2 hrs - Recap.

Actually, I should clarify first. The running clock, in actuality, represents midnight tonight - the end of the SF's day's off, not the moment he actually starts work. He doesn't go back until tomorrow a.m. however my reprieve starts at midnight.

Now, the recap. Since I'm trying, not always successfully, but still trying to be a glass half full kinda girl...here is how the list stands.

1. Blog Daily -DONE!!!! Whew! Sorry if some of the subject matter was a bit dry but I am thrilled that I was able to have something to say each and every day. The hubby & Ernie have provided good fodder.
2. Hang Pictures in House - pending
3. Inventory & Organize Large Household Items For Sale & Post - in progress
4. Purge Rooms for Garage Sale - in progress
5. Paint Shelf In Living Room - nope
6. Paint Front Foyer - DONE!
7. Paint Staircase - pending
8. Paint Hallway - DONE!
9. Trees - Cut Tree Down in Backyard - DONE! Paul Bunyan Rocks!
10. Dig Vegetable Garden - too much rain. weather delayed.
11. Install Fence in Garden - DONE...well, the fence posts are in. that was the hard part. It won't take a 'ting to get the rest done. weather delayed.
12. Paint Planter Boxes - DONE!
13. Trellis - Make 2 - Made 1 using the same pattern. Might make 2 additional using some other style.
14. Power Rake Yard - in progress!
15. Trellis - Paint 4 - weather delayed
16. Tree - Cut Down Dead Tree in Enchanted Garden - DONE!
17. Trees - Trim Trees in Enchanted Garden - DONE!
18. Weed 3 Beds in Enchanted Garden - DONE! (Needs to be done again. Does anyone know a good ORGANIC weed killer?)
19. Build Lasagna Garden - DONE!
20. Remove Shrub by Front Steps - DONE!
21. Paint Deck - in progress but weather delayed.
22. Trellis – Mount - pending
23. Reassemble Dining Room After Painting - DONE!
24. Planting - ongoing

All that and I knit a scarf and a shawl.

Impressive, right? Despite not all tasks being completed, we have made great progress and I am happy to report that we have put a huge dent in our To-Do List, with marriage still in tact. Dare I say, stronger?! A celebration was in order tonight so my hubby took me out for a sushi feed. We went to a relatively new restaurant in town, Zen Sushi. It opened over the winter. I think it might be the only sushi restaurant in town, don't hold me to that though. But, we did notice that another little sushi cafe is scheduled to open. Anyway, the food was awesome. Service phenomenal. And, in it's own way, a reminder of home.

As the evening is unwinding, the SF is packing his bags and belongings for work tomorrow. His lunch is waiting for him in the refrigerator, coffee maker set, everything ready for him to shuffle out the door tomorrow morning long before Ernie-san and I get up from snuggling.

It's been wonderful to have my hubby home for this short period of time, working side by side, making our house a home. I hope you have all had some laughs and enjoyed the journey....which shall continue but I'm not sure that I can keep up the feverish pitch of daily posts. Several times a week, I can handle. Thanks all for reading, providing feedback and humourous comments. It's been a slice!

26.5 hours - Nothing that a little retail therapy won't cure.

Taxes are done! Thousands of dollars forked over to the government for them to spend as they see fit. Apparently spent directing traffic outside DQ and of course our presence there just added to the problem. We were definitely not a part of the solution.

I was a bit emotionally confused - feeling a tad blue after transferring the funds, yet exhilarated at having the burden of tax preparation off my shoulders for another year. Whatever I was feeling, I apparently was not hiding it well as the SF felt I needed a boost and offered to take me to the nursery to look at plants. Big Mistake....for him anyway. He ended up standing by the car with the Ern-meister, who was freaking out because his momma was more than 20 feet away, while I hunted high and low for treasures. Eventually settling on two lovelies for the garden, the manager told us it was buy 3, get 1 free...so off I went to find 2 more beauties thus taking another 20 minutes.

So the moral of that story, spend some money buying yourself something to make yourself feel better about giving other money away. Too bad money doesn't grow on the trees we bought today.

