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June 10, 2008
Yard Work
I've recently been doing something that would drive every woman reader here, except the local ones, to want me in the worst way. (The "wanting me" part seems to be a supply-and-demand thing. The supply of me is too great locally which, of course, drives demand down.).
And that thing is: Yard work.
"Big deal," the men are all saying. "I'm out in the yard several days a week. Anytime my wife asks me to plant something I'm there. With just the smallest amount of complaining. As soon as the game/race/match it over."
And therein lies my charm. I'm doing it without direction. I'm just a guy who has decided he could use some landscaping done and has gotten busy with a shovel, wheelbarrow, crowbar and hammer.
I'm also a straight guy and this brings with it it's own set of landscaping challenges. But I soldier on.
I've recently had three yards of soil delivered and what appears to be a yard or two of mulch (it was on the same trailer as the soil and the guy let me have it for a song.) In addition I'd already purchased 15 bags of mulch and I had two left over from last year.
Last night, after spending far too long driving past a Lowes that I was unable to find (and these places are huge… they're the only man-made things that can be seen from outer space) I finally homed in on it an purchased a piece for my in-ground sprinkler system. (Spread your arms out as far as you can reach and make one slow spin. My yard is about as big as the area covered by your arms when you spin — yet I have an in-ground irrigation system. And I'm have a well for it. And I live in the city and have city water for the house.) Samson helped me install the sprinkler.
While at Lowes I also picked up two Flowering Spirea plants. They were about $19.00 each and had I known that two years ago I'd have put a lot more effort into not killing the two that these guys replaced. They are currently in the ground in an area that is mulch ready.
You'll notice the photos below. They mark a plan I've had, and possibly tried to implement, before. And that is: A picture a day. Pictures make the web look nicer and just about any picture will do the trick. I always like photos I see from other places and, while many of the things I put up might bore some, I'm convinced someone, somewhere will find them interesting (To those people who find some of the pictures mundane I say don't worry, I'll eventually hit upon something you find interesting).
These photos are of my front yard at something before 7 a.m. In the middle of this picture is a storm drain that is packed so solid with mud that it creates less of a draining situation and more of a reservoir effect in my front lawn. I've had the city out to look at it and that's just what they did; look at it. I imagine they wrote up a work order to do something further with it but that the piece of paper blew out the window, unnoticed, as the workers drove off to another site.
The flooding sort of spreads into the road a little bit and into the alley between my house and the Masonic Lodge.
Tonight, assuming the drain is empty, I'm going to take a shovel to it to see if I can free things up.
Technorati Tags: Gardening, Yard work
Posted by delmer at June 10, 2008 4:21 PM
Comments
I like the pictures. You're right, they do make the blog more interesting. Not that your wit, charm, and style aren't interesting. But, you know. (Note to self: take and post more pictures.)
Posted by: Emma at June 10, 2008 7:12 PM
I always get a kick out of pictures people post. You recently had a rabbit (I think it was you ... in any case you get the credit). Rob from Crabapple Lane just posted a bobcat in his backyard. Michael Gorey, a while back, had some shots of buildings in Australia (that reminded me a bit of the town I grew up in.)
I realize a flooded front yard isn't as cool as any one of the above ... but someone, somewhere, might like them.
Posted by: delmer at June 10, 2008 10:22 PM
Hey Delmer cut it out with the whole "I do work without being asked" bit. My wife reads this shit too.
Posted by: Black Hockey Jesus at June 11, 2008 8:09 AM
Wait a second! Husbands are supposed to do chores outside???? I think that part was missing from my marriage manual because I seem to be the one taking care of that stuff.
The city does a great job of looking at problems but I don't know if they ever fix things. I suppose if you waited long enough they might but in our case we had a huge sink hole in our yard that they came to look at. Then I got sick so we forgot about it. 2 years later I filled in the hole because no one ever came back to fix it for us. I wonder if in another few years someone will come back and try to fix it for us because they wll be just getting around to it.
Posted by: radioactive tori at June 11, 2008 12:00 PM
Oooh, I love digging around in water! That was a major highlight of my Forest Service career--I'd see a culvert all gobbed up with brush or whatever and I'd get out there with my shovel and break that sucker loose. Or I'd cut a channel in the roadway so that the water would all funnel through the channel, instead of spreading around all over the place. Those were good times--too few of them, though.
That's an awful lot of dirt for a tiny yard. Are you building a dike?
Posted by: Casey at June 11, 2008 2:19 PM
BHJ: I'm sure the missus would tell you your guitar playing more than makes up for any yard work you overlook.
Tori: I've offered to fill in this sewer. When I had the city on the phone I told them I'd be glad to do it at my expense as it seemed to be useless the way it was. Maybe asking was the mistake.
Casey: I wasn't sure how much dirt to get and with delivery thought too much would be better than too little. It's funny you mention a dike -- I've considered that raising the edge of my lawn (we have no curbs) might keep the flooding from happening.
Posted by: delmer at June 12, 2008 6:50 AM
Except that I am waiting for the village to fine me because I filled in a hole on property I didn't own. I figured the hole was dangerous for kids and a fine I could deal with so I went ahead and filled it in. If it hadn't been dangerous, I would probably have just waited to see what would happen. And then blogged about it as some recurring thing. I guess I ruined a prime blogging opportunity.
Posted by: radioactive tori at June 12, 2008 9:48 AM