Tag Archives: yard work

April 11, 2021 · 9:50 am

Attitude

Manny Quote

Today is a gorgeous day in Arkansas. The sun is shining and it’s 55 degrees outside right now. It may make it to 80 this afternoon! Since I finally finished the main part of the weed whacking around the yard in the past few days, I’m planning to use my two-gallon sprayer to spray KillzAll all around the yard and planter edges, under the deck, and under my garden planters today to see if I can get a leg up on the weeds around here. I will probably do the spraying in several trips so that hopefully my back doesn’t yell TOO loudly afterwards. :0)

Tomorrow at least one of the guys in the crew that has been replacing our porch ceiling and doing a couple more handyman jobs – SAFE ELITE TRANSFORMATIONS – CLIFF HARDEN – 479-849-0520 – will be here all day to paint the porch. Things started with them just doing the new ceiling, but then we expanded that to include painting the rest of the woodwork on the porch. That will allow ME to concentrate on using the power washer to clean up the outdoor chairs, and then continue on to include the front porch, sidewalks, driveway pad, and the deck. This is a big project and will take me several days, if not a week, to finish. (with cooperation of the weather)

There is a lot to paint, so I’m assuming it will take most of the day. Then two fluorescent light fixtures and a ceiling fan need to be put back up, and then a lot of clean up. This may take through Tuesday.

Right now the deck is piled high with ‘stuff’ from the porch. I have promised myself to get ruthless about what goes back on the porch. Using my new ‘LESS IS MORE’ philosophy combined with Marie Kondo’s idea of only keeping things you really need or give you joy, I’m planning to donate a lot of things and throw away others, consolidating what is left. I’ll post pics when the porch is back together.

I hope that your Sunday is shaping up to be a fine day, too.

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April 2, 2021 · 10:04 am

Good Job for an Old Broad

Wiffle Gif

I’ve been moving a LOT more lately, but I’m not nearly as cute as this sweet girl.

Yesterday I started going through things that I brought home from the booth I shared with a friend in town. I’m planning to add more of my products to my page on Amazon Handmade. I will then put away the other stuff. This means a lot of bending over, cleaning out boxes and bags, stacking things I want to list, taking some stuff to my art room upstairs, taking other things out to my bins in the shop, etc.

I had gotten a pretty good start on this when we discovered that the work on the house would be starting at 8am this morning. That meant that everything on the porch needed to go elsewhere. My husband was working on our mower, so I spent a couple of hours going up and down on a step stool, taking down our decorations and taking them out onto the deck or into the garage, depending on whether they could stand to be rained on or not. Now the deck and garage are full of stuff and the porch was clean and empty.

Today I will do a bunch of weed whacking since my husband is doing the mowing. I will also do clean up of the debris with the leaf blower.

In the meantime, I’m weeding the new spring garden, cleaning out planters, getting flowers to plant, and we will check the irrigation system for the yard, repairing any blowouts or leaks.

If there is time and energy, I’m trying to work in my yoga stretches and time on my elliptical trainer in the garage.

This old broad is moving! Just hope that this makes and keeps me stronger and stronger. It DOES help me sleep well…

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April 2, 2021 · 9:33 am

Hooray!

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This picture isn’t our house, but it gives you an idea of what is going on this morning.

The workmen were here at 8am. They will tear down the current porch ceiling, replace it, paint it, and put the fluorescent fixtures and ceiling fan back up. They will also install a pair of shutters on the 2nd story of the front of the house, plus seal a place in the roof soffit where the squirrel family got in. They will take away all the debris. They think they will have everything done by the end of the day on Monday – even with this being Easter weekend – and having to wait for different steps to dry in-between. We are delighted to have found them.

I showed them where the bathrooms were on the first floor and that there were bottles of water in the fridge and they got started.

