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Because when your local nursery has a buy one get one free geranium sale…
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You bogo the hell out of that and fill your car.
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And your kitchen counter.
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And drop geraniums everywhere there isn’t one.
Empty corner?
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Not anymore.
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BOGO
Tag Archives: gardening
Stone garden border project… day 2, disagreement 2.
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I was helping.
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In so far as the husband would let me help… with what was my idea to begin with. That’s usually how things go at Casa River. I want to do something and come up with a plan… then the husband gets involved and does it completely his way.
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Granted he knows more about stone wall building… but I had a vision ya know?
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I like weird looking rocks, like this bird’s head skeleton I placed in the corner ….
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And these two that look like ham steaks. I wanted them prominently placed to give the border some quirk and character.
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So of course the husband moved all three and buried them. When I said something? He got ticked off and told me I can let him build it or hire someone else to do exactly what I want… and believe me that’s tempting.
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I love my husband. I do. He’s a wonderful man. But it would be nice if we could a work project together… in harmony, like we used to. Whether it’s male menopause, adjusting to retired life or basic old man crankiness .. lately he tests my patience to the point where I just have to walk away. Why must every difference of opinion turn into a fight? It’s exhausting.
Do you work well with your spouse/significant other. Or do you have to take a hike as well?
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Stone garden border project… day 1, disagreement 1.
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Work began on the perennial bed stone border recently… though not without incident.
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The existing bed measured 10×20… and when I first discussed the project with my husband I told him I wanted to expand it by at least 4 feet due to the apple tree that took up residence a decade ago. He heard me, but clearly didn’t care.
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Because when I looked outside the other day and saw him staking off level lines at the edge of the dirt… I said something.
Big mistake.
Huge.
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He heatedly explained the stone needed to be laid on flat earth and if I wanted him to do it, they would be laid inside the bed border. Period. End of discussion. Numerous hours of anger to follow.
Ladies? Never doubt the existence of male menopausal mood swings. They’re real.
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His way means I lose a good foot on every side, making my garden bed 4 foot smaller instead of larger. Not what I wanted. Not what I’d planned.
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But apparently what I’m getting.
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It’s hard to argue when I’m clearly not the one doing the majority of work. And I’m sure it will be lovely when completed…
But it would be nice if just once, we could come to an agreement without acrimony.
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Random nonsense
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Have you seen the new yellow watermelons at the grocery store?
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I had to try one… and to be honest I wasn’t that impressed. The texture was a little strange and I don’t think it was nearly as sweet as the red.
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No wonder it always looks like dolphins are having fun. They’re high.
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I’ve had this houseplant on a window shelf for years. I can’t remember the name, but it’s always been a small steady presence…until this month when it decided to grow long tentacles and turn into an alien. If I disappear from WordPress suddenly? You’ll know why.
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Don’t think raccoons are accomplished acrobats? I beg to differ.
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We’re dry in Maine. Unusually dry for this time of year. As in parts of our lawn are crunching and half the state is in drought conditions. Me? I’m still dragging 300 feet of hose out to the back 40 to keep our new trees alive. It seems we just can’t win when it comes to picking a time to plant.
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Whaaat! Not my ice cream.
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Whew. Only Floridian ice cream.
Sorry Florida..
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What’s blooming?
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This week at the Casa River gardens…
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Pink Astible. Guaranteed woodchuck proof, they hate it.
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A new hot pink bee balm I just planted. Dark red and purple are common, this one is as bright as a peony.
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My little rose is hanging in, but not quite as full as previous years. Fertilizer is on the shopping list.
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The geraniums are wonderful this year. Our local nursery is about to have a half price sale. This could be dangerous.
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A line of Stella Doro day lilies. Smaller than other varieties but still a nice burst of color.
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If there’s one within a hundred miles, I will find it.
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If you remember from a previous post, I’m highly susceptible to the dreaded brown tail moth rash. Seriously, if there’s one of those little bastards in my neighborhood, my town or even my county… it will find me and make me pay.
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Their hairs are microscopic and if you come in contact? You’ll know it within a few hours. Which is what happened to me after weeding my perennial bed the other day, even though I wore gloves and made a point to avoid brushing up against the tree.
