“Slow and Creaky” describes me today after the lifting/dragging/throwing required to help get the tree out of the driveway yesterday afternoon. Even my yoga (but I did that BEFORE we we left to go to Walmart) didn’t help. (Today is DAY 100 of my daily practice) I’ll try to do a longer, slower practice today with lots and lots of good stretching.
My husband is aggravated that one of the two monitors he has on his computer has gone dark. He had taken things apart this week and thought he had the problem fixed, but now he thinks the cable has gone bad. He had checked on the net and a replacement wouldn’t get here until the 28th – hence the trip to Walmart yesterday. He’s beyond frustrated now, since Walmart didn’t have the cable, but has now ordered the cable he needs, and hasn’t blown up yet.
I was planning to use today to continue working in the ‘new’ iris planter, but I need to give my back a day or so to rest before doing much bending over type work in the planter. I think I told you that I brought in the sweet red onions we grew. They are still in a large plastic bag in the garage. Maybe I can get them stored in the fridge bins and mesh bags today.
This is very similar to what we found when we decided to go to Walmart to get a replacement cable for my husband’s computer. We were able to drive under it on one side to get down the driveway. Walmart online lied about having the cable and didn’t have the fritos we’ve been trying to buy for three weeks now, but we got gas and mailed a movie while we were there, and then stopped to get a milkshake on the way home.
The tree had fallen completely down when we came back, so we parked on the driveway. I was able to open the garage door and my husband went to our shop to get a chain saw with a long (100 feet+) extension cord. We spent the next hour cutting up the tree. My husband chain sawed and I hauled the branches and pieces of truck to one side or the other of the driveway and either threw the pieces or just dragged them out of the way as much as possible. Finally it was done and I took the chain saw back to the shop while my husband gathered and wound the cord up again. I drove the truck into the garage and we celebrated by finishing our now melted shakes. Delicious.
This weekend Mother Nature is laughing at us again. Just as we have made the switch to warmer clothes and turning on the heaters, putting the electric blanket on the bed, she’s giving us two days of mid 80’s and wind with strong sun. Supposedly we’ll have another cold front Monday and Tuesday, bringing us back to fall. I feel I’m riding on a yo-yo, trying to dress in layers, turning thermostats off and opening the doors, followed by hoodies and umbrellas and…..
The Spruce Eats
My husband decided he really wanted hot dogs, so we’ll splurge tonight with hot dogs, potato salad and baked beans for dinner. It’s been at least a year since we’ve eaten this, so it’ll be a really nice splurge. :0)
I’m not sure what I’ll do this beautiful day. I hope that you have some fun plans for the weekend.
We had a really nice time at Lunch Bunch today, even though Kay and her daughter couldn’t be there.
Sometimes it’s nice NOT to have a big group of people. You can really visit in a more private, satisfying way. My friend, Linda, and her daughter, Patty, are dear to me. We talked about inconsequential things, laughed a lot, teased my husband a lot (who threw in some zingers here and there :0) ), and were all smiling as we left.
Long time friendships are priceless. I feel I got to really catch up with Linda today. She’s a very quiet lady who doesn’t say a lot, but she opens up when we’re more one-on-one. I love seeing her smile and laugh, and I love getting to hug her neck.
I just melted when I found this. I WANT this dog! :0)
I hope your Friday is going nicely. I just got confirmation that we are, in fact, meeting for Lunch Bunch. Kay and her daughter won’t be there, but Linda and her family will.
Mother Nature is laughing at us, making us feel as if we’re on a roller coaster. It has been freezing each morning lately (thankfully not hard enough to kill everything) and only getting into the 50’s or so in the afternoons. For three days, we will have NO freezes and highs in the mid 80’s or so. Then two days of rain, then a cool-off. Are you getting a bit light-headed, as I am? I would be very thankful for just some calm fall weather for awhile.
Ahhhhhhh! This woman is READY for a massage this morning. My yoga sessions are keeping me functional, (today is DAY 97) but my monthly massage is golden. Lynn Moody, my miraculous massage therapist, 479-629-7601 finds and fixes all the places I didn’t even know I had places. :0)
Today I’ll try to get a bunch of iris planted in the niche planter, as soon as I add the soil we have left on a pallet we ordered a couple of years ago. We’ll need to put in an order for another delivery before the winter.
