The culling of the herd & My neighborly bane

The baby peppers had had their true leaves for several days and were getting bigger and bigger, so on Sunday I finally cut back all but one on each little peat pellet. I was sad to have this little pile of dead seedlings afterwards :( I didn't post the picture on Sunday because I wanted to use Photomatix on it, which I finally did tonight. I have been pretty lazy about photos and the blog this week in general. Sorry about that, loyal readers.

There are some birds working on a nest in this little drain opening (is that what it is?) outside my apartment. This morning I heard them wiggling in and out of it every minute or so, so I went outside to try to sneak a picture of Mama Bird going inside. After I'd been outside for about 30 seconds and snapped this practice shot, Mr Bangs-Around-All-The- Time-Since-Moving-In-A-Few-Days-Ago Upstairs-Neighbor came outside and stood at his balcony rail. And there I was, pointing my camera in his direction while sneakily hiding halfway behind a brick wall. Well, it was too early in the morning to try to explain myself. Plus, I am a little afraid that if I ever open my mouth to say anything to him, the words "Why are you so LOUD all the time?" might fall out before I can stop them. Possibly with some slightly more colorful language inserted. So I just ducked behind the wall and went back inside to get ready for my day. Hopefully I'll catch Mama Bird another day.