Amazed and Thankful!

This morning I worked more on removing the rock mulch. I got about half of the rocks removed – 8'x2' worth. I filled the wheelbarrow, which deflated the tire and ran it off the rim when I tried to move it. Oops. Tanner loved that.

Then, I took pictures and posted the rocks for free on Craigslist. I was very skeptical that anyone would want the stupid rocks that I was trying so desperately to get rid of!

At the last minute, I also joined the Weatherford Freecycle group on Yahoo groups and posted the rocks on there.

I was SHOCKED at the number of responses I got. I received about four responses from Craigslist and 7 from Freecyle. I actually started to feel bad, knowing that only one person would get the rocks. I started to wish I had more rocks to go around, then realized that what I REALLY wished was I never had rocks to begin with.

Anyway, Tanner walked me through the agonizing, guilt-stricken process of deciding who to respond to and how long to wait to hear back from them before moving on, etc. The long and short of it is, someone came that day to get the rocks, and they are coming back tomorrow to get the second load that I plan to have done by the afternoon.

Awesome! While I got responses from Craigslist, I thought Freecyle was really cool, and I liked it better. The people were all extremely local, as in they lived in Weatherford, as opposed to Craiglists which goes to the whole DFW area. Also, because it is a Yahoo group, most subscribing group members get the postings delivered immediately to their inbox so you get responses much sooner. The other main difference between the two, is everything posted on Freecyle has to be FREE, duh. Craiglist is usually used for selling things. I wonder if people would have paid for my stupid rocks?

Now, for the other side of Freecycle, the side where you look for free stuff, I'm one who hates getting emails sent to my inbox from anywhere about anything because I already feel overwhelmed by the number of emails I get. Thankfully, joining didn't mean I have to be bombarded with emails about free Sony Walkmans and nonfunctioning toilets. I was able to adjust my personal settings on the group so that I have to log into Yahoo Groups to see the free-stuff posts. They don't come to my inbox. However, the direct messages people sent in response to my rock posting were sent right to my email inbox. Handy.

All in all, Freecyle rocks. You should look into it to see if there's a group for your area.

I'm hoping there will also be be people interested in the larger 3"-5" rocks from the planters that are surrounding our whole house! Who knew rocks were in such demand.

http://www.freecycle.org/

YOU Can Make the World a Better Place

Forget global warming.

Forget world peace.

If you really want to do something to make a difference for future generations,

If you really want to make the world a better place for your children,

Or, at the very least, if you want to avoid the SCORN of your children and keep future generations from CURSING your very name and BURNING an effigy of you in the streets,

Then good people of the Earth, DO NOT, I say DO NOT, use ROCKS as MULCH!!!

Rocks belong along riverbeds and lake shores. How lovely. You can skip them across the peaceful water, feel their cool smoothness in your hand, or accidentally hit your dog right in the noggin when you're aiming for a tree stump. (The fact that the dog is two feet in front of you and the intended tree stump is across the river is of no consequence.)

Rocks do not belong in your yard, and they certainly do not belong in a PLANT BED that was obviously, undeniable constructed for the exact and specific purpose of digging holes in the ground for in which to place plants.

I mean, hello, farmers curse the ground that is full of rocks. It breaks their plowshares and stubs their wittle toesies. Rocks + planting x cultivating = I'm very angry.

As you can see, the previous owners of our new home did not have someone as wise as myself to warn them of the curse they were casting on the innocents to come behind them.


Sunday was supposed to be spent planting my flower bulbs and some dewberries Susannah gave me. The harmless little layer of pebbles on the plant bed ended up being a malicious shield of pebbles at least several layers of the earth deep. I swear I got at least to the outer core.

I spent the better part of Sunday afternoon trying to remove the pebbles. I started out with a hand trowel, a kitchen sieve and a little bucket. Then, I realized that I pretty much wanted to shoot myself in eye. Then, I complained to Tanner, lamenting approximately 23 different ways about how stupid the previous owners were, how helpless I was and how my planter was doomed to a rocky death. Then, I wrote a short, sad ballad and played it for the dogs on the recorder I still have from my kindergarten music class at William B. Travis Elementary. Then I played Hot Cross Buns.

