Two Out of Three Ain't Bad

Weeds At Home - a.k.a. dog-pee-free wild greens

Pulled up some purslane on the way home from work a while ago. Couldn't get the roots out of the crack in the cement so I wasn't sure it would root. I put the stems in a cup of water like I would for spider plants but weeks later only one of them had the barest nubin of a root. I decided maybe they didn't like the water since they were starting to wilt, and as a last ditch effort I planted the stems (still rootless) in a pot of very damp dirt.

I've kept them damp with a daily dribble of water right where they're planted and they've sprung back so much in the past few days I'm certain they're growing roots now. Looking forward to potting some more "weeds" and having a winter window garden full of wild greens.

TL;DR = Purselane prefers in soil rooting. 

The Future of 3D Printing?

I was thinking about Star Trek today, and gold pressed latinum. I was wondering why anything was rare in a universe with replicators when it hit me... the replicators aren't magic. They can't make something from nothing. What they do is kind of the same as the transporter and they take stuff from one place and arrange it properly 3d printer style somewhere else.

Now I'm not saying there's a ton of liquid Earl Grey tea kept at the perfect temperature.... more that the "recipes" for everything tell the replicator how to arrange the basic elements into what you ask for. That being said, if you don't have latinum (or gold), you just can't get the replicator to make gold pressed latinum. 

This led to thinking about huge blocks of carbon in a storage bay somewhere and the slow creeping realization that since they can sort atoms, there's no such thing as waste. All the carbon and nitrogen and hydrogen and oxygen in the air, or left over on the plates, or in the washrooms, are easily converted into tomorrow's birthday cake.

One thing I am still confused on is dilithium crystals. If they get overworked they get cracked... but why can't they break down the cracked one and replicate an un-cracked one? For that matter, why do away teams need to be rushed to the medical bay? Why can't they just be fixed by using their beaming down patterns as the recipe to rebuild on the way up? Infections and brain damage might not be do-able due to complexity but a giant hole in the gut? easy peasy. They might lose memory of those hours away but that's a small price to pay for not bleeding to death.

What do you think?

Heart-string Kites

My past still tuggs on me

like kites tied to my heart-strings.

Often they go unnoticed

but occasionally there's a gust.

I'm no puppet,

the tugging can't make me dance.

And yet, I don't have the power

to cut the strings.

 

Sometimes I think I want to,

and forgetting seems the best course.

But those who forget history repeat it,

and I'd rather occasional reminders,

than living through the pain again.

A Bit Un-tamed... even for wildflowers

So I stopped by the old garden to see how the flowers were doing. The nasturtiums are doing well and I saw some clover in there but there is a ridiculous amount of grass in the bottom left area to the point that I'm wondering if they planted it.

Workouts and weekends

So this week has been a complete bust on the workout plan. Turns out I'm much weaker than I had thought.

The first day of the month was a Tuesday so according to the plan, that means 15 min bodyweight training. I did a few push-ups, a few sit-ups, some planking and when I just couldn't handle more without knowing I'd hurt myself... I looked at the timer to find only 5 min had gone by. Holy crud I'm out of shape. The next day I felt like I had bruised a rib somehow and I really wasn't in the mood for 45 min of vigorous dancing. Thursday I was dejected and headache-y. Friday... well Friday I just couldn't be bothered.

This week I took a Saturday shift for someone who wanted it off so Megan and I moved our date-night to Saturday night instead of Friday night. Then I found out that an old friend is in town (well, a few towns over) so we were going to hang out Sunday. Unfortunately his van broke down so he can't get here.

Now I'm sipping some hibiscus and rose-hip tea while I figure out what the new plan for today is. It's tasty hot with honey, but also awesome after it's cooled mixed 1/2 and 1/2 with lemonade. Another busy week but overall I'm happy.

Habits and Goal Tracking

I seem to consistantly forget that when the bus is on Holiday schedule,  it doesn't come by my house early enough for me to take it to work. This wouldn't be a problem if I remembered because it's only a 40 min walk, but since the bus usually picks me up 35 min before work, by the time I remember/figure out why the bus hasn't arrived... I'm 5-10 min late for work.

