Yard Work

Once upon a time I wanted a big yard. I loved it for about a minute. Now, its a jungle of weeds, vines, more weeds, more vines, runaway hedges, patchy grass, wierd bugs, shedding trees and roadside trash. I hate it.

Oh, don't get me wrong....it has potential. It just requires a team of people to work on it. I don't have a team. Boo! I have worked out there since 10 am this morning and feel like I have not accomplished anything. Just to make myself feel better, here is what I DID do:

picked up 4 wheelbarrows full of twigs and branches and winter debris
hosed off the deck and deck furniture
raked out one ivy bed to reveal one peony peeking through
trimmed back one bush
removed a small amount of honeysuckle
chased the dog around the neighborhood as he got loose for about 1/2 hour
hung one mini wind chime on the new porch
and most importantly: called a landscape company to give me an estimate on work

I am no stranger to yard work. Growing up we had two Saturday morning choices: inside with mom or outside with dad. Sometimes it was both. We had to be like mules or something when outside, and interestingly, no matter what we did or how we did it, it was wrong. From pushing a broom, running the hose or carrying bricks --or the infamous slices of sod -- I always seemed to earn a ration of name calling and belittling. The lure to go back in and scour the tub with comet was overwhelming since that job I knew I could do and my mom never said I did it wrong. (I suspect I probably did do it wrong, but she just didn't care) .

Never the less, Saturday has always felt like a work day to me and as exhausted and sore as I am, I would feel worse if I didn't work very hard to clean house and do the yard.

Now, to punish (torture?) myself more, here is what I didn't do (yet) and need to get working on:
hedge trimming
weed whacking
mulching
more twigs and debris clean up
mowing (lawn mower still being repaired)
planting and transplanting
painting (shed - porches and deck)
removing the trimmings and twigs to the dump


....there's probably more. Ugh.