The weather this past couple of weeks has been perfect! Perfect for what---you may ask? Perfect for gardening! I started out a week and a half ago pulling out all my containers for annuals that I intersperse between the various shrubs and grasses in the backyard. 14 of them! That means carrying about 8 40# bags of potting soil home from the Rural King (our local farm store). Of course, this gardening story wouldn't be MY gardening story without an accident. I was sitting on my deck, filling the pots with soil...did I mention that the deck boards are probably in need of replacement? Anyway, I spilled a bunch of potting soil on the deck, and went to brush it away with my hand, sans glove. Yes, SPLINTER...and we're not talking some wimpy splinter. This one went through my middle finger and then almost through my index finger. I had to pull it out, which was not much fun. By Tuesday my index finger was red and puffy, with red streaks. Can you say infected? So now I am on giant horse pills of penicillin and also had an x-ray to see if any splinter remained. Thank God it all came out.
On to this week's gardening. I bought three yards of mulch, and spent about 7 hours on Saturday in the yard...mowing, mulching, weeding, planting. Then on Sunday, my next door neighbor and I trimmed the lilacs. Running the length of my LONG driveway, but on my neighbor's property, are about 10 lilacs, a couple of viburnum (snowball bushes) three forsythia, and a honeysuckle. Oh, first, on Saturday, I did clean out the various trees that had found purchase among all these bushes. I pulled out Norway Maple, Sugar Maple, Catalpa, Siberian Elm, Sumac, Mulberry, and several other unidentified trees from among the bushes. On Sunday, Chris and I, on opposite sides of the shrubs, and both on ladders with various clippers and trimmers (electric and manual) took out a pickup truck load of branches, and cut about three feet off the top of the hedge. I can now get all the way up my driveway without scraping the bushes!
Today I'm back at work, with at least one more full weekend of garden work ahead of me. Three more large beds. One of them is full of daisies in full bloom, so I think I'll save that one for last. After the daisies have spent themselves, I'll rip them all out (Don't worry, they'll come back next year!) Another of the beds has a giant grass in it that has taken over. I'm going to need some dynamite to get rid of that! I see that the oriental lilies are starting to bloom, too, so I'll have a bouquet for church next Sunday celebrating my birthday! (This Wednesday, the 16th in case you want to get me something...
When I get everything done, I'll post pictures.
In the weight loss/going to the gym arena, Not so good. I seem to be gaining and losing the same 5 pounds every week or so. Things are slightly better in the carb craving area, though it is now ice cream season (my major downfall, especially DQ Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Blizzards. (Mini, 350 cal., Small 530 cals)) I'm trying to not go there, but it's only a few blocks away, and on the way home from work! I also have not been going to the gym...which is fine when I'm gardening for 7 hours, but not so good during the week. When I go home for lunch today, I'm going to ride the bike back...I was a little rushed this morning because I could not get my tushie out of bed.
So, have a great week, Sparkies!