I'm going to stop this habit by setting a separate alarm the next time I know I'm working a holiday so I get warned to walk in enough time to actually do it.

I'm going to cultivate some other habits with the Habitbull app. It'll help me keep track of daily stuff like drinking enough water, how often I walk to and from work, as well as my new exercise and eating programs.

Life is simple to track when the answers to your questions are yes or no. (E.g. "did I walk to work today" is a much simpler question than "how many calories did I burn")

Updates! Get your updates here!

So I've made some updates around here. The About/FAQ page got brought up to speed and I've made a brand new page that lists the things I will have on the farm and also one that explains The Plan. YAY!

The Horrid B-word

That's right, budgeting. In the past I have attempted to record all my monetary transactions so that I'd be able to regulate my spending. This has worked... for a few weeks, and once as long as 6 months. Unfortunately it's time consuming and not really as helpful as it should be for the effort put in.

That said, in a few days I'm going to start again. This time it will be for a pre-set time(one month) and I will use that data documenting my new frugality as a starting point to set rules for myself that I can actually live with for 2-3 years. I figure that if I do this right, I can set most bills to automatic including transferring money to the savings account. That way only the non-automatic things like groceries, bus tickets, laundry, and cat litter will need to be paid by hand. I'll set myself a budget for those items and keep track of groceries as it's the only thing I can really chose to spend less on if needed.

I'm hoping that by making myself some easy to follow guidelines I won't have to stress about each and every transaction while still becoming a super-saver.

Organic Search Results

I'm trying to gather info and resources so I can write up a business plan. One of the things I'm running into is that there doesn't seem to be any info on start-up or running costs for a <5 acre organic market garden type farm.

I can find spreadsheets that will tell me exactly how much of 5 different insecticides to buy, how long it will take to pay off 100 acres and a tractor, or even how many peppers I'll get off 25 acres, but that's not at all helpful to my needs.

I just want info on growing food without killing everything around it or going into debt for 50 years. 

Is that so hard?

Steeplechase

So sitting with a pen and paper I thought about the course ahead and what sort of hurdles I might encounter. Some were obvious as well as their solutions... others less so. The bold seem to be the best.

• Getting produce to customers may be an issue since I don't have a drivers licence let alone a truck.
1. I could just use a horse, but horses aren't allowed in city limits without circus permits.
2. I could get an electric scooter and cart, but that wouldn't hold much and would only go so fast making delivery a longer, harder process that may endanger fragile items.
3. I could get a business partner who drives.
4. I could get my licence and a vehicle.
• Although I have plenty of book learning, I don't have nearly enough hands on experience to be 100% confidant solo.
1. Go Woofing. 
• I'll need a lot more money then I currently have for land and start up costs. The set-up alone will be a big chunk and then I'll need operating capital for the first year till the food starts coming in.
1. Scrimp and save for the next 3 years. (Probably not enough)
2. Find an investor
3. Get help from the small business centre to apply for government loan and grant options.
• I don't know if I can physically do all the labour required by myself
1. Find a business partner
2. Rope friends and family into joining my on this adventure
3. Hire help (maybe later on when bigger?)

• I am a bit out of shape. I'll need to be fit to work effectively.
1. I'm going to use the No-S diet and a schedule of dancing and body weight exercises to get back into peak condition
• I'm going to need a rifle for wildlife control and emergency use
1. Get licence & train on use

That's about it for now but I'm sure I'll think of more later. Goodnight world and sweet dreams.

Growing Forward

All this must be done before building the actual farm. This is the foundation for the future. Other than the first one that I'm currently working on, these can be done simultaneously.

Take stock. Figure out where I am financially, physically, and mentally.

Get into shape. Commit to exercise , education, and saving plans that will take me where I need to be.

Build bridges. Go to small business networking meetings and make friends in the online farming communities.

Write a business plan. With the help of the small business center, write a proper business plan with the goal of having not only a blueprint for the business, but also a tool that may help get some funding.

