Sunday, May 09, 2010

Weather

Of course it was starting to get hot as in the 80's already which requires use of the a/c in the late afternoon and evening.  Now we get a cold spell.   And the rain that's been forecasted every day for weeks has finally decided to descend from the clouds.  I heard it during the night and assumed it was a dream.

All the yard ornaments have been moved pending decent weather that will allow the fence company to return to stain and seal the fence.  I took advantage of the time and moved all the yard ornaments that go into the ground, let them dry, cleaned the dirt and some of the rust off then used a rust inhibitor.  I'm using a bronze hammered rust prevention paint spray on the parts that will be above ground.  They are looking good!

Of course, now that everything is in a jumble in the yard, I've decided to move a few things once the fence is stained/sealed.  Assuming of course, that it does eventually occur.

The St Augustine sod pieces are still alive.  While I do like  Burmuda, I've found that you just can't walk on it barefooted.  St Augustine, on the other hand, is delightful to walk on.  And I'm hoping it will cover some of the concrete edges that show around the garden bed borders - Burmuda let it show!  

Some of the metal edging behind the garden border is  gone.  Especially areas where I had them expand the bed when installing the border.  I kept tripping over the edging.  I got most of what I wanted out and then my brother and sister-in-law came over to help with the rest.  Most of it will be left as it helps keep the mulch from coming out of the beds.  But there are a few places where it wasn't low enough or the beds were increased.  I forgot about the edging around the brick patio in the back (it's just a 10x10) so need to get that out.  I'm going to try to put the same edgers in front of the patio but not around the whole thing.

I'm getting rid of some of the daylilies as they keep growing and getting more crowded but aren't blooming.  Some haven't bloomed in years in spite of dividing so they are being booted out of the garden.

I pulled 4 bags of iris' out over the last week.  They must love clay as they can cover a city block in 2 years!  well, at least a good part of the garden and where I don't need them!  As for the   cannas, those will be pulled and dug out and put in a few pots.  They love the clay too!

Wednesday, May 05, 2010

Ants con't

Yes the ants are still around.  When I called the pest company, they said I had to wait longer than the technican said.... so I can't get anyone out again until Friday.  But I still have ants and now some larger ants.  I intensely dislike ants.  The tub in the master bathroom has lots of dead ones in it.  Yuck.

The fence stain & seal company can't come out due to the high winds.  So no telling when they will be here.  In the mean time, I have plants that need to be put in the ground near the fence - I'm thinking that I'll have to put those in pots since they've already been waiting 2 weeks and are getting that 'I'm ready to be planted NOW or I'll die' look.

The weather has been great but is about to get really hot.  I put down some St Augustine sod in the back - another dislike is not being able to walk on the grass barefoot.  I also just realized that I'm going to have to adjust the sprinkler on the side where my neighbor waters every day. I only had it run a short amount of time to get the area close to the foundation but now that the fence has the extra pickets and her water doesn't water my back yard anymore and drown everything, I'll need to run the sprinkler a little longer.  No  problem - just have to remember to do it!

I must say, it's been nice to sit in the covered swing now that the fence is solid.  I still like the looks of the shadowbox from inside the yard.  The cats do miss seeing out the fence although they are getting used to it.  They tend to run back to the house when they hear some noises since they can't tell that the noise is not so close that they need to run and hide.