I spent a couple of hours yesterday moving everything off our back porch. My back immediately began talking to me, but it isn’t hurting as badly today. I was happy that I was able to move a round table off the porch by myself. I had to turn it on it’s side, and maneuver it to get each of the legs to clear the doorway, but I DID IT.

I went through Home Advisor to get quotes for the job. I’ve used them before and was pleased. Things were much more complicated this time because “Home Advisor” bought out “Angie’s List” and there are a lot of details to be addressed regarding which website you’re on versus a payment app on a smart phone. We did it, but it was pretty awful. Thank goodness for a woman in the payment department named April who figured out what the problem was and helped us solve it.

Though not having the worry of the ceiling crumbling while we’re trying to enjoy lunch on the porch is a really nice thing, my biggest relief regarding this job is that my husband was planning to install the new shutters on the house himself. The shutters that fell off during the winter were on the 2nd story of the house. This requires standing on an extension ladder and balancing while holding the shutter, tools, etc. We had mollies in the brick into which the screws go to hold the shutters on, but sometimes they fail. The shutters have to have holes drilled in them, but that isn’t a problem. I’m just happy that my husband – who still thinks he is young – won’t have to try to do this job.

Otherwise, my husband prevailed and got our riding mower going yesterday, after installing a new battery and then using a chain hoist in the shop to raise the whole mower so he could remove a piece of wood that jammed in there, causing the blades to stop rotating, and was able to mow the back yard. He’ll do the front today. I’ll do the weed whacking and clean up.

I hope that YOU are having a good day, too.

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December 23, 2020 · 8:54 am

Good Exercise

Askideas.com

Yesterday afternoon my husband and I spent about an hour with a chainsaw, cutting down a huge branch that broke off recently. It was hanging down into the civilized part of our front yard (as opposed to the woods that slope all the way down to the street that runs in front of our property.) The branch would have made it difficult, if not impossible, for my husband to use the riding mower there.

Since the land slopes, I had quite a challenge of trying to get the ladder braced against the back of the tree so that my husband could get up high enough with the chain saw. I breathed a sigh of relief when we got the main part of the branch cut and I could quit worrying about that part of it.

The rest of the time was spent cutting smaller branches off the large one so that I could grab them, pull them away from the main one, and throw them down the hill farther so they would be out of the way.

We don’t like to think about it, but we are considered ‘elderly’ by the people deciding who should get the Covid-19 vaccine, so I guess that means we’re older than dirt, whether we want to accept that or not. I have to admit that after we finished the job and had rested in our chairs awhile, both of us were wincing a bit at sore muscles.

Today my husband would like to use our pole saw to cut down a few branches along the side of our driveway. They are about a third of the way down, which means we’ll need to put two 100-foot extension cords together to get power down that far. Hopefully we can get them cut down and thrown off to the side of the driveway without too much problem.

Please wish these ‘elderly’ people luck…

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December 6, 2020 · 9:45 am

Making Calories Scream

Pinterest

I am trying to get outside about 30 minutes to an hour each afternoon to continue making the yard as presentable as possible for the coming winter. I’m doing it in the afternoons because right now it’s 32 degrees F. and absolutely too cold to care about yard work. If it warms up to the low 50s as it’s supposed to, I’m planning to stick with my plan.

I enjoy working in the yard unless it involves lots of hauling or things that make my back hurt. Happily, most of the things I’m doing are simply good exercise. I can enjoy the sun, fresh air, get some good exercise, and earn a gold star to go on my desk calendar while making the yard look a bit nicer. :0)

Yesterday I PLANNED to weed whack in the garden area. I MEANT to do it, PLANNED to do it, THOUGHT about doing it, but didn’t actually get out there and DO it. My only excuse is sloth. I DID so some cleaning and cooking, but hopefully I’ll do a better job today.

I’m also trying to do a half hour or so on my elliptical, but the yard work is tending to take the place of that – particularly since it is in our garage, and the priority is to get the yard work done while the temperature is warmer. I AM doing a session of yoga to stretch everything out before the afternoon is over daily.

