Define Vacation For Me!

 The sad rose at the end of the bed I worked on yesterday is now trimmed, weeded, and mulched.  I use old dog food bags under rocks and roses love them.  I trimmed a large enough hole to feed and water the rose if it needs it, otherwise, this will help it take care of itself.  I think I could've taken a straighter picture

So it's taken me two mornings,or more, before the heat rolled in to get one half of one side of the house weed free.

This is the relationship of my water garden to the rock patio I did last week.  You can see why the water stays ragged...the pets think it's their personal playground and I don't have the heart to stop them.  I can watch the dogs chase frogs from the porch or from right beside the water garden on the bench a friend made.

My other project this morning was cleaning this off the old house.  Many saplings and a huge grape less vine had taken over, along with vinca.  I saved the vinca for another day.

Same spot, finished!  I did three sides of the old house where Dad grew up and where I lived at a very young age.  Have to trim this all back because there are many repairs to be done.  I finished three sides before I had to come in and cool.

The temperature has reached 80 degrees, feels like a cold front.

If you think I didn't do much, here's my pile of proof.

No snakes, no wasps (bothering me), no injuries (a few cuts and scratches that don't count) and I did it all in my handy dandy little rubber shoes...almost as much fun as flip flops.  Gosh, I'm tired!

The Things I Did

after work Saturday should have sweated the rest of the sick outta me.  I made piles.  Oh, the pleasure I had watching those piles grow.  Do you have a place around your house, where you just lay something til later and later never comes?   This is a collection of some of those piles: a broken flower pot, sun worn ice cream buckets used to hold small bits, an old box I was going to use and a chair broken during the ice storm that I was going to fix...

The yard crew (Hubby and Beverly) was mowing yesterday.  East of the house, near the old tractor tire water garden, a copperhead snake was spotted but escaped.  This guy is poison and we do not really like having one this close to the house.  Heck, we don't like having them at all!

Today after work, I tackled the jungle.  My goal to clear the way for easy snake spotting, open it up for easier mowing and pick up some damaged things I had not disposed of yet.  I wish I had taken before pictures but you can measure the piles and imagine the befores because I only have afters.

The elderberries had taken over around the water garden.  Something is eating the limbs so off they came.  A super thinning of plant life took place or a butchering, depends on how you look at it.

This USED to be a great sweeping, beautiful Texas or Blackberry Rose.  I believe I shared some pictures of its blooms.  Well, there ain't no blooms now!  In the heart of this bush is where the copperhead chose to rest when he was spotted yesterday.

Now I have two, no, three big piles full of plantain, violets, blackberry rose and elderberries topped with sticks, dead pecans and limbs and debris from the old tractor tire.  It is over ninty degrees and the humidity is 76%.  I am not sweating like a horse, I am lathered.

You can see around the tire!!!!  The refilling water is clear!  No snakes in site but I did find a marvelously, huge bull frog in my hostas and welcomed him.  Hope I did not scare him off.

Hostas visible, lillies visible, rocks visible...just a  mere few hours later.  This was my resting spot on the log, I would sit and drink a tall cool drink as I pondered my next move.

I have seen the elephant and he is bare!  He was covered with Virginia Creeper.  It is not perfect by any means but much closer.  The plow share is visible and all/most snake hidey holes are gone.

This is on the east side of the lodge and welcomes the morning sun.  Now I can greet the morning sun in relative safety...in this hard won spot.  Man, I am pooped!

 You can read about The Old Tractor Tire by typing the words into my search at the upper left hand side of page.