Acting like a tree-hugger

Winter kind of blasted in last week with NO warning. I went outside one morning and saw this:


Even the hummingbird feeder got a good dose of chill:


This meant that my poor VERY TOUCHY vines were probably in sorry shape. I ran (OK, I didn't really run- but maybe if my vines think that I did, they'll work a little harder at coming back to life) to my front yard to see the damage to my corkscrew vines. From what I saw, their outcome wasn't looking very favorable.

I decided to set up a temporary green house for them in the sunroom. So I laid garbage bags under a layer of towels on the tables and turned on the heat.


They're looking a little worse with each passing day.

I'm such a bad BAD plant mommy. Maybe I'll make them some chicken soup or something.....

Saturday was the perfect autumn day. The sky was foggy, the air was crisp and the colors were simply beautiful. I decided it was time that I start cutting down the dying plants in my garden to prepare it for winter, but when I went outside and saw how beautiful it was, I had to take pictures.

This one is my favorite:


I captured quite a few spider webs as well (thankfully, none in my house- heh):


Eventually I got around to clearing out some of the garden, only stopping when the large yard waste container was full. There's still plenty to do, but I want to make this last bit of gardening last as long as possible. I'll surely miss working in the dirt and the time it affords me to be completely alone in my thoughts.

I've always been one to say that Fall is my favorite time of year, but now it's bittersweet to me. I look around and see all of my lovely plants fading away, and at the same time see the magnificent hues of yellow, orange and red. I don't know whether to feel sad or happy.

I guess I'll just keep my thoughts toward knowing that my garden will be back in a few short months.

More fall pictures can be found on my flickr account.

It looks like *this* is the new crunch weekend. Last week was screwed up royally, but I'm back to ground zero (ground zero plus 5 inches, even) and can see the light to the end of the tunnel.

This one, anyway...

I've been hitting the ground running every day for as long as I can remember but, based on a great day yesterday, decided to take a break on the back porch as soon as there was daylight.

I made myself a cup o' joe, grabbed the bag of peanuts and headed out to the back porch and just took it all in.

The jays have learned that usually when we're out there, they get fed. They're smart like that (or are we dumb like that?). So, soon the jays came to have their breakfast.

The jay that usually finds the nuts first is the loud mouth. We call him the rooster, because he thinks he can scare us off by yelling at us. We've also noted that we've had co-workers like this. Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! What he doesn't realize, is that if he'd just keep his yapper shut, he'd probably have all the nuts to himself. Instead, he's basically notifying the 'hood that the food is out. The squirrels have even come to recognize this as their dinner bell.

It was lightly raining, and the leaves were dropping from the trees, two by two. I felt my body relax in a way I haven't felt in many, many weeks. I pushed the idea of the work ahead of me out of my head as best as I could and tried to allow my mind to be still.

It worked, for the most part, and I decided that I should add this 'break' to my telecommuting days, every day.

Yesterday was a great day for me at work. Besides getting back to ground zero, I had a meeting with someone that I've needed to have for a while. I left that meeting feeling very energized and positive. Something I haven't felt in a very long time.

I'm not saying that my professional life is back the way I know it, nor is the bearded eye-roller's life. But we're starting to feel a little less fear. I'm sorry to be so vague about what's really going on, but I can't say too much due to the confidential nature on both accounts.

I guess, if I'm going to be philosophical about the 'whys'; why this happened to both of us at the same time; why now; etc., I'd have to say that it gave both of us an understanding of just what we're willing to do to keep our home life the way it is. We both have made some pretty hefty statements about what we will and will not do in regard to our careers.

We're rethinking those ideals.

In all of this, it's cemented our knowledge that he and I are a team. As stressful as this time has been for both of us, we never took it out on each other- not even for a minute. Instead, we both got to see a side of each other that doesn't normally play a part in our marriage. We both got to see just how admirable the other person is in their business 'life'. He's told me how proud he is of me, and I've said the same to him.

I've also told him that if we lost everything and had to live in a tent, we'd still have the most important thing- each other.

We haven't crossed our individual hurdles yet, but somehow it seems to matter less and less.

The bearded eye-roller gets a little nervous every time I pull out the hedge trimmer or pruning sheers. In my hands, he considers these tools as weapons of mass destruction.