All this makes me wish I were what I call an ‘exercise nut,’ who LIVES to run a million miles a day, or work themselves into a frazzle at the gym, or fold themselves into a pretzel while touching their nose to the floor – their feet stretching to the wall behind them, forgetting to eat in their zeal for a lithe, slim, limber body.

I’ll have to content myself with the IDEA that I might be making a few calories scream…

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November 16, 2020 · 10:04 am

Good Food

LiveAbout

Isn’t this the sweetest dog? I really like this gif!

I LOVE the fact that I am losing weight AND enjoying the food we’re eating from REAL FOOD in Greenwood, Arkansas. We will pick up our newest order today.

I’m doing a better job of staying active, too, now that the weather is more fall-like. My elliptical trainer is in the garage, and – even though I have a fan in there – I really get too hot out there. NOW it’s great. I’m trying to do 35 minutes daily. I’m doing a half hour or so of old lady yoga stretches daily that are really good for trying to building strength and flexibility, plus even some balance. It’s also good for getting rid of the sore muscles I get from doing other physical stuff. Rounding these out with the yard work I’ve been doing means that I’m getting a good workout most days.

taolife.com

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October 12, 2020 · 9:48 am

Hello, Monday

123RF.com

I hope that your week is starting off well.

Brigitte Alcalay Marcon – Comedy Wildlife Photography – Forbes

The representative from Window World is supposed to be here this afternoon to make sure which windows need to be replaced, measure, match up serial numbers, etc.

When that is done, we will call the man who will replace the headliner in the truck for us, leaving our truck with him.

The day’s project will be catching up with the weed whacking needed, plus hopefully spraying KillzAll on the weeds we need to get rid of.

The Indian Summer we’ve been having for the past week will give way to fall once again mid-week, and I will welcome that with open arms.

Have a wonderful first day of the week!

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October 7, 2020 · 9:53 am

Weighty Issues

Bored Panda

I am encouraged this morning. I lost pound # 41. I think I am finally in a downward trajectory after a LONG time of the scales frowning or smirking at my efforts.

What is helping now is the advent of two new frozen food places in Greenwood: Real Food and Stu’s Clean Cookin’. Both are excellent. We find very few things we don’t care for (a really welcome thing after a LONG time of being very unhappy). The portions are controlled. We eat the meal, sometimes licking the container. (SHHHH!) We are okay when we finish. Our stomachs don’t think our throats have been cut. We certainly don’t feel stuffed, but we aren’t feeling deprived. The food is GOOD.

We build our day around this meal. We don’t eat breakfast. We have tuna fish salad for lunch – and I have green olives and my husband has sweet pickles. We eat a snack mid afternoon if we need it. We are trying really hard not to have ‘a little snack’ before bed.

I’m drinking a LOT of water (for me). My eyeballs are floating. I get lots of exercise running to the bathroom. :0) Otherwise, I’m working in the yard this time of year, plus doing my elliptical trainer several times a week, plus trying to do my yoga stretches on a daily basis. This varies, depending on how MUCH I’m working in the yard.

I’m happy not having to figure out what to cook every night. I cook something each weekend. I have a full plate on my to-do list that keeps me busy and active. If I can continue like this, I am a happy camper.

Lisa Slavid – Peadoodles – coolpun.com

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September 7, 2020 · 9:57 am

Happy Labor Day 2020

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“Labor Day 2020 will occur on Monday, September 7. Labor Day pays tribute to the contributions and achievements of American workers and is traditionally observed on the first Monday in September. It was created by the labor movement in the late 19th century and became a federal holiday in 1894.” ~ http://www.history.com

In 1918, my dad was born on Labor Day, September 6th that year. He always said he thought it was ‘appropriate.’ :0)

This Labor Day is a bit sad because so many good people are still out of work due to the pandemic. In addition, we have people who have lost homes, businesses, and jobs due to Mother Nature and the hurricanes and flooding. Hopefully, all this will improve soon. It seems we have already started, though more rapidly would, of course, be better.

