For the past couple of weeks, I've spent almost every spare minute working on various outdoor projects in the yard. One was to clear out a large overgrown and too-long-neglected corner on the hill bordered by the driveway and my neighbor's yard. This began by raking up and carting to the compost heap perhaps a hundred wheelbarrow loads of leaves and similar organic debris. Then a hundred or so semi-boulders—up to basketball size—mostly buried, but sticking up high enough to catch the mower blade; all had to be pried/dug/wrestled from the grounds and carted/carried/rolled off. The remaining craters had to be filled in afterwards.
After that, I laid out and began digging a new planting bed at the base of the raw bank where the neighbor's property drops off to mine. Once the bed was fashioned, additional fill had to be dug and wheelbarrowed over from a mound of topsoil I have in another area of the yard. That is still ongoing. So is the cut limestone blocks border I'm building to surround this new bed.
Finishing this bed had been put on temporary hold because my uphill neighbor and I decided to put in a retaining wall out of railroad ties on the area of raw, eroding bank on the steep part of the slope between our two yards. I said I'd do most of the work if he bought the ties. We just got started on that on Friday—and so far, have two ties more-or-less in place. I'd guess we'll need a dozen or so to complete the job.
It rained Friday evening and was in the 40s˚F and cloudy all day yesterday. Myladylove, who had the day off, built a hearthfire and we worked inside. It's supposed to reach the low 70s˚ today, but may rain, so we might not get much outdoor work done today, either. Which is okay by me, as my body can use another day of not lifting spine-cracking boulders and those mule-herniating railroad ties.
I did manage one photo yesterday, of a great blue heron who fished around the pool in front of the cottage. I watched him off-and-on for the better part of an hour, but never saw him take a single fish or even make a stab at anything. Finally, he flapped off to try his luck a hundred yards downstream. I hope he eventually managed to nab his supper.
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10 comments:
HI GRIZZ - sounds like back breaking work - I prefer the indoor jobs with the hearth fire aglow! :-) Also, the fickle weather of March and early April leaves much to chance. Skipp wants to put our new charcoal grill together but the weather is saying otherwise. We too had a nice fire last night to take the dampness out of the house and ad that comforting warmth to our older rickety bones.
Love to you and yours
Gail
peace.....
I loved this post Grizz - love the relationship you have with your neighbour - perfect example of Robert Frost's 'good fences make good neighbours@ I think.
Gail…
Backbreaking, indeed…which in my case is about three-quarters there to begin with. We've been at it since late morning—just now breaking for lunch, though I think I'm done for the day—and only managed to get one more tie installed, though that involved a lot of moving and shifting and leveling, etc. It's turned out to be a lovely day, however—sunny and warm. A perfect April afternoon.
I say the weather is never too rainy/cold/sleety/snowy or whatever for grilling, and if Skipp wants to have at it, let him assemble your new grill and slap a hunk of meat over the flames.
Take care.
Weaver…
One of the real blessings in life is living near good neighbors. Quite frankly, I couldn't have found better ones—next door, across the street, up the road—if I'd have searched for years. I have wonderful neighbors and I appreciate them more than I can say.
If I had even half as much energy and willpower as you, Grizz, my back garden would now be a landscaped paradise rather than the tangled wilderness it has become over the years!
Solitary…
The frustrating thing for me is that if I had half the strength and energy nowadays that I had ten years ago, this two-day (at the most!) job wouldn't be coming up on the end of it's second week. If it makes you feel any better—truth setting you free and all that—please know that for all my little projects, plantings, and Herculean efforts, my yard and gardens (the latter being used with much tongue-in-cheek) remain steadfastly more tangled wilderness than landscaped paradise.
To spend time watching a heron in front of your house… what a great activity! We have so many trees and so little sun that we only have flowers in pots. Yesterday though it was beautiful here – in the mid 80s and no humidity so we went back to the Smith-Gardens, which are a couple of miles away and looked at all the great spring blooms. I took many pictures and will have them in a future post. The rose bushes will have many blooms soon, so I’ll go back at the end of the month to take even more pictures. Some of the old roses were blooming already, and they have such a sweet fragrance. I have one in the shade in my yard which usually gives me a couple of roses – one came out today – a white rose named Blanc Double de Coubert - it’s a rosa rugosa from 1892.
Vagabonde…
Ahh, I was just sitting here admiring all the lovely purple flowers on my bugleweed (Ajuga reptans) and thinking I need to pick up some more roses—good, old-fashioned, fragrant ones—for planting near the rear door. I love so many of the old roses, which to me look and smell the way roses are supposed to…which doubtless says something about me.
I'm still working on the wall, as well as the large planter bed I hope to get going within the next week. I'm looking forward to those photos.
Wonderful shot of the heron!
Deb
Debbie…
I love my old blue herons. And the kingfishers. This one brightened up an otherwise dull afternoon.
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