Linear Hodge Podge

We had a beautiful weekend.  Saturday I spent most of the day outside, playing in my flower beds.  I watched Brent chop down a dead tree with his axe.

Because his chainsaw was too much effort to drag out. 

I didn't mind.  It was an enjoyable show.

I cleaned that dad gum Bermuda grass that is determined to creep it's way into every blessed flower bed I have.  I figured removing it while it's dormant is the easier way to go...

Then, I decided to clean the dead foliage from my annuals in the raised beds Brent made me a few years ago.  As I stepped from one bed to the ground, I was momentarily confounded as to why I couldn't move forward...Then I was suddenly rushing toward the ground, and barely got the shovel thrown to the side before I slammed my face into it.

Last year Brent put chicken wire around the raised beds in an attempt to keep Chesney out of the vegetables, and my shoe lace had caught on it.  Sadly, no random person was filming my epic fall for Youtube fame.



The  beds as they were being built.  I fell out of the one on the lower left corner.
 

Anyway, what I originally started this post was to tell you about my FRONT bed that I built last year.  (This would be the one I expanded along the front of my house, in order to house all of the flowers my lovely neighbor Catherine gave me.)  I had ran out of paving bricks that the previous owners had used in various projects that either I had dismantled, or just never worked out.  I needed about three more bricks, and I had told myself I would have to give up and buy them.  But that requires driving to a store I wasn't normally going to, and I hate making trips to places I'm not normally stopping by.  And I was quite certain if I just waited long enough a FREE solution would come to mind.

This is the original bed a few years ago snapped sometime during winter

And it did!  When Brent chopped down the dead tree, I noticed there were pavers buried under the grass around the tree.  Granted, they did not match the other pavers, but never fear!  I simply grabbed pavers that I had put along the backside of the flower bed against the fence, placed the mismatched paver there, and quickly put in the new pavers...

Except it wasn't quickly at ALL.  You see, I had started a flower bed at the opposite end of the existing small bed.  I had also expanded the original part of the bed out by about two feet, and made it sort of curve along the front of the house, then off to the side...

Guess what?  I didn't actually need THREE pavers.  I needed about two and two thirds of a paver. " No big deal," I decided "I will simply expand the curve in a place by a teeny bit, and PRESTO! I will be done."

An hour later, I finally was able to cram the final paver in place. 

As I was struggling to cram this paver in place, I couldn't help but consider if my husband were the one to have laid out this bed.  He would never have started until he marked out the EXACT perimeter of the new bed with spray paint.  Then, he would have counted out pavers, figured out the length of them, verses the length of the bed, and then not even began until he made sure that there were enough pavers.  Then he would have proceeded to dig down a precise amount (say two inches) all the way around the the perimeter of the bed, to ensure the pavers were perfectly aligned along the length of the bed.

And it would look perfect.

Which makes me itchy.  Here's my convoluted philosophy...If I make it look all orderly and perfect, then there is this scary expectation to MAINTAIN that orderly perfection.  If I slap together a hodge podge flower bed with hodge podge items found around my yard, fill it with flowers lovingly handed over from my neighbors, or scavenged from roadside ditches, then it will be admired as a bit of charming nonsense. (Sort of like the tilted bird house in the picture above.  When I placed it, Brent TOLD me I didn't bury the post deep enough.  And I boldly said, "It's a bird house!  It's not like it needs to be buried deep to keep cattle from rubbing it over...And a mere year later my post is precariously tilted.  He has yet to say "I told you so."  Probably because he doesn't wander to that side of the house overly much.)

But the perfection of this man God gave me is this:  You can't do EVERYTHING hodge podge, helter skelter.  Some things take precision and attention to detail if you want them to last.  And, God in his infinite wisdom and knowledge of my hurry up, let's get it done yesterday mentality gave me Brent. 

The perfect man to balance my crazy.



Some Gifts Actually Lead to Work

Don't you just love poppies?

Saturday I worked in the yard for most of the day.  I had to make a run to grab some compost for underneath one of our maple trees.  Nothing ever grows under that tree but grass.  As I removed grass for the third year in a row, this time by digging a few inches down...Naturally after removing the grass so many consecutive years, I decided I needed to fill in the hole.

So, I ran to the local material yard covered in dirt, then ran into Braum's for milk and some fresh fruit and veggies...

I hope nobody noticed the dirt under my fingernails.

Anyway, as soon as I pulled into our garage, Studmuffin told me to get myself down to our neighbors because they needed to thin out some plants.  My neighbors have a picture book garden with winding gravel paths, statues and fun surprises in every corner.  Basically it's the garden I fantasize about but have absolutely no time to maintain.

Let's see:  Iris, tulips, lilies and bridal wreath here.

One hour later I had more lilies, love in a mist, bridal wreath and iris than I knew what to do with!  Studmuffin tried to say that we could use the raised beds he built last year.  I am adamant that we WILL be successful with vegetables this year.  They certainly can't do any WORSE.

More iris and lilies.

And so Sunday afternoon I found myself doing the very thing I had said just the day before that I had no time for...Building new flower beds.  Ugh.  But what's a girl to do?  If you are going to GIVE me flowers I MUST plant them!

