(no subject)
So we've finally made it to Memorial Day weekend! Hurrah, a longer weekend than normal that I don't have to pay for with precious PTO time.
As usual, I am very behind on keeping this thing updated. But here is an update anyway, to make up for my slackitude.
So, it's actually been a pretty work-intensive Memorial Day weekend, with a little bit of fun thrown in here and there. For those who are keeping score, here is the break-down of the weekend.
Friday: Work let us out a little earlier so that we could all get started on our holiday weekends earlier. I ended up staying after another half hour to finish up something that came in at the last minute, but still got to leave early, so it's all good. drnuncheon and I bought some sirloin steaks, and we headed over to boadiccea and rottgrub's house to cook the steaks on their grill. They had all kinds of good veggies ready, and we had quite a feast and a fun evening hanging out.
Saturday: I was so excited about the prospect of starting the long weekend that I couldn't stay asleep for very long. (I do this a lot.) I got up at 6:30 and went outside immediately to start to work on the yard and the garden. At this point I didn't do much more than water the front lawn and weed half of the rocky hillside in the front of our house.
At a more sane hour, drnuncheon and I headed up to Sears Grand, where we bought a new gas grill for ourselves. Unfortunately, we have a small car, and the pre-assembled grill wouldn't fit in it. We took it unassembled, still in the box. We should have known that we were in for a great time when the guy who put it into the car for us smirked, and said, "Have a great time putting THAT together." OR I should say, we should have known that drnuncheon would have a great time, because he spent the better part of the afternoon putting it together. It looks great, though! We'll probably use it for the first time sometime this week. Right after we get some propane. While he did this, I took my hand saw and cut down a small forest of volunteer saplings that had taken up residence in a flower bed to the side of hour house over the years. They were too big to pull up, so I just sawed them all off at the bases. Then I planted some shade-loving plants there: about 36 red begonias, 1 new guinea impatien that was given to me, the rest of the coleus plants that I planted from seed back in February, and a couple of hosta plants. It's not finished yet, but I am pleased with the results so far. I forgot to take before and after pictures, but here is a close approximation. The first picture that you see is along the same stretch, further up. (I didn't get that far.) It looks about like what I started with. The second picture is what it's like so far. I want to get some taller plants in the back, and I haven't decided what to do about that rickety fence thing. On one hand, it's rickety and kind of ugly, on the other, it wouldn't be so noticable if I could find some vining plant to climb all over it.
On Sunday, I slept in a little bit, but was outside doing gardening work by 8:00 AM. This time, I made a small vegetable plot in the dead center of the backyard - it's the only part that isn't in heavy shade all the time. Even now I'm not entirely certain of whether it's going to get enough sun... but we now have one tomato plant in the ground, 1 green pepper plant, and three cucumber plants. I also planted two rows of green beans, one row of green onions, and two rows of mixed greens in another part of the yard. I didn't get pictures yet - I'm waiting to see what it looks like once the seeds come up.
I also potted up some of the plants that I will keep on the ledges of my front porch. I took a picture of my porch steps because I was taken with how it looked. The tomato plant is staying, but the plant behind that one is a blackberry bush that will eventually get transplanted into the backyard. The top one is a large container of snapdragons that I started from seed. One of them is starting to form its first bud! (sniff, they grow up so fast!)
After all of this, I made some deviled eggs, and then we drove down to Greentree for some bbq action at kierya and her husband Josh's house. boadiccea and rottgrub were there as well. We had a great time - there was plenty of excellent food, and it was so nice hanging out with friends! The guys had fun drinking rum and coke, and the girls were drinking some kind of mango margarita mix (except for me - I had a fruit smoothie instead!). Somehow kierya and Josh's dog Max convinced my husband to take him for a late night walk of over a mile long! We had to call him on his cellphone to make sure that he was still alive. As it turned out, they had just gone far enough that he wasn't entirely certain of how to get back. (Did the rum contribute to this situation? The world may never know...)
Today we picked up Mom Nuncheon for lunch, and went to Applebee's. We came home and I spent the afternoon cleaning the house - we have company coming over Friday night, and I'm hoping that we can keep it reasonably clean all week so that I don't have to frantically tidy up on Thursday night!
I did go to the nursery this morning (early) and bought the last of the plants for the season... really! I made the decision this morning that I am going to make a small kitchen garden right outside the backdoor... it never occurred to me before because a) there's a small sapling forest there and b) I always thought that area was super shaded, all day long. After one million trips up and down that strip this weekend, I realized that it actually gets really nice sun. I'm going to stick some cherry tomatoes, another green pepper plant, and several kinds of herbs there and see how they do. But they will have to cool their heels on my porch for the week... I don't have the time or the energy to do any more deforestation on their behalf...
And on that note, I believe that the weekend is drawing to a close.