Getting Back into the Groove

Got back into the farm frame of mind the past couple days and I've gotta say I missed this enthusiasm in myself. It all started when I stumbled across this podcast about a Quebec market gardener who grows and sells a variety of vegetables on his 1.5 acres. The biggest thing that caught my attention was that he's doing it organically, without tractors, and just with himself, his wife and two employees they make a decent living for everyone involved. You can visit his site HERE and I'm seriously considering buying his book.

Seeing that level of success in a place that is similar to my current location fills me with hope. Every where I looked I saw stories from California, Florida, or British Columbia and they usually had over 10 acres. Knowing that it's possible in this climate, and with so little land is..... very encouraging and opens up so many options. It got me dreaming again and with dreaming I tend to get a bit carried away so I started looking at land available for sale to see what kind of price range I'd be looking at in Ontario. Looks like in northern Ontario I can get 75 acres for the same price as 3 acres down here in SW Ontario.... but who on earth wants to live up in blackfly country.(probably why it's so cheap)

After an evening of land hunting, figuring out that I could afford the payments for a $20,000 mortgage on top of my current rent and have it paid off in 5 years when I'd actually be ready to start the farm........ mom talked some sense into me and suggested I save my money with the highest interest rate I can find and let it grow til I'm ready to actually start the farm.

She's right. I know she's right, so I talked to my bank today to see if there was something sensible I could do to increase my interest for my savings for the next 3-4 years. At that point I'd have not only the down payment set aside but also some starting money to launch the farm full time without worrying about trying to work a job at the same time.

Turns out my TFSA(tax-fee-savings-account) has a fairly good interest rate. Mutual funds are no good for such short term investing and things like GICs and government savings bonds only give decently higher interest rates if I lock them in for 4 or 5 years so that's really not going to mesh with my little bit out of each pay check style of saving.

I'm anxious about how LONG every thing is going to take but I have to say that saving up for 2-5 acres is going to be much faster than saving enough for 10-25 acres like I thought I needed/wanted.  The main reason I want over two acres is to have room for pasturing animals as well as some woods for firewood. If, when I get to that point, I find an amazing 2 acre plot, I'm not going to let it get away on the off chance an equally amazing 4 acre plot will come along.

So all there is for now is for me to get back into the groove of frugality. It will be a bit harder for me this time because it's personally imposed and not forced upon me by outside circumstances but... I can do this. I've already run the numbers and I know what I need to pay in bills monthly, my personal comfortable levels of  pocket money and "buffer" in case a bill is higher than expected, and therefore what I can put in the savings account to never touch for anything not farm related.

The only thing I haven't done yet is send away for my credit report. There may be some things I need to clean up there and the sooner I know about it the better. I just have to wait for my new ID with my new address to arrive and I'll sending for it right away.

The whole point of moving in with mom was living frugally and I need to get back to that idea. I've been negligent with my disposable income and I've been almost literally disposing of it. I'm making a commitment to myself to be better. I deserve it.

Wonder how this will turn out...

Wrote this at work on my breaks. Testing to see if this works or just looks dumb.

If you are following me anywhere else you already know I've been working on this. Creeping up on 50 comics now. Thinking of doing something special. Click here to check it out so far.

I was thinking today...

My decision making process seems to have very distinct steps. 

Step 0:  Hear or conceive of an idea that may be useful.
Step 1:  Mull it over in my head until I (finally) decide I'm missing some key information.
Step 2:  Research, research, research. Get as much info as possible. This may include discussing the idea with friends/family/etc.
Step 3:  Analyse the data. Run the numbers or set up a pro/con chart or whatever. Return to step 2 as needed.
Step 4:  Make a decision which may include a timeline, budget, or even a date to re-evaluate.
Step 5:  Do it.


To be fair... I sometimes have problems with step 5.  :">

Mad Dogs and English [Wo]men

Megan, Ann and I arrived at the old house Saturday at noon. 

We were greeted by the first bloom of the season.

We got to work right away. It took a lot of effort but we weeded the garden leaving only some garlic, onions, flowers, and what I'm pretty sure is zucchini but might be cucumber. John showed up shortly thereafter and cut the small patch of grass out back with the push mower that decided to work now that there wasn't a front lawn to cut. We threw out all the things that needed throwing out, and cleaned the whole house.

