The only thing I did today (besides stay off technology as promised) was move the potted tomatoes and peppers from the deck to under the porch roof.

We had a lot of rain lately, and the soil in the pots are still soaked. One of them, my basil, is still swimming.

At first, I found this a little frustrating. How am I going to dry it out? The only solution I saw, besides drilling holes in the bottom of the pot to drain it and getting my deck messing, was to repot the plant with new soil.

My tendency here is to go online and search for answers from others. Of late, I use AI to give me a response. Sometimes I get useful information, sometimes not.

One of my concerns with using the Internet and AI so much for answers is I might stop trusting my intuition. If my first move when I don't know something is to ask others instead of myself, whose wisdom do I value more? How does this shape my confidence and sense of competence?

Resisting the easy response, I looked around my yard and considered the possibilities.

My eyes fell on the new hole our retriever, Millie had dug in our backyard. She decided the best place for it was right next to her previous hole that had filled in with soil and seeded with grass.

While I realized it may be a lost cause, what if dumped the soaked soil, reseeded it, and repotted the basil? No waste, and solves another problem.

Technology - social media, AI, the Internet in general - doesn't understand or know our contexts. There's no blueprint out there for reforming our schools or our lives. Maybe some helpful ideas and suggestions from others who have walked the path we are currently on.

But to be present with our environment may be the best tool for solving our challenges.