The only other progress made around here today was that the SF finished installing his last fence post - 6 in total. All level and in proper formation. The weather has hampered our exterior projects. It has been raining for a couple of days with more rain forecasted for the next week - time to get some indoor projects completed.

Sorry this isn't very exciting. Hell. I'm boring myself.

51.5 hours - A lesson in procrastination or sex education. You pick.

I have been procrastinating somewhat on getting our taxes done. After receiving the last of our receipts in late March, I started to do our taxes and discovered two horrific facts. One, the bank had made an error on our RRSP investments and two, we owed a crap load of money to the government. Seems we failed to realize that moving from one province to another, one where taxes are minimal to a province that has one of the highest provincial tax rates meant we would be paying through our teeth this year. Since the deductions we paid to mid-December were only at the Northwest Territories rate - it takes the SF's employer a while to catch up - we owed the difference from Jan 1 to mid-December. Those two facts combined was enough to make me procrastinate completing our taxes until...well, until 2 days before they are due. So I have spent the entire day today chained to my desk working on taxes trying not to get too stressed out.

The SF, in the meantime, dressed in rain gear, was outside planting fence posts in the garden. That was until he got called out AGAIN for work.

On a more humorous note, I sent an email to an old friend (she's not old, she's just been my friend for a long time) to see what was happening in her world. And she shared with me that her son went to school today more than a little freaked out as it was Sex Ed day. He asked her if he could go golfing instead. Always one step ahead, she told him that was not going to be a problem if he wanted to go over everything with her today instead. Needless to say, he decided to go to school. Love it and I just can't out-do that one. Thanks for the laugh, P! I needed that today.

CBC News - Prince Edward Island - DQ Blizzards tie up Charlottetown traffic

CBC News - Prince Edward Island - DQ Blizzards tie up Charlottetown traffic: "DQ Blizzards tie up Charlottetown traffic
Last Updated: Tuesday, April 27, 2010 1:58 PM AT Comments29Recommend24
CBC News
A sale on Blizzards at the Charlottetown Dairy Queen during a special national promotional week caused traffic problems on University Avenue.
'It was pandemonium.'
—Dave Marriage, general manager, DQ in CharlottetownThe buy-one, get-one-for-25-cents promotion — in honour of the frozen treat's 25th anniversary — brought thousands of people to the Charlottetown store.
With long queues at the drive-thru, police had to attend to direct traffic at the store on P.E.I.'s busiest street.
During last week's promotion, 12,000 Blizzards were sold in Charlottetown, more than one for every three residents. Cost of the frozen treats vary depending on size, but are generally under $5.
'It was pandemonium. Just an onslaught of everybody coming in to have Blizzards,' said the Charlottetown store's general manager, Dave Marriage.
'We ran out of mix at 11 o'clock, just before we closed on the Sunday night. That's after projecting over double what we usually have in stock, as far as ice cream mix goes.'
The store, which for years has topped all Dairy Queens in North America for annual sales, sold more Blizzards last week than any other outlet in the Maritimes."

Needless to say....the three of us were definitely a part of this traffic jam. They weren't moving quick enough for Ernie so he started barking at them.

75 hours - In God's defense....

He came home from his call last night and made me a BLT on toasted cheese bread......

And he woke me up this morning so that I could make my chiropractor appointment to repair the damage incurred by his wrath yesterday.......

ps...he's hanging his head very low and shaking it and just called me a nasty name...lol!!!

pps....I went to the chiropractor with my undies on inside out and I've been too lazy all day to correct the si-chu-a-shun.

pps....the SF just walked down the stairs saying he's going to take his Mydol?

Oh..and God....

...even though I did your laundry today, I am NOT folding your undies.

101.5 hours - Wasn't it God's day YESTERDAY?

Somebody forgot to tell him or he apparently forgot because he came a callin' this morning and he wanted to dig some holes to Hades. At least that's how it felt. The SF rented an auger but it, sadly, did not come with a helper for the other end of it, which only left me. Six holes later, shaky arms and a slightly achy back (yes T, I stretched...and the bath will follow in a bit) the job was done.

