I found another one!!!

and look! It has a second bud on it!!

The purple blobs of color are from blue phlox. 

It really is the little things in life. 

I had a meeting at 7:30 am this morning - that I actually set up. I greeted one of the people in Pretoria and she asked if I was sick, it sounded like I had something in my throat. "No, you're the first person I've spoken to today!"

And everything today was good. Fireglow is the most beautiful, brilliant red. I found a second Spring Beauty. The weather was wonderful. Work was good. 

Ukraine has been toying with the Russians' minds with fake tanks. It is an age old technique. They have fake HIMARS that have fooled the Russians into thiking they've destroyed way more than the Ukrainians ever had, when in fact they destroyed none of them. Since 2018, Come Back Alive, an NGO, has been working on designing inflatable prototypes. Wooden fakes are heavy and have to be put together and transported. Inflatables are so light they can be carried in a backpack and blown up in ten minutes. Almost anything can be mimicked in an inflatable form. 

The Patriot missile defense systems have arrived! Ukraine has wanted them to protect the country from airstrikes. The US donated one, Germany and the Netherlands went in together to donate another. Some soldiers were trained in Oklahoma and some in Europe. 

Canada has a Russian cargo plane. It is one of the world's largest. Canada has had it for more than a year, trying to decide what to do with it. They have decided to take it and give it to Ukraine. While Canada refused to let the plane fly away, they charged it parking fees, $330,000in total. Brutal. 

Russia is having trouble making new tanks. The tank plant UralVagonZavod can make 20 a month, but Russia is losing ~150 tanks a month. Sanctions mean it can't build a modern tank. It has to use less-reliable, costlier suppliers and lower-quality imports. The same is true for aircraft, missiles, and electronic warfare equipment.