Gardens, personal injury and allowing help.

I'm just gonna go ahead and say that this long weekend was one of the best I've seen in a long time.

The weather was SO nice.  I was SO free of commitments yet I managed to pack a ton into the days.  I suffered a tragic gardening accident, a sad reminder that my Mom is always right and I shouldn't garden in flip flops.  There is always a 100 year old steel rake just waiting to be stepped on.    Once I seek the required medical attention and get a tetanus shot all will be well AND I was forced to accept some help with the garden so all around people were happy.

And right now I'm capping it all off, typing outdoors on my deck with a bottle of beer, waiting for dinner to be prepared and brought to me.  Pretty much the best.

Amazing

My garden is coming along like craaaaazy.  My only real regret is that I don't have an awesome camera to get really good pictures.

So here is the large front bed.   There are three huge hostas coming up so that one is fairly maintenance free.   A little weeding here and there but nature just kinda takes it's course.   My original plan was to let the Veronica spread over the stones but now I'm thinking that I really like how it simply edges the bed.  So I think I will plant lots of thyme to fill in the gaps.

This little area is the butterfly garden.  I lost my butterfly bush over the winter so I replaced it with a lupin.  I am yet to successfully grow lupin.  Not because of dogs or bugs but because for some horrible reason I always step on it and destroy it.   More is popping up so I'm pretty giddy about that!   That said, I'm trying really hard to to fret about the ability of the phlox to grow over the mountain of mulch.  Deep breath...doesn't have to be perfect.   My area is terrible for pollinators so it's so awesome to see all of the bees and butterflies in the summer.

The middle here was an afterthought of last year and expanded quite a bit.  I decided to plop some potted geraniums and trailing verbena in the middle of it.  Potted plants always look so sad in the beginning.  Assuming I actually remember to water them they should look quite lovely.  The border of the driveway I just try to avoid looking at.  Not sure why I thought planting garlic was a good idea.  I just want to till the whole area and week, alas, can't until early July when the garlic is harvested.   Also depends if the gangrene takes over.  Hard to do this with one foot.

This is just a wee little bed at the front.  I'm amazed I didn't totally fuck up transplanting peonies. They even have little flowers waiting to bloom.  I also planted some marigolds I planted from seed.  I would like to see what colours they are.  Tres exciting.

Here is the entrance way to the backyard.  I almost lost my shit when I realized that the clematis I planted last year wasn't the same.  Not the same colour or timing of blooms.  So I yanked em out and instead morning glories will take their place.  I also hate the stones so I have been slowly taking them out, to be replaced with a stonecrop.

And finally my veggie garden.

I love how clean and neat it all is.   Don't get me wrong, it'll be a crazy mess in about a month.  But I love how everything is in it's place.

I also bought this hot pepper plant.  Any vegetable that has warnings on the tag is alright in my books!

All should be well assuming that the greatest gardening menace doesn't escape the backyard

Dear Derby. I am conflicted.

I'm starting to now really feel the effect that this derby thing is having over my life.   Turns out it demands quite a bit out of my life.  It's very much like a committed relationship.

A smothering relationship that literally bruises me.  Repeatedly.

So I ask myself.  Am I any good?   Well, objectively speaking the answer is a firm No.   I'm not being hard on myself.  I am being realistic.   I'm also being realistic when I say that I am giving this shit 100%.   I always leave the arena a sweaty mess.   These days I am repeatedly hit.  Two hours, getting checked.     When I think back to my first few weeks where I couldn't stand for more than five minutes before wiping out and bruising my tail bone it amazes me how much I have improved.   My first 25 in 5 I managed 6 laps.  Now I'm averaging 22.   Can I deliver a quality, legal full body hit?  Hahaha.  Not even close.  Can I give a mediocre lower hit?  Yep!   I can now confidently slowplow, often times so well that my wheels make that awwwwwwwwwesome sound.  Yesterday I did 20 real sit ups in 1 minute.  Would a fit person laugh when I boast about that?  Yep!  But holy shit, I haven't been able to even a single one in years.   That right there is amazeballs.     Am I derby skating good?  hahaha.  No.  Could I rock a roller rink on family days?  Absolutely!

I have been making every effort to constantly remind myself of my improvements rather than focusing on the losses.   It's a process and in my case it's a slower one.    Minimums testing is right around the corner and I would be extremely surprised if I passed.   No matter how hard I try there are still things I just can't get.    Third times the charm!  The first time around I passed all of the derby skills but few of the skating skills.   This time I am really excited to see how many MORE of the the skating skills I pass.  I have some that I think I might pass and some I know I wont.  I am looking forward to getting an objective assessment


So what the problem?

Well, currently it's a lot of time.  I have derby practice and soon it will be four hours a week.  I see a  derby trainer individuall and will be starting  kettlebell classes soon.  I'm running again to improve my cardio and even joined a 5K.  I eat for derby, work out six days a week for derby.  Time.  Time that I love.  Time that, for the most part, I will move mountains for.  Lots of time.  And I have to take away other time to make way for this time.

