Fertilizer Friday again!

It's Fertilizer Friday!  Join Tootsie by clicking on the Fertilizer Friday icon to see what's blooming in gorgeous gardens from all over!

'Endless Summer' Hydrangea

I woke up this morning with one idea in my head---'I need a haircut.'  I get like this, I can put off haircuts and whatnot appointments for months and months, but suddenly the snaggy hair thing reaches epidemic proportions and I have to act now!

  I really should spend more time on my looks than I do, but for some reason it's low on my priorities.  I have a dear friend who has taken on the chore of trying to do something with my hair for years now, and she graciously accepted my pleas for help today.  So now I am sporting a brand new trim for the big events of next week, which include the TV interview and a niece's wedding.  Thank  you, Nancy!!

Coral 'Magellan' Zinnias, Dusty Miller and my favorite little boy statue

After returning home from my haircut, I was working on sorting through some papers when a large truck pulled in and a young man hopped out and knocked on the back door.  It appears this guy had a similar urge to my haircut deal when he woke up this morning; he wanted to know if I could 'help him out' by taking some blacktop off his hands.  Seems he was working on a jobsite and they ran out of room to put the blacktop, so if I would be a good sport, he would gladly bring the homeless asphalt to our driveway and pave the entire thing. 

"Wouldn't you just love to have a blacktopped driveway?" he asked.  "Just think how nice it would be!  And we would be in and out of here in a very short time, won't take us long at all.  We won't charge you for the blacktop, in fact you'd be doing us a favor.  C'mon, whaddya say?  Have we got a deal?"

I'm listening to his spiel, nodding my head, yes, I would like a paved driveway and it would be nice and it wouldn't take him long and he won't charge me for the blacktop........ah, wait a minute--- what?

"You're going to do this for nothing? I asked.  "Wow."

 

"Wellll...YES! The blacktop will cost you nothing!   I guarantee it!  We'd get around only $20 a (and here I'm not sure what he said....if it was $20 a square yard or square foot, but anyway, doesn't matter!) for labor and we have all the equipment we need to finish this job.  You will not be sorry.    So, what'll it be?"

I shook my head and wondered why I answered the door.  The reason I did respond was my visitor was dressed in an official-looking orange safety vest with a matching symbol on his the truck's side.  I really thought he had something to do with the highway department, foolish me!  Nope, he's just a guy running around with a load of  free blacktop to the first good home.  

(Kind of gives the term 'asphalt' a whole new meaning...in this circumstance, if I would have bought the terrifically discounted blacktop and it wasn't any good, I would have been at fault and also an as....ok, never mind!)  

Oh, by the way, I didn't buy anything!

I also didn't get a chance to take any pictures today.  After looking through some of my photos, I was amazed at how the gardens looked so much better last year in a drought than this year with all the incessant rain we had.  So, at the risk of being a 'cheater' the pictures in this post are all from August 2009.

Gazebo and petunias

Quarry & Cedars

Formal garden dome and coleus

North side quarry hill

Old front porch railings redone as entrance

Riverbed and annuals

'Goldsturm' Rudbeckia

'Fresh Look' celosia and the rest of my goofy color schemes

Front of the house

Quarry

And now I have to show you the prettiest flower in my garden last August--

My Mom, Lucille, at age 89, weeding!

I realize this is a poor picture of my dear mother (who will be 90 this month!!!!)  But trust me, to get even this close to the Elusive Lucille is a feat in itself, much like trying to capture a rare butterfly seated on a charging elephant on film and still live to talk about it.  Mom loves pictures, as long as they do not contain her image.  Her aim was off in this instance; she threw her trowel at me, but the pond is bigger than it looks and it fell short of bonking me in the head.  Mom is so feisty!

Before I forget, there's another project we've been tackling the last few days--moving a 50' wall of tufa stone from the west side of the house to the east hosta garden.  There will be more news on this tomorrow.  

See you soon!

Karen