Two Months On
Sunday, June 4th, 2023 07:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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Not as hot today, the high was 81F. We also had a nice breeze and some clouds blocking the sun.
Above we see Prowly on the roof. This is the first time I've seen him on the roof since last February, when I first installed the upstairs cat door.
Not proof he's using the cat ladder, but another compelling bit of evidence.
I got an earlier start on the yard today, and got more done...
I'd say I've now gone through half the pile of topsoil. It's likely that all the spots I filled this weekend will need to be topped off, so this is good!
This is a low spot righ outside the side porch, where the drain box is for the porch gutter.
A rut from the wood chipper that was parked here, by the dog yard, going into the back yard.
This spot is over on the north side of the back room... a spot that's been a hole for over a decade. Not sure why. But it's finally filled in.
A shot of all the new ruts and holes filled in today... and I also filled in the site of the old shed, which was a bit lower than the surrounding soil, coming off the hill.
A shot of everything from the back side, including, in the foreground, a hole left by an old tree stump that rotted away decades ago.
A better shot of the old shed site, with clover volunteering on a little island in there.
Finally got all the rock garden rocks onto their tarp, and you can see a decorative metal basket there that somebody was throwing away at Cloud last week...
I saw a decorative stepping stone on Amazon that would match this, so... maybe fill this with gravel and put it with that stepping stone in the rock garden to add a bit of color.
Just an above view of the rock garden rocks, for my future reference when planning how exactly to arrange them.
It has only been two months since Martin Mendez cut down the dying mulberry, and took away the fallen one, and the brush pile!
It feels like that was five months ago, with how much has changed back there!
But at any rate, now that I've mapped out the full extent of the tire ruts, impact holes (from falling limbs), and older holes... it's quite clear that one sprinkler can't get everything in the back yard.
It's also clear that I DON'T want a bunch more grass seed mats with bricks holding them down, in all these crazy spots!
SO!..
I just ordered a THREE ZONE hose timer, a second, wide area sprinkler, a few more quick connects, and... a hand powered grass seed spreader, and more free grass seed.
The hand held grass seed spreader doubles as a dirt spreader, so... once the ruts and holes are topped off, I'm gonna spread grass seed, then spread a bit of soil over the seed, then set up two sprinklers in back to cover as much as possible.
The old shed site will probably be actual grass seed mat.
The area north of the back room... and the area south of the side porch, including the old tractor shed site... will just have to wait!.. unless I invest in even MORE hose!
But it's important to get turf covering the back yard as soon as possible... not only for the crickets in August, but also the family reunion in October.
So... it looks like next weekend I could have all of that set up and ready to go!
And that means the weekend of the 17th, 18th, and 19th... Father's Day and Juneteenth, should be when I start cutting trees down!
And I should have Juneteenth off, because it's a federal holiday now.
Being part time for both June and July... and getting a start on the trees in mid June, with the grass growing... says that the outlook is good for getting the rock garden done in July!
I'm all showered & shaved, and my laundry's in the washer.
No idea what tomorrow's gonna be like at Gingham.
I'm just gonna focus on the fact that it's my last full-time day until August, and power through it.
It may seem like a pain, for me to have to be doing all this lawn patching everywhere, just because some heavy equipment came in to cut down a tree in early April when the ground was still squishy.
But I would MUCH rather be doing this... than struggling with the remains of the fallen Mulberry right now... and worrying about the other mulberry falling down THIS year!
And having them come in extremely early April is what gave me time to do everything else I've done the past two months.
April and May... so much went away!
And a new tree, and a new firepit were planted.
June and July will be just as much time!
But the days are gonna be WAAAY longer, and I'll be home four extra hours every weekday!
And I'm not just spending the next two months transforming the yard as much as possible... I'm also setting it up so that in the years to come, all of this goes faster, and costs less money.
Next year, I'll already have 300 feet of hose, and three timers and sprinklers.
I'll already have an even, rut & hole free lawn with grass growing over it.
I'll already have a wood rack, and a fire pit, and maybe even a low voltage network for lights going out to the furthest reaches of the back.
I'll already have a wood chipper!
And Natalie will be well established!
NEXT spring and summer... it'll be a simple thing to just mow the grass, and cut down more trees.
That's where I'll leave it tonight.
It was a good, full moon weekend... carrying on with a project I already started last week.
And now we go forward into June, and find out what the deal's exactly gonna be at work.
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