We enjoyed a comfort food dinner last night of chili mac with onions and cheese, one of my husband’s favorites. It’s been really chilly in the mornings and the late evenings, so it was a welcome change from what we usually eat. I had enough left that we can enjoy a couple more dinners sometime. (He wanted to have frito chili pie, but our local grocery is having a problem getting regular fritos. Like other companies, they’ve gone on a tangent with honey barbeque fritos, hot style fritos, and bubble gum fritos (not yet, but probably soon), but no regular fritos. I’ll try to get them today after my massage.
We’ve been having some calm days, so things are good here. I hope you’re smiling, too.
“Iris” Planter – BeforeNow “Tomato” Planter – After
This part of the project is now complete. Today I added the tomato supports and then ran wire around them in four places securing the supports to the center pole and each other. I’ll see if anything else is needed in the spring as the tomato plants grow.
I now have this square planter and this eight foot x one foot planter I’ll use for our tomato plants.
The next part of the project will be to replant some of the iris in the niche (old tomato) planter (beside the porch and behind the house.)
I also brought in the harvested onions that have been drying on the trailer bed for several weeks now. I’ll put some in our fridges and some in the mesh bags I have to hang in the pantry.
That’s it for outside today. I’ll rest a bit and then do my yoga session for the day. (DAY 96)
I changed some pricing in my Etsy shop this morning. Then I noticed that when I went back to my home page, the old pricing was still showing. When I clicked on an item, the new pricing showed on the NEXT page. So TWO different prices are showing for the same item depending on what page you’re on.
After a long time on chat (at least I got through to a service agent) she told me that others have mentioned the same problem, and that a work-around would be that I go to each item I changed, deactivate it, and then reactivate it to see if that solved the problem. I did, and it DOES solve the problem, but it’s going to take a long, tedious time to do this.
At least I CAN do something to fix it, though it’s definitely a character-building exercise that I didn’t feel I needed this morning.
Verywell Family
IRIS PLANTER-
On a good note, I’m finished cleaning out and weeding the iris planter now. Today I’m planning to try to get the tomato supports in and wire them to the center pole and then to each other to make them as sturdy as I can.
My husband mentioned again what a good job I’d done, but that it “was a waste of time because it wouldn’t STAY done, and I would just have to do it again.” I asked him to name something that I did that DIDN’T fit in that category….
Final Fantasy XIV
I thought that we might do Lunch Bunch today – rather than Friday when Kay can’t be there. Her daughter just called and left a message that they hadn’t heard from Linda or Patty, so we won’t go today.
I’m going back now to finish the work on deactivating and reactivating on Etsy…
HOORAY ONCE – My husband “came up with the idea yesterday” (idea suggested/rejected by this same man several times) that we might drive the trash can down to the bottom of the driveway and leave it overnight for the trash people to pick up today. We did that.
I had all appendages crossed as we drove down the driveway this morning. I wasn’t sure if we would find the trash can on its side with garbage strewn all over the place for us to regather before the trash people came, or the trash can as we left it, still full, proving my husband’s previous point that we could simply leave the can when we left to do our errands this morning.
HOORAY TWICE! – the trash can was upright and EMPTY when we got down there! This reinforced the idea that we SHOULD, in fact, leave the trash can for pick up the night before and that it wouldn’t necessarily be dumped by critters or stolen by weird-minded thieves.
TRASH- We’ll leave in about 45 minutes to get my husband’s haircut and run a couple of quick errands before getting back to meet the wonderful guy who sprays our home for pests. I’m quietly HOPING that when we get to the bottom of our driveway –
the trash can we left down there last night is empty
or, at LEAST, that the trash can hasn’t been pulled over and trash strewn all over the place
If either of these is true, things will be good. If not, the trash ‘discussion’ starts again from square one. I was really happy that we didn’t have to get up early and rush around, trying to get the can into the back of the truck and down to the bottom of the driveway this morning. Fingers crossed.
