It Was a Great Spring Day
From high up in the Lilacs, Sweetie Pie
agrees it was a great Spring day.
Updates from May, 2014 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Noreen
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Noreen
A Glorious Day of Gardening
What a great feeling to be able to put away
all the garden gear as the square garden is ready
for the season. Photo by DennisWith Temps allowing for lighter weight clothing I didn’t need an invitation to hit the backyard. I put breakfast on hold for myself while Dennis enjoyed his usual breakfast of Oatmeal. I headed for the potting shed to get out the electric Mantis tiller. I had not been able to use it since the 2010 garden season and there was a bit of dust to blow off of it. After Dennis gave it a once over we were set to garden like there would never be another chance.
Over a period of time there was created a square garden in the backyard with multiple perennials. Dennis and I always make use of what we have on hand, thus using old bricks to outline the garden perimeter. It not only defines the area, it also was the boundary not to be crossed by wayward lawn mowers, grandchildren and grand puppies. As with anything, if it can harbor a weed, it will harbor a weed. Tipping the bricks out and using the tiller among the beautiful plants proved to be a balancing act as well as keeping a check on where that blessed electrical cord was. It was time for the bricks to be plucked out of the dirt they had sank into and nab those weeds that love to crop up in between them. The surprising thing about these bricks is that they are very, very old bricks. I swear they weight 5 lbs. each. My finger tips can attest to their quality. Tipping them out went much faster than putting them back down. Such a difference from the lighter weight terracotta new bricks used today.
A clean slat was achieved with Dennis helping out with the tiller. It can be a wily machine. It digs and will take a path of its own if not held back. I was fairly certain all of the plants that I had anticipated had made themselves known. It was the best time to use a sprinkling of Preen to keep down the volunteer weeds. Preen works wonderful when used on freshly tilled dirt and this dirt was fresh.What a great day with a light breeze and best of all we had beat the bug season. What would a summer feel like without swatting and dodging bugs? We can only wish.
After the square garden was tidied up, Dennis put the Mantis back in the potting shed − as he mandated this had been enough for one day. I easily said “yes dear.” Life on Stauffer is never boring, but it sure is sweet.
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Noreen
Unsuspecting Finds
Two tiny Hosta struggling after the heart of the plant had
froze out in the 2012-2013 winter. Time will tell. I was amazed
to recognize them and their effort in make a showing. -
Noreen
Back To Mother Nature
Sitting on the patio and gazing up into the
crabapple tree it was hard to get up and keep
moving. This truly was memorizing.When I walked the gardens this morning with a cup of coffee the toes of my shoes did not get wet. The breeze from the north picked up the scent of Lilacs that were just beginning to open. After breakfast we were dressed and outside before 8:00 a.m. For me, I could have cared less about listening or watching media news.
Today was the third mowing of the yards for the year. The limp, new spears of grass that I had been mowing in the past weeks stood straight and tall and took their haircut with pride. Spring is in full swing and proof of that was having to get the weed whip out for trimming the areas where the push mower or the rider mower just can’t get at. Dennis and I were on the back patio by 10:30 with the mowers tucked away until the next cutting. The tomato plants that had been harbored in the garage porch begged to be put into the dirt. Shovel in hand Dennis headed out and I followed with some good garden soil, water and protectors until they got their feel of being out in the open.
We really wince at the price of lawn care providers when we are able bodied, but I noticed we had more dandelions than the neighbors. Out of the back garage came the pull-behind sprayer for the riding lawn mower and Dennis, not wanting to make me feel left out, got my two-gallon hand pumped sprayer ready to use. In several days I sure hope to see the fruits of our labor. Our hope is less clover, none of the creeping stuff that blooms blue, and a diminished population of dandelions.
Again the tools of the trade were tucked away and I will say we were both tuckered out and somewhat surprised that it was three in the afternoon. Where had the day gone? As great as sitting out on the patio felt, Dennis and I both knew if we didn’t move we would be too stiff to get up. Do Dennis and I really need an acre plus to take care of? Most likely not. We have acquired several extra lots and put in a lot of sweat equity hours to rid the area of varmint-filled vacant houses and backyards filled with garbage. Having the satisfied feeling that we did this afternoon makes it all worth while and lots of fresh air surely can’t hurt. Material items don’t trip our triggers, but we sure get a lot of happiness from the home we have built since we have been together. Life on Stauffer Avenue among Mother Nature is sweet and very green.
