When Monday Means You Get to Rest a Bit

Well, it was an eventful weekend-plus at the DeAngelo household. With our trip coming up, our weekends to get things done around here were becoming more and more limited, so we knew that we had to get some things done for spring. So, I took a couple days off to spend some time around the yard, prepping it for the coming months. We ordered 6 cubic yards of mulch, and I prepped for a few days of spreading it. But that would end up having to wait.

Thursday was spent doing most of the prep cleanup, pulling out leaves we used to insulate the gardens, old/dead shrubs, weeds, trash, etc. What I thought would be a few hours of work ended up being almost a full day – and 18 bags and 2 trash cans full of debris later, it was time to call it a day. Friday came in with a deluge, which was a definite hamper on my plans. I got some other chores done in the meantime, and when the rain cleared, I tackled edging and mulching most of the front beds.

Saturday morning, it was back to work. Shari and I got an early start, cutting out all of the beds – including expanding part of our biggest one – and then we went to work spreading a big portion of the mulch. It was a lot of work, and my back was really aching bad after 3 days of bending, pulling, yanking, hauling, lifting and digging. But it really looked nice, so in the end it was time well spent. Sunday, however, ended up being less productive. Shari had a shoot, so I went out alone to expand our vegetable garden and dig out under the fence to make managing the grass easier. I was about 2.5 hours into it when suddenly my back started doing the limbo – I had spasms and sharp pains that danced their way up my spine, aggravating what was already a sore, sore, sore part of my body. I paused for a bit, then tried to go back to work with the same result — and that was the end of my 4-day ‘weekend’.

Time to Plant

There’s still a lot to do, but I have to admit that I’m very happy with the results so far. Next I have to plant the forest that is currently occupying our dining room table. I started some seeds a few weeks ago, and they grew remarkably fast and have exceeded my plans for planting. We used those Burpee ‘starter kits’, and they worked great. Green beans, sugar and snap peas, cucumbers and spinach are all growing quickly and the first 3 are definitely ready to go in the ground. I was amazed at how quickly they grew – I almost want to plant more so that I can take some time-lapse style pictures of them: there would be the barest stem breaking out of the ground when I left in the morning, and by the time I got home less than 12 hours later there would be a seedling that was 2″ tall sticking out of the dirt. Shari had more than a few laughs at my wonderment, but I thought it was really cool.

We also did some flowers: 2 types of sunflowers, delphinium, butterfly weed and hollyhocks are all growing quickly (especially the sunflowers). They were planted a week later than the veggies, so with the exception of the sunflowers aren’t ready to be planted, but hopefully soon — very soon.

Oooh, my aching back

A good number of 600mg ibuprofens later, my back pain is pretty tolerable. It’s still uncomfortable to sit in some positions, but it’s getting better – unlike last night where sitting for dinner was a tough thing to do. Speaking of which, had a delicious dinner at Vietnam Restaurant in Philly with Shari’s photog friend Ed and his wife. I had my usual – Bun Dac Biet (rice vermicelli with Vietnamese meatballs, spring rolls, chicken and beef), along with stuffed grape leaves and roast pork in rice paper as appetizers. It wasn’t as good as it has been at other times, but it was an 8:00 dinner on a Sunday night, so I’ll give them some slack. And it was still good – even this afternoon for lunch.

Four hard days of work, and a vast improvement to our yard, capped with a delicious dinner. A lot of work, but the rewards were worth it.

Countdown to Arizona: 22 days