Paul Bunyan moved on to finish falling the tree beside this garden, the future home of my..uh...our greenhouse.


The sun was still shining once I finished helping the SF so I started painting the deck. I forgot to take a BEFORE shot but here is the first section nearly complete.


I think it is going to look great once it's all done, don't you agree? Unfortunately, the weather was not cooperating and it was time to call it quits before it started raining. Notice someone peeking through the fence.

Still peeking until.....

Temptation came knocking on the door ....and Ernie resisted.

As I lamented on & on to the SF about how a woman's work is never done because I was still managing laundry, doing dishes, finishing some paper work related to our move, "juicing" him, making coffee and then he got called out for work. I guess my lot in life isn't so bad.

NOW it's time to bathe as I am NOT smelling very lady-like. Later!

121.5 hrs - God's Day, right? Well my God did not give me the day off.

Instead, he called for a day of hard labour. But first, I prepared his supper and informed him, if he wasn't careful, it might be his last. A sweet stew filled with beef, lamb, parsnips, onions, carrots, rutabaga, PEI potatoes, cabbage and celery! A feast fit for God.
Then off to work we went. Actually, it wasn't all that bad. We finished plotting out the vegetable garden ensuring that all ends were square. Once that was done then we marked out where the fence posts will go and the path that will run perpendicular through the garden. The idea is that the bed will be split into four quadrants. The back quadrants will have a small section of fence running behind them where, you might recall, we will plant Rookie's blackberry bushes and some raspberry bushes as well. God will have three quadrants for vegetables and the remainder is mine.

Once that was done, he gave me the rest of the day off.....sort of. He started digging holes for the fence posts

and I scrubbed down the whole deck, prepping it for painting. Unfortunately we are expecting rain the next couple of days, so I won't be able to start until the deck is dry. See that porch way back there....that's what I cleaned.




T....I tried taking some wonderful pics for you today but the wildlife was not cooperating. We tried taking some pictures of the herons and every time we would approach they would fly off so we headed the other direction and found a fox in the middle of the road but before I could take the picture he ran off into the forest. A bit further down the road we found a fox and a raccoon having a standoff in a field, but before the SILVER FOX could turn the car around, the raccoon had hightailed off into the bush. Another day. Promise.

146 hours - Lasagna Garden Revisited

Thanks for the comments people. T, you might as well stop reading now because this is ALL ABOUT the garden. We'd actually have to LEAVE the yard to take some pictures of PEI;p Ummm...and the potato bread...is white bread. It just has potatoes in it....lol!

Anyway, it was a busy day here. I worked on my last trellis in the shop while the Silver Fox started taking down the tree in the back yard. I then had to get the SF to come in for a bit to help me out and traded him so labour. He help me, then I'd help him. Sounds fair, right?

Once we were done, and I swear it only took 20 minutes, I helped him fill the utility trailer full with the branches he'd limbed off the tree, and then he headed for the dump while I went in for a much needed coffee. Shortly after, the SF showed up at the door looking long in the mouth. He'd missed the dump by fifteen minutes. Oops.

From there, I wanted to finish off the layers of the Lasagna Garden which meant I needed some grass.....which lead to another task on the list, power raking. Team Work again. I mowed, he raked, I loaded the wheelbarrow and dumped it into the garden. End result, we probably got about 1/3 of the yard power raked.

So, the next layer was grass:
Then peat:

Then hay:

Sorry no photo, but another layer of peat mixed with sheep poo
And topped off with a bonemeal/bloodmeal combination, watered and covered back up with the tarps to cook some more. 23 days until planting season begins here...Hopefully it is cooked down enough. For now, the lasagna garden is done.

The SF did a weak job of covering up his disappointment at being selfishly pulled from his jobs to get mine done but I hopefully made it up to him by filling his belly with roast beef and yorkshires followed by a promise to dedicate the entire day to his projects tomorrow. Like I said, Team Work. That's how we roll!

