Thirteen years ago i got a Rubbermaid wheelbarrow from Home Depot. It's served me well all these past years. Two years ago, my boyfriend broke off one of the wood handles on it. And apparently Home Depot no longer stocks replacement handles. But i found i could still use the wheelbarrow. Then, a few weeks ago, the 2nd handle broke off too! It was a case of one too many times being left out in the rain.

I've got a ton of yardwork and am still using it by simply grasping onto the rim of the bin, but it's doing a real number on my back.

This a.m. i posted on freecycle for another wheelbarrow. I've mostly given things away there so i don't expect success in finding someone who has one and doesn't need it, but am willing to give it a shot.

The other problem is that i'm not sure getting another one, used or new, will fit in my trunk. But i'm not very good at putting things together myself. Usually i end up with a wobbely bookcase or a wobbely anything. Sigh. I REALLY need a new wheelbarrow.

Yesterday, the weatherman got it all wrong. It was a beautiful sunny day. So i got a lot done in the yard. Most of the black locust wood is in the driveway, and my sister made a 2nd trip to load up her pickup. The sawdust and mess is all raked up now and i already started filling up said wheelbarrow with mulch (I have a Mt. Everest of mulch sitting by the driveway with remains of the pine; the pile is about 7 feet high!) and carting it around to mulch various perennial beds in the front. This all takes a ton of time. Shoveling mulch in, then shoveling it out, and edging the bedds neatly first with a hoe before that.

I opened up the screened porch for the season, first washing down the floor, which gets all sorts of grit and grime from the winter, then moving in my bamboo rug and assorted furniture and windchimes. The cat loved it after a season of breezeless air. We sat out there for a few hours in the afternoon sun. I filled up the hummer feeder too, for early arrivals.

I re-erected my bluebird box, hoping that this year, bluebirds will indeed take up residence. Usually, it's wrens in there, but i moved the box away from the brushy perimeter of the yard more to the center of the lawn, a relocation bluebirds would approve of.

Let's see, i also built a cairn with some fieldstone i have but need to relocate it to its final resting position. It's a decorative feature that i'll put near or in my perennial beds.

A small Japanese pagoda arrived in the mail, and that, too, will go somewhere in the garden.

I was patting myself on the back for having gotten thru this winter heating season with just 2 oil fill-ups. I checked just now to see what exactly that cost me, and I believe the 2 fillups cost me $816, which seems like a lot, not a little. Comparisons, anyone? My space is 1650 sf.

Everything is still pretty mucy dormant here, so i have yet to learn whether the bulk of what i transplanted to get out of the way of the chainsaws here a few weeks ago survived my shovel & transplant work or not.

Aside from a group of 4 deer, i don't see much wildlife here as most of it is nocturnal. (I did see a few turkeys a week ago.) But i was delighted yesterday a.m. to see a very white opossum looping thru the backyard, and that made me wonder if that was the critter enjoying all my handouts. I assumed it was the deer relishing the leftover table scraps and cat food which i put out many evenings and which vanishes by a.m.

Last night's offering also was gone this a.m., but i caught a cardinal picking at the remains, no doubt the squash seeds that went in there, along with some stale cheesecake. I'm wondering if this could possibly be an albino opposum or if they start out with white hair when they're born. I suspect it's the latter. Most possums i've seen have gray hair. They're really pretty special animals as they're in the marsupial family. Like kangaroos, they carry their young in a pouch.

Well, yesterday's errands got postponed when the weather turned sunny, so i'll be running out to do those shortly. Groceries, Walgreens, filling up the gas tank for the week ahead at the cheap place.... I was planning on going to the flea market too, but it's a bit of a marginal weather day today, and since the flea market is now on thru october, i might as well wait for a nicer day to do it.