It's a Slippery Slope

Once you get started, you're a goner.  This gardening/yarding thing has me outside so much I missed my Tai Chi class last Thursday--plum forgot all about it until 3:15 in the afternoon.  Today I remembered, but when I got back, I took all that focus and relaxation right out in the dirt as though I'd never been away for a minute.

Empty slope fit for only weeds.

Right out of my yard catalog of Things I get to do today is make a space to plant my Critter Mix.  I found Critter Mix in my seed catalog.  The folks at this company make available at a reasonable price a whole pound of greens seeds like collards and kale and lettuces that you can grow to feed your chickens.  That is so cool I can hardly see straight.  My problem would be, here in the city, limited lot size without the quarter acre needed to grow all these goodies for the girls. The garden beds are for growies for us people to eat not for the hens.

Old treated posts and 2x4's--a nuisance to store

So I started looking around in the yard for space of hen kale.  And there it was:  totally useless space in its current configuration, but totally perfect space if I were to gather together a pile of rotted off posts and 2x4's from an old berry trellis and a fistful of rusted rebar stakes.

The project got much worse before it got better--pretty typical of projects.
However, Handy Andy's know that and simply shift into compound low.
Slimy folded stuff is nasty, old landscape fabric found five inches down.

Armed with this equipment I spent the rest of the afternoon making terraced beds on a slope that has grown only weeds for the past 30 years.  Wow, does that feel good!  And better yet, it isn't slippery any more.

Ready to plant.  Oops! Better order the seeds, do ya' think?

Gifter Revealed*

Whodunit?

So now I know.  The person involved came forward. Amazon was not just mailing out lovely books to witty bloggers who are always eager to snap up a doozy of an idea. In fact it was partly the doings of this massive distribution company that created the mystery in the first place.

A simple, signed note was to be included with the gift book. No note arrived, and thus the confusion.  But she, calling today with a question and a heart-connected chat, happened also to ask, "Did you get the book?"  Bells! Whistles!  Sirens!  Of all the possible folks who would spontaneously call Amazon and jet off a book to me, she was the one most suspect.


I have loved playing Clue--Things I get to do today:  find "dahling" friend Linda, in the Library, with the gift Book!  Thank you, again, Sweet One.


*See "Mystery Gifter" posted 3/4/12.

Mystery Gifter

I'm sure I didn't do it.  When I order something, I'm usually pleased enough about it to remember doing so.  And I'm certain I would remember ordering this:  Handmade Garden Projects by Lorene Edwards Forkner.  This is the perfect book for a Handy Andy like me.  I could have ordered it.  I should have.

Gift of a hundred ideas from a mystery fan

While I was away last week,  Amazon sent me a package.  My husband said it felt like a soft-cover book and opened it, telling me what he was finding inside.  When I expressed dismay, he was certain I was overtaken by a severe "senior moment" and had forgotten about the order.  So figuring out where the book came from (Amazon--I know that much) and who sent it to me is tops on the Things I get to do today.  There was no packing slip or gift card with the book.  I have only to believe that an ardent admirer of this blog has gifted me with a manual of inspiring ideas: seeds that will germinate into lush projects and eloquent blogs for years to come.


So to whoever you are:  my deepest thanks.  I'll begin immediately to peruse this text for tripping the trigger on the next shooting, star idea, and I'll note right here in "Things I get to do today" that this lovely book was the starter of it all.  Again, thank you, whoever you are.