As for Ernie...he had a visit with a fella that came to install a screen door for us, then hung out in the shop with me until the air compressor freaked him out. Then he made about 20 return trips from the tree to the utility trailer and back again until he exhausted himself. He had a visit with the 4-legged kind, our neighbour's pooch Cabot, a miniature Australian Shepard. He's still not too sure what to think. He's interested but the minute Cabot tries herding Ernie, he spazzing out. Cabot likes to talk to you when you don't pet him and when he barks, Ernie barks. Too cute. From there, Ernie spent the rest of his day chasing the sunny spot. He is quite the sunbather and chases rays all day long, inside or out. It was another tough day for him as you can see! He's sawing logs as we speak...err..type.

Until tomorrow peeps. I'm a bit bagged right now.

Comments? Somebody? Anybody?

Here I am, pouring my heart and soul into this blog without much feedback. I know you're reading it, but come on people. Throw me a bone....It's not that difficult to leave a comment at the bottom of a post. My brother tried it once and managed, no offence Linds, but he ain't no IT geek and doesn't attend band camp either. If he can do it, you all should be able to do it as well. Try it, you might like it;) I would love to hear from you. At least let me know that I'm not boring you to death.

That's all.

193.25 hrs....If I can say anything positive about the situation, he's got good aim?!

Today was a bit of a kerfuffle. We had to take my car in to get the winter tires off. (YEAH!) Then we had to revisit the bank as we seem to be getting bumped up the chain of command there. Since it was a relatively cool day and was supposed to rain, we figured it was okay for us to take Ernie and leave him in the truck while we went in. We did not anticipate a nearly two hour meeting. Ev went out at one point to check on him and he was sleeping, so no worries, right? We finished up only 20 minutes after that and when we walked out, it was quite warm and very muggy. Ernie, was not impressed. He was panting heavily and not slowing down.

We had plans to do some other running around but threw that idea out the window until we had him calmed. We ended up having to go to two stores just to get him some water which cooled him quickly but opted to take him home prior to finishing our shopping. We really couldn't have been gone longer than 2 hours. And as usual, when we get home, Ernie is a basket case riddled with anxiety at having been left home alone.

Now, I don't know if I am the only one that this happens to, but I find when we are running around that I am quickly exhausted. I'm not sure if it is the driving around or walking around shopping. Regardless, by the time we get home and things are unpacked, I occasionally head up for a fiver, and Ernie is ALWAYS fast on my heels. Not long after we hit the hay, Ev came up to inform me Ernie had had an accident in the basement but he was laughing about it? Ernie had pooed in the basement IN HIS WATERBOWL! WTF?! So, as I said, if there is anything positive to be said about Ernie's accident, at least the little bugger has good aim.

Sooner, rather than later, he was forgiven and we indulged in a family nap followed by a walk on the beach and then home to watch the Canucks game we had recorded the night before. It must have been an extremely trying day for Ernie because he was out and I had to physically wake him up to head up to the Nest for bed.

That's it here folks. Not a very exciting one.

218 hours - I don't even know where to start. It's been a busy day.

How about breakfast?

After all, it is the most important meal of the day, made better having your hubby cook it for you in your mother`s poached egg pot. Can you feel the LOVE? Does anyone else out there love poached eggs as much as we do? This pot is 52 years old! Seriously. What lasts 50 years nowadays? It was my Mom's and either I stole it from her or she generously donated it to me. Regardless it will remain with me forever because it is a piece of her and because it makes the bestest poached eggs!

Next....I headed to the garden. Here's the before of the shady garden patch that I didn't get weeded last week. Take note of the tree in the far, left back.

After weeding it, I holla'd for the Silver Fox to come help chop down that tree...and all he left me with was this...

MESS!!!! I mean, COME ON, if someone asks you to help at least they can help clean up the mess after the fact. Note the dirt sprayed up on the siding?! I hate to seem ungrateful, but...REALLY? He's taking lessons from his father-in-law (sorry Dad). Then I planted these:
Here's the after:

I know it's a bit early to be planting out but most of what is there is what I bought on Sunday and they had been dug out of someone's garden here so I figure it is best to get them back in the ground.
Here's the after....not much change but check back in a month or so.