Then, I figured out a better solution. I took two wheelbarrows and set them side by side. Over one, I placed a metal grate that used to be on Tanner's utility vehicle. I took shovels full of dirt and dumped it on the grate, then, once I got a good pile, moved the rocks and dirt around until the dirt was sifted through. Then, I dumped the rocks into the other wheelbarrow and started all over again.

I was also battling a wild, killer onion with roots like spaghetti noodles that had taken over the planter.


Oh yeah, and for some reason, someone had buried plants in terracotta pots. In the ground. They put the plant in the pot, then buried the pot. So far, I've found four.


I spend several hours shoveling and sifting for rocks. It was kind of like sifting for gold, but more like the time when I was a child and swallowed a marble and had to poop in a bucket and someone had to sift through... never mind.

I made about 5 feet of progress that Sunday afternoon sifting for rocks.



The planter, which is along our shop, is 20 feet long.

There is a cumulative 113 feet surrounding the house that is also "mulched" with rocks.


I'd say I have a nice little project on my hands. (The rocks around the house are larger than the rocks around the shop, which are more like pebbles.)

And we have no clue what do with the rocks.

Any suggestions?

I don't know where the previous owners live, or else... never mind.

Before and After

Shrubberies

Is it just me, or did this bush by our side door look like one of those Komondor dogs?

Ya know, one of these:



Anyways, here's what it looked like after I got to it with some hedgers that Tanner
got me:


So our grass is dying in spots, but the bush looks a lot better! We also trimmed
the tree, but need to get back in there and get rid of all that new growth at the bottom.

Here are some more shaggy bushes. These were in the front:


Don't even get me started on where the Dish people decided to place the satellite:
right smack dab in the front of our yard. I wasn't there that day, needless to say.

Here's how it looked after I got done trimming:

I might have went a little bit overboard. But the goal was to give them a shape,
and then let them grow out to a more natural look.

Garden

Remember our wee garden?

Well here it is now:


It's out of control! Those are the cucumber plants that are growing
out of bounds. And that ridiculously tall weed looking thing on the left,
that's dill. I'm thinking I should trim it back, but not sure. We've got more
squash and zucchini than we know that to do with.
(Gosh, Happy, flip your ear over for goodness sake.)

Patio

Before, we were just a little country:



Now? We're those neighbors:

New Life

I am proud to announce that on Saturday, April 10th at 5:15PM Tanner and I were blessed with new life! Nope, I am not pregnant. I just like to blog in ways that give everyone our moms the opportunity to think that we might be pregnant. I need attention. Besides, how creepy would that be if I announced the exact date and time of the conception of our child. "Ohhh, that's why she didn't answer my phone call." TMI.

Nope, the new life was in fact a bundle of plants and seeds that have become our NEW (lywed) garden. It was similar to a birth, though, in that planting the garden involved the woman doing all the work while the man stood by watching and offering "helpful" suggestions.

Plants and herbs for our garden.

Too be fair, Tanner wasn't able to help, because of his sprained ankle. But he hopped on his redneck power skooter (the four-wheeler he's been using to get around the yard), grabbed a beverage, and cheered me on from the sidelines. While the above doesn't look like much, it quickly filled what we thought was a generous-sized garden. Turns out plants are all demanding and antisocial and want to be 12 to 24 inches away from each other. That eats up a lot of space. So, our eyes were bigger than our garden, oh well. The plants were really inexpensive at our local store, Dillards, ($1 per vegetable plant, $1.75 per herb plant) so it was OK with us that a couple plants didn't make the cut.

