Another happy thing!

This morning I was working on my bathroom floor. I was a sloppy plumber and panel-puter-upper and still had to scrape glue, caulk and other gunk off the tile. I wanted to clean the grout so I got out my bucket, brush and, oh darn, all out of bleach. Oh well. I added bleach to my errand list for this afternoon jumped in the shower and made my "famous" curried chicken salad with mango sandwich on toasted double fiber bread. While I was preparing the salad a young black man, James, came to the door. I was expecting him last Thursday (Thursday, Tuesday they're both "T" days of the week) afternoon to dig a trench across my front yard. I changed my afternoon plans and got my gardening clothes on.

When Mom was here in July we picked up two small pink crepe myrtle trees. I've managed to keep them and the rose bush alive since then. Last week I received 5 Peony plants that I ordered months ago and I was already storing irises in the fridge that arrived last month. I had 3.5 bags of garden soil, 2 bags of cow manure, lime, bone meal and compost from my very own compost. He helped me mix it altogether in my yard cart. That's not organic gardening, that's GOURMET organic gardening! I even had cash left over in my wallet from Thursday to pay him, although I did have to add $10 worth of quarters ( he didn't mind as he and his lady go to the laundromat).

He left after spreading some of the soil he'd dug out to the yard in the back of my house. I want to add some grass seed in this one spot that gets downright mucky when it rains.

So, I set out to plant! I LOVE getting my hands dirty gardening, although now they feel like the sticky side of velcro. I planted the crepe myrtles at either end of the trench which is about 30 feet long. In the beginning of the summer I bought a deep purple/red rugosa rose at The Old City Cemetery here in Lynchburg. This is the liveliest cemetery I've ever seen. Besides having Civil War soldiers buried there the most beautiful roses are all over, as well as rosemary bushes, irises, lavender, and many other perennial plants. There is a little pond with goldfish under a big beautiful tree and there is even a little building that acts as an education center, about the Civil War, as well as the gardens. Every year they have a Rose sale. There are so many different kinds, as well as herbs and other flowers. The rose bush I bought will be fragrant and is also deer resistant. I centered that in the trench.

The peonies, oh, I adore them! Not only do they have a delicious fragrance I love to bury my nose in, but the flowers, in my opinion, are magnificent! There are 3 on each side of the rose bush.


These pics are just a sampling of what I am hoping to come up.

The 5 irises I planted are supposed to be "re-bloomers" and the colors range from amber to blue, including pink and peach. Before Ellen & David moved I dug up Siberian irises from their yard. They are in the "Mother" garden outside my kitchen door. They have multiplied nicely so I may transplant some of them into the front garden as well. These flower in a brilliant blue and are more "dainty" than the other irises.

Doesn't look like much right now, but come Spring it should. I ran a hose from the rain barrel at the front corner of the house and hooked that up to a soaker hose. It was a nice slow drip. I hope the barrel is empty tomorrow so I can put a few cement blocks under it to raise it higher to increase the flow of water.

Needless to say I got good & dirty! My back is killing me, my arms and hands, too. My right hand is feeling a bit colder than the left caused by decreased blood circulation. But that only happens when I use my right arm. My forehead has a HUGE lump on it, that is still growing and I'm not even how that happened! There were these no-see-ums flying around and seemed to hover under my visor and I guess they bite. I wished I'd had a regular cap on because they really attacked my whole head.

Two pain pills and a hot shower later and I'm doing a little better. I know I will dread getting out of bed in the morning, but I do anyway. I have pain whether I do something or not. So I would much rather experience the pain from doing something I enjoy than not doing anything at all!

Oh, a funny thing happened as I was picking up my gardening tools. The sun was setting, ya know that last glint before it drops, anyway, there were two neighborhood cats, one pure white and the other pure black, in the middle of the street just daring each other to make a move. I ran in to get my camera and when I came out they were still there. All they needed were little holsters and cowboy hats to have a "face off at sundown"!

I'm actually beginning to enjoy this blog thing. I will do my best to find that one happy thing each day and just ramble on...