Sunday, October 15, 2006


The Happy Gardener says: "O-U-C-H!!!"

I've been in bed for about 7 years, doing yoga for nearly 3 years, and I've been single-handedly digging myself into major muscular pain for 2 days.

It wasn't until we moved into this house that I began to actually use a shovel (partially because my wrists weren't strong enough to). While in this house, I've dug out the space in front of the under-the-house access panel, laid 2 yellow brick roads (with plenty of brick for more!), dismantled a poortly-laid grey brick road to make way for a 3rd yellow brick road, personally loaded (as in for major transport/relocation) each of the bricks for aforementioned 2 roads myself at least 5 times apiece, personally planted *all but one* of our new plants, prepared each flowerbed we've used for use, transplanted our gardenia, and dug up the "mothership" of the first flowerbed's major tuber infestation.

Each of these feats required me taking on more than a little pain afterwards in one form or another, but last night was the worst: I used some of the aforementioned grey brick to line a brand new flowerbed. While the other 2 grey brick borders elsewhere have their annoyingly pointy ends sticking up, THIS one is like teeth. It's an amoeba-shaped fortress. I'm almost as proud of it as I am of the first yellow brick road (first brick project I ever did).

I've come to really enjoy laying brick paths in our yard, but I've never had to use the pickaxe, hatchet, shovel, trowel, hoe, and clippers in such grand fashion before. You see, this flowerbed was previously the home to a crepe myrtle which was cut down over a year ago and the stump was just removed by one of my cousins this week. Yeah, that's right...surprise! Guess who got stuck with pulling up the roots?

Ah! Nothing like pulling up roots, burying bricks, mixing sandy soil with organic soil, and having the neighbors cats get thiiiiis close to you while you're using the pickaxe.

(No cats were harmed in the making of this blogpost, however, plenty of tuber weeds, dead crepe myrtle roots, a colony of unproductive jonquils, and one human blogger were.)
posted @ 4:37 PM  |   0 comments  |