Love in a mist

So, here's a sneak peek of what I got accomplished...but this is only a very small peak mind you, as I actually started building a new flower bed. 

More iris and some sedum. 

Because I may possibly be insane.

Fever: Spring Fever, That Is.

Well, sadly today is a repeat of yesterday.  It's raining.  I slept in.  The girls are still at my folks.  I'm still swigging my morning coffee when I would normally be contemplating what to eat for lunch.

So, why that is blogworthy is rather a big mystery.

I DID actually develop photos yesterday.  And  just in case you're wondering:  Even if you have organized your photos in nice tidy labeled files on your hard drive, I would suggest allowing at least two hours just to decide what needs printed, and what doesn't.

And 135 photos later you will be able to scrap book the last 17 months worth of life events.

Give or take a few.

Last night Studmuffin got home about 3pm.  I realized I had never eaten lunch, so I made him take me to Freddy's Frozen Custard for a steak burger.

Then we ventured into Academy for lures.  You see, Brent, my dad and my brother are going fishing this weekend, and Brent has a very specific lure that he has luck with, and of course everyone needs their own lure.

Don't EVER let anyone tell you fishing is the poor man's sport.

I drug him with me into Lowes.  I was in a spring flower mood.  Of course, it was pouring down rain, so we weren't able to look at many flowers, but I did enjoy daydreaming about an endless budget for bird baths (pretending I don't have two dogs and three cats to chase away any birds who may be foolish enough to stop for a quick dip in the pool) and fantasizing about a walk lined with frog and turtle solar lanterns.

 

I left with a few perennial flowers and some spray bottles that Brent needed for something or other.  Perhaps he's using them to mix concrete stains so that he can secretly rip out our carpet and surprise me with newly stained concrete floors...

The only problem with growing perennials is that you have to WAIT for them to bloom.  The garden centers are all full of blooming flowers and mine are still just starting to peek out from the soil.  Speaking of blooming:

My daffodils are blooming!  I am sad that once again I didn't get tulips planted.  I am seriously considering buying some tulips in bloom so I can have instant gratification of them in bloom, then enjoy them next spring again.  Patience is NOT one of my virtues...And neither is anything that requires long foresight.  Which is why I never remember to plant tulips when it's time to plant them.

We had such a mild winter that my blanket flowers, which will bloom all summer long are already getting a few small blooms on them.

I have a tendency to pull the dead heads off of my zinnias and throw them on any bare patch of soil that catches my eye.

With this rain we've had they've decided to start proliferating.  The bad thing about zinnias is since they are all coming up from seed they won't really be in bloom until June.  The great thing is that they are a sight to behold when I'm frustrated and sweltering in the heat of summer.

I took this sweet picture the week after we moved into the house.  Look at my sweet little girls who were only 7 & 8 at the time.

Once again spring is upon me and I've failed to remove all of the grass from the patch I want to turn into a Victorian garden.  So, it seems as if for at LEAST one more summer I will content myself with the few flower beds that I can never keep up with anyway.

I snatched up a few seed packets.  One of them was forget me nots.  I used to have these all over in my beds on the north side of my house, but last year none of them came up.  I figure they just need a fresh start of seeds.  I bit the bullet and bought some lettuce seed.  I have grown lettuce a few times, and while it's easy, I tended to fall behind.  Then it went to seed.  Then I had lettuce all OVER my garden.  More than I could even THINK to eat.

Last year my vegetable garden was an epic disaster.  My tomatoes would bloom, but produced almost no fruit.  My squash would get maybe an inch long and rot off at the stem.  My peppers just plain never grew.  Of course we were in a drought with a terrible heat wave, and my watering was very strictly limited.  This year I plan to try the raised beds that Brent built me last year again.  I plan to do tomatoes, lettuce, and just a few squash or zucchini plants along with several different pepper plants.  Basically a repeat of last year, but with hopefully more success.

So, as I've just posted right up above this line a picture of Brent working diligently on the aforementioned raised beds, let's dissect this photo a bit, shall we?

See the round cylinder next to the air conditioner?  It's an old pool filter that a dog who shall not be mentioned destroyed.  Brent has plans to turn it into some kind of half submerged water fountain.  It's still in that exact spot.

See that lawn that's mostly grass?  Well, this year it is 98% weeds.  Apparently even when one is not allowed to water and all of the grass dies, the weeds proliferate.  Who knew?

Well, I really should get to stuffing pictures into the slots of the album I bought.  Yes, I've given up serious scrap booking.  Instead I've resorted to albums with lines out to the side of the photo sleeve where I can add my thoughts on each photo.  Even though I'm not committed to adding cute stickers and card stock to my scrap books anymore I'm still very determined to share my thoughts with any person who might peruse my scrap books.

And I'm sure my diligence in dumping my thoughts on unsuspecting readers is a surprise to each of you.

Well, happy Thursday!  I'm off to deal with photos and possibly do some couponing!

The Pretty Ferny Weeds in My Garden.

Attention: Avid and knowledgeable gardeners need not read this post.  Please move on to your next regularly scheduled blog.  I do not need the admonishments nor corrections.  Thank you.