Results of the tidied-up back yard.

Final Harvest

I got sun sick and had to take some Tylenol and nap with an ice cold beanbag to get rid of the headache that was bad enough to make me queezy... but I'm glad it's done.

In and Out

Breathe with me... in, and out. 
In, and out. 
Again in, and out... 
Now out some more, 
out, 
all the way out, 
out til it hurts, 
then keep breathing out.

Life has rhythms. The tide has to come in before it can go out, you have to fill a dish before you can empty it, you have to take care of yourself before you can take care of others. That last one seems to be my lesson this life time.

I thought I'd learned after the psycho-ex, after the man-child, after the lump, but still I give too much too often and leave myself empty and running on fumes. There's no longer an anchor, a leech, or a vampire... now it's all me.

I'm saying yes to more than I can handle. I'm helping everyone under the sun except me. I'm making sure loved ones eat and sleep regularly, while ignoring my own physical needs. I'm putting on a brave face and powering through, when all I really want to do is sleep for a week solid.

Taking stock today: I haven't eaten enough the past few days, when I do eat it's usually junk, I'm dehydrated, I haven't been sleeping well, my bedroom's a disaster which keeps me from relaxing fully in it, I even haven't gotten to updating the address on my health-card yet.

This is not good.

I thrive when all my ducks are lined up neat and tidy. This chaos just breeds more chaos. I feel exhausted. I forget things. I feel too lazy to do the little tidying things that makes my room so much more comfortable. I'm too lazy to make food so I eat little besides what mom makes so I get even more tired. This is not a good spiral to be in. I want off this ride.

I kept telling myself that this month was a wash. Just power through and get-shit-done and next month I'll take the time to take care of my food, exercise, organization, social, and introspection needs.

That was a crappy plan.

Tomorrow's the clean-up of the old house. If I can I'm going to nap this afternoon, cuddle up with my sweetheart this evening, and spend most of Sunday taking care of my stuff so I can start the new week with less stress and more energy.

Time for a new normal

This has probably been the busiest month I've ever had and although it was full of awesome, I'm glad it's coming to an end. Between my move at the beginning of the month, Megan's move this past weekend, unpacking, work, and shopping for the bits and pieces... I'm just exhausted.

This Friday, John is moving out of the house and Saturday afternoon we're all going to clean it out and wash it down to leave it tidy for the owner. The next day is June 1st, the first day of the next chapter in my life.

Megan got the place!

It's right across the street. I'm going to see her all the time. Were both very happy about this. :D That is all. 

Lessons From Childhood - Changing

My eyes change colour. They're usually a blue, sometimes a green, and only grey when I'm uber ticked off. 

Some people find this mystical, others think I'm making it up, for a few years as a tween I considered it a natural talent I could hone, I'm currently of the opinion its an involuntary blood vessel/light refraction thing. During the time I thought I could learn to control it, I had a dream. 

~In the dream I was standing in my bathroom, staring in the mirror over the sink, practising changing the colour of my eyes. Blue, to green, to grey, back to blue. It got easier as I tried til I was bored and confidant I could switch to any of those three with just a thought and minor push of will. Then I realized I hadn't tried brown yet. 

I tried just as I had with the other colours, willing my eyes to change but nothing happened. Getting frustrated I put as much pressure as I could behind it trying to force the change... then I felt the pressure pop and was filled with that slightly ill feeling of an injury that just occurred and you don't want to look at cause it doesn't hurt yet and you don't really want to know how bad it is.

Slowly I looked up... my eyes were blue, except for one hard edged wedge of vibrant medium brown. Looking at it I knew that the section of brown was always going to be there, and that I had completely destroyed my ability to willingly change my eye colour forever.

~

I know it was "just" a dream, but ever since I've thought of the brown representing any knowledge or skill, and the overall dream meaning I shouldn't push/hurry my personal growth or learning process. 

The reason all this came back to me is that I happened to look in the mirror today, and found that my eyes have been changing over the years. I now have a golden brown ring around the pupil. Maybe by the time I'm old and wise my eyes will be as vibrantly brown as my mother's.


