Warmer N' Dirtier

(Backyard, from house, taken 4/5/11. My best friend is convinced I need a dog to compliment my yard. A big, dumb, slobbery, hep-hep...yeah no)

I feel confident enough to pull out the plastic lawn furniture, the garden hose roll, and put away the back yard snow shovel...but I'm leaving my ice scraper in the back seat and the plastic is staying on the windows until May...

Truth. As soon as the last vestiges of snow left it was lawn and garden assessment time. (The snow melt not being the only meter. A few days ago I noticed that Home Depot had the cage open to their landscaping area...meaning I'll probably be spending so much time behind those green bars it's going to feel like Shawshank.) You're technically not supposed to start raking/thatching this early in the season, but due to the 1st snowfall having taken us by surprise- the evidence is clear that my work is cut out for me. So first, we run around the house and clear the strange refuse that blows into the yard. (Paper plates from Papa Johns, Ciggie butts, Plastic water bottles) Check the drain spout on the South side of the house to see if it's still connected. (It wasn't. More on the results of that in another blog) And start raking out leaves from the planters and the garden. I can already feel my shoulders seizing up from the excitement.

For your pleasure (I LOVE MY CAMERA)-



Rear house, taken from garage. In 3-4 weeks my yard'll be covered in whirligigs from that giant-ass boxelder tree.
Front planters. This Spring/Summer I'm finally cutting those blocks to fit and might-MIGHT fix one of my co-Voltron's paws that broke off in...gosh, 1987 or so? (I used the leaf-blower to clear them out. Easy peasy)

This is very, VERY important- Wear tough shoes when doing lawn work. This is what generally happens to retired running shoes. (Off topic- I actually took the expensive arch insert I used when I first started distance running and put it in these guys. Oddly enough, after barefoot/minimalist training these last 4 months? Running 25+ miles a week? And then wearing these douchey guys all day in the yard? My f#cking feet/shins/calves/knees KILL me.)

Composter contents. We composted well through the winter time and the results are one-full ass composter. (It's nigh on up to the top. Moda looked in it and said "Look at all the rich soil!" I had to correct her by telling her that it was coffee grounds.) Anyway, turning it with a pitchfork is going to be a bitch. Anyone have any bright ideas on bio-friendly compost speeder-uppers? (tm)

GARLIC NUBBIN! In another 2 months or so, these'll have some nice scapes on them for cooking.

There are always some casualties. This one was dug up by a bun-bun or tree-rat. I was mildly despondent, but Moda reminded me that we planted "a shit ton" of garlic last fall.


Probably my favorite part of Spring...grillin. I know people who grill year round and that's great. Once the cover goes on and the first snowfall happens, that's it until Spring. (Probably not the best idea for longevity purposes to keep it outdoors all winter, but what'll ya do?)


Did I mention that sometimes the cover goes on and you forget to take the foil off from the last thing you cooked on it? I think this was...chicken? Maybe salmon? I'm pretty sure this was back from when I was drinkin hard LQ and just couldn't be bothered with clean up. Grrrrrooooss.