Then Paul Bunyan set to it....he chopped down another...

And another....

BEFORE & AFTER

And a couple more shots of the garden from different angles.

While we were out there this little guy came for a visit. Remember a few weeks back when THE SQUIRREL HUNTER was barking at and biting the siding...

Well this is one of the culprits! He's crawling up into the space between the siding and the foundation.

As for the Silver Fox....look what he finished painting today!!! How wonderful! Love them babycakes! You rock!

All that hard work called for A beer with dinner...at least a half of one. We split it!

Last note...I hear my dear old Dad is "down in the mouth" today. I heard a rumour that he is sporting "summer teeth" today. You know, some are here, some are not. Actually, it's no rumour, "it's the toof, the whole toof and nothing but the toof". Cheer up Daddio. It just means that you've got one less to brush tonight. SMILE:) Hugs & Kiss, your Brat.

244.25 hrs - I've got nothing for ya!

Not much new to report today. A scheduled trip to the bank to discuss the state of our finances. Happy to report we are swimming, not sinking. After returning home, Ev headed to the workshop to paint the flower boxes and I returned upstairs to review more family history....errr... clean. That's what I meant to say, yeah, clean! And I am still not prepared to share any pictures with you.

If the weather would cooperate we hope to get outside tomorrow to tackle some stuff out there.

266.75 hours - What is black and white and...

standing in Ernie's pee spot, in the pitch black at 11:30 last night, eating walnuts meant for the squirrels and birds - catching us all off guard?

It was a good thing that E was still holding Ernie is his arms instead of just letting him run down the stairs or it wouldn't have been such a funny story.

As for today, we started early. We were out the door before 9am to hit the hardware store to pick up paint for the planter boxes and the deck. But, there was no painting going to be completed as it has been raining all day. Instead I begrudgingly headed upstairs to my the office/craft room/dumping ground. When I say dumping ground, it is the only room that has not found its true purpose. It has become the graveyard for all lost items in the house. If we were unable to find a home for any particular item, it was abandoned in the office. We bought bookshelves to help with the organization which were quickly filled with books and magazines. Drawers....there are none making it difficult to hide office supplies and knitting tools away. The worst part of the mess was....IS...that I am spinning my wheels knowing the mess is hiding up there....waiting for me.

Remember yesterday when I was speaking of my childhood cleaning issues. My cleaning strategy is admittedly back asswards. I tend to pull the entire room apart making a bigger mess than I started with. Everything in drawers, cupboards and closets comes out and the well intended plan is to organize it and put it away. Did I mention that I also have a short attention span when it comes to cleaning and am easily distracted and quickly overwhelmed. For example, it might be that I find an item in the room I'm cleaning that belongs somewhere else in the house. I go to put it away and end up starting a new cleaning project in that room, completely forgetting or abandoning my original room which will remains in a state of disarray. Or, after spending a half an hour in the mess, I become so overwhelmed that I start having panic attacks so I have to "walk away" from the task at hand.

Well, today was a repeat performance. I took photos of the before (10:30 am) and the after (7:30) but I'm just not prepared to share them with you. Believe me when I tell you, there is not much difference although my paper shredder is full, I listened to some great music and I spent many hours perusing the McLean genealogy file I obtained. So, if anyone knows of Archibald McLean (my great, great, great grandfather) who emigrated from Scotland to Pictou, Nova Scotia (yes people, I have returned to my homeland...well, next door) in the 1800's, let me know. I'm looking for him. The hunt is far more interesting than cleaning. I'll get to that later.

290.75 hrs to go - A Day of Rest?

My Mother sent me an email this morning that simply stated, "Today is a day of rest." Combine her sentiment with God's and I thought I might be in the clear. Actually, I wasn't sure whether she was giving herself a day off or suggesting I take one, but I'm always up for a day off. It doesn't take much persuasion. Apparently MY GOD didn't think so. He was up and at it early this morning and I figured that I had better not leave him to it by his lonesome so I tackled a couple of items off of the list. The weather dictated an indoor day. It's threatening to now again.

