It All Started With.....

…..pulling weeds.  I have started cutting grass.  Just the middle circle where the bird feeder, Bradford pear trees and Jim’s tree are located.  After I finished cutting the grass Kevin put my new birdbath between the bird feeder and one Bradford pear tree.  This year I bought a concrete birdbath rather than a fancy one.  Hopefully, this one will last longer.  Of course, all of that took place over a week ago and the grass needs cutting again.  I had pulled all the weeds, but there are a few cropping up again.  So it seems that chore needs to be done again.

 

I had told you earlier that Kevin and Gio had to cut down one of the pecan trees because it was sick and full of bugs.  That was only the first step.  Next I hired a man to grind the stump, which he did.  Now I have a big hole where the stump was located.  Kevin and Gio both took a lot of the wood for their campfires, but that still left a lot of branches.  Saturday a week ago Kevin decided to start burning the branches in the stump hole.  It was determined that it would probably take all summer to get the job finished.  So we decided to buy a wood chipper.  That is working really well.  He is down to one really large stack of branches and several small ones.  Renea and I have been picking up the smaller ones and stacking them.  The yard is looking much better, but I still cannot cut the grass in that area yet, and there is still a large hole where the tree stump was.  The most important thing is, we are making progress.

 

Monday Renea and I did some shopping.  I bought a couple of plants; four red geraniums, two yellow dahlias and two pink dahlias.  I have transplanted them into large pots (two plants to a pot).  I put one each of the pots of geraniums on either side of the entrance ramp to my deck.  The pots with the dahlias are on tables on my deck.  Tonight I am going to bring them all inside because we have a freeze warning.  I knew this could happen, but that’s okay.  I will adjust.

 

Yesterday I also fed my azaleas, hydrangeas, hibiscus, and rhododendrons.  All the plants look good.  They appear to have made it through the winter.  The four lantana bushes are just twigs.  Not sure when they will show signs of life.  If they didn’t survive I will get some new ones because I really liked them; especially watching all the butterflies visit the flowers. 

 

A couple of items I have planned for the near future is putting bricks around the birdbath and then filling the area with the white rocks like I have in front of my house.  I also plan to put my St. Francis of Assisi stature out by the birdbath.  I also have a cat in a resting position with a bird on his head that I plan to put outside somewhere.  Just not sure where at this point.

 

I also plan to mark off an area with bricks on the south side of the mobile home and fill it in with those white rocks.  I would like to plant a snowball bush in that area next to the end of the deck. 

 

I am also hoping to plant two tulip poplar trees in the front on the north side of the driveway. 

 

Kevin had transplanted two crepe myrtle trees from his yard to my yard.  They are in the front along the road.  If the two crepe myrtle trees I have in pots made it through the winter I plan to plant them out there also. 

 

If the two redbud trees made it through the winter I will plant one in my yard and Renea wants one for her yard. 

 

Not sure what I am going to do with the rest of the trees that are in the pots.

 

A quick note about Jim’s tree since I have had several inquiries.  It looks to be doing fine.  It will be a while before it comes into full bloom (I guess that’s what you call it regarding trees.  I was going to say leafage, but I’m not sure that is a word.)  It looks healthy and has a lot of buds.

 

I can see the purple martin house from my window when I am working on my computer.  I have a lot of bluebirds nesting there.  That’s okay.  At least birds are using it. 

 

Not that I have worn myself out thinking and writing about all I have to do I better take a break J