A Day In The Garden

A second day of unseasonably warm weather. Even though the forecast called for rain and a high of 61*, it was sunny and 71*.

I know that I can't plant in my garden for at least 3 months but I figured I could at least rake the dirt around a little.

It has been neglected all winter.




First I collect the pinecones that have fallen in the beds. They make great kindling for the fire in the fireplace and what we won't burn, the kids will use as grenade props during their Army guy battles.




Then here come my helpers. Kitty cat tries to find some catnip that may have escaped the freeze.








It would appear that he has been successful.



Then Amanda heads my way.




And yes. As a matter of fact that IS her normal gardening attire. This is what she wore last year when we broke ground.



We found a few little surprises. So if I had to do the Scarlet O'hara turnip scene, I wouldn't have to fake any parts.



When Amanda got bored raking, she found the camera.



I bribed her with garden tools to hand it back over before it got dropped in the dirt.

But not before she got a picture of Derick working in the dirt in the front of the house. We may even have a lawn there this year.

But then we were tired and called it a day.

And even though the garden is still sleeping, at least we got to make the bed a little nicer until spring.

Yard Work Tennessee Style

Once upon a time we lived in a little house, with a little yard with a little lawn and little trees, with a little baby and a lot of time to enjoy weekends. As the story goes the little baby was no longer a little baby and several other little babies came onto the scene so we decided that maybe a little more would be a little better and we moved to a half an acre. The little family had a lot of fun on the bigger little half acre. The little boys played with Tonka trucks in the dirt. The little girl helped me in the garden. The little birds chirped in the trees and gardner came every week.

If a little more was a little better the last time around, then even more would be even better for the next chapter in the 10-OC. We moved in, stood in bigger awe of the bigger yard we had, but we never knew what bigger work was. Alas little garden tools laugh at us. We bought bigger electric weed whackers and chain saws. Those are now "women's tools", because even bigger gas power is the only way to go around here. Bigger tractor mowers are needed to cut the bigger lawn. Now the bigger boys play with bigger Tonka trucks, renamed John Deere (but they're still painted yellow so to me they're still just Tonka trucks). In the summer a weekend is not enough to keep up with the bigness of it all. What to do? Well, take a backhoe, dig a bigger swimming hole in the creek and splash around until the little fireflies come out.

That's yardwork.

And the moral of the story; The grass is always greener over the septic tank.