Because apparently I need that kind of validation.
Or is it that I just have a big head?
Who knows. Oprah says it's that all people, in their core, just want to be seen and know their words matter to others.
Of course, I love Oprah and I made the mistake of watching her three final episodes back-to-back just to torture myself and cry for three hours straight.
*clearly a sign of my ignorance*
Apparently I suffer from tangent-itis. I apologize.
Or not.
You can deal.
*insert laughter*
SO, I smell like ammonia and I need to purchase a zillion gallons of vinegar, but in the meantime, I'll show you what I have been up to. I started with this:
A big hole surrounded by boulders. I needed quite a bit of dirt to fill this area. Super-smart-super-mom decides to use this:
...and walk all the way back there...
...well, back HERE...
...to get dirt out of that sandy spot in the middle there. Fill that bucket, walk all the way back, fill the boulder-hole-thing and repeat as necessary. No big deal right?
After more than a dozen trips back and forth after discovering my upper body strength was not going to allow more than half the five gallon bucket to be full while carrying this great distance, I ended up with this:
*grimace*
*huff and puff*
*collapse from heat stroke*
Because, you know, I was BRILLIANT! I started this job at noon. In the desert of New Mexico. It took more than half an hour to get it full that much!
And typical of my life, I had to kick out the prior resident before I could even begin.
I kept on truckin'.
And trucked some more.
And trucked on some more until I felt like I was going to die for an hour. I was finally able to mix in some garden soil so my plants would have more to feed on than sand, clay and rock.
Then I sprinkled in some plant food, threw in some rocks, watered it down and let this sit overnight.
I let this sit overnight because I didn't want to do anymore.
This is as much of the hole as I filled up. It's still a hole in the backyard. Bad Boy has been ordered to fill it. I filled up half of it. AND did the flowerbed with my own two hands (and back, and legs, and shoulders, and arms).
I am officially a wet noodle.
A sunburned, wet noodle.
Trust me. I'm smokin' hot right now!
This morning, before the sun was bearing down on my little flowerbed and the temperatures soared to 5,672 degrees by ten in the morning, I went out and took these plants:
...and planted them!
These were given to me for Mother's Day by The Literary Musician's grandmother on her father's side. The same one that gave me the Sun Gold Tomatoes!
In the back, the tall one, those are Daylilies. They will get to be about two feet tall and two feet wide and blooms really pretty yellow-orange-y flowers.
In the back left corner and the front right corner, I have planted Sedum (or Autumn Joy). These will get up to three feet tall and two feet wide, bloom in the fall orange-y flowers. These may have to be moved later on, but for now, they're staying put.
So there!
The two flowers in the middle are both Dianthus. They will get to be about two feet tall and ten inches wide. They may or may not survive the winter.
Yes. We have real winters here. We may not get a lot of snow, but we do get below zero degrees fahrenheit pretty regularly.
So we shall see. If not, I'll just plant something else there if I still have "holes" in the area next spring. Of course, the rest of the plants get pretty big, so who knows.
Right in front, real low on the surface of the bed, is a Hen and Chicks plant. This thing won't need water very often and will grow in anything and survive just about anything. So it will spread around in here and occasionally shoot up some blooms about six inches high. I'll probably even see this growing through the cracks in between the boulders one day.
Next to the larger flower bed in the corner, I planted this Salvia. It will get to be about three feet by three feet and shoot up these really pretty blue-purple flower-spikes. It's growing pretty rapidly in comparison to the others, so I planted it where I wanted it. I only surrounded it with rocks to make the darn thing more noticeable for the time being. I really don't need children tripping and running into it.
In the green container between the Salvia and my personally made flowerbed (thank you very much!), I kept the Coleus.
This is an annual that will fill up this pot throughout the summer and show off it's pretty purple and green leaves. I don't think I'll be keeping this pot in that area, but for the time being, my little corner of the courtyard now looks like this:
...at ten in the morning. Of course, by noon, it will be bright and sunny and then my flowers will get big and tall and gorgeous.
Because I don't kill ANYTHING EVER!
*clears throat*
So then I ordered Bad Boy to mow the grass even though most of it wasn't ready. The poor grass that has been thriving and getting really tall was running out of oxygen, so off to work he went.
And I received the best gift a mother like me could ask for.
*swoon*
Now... off to shower, aloe my skin and ice my aching back. It was totally worth it!
I think. ;-P
No comments:
Post a Comment