Of course, Tanner tilled up the garden last weekend, which was a lot of hard work. I was mysteriously absent for that part. I think I was inside the house doing all our laundry by hand and making homemade cultured buttermilk. Or I was watching L.A. Ink on DVR. I can't remember which. This Saturday, Tanner and I planned out the arrangement of the garden together, (naturally, Tanner had the best vantage point to determine the layout, as he was perched atop his hillbilly wheelchair throne), then I dug holes and planted, fertilized, and watered. We ended up with (starting from the back and working our way forward) eight tomato plants (eight plants bearing a vegetable that makes me gag), carrots (these were seeds), banana peppers, jalapenos, some kind of mild green pepper that looks like a jalapeno, cucumbers, zucchini squash, and yellow squash. Zucchini is the diva of the garden. She can NOT be within 6 feet of another zucchini. Pah-leeze.

For the wee herb garden, I got some dill, oregano, basil, cilantro, thyme, and rosemary. Unfortunately, I left the rosemary at Dillards, and ever since then I have been scheming some non-confrontational way to go back and get it. A normal person might be honest. Ya know, walk in and explain how you paid for your rosemary but accidentally left it at the store. But since I'm irrationally afraid they won't believe me and will force me to fork over another whopping $1.75, the temporary plan is to steal a plant from the sidewalk. But it's not really stealing, I paid for it!

I'm pretty happy with the results so far of our first garden. Tanner's friend Scott will be adopting two jalapeno plants who didn't quite fit. I hope he gives them a good home. And we'll be planting some okra in a large pot. That will be a crap shoot. The spinach and spaghetti squash seeds didn't fit, so we'll plant them in late summer or early fall. I was a little disappointed when, after all my hard work, the plants hadn't sprouted any vegetables by Sunday morning. But, I guess I'll give them a little more time to prove themselves. I'm just glad we didn't plant all seeds, like Tanner's other friend Jason, who says he has ONE sprout to show as of yet for all his troubles.

Another plant related thing (the last for a while, I promise), here are some of the Indian Paintbrushes growing on our street and some of the bluebonnets around our River Haus. It's wildflower time in Texas!

What's Growin' On

Here's a few little things that have been growing at our place lately:

Dahlia Starsister
I got this at Lowe's, and I have not killed it yet. I've got 5 blooms going so far, and
4-5 more buds. I hope it attracts some hummingbirds. Note, in looking up care
for this flower on the Web, I read something ridiculous on some state Extension
site about preparing the soil by putting it in the oven or a pressure cooker...does
anyone really do that kind of thing???

"Rhythm and Blues" Petunia
Another bright flower to attract hummingbirds. This, I got at Home Depot. I'm
trying to spread the wealth. Actually, I'm much rather buy local ("Shop Weatherford
First" is a new motto I've seen around town), but haven't had a chance yet to scope
out the local nurseries. This is in a hanging planter on the front porch.

Italian Flat-Leaf Parsley
This little guy doesn't have much room to grow. But if he takes off (AKA, if I don't
kill him) I'll transplant him to the garden. Wait, "what garden?" you say. (Please,
just play along. I'm fragile. Feign interest. Please.) Well, inquiring minds, this garden...


Southern view.

Western view.
(Honestly I'm amazed that I can determine the directions without a compass.
Well, really I don't even know how to use a compass. I just know that our satellite
points west. Cuz even that "sun rises in the east, sets in the west" thing usually
doesn't work for me, cuz I get them switch-swapped.)

Tanner and his dad tilled and fenced this area of our horse pasture over Easter weekend for our new garden. It was chocked full of delicious horse poopy. Apparently plants like that kind of thing. We've also got some lovely years-old decayed hay mixed with poopy that we will be adding to this before we plant this weekend. Man, makes you want to eat some veggies doesn't it! Doesn't it? Bring on the poopy! I mean vegetables!

On the agenda this weekend is heading over to our local feed and seed store, Dillards, in downtown Weatherford. I'm hoping we can also incorporate a lunch at the Weatherford Downtown Cafe, which I've been wanting to check out. All of these well-laid plans might be slightly impeded by this:

Tanner's sprained and swollen ankle.

Tanner's explanation for this injury, and his two previous serious ankle sprains: "I have skinny ankles, and I'm always doing something stupid."

I appreciated his sister's response, "Well, it's hard to argue with that!"