I've finally started - and made serious progress on - "The Path" through the grove coming up from the road behind my patio. I've got the vegetation cleared and a good chunk of it is mulched and lined with rock and I have perennials strategically placed where they'll get stuck in the ground this weekend. The arbor/arch thing is up and the kids have the garden tractor wagon full of more rocks so we're ready to hit it again tomorrow. I hung some artificial grape vines on the arbor and picked up another set of solar lights that I'll be testing out along The Path, and I'm seeing where a side path can branch off and work it's way up the rock wall and so join with the other path coming from the opposite side. Plus, the bank still hasn't complained about my continued use of the path I made on their property before they acquired it, so all is good! (Well, besides the part where I have to figure out how to get water to this area...)
I've also put up that new wind chime as well as another one I'd picked up, and I fixed the broken strings from the old one using some 80lb fishing line the kid brought me. Its green fishing line and looks quite sturdy, and I was most impressed that the kid thought that out enough to present me with that line instead of the thin white shit. (Although I can't remember having 80lb line in the house. I'm fairly sure we don't have 80lb fish near here.)
I stopped in at the Willmar Goodwill after one of my chiropractor appointments. As usual, they had nothing I desired. And then I saw the table full of new-in-the-box water fountain things that roll a huge marble...um... marble. I instantly recognized the similarities between these massive marble marbles and a gazing ball, and they were only $10 each, so I bought six. (2 for me and 4 for other people who've contributed plants to my project. One of those people is my clerk at UPS, who has given me a large box of iris bulb/root/things, along with *dis*Obedient Plants, Asters, Purple Coneflowers, Oriental/Asiatic/Day Lilies, etc. Plus, her husband fixes my yard equipment when I break it. They're my kind of people!)
As you've possibly guessed, I'm naming the garden at one end of the path "Recovery". Get it? "The Path" to "Recovery"? The title of today's post? It's supposed to be witty and clever and drip with irony, as I'm sure my chiropractor would frown on the fact that I'm renewing my friendship with my good friends, Chainsaw and Hedge Trimmer. (My poor shoes...)
The arbor at the front of the patio took half the day to put together and weighs about as much as I do. The arbor I put up in the area I'm working in now took maybe 8 minutes to put together and the kids carried it down to where we put it. It is, as I'd stated in an earlier blog when my back was still normal and able to accomplish things a little faster, wide enough to drive a lawn mower thru.
And the lawnmower? It's an old one I bought from a friend I work with at UPS and it has about zero safety features. It ran circles around my new Craftsman and Cub Cadet lawnmowers when the kids and I raced them up and down the street this summer, and it's a tough little beast for having a just a wee little 13hp engine. I mean, it effortlessly climbs the descent of The Path, even with a trailer full of rocks in tow! (It was purchased primarily for this purpose so I wouldn't have to take the bags off the other mowers to hook up the garden trailer. Plus, it has a narrower deck and can get into more areas.)
I've probably started the old red mower twice since bringing it home and I'd forgotten how fast the thing moved - until I climbed on it, started it, and let the clutch out. It proceeded to jump into warp speed, briefly...and then it slammed into the side of my utility trailer that was resting at least 15 feet from where the mower was parked. I sort of expected miscellaneous things to land on me like they did when I crashed the patio set at the Marshall Goodwill, but apparently I was really lucky and none of my neighbors caught this act.
So then I decided to clean all the dust out of the headlight area on the red mower before replacing the clear plastic light cover and forcing the hood back into the resting position the factory intended.
Memos to self: Make sure to tell kids to NOT mess with the speed settings on the mowers. Have them tell friends to stay off the mowers. (No more missing keys?) Check speed setting before releasing clutch in the future.
"Hmmm....now why won't this thing start?", I ask myself the following day, just as I notice that someone has engaged the blades while it was parked. Double bummer. The kids didn't listen and the mower DOES have a safety feature.
I really wish I would have taken some "before" pictures of what I've done so far. Maybe my mean-and-nasty-sister-creatures can pop off a couple "after" shots when they come home at the end of the month so as to add some visuals to my blog. (Hopefully the plants haven't frozen off by then.)
But, I gotta go. There's a girl in town that Boy1 won't admit he kind of likes. She's planning to stop by and see the progress we've made on the outdoor living area, so I suspect he'll actually be willing to help me work on it tomorrow morning so more is done when she stops by. Bonus!
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