The last few treefrogs were finally tiring of their incessant argument when I woke at 5. There was a little gray daylight beginning to seep into the sky and my heart knew it was there, even when I covered my eyes tightly with a pillow. I wanted to get up and see if this was the day that something wonderful would happen. Eventually, though, I convinced it to wait a few more hours.

Yesterday, we walked to Nancy's and salvaged a good-sized egg from next to one of the two chickens in the nesting boxes. They had plenty of food, but I added a little fresh water from the hose she had left there, with a little on-off valve. There is one chicken in a cage on the back porch. She had been badly pecked by the others and Nancy didn't think she would live. But she seems to be recovering pretty well. I had to give her more food. Then we walked home. It was already pretty warm and we got sweaty.

We passed the community center, where Jay was getting ready to grade around the outside with a small bobcat. He said, "welcome back." The day before I saw Sky and Basil picking blueberries for the market. There are tons of them and I am sure it is a lot of work. They welcomed me home as well.

I had arranged to have a volunteer (doing community service for his second DUI in 6 years) meet me at the office at 10:30. I gave him my cell phone number in case he was able to get there earlier. He called about 9:30, just as I was getting out of the shower. I said, "I wanted you to call if you knew you were going to get there early, so I could make sure someone was there." He walked over to Huddle House and had breakfast. Ray and I drove in, stopping at a homeownder's to pick up the weed-eater. A young woman came to the door. "Isn't it right there in the carport?" "No," I said. "I don't see it." She was gone a while and came back to say her brother had taken it back the day before. It would have been nice if someone had called to tell me.

I dropped Ray off to catch a bus and went to the office. No one was there, so I used my back-door key. For some reason, there are no extra keys to the front door. I turned on Nathan's computer and waited for it to start up, getting myself some water in a coffee cup. I printed off a couple of pages from the draft volunteer handbook to give Jorge when he came back. I found the weed-eater on the floor in Nancy's office. When the young man came to the door with a wire running out of his ear, I welcomed him and had him fill out an application and gave him the information about the Land Trust to read.

Kate was to bring the van in at 10, with the lawnmower, but she didn't arrive until 10:30. Meanwhile, I showed him the weedeater and he seemed to think it was broken. "Do you have a flat-head screwdriver?" "hmm," I said. "I bet there is one here somewhere, but I don't know where." I looked and found a paint-can opener, which he was able to use to pry open a compartment of the weed-eater. Other people began to arrive. I got him a jug and a plastic cup, so he would have water on site. We carried the weed-eater and the water to the van and added the loppers and hedge trimmers that I had picked up from the homeowner.

The van is old and beat-up, but it runs. There isn't really any air conditioning, but the fan works well to blow hot air at us. I find the right house, painted blue with a for sale sign and the Land Trust phone number. It looks cute and the yard is not too bad. Jorge begins picking up small branches and debris and I leave him to it. He will call me when he is done. I also point out a lot down the road that he can work on as well. I take his backpack with his laptop for him.

Back at the office, there is not a lot for me to do. I answer the phones and do a little work on the computer, but mainly I look at the Land Trust's facebook page. When I start to get hungry, I eat a Lara bar that Ray has bought for me. It is not that tasty, but I hope it will stave off starvation until I can leave.

It is almost 2 when he calls me back. He has finished both lots and drunk half a gallon of water. He wishes he had a hat and is coughing a little. I tell myself we need to buy masks for the yard work volunteers. I would hate to have anyone get sick on my watch. I take him back to the office and he calls for a ride. I get in my hot car and go pick up Ray, who has bought some lunch, including a sandwich for me. I am happy to let him drive while I scarf it down. It is mediocre UGA food, but healthy and filling, chicken salad with Caesar dressing and romaine in a whole wheat tortilla wrap. I am so hungry, I can't think of anything but eating.

As we turn into the drive, my parents are coming out. We stop and open our windows. It is really hot, but my Dad tells me they have made tomato sauce and eaten some of the ratatouille I left for them. "It was delicous," they tell me. "Except that it needed some bacon or something," he says, with a smile. "Just kidding." "Thanks," I say. We talk some more about the garden and they head home. It is quiet and comfortable in our house. I let the chickens out. We turn down the AC and eventually it becomes cool enough for me to relax. I read my email and look at cookbooks and almost fall asleep.

A little before 7, we head to Your Pie for the Wednesday night trivia. We did this a few times last summer. Wednesday night choir rehearsals are suspended until August. Becky and Kent will meet us there. We arrive and Becky is sitting there. I study the menu while waiting in line and decide on the pizza I want. It has to have protein and vegetables and they have one that sounds great. You can even get whole wheat crust. It doesn't look very crowded. I send Ray to check the back porch. No sign of the trivia set-up. When the server asks me what I want, I say, "is there trivia tonight?" "No," he says, "we only do that while school's in session." "Well," I tell him, "that's not what it says on the website." And, I think, not what happened last year.

I am disappointed not to have my pizza, but thanks to my iPhone, I figure out that there is trivia tonight at the Blind Pig Tavern. The location I call says it is in the other location (listed on the website as opening soon, with no phone number). He thinks it starts at 7:30 or 8. Ray and I hustle out of there, since it is almost 7:30, leaving Becky to wait for Ken. He won't use a cell phone, and has been playing golf, so we can't reach him until he shows up.

At the Blind Pig Tavern, the sign says Full Contact Trivia (whatever that means) starts at 8:30. The waitresses are young and attractive, wearing really short shorts and a very casual attitude. Not my favorite kind of place, it is clearly a college bar that serves food. We order drinks (iced tea and water) and by the time we are ready to order food, Becky and Kent have joined us. We are glad to see them. Kent and Ray chat some. Becky and I have had lunch together the day before and communicate regularly.

It takes a long time to get the food, but it is really good. I have a big salad with grilled chicken and it takes a while to eat it all. Ray has a sandwich, Becky a cheeseburger. None of us has any alcohol (it doesn't help you win trivia contests). The game is good and well run. There are lots of sports and music questions and I do not contribute anything all night. Kent has several hard answers, and there is an earthquake question that Ray is sure of. We are in the top half of the scores most of the night, but never the first three. The last question: How many statues are there at Easter Island (plus or minus 100)? You can wager up to 20 points. If you miss it, you will lose half of them. In order to have a chance of winning, we bid all 20 points. Our guess? 700. The answer is 828, so we were nearly close enough but not quite. Our dinner (for two) only cost about $25 including tip, and the peach cobbler with ice cream I ordered before the end. We head home contentedly, planning to come back next week and sit farther from the loud music.