Progress

It's starting to come together. The first part of the week it rained and we didn't do very much. That was a good thing because we were able to rest and get over our colds. We are both nearly 100% now with just a little residual coughing. A friend down the street offered us fully grown photinias -- all we had to do was move them. They are mature bushes cut back to about 4 feet high and I wasn't sure it would work. But on Wednesday we dug out a couple and discovered the ground was very soft -- almost sandy. We weren't able to get much root wad because the sand just fell off. It was sort of like bare root transplanting. After digging two and having to cut roots to get them out, we decided to try pulling them. So I hooked a cable to the pickup and tugged out 8 more. We actually got more roots doing it that way. We replanted them quickly and Joyce has been watering them twice a day. So far, so good. They look a little wilted but if they pull out of it, we'll have a head start on the hedge. If these don't die, we'll go back and get 8 or 10 more to finish out the hedge line. Pictures later.

Fortunately it has been cool all week so we have been able to get quite a bit done without feeling we were pushing ourselves. After the transplant project we laid down a ground cloth and spread Jo-Gro over it as a mulch. (I explained Jo-Gro about 3 or 4 weeks ago). To get it, we made a trip to Jo-Gro with Mike's trailer half full of his leaves and half full of our branches and other yard debris. We brought back his trailer full and my pickup partially full (2 cubic yards total). The Jo-Gro place is at the old landfill about 10 miles from here so with today's diesel prices I think twice about making the trip. This phase of the project is about half done. Tomorrow, we get more Jo-Gro. Doing this little job made me realize we needed better access to the backyard so today we moved the RV over to the garage side of the house. Now I can back in across the RV pad and get much closer to the work area. This will help when we get rock, too. Also, I took the tool box out of the pickup so I have that much more room for mulch and rock. But the work goes on. In fact, it seems all consuming. Except, of course, for resting, shopping, church stuff, coffee with the guys, eating, resting some more, watching TV, and eating some more. We're real dedicated workers. This coming week Joyce works 3 partial days at the daycare. That will give her a break from The Backyard and cause me to appreciate her more.

During the inclement weather the first part of the week, I squeezed out about 2 dozen lemons we brought back from Jana's house. They have a lemon tree with more lemons than they know what to do with, so we carted about 50 to 60 pounds home. All our neighbors, relatives, and friends have gotten a bag. I got about 22 ounces from the ones I squeezed. We'll freeze most of it for lemonade but I did use a little for one project. Joyce's favorite pie is lemon meringue so I made her an almost-sugar-free pie. First lemon meringue pie I ever baked but it turned out pretty good. The recipe was in her Splenda cookbook. There are more lemon things in there I'll have to try. Oh, I must confess: I bought a pre-made pie crust. Good thing they come two in a pack. I burned the first one when I pre-baked it. Must be something wrong with the oven.

This has been a good week. Probably because we are starting to see progress on The Backyard. Notice it is now a proper name with it's own particular identity. Today we went to the traditional service at Allen Creek. It's always good to see old friends and there are a lot of new faces also. Well, take care.