Warmer Days

Today has been a beautiful day in Georgia.  After a very, very cold winter we are enjoying warmer weather and bright, warm sunshine.  High today was 70 degrees!

I went outside about 11:00 to get the mail and realized it had really warmed up quickly.  Yard work was needed along with other outside chores so I started doing what I wanted to get done before running out of energy.

First was to vacuum out the car and clean up an oil spill on the car floor.  Next I connect up one of the leaf blowers to the new 100 foot cord and blew out the garage.  Then it was time for lunch.

After a quick lunch of a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich I headed back out to the yard for heavy duty work.  I started by trimming four of the knock out roses that were in bad shape.  After trimming I realized that the roses were in worse shape than I realized and when I pulled rather hard on one of them it just came out of the ground.  I declared it dead.  Looking at the others I realized they also were on their last leg and pulled up another one and dug up the other two.  Knock out roses are really pretty for a few years but as they age they really start dying and I think it is better to just get rid of them and replant if you choose to do so.  These four are now gone and will not be replanted.

I proceeded to trim back a lantana that I planted last year.  I planted it on a hill in my side yard to see how I would like having lantana on this hill.  I liked it very much as it blooms all summer giving the yard some color.  Also, the deer do not like it so I consider it a deer resistant shrub and will be planting more on that hill this summer.

Next I cut back three knock out roses down by the mailbox that are still healthy.  While in this area of the yard I also trimmed back some ground cover plants that bloom in the fall. 

One of my neighbors stopped by and we chatted for a while and then I realized how tired I was and went in for the day.  It felt so good to be physically able to get back out in the yard and believe me there is much more to do in the coming warm days.

Thankful

Thankful

My blogging just has not happened this year for many reasons.  Today I was thinking about life, family and friends that have been close to my heart the past few years.  I have been truly blessed by many.

After my husband died in late 2012 my next door neighbor saw that I was having problems with my yard being mowed on schedule by my yard service.  It seemed my yard was the last yard to get mowed on their schedule every two weeks.  As often happens in the south the summer afternoon rains would come in and my yard would not get mowed.  So often it was over three weeks between mowing.   

 I cannot mow my front yard myself as it is on a hill.  I purchased  a self propelled mower and mowed my back yard once.  My wonderful next door neighbor saw me mowing and immediately came out and said “No” you are not mowing this yard.  He had all the equipment and a large riding lawn mower and has mowed my yard since that day.  I am so thankful to have such wonderful neighbors and friends.  Today I called his wife and told her that anytime her husband does not have time or energy to mow my yard to let me know and I will make arrangements to have it mowed.  She said “Oh we have that covered as I am going to run the mower this summer for both of our yards and my husband is going to run the weed eater”.  Oh how thankful I am for such loving friends and neighbors.