They also are very chatty when their human shows up to check on them. Today I was in the enclosure adjusting a piece of fence around a hydrangea when one of the smaller sheep basically said she needed some loving. So she got lots of pettings and scratches. That made my day.

Yesterday we bought our airline tickets to Iceland. The rest of the trip needs to be planned but at least we know when we’ll be flying in and out.

Today I cut the grass which, oddly enough, equals another 5K of walking. The better-half and I started on our second set of garden planters:

We just need dirt and plants now.

The sausage was in the refrigerator just as it was supposed to be. Then the cat was on me so I slept a few hours on the couch. I had the weirdest dream that I was in the basement of our house and it had water in it. That’s not something that can happen at our house, but there you go. I also couldn’t open the door to go out because I’d set off the alarm and for some reason I couldn’t just walk back up the stairs. Thankfully, the cat got off the couch and woke me up.

After breakfast (a sausage and spinach frittata), I went out to mulch leaves with the lawn mower and then we cranked up the old lawn mower named “the clearer of the land”. It didn’t want to start or stay started but I cleared a bunch of ivy, saplings and liriope out from under a holy. One tiny step to order out of chaos. Eventually the backyard will not be such a freak show of ivy, weeds and saplings that spring up from our ugly, you ain’t got no alibi hedge.

The sweet potato that sprouted and we planted into our garden trough has been blooming this week:

And, finally, the lantana is still kicking it:

We went by the neighborhood garden center, family owned, to buy some bulk mulch and we bonded a bit with them because I was wearing my Black Kow t-shirt. Good taste in manure will get you far.

So, this weekend didn’t really go as planned. My hope for the weekend was to relax and sit outside staring at nothing. Perhaps some reading and music listening would have been involved.

Today we went by to visit with the MIL for a bit and then we came home. It was 2-ish and we had plans to sit outside, vegetate and smoke a chicken* for dinner. Instead, 20+ kids and their parents showed up next door for a brownie/girl scout extravaganza. It looks like recess at an elementary school in the neighbor’s backyard. The chicken is on the smoker and we are not sitting outside enjoying this beautiful afternoon. C’est la vie.

In other news, I ripped out most of the garden. I left the herbs, naturally, and one grape tomato plant. I plan on planting some lettuce and spinach. If I get crazy, perhaps a chard plant or two. The success of the garden is mixed. We did well with peppers and the tomatoes were so-so.

The flower bed is in front of the house and is the former site of an oak tree. We don’t know if the tree was damaged in a hurricane or if it just got sick. We’ve seen some old photos when the tree was massive and healthy and some when the tree looks terrible. At any rate, the people who sold us the house had it removed and the stump ground. It was overrun by weeds and mushrooms.

The better-half tilled it and added composted manure and top soil:

Then Nut 2 and I planted some bulbs (a lily mix and Dutch iris) as well as some plants from Lowe’s. I don’t remember what they are called but they are all perennials and will likely clump and spread out. I can describe them as purple, violet and red/orange. How’s that for technical names? I plan on filling in with some daffodils and crocus this fall.

Finally, yesterday after work, I removed all the encroaching weeds and dug a trench around the bed with a hoe. ‘Ho on hoe action! Then I put down 11 bags of hardwood mulch. The bed looks so much better now that it has been weeded and mulched. I fully expect this bed to be something that just gets better in the coming years. Right now it is the little flower bed that could:

In contrast to the state of the garden in late April:

This garden contains all of the herbs. We realize some of these plants will eventually need to go in the ground. We’ve always had luck with sage and rosemary so they will probably get moved into an actual bed later this year. The chives we brought from our old house, and I thought they had died. The thyme lived in a pot for most of last year waiting for us to move. It is so much happier now that it’s in a more permanent place.

We also have tomatoes and a passel of peppers, including the serranos.

Our other container holds a cucumber, a grape tomato, acorn squash from a squash from the old house and several green bean plants. There will be more green bean plants soon as we planted another couple of hills this past weekend.

We’re hoping for a good outcome this year because, as you know, vegetable gardening hasn’t really worked out for us in the past.

This little critter has been spotted all over the backyard:

As you know, built out the first planter:

Hung out on the deck after planting:

Had burgers and spinach salad with edible flowers and strawberries for dinner:

Woke up and went to brunch with friends:

Today we finished setting up the second planter and put in a cucumber (you can just barely see it in the second planter):

Had tacos and burritos for lunch:

Then, took a rainy afternoon nap.