(edit: Mom corrected me. She has the brown, dad has the blue.)

Our main skill seems to be ignoring

Human beings are fascinating creatures. We have high functioning brains, fairly decent senses, and the ability to empathize... And yet our most glorious feature seems to be the fact that we can ignore things.

Consciously or unconsciously we ignore not just most, but I'd say 85-90% of our lives. No one pays attention to the details if breathing in and out, or the texture and placement of every article of clothing,  or even all the sights and sounds of the world around us, let alone all the concepts and constructs around us.

Now this isnt a bad thing. I don't think we could get anything done if we had to pay attention to everything. I try to picture living aware of everything we sense... its what I imagine hard drugs are like. We'd be sitting starring into space, unable to put two words together. Brain overloaded, no processing power to even think "wow this is a lot".

Unfortunately, it's not all good. This power to ignore means we often can create internal narratives that outweigh the real world in our brain as the truth. That sort of thinking leads to abuse, racism,  classism, stalkers,  etc.

As with everything else, it's important to use what tools you have for good,  and carefully shun overuse to avoid the negative side.

Long weekend.

Megan, her mother Ann and I have been busy checking out apartments and otherwise I've been trying to give her space and time to get done what ever she needs to do but talking to Megan Thursday I found out she was much more stressed than I realized and she asked for help. I told her I'd come over Friday for superheroes and then kick her ass all Saturday to get stuff packed and a decision to be made by where to apply to by Monday.

Friday night after work we saw FOUR apartments in TWO hours, WALKING from place to place. Oh boy did our feet hurt. 1st=meh, 2nd=nice, 3rd=nice, 4th=oh-hell-no.  Superheroes and take-out went well as usual but the funniest bit was when I reminded Megan that it was 10:30 so we should turn in and both her mom and John laughed thinking that Megan "never goes to bed that early on a weekend". I reminded them that we had a big day ahead and that if either of them were interested, breakfast would be served at 7:30. They laughed even more at that but we just shook out heads and went to bed.
 - - -
Saturday I woke up early and got the coffee and breakfast ready then woke Megan and we enjoyed a nice quiet breakfast alone before Ann joined us for tea and we planned the day. When John came upstairs at 9:30, I was helping Ann sort out the shopping list. He asked "so where's this breakfast I heard about?', Ann told him "seems we missed it" and he seemed so shocked that we had actually got up at 7. lol

We started packing and I only had to poke Meg a few times to keep her on track. :) I had a schedule planned out for us, an hour and a half of work, half hour break, then another hour and a half of packing before lunch. Throughout the morning I was called evil, slave-driver, drill-sergeant, you get the point, but it was all in good humour and although we were tired and sweaty by lunch time, we had accomplished quite a bit of the pesky tiny stuff.

During lunch we discussed the apartments we'd seen and the pros and cons of each and Megan eventually narrowed it down by process of elimination to...... THE ONE ACROSS THE STREET FROM ME!!!!!!

Calling up the manager we made sure it was still available then came down to fill out the paperwork. Mom and sis were out for the evening so I had Meg and Ann over for dinner.
 - - -
Sunday, I just needed a day off. I did my laundry but didn't put it away, or do groceries, or anything.... we just watched Modern Family and I tried out my new food processor by making hummus. Yum.

 - - -
Tomorrow I'll be working on the holiday Monday so I'll be hanging out at work making the big bucks. :)

Running

I mentioned to a friend the other day that I didn't think I had any errands or chores planned for after work Thursday, and that made me feel like I was forgetting something. She understood completely and said it was just because I've been so busy lately. I have to agree. With moving, hosting the house-warming, unpacking, setting up house, work, having a cold, helping my sweetheart find an apartment, and still trying to squeeze in a social life of some sort... I've been going non-stop for a month now. It's probably half of why I'm sick.

This morning I was pondering my financial situation and coming to the same conclusion. I finally have a little wiggle room to breathe and after years of confinement, it feels weird and wrong like I'm forgetting a bill somewhere and it's going to bite me in the ass any day now.

