Knocking Out the List for Spring

Seems like time flies so much faster the older I become. All of a sudden, it’s as if I need two clones. Spring has brought a list of Honey-Do items for us this year. But Mother Nature appears to have decided she wanted to make a game out of it all with great challenges. Many outside tasks and the object of the game is to get them all done in between all the downpours of rain. Go figure! Sunday was a day of rest for my hubby. God knows – he deserves that much, at the very least! I mowed about four acres while he enjoyed watching the NASCAR race on television. Up to this point – we have managed to get our 35’ x 48’ vegetable garden plowed, tilled and fenced. Somehow – that looks and sounds so petty in print – compared to all that was required to get that accomplished. In actuality – it took an evening when Jay came by with his tractor to do the initial plowing. We made a trip to Maryville (my first since last November) and brought home a brand-new tiller and power washer (to clean, re-stain and re-seal the house and porches). We spent more than two hours waiting in line at Monterey Mushrooms for a load of mushroom compost. Brought it home and got it spread over the garden area. Broke in the new tiller with three passes before nightfall. In between all that – one other trip to Maryville for a doctor’s appointment resulted in bringing home two Belle of Georgia Peach trees. We spent the next day finishing up with getting the fence set up around the vegetable garden. Afterward – we got two 12’ circles tilled and planted a peach tree in the center of each one of them. Besides the leftover compost in the bed of the pickup that we were able to scrape out – I shoveled ‘leftovers’ into the wheelbarrow from one of the stalls in the barn that the previous owners never got around to cleaning up. It was an effort like killing two birds with one stone – no pun intended. We need that stall for the chickens we’ll be ordering very soon. And it made for some very good aged compost matter that the peach trees and flowers will love – without a doubt! The UPS guy showed up while we were in the middle of our digging. He brought the new quilt and shams I purchased for our guest bedroom. That gave me an opportunity to forewarn him that three ‘Navajo’ blackberry bushes and a ‘Pink Lady’ apple tree are expected to arrive within the next week or two. At this moment – we have to be grateful that we made it as far as getting the two peach trees in the ground. Come Wednesday morning – we woke up to constant downpour of rain. And we’re being told it’s in the forecast for the next three days before we get a break. Rain is a good thing. We’ll take it! But we have more tilling to do as soon as we get a chance – which may come after Dwayne gets back to work and gets his next run of days off. We need areas tilled for the blackberry bushes and the apple tree. I can only hope we’re able to get it done before they arrive! I have no problem dealing with getting things planted by myself – if Dwayne can get the spots tilled! Somewhere in the mix – we have to get the garden planted. And then comes finishing up with cleaning out the stall for the chickens. Dwayne is already measuring his plans for building the nesting boxes, roosts and ladders. At the rate we’re going – we just may get the heaviest portion taken care of before Tax Day. Everybody recommends waiting until then to do the safest garden planting. Hopefully – all the efforts will bring many blessings!