We continue to eat our way through our BistroMD eating plan. Last night we both ate a chicken, rice and cheddar casserole with broccoli. It was the best thing we’ve had so far, but neither of us was impressed. We have to accept an order for next week, but we have cancelled the program.

Our yard is looking pretty good now! (for us).  My husband got the grass mowed a couple of days ago. The day before yesterday I weed whacked what he couldn’t mow, and yesterday I used the leaf blower to clean up. One would actually think we might be civilized around here!  Today I will mix up 2 gallons of EIGHT bug killer and hose down the garden before I try to harvest the rest of the onions. I’ll also spray the trio of brick planters between our driveway area and our yard in preparation for weeding and pruning things there. I do NOT want to get stung/bitten by ants again!

I’m also thinking of checking the co-op in town to see if they have lettuce plants. If they do, I’ll take the tomato plants down in the planter close to the house and plant lettuce there. One year we were lucky, having fresh lettuce into early February!

I will call to find out if the new place in Greenwood called Real Food is open today. I interested in seeing the place, plus possible getting a couple of frozen dinners to try.

I hope that you make this a happy day.

 

 

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April 9, 2020 · 10:01 am

Thoughts on a Thursday 4-9-2020

David Zinn Art via Penny Yaffe Krakow

Even though I want to bite him in the leg at times, I’m thankful this morning that my husband and I are riding the pandemic out together. Even though I am trying to reach out to the others who mean a lot to me via text, email and phone, REAL HUGS are hugely important to me. So I hug my husband; hug my dogs, Amber and Molly; hug my cats, Smoke and Abby, every day. I don’t hug my 2 gold fish, but we smile at each other.  :0)

I’m even grateful that I work my head off each day, trying to tackle a different part of my house to heal. I’m a slob, and I hate housekeeping, but there is a sense of accomplishment when an area that was a mess gradually becomes an area we can enjoy spending time again.  (We’re looking forward to having our lunch on the screened in back porch today!)

Today’s project is two-fold: 1) weed whacking the areas my husband can’t reach with the mower. We have gone from looking like no one had lived here for several months – with 8-inch-or-so high weeds, to an area that is starting to look not only like someone lives here now, but also like someone cares. My husband was really steamed that he had to mow in March – an affront to fairness in his mind – but he has now mowed twice since then, wanting to feel happy about the yard again.   So I will use the hand-held weed whacker to clean up the edges, the area under the deck, etc. where he can’t reach, and then clean everything up with the leaf blower. 2) The other part of today’s project will be buying and planting tomato plants! (Yeagers Hardware is open and they have plants today.) I will visit my veggie garden and see how things are going.  (Pics later.)

I am hopeful we will get past this awful time and once again we will feel free to HUG our friends without putting them in jeopardy.

I hope you have someone to hug, physically or virtually, today.

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March 29, 2020 · 2:03 pm

Veggie Garden

 

This gives you a big picture of our garden. There are two rows of three 4’x4′ wooden boxes on legs filled with Mel’s Mix, a soil substitute.  They are tied together on an irrigation system.

 

Here’s another view.

Here you see mainly head lettuce plants plus a couple of spinach plants.

 

Here you see head lettuce and red onions.

 

Spinach plants

 

So far, things are going really well. As I said in my last post, I harvested the first batch today. I just finished using the push-around weed whacker to cut things down around the outside of the garden and behind the barrels of the Mel’s Mix Components behind the shop. (You can see the barrels in the upper portion of this photo.)  I also did a couple of areas beside the garden and between the garden and the house.

My husband is mowing again now, trying to distribute all the huge rows of tall weeds he mowed down a few days ago. It’s ALMOST looking as if someone cares about this place now…

 

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March 27, 2020 · 5:45 pm

Thoughts on a Friday 2-27-2020

Patrick van Bakkum Photography via Penny Yaffe Krakow

My heart simply melted when I saw this wonderful photo, so I had to share it.

