Two days without an entry...
...so I've now blown it good and proper for this month. (I'm not *actually* being hard on myself, so much as I'm mildly frustrated that this is a sort-of goal that I've not yet achieved. Just like aiming to exercise every day for a month, even if you don't meet it, you get a lot of benefit from the attempt. But it would satisfy the part of my brain that finds consistency soothing if at some point I had a month where my journal calendar was blocked out every single day. That would be cool.)
The day after my last big yard work post was to be the only non-rainy day from then till yesterday, and I wasn't able to work that day b/c my hands hurt too badly. So basically the grass grew and grew and the firepit did not get done. But yesterday was finally nice and my hands were mostly recovered (I'm not sure how nerve pain is supposed to rated on the chronic pain scale, but a good day is when I can do stuff and they just go numb, instead of actually hurting).
Anyway, the firepit is constructed and the grass is mown. I'm critical of the firepit because I made the choice not to level it that much, and now it's bugging me. I removed the fence from around the red maple seedling we transplanted last year and dug up the asshole-tree suckers that had snuck under the fence. I dug a bunch of sumacs out (I just learned last year that those fuckers are perennials--their taproots are huge!), sprayed a portion of the weeds behind the shanty, and dumped all the grass trimmings there. My goal is to eliminate the weeds back there this year (they're a seed reservoir for the weeds that end up in the yard) and to plant native shade grasses next year.
Years ago, we constructed a raised bed for vegetables with large wood ties and iron stakes. My mom later turned it into a flower bed and over time the ties have rotted and left the stakes sticking up dangerously. Problem is, the yard is built on fill, and the stakes are two-and-a-half feet long and buried into the rock beneath the fill. So when I say I managed to remove three stakes, I mean that I wiggled them loose enough with a sledgehammer to yank them out of the rock, and it was the hardest thing I did yesterday.
If my hands cooperate today, I'd like to till the bare spots in the yard and get grass seed down so when it rains tomorrow it can start to germinate. And I noticed some goldenrod in the bottom bed (I thought I'd managed to get it all last year, but no such luck!). Sweep the patio, get the table put together and out there, get the rest of the yard furniture out of the shanty and into the yard. And work on getting the rest of the rust off the fire ring.
The day after my last big yard work post was to be the only non-rainy day from then till yesterday, and I wasn't able to work that day b/c my hands hurt too badly. So basically the grass grew and grew and the firepit did not get done. But yesterday was finally nice and my hands were mostly recovered (I'm not sure how nerve pain is supposed to rated on the chronic pain scale, but a good day is when I can do stuff and they just go numb, instead of actually hurting).
Anyway, the firepit is constructed and the grass is mown. I'm critical of the firepit because I made the choice not to level it that much, and now it's bugging me. I removed the fence from around the red maple seedling we transplanted last year and dug up the asshole-tree suckers that had snuck under the fence. I dug a bunch of sumacs out (I just learned last year that those fuckers are perennials--their taproots are huge!), sprayed a portion of the weeds behind the shanty, and dumped all the grass trimmings there. My goal is to eliminate the weeds back there this year (they're a seed reservoir for the weeds that end up in the yard) and to plant native shade grasses next year.
Years ago, we constructed a raised bed for vegetables with large wood ties and iron stakes. My mom later turned it into a flower bed and over time the ties have rotted and left the stakes sticking up dangerously. Problem is, the yard is built on fill, and the stakes are two-and-a-half feet long and buried into the rock beneath the fill. So when I say I managed to remove three stakes, I mean that I wiggled them loose enough with a sledgehammer to yank them out of the rock, and it was the hardest thing I did yesterday.
If my hands cooperate today, I'd like to till the bare spots in the yard and get grass seed down so when it rains tomorrow it can start to germinate. And I noticed some goldenrod in the bottom bed (I thought I'd managed to get it all last year, but no such luck!). Sweep the patio, get the table put together and out there, get the rest of the yard furniture out of the shanty and into the yard. And work on getting the rest of the rust off the fire ring.