Revisiting the Honey Do List....Better Late Than Never

As I may have lamented....a few times, over the past couple of weeks, our weather SUCKS! It has been raining, pouring, thundering, lightening, blowing....am I missing anything? It has NOT been sunshining. We have been able to get an hour or so of outdoor work done before the poor weather returns. Well, remember those bird houses we built this winter. We were finally able to find a bit of time and a break in the weather to install them.

The birds seem to be digging the grapevine I attached on the top. Every day I catch at least one perched on top of it. The tall one with the tin star was our first. I wasn't smart enough to install a door on it so that it can be cleaned out at the end of the season. Hopefully the new tenants won't have an issue.


We positioned them down by Rookie's Patch so we can watch them from the kitchen window. Now we can watch the chickadees, hummingbirds, love doves and squirrels from the window by our kitchen table and the future tenants from our kitchen, living room and bedroom.

Birdhouses installed - CHECK!


Next item ticked off, install the trellises...trellis'....trelli? It was truly over due (the Nelly Moser clematis pictured below actually started blooming in the garage) and not without a couple of issues.

Issue #1....yesterday rain was forecasted so I refused to do any outdoor work and focused my efforts on inside jobs. Thing is, it didn't rain so I lost an opportunity to get a bit of gardening done. When the SF returned from his day, collecting the trailer, insuring it, etc., we had dinner and then he coerced me into heading out to the garage to install the trellises, trellis', errrr, trelli. We measured twice, drilled once and as we were screwing in the second of four screws on the first one, on cue, it started to rain. Determined to get the job done, we persevered only to be interrupted by Issue #2, the SF's cellphone going off and him getting called into work for an "issue". We probably couldn't have completed the third one anyway as it really started rain, but COME ON....give an old goat a break!

Clematis Proteus

After returning from Ernie's three month check up at the vet this afternoon (see below), we finally got the third one installed and I planted the three clematis, clematises, clemati? (Can this get any more difficult?)

Clematis Duchess of Edinburgh

VOILA!

Trellis & Clematis (That works well, doesn't it? Grammar restored.) installed - CHECK!

LOL!!! Note to self. When it pours for what seems like two weeks straight, do not leave the drain on OPEN on the rain barrel. It doesn't work so well. The SF went to get some water today and the barrel was empty.

As for Mr. Noogie-san. Still waiting for results but it was a rather disconcerting visit for me, my first visit since losing Rookie without the SF there for moral support. And wouldn't you know it, two minutes after I get there a man comes in carrying his golden retriever. The man is crying inconsolably while holding his beloved pet, as best he can, on his lap. And what do I do...start crying! After they wheeled the poor baby off on a stretcher, the man sat in the waiting area sobbing. It broke my heart. All I wanted to do was leave and I think Ernie was much the same. My thoughts go out to his dog, Kayla tonight. I hope she is not suffering and is back home with her Dad wherever that may be.