I FINALLY finished the initial yard work for the season this afternoon!  We have been battling true champion weeds – and LOTS of them, even though we spread weed killer in the yard. I finally finished pulling all the weeds out of the rock bed that goes around the base of our house. When things get back to normal in the world, we’ll get more bags of rocks and spread them. In the meantime, my husband did what HE calls spraying for weeds in the bed today. We’re due for rain tonight into tomorrow, but once we have a dry day, I plan to hose down the rocks with weed killer in a more serious fashion. I also trimmed the edges of the grass, weed whacked around the back yard, and then used the leaf blower to clean things up before our rain this evening.

I’m going to do a long, slow session of yoga stretches and then take a long, hot shower to try to get my body to quit yelling at me. I’m tired, but the main thing is that the back of my legs didn’t like all the getting down on my hands and knees to pull the weeds out of the rocks.

We called in for lunch, and my husband did the curbside pick up, and got our mail while he was out. I got a roast in the crock pot and we’ll have that, plus the leftovers from the squash casserole recipe I tried yesterday. It was really good.  If you’d like to try it, the name is, “Low Carb Yellow Squash Casserole” from  allrecipes.com.  My husband was kind of expecting the casserole his mom made years ago, even though he knows we are trying to eat low carb, low sugar, etc. He asked what the ‘crunchy stuff’ was. When I explained that this recipe substituted almonds for crackers, he decided he liked it a lot. :0)

I hope you had a good day and that you and your loved ones are staying safe.

 

 

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March 26, 2020 · 11:59 am

Thoughts on a Thursday 3-26-2020

Since it finally quit raining for a bit here, we are scrambling to get our yard under what passes for control around here.

My husband used the riding mower a couple of days ago to cut the grass (mostly weeds) for the first time this season. We had spread weed killer earlier, but this spring has been a perfect one for all the weeds that have ever been in our yard, encouraging them to burst forth as never before. Some of the weeds were over a foot high! It took my husband twice as long as usual to mow, but he got it done, leaving huge amounts of cut grass everywhere. The next day he used the push-around weed whacker to get big places he couldn’t reach with the mower.

That left it to me to wield the hand-held weed whacker to get what is left, trim and edge the sidewalks, around the planters, under the deck, etc.. This spring has also encouraged the weeds to come up in the rocks we have around the house. Usually we can simply spray weed killer on them, but this year they are so prolific we actually have to pull what is there first. I did the front yard yesterday. My body is complaining pretty loudly today, but I’m going to try to get the back yard done today.

laughtard

When I finish, I’ll schedule a half hour to 45 minutes of gentle yoga stretching to get these old muscles stretched out again. I’ll schedule the elliptical trainer for days when I’m not doing so much in the yard.

I’m finding it difficult during this time to stick with my keto eating plan. I love the basics of it, but find I’m craving comfort type food during this stay-at-home time. I realize it’s probably just another excuse, but I ate some Blue Bunny New Freedom No-Sugar-Added Ice Cream with my husband last night.  It’s better for my husband, but it’s bad for me, as far as carbs go. It also has maltitol, which we should both be avoiding. “Being good” is difficult. Being good when my husband keeps bringing things I need to avoid into the house makes it more challenging. Being good during a pandemic is an even larger challenge.

Today I found a Low Carb Yellow Squash Casserole that sounds yummy. I’ll make that to serve with our leftover hamburger patties for our dinner tonight.  I will also make a loaf of bread from a favorite keto recipe so I can have some tonight.

