It was only my 2nd week of work since my vacation but I was already looking for more time off and with Labor Day weekend coming and finally some cooler weather, I put in for Friday off. The 4 day work week, which included the 1st monthly reports of the new fiscal year, flew by. All good.
I started Friday by cleaning the house and getting errands done. My thinking was that I wanted my mind clear so I could dig into gardening. I took Tot to the vet where they told me she is allergic to the enamel on her own teeth and would need ongoing cortisone shots. Really? The vet said it's not uncommon. If she stops scratching at her face and eating better, it will be worth it. I had all my errands run and the house in decent order by mid afternoon and that's when I headed outside.
I started in the front cutting back the volunteer sunflowers that had taken over the parking (the strip between the sidewalk and street for the non midwesterners) but with the loppers out and that done, I started in on the crabapple tree. It had never been the same since the guy in the wheelchair hacked it up a few years ago. I started at the bottom and got busy taking out the entire lower level of branches, using just a 6 inch pruning saw and loppers. I went in for some dinner and then was back outside past dark finishing up. Sometimes you just have to go with whatever inspires you.
I was right back out there Saturday morning. I cleared up the branches and started in on the enormous yew, which I'd left to grow out after I took out the other 2 in hopes that it would show some new growth. It was time to cut it back to where that new growth was starting and see if it fills in next spring. I took load after load of branches to the city burn pile and had cut up some smaller branches to burn in my fire pit. There were some bigger branches to saw into logs and Rene was coming with her chain saw on Monday to do those. By the time I finished all that, I looked like I'd been through a war with cuts and bruises everywhere. But it was all looking good and I felt great about what I'd gotten done. Here's the before and after.
With all that done, I headed to Omaha on Sunday for some much needed grocery shopping. My first stop was Trader Joe's, where I got the Greek chick peas with parsley and cumin that John had turned me onto in Rhode Island. That's why I did Omaha instead of Lincoln because the Trader Joe's is closer. I stopped at my friend Lori's for a bit and then hit HyVee and Aldi. I had a scare between those 2 when a big praying mantis appeared on my dashboard right in front of me when I was driving 50 mph down Maple Street. There was nowhere to pull over so I kept my eyes on him as he swayed side to side and stared me down. At one point he flew up the the visor. I screamed. I pulled over as soon as I could and it took 2 tries but I got it out of the car. Talk about adrenaline! I ran through Aldi and headed home with more groceries than I've bought at one time in years.
So all and all, it was a great long weekend and I still had Monday to go The cooler weather was a balm to my soul and it felt great to be able to start gardening again after losing so much of the spring gardening season due to my knee, which was doing absolutely fine even with all the heavy work. Yay! So even though I missed the post-vaccine pre-delta variant window of freedom, I guess it was still worth it having my knee done. I have the entire fall to look forward to with a fully functional knee and my gardens to get back in shape. Life is good!
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