I pictured it this morning like I've been running a race for years now, barely ahead of the others. I pushed so hard on one stretch that I lost my map, and then suddenly I looked around, and I have no clue where any of the other runners are. I'm either so far ahead that I can't see them behind me, or I took a wrong turn some where and when I find my way back to the track I'll be so far behind I'll never catch up.

This is why I like being super organized. It allows me to not only plan for the future, but relax in the present knowing exactly what I can and can't do. Unfortunately I've been too busy to sit down and get all the ducks lined up. I DID get everything planned out leading up to the move. I had the next two years sorted out so I could pay everything and have a nice nest egg at the end of it. It's just that I know life never follows the plan and I haven't been updating it to reality so I'm scared I'm way off track. 

I've been running all my life. Running away, running toward, running from, running in place, running the household, running my life, running around my brain, running off my mouth, running ahead, running behind... I've been running so long I don't know how to take a stroll through the park any more. I've NEVER been on a proper leave-town-for-2weeks-vacation. My few trips have been air cadet summer camp as a child, weekend trailer park "camping" as a young adult(on someone else's dime), or moving to another city. It may be that all this running is just running me into an early grave, but I don't know how to slow down.

I'm hoping the next few months will give me the opportunity to learn.

Lessons From Childhood - Drowning

A friend and I were probably about 10 years old and were swimming at the public pool. We had decided to play lifeguard and "rescue" each other. I was the lifeguard first and she did the standard "help help save me" routine high out of the water with arms flailing so I jumped in and dragged her to the side. All good. 

A few minutes later was my turn to get rescued so I swam out into the middle and splashed a little but let myself sink so my mouth was level with the water letting it in and spitting it out and generally having fun inside my brain marvelling at how I can look like I'm drowning and still be in full control/safe. 

... That's when a strong arm wrapped around me and in less than 10 seconds I was sitting on the edge of the pool. The lifeguard asked me a bunch of questions like how long I had been swimming and if I usually stay in the shallow end, etc. I was spun around mentally by the game becoming reality, and I was so embarrassed about making the lifeguard dive in, and I was certain he was going to kick me out. I felt like I was drowning for real this time but drowning in embarrassment and confusion. I just couldn't tell him it was all a game and see that disappointment. It would be too much.

Instead, I said that I do usually swim in the deep end, and I don't know what the problem was, and no I didn't have a cramp, and sorry for being so much trouble. That's when he asked me if maybe I just got a bit over tired. I latched onto that lifeline and vehemently agreed that must have been the problem and thanks again and sorry for being so much trouble and I'll be much more careful next time. 

I got sent to the shallow end for the rest of the day but now that I'm older... I wonder if he knew. 

A Week After The Move

So it's been a long week. Moved Monday and been busy all week unpacking and getting ready for the housewarming party. We had a few friends over for the afternoon. 

Mmmmmm... Gluten-free Snacks!

Tonight I've come back to the old place to share pizza and super hero shows.  First thing I did when I got here was the weed the garden of course. :)

There's lots of the little keys sprouting around the edges but guess what! There's also plenty of stuff I actually plantedc growing too. 

Yay!

Monday's the big day!

I'm moving Monday which means I'm going to have to pack my computer very soon and I'm just writing to let you know I'll have limited access on my phone til the net gets hooked up in a few days.

Don't miss me too much. :)

Packing and Pixels

Thanks to some old electronics boxes from Megan's work and a bunch of wine store boxes, I got plenty of packing done on the weekend, and now there's just a few odds and ends that need taking care of. Been keeping busy with work and getting all the stuff surrounding the move organised. Today I brought home another box of boxes from the wine store because if I don't use them all, my housemates surely will.

I've also been messing around with MSPaint stick people as a new blog has started to emerge from my brain called Miss-Overheard. The basic premise being that I overhear(and likely mis-hear) many things day to day and I try to recreate the silly places my brain goes with those snippets of conversation. I use red text to indicate what I though tI heard. the rest is pure fantasy. An example:

I try to keep it flowing at a steady every-other-day for now. I may be able to do more after the move.

With This Cryogenic Technology I'll Be Unstoppable!

The defrosting of the Mini-cheesecake was a success. Sorry no new pics. Didn't think about it til it was in our tummies.