It’s funny what each of us considers something that is ‘necessary’ to do in times when you are encouraged to stay home and avoid unnecessary contact with other humans. Apparently washing his car at the local car wash is a necessary thing for my husband, since he has just left to do it. I’m not even sure it’s open, though it is designed to be a place where no humans are needed. We will see if he comes back with a clean car or not.  Mostly, he has complied with staying home, so I’m trying not to fuss at him TOO much…

I am grateful that we are still healthy; have a warm, dry home; have food and water; and have Internet, books, TV, music, DVDs, art, pets, AND to-do lists to get us through this crisis. May we come out the other side as soon as possible and get people back to work.

Stay safe.

 

 

 

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November 17, 2019 · 10:09 am

Thoughts on a Sunday 11-17-2019

Cindy Basnett Thurman

I finished raking and making mulch for 7 brick planters yesterday. My body is saying, “You thought you were 20, didn’t you. Haahahahaahahah.”  I’m hoping that we won’t get the predicted rain and that the temperature gets close to the 58 predicted so that – armed with my leaf blower, leaf mulcher, yellow plastic leaf-scooping ‘hands’, and a trash bag –  I can finish the other 5 planters this afternoon.

 

Unsplash

Tomorrow is my husband’s birthday. I want to do something special for him, but he ‘doesn’t want to talk about it.’ He says he is ‘too old to celebrate birthdays.’ I think I’ll surprise him with a pineapple upside down cake (one of his favorites) and see if I can make him grin…

I hope that YOUR Sunday is a nice one, too!

 

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November 10, 2019 · 11:29 am

Thoughts on a Sunday 11-10-2019

Beautiful World via George Dumaine

We just got home from grocery shopping and putting everything away. I’m now relaxing at my computer with a cup of coffee. Ahhhh!

First, I wanted to thank those of you who wrote encouraging messages about the way “Blasing Bright” looks, the booth that my friend Carla and I are sharing now at Rags & Roses in Greenwood, Arkansas. I think we managed to put things where they show up well, people can get to them to look more closely, and you’ve told me that it looks inviting. So THANK YOU. The shop is closed now until Tuesday, but I feel GOOD that I have some of my stuff ‘out there’ for people to see and possibly buy. If you’re in the area, the address is 100 North Main St.  The hours Tuesday through Friday, are 11:00 – 6:00. Hours Saturday are 10:00 to 4:00. This is the first time I’ve enjoyed a local venue, and I’m hopeful that Carla and I can share this booth for a long time.

I am planning to spend much of the day out in the yard – or at least as long as my back holds out – cleaning out flower planters. We’ve had several freezes and things are looking pretty sad now. Today has been named, “The last good fall day” for awhile by the weather people, with a cold front coming tomorrow, along with rain, possible wintry mix, and MUCH colder temperatures, so today is the day to do all I can to have our yard look like someone cares.

On cleanup after the ‘gathering-and-processing-for-the-booth’ I need to work in our office and my art room. These are on the back burner, though, as far as priorities, due to the coming weather. I can work on both of THEM when the weather deteriorates.

With all the activity around here, I have ignored my exercising and my poor old body is complaining LOUDLY. I’m going to see how the yard work goes, and then at LEAST get in my yoga practice this afternoon.

Enjoy your Sunday!

 

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October 14, 2019 · 12:10 pm

Thoughts on a Monday – 10-14-2019

We Love Earth

 

“In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue…” –  Other than the history of our country, this ‘holiday’ means to US that we have no mail and the banks are not open today. I’m sad that has become yet another controversial subject.

I’m feeling spoiled that Mother Nature is smiling on us again today, giving us another beautiful, cool, sunshine-y day. I just took advantage of it a bit, pruning the roses I started to do several days ago and doing some general clean up of a flower bed or two.

I’ll do my elliptical trainer and my yoga practice today. Did I tell you that I’m FINALLY feeling a difference in my energy level and the way I MOVE since I’ve been doing both of these daily? Another week or two, and I’ll consider adding something else to the mix.

I’ll watch more YouTube demos on Unicorn Spit and then I’m PLANNING to get up to my art room this afternoon to start experimenting!

