It all started with getting a hug from my stepdad for no particular reason. That made me feel so terrifically great that after cleaning the stake center on a Saturday morning in December, I pulled into the driveway to discover my folks loading the truck with yard debris and volunteered to help. After being refused and told to go in and hang out, I pressed my offer and was shown some areas in the back yard that needed trimming. So I turned on my iPod (affectionately called my "Walkman" in my more vintage moments), put on some work gloves, grabbed the pruning shears, and filled several large totes with dead leaves and clippings. I didn't haul as much yard debris to the truck as Mom or Jim did, but it was satisfying to look back at the raised beds I worked on and see the difference made.
The raised bed near the back fence, before any work was done:
The raised bed after I finished it:
We're serious about yard debris in this family!
Kenny, back from fitness testing with the Tigard Police Department, noticed what we were up to and contributed to the fray by cleaning off the driveway - what a guy!
Ugh, I stepped in something rotten while out working. Now, how to clean off my shoes before going in the house?
It turns out, we couldn't fit everything onto the truck to take to the dump. Some of my yard debris had to wait!
Mom really wanted the extra leaves from all the beautiful fall foliage to be used to mulch the vegetable beds, so I volunteered to get the leaves on the patio out to the vegetable garden, and Kenny followed me out there to help. He wouldn't listen to my instructions to go inside and read a book. It was so much easier to gather leaves, though, with his help!
Gathering leaves. I love these big scoops!
The veggie beds, looking crisp and frosty in the morning light:
The raised bed in the back yard, mulched:
I also went out front to "Stan's Garden," the little nook at the side of our front yard dedicated to my grandpa Stan, to gather leaves for the front raised beds so they wouldn't become weedy. It was so peaceful and sunny there, despite the cold, that I could imagine him there puttering away as he readied his home for the winter. We love and miss you, Grandpa!
My dad's yard is another project that I have taken on. Kenny and I met him for lunch one Monday and I noticed that his beautiful flower beds, that he worked so hard over the summers to enliven and imbue with color, have shriveled with the winter and been invaded by grass. Since Dad lives at the coast most of the week and his friend/renter works full-time as well and isn't, ah, inclined to organization, I thought I would take a stab at neatening up Dad's border flower beds before Christmas. With permission, I attacked the grass and weeds in the border beds with a single-minded passion (which was needed - the first day I ventured over happened to coincide with a biting frost, ironically) and finished just in time for Christmas Eve. I was thrilled at the difference I could make!
The beds, before I launched an attack with my clippers and work gloves:
Left bed:
Right bed:
And on Christmas Eve:
Left bed:
Right bed:
And then I was very glad to go home and get a shower before the Taylors came to celebrate Christmas with us!
6 comments:
You are so good! When it came to pulling up our sad looking garden, I said, "oh, once it freezes it will be ok! It's like mulch! I am just saving myself a trip to the composter!" Thus the garden isn't too lovely. :)
Isn't it weird the stuff you'll do for free as an adult that you felt barely willing to do for money when you were a kid? I LOVED working on Jeff's yard when we lived in Provo--of course, I had oodles of time with no kids, few classes, and soon a job that left me free time on the weekends. Now, I feel hemmed in if I so much has have to walk out to the patio to water my pots! I think, "Ugh, if I open this door, the girls will want to pay, and then I'll have to STAY out here and keep them from eating their sandbox...I'll water later." And later = dead plants.
Uh, I meant as and play. I'm still learning how to type on the iPad! Which means I still look illiterate.
Awesome job, Katie! And thanks for the cleanup; it was bugging me seriously, but Sundays are not for work, and Mondays get filled up with errands - partly for work, and partly for my next week. Much appreciated!
Glad to help, Dad! It was really fun to get in among the dirt and plants and see the difference of a few hours' work!
Megan, I HATE typing on those things. It's too hard - ergo, why I'd buy a wireless keyboard. The touchpad thing is not my favorite at all. Cute looking, but leaves fingerprints and annoys. : P
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