I tried to be. I’d like to be. But I’m just not. (5-21-21)

It’s been over a week since I typed that. Apparently I’m not a “Weekly [Anything]” kind of gal either.

What I’m really not, is an “Organized [Anything]” kind of gal.

And I’m not sure why I opened this blog. My lack of organization means I have nothing prepared.

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Since I wrote here last:

I worked in the backyard–cut the branches of the weed trees hanging over the fence as far up as I could reach, I need to get a better saw to get more. My neighbor saw/heard me and came to the fence and said they’d cut what they could from their side–and have already done a lot of cutting. Apparently they also hope to cut the overgrown tree hedge to a more manageable size. YAY!

I wanted to trim the cedar branches as well, but cedar won’t cut with small hand pruners, even branches the same size as the ones I cut from the weed trees. Too hard. I’m glad I don’t need to cut much–just enough to keep branches off the shed roof and out of my pear tree. Cedars are HUGE! When we moved here (16 years ago already!!!), the cedar branches still hadn’t even reached the fence. I’m guessing my pear tree is about ten feet from my side of the fence.

We had a cedar growing, but, at about 1.5 inches thick and three to four feet high, it was a few inches from my Fairy Rose (which had hidden it when it was smaller) and right against the fence atop the ten foot wall that keeps us from falling into our back neighbor’s yard. It had become too big to dig out and was a definite hazard if left to grow, so it got cut.

After cutting what I could, I started raking out the leaves that had accumulated in the corner. I guess the reason the mow ‘n’ blow guys let them accumulate was because my dear husband had piled in that corner all the tomato cages, and posts and fencing for vegetable trellises, and miscellaneous other stuff he didn’t know what to do with. Happily, I also found my quarter inch fencing, some of which I used to make a cover to keep leaves out of the window well in the front of the house (where our lower level is below ground level).

At some point, in my usual unplanned, disorganized manner, I went to the other side of the yard and cut back the six foot forsythia to about a foot. I also pulled the vine (clematis, I think, but different blooms, so maybe not) out of the, forsythia, hydrangea and Lilac, and tried to pull out the dead branches from the fence and living branches.

Still to be done with trimming and cutting is to cut way back the same vine at the other end of the fence (getting it out of the neighbor’s bushes), cutting a third of each lilac tree (to make them bushes again), and cutting back the camellia and the decorative elderberry. Except for the vine, that all requires a saw rather than the pruners. I hope to get it all done by the end of June

We also need to empty and clean the sheds. Their disorder has passed my tolerance level.

We didn’t have a vegetable garden last year. I took a whole afternoon to weed the paths. The beds still need weeding, but I thought I would wait until I had something to plant. The wild geranium took over the whole garden. I need to look into planting good, like clover, to keep the garden when it’s fallow. I don’t think I’ll ever be as ambitious a gardener as mom was, but I would like some fresh greens.

Today, I found a single green cherry under my boy cherry tree. I’m not sure what that means. I’d never seen cherries on the tree (reasonable, since it’s male) even when the female trees were loaded with cherries. Maybe it misses the females. I wonder if it would be compatible with some dwarf trees. I might have room to plant a dwarf cherry or two. Maybe.

All this yardwork and I kept forgetting to take my phone out with me to get pictures. Oh, well.

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Inspired by the black and white neighborhood cat who sleeps on my deck, and a photo of Jude’s Soul-O on her deck, I spent an evening playing with GIMP to make this picture.

Not such a great picture, but the point was just playing, and I did enjoy myself.