First - not on the list - clean out my much beloved cookbook/pantry cabinet. I say much beloved because it was gifted to us by our dear friend, Portia. Every time it catches my eye, I think of her and what a wonderful, inspirational woman she is. She's been challenged by many difficult situations and circumstances in 10+ years we have known her and always seems to be able to come out smiling. She's currently facing a loss right now and, as always, we are pulling for her.

Since we are fairly limited for cupboard space, we have been using the cabinet to store cookbooks and pantry items. It has found a home in a small foyer outside of a bedroom, the dining room, linen closet and a bathroom, the same foyer that I painted last week. Now that it has been returned to its rightful place, I needed to empty it, move the shelves around and reorganize it.

Before mess included -


After -

We loved Portia's piece so much that we several years ago we took on another DIY project with the help of a neighbour. Our house had a large open concept kitchen, dining room and living room. The only problem was that there were two upper banks of cupboards that blocked the view from the kitchen to the living room and dining room. While we wanted to open up the space, we weren't prepared to lose the extra storage space so we opted to modify one long bank of shelves into a buffet for the dining room. The Silver Fox and our neighbour added a top to the bank and created a footer by mimicking the detail of the footer on Portia's cupboard.

Once they had worked their magic it was time for me to work mine. I primed it, painted it and then finished it with a tinted wax that settled into the grain of the wood, perfectly immitating the look of the other cupboard. You would be hard pressed to guess that they were not companion pieces.

See for yourself. This original picture shows the upper bank of cabinets in it original placement. NOTE: This was taken when we were on our "househunting trip". This is not our decor.


Top & Footing Attached, Original Door Handle Holes Filled & Sanded - with Rookie:)
Without Rookie:(

Painted & Waxed

Finished - Doorknobs Treated With Wax


Not bad, right?

Back to today's tasks....Unfortunately, after organizing, all it did was add another task to my To Do List - go through my cookbooks, and edit. I do love cookbooks, but enough is enough. In the mean time, the Silver Fox, uh...God, was working away cleaning his bathroom and the spare bedroom dropping everything when I needed him.

Next task, purging. Not my forte. I have a very difficult time letting go of things. I'm afraid I'll get rid of something and kick myself a week down the road. So I keep it. Unfortunately we do not have the room in this house to stash treasures away. Time to purge with the SF. Some of you know that I've used the term "polar opposites" as an nickname for the two of us. We are polar opposites in many ways - skin colour, temperament,coordination,cleaning skills, ...I'll stop there. Some would accuse SF of having a slight case of OCD. I have spent the past 13 years challenging that. I can find a million other things to occupy myself with before housecleaning. While necessary, it is not my priority. We have dealt with a few "issues" over the years. Example - when we first moved in together many years ago, it took me a while but I realized all of my houseplants were slowly disappearing. Unbeknownst to me, while I was at work and he was on day's off, he was tossing them out because ....well to this day, I don't know why? The cleaning bug would hit and he would find my plants unnecessary so he tossed them! Once again, polar opposites - hoarder vs obsessive compulsive purger. Yet I asked for his help today because I know, deep down, we have a lot of crap that needs to go.

I am happy to report that we successfully attacked two rooms today with no disputes, much negotiation and relief that the task is underway. Two rooms down and about a half dozen or more to go. Garage Sale here we come.

Then I cut the day short to go and meet a lady about some $1 perennials!

313.5 hrs....Don't you love it when you can turn your husband on....

....to one of your favourite pastimes. Get your mind out of the gutter people. I'm talking about gardening because now he gets just as excited as I do about going to a garden show. It was, however, a very small one in a community called Crapaud which, my chiropractor informed me the other day, is Toad in french. It's a small community about a half hour drive west from our house.

Among the purchases, a pair of gardening clogs pour moi. Sloggers. No Mom, not wooden clogs. Sorry to my Dutch ancestors, but I really don't know how comfortable those could be and as uncoordinated as I am, I would probably break an ankle.


Ev bought two tomato cages that match my shoes.
We were still able to come away with a few plants. Two Hellebores and a Tree Peony. (I borrowed these photos from a friend.)

