Mulch Ado About Nothing

Will and I decided to plant a garden this year. The soil in our area is horrible and we have very little non-shady area to work with, so we elected to go with raised beds. Will and I (read as me doing all the work and trying to occupy a 5-year old and not get either of us injured) build three large wooden gardens and four smaller ones. That was the easy part.

When it was time to get soil, that was another ball game. We live in the country, sort of. Defiantly to far away for delivery to be cheap. Steve was also working 12-hour days seven days a week, so his truck wasn't an option. I spent two weeks calling around and getting prices on soil and delivery fees.

Steve finally was able to let me have the truck on a Saturday. So, Friday, Will and I (see earlier note) added wooden sides to our small trailer to increase the amount of garden soil/mulch we could carry. Steve took off and drove us out to load it up. We ended up with four square yards of soil.

The day we purchased the soil I filled two of the larger garden areas. The next day two more. The rest the following. I'd like to interject here the fact that the soil was wet and heavy and had to be shoveled with a pitch fork into a wheelbarrow with a fast leak. We are talking really fast; I had less than 30 minutes before I had to air up the tire again. Believe me, you do not want to get caught with your tire down.

It rained just as I finished filling my garden beds and I had a few days off. Then I filled up three small flower beds in the back yard. The following day a HUGE flower bed the length of half my house. Then it rained.

This week, we managed to hook up the lawn trailer to the riding lawn mower and use it to haul dirt. I used the remaining dirt to level out the worse dips in the back yard.

Nothing earth shaking, I just moved dirt. But for a middle age woman who is a little fluffy, and a lot inactive, looking at that empty trailer and realizing that, by my self, I shoveled out and transported four cubic yards of mulch was priceless.

Well, it actually cost $65. But who's counting.

Toilet-Free Front Yard

Will and I were in the process of moving a toilet from our driveway to the backyard when Steve got home from work on Tuesday. He helped. I asked earlier in the week if I could give it away, but he wants to replace the one in our bathroom with this one when we redo the bathroom. So I'm stuck with a toilet sitting outside until then.

My new philosophy on junk in the yard is that it's okay as long as it's behind the wooden privacy fence. No one needs to know we have a toilet sitting outside but us - and our closes friends, relatives, and the neighbors.

Today was the first day I've been able to drive up to my house and not see a toilet in a long time. Maybe a year or more. Oddly, - well, at least odd to most people - this is not the first toilet to occupy real estate in my driveway since I've lived in this house. I'd go so far as to say that there have been at least five toilets, most at different times, greeting company as they arrived.

When Steve did handyman work full-time, he did a lot of bathroom remodels and he always ended up carrying off the old fixtures. He'd unload things in the driveway and when I got tired of looking at them I would haul them into the back yard. When he made a trip to the dump he'd haul everything off or I'd freecycle it.

Will and I have been steadily cleaning out our driveway and either throwing away junk or moving it behind the fence. You can actually drive all the way to the garage doors now. If the garage was clean you could park a car inside it.

Yep, life is good.

The Latest Experiment

I am always trying something new; a new pattern, a new theory, a new way to accomplish something. Today, I set in motion a new experiment. I made my own Mesquite Barrier and applied it to the back yard.

If you've never heard of Mesquito Barrier, it is an expensive liquid you can order to spray on your yard. It is basically a high concentration of garlic in liquid form. You mix the garlic with a teaspoon of liquid soap and then use a water sprayer to coat your entire yard.

The liquid soap is so that if any of the spray lands in standing water, and there are mosquito larva in it, they will be coated and unable to fly - thus die.

We paid almost $60 for a bottle several years ago. It works, basically. While advertised to work for up to 3 months . . . that is only if it does rain much - ours lasted about a month. So we never did it again.

However, when researching alternate methods of keeping mosquitoes away from the house I found that you can sit bowls of apple cider vinegar around a perimeter prior to an outside party and it will keep the mosquitoes away.

