Weekend in Review: Industrious!

Thursday when Elizabeth called, she said she was thinking about coming to town on Saturday to help me weed the front flower bed. Wow!  I hadn't planned on working out there until it had cooled down a bit more, but I am not foolish enough to turn down free help!  So, we met for breakfast at Panera at 7:00, then dropped her car off at the tire store nearby to have the wheels aligned.  A short spin through Lowe's netted us several hundred dollars worth of perennials and shrubs for about $50. I am pretty sure shopping for that kind of thing at the end of the season is the best time for the budget.  We got several things for $1, and nothing was over $10.

We worked off and on in the flower bed removing the overgrown creeping juniper and Bermuda grass until about 10:15. Then we decided we needed to have Ornery take us in Big Red on a run to a nearby town to buy some cotton seed hulls for mulch at a feed store that closed at noon.  No point in cleaning everything up just to leave it open for weeds, right?  We were gone about an hour and a half or so and by the time we got back it was pretty warm, so we only worked for a little while longer before Elizabeth went home and we took a nap. We cleaned out five bags of overgrowth, and were very glad for the rain softened ground!

Ornery wasn't working on the flower bed with us; he was cutting out the little wooden elf socks we will use for this year's ornament exchange. He was exhibiting symptoms of having scroll saw withdrawal, so we let him have his fun.  After he had those finished, he started working on making his first ever frame to display a little set of clock-face dipping bowls I bought at Pottery Barn a couple of years ago when I was in Arizona.  My friend Mickie inspired this project when I asked her how I could best display them. When I measured the dimensions needed for the display, we decided that a custom frame was needed, and she asked why Ornery didn't make it for me... He has not balked at all about all the woodworking projects I have been asking him to do!

Late in the day, Ornery mowed and edged the yard. This necessitated raking up about four bags of pine needles that had fallen during the massive heat wave/drought we just ended. He had a big day, Saturday!

Sunday morning as soon as we were done with breakfast, we trotted back out to finish off the front bed.  Ornery manned the shovel on one end of the bed, and I puttered around on the other end planting, putting down pre-emergent and watering in some plant food.  By the time we were too hot and tired to do any more, we had a total of 12 bags of grass, weeds, pine needles and branches piled at the curb for the garbage men to take away. We got all the plants in the ground, but still need to mulch. We are so out of shape!

After shower, lunch and a nap, I worked on menu and grocery list plans, laundry and a few other household chores. While we didn't get any painting done at all, I feel like it was a very productive weekend!