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3:48 p.m. - 2005-11-13 I live in the Chicago area....don't like the weather...wait a minute...it'll change.I'm freezing....We have a high of 45 degrees today. It was 70 yesterday. Today we also have 35 to 40 MPH winds with gusts up to 50...that's almost hurricane force....OK, well maybe 1/2 hurricane force....but it is windy. I still have yard excavating and gravel spreading to do but needed to get my 6 new bushes in the ground which I bought 4 weeks ago. The garden show guy said you could buy them and keep em in the pot til as late as Dec. 1st to plant, but I think 2 of them have bit the dust. I planted them anyway. Anyway, I wanted to do this yesterday, but I bought a desk on Ebay and had to drive 35 miles and back to pick it up. By the time I got home the rain started and I couldn't garden.
Nephew Sam helped. He drove the pickup truck then helped Mike wrestle the 5' x 3' behemoth up the stairs. I thought Mike was going to have a heart attack.
Sam was very willing to help as he has about 6 hours left of practice before he can get his driver's license and a Grayslake to Elgin roundtrip was worth about 3 hours. He really is a good driver but being new, he has a couple bad habits. I tattled on him. He shouldn't be allowed to solo yet...sorry Sam...I love you too much to let you drive with habits that could send you careening off of an on ramp or into a cement abutment. His older brother totaled 2 cars in the first two years he drove, burning one completely to the ground, which is making his Mommy gun shy about letting Sam get his license...yet. However, the day will come where he must be let loose and she will get another 50,000 grey hairs...that's OK, Michelle is an awsome colorist. Been outside in this cold and wind from 9:00 AM until 3:00PM and dug up 3 bushes (bushes from hell with deep deep roots), bundled the brush, cleared a huge patch of lemon mint which was threatening to invade my driveway (hint: Don't plant mint), filled three yard bags with weeds and completely cleared the two gardens in front of my house. Then I planted 6 bushes...two of which I am sure might be dead....I paid 20.00 each for them so I planted them in hopes that they were just sick and will come back now that their roots aren't bound up in a pot. I transplanted a bunch of bulbs of I don't know what kind that I dug up while clearing the garden and planted my Grandmas hens and chicks I had in a pot that I dug up from my Elk Grove garden because they would not live in a pot through the winter. I have two more hours of daylight to dig with and should go out back and dig more area to put the excess gravel in but I am freezing and chilled to the bone. As a matter of fact, I am having trouble typing because my fingers are stiff and cold. My back is shot and all my muscles have had it and are like rubber. I sure hate to let the excavation and gravel spreading go one more weekend as it is getting colder. We are supposed to have highs in the 40's and it will only get to be about 35 Tuesday and we will have snow and freezing rain....already....so I don't relish the idea that I have yet more yard work that MUST be done before I can say I am through for the year. We have two weeks to get my Mother in law over here and her stuff is arriving by the boxful every time Mike goes over there. We still have stuff of our own to put away and even have pictures to hang and things to install.
I can't put away my garden stuff and patio table and chairs because our three season porch is crammed with all my MIL's boxes. I can see us in December, still having outdoor stuff to wrap up. The thought of Christmas coming and all the Xmas foo's and cha cha's having to come down from the attic scares the bejesus out of me. Oh well, maybe like last year....I will only put up the tree and not overdo it. I am looking forward to January to finish fixing up the house and getting all settled....then February, I swear....I am spending the whole weekend....everyweekend in my PJ's just resting from the horrendous year I have had. I know the year was filled with good things and I wouldn't change it for the world....but I have bitten off more than I can chew this year and I am exhausted. I have a chill that is deep in my bones....I think I will just jump in a hot shower and call it a day....I will have one more weekend in the yard. Maybe if I finish up on Saturday, I can spend the whole day Sunday reading books, and watching videos in front of our fireplace.....mmmm...maybe that will be incentive to dig in the dark after work. I look forward to next year when I have an entire Spring and summer to play in my yard at a more liesurely pace. Well...I'm gonna hit that hot shower now. Have a good rest of the day. P. I. Yarnsmith
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