landscaping rehab...
Whenever I need therapy...being in the wild world of dirt, plants, rocks, and trees is what heals my soul like no other. It's cathartic to the core. I spent a good portion of Thursday edging my mulch beds. It may seem like a simple task, but I assure you, my body today is telling a different story. I'm sore in places I didn't know existed. I dug out 12 wheel barrow loads of sod and dirt and relocated it in a place that I wanted to build up for a future landscaping vision. I then knelt down and reshaped the beds by hand making sure everything was even and curved just so. I'm anal when it comes to symmetry and uniformity. It's just a fetish of mine.
That evening, the sun shone sideways across the yard casting shadows in such a way that the mulch beds looked sharp, even and shaped with tender loving care. I could feel my insides expanding with pride and delight and everything good. It was like a surge of adrenaline.
The next day, Jim Versluys brought over a pile of mulch and 20 plants for the last phase of my landscaping vision. I had already realized the first three phases in the last year and a half and was waiting to complete the final phase next spring. But I just felt like I wanted to go after it on Friday and Jim accomodated my impulsive desire with an early morning delivery. I heard the truch backing into my driveway and started putting on my work clothes. The minute that truck hit the blacktop to leave, I was out the door gathering tools for the days tasks. I started digging the edging trench and leveling the lands. When I got done shaping the contour of the edging, I sprayed some Roundup on some of the weeds, removed a wild bush, cut down a huge tree with a hand saw, rolled a 200 pound rock into the hedge row, and prepared for the planting of the ornamental grasses waiting in pots to be placed in God's creation. It was like they were patiently waiting their turn to join the rest of creation "out of the pot" and into the wild of nature. You could see them leaning toward where I was working the soil...they couldn't wait. I carefully placed them atop the soil they would soon inhabit tweaking their placement for perfect presentation. After several minutes of shifting and backing away, shifting and backing away, I finally found peace in the placement of each plant.
I started digging the holes and tucked them in the earth with love. I then started the 4 hour process of shoveling mulch into the wheel barrow and carting it into the back yard. It took about 80 trips back and forth to finish the mulching. There were times when I thought I was going to collapse...but I would rest and then resume my work. And now, it's finished. It looks so stinkin' sweet I can hardly stay away from it.
We invited a bunch of people over last night to sup with us. But really, I just wanted them to see what I had done and dote over it endlessly. They did. I felt validated. They did some more...I felt even more validated. And so on and so forth.
After everyone left last night, I turned on the back light to get one last look before I bedded down. It just injected life into me like nobody's business as I gawked at it.
I woke this morning and looked out every back window in the house to see what it looked like from every angle. Before leaving for work, I walked around it and saw a couple of things I need to fix...but all in all, I'm filled with the joy of a thousand angels.
My body hurts today something fierce...but it hurts so good!
That evening, the sun shone sideways across the yard casting shadows in such a way that the mulch beds looked sharp, even and shaped with tender loving care. I could feel my insides expanding with pride and delight and everything good. It was like a surge of adrenaline.
The next day, Jim Versluys brought over a pile of mulch and 20 plants for the last phase of my landscaping vision. I had already realized the first three phases in the last year and a half and was waiting to complete the final phase next spring. But I just felt like I wanted to go after it on Friday and Jim accomodated my impulsive desire with an early morning delivery. I heard the truch backing into my driveway and started putting on my work clothes. The minute that truck hit the blacktop to leave, I was out the door gathering tools for the days tasks. I started digging the edging trench and leveling the lands. When I got done shaping the contour of the edging, I sprayed some Roundup on some of the weeds, removed a wild bush, cut down a huge tree with a hand saw, rolled a 200 pound rock into the hedge row, and prepared for the planting of the ornamental grasses waiting in pots to be placed in God's creation. It was like they were patiently waiting their turn to join the rest of creation "out of the pot" and into the wild of nature. You could see them leaning toward where I was working the soil...they couldn't wait. I carefully placed them atop the soil they would soon inhabit tweaking their placement for perfect presentation. After several minutes of shifting and backing away, shifting and backing away, I finally found peace in the placement of each plant.
I started digging the holes and tucked them in the earth with love. I then started the 4 hour process of shoveling mulch into the wheel barrow and carting it into the back yard. It took about 80 trips back and forth to finish the mulching. There were times when I thought I was going to collapse...but I would rest and then resume my work. And now, it's finished. It looks so stinkin' sweet I can hardly stay away from it.
We invited a bunch of people over last night to sup with us. But really, I just wanted them to see what I had done and dote over it endlessly. They did. I felt validated. They did some more...I felt even more validated. And so on and so forth.
After everyone left last night, I turned on the back light to get one last look before I bedded down. It just injected life into me like nobody's business as I gawked at it.
I woke this morning and looked out every back window in the house to see what it looked like from every angle. Before leaving for work, I walked around it and saw a couple of things I need to fix...but all in all, I'm filled with the joy of a thousand angels.
My body hurts today something fierce...but it hurts so good!
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