Avast Ye Stomach Bug!! *poke-poke*
And it's not even "International Talk Like a Pirate Day"! (That's not until September 19th. Mark your calendars now! I did!) Yes, in spite of this whatever-I've-got and its mad attempts to keep me chained to the couch, or the toilet, depending on the time of day; I managed to break free from such fetters yesterday, and actually do a little yardwork! Take that, Oh nasty-bug-in-my-tummy! *Imaginary sword thrusts to foe's vulnerable spots*....oh wait, I don't actually own a sword....I do have a 14th Century Scottish war hammer, though! *Imaginary thrusts with a war hammer towards foe's vulnerable spots!* What? Well, of course I do! Don't you have a 14th Century Scottish War Hammer? Ours was a gift! What did you say? No, I don't think that's odd....you're not in the SCA, are you?......*walks off muttering*
Anyway, since the rain machine was temporarily down yesterday, the Wonder Hubby and I got out in the yard to take care of a few items of business. I don't know exactly why it is that my yard projects end up turning into his sore back episodes; maybe that Southern attitude of his has something to do with it. (You know, that whole "Stand back, Little Lady, and Let the Men-folk do the Heavy Stuff" mentality? It's going to be the death of him. I'm serious! No one will be more surprised than me if his death certificate does NOT state "Death by Misadventure: His wife wanted a koi pond.") He helped me dig up my tulip bulbs from around the front yard light...okay, he dug them up, I watched; we replaced them with salvia:
One: because I like the color of the blooms, a nice light purple, and two: those blooms are so small that I rather suspect (and hope!) that the kids next door won't be able to pick them.
After that, my back was screaming the "Hallelujah chorus" in 12 part disharmony, but we (and by "we" I mean "he") managed to plant two rose bushes up close to the house. I seriously can't wait for them to bloom because they're supposed to be a bronze color, of all things--something I've never seen! AND they're supposed to still have a fragrance. I haven't had much luck with rose hybrids and fragrances, so we'll see what happens. They got thoroughly buried with compost and some good soil, so I'm very hopeful that they'll thrive. Now comes the least favorite part of planting, as far as I concerned, the waiting.....
Funny how roses look deader than disco when you plant them, isn't it? You can barely make them out in these pictures. You will be getting updates on their progress though, don't worry! They won't look like this for long!
A friend asked me if Patty's flowers came up again this year: I'm happy to report that they have, and they look to be healthier than last year. If you don't know the story of my friend Patty and the flowers that I'm convinced she left as a good-bye message, you can find it in last year's post here. She was a darling friend who passed away from cancer a year ago last March; her favorite colors were hot pink and red. Low and behold, two months after her death, we found hot pink and red dianthus growing in the front yard, where, needless to say, we didn't plant them.
As you can see, they are back with a vengeance, and the Wonder Hubby and I have decided that we are going to cut them a little flower bed of their own, frame it with timbers like the other flower beds are, just so they can live there as long as they like. If we frame them, they can live without fear of the lawn mower! That will probably be a project for this weekend. Don't worry, I'll take pictures; I always keep you posted on the latest and greatest, don't I? That's what friends do, after all! :-)
I'm also including here a picture of the blackberry plant that will now live in the southeast corner of the veggie garden out back.
As you can see, it's raring to go: Hopefully, I can get it into the ground either this afternoon or tomorrow morning. I just love the idea of homegrown blackberry preserves or blackberry pie. Or, ooo, wait----homemade blackberry muffins! OOOOooooooOOOOooooo! Forget the diet, Lachlan, we're going to be pudgy little sexy people come Fall! Fun, fun, fun!!! *skipping away, all a-bouncy!*
Did I tell you that I've decided where to put my tulips? Yeah, I'm moving them to the back yard since the kids next door can't seem to resist them (okay, they're just little bitties, let's not get too all-over them about this!) I'm going to put them next to my lovely purple lilacs:
Aren't they gorgeous this year? Especially when you consider that they were accidentally planted there, they are doing just swe.......yeah, they were accidentally planted. The guy across the street gave us a whole sack full of irises several years ago, and not really having anyplace to store them, I stuck them out back next to the side of the house for the time being. Now, they were still in the paper sack. By the time I got back to them (admittedly, a couple of months later), they had grown through the sack and planted themselves there. We could move them, but they look good there, don't they? So, I'll just move that sawhorse and plant my tulips next to them there on the right. Maybe I'll even frame them with some more irises. I was going to put a small Elizabethan kitchen herb garden there, but sometimes you just got to plant things because they're pretty, right?
