JULY ROUND UP

HMMMM....ALMOST THREE WEEKS since my last post.
UPDATES:
The Woodchucks: I went to work on the garden shed, another lair for the woodchucks, using the same technique as for the window box. I left one small bolt hole pending the arrival of the one way excluder I had ordered (who wants to trap an animal under the garden shed?). I managed to get all this done before the onset of the amazingly humid, thunder stormy weather we have had for the last week or so. This leaves them one set of burrows in the corner of the rear garden. I have not seen any of my friends since so I conclude that I have deprived them of convenient bolt holes and they are now appearing in my neighbors' gardens.
The Garden: Apart from the regular mowing, I have now two reasonably sized tomato plants safe behind netting. A new compost heap warmly grows. My compost from last year has turned out well and has been used for some planting. Going to Australia in May was a tactical mistake in terms of gardening as I am well behind in what I might have achieved had I been working during the onset of Spring.
The Motor Scooter: We had a bit of a slip up getting my driving test done so we are a bit behind on that project. I ride it around the back yard and sometimes convince Uma to do the same. She is improving each time she ventures her hand at it. My test on on the last day of this month; after that, I will be able to supervise Uma on the road.
Fuel Economy: As a result of disciplined concentration each time I drive, I have managed to lift the overall consumption of my ageing Infiniti G20 to just over 29 mpg since my last check.
Local Scene: For the last three years or so Painted Post/Corning has been the focus of a complicated road works project, the construction of a new highway interchange. I shudder to think what this may have cost (but thank you, Hilary Clinton, for this bit of pork barreling) but now it is nearing an end. Uma and I have made bets on the date of the completion of the last components which will eliminate all the detours and inconvenience of the extensive road works just past the bottom of our street. It is just about all done and it will save quite a bit of fuel just to be able to go directly to downtown Corning. The purpose of the interchange is to facilitate access to Painted Post and Corning from off the main highways to Rochester and Jamestown to the north and Pittsburgh and Washington to the south. Of course, the roadworks have occasioned the opposite to the detriment of local businesses. Everyone will cheer, Hooray, when it is finally done.
Congratulations: to my friend Pete Libby who completed the 200 mile or so ride from Seattle to Portland in one day on July12...his second time to do it on one day. Pete, and two friends, and I did the ride last year. I left them , after 135 miles, to complete the ride in one day and can attest to the considerable feeling of accomplishment that results from the adventure. All this pales in comparison with the riders in the Tour de France, currently nearing completion. Those guys are supermen on bikes!