It really is a personal life crusher.

And it's just going to get busier.   But while weighing the pros and cons of continuing it always weighs in derby's favour.

Kaa...BANG

That is the sound of my heart exploding.


I'm always amazed at how much love I am capable of in a short period time.  Like those wise motherfuckers, Mumford and Sons say, I will love with urgency and not with haste.

Oh, hello there, Leroy!

Three hours it took for me to capture this, the only picture of the three of us together.  These dogs never stop moving.

I NEED to dog nap this dog.  

Good times

A quiet Friday night plus rewatching Sons of Anarchy equals just about the best ever.  A baby doobe ain't a bad idea either.

Happy Weekend to the world.

That wonderful smell of worms.

Having recently discovered Dave Van Ronk and the weather starting to cooperate I am fairly certain I have finally reached a zen state.


Typically,  by this time of year I have already done so much outside.  It's just been so wet and dreary and COLD that has been hard to muster the enthusiasm to do anything.  But Spring is here, perhaps to stay and I am so invigorated and rejuvenated that I want to stay out all.day.long.  I'm also a wee bit  ambitious this year so I am trying to figure out a way to create a vertical gardening concept without spending a single penny.  It'll  look silly but it should get the job done.

So this is what I'm planting.

Beans
Tomatoes-beef steak and bonny best.
Swiss Chard
Butternut squash-not optimistic
cucumbers
Watermelon-not optimistic
Zucchini-
Red peppers-hopeful
peas
kohlrabi
brocolli - first time

I have a wonderful big bay window and I managed to get some really nice looking seedlings of  Morning Glories, marigolds, my tomatoes, cucumber and the squashes.   Here are some of the seedlings DYING to be planted.  Seriously.  My goddamned cats who happen to be the shittiest cats I have ever known are systematically destroying them.

My front yard is still a work in progress.   Mowing the lawn is a chore I hate.   I'll do it, but it sucks.  Gardening is something I adore.  Why not simplify life a bit and just get rid of the grass and make it into something that gives me pleasure.  So, my goal is for it to eventually be grass free and a giant perennial  garden.  But that's a lotta work and a lotta mulch so slow and steady.  Still, I am so excited about it.  This time of year it's very much a clean slate but lots of stuff popping up, bigger and better.

That said, I am not sure what I am going to do with a large part of it.  As you can see there is a lot of space in need of inspiration and I'm just trying to figure out what to do with it.

AND ugh ugh...I decided last year that I didn't like the black mulch.  So I decided to do natural mulch AND I HATE IT.  So I think I'm going to try to find a darker mulch.   If not, back to black.

The back yard?  *sigh*  Now, at the end of the day my deck is one of my favourite places to be in the evening.  The best.  So I'll continue to fight for some grass but not lose too much sleep over it.

I have a fairly complex relationship with gardening.   I think it's a healthy obsession.  I am well aware of how much work it can be and it can be reeeeeaaallllllllyyyyy frustrating BUT.....god....I get gardening catalogues for chrissakes.  It is literally NEVER done so there is always something more that needs to be done.


And now, after the longest of winters I can finally begin.



-

Leaving Gary behind.

I am a huge fan of these types of youtube videos

immeeeeeeeltingggg


God, these dogs.  Just love.  They do nothing wrong.  Ever.

Unlike Gary.......


Baby lock #3...note the cat toy behind him...that he ate.

This youtube dogs are perfect gentlemen.  They always listen.  They never put muddy paws on the furniture and I am super duper sure they have never EVER done something as outrageously heinous as this...

And this is why Jesus created Boarding facilities.   So people like me can get the hell outta town without worry.  So that we get a break from the puppy insanity.   You know what?  I bet this lil'bastard will be so overcome with emotion upon my return that he will never ever ever misbehave again.   Ever.



....record sccccratch......



Oh shit...what if he thinks I abandoned him?!?!?

Aaaand now I'm worried.     Sure, I had vetted the joint fairly well and it comes highly recommended by many folks at the dog park AND he has been there before.   BUT...at the end of the day it is just a business.  Will he get affection?   What if the other dogs are mean to him?


Now all I see is this this face, begging to be loved.

Love me

Don't leave me

Pleeeeeese love me

I am not totally irrational, I am aware that dogs are dogs and only their people humanize them with these sentimentalities but I am totally convinced that Gary is the best person I have ever known.  Yeah, yeah...he's a bastard...but he means well.    All of a sudden I care very little about the destroyed back yard.  I don't really care that he chases the cats (I hate those cats, anyway).  All I can think about is him being bullied by another dog....and that terrible time I yelled at him for chewing a bone on the couch, when he WASN'T chewing on a bone on a couch.


I think this will be good for me.  I'm clearly off the rails on this one....especially since you will notice that I am not at all concerned about the girls also being gone.    

Mother of the Year for the win!!!  

Gahhhhh HAHAHA

This is the best way to start an awesome weekend.

Can't.stop.watching.


BEST.EVER!