Metamorphosis

  First planter to be planted with perennials I want to have a view of the water behind my potato planter so I started clearing brush and pulling grape vines. My new tools of a small chainsaw and a hedge trimmer have come in very handy and are getting a real workout, as well as my body. It's been a struggle to clear this with a lot of cutting, hauling and swearing. But it's how I have fun. I've learned to lay down the chainsaw correctly now to prevent it from rolling into the water. I managed to get down the slippery slope and grab it without falling in, so that's something. Observation: it's really hard to climb up a muddy embankment when you're giggling. The next part was to fill all those filing cabinets and planters with compost. Luckily we have a source of this and kind men who scooped it up in the tractor and hauled it over. They are all full now and ready to go. I just had to dig out the roots, sticks, bricks and other odd things. Finally have the blocks ...

  The area we're working in has tons of horrible roots that need to be removed before planting all the daylilies, otherwise we'll be fighting this growth forever.  I found a cool new shovel called the Weed Slayer and it's perfect for this chore.  It has serrated edges and is smaller at the base to dig down deep. I can't say it makes digging these nasty roots out a joy, but it sure does a great job. We saw this being used at one of the gardens we went to when buying plants off Marketplace. All I need in life is Marketplace and Amazon and I'm set.

  I found some nicely sized landscape blocks on Marketplace and Shawn and I set out to get them. They weren't as huge as the other ones and are more manageable, but are still heavy. He lifted them up to the tailgate and I stacked them. We're getting really good at this! We're using these to finish the edge along the lagoon and we had enough to go around my potato planter and planters. We'll need at least 100 more to finish going around the corner to connect Bob's Garden with my garden. The nice man who sold us these said he'd contact me when he had the next 100 ready instead of even posting them on Marketplace.  We're in no big rush as we've been working hard and are tired. Our legacy to this park will be that every garden bed will have a permanent border around it that will last for years and years.

  A garden is never actually finished, it's an ongoing process.  The filing cabinet/planters are filled with compost now and ready for planting.  I found more landscape blocks on Marketplace so off we went to get them. Yikes! They were not what I was expecting...they were HUGE. I managed to lift one of the 40 blocks onto the tailgate and told my buddy Shawn I couldn't do this. He proceeded to pick them up and into the truck where I dragged them into position. Because I lack the strength to stack them we decided to do this in two trips. Mind you, these are a 30 minute one way drive so a lot of time was spent on the road. When we got back to the gardens we, well actually Shawn, put them down into place. I was in the truck bed again dragging them into place for him. It was the hardest thing we've done to date. But we had to admit the large blocks look really super along this edge of the garden. Another plus is that when this area floods they aren't going to float away. Lat...

  This area down by the lagoon was started with previous members of this committee. It was used as an area to put surplus plants, which was a great idea. However, it was soon overtaken by weeds and invasive grapevine. We began to work on this last year by planting a few shrubs we found desirable and removing some of the weeds, but it got away from us as well and those plantings were swallowed up. The vines are relentless. This year we began a concentrated effort to conquer this area and did a massive cleanup pulling thistles, weeds and grapevine with renewed vigor. It's startling how many nice plants we found back here. Our next phase was to add some tall planters to keep the rabbits and weeds at bay, but the budget is already shot. What to do? Well, thanks to Pinterest and all the great ideas I get from there I had a solution. I found five metal filing cabinets in Facebook Marketplace, my new favorite place to shop. Pete and I hauled them down to the lagoon which started a lot of ...

  It's been a journey with my bariatric surgery and learning a new way of life, how to eat correctly and get more exercise. I started out at 232 pounds and lost 14 pounds prior to my surgery on May 6th. The first month I lost 16 pounds as it was hard to eat enough to get the amount of protein and calories I'm supposed to take in, making me 202. Most days I'd be good to get about 400-500 calories. There's just no room in my tiny little tummy. The second month I lost another 10 pounds bringing me to 192. It feels so good to be under 200 or as they call it in my world...ONEderland. At the end of my third month I lost another 10 putting me at 182 with a total weight loss of 50 pounds. It still doesn't seem real or possible. Sometimes I weigh myself an extra time because I'm sure the scale is malfunctioning or I just dreamt it the night before. I'm working towards to my goal weight of 127, which puts me firmly in the middle of the healthy weight limits for my hei...

  I finally scored some free blocks on Facebook Marketplace and we headed out to claim them.  Yikes! They were still in the pond and needed to be dismantled. Luckily the pond was in the front yard or I think we may have driven away. I alternated between hauling them to the truck to being the person in the back of the truck stacking them. I had flashbacks of loading bales of hay from my childhood. Of course we're doing this on one of the hottest and most humid days. We stopped several times for water breaks. No problem getting my water or steps in today. We dragged them back to the campground and used them to surround this Willow Garden. Next I removed the edgers so they can be used elsewhere and put them around this boat garden. The cap stones were used to make this path through the front of this garden as it's hard walking among the flowers in this area. Always nice to find something free to stretch our garden budget out.

I finally assembled the metal raised beds I got from Amazon to go near the potato planter. These were horrible to work with! The directions were not clear and I think I have one screw missing as several were scattered loose in the box. Yeah, yeah...she has a screw missing. I can hear what you're thinking! I managed to get one done, of course on a hot and humid day after I'd worked down in Bob's garden. We put it in the back of the car to haul it down there as it's very wobbly.  I did a partial assembly of the second one and hauled it in pieces down to the area and finished putting it together down there. Other than being in full sun and the metal was hot to the touch it went much better than earlier. It will be better once it's staked into the ground and filled with soil. Luckily we have a huge area for composting and I can fill it mostly with this material and only have to add some top soil and composted manure to mix in at the upper level. Then I can finally start...

  I finally got the larger patio mat that I ordered and it's perfect! It covers the seating area and extends over the gravel in front of the paved area, helping to keep a little more dirt from coming into the house. It even goes under the RV a ways so I can more easily slide things underneath to be stored. Then I picked up a gazebo canopy on Marketplace to cover the area.  It's not that we needed more shade, it's more of a poop-guard for the birds. I scrubbed down the benches and put the cushions on them and m aybe now we'll have an area that is inviting to stop and sit! Since the mosquitos are quite active (they are the Minnesota state bird) I ordered netting to surround the seating area. And finally (since I can't seem to stop myself) I ordered a battery operated chandelier to hang from the center.  I really wanted an old fashioned tacky one with lots of crystals dripping down, but want to actually have lights also, so this was the way I chose to go. So now we hav...