As for the planters we were building. I found an inspirational photo which we based our design off and then found a free plan online somewhere which we adapted, adjusting the length and the panels to suit our needs. This is our inspiration...

This is first of two.

After our marriage just barely surviving the completion of one, I decided to back away from the power tools and let the Silver Fox work solo on the second one while I worked on my trellises. Regardless of our differences of opinion, mostly math related, we are both pretty impressed and proud of the outcome. The Silver Fox has not only completed the second but has also primed both and will be painting them next week. Then to line them, plant and stand back to watch them fill in. I'll post some pictures once they are done.

Their new home will be on our upstairs deck below the two large picture windows. (I know my Mom will understand this, but I hope they don't end up with FELT PADS on the bottom of their feet.)

That's it for today folks. Must knit. GO CANUCKS GO!!!!!

339 hours - Which do you prefer, rocks in your dirt or dirt in your rocks?

Since we are supposed to be getting snow tonight – seriously – I decided to weed out the flower beds from, yes, I’ll say it, The Enchanted Garden while the Silver Fox raked out the culvert. My decision to weed was also an opportunity to use some of my Christmas presents for the first time.

I tried to start at the bed closest to the house but quickly realized it was pretty cold in the shade. As I’m writing is only +2 Celsius / 35 Fahrenheit and it was much cooler this morning. I retreated to a bed that was catching some rays. Ernie lasted all of five minutes before he ran for the house. The wind was pretty strong and I think he figured it was going to carry him away.
I spent 3 hours out there and got 2 of 3 beds done. I must have picked out 1,000 rocks from the flower beds. I discovered as I was going along that it seemed to be a battle between keeping the rocks out of the flower bed or the mulch out of the rocks and wonder if this is a losing battle. I’m not sure which is worse.

Here are my before and afters... (Sorry there is only one. I took one of the shady garden and of course, didn't weed it.)



AFTER ...and while I know it doesn't look much different, believe me, there is an improvement, like....we took the Christmas lights out of the tree. Better late than never.




Garden Tools:)

As for my garden tools, my top two were the Tub Trugs and the Foxgloves garden gloves. Since I was down on my hands and knees weeding, the tub trug was simple to pull through the garden as I moved along and fill with weeds. Since I received three of them, I kept my collection of garden tools and my camera in one and my compostables, which included a few snails, in the other. I would rake up the garden and lay a tub trug on its side, fill it and either dump it in the composter or in my wheel barrow. The tub trug, even when full, is light enough that it doesn’t cause any back strain, which is phenomenal for someone like myself who deals with a chronic back pain. Did you notice I didn’t mention what I used the third one for? That’s because it’s in my craft room, filled with knitting needles! Another note on the tub trugs...not sure what is up with the label inside the tub trug. Does this mean it is okay for you to carry a baby inside your tub trug?

The Foxgloves grip garden gloves live up to their advertisement. They are snug fitting so there is no way for dirt to find its way in through the cuff. They move with your hands and at the same time are exceedingly breathable. They are extremely comfortable and kept my hands warm in the frigid wind. They have silicone grips on the palm and fingers thus allowing for increased dexterity.

The EZ Digger is, I think, based on the Korean or Japanese Hoe, touted as the “it” tool for carefree weeding, digging holes, loosening soil and opening and closing rows. I suspect once you get the hang of it, it will simplify matters. I was successful using the long handled version which saves my achy back but not so much with the hand-held version. My only complaint for this and my new clippers....they are made for right handed people. Don’t get me started on the discrimination and limitations us lefties feel, besides husbands making fun of us for being slightly uncoordinated.

After completing the two beds I moved inside for a bit of knitting then it was bath time for you know who....

Once he was fluffed and folded, it was time to make dinner, sit, eat, and discuss our progress on the to-do list. As I was bathing Ernie, the Silver Fox was outside painting flowerboxes (I’ll fill you in on those tomorrow).

Oh, and as the weatherman promised, the snow is making a pathetic attempt at a comeback. Fingers crossed it doesn’t succeed because we are going to a Home and Garden Show tomorrow in Crapaud.