Back to work tomorrow, which I daresay will mean that I get to sit still and rest my aching muscles a lot more than if left to my own devices!
As usual, I am very behind on keeping this thing updated. But here is an update anyway, to make up for my slackitude.
So, it's actually been a pretty work-intensive Memorial Day weekend, with a little bit of fun thrown in here and there. For those who are keeping score, here is the break-down of the weekend.
Friday: Work let us out a little earlier so that we could all get started on our holiday weekends earlier. I ended up staying after another half hour to finish up something that came in at the last minute, but still got to leave early, so it's all good. drnuncheon and I bought some sirloin steaks, and we headed over to boadiccea and rottgrub's house to cook the steaks on their grill. They had all kinds of good veggies ready, and we had quite a feast and a fun evening hanging out.
Saturday: I was so excited about the prospect of starting the long weekend that I couldn't stay asleep for very long. (I do this a lot.) I got up at 6:30 and went outside immediately to start to work on the yard and the garden. At this point I didn't do much more than water the front lawn and weed half of the rocky hillside in the front of our house.
At a more sane hour, drnuncheon and I headed up to Sears Grand, where we bought a new gas grill for ourselves. Unfortunately, we have a small car, and the pre-assembled grill wouldn't fit in it. We took it unassembled, still in the box. We should have known that we were in for a great time when the guy who put it into the car for us smirked, and said, "Have a great time putting THAT together." OR I should say, we should have known that drnuncheon would have a great time, because he spent the better part of the afternoon putting it together. It looks great, though! We'll probably use it for the first time sometime this week. Right after we get some propane. While he did this, I took my hand saw and cut down a small forest of volunteer saplings that had taken up residence in a flower bed to the side of hour house over the years. They were too big to pull up, so I just sawed them all off at the bases. Then I planted some shade-loving plants there: about 36 red begonias, 1 new guinea impatien that was given to me, the rest of the coleus plants that I planted from seed back in February, and a couple of hosta plants. It's not finished yet, but I am pleased with the results so far. I forgot to take before and after pictures, but here is a close approximation. The first picture that you see is along the same stretch, further up. (I didn't get that far.) It looks about like what I started with. The second picture is what it's like so far. I want to get some taller plants in the back, and I haven't decided what to do about that rickety fence thing. On one hand, it's rickety and kind of ugly, on the other, it wouldn't be so noticable if I could find some vining plant to climb all over it.
On Sunday, I slept in a little bit, but was outside doing gardening work by 8:00 AM. This time, I made a small vegetable plot in the dead center of the backyard - it's the only part that isn't in heavy shade all the time. Even now I'm not entirely certain of whether it's going to get enough sun... but we now have one tomato plant in the ground, 1 green pepper plant, and three cucumber plants. I also planted two rows of green beans, one row of green onions, and two rows of mixed greens in another part of the yard. I didn't get pictures yet - I'm waiting to see what it looks like once the seeds come up.
I also potted up some of the plants that I will keep on the ledges of my front porch. I took a picture of my porch steps because I was taken with how it looked. The tomato plant is staying, but the plant behind that one is a blackberry bush that will eventually get transplanted into the backyard. The top one is a large container of snapdragons that I started from seed. One of them is starting to form its first bud! (sniff, they grow up so fast!)
After all of this, I made some deviled eggs, and then we drove down to Greentree for some bbq action at kierya and her husband Josh's house. boadiccea and rottgrub were there as well. We had a great time - there was plenty of excellent food, and it was so nice hanging out with friends! The guys had fun drinking rum and coke, and the girls were drinking some kind of mango margarita mix (except for me - I had a fruit smoothie instead!). Somehow kierya and Josh's dog Max convinced my husband to take him for a late night walk of over a mile long! We had to call him on his cellphone to make sure that he was still alive. As it turned out, they had just gone far enough that he wasn't entirely certain of how to get back. (Did the rum contribute to this situation? The world may never know...)
Today we picked up Mom Nuncheon for lunch, and went to Applebee's. We came home and I spent the afternoon cleaning the house - we have company coming over Friday night, and I'm hoping that we can keep it reasonably clean all week so that I don't have to frantically tidy up on Thursday night!
I did go to the nursery this morning (early) and bought the last of the plants for the season... really! I made the decision this morning that I am going to make a small kitchen garden right outside the backdoor... it never occurred to me before because a) there's a small sapling forest there and b) I always thought that area was super shaded, all day long. After one million trips up and down that strip this weekend, I realized that it actually gets really nice sun. I'm going to stick some cherry tomatoes, another green pepper plant, and several kinds of herbs there and see how they do. But they will have to cool their heels on my porch for the week... I don't have the time or the energy to do any more deforestation on their behalf...
And on that note, I believe that the weekend is drawing to a close.
Back to work tomorrow, which I daresay will mean that I get to sit still and rest my aching muscles a lot more than if left to my own devices!