This afternoon, after a brisk nap, will (hopefully) be devoted to cutting out material for the construction of tunics. My hands hate me--all this typing is putting them in an ugly mood, let me tell you, but I'm going to give it a go. Wish me luck!
Oh, and hey, Douglas and Main! Good to see you back! Everybody shout: Bobby Rozell lives!!! *snicker!*
Off a-workity, I go!
Anyway, since the rain machine was temporarily down yesterday, the Wonder Hubby and I got out in the yard to take care of a few items of business. I don't know exactly why it is that my yard projects end up turning into his sore back episodes; maybe that Southern attitude of his has something to do with it. (You know, that whole "Stand back, Little Lady, and Let the Men-folk do the Heavy Stuff" mentality? It's going to be the death of him. I'm serious! No one will be more surprised than me if his death certificate does NOT state "Death by Misadventure: His wife wanted a koi pond.") He helped me dig up my tulip bulbs from around the front yard light...okay, he dug them up, I watched; we replaced them with salvia:
One: because I like the color of the blooms, a nice light purple, and two: those blooms are so small that I rather suspect (and hope!) that the kids next door won't be able to pick them.
After that, my back was screaming the "Hallelujah chorus" in 12 part disharmony, but we (and by "we" I mean "he") managed to plant two rose bushes up close to the house. I seriously can't wait for them to bloom because they're supposed to be a bronze color, of all things--something I've never seen! AND they're supposed to still have a fragrance. I haven't had much luck with rose hybrids and fragrances, so we'll see what happens. They got thoroughly buried with compost and some good soil, so I'm very hopeful that they'll thrive. Now comes the least favorite part of planting, as far as I concerned, the waiting.....
Funny how roses look deader than disco when you plant them, isn't it? You can barely make them out in these pictures. You will be getting updates on their progress though, don't worry! They won't look like this for long!
A friend asked me if Patty's flowers came up again this year: I'm happy to report that they have, and they look to be healthier than last year. If you don't know the story of my friend Patty and the flowers that I'm convinced she left as a good-bye message, you can find it in last year's post here. She was a darling friend who passed away from cancer a year ago last March; her favorite colors were hot pink and red. Low and behold, two months after her death, we found hot pink and red dianthus growing in the front yard, where, needless to say, we didn't plant them.
As you can see, they are back with a vengeance, and the Wonder Hubby and I have decided that we are going to cut them a little flower bed of their own, frame it with timbers like the other flower beds are, just so they can live there as long as they like. If we frame them, they can live without fear of the lawn mower! That will probably be a project for this weekend. Don't worry, I'll take pictures; I always keep you posted on the latest and greatest, don't I? That's what friends do, after all! :-)
I'm also including here a picture of the blackberry plant that will now live in the southeast corner of the veggie garden out back.
As you can see, it's raring to go: Hopefully, I can get it into the ground either this afternoon or tomorrow morning. I just love the idea of homegrown blackberry preserves or blackberry pie. Or, ooo, wait----homemade blackberry muffins! OOOOooooooOOOOooooo! Forget the diet, Lachlan, we're going to be pudgy little sexy people come Fall! Fun, fun, fun!!! *skipping away, all a-bouncy!*
Did I tell you that I've decided where to put my tulips? Yeah, I'm moving them to the back yard since the kids next door can't seem to resist them (okay, they're just little bitties, let's not get too all-over them about this!) I'm going to put them next to my lovely purple lilacs:
Aren't they gorgeous this year? Especially when you consider that they were accidentally planted there, they are doing just swe.......yeah, they were accidentally planted. The guy across the street gave us a whole sack full of irises several years ago, and not really having anyplace to store them, I stuck them out back next to the side of the house for the time being. Now, they were still in the paper sack. By the time I got back to them (admittedly, a couple of months later), they had grown through the sack and planted themselves there. We could move them, but they look good there, don't they? So, I'll just move that sawhorse and plant my tulips next to them there on the right. Maybe I'll even frame them with some more irises. I was going to put a small Elizabethan kitchen herb garden there, but sometimes you just got to plant things because they're pretty, right?
This afternoon, after a brisk nap, will (hopefully) be devoted to cutting out material for the construction of tunics. My hands hate me--all this typing is putting them in an ugly mood, let me tell you, but I'm going to give it a go. Wish me luck!
Oh, and hey, Douglas and Main! Good to see you back! Everybody shout: Bobby Rozell lives!!! *snicker!*
Off a-workity, I go!