Then, earlier this week I was spraying my vegetable for bugs with a mixture of water and a little canola oil to rid them of bugs.

So . . .

I mixed 1/2 a gallon of apple cider vinegar, 1/3 a cup of canola oil, and a half a table spoon of dish soap into a sprayer and filled the remaining portion of the 2-gallons with water. Then I sprayed the back yard. The fences, back of the house, porch, broken down cars and lawnmowers, wood pile, play equipment, grass, trees, etc. Everything. I actually ended up having to make two more containers to cover the entire back yard.

I figure by tonight I should be able to tell if it impacts the mosquito population. In two to three days I should know if it is going to make Will sick or cause him to break out. And by the end of the week I'll know if it kills the grass.

What fun!

I Don't Remember That

Today was Steve's birthday and it started fine, at least I thought it did. We gave him presents and lazed around the house until noon. We met Tori and Steve's folks for lunch at a steak house and came back home for home-made German Chocolate cake.

Where things got weird was when I started to tell Steve's parents about our new plans regarding handling the upcoming birth of my grand baby. You have to understand first off that I have been very worried about how I'd get to CO, who would watch Will, how the finances would be arranged, etc.

The main problem is that I can not drive more than about 3 hours without falling asleep, so there is no way I can drive myself to CO. If I go alone, I have to fly. Since there is no real telling when a baby will come, I can't purchase my ticket in advance. I'll have to pay the highest premium. If I fly in, then I'll have to rent a car. I also can't stay with Bonnet as she is now living with the ex, so I'll have to get a hotel room for the 3-5 days I was hoping to stay. And if all of this wasn't enough to worry about, what am I going to do with Will?

I talked, weeks ago, to a sister-in-law who volunteered to watch Will. Keep him for a solid week. Sounded good. But when we were down there recently, he wouldn't even spend a single night at her house while we were in town. I realized he's never stayed the night away from us. And for the first time to be in a strange town for an entire week - not going to work.

I'm also majorly concerned about funds. I expect to have to pay $1,000 for my tickets as they are going to be last minute. If I save my business funds from now until then, I'll nearly have enough to purchase my ticket. Then I'm going to have to use family funds, or Steve's credit card, to rent a car and pay for an hotel. Not to mention eat. And I still have no idea on what to do with Will.

So I'm talking to Steve about all of this last week, I think it was Wednesday night. As I was talking it all out, telling him the same things I've just shared with you, a solution comes to me.

If Steve takes off work and goes with me,
we can drive.
I don't have to find anyone
to watch Will.
We can make the trip on what
airfare would cost me.
Steve and Will can
have a vacation and do fun things
while I stay with Bonnet.

So, I suggest it.

We can manage to take only part of a week off depending on when we get the call. So part of a week and a weekend; 5 days. Even with a day to drive up there a day to drive back, that leaves us with three days to see the grand baby and the sights.

We talk about it a while and Steve finally says, "Let's try that."

I can't begin to tell you how relieved I was. After literally months of worrying about how I'd get up to see Bonnet and my granddaughter, everything seem to be coming together. Plus, we haven't taken a vacation in years. It will be nice to get out of Texas. All of us together. And Will can meet his niece and visit Bonnet.

It's perfect. And that's exactly what I tell my best friend at breakfast the next day. It's all settled. It's wonderful. Life is good.

So back to today. I start to share our new vacation plans with the in-laws and before I even get a complete sentence out of my mouth Steve breaks in . . .

"I don't remember that."

At first I thought he was joking. That would be so like Steve. So I smile at him and tell him to quit joking.

"No. I'm serious. We never talked about this."

Then the men start talking about how women ASSUME a discussion means an agreement . . . yada yada yada.

I was livid!

Everyone has the right to not remember a conversation. You do not ever have the right to state the conversation didn't take place because you can't remember it - that would mean I was lying. Nor do you have the right to put the blame on the shoulders of an entire sex. And I told them so.

Unfortunately, the rest of Steve's birthday wasn't as peaceful.

