Gardening

I have been working so hard on the landscaping. After we moved in last year we had worked so hard to make the inside of the house liveable and nice, we had no enegery left to do much of anything with the outside. And it really bothered me. It bugged me to walk up to the house and have it look like an eye sore (OK, maybe not that bad, but still) when I knew how much work we had put into it and how nice it looked on the inside.

So, this summer, my job is the landscaping. Charlie has <conveniently> hurt his back, so I've done most of the work by myself (with some very much appreciated help from my parents last weekend). This weekend was no different. It has basically been raining since the last time I updated this blog, but today we had SUN! Glorious SUN and it was about 70 degrees out! So, I got out of bed at 11am, ate some breakfast and set to work. First thing was first, I went to Home Depot and got supplies. When I came back, first thing I did was start to build the raised bed that is going to be in the backyard. For one little girl doing it by herself I think I did pretty good. Only broke one drill bit and below you can see what I got done. The next step, which will need to be done another weekend, is to use the bricks we used to build our wall out front to put a front on this little flower bed.

Next, I set to the bed under our <NEW> kitchen window. Our window guy is finally making progress again. The kitchen window is now in. He just needs to do the upstairs and he needs to put screens/storm windows in, but we are slowly but surely getting there.

Anyways, underneath the kitchen window there is/was a patch of grass. It is really annoying because it is impossible to mow with our little lawn mower, and it sort of looked sad anyways. So, that is gone. We put Round-Up on it last week and this week I laid out some of that black weed barrier stuff and filled it in with gravel. Then, I planted some annuals in the big pots my Mom and I picked out last weekend and, voila, it looks MUCH better.

 Last thing I did today was to hang up the lanterns that my parents got for me from Ikea. I waited for George to leave and then hung them up on the fence posts. They look really cool, hopefully George doesn't get too mad and he will just appreciate them for the ambiance that they bring to our backyard.

As you can see from this last picture, my backyard is still a disaster area. But we are getting there. The next things to do are to finish building the flower bed in the back and to plant some creeping phlox or other good ground cover in the front bed. Then, quite honestly, we will be done. And all this crap will be gone from my backyard and in it's proper place in the garden.

Our backyard is nice because all we have behind us is the railroad tracks and the river. There are not any houses or buildings nor will there ever be. So it is a really nice place to go and sit and just enjoy the nice weather. I'm hoping that when we are done it is a really cozy and inviting backyard with some character. Hopefully all this work adds some value to our house, but honestly, it is just fun for me and has been a good learning experience. It will be nice to have it all done when our friends come to visit at the end of July.

And now, enough distraction, off to do some more work on my research paper. I'll leave you with a quote I found in the facebook profile of my roommate from South Africa. It made me think of my Dad.

"Opportunity is missed my most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."

- Thomas Edison

Rain, rain go away...

It's been a little while since I posted. I think it has rained since that time. Hopefully it will let up soon, I'd like to be outside!

However, I've been busy! And not the kind of busy that leads to procrastination and then me updating my blog because, "I will never be able to concentrate until I do!" (or so I tell myself).

Last weekend Charlie's parents and his brother and sister-in-law came to visit. We hadn't seen them in quite some time, so it was good to see them again. I am always at a loss of what to do with then when they're here. I know that sounds bad, but it's true. I feel like I have to entertain them the entire time, and they are not easy to entertain. It is easy when my parents come to visit, because I know that even if we don't do anything but sit around, it will be fun. If all I do is sit around with my mother-in-law one of the two of us might not survive the weekend. Better to keep busy.

In that spirit, despite the fact that it was raining (it has been raining for two weeks straight it seems like), we had enough of a break from the rain Saturday morning to go to the zoo for a bit. The Columbus Zoo is quite the experience. The best zoo in the country last year. And I hadn't been in forever, so it was time to go again.

Everyone was very impressed with the flamingos

A little fuzzy, but they LOVED the reptile house:)

This one stayed right there and looked at us. Until some lady came by and started yelling, "Hey there monkey! HEY! HEY!!!" Very annoying.

The animals were all so active because it wasn't too hot out!

Even the giant turtle was moving. It looks like he's fallen and he can't get up, but he was very slowly moving.

