Heat of the Moment

I apologize, gentle readers, for my absence from blogging lately. I have a few things up my sleeve, but I wanted to start with a special blog dedicated to my Grambi, who I thought would like to see pictures of all of the work that I did in the yard this weekend. Yesterday it was 91 degrees at my house--it hasn't been that hot here on April 25th since 1915, when it was 85 degrees. Since it was cold until Thursday, we were ready to get out into the sunshine. Kenna and I got up early after Bill the Yard Guy called and woke us up. After a big breakfast, we got to work.

I don't enjoy yard work as a general rule because of the many creatures (including birds and insects) that exist in nature, so I plied Kenna with bacon grease in an effort to persuade her to protect me from nature. Instead of helping, she found a patch of sun:

After she refused to help me pick up and haul the branches and twigs from the yard, I got out my trusty Radio Flyer wagon:

Pretty yard and creek:


Kenna sniffing around for something disgusting in which to roll:



The part of the creek just above the waterfall--we saw a really cute St. Bernard splashing in the water earlier in the morning:




Kenna running in the yard:

After we cleaned up the branches and twigs, I put all of the stuff that was on the porch in the sand pit so that I could clean it:

While that was drying, I set up my little greenhouse. I am attempting to grow some plants from seeds, so here goes...

I already had the greenhouse thing from last year, which was a failure because I forgot to water the seedlings. Must remember to do that this year... I bought new peat pellets and put them into the tray:

Following the directions, I poured warm water over them so that they would expand:

Once they had expanded, I pulled the netting back to expose the soil.

A close shot of the pellets with seeds planted:

I had ten rows of five, so I planted ten different kinds of seeds: lime basil, sweet basil, garlic chives, Italian parsley, impatiens, geraniums, petunias, alyssum, moon flowers, and ocean pearls. I labeled each row after learning last year that it was hard to tell which sprouts belonged to which plants.

Top on, greenhouse complete. This usually lives on top of Kenna's "room" because it has to be in a warm place without direct sunlight. She is, of course, thrilled to be in charge of the seedlings.

Next, I wanted to replant my window boxes. I emptied all of the old dead pansies from all four boxes and filled them with fresh soil.

I found some gorgeous violas at Home Depot on Friday--these are the "babyface sorbet" variety. Pansies and violas are my favorite flowers and I usually don't plant them in the spring, but I'm hoping that New York weather will be cool enough for them to last until mid summer at least. If you plant them in the spring in Kansas, they wilt to nothing by June because it is just too hot for them. Aren't they pretty?

Planted window boxes:

After I put the window boxes back, it was time to clean the porch floor. Here's what it looked like when I started:

While the porch dried (photos later in the post), I washed the car. If this doesn't prove that I am the spawn of Father of Ken, I don't know what does. As soon as I possibly can, I like to get out my car washing equipment and wash the whole thing by hand. This is no ordinary washing--I scrub everything from the moon roof to the wheel wells and I might have a toothbrush to clean some of the smaller parts... Father of Ken is way more hardcore than me, though. He has a car washing station in his garage. What can I say? I learned from the best.

While I washed the car, Kenna enjoyed some fresh hose water in her bowl. She hasn't shed her winter coat yet, so she was pretty hot yesterday. I tried to make sure that she had plenty of water all day and hose water is a particular favorite.

Back to the porch, where I put all of the rugs and furniture back once the floor was dry. I also planted some violas in small pots to put around the porch because I bought WAY more violas than I needed for the window boxes. They were just so pretty, I couldn't resist.

Details of some of the flowers:

The front porch with my new clearance rug from Home Depot:

The violas by the mailbox:

My mail person does not care for the planter near the mailbox, but as the daughter of Father of Ken, I do everything in my power to stick it to the US Postal Service. This is my contribution--nasty notes from the post lady be damned!

You can kind of see the violas in the window boxes, but I hope they get taller soon:

Out in the yard, I have some random bulbs popping up, including these grape hyacinth:

This one came up in the middle of the yard all by itself:

More window boxes:

I moved my fire wood and stacked it neatly--check out this feat of engineering, Father of Ken!

I worked for about six hours total in the intense heat with no breeze, so when I was done, I drank almost an entire glass of lemonade. Leah will be so proud!

I was glad that I got so much done in one day since I really don't like yard work. I would rather do it all at once than drag it out, so the six Tylenol that I had to take last night were worth it.