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My knee…
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And arm a few hours after showering. I had the rash on my legs, my back, my stomach, my arms and especially my right knee. That section of flesh was positively on fire with uncontrollable itching… and by the next day?
* warning – if you’re eating while reading this, you might want to skip the next picture *
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My right knee looked like Mount Vesuvius, and not in a good way. Failing to understand why this particular body part suffered such an extreme reaction, I examined the pillow I was crouching on and sure enough… I had squished a moth to death on the right side and ground his toxic hairs deep into my epidermis.
Life has not really been worth living this week, and if you happen to have any extra rough grade sandpaper lying around… feel free to send it my way so I can rip off what’s left of my skin.
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The wrong kind of weed.
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Now that we had my longed for pallet of stones, it was time to attack the garden of weeden .
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Since the damage to my knee, I try to avoid anything that has to be done in a crouched or kneeling position but I’d put this off for two years and if pain was the price I had to pay for a new perennial bed? So be it.
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An hour and a half in, I was sore.
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Two and a half hours in I was popping Tylenol and Motrin like Jelly Bellies.
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At the end of the day my knee was creaking like the front door of a haunted house, but it was done. A 10 x 20 patch of virgin soil, ready for a stone border and planting.
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Rockin’ and slowly rollin’.
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We took a short break for lunch after getting the first half of stone stacked at home and then headed back out for the rest.
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Me.
Dirty, hot, and sweaty but smiling ear to ear because I was surrounded by rocks.
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While the yard man was picking up the second half of our stones with the forklift, my husband met a Marine. And if that wasn’t bad enough… he was also a fellow Vietnam Veteran. Much talking ensued. Sooo much talking. By the time they were done gabbing and ready to spread the rocks in the truck bed, the husband decided he didn’t want to go to the extra trouble and told the kid to just set it down as is.
I disagreed. Vocally and quite loudly. Naturally, I was ignored. I lamented hurting his new (old as dirt) truck and kept saying it wasn’t worth the risk of straining the engine and suspension. For that? I got ‘the look’. You know the one, the “how dare you question my manly logic?” look.
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We drove the 25 odd miles home on the back roads at 30mph with a squatted rear end and an overheating engine. The truck strained big time and we realized this second load was much closer to 2,000 lbs than the 1,500 we thought. 5 miles from home the temperature gauge was pegging out. I begged him to stop, but no. I swear at that point he would rather have blown his engine than admit I was right.
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We made it home, barely. With a smoking hood and a radiator that was literally boiling. I could hear it… he couldn’t (because he’s half deaf in one ear, thank you USMC) ergo it wasn’t happening.
Men!
You really are a ridiculous species.
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As the truck temperature came down from surface of the sun hot, we got back to work…
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And made a lovely little pyramid of stone. We’re definitely going to need another pallet or two to complete my vision of the perfect garden border. He says no, but trust me this is nowhere near enough.
Can’t say that I’m looking forward to another trip like that though.
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So we bought some rocks.
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After a full day of shopping for rocks…. the sheer joy of it made my heart sing!…. a decision was made and we returned the next day to make our purchase.
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I tried unsuccessfully to talk the husband into a few prime boulders…
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But settled for a pallet of fieldstone. Rule #1 of working with stone? If someone agrees to build you a garden border… don’t push your luck.
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Because the husband’s new (read – old as dirt) truck only has a a half ton capacity and a pallet weighs 3,000 lbs… I wanted to have the stone delivered. But the fee was $150 so my thrifty spouse wanted no part of that. The compromise? Split open the wire, divide the bundle and spread half the weight in the bed.
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This was hot, dirty work but we made the first trip home safely.
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And then stacked the rocks in the garden they’ll be bordering.
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1,500lbs of stone seems like a lot more when you have to keep moving them.
To be continued…
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What’s blooming?
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My favorite flower is in full bloom.
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It’s peony time!
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For a bright burst of color you really can’t beat them.
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And the fragrance? Heavenly….
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They also make a nice backdrop for pictures of his lordship.
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River's world..... 