Planting Day II: A Thrilling Sequel

I leaped to my feet at 7:40am eager to get the day moving. As far as I could see out the half-moon window, the skies were crystal clear. I made a pot of coffee and choked down a vitamin before engaging myself in exercise. By 8:05am I was finished and out the door with Ykraps. It was windy and much cooler than I expected. The temperatures I figured had to be in the 40’s. The sun was warm but the breeze chilly. A check of the forecast revealed a high of only 68 degrees for later in the day.

I could hear Mindy milling around upstairs around 8:30am. She joined me downstairs minutes later. I dressed and left for a run just after 9am. I ran along Trabue & Hague Av. I listened to music the entire way for the first time in a long while. The run went extremely fast. When I returned from my run I took a closer look at my Sweetgum tree in the front landscape. It’s been slow to leaf out this spring and I am worried that it might be toast. I’ve noticed several other Sweetgums in our subdivision are in similar shape. On closer inspection, the tree’s budded fine but most of the buds haven’t bloomed. I wondered if the extreme warmth in mid/late March followed by several nights in the low 20’s might have did it in. Not to mention the early October hail storm that deleafed most of my trees prematurely.

Moving on, I changed after my run, but didn’t bother showering. I saw no need given that I would be getting sweaty and dirty all over again. Instead, I just wiped off the sweat, threw on some old clothes, and left for the nursery. Mindy left at the same time for Kohl’s to shop for a swim suit. My travels took me to Wal-Mart first. And I was very pleased to see that they had all the fillers I wanted (spikes, Vinca, and Coleous) for a 1/3 less that Strader’s. I bought another perennial and a large bag of potting soil, too. The check-out line was ten deep, maybe more. I decided to go to the inside check-outs, and besides, Mindy asked me to get a cucumber and pineapple also. I had no idea where she intended to plant those. J Sadly, Wal-Mart had one measly pineapple and it was bruised. I opted out of it. The inside check-out was only three deep. It still took a good twenty minutes, but that’s Wally’s!
Before heading home I decided to succumb to my hunger and buy some fast food. I thought about some chips and salsa form El Vaquero but opted instead for Burger King. That’s two times in three days. Ouch! I was very hungry and knew that I wouldn’t take the time to prepare something once home. I woofed down fries, burger and drink on my trip home, and it hit the spot.

I carried my entire day’s plating’s around to the deck. It took about eight trips. There was quite a bit. The first thing I did was pot the two Hibiscus. That was easy. Next, I did the four hanging baskets which required transfer to my decorative baskets. Two of the wire baskets required adding additional Sphagum Moss as a liner. That took an hour or more. I moved on to the many large and small pots that I typically display. That took some doing too. I finished the pots around 3:45pm. By then the kids were home form their weekend with dad. Jacob surprised me and asked to go hike in the woods. Being amused at his eagerness and sense of adventure, I dropped what I was doing and took him on a hike. We walked back through the thick under brush along the pond and ultimately ended up at the waterfall/damn supporting the pond. And like never before, we followed the creek after the damn for a few hundred yards. We turned around when the only way to forge further forward would have been to walk the creek itself.

We were gone for about an hour, and it was a good time. I’m really glad we went. When we got back home I decided to wash the Trooper. Mindy asked how long that would take since she wanted to have an early dinner. I thought it would take about 45 minutes. I was incorrect. It took about 1.5 hours. I cleaned it inside and out. In fact, I’ve never cleaned the rear storage area save for an occasional vacuuming or quick sweep with a whisk broom. It sparkled when I finished.

I was hungry, and so were Mindy and the kids. I lit & preheated the grill while I simultaneously watered the flowers. We had brats, dogs, and baked beans. They were very good. After clean-up, Mindy scrubbed the kids clean in the tub. Meanwhile, I did even more watering. Around 8:30pm Mindy called it a night and went upstairs to bed. I stayed up until 10pm reading and then napping in the big chair.