Work and Play for the Weekend

We have been really busy here at the Bogie estate. Most of last week we weren't even sitting down to think about making dinner until about 8 PM (suspiciously close to my bed time). There was my pet-sitting, and coddling of GT (who never did eat, but according to reports, as of yesterday was still alive and being fed by eyedropper). When it quit raining on Sunday, the weather decided to warm up some, to the tune of upper 80's and mis 90's (I don't mind those temps, I just want them a little more than 4 days afer it had been in the 40's! Not only was it hot, the humiditiy was at something really low, meaning anything that was newly planted, or in pots, or in the greenhouse, needed to be watered. Most of that watering had to be done by hand; Since Wednesday, I have had a 3-day rotation going until we get a decent rain.

Then Saturday, I started planting trees in the area formerly of the fruit trees. I ran into a humongous rock, so by the time I had spent 2 hours out in the blazing sun, I had exactly 1 tree planted and a sun burn. I came in and started staining the new linen cabinet. As I hadn't been able to decide which color matched our dressers (old ones from Cop Car), I had bought 2 different stains. There is one fixed shelf in the cabinet (4 removeable), so I did the top half in Red Chestnut and the bottom half in Red Oak (thank goodness I did, because the test pieces I had done didn't show any difference in color - but there is a huge difference!).

WS was busy hauling in manure, shoveling it into the cart to transport up to the garden, spreading said manure, then rototilling it in. He used the neighbors 1 ton w/dump body to bring in 2 loads of manure - it took some work to get it all to the garden!

Yesterday was more productive for me. I managed to get 2 trees and 6 shrubs planted after running around in the morning (pert-sitting, groceries, dog food). I had promised myself when I went to Agway to get dog food that I wouldn't look at any plants. I didn't, except for those on a table just outside the entrance. JIm, the store manager, is an evil, evil man! He had just placed some blooming roses next to the entrance. One of them was a Peace Rose, which I have been looking at for some time. It had one fully open bloom (pictures I found on the internet just don't do it justice), and 3 well formed buds. Naturally, you can't just buy one rose (I think it is a law or something), so I started looking for another, and found an extremely scentfull (is that a word?) Arizona rose. It had 3 buds and just a whiff of one was enough to convince me that it was going home with me!

Yeah, like what I need is another plant right now (I still have a couple of trees and bunches of shrubs, not to mention the veggie garden to get in). Hey, and the plug for the day, if you don't know about HelpMeFind for roses, go check it out.

Anyway, WS mowed then decided to finish staining the cabinet (so I could continue planting). After looking at the two colors on the inside of the cabinet, bringing in a drawer to see what matched the closest, I decided that the Red Oak would look best, but really, a mix of the Red Oak and Red Chestnut would be perfect. So, off to the hardware store went WS to get a bucket for mixing the stain (one with a lid to save the leftovers). Also, he had to stop at Agway to get me another bail of Pro-Mix as I was afraid I would run out.

He got the cabinet completely stained, I planted what I was going to get planted for the day, we both took showers, then we jumped on the bike and met with Jim to go to the Sky Show in the Manchester Millyard. It is a mixture of carnival (no rides that I saw, but rock climbing is there), exhibitions of motocross bikes (or skateboarders or whtever is slated for the year) food and concerts. The finale is a 45 minute fireworks show over the river. It was an awesome show!

Today we are supposed to take the day off and take a ride to the seacoast, then wherever we decide to go from there.

Next week will probably be light on posting again; I have pet-sitting duties and I have to polyeurathane the cabinet. WS will be working 11 hour days, so he won't be able to help this time. I'll also have to water plants unless we get more than the 1/8" of rain we got last night. The carpet people are supposed to be in on Friday, so the cabinet HAS to get done, and be cured enough for handling, before then.

Hope everyone has a good week!

Comments

[Cop Car]

Isn't it great that the humidity is low whilst you stain the linen cabinet. Let's hope it stays long enough for the polyurethane to be applied and dried. As to all of the plantings: you are making me ill. The thought of all of that hard work makes me dizzy, at the least! Unfortunately, the Blue Moon rose that I bought from J&P (partly, as a replacement for the non-viable amaryllis, but with more money added) has shown no sign of life. I am severely disappointed that two plants from them have not worked out. Their name may disappear from my preferred vendors list!

Have fun on your trip to the coast.

[buffy]

What a great weekend! Do you think WS could come and give Dear Husband a pep talk? I sure wish I had the gardening partner that you have.

I'm amazed at what you've planted! I've gotten a lot of annuals, and perennials into the ground, and we've filled eight pots for the front of the house. The only garden that is fully planted is the herb garden. I still have some plants waiting to go in at the front of the house, and plan to do them very early tomorrow. We're supposed to get those 80s and humidity, so I want to be out of the gardens by 10:00 a.m. at the latest.

I hope that you had a great trip to the coast!

[bogie]

Cop Car - The Blue Moon Rose that I thought had survived actually didn't. Another plant that I had planted there 2 years ago, and had died over the winter, made a comeback (I'm guessing from seed).

[bogie]

Buffy - It sounds like you have done an amazing amount of work yourself between the planters and herb garden (not to mention taking care of EM).

Sorry, but I don't think a pep talk would help. We have a friend that WS has to browbeat into mowing his yard just a couple of times a year - usually when the guy has lost something large in there!

[bod]

i think about doing my garden a lot does that count? i tell myself that the cats love hiding from each other in the long grass!

[buffy]

bogie, I was afraid of that. I got some help from DS when the boat was buried in the grass on the back lot, but I think now that we are in sailing season, I'll be lucky to see him come and go.

My siblings have all come to gardening late in life. I've been gardening all my life and am now thinking about cutting back. I've always marched to the beat of a different drummer than the rest of my family.

Please tell WS that I commend him on all his hard work! (You too....that goes without saying! *G*)

[bogie]

Bod - thinking about it may count if it makes you sweat and/or smile.