My dad always taught me to never be afraid of pruning too much. I know that you have to prune down the height of things if you want them to grow out wider, and vice-versa. I also know that if plants aren't given any light- they won't grow properly, so I keep most plants out of other plants way. The bearded eye-roller doesn't quite get this concept, but next year he'll see that all the ugliness I've created this year will turn out to be a good thing.

I hope so, anyway.

The hedges down our 200 foot driveway have been bugging the living daylights out of me since we've moved in, and of course, it's only gotten worse. So, last Sunday I spent SIX (yes, that's six) solid hours pruning and cleaning up those hedges.




I also re-'pommed' the trees.


Some of the hedges were about to the top of my head. By the time I finished they were all waist high. I decided that would be a good measurement so they'd all be about the same height. That's a lot of pruning and a LOT of cleaning up afterward. Suffice it to say, I was about dead by the 5.5 hour mark, and when the bearded eye-roller came out to see what I was up to, he kept his yapper shut when he saw this:


Instead of giving me lip for the bare branches showing in the hedges, he helped me finish cleaning up the yard. Awww, what a nice guy.

Yeah, I heard about it later when he knew I wasn't dying after all....

This Saturday, I spent another five hours in the yard. This isn't necessarily unusual, because I do tend to spend a lot of time weeding the gardens and dead-heading things. But there are areas of my yard, still left untouched (it's almost an acre, for Pete's sake- there's only so much time in a week). I decided to tackle one of those areas with the weed-wacker this weekend.

Two hours of weed-wacking. Do you know what that does to your arms? No? Well, let me tell you- by the time I was done, I went in to take a shower and wash my hair and I could barely lift my arms. Washing my hair was one of the funniest things I've ever done. Funny, because my arms kept flopping down. Seriously! They'd only stay up for so long to scrub my scalp, and they'd just flop down.

After my shower, I came downstairs and showed the bearded eye-roller my new 'trick'. I could walk around and my arms would swing wherever they wanted. I seemed to have no control over my arms, whatsoever. I couldn't even type on my laptop. Now, that's serious, folks. Not being able to type on my laptop could cause a major melt-down.

Today, even two days later, it's not so funny anymore. Yeouch- my arms feel like someone punched them, then ran over them with a truck, then twisted them, then put them on a stretching rack (no, wait- that would feel good about now...). Then started the process all over again about 100 times- except the stretching rack part.

You'd think I'd learn not to overextend myself, but if you've read my blog for any length of time- you'd know that this just isn't happening anytime soon.

I'm hoping that all that work will give me some really nice guns by the end of summer. So far, that's not the case- but a girl can hope.

More pictures of my yard for the month of August can be found on my flickr account.

I have been thinking about cataloging my gardens so I have everything plotted out, like when to fertilize, prune, when it blooms, etc. I also plan to add more plants, so they come up when other plants are done with their growth cycle. I know- by looking at the place, it's hard to imagine where I'll find a spot for more plants.

Trust me. I will.

I decided to take some pictures today to start the process. I don't imagine I'll get 'round to actually doing the cataloging work until crappy weather sets in. I find myself outside more often than not, if I'm not working- so that doesn't bode well for getting the project done anytime soon.

I spent a good deal of time in my gardens today and kept getting goosebumps. This is hard to imagine, I'm sure, since it was about 90 degrees today. I just felt so grateful that I have this yard to come home to every day and the colors just thrilled me. It's an awful lot of work to keep it up, but worth every minute. I honestly don't mind the hours I spend in weeding, clipping and pruning. I've even quit being afraid of bees. I'm surrounded by bees when I'm working in the gardens, but we leave each other alone.

This is our first summer in this yard, and every month brings something new. I have lots of things that haven't bloomed yet and I'm eagerly waiting to see what they turn out to be.

The picture below, in particular, makes me laugh. We're growing an accidental 'crop' of corn, thanks to the squirrels. I've decided to leave it because it makes me chuckle every time I see it.


I caught my reflection in one of the windows as I was wandering around, and snapped this photo. I thought it turned out kind of interesting- even though it's blurry. Oh, and by the way- the bearded eye-roller HATES this hat. Too bad for him. It's my new gardening hat and I plan to wear it a LOT. I might even wear it to bed.


Anyway, feel free to wander around in my gardens. I'm sure you'll enjoy your stay.