ToyGuy gave me a compliment yesterday...he said, i wish i got as much done as you do...

i admit, i'm usually a whirling dervish on the weekend. I think the reason why is that the responsiblity to keep up this place is all on me and with my time always feeling in short supply, i am usually super-productive just so i can get things done. I'm always afraid of "falling behind" on stuff.

Yesterday i had my usual list of things i wanted to accomplish. After our trip to Innisfree Gardens Friday, i figured the rest of the weekend would be WORK.

As sometimes happens, i end up doing stuff not on my list but which needed doing all the same. For instance, i put on my list, "Prune shrubs."

I have exactly 6 shrubs i prune with an electric trimmer twice in a season. They include 2 spireas, which lend themselves nicely to electric pruning, and 4 azaelas. I'm not a big fan of severely trimmed shrubs in round or square shapes, but since the rest of my yard is often in a state of semi-wild, exuberant growth mode, pruning these shrubs helps give the appearance of civility.

So i did the shrubs yesterday. The 1 white azaela is huge, probably 6 feet high and 5 feet wide. (The light green orb to the left is a spirea.)


(This picture was taken end of May.)

I can only wonder how large it would get if i didn't prune it. Had to use a ladder to get the top of it.

But then i decided to trim the row of forsythia i have, the ones that never bloom, i think becus you're supposed to cut it back sharply as it blooms on new wood. This row is about 25 feet long and the forsythia themselves probably 9 feet high. It affords a great deal of privacy but if you're at all familiar with how forsythia grows, it puts out these arching new stems. Eventually, the weight of them causes them to bend over toward the ground, and once they hit the ground, they easily root and thus expand their territory quicker than Putin's tanks can roll into Georgia. (wierd analogy but the first thing i thought of.)

Even using the ladder, i couldn't get the top of the forsythia, so i can't say they look better, but i did take a huge amount of foliage off and widen one walkway, and maybe they'll bloom better next year. Of course, once you trim all that stuff, the next question is, where to put it? I dragged a large tarp i have out of the garage and was able to easily rake the trimmings into the tarp and in 2 trips, dragged it all to a space behind my tool shed that you can't see from the house.

I was using the electric trimmer, some hand loppers and a hand pruner. My wrists and arms are still sore today.

Eager to get half of the never-ending lawn mowing done, i didn't feel like waiting til the cool of early evening to do the front, and instead revved up the mower around 3:30 pm. I didn't realize how much more that chore takes out of me when i'm pushing that thing around in direct sunlight. I finished up the front, then drifted off to sleep on the screened porch, the cat napping in a chair nearby. I won't say i slept soundly. It was one of those naps where you keep waking up in a groggy state, then doze off again.

But apparently it was enough to mess up my normal sleep routine cus i was wide awake this am at 4 am. I decided to finally get up around 5:30 and read some blogs here. I'm now having my morning tea at 6:10 am on a Sunday. Disgusting!

What's on the agenda for today?

Well, there's the back lawn to mow later in the day, of course. And i want to make some granola. I don't have the dried apricots and apples i used last time, but i do have dried cranberries and raisins, so i think that'll do.

And i see i'm having a problem with the locust tree stump. When they cut the giant tree down last spring, i was sort of in a hurry to get them off my property, as they made a big mess and i didn't want their heavy equipment messing up the lawn any more than it already did. So i told them they didn't have to use their stump grinder on the stump, which just juts up a few inches from ground level. I figured i could put a potted plant on top of it, and it's surrounded by irises.

But i noticed there are all sorts of locust tree shoots growing from the stump, and with their thorns and deep roots, it's difficult if not impossible to pull them out. I hate to use poison. Anyone have any suggestions for a somewhat non-toxic solution? Not having dealt with tree stumps before, i'm already regretting my decision to not let them grind the thing down which i'm guessing could have prevented regrowth. Another yard chore i do not need.

I was going to take some fieldstone and encircle the irises and the stump and fill in with mulch, but now i'm rethinking that becus with new locust shoots popping up there, i'll have to keep digging them out and just mess things up.

I have the old-fashioned dogwood in my yard, the kind with the berries ripening now, and the squirrels are gorging themslves on the berries.

There were other things i wanted to do which i know i won't, like go up into the attic and assess how easily i could add insulation (by ripping up the carpeting and then i guess plywood), but without doing that i have no way of knowing how much insulation is up there.

I should probably gas up the car, so it has me thinking what else i can do on the way there, as the cheap gas station is a 15-minute ride. I could hit a grocery store.

Despite my best efforts, i seem to have a small patch of poison ivy. Nothing too serious; i usually use Tec-Nu religiously if i think there's any possiblity i've been exposed.

I did a preliminary tally of my August income/expenses and was bummed to find I'm in the red by about $20 with still a week to go to month's end. It was the replacement window: $830.