But to be fair, having those holidays off means I have a lot of catching up to do when I get back to my office, and often when I have several days off in succession, I barely come up for a gasp of air once our building is open after the holiday. Its a trade off, to be sure. But one I gladly make.
So, as if turns out I had Tuesday and Wednesday off last week, and was also off yesterday and today. You want to know what the heck I did with all that time, don't you? Well.... truth be told I did not stay home and eat bon-bons on my couch. I've been busy!
I'm sure you'll all remember "Sharpie"....
Well, I am glad to say that our little friend found a home! I took her to my vet on Wednesday, and aside from a skin infection she's in generally good health. My vet guesses her to be about 8 months old, and he absolutely loved her personality. Very happy, curious and sweet little dog.
After speaking to a co-worker about "Sharpie", she and her husband came over on Saturday to meet her. They fell in love, and took her home. I am happy to say that "Lilly" is now loving her new home, and even got to go out on the boat with her new mom and dad. YAY LILLY!!!
Speaking of Saturday... we had some dirt delivered for the yard and garden that morning...
A lot of dirt.
In fact... it was 18 cubic yards of dirt.
That's a lot of freaking dirt. Just look at that pile! And there's still some in the truck that the driver has to dump out yet. It was going to be a long Easter weekend.
We needed to fill some holes and depressions that were worsened by the extremely wet winter we had here in Georgia, and of course we needed to prep the vegetable garden for this summer. So we (of course my darling husband helped) filled the wheel barrow, pushed the wheel barrow, dumped the wheel barrow (lather, rinse, repeat!) many times. Until we got to the really big ditch/hole/depression in the yard. Then we hooked the dumper to the riding mower and moved mountains of dirt that way!
Then it was on to tilling and filling the garden.
Yes. We have a garden. And why the heck not when you have an acre of property? I think its a nice small garden... but when I tell people its about 12 ft x 25 ft they gasp and say cute, endearing suburban things like "WOW! You must live out in the country!" or "You take care of that yourself?"
Just to clarify....I do not live "way out in the country"... there is a Starbucks about two miles from my mailbox. And yeah, my husband and I take care of that big, scary garden all by ourselves, no day laborers required. Seriously, can people not figure out how tomatoes work? And that they can be grown in the actual ground in a yard? I digress...
The goal of the dirt mountain moving is to get the beds from looking like this, after a long winter of neglect...
sadly, those are weeds. lots. of. weeds.
To this, with some raking and pulling of weeds....
To THIS! Once the tilling, filling and planting is done.
Currently however, there are no plants. This picture is from last summer. Nevertheless, earth was added and tilled and the beds look great, but no plants yet. We tend to wait until the last week of April, to be sure there is zero chance of frost killing our precious plant progeny (say it three times fast!).
I did manage to get some seeds planted though, for late spring/early summer veggies. This morning I planted two kinds of beans (a French pole bean, and some sort of bush bean) along with carrots, radishes, spinach and a mixed lettuce. I have never grown green beans before, so this should be an adventure. And radishes are new for me, too, but only take 25 days to harvest which was appealing to me. If you want kids to get involved with gardening... radishes and lettuce are your best bet. Super fast-growing so kids stay interested!
Growing lettuce from seed has to be one of my favorite things about having a garden... almost as soon as it's germinated you can eat it. I can literally pick my lunch in the morning, fresh from my own garden... only taking as many leaves of lettuce as I need. The rest is all there waiting for me out in the fresh air when I get home... and not smelly and wilty in the veggie bin of the fridge.
In another couple of weeks we will plant zucchini and yellow squash, peppers and possibly eggplant or a couple other things. The peppers need all summer to grow, and squash start and finish rather early. Once the squash wrap up their season, we'll plant tomatoes. I am counting the days....
Easter Sunday I baked and cooked for the family (husband, sister, and our parents). Beef tenderloin, fanned potatoes, rosemary butter roles and grilled asparagus. Carrot cake for dessert. It was an outstanding meal!
I rode my pony... Alfie was happy enough to see me, but was no so excited to work once we got out to the ring. We worked on his listening skills, which are horribly lacking. Lots of circles, figure 8's, changes of direction, etc. so he was on his toes and paying attention to me and not the pile of poles on the ground outside the ring that week after week after week are the scariest things ever. But Alfie's been off all winter, and with more consistent work I know he'll improve. He's shedding like a mammoth, and is in need of a spa day after a winter outside. And oh... that scraggly mane...
I also (no... not done yet...) worked on some printable materials for an equestrian organization I am volunteering my time to. Its a grass roots organization that takes the donations it receives and passes it along to organizers who run Classic Format Events in the form of grants. Even though I have yet to compete in a USEA recognized event, I dream of someday running a classic... its what I fell in love with when I went to watch the Foxhall Cup about 8 years ago. I'm no where near ready to compete in one now, so I support the organization that helps these events financially so that they will still be around for me and Alfie when we are ready.
The documents I've produced are pretty snazzy, if I do say so myself, but its been tougher to get done than I initially thought it would be. Many revisions later, we seem to be happy with the "flyer", the donation form and a few other pieces I made. The goal is to make sure they are all identifiably "ours"... fonts, colors, logos are all cohesive throughout the materials. More are in the works, too. Even though that feels like a part time job unto itself, I am glad to lend my support in the best way I know how.
So that's what I've done with my time off. And walk the dogs a mile each morning. And made my husband dinner on the days I was off. And started the arduous task of swapping out winter clothes for summer... there is never room for it all in the Wee House. I would have liked to play "Lady Of Leisure"... and once in a while I do on my days off... but not this go 'round. And I find, strangely, that I have really enjoyed this time off more so than days when I lounge around in my pj's until 1 o'clock in the afternoon. I've accomplished a lot, and it feels good!
No comments:
Post a Comment