Fuzzy again, but a BABY GORILLA!

Sleepy kangaroo

I learned that koala bears sleep 22 hrs per day. That must be the life.

And the Lorakeets!

It was a good time. It started to rain and rain hard before we got to the lions or the giraffes, but that is OK, we'll have to go back another time.

We also celebrated Joe's birthday, Kelly brought a cake along and we sang happy birthday.

Being prepared like usual, I did not have birthday candles, so we used tea lights. However, we could not get 29 tea lights on the cake, so 4 had to do.

On Sunday, after they left, it was nice out, so Charlie and I decided to go for a walk around the Village since we had a small break from the rain. Good thing I brought my trusty camera! I saw an Egret, yes an EGRET on the top of someone's HOUSE! I have seen them in the water when I run by the river, but never this far from shore! Watching it fly was amazing! I just hope he could find his way back to the water...

This past week has been a pretty busy one as well. On Monday I didn't have to drive to Dayton because we had a guest lecturer that afternoon at Children's, so I had the morning off! I went to our condo and cleaned it from top to bottom. We were supposed to do it together on Sunday, but we forgot, and besides, Charlie's back would not have held up. My back was killing me by the end with all of the sweeping and mopping and bending and stooping. Anyways, it is clean now. It was gross though. I have half a mind to charge our old tenants for the cleaning. It was nasty. I also went to the gym that morning, so I was SORE on Tuesday!

Yesterday I went to yoga, for the first time in probably over a year. I decided I wanted to start going again. It is such a good workout - the stretching is amazing and, literally, every muscle in my body hurts today. My feet, my hands, my breathing muscles, everything. And it is a good way to release stress. Worth the $15, though I still think that's a lot of $$ for a yoga class.

Today I had lectures in the morning, and I didn't have to go to Dayton for the afternoon again, this time because Dr. Adam's wife broke her arm and he had to go to the doctor with her. So that is not so good for her, but good for me! The sun was shining for the first time in what seemed like FOREVER, so I went to Home Depot and bought plants. Lots and lots of plants. Shrubs, perennials of all sorts, just anything that looked good. Then I came home and finished the edging in the front and planted all the plants I bought. I'm still a bit torn about whether or not to do two rows of stones for edging or just one, but one will do for now.

I had already put some wildflower seeds in the front, along with some geranium roots, daylilies and there was already some cone flowers growing, sedum, and two other things that I bought last year but have no earthly idea what they are. Today I added a lilac bush and a rhododendron. I didn't take a picture of that, because it doesn't really look like anything yet.

On the side here I had already planted some monkshood and crocismia in between my peonies (I hope the crocismia gets enough sun. And I hope the squirrels just dug around and did not steal my bulbs, we'll find out). Four hostas were already out there, I added three more hostas today, as well as some foxglove, coral bells, lily turf and yarrow. This side yard is sort of part sun, however my peonies, which usually like full sun, so really well here, so I took a few chances, we'll see how things do. Like my friend Sireesha said, you might as well try. I feel like plants are a bit more hardy than I sometimes give them credit for.

I planted some bleeding heart and astilbe in the back last weekend, which is already starting to poke its little head through the soil. The backyard is difficult, because I think it may be all been paved, and then they filled it in and made a backyard. Which I'm glad they did, but the soil sucks, and it is rocky like two inches down and just crappy for growing things. I transplanted some extra dirt from the front to the back, for the planting I did so far. I want to add some hydrangeas. I'm going to have to raise the bed if I'm going to do that though, so we'll see how enthusiastic I feel about it later.

Now, I've cleaned the house and gotten everything ready for another weekend of visitors, this time my parents! So excited to see them!

Before I go, another picture of my dogwood. Such a pretty color of pink, I love it.

"How people choose to treat you is their path. How you react is yours."

This was on my daily inspiration card in yoga last night. So true.

Vacation!

I just found out yesterday that I'm going to be able to get the time off I wanted to go to Door County with my whole family in July! Such a blessing! I owe a HUGE thank you to Andi at the Dayton VA and Trish for allowing me to do that, because technically we are not allowed to take vacation during that time (since we are down six residents until the new first years start in mid July).

Sometimes good things do happen. Here is to rejoicing in the small things...