Tuesday

 The best descriptive word for the weather this afternoon was Hot.  (Also muggy, sweaty, sticky and Good Grief! apply too). 

David and I just got in from hauling in my flower pots.  It is nearly midnight and after checking the radar, I decided it was time to bring them all in, at least those in the smaller pots.  Unfortunately, the plants in the urns will have to hang on as best they can as the cast iron is way too heavy.   I should check and see if I could find large plastic tubs that could be turned upside down over the plants, but I'm not running to the store tonight. 

The storm in question has just entered the state and looks very ominous.  Like any other storm, it's anyone's guess if or when or where it will be severe or dissipate.  By the looks of the radar, it will be hours before it would cause a problem here, but I didn't relish the idea of running around at 3:30AM with lightning flashing, in a downpour, or heaven forbid, hailstorm, to bring in all the pots.  And why did I plant so many?  It didn't seem like it at the time, but I lost count after thirty-two.  It's gonna be a long summer of hauling water to them all, too.  :-(

Well, back to today's list of what happened:  I potted up five of the petunias for the fenceposts and two pots for the Three Rock bed this morning and into the afternoon.   Mom came down to weed later in the afternoon; she worked on the lane bed in the shade.  Then, when Carl came home, we went to work on the Quarry again.  I was weeding along the west wall and it is obvious this garden needs a makeover.  We ripped out some carex grass that was going to seed, some more yellow flag iris and a bunch of bearded iris that never looked right in this garden in the first place. 

Joel continued working on the string algae problem when he got home and Ann was here right after work, hauling load after load of pine needle mulch.  We ate supper around 6:30PM and Joel, David and Kayla picked up all the 'stuff' around the buildings that we don't need at the moment and put the junk on the car trailer and hauled it out back. 

Carl, Ann and I worked on weeding, mulching and edging the River bed until it was 10PM, dark, more humid than ever, and the mosquitoes made it doubly miserable.  Ann left around 10-ish to do some sewing yet---I don't know how she keeps going, she is truly amazing!   We have no way of knowing how many loads of mulch she single-handedly loaded and unloaded over the last weeks, but we would never have had the time to get all of it done without her dedication to the cause. The mulch does add such a nice, soft color to the ground, too. 

One day left (well, almost two if you count Thursday morning and half the afternoon) to whip this place in shape.  If it storms, well, that's another whole ballgame and all we can do is wait it out like everyone else.

Good night! 
Karen