IRIS PLANTER PROGRESS- I took my husband to the iris planter last night after we took the trash can down. He was amazed. He had written the planter off, considering it too far gone for recovery. He said several times what I good job I had done. :0) I’ll take the shovel out there and dig as deeply as possible today, trying to finish the job of the clean-out of iris and Bermuda grass before I put the tomato supports in and try to get them wired securely.
NOTE- It didn’t freeze up here hard enough to kill off the elephant ear leaves last night! We aren’t due for another freeze for the next 10 days, so I can enjoy them for awhile longer!
ANOTHER HAPPY NOTE – I sold a pair of earrings on my Etsy site yesterday. I’ll put them in the mail this morning.
You would THINK that, with as old as I am, and as many years as I have lived in Arkansas, that I would handle the sudden, one-time freeze event that happens every year with more grace.
It’s happening tonight. If it happens as predicted, the one-time event will kill everything still alive in our planters. THEN, instead of staying cold, it will warm up again for up to THREE MONTHS before freezing again.
I’ll show you ONE reason I get so hostile about this –
My elephant ears are happy and thriving, even though I do need to clean them up a bit. These will be devastated by a truly hard freeze.
It’s Monday, the beginning of another week in the middle of the fall, the night before a freeze warning here. It’s clear, sunny and 52 degrees F. here now.
beforemid-clean-out project
IRIS PLANTER CLEAN OUT – Yesterday I spent about 2-1/2 hours trying to clean out our iris planter. I made good progress. I got out almost a full big trash can full of iris and rhizomes, and pulled out a BUNCH of Bermuda grass. Today I’ll get a larger shovel and get more serious about digging as deeply as possible, dealing with whatever I find. I’ll also weed whack around the outside.
I would LIKE to finish the clean-out today. I’ll bring the trash can full of iris into the garage due to the freeze warning. I’m planning to add some soil to the niche (old tomato) planter before I plant a lot of the iris there. I’m planning to distribute the rest of the iris to planters all around the yard. Before the project is finished, I’ll put tomato plant supports in and see how securely I can anchor them both to the center pole, and each other.
Unsplash
TRASH- The seed I planted finally germinated on the subject of trash. My husband and I have had a running ‘discussion’ on how to handle the trash since our trash service changed and the new people brought us a really large trash can to use. Since the paperwork that came with the can said to have the receptacle out for pickup by 5am, I told my husband I thought we should put the trash out the night before. He nixed this immediately, listing several reasons for being adamant. This resulted in our trash being missed and our having to bring it back up into the garage to hold and add to the next week – TWICE now. We gathered the trash this morning, and as we squashed the bags to add them to the already fairly full can, my husband asked, “What do you think about taking the trash down tonight?” I looked at him and said, “I think that’s a GREAT idea!” (Hooray – shhhhhhh!)
BoredPanda.com
DAY 94 of my daily yoga practice – yesterday I was really tired and stiffening up after working on the iris planter. I thought about just considering the work in the yard my exercise for the day – just sitting down and resting instead of doing my yoga practice. I thought about it as I drank a bottle of water, and finally thought, OK. I’ll just do a few basic stretches and that will be it. Once I got down on my mat, I just started doing my regular session. Even though I was stiff and sore, some of the stretches ultimately felt good, once I was able to relax and breathe into them. I ended up doing the whole practice as usual and felt good afterwards because I actually felt better, and also because I tricked myself into doing what I want to become a habit. :0)
I just came in from my second session trying to clean out the iris planter. I spent an hour and a half the first session, starting with a small rake-type garden tool and quickly going back to get a shovel. The second session was an hour. I’m pooped now, and I need to rest and hydrate before I do my yoga for the day, so I’ll do more tomorrow.
So far, I got the iris I could find easily out and put into a big outside type trash can. I also got most of the Bermuda grass that was on the surface of the planter out.
Tomorrow I’ll get more serious with the shovel, digging down as deeply as I can, turning the soil, and gathering more iris rhizomes, pulling more Bermuda grass roots, etc.
I feel good about my progress today. The weather cooling off and the rain last night really helped with the project. My husband said my project to clean out the planter was ‘impossible.’ It was just ‘too far gone.’ I’m going to prove him wrong. :0)
creativeartworksblog 