We were both upset for our own reasons and did our best to avoid any confrontations or discuss the elephant in the room.

I feel really bad this happened on Steve's birthday and I hate the strain it caused. We probably didn't speak to each other for five minutes the rest of the day and I got no good-night kiss or hug.

I feel really alone tonight and further away from seeing my grandbaby then ever.

The Snake is Back

A few months ago, Steve went to help my brother Paul move into a new apartment. Besides reducing from a house to an apartment, Paul was having to get rid of a lot of his ex's stuff at the same time. Steve brought home the snake statue shown above. Paul, the man with good taste, was throwing it away.

Why, you ask yourself, other than an obvious lack of taste, would my husband bring home such an interesting piece of yard art? Because he thought it would go well with our other yard art, an alligator.



Normally, this alligator lives in the greenery near our front door and has been known to scare the s_ _ t out of people. It scared our neighbor at least the first twelve times he came over after we purchased it. Yes, even the alligator is kind of tacky - I really wouldn't expect to see it on the White House lawn. But it's fun.

The snake, howere, I hated on site. But I said nothing. Who knows, cheap statues crack easily . . . especially when bumped with lawn mowers driven by blind wives.

The very next day a friend of ours from down the road stopped by and he LOVED the snake. He wanted it. Seriously, he literally asked for it. You'll be proud to know I didn't send it home with him. But when Steve came home I made sure to mention how taken Rex was with the snake. Steve grabbed a few beers and the snake and headed up to Rex's.

That was at least a month or so ago.

On the way from taking the trash out the other morning I nearly pissed myself as I come around the corner to find a coiled snake ready to strike. No, it didn't scare me. I just have to find another no-class friend of Steve's to talk into taking the snake home. Oh, and make sure their wives are more accommodating.

Of coarse, if that doesn't work out, I will be doing a lot of mowing this summer.

Black Hawk, CO

I overnighted an employment application and resume to the City of Black Hawk, CO for Steve on Wednesday. I'm still in shock.

I had no real idea he was going to apply for the job until the night before. I have a vague recollection of him mentioning the job, but had sensed no intent on his part to actually follow through.

Now I'm freaking out. What if they call to interview him? What if they offer him the job? What is we move there? What if . . .

I looked up the city online and it's a casino town. In fact, it's darn hard to find anything about the city that doesn't have to do with casinos. Casinos are not my favorite thing. I'm also really worried about the cost of living in CO. If Steve gets the job, he'll be making more than he makes here . . . but will that compensate for the increase in the cost of living?

I'm also a little bummed because Steve and I have talked for almost a decade about stepping out of the fast lane. Moving to a small town with a lower income bracket and escaping some of the pressure we've been under. This seems a wrong turn for that dream. But, this opportunity would come complete with health benefits and a retirement plan I'm sure. Something our "dream" doesn't have.

Pro's? I'd be closer to the new grandbaby coming this summer. We'd actually get to experience winter. Steve would be out of Texas. We'd have health insurance. Steve would be in a job that wasn't as dangerous as his current one is.

Con's? I'd miss Tori and my friend, Charlene. I'd experience winter - and probably hate it. I'd be out of Texas. I might have to get a job outside the house to help meet finances. We'd have to sell our house and move immediately.

Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm overthinking it. He hasn't even been called in for an interview yet. It's just scarry.

Montero Wedgie

Over the last month, with temperatures rising in Texas, I've began to encounter a real issue with exiting my Mitsubishi Montero. My shorts snag.

I'm short and the climb into the Montero is a little steep. The easiest way to exit is to basically slide from the seat until my feet hit the ground. However, there is this one seat adjustment handle that sticks out just far enough to catch the left leg of loose-legged shorts.

Not only does it leave me momentarily dangling in this air, I'm left feeling like the girl in the photo above.

I guess I'll have to train myself to exit the vehicle some other way, or wear pants this summer. Because I'm starting to pick parking spots for their lack of visibility.