To say this weekend did not go entirely as planned would be an understatement.
Starting out, we had big plans, starting with completely tearing out and reconstructing the bed behind the pool to plant the 15 Encore Azaleas Kevin found on sale... But ya know what they say about the best laid plans..
Right off the bat we hit a snag. We tried to pull 10 or so very stubborn boxwoods out with the lawn tractor. No luck! They wouldn’t budge. We resorted to taking down that section of the chain link fence and used a 4700 lb rated chain to snatch them out through the back using the Dodge (hemi, baby!).
Next, we transplanted the garlic (who plants garlic by the pool?) into the herb garden. It was a muddy affair, the ground was already soggy from the storm on the night of Operation Ladybug, but we worked through it with our boots on. The garlic was as far as we got before it started to pour rain again... it rained off and on all night.
Due to the mud, the herb garden didn’t get planted either. The dirt stuck to the shovel and rake like glue... big sticky hunks of glue.
So we turned out attention to the butcher block, but we found that the posts for the butcher block were not as easy to home by as we had hoped.
We have an old boat/tractor/trailer shelter that we plan to eventually take down, reusing the tin and wood to repair the chicken coop. We were going to also use some of the posts for the butcher block legs. Upon closer inspection we determined that just robbing a few of the posts would render the structure unsafe, so we had to tackle the task of dismantling it altogether weeks ahead of schedule.
While Kevin took on the task of pulling off the tin roof, I decided to add some symmetry to the arbor near the pool by using rocks found on the property to build petal shaped beds and transplanting daylilies and lantana from other areas.
That led to the decision to build a bed across the way out of rock to retain/manage the water flow that keeps the sidewalks muddy. There is this piece of ground near the house where nothing grows because of the amount of shade. When it rains, the dirt washes down into the yard, making a muddy mucky mess, so I decided to start fixing that... I hauled and lifted a LOT of rock - - - this will hopefully divert the water into the bed, and prevent the wash out, especially when I plant hostas, and various shade loving perennials...) Maybe I can get some moss to grow between the flagstone!?
Kevin worked on many various projects, repairing sprinklers, outdoor lighting, switching out light fixtures inside, repairing leaky plumbing.
While he was working on that, I decided that since the "real" chicken coop won’t be ready, realistically, for another couple of months, so we are going to need an intermediate solution for the chicks when they outgrow their Rubbermaid tub and heat lamp. I decided to make a small coop out of the fence boards from the old house, old bunk bed wood, a closet shelf, a roll of old chicken wire found in the shop, the latch from an old screen door, and some hinges Kevin had on hand. All we had to buy was some smaller wire for the bottom. (Total out of pocket cost $10.00) Now, I won’t say it’s beautiful, or even perfectly square (many of the boards are bowed, so attempting to use a level will just drive you mad), but it’s workable. I will put a roosting box from the "real" coop that is being rebuilt inside to shelter from the drafts and maybe one day, I’ll paint it up pretty, but for now, I think it will get the job done. (Thanks to my honey for stopping his projects to help me stretch and tack down the wire!)
By Monday, it was somewhat sunny. We were able to play with our new toy (the "little green tractor"). I mowed while Kevin edged and weed whacked the yard. :-)
So while our initial thought was to bemoan the rain, we reminded ourselves that in a month or two, we’ll probably be praying for a sprinkle, so we readjusted out attitudes and ended up getting quite a bit accomplished.
Everything we did was enjoyable - the wind chime sang to us nearly the whole time, the leaves were rustling in the breeze, and birds were chirping. (Nature’s music with a little added pizzazz!) I even got brave and jumped into the (still chilly) pool a time or two. I can’t imagine a better way to spend a few days without the kiddos!