Are they all gone? 

Good.  Here goes:

Saturday morning I woke at 5am to the sound of my phone alarm.

Fun Fact:  I have my phone set to wake me at 5 and 5:30.  In addition to this, my alarm clock is set to go off at 5:01 am.  I have been having issues with turning off alarms and falling back asleep... 

I did not fall back asleep that morning. 

Instead I rolled out of bed and went to soak in a hot tub with a trashy romance...

Is that TMI?  I fear it is.

Moving on.

I drug on  a practically new pair of hand me down gym shorts from Aunt Aleta, complete with Sooners across my bottom (again, probably TMI) and a newish red tank top.  I bought it the summer we moved here, which was only in 2008, so that's practically spanking new in my closet...

Anyway, I went out on the porch and read the eighth chapter of Daniel (y'know, after the trashy romance, I figured I was due for some prophecy), and drank coffee.  Four cups to be exact.  It's mornings like that when I question my Keurig, and think perhaps I should have just brewed a whole pot...

I noticed some weird brown lumps out among the cattle, and went to the fence to see what they were.

The Geese were out sleeping in the middle of the herd!  I guess there is safety with a herd of cattle in an open field from those wily coyotes...Heh heh.  Wily coyotes. Get it?  Wile E Coyote?

Never mind.

Anyway, I grabbed my camera to take a photo for you, my Gentle Readers, and looked down and saw the most lovely thing in my former garden.  Y'know.  It's former because now I am the proud owner of a RAISED garden, and the waste land that is my FORMER garden will one day be a lovely Victorian garden complete with alternating straw, brick and stone paths...the details on it are still sketchy.  Trust me, I'll keep you posted.

Return to topic:  I'm taking pictures of geese that are too far away for you to discern what they are, and as I reach down to scratch a mosquito bite (I regret to admit I'm covered in bites.  I can't seem to remember bug spray on my early morning strolls through the yard.  Apparently I haven't embraced the fear of West Nile) I see this: 

I have been eyeing these lovely ferny weed things for a while in my garden, excuse me FORMER garden.  When I stood right over it and admired it's beautiful small white blooms, I decided that it was time for action.

I happened to have three pots with nothing in them.  I had filled my other pots with flowers dug up from random places that flowers don't belong.  Like under the pool filter.  Or in the middle of the yard.  Or, here's an amazing survival story:  Zinnias pulled out of the cracks in my driveway!

I decided that there were enough of these pretty ferny weeds with the lovely small baby's breathish flowers to dig them up and put them in my empty pots!  Especially the two planters on the pool deck!  I always neglect those pots, and so everything I buy to put in them dies.  Digging weeds up and planting them on my deck is nothing but sheer genius, Gentle Reader.

So, I went to fetch the shovel, and began to dig.  Guess what?  We have not been watering our former garden.  We have been trying to create a wasteland/dumping grounds for  all unfinished yard projects out of it.  And being pretty successful at it if I do say so myself!  So the ground was hard.  I stopped and took stock.  In another spot, the ground was surely softer.  So I moved on...Of course 2 feet over it was just as hard, but not as grassy, so I managed to get my shovel in easier.  As I was digging I noted they had a tap root.


"Of course it has a tap root!  I hate weeds with tap roots.  If you don't get the whole dad gum thing, it just comes right back.  And the top half of this will probably die.  Dang tap roots..."


And my self dialogue continued until I suddenly had it free!  Yay me!


Guess what kind of tap root this lovely ferny weed with white baby's breath appearing flowers was?


A CARROT!!!

Yes, Gentle Reader, a carrot.  You see, last year I planted carrots.  However, I did not pick some of them in time, and they went to seed...

The really amusing part, is I dealt with the pesky things all last summer, all OVER my garden, but never registered what the darn plethora of ferny weeds were everywhere.  I just ruthlessly yanked.  Of course I did not need thirty dozen carrots growing in the middle of my tomatoes, so there ya go.

By the way, I have completely forsaken raising carrots.  Sure, they look gorgeous when those lovely little greens sprout through the ground.  And the carrots are a beautiful photo op with the foliage on it.  BUT THEY JUST DON'T TASTE SWEET!  Why is that?  I blame my soil.  I have resigned myself to buying carrots for 99 cents at my local store and peeling and slicing them. They actually get eaten that way.

Anyhoo,

So.  We will see what we will see.  But for a few days anyway, they sure look purdy!

Oh, and as I'm posting this I googled blooming carrots, and discovered through some weird bunny chasing that carrots that are allowed to bloom will cross pollinate with Queen Anne's Lace (which is abundant around here)  and this will make small, thin  roots which explains why the carrots I dug up were puny compared to last year. I also learned that both of these can be easily confused with poison hemlock.  YOIKS!!  The moral of the story?  Don't eat something unless you know that you know that it's a carrot...

Attention:  The above photo has nothing to do with this post.  But Studmuffin made this tool box in college.  And I secretly turned it into a planter for my front porch.  Thankfully, he liked it. 

What repurposing have you managed lately? 

P.S.  They all died.  Oh, I am laughing.  All that excitement and they all died.  Typical.