 

I hope Mother Nature is smiling on YOU, too, and that you have a wonderful day.

 

 

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October 12, 2019 · 5:49 pm

Trifecta!

NPR

I had a GREAT day.

  1. I worked in the yard for an hour – finishing cleaning out the tomato planters and weed-whacking around them, and around in the back yard.
  2. I did 35 minutes on my elliptical trainer, and
  3. I did my yoga session.

This may not sound like much, but it’s a great day of movement for me – a THREE GOLD STAR DAY!

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July 8, 2019 · 10:25 am

Whew!

Steemit

I have just finished about an hour and a half of weed whacking in the yard this morning. I have probably one more session of weed whacking and then the leaf blower to clean off the sidewalks and garage pad before I’m finished.

My husband mowed the lawn yesterday, so the grass looks good. All the edges around everything were ragged, though, so I decided to get outside early this morning and see if I could clean things up.

With the heat index, it’s ONLY 95 right now. Since the index is supposed to get to 105 this afternoon, I decided it was best to get out there while it was COOL. :0)

The new-to-us riding mower we got recently from a wonderful friend and neighbor does a really good job. When the civilized part of our yard is freshly mowed, weed whacked and blown, we actually look pretty good!

With all the yard work this morning and bowling with good friends tonight, I’m not even going to feel guilty about not ‘exercising’ today. I’ve learned that the work I do uses different muscles than the ones used for more traditional ‘exercises,’ but when I’ve worked and played this much in a day, I’ll call it good enough.

 

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November 11, 2017 · 10:13 am

Nice Fall Saturday

“Red Tree in Fall” – Paul Militaru Photography

I WISH our trees looked like this.  We had a lot of rain this spring and summer compared to what we normally have followed by an entire month of August with not one drop of rain. This caused the trees, in survival mode, to shed their leaves early.

We do have a lot of leaves in the yard now, though, and I’m HOPING that they are dry enough that I can use the leaf blower to pile them up and then run them through the shredder this afternoon. It’s on 44 degrees out there now, but it’s supposed to get to high 5o’s or low 60’s this afternoon. It would be good if I could clean up the yard, making good leaf mulch for my flower planters in the process.

It seems like the yard work is neverending around here. I still need to do more weed whacking, plus prune and clean up the flower planters. I need to harvest the lettuce in the garden, too.

Since my to-do list is much longer than my energy supply, I’ll choose one thing to try to accomplish outside and see how it goes.

I hope the weather is nice where you are and that you’re planning something fun for the day.

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July 13, 2017 · 4:56 pm

Weed Trees, Tomatoes, and Wall Hanging

Inhabitat

Today is proving to be a busy, productive day.

This morning we awoke to Amber in distress after having eaten something bad again. She’s like a vacuum cleaner inside or outside, and it’s worth your life to try to keep her from eating TOO many weird things. Anyway, something hadn’t agreed with her, so we were out with the hoses and dog soap first thing. She seemed to be feeling fine otherwise, and ravenously hungry, so we fed her half a can of her lamb/rice sicky dog food. She has done fine the rest of the day, so hopefully this was a temporary problem.

I then got out with the loppers and tackled more weed trees. I actually felt as if I made a bit of progress, even though I only lasted half an hour in the sun, opening up another small section of our view. I’ll keep doing this each morning that I can, and then doing a 2nd session in the evening when the sun is starting to go down. I found some sturdier shoes to wear for this activity, so wasn’t sliding around so much.

I’ve started to seriously prune my tomato plants. I told you it looked like a giant had sat in the middle of the two large tomato plants in the nook planter beside the porch. I’m cutting off dead stuff, pruning leaves or limbs that are hanging way down, etc., trying to make it easier on the plants that are left when I finish. I’ll also put fertilizer on them, plus Sevin to keep the critters off. Before I started the pruning, I was able to harvest several more tomatoes. :0)

This afternoon I was out in the shop working on the metal sun/moon wall hanging. My husband was working on a small roll-around jack, putting on new casters, and we had Molly and Amber out there with us. Amber was driving Molly nuts for a bit, but finally calmed down.