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Noreen
A Fight to the Finish
Dennis has seen the squirrels jump up into the pots
and some plants have been broken down. -
Noreen
It Was Just Sweet!
Spring on It’s Way – Photo by Dennis
Thinking on this last weekend the word “sweet” comes to mind. Saturday, as I walked the gardens, some of the Hosta that made it through the winter gave an indication that they would not mind being shared via the splitting process. The winter of 2012-2013 left many bare spots in the perennial gardens after layers of ice proved to be too much for survival of many Hosta. The garden season of 2013 had me recovering from shoulder surgery, allowing me to be content enjoying that which had made it through the brutal winter.
Now Saturday, that was a whole new me enjoying dirty fingernails. Left shoulder was new as of April 2013. Right shoulder was new as of January 2014. This was the beginning of the first painless shoulder gardening season since 2010. Yesterday from the depths of the potting shed came the spade, shovel, rake and Miracle Grow to be added to the bottom of new holes for newly split Hosta to be plunked into. I was in my element. Dennis assisted in supplying water for the new plantings and refilling my coffee cup as needed. At the end of the day Dennis and I enjoyed the back patio and deemed it a good day’s work as we began making plans to enjoy Sunday as a “road trip date.”
Sunday did see us putting quite a few miles on as well as several stops for refreshments. You can take the farmer off the farm but you can’t take the farmer out of either Dennis or me. Seeing the difference in spring planting from one area to another gave credence to the differing amounts of rain fall after the late winter snowfalls. The sunset Sunday night with us sitting on the back patio knowing we had the best of best days for all we had seen and who we had been blessed to greet and share time with. Life on Stauffer is sweet.
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Noreen
Sunday the 18th of May
This is the day the Lord hath made and I am rejoicing in it. Catch ya later.
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Noreen
A Mix of Glass, Iron and Copper
Garden art enjoyed by mixing glass and metals.
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Noreen
It’s Been a Successful Day
Tulips and the Fern Peony: perfect
pairing on Stauffer Avenue.This was an event-filled day on Stauffer. I checked Dennis into the hospital for his colonoscopy this morning and gave them my cell phone number so I could be reached when he was in recovery.
Twenty years ago I purchased a 10o percent rubber hose to bury from the water faucet on the north side of the house to the backyard. Dennis used a bracket that was bolted to the clothes line pole where the buried hose met a second hose that was wound and wrapped for the backyard use whether it was for a sprinkler or just to have water in the backyard. Carrying pails of water is not for the gardener in the 20th century. Each fall Dennis would blow out the buried hose as best he could.
This spring we noticed that the buried hose connection on the clothes line pole was weathered to the point that there was an ever so small leak. Taking a 50′ trek to turn the house faucet off and on when we needed water was not for us. Dennis and I both agreed it was time to pull up the buried hose and contend with a hose that would lie on top of the ground and we would put it in storage in the potting shed over the winters to come.
I knew Dennis was being well taken care of in the hospital and I made it my job for the morning to pull up the buried hose. I either had forgotten how deep I had buried it or the yard had filled in to a degree that made the project shovel worthy.
The end result for the day: the polyps are out of Dennis’ colon and the buried hose is out of the ground. Dennis came home and enjoyed a bowl of oatmeal as his first meal in 42 hours. A surprising side line: Dennis went out to Fleet and Farm and bought new end connections for the rubber hose that had been buried in the ground for twenty years and it is now a trust worthy hose that is on the south side of the house, wound, and on a bracket, ready for use. It really has been a successful day on Stauffer Avenue.
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Noreen
It’s a Funny Thing
When events happen to others that will eventually come home to roost, we don’t quite have the recollection of how those events unfolded for the other. I am speaking of hubby Dennis’ day of having nothing more than clear liquids today as the prep will soon begin for his Colonoscopy tomorrow. I had a Colonoscopy last year and Dennis had no recall of me not eating the day before. He also has no recall of me drinking the prep and being up all night as the prep worked its while. Bless his heart. I had to assure him that this was not a vendetta targeting just him. This is all about doing the right thing and it is a good thing.