So, wrapped in plastic wrap, and placed in a freezer-bag in the deep freeze for a month then defrosted (in the plastic wrap) in the fridge =  still amazingly tasty. This means that the two times a year cream cheese goes on sale... I can make a butt-load of these lil beauties and wrap them up for later. :)

Stuff like this makes me realize we're not going to be deprived of anything eating gluten free and frugal. :D

Come on Spring....

So today started rather dismally. A nice inch or so of snow blanketed everything and... well really I'm just glad it didn't happen next week after things started sprouting.

I found this pretty but soon to be dead planter as well as some rabbit prints on the way to work.

After a rather average day at work I stopped off at the post office to get the modem that was shipped. 

I picked up the package and sent of a birthday surprise for my lil sister. I know she reads this... but it's not like I said what the surprise is. :)

Weekend Transformation

This weekend it was time to tackle the front yard. 

Perfect for gardening.

Obligatory Before Shot

Last fall we got London Landscape Inc. to tear up the overgrown lawn, put down some proper topsoil, and cover it all with landscape cloth to keep weed seeds out. It was completed on time and on budget and I was very pleased. Unfortunately the snowplough decided to tear a strip off the yard near the side-walk. Yay.

Friday on the way home I grabbed some Growers Cider cause I knew after a long day of gardening I was gonna want something sweet and cool to drink. Saturday I spent the morning poking around the house and after brunch around noon I got to work.

First thing to do was go out back to the shed for some tools. as I was opening the shed I heard something behind me and managed to take this pic over my shoulder without startling the lil robin.

So Cute!

The yard was going to need edging and stepping stones in order to look tidy and be functional. I started with the heavy stuff first(thank goodness). I lifted the landscape cloth I found a few surprise grass sprouts, then started digging a trench for the edging stones. Around the edge the new topsoil wasn't nearly as deep so I quickly hit what was out original soil. I packed the gaps with dirt and rocks to prevent run-off. 

Clay and sand are not the best soils.

Four done, plenty to go.

Grass has got to be my most disliked weed.

Last fall when London Landscape Inc was coming I dug out the rosebush meaning to keep it in the basement over winter.... It over wintered in the carport. I'm not 100% certain that it'll grow again but roses are insanely resilient (I had a bush trying to grow from a 1" clipping last year) so there's no harm trying. I burred it deep and watered it well.

This is all that can be seen of the poor rosebush I dug up in the fall and left in the carport.

At this point it was almost supper, rain was threatening and I was tired so I figured it was time to call it a day.

Borders complete, stepping stones placed, rose bush re-situated.

I put up my feet for a bit and enjoyed a cider before dinner. After Dinner, Meg and I cuddled on the couch and watched some TV. The cats slept nearby keeping us company.   :)

A well earned drink to relax with.

They're so cute when they're not fighting.

- - - - - ~ - - - - -

It rained Saturday night and I slept fairly well but woke up sore all over. I am SO glad that all I left was the planting. I settled the stepping stones a little lower in the soil for stability, made and anchored a trellis, and made a little... entry arch? near the porch to show the intent of the stepping stones and that they're not there just for some weird artistic reason.

I bought a nice blend of perennials and self-seeding annuals for the base/filler from West Coast Seeds. I bought a bunch of bulbs from the dollar store, and I still have a variety of various seeds from previous excursions into gardening. I wanted it to be a nice low to no maintenance garden. Other than watering I think the only work involved might be taking the dead nasturtium vines off the trellis in the fall. I didn't plant anything to... obviously food... in the front yard but there's some useful plants in with the just-for-decoration flowers.

I planted some helpful flowers like lavender, chamomile, and calendula. To most they'll just be pretty flowers but if the new renters know their herbs, they'll be happy to have them. I also planted the whole length of the neighbour's driveway with garlic and onions. If they're recognised they'll be tasty, if not, they'll be basic greenery with the occasional round flower ball. :)

Sunday morning from inside before I started.

All Done.

Now I know garden folk love progress pics and I will let you know when everything starts sprouting, but I'm moving in two weeks so I won't be back to take pics regularly... just occasionally. :)