I figured out a method that my husband said looked ‘really good’ on doing the shading that is such a big part of this piece. I took the sponge end off one of my sponge brushes and am using that, instead of a brush, to do the shading. I should be able to get gradations of shading with this, plus – it’s FUN!

About 6:00 or so, depending on the sun, we’ll get back out in the yard. We’ve switched to eating dinner pretty late now in order to give us an hour out there to get something done. (We find that we last a shorter and shorter length of time in the direct sun, and it’s taking us longer to recover than it used to.)

I’ll try to get some pics of the opening view in the back yard, the tomato plants, and the metal wall hanging tomorrow so you can see our works in progress.

I hope you’ve had a good day, too.

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Filed under Gardening, Lewis projects, metal art, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds

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June 25, 2017 · 9:50 am

Good Morning!

Source Unknown

I found this a long time ago and neglected to get the source. There is a signature across the the image between the leaf and the butterfly on the right, but I can’t make it out. Sorry. I think this is really, really nice.

I hope you’re having a good morning, too.

The ham radio operators are having the 2nd day of their annual field day today in Bell Park, Greenwood, Arkansas. Sometime yesterday a 24-hour contest began to see who could get the most contacts in a 24 hour period at a certain bandwidth. Last year there were about six different bandwidths represented. This contest is across the WORLD. Each operator uses his ham radio call sign, making contact with someone. They exchange call signs, recording them to be verified later. There is no ‘prize’ as such, but the winners are announced and bragging rights will never end. :0)  When we were watching and listening a couple of years ago, one man was talking to someone in Uruguay!

The work on my husband’s new-to-him antenna. He’s having a good friend come over and help him make the rotor work as it should this coming week. Meanwhile, he’s built the base it will sit on and is working on the complex 4-plex antenna that will sit on the top.  When we were talking about it yesterday, I suggested we assemble the whole thing on the ground and then hire probably the smallest crane there is to come help the two guys pull the whole thing up and hold it while things are tightened, guy wires are hooked up, wiring is finished, etc. My husband thought about it for a bit and then said, “You know, that’s actually a good idea!” (I ignored the fact that he sounded surprised :0/)

I’m going to put my different style thermometer up in the greenhouse today, and plan to start some spaghetti squash seeds to see if they’ll make. I’m also planning to attack weed trees with a vengence – if the temperatures will stay at some reasonable level. If not, I’ll see what I can do this evening.

I hope you have a wonderful day, too.

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Filed under Bright Ideas, exercise, Gardening, Lewis projects, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds

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November 11, 2016 · 12:55 pm

Happy Friday

The Quirky Pineapple

The Quirky Pineapple

We went to Lunch Bunch today and everyone was doing fine. We got caught up with what’s happening with everyone, then ran a couple of errands.

Now my husband is reloading ammo in the shop while I work in the yard.

I have six planters left to clean out today, and then I’ll add mulch to all.  Thankfully, we have another perfect day for working in the yard.

 

Flickr.org

Flickr.org

When I finish, I’m hoping to do the last section in my DVD set of yoga for old folks (they call it “Gentle Yoga”, a much more tactful name.). I’m really grateful I found this set of 2 DVDs. It’s focus is on people who have never done yoga before, are 60 and older, and who might have flexibility issues, have had surgery for joint replacements and more, or who might be intimidated. I’ve been trying new sections for the past two weeks and I’m always glad I did some poses with the really nice instructor.

My plan, now, is to do at least one section each day. There are 7 sections, so I’ll be able to get around to all parts of my body in the week.

The weather is perfect for my being more active, so I plan to take advantage of it as much as possible.

I hope the weather is nice where you are, and that you’re enjoying the day.

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