, right down to what type of beers they prefer. Slug weather has arrived in the northwest. I think it rained more today that during the entire last 5 months. It is still in the 50's during the day, 40's at night so I'm not in a panic (yet) as to where I'll winter all the outside pots and plants I don't want to freeze. But our long, warm, beautiful Indian summer is definitely over.